Arizona’s Tucson, its desert and history
There may be bluer skies, but it's hard to imagine them, when you look up from the broad sidewalks of Tucson — the Arizona city, said to have 360 sunny days a year. (To read the whole article, click on the story's bold title.)
Remembering Maggie, Lon and Footprints in the Snow.
In a village, one I felt to be my home, there’s a house weathered by history and in sight of a wide and always silver sea. The village is in Nova Scotia, on Cape Breton Island, and is called Port Morien. The house, one lingering in memory as I pass my 80th year, has been there so many years I can’t guess the number. As I remember, it rises somewhat alone in the sprawling fields. Behind it are two sheds, a barn and -- stretching to the distance in a green and silent meadow – -is the deep green forest. In front and beyond for at least a mile, is the sparking silver sea.
Sex, Life and Work
Comments. Considerations. Questions. Sex, Life and Work By Kenneth Bagnell I don’t happen to be a card carrying NDP voter. But I have always been been candid about my admiration and respect for the NDP’s leader in the House of Commons, Thomas Mulcair. His long court room experience shows that, in my view, he may just be the most effective opposition leader of memory: his quick incisive critiques, his flash of cunning wit and other attributes. These make him to me, the most effective opposition leader in my now lengthy memory. That said, in recent days, he has stood even taller because of another and distinct aspect, as a parliamentarian: his open letter to Prime Minister Harper and Liberal...
What about Isis?
Comments. Considerations. Questions. What about ISIS? by Kenneth Bagnell (Supplemented by the text of a sermon by the Rev. Craig Donnelly) It’s ironic that on the eve of Remembrance Day, with so many us holding memories of fallen family members, a new book has emerged on a subject of yet another rising world-wide fear: a new terrorist group called ISIS is taking over parts of Iraq and Syria, beheading those it deems questionable and striking fear in the hearts of countless people. For those who hope it’s overcome before our family members have to confront it,...
Crisis and Questions
by Kenneth Bagnell The first words Prime Minister Harper spoke in The House of Commons on what he envisioned in the wake of the murderous tragedies in Montreal and Ottawa was “surveillance”. (His sentence went: “Our laws need to be strengthened in the areas of surveillance, detention and arrest. They need to be much strengthened. I assure members that work which is already underway and will be expedited.” The word “surveillance” and the promise to increase it, are what interests me. My interest in surveillance’s uses by the population –apartment lobbies and modern elevators, public spaces and private homes -– had been piqued a day or two before. ...