The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

our children and adoicsccms. and still rely on one of the most stable pension plans around. Or it might even be that the/iii, make a great living working with The incréénsingl) popular "snow' days, where school is cancelled. cer. tainty must adds to their stress level, Or perhaps it is the 'ortuously long summer holidays. March Break. Christmas break. the pletho- ra of PD days. and those additional 'personal' days (that can amount to an additional three weeks um. that grinds their gears. . -__H - --___ "...". My.“ I'm quite conrtdent in thinking there is no other medical process which men are more uncomforh able with. Oh. we all know it's a worthwhile procedure, and can be a Wesaver. but I don't think that changes the way we look at it-gerteraity, over one's shoulder. Sex off I go to the doctor, who I won't name, but I will call her Cathy, ' Perhaps it is the grueling 8 a.m. to 3:30 pm. Monday to Friday work- week. with the fully-paid union- negotiated preparation time between classes know so many teachers. and Iheal of so many more, that say their jobs are so rough. _ They somehow justify it and yell am trying to find out exactly what is so bad. I also have read enough to know how this stuff is checked for. Yes. boys. the under-appreciated digital rectal exam, Not many as much fun as one might expect. Troubles with the prostate? Not unheard of in men of my age. And with two parents who died of cancer, I immediately started thinking of that as Teachers need to stop complaining I'm " years old. and I've read enough to %ure out what this could he a symptom of. and to be honest. it scared the hell out of me. I was like one of those garden loun tains.' Have coffee. get rid of it... again and again and again. _ I was seriously ctrnsidering moving into the bathroom, just In make the process easier. We ,1, _ Sometimes ll upsets my wife too, but then she realizes just hon much mom valuable l - , 7 7 am dead. and death-s it might be best lllllllilll In keep quret and just wait mo out. ) ‘ l was having a problem. Not m get all tied up in medical language, but l couldn't stop peeing. Howéver. last iveek I couldn't put it off anymore. Like most men, I tend not to go to the doctor, unless there's really something serious, which, again. like most men. usually mlates to a limb hang- ing off or something similar. This upsets my excellent doctor, who thinks I should come in for regular checkups. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. With apologies to Charles Dickens, I can think of no other way to describe my recent trip to the doc, tor. Just call me d Far from being the virtuous mes- sage of tolerance and inclusion many parents strive to teach their children. demanding outdoor smoking restrictions simply rein- forces the ruthless intolerance. dis- crimimation and bullying of a cam- paign against smokers that has already gone too far. Tii parent pushing to have city politicians restrict outdoor smoking because smoking under a Manulife Healthy Living Centre sign sends the wrong mes- sage to her children needs to care- fully consider the message she is reaching. Smoking should be the least of mayor's worries And, they are able to retire as early as 55 (something most Cana- diary can pnly dream of). Remind mi, again Mia! is so bad? . Hear more of Many Ihoughls on life With the K001, Morning Crew awry urekday morning from 6 to 9 a. m. on Waterloo radio station I 05.3 KOOL FM. We're big boys, we can take it. And if you n: lucky. no one will find anything. That surprised my wife. who is convinced I keep my head jammed up there. A lot she knows. NV And if you're like me, you still have RKE l plenty of people to annoy on this plan- et. and not nearly enough time to get it all done. Over the past few Wars women have managed to work together to foster early detection of breast cancer and it's making a difference. We need to do the same thing for prostate can- cer. one of the most common forms of disease in men. The burden of worrying simply isn't worth avoid- ing a little embarrassment. And then. it's down to business. The tell-talc snapping of the glove. Quick. l'ainlcss. Embarrassing? Absolutely: But I got through it. I didn't make an ass of myself (pardon the pun). In the end (pardon thc pun again) cvcrything - 7 a turned out fine. Just a little bladder infcuiun. I ' Iran't tell you how relieved I was. {Kl l have no idea why I worked myself T into such a frenzy. So we go through all the questions. Pain? Any other changes? Any new partners? (How about old ones?) Yes. Cathy. A female doctor. If! wasn't uncom {unable before... I am now! Tinkle Toes" Drew lackson Waterloo Yes, it's uncomfortalalc - and a hit embarrassing , but it could save your life So boys, I know how you feel. But if you're mm the age of 40. you need to go and have lhings phvckcd out. Maybe it's because were often mom afraid of the unknown than anything clse. Rather than expending. his efforts-and those of Waterloo civil 'syrvants-'building on' laws that dangerously erode our freedoms. his priorities may he better directed towards ensuring he speaks the message of all city council. The mayor at the "centre of the universe" needs to understand most parents do not wish to hand over the teaching of moral values to politicians. "The logic of forcing people to set a good example for the kids. which also would justify banning fat people and motorcyclists from pub- lic places-reduces adults to the level of children whenever they venture out of their homes." As Jacob Sullum. senior editor of the magazine Reason, wrote in 'Clean Air Calabasas: A smoke-free, family-friendly atmosphere of moralistic intolerance', proponents of outdoor smoking restrictions "see smoking as a shameful vice that must be kept out of sight, an inde- cent activity from which adults must shield children's eyes as well as their noses. Eric Boyd Waterloo Sean Slrlckland la a former municipal politician and hosts a public allaln show on Rogers Cable arThursday nights at 7 p.m. scanOseanstrlcklandxom . However. once the internal communications plan is final, ized, full access must be restored. Senior staff need to he regu- larly briefed and available to the media. The mayor and coun- cillors also need to he well-briefed and available to the media. At the end of the day no government can ultimately control the message to the level it would wish. Brief your people well. share information appropriately and there is still no guarantee of what people will say to a newspaper or camera. But if the communications plan is done right. the mistakes will he minimized. the public and media will be satisfied, and governments will remain both accountable and transparent and, in the process, become more effectively managed organi- rations. til City of Waterloo needs a communications team Mr. Harper would he wise to tread carefully on this front. If he finds himself at odds with the national media so early in his term, its power is so great that if the press decides to tum on the prime minister, it could possibly prevent his goal of turning his minority into a majority the next time around. In the case of Stephen Harper, the . Ottawa press gallery seems willing to cut him some slack for the time being. But if the muzzle is not removed soon the press gallery will lose patience, and Mr. Harper will end up on the wrong end of much media criticism. Naturally the media don't like these measures and resent any attempt that might be construed as blocking their access to information. Closer to home, the City of Water- loo is seeking ways to control its mes- sage and is in the process of creating a communications department. If the PMO doesn't like what it sees, the press release will either be redone or sent back to the minister's department for reworking. - r he measures have gone so far as to require all cabinet ministers to have their public comments and/or press releases screened and approved hy the prime minister's office (PMO) prior to being released to the public. In Ottawa. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has placed strict guidelines on what cabinet members and caucus members can and cannot say to the media. __ _ - -"o'" 1n the JK., Prime Minister Tony Blair and his government were first elected on a ticket of more transparency in govern- ment but are under attack for their latest freedom of informa, tion law that has been roundly criticized as too weak. lt is no wondifr that governments all over the looking at ways to meet this challenge. ._.L,.... n. --.. - On one hand governments guarantee openness and trans- parency while on the other hand their very survival often depends on the opposite. -e 9 WW....- __._ PW..- ...WW...a - Because of the instantaneous nature of our plugged-in world. governments are expected to be much more account- able to the public than ever before. while struggling to control, or "manage the message". The development and proliferation of instant messaging, wireles's devices, cell phones. blogs, all-news channels and the like have created an environment where one small publicly reported misslep can snowball into a major public relations disaster. In today's rapid-paced world managing the message, such as what is communicated to and reported on by the media, has become a great challenge for business and public institutions. Managing the message world are