Letter of the Day, Winnipeg Sun

Yes readers, I've hit the big time. Yesterday I made "Letter of the Day" in the Winnipeg Sun! No more slummin' at the Freep for me, I've been honoured by the people's paper. It probably helps that the city editor of the Sun is an old classmate of mine from Red River, but I'm gonna take all the credit I can for this one. I'm having it framed as we speak. Just in case you never make it over here to see it for yourself (and because I know it will be ages until it is published in my "Collected Works") I have generously re-published below. (To see it in its original on-line glory click on the title of this post.) Unfortunately they did not post the witty retort on the online version so I can't quote it here with accuracy. It was something like: "And keep lobbying for more trails and bike lanes too."

Respect cyclists

As a winter cyclist who has been regularly honked at and jeered since the first snow fell, I would just like to remind the drivers of this city that cycling in winter is not illegal.

People who opt for this sensible form of transportation deserve your respect in all weather.

Yes, it is slightly more challenging -- and perhaps odd to the uninitiated -- to cycle on top of snow and ice.

However, it is often the case that a rider's biggest winter challenge comes from trying to maintain concentration while facing off against motorists who bully and attempt to scare us off the road with loud noises.

Winter cycling is here to stay, it's time we accept it and learn to live together, Winnipeg.

As Quoted in the 'Tobin

This morning I Googled my name to see if a letter I had sent to the Free Press and Sun had been published (okay, it's still a bit narcissistic, but whatever.) Anyway, I came across this reference to myself in The Manitoban by some young writer who was doing a story about car vandals (complete article here). How do I know he's young? I don't really except that only a young, or inexperienced writer quotes another writer that he admits no-one has ever heard of. If no-one has ever heard of me than my point of view means shit right? And if my point of view means shit than it's not worth quoting. (Of course I don't believe my point of view means shit, but I'm perfectly willing to accept that I am unknown.) Anyhow, I guess I was a bit flattered to be slammed in print by this guy. At least he has heard of me. Here's the quote:

Many journalists like Lindor Reynolds seem hell-bent on addressing the “root causes” of crime while opposing harsher sentences for the criminals. Writers like Ryan Kinrade (don’t worry, no one else knows who he is, either) claim that putting car thieves in jail “most certainly will not” help the problem.

Sorry, but I disagree. It is widely acknowledged by the police department that most of the auto theft in Winnipeg is done by a small number of people. According to StatCan.ca, 16 year olds steal more cars than any other age group.

Should U.S. soldiers be accepted as Refugees?

Today the Supreme Court of Canada will decide whether on or not U.S. soldiers who signed up for service without knowing what they were getting themselves into aught to be allowed to stay in Canada as refugees. Here's a brief thought on the matter. No idea whether this is the right reaction, just a gut thing. So if you can convince me otherwise, go ahead.

I just watched the documentary "Why We Fight" I got it from the library. Fascinating stuff. One of the subjects in the movie is a 23 year old guy who's joining the army for three reasons: his mom recently died (he has no other blood relatives), he's in financial trouble, and he wants a good job with a pension. Poor sucker. It also made the point that in Vietnam where soldiers were drafted the war became a lot less palatable when they switched from using just the poor kids (who no-one cared enough about to defend) to the lottery system that included the middle-class boys. Today there is no shortage of poorly educated males with little future in America (especially with the economy in such a sorry state) so I doubt the draft will need to be reintroduced, but will it fall to us to take on all the dummies who have made a deal with the devil due to sheer ignorance? What will we do with this cannon-fodder once we adopt it, can we turn them into semi-intelligent productive people or will we be saddled with a lot of dead weight? I'm not saying that people who make stupid decisions out of ignorance aught to be sent off to die for their lack of knowledge, but I don't know that accepting these kids solves anything, after all we have volunteer soldiers dieing too, how many of them have been wooed by jingo, video-games and aggressive recruiting? Taking a few "refugees" while sending many more off to die in a different conflict is unworkable. One cannot accept the soldiers of another country as refugees and allow one's own soldiers to die under similar circumstances. The war in Iraq was built on lies, but every war is built on lies. No war is just. The elected representatives of the U.S. decided to send their sons off to die, that is their right. Protecting those kids is not ours, is it?

Letter to MTS

What can I say, I'm a letter writing machine today. Here's another one with respect to an unresolved problem with my phone service, sent via MTS' internet "Contact Us" page.

(Dear MTS,)

Your lack of response to my previous communications is starting to feel very personal indeed. In fact I have hesitated to pay my bill (although I know I am only hurting myself in the long run) out of my disgust at the poor service I have received with respect to my previous (and still unanswered) inquiries.

This email will mark the third straight month I have attempted to contact your large and disinterested organization with respect to a computer glitch that makes my phone ring every other morning at 2:30 am (adjusted for the ending of daylight savings). Frankly, I'm beginning to feel like one of the characters in a Kafka novel.

When it says "Does your Comment or Question require a response?" and I answer yes only to receive no response it makes me wonder if there is someone there who is crafting the very best and most through response of all time to my important query (one that like a good dissertation will take months to compile and defend), or if you just don't regard my interrupted sleep as enough of a concern. At this point I'm going with the later, but my goodness wouldn't I be pleasantly surprised to receive a thoughtful response that went something like this:

"Dear Mr. Kinrade,

After several months of in-depth investigation into your most unusual and fascinating case we have discovered that it requires our immediate attention. By golly it is something we are committed to resolving with all the powers at our disposal. After all we are not just an ordinary telecom services company sitting on it's duff waiting to be pensioned off, we are your friendly and accountable provider MTS, the pride of Manitoba.

Please accept our apologies for having taken so long and having robbed you of many a night's decent sleep. To make up for it we have decided to discount your bill $10 a month retroactive to the month you first reported this incident in 2005 (only to be rebuffed by one or more surly CSRs, all of whom have subsequently been sent to grueling construction camps to build cell towers in Flin Flon, Thompson and other godforsaken corners of this great province.)

A cheque for $340 along with our thanks for your patience is in the mail, and our technicians will get no rest until we are assured that you are getting yours.

Sincerely,

X. X.

MTS Customer Service Demi-god."

Letter to the Editor

A letter I submitted today after having read a column by the delightful, but IMHO sometimes mildly misguided, Marlo Campbell.

The inconvenient truth that leaders of the Climate Change movement are also perpetrators of crimes against the environment aught not to be as easily set aside as columnist Marlo Campbell would have it be (Call off the hounds -- green messengers are OK, Mon. Nov. 12, 2007). Mr.’s Gore and Suzuki are both extremely wealthy and respected men who, despite their posturing, have not made the sacrifices to lifestyle they demand of humanity in general. Should the rest of us practice austerity because it is good for us while our multi-millionaire prophets and their cohorts continue to live large? Real leaders set examples with their actions rather than relying upon heart-felt words and vainglorious endorsements from other elites to make their point. They do this because they realize that blatant hypocrisies are an invitation for all to doubt their belief in and commitment to the message they bring.

The Dali Lama Sells Out

I wrote something about a picture in today's paper on the ALFA Blog earlier. For the benefit of those who don't follow ALFA (although lord knows you should) here's the link: http://alabelforartists.blogspot.com/2007/11/dali-lama-sells-out.html