Category: Uncategorized

I was laughing the other day when reading a suggestion that we should have a judicial review of our handling of the pandemic. The writer thought it would be helpful for the next pandemic. Sure. Did you note how we all rushed to read the notes from the Spanish Flu pandemic a hundred years ago? I wonder if that writer had taken the time to Google the word ‘epidemiologist’?

Even the study of how humans so generously share diseases with each other requires grounding. Here we are in the third wave of the coronavirus and we are still a little vague on just how we catch it. You would figure that by the time we have seen a disease kill more than three million of us, we would have a better grip on the cause. All the layman has learned, so far, is that it is airborne and you can’t see it.

I think, in this case, we bypassed the epidemiologists and headed right for a vaccine. Any of us with a bit of a background in the science involved were impressed with how fast we got to vaccines. That might have also fed some stupid antivaxxers’ concerns. It could also have been scholarly arguments among the medical community that generated some of those concerns.

There are those of us who pay attention to the lock-down conditions and there were those who scoff at them. Of course, none of us law-abiding citizens are assuming that it will be the scoffers who will soon be at the local hospital. That would be vindictive!

But are Canadians enjoying watching images on the news of Brits, Americans and others going out mask less and in groups? We have had so many stops and goes in the past 14-months, we might just show the politicians who ordered us around so erratically what we think of it in the next election.

And there is always the economic side of this pandemic. It seems in Canada we have made the rich richer and penalized the working poor. Seniors have been thrown a few dollars a couple times, to keep them quiet.

But the Trudeau government has come up with a new economic theory that says if you have money or made money last year, the government will give you more. And if you don’t have money, you obviously don’t need any. You get all this and covid-19 too!

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

There was a gritty movie made years ago about Balkan partisans during the Second World War. These partisans were fighters who attacked German patrols and were hunted in turn by the Germans. A key scene was when a female and male partisan were shot by their comrades for taking a time-out for sex when they were supposed to be on guard duty.

I never saw anything like that during my service in the Canadian air force but it was at a time in the 1950s when the RCAF was rebuilding its women’s division. While they were still not offering women a chance to fly at the time, there was a list of trades open to them.

But the ratio of men to women was still as extreme as it is today. In a volunteer military, there are just not enough women joining. And you can well understand the reluctance of the military brass to get involved in the relations between men and women, who are often a long way from home.

I had a couple girl friends from the WDs during my military years. The first gal was a big hit with my mother when I took her to my home in Toronto but the affair waned a bit when she was transferred three provinces away. It was even more strained when she wrote that she was pregnant by some guy at her new base. The hot steamy letters were no longer as tantalizing. After that I was more cautious in relationships among the Women’s Division.

What the brass needs to realize is that being part of the military services rarely constrains the natural urge for sex among men and women. And I would hardly be the only person to object to the solution of the Japanese military in the Second World War, who provided ‘Comfort Women’ to their troops.

But since General Eisenhower reputedly had his bed warmed by his army driver during his time in London during the Second World War, the question always is: Was his superior rank a factor in the relationship?

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

It is called ‘Long-Term Care’ and I have never liked the words. Growing up in Toronto, the words said to me that this was warehousing for people unable to function with the rest of society, through no fault of their own. As president of the Multiple Sclerosis of Canada and head of public education and board member of the International Federation of MS Societies, I was often taken through local long-term care facilities during my visits to other MS societies around the world. It was never fun.

I think I saw every level of multiple sclerosis as well as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). I also had interesting talks with staff and patients in these places.

Surprisingly the most pleasant and best managed of these facilities I remember was near London, England. I was driven there by a lady with the title “Lady.” Her and her husband were patrons of this home and we received a warm welcome from a motherly woman who was addressed as “Matron.” The MS patients I met all knew my driver and we had some very open and frank discussions of the problems and extremes of multiple sclerosis. I already knew at the time, that MS is of high incidence in Great Britain.

But what struck me about this place is that it was not a “facility.” It was “home” to the people I was meeting. Their private rooms were individualized for them. Bright and airy, they reflected the person’s interests. They were all different. There were none of those multiple bed rooms or hospital-like feelings to the accommodations. We had a very interesting and cheerful afternoon. I often wished other places I saw were as pleasant and as thoughtful of the people who were looked after there.

It was not something I ever saw in Canada. I often thought that when the Canadian MS Society had the resources, it might be able to encourage a number of health agencies in Canada to help pay attention to the needs for long-term care in Canada. We could have done some good.

But I was a volunteer president with a demanding job and a young family at the time. My objective was to get multiple sclerosis recognized as a major health concern and get it the millions needed to carry out a growing program of research toward a cure.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

There is not much we can say for the Internet’s overabundance of time wasters. In early iterations of Facebook and Twitter, I tested the programs and found the idea wanting. You can find the remains of my testing somewhere in that vast realm of garbage. Life is too short to waste any of it on social media.

I will admit though that in this time of not travelling to see distant family, I do appreciate the wife pointing out pictures of new family arrivals and updating pics of wide-spread family and friends, so dearly missed.

But I was horrified the other day when she asked me to take a look at a posting on Facebook of a video clip. It was posted by an acquaintance who should know better. The clip was of a motor-mouthed jerk pretending to be in front of a football play board. The football line-up was supposed to be of covid-19 vaccines versus the human immune system. What he was saying on that Facebook posting was that the vaccines would destroy our immune system. I figured that was all the anti-vaxxers needed.

I have heard from a few anti-vaxxers and, mostly, their arguments have been so stupid as to be laughable. This one is dangerous. This could be in the same category as shouting ‘Fire’ in a crowded theatre. There are people gullible enough to believe something like that. I posted on it that it was crap but he just brushed off my objection. I guess he found it amusing.

It is like some bloggers who think they are reporters. They can give blogs a bad reputation. I was shocked years ago when I found that some bloggers were attempting to get news media accreditation to political events.

Blogs are, at best, an interpretation of events. At least I tell you up front that this is nothing more than a commentary, mostly on politics. I spent many years absorbing and digesting Canadian and American politics. I have travelled back and forth across Canada and the United States and visited many countries around the world. It can give you a perspective that I am willing to share.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

To be honest, this little story is more about burps than farts. Farts are more amusing. It is about the ability of both milk and beef cattle to produce large quantities of methane gas. It has something to do with their complex stomachs that can digest things that a human stomach cannot. It causes them to burp and fart a lot. And since the State of Wisconsin in the United States claims to have more cows than all of Canada, we will point the finger at the Americans. They have got to do something about those burping, farting, methane producing creatures.

It is absolutely serious when you consider that, world-wide, milk and beef cattle are responsible for about ten per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions. I suppose most of us will indulge the environmentalists by eventually switching to electric automobiles but I will be damned if I am going to give up on good steaks and hamburgers. I have already given up drinking milk with lactose, in hopes of lessening my own production of methane.

I hear the Australians have found that feeding their cows some special seaweed can help solve the problem. I am waiting to hear about the milk from cows fed a diet with seaweed. My own experiences with seaweeds have been to label them as inedible. No doubt scientists will eventually find the magic ingredient in the seaweed and put the magic ingredient in small capsules. Seniors everywhere will certainly thank them. Whether cows can swallow capsules is another matter.

The problem is though that the world’s taste for beef has also been growing. It is reported that in the world-wide increase in greenhouse gases, cattle are responsible for nine per cent of the of the increase in gases, at a time when we are trying to reduce the problem.

I guess Babel-on-the-Bay will have to follow up further on all this free-form farting at another time.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

It is outrageous to hear that there are increased incidences of racial hatred in our Canada. It is, admittedly, a time of serious stresses on our society, but I can imagine no rationale for a deterioration in race relations.

From where I grew up in Toronto, the worst fault you could find of your neighbour was that he or she might vote conservative. The colour of their skin or their ethnic origin was as complex as our country and we learned from it.

Did you know that Canada has been welcoming Sikhs as immigrants since the late 1800s when some government official thought it was important to start to count the Singhs and Kaurs coming to our ocean ports.

Many black Canadians had ancestors here before Canada’s confederation. And it was the hard work of many Chinese who helped build our first trans-Canada railroad.

You might think this is all good pickings for a bigot but I think a true bigot would be tired by the end of a day in this country. Because we are the sum of our peoples.

And if you want to be a bigot, do not do it in front of me. A bigot is basically a coward. They fear what they do not understand. And there is much they do not seem to understand.

Bigotry often appears to be built on a misguided religious background. The former president of the United States, Donald Trump set the scene. He blamed the Chinese for the pandemic and Muslims for the strife in the Middle East. He tried to build a border wall against Mexico and Central America. He was your classic bigot. And his piety was as phony as a three-dollar bill.

What worries me is that much of the bigotry is rooted in the born-again Christians. These people who find religion late in life seem more receptive of the bigotry du jour. They seem to need a steering mechanism in their life and make some very bad choices.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

The other day, this commentator lauded Pope Francis for his visit to Tehran. He spoke frankly with the Iranian ayatollahs. He brought a message of peace and hope. And today, we learned of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith turning thumbs down on the approval of blessings for same-sex marriage. That is a ‘win one, lose one’ for the Roman Church.

You would hope that a well-intentioned person such as Pope Francis could drag the Vatican out of the depths of the 17^th Century. It should not matter to an atheist such as I, but it does. There are still a sizeable number of Roman adherents in the world. And many of them listen to the narrow-minded dictates from the Vatican.

It was like during the Trump interregnum in the United States. Trump was there in plain sight but his supporters were the puzzle we needed to understand. He gave them targets for their bitterness. He endorsed their bigotry. He spilled bile a plenty to please them. He is a bitter man.

What is happening in our society is caused by the lack of positive leaders. In a liberal society, how can we stomach the folly of conservativism. In a society demanding progress and enlightenment, we are beset by the meanness and stinginess of the right wing of politics and churches and our neighbours.

And yet, we have the proof of the liberalism, generosity and charity of our society. We know that people care, despite the demands and crushing depression of the pandemic. We also saw that it was the church leaders who complained about being separated from their parishioners. We did what we could to support the small business owners crushed under the ups and downs of lock-downs. The churches will probably survive.

But if churches want to attract or even just keep the parishioners, they now have, they need to show leadership. They need to look forward, not back. Whether you think you speak for Allah, for a God, or a Guru, you have to recognize the needs of people before you preach your sermon. You need to build a strong connection.

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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]