It’s welcome news that engineering giant SNC Lavalin is prepared to take Atomic Energy of Canada off the federal government’s hands, and out of federal taxpayers’ pockets (Sale Puts Ottawa Out Of Nuclear Business – June 28). It is critical that we put all future electricity projects on a level playing field and stop the practice of allowing nuclear companies to pass their cost overruns on to taxpayers. Cheaper and safer alternatives must be given full consideration before we proceed with sinking billions more dollars into unreliable and high-cost nuclear energy.
Angela Bischoff, Ontario Clean Air Alliance
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Rocked, rolled
Looking at the road roller crushing a field of bottles containing alcohol and drugs, I winced at the thought of good Scotch going to waste (Pakistan: Ceremony Puts The Crunch On Drug Abuse And Illicit Trafficking – June 27). But what made me wince even more was calling the machine a steamroller. The pictured behemoth was a diesel roller; steamrollers went out of style more than 50 years ago.
I grew up on Public Works stations around Jamaica, where my father was a supervisor. I was fascinated by the steamrollers – ponderous beasts whose guts had to be stoked with coal, wood or, later, heavy oil and lit every morning to build up the steam to propel those monstrous steel wheels. The hissing steam, whirring flywheels and slow, menacing pace never failed to delight us boys. The diesel rollers that replaced them were just as interesting, especially when we watched them transform gravel and rocks into flat substrates, then smooth the fresh asphalt layer into what country folk, enamoured by a new wonder fabric, called “nylon roads.”
Keeble McFarlane, Toronto
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Mavi Marmara
Contrary to Kevin Neish’s contention that there were no weapons per se on the Mavi Marmara, hard-core Islamists from the IHH terrorist organization were aboard the ship armed with lethal guns, automatic weapons, knives, metal rods, firebombs, Molotov cocktails, slingshots and other weapons that were used to attack Israeli forces as they tried to interdict the flotilla (One Year After Fatal Clash, A New Freedom Flotilla Sets Forth – June 28). Israel's well-documented position is that it was well within its rights in enforcing a legal maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip to prevent weapons from getting into the hands of Hamas terrorists.
Mike Fegelman, executive director, HonestReporting Canada
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Hair today, gone ...
I think it’s fair to say that most Americans, myself included, won’t mind paying to keep Rod Blagojevich in prison, if only to keep him off of television and out of politics for a time (Blagojevich Convicted Of Trying To Sell Obama’s Senate Seat – June 28). But this American will draw the line at paying for “maintenance” of the famous Blago hair. Perhaps the prison has an in-house salon that can take care of things.
Mary Stanik, Minneapolis, Minn.
