Canada’s largest doughnut chain, Tim Hortons seems to have lost its good sense in good old-fashioned public relations.
Nicole Lilliman, 27, was summoned to the office of the Tim Hoerrons franchise Wednesday and told video surveillance had caught her giving a customer’s toddler a 16-cent doughnut nugget for free. Giving the timbit who was pointing at it and talking baby prattle, cost the woman her job.
“It was just out of my heart–(the child) was pointing and going `ah, ah’,” she said. “I should have gone to mu purse and got the change, but it was busy.”
Nicole said the three managers who summoned her fired her for theft and told her she had to sign the accusation before leaving.
As the London Free Press correctly points out, Timbits are routinely given away to dogs in cars at the drive-through window. They are “day-old and recycled” Timbits, often wolfed down by the human occupants in the car, too smart to feed sweets to their pets.
Mercifully, Nicole was offered a job with Tim Hortons at another location and accepted it.
Meanwhile, maybe it’s time for Timbit management to take a course in PR.

Canada Free Press tekkie supremo Brian Thompson can’t get over the hypocrisy of politically correct governments like Ontario’s Dalton McGuinty Liberals.  On his last trek to the liquor store in order to pick up some wine for dinner, he was handed his wine in a paper bag. He promptly asked for a plastic bag. “Well, next time you come, you can bring your own cloth bag if you wish,” an LCBO cashier told him.”But I want a plastic bag,” Brian insisted. Plastic bags have been banned by the McGuinty regime which goes so far out of its way to protect the great unwashed from themselves.It’s okay to drink liver-dessicating alcohol, but you don’t get to carry it home in a plastic bag.In the Province of Ontario, Big Brother’s name is “Uncle Dalty”.

Sent in by Chuck Brucks… 

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE. 

‘If you’re going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning.’  

2. My mother taught me RELIGION. 

‘You better pray that will come out of the carpet.’  

Read the rest of this entry »

Reams have been written about U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama. Is he fish or fowl? Why is he so difficult to pin down on actual agendas, etc., etc.,. etc.
The best line I ever saw on Obama comes from bottom liner Thomas Sowell, senior felow at the Hoover Institute, author of the best-selling book, “Basic Economics: A Citizen’s Guide to the Economy and popular columnist for www.townhall.com. Says Sowell on Obama: “There is no reason why someone as arrogant, foolishly clever and ultimately dangerous as Barack Obama should become president.”

From reader Don Klein:

Her hair was up in a pony tail,
her favorite dress tied with a bow.
Today was Daddy’s Day at school,
and she couldn’t wait to go.

But her mommy tried to tell her,
that she probably should stay home.
Why the kids might not understand,
if she went to school alone.

But she was not afraid;
she knew just what to say.
What to tell her classmates
of why he wasn’t there today.

But still her mother worried,
for her to face this day alone.
And that was why once again,
she tried to keep her daughter home.

But the little girl went to school
eager to tell them all.
About a dad she never sees
a dad who never calls.
There were daddies along the wall in back,
for everyone to meet.
Children squirming impatiently,
anxious in their seats

Read the rest of this entry »

Researchers at Saint Louis University in Missouri are trying to make us believe that a far-from-lifelike robot dog is just as good at alleviating instiutional loneliness as a floppy-eared mutt named Sparky.

“A friendly dog can make older people feel less isolated–and it appears to make little difference if that wagging tail belongs to a robot doggie or the real thing.” (Reuters, Feb. 27, 2008).

Because some senior citizens are too frail to care for a pet or have had to give up their own animals when they went into the nursing home, Professor of Geriatric Medicine Dr. William Banks and colleagues decided to see if a faux fido might offer some comfort.

The researchers studied 38 nursing home residents who were divided into three groups. One got regular visits from Banks’ pet Sparky, another got visits from the AIBO Entertainment Robot–a shiny robot dog formerly made by Sony corp that used artificial intelligence to interact with its environment and express emotion. The other group got no visits from either dog or robot.

Banks said he had been sure Sparky would have the edge, but to his surprise, both dogs provided virtually equal comfort after seven weeks of visits.

The elderly living out their golden years in institutions know the difference between a paper rose and a real one, and many are as good at recognizing the “real thing” as younger folk.

Shiny robot dogs may be able to wag their artificial tails, but they can’t steal your heart with soulful eyes or jump up on your bed for a cuddle.

There are times when science should give us a break!

Spam overwhelms me and keeps me away from the Lighthouse. But “suicidal pets” prescribed anti-depresants brought me back.

According to news.com.au, “Pets at risk of self-harm are increasingly being prescribed anti-depressants because they cannot discuss problems in their lives with others, a leading veterinarian says.”

Zoo and wildlife medicine specialist with the UK’s Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, Romain Pizza told the Telegraph that more pets were being prescribed Prozac.

Prozac is given to parrots in liquid form.

The overmedication of humans has now seeped over to the animal world.

And now that some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies have also recognized the need for anti-depressants for animals, it’s something not likely to go away anytime soon.

There were 20 centimetres of snow greeting me when I opened my door early this morning.

The weatherman, who long ago predicted that this winter would be the worst in the last half a century was right for a change.

But it’s not the snow from the skies that’s my big snow problem. Being snowbound when there’s something cooking in the oven and when your line of work entails having to be in front of your computer screen, is no problema.

It’s the snowed under by Spam blog that creates the headaches.

Spam outdoes genuine notes from readers on a ratio of 4 to 1, and discourages me from being more attentive to my Lighthouse (Judi) blog.

Sooner or later I’m hoping to come to terms with more creative ways to turf out the blog spam.

In the subprime mortgage crisis banks are foreclosing and people leaving their homes. A sad enough statistic, but a detail now emerging is heartbreaking.

As Americans have been forced out of their homes by foreclosures, many have abandoned their cats and dogs.

“Shelters across the country have seen a rise in the number of people putting their pets up for adoption as they move to smaller quarters. (Daily News, Jan. 27, 2008). “But some desperate homeowners are leaving their furry friends behind for police and foreclosure agents to deal with.”

“We’re finding too many animals who have starved to death,” Stephanie Shain, director of outreach for the Humane Society, told Agence France-Presse.

Bite and scratch marks are left on windows by the poor animals before they slowly waste away.

“They will eat anything–furniture or carpet or wallboard–to try to ingest something,” Shain said.

Some stories are too sad to read.

Surely it wasn’t just a Freudian slip when President George W. Bush declared that North American taxes are too high in his last State of the Union address on Monday night.
What possible concern could it be to the President of the United States if taxes are too high in Canada and Mexico?
Surely President Bush meant to say that taxes are too high in the United States?
Was this “Mr. Amero” after the mask slipped off or President George W. Bush speaking to the American (read North American) people?