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Home My WebLink AboutThe Times Advocate, 2008-01-09, Page 44 Times—Advocate Wednesday, January 9, 2008 OC =CNA T. Editorial Opinion 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 costs. Canada Jim Beckett— Publisher Deb Lord — Production Manager Scott Nixon — Editor CNA 2007 BLUE RIBBON /\ t The Times -Advocate is owned by Metroland Media Group Ltd. Metroland 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850 Media Group Ltd. Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6 • 519-235-1331 Doug Rowe -General Manager, Southwestern Ontario Division EDITORIAL Looking south Abs interest in the 2008 U.S. presidential election heats up, and candidates on oth sides of the political fence battle for momentum, there is a stark contrast between U.S. elections and how we feel about an election north of the border. In the U.S., election fever seems to have gripped the country, while here in Canada we suffer from perpetual election fatigue. American elections always seem to include a cast of interesting characters (Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Ron Paul to name a few), while in Canada we're left to wonder why our politicians are so boring and uninspiring. Stephen Harper? Stephane Dion? Is anyone inspired by them? Is anyone excited at the thought of listening to them speak? Are any among us willing to be swept up in a wave of momentum to support either one of these men? Are these the type of men who can even drum up the kind of spirit that an Obama can? While many Americans can't wait to get rid of President George W. Bush, in Canada we don't know what we want. Harper and his Conservatives have done a competent job run- ning a minority government, but polls suggest we're not comfortable enough with the Tories to give them a majority. As for Dion, his tenure as Liberal leader has been at best a disappointment and at worst a disaster. He's had more than a year to get his party in shape to restore the Grits to power, but that party seems no closer to succeeding in an election than it was 14 months ago. Dion should prob- ably be replaced as leader if things don't start improving soon. But as Canadians, we don't seem all that concerned. The country keeps rolling along, while we've lived under the threat of a federal election ever since Harper was elected. Many of us seem more interested in the U.S. election than in the possibility of having one here. While we wait for an election to be called here, we'll watch with interest what happens south of the border. With Clinton battling tears under the pressure Monday, things are starting to get fun. WANT MY AUTOGRAPH, KBD? Distributed by Canadian Artists Syndicate Relaxing in the backyard Relaxing in the backyard "How hard can it be?" says new homeowner, think- ing as he looks at his (relatively) flat back yard in the midst of a snowy December that it seemed like a per- fect plan. Combine snow, water and a few hours that would have seen said homeowner lying prone on the couch anyway and use them to build the perfect all Canadian backyard skating rink. Once the rink was completed, it would all fall into place. The nieces and nephews would respectfully lineup to politely thank their uncle for building them a rink, call him sir, strap their Sears catalogues (what else are they good for?) to their shins and quietly troop outside for a few solid hours, leaving our homeowner as the hero rather than the guy telling them to "get out from in front of the TV/away from the TV/give me back my TV leading to the cries for mother about bad old uncle yelling at them. Homeowner/uncle continues to see the bene- fits as the rink will separate the nieces and nephews with the natural athletic ability who should be showered with affection from the ones with none who would get none. So with thoughts of no kids in the house dancing in the head, homeowner asks wife if she wants to partici- pate in the project. Wife, noticing the shovel being brandished hopefully in her direction, looks at homeowner/husband and (with thoughts of no husband yelling at hippy/commies on television for the rest of the afternoon) merely says "go ahead honey, have a good time," although home- owner/husband realizes wife means not a good time in the way of "go ahead honey and have a good time with Andy in Las Vegas," but more of the "go ahead, have a good time and try not to drive up our insurance rates" good time. So homeowner heads for the great outdoors before noticing cat crouched under the table waiting for its usual time to strike. Homeowner remembers the shovel still clenched in his hand and briefly considers the idea but decides to wait until spring when the evidence can more easily be dis- posed off. Many hours later, sometime after midnight homeowner, after a brisk afternoon of shov- elling, commences to drag the hose from the basement to do his best Walter Gretzky, qui- etly dragging hundreds of feet of not so neatly coiled hose up the stairs in such a way as not to disturb the sleeping wife. Homeowner dodges the attempt of cat to climb under his feet while on the stairs then wraps the hose around several of the empties consumed during a thirsty after- noon of rink constructing. Making it outside, homeowner sets the hose down in a carefully coiled roll and considers the ice laden water tap... Next time: Ice Age The (homeowner) Meltdown PAT B BACK 4 VIEW OLEN 0 About the Times -Advocate Address & Office Hours Times -Advocate, 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6. 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Deadline: Fri. 2 p.m. Web site: www.southhuron.com E-mail Us TA e-mail addresses consist of the person's first initial and last name followed by @southhuron.com. For example, Jim Beckett's e-mail address is jbeckett@southhuron.com Our general e-mail address is ads@southhuron.com. The Times -Advocate Team Publisher Jim Beckett ext. 109 ADVERTISING Deborah Schillemore ext. 112 EDITOR Scott Nixon ext. 105 REPORTERS Pat Bolen ext. 113 Nina Van Lieshout ext. 107 CUSTOMER SERVICE Sue Rollings ext. 101 Jennifer Skonieczny ext. 102 PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Manager Deb Lord Nikki Cyr ext. 103/114 ext. 101 Kelly Gackstetter ext. 101 ACCOUNTING STAFF Anita McDonald ext. 104 Ruth Slaght ext. 106 Marg Pertschy ext. 108 Heather Clarke ext. 111