STACKHOUSE SOAPBOX (Yorkton This Week Jan 26)

I got a GPS for Christmas and was pretty excited to use it in a meaningful way, for the first time, late last week when I was in North Battleford and Kindersley for SJHL broadcasts.  I set it to take me to the West Central Events Centre from my hotel in North Battleford and things appeared to be going swimmingly until I hit Wilkie.  One look at Google and you can plainly see the next stop should be Unity.  However, the GPS decided to take the ‘as the crow flies’ path and led me through some back roads and fields that, surely, I’d still be in the middle of had it not been for my four wheel drive vehicle.  The only place I can recall seeing on a sign was Tramping Lake.  I never saw a lake, but maybe it was buried under 10 feet of snow.  I have never been so unsure driving to a destination in my life!  Later that evening, I passed through Saskatoon on my home from Kindersley and ended up taking Circle Drive South exit.  Bad mistake.  So I set up the GPS again to get me out of the jam and all I did was end up in a dead end somewhere near the big Sask Power facility.  0-for-2 using my new GPS....

Prime Minster Stephen Harper was asked by Peter Mansbridge about the death penalty and while Harper said it isn’t on the table, his answer left some to wonder as to whether or not the death penalty may be something that could, eventually, emerge as some form of legislation.  Harper said, “Sometimes the death penalty fits the crime.”  A recent survey shows 62% are in favor of capital punishment.  My own thoughts surrounding this are that the death penalty should be used in extreme cases and only where there is not only guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but guilt without any doubt at all.  Paul Bernardo, Russell Williams, Clifford Olson, and Robert Pickton come immediately to mind.

On the issue of gun control, here’s a real telling statistic:  of the eight guns cop killer James Roszko had around him at the time of his death, one was smuggled across the border, several had been stolen, and none were legally registered.  It’s the latest embarrassing example on how gun control and firearms registration does nothing to reduce illegal acts involving these types of weapons.  If someone can explain to me how this works so that we can be a safer society, let me know and I’ll put it in a future column.  I would also call on our local Member of Parliament to continue to pursue this issue as vigorously as he did when the Liberals held power in Parliament.

I would love to hear Osoyoos Chief Clarence Louie speak at a public function.  Louie has some very frank words for his fellow native leaders across the country and he’s been delivering them through various speaking engagements.  He says, ‘The biggest employer should not be the band office.  You are going to lose your language and culture faster in poverty than you will in economic development.”  He also says the time has come to stop whining about 100-year-old failed experiments.  “Blaming government?  That time is over.”

When asked about San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers a couple of years ago, Jay Cutler said, “I don’t like how he carries himself.  I don’t like some of the stuff he does on the field.”  I bet.  After all, Rivers doesn’t carry himself like an egotistical jerk, who looks indifferent to just about everything around him (good or bad).  Rivers also plays through injuries, which Cutler doesn’t do.  It was Rivers who gutted out a torn ACL in a playoff game and it was Cutler who all but pulled himself from Sunday’s loss to Green Bay because of a sprained MCL.  I don’t question his toughness.  I just think he’s a glory hound who looks for a way out when there is no glory to be had.  What a miscarriage of justice it would have been had Caleb Hanie rallied Chicago to a win, only to watch Cutler get the Super Bowl start.

Nice person mentions this week to Trevor Hove, Sid Matsalla, Kyle Ulmer, Terry Tyson, and Theresa Nykolaishen.