In my latest Loonie Politics column I say Justin Trudeau’s totally out-of-touch aristocratic remarks about borrowing via credit cards may finally bring him down politically.
“The next revolution is always perfect.”
G.K. Chesterton in G.K.’s Weekly Vol. 8 (September, 1928 – March, 1929) quoted in “Chesterton University An Introduction to the Writings of G.K. Chesterton by Dale Ahlquist” in Gilbert The Magazine of the Society of G.K. Chesterton Vol. 26 #1 (9-10/22)
“The best prophet of the future is the past.”
Lord Byron (whose advice I only take cautiously and in small amounts, to be sure), apparently in a letter written January 28, 1828 though my efforts to track it down did not lead to a confirmed specific attribution.
Claiming a special French “right to idleness”, radical eco-feminist Green MP Sandrine Rousseau said hard work was “essentially a Right-wing value”.
The Telegraph November 14, 2022 [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/11/14/french-have-got-even-lazier-study-shows-vast-majority-happy/]; I trust she did not overstrain herself writing that admission disguised as a boast.
In my latest Epoch Times column I ask how it is possible that as the Canadian federal public service swells up like a dirigible, it can’t find someone to process expense claims from soldiers we sent to Poland then told to buy their own meals.
“Boomers, we know, didn’t appreciate getting long in the tooth. They’re the ones who started this whole fight against Old. But as a Gen Xer, I have to assume it’s worse for us. Our entire gestalt is built around an aura of disaffected youth. There is no natural progression for that energy into middle age. I don’t see us easing into words like ‘seasoned’ or ‘mature.’ Millennials will no doubt take their own kind of offense to aging when it’s their turn, but that is not our cross to bear.”
Pamela Paul “Wait, Who Did You Say Is Middle-Aged?” opinion piece in New York Times October 16, 2022
“An acquaintance who worked in United States Air Force intelligence tells the story of a pilot who was imprisoned in North Vietnam for many years, and lost eighty pounds and much of his health in a jungle camp. When he was released, one of the first things he asked for was to play a game of golf. To the great astonishment of his fellow officers he played a superb game, despite his emaciated condition. To their inquiries he replied that every day of his imprisonment he imagined himself playing eighteen holes, carefully choosing his clubs and approach and systematically varying the course. This discipline not only helped preserve his sanity, but apparently also kept his physical skills intact.”
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Flow [though if I spent every day imagining myself playing what passes for golf in my life I assure you it would not help preserve what passes for sanity in it]
“‘People with bad eating habits have “devilish” brains that prevent them exercising self-control, a study has shown. Researchers in the United States have discovered an “angel” centre in the brain which holds back a “devil” region to stop us giving in to temptation. It allows a person to weigh abstract considerations such as “healthiness” against basic desires such as a craving for rich food,’ Britain’s The Independent reports. The study’s co-author, Prof. Colin Camerer of the California Institute of Technology, said: ‘After centuries of debate we are making big strides in understanding self-control from watching the brain resist temptation.’ The ‘angel’ centre is called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), while the ‘devil region’ is known as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. The researchers hope to engage the DLPFC under normal conditions in people with poor self-control.’”
“Social Studies” in Globe & Mail May 7, 2009.