Blue Like You

Archive for July 25th, 2007

Interesting Full Comment piece by Barbara Kay about three parent families.

Personally, I’m not going to get into it, but anyone who wants to is welcome.

H/T to BATB at CBL for pointing out this gem by Christie Blatchford - Don’t get deafened by the noise - do something.

Christie paints a picture of the very poignant scene that caught my eye as well on the news coverage - that of the line of children holding hands and being led away from the scene of the shooting of Ephraim Brown in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

When I saw that clip, I was trying to understand why children of that age would be up at that hour in the first place, much less wandering around outdoors in the dark during a very large and rowdy party.

The police had apparently been there earlier in the evening. Yesterday’s Post carried an article in the print edition, “Police say accused has gang history”(Sorry I don’t have the link):

“…Police visited the party at about 10 a.m. (typo), three hours before the shooting to ask the party-goers to turn down their music, said Alisha Pomnainville. As the night progressed, said Detective Sergeant Gary Giroux, strangers started blending int the party crowd. A dispute led to multiple shots being fired, one of which hit the 11-year-old in the neck…”

In an accompanying article, Pomnainville relates more of the story:

On Saturday night her five year-old, Jahqwan, went to the birthday party for his friend Jayshawn, who was turning seven. Two 18-year-olds celebrated their birthdays in the same home that night, and by 9 p.m. the crowd had grown to more than 100, she said.

“You could feel there was a bad mood in the air,” she said. “All these young men were standing there looking at each other, and every boy had their hoodies on.”

She grabbed her boy and went home; a few hours later shots rang out and another boy was dead.

So this mother correctly relied on her maternal instincts and common sense and got her youngster away from potential danger.

There were many warnings signs of problems before the tragic event occurred. Yet obviously many parents chose to turn a blind eye.

Blatchford, in her op-ed, describes the need to look at the many small parts of this disturbing puzzle that contribute to the overall problem. I would suggest that the mothers and any available fathers take a long, hard look at themselves first.

Yet there is so much noise, in the wake of Ephraim’s slaying, that the temptation is to give up, do nothing, or in the more modern manner, parrot some of the noise and do nothing. The trick, rather, is to do a little and pray others do the same.

We’ll all do our part, but I pray that the parents take responsibility as well.

L. Ian MacDonald gives us a science lesson.

And I’m still having trouble figuring out this double negative:

Climate change? Something is going on. There hasn’t been an evening in the last two weeks when it hasn’t been cool enough to start the fireplace - in July. In two decades of summers here, this has never happened before.

Thanks, Ian. I can skip today’s brain teaser. (That should set up Red Tory quite nicely for a snarky comment.)

Related: Good chance Mayor Andy Wells isn’t a member of the Gore-Suzuki fan club.

Warren Kinsella eats humble pie in his July 24th entry. For those who didn’t quite catch his sexist thought bubble, you can read all about it here and here and here.

Personally, I enjoy Warren’s columns in the National Post, and most of his blog entries. However, this little vendetta against Hillier is becoming somewhat tiresome.

I was very disappointed by the ‘cookies’ reference. He can do better. Anyway, I admire his taking the high road, although he still managed to get a few parting digs in.

John Wayne said “Never apologize and never explain - It’s a sign of weakness“. (She Wore a Yellow Ribbon).

I strongly disagree. It takes tremendous courage and humility to make a genuine apology and learn from your mistakes.

And we all make mistakes.