A merry Christmas to all, in these eight or twelve days of Christmas, depending on how one counts them. Of course, as we learn from the story of the Grinch, and of course the Gospel, Christmas is about giving, family time, offering to others a part of ourselves, reflection on the gifts of God in […]
This morning, the councillors of the city of London, Ontario decided unanimously to deny funding to their symphony orchestra, which was in dire straits financially. The musicians, twenty nine in total, plus some support staff, had not been paid in recent weeks, apparently, and they needed 300 grand to tide things over for a month […]
Secretary of State John Kerry decried the recent Taliban massacre, crying out that all people of conscience should unite in condemning the acts…And, he is right. He also called them ‘mediaeval’, on which point he was not so right. There are not many cases in the middle ages of women and children being slaugtered, and, […]
Newly-elected New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant (who bears a passing resemblance to Aaron Ekhart, who played Two-Face in the second Batman movie, also an attorney who does evil thinking he is doing good) as one of his first acts of office, lifted certain restrictions on abortion in the province (having two doctors certify to the […]
There has been a slate of stories in the past few weeks on the notion of sexual consent, or, to be more specific, the consent required, particularly from the female, for the man to engage in sexual relations with her. There are the two Liberal (male) Members of Parliament accused of sexual harrassment by anonymous […]
“Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, while others have greatness thrust upon them”. So wrote Shakespeare in Twelfth Night . ‘Greatness’ may take various forms, but I have been pondering of late the greatness achieved by heroism. We may define a hero as one acts ‘above and beyond the call of duty’. […]
The ‘canary in a coal mine’ was a primitive technology used before the age of sensors: The bird can sense the presence of noxious gases far earlier than humans; thus, when the canary starts to gag, it’s time to run for the top. The canary, being more sensitive, is the first to go. Illnesses […]
Recently, at least within the recent limits of my own limited memory of things inane, Justin Bieber, a Canadian from southern Ontario, stripped down to his ‘Calvin Kleins’ on national television, declaring that he is only ‘comfortable in his Calvins’, as he exposed his skinny body to too many people, most of whom would rather […]