Shut Your Pie Hole and Go Home

Gay Tourists not Market Niche, Report Suggests First of all, I didn't even know that there was a Gay Tourism Association.  Does Canada need one of those?  I think there are already plenty of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people in our fair nation (105 out of about 2200 surveyed - 4.77% for the math geeks out there - I didn't realize there were THAT many, either). Second of all, do we really need to hype up our national treasures to make them more appealing to gay people?  Frankly, I'd rather have fewer people of the GLBT group out and about in the hot vacation spots.  What are good Christian parents supposed to tell their kids when they see two men snuggling on a bench at Niagra, or two women groping each other in Banff National Park?  Apparently nothing is sacred anymore. While I'm not going to tell gays and lesbians that they are wrong, I believe that freedom of speech allows me to say that I do not appreciate public displays of affection betwee...

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/12/29/cibc-banker-age-discrimination.html You bet, there's discrimination. As a former manager with one of Canada's big banks, I can attest to the fact that theses companies do indeed base their "redundancy" decisions on age and seniority. Why keep a long-term, middle-aged employee earning an $80K salary when they can pay $40K to someone fresh out of university. It's all about the bottom line. I can cite dozens of redundancy situations where excellent employees were terminated from their jobs simply because they were over 45 years of age and too high on the pay scale. During my tenure with the bank, I had the unpleasant task of down-sizing entire departments on several occasions.  I was given this verbal directive:  take a look at your staff and cut the ones with the highest salaries and the ones within five years of retirement.  Of course, this was never in writing and I was told not to refer to these measures in an e...

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/12/18/bc-herpes-disability-claim-rejected.html Since when is an STD an accident?  Not that people mean to get them, but when over 50% of sexually active Americans (and assumably Canadians) have an STD, chances are pretty good that if you can't keep it in your pants, you're going to wish you had. Now, while I feel bad that Mr. Gibbens is now paralyzed from the midsection down, I can't really feel bad at how it came about.  If it had been a car accident where he'd been hit by a drunk driver, or been tripped and fallen down a flight of stairs, feeling of sorrow may stir within me, but the guy was sleeping around without protection.  Not that I'm saying he got what he deserved, but let's face it, it was no accident. I'm a fan of the Supreme Court's comment: "Such a conclusion would stretch the boundaries of an accident policy beyond the snapping point and convert it into a comprehensive insura...

CBC News - Money - Carney: Don't be seduced by low interest rates So six months ago, the government was telling us things like: "We're on the road to recovery." "Consumer confidence is the key to the turnaround." "It's time for business as usual." Basically, the message was to go out there and spend money. Now, backtracking faster than a hunter who came across a grizzly, the government is telling us to stop and think a little bit. (What??? They want us to think for ourselves? So much for the single-brained society I thought they were trying to acheive.) Why is anyone surprised that debt has gone up during this economic downturn? Where do they think people who had been laid off were going to get money from? Not the friendly Canadian government, to be sure. Oh, wait, let's go to our neighbourhood bank, who is more than willing to lend us whatever we need to get back on our feet. Has anyone else noticed the rising price of bi...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580405,00.html I'm impressed.  Go France!  Here is a country who knows who they are and what they are and they want to keep it that way!  Now, I'm not saying that I agree with everything that France is trying to do here, but I like the principle.  What would happen if we asked Canadians what it means to be Canadian?  (And by this I mean real Canadians - at least those whose parents were born in our fair nation.)  Would the Canadian idenity have to do with The Hudson's Bay Company?  Indiginous people groups? Metis?  French Canada?  Farming, fishing or forestry?  Christianity?  Or would it roll into Punjab and Hindi?  Muslim and Sikh?  While I don't believe in other faiths but Christianity, I'm not going to tell people they're wrong or that they can't worship which ever god they chose - it is a part of our rights and freedoms as Canadians.  However, when the world looks at our count...

http://www.windmobile.ca/WIND-news/detail/globalive-welcomes-govt-canada-decision-and-prepares-bring-wind-mobile-market/ I read an article several days ago in regards to the new Wind network that is making its way to Canada. The network and company were approved by the Canadian government and then denied after spending 442 million dollars on air rights by the CRTC. I was extremely happy to read today that the government has overturned the decision by the CRTC and the Wind network can now start providing service for the Canadian people! I, unfortunately, still have 2 years left on a contract signed with Bell Mobility, and I have not been impressed at all with their customer service. I have discovered a lot of blame placing and they have taken no responsibility for their own warranty and employees. I hope that the Wind network can create some good healthy competition in our wireless realm, so we can start paying reasonable rates for a good plan (like our neighbours to the South have ...

Socks Warm Your Heart How amazing is it that our kids are getting invovled in helping the less fortunate?  I know socks may not seem like much to some people, but for me, one with perpetually cold feet, a warm pair of socks are often very much appreciated.  While I would normally have something to say about the homeless situation, I want to focus on this precious little girl (and, well, a really, really ignorant comment).  I say way to go Sarah Lewis and keep up the good work!  I hope no one ever does anything to discourage her.  If she has already accomplished as much as she has at her age, imagine what she'll be able to do 10, 20 years down the road! Here comes my beef (comments on the above linked article):     Neil Gregory wrote: "venividivici wrote, "If a young girl of 7 yrs old..can do miracles for the homeless, why doesn't the government -- be it federal, provincial, municipal....can not come close to it? " Could it be that our govern...

Heating Oil Poured into Wrong House Ready... Set... Go! (Steps on to soapbox, clears throat, begins...) There are so many things I could say here, I scarcely know where to start, but you must know by now that all of us here at SYPH and GH have little trouble expressing ourselves (we live on a soapbox, remember). First that this even made the FRONT PAGE of CBC.com is astounding.  Appparently we're hard up for news this week. Moving right along... dude in a truck drives up to a house, presumably he checks to make sure he's got the right one (let's give him the benefit of the doubt, shall we?), and proceeds to pump oil into a fill pipe.  Now, I've never lived in a house that uses heating oil, so I don't know all the specifics of this, but these are supposed to be professionals delivering this stuff, are they not?  I assume that this is a potentially highly dangerous and flammable subtance that they are delivering, not to mention, expensive, especially in this...

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/12/10/h1n1-pandemics-study.html Ya think? I said, right from the beginning, that this whole H1N1 thing was blown way out of proportion.  The media caused a frenzy all over the world, predicting a pandemic unlike any ever known before.  What they will do to sell a story.  And look at how many people fell for it. I'm not disputing the fact that H1N1 should be taken seriously and treated with care . . . just like any other communicable disease.  But let's put things in perspective here.  The annual deaths resulting from your ordinary run-of-the-mill flu far outnumber those from swine flu.  Far.  Really far.  I won't bore you with the statistics, but do your homework and you'll see I'm right. Now that the "crisis" has passed without too much hoopla, the media is spinning their story in the other direction.  They're leaking information such as the article referenced above - an article that wouldn't have ...

Virginia Veteran Gets Extra Week Before He Must Remove Flag or Face Consequences Now, I'm not American, nor do I wish to be.  I am proudly Canadian.  But this story stuck out like a sore thumb.  I personally know American war veterans and am proud to call them friends and family. These men and women have worked and fought valliantly when other could not or would not.  Personally, I think they have earned the right to fly their flag whenever and where ever they please.  How ignorant and petty of the housing association to tell someone that they cannot wave Old Glory in their yard.  "This is not about the American flag. This is about a flagpole," Oh come on!  Just shut your pie hole and go home!  Let the man fly his flag - it'll save you from looking like a complete donkey on the world stage. Can't fly the national flag - BAH! - if only more Canadians would take as much pride in our standard!  Long live the maple leaf!

Now, I admit that we ministers here at SYPH and GH tend to have a lot of negative things to say - granted we are conservative soap-boxers - but there are times when an encouraging word is most welcome.  What I just had the pleasure of experiencing was amazingly simple at most. A gentleman just walked out of my office.  He is not Canadian by birth, nor is he of Christian faith.  I'm okay with that.  We, here in Canada, have been granted the freedom of religion and the freedom to practice our chosen faith.  This man is a successful business man and owns a successful company.  He is well-groomed and well-dressed, well-spoken with an Indian accent.  I'm okay with that. This being the Christmas season, our mailboxes are being filled with requests for non-perishable food items, money, toys, etc. from an assortment of profitable and non-profitable organisations.  Many include small gifts in hope of inspiring us to also give.  A lot of these flye...

Yesterday after work, I paid a visit to our local mall.  I had a few things to pick up and planned to be in and out as quickly as possible.  Easy enough.  I failed, however, to factor in the rudeness and complete lack of respect demonstrated by more people that I care to say. I was bumped, pushed, and cut off - in a shopping environment that was not all that busy at the time I was there.  There was not even a slight attempt made at being polite or considerate.  I should add here that the majority of these rude people were either of a different nationality or under the age of 25. A question was posed.  "Didn't their mothers teach these people any manners?"  I replied, "Obviously not."  And perhaps their mothers didn't have manners either. I am so thankful that my parents taught me manners.  My teachers taught me manners, too, but I don't think they do that in schools anymore. What happened to simple respect?  It would seem obvious...

I'm tired. I'm tired of politics. I'm tired of hearing every language but english. I'm tired of inconsistency. I'm tired of being told that children can't pray in school. I'm tired of hearing about abuse, neglect, and discrimination. Please, please, please - if you want to  move to Canada, read the values that our constitution states. Believe in them. Agree to them. Follow the guidelines set in place. If you don't want to do those things, please don't come. Stay home. Please. We Canadians are tired.