Scott evil?
Well, they went and did it. Scott Taylor debuted in today's Post with "The View from Winnipeg" (I knew there had been something missing from the sports section!). I guess everyone deserves a second chance, and if nine weeks' penance is enough to absolve Taylor of his cardinal sin, then who am I to complain? I just find it very, very odd, is all.

The Earl of Feelingsburg
I thought I was aware of most if not all of the kooks that lurk in Sun Media's stable of columnists (hint: search on "Ian Robinson"), but thanks to Colby Cosh, the Ottawa Sun's Earl McRae is a new one on me. This column really is quite extraordinary. In it, McRae essentially says that the massive public displays of grief that follow the great calamities of our times (9/11, the tsunami, Princess Diana) are no longer just one way to express one's grief, should one in fact have any grief to express. They are now a civic duty, and thus Saturday's flop of a Tsunami Memorial Service in Ottawa has exposed its citizens as the heartless bastards they are. I won't bore you — Cosh tears the whole thing to shreds here. He also pointed me in the direction of Mr McRae's previous column, with its "SHADDUP" and, ahem, "sissypants" — my goodness, what a difference 48 hours can make.

Damn punks
Subhead on this morning's Post article entitled "New law 'too soft' on violent youth": "Some walking out of court laughing." Source of the subhead: Ontario probation officer (and union exec — see below) Bob Eaton. He says (my emphasis): "The ones who know the system are essentially laughing at us, because they know that there aren't any real strong sanctions for continued disobedience of court orders." Laughing; not actually laughing — ah, close enough.

Far weirder, though, are the multiple references to corrections officers being laid off because of a decrease in the young-offender prison population.

Since the law took effect 18 months ago, the number of young offenders going to jail has plummeted by as much as half, forcing prison units to close, eliminating corrections jobs and generating controversy across Canada…

In [Newfoundland and Labrador]… the average daily count of youth in secure custody has dropped to less than 30 from 50-55 before the new law. Two 10-bed units have been closed and layoff notices handed to 27 staff in the last 18 months…

Nova Scotia had to close the $3-million-a-year Shelbourne Youth Centre in April after the inmate population, once as high as 120, shrunk to 2.

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