From our Friends at Fox News

On the heels of four fallen Canadian soldiers being flown home, draped in the red Maple Leaf, some in the US have seized the opportunity to send best wishes.

Here are some examples of American sympathy:

"The Canadian military wants to take a breather to do some yoga, paint landscapes, run on the beach in gorgeous white Capri pants." - Greg Gutfield, in mocking Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie who, in a heart-sick moment, mentioned that the Canadian Military could do with a year-long break from foreign duty after seeing too many losses in Afghanistan.

"Isn't this the perfect time to invade this ridiculous country? They have no army!" - Greg Gutfield

I didn't even know they were in the war. I thought that's where you go when you don't want to fight. Go chill in Canada." - Doug Benson

"Would Canada be able to get away with this if they didn't share a border with the most powerful country in the universe?" - Doug Benson

Benson and Gutfield are two late-night Fox News political pundits who host a round-table format talk show. By the way, neither has served in the military. Neither has performed comedy professionally.

Ian Welsh of the Huffington Post captures a couple good points:

- There is only one country that threatens Canada's security, and that is the US

- "Canada doesn't need the US to save it from anyone but the US. Sort of like protection money: "Such a nice country you have there. Be a shame if anything any happened to it." - Ian Welsh

- Canada joined the fighting in WWI and WWII well before the US ever decided to engage.

- In WWI and WWII Canada experienced heavier losses, on a per-capita basis.

- Canada is in Afghanistan and NOT Iraq due to Afghanistan being a PROVEN harbourer of terrorist groups.

I should also point out that google news' newsbot has recorded only 38 similar stories (at time of writing). You can safely say that this story has no legs in the US. Not much media sympathy south of the border. A quick visit to FoxNews.com reveals no mention of extending a hand of goodwill in Canada's moment of loss. However, they do offer a report on the "Sexy Women of 'Lost'".

As I write this, I also did a quick check of CNN.com and MSNBC.com, no mention of these verbal fists in the gut.

As usual, Canadian politicians, and the media, seem to be taking the high road. This is what we do. Sort of a "sticks and stones" approach.

We're only a small country of a mere 30 Million, but we please do not "mis-underestimate" us, we will fight. Take our national past time as a living diorama into how Canada ticks. You can talk, jab your stick, but once you drop those gloves, its in our DNA to drop em too. We can't help it.

Note that I have not, or will not, take a poke at Americans in general. 99.9999999999999999999 % are upstanding good-hearted people. We bought into a resort in Florida. I totally dig the US.

However, every time we lose a soldier, it always makes the front page here. It is always the lead story on the 6 o'clock news. Its just too bad it makes Fox News. Trying out a comedy routine over the bodies of fallen soldiers is unbecoming of their network.

The "Guitar Hero Effect"

Your kid in 10 years?

I was about 13 or so when my Mom decided to keep me out of mischief with an electric guitar, an amp, and music lessons. Back then, I had my own made-up version of Guitar Hero. I would put on my Kiss cassettes (don't laugh, I even have 'em in my iPod), or maybe Triumph, or perhaps Rush, and I would attempt to play the guitar parts. If I screwed up, according to my mental game, I had to start from the beginning even if I was mere seconds from the end. Sorta like "guitar solitaire".

So, where am I going with this?

Well, I'm the Dad now, I'm the proud owner of two boys. A few months ago, I brought "Rock Band 2" into the house, later "Guitar Hero III", then most recently "World Tour". But one big question plagued me. I couldn't sleep at nights: tossing and turning, cold sweats. Would exposing my boys to video game "instruments" impede their ability to discover learning real musical instruments?

I'm happy to report that the answer is: "I don't think so".

After the unnerving experience of watching my 10 year-old man-handle my guitars, I went out and got him one of his own. Surprisingly, he has spent many an hour holed up in his room, plunking away, trying to get the basics down. AC DC seems to be his favourite.

In addition to this, my 5 year old has taken to using the Guitar Hero drum set to play along with various rock concerts that I've PVR'ed. He's very impressive playing along with Megadeth. He has graduated to the "Hard" setting on drums on World Tour. He's almost due for a real drum set, digital drum set versus acoustic is a topic for another time.

To sum up, I think that Rock Band and Guitar Hero are like the first dose of crack cocaine (er... so I hear): you go through the mechanics of playing an instrument, this implants the seeds of curiosity. Your second dose of a guitar fix will have you heading to Axe Music, or Long & McQuade, and these guys ain't exactly a charity.

Let's see in 10 years where these "Guitar Hero Kids" are. We could end up being faced with a never ending sea of "Jonas Brothers" bands.