Jim Taylor's Columns - 'Soft Edges' and 'Sharp Edges'

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Published on Sunday, June 3, 2018

Not much hope for common sense

John Horgan and Rachel Notley, look what you’ve started!

               Once, you were the kiddies having a spat in the sandbox. Horgan blocks Notley’s pipeline; Notley blocks B.C.’s wines. You hit me; I hit you back.

               More recently, the sandbox has become the law courts. As an opinion piece in the Vancouver Sunnoted earlier this week, Horgan could have lawyers arguing two different sides of the same coin, in two side-by-side courtrooms. In one courtroom, that a province has a legal and constitutional right to restrict the shipment of petroleum products; next door, that a province does NOT have the right to restrict shipment of petroleum products.

               A different province, of course.

               Legal firms must be rubbing their corporate hands in glee.

               But now the sandbox squabbling has escalated.

 

Tit for tat

               The laughing-stock president in the White House just dumped a big bucket of sand on Canada -- and on Mexico, though the Canadian media have largely ignored Mexico. Steel and aluminum imports into the United States are now subject to hefty tariffs.

               Apparently we’re “national security threats.”

               I wonder if someone told President Tweet that Canada was decommissioning its nuclear facility at Chalk River, north of Ottawa. And he assumed that -- like North Korea -- we must have nuclear capabilities we’re making a public show of dismantling.

                Canada, represented by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister for Foreign Affairs Christia Freeland, immediately retaliated with tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum.

               They also slapped tariffs on products from states that have supplied loyal henchmen for the orange-haired Godfather in Washington. Bourbon from Kentucky. Orange juice from Florida. And maple syrup from….

               Wait! Maple syrup? Canada is the world’s number one producer of maple syrup. Quebec alone produces 70 per cent of the world’s maple syrup. Canada exports about $500 million in Canadian dollars a year, over and above our own domestic consumption.

               And we think we need to penalize Vermont?

               The sandbox shenanigans begin to look a little juvenile.

 

Not an ‘appy job

               I feel sorry for the border security agents dealing with these sandbox scuffles.

               I worked, one summer, for what was then Canada Customs. We had an entire shelf of systems and procedures manuals to learn. Tariffs on every conceivable item, from watermelons to heavy artillery. Ranging from fractions of a percentage point to total prohibition.

               Pig products, for example. Bacon, ham, pork. In those years, U.S. pigs had trichinosis; Canadian pigs did not. So American visitors could bring in their hunting rifles, but not a cooked ham for their dinner, or smoked bacon for breakfast.

               “Your electronic surveillance equipment is fine, sir, but you’ll have to take your bacon back across the border.”

               “What? And just dump it in the garbage?”

               “I’m sure your American customs officers would appreciate a food donation…”

               It made as much sense as Canadian visitors not being allowed to take a single orange, clearly stamped “produce of California,” back into the country it came from.

               Now suddenly, overnight, a whole range of products that were allowable yesterday are now dutiable. With at least a dozen different rates.

               I feel for them. A border security job is, as Gilbert and Sullivan put it long ago,  “not an ‘appy one.”

 

Shortage of common sense

               My totally subjective impression is that Canadian and American border officers take a different approach to their jobs.

               American officials treat everyone with suspicion. They’re convinced that everyone is trying to do an end run on the rules and regulations; their job is to find out what.

               Conversely, Canadian officers seem to assume that most people are basically honest. If travellers made a mistake calculating their duty-free allowance, it wasn’t deliberate. If they’re penalized, they’ll pay their fine, apologize, and say “Thank you” on their way out.

               Prime Minister Trudeau was surprisingly forthright and un-Canadian when he told a press conference that the U.S. imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum was lacking in “common sense.” He hoped that common sense would return to the U.S. Administration. But he didn’t look hopeful.

               Common sense has not been a notable characteristic of politics over the last couple of years. The latest round of sandbox rivalries -- whether between provinces, in Canada, or between nations -- does not bode well for future harmony.

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Copyright © 2017 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved.

                       To send comments, to subscribe, or to unsubscribe, write jimt@quixotic.ca

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YOUR TURN

 

Only a few letters this week. Perhaps that shortage gives me space to say that the number of subscribers has been dropping, recently. I’ve lost 200 or so readers over the last couple of years. Some of the loss, no doubt, comes from deaths (we ARE an older readership, generally), and some also from people who change their email address and don’t notify me. 

               Still, I’d like to get the numbers up again. So please pass these columns along to your friends, and invite them to subscribe. If nothing else, it will give you something in common to discuss when you get together. 

 

On the subject of social change, Bob Rollwagen wrote, “Yes, society is changing -- and mainly for the better. One aspect that seems to be going in the other direction is ‘truth’ -- the misleading use of data that can only be verified by in depth knowledge of the events being referred to, something few of us have time for or the resources to pursue. Trump used this approach, right-wing leaders appear to be copying him because he was successful. The re-ordering of facts to create a different understanding leads to a lack of trust and confusion about what really is ‘truth’. Opinions presented as facts, rumours presented as factual events, improper use of language to support false realities. Evolution is painful.”

 
Richard Begin in Kelowna challenged my use of “same-sex marriage”: “I truly wish people in the media, all media, would cease using ‘same sex’ when, in fact, they are describing couples of the same gender.  We don’t say ‘different sex’ couples do we, so why ‘same sex’? I’m surprised the whole LGBT and now Q community isn’t lobbying media to change this.
               “The proper term in describing people of the same gender involved in a relationship should be ‘Same Gender’ couple. Sex describes an act, while gender describes, well.....gender.”

 

Mary Lou Siemens, also Kelowna, commented, “Just a note that I liked it, & hope many read it and look at themselves. I am an early aged retired senior having tried to raise my two children, now adults, to ‘treat others how they would like to be treated.’ My upbringing in Saskatoon blessed me with at least my Dad's personality.”

 

Rob Brown quoted my line -- "Once, what you did on your own time was considered entirely separate from your on-the-job performance.” – back at me.      

               He continued: “That was nevertrue in ministry. Ministers have been harshly judged for ‘off time’ activities that didn't fit (some) parishioners' expectations. Besides, ministers are expected to be working 24/7, so there are no ‘off time’ activities.

               “It’s an old model, but I think it is probably still being practiced in at least some places. I don’t live in those anymore.”

 

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TECHNICAL STUFF

 

If you want to comment on something, write me at jimt@quixotic.ca. Or just hit the ‘Reply’ button.

                       To subscribe or unsubscribe, send me an e-mail message at the address above. Or subscribe electronically by sending a blank e-mail (no message) to sharpedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca. Similarly, you can un-subscribe at sharpedges-unsubscribe@lists.quixotic.ca.

                       My webpage is running again -- thanks to Wayne Irwin and ChurchWeb Canada. You can now access current columns and five years of archives at http://quixotic.ca

                       I write a second column each Wednesday, called Soft Edges, which deals somewhat more gently with issues of life and faith. To sign up for Soft Edges, write to me directly at the address above, or send a blank e-mail to softedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca

 

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PROMOTION STUFF…

To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols.

                       Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at wwwDOTsinghallelujahDOTca

                       Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://wwwDOThymnsightDOTca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)

                       Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca>

                       I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom

                       Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawoodATgmailDOTcom to get onto her mailing list.

                       Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom or twatsonATsentexDOTnet

 


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