How’d he do that?
Former Canadian prime minister, Brian Mulroney, is under investigation regarding cash payments he took from Karlheinz Schreiber. Schreiber was a deal greaser for Airbus at the time Air Canada made a significant fleet commitment and Mulroney was in office. Mulroney says he got $300,000 and was supposed to do something to help […]
Random raves
Retailers defy law of gravity I’ve been very irritated by the cost of greeting cards for several years. Their price in Canada has been far higher than in the US and far higher than the currency difference for years. With the Canadian dollar at and above par, premiums in the range of 60% were […]
Happy hour at the Mount
I have a story that tells you about a local woman. Please bear with me while I tell you a bit about her first. A large crowd attended Donna Carol Fitzpatrick MacLean’s funeral, Monday, November 26, at St. Michael’s Basilica in Miramichi. Donna died last week following heart surgery. Donna […]
A generation’s heroes
Being young in 1960 was frightening, exciting and tumultuous. Among the exciting things happening was the election of a young war hero US president with a beautiful wife, great sense of humour and young children. John Fitzgerald Kennedy inspired not just young Americans but young people all over the world. He sailed. […]
Stress in the hive
A new Ipsos-Reid survey shows that a full quarter of all Canadians have been diagnosed with, or feel they would be diagnosed as suffering from, serious stress. One medical commentator on CBC Newsworld called it lethal. Among the potential causes, he cited were the intense urbanization of Canada over the past several decades, […]
Airport hospitality
RCMP Tazered a Polish passenger in the Vancouver airport and he died. A video tape the RCMP originally tried to suppress seems to reveal that there was no reason to use that level of force. An autopsy did not reveal what caused Robert Dziekanski’s death. It may well be that it was not the shock. […]
Governments blind cash addicts
New Brunswick is pretending to revise its gambling policies to protect addicts. It will reduce the number of one-arm bandits. Governments, of course, don’t like to call them one-arm bandits or slot machines. Everyone knows those things are what the sleazy underworld casino operators use to bleed their prey. Most of us think […]
Sounds good until you think
Politicians and bureaucrats like to promote the idea of speaking with one voice. When you say it fast, and don’t think about it, it makes great sense. Let’s stay on message and not confuse potential visitors with a fog of different messages. It has been especially popular in the field of tourism. Is […]
Tell the story of you
Remembrance Day made me think of my Grandpa Cadogan, as it always does. His father moved the family from Wales to New Zealand when he was a baby. To avoid being apprenticed as a Jackaroo (sheep herder) he ran away to sea at 14. He fought in the Boer War and WW I […]
Youthful warriors, then and now
As an older person, I am perhaps more appreciative of how beautiful young people are than they are themselves. I am certainly more appreciative of the life they have available to them. With Canada currently at war for the first time in my adult life, I am forcibly reminded of the youth of […]
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