In a Loonie Politics piece I should have posted a couple of weeks ago I say it would be instructive to look back at old newspapers to see what did get covered, and how, as opposed to what turned out to matter and why.
In my latest Loonie Politics column I say the ongoing Canadian faith in government despite its incompetence on everything from navy caps to inflation brings its own punishment.
“Here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not ‘This is a misfortune,’ but ‘To bear this worthily is good fortune.’”
Marcus Aurelius, quoted as “Thought du jour” in Globe & Mail September 11, 2002
“Happy the people whose annals are tiresome, happy the people whose annals are vacant.”
Montesquieu, according to Thomas Carlyle The French Revolution
“As someone once said, the price of sheltering people from their own folly is to fill the world with fools.”
Link Byfield in British Columbia Report June 10, 1996
In my latest Epoch Times column I denounce the enduring capacity of politicians to be surprised by predictable developments and then unable to cope with them.
“Apathy is a big problem, and it’s getting bigger all the time. To make matters worse, nobody gives a d*mn.”
“Charlie McKenzie, former campaign chairman, Rhinoceros Party, quoted in the Nov. 29th Globe and Mail” according to quoted in Overview Vol. 25, #4 (Winter 2000)
“As to fighting, keep out of it if you can, by all means. When the time comes, if it ever should, that you have to say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to a challenge to fight, say ‘No’ if you can – only take care you make it clear to yourselves why you say ‘No.’ It’s a proof of the highest courage, if done from true Christian motives. It’s quite right and justifiable, if done from a simple aversion to physical pain and danger. But don’t say ‘No’ because you fear a licking, and say or think it’s because you fear God, for that’s neither Christian nor honest. And if you do fight, fight it out; and don’t give in while you can stand and see.”
Thomas Hughes Tom Brown’s Schooldays