The Citizen, 2006-02-16, Page 5Final Thought
The ultimate measure of a man is not where
he stands in moments of comfort, but where
he stands at times of challenge and
controversy.
— Martin Luther King, Jr
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006. PAGE 5.
Other Views
What's the problem, officer?
/once knew a radio sportscaster who was
pulled over by the cops for speeding down
Jarvis Street in Toronto. He still had a can,
of beer in his hand when the cop came to his'
window.
"I'll have to ask you to step out and walk a
straight line for me," said the cop.
The sportscaster laughed. "(Bleep), officer, I
couldn't walk a straight line."
He wasn't laughing the next day, but he was
walking. For the next six months, after the
judge got through with him.
Still, I give him credit. At least he didn't try
to bamboozle the cop with some lame-o
excuse.
Traffic cops have heard them all. Bad
enough they have to spend hours sitting in a
cruiser by the side of a highway gnawing stale
donuts and squinting at a radar gun while cars
and trucks whiz by inches from their ears. On
top of that, they have to hear the alibis.
I really had to go to the bathroom.
I didn't see any sign.
The accelerator pedal sticks.
I was late for a job interview.
No wonder they throw the book at us.
Mind yop, some speeders are at least a wee
bit creative. A highway patrolman in Illinois
remembers the woman who blew through a red
light at a major intersection. He flagged her
down and asked her why she ignored the light.
She told him she'd just had her brakes
repaired, it had been very expensive and "she
didn't want to wear them out".
Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty and
some of his senior ministers have
suddenly discovered they have deep
affection for three former opponents appointed
to powerful positions in the new Conservative
federal government and it is touching.
The premier has appealed to Jim, Flaherty,
now Prime Minister Stephen Harper's finance
minister, Tony Clement, health minister, and
John Baird, president of treasury board, to
forgive and forget past differences.
It was a bit of a turnaround, because when
the three were ministers in Ontario
governments under premiers Mike Harris and
Ernie Eves, they were, as extreme right-
wingers, favourite targets of McGuinty and his
Liberals, who now worry they will seek
revenge, particularly when doling out money.
McGuinty sounded like he was welcoming
back long-lost friends and said he was very
pleased they are ministers and looked forward
to working with them, because they have a
good understanding of Ontario's problems.
McGuinty said past quarrels were with
"another government at another time in
history" and all involved owed it to the people
of Ontario to start anew.
McGuinty's finance minister, Dwight
Duncan, said he was particularly keen to work
with Flaherty and Health Minister George
Smitherman added he was not only
enthusiastic about Clement as his federal
counterpart, but "I know Tony well and I like
him."
The notoriously pugnacious Srnitherman
had concealed his admiration, because he once
- complained Clement, who had launched a
libel suit against McGuinty, was a schoolyard
pansy, running to teacher every time
something tough was said and too. thin-
skinned to be in politics.
Clement filed the extremely rare suit when
he was municipal- affairs minister, after
McGuinty claimecl_a letter he wrote interfered
with the land planning process, helped a
developer and was corrupt. The Liberal took a
long time to retract.
Ticket.
A British traffic patrolman chased a speeder
for seven miles, siren wailing, lights flashing,
before the driver finally pulled over. He
claimed he 'hadn't noticed' the police car on
his tail.
Then he added, "I won't lie. I normally do
60 up here. I should know better. I ran over a
woman last week."
Ticket. Followed by license suspension.
A cop in Ohio remembers the attractive
woman he pulled over for speeding one day,
who also wasn't wearing her seatbelt.
When he asked why, she said, "I'm an exotic
dancer, and the seatbelt pinches my nipple
rings. So I don't wear a seatbelt 'cause it hurts
if I do. If you don't believe me, I'll show you."
The officer declined the offer. As did the
traffic court judge, who found her guilty of
speeding AND failing to buckle up.
But my favourite speeder-versus-cop story
happened right here in Canada. On the
outskirts of Medicine Hat as a matter of fact.
Early one winter morning RCMP Constable
Bill Wisen spotted a car pulled over on the
McGuinty also charged Clement, when
health minister, "had plenty of money for spin
doctors, but none for nurses" and another
Liberal, Mike Colle, now a minister, accused
Clement of "wining and dining developers"
while leaving ordinary folks in the cold.
A third Liberal, speaking outside the
legislature, where the word is not allowed,
accused Clement of "lying," so he cannot have
fond memories of Ontario Liberal opponents.
McGuinty accused Flaherty of racism when,
as deputy premier, he said the Liberal. federal
government financed a massive bureaucracy to
look after aboriginals' health, but was miserly
with the provinces, who had to provide health
care to "real people in real towns — that is
where the real dollars should be."
McGuinty said it was "incredible this stuff
should come from a minister aspiring to be
premier," as Flaherty did.
McGuinty also charged Flaherty repaid a
racetrack in his riding for a donation by
allowing it many more profitable slot
machines than it was entitled to. He belittled
Flaherty's last job as minister of enterprise,
opportunity and innovation, to which he was
demoted, as a "make-work project," Flaherty
shoulder of the Trans Canada. The car was still
running, but it wasn't going anywhere.
Constable Wisen pulled in behind the stuck
car and walked up to the driver's window. He
found a man passed out at the wheel, an empty
bottle of Smirnoff's lying on the front
passenger seat. The constable tapped on the
window. The driver stirred and opened his
bloodshot eyes to find:
Cherry lights of an RCMP cruiser flashing
in his rear-view mirror.
A large, unsmiling RCMP constable
standing next to his window.
His powerful muscle car idling and ready to
roll.
"Oh, bleep," the driver says approximately,
slams the car into gear and floors it. The
engine roars. The speedometer registers 50-
60-80 kph. The driver, white-knuckling the
steering wheel, looks around.
Incredibly, the cruiser is still right on his tail
and — more incredibly — the cop is still at the
window — and he's not even out of breath!
The driver keeps it to the mat for another 20
seconds. The car and the cop are still there.
"Pull over!" yells the cop. The driver's nerve
snaps. He stomps on the brakes and turns, off
the key.
Which is when the driver discovers two
important facts. Number one: he's facing
possible charges of DUI and resisting arrest....
Number two: his car is stuck in a snow bank.
There are hangovers. And then there are
hangovers.
also cannot feel warm toward the premier.
Baird has had run-ins with Ontario Liberals
starting as a student, when he tried to ask then
premier David Peterson a question and was
arrested and fined after he refused a police
request to move on.
Liberals also have taunted him because, as
energy minister during the SARS health crisis
that originated in Asia, when Ontarians were
apprehensive about visitors from that area, he
told reporters jokingly "I enjoyed my trip to
Asia" and they charged he was cruel and
insensitive.
Flaherty and Baird particularly are partisan
enough they would relish avenging past slights
by McGuinty's Liberals, given an easy
opportunity.
But they will be restrained, because
Harper's overriding agenda includes winning
popularity in Ontario, where voters did not
welcome him as enthusiastically as some other
provinces did in the federal election.
Some skirmishes between the two levels of
government Will be unavoidable, but Harper
will not want his ministers seen getting into
side issues like retaliating for past hurts, so
McGuinty and company can get off their knees
and stop grovelling.
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Take heart
/t was one of those laid-back snow days. Our
family was cozy and comfortable indoors,
while the wind whipped the winter
wonderland around outside. /
Then the ring of the telephone broke through
the calm. After a few minutes of conversation,
my husband passed it to me, saying, "It's not
good."
Someone close to me had suffered a heart
attack, a rather serious one as it turned out.
It's always a shock when we learn of a family
member or friend becoming seriously ill or
worse. But what made this even more so waS
the fact that this woman is relatively young and
takes care of herself. She eats properly and
maintains a healthy weight.
When someone is so conscious of her diet,
you tend to forget to consider genetics,
however. As it turns out, she's not the first in her
family to suffer a heart attack. Which may very
well be why she lived the way she did. We may
not be able to control genetic inheritance, but
research has given us plenty of ammunition to
fight heart disease.
Can we still be sure of that, though? Last
week the media carried a story, ironically
coming to light during Heart and Stroke Month,
which outlined some disheartening findings.
Research involving 49,000 post-menopausal
women, aged 50-79, indicated that a low-fat
diet doesn't appear to protect women from
heart disease, nor for that matter breast and
colon cancers as believed.
Forty per cent of the study participants were
given a low-fat diet with an increased amount
of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. The
remainder ate as they always had. After eight
years of follow-up, it was determined that there
was no overall difference in the risk of breast
and colon cancers, heart disease and stroke
between the participants in each group.
Initially this discovery would seem to suggest
that the advice we have lived with and believed
in for more than 30 years was a messenger of
false promise.
Yet... studies, I've come to think, often fall
short of the complete story. For example, some
polyunsaturates, we now know are actually
heart healthy. However, lower levels of these
were consumed by the low-fat participants
which therefore could have influenced the
findings.
As well the study didn't address weight. But,
many of the participants were overweight, a
fact everyone knows can predispose someone to
heart attack or stroke.
True the findings may not have beerrWhat
was hoped for. But take heart. experts still
believe in low-fat.. A cancer research scientist
stated to the Journal of the American Medical
Association; 'Feb. 8, that the study did uncover
some "favourable trends".
There were significant results in the low-fat
group with thewomen who .had the highest fat
intake at the beginning of the study. These
people were 15-22 per cent less likely than
those on a normal .diet to be diagnosed with
breast cancer.
Certainly, stories such as that of my friend
might add weight to the study. But what we will
never know is whether her heart attack might
have come sooner had she not followed the
rules.
I believe we've been on the right course. We
have learned considerably more about nutrition
and diet over the years. Avoid the trans and
saturated fats which we've come to know are
lethal, and over-indulge in vegetables and
fruits. Get active. Stop smoking. It's common
sense.
McGuinty woos former opponents
Bonnie
Gropp
The short of it