Pit Bull Ban

Pit bulls are bred to be fierce fighters. They are designed t face off to bears, and win. They have broad, powerful chests, short hair, tiny ears, and narrow eyes, so that it is difficult to find a handhold to restrain them. Their necks are their strong point, since strangling them is out of the question. Fierce jaws that can bite down with the strength of a crocodile are another of their fearsome features. Standard police-issue 38 caliber guns cannot kill them with a single shot, or often even with an emptied gun. Like a bear, it takes a 45 to kill a pit bull. To my mind, this makes a pit bull more like a bear as a pet than a dog, and pet bears are not legal in most neighbourhoods.
Yes, it’s the owner not the dog, but what kind of owner chooses a pit bull? In my experience, the owner is scarier than the dog. My neighbour, whose dogs attacked an elderly woman last year, causing her to lose half her face, is one scary man. I’m sure he trained that dog to be vicious. That’s my point. Any dog can be vicious. But the kind of person who trains a dog to be vicious, chooses a pit bull for a pet, because a vicious Yorkie isn’t deadly. Which is why this deadly animal should be banned as a household pet. Pit bulls belong in a zoo with the bears.

Wal-Mart

What is it about Wal-Mart that both upsets and attracts people so? In my city of Burlington Ontario, Wal-Mart spent ten years fighting a battle through various levels of government to be allowed to open a store on the fringes of town. People angrily protested, saying it would destroy local business, ruin the view, and cause wild dogs to roam the streets. :P Yet as soon as Wal-Mart opened, it prospered, and continues to prosper to such an extent that now they are gearing up for a battle to open another store, this one close to our downtown core. Dreadful heavens! The end of the world as we know it is near, to hear the protesters talk. We all know, however, that as soon as this store opens, it too will be filled with shoppers, and will rake in obscene profits. Surely not all those shoppers were never involved in the protests.
So my question for these protesters is: if you hate Wal-Mart so much, why do you shop there? If you really want to keep Wal-Mart from doing business in your town, put your money where your mouth is, as the saying goes, and stay away. It’s that simple.

Telemarketers

Everyday it seems I get a call from someone trying to sell me windows and doors. Either the market for windows and doors is very competitive, or it’s just one aggressive guy. I don’t listen long enough to register the company name.
I’m actually thinking of replacing a set of patio doors and a couple of windows this year or next. I mentioned to my family that I’m going to start recording the names of these companies that call, make sure I get the spelling right, and then inform them that I’m planning to buy new windows soon, but not from their company, because I don’t appreciate telemarketers. And I will make sure not to buy from any of those companies.
My kids thought that might be unfair. After all, they said, telemarketing is a legitimate form of advertising. Was I also going to make a list of everyone who tries to sell windows on TV?
I thought about this for a moment, and that’s when I realized why I find telemarketing so offensive, besides the fact they always call during dinner hour, or when I’ve just settled down with a good bock and a nice cup of tea. It’s not even because I can choose whether or not to turn on my radio, or TV, or to buy a magazine or not, or to look a bill board or not, yet I can’t stop my phone from ringing, although these are all strong arguments.
It’s because telemarketing is not a legitimate form of advertising, similar to a TV commercial. I receive free TV shows in exchange for putting up with advertising. Ditto free radio programming. And my magazine subscription prices are greatly reduced due to the sponsors. Even this website is available to me for free because advertisers support it. For all I know, the volume of flyers that passes though my mailbox lowers the cost of stamps for snail mail.
My point is, I benefit from all of the above forms of advertising by receiving free or cost-reduced services. Does my telephone bill go down because telemarketers call me? No. If I start receiving telephone service for free because it’s subsidized by telemarketing, then I’ll quit whining and listen to them. Maybe even buy their products.
How about it, door and window guys, ready to pony up?

New Year's Resolutions

New Year’s, and time for resolutions. The number one resolution made each year, or so I'm told, is to lose weight. No surprise there. I've never been one for resolutions¾I know how hard they are to keep. I can manage to give something up for lent, but that’s as long as I go. You’d think a broken bad habit would stay broken, but bad habits creep into your life with as much ease as ants into your house.
Instead I decided to make realistic resolutions. Like going skinny-dipping, or taking my picture in a photo booth in the mall. These were things I never did as a youth, and resolved to do the past two years. They were fun and easy and I enjoyed them.
This year I'm aiming a little higher. I'm to going to try to quit doing things solely to gain other people’s approval. I think I spend too much time working to please others, which a is a loser’s game for sure. Even more of a waste of time than trying to lose weight, and even less satisfactory. It’s going to be hard work, since there are no clear road maps, but I will definitely benefit.
I’ll let you know how it goes.