With the cacophony of voices calling for Canada to continue to “Bomb, Baby, Bomb.” and Canadian miscreants retaliating against Muslims by setting fires to mosques, it is crucial for voices of reason to be heard above the din of destructive rhetoric and behaviour that is emerging in the wake of
Continue readingTag: Letters to the Editor
Politics and its Discontents: Where Is Justice To Be Found?
For Adam Nobody, the answer appears to be ‘nowhere.’ Last week retired judge Lee Ferrier ruled at a police disciplinary tribunal that Toronto police Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani should lose five days’ pay for his brutalization of Nobody, characterizing it as fleeting and physically minor. a strange way indeed to regard
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Joy And Pride Continue
Although there will undoubtedly be some serious disappointments in the months and years ahead, the joy and the pride that Canadians feel over the election of the Trudeau government is very strong indeed. Treat yourself on this fine Sunday morning by checking out the full array of letters from Star
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Setting the Record Straight
While the Globe and Mail continues on its blind path of extolling the fallen (a.k.a. the Harper regime), its readers seem adamant about setting the record straight. These two letters should give the powers that be some pause: Brand: Conservative Re Ambrose Buys Time Tories Must Use Wisely (Nov. 6):
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Impending Relief?
For the millions upon millions of Canadians who have grown progressively more heartsick over Stephen Harper’s systematic subversion of our country’s traditions and values these last nine-and-a-half years, relief seems to be within our grasp. We can now quite realistically hope for the end of this hateful and divisive man’s
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Unity Of Purpose
In these polarized times, it seems that two age groups are often looked upon by the media in almost absolutist terms. We are told, for example, that people over the age of 65 are the most likely to vote (about 75 per cent did so in the 2011 election), and
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Better Angels Of Our Nature
“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” – Abraham Lincoln Stephen
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Seeing Harper For What He Is
John Langs carved “Anybody But Harper!!” into his 46-acre field of rye near Brantford, Ont. Each letter is 100 metres tell. Star readers once more offer their trenchant assessments of Stephen Harper’s character (or lack thereof): It’s hard to reconcile Stephen Harper’s ongoing tough talk on standing up to terrorism
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Pulling Strings
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” bellowed the ‘mighty’ Oz as Dorothy and her companions were discovering the secret of his power. Similarly, Stephen Harper would divert us from his machinations through manipulations and muzzling. Star letter-writers, however, are not so easily fooled: Conservatives seeking happy vets
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On Mad King Stephen’s Monomania
This is not the post I was planning for today, but these letters about Stephen Harper’s economic ineptitude seemed too good not to share: Re: Another Orange Wave for Alberta? Aug. 20 Of course, the prospect of an Orange Wave in Alberta is tantalizing to many and I applaud Tim
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: This And That
The start of a new week inspires me to look back on the one past; thanks to an array of editorial cartoonists, it was a week not kind to our outgoing (one hopes) prime minister: Government for all Canadians, not just the wealthy, offers this intriguing clip from the past.
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Go On, Make Her Day
You’ll understand the relevance of my post’s title when you get to the end of the following video, about the efforts of 81-year-old Doreen Routley, a former steadfast Conservative, to convince people not to vote for Stephen Harper in October. I shudder to ponder what expletives Angry White Guy would
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: More Fun With ‘Deceivin’ Stephen’
H/t Theo Moudakis And this from Star letter-writers: Re: Duffy scandal dogs Harper, Aug. 17 Liars. There are many types, just as there are many kinds of lies – white, boastful, malicious, and the Big Lie. This last kind can perhaps be used successfully only by one class of liar
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: About Those Diversions, Mr. Harper
H/t Raeside Cartoons Meanwhile, always perspicacious Toronto Star readers will have none of it. Here is but a small sampling of their sentiments on Mr. Harper’s diversionary tactics: Re: Harper vows to end ‘terror tourism,’ Aug. 10 Travel restrictions to terrorist locations shouldn’t be election promises. When warranted I expect
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Putting A Stake Through The Heart Of Harper’s Lies
As a youngster, there were few things I enjoyed more than vampire films starring Christopher Lee, in my view the best cinematic vampire there ever was. Usually, at the end, either a stake through the heart or exposure to the rays of the sun ended his evil hold on people.
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Toronto Star Letter
Greetings loyal blog readers! I am happy to report that today’s Toronto Star contains a letter of mine (the first of the two on this page) about the Ontario Court of Appeal decision on expat voting rights. Rather than address this issue directly, I briefly examine the related matter of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: More On Pharmacare
The other day I wrote about an article in the Globe that called into question support for the notion of a national pharmacare program that would see drugs paid for by the government as a fitting and necessary complement to our universal healthcare. I examined the methodology and bias involved
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Harper Under Seige
Once more, editorial cartoonist Graeme MacKay scores a solid bullseye. As does Corrigan over at The Star: And let’s not forget Star readers: Since the post-2008 Great Recession, Stephen Harper’s primary focus on energy (oil/gas) economic action strategies have painted our economic flexibilities into a corner. Now we find our
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Reprobate Redux
For your Monday discernment, I offer this volley of wise observations about that unrepentant felon, Dean Del Mastro, from the usual suspects – Toronto Star readers: Re: Ex-Tory MP Del Mastro sentenced to month in jail, June 26 Finally a crooked Conservative gets a jail sentence, proclaiming his innocence all
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On The Dyspeptic Rona Ambrose
In a post last week, I explained the basis for my outrage over Health Minister Rona Ambrose’s manufactured rant at the Supreme Court’s decision permitting medical marijuana users to ingest their medicine in any form they wish. Reading this morning’s Star letters to the editor, I was pleased to see
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