Until the Daily Mail trashed Canada during the Olympics I knew little about the rag. The CBC claimed that the paper was about 3 notches below the National Enquirer, and just a likely to announce aliens have infiltrated the government of Ireland and are plotting the overthrow of the world.

In the end, our population breathed a sigh of relief, because the reaction was for us to believe that we must have been very off track, and we were appalled that people thought that about 'us'.

The are credible sources of of data. I used the Center for Justice in Canada. I see we have a bigger problem with car theft. That's due to a bunch of odd factors, and I'd rather not get into it because about 30 percent of the thefts are easily explained, and the bulk of them in Toronto and Montreal are organized crime. On the other hand we get US tv and that show about the car jacking squad in NJ is funny because it exposes most criminals as idiots. But as a footnote, at 2 a.m. in this city of 400,000 people there are less than 10 cops in cars on the street with the exception of Friday and Saturday when it bumps up depending on weather, and what hockey games is running.

The perception problem of guns in the US is made much worse by Hollywood. You'd think the wild west included hourly shootings, hangings, and burials. And that Tony Soprano and his pals all had a gun everywhere. Then someone here said that NJ has very strict laws.

A friend works at customs, takes tours at Port Huron and Detroit. Remember this stat, 1 billion dollars of goods a day, usually tilted in our favour due to the natural resources going south and finished goods coming north. She said that if a family, who sees the sign NO HANDGUNS admit to having one, they give them a list of 3 places in Port Huron with gun lockers, and ask them to go back and stash it. Have a nice day.

Now they are in the process of arming our border guards. A 5 year project. Before that they were just polite. It saddens me to see the Fortress America thing. The wrong side is winning.

The Chicago Tribune admitted in a recent article about Canada/Mexico that there is a drug trade problem at the northern border. Americans visiting Canada and returning with cheap arthritis medication. Dastardly that.

John Conley
Musica est vita