Inevitable? Probably...

Police say a worker, a contract security person at a Wal-Mart store in Long Island, New York, has died after being trampled by a throng of unruly shoppers.

It apparently occurred shortly after the store opened at 5 a.m. on so-called Black Friday (November 28, 2008), the traditional start of the holiday sales rush in the United States. Officials say several other people were injured in the incident.

It would appear that Nassau County police say the 34-year-old worker was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 6 a.m. The exact cause of death has yet to be determined. Really? News flash -- it probably was not a cough due to cold!

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was taken to a hospital for observation, and three other shoppers suffered minor injuries and were also taken to hospitals in the vicinity.

A police statement stated that shortly after 5 a.m., a throng of shoppers “physically broke down the doors, knocking [the worker] to the ground.”

Officials at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in Bentonville, Arkansas, refused to confirm the reports of a stampede, but said a “medical emergency” had caused the company to close the store, which is in Valley Stream on Long Island. “Local authorities are looking into the situation,” said Wal-Mart representative Dan Fogleman. He said it would be “inappropriate for me to share any additional information” until authorities investigate further.

OK, so the running of the bulls in Pamplona, there is an expectation of injury - perhaps even death.

Working at a Wal-Mart, anywhere... death by rampaging likely grossly overweight bargain hunting Long Island residents? Wow...

By the way... do you think that Wal-Mart may quietly decide to change their slogan? See above, it reads, "Save money. Live better". I'm guessing that the family of the unfortunate soul that was crushed might have something to say about that privately and publicly since crazed bargain hunting shoppers terminated the life of a likely minimum wage employee.

The very premise of Black Friday is a recipe for disaster. Here, north of the Mason Dixon line we have our own retail ballyhoo to deal with traditionally on December 26th. It's called Boxing Day. And no, it has nothing to do with a Mike Tyson rematch.

People dying to save a few dollars. Truly tragic.

As that renowned philosopher from Los Angeles, Rodney King once said, "Can't we all just get along?"

Foreplay is always preferable...

At the time of writing, the price on the open market for a barrel of light sweet crude oil was $52.33; a vast improvement over previous rates - in fact, at one point during the month of June 2008, a barrel was selling for slightly more than $147.00.

OK, so there have been marked improvements of late.

I'm still at a loss regarding the apparent “shortage” of oil months ago. Has anything truly changed in the interim? The US is still raging an impossible war in Iraq; other western nations are involved in "peace keeping" initiatives in Afghanistan. So, why the reduction of around 60%?

Here's the thing. Have gas prices reduced by anywhere near the same ratio? Short answer; no.

This past Sunday, here in rural Ontario, a local gas station was selling a litre of gasoline for $0.733. A bargain, relatively speaking. I got quite excited since the night before, driving into Toronto, I had filled up for $0.745 a litre. Note to city folk; prices up here for gasoline are often 3 - 6 cents a litre better on regular!

Prices should, however, still be lower.

Our home is heated by oil. And yes, we've seen the price of oil come down these last few months, too. Heating our home and, in our case, hot water, is not a luxury. It's a necessity of life. My 910 litre tank was filled two days ago with 755.5 litres of oil. At a rate of $0.919 per litre. When I saw our bill, I was pleased - and simultaneously angry. Why is the price of home heating oil still way higher than gasoline? I understand that processing for both products is required. But why such a discrepancy?

I even conducted my own mini-survey on the phone yesterday. Seems when compared to those providers I contacted, our supplier was $0.02 more per litre.

Please... kiss me first - and don't blame everything on the Middle East.

To friends in Europe - I know, your prices are considerably higher.

To friends in the US, your prices are lower still - and that's using gasoline that Canada has sold to you!

One man's dream...

On August 28, 1963, a great and inspiring American, Dr. Martin Luther King made his historic speech in Washington.

Here is an excerpt...

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

And so it was, November 4, 2008, more than 45 years later, Dr. King's dream was realized. A tall, slim, earnest man, the son of an inter-racial marriage, Barack Obama, made history. He is the United States of America's 44th President; he is the first President of colour.

At the end of the day, many of us believe that he was the right man - at the right time. His colour? Not really a factor. It was his ideas; his energy; his charisma; his beliefs that overcame electoral adversity and made believers the world over. This man has an opportunity over the next four years, perhaps the next eight, to bring about major change to the USA specifically, but even to the world.

This will not be easy. It will be an uphill battle. There is much to overcome. America is in a recession. They are fighting a war that, like Vietnam before, they have no hope of "winning".

Yet today, the world seemed to wake up with a new feeling. It was hope. It was optimism.

Last night history was made. Today and this day forward, we all, each of us no matter where we are or what we do, have the ability to ensure that by working together, we can pull through and prevail.

We all deserve better. But it is not entitlement; it is earned.

C'mon in... the water's, er, shallow???

In a recent interview with People magazine, the Republican parties Vice Presidential candidate appeared to out-Palinate herself.

Hard to believe, but true, I'm afraid.

As most of us are aware, Sarah Palin and her husband, potential First Dude, Todd, have five children. Palin claimed that if she and Dude were to have had a sixth child, they already had a name picked out. To refresh memories, here are the names of her brood - to date: Track; Bristol; Willow; Piper; and, Trig. "I always wanted a son named Zamboni."

No, I'm not making this up. These things almost write themselves.

Zamboni.

Naming a kid after an ice resurfacing machine.

Nice. Although this may well corroborate her claim to being a true hockey Mom.

Not only that, in this same interview, Caribou Barbie considers herself intellectual. Remember, this is the same woman who, when pressed by that heavyweight journo, Katie Couric to name a single newspaper or magazine she read, she was unable to.

Now she states she is a "voracious reader"... One can only wonder what she reads these days - other than Reader's Digest versions of briefing papers.

An intellectual. And another hapless child named Zamboni.

Like I said, the potential depth of this gene pool might represent a shallow tide pool - regrettably frozen over in the Alaskan tundra.

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Here we are. The calendar tells me that today is Tuesday, October 21, 2008.

And yet I drove an hour or so ago from the Newmarket area back to home base through snow. Yes, that's right, snow!

Now to those of you south of the 49th parallel or across the pond, you likely think that it always snows where me and TLATO live. Not hardly. We expect snow, sure, but really not until December or thereabouts. Not now.

Two days ago I was still dealing with cleaning up leaves and now I have to make a call to our friendly neighbourhood snow plow guy to remind him we wish to be under contract again this winter.

People, winter is not supposed to be officially here until December - the 21st, to be precise. The clocks have yet to go back.

I knew that all those pine trees, their boughs weighed down with pine cones and the cedars and Mountain Ash trees that have been laden with fruit these past few weeks were giving us advance notice; it's going to be a long winter ahead.

Not too much that we can do about it - except to make an appointment to have our all season tires and rims removed and replaced with the ugly black steel rims and snow tires. And soon.

Joe who?

OK, just to clear up any misconceptions, this has little to do with the Canadian political landscape. Sorry to disappoint any Canadian political junkies out there, but this has absolutely nothing to do with Joe Clark, a now well-respected Canadian political statesman who while relatively young and politically inexperienced, became the butt of editorial cartoonists across this land and so, "Joe Who?" as he was dubbed by the Toronto Star, was born. Clark's best statement during his career? “A recession is when your neighbour loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job. Recovery is when Pierre Trudeau loses his job.”

I digress.

Seems as if south of the 49th parallel, members of the Republican party, particularly Presidential hopeful, John McCain and his Caribou Barbie sidekick, Sarah Palin, have claimed the first name of "Joe" as the leading given name in their rhetoric-filled vocabulary. Palin, you may recall, introduced the world to the notion of "Joe Six-Pack" as a description of an average American male (note: not all American males are obese and have a drinking problem). McCain in the early stages of the final Presidential debate of 2008, brought forth the character of "Joe, the Plumber" who, after 26 mentions (five for Obama and 21 by McCain) during the 90-minute debate, gained near legend status within 24 hours of his induction into the US Wall of Shame.

Once again, it soon became apparent that McCain and his handlers had not delved under the covers to find out a little more about this fellow - sound familiar, Sarah Palin? In every day life, “Joe” is Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, a resident of Holland, Ohio. He claims to be a plumber - yet he has no license or papers and brashly claims he does not need one. “Not so”, says David Golis, manager and residential building official for the Toledo Division of Building Inspection. In fact, the Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters and Service Mechanics revealed that Wurzelbacher was not a licensed member of their trade. Golis went on to state that "Joe" should also be a licensed apprentice or journeyman to work in Toledo, Ohio - and he's not.

McCain eagerly stated that under Senator Obama's proposed tax plans, a budding entrepreneur like "Joe" would be taxed more if his company's annual revenues exceeded $ 250,000.00. Seems Joe has plans to buy this plumbing business from his employer "some day". Obama has stated clearly on more than one occasion that small business revenue of $ 250,000.00 and down, would continue to be taxed at the current rate of 36%. Anything greater, would be taxed at 39%.

So, if "Joe" somehow had the financing in place to buy this business (according to his 2006 tax return, filed as a matter of public record due to a divorce, he claimed an income in the mid $ 40's), he would need to be licensed. That may present problems since "Joe" has also not completed the training program necessary to sit the examination for a license test.

McCain’s exuberance to present a "gotcha" on Obama may well backfire and the victim could well be "Joe". This fellow even owes back taxes - which should be of no real consequence here. McCain's, one might argue, well intended framing of "Joe" as an average future business owner has placed "Joe" front and centre in the public's eye. A position I'm betting he personally wished he was not in. He and his employer may find themselves under most unwelcome scrutiny; something, at the outset, no one imagined would be the result of yet another Republican "shout out".

Democrats claim that this individual could not possibly have enough income to face a tax increase under the Obama plan. What they perhaps were unaware was McCain’s tongue-in-cheek statement during a speech at a benefit/fund raiser in New York City yesterday evening: “Joe, the plumber, recently signed a very lucrative contract with a wealthy couple to handle all the (plumbing) work on all seven of their houses.” McCain was referring to his own personal property holdings.

Who knows, John. Your actions may leave “Joe” unemployed and you on the moral hook for the welfare of the Wurzelbacher family. But then again, that would reduce your personal tax bill since you would have additional dependents.

And the rich continue to get richer.

©Andy Donato, Sun Media

Things do happen in threes...

Readers of this blog will be aware of two recent incidents that me and my "truck", a 2008 Nissan Rogue has experienced over the last two weeks:

1. A mishap in the parking lot of Costco in Peterborough; and,


2. Above vehicle being tagged and towed a week later in Toronto.

You'll recall the saying that "bad things usually occur in threes"?

Well, here we go.

On Sunday, while backing out our driveway, the truck was making some very strange noises - sounding awfully like a man with severe prostate problems, groaning with the effort of attempting to pee - or not.

These same noises could also be heard when the vehicle was travelling forward and a hard turn was made.

Earlier today at TransCanada Nissan, I described those same symptoms to Dean Bosnell the Service Manager. Dean being Dean, did not react one way or the other to my description, not even an "I'll humour you" smile.

Up went the vehicle on a hoist. The underside was examined thoroughly; all four wheels were removed (should have brought in my snow tires); brakes were checked, etc. Nothing.

Everyone even cheerfully and readily admitted that all the shop's techs could hear the car groaning and moaning.

After each methodical check, the truck was then driven to determine if the vehicle was still under duress. Affirmative each time. They even had wires attached to various parts of the chassis and the tech was listening to the car "speak" through headphones.

To no avail.

Finally a decision was made to order and install a new differential. Did not make me feel any better to hear everyone at the dealership state that they had never heard any vehicle express itself in such a way ever before.

Lucky me.