ONTARIO IN THE GOLDEN DAYS

A WHIFF OF A CHILL ON THE

EVENING BREEZE

MEANS SUMMER IS FADING

AWAY

A HINT OF GOLD HERE AND

THERE IN THE LEAVES

MEANS FALL IS NOW ON THE WAY

THE TREES WILL SOON BLAZE IN

THEIR GLORY

WHILE THE GLASSY LAKES MIRROR

IT ALL

WHEN I COME TO THE END OF LIFE’S

STORY

WHAT I’LL MISS MOST OF ALL IS THE

FALL

William Bedford

Dear to the Editor

It appears that there will be an election this fall.After giving it a lot of thought, I will be probably be voting for Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party.Having just watched Jack Layton on the TV, I came to the conclusion that this man is a complete joke and embarrassment to Canadian Politics.The NDP has some good ideas, but unfortunately with Layton at the helm, the NDP is going nowhere.

As for Stephane Dion, this man is nothing short of a very weak Leader with no leadership skills.The Liberals need to get a new leader to lead the party.

Mr Harper has his short comings but at least he is a strong leader and try’s to get things done.This is what Canada needs. My concerns for the up-coming election are the high gas prices, the justice system needs to get alot tougher with those who commit crimes, especially gun crimes and our taxes are to high.We also need to save our manufacturing jobs.I want to see more ……..Made in Canada, not made in China.

If the other two parties want to address and fix with these problems, then I would consider giving them my vote.

Regards

Steve Martin
Toronto,Ont

Dear Editor,
I have been canvassing door-to-door at homes and businesses across the riding of Cape Breton Canso. One resonating message is that life should be made more affordable for the hard-working people of the Maritimes, and this starts by creating better job opportunities and confronting our ever increasing cost of living.
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Dear Editor;

Why is Carbon Dioxide (CO2), this colourless, odourless, benign gas, being so demonized? If it’s so bad, why do we like the fiz it provides in our carbonated soda drinks? Why do they add CO2 to about 3 times ambient, in greenhouses to increase plant growth by up to 50%? We are now feeding 5 billion more people on earth than we were 100 years ago. CO2 is a huge vital necessity for plant growth.
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To the Editor:
In anticipation of a fall election the Harper government moved Monday to extinguish the abortion debate when Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced the government will draft a new bill with a milder version to replace Bill C-484, the Unborn Victims of Crime Act. Bill C-484, introduced last year by Tory MP Ken Epp would make it a separate offence for killing an unborn child when a pregnant woman is slain, which in effect acknowledges fetal rights. The bill passed a free vote in parliament in March but now appears doomed.

You have to wonder if Nicholson, the Conservatives, or for that matter any of the political parties are able to perceive the rising tide against abortion in this country. The steadily growing Canadian March for Life (pro-life) hit a new attendance level last May with over 8,000 attending, 75% of which were youth. They are planning a huge rally in 2009 and are expecting well over 10.000. The Campaign Life Coalition recently commissioned a poll of 13,000 respondents where 56% opposed the Morgtentaler Order of Canada. There is clear evidence that in every region of the country public opinion has soured considerably against abortion with 58% in Ontario now against it.

Make no mistake. A new generation is arising infusing new hope for a different kind of Canada. They are challenging the profound social, moral, legal and constitutional revolution that changed the country forty years ago. They have heard the cry for justice and are rejecting the secularist values introduced a generation ago and will lead Canada into a 21st -century revolution. It is they who will force the politicians to listen.

Gerald Hall
Nanoose Bay, B.C.

To the Editor:

As billions around the world viewed the minutely choreographed spectacle and dazzling display
of light at the Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremonies it is very easy to lose focus of the assault on human rights that continue to escalate in China since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has made a “statement” for Canadian values by not attending the
opening ceremonies. Liberal MP Irwin Cotler called the awarding of the Games to Beijing a betrayal of the Olympic Charter. The treatment of Tibetans, limits on free speech, suppression of religious freedom, torture and ill-treatment of prisoners and violence against women are glaring facts in China. As an example the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom says that in the last year Chinese police detained 600 Protestants and sentenced 38 to more than a year in prison.

While their fortunes have soared and millions of Chinese have been lifted out of poverty
in the last 30 years China is very much a country of worker slaves with a tiny percentage of dominant rich.

Their rulers see the Olympics as a stage for demonstrating to the world the prosperity they
have achieved over the past three decades. So while we all enjoy the performance of the worlds best athletes let us not forget that previous totalitarian regimes like the Nazis in the thirties and forties and the Soviets in the eighties used the Olympics to impress the world with their success but like China had an appalling record on human rights. The current Olympics should not be viewed through rose colored glasses.

Gerald Hall
Nanoose Bay, B.C.

Compared with Australia, Canada’s showing in Beijing is pathetic. Maybe we should put our future summer Olympics on the back burner and use every penny we can beg, borrow or raise for the winter Olympics. Better to be up there with the winners in the snow than down among the losers in the sun.

William Bedford

Dear Editor;
Did you hear about the British teacher who got so fed up with correcting his students’ bad spelling he wants to allow misspellings to be acceptable. In some cases this might be OK. If you spelled coffee as kawphy everyone would still know what you meant. However, if you spelled potato, as suggested by George Bernard Shaw, by using P as in hiccough, O as in dough, Tas in phthisis. E as in neighbour, T as in gazette and O as in plateau, potato would be spelled this way: GHOUGHPHTHEIGHTTEEAU.

Somehow I can’t see this misspelling being acceptable in any school.

William Bedford.

Dear Editor
Re: Obama will lose Jack Ward is correct, I believe. A lot of people are beginning to ask why they should vote for a man who claims to love his country while simultaneously promising to change everything about it.

Obama is just another product of the Chicago political machine, which would be unmatched in its reputation for corruption except that the French got to New Orleans first.

Regards,

Mary McLemore
Autaugaville, Alabama, USA

Dear Dan,

Thank you very much for your e-letter on the late Mrs Irena Sendler. I am one of her admirers that’s why I have written my article about her life. In the past, I did much work on history of the WWII in Poland, interviewing former inmates of Nazi concentration campas, Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and other people. A part of my work also appeared in a book by Mrs. Yoshino Oishi (a fine Japanese reporter and photographer), with whom I made a documentation in Poland in the mid-1980s.
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