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Old and gold
Margaret Wente does not, in modern parlance, want to self-identify as a senior (Time To Soak The Seniors – June 7). I'm with her on that.
We need to scrap "senior" and come up with something that suggests a high number for age is a worthy thing, a privilege to be proud of. In the meantime, I self-identify as an old coot.
Like so many others who have been swamped by youth culture, Ms. Wente needs to learn several Coot Rules. The first, Number A-1 Rule is: It's okay to deteriorate. You don't have to run a marathon to prove your worth.
Another rule: Health care is ours by right. Who has paid the taxes that pay for medicare the longest? Seniors, that's who. That's our money. We put it there. We're entitled to it.
And never let anybody call you a boomer. A boomer is a large male kangaroo. We're old, and we're gold.
Michael Shiner, Whitby, Ont.
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Margaret Wente makes a good point about idle seniors being supported by struggling youth, but not every senior has spent a comfortable life writing columns. Those working humble jobs are inclined to be rather stiff and sore by 65. As always, the fair way of dealing with bloated wealth is to tax the blighters who have stash-ed more loot than they need in this life.
Nicholas Tracy, Fredericton
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For years, I've been telling my dad there should be seniors premiums instead of discounts, as the seniors have all the money. "But I'm on a fixed income," he'd complain as he booked another Mediterranean cruise.
I've just turned 65, and the extra $570 a month will come in handy in Greece in September, Bermuda in January and maybe Hawaii next spring. We seniors certainly don't need the money, but I don't intend to send it back.
T.S. Ramsay, Guelph, Ont.
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China's rule book
If China's representatives to Canada insist on redefining how diplomacy between our countries will be practised, let's insist in turn that they play by their own rules (China Asked For Canada's Assistance In Sending Back Fugitives – June 7.)
They don't want Canadian journalists asking questions about how China handles human rights within in its borders. Fine, but then quid pro quo. China should not seek increased extradition rights from Canada: How we practise human rights within our borders will be up to us.
And China must respect other borders – its nabbing of people off the streets of Singapore to face trial in China is completely off side with a "border" approach to diplomacy.
Dave Freeman, Burlington, Ont.
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Transparency International's Canadian branch received three delegations of officials, each from a different level of the Chinese government. Each requested our advice on fighting corruption in China and asked good questions.
When asked for our most effective instrument for that, my reply was always: "a vigorous, diligent and free press." That brought blank stares and no follow-up questions.
Enough said?
Michael Robinson, former board member, Transparency International Canada
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Perhaps China's Foreign Minister was right to say to the Western reporter, "You have no right to speak on this." After all, in Canada we put prisoners in solitary confinement – tiny, almost windowless cells for up to 640 days (640 Days, Four Walls, And One Tiny Window – Focus, June 4).
Canada has no right to ask other countries about their human rights record when we isolate our own citizens in solitary confinement for months on end.
Deborah McLean, Napanee, Ont.
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Death-law watch
Re Doctor-Assisted Death Enters Murky Area (June 7): Our Supreme Court ruled that the abortion provisions of the Criminal Code were unconstitutional in 1988. For 28 years, our Parliament has (wisely) refused to replace them. Would it not make sense to react in the same way to the Supreme Court ruling on assisted death?
Hubert Hogle, Napanee, Ont.
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Administering assisted-death treatment to successful applicants could be provided by specialists within funeral homes, as the first step to an efficient conclusion of a person's life.
That way, those who love life won't be afraid that doctors or other health-care workers might kill them.
Rodney Savidge, Fredericton
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21st-century zoos
Re The Problem With Zoos (editorial, June 4): Zoos are polarizing entities – places of wonder and discovery for many, sources of oppression and cruelty to others. Zoos, like many institutions, continue to evolve; in the case of zoos, becoming conservation NGOs, rather than sites strictly for entertainment.
Many zoos and aquariums, including the Toronto Zoo, Vancouver Aquarium and Calgary Zoo, have conservation, research and education prominently stated as part of their strategic mandates.
Various species, not just the charismatic megafauna outlined in your editorial, have been helped by captive breeding programs and other efforts in the field, including the Puerto Rican toad, black-footed ferret and Vancouver Island marmot. Zoos can, and will, improve their research and conservation activities (indeed, I am leading a large academic effort to train conservation professionals for the zoo of the 21st century), but by focusing only on the negative aspects of zoos and the animals they house, you do a disservice to the work many of these institutions are doing to conserve our planet's biodiversity.
Albrecht I. Schulte-Hostedde, director, Centre for Evolutionary Ecology and Ethical Conservation; Laurentian University
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In Ali's orbit
I grew up in awe of Muhammad Ali as a fighter and quipster, but the memory I will cherish the most is when Ali arrived in Baghdad 27 years ago to negotiate with Saddam Hussein for the release of a group of American hostages.
I was a CBC reporter staying at the Al Rasheed hotel when Ali's convoy arrived on a blistering hot November day. The hotel staff – bellboys, waiters, front-desk staff – swarmed him from the moment he stepped into the lobby. In the hotel restaurant, they lined up for autographs and photos, and Ali, exhausted and already visibly stricken by Parkinson's, obliged them all.
His staff tried to get him to his room for a rest, but he refused to leave until every Iraqi staffer had his moment in Ali's orbit.
Ali had to wait in Baghdad for a week, but his "rope-a-dope" statesmanship worked. He finally got his meeting with Saddam, and came home with 15 hostages.
Claude Adams, Surrey, B.C.
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In Grade 4 at our school, none of the boys skipped rope. The year was 1962-63. Skipping rope was "girly."
In Grade 5, we all skipped rope. Ali's reach went well beyond his hook and jab.
Brendan Hawley, Ottawa