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The Citizen, 2010-04-08, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010. PAGE 5. If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes. – Charles Lindbergh Lovely sentiment, Chuck, but it’s a bit late for that. Back in 1927, when Lindbergh flew his flimsy single-seater Spirit of St. Louis from Long Island, New York to Paris there were, what – perhaps a couple of hundred planes in the air, world-wide? Today, according to Google there’s an average of 27,319 flights per day. And that’s just commercial flights within the continental U.S. air space. There are more than 1,000 airlines worldwide. You do the math. We don’t get to choose between birds and airplanes these days and it would be tough to say which species there are more of up there. Lindbergh made his historic flight in a day and a half, subsisting on one canteen of water and five cans of army rations. Heroic stuff – especially when you consider that he wouldn’t even be allowed to board his own plane these days. Well think about it. In his emergency supplies Lindbergh carried a hunting knife, a large needle, four flares and a hacksaw blade. Nowadays any airplane traveller would be busted for the “suspicious liquid” canteen alone. A hunting knife? A large needle? Lindbergh would be Guantanamo bound before you could say Dick Cheney. I don’t know about you, but I have an acute case of “Passenger Paranoia” these days. I no longer know what’s allowed and what will get me spread-eagled on the tarmac with a taser at my temple. Is my roll-on deodorant still kosher? Can I wear arch supports in my sneakers? I saw a movie once where a guy got stabbed to death with a ballpoint pen – are they going to confiscate my Papermate? Now they’ve caught a fruitcake who was wearing explosive underpants. I can’t imagine how delightful my next pass through airport security is going to be. Yet it is truly amazing what some people still try to take aboard. A list of carry-on items recently snagged by customs agents at three New York airports includes: • a live baby alligator • a fully-gassed up chain saw • a two-metre-long African spear • a two-handed broadsword Not to mention several baseball bats, a shower rod, a selection of rodeo whips, several fire extinguishers, one rack of 10-point deer antlers and, oh yes – a kitchen sink. I’m not clear how you would use a kitchen sink to hijack a jumbo jet, but still…. Then there was the schnook who showed up at Vancouver International Airport just before the Olympics and set his nylon packsack on the security conveyor belt preparatory to flying to Toronto. The security guy at the x-ray machine looked at the image from the packsack, blinked, called a colleague over for confirmation – and then summoned the Mounties. The guy was attempting to board the aircraft with a fully-loaded .38 calibre Smith & Wesson revolver in his backpack – along with extra ammunition. Have these people not seen a newscast since before Sept. 11, 2001? What can they possibly be thinking? Personally, I think it’s the airports that are making us nuts. Last time I ran the gauntlet of rent-a-cops at airport security they pounced on my nail clippers and confiscated them enthusiastically. Five minutes later I was through security and eating ham and eggs at an airport restaurant – with a complimentary set of stainless steel cutlery. Right next to the restaurant there was a luggage store with a special on suitcases. Suitcases? At an airport? Does some retailing genius actually think that I, having just been groped by security, my boarding pass clutched in my teeth, desperately scanning the departures screen for the right gate to catch my connecting flight to Red Deer, am going to stop in the middle of the concourse to upgrade my travel luggage? Now that I think of it, it’s not fear of flying I suffer from – or even “Passenger Paranoia”. What I’ve got is a bad case of Terminal Illness. Arthur Black Other Views Up, up and away… It’s never easy to say goodbye to anyone and when we lose someone we love, there are always 1,000 things we would have changed. There are fights we wouldn’t have started or things we wouldn’t have said and ways we feel we could have maybe stopped what happened to our now-departed loved one. In last week’s issue of The Citizen, I wrote a story about departed OPP officer Vu Pham in which I spoke to his colleague and Blyth resident Russ Nesbitt. While Nesbitt was initially apprehensive about discussing such a personal matter with me, when I clarified what it was that I wanted to talk to him about, he accepted my invitation. Nesbitt said that he was honoured to have been asked to be a pallbearer at Pham’s funeral. He said “when someone asks you to do that, you step up to the plate and you do the best you can for him”. Exactly. Being a pallbearer and being important enough to someone to be with them as they enter their final resting place can only be regarded as one of the highest honours a friend can receive. It has been one of the great honours of my life to serve as a pallbearer twice, when both of my grandmothers passed away. When my Oma passed away (on my mother’s side) I wasn’t quite old enough to fairly support my weight of the casket, but my hand was on the handle as my uncle Michael stood behind me and helped to keep up our end of the bargain. My other grandmother (on my father’s side), passed away two summers ago and it was her male grandchildren who came together around her coffin to bring her to her final resting place outside of her beloved church in Kemptville. I remember walking alongside my cousins as the warm and moist weather brought bugs to swarm our faces and resulted in sweaty palms struggling to keep hold of my grandmother’s casket. But I knew, as I’m positive my cousins did too, that our arms, cut off at the shoulder, would hit the ground before our grandmother’s casket did. And with my Oma, I strained my Grade 8 muscles as hard as I could to keep up with the other men as we carried her away. With so few things left to do for the departed, being a pallbearer, in my mind, is one last thing I could do for them; and in my cases, I would do the best job I could do. At the suggestion of several family members, I didn’t visit my grandmother in the hospital when she had taken ill. That is a regret that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. When a day arose that allowed me the opportunity to drive to see her (16 hours round trip), it happened to be my birthday and I was prepared to make the drive, but because of the state my grandmother was in, I was dissuaded from making the trip and she passed away a few days later. Being a pallbearer for her was the least I could do for her to atone in my mind for not seeing her before we lost her. When one of my best friends Sarah died, I volunteered myself as a pallbearer before I had met most of her family for the first time. But it’s the honour and the chance to do one last good deed that drives a decision like that. So while it was difficult for me to ask Constable Nesbitt questions about his fallen brother in arms, I know that it doesn’t compare to how difficult it was for him to carry out his task, but that the decision to answer the call to be a pallbearer wasn’t a difficult one at all. McGuinty ignores abuses Saying goodbye Ontario has a long history of welcoming those who abuse human rights in their own countries providing they bring business opportunities from which it can make money and Premier Dalton McGuinty has now almost written this in stone. The Liberal premier has given a warm reception to a senior cabinet minister in India who has been identified as helping organize riots in which more than 3,000 Sikhs were killed. The premier met behind closed doors with transport minister Kamal Nath, while 500 members of Ontario’s Sikh community protested. McGuinty said the two talked about trade and he prefers a policy of “open engagement” with foreign dignitaries. This appears a diplomatic, sanitized way of saying he is open to receiving anyone who brings prospects of doing business and does not want to get into issues that embarrass, such as crimes they have committed back home. McGuinty has visited India and Pakistan and views them as prime future sources of business, because their wealth is increasing rapidly and they are able to buy from other countries. Ignoring rights abuses in the countries of the Indian sub-continent as well as others has been the Ontario way for a long time. Progressive Conservative premier William Davis rolled out the red carpet for a president of Pakistan, General Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, noted even among the world’s most bloodthirsty tyrants. Zia had seized power in a coup, executed his predecessor, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, imposed martial law, banned dissent, had many who spoke against him murdered or publicly flogged and repeatedly ignored the protests of such groups as Amnesty International. Zia called his trip a “goodwill tour,” but what goodwill could such a vicious dictator bring Ontario except perhaps that he had flogged a mere 200 of his citizens that day? Davis raised no concern and this was in line with his attitude that he had no knowledge of overseas issues and they were not in his official jurisdiction, except when he praised Israel or knocked the Soviet Union, which were good for votes here. But it is difficult to believe a premier would not ask his staff for a file on anyone who visited him and more likely he knew about the abuse by his visitor and turned a blind eye. Davis gave an even heartier welcome to another general turned president who murdered political opponents on an even larger scale, Suharto of Indonesia, who was estimated to have caused the deaths of one million real, or suspected, political opponents and banned free speech and open elections. Suharto came saying he wanted to attract investment and promote trade. Davis treated him to a welcome at the airport and equivalent of a state dinner at the Ontario Science Centre. The province’s elite were forced to hear this outstanding contributor to international culture explain he was trying to bring his people “democracy and spiritual wellbeing”. Davis also treated Suharto’s wife to a sightseeing tour of Niagara Falls and may have felt he and Suharto had much in common, because the premier had five children and constantly impressed the importance of family values. The province gave a similar warm welcome to Prem Tinsulanonda of Thailand, another general who seized power and was high on Amnesty’s list of those who repressed, tortured and operated death squads. Ontario welcomed a premier of Iran at a time when the Shah’s prisons were notorious even among those of the world for their torture. Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, still one of the strongest barriers to democracy in Africa, also was among those the province wined and dined. Ontario MPPs in all parties once tried to designate a committee of their own to look at and condemn political killings, torture and terrorism abroad, but it never quite got off the ground. A Liberal government has now gone back to the dark ages, saying it prefers not to know of crimes committed in their own countries by those with whom it does business, which probably smoothes the wheels of commerce, but cannot make Ontarians feel proud. Eric Dowd FFrroomm QQuueeeenn’’ss PPaarrkk Shawn Loughlin SShhaawwnn’’ss SSeennssee Letters Policy The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters that are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis of unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate information. As well, letters can only be printed as space allows. Please keep your letters brief and concise.