Save the climate!

[Re: “Climate deniers demonized?” Letters, Dec. 10] R. Harris should plead for sobriety instead of vitriolic bashing. One does not need countless reams of data to become aware of stark changes, for example, in our waterways. Here in Washington D.C., the Potomac River hasn’t frozen over in 10-15 years, although wind speeds have increased during the recent past, giving an illusion of a cold winter because of its wind chill. Yet North American rivers have become either devoid of ice or of a depletion in bulk, as in Montreal. The increased wind chills have been caused by pressure differences, caused by adverse temperature differences over wide areas. Again, Washington is experiencing a “cold winter,” not because temperature declines necessarily, but deceptively, its added wind chill.

Much of climate change is not well understood—witness the frequent errors in reporting of weather forecasts. But why not simply err on the side of safety? With due regard for the climate change conference in Copenhagen, North America impacts the world with three times the per capita carbon “footprint” of China—now being unfairly criticized for its progressive increases, while North America still demands an auto per individual along with increases in highway “improvements.” Limiting a family to a single auto will surely affect the economy. But we’ll survive, with a higher quality of life!

>>EDWARD ABRAMIC

A bas le Québec Frankel!

[Re: Vive le Québec Frankel!” Letters, Dec. 10] Gallantly intoning what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, Ken Frankel concedes he would respect Quebec’s right to separate since he supported the partition of Palestine to form a Jewish state.

Somehow, I highly doubt he would accept a UN resolution that partitioned this land against the very wishes of the overwhelming majority of its population—as the UN did to Palestine in 1947. I also strongly suspect he would never condone the expulsion of 750,000 anglophones who resisted. Nor defend a Quebec that declared itself the “state of the French” rather than of its inhabitants and invited francophones worldwide to “return” and live on confiscated anglophone properties. I don’t think he would approve of a “Christian National Fund” that held 93 per cent of public lands for Christians only. Neither would he consider international calls to permit expelled anglophones to return home as tantamount to Quebec’s “destruction” like he hysterically does whenever the right of Palestinian refugees to Israel is invoked.

The principles that make Quebec great and that guarantee peaceful co-existence (separation of church from state and complete equality of all citizens) are the very ones he passionately wants Israel exempted from. Evidently, what’s good for Frankel’s goose isn’t suitable for his Goyim gander.

>>PATRICE BOMBARDIER

MJ feeling not so
good, Mirror ok

[Re: “Michael Jackson good, Mirror very bad,” Letters, Nov. 19] I find it very odd how Mary O’Grady interpreted that article. For her, it was MJ bashing, but for me, it was an article that proved his innocence in my mind once and for all. The interview was with an author, Ian Halperin, who set out to nail him, but after intense investigation realized he was innocent. And regarding the question “Did it ever cross your mind that maybe dying was the best thing that could’ve happened to this wreck of a creature”—I myself suffer from anxiety problems and often have to take anti-anxiety medications when I can’t deal with the cruelty of our society. I have at times contemplated suicide, and my problems are miniscule compared to his.

So I have a small idea of how bad Michael must have been feeling if he was requesting his doctor to fully sedate him each night just so he could get a few hours of sleep. The emotional trauma that man went through is unimaginable for most of us. So to pose the question “was he better off dead?” isn’t so far off the mark. I don’t think that was putting him down, it was acknowledging his hardships. If you can’t understand the Mirror’s (sometimes dark) sense of humour, then you should stop reading it. It puts a comical and creative spin on otherwise too terrible to read topics and for some of us, that’s the only way we can take in the brutality going on in our world.

And though you loved the movie This Is It, there are many health professionals who have speculated that if he didn’t die of that overdose, he would have died from exhaustion on that tour. Fifty shows? That’s crazy. RIP MJ.

>>JANE VINO

Resto reviewer,
served hot

[Re: “Hail Halal,” Resto, Dec. 10] So Mathilde Rabbat gives Dera 2 1/2 stars, which, in most of the known universe of restaurant reviews is a middling to good place. However, if you read the review, you wonder what it would take to get, say, only two stars—would you have to be rushed to the hospital and have your stomach pumped after dining at such an establishment?

And one star? I suspect, Sweeney Todd-like, they would have to kill and serve up the reviewer in a pie, or in this case, in a curry!

>>ERIC LEWIS

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