tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26308972970907698272024-03-08T06:33:43.306-05:00UniterIn the fundamental issues, unity;<br>
In matters of opinion, freedom;<br>
In all things, charity.<br>
<p> -- Saint Augustine</p>Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.comBlogger302125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-13802176488348563432023-11-25T16:38:00.000-05:002023-11-25T16:38:10.597-05:00Unrelated notes (October 29)<p> <span style="color: #222222;">China’s
top diplomat is meeting with his counterparts from five Muslim countries saying
his country would work with “our brothers and sisters” to try to end the war in
Gaza. There is no mention of weapons but it is reasonable to assume it topped
the agenda.</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">The brutal war gives China another
opportunity to destabilize another region.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #222222;">Today’s Toronto Star's editorial attempts to treat of hate, stating, “Education
can help. Ontario is expanding Holocaust education in public schools.”</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">The secular mind, which is in play here, is
limited. </span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">It cannot invoke higher motives
tin advocating the right thing, other than the good thing, i.e more education.</span><span style="color: #222222;">
</span><span style="color: #222222;">My hope is that in the Catholic schools the holocaust is taught along
with the deeper message of neighbourly love which was noticeably lacking at that murderous time.</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">Non-Catholic schools dare not appeal to
higher motives by citing the parable of the Good Samaritan. </span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">Secularists would decry that as ‘shoving
religion down young peoples’ throats.’</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #222222;">In a
misunderstanding of “equity” the Toronto and District School Board in 2022 did
away with merit-based admission to specialized programs. </span><span style="color: #222222;">Students needed only express interest.</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">So the Board introduced a lottery in the
belief it would give priority to students from under-served communities. The
Board has now returned to merit as the basis of acceptance into these costlier
programs.</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">Applicants expressing interest
must include a portfolio, video, audio or written submission.</span><span style="color: #222222;"> The lesson is that e</span><span style="color: #222222;">quity is aspiration not a virtue.</span></p>Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-84213355627241148242023-11-25T16:25:00.001-05:002023-11-25T16:25:53.885-05:00Responsible Journalism<p> <span style="color: #222222; text-indent: 0.5in;">A Toronto firefighter has taken the Fire Department to the
Human Rights Tribunal.</span><span style="color: #222222; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; text-indent: 0.5in;">His grievances
are the usual complaints of an aggrieved homosexual. </span><span style="color: #222222; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; text-indent: 0.5in;">Suffice it to say the list was drawn up by a
lawyer with the usual boilerplate complaints.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">My
grievance is that the Toronto Star presents them in disgusting detail, and
covers its tracks by<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Stating “none of the
allegations in the complaint have [sic] been tested before the tribunal.” The Star proceeds with a report of more than
1,000 words stating every possible complaint of the appellant, presenting them
as truth, all shielded by the disclaimer.
Based on experience, the tribunal will give the aggrieved a bag of money
of which the lawyer will take one-third, and all with bask in righteousness. </span>Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-68980872644169604012023-11-25T16:24:00.000-05:002023-11-25T16:24:00.515-05:00Questionable Leadership<p><br /></p><p>Fortunately not all of our political leaders are stupid but here are two.</p><p>Pouting Vladimir Putin, still sucking his finger, continues his rampage against Ukraine. He uses prison inmates, mercenaries and conscripts in the war against his neighbour. Facing a continued shortfall in troops, he is now recruiting Ukrainian prisoners of war to help carry on his ill-fated invasion. Such behaviour offends decency as well as the Geneva Conventions, two things knowledge of with he appears devoid.</p><p>Political silliness also comes in a domestic package. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has agreed to join discredited American political commentator Tucker Carlson. In January, she will appear on stage with him in front of an audience who will pay from $224 to $442 to witness the mischief those two will generate. It would be offensive, I hope illegal, should Smith profit financially from this event.</p><p>Carlton is of the mentality of people who believe Donald Trump won the last U.S. election. He would also like to see American troops invade Canada to free us from Justine Trudeau. That man has earned millions by spouting similar nonsense in his country. It does make us question the mental reserves of some people.</p><p>Smith is of that mentality that claims, against all evidence to the contrary, that Alberta is being short-changed by the Canada Pension Plan. Fortunately, polls show that a majority of Albertans disagree with her.</p>Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-62402646050114739282023-09-15T11:20:00.002-04:002023-09-15T11:20:46.029-04:00Vladimir Putin Goes Shopping<p>Czar wannabe Vladimir Putin, whom one can only picture as a pouting little boy in short pants, is in the market for weapons to bolster his failing effort in Ukraine. </p><p>To that end, he is meeting with neighbouring tin-pot dictator, North Korean leader of people starving in the dark, Kim Jong Un. Travelling with him in his personal green and yellow armoured train is an entourage of toadies and boot-lickers so necessary for his type of government. </p><p>Strange it is that traditionally the beggar with cap in hand visits the country of the provider. Putin's official dinner for Kim might overcome that miscue. The visitors, I suspect, still packed an extra lunch lest the Russian economy collapses while they're in town.</p><p>When he meets murderous Un, murderous Putin will be smiling and gracious. Unconfirmed is whether he will be on his knees to better kiss all the appropriate places. However, it is to be hoped he will not need to endure the ultimate humiliation by expressing admiration for Un's hair style; it would be a sure-fire deal-clincher.</p>Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-79304917955917958822023-09-12T13:23:00.006-04:002023-09-16T13:00:14.684-04:00Historians vs. Peter Newman<p>The newspapers have been agog lately over the death of journalist Peter Newman. Curious it is that all comments, reminiscences and obituaries were by writers with journalistic background. And not one word from historians who on occasion took issue with Newman's treatment of historical events. </p><p>Were none asked to comment on Newman's passing? One such University of Toronto history professor, the late Michael Bliss, author of two dozen books on Canadian personalities and events, expressed opinions on Newman's approach to history, opinions contrary to the journalist's liking. </p><p>Newman's reaction was the lowest form of argumentation: the personal <i>ad hominem</i> reply, a hoary and unimaginative pun on the historian's name. </p><p>Could it be that Prof. Bliss did not care to see "facts dance" as Newman told his helpers to produce but preferred the academic approach to history?</p><p>There is still time for the common media to elicit professional comment on possibly contrary interpretation of events in our history. Balanced reportage is the motto, is it not?</p>Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-18506744855288105412023-08-12T12:17:00.001-04:002023-08-12T12:17:29.678-04:00Reflections and Reactions <p> A few days ago, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was caught pumping money into the pockets of his real estate friends. In his defence, he again placed himself on the side of the angels claiming he was unaware of all this which involved billions of dollars. Today, he awaits the return from a holiday Ryan Amato the chief of staff of one of Ford's cabinet ministers who was apparently involved in all this. I predict he will be thrown under the bus and folksy Ford again try to distance himself from a problem of his own making.</p><p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p><p>"Survivors tell harrowing tale" reads the headline of the latest disaster of people wishing to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy. Surely it's apparent to Italian authorities that it's organized crime that sells leaky boats to wouldbe migrants, often to their death. Has the Italian government posted spies in North Africa to monitor the behaviour of these criminals? </p><p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p><p>"Investors off-load condos as rates increase" reads the headline. These investors made this decision before the announcement that Taylor Swift would perform in Toronto in fifteen months. Therefore I wonder how many investors will pull the condo from the market until after Swift's appearance in Toronto. One hotel has already announced their current overnight rate for November of $460 will be $917 during Swift's November visit next year. Let's give a cheer for the glory of capitalism.</p><p style="text-align: center;">* * *</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-37830893022719686442023-07-11T18:17:00.000-04:002023-07-11T18:17:21.532-04:00<p><b>Thoughts on Nuclear Warfare</b> </p><p>In August 1945, the United States unleashed the fury of two atomic bombs on Japanese cities. The question is raised: would it have been equally effective had the first bomb been dropped at sea, say twenty miles to the east of Tokyo and a second ten miles miles from the capital city. Such a display of strength, and impending doom, would have been sufficient to produce the desired surrender. This seemingly reasonable approach, however, misses the crucial point. </p><p>By August, the war in Europe had ended three months earlier. Most of the allied troops were back home. Russia, on the other hand, maintained its force of millions of troops. Had Russian leader, Josef Stalin, so wished, he could have, with minimal opposition, occupied the entire continent. There was no force strong enough to restrain him. Or was there such a force?</p><p>My thought is that U.S. President Harry Truman had to create more than a display of strength. He had to prove his resolve to drop the bomb on a Russian city should that massive army continue its westward march. </p><p>Of relevance today is the possibility of Russian President Vladimir Putin introducing nuclear weapons into his war with Ukraine. I trust a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine has in its sights Putin's summer palace on the Black Sea coast. Its destruction would make him worry about explosion number two.</p>Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-70150910951707582982023-01-13T17:34:00.001-05:002023-07-11T18:26:50.768-04:00The Evolution of the Grocery Store<p> <span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">Time was
that when you entered a grocery store you approached a counter. A clerk greeted
you and asked what you needed today. As you read your list, the clerk went
about the store gathering your need items.</span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">
</span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">The clerk entered your purchases and put your money in the cash
register. The clerk then placed the groceries in the required number of paper
bags.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">You then
headed for the meat counter where various meats were displayed.</span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">If you wanted a half-pound of hamburger,
that’s the exact amount the clerk doled out.</span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">If you wanted a roast of a certain weight,
and none of that size was in the counter, he asked the butcher to cut one of approximately
the size you wanted. </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">And the company made a profit.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p>Later i</o:p></span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">n the
supermarket, you did the gathering of your groceries. Meat is prepackaged.</span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">If only pounds of hamburger were in the
display case, or none at all, too bad. </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">Meat clerks no longer exist. Take or leave
what an anonymous person has put in the counter. </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">In
the decreasing number of cases where a meat counter exists, the prohibitive prices
tell you to go back to the prepackaged section. You placed your purchases in a
basket and joined the line at a checkout counter.</span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">The
cashier rang up the cost. An assistant placed your purchases in bags. </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">And the grocer made a greater profit.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">The cashier’s
assistant has disappeared. You are expected to package your own purchases.</span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">You may hand you bags but they prefer you bring
you own.</span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">And the grocer’s profits
improved greatly.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">Today, the number
of cashiers has dwindled. </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">You are
expected to do your own checkout, paid only by credit card and package your
purchases. </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">And the grocer made a yet
greater profit.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 12pt;">During an epidemic,
the grocer cries poor mouth due to rising costs. And the grocer makes obscene
profits as a COVID profiteer.</span></p>Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-19094035361838858292023-01-01T16:41:00.002-05:002023-01-27T13:14:44.281-05:00Putin's double-edged New Year's message<p>With the continued bombing of residential areas in Ukraine, that murderous fellow in the Kremlin sends two messages. </p><p>The first to the free people of Ukraine telling them to rise up against their government and demand an end to the war. </p><p>With the second message, Putin warns the oppressed people of Russia that reprisals on the scale of their neighbour's bombing will occur to them should they rise up against him.</p><p>The world (at least the civilized part) hopes the reverse of both messages will come to pass, and soon.</p><p><br /></p>Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-79314978371888638452022-10-17T17:25:00.000-04:002022-10-17T17:25:45.100-04:00Putin versus Zelenskyy<p><br /></p><p>The personalities of Russia's President Putin and Ukraine's President Zelenskyy are described in Ecclesiasticus, a book of the Apocrypha, where we read in Chapter One, "The furious man cannot be justified." </p><p>What better description of a wee man intent on destroying another's country? His rage was heightened by the recent damage to his showpiece bridge. To give vent to his fury, he is currently sending against innocent Ukrainian civilians suicide drones purchased from Iran (whose sclerotic leadership has problems of its own). </p><p>Putin takes his cues from the playbook of Adolf Hitler while his personality is described in the Bible. The behaviour of this wee man is nothing new; the wicked have been in a rage for millenia. The world awaits the "sway of his fury" to bring about his destruction.</p><p>Ecclesiasticus then tells us: "The patient man will hold out till the time comes," but he "will tear for a time." The world stands amazed at the cool presence of besieged leader Zelenskyy and his ability to communicate so succinctly to the world.</p><p>Both leaders are of a type. We pray for the weight of the wee man's rage to do its work in the near future and for the patient man to hold on so that "his joy will break out in the end." </p>Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-10929083343743292272022-10-12T12:51:00.000-04:002022-10-12T12:51:44.857-04:00If I were an artist, I would draw . . .<div><br /></div>
The Statue of Liberty informing Donald Trump:"You're fired." <div><br /></div><div>Russian President Vladimir Putin a little boy in short pants, in a sandbox, holding a broken bridge while stomping on other children's toy houses. </div><div><br /></div><div>China President Xi Jinping and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi waving a cautionary finger at Vladimir Putin cuddling atomic weaponry.
</div><div><br /></div>Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-7267613062321841972019-02-23T16:20:00.000-05:002019-12-30T14:50:04.151-05:00Animal rights and wrongs<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">No reasonable person condones gratuitous cruelty to animals. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Surely the line is drawn when one attempts to equate animals and humans? </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">A media report of February 9, 2016, told of placard-waving protesters demanding justice for an maltreated dog. T</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">his, based on the belief that "the mind of a dog is roughly equivalent to that of a child of two or three years of age." </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Such loathsome comparisons are the work of Peter Singer. The Princeton professor claims that highly aware animals, such as the chimp, are owed more respect and protection than mentally-challenged humans. </span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
One of Singer's followers proclaims, "We are seeking to break the species barrier." There is no barrier, just a measureless chasm between humans and animals, no matter what tricks the animal can perform or how debased the human behaviour. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
Animals are deserving of limited protection with no equivalence to humans at any age or in any condition.<br />
<br />
P<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">eter </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Singer's heart must be broken today. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">To the professor's chagrin, a New York appeals court recently ruled that chimpanzees do not have legal rights. The court rejected the contention that chimps are worthy of a writ of habeas corpus, as animal activists demanded.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">There is no legal precedent for the animals to be considered people, the court ruled. They do not have the capacity to be held legally accountable for their actions. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Sorry, Professor Singer, common sense occasionally holds sway, even for an off-the-rails philosopher.</span><br />
<div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><i>There is nothing so absurd that it has not been said by some philosopher --</i> Cicero</span></div>
</div>
Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-39825066085371265352019-02-21T12:30:00.000-05:002020-08-29T16:24:55.099-04:00The Police That Couldn't Shoot Straight<b><br /></b>
<b>February 12, 2019</b><br />
A man with a gun was robbing a Queens convenience store. Seven New York City police officers arrived. They fired 42 shots in 11 seconds, the police acknowledged. When the gunfire ended, two officers lay bleeding on the sidewalk outside the store. One died. Neither victim was the robber who had been hit eight times and survived. He carried a fake gun. The police had shot their own.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>December 1, 2017</b><br />
A Toronto police officer chased a home robbery suspect. According to a newspaper report, the officer justifiably feared for his life. However, "the officer shot at the man multiple times, and the man fled. The perpetrator later raised his arm at the officer who "shot at him again." With all that shooting, the suspect was hit only once, and then only in the arm. Where did the "multiple" bullets lodge? And why was the target hit only once?<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>October 31, 2017</b><br />
The New York terror attack of this day ended with the shooting of a terrorist by a officer of the NYPD. According to the NY Times, the officer fired nine shots at the perpetrator, one of which hit the target. A five-year police veteran misses eight time out of nine. Aside from concern about where the stray bullets may have lodged, the incident raises concern about the officer's training.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>June 3, 2017</b><br />
Twelve Toronto police officers confronted on the street a man with a history of mental illness holding a pellet gun. Three officers discharged their weapons killing Devon LaFleur. He was hit by eight bullets, no report on how many went astray. The SIU report make no mention why the police did not use Tasers or rubber bullets. Nor did the report make mention of the commendable restraint of the other nine officers who did not shoot. Or did they all shoot and missed?<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>October 14, 2016</b><br />
An inquest into the shooting of John Caleb Ross by York Regional Police in April 2014 disclosed that the two fatal shots were fired by one police officer after the victim refused to drop a toy gun made to look like a real weapon. A second officer fired his shotgun and missed the victim. The question again arises: A trained police officer armed with a shotgun, in sight of his target, fires and misses? Again police weapons training is in question.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>August 11, 2016</b><br />
Punta Gorda, Florida. In a demonstration, a police officer accidentally shot and killed a community volunteer. The event was a role-playing scenario illustrating the split-second decisions an officer must make about firing. What live ammunition was doing at a demonstration has not been explained. <br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>July 23, 2016</b><br />
A North Miami policeman shot and wounded an unarmed man as he lay on the sidewalk, arms outstretched, shouting he did not have a weapon. The policeman fired three shots. One hit the victim in the leg. That's a thirty per cent accuracy rate.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>May 14, 2016</b><br />
A Toronto police constable stopped a car he deemed suspicious and ordered the driver out. According to conflicting evidence, he exited the car and brandished a knife. At a distance one can reasonably suppose of less than a car length, the constable fired seven shots, three killing the driver. To be questioned is why at that close range four shots missed. <br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>March 20, 2015</b><br />
In a take-down of a knife-wielding man, Marc Ekamba-Boekwa, three Peel Regional Police fired 19 bullets in quick succession at the assailant standing eight feet away. Eleven struck the target killing him. Another hit one of the officers. Yet another bullet lodged in the back of a neighbour, Suzan Zreik (in 2016 suing for $21 million), preparing dinner in her kitchen. No mention of the resting place of the other six bullets. <br />
<br />
One questions the quality of weapons training that resulted in six shots missing a target eight feet away. It's reasonable to presume most of the bullets that did hit the target were fired after the assailant was on the ground. Or are we to believe it required 11 shots to down him? The news release (but not the full report) of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) makes no mention of these concerns.<br />
<br />
Yet again police training both in weapons and pacification, if any, are called into question.<br />
<br />
<b>February 3, 2012</b><br />
Michael Eligon, a mentally troubled man fled Toronto East General Hospital wielding scissors in each hand. On the street, eight to ten Toronto police officers surrounded him. The distance between Eligon and the police narrowed from nine to two or three metres, a witness said.<br />
<br />
According to reports, one of the officers fired three shots in quick succession. The first shot hit a garbage can. The second bullet went through a porch window. The third shot entered the victim's chest. He dropped to the ground and soon died.<br />
<br />
The officer in question claimed that the baton or pepper spray were not viable options. With about a dozen officers similarly armed surrounding the victim, we question why.<br />
<br />
This incident gives rise to wondering what type of weapons training police receive. Police are trained to shoot straight at the centre of the chest, not at a nearby garbage can or house. Are front-line police required to up-date regularly their weapons skills? Should eight to ten physically fit, fully armed officers be able to disarm a lone man wielding non-projectile "weapons" without killing him?<br />
<br />
One witness said that the officers kicked the downed man in order to clear away the scissors. Did that cause his death?<br />
<br />
Toronto Police Chief Blair said that the police followed "sound, well-established practices and procedures." The Special Investigations Unit cleared the officer of wrongdoing. No mention of the officers who did the kicking. No mention of the stray bullets. Is Blair's "practices and procedures" the problem?<br />
<br />
<b>A November 2012</b> report tells of a Durham Region policeman facing a teenager wielding an imitation handgun. The officer shouted several warnings. The young man pointed his weapon at the officer who fired eight times. Two bullets hit the teen in the upper body. It is not reported where the other six bullets became lodged.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>A few months later</b> comes a report of the New York City police who shot and killed a man just after he had killed a former co-worker. The disturbing part of the report, besides the two deaths, is that nine passers-by near the Empire State Building were also wounded. Some or all were injured by police gunfire. This is not surprising the report concludes for in 2008 the accuracy rate for New York City officers firing in the line of duty was 34 per cent.Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-21140361027887505022018-08-16T14:21:00.000-04:002018-11-14T14:57:55.125-05:00The New Face of Toronto?<br />
A well-intentioned movement is underway in Toronto. Its motivation is concern over the lack of municipal representatives who are non-white, non-male, non-heterosexual. To state their aim in positive terms, they want more Councillors who are Black, Asian, Indigenous, female, trans-gendered, gay, indigent, disabled.<br />
<br />
To this end, volunteer groups offer encouragement, election experience, possibly financial aid to those not currently represented on the municipal scene. Is this noble venture in accord with the purpose of a municipal council, or indeed any elected body?<br />
<br />
Reportedly there are more than a dozen activist groups gearing up for the October 22 election. They are concerned with issues such as transit, the environment, the arts, gun control, adequate housing, bicycle safety. What these activists want are representatives whose municipal views more or less match theirs.<br />
<br />
Advocating facial diversity runs counter to the purpose of government.<br />
<br />
We elect people whose platform more or less is an accord with our idea of municipal governance. That's why I support my Councillor, not because she is a woman which I am not, not because she is homosexual which I am not, not because she is Asian which I am not, not because she is dark-skinned which I am not. I vote for her because her vision of our great city matches mine.<br />
<br />
Otherwise, we are in danger of promoting identity politics, so condemned by Barack Obama in his July speech to South Africans. Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed it this way, ". . . that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character."<br />
<br />Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-12180220167302750562018-06-23T14:49:00.001-04:002019-06-01T13:28:22.684-04:00The Law Society of Ontario Flirts with Despotism<br />
Trinity Western University in British Columbia requires students to abide by the rules of normal marriage, that is between a man and a woman. Because it disagrees with this rule, the Law Society of Ontario refuses accreditation to graduates of TWU law school. The Supreme Court of Canada agrees with the Law Society.<br />
<br />
The only worthy intelligence to emerge from this contorted decision of the court comes from one of the dissenting judges who stated that law societies should concern themselves with legal training and, by implication, not intrude into social matters unrelated to law. This, especially against a private institution not subject to outside influence such as the execrably misapplied Charter of Rights.<br />
<br />
This same Supreme Court said that "for better or for worse, tolerance of divergent beliefs is a hallmark or a democratic society." That was in 2001. The weather vane atop the Supreme Court building recently caught a different breeze. A majority of the judges turned with the change of wind.<br />
<br />
By expanding its authority into non-legal matters, the Law Society of Ontario has entered the early stage of despotism. Under the influence of special interest activists, it has extended its power into a matter beyond the scope of legal education. It has appointed itself arbiter of matters beyond its mandate.<br />
<br />
What's next? Control of political opinion? Recently, that same Law Society of Ontario demanded all its members sign up for its version of social values. We have entered the era when silence may result in loss of licence to practice law, or send you to jail for refusing to use certain pronouns, or exclusion of participation in a summer student aid program. The Supreme Court of Canada is complicit in this malaise, this nascent despotism.<br />
<br />
Our human rights system has broken down, abused by feel-good rights tribunal officers, self-appointed rights enforcers in the legal system, and special-interest activists.<br />
<br />
No institution can demand respect. It gets such respect its actions warrant.<br />
<br />Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-71673075120576651692018-03-19T13:53:00.001-04:002020-12-11T12:10:56.102-05:00Steven Pinker and the Enlightenment<br />
Seven years ago, Steven Pinker produced the <i>The Better Angels of Our Nature.</i> Somewhere in the book's 800 pages, the Harvard professor cited the Genesis story of Adam and Eve as if it were history, as if Cain killed twenty-five per cent of the world population when he murdered Abel. On this biblical tale he based the claim that violence in the world has decreased. No war ever killed that percentage of the population. Therefore the world is getting better.<br />
<br />
The title of his next equally weighty tome bears the exhortation, <i>Enlightenment Now</i>: <i>The case for reason, science, humanism, and progress.</i> The publicity blurb tells us that presented data demonstrates that wonderful things are happening throughout the word "because of the Enlightenment ideal of using reason and science."<i> </i><br />
<i><br /></i>Pinker seems unaware that the so-called Enlightenment of the 18th century led directly to the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. Influenced by reason and science, thousands were dragged to the guillotine in Paris, tens of thousands more across France. Yet others were shot, drowned, or burned to death in their homes and churches. The revolutionaries reasoned that science would end social evil, that it would cleanse society and create to a Republic of Virtue. In that spasm of unreason, the terrorists performed rituals to the Goddess of Reason.<br />
<br />
Is that the temple in which Harvard Professor Steven Pinker worships?<br />
<br />Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-5137164702762735842018-03-08T12:08:00.002-05:002018-03-08T12:08:45.838-05:00Ontario's sell-off of people's power<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Merrill
Denison wrote the biography of Adam Beck, founder of Ontario Hydro, titled <i>The People’s Power. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">The monument
to Sir Adam Beck looks out on the intersection of Queen Street West and
University Avenue, downtown Toronto. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Ontario
Premier Elizabeth Wynne has sold off to private interests 53 per cent of
Ontario Hydro. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">I suggest a sequel
book titled <i>The People’s Loss of Power</i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">I suggest 53 per cent of
the monument be shrouded in purple.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-22295996945811736702018-02-26T16:34:00.000-05:002019-05-02T12:35:37.247-04:00Law Society of Ontario vs reality<br />
The Law Society of Upper Canada, soon to self-resurrect as the Law Society of Ontario, is the trade association of Ontario's 50,000 lawyers and 8,000 para-legals.<br />
<br />
The Society's latest gambit is to require its members (officially <i>licencees</i>) "to adopt and to abide by a statement of principles acknowledging their obligation to promote equality, diversity and inclusion generally, and in their behaviour towards colleagues, employees, clients and the public. And they must do so annually.<br />
<br />
That's serious adopting and abiding, and beyond the Society's regulatory authority.<br />
<br />
The Society's president explains that it's all about countering racism within the profession and towards the general public.<br />
<br />
The hornet's nest has been disturbed. Some licencees claim the statement is compelled speech and that infringes on constitutional rights. A member of the Society's board is advocating exemption for conscientious objectors. Another licencee objects to being forced to adopt and promote someone else's "political ideology" as indeed it is.<br />
<br />
The naiveté in this feel-good measure is the belief that law can stop racism. At best it may limit its overt expression. Partial solution rests with education. Even then. racism will continue to exist in one form or another.<br />
<br />Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-53068860976836420582018-01-31T14:27:00.000-05:002018-02-26T16:08:02.831-05:00The wealthy and others<br />
Feed people's hopes, but give them only just enough to keep them from despair. -- Fransesco Guiucciardini.<br />
<br />
...to keep hope alive, but never satisfied. -- Baltasar Gracian, A Truthtelling Manual.<br />
<br />
Do not refuse a poor man a livelihood nor tantalize the needy.<br />
-- Ecclesiasticus.<br />
<br />
I saw the many work for small wages which kept them always on the borderline of want for the few who made huge profits. -- Emma Goldman 1934.<br />
<br />
A poor man does well so long as he keeps from ambition.<br />
<br />Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-78894617636169983712018-01-29T14:14:00.000-05:002018-01-29T14:14:10.117-05:00An honour to sign a death warrant?<br />
A former sports doctor has been sentenced to multiple decades in prison for molesting more than 150 girls and young women. The Michigan judge said to the accused, "It is my honour and privilege to sentence you." She continued to berate the perpetrator in an over-wrought condemnation: "I have just signed your death warrant."<br />
<br />
My objection? The judge's unnecessary words lacked quality.<br />
<br />
From Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (part 2, chapter 42): "Abuse not by word him whom thou hast to punish in deed, for the pain of punishment is enough for the unfortunate without the addition of thine objurgations."<br />
<br />
To punish someone, however heinous the crime, is a duty, hardly an honour and a privilege.<br />
<br />
<br />Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-25204319198090894812018-01-15T15:34:00.000-05:002018-01-15T15:34:04.838-05:00Internment Camps<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">During the two world wars, many Canadians
were placed in internment camps. These people were immigrants from countries
then at war with Canada. Although many of them had become citizens, they were
perceived by the government of the day as posing a threat to our war
effort. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Today, these people, or their descendants,
claim that the government's action was based on prejudiced policies directed at
certain minorities. They are demanding apologies and compensation. There seems
to be a great deal of ignorance as to what really happened in those dark days
of the wars. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">In an Immigration Law class I at Seneca
College in the 1990s, the professor, a lawyer and an immigrant from Africa,
asked the class, “Why is it that only visible minorities were placed in
internment camps?” In reply to what he
believed was a rhetorical question, I informed him that more than visible
minorities were interned, that many Caucasians, Germans and Italians for
example, also lost their freedom for the duration of the war. I got my worst mark from him in an otherwise
“Outstanding” report.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> Let's examine a small piece of a personal
record -- my late father's memoirs. My parents, German-speaking Austrians, had
come to Canada in the 1920s. Aside from the usual expressions of prejudice and
bigotry experienced by foreigners in any country, there were no problems. It
was never clear to me if my parents were disliked because they were central
Europeans who talked funny, or because they were Catholic, or because during
the Great Depression they bought a shiny new Plymouth and two rooming houses in
lower-class Toronto. Or was it because they made their own wine, a matter that
provoked police investigation? No matter, World War Two was upon us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Investigators from the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police visited the working places of foreign-born people (even if they
had become Canadian citizens as did my parents). In the case of my father, this
was the slaughter house of Canada Parkers in Toronto's west end. They
questioned his boss, fellow employees, and possibly others. This incident
became one of my mother's favourite jokes. The inspector asked the boss if my
father ever talked about politics. "Politics?" the boss replied.
"He never talks to anybody about anything." (He later recounted this
story to my father.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">The Mounted Police came to our home,
fingerprinted my father, and questioned him. As a seven-year old, I was always
excited by the mounties. And here they were in our dining room, but not in
uniform. “Do you have guns,” I asked hopefully. They replied no. They asked if
my father if he belonged to any clubs. "All I could say was that I was a
member of the Catholic Church at Dundas and McCaul," my father wrote in
his memoirs. They never returned. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">[In 2016, a terrible thought came to mind.
At the time of the visit hanging somewhere in our home, possibly in the dining
room, was a small oil painting of my grandfather’s house in Stadl-Paura,
Austria. My parents had received it before postal service to Austria was closed
in 1939. On the reverse, several relatives extended greetings. One of them
wrote “mit treudeutschen gruss,” translated “with really German
greetings.” It was dated February 1938. Germany
annexed Austria the following month. This greeting could have been interpreted
as pro-German, making my father an enemy, and having him interned. Stranger
things happened in those days of high tension.]
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Besides being a quiet-spoken person, my
father, like most immigrants of the time, had come to Canada to escape the
political turmoil of Europe, not to spread it. We never witnessed any
“systemic” government prejudice, as some would have it, directed at us or other
members of our extended family, all of whom were investigated, none of whom was
interned. In fact, my Austrian-born Uncle Richard Reininger was given special
status because his machine shop was engaged in war work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">On the other hand, a number of
acquaintances express pro-Nazi opinions, some rather vehemently. "The
government investigated all Germans and Austrians," my father's memoirs
continue. "My neighbour across the road on George Street got picked up by
the Mounted Police at two a.m. He was a member of an illegal club. He was kept
in a camp until the war was over."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">This was the Gembe family, with whose son
Karl, I often played. My father added the poignant observation, "His wife
could not understand why they didn't pick me up." The mother and three
children, Hilda, Karl and Elfrieda, survive by renting rooms. Hilda was old
enough to work. (I have a vague memory of Karl sporting a swastika on his
sleeve, sometime before the war.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Mr. Gembe was part of about 800 Germans
interned during the war. They were sent into the northern bush to carve out the
national parks we now enjoy. He spent his spare time building beautiful model
sailing ships which he sent home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">The other German family up the street did
not fare so well. The husband operated a car repair shop out of a garage. He
got shipped away one night. Without his income, the wife and one small girl just
moved away. We never learned what happened to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">These people were quickly segregated from
the general population, and placed in internment camps. Unfortunately, this
meant great hardship to their families. But their internment was a justified
exercise in national security. Not because of who they were, but because of
what they did were these people viewed as security risks. That made them a
legitimate target of suspicion. If investigation indicated a danger to the war
effort, internment rightly followed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Examination of the official record may well
produce examples of rash governmental behaviour. But before any further
compensation or apology is considered, there should be an impartial review of
the evidence. Let's see what really happened. Judging the facts in the context
of the time will, I believe, justify much of what occurred.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-21873384892539584642018-01-15T15:27:00.000-05:002018-02-26T16:20:04.665-05:00War propaganda and afterwards<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">"The evil that men do lives after
them." When Shakespeare put those words in the mouth of one of the
assassins of Julius Caesar, he was speaking for all generations. In one way or
another, the evil we have been taught lives in each of us. I admit, some of it
lives in me, however subconsciously.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In my defence, let me take you back to the
dark, desperate days of the Second World War. This impressionable young boy
living in downtown Toronto hears nothing but bad news. Every one on the street agrees
it's all the fault of the Germans and the Japanese. Nazi Germany is rapidly taking over much of
continental Europe. They are in Africa.
England is about to be invaded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Following their attack on Pearl Harbor, the
Japanese are advancing in China and southeast Asia. Australia is next to fall.
We hear that a Japanese ship destroyed a lighthouse on Vancouver Island. Other
Japanese invade Alaska. Canadian soldiers, only a few years older than myself,
are being killed in places no one on the street had ever heard of, like Hong
Kong. My school atlas tells us where it is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">With my central European background, I knew
what Germans looked like. And a German family lived across the street. They
looked like us. But the Japanese were a different story. I had never seen one
in my life. They were from a different world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Because of the war, a war started by the
German and Japanese, food is rationed: meat, butter, sugar, tea, coffee,
gasoline, car tires, alcohol. People talk about the black market. I see it as a very
dark place where the rich can buy all the food and gasoline they want. The
other black I hear about is blackout. When the sirens go off, men wearing white
helmets with the letters A.R.P. across the front walk the streets, telling us
to turn off all our lights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We are getting ready to be bombed by the
Germans or the Japanese. I wasn't sure which enemy would get here first. I did
not like the idea of my home getting destroyed. My 16-year-old friends must
register with the government, to get them ready to join the military. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The tide slowly turns. Street talk is about
air raids on the Germans. This pleases me because I feel it's better we bomb
them than they bomb us. Because I don't know them. And they started it. The
relentless propaganda gets me and all my friends to loathe the Germans and the
Japanese.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Japanese, I am taught to despise
absolutely. I am told, and I believe, they could commit every atrocity they are
accused of: torture, killing unarmed soldiers, forced labour by prisoners,
starvation, execution and sex slaves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This anti-Japanese sentiment lingers so
strongly in my mind that, one day some forty-five years later, as I enter a
downtown department store, I stop cold. I stare wide-eyed at the enlarged
Japanese face smiling down at me from the many banners scattered throughout the
main floor. I am looking at the face of Alfred Sung, a Canadian fashion
designer of Oriental descent. His products are being featured by the
store. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But what fills memory's eye is the smiling
face I vividly remember from many anti-Japanese propaganda films, comic books
and magazines. It's the face of that pilot machine-gunning innocent civilians
fleeing the invading Japanese army. It is the face of that Japanese officer
about to torture a prisoner. It is the face my generation was taught to hate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">War propaganda also taught us to hate the
face of the blond German soldier, the one whose mouth wears a perpetual sneer,
one who even in defeat flaunted a false sense of superiority.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Desperate times call for desperate
measures.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The good news is two-fold. I like to think
that all of my generation knows it was brainwashed. And that life's experience
has taught us how to deal with it, and to accept everyone equally. The other
good news is that just as young minds can be taught hate, they can be taught
love and caring and understanding. Let us pray that is what we, allies and
enemies, pass to the next generation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-74586791472676416522017-12-30T15:00:00.000-05:002019-08-10T18:12:52.759-04:00Toronto's Identity Politics<br />
Before Toronto expanded to its present boundaries, the city's motto, created by the city's first mayor, extolled the virtues of <span style="font-style: italic;">Industry, Integrity, Intelligence</span>. These civic ideals stood us in good stead since our founding in 1834.<br />
<br />
To appease every enclave of the enlarged city, every activist and political-correctness enforcer, every identity group or community, our motto was changed in 1998 to<span style="font-style: italic;"> Diversity Our Strength</span>.<br />
<br />
Rather than celebrate mutually shared aspirations, such as the common good, our new motto invites us to observe what separates us racially, ethnically, sexually, politically, and financially. The city fell into the trap of identity politics with its hint of victimhood. Diversity is a condition, a fact, not a value or goal.<br />
<br />
The old motto encouraged a citizen to say, "Here I am. How can I help?" The new motto, "Here, Toronto, are my rights and my demands. What can you for for me and my particular cause?"<br />
<br />
Each minority group clamours for its own representation and share of the budget, its own agenda, all leading to fragmentation of civic purpose, quotas and negativity. This guarantees we will not have our best people in positions of influence and authority, just an average of mediocrity.<br />
<br />
Martin Luther
King Jr. dreamed that one day his children would "not be judged by
the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character."<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-89100758771136422662017-11-23T18:04:00.001-05:002017-12-22T15:41:30.800-05:00 A court explains minute differences<br />
A man, reaching for a water bottle, drove his car "some 20 metres" over a bike lane and onto a sidewalk killing a pedestrian in East Toronto. He was charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death. The Ontario judge set him free explaining, "We cannot hold drivers to a standard of ideal decision-making when making split-second decisions." He found the defendant had made an "imprudent but reflexive decision."<br />
<br />
Thus the court differentiates between a split-second decision and a reflexive decision.<br />
<br />
Following the reasoning of the Supreme Court of Canada in 2008, the judge acknowledged that taking his eyes off the road was a "departure from what a reasonable prudent driver" would do in the situation, but it was not "a marked departure" from that standard.<br />
<br />
Thus the court differentiates between a reasonable departure and a marked departure.<br />
<br />
The learned judge went on to explain the difference. The provable period of inattention by the driver was between 0.74 and 1.18 seconds. The court allowed that this "minuscule period of inattention" qualifies as a "momentary lapse of attention" and therefore not criminal.<br />
<br />
Thus the court differentiates between "a minuscule period of inattention" and "a momentary lapse of attention."<br />
<br />
How thin can our courts slice legal baloney?<br />
<br />
In all this, the trial court accepted the uncorroborated statements of the defendant. He may have been doing something else besides, or in addition to, reaching for a water bottle.<br />
<br />Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2630897297090769827.post-82492478606054384942017-09-19T16:06:00.000-04:002017-10-22T14:16:28.291-04:00Not Enough Time to Cook?<br />
It is estimated that cave people worked less than 20 hours a week to produce life's essentials. In 1930, economist John Manyard Keynes believed that, due to increased productivity, his grandchildren would likely have to work only 15 hours a week. In 1968, Mechanix Illustrated predicted: "People will have more time for leisure activities in the year 2008. The average work week is about four hours."<br />
<br />
Here we are in 2017, at hand the greatest time-savings devices ever known. For most the work week is longer and more stressful. Technology has not delivered the promised dividend of time. It has increased the burden of living. Its benefits have flowed to the already rich.<br />
<br />
This perceived shortage of time has given rise to a previously unthinkable e-commerce business. For a fee, someone will buy, measure, cut, chill, box and ship every ingredient for a meal to your door. According to a purveyor of this service, "There's not enough time in modern lives to receipt-collect or grocery-shop." (New York Times, March 31, 2013)<br />
<br />
With an array of push-button devices at our command, why is there "not enough time"? Why has technology not improved our lives to the point where we can stop after four hours of work? As Shakespeare has observed, the fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings.<br />
<br />Raymond Peringerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04657544911928855061noreply@blogger.com0