Lest we forget.  Every year I have heard those words for as far back as I remember.  Lest we forget.  And yet it seems we never did remember.  Flowery speeches and poems waft through the autumn air each year and yet the killing goes on.  This is the first year of my life that I [...]

Continue reading...

Toronto is a major film producing city yet the production values at the G20 summit left much to be desired.  First the placing of the police cruisers to be fired was too static.  The director failed to convey any sense of motivation for their presence;  they stood awkwardly at center stage like a nervous young [...]

Continue reading...

Yesterday marked the 65th anniversary of the surrender of Germany in World War Two marking Victory in Europe or V. E. Day.  Nazism had been defeated, the horrors of the Holocaust uncovered and a new day was dawning on the planet.  The dream of the United Nations was forming; to be established October 24, 1945.  [...]

Continue reading...

Families of nine Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan were shown on the news yesterday visiting Kandahar and the memorial to the Canadians who have fallen in that conflict.  It was a touching moment.  Emotions played on the faces of the family members as they stood before the stone etchings of their son or daughter.  The [...]

Continue reading...

An old saw says that the first casualty of war is the truth but reality might be a close second.  It is not just that our governments lie to us it is how they tell us the truth.  Outright lies are often easy to uncover, sending official sources into a frenzy of just straight out [...]

Continue reading...

Barak Obama’s health care plan, as it has thus unfolded, should be a clear and final answer to all those who believed this young man would somehow change politics and create a more inclusive, just and caring society.  The pinheads who screamed that socialism would reign and undermine the American way (greed, cynical self-interest, and [...]

Continue reading...

As the crisis worsens in Gaza and the death toll rises, one has to begin to wonder what broader consequences the situation might hold.  Yesterday a rally condemning the attacks was held in Kandahar City in Afghanistan, the focal point of the Canadian mission in that country.  Condemnation was not limited to Israel alone.  The [...]

Continue reading...

This will be remembered as the year of the big story.  The Democratic primary fight pitting the first female candidate with a chance of being nominated by a major party against the first Black candidate; leading, as expected, to one of them winning the White House.  The presidential election culminated in the first Black man [...]

Continue reading...

I have been a Phil Ochs fans for as long as I can remember.  I admit to deriving pleasure from how young people on YouTube are resurrecting his lyric to shine light on the current political malaise.  Phil’s words are as timely today as when they were written.  For that my pleasure is tinged with [...]

Continue reading...

Today boys and girls I am going to tell you a little story about how World War 3 started.  Once upon a time a village idiot went wandering (the village was in a place called Texas and Texas produced the best idiots).  After crossing the country back and forth for a year or more and [...]

Continue reading...