[darkpuppet]

<sarcasm>Not sure if anyone has heard</sarcasm>, but Jack Layton recently passed away.

Now, I normally wouldn't say boo, but it seems that a lot of attention is being given to his recent death.

I accept the fact that he was rather popular (or at least posthumously), but I'm a bit lost on why it's such a big deal -- big enough for a state funeral.

I've been trying to do some reading up, and I can't find any real accomplishments or contributions he's made that's actually changed the country -- or city, or otherwise... I'm not sure if breaking the Bloc's back is really that big of an accomplishment or winning the most seats in history for the NDP (coming in the most second place?)...

am I missing something?

Dying of cancer is a tragedy for anyone and their family, I know this first hand, and a great many other amazing people have died from cancer in sudden, unexpected manners....

But why is it so special for this one instance?

I don't want to sound insensitive, but I seem to not have the empathy for this huge headline...

note: I didn't care about the recent royal wedding either