Opinion

Owning the podium (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | For a couple of hours every day during those two weeks, we forgot our problems and the troubles afflicting the world. We let men and women from China and Korea, France and Germany, the US and Russia, from all around the world, show us the rewards of single-minded focus and incredible daily hard work. The Games may be telling us that such focus and such effort could also help us solve those problems of the world that we were able to ignore so briefly and which are now making their way back into our awareness. If young men and women can put the daily difficulties of growing up aside while they work towards their goals, can't we adults do the same thing?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Sweet talk a future (570)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | A new game is sweeping Canada, at least rural Canada, a game without the special effects of X-boxes and video gaming, but a game with real consequences. It is the game of re-imagining our communities that have had their mills, plants, mines, and factories closed. The Pontiac is right up there with the best of these rural gamers.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

We can change the weather (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | Is "government" or even "society" as bad as everyone says? One message we soak up with the air is that "government" is, at best, a necessary evil, and usually nothing but some form of extortion and self-aggrandizement by politicians, those who do the governing.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

SENIOR MUSINGS ~ HIGH COST OF HEALTH CARE
Posted 02.12.10
BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM
I had no choice. In early 2006 I began looking for a new doctor, and phoned the CLSC for help. I was told my name would be put on a waiting list, and given priority because of my age and the fact that I take five prescription medicines for five different medical problems. They never called me back, although I continued to phone every few months to make sure I was still on the priority list.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

SENIOR MUSINGS ~ NEW COLUMN
Posted 01.22.10
BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM
I've managed on my own by installing a stair-lift to access the basement, which is not only ideal for anyone with mobility problems, but also enables me to carry things up and down the stairs without danger. Falls are the most common reason why seniors are hospitalized, so anything we can do to avoid falling is crucial.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

The Female Heart Attack (a story for women (740)
On December 30th, as I went to work to open the Canadian Embassy here in Oslo, I was overwhelmed by acute earaches and a peculiar feeling in my chest. I'd had these earaches for a couple of months, on and off, and except for the fact that I'd never had an earache before, didn't give it much thought. This was more intense however, so I did what I had to do and went home.
Berit Lundh writes from Oslo, Norway

Quebec: First accommodating immigrants, now euthanasia (620)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | Our province's public consultation on "reasonable accommodation" of immigrant minorities received a lot of criticism because it seemed to be little more than picking at a scab -- and because it gave a soapbox to a lot of hysterical people who only vented their fears. It seemed to promise something -- social accommodation of minority cultures -- that could never be guaranteed.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

A lose-lose proposition (540)
You tell the BBB you already gave her the upgraded motherboard and reinstalled Windows without charge, and she has nothing to complain about. When she protests, providing screenshots showing the botched reinstall of Windows, you have your lawyer send her a letter threatening to sue if she writes about the experience.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

An expendable Canadian government (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | Prime Minister Harper was sent to Ottawa by Calgary. He has encouraged the tar sands. His party all of sudden had enormous funds at its disposal -- they could afford a continual election campaign, and their attack ads outside any campaign testify to their cash reserves.

Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Speedway (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | They reach up to 200 km per hour," the police veteran said, and he has the experience to estimate speeds. "It's only a matter of time before we have a fatal pile up."

Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Not so funny (530)
Unfortunately, TV seems to rely much more on the lower levels. Even shows geared toward kids contain sexual overtones, and there doesn't seem to be a stand-up comic whose act doesn't contain four-letter words and references to sex, alcohol, or drugs.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Dogpatch -- it's everywhere (600)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | A friend refers to a crossroads on Highway 148 as "Pontiac's latest tourist attraction -- Dogpatch!" He thinks he's humourous, but driving up from the urban areas, which is the route most tourists take when coming to almost any spot in the Pontiac, his wisecrack isn't funny at all. This stretch of highway is no secret; it's in the Municipality of Pontiac, where Rue des Dominicains meets Highway 148
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Meditation on November 11 (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | This year's Remembrance Day finds us -- Canada, Quebec, Gatineau, Aylmer -- in an unusual situation. We are a nation at war, not peacekeeping; we are fighting on behalf of our NATO allies, not for our own defensive interests; our military is finally awash with funding, judging from appearances.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Distrust is a dangerous drug (590)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | Public distrust of politicians is headed over the edge. The current H1N1 vaccination effort is an example of how this distrust hurts everyone. Conspiracy theories and rumours of corruption have become subjects of conversation, like the weather, but when this distrust becomes so extreme that people fear the vaccine more than the flu itself, we've got problems.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Poor H1N1 vaccination planning (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | We'd be justified in wondering if the H1N1 flu is as serious a threat as we're told. Obviously, if the health ministry officials aren't treating it as a major threat, why should the rest of us? Isn't it their job to assess these threats? Two clinic for the entire city does not indicate a major threat.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

A goat named Bobbi (1160)
An 11-year-old boy in Kenya is the proud owner of a goat named after me. This initiative is called the Get Your Goat program, and is designed to provide destitute families in African countries with milk for the children as well as providing baby goats so other families can benefit as well.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Giant snake, tiny conscience (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | The recent discovery of a giant of a snake (at least to us), dead in a ditch on Terry Fox Road, was a shocker. Living as we do on the edge of Quebec's vast boreal wilderness, not to mention Gatineau Park, we are used to animals wandering in among us -- bears, coyotes, raccoons, deer, maybe a moose, none are strange to us.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Don't worry, be happy. Really. (600)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | It's so easy to lose sight of our own goals, or of even setting life goals for ourselves, so we seem to stagger from one crisis to the next (especially if we're dependent on the media's 'news' reporting); we can't stop running just to stand still, and yet when we are standing still we're too nervous or fear-struck to look around, to appreciate a sunset or hug a child. We're lost in each day's shuffle.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Must we seek another planet to call home? (610)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | Who can we trust? Ourselves. The missing component in this puzzle is us, behaving like stewards of our back yards, of our farms and fields, forests, and oceans. We can become informed and committed. And one good start is to turn down cut-rate canned salmon, tuna, and "BC Smoked Salmon" from China.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Is the leading candidate the Apathy Party? (500)
IN THE PONTIAC, QUEBEC | However, the elephant in the room is this: only half of Pontiac's Liberal members bothered to vote on Sunday.
Lily Ryan is the editor of the West Quebec Post.

It's "New Politics" is it, Canada? (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | This new form of campaigning has each party saying absolutely nothing about its own plans -- that's trivial and self-serving. Now, each party rejects the Vision Thing, projects, and platforms, and concentrates exclusively on attacking the other party and its leader. This refreshing change means we get the truth, finally. No more charades.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

The essential early influence of music (500)
Research has shown that music is an elemental part of our consciousness, and existed in early man before speech.

Music teaches the brain how to integrate the right and left sides, helping us see things beyond the obvious. Certainly that's a significant element in innovation, which is one of the goals of higher education.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

What's so bad about an election, Canada? (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | We now have a party system that is largely regional, in which no party has an agenda that appeals to the entire country, and so each election results in a minority government. And we haven't had a minority leader with vision broad enough to unite the other parties.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Not the Bridges of Madison County
New bridges or hypocrisy & hot air? (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | Imagine the letters to the editor and talk-show calls-every Ottawa commuter up on their hind legs lecturing us on being more accommodating, working together, and protecting the environment from the pollution of thousands of idling cars.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

(520)
IN THE PONTIAC, QUEBEC | Driving through Ottawa on a recent Saturday night, we noticed a hubbub of activity at the Parliament buildings. My daughter gleefully called for us to stop -- how could we drive by this festival? We stopped, not knowing what "festival" it would be.
Lily Ryan is the editor of the West Quebec Post.

Getting serious about savingÉeverything (620)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | So why if the present recession is so much like the Great Depression are we seeing virtually no creative and progressive thinking or experimentation? What we are getting from our leaders and thinkers are lame attempts to prop up the old order, the very order that generated the crash.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Canada's National Capitol eyesores (505)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | The bridges connecting Gatineau and Ottawa, apart from the new and small Champlain Bridge, would not be acceptable even in Espanola, Ontario, they are such embarrassments
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Are volunteers a dying breed? (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | These warnings are not empty. As our population ages, volunteers are aging and are retiring. As those who volunteer have noticed, it is often the same people who step up to the plate, time and time again. There comes a point when they tire (and when they tire of watching most of the population not contribute).
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Shopping is not a religion (510)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | The idea that Aylmer should have more parking lots, more stop lights, more malls is part of the thinking which has produced North America's urban sprawl nightmare. There are alternatives to more sprawl.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Doing the same thing again and again (520)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | One positive to have come out of the current economic troubles is the concept of behavioral economics. The economics profession has now noticed that we are not exclusively rational decision-makers in the marketplace. We often act against our clear best interests (buying lottery tickets) and let ourselves be talked into agreements that are based on vanity or greed, rather than on rationality.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Newspapers: Going electronic, or just going? (750)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | Yes, the telephone and paper have yet to be exceeded by modern technology, although they are certainly being added-to. They're no longer the only game in the industry. Which is true for the newspaper industry itself. No new media has co-opted all of newspapers' benefits, but they have certainly added to our industry's reach and services.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

In Canada: Nasty does as nasty is (520)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | My wife and I were stunned by our first view of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's attack ads on Canadian TV directed against Liberal Michael Ignatieff. The ad was sarcastic, personal, and nasty. There was nothing of policy, of issues, or of priorities. "This is the work of a bully," commented my spouse, and she captured in that word, "bully", the real message of the ad.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

We get the leaders we pick (520)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | During a recent dinner, a visiting sheep farmer assured me he never reads or watches the news. We were discussing politics and he dismissed his lack of information about events even in his own country.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

What do holidays mean? (520)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | The interesting point is about our present day, about how well our holidays reflect reality. We can make a commercial event out of almost everything. Even Earth Day will likely become a festival in which many people make money and sell products, whether or not the Earth benefits. Making money and buying things seem to be our major motivations, as pathetic as that sounds.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Advice our mothers never gave us (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | The old axiom for couples, parents or not, is that any disagreement in the evening must be worked out before going to sleep, together. This results in endless, churlish discussions and late nights, leading to a weary next day. You are both tired, so how are you going to reach any conclusion, agreement, or apology?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

I see your name everywhere(440 words)
It's every author's dream, to have his or her name mentioned by columnists, broadcasters, and in print media. The kind of media training that produces this level of results can cost a great deal, and is usually reserved for politicians, corporate CEOs, and high-level professionals.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

The (digital) price isn't right (520)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | When we convert everything to its electronic format, we are doing this to pay less -- and we are getting less.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Breaking the rules(560 words)
Breaking the rules seems to start at an early age. Sadly, our schools reinforce this, by allowing students who plagiarize to face no penalties. Instead, they receive extra time to turn in work without any loss of marks.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

We're either going green or we're going somewhere else (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | With climate change, resource depletion, and the pollution of our environment, we have no choice at all -- either we change our wasteful ways or the planet will change them for us. The status quo isn't an option.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Think before landfills or incinerators (540)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | Landfill or incinerator? Do we put our garbage into our air supply or into our water table? Should we drink our toxins or breathe them in? Each partisan of the garbage issue insists on our responses, but how can we answer such questions?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Writers: It takes skill to hold an audience(925 words)
Writers are, by nature, independent, and solitary. Some are sociable and meet friends frequently to exchange ideas and banter. But speaking in front of an audience is not usually something we relish. Speaking in public is at the top of most human fears, and many writers dread an invitation to give a reading or presentation.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Remove the gun from the 'Invisible Hand' (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | The market's enthusiasm for profit will break down all borders of propriety, and when this expands into open, permissible greed, there's no stopping the market's embrace of the most outrageous adventures and investments, legalities be damned.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Somalia's pirates, Colombia's drug lords, Wall Street's swindlers (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | When Bernard Madoff, the admitted swindler of 177 billion-plus dollars, a world record in fraud, walked into court wearing a bullet-proof flack jacket last week, a lot of investors must have kicked themselves for letting the opportunity pass to plug the bum. He was not previously wearing this protection.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Slicing the cake a different way(720 words)
The late Dr. Ursula Franklin, Professor Emerita at the University of Toronto and Senior Fellow at Massey College, once described the world as a giant cake which had, throughout history, been sliced vertically, by location, nationality, constituency, and community. The layers were stratified by class, caste, or custom, and individuals seldom moved more than one or two slices away, to a neighboring country or community.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Philosopher-kings (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff may even unintentionally have ambitions of being a philosopher-king, the iconic leader who combines intellect with action for no self-gain. There have been very few philosopher-kings in history -- more often the opposite. SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC |
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

On being a klutz (1150)
OSLO,NORWAY | At 61 I am a klutz and have been for as long as I can remember. My body is covered with dents and scars, I have deformed feet and wrists, knees and ankles that don't work so well, and I'm more than a few teeth short. But this past week has been brutal and I have graduated to the top of the class.
Berit Lundh is a Canadian living in Oslo, Norway.

Hi-speed Internet in Quebec, as in: the lack of (520)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | What sense can we make of all today's talk about "investing in infrastructure,Ó "bringing Canada into the 21st Century," and "building a knowledge-based economy," when much of the area surrounding our national capital does not even have hi-speed internet?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Remembering Zhao Ziyang(1300 words)
President Obama's recent visit to Ottawa brought back memories of another visiting dignitary, China's former leader, Zhao Ziyang. When Ziyang visited Ottawa in January, 1984, Prime Minister Trudeau decided to host an elaborate Gala in his honor at the National Arts Centre.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Seniors, speak up . . . really, speak up (500)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | Listen carefully, for example, at the next dinner party's conversation. How much of it is repeating the news of the day, which everyone has already heard. Conversation will detail the step-by-step causes of the latest airliner or bus disaster. Conversation will complain about the scams of bankers, the avarice of public sector unions, and the self-centeredness of movie stars, musicians, and national politicians.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

The food on our tables (520)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | Poor eating yields poor health which yields loss of wealth. And, eventually, even wisdom and happiness. We may lose it all anyway, but why rush the loss by eating as if it doesn't matter what we put in our mouths?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Get a firm grip on your pocketbooks, Canada (510)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | It may be that, living across the river from the nation's capital, we here in Aylmer, Quebec, receive more than we wish about all things political. The famous warm air, apparently, blows off in another direction, but all the analysis, pronouncements, and sound bites spread out like ripples in a pond, and, since we're nearest to the sinking stone, the sound-bite ripples are higher and faster here than elsewhere in the country.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Another flashy party, on our credit cards (565)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | The Genie Awards are coming to town! And although this glitzy soirée takes place in Ottawa on April 4, we citizens of Gatineau and West Quebec will be expected to participate. "Participate" means to contribute. Contribute cash. We'll be hit up to fund a huge, flashy party for an elite group -- in Ottawa!
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Focused lives, diffused lives (545)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | I've heard a radio skit in which Socrates is berated by his wife for not bringing in a decent living, for ignoring his family, for spending his time in the town agora "talking." Painters, writers, poets, the martial arts, every sport imaginable, they all require concentration for success, and although it doesn't guarantee success, hard work seems indispensable to it.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Daughter (610)
SHAWVILLE, QUEBEC | I'm older now and this morning my youngest daughter called from Honduras, on a line full of static and breaks. She is on the first stage of a great journey, she says, and adds that it is also one of many stages on the only journey there is.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

The Necessity of Art(1300 words)
I can't get the image out of my mind. A piece of ivory, function unknown, covered with finely detailed carving, that was part of an exhibit at the Museum of Civilization showing the daily life of the Copper Eskimos who populated the Bering Strait around 250 A.D.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

We are being so screwed, or 'With next year's first cup of coffee...' (500)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | Here's a sobering thought for all of Canada's wage earners to begin the new year with: by the time we each have our first coffee on the first working day of the new year, Canada's 100 top-earning CEOs will have already banked what it will take each of us a full year to earn.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

How can small political parties do better? (470)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | The edges as sources of new things applies to biology and history, to cosmology as well as to mathematics. No surprise it applies to politics. But it doesn't mean that every off-centre party has new and positive ideas. Some have rotten ideas, like the neo-Nazis in Europe.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

A national mother's salary (470)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | Isn't this the time to introduce a national salary for mothers? Mothers are creating our next generation. Our kids deserve help. How better to get help to kids than through mothers? As income, it would be taxed back from wealthier families, and as income on the family level it will stimulate spending on the basics: food, shelter, clothing.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

You disagree with us, eh? (470)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | If you, dear reader, don't disagree with us at least once in a while, we aren't doing a good job. News is news, you might say, but is "news" that simple?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

On societal punishment (520)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | Most Canadians believe people can change, and that if they show serious efforts toward rehabilitation and if this shows results, these reformed criminals should be given a second chance. Leaving someone to spend his life in a cell -- is that any better than the death penalty? -- may seem simple, easy, cheap, and safe. But our justice system is based on principles other than simplicity, ease, and expense.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Dion hurt the Liberals & Harper hurt Canada (530 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | While the Bloc is blowing its horn for having denied the Conservatives a majority, and most commentators agree, there is another side to this coin. The Bloc may claim it harmed the Conservatives, but the Conservatives crucially helped the Bloc.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Who wants a president, eh, Canada? (540 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | Mr. Harper appeared to be the only one running for the Conservatives. No matter where the campaign bus stopped, it was always Stephen Harper who got off and made the speech. At every interview, it was Mr. Harper doing the talking. We heard he had a team, but...
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

This confusing economy thing (420 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | I am just as confused about the present financial crisis as everyone else, but there are a few things that strike me as particularly incomprehensible. First, we are not certain that the slippery slope we are on will in fact carry us down to the depths of another Great Depression. In fact, we are warned of this by the same gang who assured us Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, that Europe was on its last legs, and that the market place will solve all problems.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Traffic circles are not election issues, this time (500 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | Stoplights are a significant cause of stop-and-start automotive pollution. They cut traffic into chunks, which move down the avenues as blocks, rather than promoting a steady stream of traffic. Why go backwards to this simplistic technology? Because it's simplistic. Nobody gives a set of lights a second thought (bad idea), but a traffic circle does require alertness to other cars and pedestrians. We embrace telephones that download e-mail, but we can't figure out how to drive a traffic circle?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

A cloud of smoke(480 words)
I'm convinced that advertising, especially on television (because the images are so realistic and the medium so invasive), has been a major factor in the current financial crisis. TV has become an addiction for the middle class. It's where they've come to feel "entitled" to the home much larger than they can afford, the cars that scale mountain-tops and go "zoom zoom," the fashions they see on soap operas and awards shows, and the huge engagement rings flaunted by stars on entertainment shows.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Censorship and/or Manipulation (500 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | A lot of censorship is brazen -- a freedom of information request comes back, whole pages blackened, without apology. But manipulation would be totally ineffective if it is too brazen, as when a US politician says different things to businessmen and evangelicals trying to get their votes. Canada has its censorships and has world records in some types of manipulation. Forget China and Somalia, they're crude. We're in contention for gold in media manipulation.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Criminal leaders, rich leaders, cautious leaders (500 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | There's news of an international movement to have George Bush's inner circle arrested as war criminals if they venture outside the USA, similar to what happened to the Chilean dictator, General Pinochet. The Americans include VP Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and others. Wouldn't that have interesting effects on future war-making?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Canada's Old Boys Club holds a "debate?" (500 words)
It took two days for the Canadian election campaign to turn, take on water, roll over, and sink to the bottom. The refusal of two party "leaders" to allow the Green Party to participate in the televised debate deserves to be called anti-democratic. And how about petulant, arrogant, unfair, and stupid? They all work.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

What makes a great teacher?(800 words)
Why do you think China has risen so dramatically in economic clout? That country may have awful living and working conditions, but their educational standards are extremely high, and the population understands that a solid education is the key to improving their lives. So how about Canada?
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Canada election campaign underway (550 words)
The ship of state is not a high-powered speedboat. It rarely lurches from one direction to its opposite; it's more like an oil tanker changing course inch by inch, starting its turn miles before its new destination. Who controls the helm is important, but looking only at the captain does not guarantee reaching a destination. An Obama is not going to radically change America's trajectory (any more than Kennedy was able to do, despite the world's expectations). A Harper majority will not mean we become the newest ten American states.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Time (540 words)
Last week I was introduced to a bird, a cockatiel, who is 72 years old. He was quite spry. He had all his feathers. I considered that a 72-year-old cockatiel has time to burn, as must those turtles who live to reach biblical ages; but length of life is a small part of the whole equation. What we do with our time is what counts.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Canada isn't winning? Stop bitching (525 words)
Allow me my two cents on the Beijing Olympics. These Games have probably created the largest group of armchair quarterbacks since the term was coined.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Home builders are missing something (490 words)
More homes and more people do not mean, for the general public, better services or other advantages. More people means more traffic, more congestion all over, more kids for classroom space, more people seeking doctors and dentists, and so on. The fact that more houses bring big-box stores is hardly attractive.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Municipal political parties: the way to go? (510 words)
Before we rush into accepting political parties as a possible solution for our dissatisfaction with municipal government, we ought to look more carefully at both the results of political parties elsewhere and also look at the problem itself: inadequate funding from the higher governments combined with a tight restriction on what city governments can do to expand their revenue base.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Canada's Postal Service(640 words)
It costs me 93 cents to send a letter to my sister in the US, but only 79 cents for her to reply. Furthermore, the US still has a lower rate for postcards, as well as Saturday delivery in most urban areas. US Post Offices are still open to the public, so you can have a parcel weighed by someone who actually knows what they're doing, unlike here, where minimally-trained clerks in drug stores usually only know how to handle standard-sized packages.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

An inferiority complex? Who? Us? (550 words)
We discovered this summer that Truro, Nova Scotia, has a 1000-acre forest right in the middle of the city...Are Nova Scotians a bunch of spendthrifts? Can't they recognize the value of a dollar? Don't they realize that streets have to be repaired, buses provided, water purified?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Whither modern medicine in the days of Peak Oil? (1200 words)
I think that medicine is going to have to abandon its fixation with the latest and the best and move from the constant search for the newest cutting edge technology and instead start to think about rehabilitating viable trailing edge technologies that have been shown to deliver good enough results at lower levels of waste and energy consumption.
Former Canadian James Barson MD writes from Australia.

This story has a story of its own(640 words)
I was standing in the aisle of the moving vehicle, holding on with one hand, the other clutching my purchases. There was no way I could write down the ideas that came tumbling, unbidden, into my head. As I came in the back door, my mother was startled to see me drop my coat and my parcels, race up the stairs to my bedroom, shouting, "I have to write something down."
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Death by police shooting (550 words)
The death of anyone by shooting is shocking. When the person with the gun is a police officer, our shock is magnified, and when the person shot turns out to have been unarmed, blinded by pepper spray, and was shot three times at close range, our shock turns to mortification.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Thinking Of Summer(525 words)
I just read that only seven percent of Canadians own a vacation property of any type. Meanwhile, the Ottawa Citizen's annual section describing summer camps for kids contains a huge assortment of day camps and more than a dozen overnight ones, offering experiences ranging from zoo-keeper, science, circus, radio, and leadership, to international languages, art, dance, theatre, and every sport a kid could want, from golf to soccer.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Which Canada to celebrate? (550 words)
What history of Canada will we follow? The history of the First Nations peoples? The history of the starving Irish and Scots, or the history of the railroad and oil barons? The history of Lords and Governors General or the history of the families who gave up sons and daughters to faraway wars, to the coal mines, or to shipping disasters on the Great Lakes?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

In Vermont: Nudity should not generate a big fuss, but it has (360 words)

Bethany Dunbar writes for the Barton Chroniclein Vermont.

Real costs, real life (550 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | Last week, CBC radio in Ottawa reported that Canadians are spending 18 percent more for their daily purchases than are Americans. There's a positive note here because in the last quarter of last year, we spent 24 percent more than did Americans.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Let the consulations roll(500 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | There's no more beautiful place for a downtown. What urban planning law says a city's core has to be entirely cement and asphalt? Hull's core has the disadvantage of containing huge, indigestible lumps of government buildings which are empty every evening and weekend, except for the Maison du Citoyen. Big government buildings are a black hole for revitalization.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

This little steam train is our business(550 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | The "p'tit train" to Wakefield, Quebec -- the steam train running from Gatineau through Chelsea to Wakefield -- appears to be on the road to disappearing. If it is sold, as the owner says he intends to do, and if it is moved, as two potential buyers say they intend to do, its loss will hurt us all.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

It's time for the Stupidity Tax (730 words)
"Ford Stumble Signals Rising Risks" warned a recent headline in the Wall Street Journal. Then in the second line of the "stacked" headline the Businessman's Bible still favors: "Pickup, SUV Sales Take Surprisingly Steep Fall." Now who, we wonder, could possibly be surprised? Nobody around here has talked about anything but the price of gas for months. Hillary and old John have made it a major part of the presidential debate.
Chris Braithwaite publishes the Barton Chroniclein Vermont.

Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs quits. So? There's much more going on, eh?(600 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | We've heard a lot of alarmism about the bill that will open the door to censorship of movies, but that is only one of almost a dozen Conservative measures that will fundamentally alter our federal-provincial system and our social framework.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

The PQ's so-called "national conversation"(600 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | Every minority out of power in the world dreams of independence in some form or another. Thus, riding her wave of by-election victories, and getting a kick at Mario Dumont while he's down, Pauline Marois, head of the PQ, has announced she intends to bring all Quebec independence forces together for a "national conversation" with the goal of creating some sort of United Front. It would be led, of course, by the PQ, "comme formation politique majeure," in Ms. Marois' lovely words.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

In Canada, gas prices aren't all bad news, eh?(508 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | With sky-rocketing gasoline prices here in Canada, everyone is predicting the worst: $2 a litre this summer, and so on. We all want to know why, and the explanations include the war in Iraq, disturbances in Nigeria, a strike here, a storm there, and, the big reason, the oil-hungry economies of China, India, and Brazil.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

How did this happen -- again?(510 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | For example, the condemnation of six big homes in Gatineau sector because they were built on an unstable clay base. The question isn't why were they built there, but why was the builder given permission to cut down the trees and build there? Who issued the building permits, and why?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Blankety-blank citizens(510 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | Decisions made in secrecy or "at a professional level" are the most open for manipulation and corruption. Most scandals in other levels of government are the result of secrecy that blew up, as it usually does. Secrecy can't succeed -- there are too many people in government, in residents' associations, and in the media. And the media still means a local newspaper.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Privacy vs Security in the 21st Century(505 words)
I was pressured into joining Facebook last fall. I was careful to post minimal information, no photo, and no comments. Still, I'm sorry I did this.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Fluoride in our water(710 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | At the last Gatineau city council meeting several citizens, including representatives from the Lakeview Terrace Residents' Association, raised the question of the city putting fluoride in our drinking water. Council is considering a city-wide fluoridation program for all municipal water.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Climate refugees and water hostages(505 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | As Europe finds itself struggling with a continual flood of migrants, the EU has released a study that predicts an entirely new form of refugee: climate migrants. These are people forced from their homes due to climate change. Where we might once have imagined "climate refugees" as the bleached Canadians on the southern beaches, that image has been pulled inside out.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Just a big, loud, intrusive, obnoxious, unconstitutional taxi (670 words)
Beyond the cloying clichés, there are some realities that really do make Vermont a better place to live. One of them is our state Supreme Court which, through close reading of the Vermont Constitution, seems determined to preserve civil liberties that the US Supreme Court seems no less determined to deny us.
Chris Braithwaite publishes the Barton Chronicle in Vermont.

Bad news at the Mall's back doors(500 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | It only takes a PD day and a sunny afternoon to bring the kids out to Aylmer's main mall. There are always a few hanging around the back doors, and I had assumed they were waiting for the cinema to open. It's just been pointed out to me that there's more going on there than that.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

A small town newspaper publisher speaks out(570 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | Why isn't it bigger? Why doesn't it have more from my area? These are the two most common questions we hear about the West Quebec Post. We also hear complaints that the Post doesn't arrive on time, or that it regularly ignores some events.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Better get serious about water(545 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | March 22 marked World Water Day. Given this winter's levels of snow, moisture hardly seems a problem. And given Canada's lakes and rivers, water may seem the least of our troubles. That conclusion is very shortsighted.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Imagine this snow in Vancouver(545 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | This has been a beautiful winter, far from the usual freeze and thaw cycle which leaves us with brown fields in many winters; the fresh snow has kept the street-sides sparking like mountains, not like piles of dirty laundry, which is usually the case at this time of year.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

The best of times or the worst of times?(500 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | No matter which way we turn these days we hear complaints and laments. The environment is crashing, ice shelves melting, ocean currents dying, and the economy is on the edge of a major collapse; we're told all political leaders are crass and self-serving, that our youth are criminals, our lives move too fast and are too short, our work's never over -- and, besides, the whole world will end in 2012, according to the Mayan calendar.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

France has conservatives, Canada has neo-cons (510 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | Our country is not the only nation with a self-proclaimed "new" government. France also elected a conservative leader, who labeled himself "new" although his program also stretched back to ideas popular before the last century.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Whose ÔRights' are Right?(530 words)
If you're like most TV viewers, you were annoyed to miss many of your favorite programs during the prolonged strike of 10,500 US writers in the film and TV industry. The issue was a simple one. The writers wanted "a share of the burgeoning digital-media market, including compensation for Internet-delivered TV shows and movies."
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

A world without borders? (510 words)
Canadian guitarist Jesse Cook dedicated his latest CD to his new son with the wish that as he grows up he will face a world without borders, or something to that effect. A world without borders? It's easy to dismiss the idea, given our world of nationalisms and fanaticisms of all stripes, but the question that bothers me is: Do we really want a world without borders?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

A senior's lament (715 words)
The biggest shock I get, and it's shocking every time, is to hear seniors say they don't keep up with the news, they don't read a paper or listen to radio news. In other words, they're saying, "I don't want to know what's going on around me."
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

For one million dollars an hour (760 words)
They say the three-day Montebello summit last summer with Harper, Bush, and Caldéron will reach $30 million in policing costs alone. That's ten million per day, or about a million dollars an hour. For security. How did they spend a million dollars in an hour? That's more than almost any of us will have to show for ourselves at the end of our entire careers.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Municipal Nightmares (545 words)
We're living the home owners' nightmare: our property taxes are too low to fund the work needed by the municipality, but our municipal councilors keep adding new projects, which cost even more money. There can be only one result: we pay more. We pay more taxes, as they inch upward, and the extra costs are added to our town's debt, which has to be paid off sooner or later.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Wellness Ð it can open doors (570 words)
"Wellness" is a disturbing word. Where did it come from? And why is it often used in the weirdest of senses, say in "Welcome to Wellville," or as the basis of extravagant claims, as in the ads in health magazines?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Charity begins right here at home(520 words)
Are there no families there who need this kind of assistance? Hardly! Entraide often has as many as twenty families across the entire region whose needs are urgent. Some have been displaced due to a fire or other natural disaster, are new immigrants who have few household possessions, or are temporarily homeless because of a family break-up or other problem.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

More public transportation? Yessiree! (600 words)
The developing world has developed buses that put our to shame in comfort, as well as safety and speed, at cheaper rates -- and they make money. All to say, we should use what we can from systems that work, since ours doesn't. Like feeder systems. With jitneys.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

So, Santa, you got some practical but boring stuff this year? (530 words)
I was mildly dissed recently at a family get-together for the practicality of my gifts. Last Christmas I gave every household in our blended family a flashlight, those new rechargeable one million candlepower dynamos. They're not bulky, are easily rechargeable, and give a tremendous light. They could also cause blindness.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Inter-generational climate abuse? (700 words)
AYLMER, QUEBEC | Last weekend's day of protest over our "new" government's very old tactics of denial, blaming others, and its invocation of various forms of economic self-righteousness, saw many Alymer residents at the demonstration in Ottawa. The protest was to send a message to John Baird, Canada's Anti-Environment Minister, as he departs for the Bali Conference on climate change. Given what is at stake for all of us, and given our government's made-somewhere-else position, more of us should have been at that demonstration.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Pets and Holidays(500 words)
I like to promote pet adoption at all times of the year except one. The holidays are not the time to bring a new pet into your household. TV commercials of the child discovering a puppy under the Christmas tree make me cringe. There is enough confusion and extra activity around the holidays without introducing a new pet.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

That little stone schoolhouse (530 words)
PORTAGE DU FORT, QC | Gloomy news -- business closures, loss of jobs, decline in forest resources, low farm-product prices, school drop-outs, illiteracy and uni-linguality, population out-flows, drop in tourism -- chronicles the march to the bottom here in Quebec's Pontiac region. Amid all this pessimism, signs of life are important.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Hockey, a cell phone tower, and no respect (550 words)
Two recent events in West Quebec are worth noting: one, Industry Canada's near-unilateral decision to approve a cell phone tower in Chelsea, against the neighbourhood's wishes, and, two, Shawville's hockey association insisting a Luskville lad must play his hockey with them, not with his buddies, or not play hockey at all.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Canadians a trillion in debt (500 words)
The daily newspapers recently reported that personal debt in Canada has passed the trillion dollar mark for the first time. A trillion divided by our population is not an alarming amount, but it is not the whole population, not every child and senior, who owes this debt. The number becomes alarming when we realize how few owe all this money. A lot of Canadians owe much more than they own.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

The Mukasey Confirmation (400 words)
. A man who can't bring himself to declare that an ancient, notorious, and particularly obnoxious form of torture is against the law is about to take over our Department of Justice.
Chris Braithwaite publishes the Barton Chronicle in Vermont.

Back to school: Part Two(600 words)
I was shocked to discover how many of these wealthy kids described their families as dysfunctional and often alcoholic, and how many felt, as one wrote, "like a fish in a tree" during their high school years. Yet most of them survived and became contributing members of society. Their tales revealed both triumph and tragedy.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

On War Movies (520 words)
Post-war dramas are top sellers in movies, TV, and books. It may seem to some that all these movies and books are promoting a militaristic attitude, under the guise of supporting our troops in Afghanistan. The opposite may be true.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

The Way of the Shock Jock (510 words)
Shock jocks may claim to be selling ideas, arguments, debate, and opinions, but they're really selling listeners to their advertisers. Listeners are product. The more listeners they can generate for their show, the happier their advertisers -- this is advertising. One way to get listeners -- and to get them to identify themselves as such -- is by rolling them back and forth on emotional rides. Emotional highs are pure adrenalin; they're wild and exciting.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Back to school: Part One(600 words)
The first thing I learned about education is that the best teaching happens when teachers are enthusiastic about the material. That can't happen if English teachers are forced to teach classics they hated when they were student ("Silas Marner" comes to mind.), or when Phys. Ed. teachers are assigned to teach English.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Mirroring back who we are, what we want in West Quebec (590 words)
We're hardest on those closest. What we say to family members, or even lovers, we'd never say to a fellow worker; we get worked up over a neighbour and his barking dog more than we ever do about the ravages underway in Darfur. We're hyper critical of things American, but never blink an eye over French and British political venialities.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power - All Fall Down? (400 words)
A nuclear plant isn't like an old pickup we can nurse over the back roads until the floorboards rust out or a wheel falls off. It's more like an airplane - with no safe compromise between being in prime working order and unfit to fly. Even a "minor," nonfatal nuclear mishap could have enormous economic consequences for the "Green Mountain State," the place with no billboards and clean air and placid cows turning out organic milk that we process into gourmet cheeses. How would "America's Chernobyl" look on a license plate?
Chris Braithwaite publishes the Barton Chronicle in Vermont.

Rail-line dreamers (500 words)
Ottawa's recent "Transportation Summit" called by the city's new mayor was the stuff of dreams, and only dreams, unfortunately.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

"No comment" (515 words)
Stephen Harper's decision to kill the current parliament and keep MPs out for an additional month, after an entire summer off, should be unacceptable to his employers, the folks who pay his and the MPs' salaries.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

An East-West SPP (515 words)
The dust hasn't settled on the SPP meeting in nearby Montebello, QC, but the world according to Bush-Harper-Calderon is bending over backwards to assure us that the SPP agreements mean nothing to our daily lives, and that the protesters were exaggerating the threat of the secret deliberations. If we believe all this, maybe we should check out the sale on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

A Greater US of A? (515 words)
Why all the secrecy, including official near-silence surrounding next week's meeting down the highway from us?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Missed communications (520 words)
Have you received your cheque for $9000? It looks pretty authentic, until you scrutinize it more carefully. Below the bogus cheque is "a very important communication for Barbara Graham" which repeats my name no less than ten times. On the back is an order form for a bunch of products.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

It ought to be a crime (480 words)
Urban life was reported to be safer from crime than small-town living, calculated as a crime-per-person. Toronto and Montreal are two of the safest cities in the world; in fact, several western cities are more dangerous than Hog Town: Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, and Edmonton, for example.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Coming to Canada (500 words)
I arrived in Canada forty years ago this month. Unlike so many Americans who arrived in the 60s as draft-dodgers, my immigration had nothing to do with the Vietnam War.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Why risk innocent lives? (340 words)
Every once in a while we come upon an account of a high-speed police chase that makes us wonder. This is one of those weeks.
Chris Braithwaite publishes the Barton Chronicle in Vermont.

Don't worry so much, be happy (600 words)
Here's something for your summer vacation. It doesn't take long, but appearing frivolous, it's a holiday matter. It's happiness. Certainly a holiday matter.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

It weren't me, babe (500 words)
Bluesfest was remarkable in the stars it attracted last week- Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, and Manu Chao, but even more remarkable is the rumour that Bob Dylan was sighted in Aylmer the day of his Ottawa show.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Meditating on Canada Day (560 words)
As we approach Canada Day it seems appropriate to do more than wave the flag and assure ourselves that our country is the best in the world. Canada is the best, but it shows a certain respect to our being Canadians to ask ourselves what being Canadian means or implies.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

On toddlers and hockey stars (525 words)
Every day of the working week I see women with groups of children out on the sidewalks or in local parks, most of them small, private daycare services in action. As sweet as the toddlers are, walking along holding hands or riding in home-made multiple-seat carriages, it is the women taking care of them that catch my attention.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

All the news that's fit to weep about (550 words)
Have we become a nation of blubberers? Are we unable to separate private grief from public accountability? Has news become blended into entertainment?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

If you're thinking about adopting a pet (570 words)
When you consider adopting a pet, look carefully at the front paws, as they often offer a clue as to how large the animal will be when he's fully grown. You should also look carefully to see that the pet's eyes are clear, their ears and bottom are clean, and there are no broken teeth or problems in the mouth.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

No idle matter, eh? (575 words)
Most drivers add about $75 a year to their fuel bill just for the pleasure of idling. Long-term costs for engine maintenance and repair increases the bill.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

On closing Pageant Park in Barton, Vermont (400 words)
This is more than a shame. It strikes us, in its own small way, as an outrage. If Barton is to stem its slow decline into commercial oblivion, it can hardly shrug off the loss of a park as beautiful as Pageant, on a lake as beautiful as Crystal.
Chris Braithwaite publishes the Barton Chronicle in Vermont.

Excess fat - it's everyone's business (500 words)
In the end, obesity is a social problem and one our community should take more seriously than it does. True, there is no magic bullet, no magic diet, no pill to solve this problem. But the solution is not complex either...
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

You bet your booty that I'm entitled. Now. (510 words)
Entitlement, let's be clear, means not that anyone's a crook, but that they believe they have every right to do what they're doing. In the Land of Entitlement no one is a crook, complainer, or lazy bum; everyone's entitled to their foible.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Quebec's Secessionist Musical Chairs (540 words)
The PQ has brought in the 'B' Team. Pauline Marois has been rejected twice by the party militants because, presumably, she didn't have the stuff to be party chief and lead the troops to the promised land. Suddenly she does.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

The warm butter of a lingering kiss (515 words)
Vimy may mark Canada's "coming of age", but that cliché may also obscure a much-too-expensive loss of life for what was gained. Was a single hilltop worth the deaths of so many?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Sorry, I won't be back (460 words)
The last time I attempted to buy something at your cosmetics counter, I waited several minutes for the girl at the cash to finish her personal phone conversation. I won't be back.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Rethinking your local Idol contest (500 words)
There is an strong current of sexuality in Idol competitions - performers who strike a pose or wiggle their hips make points with the audience. Aren't eleven year-olds a little young for this?
Julie Murray writes for the Aylmer Bulletin and The West Quebec Post.

WWI, Vimy, and beyond (515 words)
Vimy may mark Canada's "coming of age", but that cliché may also obscure a much-too-expensive loss of life for what was gained. Was a single hilltop worth the deaths of so many?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Is it a Muslim thing, or what? (555 words)
With a young Canadian soccer player pulled from a game for wearing a hijab, and, during the election, having the Keeper of the Election Rule-Book deciding that women wearing a hijab must remove their veil to be identified before voting, the question of religious clothing and paraphernalia is still stuck in our collective craw. Or is it the fact that the gear is Muslim that bothers us so?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Fat kids sit more, die first (535 words)
For the first time in history - so says a report just issued by the Permanent Committee on Health of the Canadian Parliament -- children are expected to have a shorter life span than their parents. Take a moment to let that sink in.
Julie Murray writes for the Aylmer Bulletin and The West Quebec Post.

Who in the world is fighting carbon taxes? (500 words)
The auto industry, besides its own evident stupidity, sees us all as morons. They are claiming that carbon-tax surcharges on gas-guzzlers harm only local auto makers.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Daylight Savings Time all year 'round (510 words)
More than a billion people in seventy countries observe some form of Daylight Savings Time. But it isn't just most of Saskatchewan and part of British columbia that remain stubbornly on standard time.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

A little plastic, a big problem (460 words)
Even with recycling, plastics are still about 20 percent of everything going in our landfills. We are not yet fanatics about recycling, but fanaticism is what it will take. Fanatics, for example, reject the plastic packaging which makes up much of our garbage-- that's positive fanaticism.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Opinion: Don't kill Vermont's Bull the Moose (350 words)
Bull is a pet raised by David Lawrence inside the confines of the Nelson farm - not in the same pen where canned hunts take place. He is completely friendly and charming. Abandoned at birth, he needs to be left alone to enjoy jelly doughnuts and Budweiser with his caretaker.
Bethany Dunbar reports for the Barton Chronicle in Vermont.

Whose junk is this? (500 words)
There are outlets which take empty ink cartridges and dead batteries as well as computer components, but what about the other items that shouldn't be littering our landfill?
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Cutting to the chase (1660)
"So, Doc," I said, "when do we want to do this? I'll have to let the office know that I will be off work for a couple of days."
Bob Gervais writes in London, Ontario.

How to make any election worth the effort (500 words)
Quebec Premier Jean Charest is to call a provincial election this week, and thus we begin the grand drama of a general election. This most important ceremony of our democracy will be played out with breast-beating by the contenders and with wildly optimistic predictions from the minor parties.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Quebec needs a Ministry of the Environment (550 words)
The environment may be a significant concern for Quebec voters -- poll after poll says so -- and it may be in the heart of every politician sitting in the National Assembly -- they tell us it is -- but if actions speak louder than words, governmental action on the environment is so silent it must be dead.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Are you prepared? (490 words)
Do all of our citizens know what to do in case of an emergency? Do you have an emergency kit in your house, along with water, food, and supplies to last at least three to six days?
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

No more alphabet soup (490 words)
If we're all so good at communicating, why is it still such a problem?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Blue Cheese on Toast (590)
Posted 01.16.07
Bob Gervais
It was not a true-blue Blue Cheese, if you know what I mean. Not Un fromage bleu with all the associated pedigree that causes one to speak with a French accent like Charles Boyer.
Bob Gervais writes in London, Ontario.

Has the CBC's time run out? (555 words)
I never expected to reach this conclusion, but after thirty-plus years of rarely missing at least one newscast a day, today I still listen, but wonder, when the taped weather update symbolically sums up the news with a report of conditions eight hours ago, why I bothered turning on the radio.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

The way I see it
Posted 01.09.07
Bob Gervais
"The way I see it" . . . Have you ever spoken that particular phrase? Do you know anyone who has? Well, I certainly have heard it said and I have no doubt uttered it.
Bob Gervais writes in London, Ontario.

Amateur Antics (529 words)
According to a recent report, YouTube hosts more than 100 million videos, with 65,000 new videos uploaded daily. These are completely uncensored and often record humiliating incidents without those being captured on video giving their consent.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Hey, Quebecker…think you own your piece of land? (520 words)
Private ownership of property may be a bedrock concept of our society, but it sure doesn't stand in the way of what governments and big corporations see as their best interests. Changes to Quebec's mining act has virtually tossed private ownership out the window; such changes have been made across Canada.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

A clear choice for Vermont Verizon (310 words)
Most of the world now communicates by cell phone, and large chunks of the Northeast Kingdom are decidedly backward, for better or worse, because the damn things don't work here.
Chris Braithwaite publishes the Barton Chronicle in Vermont.

Quebec, America, and Lucien Bouchard (520 words)
Former Premiere Lucien Bouchard of Quebec was either quoted out of context or he suffered a lapse of lucidity when he said, or is reported to have said, that Quebecers don't work hard enough to meet the demands of the globalized marketplace.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

The Doctor is (Not) in (535 words)
Posted 11.06.06
BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM
I laughed that if I went to the clinic feeling great, after sitting that long in a straight chair in a waiting room full of coughing patients, I'd be able to tell him that I thought I had the flu, and complain about my bad back!
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Pesticide! A curse whose time has come (515 words)
I'm going to wade into water well over my head, and, as a typically dense anglo, make some suggestions for change to the French language.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Pay and pay again scams (500 words)
Posted 10.18.06
BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM
I no longer use my VISA for most bills, so when I saw a charge from Chatelaine to renew my subscription, I was suspicious.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Follow the money (500 words)
The cardinal rule of investigative journalism - follow the money - is a powerful tool to figure out what's happening to our neighbourhoods and region. It leads to explanations where there were none before for bulldozing of a green space or even the high school drop-out rate.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Pay and pay again scams (500 words)
Posted 10.18.06
BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM
I no longer use my VISA for most bills, so when I saw a charge from Chatelaine to renew my subscription, I was suspicious.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Goodbye Jim, and thanks (790 words)
I made the acquaintance of Jim Jeffords in 1974, when he was between jobs. That is to say that Jim Jeffords the politician had lost an election and been forced to resort to the career he had trained for at Harvard Law School.
Chris Braithwaite publishes the Barton Chronicle in Vermont.

(500 words)
Posted 09.26.06
WAYNE LARSEN
MONTREAL, QC | I was one of the luckier Dawson parents. My son was in the cafeteria when the shooting began and he managed to get out right away. He called me with the news as he hurried over to the Examiner office, where he spent much of the afternoon helping with the coverage-monitoring Internet and radio reports while trying to track down friends who had also been there.

Less Stuff (585 words)
Most of all, we have to start living as though we really live here on the earth and aren't just passing through. We have to live here in a way that reflects how much we love where we live. Who is unaffected by a sunset? Or the green burst of spring? This planet is our home, all that we've got, our start and our finish.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Chance encounter: Lighting up with a witness to murder/suicide (800 words)
Posted 09.18.06
RUSSELL COOPER
MONTREAL, QC | I stood on the corner of de Maisonneuve and Atwater moments after the shootings at Dawson College and watched horrified people stream out of the school.
Russell Cooper, 29, was born in Sudbury, Ontario. He says he's a 'recovering musician and treeplanter'. "I'm now studying journalism," he adds, "but will probably one day be a recovering journalist, planting trees in a jazz bar."

Simon Teakettle: 1987 - 2006 (520 words)
Posted 08.29.06
BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM
Simon gave me plenty of warning, declining dramatically in the past few months, preparing me to lose him. And to the end I respected what I knew were his wishes, to die at home, not at the office of the vet he hated.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

A matter of Degree (535 words)
Posted 08.23.06
BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of my graduation from Columbia University. Most university graduates are proud of their accomplishment, and many list their degrees after their names. I'm proud of my B.A., and my diploma hangs in a frame on my office wall. But there's a myth about higher education that I'd like to dispel. Let me start with a story...
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Nothing to sneeze at (520 words)
Posted 07.03.06
BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM
Just try to buy unscented products in the stores. A search through an entire row of deodorants and anti-perspirants reveals a stunning variety of scents, but few, if any unscented ones.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Stompin on the CBC (560 words)
Posted 07.03.06
BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM
CBC TV irritates viewers by failing to promote quality shows well enough in advance for us to plan to watch. What's even more odd (and irritating) is that programs are promoted heavily as frequent commercial messages within other CBC programs.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Good PR, it's everyone's business (480 words)
Posted 05.16.06
BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM
We've all encountered rude store clerks from time to time, as well as receptionists whose manner, on the phone or in person, appears to indicate that your inquiry is an unwanted interruption in their busy schedule. What do they consider more important than treating callers with respect?
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

On Seniors and public transportation (530 words)
Posted 05.07.06
BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM
Everybody loves spring, but seniors from Eastern Canada appreciate it this year more than ever. While others remark on how this year's milder winter was a pleasant change, the winter months were a nightmare for older people.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Gasoline prices, Big Oil, and conservation (840 words)
I see the Chairman of Exxon/Mobil pulling down nearly a billion dollars in compensation last year and all oil companies enjoying record astronomical profits, and something just doesn't compute.
Don Mayer is the Main Man at Small Dog Electronics in Waitsfield, Vermont.

Opinion: Another bad idea from you-know-who (380 words)
The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is just another example of the current U.S. administration trying to scare the people into giving up their independence and rights.
Bethany Dunbar reports for the Barton Chronicle in Vermont.

Byte me
Posted 04.11.06
Bob Gervais
In the "Computer Room" the temperature was kept at a constant 70 degrees Fahrenheit and a humidity of 35 percent. An impressive array of equipment sensed, sucked, belched, and blew to maintain the artificial environment necessary for the creature comfort of the computer and its associated pieces and parts.
Bob Gervais writes in British Columbia and Ontario.

Do not add. Do not deceive
Posted 04.05.06
BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM
Sorry, folks, when it comes to real or made-up, there is no middle ground. Something is either true or it isn't.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Time to obfuscate, hesitate, and mumble (715 words)
Vermont has a record of preserving its mountains and ridge lines from development, and it's not clear why that stance should be thrown to the wind. As a society, we tend to be a little goofy on the subject of energy - a bit prone to fad and fashion.
Chris Braithwaite publishes the Barton Chronicle in Vermont.

Pardon my French
Posted 03.06.06
BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM
I have a confession to make. Although I've lived in Quebec for thirty-eight years, I still can't hold a conversation in French.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Taming The Wild Snollygosters (575 words)
I may not be the smartest goat in the barn but it seems to me that politicians are a lot like teenagers. If not properly supervised, they start running with the wrong crowd, they get into trouble.
Paul Graybeard Paine, a retired homebuilder, writes from Claremore, Oklahoma. His website is at http://pdpaine.us.

The fear factor (675 words)
The enormous significance that has been placed on our effort to identify, find and kill a handful of murderers; the very decision - slavishly copied by so much of our media - to call this effort a "war" has only increased their power over us.
Chris Braithwaite publishes the Barton Chronicle in Vermont.

Prostituting the press (680 words)
If we are prepared to violate the best traditions of our own democracy to win the war in Iraq, then what is the point of our being there?
Chris Braithwaite publishes the Barton Chronicle in Vermont.

Gambling fever, big government bucks
Posted 01.25.06
BARBARA FLORIO GRAHAM
Quebec's $1.5 billion in annual revenue (figures for 2003-2004), are a part of the $23 billion earned by government-run gambling across the country, which includes 60 permanent casinos as well as gambling machines and lottery ticket centres.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

And to all, a very Merry Christmas (980 words)
What a year it's been. It began with an almost-surprise 70th birthday party on December 23rd, in that I knew I was being taken out to dinner but didn't know who had been invited.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Fuel for thought (520 words)
As we head into winter, everyone is concerned about the rising cost of fuel. Whether to heat our homes, run our businesses, or power our vehicles, fossil fuels are vital to our existence. Higher fuel costs also inflate the price of everything we buy.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Two new Canadians: From atrocities to honours (500 words)
...it was October, they had no winter clothes, nowhere to live, knew nobody in Ottawa. For six weeks, including during the birth of her daughter, Gulshan didn't know if her parents and younger sisters had survived the purge.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

This spam's not in the can (600 words)
Somebody, somewhere, has decided that I need to refurbish, renew, and recreate my old, shopworn carcass. I really can be a handsome, sexy, rich man about town, or so they tell me. It's the sexy part that's most bothersome.
Paul Graybeard Paine, a retired homebuilder, writes from Claremore, Oklahoma. His website is at http://pdpaine.us.

Judging the judges (530 words)
In the end, it is judges who judge, who pass sentence, who decide upon appeals. We are all at their mercy. If they release someone, like repeat offenders who sometimes end up killing policemen or innocent civilians, or choose to keep someone like Robert Latimer in jail, we have little recourse.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Back to the (Internet) Dating Game (540 words)
I didn't want to spoil her pleasure by pointing out that a rose, a few compliments, a nice dinner (probably chalked up as a business expense), or a long-distance phone call were really inexpensive ways to get free sex.
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Temptations abound (450 words)
We're all getting fatter, despite our best efforts. Could it be sabotage?
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings.
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

America, for shame, for shame (380)
Do not prattle to me any more about being the Land of the free and the home of the brave. Do not try to con me with your drivel about being one nation under God. Do not snarl your disbelief that torture is a tool in your government's bag of tricks, and to expose it is treason.
John Mahoney edits the LCC.

Bigger doesn't mean better (480 words)
No, bigger isn't better. Who decided that the customer would prefer towels, toys and lamps to groceries when they went to a store supposedly devoted to selling food?
Barbara Florio Graham is the author of Five Fast Steps to Better Writing, Five Fast Steps to Low-Cost Publicity, and Mewsings/Musings
www.SimonTeaKettle.com.

Musings on a warm day in Spring (750 words)
Conversation turns to great loves, missed opportunities, plans for the future, and what should have been. All as unconceived as the slowly melting pattern of prints in the frozen mud we left behind in the lane.
David Lapp is a musician and businessman based in Lennoxville, Quebec.

There's a time bomb in our back yard (250)
COVENTRY, VT | They've created a potentially toxic time bomb in the Lake Memphremagog watershed and now they want to almost double it's size. On Thursday, at 7 p.m. in theTown Hall here, they'll be looking for faith-based approval to truck in 2500 tons of waste a day.
John Mahoney edits the Log Cabin Chronicles.

'Tis the Season of Incredibly Bad Music (585 words)
One of the great innovations in seasonal festive music was the introduction of dogs singing. German shepherds. They didn't really sing; they barked in a sort of harmony.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Get rid of those plastic bags (550 words)
The problem is so profound that Bangladesh and Taiwan have prohibited their use altogether. Ireland has introduced a 15 cent tax on each bag, reducing their use by 95%.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Media concentration in Canada (600 words)
No one, apart from bankers and these corporations, sees much benefit in having our nation's sources of news controlled by a few large corporations. Even free-market evangelists stop short of approving a monopoly seizure of the media.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Chiropractic for animals: Does it work?
As a veterinarian, I find the term "side effects" has an ominous ring. We caution clients of the negative implications of drugs on liver and kidney function, appetite, thirst, urine production, attitude and alertness.
Dr. Alison Seely is a Veterninarian and a certified Animal Chiropractor. She practices in Ontario.

Bob Phillips, an exemplary Canadian (525 words)
Bob had battled cancer for two years, and seemed to be surviving until a heart attack turned the tables. He was 81 years old, and he lived a life as full and as rewarding as any of us would wish to have.

I don't want a pickle, I just want to ride my motorsickle (600 words)
Bruce Miller just wants to ride his motorcyle, especially in Quebec where he lives.

Trust us, we're from the government. We're here to help. Your papers please, Patriot. (800 words)
One of the guys finally levels with you: Someone in Caribou Coffee told them you were reading something "suspicious" and called the FBI.
Carol Henderson writes in North Carolina

A tribute to a good man, a good journalist (600 words)
Bob Phillips is a man of many parts: in the late '20s he was a copy boy at the Toronto Star, where his mastery of language made itself evident. This stood him in good stead later, as the author of six books and hundreds of magazine articles across more than half a century. He served with the Canadian Army in northwest Europe, and after the war he joined the then Department of External Affairs, and was promptly posted to Moscow, 1947-49. On one occasion, Bob met and shook the hand of Joseph Stalin. On his return - as was the order of the day - he went to the National Defense College.

So what's the big deal about the Tomifobia Valley bike trail? (800)
Until two Sundays ago, I had never been on the completed trail to any great extent, certainly not since its completion. Now officially opened between Beebe and Ayer's Cliff, I decided to set out with the family to see what the fuss was all about. We set out on our leisurely way under sunny skies.
Ross Murray is editor and publisher of Quebec's weekly Stanstead Journal.

It's about the money, stupid (570 words)
I am so sorry for all the smokers in this country. They are the supreme patsies of the western world. Imagine paying eight dollars for twenty cigarettes. It's insane.
Art Mantell writes for The Low down to Hull and back News, an English language weekly newspaper in West Quebec.

A wake-up call for the beef industry (400 words)
There is one easy way to stop all this nonsense – to allow Canadians, Americans and everyone else who eats our beef to feel confident and reassured that it would not make people sick: not this week, not next week, not in five years from now. Stop feeding animals to animals. Cows and pigs and sheep and chickens are grazers. They eat grass and hay and grain.
Karen Macdonald is editor of The Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph, the English language weekly newspaper of Quebec City.

Hire a student this summer (585 words)
High school students may not have the slightest clue as to what they want to do as a career. Working for the summer at the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake in Quebec could influence a student or two to get into politics, or do the complete opposite.
Greg Horn writes for The Eastern Door, the weekly newspaper of the Mohawk Nation.

The American ambassador to Canada is mistaken (600 words)
Recently, the ambassador of the United States in Canada expressed his disappointment over our country's refusal to back the Americans in their attack on Iraq. His well-crafted speech to a luncheon of businesspeople was designed to make us feel bad, very bad.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Is that duct tape, or duck tape? (500 words)
Are we the gunslinger of our own Western mythology, imposing our unique sense of justice on a frontier peopled with fools and cowards and villains? Or are we the key player in a new era of international cooperation, where we must agree on what justice means before we can impose it on others?
Chris Braithwaite publishes the Barton Chronicle in Vermont.

A season of disorder
Whatever we call it, the winter blues affect almost all of us. Lack of light, lack of exercise, too much holiday food, and too many holiday bills are reasons for our seasonal disaffection, as the doctors call it. Not to forget colds and flus, sore throats and runny noses, slippery and sloppy streets, sidewalks to shovel, and plain old stress, we all suffer to varying degrees, and we had best not ignore the affliction. Whether it's severe or mild, it's there.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

Get rid of truck lineups at border (350)
For years, trucks have lined for kilometres down the autoroute waiting to be cleared at U.S. Customs for entry into the United States. For starters, this clogs up a full lane on a provincial highway, which makes no sense.
Ross Murray is editor and publisher of Quebec's weekly Stanstead Journal.

One vet's perspective (850)
And now we have a president with too big a focus on oil and big business, and a willingness to strike pre-emptively -- going against generations of tradition in this country.
John Parsons was a First Lieutenant in Viet Nam. He was awarded a Bronze Star for meritorious service.

The era of the Patriot Tipster (450)
The Bush Administration is busily tapping into that repressive predisposition that has been part of the American psyche since the Puritans landed at Plymouth Rock.
John Mahoney edits the Log Cabin Chronicles.

Not a seat in the UN, but... (584 words)
The opening of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was a landmark occasion in international events. There is no other body quite like it in the entire UN at such a high level. It is the only one where Indigenous persons have equal status to other international experts.
Kenneth Deer edits The Eastern Door, the weekly newspaper of the Mohawk Nation

Neighboring towns being gouged
Everybody knows volunteer firefighters aren't entirely volunteers. They are paid for the time they spend fighting fires and responding to emergency situations. And rightfully so; it's tough, dangerous, often exhausting work that should be rewarded. Right, too, that the neighboring municipalities that use the services of these volunteers should pay their wages. But suddenly the Town of Stanstead is using these volunteers as pawns in what amounts to little more than price gouging.

Don't shoot the messenger
It is the job of the media to read between the 'the official lines', delivered by smooth-talking spin doctors and well-coached public officials. Even grassroots media are subjected to daily pressures from those who subtly massage the message and mislead the public. The approach may be as subtle as issuing gag orders preventing those in the know from revealing the bare facts before they have gone through the official blender. Or it could be through sanctioning whistle-blowers who alert the media to internal problems.
Sharon McCully is editor of the daily Record in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

The PQ and media concentration
While concern grows over the concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few corporations, the only government in Canada responsibile enough to grapple with the threat is our PQ government. The sole federal party to criticize this monopolization has been the NDP--but since the corporate media rarely cover the NDP, few know of this critique. From the Parti Quebecois view, "the rest of Canada" has taken a big valium.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

What's in a name? or Let's save Canada
A poll suggests that, in these nervous times, Quebeckers feel safer inside Canada than they would in an independent Quebec. But, though even the IRA understands that the world changed on September 11, we cannot count on the PQ to lay down their idea.

Canada deserves more freedom, not less
Whether the terrorists themselves manage to take away our rights or those rights are taken away, using the threat of terrorism as a pretext, we are nonetheless losing fundamental civil rights.
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

A problem with the media?
The defense used by the overweight media is that they print what people want to read, and their success proves this. Who can argue with success?
Fred Ryan is the publisher of Quebec's Aylmer Bulletin, The West Quebec Post, and the Pontiac Journal.

What price liberty? (475)
Curtailment of certain basic freedoms, it will be argued in cleverest of Newspeak, is necessary -- that is the price of freedom. Are you ready to produce upon demand to any 'authority' figure -- cop, rent-a-cop, bus driver -- your national identification card?

Riding the rails again (1600 words)
In May, I took the opportunity to ride the AMTRAK system from Rutland, Vermont, to South Bend, Indiana, on the occasion of my daughter's college graduation...the price was right and I had the time. I hadn't ridden a real train since I was a kid, an adventure. It was a long ride, although no worse than driving, and considerably more interesting and restful.
Michael J. Badamo, the Old Woodchuck, writes in Montpelier, Vermont.

Quebec's Wired Family Program
Our separatist Quebec government has just spent $170 million dollars to lure 200,000 families onto the Information Highway. I wonder if the Pequistes realize that in cyberspace, most of the traffic signs are in English. And wherever did they find the money?

Sticking it to us with free stick-on patches (422 words)
If smokers can afford $5 or so for a pack of smokes a day (and that's small potatoes for anyone needing a patch to quit), they can cough up the dough for their own goods to kick it.
Ross Murray edits and publishes Quebec's award-winning Stanstead Journal.

Objectivity and independence (1100 words)
Put yourself between two bitterly opposed groups of people and write a story. If both sides like it, that's ok. If neither side likes it, that's better. But if one side likes it and the other hates it, you've got something fundamentally wrong.
Chris Braithwaite publishes the Barton Chronicle in Vermont.

A case for public executions
Satisfy public blood lust, raise money, and everybody wins. Well, almost everybody.
John Mahoney, editor, Log Cabin Chronicles.

We have a dream, too (1400 words)
The Canadian government can learn from the U.S. civil-rights era when it comes to our treatment of First Nations
Matthew Coon Come is AFN National Chief in Canada. This opinion piece was first posted in the The Eastern Door, the weekly newspaper of the Mohawk Nation

To Nancy with Love, ENINEM (750)
Nancy Sheltra, R-Derby, is the lead sponsor on a bill that would "make it illegal to encourage, promote or sanction homosexual or bisexual conduct" in schools.
Jim Austin writes in southern Vermont.

Mohawks pass into another millennium (750 words)
They thought it would never happen. The colonizers that is. They thought that we would fade away, assimilate or just die out before the end of the last century. But we fooled them. We're still here, as feisty as ever.
Kenneth Deer edits The Eastern Door, the weekly newspaper of the Mohawk Nation

George Goodwin has a beef with Immigration Canada (450 words)
They charge too much, and make it too hard for wives to come to Canada.
George Goodwin

Quebec ID cards: a bad idea whose time has come (350 words)
First voluntary, then mandatory, then what?
John Mahoney, Editor, Log Cabin Chronicles.

'Net to crush newspapers (1300 words)
Then, who will watch the city council?
Joe Burns, Ph.D. is a university teacher and founder of HTML Goodies, a website.

Quebec budget includes family surfing subsidies (500 words)
The family that surfs together, stays together.
John Mahoney, Editor, Log Cabin Chronicles.

Big guy versus little guy
National food corporation tries to squash small Vermont maple producer.
John Mahoney, Editor, Log Cabin Chronicles.

Teaching English in Quebec
In the French school system, you really don't have to speak it to teach it, it seems.
John Mahoney, Editor, Log Cabin Chronicles.

Truly, 1 in a million (400 words)
This chiropractor maintains that chiropractic is safer than any medical alternativer, including over the counter pain killers.
Dr. Keith Mahoney practices in Kanata, Ontario.

Bilingual Quebecers have the edge and they want to keep it
Forget the sign law bickering, work on creating a bilingual province.
Robert Desautels writes from Hatley, Quebec.

Is digital photography the new expressive visual art?
A veteran photographer makes his case.
Rick Doble makes pictures and writes in North Carolina.

Journalism II
How not to make friends, influence people, get rich, or win ~ be a journalist.
John Mahoney, Editor, Log Cabin Chronicles.

Can a free press survive in the U.S.?
An inquiry into the question that, given the conflicting interests of the people, business interests, politicians, government agencies and the courts, is it possible to strike a socially acceptable balance and still have a fair and vigorous free press whose right to function is fully protected by the First Amendment?
John Mahoney, Editor, Log Cabin Chronicles.

Low water, deep time (1460 words)
Deep musings while looking over the waters of Lake Champlain.
Michael J. Badamo, the Old Woodchuck, writes in Montpelier, Vermont.

Why John Kennedy died (1200 words)
Letter from a pilot to his teenaged son who thinks he wants to fly.
Christopher Goodfellow is editor of the Laurentian Web.

Quebec's in trouble (800 words)
Get your priorities straight, then do the right thing.
Christopher Goodfellow is editor of the Laurentian Web.

Too Much Secrecy (450 words)
Trend to "work sessions" in local government violates the public's trust.

John Mahoney, Editor, Log Cabin Chronicles.

KEEPERS

A Child's Primer On Kosovo. (600 words)
A veteran journalist has a fabulous go at the Balkans conflict.
Charles Paparella edits The Shore Journal in Maryland.

Milosevic is the new Hitler. (600 words)
A report from the Balkans.
Drazen Polic lives in Croatia.

Death, Mud, Shit & Tears (1000 words)
Eyewitness report from Albania refugee camp.
Nina Ziegler is a nurse from British Columbia.

This is not lunch at the Ritz (1000 words)
Canada has abandoned its tradional neutrality in taking part in the NATO war with Yugoslavia.
Christopher Goodfellow is editor of the < a href="http://www.laurentian.com">Laurentian Web.

Samuel de Champlain (850 words)
"Vermont Was a Pretty Nice Place in 1609 But It Has Been Downhill Ever Since the European Riff-Raff Started Moving In"
Michael J. Badamo, the Old Woodchuck, writes in Montpelier, Vermont.

PART TWO
"Samuel de Champlain: A poor linguist, a rigid Roman Catholic, as alien to the Indian as a man from Mars. Perhaps they liked his style..."
Michael J. Badamo, the Old Woodchuck, writes in Montpelier, Vermont.

Health Spat (700 words)
Feds, Quebec still at it.
Peter Black, a CBC radio reporter, writes in Quebec City.

Why I Won't Buy Altoid Mints
It's the bad advertising/bad karma...

John Mahoney, Editor, Log Cabin Chronicles Quebeckers Spoke (500 words)
The government had better listen.
Christopher Goodfellow is editor of LaurentianWeb.

Charest, the accidental tourist (720 words)
It looks like four years in opposition for him.
Peter Black, a CBC radio reporter, writes in Quebec City.

Hucksterism and accumulated debt (750 words)
Quebec's Alice in Wonderland politics.
Christopher Goodfellow is editor of LaurentianWeb.

Premier tears strip off reporter (700 words)
Quebec separatist very sensitive about separation.
Peter Black, a CBC radio reporter, writes in Quebec City.

Dumont looks not bad (1000 words)
Minority party leader offers sound vision of Quebec's future.
Christopher Goodfellow is editor of LaurentianWeb.

Doing the Quebec numbers (700 words)
Just how many seats do Quebec Liberals need?
Peter Black, a CBC radio reporter, writes in Quebec City.

Bike path compromise needed (700 words)
Veteran cyclist travels Quebec's Tomifobia Nature Trail and sees both sides of the controversy.
Barbara Verity is a free-lance writer based in Lennoxville, Quebec.

Confidence, man (630 words)
Something for everyone to believe in.
Peter Black, a CBC radio reporter, writes in Quebec City.

Is Jean Charest Ready? II (900 words)
Part Two of the Quebec Lib's not-ready web site.
Christopher Goodfellow is editor of LaurentianWeb.

Is Jean Charest Ready? (950 words)
Not if you look at his website, he's not.
Christopher Goodfellow is editor of LaurentianWeb.

Animal Chiropractic (1000 words)
This vet adjusts horses and dogs, too.
Dr. Alison Seely is a veterinarian based in Pembroke, Ontario.

Nailing a liar (1000 words)
Feeling good about one of them feeling bad.
Peter Scowen is a Toronto-based newspaperman.

Here's some beef (600 words)
Jean Charest wants to do the tax cut thing.
Peter Black, a CBC radio reporter, writes in Quebec City.

Letter from Norway (800 words)
A Canadian ex-pat looks at home from afar.
Berit Lundh works for the Canadian Embassy in Norway.

The referendum myth (960 words)
How many times do we have to do it?
Peter Scowen is a Montreal writer.

A bike trail doesn't run through it.
Bad feelings in Fool's Hollow.
John Mahoney, Editor, Log Cabin Chronicles.

A Dream Dying (450 words)
The death of the bilingual Canadian dream.
Karen MacDonald publishes the Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph.

The Interim Saviour (900 words)
Taking bets on another Bourassa.
Peter Scowen edits Montreal's Hour magazine.

Trade with Cuba? Never...
The U.S. has it's favorite dictators.
Peter Scowen edits Montreal's Hour magazine.

Modern Vermont Governors
The Old Woodchuck examines six of them.
Some are found wanting.
Michael J. Badamo edits The Watchmanin Montpelier, Vermont.

Who gets to immigrate to Canada? (600 words)
Surely not just the young and educated.
Leo Gervais edits the Monitor and Westmount Examiner, weekly newspapers published in Montreal.

Wrong scapegoat, guys
French cops absolve photographers in Di's demise.
By John Mahoney, Editor, Log Cabin Chronicles.

Bubba seeks Bambi
The Quebec roadhunter on the move, slowly.
By John Mahoney.

Quebec moves against English-only web sites
Separatists claim web pages violate the law.
By John Mahoney.

Quebec cracks down on business cards
Don't hand out English cards unless specifically asked.
Pequistes say that's a no-no.
By John Mahoney.

Bring on the clones (450 words)
Separation delayed is not necessarily separation denied.
In which the editor sees hope for Quebec's separatists in the Cloning Game. Baaa, baaa...
By John Mahoney.

Call a cop? Naaah. Call the garbageman (600 words)
Quebec's Tiny Brains have doubled the cost of so-called police protection and you still never see them when you need them. The garbageman, however, is always on time.
By John Mahoney.

Remembering Chicago 1968
It's been 28 years since I returned from the last Democratic convention in Chicago but I still remember the heat and the hate.
By John Mahoney.

Health & Health Care
from a Chiropractic Perspective
A series of thoughtful and informative articles.

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