Keith Dryden

Privatizing welfare “Some things should never happen to children,” says a pamphlet that arrived at our house. It came from one of the newer organizations that have been set up to deal piecemeal with one of the problems of modern society. We have an organization each to deal with our hearts, our livers, our kidneys, […] Read more

Perks of office Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently was criticized for spending $54,000 a year of government money on Cuban cigars for himself and his guests. It’s easy to demean people in public office for self-indulgence. Politicians are accused of spending too much on travel, on entertainment, or on taking frequent holidays. Poor Andrew […] Read more

What’s acceptable Going through back issues of newspapers can be instructive as to the vast changes in what is considered morally acceptable. Language my editors would have blue-pencilled back in the 1940s is commonplace today. Some tend to blame the media, but the media is just a mirror reflecting the audience that keeps it in […] Read more

Spring picture There’s a feeling of zest in a balmy spring day that you don’t get at any other time of the year. The crows are crowing, the robins are rounding up bits of string and twigs, the farmer is making clinking noises around his tractor and the tom cat is off making sexy, baritone […] Read more

Spin doctoring The spin doctors, those public relations gurus who are supposed to know exactly what buttons to push to make us react indignantly against a government, are quietly blowing fuses. Up to now it has been assumed if you launched scurrilous rumors about someone in public life or even uncovered an embarrassment in that […] Read more

Bird feeding Canada grows more canaryseed than the combined production of all other producing countries, says Statistics Canada. That should raise a few twitters. Most of this goes to canaries, budgies and parakeets in cages but some is used outdoors in wild bird feeders. We used to have a retired farmer living next door who […] Read more

Salesmanship On the big island of Hawaii is the 200,000-acre Parker Ranch, which produces close to 20,000 head of cattle annually, with the emphasis on Aberdeen Angus. Since the United States has a law that only American ships and crews can carry goods between U.S. ports, the Parker operation is at a competitive disadvantage in […] Read more

Perils of burglary A British burglar was arrested last month when police identified his ear print on a door of a house that had been robbed. It seems that Calvin Sewell had a talent for detecting whether anyone was home by putting his ear against a door or window for some time and listening. He […] Read more

Super salesmen We spent a week in the Mexican city of Merida where we were beset on every side by men trying to hand us business cards. What they wanted was to have us patronize a business that might be located around a corner or up a dingy stairway. The stores on the main drag […] Read more

A lot of spit A cow can produce up to 50 gallons of saliva a day, says a Saskatchewan Agriculture news release. Put that in your cud and slosh it around. That’s an impressive amount of fluid but since a cow does its chewing in two stages its salivary glands work overtime. Additionally, cows solve […] Read more