Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 8/7/2011 (4014 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Warm memories return
Twenty-five years ago this month, I had a motorcycle accident near Gladstone. Although I was transported to the hospital in Portage la Prairie, my leg injury was of such a nature that I was transferred to the Health Sciences Centre where I had to stay for 51/2 months.
The care I received during that time, and the warmth with which my family was received every time they flew out to visit me, caused us to write a letter to your editor before I finally went home close to Christmas 1986. My mom called it "Warm Winnipeg."
Twenty-five years later, my left leg, which is 10 centimetres shorter than my right leg, is a daily reminder of the accident. But it is much more than that: it brings back all the memories of the young people from Winnipeg Christian Reformed Churches who visited me every so often.
It brings back memories of busy young fathers who stopped by to see "this kid from Ontario" who not only had a terrible leg injury, but was homesick to boot. It brings back memories of the nurses who cared enough to wheel the entire traction -- and every other contraption -- out to the nurses' station every Tuesday evening so that my family in Ontario could phone me.
It brings back the memory of the surgeons who worked an entire day to keep my leg intact. It brings back the memory of the nurses taking me to a Billy Joel concert just before I was discharged from the hospital. It brings back the memory that my family never needed a hotel room when they came to visit me; hospitality was one of Winnipeg's fortes.
The memories go on and on. So after 25 years, I feel compelled to once more say thank you, people of Winnipeg, for your warmth in my time of need.
JIM TIGCHELAAR
Dundas, Ont.
Select mathematics
In his July 2 letter, Unions affordable, Derek Ross uses some very select mathematics to state that the GDP has doubled and therefore our wages should have doubled in the last 12 years. Ross forgets to calculate that our workforce has grown by a huge percentage over this time.
He uses this formula to state that private-sector workers should not be castigating public-sector unions but should be looking to join unions to share in the same wages and benefits.
Perhaps Ross thinks Canadians should try to emulate the workers in Greece and other European nations and look to retire with full benefits at the age of 50 or 55. These countries have driven out the manufacturing and maintenance sectors of their economies and now look for higher taxes to pay for their social programs. Some economists think that up to 60 per cent of the Greek economy is underground and untaxed. This is a result of over-taxing individuals and small business.
MIKE EGAN
Stony Mountain
Proposal for sellouts
Sports enthusiasts of all ages have been locked out of the professional sports excitement by sellouts to these events for probably years to come.
A permanent home for those who were unfortunate to not acquire tickets for these occasions should be addressed. The opportunity to see these events on a large screen would squelch the anxiety of exuberant fans.
A place to accommodate fans for sold-out games, be it NHL, CFL or other sports worldwide, at a very modest cost, would allow them to channel their energy, enjoy the camaraderie and maybe even purchase some paraphernalia.
All of this could be a good stream of revenue for the leagues. Perhaps some of it could be earmarked for amateur sports here in Manitoba. What greater way to keep the excitement of father, mother, son and daughter alive and healthy. Go, Jets, go!
JOHN PLISCHKE
Winnipeg
Now that the Winnipeg Jets have returned, one more action would make Winnipeg a welcoming community to rural residents. Repeal the hideous and insidious hotel tax.
Allen Dowhan
Dauphin
Conservative terms
Regarding Walter Barg's June 30 letter, Neither fascist nor socialist (June 30), the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) was never part of the inter-war conservative revolutionary movement of Wolfgang Kapp, Hermann Ehrhardt et al.
Nor was the NSDAP an ideological extension of the conservative intellectual movement that included Friedrich Nietzsche and Oswald Spengler. Hence, it is improper to refer to the NSDAP as conservative.
Historically (starting in Versailles, France, in the autumn of 1789), constitutional monarchism defined the right wing. The NSDAP never favoured a constitutional monarchy. Thus, they are not an example of the extreme end of the political spectrum on the right.
Though admittedly a post-facto historiographical conceit, that honour would belong to the royalists. Examples of royalists from Canada's history are Prince Rupert, General Montcalm and the kings of the ancien régime.
SCOTT INSCH
Winnipeg
Indefensible regime
In his July 6 letter, Hostile attitude, Marty Green is quick to come to the defence of the Iranian regime run by the virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Israel President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Contrary to Green's assertions, Ahmadinejad's own words and deeds show that this pariah country genuinely seeks Israel's destruction. These "hostile attitudes" were on full display this past April, when Ahmadinejad addressed a large crowd in the Iranian city of Sanandaj calling for the establishment of a "greater Middle East... without the existence of the Zionist regime" (Israel).
In an October 2010 rally in Lebanon, he said "The whole world should know that the Zionists will eventually disappear." In an April 2009 address aired on the Iranian News Channel, he claimed that Israel is on the "verge of death" and on May 8, 2008, Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that Israel is "on its way to annihilation." That day, for your information, marked the birth of Israel and its Independence Day.
I could list close to a dozen other examples, but I'll conclude with perhaps the most recognized of Ahmadinejad's tirades. In an October 2005 address to 4,000 students at a program titled The World Without Zionism, Ahmadinejad said Israel is "a disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map."
Iran's destructive pursuit of nuclear weapons, support for terrorist groups, deplorable human-rights record, repeated anti-Israel tirades and Holocaust denials have made this country an outcast in the international community. Let us not forget, Iran represents a genuine threat not only to Israel, Jews and western interests, but to the broader Middle East, surrounding Arab countries, to democratic values and to the entire world.
Mike Fegelman
Toronto
Blindingly obvious
Re: City studies use of electronic billboards (July 6). The city should ban electronic billboards if it wants to encourage people to live downtown.
You would not buy a house that faced an electronic billboard and people will not move into apartment buildings that face electronic billboards. Some residents will leave downtown if billboards go up.
DANIEL STONE
Winnipeg
