Saying goodbye to Lynn Johnston and the Patterson's

Syndicated in more than 2,000 newspapers, collected in 35 bestselling books and adapted into six animated specials (and a popular animated series), Lynn Johnston’s For Better or For Worse is one of the greatest success stories in the history of Canadian comics. Now, after nearly 30 years of writing and drawing the domestic drama about the ever-expanding Patterson clan, the Corbeil, Ont.-based cartoonist is winding down the final storyline of her enduring strip....(more)

During that time, loyal readers of FBorFW have witnessed Elly’s return to the workforce after being a stay-at-home mom, John’s mid-life crisis, the coming out of Michael’s friend Lawrence, and the death of Farley, the Patterson’s family dog — which was so contentious, Peanuts creator Charles Schulz threatened to have Snoopy hit by a bus if Johnston didn’t bring the prized pooch back to life.

Lynn Johnston gave this great quote when asked about her desicion to handle the retirement of her strip, different from two other great comic strip writers whom I adore greatly.

Q: Traditionally, cartoonists who wanted to retire from the daily grind of newspaper strips had two options: hand their creation over to another cartoonist [what’s called a “legacy strip”] or quit and take the strip down with you, the choice of Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) and Gary Larson (The Far Side). Why not follow their lead?




A: Initially that was my plan, and I had sort of speculated on what type of work would fill that space, because that little piece of real estate in the newspaper is a pretty coveted one. Then when Universal Press [her syndicate] said that they felt there was real opportunity to run the older strips, I thought about it and decided that their argument was a good one. Because there were many, many papers that did not pick up the strip in the first 10 years, so in a lot of markets those first 10 years were never seen.
But then there were other editors, like at the Toronto Star, the Vancouver Sun, the Chicago Tribune, who have been wonderful supporters right from Day 1, and I didn’t want to sell those editors the same material without adding something new. So that was my thinking. It would not only give me the satisfaction of still being in touch with the characters, but I would also be providing some new material for the editors and readers.

"FBorFW" is as Canadaian as maple syrup and held in the same esteem as Wayne Gretzky. We love you, Lynn and the Patterson's will sadly be missed.

Later,
Kenaz

Jamie Foxx opens his big mouth about Michael Vick

In an "Access Hollywood" interview Jamie Foxx was to talk about his upcoming projects. The conversation switched to the Michael Vick case and Jamie didn't know that Vick had pleaded guilty yet. Foxx never one to shy away from controversial subjects, may want to think about this comment.

“It’s a cultural thing, I think,” Jamie said. “Most brothers didn’t know that, you know. I used to see dogs fighting in the neighborhood all the time. I didn’t know that was Fed time. So, mike probably just didn’t read his handbook on what not to do as a black star.”

I truly believe that Jamie is sincere in his belief that the quarterback is not being given a fair shake, but the next statement makes completely no sense.

“I know that cruelty to animals is bad, but sometimes people shoot people and kill people and don’t get time,” Jamie continued. “I think in this situation, he really didn’t know the extent of it, so I always give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Foxx is so misinformed. There are a lot of GREAT BLACK FOOTBALL PLAYERS who know not to make bad choices. He actually said this “stuff” with a smile on his face? THIS IS NOT FUNNY. Vick may have had athletic success and financial success, but he did not have moral success or ethical success. He is a sad liar who pleaded guilty but won't apologize. PATHETIC.

Hunting involves WILD animals and it is supposed to keep the population under control. I am not in favor of it–but it IS different. Dogs are domesticated. Vick “executed” dogs!!! This bastard HUNG them and DROWNED them!!!! He is a sick individual–but sadly he is not alone. He should be made an example–not because he is black (that’s a ridiculous premise) but because he had funded & participated in a cruel, illegal and sick thing.

Later,
Kenaz

Columnist Kevin Werner needs to get help

Hamilton Community News columnist Kevin Werner needs to take a few sensitivity courses before his dumb witted opinions do serious damage to either his career or those they are targeted at.

On August 10th Mr. Werner wrote an article in which he described black Liberal candidate Nerene Virgin as a tar baby. Virgin, a former CBC Newsworld journalist, was hand-picked to run in the Hamilton East-Stoney Creek riding.

His column, headlined Into the Briar Patch, compared the situation to the famous American Uncle Remus folk tale.

"You'd think the Progressive Conservatives and the NDP were lurking behind a tree like Br'er Fox anxiously enticing the cocky and arrogant Br'er Rabbit, or in this case the Hamilton East-Stoney Creek provincial Liberals, to make a grab for the Tar Baby in the road,"

he wrote. He later referred to a failed Liberal candidate as a "bland white male."

The slur is not only offensive to the black community, but to all people of the greater Hamilton area. It is unfathomable, in this day and age, to consider that such crap could be passed off as journalism. It was only a few months ago that broadcaster Don Imus lost his job for uttering similar racial slurs. Clearly, that lesson on social values was lost on the small mind of Kevin Werner.

I truly believe in freedom of speech and welcome all forms of opinion but freedom is a double edged sword that must be handled with care. Mr. Werner has a responsibility to adhere to a moral and ethical code of conduct. In this circumstance, he has abused that freedom and shunned his responsibility.

Hamilton Community News offered this apology,

Hamilton Community News apologizes to our readers, the citizens of Hamilton and provincial Liberal Party candidate Nerene Virgin for a column which appeared in the Aug. 10th issue of our newspapers.
Contained in the column, which dealt with the Hamilton East-Stoney Creek Liberal nomination race, was a term that has racist connotations. The phrase is deeply offensive - both to our community and our company - and it should never have been used.
The writer did not understand the racist implications of this historical term, or the offence that it was certain to provoke.
We apologize without reservation for publication of this material. We will be reviewing our internal processes to ensure an error like this does not happen again.

I wonder what type of action would be taken if someone was to attach a misguided opinion to Mr. Werner, alluding to his German ancestry and the era when this type of opinion was poisoning the minds of way to many people?

Later,
Kenaz

Hamilton's uphill war on pollution

Hamilton will always have an uphill fight in an effort to win the war on environmental pollution. That's just the nature of the beast for a city heavy relied on industrial business. It still smarts though; when every time it looks like Hamilton is waging a strong front we get kicked back. Today's news is indicative how aggravating things can be.

Premier Dalton McGuinty Ontario government will finally pay their promised $30 million share toward the clean-up of Hamilton Harbour’s tainted Randle Reef. The harbour bottom is tainted with coal tar and heavy metal residue, largely as a result of decades of steel making.

All we need now is for the federal and municipal governments to cough up their one third $30 million dollar shares.

And now the bad news,

The toxic substance that contaminated Spencer Creek following the fire at Biederman Packaging in Dundas was confirmed as being Diainon. A highly poisonous chemical to birds, fish and wildlife and illegal for use in Canada, except for agricultural purpose.

The company owner trying to do damage control, came up with this gem, "The stuff we make here is all for home and garden use ... There was no serious escape of any nature." oops!

The technical director for Biedermann, covering his ass said the owner must have misspoken because the diazinon is used for agricultural customers. Adding that only a couple of skids where on sight.

The Environment Ministry has confirmed that run-off samples taken from within the building contained diazinon. On the day of the fire, a water reading taken at the Mill Street outfall to Spencer Creek found 720 micrograms of diazinon per litre. At the north building of the packaging plant, another reading showed 1,900 micrograms.

The lethal concentration to kill 50 per cent of rainbow trout in a given area is between 2,600 and 3,200 micrograms of diazinon per litre. (source The Hamilton Spectator)

So that means a quarter of trout in Spencer Creek are potentially dead, not to mention the many plants that the remaining fish feed on. This is not a small problem that can be swept under the proverbial rug, Spencer Creek is a vital link in the chain of this areas fragile ecosystem and any amount of contamination can destroy it forever.

Later,
Kenaz

Hamiltonian's rally in support of Dieppe Vets

Sickened by the vandalizing of the Dieppe monument, Hamiltonians and city officials showed their pride and thanks for the local veterans promising to repair the lakefront memorial.

Not only will the 10-inch bronze crown-and-bugle patch vandals ripped from the cairn's north face sometime in the past week or two be replaced. As well, city officials gave a gift to the veterans in the form of a pledge to pave an adjacent parking lot and repair cracks that have appeared in the concrete wall and foundation of the four-year-old, $420,000 tribute to the sacrifices of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry.

I hope the degenerates who vandalized and thus spit on so many heros of Dieppe are happy for now. Hopefully when they are caught justice will be served, harshly and coldly. A proper tribute to that fateful day in 1942.

A memorial ceremony will be held Sunday marking the 65th anniversary of the battle.

Later,
Kenaz

Three year old child offered free on Internet classified

This post is for the unknown person who posted a classified ad on Saturday using the free classified ad site www.kijiji.ca offering a three-year-old boy free to a good home. After the post had about 40 hits before it was suddenly removed at noon after a sharp eyed Pediatric nurse spotted the ad and alerted Hamilton police and the Children's Aid Society.

While the ad was a hoax or a desperate appeal for help, this person NEEDS SERIOUS HELP!!! and hopefully serious jail time if this is their idea of a joke!

The Ad,
CHILD FOR ADOPTION

Price: Free.

Location: Hamilton.

Date listed: 04-Aug-07

"I want to adopt the baby out to any happy and lovely family. I have been able to take care of him for three years now and i have provide everything he has ever needed in his life but now i want to adopt him out to any happy family because i really do not have enough to provide him the life he needs. I will only release him to a Christian home he really needs to be with the people who loves him and will not like anything more than having brother or sisters. please if interested, get back to me for more infors"

I'm no writing expert or psychologist but, guessing from the bad grammar and typos, IE "using small i" I believe this person is in desperate straits and a child only complicates matters. Hopefully this person can be convinced to turn themselves in and get the help if not for themselves than the child. Then they can be reunited with their child equipped with the parenting skills than will bring harmony too their lives.

God bless,
Kenaz

Colorado sushi restaurant takes a swing at Bonds

As Barry Bonds pushes for home run No. 756 to break one of baseball's most hallowed records, a Colorado sushi restaurant is celebrating the man who set the record, Hank Aaron.

Hapa Sushi Grill ran a half-page ad last Thursday in the satirical weekly "The Onion" that read "Congratulations Hank Aaron on 755 home runs." At the bottom of the page, the ad(below) continues: "Organic beef and chicken, no added steroids."



Needless to say I won't be watching the game. Bonds is an arrogant man who shows he truly doesn't care about the fans, unlike Aaron who was true gentleman and gave to his fans much more than his records. We will never know how many homers Bonds hit that where directly aided by the steroids, no more than we will know how many where hit off bad pitchers. Records are made to be broken, unfortunately the killing of this record can be likened to watching Darth Vader kill Obe Won Kenobi.

Later,
Kenaz

Panhandling pariahs

An incident on Wednesday in Vancouver proves that cops need to start getting tough on these "bums" that pray on our forgiveness. The incident in question involves the "cowardly" attack on a 79-year-old man.

Vancouver police said a panhandler robbed and assaulted the 79-year-old man inside a church. As he comes out, the senior more than generously $5 to the panhandler. Quite a hit to the average pensioner's wallet. The "scum" is not happy with that and that's when he grabs the seniors wallet, throws him on the ground and goes to get the wallet. He takes some quantity of money out of it and takes off.

Canadians need to stop doling out their hard earned cash for panhandlers, addicts, and drunks to continue their lifestyle and feed their habits.

Yes, government cuts have left fewer social programs to deal with this issue, but that doesn't excuse the increasing numbers; especially those under 25 years of age; because it is an easy lifestyle if you don't mind a few creature discomforts.
Who's fault is that?

There is no question that the government is to blame for much of the problem by cutting social programs over the years. But that does not change the fact that there ARE plenty of temp jobs out there and there ARE alternatives for many. And those that are not capable of holding a job or changing their lifestyle need to be in a care situation somewhere off the street.

This is a proverbial "500lbs. gorilla on our backs" that needs to be dealt with and judging by the number of people who flood the call in shows and letters to the editor who express how fed up with this crap they are, tough measures are long overdue. Hard working, tax paying citizens DO NOT deserve to have to deal with this every time they walk down the street.

As the bible states "give them a fish, feed them for a day, teach them how to fish, feed them for life. Giving them ANYTHING will not help!

Tough measures are the only solution, if they won't use the services we provide to clean themselves up and get meaningful employment, then arrest them for vagrancy, harassment, and force them into treatment, before it leads to more serious crimes.

I DO NOT give money to panhandlers, EVER. Why enable their poor choices and drug addiction. If you wish to give money to their cause, charities like the Salvation Army and the good Shepherd are good choices.


Later,
Kenaz

Support Our Canadian Troops, they deserve it

The men and women of the Canadian Forces have demonstrated time and again that they will rise to any challenge. Whether you agree or disagree with the Canadian Government to include our troops in combat roles overseas, please read the following and listen to this haunting song. The link to download is included at the bottom. Our troops in Afghanistan deserve our support.