Community My New Years Resolution for our society is to no longer worship at the twin altars of individualism and technology but rather to embrace the saviour of community. From the industrial revolution to the high tech revolution we have deluded ourselves that technology would solve all our problems. While
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THE FIFTH COLUMN: The Pensioner and the Pandemic
This is the post I was going to write before I was rudely interrupted and told to lock myself in my room. I may indeed be the least affected person on the planet by this pandemic, and the only one that it seems to be not such a big deal,
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Money Cannot Buy Happiness But …
They say money cannot buy happiness but it certainly can buy food and shelter and education that can make the difference between misery and happiness, not to mention that health is directly related to economic status. Yet people still claim people are poor because they are lazy and all we
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Can America Be Saved
I am writing this as a citizen of a world that no matter where we live are strongly impacted by whatever America does and whatever happens in America America is celebrating but it will take a lot more than the end of the Trump presidency to save America. Trump promoted
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: The MEC Mess an Intuitive Understanding
These comments are not based on any comprehensive analysis but rather my intuitive response to what has been filed in court and published online and the media coverage. It appears that both sides may be correct, sort of. From a business point of view the Board of Directors actions may
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Is Charity Evil
We supposedly live in a major developed industrialized country which is one of the seven most advanced economies in the world, yet: many people depend on charity to be fed and not starve, many people depend on charity for a place to sleep so they do not freeze to death
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Lessons We Must Learn From COVID-19 to Build a Better Society
Community is the key to the future. Those societies that are fairing best in responding to COVID 19 are those with a strong sense of community. America’s dismal response is not just because of Trump, but also due to the country’s overemphasis on individualism over community. Our public health care
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: On Television Part 2 – Cutting The Cord
Those of you who have read THE FIFTH COLUMN: On Television may wonder if the Fifth Columnist has finally decided to cut the cord as it made a pretty good argument for that. Well we have finally overcome over 40 years of inertia and made the decision and as of
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Thoughts on the police
This post does not claim to have all the answers, or any answers, nor to be a comprehensive, or any kind of analysis, but is simply some thoughts on a subject that our society has finally been forced to deal with. One’s attitude to the police is clearly shaped by
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Why #DeleteFacebook
Not because Mark Zuckerberg is a self-entitled white-privileged frat boy who based Facebook on an app he developed called Facemash to rate students “hotness”. Not because of Facebook’s Predatory Business Model that leverages users and their friends personal information to maximize profits. Not because Facebook wants to replace the open
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Happy International Workers Day #MayDay
Billy Bragg We’ve been experiencing what we refer to as ‘Andy Warhol Weather’ here today: fifteen minutes of rain, fifteen minutes of sun, fifteen minutes of hail etc etc. As a result, I couldn’t take my guitar amp out onto the rubble mound this week for the #ClapForNHS #ClapForCarers #ClapForKeyWorkers
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: COVID-19 and Education in Ontario – An Imaginative Approach
Let me start by saying that I understand that hindsight is a big advantage and some may ask why didn’t I think of this sooner and my response is that thinking about education in Ontario is not my full time job but it is for Ontario’s Ministry of Education. While
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: The Pensioner and the Pandemic and …
The Government Wants to Lock Me in My Room Well this blog post is taking somewhat of a change of direction from that planned, which was to focus on the benefits of being a retired pensioner at this time, since the Ontario government is telling me that I will suddenly
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: On Immigration
Canada welcomed the highest number of new immigrants in more than a century last year, opening its doors to 341,180 people from 175 different countries. That annual total, which exceeded Ottawa’s target of 330,000, was topped only twice before — in 1913, when 401,000 new immigrants arrived in the country,
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: On Being a “Boomer”
Generations When I was growing up in the 1950s and onward there was not all this talk about generations that seems to have become a fascination of the last twenty years. Although I became aware of the baby boom and even the term baby boomers (now apparently just boomers), I
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: New Year Prediction – The New Veganism
Perhaps not this year, but I can see it coming as clear as the lighting in a laboratory clean room. It started with vegetarianism, a dietary preference to avoid eating meat. And it morphed into veganism, a morality cult claiming any food products related to animals in any way are
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Happy New Year – We Are All Going to Die
Yes, we are all going to die and that’s it, the end. Except for the Christians, of course, they get to go to an afterlife of either heaven or hell. There seem to be two schools of thought on who goes where. One seems to believe good people go to
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: The War Against Holiday Diversity
They call it the War on Christmas, but in reality it is just an opportunity for a few people to get apoplectic, or is it apocalyptic, about the fact that some people acknowledge that many holidays are celebrated at this time of year. Proponents of the theory like to claim
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Towards a Green Social Democratic Economy
Background/Context Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit.[1][2][3][4] Characteristics central to capitalism include private property, capital accumulation, wage labor, voluntary exchange, a price system and competitive markets.[5][6] In a capitalist market economy, decision-making and investments are
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: The Truth About the Kanata Lakes Golf Course Development Proposal
Many of you probably see the opposition to replacing the Kanata Lakes golf course with housing as just a NIMBY response of a bunch of privileged entitled suburbanites living in their low density paradise. After all golf courses are not usually considered environmentally friendly and there is a real need
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