Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Memory Lane. Thanks im Tim the Enchanter":
In the "good old days" referred to everything seemed simpler, and easier to repair.
Possibly life was more enjoyable then without the rush-rush of today and the intrusion of the world into our homes and into our lives.
I suppose it's a matter of perspective.
Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at 25 May 2014 12:00
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No it's not ....life never has been simple or easy to enjoy.
People had the same responsibilities, the same joys,the same sorrows.
Before phones and family cars, they walked to bring news . We walked to the post office to pick up mail. We stood in line everywhere and discussed current affairs.
There were no malls , shopping centres, donut shops or bank machines.No online banking or bill-paying.
Taxes were paid over the counter and Dorothy Wardle and Colleen Gowan brought people up to date on town business.
Water rates sent out with the hydro bill were paid at the office.
Polio left survivors crippled. Cancer was a death sentence. Childhood Diseases long forgotten were rampant .Epidemics carried off dozens.
Life was precious, grief just as devastating.
Tuberculosis was a scourge
A war that carried off hundreds of thousands of lives settled nothing thanks to the incompetence of those in charge. It started again and hundreds of thousands more men were led to slaughter.
Stupidity was obscured by jingoism and grief assuaged with medals,statues.monuments and endless
jargon about the glory of death and dismemberment.
Damage to survivors and their families was smothered into silence. To speak of the horror became a betrayal of those who did not return.
We send young people today to the bleakest places in the world, minds full of the same jargon.
It didn't work then and it's not working now. Some come back in caskets. Others terribly scarred by their experience. It's not new.
What's new is, the reality and futility of war can no longer be hushed up or glorified.We are not a country at war. Why are young Canadians being killed in God forsaken places and paying such a heavy price?
The perspective of war must change.
This post has not gone in the direction intended.
As well as citing cronyism and entitlements as twin problems for government of the day. the Economist editors listed government involvement inareas that are none of their business.
This week we have a Culture Master Plan on the agenda. Council directed it be prepared.
The usual guff. Meagre participation measured against meagre participation, deemed to be
satisfactory. But not.
We' compare it to other municipalities and feel good about ourselves.
We will refer to the Strategic Plan which promises an "exceptional quality of life".is sub-sumed in the Official Plan , requires an army of managers to implement and swallows up wheel-barrow loads of cash from our pockets.
Of the nine representatives sitting at the table to consider the plan. only one opposed the Culture Master Plan.. Only one is likely to think like a freak
The rest will raise their eyes and follow the magician's instruction to a T.
Sunday, 25 May 2014
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15 comments:
Your complainant obviously did not realize that the material Tim sent was from during the war. Things were tough then.
I have enjoyed the break. It is great that someone is teaching some Auroran history. Sure isn't going to be the Historical Society.
Ukrainian voters did a terrific job today, making a second round unnecessary. Putin has said he will respect the vote.
David Heard was doing a great job at the market sharing stories of Auroras past.Now he is history.
You are far too negative. "What's new is, the reality and futility can no longer be hushed up or glorified."
The provincial Conservative leader has begged off from a debate with the two other major party leaders, arranged by northern Ontario municipalities, due to a scheduling problem. He obviously doesn't want to publicize his ignorance until the BIG DEBATE early nest month.
Is this reality or futility? It just comes to us faster but it doesn't provide a better solution or better candidates. Leaders are supposed to work with people in order to gain their confidence and their trust, following which they will follow.
In today's politics no one has confidence or trust in anyone, political leaders, organizers, speech writers, hate ad producers, the whole process is rotten. And you can start at the top with the new Fair Elections Act, which while partly diluted from the original has diminished democracy in this country.
And look at the bozo at the top of this nation's political ladder: I would sooner have confidence and trust in you. But don't let that go to your head. It's because of your consistency in speaking out for what you believe to be RIGHT.
Life did seem simpler years ago, and most dads could fix the family car if something went wrong, without a computer. And somehow kids learned to add, subtract, multiply and divide, the the teaching of which appears to have been discarded. And yet those kids managed to put a man on the moon and bring him back. Granted we did not have cures for various diseases and we did not have frozen meals that come to life after a few minutes in the microwave. But we did have real food that tasted the way it was intended. Beef tasted like beef, a peach like a peach and a tomato like a tomato. Today the taste has been driven out of most foods because we are more concerned with yield per acre or per tree and taste supplements are being chemically added. CRAP!
As for the greater world there are a dozen wars under way this various minute. Do you consider that we are smarter about war than we used to be? Boko Haram comes to mind, a military coup in Thailand, a country that invites tourists to unwind and relax, Russia vs. Ukraine and by by Crimea.
Don't forget the environment - Canada is the worst industrial polluter apart from China and India. Is that list of three countries supposed to make me feel superior? And don't forget the melting ice at both polar extremes.
Are these modern events supposed to make us feel better? I don't think so.
But overall we think we are better and I suppose that is what is important.
So far as Aurora and its plethora of plans are concerned - PHOOEY!
Heaven knows what is in that Master Plan by now. It is like a bear trying to tie shoe-laces. One thing, and I am not even sure of that, is that there should be no provision or excuse for another park.
There are a lot of political busy-bodies out there. I clicked on a story about the French Open & got a flipping ad of Wynne !!!!! I was already ticked off at her spending- the ad did not help her a bit. Besides I had the sound off!!!!!
Exceptional quality of life!!...Is that right?... burn that strategic plan... ridiculous!
15:31
I sure hope you are wrong. I am just an anonymous but I have a vote. He was in town before the Market.
18:22
You're right. And to think the money that was spent on that trash.
@17:41
I enjoyed the footage of Wynne on a " farm " in a bright red pant suit. Any self-respecting cow or bull would have put her upside a feed truck or over a fence. Maybe she was thinking of English fox hunters ? My kids know better.
Scandal!
Recently I've been reading a riveting tale of the goings on at Aurora council.
Among the more lurid details are:
-resignation of a council member.
-arguments whether a replacement should be appointed or elected.
-quick exit of town staff under dubious circumstances.
-suggestions of "gang" voting.
-council decisions being made behind closed doors in the wee hours.
-accusations that the democratic process was being denied.
What?!
Someone has published a book on the previous council term?
Well actually no.
But it all happened and was duly recorded in the newspaper in the spring of 1939 - almost exactly 75 years ago.
It can be found on the web courtesy of the Newmarket Digital Newspaper Project
This particular potboiler first hit the papers on April 6/1939 and continues for several subsequent editions.
It's like reading an old time serial and the similarities to recent council history are uncanny.
http://news.ourontario.ca/newmarket/115626/data
The site seems easy to navigate and is a treasure trove of fun and facts for amateur history buffs like myself.
It is the Newmarket Era newspaper but you'll find our story in the Aurora Era section - which is usually on page 5.
Plus ça change .....
"Busybodies" indeed:
Quote from John Robson, Parliamentary Bureau, Sun Newspapers
"Travelling the world on high-flying egos" dated May 25
"Last Wednesday the 'Office of the Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Consular),' which shouldn't even exist, teamed up with the 'Media Relations Office, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada' to assure me 'The Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Consular), today wrapped up a successful visit to the Kyrgyz Republic, where she advanced Canada's social, political and economic interests, as well as religious freedom, in the region.'
This is simply one example of squanderous (new word) waste that appear in the article.
There is one use for which I can readily agree to accept the intervention of Tim Hudak. He can go to Ottawa and clean house of the waste and wastrels in both the civil service and elected office.
This is not good management, it is not even bad management. There is no management whatsoever and the buck should park itself at the very top of this dung pile.
20:19
Cllr Wendy keeps saying someone will tell the TRUE tale = I am no longer holding my breath.
Merkel's party won the European elections
Councillor Gaertner has never said who would be writing the book. It sure wouldn't be her.
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