I still, however, read letters to the editor on a regular basis, and with great interest, sometimes reproducing them here. Many are succinct gems that I hope get people thinking. Today i shall reproduce three of them. The first one especially resonates with me. Although we give happily to a number of charitable causes annually, I have never, to my knowledge, given a penny to hospital fund-raising efforts. The letter encapsulates my reasoning:
Ontario hospitals should not be begging for donations
On Dec 28, there was full page ad in the Star, placed by Lakeridge Health Foundation, soliciting donations towards the purchase of five life-saving devices: Automated External Defibrillators (AED). I pay taxes. Those should be sufficient to equip a hospital in Ontario. That is the bargain between me and the government; tax me and take care of the health and education and general well-being of the citizens of Ontario. If the taxes don’t cover the costs, raise the taxes.
Needed hospital equipment purchases should not require the hospital to put a tin cup on the sidewalk begging for donations. Perhaps Premier Doug Ford could redirect the $200 vote-buying bribe cheques he has promised us and spend the $3 billion-plus on AEDs. They apparently cost $3,200 each. He could buy a million of them. They could be in every hospital ward, every bus, every subway car, every long-term-care facility, every beer and wine selling grocery store. Even at the Ontario Place spa, maybe.
Graeme Elliott, Toronto
The ironic tone in the following, dealing with the travails of our current prime minister, especially appealed to me:
Trudeau’s chosen female ministers have failed him
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must be so disappointed. In 2015, he made international headlines by naming a cabinet that was 50 per cent women. Sadly, every single one turned out to be a dud. After what I can only imagine were heartfelt efforts to position one of them as his successor, they all failed to demonstrate the necessary intelligence, character, and gravitas for the job: Jody Wilson-Raybould, a crown prosecutor who held leadership positions in both Kwak’wala and Canadian governments. Not a team player. Joyce Murray, who made a fortune planting trees. Can’t think outside the box. And Chrystia Freeland, who found common ground with Ontario Premier Doug Ford and defended Liberal trade policies from a Trump attack in 2017, couldn’t see the upside in a few trifling Christmas gifts for all Canadians. The woman simply does not understand politics. Sad. Facing a second Donald Trump presidency, Trudeau and his small circle of like-minded advisers stand alone, grimly shouldering the weight of Canada’s future. On behalf of all Canadian women, I want to apologize for leaving this lonely burden to them.
Catherine Murton Stoehr, North Bay
Finally, a letter about Kevin O'leary, the toad who leaves warts on all he touches:
Kevin O’Leary represents his own interests, not Canada’s
Kevin O’Leary posted on X that he is willing to go to Mar-a-Lago to negotiate on Canada’s behalf to unify Canada and the U.S. O’Leary’s right to negotiate on our behalf exists only in his ego. He is no elected official. In fact, he recently became a citizen of the United Arab Emirates. Not only is there no income tax in the UAE, but there is also no need to file any report on your income. Pack your ego away Mr. O’Leary. You don’t represent anyone’s interest but your own. Remember, we are the true north strong and free.
Bruce Kerr, Toronto
Not a bad cross section of Canadian opinion, eh?
The comment section of newspapers and blogs can certainly be enlightening if not a bell weather of things to come .
ReplyDeleteSome newspapers have editorial boards that not only censor some news but are quite selective in the comments they choose to print.
With the coming of AI gleaning the media for truth is becoming an increasingly difficult pastime.
Often the comment section leads us to discover much more than the articles headline.
TB
I often read the comment section of stories, TB, which indeed reveals a diversity of views that the article may not have had.
DeleteLorne this is off-topic and you won't find it in the funny papers. For years I've been writing about the wholesale theft of wealth siphoned out of the blue and white collar masses directly into the pockets of the richest of the rich, the Musks and their ilk. This has been the work of Thatcher, Reagan and Mulroney who ushered in the era of neoliberalism. Now the very conservative RAND Corporation has run the numbers and finds that, for the United States alone, over the past 5 decades, 50 trillion dollars has been channeled from ordinary Americans into the oligarchs. "According to a groundbreaking new working paper by Carter C. Price and Kathryn Edwards of the RAND Corporation, had the more equitable income distributions of the three decades following World War II (1945 through 1974) merely held steady, the aggregate annual income of Americans earning below the 90th percentile would have been $2.5 trillion higher in the year 2018 alone. That is an amount equal to nearly 12 percent of GDP—enough to more than double median income—enough to pay every single working American in the bottom nine deciles an additional $1,144 a month. Every month. Every single year."
ReplyDelete"The first three decades following World War II." That coincides with the chicanery ushered in by Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Brian Mulroney and their neoliberal order that put an end to the Middle Class.
Thos are breath-taking numbers, Mound. The deck is clearly stacked against the average person, and I don't see any credible politician saying anything to counter these sad facts.
Deletehttps://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WRA516-1.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawHma55leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHezORvto88qSgl8ArJKu-eMXGo0QqBf41G5yM2N7bR8YLwVYC6IKQUB2FQ_aem_6cqkZoI0WWJs85Xd3_TVTw
ReplyDeleteReagan turned America on its head. When he came to power the United States was the world's biggest creditor nation. When he left it had been transformed into the world's largest debtor nation. He persuaded the public into believing in "trickle down" economics, a mask for major tax cuts for the rich. Reagan's budget director, Stockman, later admitted that was a lie. Bush/Cheney did it, twice. Trump has done it and he's promised another round of wealth tax cuts will follow his inauguration. With Musk at his ear that's a certainty.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet the people continue to act against their own best interests by inviting these vampires in.
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