I don't want to go out with him

That's what I said to my Mother when Bob Irvine called to ask me out.  I was in grade nine at Lisgar and didn't fancy him at all.  "Go, you might meet someone else there," said Lily.  So I said yes.

We went to a movie at the Nelson on Rideau Street and I didn't meet anyone else.  When I attended the 175th Lisgar reunion in 2018, who was the first to make a bee line for me?  Bob Irvine.  We embraced warmly and he reminded me of our one-and-only date and which movie we had seen. 

Sadly, I saw his obituary the other day.  It brought back many memories of our halcyon days at Lisgar.  I saw that he had married and had two daughters.  I left a condolence on the obituary.  May he Rest in Peace.

__________________________

The following letters, among several, were not published, but should have been.  I think 'The Herald' is off me at the moment:

Dear Editor,

Carney's recent video to Canadians was a re-hash of unfulfilled pre-election promises, not a summary of actual accomplishments.  Yet, his poll numbers mysteriously remain consistently high. 

Puts one in mind of that old fable, "The Emperor's New Clothes", in which the emperor rides around town completely naked, while everyone raves and cheers about his beautiful new outfit.  It's baffling?  When will Canadians wake up and realize Mr. Carney is basically that naked emperor?

Nancy Marley-Clarke

Dear Editor,

I agree Carney is much more interested in Europe than in the country of which he is prime minister.  Apart from a few high-profile, photo-op trips in Canada, he has yet to travel to small towns and cities to show he is concerned about ordinary Canadians.

He also consistently snubs Parliament.  He has missed 100 of 136 Question Periods since taking office, which is truly shocking because Parliament is where Canada is governed.  Mr. Carney, however, behaves like an autocrat, giving away billions to other countries as he personally sees fit, with absolutely no Parliamentary oversight whatsoever, all while telling Canadians to tighten our belts and make do with less.

The sooner he moves on to grander pastures in Europe the better off this country will be.

Nancy Marley-Clarke

Giving us back our money

How stupid is the $100 fuel rebate Danielle Smith has announced because of high gas prices?!  Very.

My question always is, with oil right underneath our feet, why are gas prices so high?  It's partly because we can't refine it here.  It has to be shipped to Texas, which is dumb.  Estimates are that the rebate will cost the treasury $350 million.  Why not put that towards a refinery?  Why not put that into education?  Why not put that into doctors and hospitals?

We need these in Alberta.

She must think Albertans are pretty dumb, but listening to a phone-in radio show the other day, I realize they're pretty smart.  Not one caller thought it was a good idea to hand out money.  Everyone saw right through it to what it was:  A naked political stunt to buy votes.  With our own money!  Every, single caller said they were going to donate it to a good cause -- like giving it to handicapped Albertans who have just been stripped of half their allowance.

The kicker is that you have to apply for it, which those in most need will never be able to figure out, which, of course, is what Smith is counting on.  With everyone's tax information in government hands, there should be no need to have to apply.  So cynical.

So folks, it's Bread and Circuses all 'round with this premier.  Not fooling anyone.

And speaking of health care, the provincial auditor is going ahead with a forensic audit of contracting procedures at Alberta Health because a lot of funny business has been going on since Smith took over.  Athana Mentzelopoulos, former head of Alberta Health, was fired after she accused the Health minister and the Premier's office of fiddling and interfering in contracting procedures.  Gee, what a shocker! 

Frankly, I'm with Athana, who is now suing the minister for wrongful dismissal.  That'll be a fun audit to follow!

  

Interesting facts about slavery........

Re-printed from 'The Catholic League', by Bill Donahue:  

June 17, 2026

Slavery in America, imported by the British.

"Juneteenth is a federal holiday that commemorates the freeing of the last slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865. It will be commemorated this year by elite colleges and universities across the nation. This is rich given that most of those who ran these institutions at that time owned slaves.

"The Northeast Slavery Record Index is an online site that allows the public to access a host of records on slavery. Last year it posted, “Slavery by Alumni of Colonial Colleges.” It provides information on college officials and faculty that owned slaves.

"It listed the following Ivy League schools: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania. It also listed five other schools tied to slavery: Rutgers, University of Vermont, Williams, Union (Schenectady, NY) and Bowdoin.

"It is striking to note that only one Ivy League school, Cornell, did not have any slaveowners associated with it. But that is not a tribute to the university—it was not founded until slavery ended in 1865. Here’s a look at the Ivies.

• Harvard slaveowners included political leaders and the heads of prominent families. Records show that the university continued to benefit from slavery even after it was outlawed in Massachusetts in 1783;

• Yale was named after slave trader Elihu Yale. Under his tutelage, the school benefited greatly from the slave trade;

• Princeton was home to slave-owning trustees—16 of 23 bought, sold and traded slaves; some inherited them;

• Columbia was run by ten men who served as president during the slavery years, and at least half were slaveowners;

• Brown was founded by a family of the university’s namesake. They not only owned slaves, they were deep into the slave trade, participating in two voyages to secure more of them;

• Dartmouth founder Eleazar Wheelock owned at least 18 slaves, and at its Hanover campus in 1770, slaves outnumbered the faculty, administrators and trustees; and

• University of Pennsylvania’s benefactors, trustees and faculty owned slaves. The founder, Benjamin Franklin, owned seven of them.

"Many graduates of these institutions—both the Ivies and the other five—are quick to condemn all expressions of racism, real and contrived, and will no doubt be beating their breasts over slavery on June 19. But few will mention their alma mater’s slave-owning legacy.

"If there is one man who flouts his interest in fighting racism, and is a graduate of one of these slave-owning institutions, it is New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College.

New York Mayor Mamdani.

"Bowdoin received funding from benefactors who made their money from the slave trade. Most spectacular, in 1858 it awarded Jefferson Davis, who served as the president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, an honorary doctorate.

"In 1972, it doubled down by accepting an endowed gift from the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and established the Jefferson Davis Award. It took until 2015 before this award was discontinued.

"Mamdani graduated in 2014, before the award was nixed. Why didn’t he lead a protest against it? He had plenty of time to join organizations that sought to punish Israel.

"Today he is bellowing about the need of New York City to make reparations to African Americans. Where will he get the money? He says the money should be collected through a targeted tax on white people who live in the city today. But wouldn’t it be racist to fleece those who had nothing to do with slavery, save for sharing the same skin color of some of the slave-masters? (Note: free Blacks also owned slaves.)

"Given the slave-owning legacy of his alma mater, will Mamdani do something? To be specific, will he return his Bowdoin diploma, now that he knows it is soiled by the legacy of slavery?

"Will he dig into his own deep pockets—he is worth a fortune—and make reparations? He could begin by compensating every Black person in his employ. But it should not be up to him to decide how much—he should ask his African American employees how much he needs to pony up. If he is running low on cash, he can always ask his multi-millionaire Marxist parents to loan him the money (preferably interest-free).

"It is so easy to criticize dead people for not abiding by today’s standards, standards that will soon be deemed unjust by a new wave of left-wing zealots. It is much harder to swallow one’s own medicine. 

______________________

Canada had approximately 4,500 slaves between 1671 and 1834.  In 1793, Upper Canada, now Ontario, passed the 'Act Against Slavery'.  While it did not free existing slaves, it prohibited the importation of new slaves, making it the first anti-slavery legislature in the British Empire.

This walked onto the pool deck

I kid you not, a very overweight, middle-aged man strolled onto the pool deck the other day wearing this:

No one needs to look at this first thing in the morning.

There's a reason I no longer wear bikinis, ya, that reason.  Not that I'm fat, but there are a few bulges here and there that modesty dictates I not display.  I even have a long-sleeve suit to hide my upper arms.  They too are not as toned and smooth as they once were -- even with all my swimming.

I envy the Big Dogs at the pool.  All in their sixties, Chris, Don and Dave are still ripped.  None wears a speedo.  Chris is the fellow lane swimmer who is the Canadian national champ and won four golds and one silver in the world games in Singapore.  He is amazing!

So, I'll keep plugging along and try to keep the old lady at bay for a couple more years.

   

A car tale

Hand washing at Bubbles.

The other day, B and I ventured down to southeast Calgary to 'Bubbles' car wash.  $498 later, we have a virtually new car.  That's what a detailing job will run you there, but it's worth it.  I guess.

But what I really want to talk about is Carney's unjustified "trade" trip to Ireland.  There he was, debarking from the plane with his why-was-she-there? wife.  Instead of going to Washington to try and get the Gordie Howe Bridge open, he's stumbling around in Ireland finding his roots.

And we're paying for this personal pub crawl!

The new bridge is not opening because the Maroun family, which owns the old Ambassador Bridge, has convinced Trump to block it.  What I should say is that it's the Maroun's money that is blocking it -- the family that has given Trump and other Michigan politicians millions, so naturally they believe there should be no competition from the new bridge.  

The tolls on the new bridge -- which Canada paid for, by the way -- are half what the Maroun's charge, so guess which bridge will be used?  Rhetorical.  Their wealth exceeds $1.7 billion, but I guess it's not enough. 

And where is Carney?  Swanning around Ireland.  Since he came on the scene, 85 major corporations have moved their head offices to the U.S. -- including his own, Brookfield!  That's what his "elbows up" schtick is getting us.  Nothing.  The only binding trade deal we have is with Indonesia.  That's it.  And we actually had to give them $1 billion to sign it!!!

Folks, Ireland is a personal boondoggle and we're paying for it.  When will Canadians rouse from their torpor and wake up??!!  It is to weep.............

   

A complete failure

Any leader of any country who has to give his citizens a grocery rebate to put food on the table is admitting he has been an abject failure.  Remember, "Judge me by the prices in the grocery aisles"?  Well, we have and you are.

To think, that Canada, with its vast resources, has to give people a few shekels to buy bread is a disgrace.

Of course, thanks to lunatics like Stephen Guilbeault and Justin Trudeau, our riches have been trapped underground, which means that's where our God-given wealth lies to this day.  Hence, we have to give alms to the poor for crumbs off the table.

He reminds me of Marie Antionette.  "Let them eat cake," she suggested, when food was scarce.  That's Carney to a tee.  He gallivants around the world, dining and gourmandizing in his sky palace, while the rest of his subjects have to skip meals and eat bologna sandwiches.  

Marie "Carney" Antionette.

Mark "Marie Antionette" Carney, surveying his subjects.

_______________________

His latest "trade mission" is to Ireland.  Really?  Why?  We have no issues with that country.  Oh, but wait, I just found out that while he's there in his spare time, wink-wink-nudge-nudge, saving the day, he's also going to re-trace his Irish roots in the county from which he hails.  Frankly, that's the real purpose of his trip, to mix with his ancestors and hoist a few at the local pub -- at your expense.  And just to add insult to injury, he's carting along his wife to double the costs.  What trade deals will she be negotiating, pray tell? 

It's unconscionable.

_______________________

So, FIFA is starting today.  Wanna guess what a seat in the final will run?  How about US $32,000.  That's right!  I am not kidding!  US $32,000!#@^*&^%$#!!!!

Naturally, Toronto and Vancouver are emptying out, as residents flee to saner climes.  And naturally, there is virtually no parking near any of the venues because everyone will have to walk, or take the tube.  That's the green way these days.  No ugly cars for you plebs.  You'll simply hoof it, like it or lump it.

So, folks, that's that state of this country today in my never-to-be-humble opinion  Phucked. 

 

Hard to argue these facts...........

Re-printed from 'The Catholic League', by Bill Donohue:

______________________________

June 11, 2026

"Attacking men, especially white, Christian, heterosexual men, is a popular sport enjoyed by left-wing pundits and activists. This is driven home every Father’s Day. Normal people do not get exercised over this special day, but these folks do.

"In New York State, there is a bill, supported by Democrats, to replace “father” with “non-gestating parent,” and to call a “putative” father, meaning a deadbeat dad, “an alleged parent.”

"Why the adoption of “neutral” terms? Who is offended by calling fathers “fathers”? Radical gays and radical feminists object. They have long been at war with nature so this bill does not surprise. But why?

"Radical gays, especially those who claim to be “married,” object that terms like “father” and “mother” are exclusionary, leaving people like them out of familial conversations and governmental policies. They are right about that. But it is not men—it is nature—that has excluded them. To be blunt, nature has determined that people of the same sex cannot reproduce. 

"The problem for radical gays is that they do not believe in human nature: they think everything that exists is a “social construct.” But male and female genital organs are not a “social construct”—they are an anatomical reality. Nature exists and they cannot change what it has ordained. It is a fight they cannot win. 

"Radical feminists deplore “patriarchy.” But there is a reason why it is universal. How so? Sociologist Steven Goldberg, who wrote a classical book on this subject, found that male dominance can be explained by hormonal factors such as the higher levels of testosterone that males have. As he noted, “the hormonal renders the social inevitable (italics in the original).”

"Radical feminists like to point out that Goldberg’s thesis was contradicted by anthropologist Margaret Mead. Wrong. “Nowhere do I suggest that I have found any material which disproves the existence of sex differences.” She even went so far as to say, “It is true, as Professor Goldberg points out, that all claims so glibly made about societies ruled by women are nonsense. We have no reason to believe that they ever existed.”

"In other words, radical gays and radical feminists can beat up on men, and especially fathers, all they want. But in the end, fatherhood is real and exclusionary. The radicals may not like it, but most women throughout history have never had a problem with any of this. It’s only those with a fanciful ideological agenda who complain about it.

"Happy Father’s Day!" 

Enjoy your day!