I received the first item I ever bought on ebay yesterday, a copy of a novel, Follow my leader, written by James B. Garfield in 1957. I read a paperback reprinted version of the novel as a boy. It is juvenile literature. It tells the story of a boy named Jimmy Carter who loses his sight in a playground accident. It is a rather inspiring story of how he learns to cope with his blindness, is given a guide dog he calls Leader and comes to forgive the boy who caused the accident. The seller from whom I bought the book is honest. The price for the book and the shipping charges were very reasonable and I received the book within two weeks of purchasing it.

I studied children's librarianship and children's literature when I was in library school. I worked briefly as children's librarian for the Smiths Falls Public Library many years ago. I was hired as a replacement for the librarian while she was away on maternity leave. I still have an interest in literature for children and young adults and this particular book, in my opinion, ranks among the best. It is still available in reprinted editions and I strongly recommend it for young readers.

It looks as though the proposed Liberal-NDP coalition has failed. Polls show that Canadians want none of this coalition and overwhelmingly support the Conservative government. I am cautiously optimistic that the Conservative government can reach an agreement with enough of the opposition to bring in a budget that will meet with parliamentary approval. The governing Conservatives and the opposition Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois will have to compromise to make this possible. There are elements on both sides of this sordid drama who are loathe to make concessions. I notice in the news today that gorgon Rebick was hosting a rally in favour of the coalition in front of the parliament buildings yesterday, just as the Prime Minister advised the Governor-General to prorogue parliament. Rebick and the rest of the rabble/babble crowd's hatred for Prime Minister Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada is manifest. It must be heart breaking for them to see their fantasy of a "socialist-feminist" putsch crumbling. However, not being one to count his chickens before they hatch, I wait with baited breath, hoping that cooler heads prevail and this crisis is resolved either with the Conservative government remaining in office, or if the government is toppled, a general election ensuing in which Canadians can choose either the Conservative Party of Canada or the Liberal-NDP coalition to form a new government.

The Governor General accepted the Prime Minister's request to prorogue parliament. Good. Let cooler heads prevail, think carefully about this Liberal-NDP coalition and hopefully lay it to rest. The problem remains that for people who harbour a profound dislike for Prime Minister Harper or the Conservative Party of Canada or the outcome of the election that was held on October 14th, 2008, they will support any effort, no matter how unrealistic, to topple the Conservative government. If this coalition is given the green light to form a government, it is likely it will collapse in short order. The Liberals and the NDP have very different agendas and bases of support. The Bloc Quebecois is in a league of its own. The three parties have been at odds with one another up until they decided on this hare-brained coalition. It will unfold probably much the same way as the Canadian Alliance in 2001. Time will tell.

I am watching the absurd drama unfold in parliament which started with the general election held on October 14th, 2008 in which the Liberals and NDP who were both handed their collective hats in the recent general election, the Liberal leader, Stephane Dion was handed his hat by his own party too. Dion led the Liberal Party into its most sound defeat at the polls in history. The Conservative government, headed by Prime Minister Harper, was re-elected with more seats in parliament than they had going into the election. They have less than a majority, but still more seats than the Liberals and NDP combined. Despite the outcome of the election, the Liberals and the NDP have decided that what this really means is that it is the Conservative government that does not have the confidence of the Canadian electorate.

To this end they have formed a coalition with the aim of toppling the Conservative government and taking its place. If this Liberal-NDP coalition is to fly, it needs the backing of the Bloc Quebecois, a regional rump party that only puts up candidates for election in Quebec. The Bloc is essentially a separatist party. It serves only the "national" interest of Quebec. Its only mandate is to demand "what's in it for Quebec." Despite the fact the Bloc has more seats in parliament than the NDP, under the terms of this proposed coalition government, the Liberals and NDP will form a cabinet, with six cabinet posts allocated to the NDP. The Bloc will have no representation in cabinet, but this is moot as the Liberal-NDP coalition will be entirely at the mercy of the Bloc to prop it up. In effect, it is the Bloc, the "what's in it for Quebec" party who will be governing all of Canada if this comes to pass. This has got to be the most hare-brained scheme anyone could have imagined. Heaven help us if this comes to be.

Political correctness is rearing its ugly head in Toronto yet again with the recent announcement that Mayor Miller and his toadies on City Council intend to cancel the leases with two shooting clubs on city property and enact a by-law prohibiting any new businesses in Toronto from manufacturing or wholesaling firearms. I cannot say I am surprised by this. Toronto has a silly history of imposing inane, politically correct policies including the ban imposed against a home grown pop band, the Barenaked Ladies, from performing on city property on the grounds that their name "objectifies women." The ban was overturned, but not before the Toronto City Council had become a continent-wide laughing stock.

The CHIN Picnic was run off city property by the City Council, because it features a swimwear competition. Young men and women, aspiring fashion models no doubt, model swimwear in this competition. The competition is one of the more popular events I understand. Ah, but this is offensive to the slavish adherents of political correctness, particularly the rabble/babble crowd whose swimsuit sizes typically range from buffalo butt to Rebick rump. The CHIN picnic continues to draw large crowds and the swimwear competition goes on in spite of the politically correct prigs on the Toronto City Council.

A Christmas tree is put up every year at Nathan Phillips Square in front of Toronto City Hall at Christmastime. It was decided by a city bureaucrat that the tree would be referred to as a "multicultural" tree so no one would feel excluded. Mayor Mel Lastman put paid to this foolishness when he pointed out that "anyone can see it is a Christmas tree!" Anyone, it seems, save the politically correct can see this.

Two shooting clubs that have operated for decades on city property without incident are having the rug pulled from under them by Mayor Miller. The club members will no doubt continue their sport, they will have to take up membership in clubs that do not operate on city property. The arbitrary closure of these shooting clubs is supposed to stem the problem of gangs and shootings with black market guns. For anyone who believes this, I have the title to a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.

I have never liked Toronto. I feel like a fish out of water in larger cities. I have no trouble at all in continuing to avoid visiting Toronto. I hope Torontonians finally come to their senses and turf the prize purple twit Miller out of office in the next municipal elections.

I am not sure why, but my genuphobia is particularly acute this past week. Everywhere I go I am seeing people's naked knees, which is making me excessively squeamish. I really do not understand what causes phobias in people or why knees frighten me so. I am doing my best not to pay attention to or think about knees, as hard as it is do do so at times. I hope this episode passes soon. Sometimes I really wish knees had been abolished.

I notice the rabble/babble crowd is gloating over the dismissal of a libel case brought against the crown and Pierrette Bouchard, the author of a publication entitled "School Success by Gender: A Catalyst for the Masculinist Discourse," by Ken Wiebe, a father's rights activist in British Columbia. This document was published by Status of Women Canada. Wiebe publishes a website for B.C. Fathers, a support group for fathers in custody cases. Wiebe and portions of his website were featured in Bouchard's publication in which he is characterized as an anti-woman hatemonger. He took exception to this and sued, arguing that this was defamation of character. The case was dismissed as the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that the though the characterization was defamatory, it falls well within the bounds of fair comment. Fair enough, but I wonder if the rabble/babble crowd appreciates that fair comment means that they and their pet causes are subject to defamatory characterizations, provided they keep in the bounds of fair comment. Based on what I have observed of the antics of the rabble/babble crowd, somehow I doubt this very much.