Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 12, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba Focus a11 Winn mtg Nii 2000 mourning Lennon and our own youth by Mitch Albom what do we mourn when we mourn John Lennon he after Only on fourth of a famous the beat Les might have been to Rock n Roll what Michael Jordan was to the but excellence alone would not explain the emotional eruption that occurs every 8 on the anniversary of Lennon fans djs go radio stations play marathons of Lennon always saving his hopeful Lullaby imagine for the most poignant moment you might say in a dreamer but in not the Only one i Hope some Day youll join us and the world will live As mourners gather in Central Park for a candlelight they did it again Friday night on the 20th anniversary of his they Sang they held their the Man him self who readily admitted his fail ures As a his tendency toward his years of drug addiction and his doubts about some of his music was hardly a Saint and would never describe himself As for what Are we weeping contrary to the or the the myth Lien Ike remember that the Sage sent beatles cradled neat by our Cul la into the time me Ture Gnu of they Rose Yuu to mass popularity in dont get to just after the be Aununa death of Jonn f d6 Young the turning Point of that their most productive musical years paralleled the Vietnam War when we embraced messages like All you need is they did drug songs when we did they experimented with Reli Gions and philosophy when we were doing the they were prolific in the most volatile cultural years in american and when the 60s so did in the beatles broke now i think that had Lennon the beatles surely would have gotten Back together for As we have seen with the surviving members Paul George Harrison and Ringo Starr they Are not above making oodles of they lifted a few Lennon tracks and threw their own voices behind his to sell a series of Box sets a few years a beatles anthology Book by the three survivors now tops the bestseller a new release of their greatest hits is a to Selling cd of the Christmas if the rolling stones can keep com the Pat pc ing Backie Paul i be of Aires Simon can reunite Are never with Art comma if the eagles can put 9 aside bickering for a concert series and an neither is album if virtually Unur f every your Nisi 1960s group ally has gotten your prom or your col beatles Lee Only death halted and in so it cemented the beatles As the Only band that had to do what the rest of us did grow up and leave the 60s behind for if you ask that is Why Lennon passing still haunts us the Way it we mourn his death by not by a la Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin but we also mourn our own contrary to the message sent by our you dont get to be Young for the beatles Are never coming neither is your first your or your College when we see pictures of they Are mostly of his beatles years since in the last five years of his he was More of a we see his wild and prolific youth we see his hair switch from Bangs to shaggy to shoulder length to Jesus when was the last time you changed your hairstyle on an annual basis when you were a this is what we mourn when we mourn John the Brevity of and the inevitability of death without saying our Knight Ridder newspapers a t liberals have no agriculture policy 3fa corporate culture is winning Rural Canadas Economy continues to sink by Bradley Bird while Canadas Urban Economy continues to outdid dancing even its american the country Western farm Economy continues to in the Wake of a Federal election that carved even sharper lines into Cana Das East West this growing economic dichotomy is especially in Manitoba fewer peo ple or work on than did two years the provincial Agri cultural workforce stands at statistics Canada figures in the decline has been a loss of farm work ers Over the same to poor financial results another sign of a Slack farm Economy is the poor financial results of two of the Prairies biggest Grain handling agricole ended the year with net earnings of million and Saskatchewan wheat Pool lost an incredible theres something going on in said Vincent senior analyst for the statistics Canada labour Force that in my is a monumental and accelerating shift the dislocation of thousands of farm ers forced from the land by High interest imprudent Pur scandalous input pathetic commodity prices and the stifling result of increasing Amalga mation by this shift also entails the loss of hundreds of family farms and the lifestyle that raised the likes of Gordie Howe and Wendel Clark the closing of dozens of Rural businesses and numerous death knolls for Many communities and the weak ening of a Rural social fabric torn by economic forces born in Distant Urban to make matters this con tributes to the emasculation of a once mighty political Power gone Are the Days of John Diefenbaker and Mike Pearson squaring off to win the Al important farm the farm vote simply Doest matter any so Long As you can win big in Ontario and this loss of political Power is accompanied by a similar loss of eco nomic it want Long ago that Farmers had three elevator Compa Nies in any Given town to buy their now that Down to some times sometimes As Mas Sive Concrete units displace the Farmers could also choose their seed and inputs As they wished increase company contracts dictate what is bought and on their at their As youve Likely heard farm ers say their margins Are Small or there talking profit an article in septembers world watch notes that a typical Iowa Farmers profit margin Manitoba will be similar has dropped from 35 per cent in 1950 to nine per cent to generate the same this farm would have to be four times As Large As in 1950 or the Farmer would need to get an of farm As Many big companies whats siphoning off that profit is the amalgamation of big companies that increasingly control every aspect of farm inputs and in three companies control Over 70 per cent of fertilizer two firms control Over 70 per cent of beef and five companies dominate food in As Waskada Farmer Jim smart told Farmers Are working for the Cor consider the recent partnership Between Monsanto and which controls farm Grain Grain livestock feed process and even processed food world watch Points if Cargill is the Only seller of seed in an you buy at their if it Sells Only a particular Monsanto you buy if All this seems it this in the increasing number of Farmers who Are Selling asking others to rent their or losing their farms to the some but its hard to you have your your your life that for some is rooted Many generations where to go for Many the farm is not just a Busi Ness but a family a Homestead that Grea Grampa broke and devel leaving has crushed Many a shattered Many a the land of shattered dreams for is Rural Western Canada it is Good to see a new develop a repudiation of those expensive and polluting Chemi cals that Benefit most the companies pushing a return to natural agriculture As it was before the second world War might just help save the organic producers who eschew chemicals Are quietly reaping the the latest Liberal Victory will do Little or nothing to help conventional the liberals have no agricultural no strategy to Deal with Rural and no political reason to Limp reactions a series of Limp reactions to Struc Tural problems does not a policy the number of Farmers will continue to decline maybe that is their the Young will continue to leave for cities and other Indus the old will move to town and the old town with to be governments worldwide Are failing to manage the same prob in corporate culture is the Urban Economy booming but without the Rural for How much longer til Tnp Effii few Jet free press welcomes from they must include the authors address and Telephone number a in Mefi letters May be letters to the 1355 Mountain fax 6977412 email sports coverage is a joke i find the free press coverage of sports to be a bit of a Reading my saturday looking for a Story on last nights Moose game and finding not just a Lack of an article but not even a final what kind of excuse does Winnipeg largest news paper have for being unable to provide As much As a final score for a game that ended before local excuses that the free press is a morning newspaper dont Cut what is the use of having a morning newspaper that is unable to provide coverage of sports and news that occurred the previous evening i would be much happier if my morning paper arrived at 7 with last nights information than at 4 without Darrell Miller Winnipeg third world reality Check anyone using the phrase third world conditions in Canada has obviously never been to a third world area vacationing in a fenced in tourist compound or at an isolated Lux Ury resort Doest yet prime minister Jean Chretien used the term during his recent speech in there Are poor people in Canada and deplorable living conditions can indeed be found at Many but third world conditions try explaining the concept of social assistance to third world inhabitants and suspect youve been in the tropical Sun for too Start listing such welfare benefits As Glass dental care and be convinced you Are attempt to describe funding and sponsorship and Job creation and student loan and employment insurance and eco nomic development and employ ment equity and entrepreneurship Grant and wonder what planet you Call third world conditions in Canada any Canadian willing to and relocate if can struggle up on the economic not so in the third hard work Means sheer Only food on the anything above Basic schooling is out of the whereas in Canada education can catapult one into a pres High income in our country every individual has the Opportunity to for most residents of the third destiny is predetermined at birth poor or no matter what they most will die the Way they entered this world poor or in this coun try one chooses his destiny and strives to achieve poverty is a Complex Issue and should be a concern to All of but if you intend to moan about third world conditions in per form a reality Check before mouthing such a silly Winnipeg asian immigration discussion needed i wish to comment on the Alliance party dropping is Granger from the Winnipeg South Centre election Campaign and the fact that the Winnipeg school division Board is joining the Long list of people and agencies that Are systematically curtailing our free Dom of we used to have free speech in this country but with successive govern ments we Are being controlled in our thoughts and in our instead of listening to what is being digest and then discuss it in a sane manner to determine Why it was we now Fly off in every direction with racist or bigotry i am from i support what is Granger said about the effects of asian immigration on housing and education in it is All a matter of record and if msgr anger or myself Are then the entire news Media of Canada Are for they have carried stories on these subjects As critical commentaries in the it is the government that has caused the problem and someone has to sit Down and talk about it in a sane and sensible Dalzell time of essence for stroke victims i was very concerned when i read an article in the free press on 8 questioning Manitoba healthcare an elderly gentleman waited five hours to be seen by a doctor after being admitted to an emergency department after suffering a i was under the Assumption that time was of the essence when treating a stroke in a recent Maga Zine article reported that stroke Vic Tims who receive drugs such As spa within two hours have a 30 per cent greater Chance of making a full recovery with Little or no impairment than those who and those who Are treated within the first 90 minutes do even because Only strokes caused by clots can be treated with t a it scan must first be performed As soon As so it stands to Rea son that the earlier a stroke victim is assessed and treated can ultimately mean the difference Between life and a diminished or Catherine Brunei Winnipeg Council argues Over silly stuff As a former resident of it is Nice to see my former City councillors still arguing Over the silly it was grass cutting on now it is cleaning driveways after the As usual this will have to be studied to death before something is Why cant Winnipeg just think something through and do it i really do not think cleaning the end of your driveway is a major hardship com pared to the Benefit of having your streets cleaned and in they do not clean residential streets they wait for it to you Are required to clean the sidewalk in front of your property within two Days of a you want cheaper property but Are not willing to give things up to get Ksenzuk Alta doonesbury Ima Kaip me protest Mesa pit of a Dupont hate to work Astorr Kejr Eft went has oar he Funch a slice for i Ittel Ini list ;