12 December 2003

Oh, Canada!

[source, source]

Shirley Hammond tried to order the Super Sound Socker Bopper Bop Buddy from the Sears Christmas catalogue, but a salesperson told her Sears could not ship the English-speaking doll to Quebec. Aylmer is across the Ottawa River from Ottawa.

The Bop Buddy is a life-size inflatable toy that rocks back and forth and says, “Come on, I dare you!” and “Is that all you’ve got?” when it is hit.

Why can’t it be shipped there? It’s illegal because it doesn’t speak French.

The province’s Charter of the French Language, Section 54, says, “Toys or games … which require the use of a non-French vocabulary for their operation are prohibited on the Quebec market, unless a French version of the toy or game is available on the Quebec market on no less favourable terms.”

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Lieberman's turn to lay down the smackie

[source]

Joe Lieberman embraced the “Clinton transformation,” which he defined as military strength, fiscal responsibility, values, middle-class tax cuts, and collaboration with business to create jobs. Then Lieberman delivered the most important line of the evening: “Howard Dean—and now Al Gore, I guess—are on the wrong side of each of those issues.” Boom!

Go Joe! Although I still can’t forgive your pandering in 2000 to every loony lefy in the Democratic Party.

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