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Home My WebLink AboutThe Times Advocate, 2004-11-24, Page 44 Exeter Times—Advocate Wednesday, November 24, 2004 =CNA TIMES ADVOCATE PUBLICATIONS MAIL REGISTRATION NUMBER 07511 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing casts. Jim Beckett Publisher and Editor Deb Lord Production Manager ii Published by Metroland Printing, ri Publishing & Distributing Ltd. Metroland 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850 Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6 • (519) 235-1331 EDITORIALS Parrish had to go uite simply, she had to go. MP Carolyn Parrish left Prime Minister Paul Martin no choice but to kick her out of tTh Liberal caucus last week after repeatedly bashing U.S. President George W. Bush and even her own party. In fact, it is probably her comments slamming the Liberals and Martin that got her fired, not her repeated tirades against Bush and Republicans. Martin had finally had enough last week when Parrish said she had no loyalty at all to her "team," and wouldn't shed a tear if Martin lost the next election. After referring to Americans as "bastards" and "idiots," Parrish stomped on the head of a Bush doll on "This Hour Has 22 Minutes." While some politicians and Canadians were screaming for Parrish's head after she first openly criticized Americans, she basically signed her own pink slip last week with her comments about Martin and his advisers, whom she said could "go to hell." Free speech is one thing; becoming a national embarrassment is quite another. It's perfectly OK to criticize the U.S., the presi- dent, Liberals and the prime minister, but to do it over and over again in Parrish's boorish man- ner while stating she doesn't care if her boss loses his job is simply too much. Parrish's behav- iour was less than professional and it's clear with her Bush -stomping routine, she had no plans of changing her ways. Comedy should be left to the comedians. It was important for Martin to take a stand and make Parrish accountable for her words and actions. Martin's toughness has been ques- tioned in the past and, even though he has a minority government and needs all the MPs he can get, he had to get rid of Parrish. Of course even that wasn't good enough to please some of Martin's opponents, who long ago wanted Parrish fired. Tory leader Stephen Harper leader complained that Martin didn't fire Parrish for the right reasons — that she was fired not for criticiz- ing Bush but for having the audacity to criticize Liberals and the prime minister. Harper apparent- ly thinks it's OK for the prime minister to be ver- bally attacked, but not the president. There's one more reason of many why Harper shouldn't ever be elected as prime minister — he wants nothing more than to cozy up to Uncle Sam. About the Times -Advocate Editorial Opinion Just another e-mail from abroad Receiving mail from another country, especially a country from the other side of the world used to have an exotic feel to it. A battered envelope would arrive from a location never seen before, with a mysterious looking stamp on it, and a foreign language scrawled across it. But messages from other countries aren't quite as dramatic anymore with the dozens, hun- dreds or in Bill Gates case millions, of e-mail we get every day, often starting with the phrase "my name is Peter and I work for a Nigerian Bank." But even an e-mail from Afghanistan still has drama to it when it comes from an old navy buddy, now posted in Kabul as part of the Canadian deployment there. It was just a note to say where he was and that he was looking forward to coming home for the holidays in December, along with the other routines of military life, such as he had just bought a house in Edmonton and was being posted to Victoria when he returned to Canada. But you could still almost see the dust rising from the e-mail, along with the heat, the smell and the noise of Kabul. With the country moving ahead steadily, Afghanistan has dropped off the map for media hooked on the crack of blood and failure. But while dangers remain, there was nothing in his message about the hazards of day-to-day life for the people stationed there. There was nothing about nation building, terror- ism, the notions of being stuck in a North American style traffic jam with a multi -ton armoured vehicle while trying to spot the Afghanistan style suicide bombers or about viruses that wouldn't make a local sneeze, but send Canadians sprinting for the nearest wash- room. His responsibilities have changed since the days we first walked up a gangplank togeth- er as brand new sailors whose biggest responsibilities were deciding who would scrub which patch of deck, and biggest wor- rys was the beer machine running dry with the guy whose job it was to fill it not around. Together we explored the finer establish- ments of a dozen different countries and always got each other back home, even if we couldn't read the signs, understand the cab drivers or remember which country we were in. But today in Afghanistan, he's part of the intelli- gence department, trying to protect his fellow Canadians and help lead/push/nudge a country into the 21st century. It wasn't the job he expected the day he signed up, but like the man said, you wear the uniform, you cash the paycheque and you take the mission they give you. PAT BO BACK 40 VIEW LEN Address & Office Hours Times -Advocate, 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6. 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