The old poli sci major in me could not allow John Ivison’s column to stand. Please see the letters section in today’s National Post for my response to the argument that it is somehow “illiberal” for governments to impel individuals to get vaccinated. Re: Trudeau shows liberal principles have left
Continue readingTag: Letters to the Editor
Politics and its Discontents: Why The Anti-Vaxxers Are Despised
Some seem to have a difficult time understanding the vitriol directed at the strident anti-vaxxers. I hope the following helps clear up any confusion they might be feeling. A 30-year-old Ontario woman diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer has had her surgery postponed indefinitely and says it could be too
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: How To Deal With Flagrant Stupidity
H/t Theo Moudakis Unlike viruses that allegedly ultimately ‘burn themselves out’, stupidity and the flagrant disregard for public health and safety will always be with us. Toronto Star readers have some ideas on how to deal with them: Time to raise the price for those who still won’t get vaxxed,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Canadian Clown Show
My previous post dealt with the racism-tinged dismissal of a high school principal in Texas. Today’s deals with malfeasance of another kind: the unjust treatment of a co-op student who was threatened with suspension and removed from her hospital placement due to her making the “okay’ sign in a
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Star Readers Weigh In
I like to regularly post letters-to-the-editor that hit targets concisely and precisely. The following meet those criteria. On the subject of the Pandora Papers, her is what one writer thinks: Naive to think any changes will come of Pandora Papers Toronto Star 10 Oct 2021 Re Opening the Pandora Papers
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Invasion Of The Idiots
For a while I have been trying to cobble together a post on that virulent breed of anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers that are currently blighting our social and political landscape, While attempting to write about this often-execrable horde, in all honesty I’ve wondered whether I have the psychic reserves to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Frenzy For ‘Freedumb’
I suspect the majority feel the same as this letter-writer: I am disappointed with my fellow Canadians who choose not to get vaccinated, for various personal reasons each have expressed. These individuals could be relatives, friends, neighbours, young and old and come from all walks of life, but even
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Writing Is On The Wall (And In The Newspapers)
H/t Patrick Corrigan The is such a wealth of good letters to the editor today that I had a hard time choosing what to reproduce. They have one thing in common: the need for vaccine certificates is great, Doug Ford’s refusal notwithstanding. Re Vaccine passports should be on Ford’s
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Tyranny Of The Minority
A great deal has been recently written in various media about vaccine certificates, both for and against their use. The arguments are pretty basic: such certificates should be required to enter restaurants, bars, movie theatres, etc. so that people know they are patronizing relatively safe businesses. The other side insists
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Little Island That Could
As a long-time visitor to Cuba, I have an ongoing interest in what happens in the island nation, as well as a deep respect for the resilience of its people. Despite having been exploited for centuries by outside powers, they have always found a way to work with the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Sad Truth
This letter-writer in today’s print edition of The Toronto Star states what is ultimately a sad truth about us. Canadians unwilling to make sacrifices for climate change Toronto Star 12 Jul 2021 Re Western Canada’s heat dome may be Ontario bound. A climate expert explains what’s next, June 29 The
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: How Does Canada Atone?
I have a practical suggestion to partly address the title’s question, but I’ll leave it for a future post. Today, some letter-writers from the print edition of the Toronto Star offer their views: All the groups that have been victimized by threats, abuse, violence and death as a result of ignorant
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Ineptitude Writ Large
H/t Patrick Corrigan Sometimes I feel embarrassed to be living in a province as benighted as Ontario. But then I realize that it is neither me nor my fellow citizens (for the most part) who are the clueless and the incompetent. That distinction is one the Doug Ford-led provincial government
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On Magical Thinking And Misdirection
I don’t feel particularly inspired to write these days, but I am always on the lookout for aptly expressed sentiments by others. In the print edition of today’s Toronto Star, there are two letters of note pertaining to the Doug Ford government’s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ontario, or as
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Crisis Deferred, Not Ended
I recently wrote about a plan to bulldoze the Duffins Creek wetlands to make way for an Amazon distribution centre. Facilitated by an MZO (Ministerial Zoning Order), a heavy-handed tool designed to shortcut environmental assessment and speed development (“It’s all about jobs,” says Doug Ford); (“It’s all about promoting the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Snowbirds Must Pay The Price For Their Selfishness
Like the majority of Canadians, my wife and I have taken all the precautions we can during this long season of Covid-19. We have not seen our son and daughter-in-law, who live out West, for over a year. Our daughter and her husband we have only seen outside the
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Globe and Mail Letter
Clifford Orwin argues in a Globe and Mail op-ed that both Republicans and Democrats are behaving hypocritically in their fight over filling the Supreme Court vacancy before the election. In today’s Letters section, I concisely defend the Democrats’ approach: It does not seem like hypocrisy for U.S. Senate Democrats to
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Globe and Mail Letter
Clifford Orwin argues in a Globe and Mail op-ed that both Republicans and Democrats are behaving hypocritically in their fight over filling the Supreme Court vacancy before the election. In today’s Letters section, I concisely defend the Democrats’ approach: It does not seem like hypocrisy for U.S. Senate Democrats to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On The Covidiot, Anti-Masker Cohort
Those who read this blog with any regularity will likely know that when it comes to those who refuse to don masks as their contribution to our collective safety, I have only withering contempt. It is a contempt fueled by the fact that almost no medical condition exists precluding the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Sad Decline
I recently completed The Splendid and The Vile, a book by Erik Larson exploring the first year of Winston Churchill’s prime ministership. He assumed the leadership in 1940, at which point Britain had already been at war with Germany for one year. With the U.S. following an isolationist policy, things
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