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The Citizen, 2005-04-07, Page 5Other Views THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2005. PAGE 5. Counting our blessings 77 has been said that democracy is the worst form of government - except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. - Winston Churchill Winnie was right, you know. We love to bitch and moan about our political leaders - Jack ‘motormouth’ Layton, Stephen ‘Hang 'em high’ Harper, Paul ‘Mr. Dithers’ Martin - but do you see any other world leaders you’d trade them in for? Tony Blair? Pass. Russia’s lemur-eyed Putin? No thanks. Italy’s slap-happy scandal magnet Silvio Berlusconi? Forget it. George ‘the world is my oil well’ Bush? I don’t think so. Ottawa may operate on a narrow spectrum that ranges from timid to hapless, but given the morons and madmen the rest of the world endures, that’s not so bad. T’was ever thus. The pages of history are littered with homicidal megalomaniacs who rose to positions of power and pro­ ceeded to ladle out grief and misery by the bucket. Alexander the Great, Attila, Genghis Khan - all guys you didn’t want to get on the wrong side of. Cleopatra, the Borgias, Napoleon. Various British kings and Spanish queens. Not a few Popes and sundry Caesars, including Nero who murdered his own mother and installed his horse in the Roman Senate. And there are millions of people still alive who remember when monsters named Mussolini, Hirohito and Hitler lurched upon the earth. Ceausescu. Pol Pot. Saddam Hussein. The beat goes on. Fame doesn’t guarantee success No new MPP in memory has attracted as much attention as Progressive Conservative leader John Tory, but it still does not guarantee him quick success. The interest is understandable. First Conservatives have been in government 50 of the last 62 years and their leaders are almost as assured of becoming premier as a boss’s son of heading his father’s company. The Conservatives’ only full (as distinct from interim) leader not to make it to premier in six decades was Larry Grossman in the 1980s. He had the bad timing to take over his party when it had been rejected after 42 years in government which had helped make them lazy and arrogant. Few were in a rush to bring it back. Tory’s prospects are increased further because the Liberal government of Premier Dalton McGuinty has had a shaky year-and-a- half start and been mostly low in polls. Voters also are volatile and have changed governments four times in the last six elections. Tory additionally is helped because he has promised to make his Conservatives radically different from those under premiers Mike Harris and later Emie Eves who were rejected by voters in 2003. Harris particularly was ultra right-wing in policies and abrasive in style and Tory says he will resemble more the long line of leaders who had moderate policies and style and kept his party in government without a break from 1943-85. Tory’s chances also have increased because there is no sign the New Democrats are regaining anything like the popularity that won them government in 1990 and the huge deficits they ran up remain a dirty word among voters. If another party is elected, it would have to be the Conservatives and some are licking Arthur Black South America has groaned under its Perons and Pinochets. And poor Africa is still raddled with genocidal thugs who rule by terror and grind their own people in the dust. Look around. We could be living under Muammar Gadaffi, the Libyan fruitcake, who sponsors terrorists, writes incomprehensible ‘best sellers’ and once deported Palestinian refugees, telling them to ‘walk back to Palestine’. Or how about North Korea’s Kim Jong 11? A dumpy little creep with permed hair, platform shoes and designer sunglasses who arranges elaborate orgies for himself (of food and women) and orders billboards erected that declare “Our Great Leader Is Always With Us” and “We Are Happy”. And all the while his people starve, sometimes to the point of eating grass. Yeah, Ottawa’s looking pretty good - and I haven’t even got to Saparmurat Niyazov. This is a chap you perhaps haven’t heard of, but the people of Turkmenistan (population 5 million) know him only too well. He’s their self-appointed President For Life - no annoying and inconvenient four-year terms for Niyazov - and you can tell he really loves his job by the way he keeps issuing decrees. Last year he instituted a national holiday in honour of the muskmelon. He also Eric Dowd From Queen’s Park their lips at the vision of returning to power as early as the next election in 2007. Dates are now fixed by law for every four years. Against this, governing parties that were defeated have not returned to power quickly. The Conservatives took 10 years to win their way back after being pushed out in 1985, and the Liberals 13 years after being defeated in 1990. New MPPs who entered the legislature amid intense interest - although not as much as now focused on Tory - also have had mixed fortunes. Bob Rae, who brought a reputation as a brilliant young finance critic in the Commons, made it to premier, a huge feat for a New Democrat, but it took him eight years. Former food bank director Gerard Kennedy, articulate and photogenic, found many Liberals wanted him as leader when he won a by-election in 1996 in a riding their party had not won in 70 years. But established, cautious party members felt he was too new and left­ wing opted for McGuinty. Morton Shulman, a coroner who battled the Conservative government and had a TV series modeled after him, was expected to put the fear of death in other parties when he was elected for the NDP in the 1960s. However, he often lacked facts to support his criticisms and quickly faded. Tory may find it difficult to offer moderate commanded a university student who was reading a speech praising him to get her gold teeth removed and replaced with white ones. “Here is the Health Minister” Niyazov said, waving at one of his flunkies, “He will give you white teeth.” The guy gets weirder. He has banned beards and listening to car radios. He has declared opera and ballet illegal. He has ordered television show hosts not to wear makeup because, he says, he has difficulty distinguishing heavily-made-up males from females. But that’s the little stuff. President Niyazov dreams much bigger than that. He has already declared that his citizens will remain adolescents until they are 25. Youth in Turkmenistan officially doesn’t end until 37. Old age kicks in at age 85. Oh yes, and he’s also ordered an ice palace to be built so that Turkmenistan! children can learn to ski. Did I mention that Turkmenistan is nine- tenths desert? It is one of the hottest hellholes on the planet where summertime temperatures routinely hit 125 degrees Fahrenheit. It is also dirt-poor and a stranger to the concept of air- conditioning. An ice palace should work out just swell. So by all means speak out about the idiocies of Ottawa and the poltroons and prevaricators who befoul provincial politics. Write incendiary letters to the editor. Call up the local Open Mouth radio show and vent your spleen ‘til you run out of breath. But every once in a while remind yourself that the very fact that we can rant and rave to our heart’s content places us among a very blessed - and tiny - minority on the planet. policies when rhe Liberals occupy so much of the middle ground. He will have trouble disassociating himself from his party’s reputation in government of starving services while dining lavishly in the best hotels. Tory says his Conservatives will win respect by avoiding personal attacks and increasing decorum in debates, but he has an aggressive and raucous caucus which he will have a problem restraining. The Liberals also have quietly climbed to 44 per cent in the most recent poll, which traditionally has been enough to win a majority. They have done this by steadily bringing in programs to protect residents including banning smoking in enclosed public spaces and workplaces by next spring, curbing pit bulls and preserving greenbelt. These are things earlier Conservatives should have done, but failed, and Tory is now well-known enough he will be asked why. The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters that are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis of unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate information. As well, letters can only be printed as space allows. Please keep your letters brief and concise. Bonnie Gropp The short of it Why risk it? Q Q "T-f you can always be cheerful, ignoring I aches and pains, if youzcan resist JLcomplaining and boring people with your troubles, if you can take criticism and blame without resentment, if you have no prejudice against creed, colour, religion or politics, then my friend, you are almost as good as your dog.” This is just part of a “Thought for the Day” that hangs on my office wall, a little reminder of how terrific our four-legged pals can be. I love dogs. I am in awe of their instincts, their patience and loyalty. Our Ani was my empty-nest solution. For a year she was the object of my slavish devotion, of all the affection and attention 1 used to be able to dole out daily to four children. And then our grandson arrived, and as is often the case, the family pet was relegated to a new status. Yet, she instinctively understood how special this little guy was and became, despite his often indifferent manner to her, his number one protector and friend. When Mitchell decides to take one of his little slides down the bannister, Ani shadows him on the steps. When he goes to bed, she lies outside his door. However, she is a dog, a complex creature descended from wolves. Not to suggest that Ani’s vicious; my girl is actually a bit of a suck. But when she slips into protective mode who knows. There is a minute probability she could react in a negative manner under specific circumstances, even with someone she loves. And those really big teeth kind of get your attention. Mitchell, therefore, is constantly advised on how to act around dogs and is not left alone in Ani’s company. I don’t believe anything would happen; I’m just not going to take the chance. There are breeds, however, that would seem to make the probability of a problem higher. Information regarding wnership of dobermans, rottweilers, pitbulls and German shepherds advises strongly that the breeds receive careful and consistent training. The very responsible website I found for dobermans even stated that the dogs must be under control both physically and mentally, that if they are not properly trained they are “capable of doing great harm to someone - even a family member.” Dog lovers will tell you the owners are the problem, not the dog. Unfortunately, there is no way of guaranteeing only responsible people own these breeds. And even the most responsible unfortunately may underestimate their dog. Years ago a friend of mine with the gentlest doberman ever was walking in a park with some pals and their dobermans. Rounding a comer he was shocked to see the three dogs circling a child on a bike. Worse yet, the men had a difficult time calling off their ‘well-trained’ pooches. It’s puzzling why sensible people would choose to own a breed of dog with a history. Sure the potential for an attack is there with any dog. As a child I had a terrier/chihuahua that was the nastiest little critter you could ever meet. Nipped on a regular basis. But even as a kid, I was bigger than him. There was no fear of being overpowered. Last week a suspected pitbull was loose in Brussels and concern was high. Kids were kept in school at recess and escorted home at day’s end. Anything else was too big a risk to take. It may have been the nicest pitbull in the world, but when a dog like this decides to turn, at best it’s going to hurt.