Have your say

Let's compromise, guys

Re: All spin, no bargaining (Sept. 14). I read with dismay about the upcoming hockey lockout. It seems beyond comprehension how the two sides in this dispute are unable to figure out a way to share $3.3 billion.

Everyone knows there is a compromise here, because at some point hockey will resume. If that is the case, why not sooner than later? What I find most appalling is the lack of concern for both the fans and the other working people who depend on hockey to provide for themselves and their families.

The support of a professional franchise is an unwritten contract, whereby fans agree to pay for the pleasure of watching their team, and the team agrees to do its best on the playing area.

The players and owners should also have a moral obligation to continue to provide their services to the fans and workers who make their careers and teams possible.

Everyone in this dispute is indebted to someone. It's about time they all recognized this fact and came to an agreement.

ARTHUR MICHAEL COHEN

Winnipeg

Baffling comparison

I am baffled by letter writer David Hagborg's suggestion (Artistic symbology, Sept. 13) that the design of the Winnipeg Art Gallery can be taken to symbolize the male reproductive organ, or vice versa, and not an iceberg or the prow of a ship.

I find this a most unconvincing comparison. I am moved to assure Hagborg (and, by dint of this letter, pretty well everyone else) that the WAG and the male reproductive organ, with which I am personally familiar, have absolutely nothing in common in any way, shape or form.

Or am I the exception that proves the rule? I hope not.

LEO PATTIPAS

Winnipeg

Abuse wreaks havoc

Re: Sex assaults remain hockey's little secret (Sept. 11). I shake my head in disbelief that the flippant attitudes Laura Robinson describes still exist among players, coaches, managers and the sports world at large.

Such callous attitudes exist because of male macho-ism and a lack of understanding of the havoc that sexual abuse wreaks upon victims.

For an organization like the CHL to turn a half-open (or half-closed) eye to such abuse and simply transfer a player to another city is reprehensible. Definitely much stronger penalties must be imposed. I would suggest a lifetime league ban of players who have engaged in sexual abuse. But in today's court system, the abuser wins, since he, with a sheepish grin, can continue playing. And what victim wishes to sit days in court reciting again and again the painful events he has experienced?

Sadly, the winners always seem to be the abusers. Our present system of addressing sexual abuse totally fails the victims.

KEN REDDIG

Pinawa

Nefarious credit schemes

To educate consumers, Wendy Woloson's Sept. 11 column, Why we're suckers for Free! stuff, should have delved behind the nefarious workings of the new breed of freebies.

To survive, merchants must accept credit cards. When a consumer uses a standard credit card, the merchant pays the card company 1.7 per cent of the purchase. This valid service fee is passed on to the consumer in product pricing.

Recently, credit card companies are promoting premium cards, which have freebies such as travel miles, movie passes or even cash back for cardholders. Premium cards cost the merchant about 2.7 per cent for their use, a 60 per cent increase. And because this fee is again passed on to the consumer, the freebies may end up costing more than the real value, unbeknownst to the cardholder.

DAN CECCHINI

Winnipeg

What about crepes Suzette?

Re: Uncorking a wine myth (Letters, Sept. 12). Now that we are told the Frenchman Dom Perignon did not invent champagne, we should also realize the French did not invent the baguette, nor the croissant, both of which were Austrian.

Nor did the French invent the guillotine, although they did use it excessively. The guillotine was invented in Yorkshire, England.

GARY COOPLAND

Winnipeg

Stand by the people

As a Canadian-Iranian, I am proud of the government of Canada's decision to sever relations with the religious dictatorship ruling Iran. The next step must be standing by the Iranian people and recognizing their efforts to change this medieval regime.

This is the only way to rid the world of a terrorist and fundamentalist regime that seeks to be equipped with nuclear weapons.

HAMID HAJI HAMZEH

Winnipeg

Converting a mindset

In his Sept. 11 letter, An alternative option, Ed Lohrenz encourages the province to convert to geothermal heating. I have had geothermal heat in my home since 2004 and can only agree with Lohrenz, but I have to ask: Do you actually think our government has heard of the concepts of conservation and efficiency of electrical usage?

Manitoba Hydro already subsidizes the conversion of traffic lights to LED, and most new cars come with LED lights, for that exact reason. There are hundreds of possibilities for better efficiency with LEDs, everything from street lights to reading lamps.

Conversion of street lights, commercial signs and household lighting would avail more power to southern Manitoba than any new dam projects and at a fraction of the cost.

Add to that a long-term plan to convert to geothermal heating and we all might have some faith in the leadership of this province.

What needs to be converted is the mindset of politicians who still think in terms of last-century jobs and last-century industries.

SHANE NESTRUCK

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 17, 2012 A10