STACKHOUSE SOAPBOX (Yorkton This Week March 28)

There is really nothing that I can add with regards to the Graham James 2-year sentence that was handed down by an ignorant judge last week.  James has made a career of violating teenaged boys and exploiting our bleeding heart justice system.  If you surveyed the entire country, you would find 99% of the population would find the sentence to be too lenient.  The 1% opposed are the judges, who maybe should be on the victim side of crime every once in awhile so that a reality check can be delivered.  The judge says because James is incredibly sorry, that has to be taken into account.  I couldn't disagree more.  Furthermore, we have to remember that James is likely sorry at being caught more than he's sorry for sexually violating these boys hundreds of times in such a calculated manner.  And judges, who are supposed to be the smartest people in our society, have to recognize what exactly the accused is sorry for.  Judges may be smart.  But, they are also the most gullible; which cancels out the intelligence as far as I'm concerned.

I am so nervous about our society's stance on pedophilia.  I see a day when people like James won't do a stitch of jail time.  Instead, they will receive special medical treatment in the form of pills and be sent on their merry way.

The latest head scratcher from the politically correct world is in Britain where young kids are being prevented from having best friends.  Serious.  One particular school is making children play in large groups because later in life it is painful to split from a best friend.  Eventually, this thought process will make it's way to Canada and teenagers will be encouraged to have multitudes of boyfriends and girlfriends on the go at the same time.  I mean breaking up with a significant other is hard.  So, let's date everyone to prevent hurt feelings.  Might be more fun too.

I don't know if the decisions Brendan Taman is making as General Manager of the Saskatchewan Roughriders will pay off or not; but I am quite satisfied seeing him take charge and, at least, try to right the ship.  Defensive end Odell Willis is the latest to be acquired to try and shore up another weak link the team had last year.  Keep in mind, my constant grumbling about the team last year was based on the incompetence and indifference shown by Ken Miller.  And, by now, it's obvious this mess lies right at the feet of Miller.  I don't care how many times he coached the team to the Grey Cup game.  I'd suggest this team maybe could have won a Grey Cup every single year Miller was at the helm if they had someone that knew what he was doing instead of a guy day dreaming.  The speed and decisiveness shown by Taman is proof he was nothing more than a puppet last year.

Major League Baseball officially starts this week with Seattle and Oakland in Japan.  For what it's worth, here are my picks for division winners:  Yankees, Tigers, Angels, Braves, Brewers, Diamondbacks.  Wildcards:  Rays, Rangers, Marlins, and Reds.  This is the year baseball expands playoffs by two teams isn't it?

I'll maybe write more about this NFL bounty issue at a future point, but my feelings are that in professional football, quarterbacks should expect defensive players to come at them with an intent to injure on a play by play basis.  The bounty is wrong, but only so much in that if players were hitting illegally.  If that's the case, the onus shifts to the referee to flag and eject such players.  End of story.  Morally there is a lot wrong with the bounty and that's why Roger Goodell is handing down harsh penalties.  But, in the world of professional sports, very little of what goes on is morally right.

Health tidbit of the week:  10 minutes of sunshine a day can cut your stroke risk by up to 80%

If this isn't illegal, it should be:  in Dauphin on Saturday, we saw a man 'walking' his German Shepherd.  The Shepherd was running up the street.  The man was driving an SUV with his hand out the window and a leash, attached to the dog.  Laziness at its best.  Look.  If you don't have the energy or time to walk man's best friend, then give him to someone else.

I saw a really nice thought yesterday that can sometimes give us pause.  "If you treat someone like a celebrity, they are likely to return the favor by treating you like a fan."

Another good one from Twitter:  "Nowadays, 'cool' means 'I really don't care'.  'Sick' means 'awesome' and 'I love you' doesn't mean anything."

Nice person mentions this week to John Stechyshyn's mom and dad.  I should've asked them their names.  The DeCorbys, Scott Keith, and the person working admitting at the Yorkton Regional Health Centre who dealt with my wife and was complimentary (on behalf of her husband) on my column.  I will also take her advice and add Jenn Stackhouse to the list of nice people this week (and every week).