Catpaw – diary of an angry cat

Don’t forget – send your letters to Santa soon. Send your letters to

Santa Claus
NORTH POLE H0H 0H0
CANADA

The jolly old elf and his minions will read your letter and reply – last year over 1.6 million letters were answered. That’s a whole lot of ho ho ho’s…

Oh and you don’t have to be Canadian to send your letters – Santa is international, not Canadian. It’s just that his mail drop off box is sitting on Canadian soil so the Canadian Post Office has assigned him a Canadian address and postal code. His reindeer fly out to the mail box and get the letters for Santa and bring them back to his workshop.

Don’t forget the H0H oHo – that’s a postal code (like a US zip code). You don’t want your letter misdirected!

P.S. I’m still stewing over the TTC’s mishandling of the shutdown and fare hikes. I just thought it would be nice to think positive thoughts for a change… ttc .. fare hikes .. think nice thoughts nice thoughts … think positive… fare hikes… surly… no … think positive thoughts… oh darn… time to abdicate responsibilites and go draw birds …

It is winter
I am so thrilled with the cold
Stupid ancestors

It is cold outside
I curse my ancestors as I shiver
Why not move to New Zealand

I saw snow today
I shivered in my jacket
Come back summer

Stupid fecking ancestors just had to choose a cold country, didn’t they? Why not New Zealand? It sounds lovely to me.

Two Canadian soldiers and their interpretor were killed in the early hours of the morning today. While we slept soundly here in Canada, Corp. Nicolas Raymond Beauchamp of the 5th Field Ambulance in Valcartier and Pte. Michel Levesque of the Royal 22nd were killed when their light armoured vehicle hit an IED. Three other soldiers were wounded, but thankfully they will recover.

We have lost 73 soldiers in the past five years. Yes, it has been that long. Hard to believe that while we sit in our homes, with hardly a thought to what is going on a world away, the fight is continuing unabated. I have my own opinions about the wars and conflicts going on around the globe – and not all of these thoughts are polite or politically correct or will endure me to my readers. Today is not the time to debate the rights or wrongs of Iraq and other battles. But when it comes to the battle with the Taliban, I’m not torn at all. This vile group of misogynistic knuckle draggers have caused too much pain and devastation. They want to pull the world – and women in particular – into the dark ages of repression, violence and abject poverty, all in the misguided name of god. I think it is at times like this that god must weep at the hatred spewn in his name.

The soldiers in Afghanistan have said over and over, they believe they are doing the right thing – they believe they are helping the Afghan people fight a reprehensible enemy. Many of the soldiers have fallen in love with the people and country they are trying to help. Last week for Remembrance Day family members of a couple of the fallen soldiers were flown to Afghanistan to be with the serving troops during the services. One parent said it was special being so close to the soil her son died on, gave his life for. I’m sure more than one parent took home some sand from the parched landscape.

Remembrance Day is the day Canada stops to remember those fallen in all wars and peace keeping actions. On the 11 minute of the 11 day of the 11 month – 1918 signalled the end of the Great War, or the War to End All Wars. We simply refer to it as the First World War. Ironic isn’t it, the War to End All Wars is now the starting point for a century + of unrelenting carnage. Since 1919, this day has been kept as our national day of Remembrance. For years, while I was growing up, the crowds at the cenotaphs grew smaller, but in the last 2 years there has been a reversal. The Canadian public has woken up to the dangers and heartbreak of war. Years and decades went by when our Peacekeepers died without much more than a small article in the newspapers – 186 died. Now, Canadians are remembering.

It saddens me to think of the new generation Silver Cross mothers being created. Silver cross mothers are women who have been given a silver cross when their child dies in battle. This year’s mother, chosen to lay a wreath at the National War Memorial in Ottawa was Mrs. Wilhelmina Beerenfenger-Koehler of Embrun, Ontario. Her son, Corporal Robbie Christopher Beerenfenger, was killed near Kabul by a land mind in 2003. Robbie left behind his wife Tina and three children, Matthew, Kristopher and Madison. One Silver Cross is poor compensation.

Canadians have reacted in a typically Canadian fashion to the deaths. While our politicians twiddle their thumbs and ho hum about the tragedy of the deaths, we have created our own impromptu memorial or road of honour. When the soldiers are sent home, they arrive at Trenton Air Base and make the journey to Toronto’s Centre for Forensic Sciences and then returned to their families. They travel along Highway 401 – the main traffic artery that spans the country – which has been unofficially renamed Highway of Heroes. When a soldier makes this last journey, Canadians line the road and overpasses and silently stand as guards for their final trip home. For 172 kilometers from Trenton to Toronto, since 2002, people stand and salute these fallen Canadians.

Its not a glorification of war – its a brief second when the public feels a connection to the families that are now suffering such a horrible lose. It is the one point in the war, that regardless of your political beliefs, you stand with the families and soldiers and say “I’m sorry.”

No rhetoric, no speeches, no politicians, just citizens lining a long stretch of road saying goodbye and we’ll remember.

Steven Truscott has been acquitted of the rape and murder of schoolmate Lynne Harper – crimes he was sentenced to hang for in 1959 at the age of 14.

If you are interested in the details, Google Steven Truscott and you will see a lot of activity today. After living with this for decades, Truscott finally won his court case. He was sentenced Sept. 30 1959 and set to hang Dec. 8, 1959 – the crime was committed in the summer of 1959. Swift action, not swift justice.

The trial and conviction have been cloaked in controversy since the event. The community of Clinton was divided by the crime. CFB Clinton (Canadian airforce base) was equally divided. Truscott was the son of an enlisted man, 12 year old Lynne Harper was an officer’s daughter. The divide between the classes was never more evident. Justice was denied both sides.

A known sex offender who served on the base was never questioned – although he had been picked up and charged with attempting to lure young girls into his car just weeks before Lynne Harper died.

Another known offender was also never questioned.

The entire investigation was conducted with an impressive set of blinders on.

Truscott was convicted before the trial. He was 14 and on death row. Calmer minds overruled the hasty death sentence and converted it to life. Truscott was paroled in ’67 and lived quietly with a new name until 2000 when he reentered public life and asked to have the conviction overturned. He has steadfastly denied the crime for 47 years and wanted to reclaim his name and his past.

It has been a hard battle, but he won a partial victory – his case was found to be a miscarriage of justice thereby throwing out the conviction. But the courts stopped short of declaring him not guilty. I would have loved this, but there is no evidence left to use. No evidence, no retrial.

Poor Lynne’s body was dug up a few years back in an attempt to find DNA but there was none. She had nothing left to give. Many of the suspects and participants are now dead, and after 47 years memories are not as sharp. Many of the children who were so browbeaten by the police in 1959 may not even be sure of what really happened – eye witness testimony is shaky at the best of times.

Much has happened in the intervening years. 1959 is a lifetime away. People have moved in and out of the Clinton area, CFB Clinton is gone, closed long ago, the murder site has become some sort of a gruesome tourist spot for the ghoulish, Truscott is a father and grandfather, people involved in this, now pivotal moment in Canadian Law, moved on with their lives.

Everyone moved on except for Lynne Harper. Dead at 12, now a footnote in history, just a small grainy photo to remind us that there was no justice for her and there never will be. Her family must have suffered greatly. I often wonder about them. I hope they found peace in the past 47 years. Somehow I doubt that. To them, she will always be their little girl, captured in time at the age of 12. No career or family for her. No dreams. No future. She has no personality to all of us that watched the Truscott case unfold over the past decades. She is simply the victim.

Who were you Lynne Harper?

For days now I’ve been bedeviled by a name that has sat in the edges of my mind. I couldn’t remember the name of a band I loved, back when I managed an alternative rock radio station. I wracked my brain for the name and suddenly today while I was working on a report for a customer, up popped the name.

Jerry Jerry and the Sons of Rhythm Orchestra!

An excellent band back in the ’80′s and early ’90′s Canadian Indie punk/rock scene. They were a blast to watch, and their songs were a fun and sarcastic mix of punk, rockabilly and whatever else struck their fancy. I played them a lot when I had a chance to dj.

Jerry Jerry has moved onto other things and doesn’t tour much. He’s married, 5 kids and said in an interview:

As you get older things start filling up your time so it becomes a bit harder to play regular shows.

LOL isn’t maturity a bugger! But this summer he reformed the Sons of Rhythm and is playing in his hometown of Edmonton. Oh how I wish I could be at one of those shows.

The band released 4 records

• Road Gore: The Band that Drank Too Much (1985)
• Battle Hymn of the Apartment (1987)
• Don’t Mind If I Do (1992)
• The Sound and the Jerry (1997)

My favourite was Battle Hymn of the Apartment. I must have played it until the grooves wore out. The sad thing is I can’t remember all the lyrics. Its now too late to find one of their cassettes or records – I lost mine one or 2 moves ago. It’s going to bug me until I remember the words. Drat.

Og Records, an indie label out of Montreal put out Jerry Jerry’s Road Gore album. Alas they have retired from the Canadian music scene – each of the original owners has retired and gone on to other careers. Once again, maturity can be a bugger.

I remember Og for another more memorable reason. They issued a local Hamilton Ontario record from a group called the Dik Van Dykes. They were a polyseter punk/humour band. Their specialty was polyester wear and a guitarist who played with 3 strings – don’t think he know how to use the other strings. Ah, I remember them well. Punking out at their concerts was great fun. I wonder where they are now. I still have their records – I’m even thanked on one of them. What an ego boost for doing nothing but playing their music. Although we did broadcast them live for a New Year’s eve bash. It was hilarious.

I just discovered one of the ex Diks has a myspace site, with the songs online! Hurry over to Dik Van Dykes

I just finished playing Curling. I had forgotten that song. I’m still rolling on the floor with laughter.
The entire Indie scene was vibrant and full of pushing the boundaries. Standing against corporate rock and having fun. Wouldn’t have missed it. But glad I’ve moved past it. Way too hard a lifestyle. I like quiet.

Thanks Og Records – where ever you are.