Friday digest

- Loony left play of the day goes to Ottawa NDP city councillor Alex Cullen, who, along with his downtown socialist buddy Diane Holmes, wants to ban trans fats from the menus of restaurants in Canada's capital.

Although I resent having to subsidize people's poor lifestyle choices via my tax dollars under Canada's no-fault health care system, what upsets me even more are busybody politicians who would have bylaw officers monitoring my dinner plate to ensure what I food I stuff into my cakehole during a night out with my wife is acceptable to them.

I'm an individual and I'm fully capable of knowing what's best for me, thank you very much. None of us need some authoritarian know-it-all breathing down our necks telling us what choices to make and trying to protect us from the consequences of making poor ones.

See here for the point of view of someone else who feels the same way about these sort of things.

- Angry Left stalwart Alec Baldwin, a Hollywood liberal so unhinged that he was sent up in the uproarious "Team America: World Police" because of his persistent whining about George W. Bush, his theorizing about 9/11 and Iraq-related conspiracies and other outbursts such as calling for the stoning of Henry Hyde, has demonstrated that he has some major issues to deal with. Take a listen to this voice mail that he left for his daughter recently.

- Give what we now know about the Virginia Tech tragedy, I think it is fair to comment on it.

First off, a little context. While I am a strong supporter and admirer of the United States, I don't understand guns or gun culture. For instance, I've never been hunting, nor do I ever plan on going, so, that said, here are a few points.

Gun control is not a cure-all. The Virginia Tech campus deemed itself a "gun-free" zone a while back, and that didn't work out, did it? Closer to home, Canada's gun laws didn't stop the Dawson College massacre, the Toronto shootings in the summer of 2005, or lesser-profile incidents like Taber, Alberta and the OC Transpo massacre here in Ottawa back in 1999. However, we have reference checks, or guarantors, when we apply for a passport, so when someone like the killer in Virgina goes to buy a semi-automatic, shouldn't there be at least some kind of verification that the person who wants to purchase one is mentally stable? You won't be able to keep weaponry completely out of the hands of those who want to obtain them, but you can use basic common sense to reduce the ease by which they ARE obtained. It's now known that he spent some time in a psychiatric institution within the last couple of years. This is not the type of person who should be able to walk into a gun dealership, lay down a credit card and walk out with whatever he wants.

One of the commentators I regularly follow made an excellent point in the wake of the massacre. What if, in the classroom where everyone was lined up and executed, the gunman was not the only person who was armed? If one of the other people in that room was carrying, the carnage would have been reduced considerably because they would have been able to take the gunman out. Something to consider, I think. Our first instinct is to say that there needs to be more gun control, but I think there's a lot to be said for the notion that law-abiding, stable individuals should be able to protect themselves in situations like this one where authorities fail.

The manifesto issued by the killer was very edgy, containing resentment-filled and bitter language towards the wealthy. I recall in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombings that right-wing talk radio was blamed for fomenting cynicism about government. Funny how I haven't heard any one blame the class warfare crowd for egging on people who hate the rich.

The bottom line is that while I know those who think that society can be made into a perfectible utopia if only we try hard enough have trouble coming to grips with the reality that shit happens, the best we can do is mitigate - not eliminate - risk.