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THE NEW TANNERTHURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2008 7 GRAPEVINE with Mike OLeary The Way I See It Woodworking safety When Acton area woodworker Henrik Varju asks for a show of hands from people who know woodworkers who have been injured by table saws, many of the hands that are raised are missing fingers injured or lost to woodworking accidents. Varju believes that most table saw accidents are avoidable and presses his point in a new instructional DVD that includes information on proper techniques for table saw safety. For more information visit www. passionforwood.com/dvds.htm or call 519-853-2027. Curl for Heart Curlers will take to the ice sheets at Acton Curling Club on February 28 in aid of the Heart and Stroke Foun- dation. All levels of curlers are invited to the Curling for Heart fundraiser that includes great food, two six-end games and prizes. The goal is to have each participant raise a minimum of $100 in pledges for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. The bonspiel is open to teams, men, women, mixed and junior players. Registration is $120 per team, but early birds who sign up before De- cember 19 pay just $100. To register e-mail the Heart and Stroke Founda- tion at nmackneson@hsf.on.ca or call 905-451-0021. Talent Time From stand-up comics, to bands, to dancers, the talented students at Ac- ton High School will strut their stuff at a school-wide talent/variety show on December19. Students are honing their acts to prep for auditions that run next week. Im very impressed with the qual- ity and diversity of our students, said organizer, teacher Jen Ross who said last years show was so well received that they decided to hold a show in each semester. Window wonders Acton shoppers can help win $100 in BIA (Business Improvement Area) bucks for the downtown merchant with the best decorated store window for the holidays. In past years, the BIA has spon- sored a best wreath contest amongst its members, but this year decided to expand the program, and so, far a number of merchants have gotten into the holiday sprit with colourful and seasonal decorations. Shoppers can fill out a ballot for their favourite window and the win- ning merchant will select a name from the ballots left at their store for someone to win an additional $100 BIA bucks. The Acton BIA celebrates the holi- day season with an Old Fashioned Christmas on Saturday (December 6). There will be a carol sing, led by members of the Acton Citizens Band, beginning at 1 p.m., and a tree light- ing ceremony. There will be hot chocolate and hot cider and free horse-drawn car- riage rides with Santa through the downtown area. Library Fun A holiday classic The Grinch that Stole Christmas will be screened tomorrow (Friday) at a free movie event at the Acton library for school kids enjoying a PD day. Everyone is invited to bring their own lunch and popcorn for the Dr. Seuss favourite. Seating is limited call the library at 519-853-0301 for more details. *** Theres still time to register for Sat- urday craft time at the River Street library. Kids six and up will make and take some Christmas crafts, beginning at 10 a.m. call the library to register. Volunteers needed The Heart and Stroke Foundation is looking for volunteers willing to go to-to-door in February to canvass for the organizations annual fundraising drive. Volunteers are asked to put their heart into the campaign and donate ap- proximately four hours of their time. Call the Heart and Stoke office at 905-451-0021 for details. Rockwood pivot When the University of Western On- tario Mustangs played Laval University for the Vanier Cup on Saturday, Nov. 22 the quarterback for the Mustangs was Michael Faulds, a native of Rock- wood, former Actonian, as sports writer Denis Gibbons informs The New Tan- ner. Denis now lives in Burlington with wife Chris, but he keeps in touch with the old town and the area. Oh, Laval won the Vanier Cup but the Mustangs were no easy pickings. Snow Belt What a difference an escarpment makes in the weather. While this this area was dumped on by a generous snowfall on Sunday night, Milton and area got only a few flakes. The difference can be easily observed on Regional Rd 25 as one climbs up or coasts down the Niagara Escarpment at Speyside. CANCER FIGHTERS: The Paul Murr Memorial Golf tournament committee presented Acton branch of the Canadian Cancer Society with a cheque for $60,000 last Wednesday evening, proceeds from their 24th annual tournament held at the Blue Springs Golf Club in May. The $60,000 brings the total donated to the cancer society, over 24 years, to $718,000. Holding the oversized cheque in front are Cathy Gerrow and Liz Bailey of the Cancer Society and John McNabb and Wade Vickery of the Paul Murr committee. Standing, left to right, are: George McPhail, Bill Manes, Susan Rau- werda, Lucas Vandermeer, Allan Hall, and Fred Reinders of the committee and Rena Arbic, Linda Neary, Shirley Dyc and Pat Kentner of the cancer society. Submitted photo Theyre at it again! Things are near normal up at Disneyland on the Rideau. Plot- ting, scheming, back-stabbing; yep, things havent changed much in the last 60 years. Of course, all the players claim they are conducting themselves in the interests of all Canadians and that their party has the one true strategy to lead us out of the dark- ness. I think that in these perilous economic times they should all stop the nonsense and get back to work. The catalyst for this latest debacle was the Conservative Governments recent economic statement. In it the Tories planned to eliminate the funding for pol- itical parties which comes out of the public purse. In the overall scheme of Ottawa financing the amount wasnt large. Political parties of all stripes combined collect some $30 million per year. The opposition went nuts. Youd have thought the gov- ernment was proposing to steal the food out of their mouths. In a way I suppose they were. Some of these parties couldnt raise enough money to purchase even one attack ad. Personally, I like the idea. Why should our tax dollars go towards financial- ly supporting the separatists? If they need money, let them hold a bake sale. The opposition parties claimed there was no concrete economic stimulus package included in the economic statement. I suppose the money the Finance Minis- ter has poured into the banks to stabilize mortgages didnt really count. The big stumbling block appeared to be that there was no proposed bail-out package for the big three auto makers. It appeared as if Prime Minis- ter Harper was waiting for some indication from President-Elect Obama as to what the U.S. Govern- ment was going to do. IF Obama tied U.S. autoworkers jobs to his economic stimulus package then a substantially different policy would have to be adopted here. Any bail-out package for Can- adian big three auto manufacturers is still a contentious issue. While many, myself included, think its a necessity but want long term job guarantees included, others are re- sisting a taxpayer bailout. They ask why our tax dollars should prop up three companies who stubbornly continued making vehicles that the marketplace didnt want. Still others point out that Toyota and Honda plants here remain busy and arent looking for a financial lifesaver. Could it be because those plants arent unionized? Is that what this is all about, saving union jobs? That explains some of the doctrines behind this coalition poised to take-over the govern- ment. Speaking about this coalition theres several things that bother me. The first, and most obvious, is the fact that the Bloc, also known as traitors, is involved. You can bet the mortgage that, in return for voting with the Liberals and NDP to force legislation through parlia- ment, Duceppe has been promised huge pork barrel playoffs for Que- bec. He certainly isnt in this because of his love for Canada or any democratic ideals. The NDP has been promised six seats in the 24 member Lib- eral cabinet. The NDP could only garner 18.27% of Canadian votes in the recent election and yet they get 25% of plum cabinet posts. Jack Layton must be absolutely salivating at getting this close to governing. Its the only chance hell ever get. His party finished fourth in the recent election, beat- en by the Bloc who only ran in one province. For that he deserves one-quarter of the seats at the cab- inet table? The leaderless Liberals will lead the coalition with Mr. Dion as PM. One of the coalition poli- cies I noticed was a cap and trade market for greenhouse gas emissions. Excuse me but wasnt that one reason why Canadians re- jected the Liberal platform in the last election? So are you ready for the green shaft Part Doux? I could go on and on but my 50 gallon drum of blood pressure pills is almost gone. I blame PM Harper for precipitating this mess. His partisan plan to cut opposition funding, while not the whole rea- son, certainly drove these unholy three to attempt a bloodless coup. By the time you read this we should know what the PM plans to do to save his government. No matter the outcome, there is one thing we should all keep in mind. The denizens of Disneyland on the Rideau are acting solely to save their political skins and perks. They could care less about our country and our problems. Its said we get the government we deserve. We deserve better. Our house... Continued from page 6 restless then. I still think the lady or her hus- band have some attachment to our digs. I really think there is a reason why the doorbell goes on when nobody is around besides a wiring problem. And, I think there is a reason why the dogs bark and roam around for no reason. Am I scared? Nope. Do I think people might think I have issuesperhaps. I just think this house has tales to tell and somebody needs to listen. Maybe I need to contact that medium I heard on the radio. Good thing I hung the cross, just in case. I am not worried for some real reason. After all, they say the Amityville Horror is a true story.