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.…
Lorne
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…
An Examination Of Conscience
When I was a young lad on the receiving end of a Catholic education, we had two regularly-recurring rituals. Once a month we would be led over to the parish…
"A Kick In The Gut"
That’s what Alberta’s nurses are calling the move by Jason Kenney’s UCP to roll back their wages by 3%. In Kenneyland, contracts apparently are notional, not legal, documents. In 2020,…
Looking Deep Within
These days, for various reasons, it is growing increasingly difficult for us, as Canadians, to feel smug about ourselves. There are the bleak indictments in the form of unmarked graves,…
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…
Confronting Our Past: Gabor Mate Speaks
Like many blogs, mine is largely informed by the thoughts of others. To be sure, I try to make it my practice to shape and filter things through my own…
Something Torrid This Way Comes
Unless you have been living under a rock (or more likely, the cool of your basement), you will know about the weather catastrophe occurring in the West, and, to a…
About That Critical Thinking Thing
Now that the internet has made everybody experts on everything, just a small, sobering reminder: expertise and critical thinking are not things you readily acquire. Recommend this Post
But Is There A Will?
I was reading Owen’s blog yesterday, in which he cites Robin Sears’ view that, as Britain did during WW11, Canada needs to build back better post-pandemic. I am a skeptic…
School Daze
To really understand the mindset of educational institutions today, you have to appreciate one fact: despite nonstop rhetoric to the contrary, they are inherently conservative and risk-averse. Some might even…
The Value Of Police Body Cams
With increasing awareness of the wrongdoing that police sometimes perpetrate, video recordings of their interactions with the public are becoming of increasing importance, both in Canada and the United States.…
Some Good News And Some Bad News
First the good news: Canadians as a whole are feeling pretty cheery about being part of a multicultural, diverse country. Now the bad news: One-third of a survey’s respondents say…
"If You Can’t Afford To Live, Then Don’t Live"
That is the considered opinion of Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn, as he responds to the Supreme Court ruling upholding The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). America the beautiful, eh? Recommend this…
A Look In The Mirror
There is a scene in the 1960 movie, Inherit the Wind, (about the Scopes Monkey Trial) where Spencer Tracey and Frederic March, courtroom adversaries, discuss faith. March insists it is…
Confronting Reality
The other day, I posted my thoughts on the inadequacy of the term Islamophobia, opining that it seems almost euphemistic; it fails to baldly unveil what it really means: prejudice,…
Thought For The Day
H/t Theo Moudakis Recommend this Post
There Must Be A Better Word
The word phobia generally connotes an irrational fear of something. A definition of the term from a mental health perspective tells us it is a type of anxiety disorder that…
A Clear Threat To The World
I know that I probably allot an inordinate amount of space on this blog to the United States. I wish it were otherwise, but the fact that they are the…
Toxic Nation
Recent events here have served to amply remind all of us that, as Canadians, we do not walk on the side of the angels. However, events south of the border…