Stolen off the FB

Insert Niki and Jazz in the above.  I have a shot kinda like this one that hasn't been developed yet, I'll have to get right on that.

Dad delivers bulletproof parenting lesson

From today's op/ed pages.  
Well said Ms. Lakritz.  I watched the whole video of his message to her.  My daddy raised me up to respect my elders and what this guy did is the BEST.

I like what Tommy Jordan did. So do 74 per cent of MSNBC’s Today readers in a poll. So does David Code, an Anglican minister from State College, Pa., who writes about parenting, who was on CBC Calgary’s Eyeopener program Tuesday morning. So, too, according to Jordan, do the local police who showed up at his place with a social worker, and who reportedly lauded him for teaching his child a lesson.

Jordan is the North Carolina dad who discovered that his 15-year-old daughter, Hannah, had dissed her parents disgracefully on her Facebook page because of the household chores they insist she do.

He delivered his own video lecture to Hannah, which ended with him pulling a gun out and shooting her laptop several times. Then, he posted his video on YouTube, where it really took off.

Jordan did it because he was fed up with his daughter’s sense of entitlement — she didn’t want to do chores, but she wanted her parents to give her all the electronic toys her heart desired. And she resented their message that if you want to buy something, go get a job and earn the money for it yourself.

Jordan could have taken a pass on the typical American penchant for using guns. He could have locked up Hannah’s laptop at his office or ditched it somewhere. But everything else he did and said was right on.

Jordan has stopped talking to the media. He says he doesn’t want to send Hannah “the message that it’s OK to gain from something like this. It would send her a message that it’s OK to profit at the expense of someone else’s embarrassment or misfortune and that’s not how I was raised, nor how she has been raised.”

In the video, he says to Hannah, “I don’t know how to say how disappointed I am in you, how disrespectful you were to every single adult in your life ... I’m going to put a stop to it right now.” He then tells her that whenever she’s not grounded, she can buy her own laptop, and repay him for the software he had just installed on her computer prior to discovering her Facebook message.

“Hope you’ve enjoyed your little fiasco on Facebook. Hope it was worth all this,” he adds. “Have a good day, y’all.”

Code told CBC that while he “kinda” wishes Jordan would lose the gun, because it was “a bit over the top,” he’s grateful for Jordan bringing to light the message that “we have to acknowledge our current parenting strategy is not working.”

Code said parents have bought into the myth that the more attention they give their kids, the better the kids will turn out. To make the child happy, Code said, “parents are just killing themselves to create a Disney World around their child ... Where are the results?” Kids are “more sullen, more demanding,” with more mental and physical problems than they used to have.

“Children are like dogs; either you train them, or they’re going to train you,” Code said, adding parents need “to teach kids the world does not revolve around them.”

Consequences have been such a dirty word for so long, that it’s truly refreshing to see a parent mete them out the way Jordan has. Equally refreshing is Jordan’s unabashed use of plain language such as “disappointed in you” and “disrespectful” instead of pussyfooting around with sticky-sweet euphemisms like “inappropriate behaviour” or “making the wrong choice for yourself.”

As for those who are publicly expressing their fears that Hannah’s self-esteem is in ruins, they need to be reminded that self-esteem comes from doing for oneself, not from being told you’re special just because you inhale and exhale every day.

I’m willing to bet that one day, when she’s grown, Hannah will look back on this incident and thank her father for teaching her about discipline, responsibility, a work ethic and respect for authority. It’s gratifying to see Jordan give old-fashioned parenting a much-needed boost — and give the cult of self-esteem a well-placed boot in the rear. Who knows? Maybe it’ll catch on. That can only be for the good.

OK, this is cool

Some of my faithful will remember me writing about John Ware in my road trip post.  Now there's this out of today's paper.

Stamp honours iconic Alberta cowboy John Ware

CALGARY — Canada Post is recognizing an iconic cowboy and pioneer rancher John Ware with a commemorative stamp.

It’s one of two stamps issued to celebrate Black History Month. The other one is a tribute to Viola Desmond, a civil rights beacon in Nova Scotia.

“(John Ware’s) name has come up several times,” said Joy Parks, a researcher with Canada Post. “When we delved into the story a little bit more, and found the connection to the Stampede, it was just the perfect year to do this with the centennial this year.”

Ware was born into slavery in South Carolina circa 1845, working cotton fields as a child.

He was freed following the American Civil War and eventually made his way to the foothills of Alberta in 1882.

He established a ranch and started competing as a steer wrestler, winning the event at the 1893 Calgary Fair. Ware helped pioneer rodeo techniques that would become staples of the Stampede.

When he died in 1905, Ware’s funeral was one of the biggest Calgary had ever seen.

Significantly, the stamp of Ware, designed by Victoria-based artist Lara Minja, contains an image of the deed to his land.

“He hadn’t been a free man for very long, and to own land as a free man is definitely a milestone in his life,” Parks said.

Desmond’s stamp recognizes her plight to fight segregation-style laws in Nova Scotia that led to her spending a night in jail and being charged with fraud after sitting in a whites only section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow on Nov. 8, 1946.

The fraud charge stemmed from the one-cent difference in price between the white section and the racially-based secondary seating area.

She was pardoned posthumously in 2010.

This is the fourth year Canada Post has issued a pair of Black History Month stamps, which have become popular with collectors.

Although Ware died before the Calgary Stampede was launched, his achievements as a cowboy and rancher tie in with this year’s centennial celebrations.

A stamp celebrating the centennial will come out later this year.

Calgary playwright, author and historian Cheryl Foggo said she’s delighted Ware is being recognized by Canada Post.

“He was kind of a larger than life figure,” said Foggo. “He was so skilled as a horseman, and a cattleman, and a businessman and a people person. He’s very deserving of being honoured with a stamp.

“And It’s a really good way of raising awareness. I’m always surprised by the people I meet who still haven’t heard about him, even though there’s been a lot written about him.”

smyers@calgaryherald.com

Read more: 

Stuff

Between the pain in my knee and the beloved hot flashes, I've been awake since 2.  At 5, I said f*** it and decided to just get up.  Already read the paper, did the LA Times crossword and played a silly computer game.  Now what?

Let's see.
Went to physio Friday morning and told David that I really pay for visiting with him in the afternoon and the next day; my knee swells up and gets really hot, so he told me to just get on the bike and not to do the other exercises that he had me doing.  Poor guy's really pissed that I still haven't heard form the sports medico and is about ready to rip a strip off someone.  I don't blame him.  Patience is not my long suit either.  But then, the horror stories that I've heard about how long people have to wait for an MRI have me expecting to still be on the sticks come July.  David and I seem to be making progress with my knee.  I think I could probably get into a pair of jeans now.  I've been living in sweats and yoga pants since I hurt myself.  Not my preferred attire, I'll tell ya.
Friday afternoon I had an appointment with Dr. Anna, the needle-in-the-eye doctor. So  hauled my sorry old carcass downtown (did I tell you how much I absolutely hate downtown Calgary?), found a parking spot in the building parkade and went in to my appointment (set for 2:30) and waited.  And waited some more.  It was 3:30 by the time I got in to see her.  For. A. Total. Of. 5. Minutes.  AARG.  Glad I don't have to go back again until July. Coming out of downtown on a Friday afternoon is absolutely the shits too.  It took me 3/4 of an hour to get home, so I was definitely NOT the good humor person when I got here.
Friday night I could tell that I'd done too much.  We swelled up again and were really hot.  And then like an idiot, I went to the grocery store and did a mini shop yesterday.  We be payin' for it today.
How have we adapted?  Well let's see.
I've finally (after over a month) figgered out that the sore leg goes into the pants first.
I've figured out how to carry a go-mug while using crutches.
I've graduated to being able to stand long enough to be able to shower (instead of the dreaded bath EEW) (thanks David).  Let me tell you, the first time was definitely a job and a half and I was exhausted after.
I've figured out how to use 1 crutch (handy for carrying the beer in from the truck).
I found a way to fill the dogs' water dish.  I need both hands for that, so I push a chair into the kitchen, grab the dish and go fill.  Reverse the process, and voila the dish is full.
I've managed to be able to defeat those dang bloody commercial doors with the extra strong and extra fast closers on them.  Whip the door open and jam the end of one crutch in the bottom.

From today's op/ed pages

Bye-bye, Obama

Re: "Obama denies permit for Keystone pipeline," Jan. 19.

Dear Canada, Please hold off sending your oil to China because of our "learn on the job" president cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline. We are working hard to replace him this November.

Your southern neighbours.

George Zurbuchen, Palos Park, Ill.

Read more: 

Dad is on a rant today

Go, have a read.

Canada's own 'War Horse'

Now this is pretty cool.

Move over Spielberg

 

 

By Richard Foot, Postmedia News

Undated handout photo of Lt. Col. Charles Bent, commander of Canada's 15th Battalion during the First World War. Lt. Col. Charles Bent returned home to Nova Scotia after the war with a captured war horse named Fritz.

On a farm in Paradise, N.S., lies the grave of a horse named Fritz - a warhorse, it turns out, that survived the horrors of the First World War and lived out his final days in peace in Canada.

As the fictional tale of the Steven Spielberg film War Horse appears on movie screens across North America, and as a stage version of the novel by the same name opens in Toronto, the real-life saga of a true Canadian war-horse is now emerging from the past.

The details of Fritz's story have been investigated for several years by retired Toronto brigadier-general Greg Young - an Afghanistan veteran and former reservist with Toronto's 48th Highlanders regiment.

From 1914 to 1918 the regiment fought as part of Canada's 15th Battalion, and Young now heads up the 15th Battalion Memorial Project, which preserves and promotes the unit's wartime history.

For most of the First World War the battalion was led by Lt.-Col. Charles Bent, a Nova Scotian who, despite his slight frame and bookish looks, was a highly competent field commander widely respected by his men.

In 1918, as the war was winding down and Allied forces were finally pursuing the German army out of France, Bent and his unit were ordered to attack a German strongpoint called the Crow's Nest.

"They captured the Crow's Nest in the early morning of Sept. 1," says Young. "The Germans did three counter-attacks to take it back, but the Canadians held it. Afterwards, during a lull in the fighting, in rides this Ger-man officer on horseback, who obviously wasn't aware what the hell had happened, and that the ground had changed hands.

"He and his aide rode into the middle of the Canadian position and bingo, they were snapped up."

According to the 48th Highlanders' regimental history, written after the war, the German officer "was mounted on a splendid dark bay - a typical cavalry mount, which had been captured from the Russians in the east."

The two Germans were sent to a prison camp and the horse - having survived its service with both the Russian and German armies - was taken by the Canadian soldier who captured it, Capt. Gordon Winnifrith.

Winnifrith was killed in action a few weeks later at the Battle of Canal du Nord, and the horse, renamed Fritz, was adopted by Bent.

Remarkably, both Bent and Fritz survived the war and when Bent came home to Canada he took with him not only the battalion's mascot, a stray Belgian sheepdog named Bruno, but also Fritz.

"Bringing the dog home was one thing," says Young. "But a horse? I don't know what strings he pulled. The battalion was in Belgium turning in all its heavy stuff, including the unit's horses. Somehow, the CO obtained permission to bring Fritz home on the ship."

After the battalion was demobilized in Toronto, Bent returned, with Fritz and Bruno, to his family farm in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley.

Young's research into the story hit a dead end at that point, until this week, when he discovered Bent's son - Donald Bent, now 91 - living in Nova Scotia.

"The farm is still there, although it's been divided by a highway since then," Donald said in an interview on Wednesday. "We lived there for quite a few years after World War One."

He says he remembers, as a four-year-old boy, his father riding Fritz around the apple orchards on the property.

"My father was quite proud of that horse," Donald said. "It had been a German horse, and some German colonel owned him. The German went to a PoW camp and Dad took the horse home.

"He loved that horse and the horse loved him. They got along great."

Several years after the war Fritz grew old and sick, and Bent euthanized the animal.

Fritz was buried alongside Bruno on the farm property, where the graves remain today.

Bent, who earned the Distinguished Service Order in the war, died in 1955.

Read more: http://www.canada.com/news/Move+over+Spielberg/5923599/story.html#ixzz1hwxUmCVT