Thinking Outside the Dox
WHY A BLOG?
Imaginative ideas, energy, honesty and lack of patience describe me totally. I was chosen out of many applicants to sit on the community editorial board of the Toronto Star and I enjoyed putting my thoughts in print. You can only serve one year and then it is more difficult to get into the paper on the editorial or opinion page, and so a blog.
Comments of an intelligent nature are invited.
May 14 , 2016
OLD CAR INSURANCE RIP-OFF
So you have faithfully looked after your old car as a mother looks after a child. Repaired all the problems, made all the oil changes as called for in the brochure, changed the tires faithfully, summer and winter and repaired minor bumps and scratches. The car in reality is 20 years old, but drives like a new car and looks like it. And then disaster hits!
You are involved in an accident which is not even your fault. Another car going through a red light hits you. Luckily you are not hurt but your car has major damage and by the insurance company is considered a right-off. The insurance company, and to the best of my knowledge all the companies are the same, will pay you what the car is worth in the open market. They will NOT repair your car because the car is worth less than the cost of the repairs. They will give you the value of the car but in return they take possession, and here is the rub. If you are not giving them the car, they take off from what they will pay you, the amount of money they would have received for selling off the car parts if you had given them the car What is a 15 year old car worth/ Nothing! What is it worth to you/ Everything!
If you take the money and give them the car, by selling off the parts, they end up getting most if not all their money back.
May 5 , 2016
RUSSIA AND THE WEST AT ODDS
Because you are elected as a leader in a democratic country, does not give you a monopoly on brains. The Soviet Union as a country lost much of its influence, both politically and militarily when under Mikhail Gorbachev it literally fell apart. The reason was very simple. Communism and Socialism as economic systems ,do not provide the citizens with the standard of living that is necessary to fulfill the ambitions of people both economically and socially. It was an opportunity for western Europe to integrate the Eastern European nations into real economic competition that would be beneficial to all the regional nations. And then the stupidity of the leaders of Western Europe and the U.S. and even Canada came to the fore. They began to integrate the Soviet Union`s former satellites into NATO . Slowly over a period of time, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Estonia ,Bulgaria , Latvia, Lithuania and others were integrated into NATO, a military organization formed to fight the Warsaw Pact nations organized by the Soviets. But there was no Warsaw pact in existence and the Soviet Union became only Russia with nowhere near the power of the past. The Russian economy improved with the high price of oil but the Russian people felt ill at ease. They were treated as inferiors by the west, not as equal partners, and their pride was hurt. Vladimir Putin took advantage of these hurt feelings and Russia began to act as the Soviet Union of old. Having Barack Obama , the do nothing American president, did not help the political situation and so we have the the Ukrainian nation losing the Crimea, the Syrian debacle and the political moves in Georgia, Kazakhstan and other offensive actions by the Russian state.The west was viewed as too liberal with the open European Schengen areas,and Russia slowly moved back to much less than the democracy, it was for a while. It is hard to say if the actions by NATO created this whole situation but it did not help.
April 18 , 2016
ENOUGH LIES REPEATED CREATE THE TRUTH
Human beings are as gullible as they want to be, so long as the lie coincides with their perception of NECESSITY. If enough people perceive, even the most unrealistic idea becomes the truth.
Lie-1. There is no country in the middle east where lesbians gay,bi-sexuals and trans gendered have more rights .In Chicago anti-Israel protesters shouted down Jewish and pro-Israel LGBT activists at a Creating Change conference. It makes no sense except their group feels that going against Israel will bring more anti-Zionists on their side. The protesters made a numbers count. If they can bring the anti-Zionists, who it appears have many more people supporting this cause on their side, hang the truth about Israel. They want numbers
Lie-2. On campuses across the country, there is a disturbing Numconvergence of anti-Israel causes with other popular causes. At Colombia university, Students For Justice in Palestine formed an alliance with No Red Tape, a students group fighting sexual violence. A student leader of No Red Tape stated We see that sexual violence is a form of oppression that is related…to other forms of oppression, In this case the perceived oppressor is Israel. Sexual oppression is real, hang the truth about Israel. They want numbers.
Lie-3. The trend is not limited to sexual violence. If it works use it. The anti-Israel website Mondoweiss recently declared that “since Mike Brown was shot by police in Ferguson,” solidarity between Black Lives matter and the Palestinian movement is a central tenet of both struggles” I am not sure but I would guess the supporters of black lives matter are Jewish out of proportion to the percentage of Jews in America. Hang the truth about Jews in America. Numbers count more than reality about Israel. They want numbers.
Lie-4 Thanks to the long ended situation in South Africa the word Apartheid has a great deal of credibility. Accusing Israel of Apartheid would go a long way to malign the state but if you walk its streets , you are instantly aware how this is not a credible situation. No matter! If enough people say it, it becomes the truth Numbers count more than reality about Israel.
Numbers count more than truth. Lies can be made the truth with enough numbers.
I was born in Toronto in 1931 to a wonderful mother who divorced shortly before my birth. I am Jewish but not at all religious, yet my culture plays an important part of my personality. I attended Harbord Collegiate and U. of T. Faculty of Pharmacy. A unique mail-order pharmacy was the first of my endeavours in the profession, followed by many stores throughout Ontario. I have a loving wife, 3 children and grand-children and I am now retired from pharmacy. But what do I write about? Everything! My topics are funny, serious, whimsical, timely, outrageous, inspiring, and inventive. I promise that if you take the time to read any one of these topics – you will not be sorry.View my complete profile
- MENTAL ILLNESS IS NOT THE SAME
- ALL NATIONS ,ALL PEOPLE ,THINK OF THEMSELVES
- FREE SPEECH WORKS FOR ALL MINORITIES--NOT JEWS
- BIG CHANGES IN LIFE--HUMAN NATURE REMAINS THE SAME
- CANADA "ALONE" CANNOT CHANGE THE ENVIRONMENT
- BERNIE SANDERS NOT GOOD FOR THE JEWS IN THE U.S.
- DEMOCRACY DISADVANTAGED AGAINST TERRORISM
- Cutting Drug Benefit Costs to the Ontario Government
- Can man survive without the concept of God?
- Radical Ideas to Modify our Health Care System
- Change, Along with Money, Will Improve the Health Care System
- Incentives for the Doctor's Patients
- Death, Taxes and Anti-Semitism
- Jewhate – The Lingering Black Hole of Humanity
- Changes in Health Care
- Justice Not Charity
- Massive Changes Needed
- Imaginative Changes Can Modernize Health Care
- The “Ethical” Drug Business
- Junior Tennis
- Why Is the Canadian Government Killing the Generic Drug Industry?
- Parking Tickets
- Is There a Canadian Roger Federer Out There?
- The Players and their Prejudices in the Health Care Drama