Eulogy For A Maple Leaf

Another hockey season is nearly done and The Maple Leafs have failed to make the playoffs once again. The team was valued at $413 million in 2007 making it what must be one of the most expensive failures in NHL history! The last year the Leafs won a cup was 1967 so tv viewers have never seen a Stanley Cup raised in victory by a Maple Leaf player in colour LOL! Some blame the infamous Harold Ballard for the beginning of the Leaf's downfall and continue to blame his ghost to this day. I've also noticed how Leaf fans seem to want to hold on to the past as well. Case in point, Mats Sundin is now the current record holder for most points by a Maple Leaf. When Sundin passed Darryl Sittler he was actually despised by some Leaf fans!?!?!?!

Good times come and good times go and I'm sure the Leafs will find success again EVENTUALLY!! and hey..........theres always next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Politics Bigger Than Mountains

The Strand Robyn Holwell Photo

Political interference has effectively put progress on the Mealy Mountain Park at a standstill. The provincial government has put up roadblock after roadblock when it comes to this park to the point where it almost seems like sabotage. Like Lp said over in the Sound Board, can you imagine the Strand being torn up or The Eagle dammed??? Danny Williams looks at the area and can only see dollar signs, not the natural beauty of the area! The first proposed area for the park has been cut up so much by the government that whats left could scarcely be even called a national park. I would go completly in the other direction and say that the original plan for the park area be even expanded to include the Table Bay area which by the way has been discussed already.

White Bear River By Robyn Holwell

So if you are concerned with this issue I would ask you to please take advantage of the Mealy Mountain Park postcard campaign in The Labradorian this week.

Eagle River

The following is from http://www.naturecanada.ca/

The Mealy Mountains are a global treasure worth preserving.

1. The people of Labrador support the establishment of a national park. The Labrador Metis Nation, the Innu Nation, and the Labrador Inuit Association all recognize the material, spiritual and physical benefits of establishing a park in the Mealy Mountains.

2. Establishing a national park here will preserve the environmental, cultural and ecological integrity of several treasured natural landscapes, including five ecoregions that are not represented by any other national park in Canada.

3. A national park acts as an economic driver for local communities, in part through tourism. Adventure and discovery await the hardy nature enthusiast here. Wilderness experiences could include world-class canoeing, hiking, rock climbing, kayaking, coastal walks, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and wildlife photography.

4. Labrador has many opportunities for forestry, mining and power development outside the proposed national park. Establishing this protected space means there will always be some part of the land left for the people of Labrador.

5. The Mealy Mountains are steeped in the traditional history of the first peoples of the land. For countless generations, the Labrador Innu have been sustained off this land they call Akamiuapishku. The Labrador Inuit and Labrador Metis have strong cultural and subsistence ties to the area.

6. Mealy mountains are home to some of Labrador’s best wetlands and salmon and brook trout habitat, and provide a haven for a threatened woodland caribou herd, along with moose, black bear, osprey, bald eagle and harlequin duck populations. Marine mammals abound in the coastal waters, including six species of seals and 16 species of dolphins and whales.

You can help!

The establishment of new national parks requires strong support from local communities, Aboriginal and provincial governments, and from Canadians. Help protect the Mealy Mountains, one of the last pristine forest wilderness areas on the continent. Write to the premier of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Prime Minister and tell them you want a Mealy Mountains National Park established. Also tell them that you support full interim protection for the park study area.

Write to Office of the Prime MinisterHouse of CommonsOttawa, ON K1A 0A6(no postage required)E-mail: mailto:pm@pm.gc.ca

Office of the PremierGovernment of Newfoundland and LabradorConfederation Building, East BlockP.O. Box 8700St. John’s, NL A1B 4J6E-mail: mailto:premier@mail.gov.nl.ca

Click the link below to download an open form letter to send to the premeir indicating your support for The Mealy Mountain National Park

http://www.mediafire.com/?wrbazxxjnzi

@#%&@#$%@#%# COMPUTERS

Tip For The Day

Want to lead a less stressful and all around more healthy life?????

When your computer is first booting up in the morning.........GET UP & WALK AWAY

First place, anyone?

For all ye Habs fans...a win tonight against the first place Devils will put our Habs,I repeat, OUR HABS in first place in the Eastern Conference for the first time this late in the year since '93! We all know what happened that year*knock on wood*.

How can we not be excited about the team this year? Second in the league in goals, first on the PP, and a league leading seven 40+ point getters..all this from a team with a ripe ol' average age of 26.6.

I don't care that we traded Who-et (ok..he shutout the devils but Price has been, and will continue tobe GREAT) for a 2nd rounder or didn't get Hossa, who Pittsburgh WAY overpaid for by the way. Points since the trade deadline- Mikhail Grabovski:2, Marian Hossa:0. So suck on that Ray Shero, Pens GM! We'll keep Grabovski, Higgins, Lapierre, and our 1st rounder and you can take your gimpy-kneed Hossa, we dont need em! Plekanec (25), the Kostitsyns (23 and 20), Higgins (24), Grabovski (24), Lapierre (22), Latendresse (20), Gorges (23), O'Byrne (23), Price (20), and Halak (22) make up the best core group of youngsters in the league, even better than what they have in Pittsburgh. Not to mention our vets Kovalev, Koivu, Hamrlik, Markov(Norris!!!), and KomiSAURUS, who is among the league leaders in both hits and blocked shots. The only thing we lack is the true game-breaker to take over after Kovalev either a)retires or b)decides he doesnt care anymore (He's been PHENOMENAL this year, but lets face it...its only a matter of time). One thing is for certain, though, Ottawa has seen its last days as the "Beasts of the Northeast".

The next step for our Habs is to challenge Pittsburgh for the title of Beast of the EAST. For the next 5 years or so this will be a rivalry with the grit of the Colorado-Detroit series' of the 90's, the goal scoring of the Oilers-Flames series' of the 80's, and the goaltending of the Devils-Stars series of '00 (Brodeur vs Belfour). OK...maybe it won't have ALL of these elements, but you get the point!

Yup, sure is a good time to be a Habs fan..especially considering where those pathetic Laffs are in the standings. And to all you leafs fans...YOU WILL MISS THE PLAYOFFS!! Despite Mats Sundins heroic efforts, the leafs will miss the playoffs and somehow manage to screw themselves out of a lottery pick. No Steve Stamkos, no Drew Doughty, and most certainly no playoffs for a long, long time.

So for all you borderline Habs fans my message is clear. Hop on the bandwagon...and hop on now! This team is for real, and will only get better. In the words of http://www.habsinsideout.com/ (best fan site in the universe..check it out) blogger Mike Boone, join us in all the agony and ecstacy that comes with being a Habs fan, 'cuz good times like these don't come by too often.

Horsepower Blues

Aww yes, once again it is time for our youth to be reminded that they are not above the law. Just yesterday I was discussing with some friends when we had that same ugly reminder at the ripe ol' age of 12. I clearly remember being infuriated at the thought of losing my ski-doo to some power happy cop who had 'nothing better to do'.

Maybe it's the report of an envious parent who can't buy the best for their child...maybe it's a citizen with legitimate safety concerns to ones self or ones property. BUT maybe this should serve as a reminder to parents that it just doesn't look right when your child under the age of 16 shows up to school on a 12,000 dollar skidoo. With standard features such as enough ponies under the hood to shred snow into a ploom of dust at the nip of the throttle.

The thing to keep in mind is that this will all blow over. Nobody wants to keep our children off snowmobiles - not parents, police, or peers. Because, in the end, we all have better things to do.

To The Politicians

They say we in Labrador got no numbers to count in the (voting) come election time, to make a difference, I say it is the way the Govt has put it. Of course there are no numbers, our resources are here but the amount of pay isn`t,, for one thing everybody (in Labrador) gotta move either to the island or across Canada for better wages just to try and provide some type of security and stability for their loved ones. Come on, this is the way it is, This should be a wake up call for all our Elected Politicians across Labrador, my goodness, once we get our own infrastructure (ie for Hydro and the Highways) then i believe things will start to go our way(as for numbers) here in Labrador. I`m sure there are ways to start our own industry to attract even more indivduals from anywhere in the world(if we get our infrastructure), ie.. roads and hydro, and i`m sure this will lead to our younger generation to have the utmost confidence and support from all Labrador as One to go our own way as a Labrador Province. C`mon Liberal delagates, PC delagates , NDP delegates and of course the Labrador Party delagates, Get Together, Bury the Hatchet and for goodness sakes wake-up and see that our resources stay here in Labrador for the good of all Labradorians to build on for once and for all. Put your personal parties aside for once and go with the Labrador People, Your People and i`m sure Your forefathers People that worked like dogs to make it possible for You and Me to be here at this time. Don`t you all (polticians) realise the sacrifices and for sure the Hardships my forefathers and your own forefathers had to endure just to try and survive, but by god they did just that (survive) and just look at how the Gov`ts of the day treated them, shameful if you ask me. Well sir, we certainly knows the difference now, so get away from your personal parties and jump in with all of Labrador, we`ll be so much stronger as one, and our ancestors that endured hardships we will never experience will be just Smiling. What we all got to lose , you can`t take the money with you when you goes(or the saying says) but just look at the power and enthusiasm and of course the self righteous right we so all deserve as a unique and self serving people that can and will prosper,,, God Willing. Thats my 2 cents worth and i`m sure there are many, many more with these same views here in Labrador. (C`mon Politicians From your Homeland, Join as One) and we here in Labrador will be your biggest supporters.

No Dial Tone

I just saw in the news this morning that the Taliban are threatening to disrupt cell phone service in Afghanistan in an effort to hinder communications.



So lets see now.....one of the poorest, war torn, backward countries in the world has cell phone service while most of Labrador does not!

Whats In A Name

After all the guess where pictures from last week I've been thinking about place names in Labrador. While I realize they had names long before Europeans stepped foot in Labrador its still interesting how names sometimes change or evolve over the years. Sometimes its just down to pronounciation of words or some regional dialect differences. Bobbin Joyce, Bob & Joyce, Bob & Joys, Bob Joys (Brook) comes to mind....all the same place! Then are places that seem to have been deliberately renamed at some point, for example whats now known as North River was originally called Cartwright River by George Cartwright in the late 1700's.

Maybe its time to have some kind of official record of the place names while some of the older generation is still around?

The interactive map I had on the website for place names a few years ago was discontinued because it started to get quite inaccuarate because I don't think a lot of people were zooming in on the map enough before placing their markers.

Snow & Chocolate

Valentine's Day is tomorrow, another day where the chocolate flows wilder than the Churchill River. What is it with winter holidays and chocolate? At Christmas we see endless boxes of chocolates, chocolate santas, chocolate Rudolph, chocolate trees and so on.
Easter theres the chocolate bunnies, chocolate eggs, chocolate roosters and I bet somewhere theres a chocolate Jesus!
Tomorrow the chocolate hearts will be everywhere. The chocolate companies take in millions at these three times of year! Makes you want to start a chocolate factory......ohhhh wait.....Joey Smallwood already tried that in just one of his hair brained schemes that went bust.
I wonder would it work any better today?...................nahhhhh thats just the chocolate messing with my brain!

Facebook

I must say I do like most things about the social network site Facebook and have to confess spending too much time on it from time to time. BUT SERIOUSLY the endless funwall requests and having to invite 20 friends to get to see anything all the time is really starting to get annoying. That being said theres still that strange fascination of seeing bits of other people's lives.

Anyway thats my only complaint for the day, aside from the weather that is!