Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 25, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba Focus a15 Frlj ill May 2000 the Lake itself is not what it was a year ago change is constant on Lake that looks eternal our great Inland Lake win has the look of eternity but it is never the it is in con Stant the evidence is in front of my cot Tage at Winnipeg the Shoreline is configured with a new arrangement of stones and pebbles harbouring a Patch of Fine nature has unfolded a shifting created by wind and the crush and move ment of ice in play since last the Lake itself is not what it was a year a phenomenon that goes there has been a Complete turnover of water in the South Basin within the past a Normal occurrence because the Lake is relatively it empties with agility into the into the North and finally into Hudson on the water is replaced in the South Basin every 22 to 43 calculated by dividing the volume of the Basin by the input of the tributaries recorded by gauging people Are amiable and open ing their cottages for another Manitoba usually a salubrious season to make up for the Rigours of my children Are Busy tending their variety of Trees and i remove the leaves by the garage to see How my Lily of the Valley is they look healthy and soon they will be spread transforming this Shady spot into a treasure of memo Ries and familial the Lily of the Valley has a lineage of More than 60 beginning at the Home of my late to my to the Homes of my children and to their i walk Down Prospect Street and feel uncomfortable and cottagers Are applying such copious amounts of poisonous pesticides to get rid of dandelions that the air is acrid with the we go to Gimli and the first thing we do is go for a promenade on the its the place in Gimli to see people and observe the nautical the big Harbour is Home to pleasure sail freighters and fishing it makes me think that Here on the even excluding Hudson we can Lay claim to being a maritime for Prairie people love the sea and not because it is As one wag has is it a search for adventure and Romance Why is it that Prairie youths made up a sizable pro portion of the Navy during the War the pull of the sea is real on the we Are never far from water in Man we have hundreds of lakes and surface water takes up 16 per cent of our the Shoreline of Lake the takes in a distance of a Little further than it would take to travel to Oklahoma canadians say they Are privileged to live in this Manitoba is part of this a land of diverse habitat and a place so big one can find peace and Tranquility and spleen and we have our Lake the most pronounced on the Plains of the continent with its three big lakes Manitoba and win the past weekend was notable because the opening of cottages was coincident with the Start of the com Mercial fishing set not by the Calendar but by tests to ascertain 90 per cent of fish have Fishers were up before Dawn setting their nets marked with buoys and the Winter catch had been Good and there was wonder and expectation of a Good summer More Gimli i am Are berthing in Winnipeg Beach Harbour because they think the catch is More Bountiful in these normally Fishers lift their nets the morning like Paul who has been fishing for half a Century in open went out later to lift one of his for which i am most thank i dined on Lake Winnipeg Pickerel that Fried in the flavour so the texture perfect an extraordinary Victoria Day Val Werier is a Winnipeg his column appears on t persian Gulf War disclosures action in persian Gulf has a name War crimes by Robert Jensen did a general in the persian Gulf War violate rules of engagement in murder iraqis after the ceasefire that the claim of journalist sey Mour Hersh in the May 22 new yorker the former general and current Federal drug Barry has arguing that he is the victim of a journalistic which one is right it Doest really the incidents Hersh writes about in the context of the massacre americans Call the persian Gulf relatively and therein lies the problem with the by focusing on the actions of a Comman Der in a limited americans risk forgetting what military forces did in Iraq in 1991 across the on a daily in full View of All the with what was done has a name in the rest of the though it cant be spoken in polite american circles War americans have yet to come to terms with the enormity of the crimes their government and military car ried out in if Hershy allegations Are Mccaffrey conduct was reprehensible and but those actions Pale in comparison to the brutality the military unleashed on the people of Iraq throughout the what brutality what crimes Start with the most Basic facts about the attack on civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Geneva conventions Are Clear on these matters civilians shall not be the object of the charge to military forces in the in Security Council Resolution was to expel the iraqi forces that had invaded to do tons of bombs were dropped Over one of the most concentrated attacks on an entire society in modern those bombs killed civilians both directly and Over time through the destruction of the country Power water treatment and sewage some of that bombing of civilians was some indiscriminate both Are War crimes under the Geneva recall the Highway of the deadly stretch of Road in Kuwait that was littered with burned out vehicles and charred military in violation of International fired on retreating and largely defenceless iraqi soldiers just before the pilots described it in news accounts As a Turkey shoot and like shooting fish in a the carnage was not Only unnecessary but remember the brutality of napalm was used to incinerate entrenched iraqi Ameri cans dropped fuel air ghastly weapons often called near nukes because of their destructive capacity through asphyxiation and Cluster bombs that use razor Sharp fragments to shred people were to penetrate depleted uranium shells were the Lon term health effects of which Are widely accepted notions of proportionality and Protection of civilians go out the window with such though the shooting War has the most onerous economic embargo Ever imposed on a nation continues supposedly designed to rein in the regime of Saddam Hus the harsh economic sanctions have Only killed innocents As Many As one million in the past according to in in Short it is misleading to Call the persian Gulf War a War it was a Mas in the words of British journalist Geoff who has studied the War in it was a massive Slaugh Ter of a largely helpless with much of the killing occurring after the time when constructive diplomacy would have brought an end to the conflict and a secure liberation of that is an assessment Many people Likely the vast majority around the world would agree but one rarely voiced in the United my goal is not to defend but no matter How guilty he might i fear that demonizing him will divert attention from assessing the responsibility of those politicians and top offi cers who planned and executed the and it will keep americans from asking Why citizens with so much political Freedom have done so Little to hold those politicians and offi cers accountable for the crimes committed in their Robert Jensen is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Texas at this article is from the los Angeles letters to the editor the free press welcomes letters from they must include the authors address and Telephone letters May be letters to the 1355 Mountain r2x fax email . Motorcycles get full Lane Curtis Gui Boche writes in his cyclists must follow rules letter in your May 8 edition that cyclists have the right of Way for a whole half Lane on the just the same As a Motorc this is As a motor motorcycles Are entitled to a full Lane just the same As four wheel motor Lehi when other four wheel vehicles share our not Only is it it is extremely hazardous to the motor Cycle Marcel Normandeau past communications director coalition of Manitoba motorcycle groups Winnipeg seeking fulfilment on journey As we sat together sunday reflecting on the past week and look ing ahead to the we came across the article by Gordon Toombs buddhism As a midwife for rebirth of the free May our initial reaction was to be defensive toward what we perceived As an attack on our own Toombs appeared to be contrasting the doctrinal claims of buddhism with those of finding it necessary to degrade referring to it As a childhood stage of spiritual level he blamed the Church for the Lack of spiritual fulfilment that Christian followers May it was his belief that christianity was a doctrinal while buddhism was a Way of Toombs also contrasted christianity As theolo and buddhism As an what we found to be most unfortunate was Toombs error in com paring buddhism wit the or Humankind interpretation of the Christian it would have been much More interesting to compare the two than to hold christianity responsible for at flawed application of its we began by stating that our initial reaction was to be even angry toward this changed As we read the last line of which stated that he himself was a retired Clergyman in a Christ Ian our feelings changed to respect for the Faith journey that Toombs is on and sympathy for a Man who did not find spiritual fulfilment in the Faith he devoted his lifes work for christianity is not but we continue to find fulfilment in our Faith in Jesus life and Faith Are not without questions and longings for but we continue to be amazed at How god can bring clarity and Comfort in the midst of our our Hope and prayer for Toombs is that would find fulfilment in his wherever it leads Mary and Ryan Amadeo Winnipeg dont play race card i take exception to the letter by Feder Al tory supporter Tom Goodman of Stonewall Manitoba pcs choose dumb or free May Goodman attacks the provincial progressive and in particular the provincial pcs who have chosen the Canadian Alliance As the Best alternative to the liberals in the next he is entitled to his negative Opin Ion about what like minded Small c conservatives in Manitoba Are doing to prepare to defeat the liberals in the next Federal Good Man is not entitled to infer that the provincial pcs or the Canadian Alliance Are Goodman stated that can the provincial pcs expect to hold the support of those who feel intimidated by the Canadian Alliance jews and other minorities for exam this Type of inflammatory state ment is completely the Canadian Alliance has Many sitting members from the very minority groups that Goodman believes Are intimidated by in our caucus has the highest Propp Rtin of Minori ties of any party sitting in the House of does Goodman believe that these members of Parlia ment Are racist As Well i describe All including As i appreciate As a Federal progressive Conser Tom Goodman is unhappy that canadians have turned away from his he is not entitled to use the race card in his political Howard my Selkirk Interlake Prairie Farmers being cleared i wish to make what i think is a chill ing comparison Between a time Long ago and the present in my ancestors left Scotland for the red River settlement to Start a new they were victims of the infamous Highland clearance where Small Farmers were forced to leave their Homes and Way of life and left to die by the if make their Way to a new today in Rural the Prairies a similar situation exists and has for some where once there were five or six families farming a Given amount of now there is does anyone Stop to think what has happened to the other four or five families obviously they dont die As but their Way of life surely in told that its More efficient to have Large Economy of scale and so in told there is nothing i can do about in a Small Farmer faced with a similar dilemma to that of my i fear someday i will be a victim of the Prairie history is repeating except this time there Are no new countries to go James Munroe Warren myself am too regarding but this spelling Rule is written in Stone free May if Bob Mcdonald is this cites communications i Hope he reviews his English grammar rules before he damages More plaques or while its has been Mcdonald is it was a Little embarrassing for the department and for i Hope he was it was embarrassing for myself is a reflexive and is misused too often by everyone from celebrities and politicians to communications officers who should know at this Point in time myself am is Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau ican with 7h4ws m ;