Dog On A Root

- jim Young "Something is rotten in the state of Washington, D.C." - with apologies to William Shakespeare In trying to help do my part in fighting Trump's tariffs, I try to make certain I am purchasing as many "Made In Canada" products as I can. So when I make my shopping list at home I will check out the country of origin of as many products as I can and make a little note in my list to let me know if my usual favourite brands are okay to purchase. This saves me time as I don't have to look for country of origin labels when I shop. Google has a relatively new feature called "AI Overview" which I believe checks several sites against your question and provides you a summary for your answer. I wouldn't rely on it too much for serious fact checking, but it can be very handy when you are just looking for a quick answer. However when I asked the question " Is Prego spaghetti sauce MADE in Canada?" The response from AI Overview was ...

 

 

 - jim Young "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." - anon I applied for my very first credit card when I was still in high school. When my application was approved I received in the mail, a credit card for Canadian Tire that was made out of cardboard and had a credit limit of $100. I suppose it was possible that the cashier might make a clerical error when manually filling in the account number from these cardboard credit cards, voiding the transaction and making it impossible for the oil company or department store to bill the customer, however I was never lucky enough to have that happen to me.  But that possibility was eliminated when plastic cards with embossed numbers and swipe machines that imprinted a carbon copy of the account number onto the credit slips were introduced. The magnetic strip was the next advancement in credit cards which not only improved accuracy and allowed the collection of more data but also significantly reduced processing time. ...

- jim Young ”When did fact-checking and journalism go their separate ways?” - Jon Stewart This… this right here is what’s wrong with the political world today. It’s also what’s wrong with Facebook. Frederick R. Barnard noted that “A picture says a thousand words,” but unfortunately we don’t always know what those words say. Here is a post that is circulating Facebook today simply because it’s so easy just to click and share anything that supports our views no matter how inaccurate or misleading the information may be. Shown in the photo is a picture of Pierre Poilievre with Jeremy MacKenzie, the founder of the group Diagolon. The photo and the accompanying text, questions Poilievre’s capabilities as a leader based on this photo.  It certainly looks like Pierre and Jeremy are best buds and it certainly looks like they are supporting each other on some issue but there is no indication whatsoever that may be. Does that give one the right to make an assumption that Poilievre support...

 

- jim Young “America, where are you now? Don't you care about your sons and daughters? Don't you know we need you now? We can't fight alone against the monster.” - Jerry Edmonton & John Kay Pierre Berton, as many of you may recall, was a Canadian historian, writer, journalist, broadcaster, panelist on the long running TV Show “Front Page Challenge” and of course a proud, very proud Canadian.  Although I don’t recall all of the minor details, I once heard the following story about Berton. Someone (I don’t even recall if it was a celebrity or an admirer) once asked Pierre Berton if he was an American. “Yes,” Pierre Berton replied proudly, “I’m a North American.” He then went on to clarify, “I’m a Canadian.” U.S. President Donald Trump seems to mistakenly think that the United States somehow has a monopoly on the word “America”. Trump also mistakenly thinks that renaming the “Gulf Of Mexico” as the “Gulf Of America” is somehow going to make people think that the “Gulf Of M...

 

Trump holds the record for President coming to power with the LOWEST Net Approval ratings since World War II. In 2016 Trump's Net Approval was a record low of 3.2.  In 2025 Trump's Net Approval was only 7.0 NO OTHER president since World War II has ever had a single digit Net Approval!  

- j im Young “People demand freedom of speech as compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.” - Soren Kierkegaard I couldn’t help but chuckle when I first saw this meme posted on Facebook. The irony here is, I think the only people likely to be offended with this statement are perhaps the bigots who are not aware that this is already a requirement for citizenship in Canada. Or if not English - French which is our other official Canadian language. Try going to some places in Quebec and pull your “Everybody must speak English crap there!” On the Government of Canada’s webpage in the section that lists the eligibility requirements for applying for Canadian Citizenship you’ll see the title,“prove your language skills”. And when you click on the title “prove your language skills”, the drop down menu describes the minimum language requirements that anyone wishing to become a Canadian Citizen must acquire in either French or English before becoming a Canadian Citizen. I ha...

 

 

  Better Labelling Required - jim Young “From the Vancouver Island to the Alberta highland, ‘Cross the Prairie, the lakes to Ontario’s towers. From the sound of Mount Royal’s chimes,  Up to the Maritimes, Something to sing about, this land of ours!” - Oscar Brand Canada has its problems and weaknesses. I get that. And I get that some Canadians are not happy with the way our country has been run for the past few years. Hell, there will always be some Canadians that are not happy with our government regardless as to who is in power and what they are doing. But when it comes right down to it, ALL Canadians are my brothers and sisters. A young boy will fight and torment his sibling endlessly and without shame. BUT the moment someone else tries to knock down this same sibling - that’s a different matter. He will be at his sibling’s side ready to defend him or her with everything he’s got. And that’s how I see Canada today. Regardless of our political differences all Canadians shou...