The previous post contains my letters-to-the-editor that WERE published. Below are my letters-to-the-editor that were NOT published.

In some cases it’s not surprising. Sometimes, they are not ‘politically correct’; a phrase which disgusts me. Sometimes they are not respectful; I have no respect for fools, idiots and a**holes so I don’t pull my punches. Sometimes, I suppose there just isn’t enough room for all the letters a particular publication receives. And, sometimes, I admit, they are a bit harsh but I refuse to be an enabler to stupidity by excusing it.

Read and judge for yourself.

– Gerold
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To Macleans magazine – 1998

Last month, Canadian Blood Services took over from the Red Cross. Blood collecting procedures remain the same as does the equipment, buildings, most of the staff and, according to Macleans’ Oct. 26 1998 article “Blood Warning” – they’ve also inherited the same callow disregard for the health of Canadians.

Macleans reported that Britain imports all of its blood plasma because of the risk of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease from eating beef infected with Mad Cow disease prior to the mid-1990s. Yet, Canadian Blood Services continues to accept plasma product from British immigrants and returning Canadians claiming that a ban would result in a severe shortage. Once again, the health of Canadians is at risk because those responsible for Canada’s blood supply have their heads buried in the sand. Are we incapable from learning from our tragic mistakes?

– Gerold
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To Macleans magazine – Apr. 21, 2003

I take offence to Allan Gregg’s glib and paternalistic attitude in “SARS and the Fear Factor” April 21, 2002. Granted, the number of SARS deaths is lower than cancer and car accidents but SARS deaths are communicable and escalating and neither its method of transmission nor its treatment have yet been discovered.

Furthermore, it’s not necessarily irrational for the public’s fears to be out of proportion to statistical risk. The important issue isn’t fear but faith or rather the public’s lack of faith in the leaders of our health care system. We’ve learned from experience not to trust the so-called experts from such cases as the Red Cross tainted blood scandal and now Toronto’s lack of epidemic procedures and guidelines especially when compared with Vancouver’s quick response and containment. We know that another Spanish Flu epidemic is long overdue so it’s scandalous to see that Ontario was unprepared to deal with an epidemic.

Mr. Gregg’s cavalier attitude does not inspire confidence and when Jean Chretien tells us “don’t panic“, you know we’re in trouble.

– Gerold
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To Time magazine – July 28, 2003

Re: “Schools of Shame” – July 28 / 03

In culture there are winners and there are losers. The Basques (of Spain) have retained their language and culture in spite of invasions by the Romans, the Moors, the Vikings, Napoleon, Hitler and Franco. They are winners and they did it without massive taxpayer support.

North American Indian language and culture could not withstand even one invasion: the white man. Indians are losers in spite of massive taxpayer support. Indian language and culture is dead. Let it go. Stop wasting taxpayer’s money.

– Gerold
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To the Chronicle Journal, Aug, 27, 2003

The endless debate about same-sex marriage with its tired old arguments is getting stale. It’s time for an irreverent and somewhat tongue-in-cheek perspective on this tiresome issue.

As a life-long bachelor, I can’t understand why anyone would want to marry in the first place. Why anyone would willingly embark upon the perilous sees of matrimony to get domesticated, de-fanged, gelded and their spines extracted is a mystery. That half of all marriages end in divorce indicates how miserable many of the rest must be. So why should heterosexuals have a monopoly on misery? Same-sex marriages would be appropriate punishment for (ahem, no pun intended) shoving their sexual orientation down our throats all these years.

Aside from the silly notion of romantic love which, fortunately, is restricted to a small part of mankind, the only good reason for marriage is to raise a family. However, earth’s population exceeds six billion and still climbing. Overpopulation causes pollution, wars, depletion of non-renewable resources, obnoxious letters to the editor and many other problems. We could solve the overpopulation problem by restricting new marriages to same-sex couples only. Since same-sex couples cannot reproduce, only they should be allowed to marry until earth’s population has been reduced to sustainable levels.

As an added benefit, the vast majority of people would be happy-go-lucky bachelors and bachelorettes. This increase in earth’s happiness quotient would more than offset the disappointment of greedy capitalists and their mindless mantra of perpetual growth.
Such an easy solution and at minimal cost to the taxpayer!

Now, could we please get on with life and more important issues?

– Gerold
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To Macleans magazine – Sep. 2, 2003

As a life-long bachelor, I can’t understand why anyone would want to marry in the first place but, as a citizen of a democracy, I will defend the right of consenting adults to marry regardless of my opinion or some dogma-spouting churchman’s.

If churches want to continue determining who they shall marry and who not, they better take a lesson from the early Christians about “when in Rome…” and “render unto Caesar…” and drag themselves kicking and screaming into the twenty first century.

– Gerold
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To Men’s Health – Sept 25, 2003

Re: Editorial “Alone Again, Unnaturally“ Oct. 2003

Ann Landers said it best: “If you can’t stand being alone, you probably bore others too.”
– Gerold
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To the Chronicle Journal – Nov. 6, 2003

Re: “NAN eyes opportunities“ Nov. 3, 2003

You reported that “Nishnawbe Aski Nation will use $132,520 from Indian Affairs and Northern Development Canada … in developing a NAN guide aimed at building working relationships with resource developers and resource-revenue sharing.” Unfortunately, the brief article didn’t mention specifics but, cutting through the rhetoric and bureaucratic new-speak, it sounds an awful lot like taxpayers are training First Nations how to shakedown the taxpayers for even more money. Say it ain’t so. Please, tell me that my taxes are being used for job training or business development or increased independence and not just another example of throwing hard-earned taxes into the bottomless pit of First Nations “funding”; their favorite euphemism for hand-outs.

The Chronicle-Journal would serve citizens and taxpayers far better by doing some occasional reporting rather than just repeating bureaucratic press releases.

– Gerold
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To Macleans magazine – Feb. 21, 2004

Your February 23 cover asks “Will voters make (Paul Martin) pay?” No we won’t. We’ll make the Liberals pay for their cavalier and arrogant misuse of our hard-earned tax dollars as evidenced by the Human Resources scandal, the Gun Registry fiasco and now the sponsorship scandal. This will be Jean Chretien’s legacy.

– Gerold
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To the Chronicle Journal – June 21, 2004

Much has been said and written about Michael Briere pleading guilty to the abuse and death of Holly Jones but an important issue has not been addressed. Why was Holly alone on the street? This is in no way meant to blame the victim but an attempt to prevent such tragedies happening in the future. Secondly, are we doing the right things to prevent such tragedies?

Many years ago, as a teenager, it was my duty to walk my young sisters’ friends home after they visited (we couldn’t afford a car back then.) I did it grudgingly but, everyone knew the danger of sexual predators and that girls were not safe alone on the street. That was forty years ago. Such predators were among us a hundred years ago and a thousand years ago and, feminist freedom-fantasies notwithstanding, will always be with us.

The experts, as usual, are wrong. They say this case proves a link between child porn and child abuse but a link does not prove cause and effect. There is a link between firefighters and fires but that doesn’t prove that firefighters cause fires. The porn issue is a red herring; an admission by the authorities that we cannot eliminate predators and it’s an opportunity for political cheap shots in an election year. Children were sexually abused long before the invention of the internet and photography. Porn did not kill Holly. Michael Briere killed Holly and his blaming porn is a pathetic excuse coming from a pathetic excuse for a human being.

Let us learn from Holly’s tragedy and not be misled by so-called experts. Let’s not let her death be in vain. Girls are not safe alone on the street; they never were and they never will be no matter how unwilling we are to admit it.

– Gerold
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To Macleans magazine – Oct. 12, 2004

Re: “Loudmouth TV“, Oct 4, 2004

We’ve had the left-wing CBC forever but now that the right-wing Fox News wants to come to Canada you’d think it was the end of civilization. I doubt it.

– Gerold
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To the Chronicle Journal – Oct. 13, 2004

The Oct. 10, 2004 editorial reprinted from the Woodstock Sentinel-Review “Klein Cares Squat About Rest of Canada“ states the obvious. Ralph Klein’s job, as Premier of Alberta, is to look after Alberta, not Canada; that’s our Prime Minister’s job. We, in Ontario, have our own premier to mismanage our province.

That editor suggests an “independent body setting forecast price of oil” in order to “share” Alberta’s surplus. This sounds like the type of command economy that eventually bankrupted the Soviet Union. It’s called Communism. It doesn’t work.

He says “no one wants another National Energy Program, a program that was unfair to Alberta.” Yet, his proposal to confiscate Alberta’s surplus is not unfair? Then he whines that if Alberta doesn’t share then other provinces may be unwilling to help Alberta when it runs out of oil. Since most other provinces are have-not provinces, Alberta better not hold it’s breath. Alberta, having been robbed once before and realizing that the oil won’t last forever, is directing much of its surplus into its Heritage Fund: a rainy-day pension plan. How would that editor like it if he were forced to share some of the money he’s putting into his own pension plan?

About 35 years ago, the federal idiots talked about enacting a “windfall profits tax” to confiscate a windfall profit enjoyed by INCO because, like Alberta’s oil, circumstances temporarily drove up the price of INCO’s nickel. In retaliation, INCO opened the Pipe Lake Mine in northern Manitoba, throwing 250 million dollars (more than a billion in today’s money) into this barren hole-in-the-ground thereby reducing their taxable income. The feds realized their mistake and backed off.

It seems every generation has to grow up, stop whining about someone else’s good luck and realize the proper response is congratulations instead of conspiring to rob them of their good fortune. I suggest that the editor of the Woodstock Sentinel-Review, if he wants to share in Alberta’s good fortune, move to Alberta and get a real job.

– Gerold
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To the National Post – Feb. 7, 2005

Re: “Book Blames Men, Not Jobs, For Childless Women“ Feb 5, 2005

On TV men are portrayed as idiots, they are treated as second-class citizens by the courts in divorce and child-custody cases, automatically charged (and presumed guilty) in domestic violence and the list goes on. There’s nothing like kicking men when they’re down, so Leslie Cannolds’s new book suggests that the increase in childless women is, in large part, the result of men’s immaturity.

Overlooked is the fact that declining birth-rates coincide with the rise of feminism. Is it any wonder that men are reluctant to become fathers in such a hostile environment? Women may not get what they want but they get what they deserve.

– Gerold
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To Macleans magazine – Mar. 14, 2005

The UN’s declaration of “freedom from want“, although a lofty goal, is simply a recipe for communism and, wisely, is not included in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The UN’s misguided declaration makes a mockery of personal responsibility and encourages a cult of victim-hood.

By following four rules of personal responsibility, most people can avoid poverty:
1) Get an education
2) Move to where the jobs are
3) Avoid excess alcohol and drugs
4) Choose your spouse wisely and stay married.

– Gerold
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To the National Post – Apr. 13, 2005

Re: “The Myth of St. Romeo” Apr 12, 2005

At last, someone has declared that Emperor (Romeo Dallaire) has no clothes. Dallaire is the ultimate bureaucrat; a master of doing nothing. The Hutus of Rwanda, armed only with machetes, would have been no match for Dallaire’s armed soldiers. Instead of firing bullets he fired off faxes to his gutless superiors at the UN asking for permission to do the obvious.

After he returned to Canada, a panel of bureaucrats absolved him for having done what bureaucrats do best: nothing. It was not depression that then consumed Dallaire: it was guilt. He will have a bright future in the do-nothing Senate.

– Gerold
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To the National Post – Apr. 21, 2005

Re: “Italy on the Brink as PM Digs In” Apr 20, 2005

A responsible publication like the National Post should know better than to use a headline like “Italy on the Brink….” as this perpetuates the left-wing stereotype of paternalistic government and clouds the distinction between government and the nation. The current Italian revolving-door government may be on the brink (Ho-hum) but not the Italian nation.

– Gerold
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To the National Post – April 29, 2005

Re: “Letter of the Day: Olympic logo not a gold medal effort” – Apr 28, 2005

I don’t understand the West Coast Indians’ concern about using the Inuit Inukshuk (or Inuunngaq or whatever) as a symbol for Vancouver 2010 Olympics. In the first place it’s Vancouver’s Olympics not the West Coast Indians’. In the second place the Inuit aren’t complaining about Vancouver using their symbol. And, lastly, the symbol has long ago been adopted by mainstream Canadians; drive through rock cuts along any Canadian highway and you’ll see thousands of these symbols from coast to coast. So why is this of any concern to the West Coast Indians?

– Gerold
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To the Chronicle Journal – July 18, 2005

Re: “General’s talk of terrorists ‘scumbags’ praised” – July 16, 2005

Regarding our war on terrorism, Rick Hillier, Canadian Chief of Defense Staff, says “our job is to be able to kill people.” On the other hand, Maude Barlow, chairwoman of the Council of Canadians, says we “should retain a more level-headed approach.” Perhaps we should play patty-cake with the terrorists. I’m thankful Hillier is with Defense and Barlow with the Council of Canadians and not vice versa.

– Gerold
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To the Globe and Mail – Aug. 13, 2005

Re: “Canadian Attitudes Harden on Immigration“ Friday Aug 12, 2005

Your writers’ claim that Canada is “a country that prides itself on embracing multiculturalism“, but they confuse official government policy with popular sentiment. I know very few people who embrace social-engineering programs such as multiculturalism or bilingualism. I doubt the government has ever polled Canadians on this because the policy-makers fear what they would discover.

It’s not Canadian attitudes that are changing but perhaps the media is finally acknowledging the disconnect between official policy and the majority opinion.

I was born in Germany, became a naturalized Canadian citizen, am embarrassed by multiculturalism and do not consider myself a hyphenated German-Canadian. I am proud to be a Canadian, eh!

– Gerold
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To the Globe and Mail – Apr. 15, 2006

Re: Letter to the Editor “My way: the highway” April 14, 2006

Gary Cole’s uncompromising attitude to a cyclist on a bridge sidewalk showed no consideration whatsoever, made a 10 year old girl cry and offered her no alternative except a road that he admits was “narrow and full of speeding cars and trucks … full of potholes, glass and debris.” Four times he says he doesn’t care.

I wonder if his mother raised any children who weren’t complete a**holes.

– Gerold
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To the Globe and Mail – Apr 25, 2006

Re: “Whinge”

You spell whine as “whinge.” Was there a sale on silengt Gs, perghaps?

– Gerold
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To the Globe and Mail – Apr. 24, 2006

If we lower the flag whenever a Canadian soldier is killed in Afghanistan, soon our flag will be at half mast 24/7/365.

– Gerold
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To the Globe and Mail – May, 19, 2006

Gun registry is a joke because criminals do not register their guns.

Gun registry is a joke in spite of the majority of city dwellers who support it. If city dwellers were so smart, they wouldn’t be living in stinking, congested cities.

– Gerold
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To the Globe and Mail – Dec. 9, 2006

I don’t know what planet Michael Kaler is talking about in his letter “Nothing to boast about” Thurs. Dec. 7. Obviously, he’s never been “culturally encouraged” by the blunt end of a police billy club while protesting against the older generation’s hypocrisy or the futile war in Vietnam.

Young people today have inherited the same culture but they remain quiet consumers of materialism and gadgets as Calvin White writes in “Democracy’s quiet downfall,” Dec. 5. If Kaler is waiting for the establishment’s permission to demonstrate against the futile war in Iraq, then he exemplifies today’s passive youth.

– Gerold

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To the Globe and Mail – Apr. 5, 2011

Re: “How we learned to stop worrying and drink the water.” Apr 5, 2010

Marcus Gee doesn’t understand the difference between ‘topical’ and ‘systemic’. Topical is applied to the surface, systemic is inside and affects the whole body. Fluoride is topical. It works on the surface of teeth. It is not systemic. It doesn’t work after it’s inside the body.

Why advocate drinking a poison?

– Gerold
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To Macleans magazine – July 27, 2011

(This is in response to a bilingual passenger who sued Air Canada because he didn’t feel their French was up to snuff.)

Failure to provide bilingual service is not Air Canada’s biggest mistake; it is Canada’s biggest mistake. After two generations and billions of dollars wasted trying to appease one province which is still unilingually French, the Canadian bilingual experiment is a failure and should be scrapped.

– Gerold
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To the Chronicle Journal – Sept. 21, 2011

Re: Resources & Knowledge Workers

“Knowledge workers” was the topic of a CBC radio talk show this morning. The CBC being government owned, it’s no surprise that two of the three guests work for the government and the third does medical imaging technology so the company he works for relies on government sponsored healthcare. The general consensus was that forestry has been greatly reduced so we must increase the demand for “knowledge workers” to fill the gap. They alluded to more government programs to retrain former forestry workers as knowledge workers. When asked if it was possible to retrain forestry workers, one guest was adamant in stating it’s not a matter of should they be re-trained as knowledge workers but they must.

No offence to truck drivers but I find it a little difficult to see how a truck driver with a grade 9 education is going to be re-trained as a computer programmer. I’ve never know wishful thinking to overcome cold, hard reality. I’m also concerned at how quickly they’ve written off all resource industries as if forestry is the only resource we have. Presumably it’s up to the government to create a demand for knowledge workers.

Several things need to be said. First, governments do NOT create jobs. That’s like pushing on a string. More often than not, governments destroy jobs through mismanagement, misallocation of scarce capital and over-regulation. Although big corporations are more visible, most jobs are created by small businesses. Look at the ailing U.S. economy where over-regulation has killed small businesses and discouraged the rest from hiring and where central bank policies kept interest rates artificially low thereby creating housing and credit bubbles that inevitably burst.

Second, during the broadcast, nothing was said about the increase in mining activity. There are few mines in most cities so mining is invisible, yet there are many businesses in cities that serve the mining industry. Many existing and well-paid blue collar jobs like mechanics, machinists and welders that once served the forest industry now serve the mining industry. Many mining companies have offices in cities staffed with knowledge workers. Many businesses provide assaying, exploration, machinery sales, parts and service as well as transportation and other services. We need government to recognize this and create conditions conducive to bringing in more mining companies and capital formation for new mines. There is an incredible amount of mining exploration and great potential for many new mines.

Third, we need government to stay out of the business of “job creation” or “increasing the demand for knowledge workers”. Governments don’t create jobs. Business creates jobs. When businesses open or grow, they need more knowledge workers. THAT’S where the demand for knowledge workers comes from. The best government can do is get out of the way and foster an economic climate conducive to new and growing businesses.

Macleans magazine (August 8, 2011) did an excellent interview with Peter Munk, chairman of Barrick Gold, the world’s biggest gold miner. He said Canada must realize we have a tremendous opportunity and not let it slip through our fingers. What other country has so much potash, petroleum, uranium, precious metals and other minerals? What other country has the mining tradition and experience that we do? What other country has all this plus strong banks and a stable political system and social structure? Mining is capital intensive so Canada has the opportunity to become a major global financial center that requires even more knowledge workers.

Several Provincial elections are coming up and political leaders are finding that a major concern of many voters is our economy. Our mining industry is a tremendous economic opportunity so why is the CBC interviewing government workers instead of business people, miners and entrepreneurs on the subject of knowledge workers?

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To: letters@macleans.ca
Re: The Editorial, Sept. 8, 2014 (Canada’s Natives)

I grew up with and I know and work with many Natives. It’s obvious you don’t because then you’d realize that we don’t have a “Native problem.” The Natives have a Native problem. One of their biggest problems is called ‘Indian gangs’.

Here’s how they operate. Suppose you’re a big, tough, male Native and they want to in their gang as an enforcer. If you refuse; they’ll kill you. Very simple! After all, enforcers are a dime a dozen.

On the other hand, if you have valuable criminal skills like B&E, car theft, trafficking, fencing or whatever makes them money and they want you to join the gang and you refuse, they won’t kill you. Instead, they’ll threaten a loved one, usually a female like your mother, or sister, or favorite aunt. If you still refuse, they’ll nab one of these females, and roll them up in a carpet or heavy blanket and stomp them to death. The lucky ones suffocate first.

As well, if you have marketable skills they need like accounting (somebody’s got to launder their loot and keep track of it) they’ll make sure you never leave the gang and get a job on the outside. They’ll send you out on a criminal job and set you up. They call the police and give them the time and place where you can be caught red-handed. You’ll be tried, convicted, sentenced and do jail time. Good luck trying to get a real job if you’re Native with a criminal record. Now they’ve got you in the gang for life.

So, now you know why so many Native girls and boys disappear or get killed. So, please stop with the bleeding heart. You’re embarrassing yourself.

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To the Editor, Macleans

Re: The Mysterious Disappearance of Poverty, March 23, 2015

Comparing half the world’s population earning less than $1.25 a day in 1980 to “only one in seven” today could easily be accounted by 35 years of inflation. No mystery there.

That’s accounting gimmickry, not a reduction in poverty.

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To the Editor, Macleans

Re: God is the answer – April 13, 2015

People no longer able to pretend in our make-believe world and who see it with cold, crystal clarity are often diagnosed as clinically depressed and urged to “fake it until you make it”. In searching for what’s real, these non-believers are more apt to engage in risky behavior than those who use the crutch of religion or spirituality (regardless how they are defined).

If “God is the answer”, what’s the question? If the question is how to achieve greater safety, happiness and health through the vulnerable teenage years then faking it is the answer, not God.

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To the editor, Macleans

Re: Aboriginal Responsibility, Oct. 9, 2015

Macleans has devoted many pages lately to Canada’s Aboriginals while deftly dancing around the elephant in the room namely who is committing the murders, assaults and abuse of Aboriginals. Hearings, commissions, marches, protests and magazine articles are in vain as long as we refuse to acknowledge Aboriginals’ culpability.

The only solution to this perpetual problem is for Aboriginals to take full responsibility for their lives instead of relying on paternalistic government. No amount of additional ‘funding’ will alleviate Aboriginal’s abrogation of responsibility which enables and fosters their culture of dependence on government and makes pointless any discussion of their independence.

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