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naomil 59 days ago
It's all happening, unfortunately, down at the zoo. Concerned Christians Canada just sent me a letter they're submitting to the Calgary Zoo complaining about the statue of the elephant-shaped Hindu god Ganesh near the Elephant Crossing Exhibit. The letter is signed by Jim Blake, CCC's national chairman, and reads: "The zoo is not a place of religious indoctrination, it is supposed to be a safe family environment free of religious icons and selective religious partiality. The displaying of different gods in a public place, like this, is an offence to our beliefs and does not represent the diversity of views that should be reflected, if the zoo is embarking on teaching the public about world religions as they relate to the natural world. If, in fact, the zoo is on a quest to expose people to different religious viewpoints, which I presume atheists would take exception to, the zoo should not be selective and exclusive. Therefore, if this is the intent, I make a proposal that a ...
naomil 82 days ago
I can't think of a time when Canadians would be less interested in having a federal election than they are now. That view is certainly reflected in the Herald's website poll which asks the question. As of this posting, 85 per cent of respondents said they don't want an election. There is no burning issue that makes people feel it's crucial to go to the polls. The country is just coming out of a recession and people want the governing party to focus on economic recovery, not waste six weeks locked in mortal combat with their foes, mud-slinging, finger-pointing and spinning out all the usual campaign hype. It's baffling why Michael Ignatieff is in an election mood. Maybe it's just a power grab. Certainly his advisers must be telling him that the timing couldn't be worse. Why bring down the government on an issue like EI? That's not the hill to die on. But die they will, because the most likely scenario is that, royally irked by this unnecessary election call, Canadians will punish the ...
naomil 87 days ago
After writing a column this week on city council's upcoming September debate about Calgary's snow-clearing policy, I had a voice mail from a gentleman who purports to know something about what's in the works at city hall. He said that for the coming winter, plans are to reduce the city's fleet of snow plows and sanders by 20 per cent. My efforts to find out more resulted only in a statement from a city spokesman that the Roads department is working on a report to be presented at council on Sept. 14. No decision, he said, has been made so far about the fleet or machinery needed for the coming year. So the report, which will be made public a week before the council meeting, might contain that 20 per cent reduction, and it's possible that the individual who left that voice mail, has seen it in writing or heard that it's coming down. If this 20 per cent cut really is in the works, the condition of Calgary's roads this winter will be even worse than last winter -- and we thought we'd ...
naomil 94 days ago
Statistics Canada released a survey this week which shows that Canadians aren't eating as many vegetables as they're supposed to. StatsCan says there's "room for improvement." I'm getting just a little tired of being lectured about eating fruits and veggies, every time I turn around. The same message is repeated over and over: Eat 8-10 servings of fruits and vegetables every day." Why don't they clue in that lecturing people is not going to work? And it won't work until they can invent a turnip that tastes as good as a chocolate chip cookie.
naomil 106 days ago
At the time of this posting, more than 86 per cent of readers responding to a Herald website poll which asks if they agree with President Barack Obama that the war on terror is over, have said no. It seems an obvious conclusion, given the foiling of the recent Australia-based terror plot, and the fact that no winners overall in this war have been declared. When a war is declared over, the natural thing is to have a winner and a loser. Why bother quibbling over semantics when it's quite obvious the war is still on? Bin Laden hasn't been captured, western intelligence is still on the alert for plotters, the terrorists haven't capitulated -- it definitely looks like this war is still on. An Obama administration official has said that former president George Bush's use of the phrase "war on terror" was a poor choice. A war on terror, however, is no different than the war on cancer which Richard Nixon declared during his administration. There are about 200 different kinds ...
