Re: A corporate ripoff, July 16.
I work in a store that has just started collecting donations for a local charity. We do ask customers if they would like to help support this charity. I agree that today it seems as though every company/corporation is asking their customers for money to support some cause or to give to some charity. Where this money is going is anybody's guess, but I would like to believe that they are indeed giving it to charity.
Since reputation is such a strong selling point for many companies, they would be very foolish to not give the money to the charity they indicate, or purposefully make interest off this money.
I think the reason people don't like this way of raising money is because it's an issue of guilt. People do not want to say no to giving money to charity, it makes them feel guilty. If you are giving money because you feel guilty, you are not giving for the right reason(s). Don't be afraid to say no when the cashier at the supermarket asks you for that dollar. But also make sure you are generous with the money that you do have and give from the heart.
JONATHAN EPP
Winnipeg
Water-park fee too pricy
Re: Water park plan all wet: councillors, July 16.
It's nice to see at least some city councillors are thinking about the citizens of Winnipeg. How is the $20-$35 range accessible even to middle-income families? We could go maybe once a year and with toddlers, we could only stay maybe two hours. So I'll pay $100 or more for two hours? I don't think so. This is frustrating. Why aren't these funds helping the recreation centres and pools in the city to make those more fun for families?
NANCY BURNS
Winnipeg
Festival great, but 'ungreen'
I think the Winnipeg Folk Festival organizers deserve kudos on a first-rate festival. They offered a fabulous lineup, wonderful volunteers and a friendly crowd. The washable plates and easy access to recycling blue boxes was impressive.
However, the total disregard for emission control was irresponsible and harmful to our Earth. The parking lot holds hundreds of vehicles and they were all filtered out through one exit. After the Sunday night concert, it took us an hour to get out of the parking lot.
Perhaps the festival could explore possibilities of multiple exits, offering shuttle service to quiet camping and re-opening the west end "campers gate" -- a pedestrian gate that cut a couple miles off the walk back to Birds Hill Park. At the very least, signage encouraging motorists to refrain from idling their vehicles would be helpful.
The City of Winnipeg did run shuttle buses but I couldn't find information on schedules or fees. I phoned Winnipeg Transit and was told I should look for the transit supervisor on site. Isn't there some old saying about a needle and a haystack? I asked six different volunteers and park employees but nobody knew anything about the shuttles. Perhaps this information could be more readily available.
At a time when numerous Canadian cities are contemplating the ban of drive-through restaurant services, a parking lot full of idling vehicles certainly does not merit a green star for environmental awareness.
JESSE GREEN
Estevan, Sask.
Insulted by comments
Re: Singer skewers sponsor, July 14; Singer's false note, July 15.
Can you imagine Mitch Podolak, Trotskyist and Jew and founder of the Winnipeg Folk Festival, apologizing to Volkswagen because a protest folk singer sings a song called Maginot Line and reminds audiences of Volkswagen's association with Adolf Hitler during the 1930s when production of the "people's car" was promoted as a means of dealing with unemployment during the Nazi period? As a German Canadian, I am insulted by Robert Vincent's comments that Volkswagen was a "good thing" in spite of Hitler's "excesses." That's like saying Mussolini was a good man because he made the trains run on time.
Congratulations are in order for Vancouver singer Geoff Berner for his performance in carrying out the traditions of a folk festival that has played host to protest singers and political musicians like Billy Bragg, Bruce Cockburn, Buffy Saint Marie, and Pete Seeger. Berner also wrote a song about the 2010 Olympic Games regarding the closing of a coroner's office that was investigating the deaths of children, in order to make room for an Olympic event.
Berner's comment that a folk festival is a politically left-leaning event is correct. What is unfortunate is that, for the last 15 years, Winnipeg's folk festival has been a corporate-driven music festival with little political content, instead of being a folk festival.
While I agree with Bartley Kives that there is an uneasy coexistence between corporate sponsorship and protest music, the essence of protest music is to exercise the right to freedom of speech and take on the corporations. But to apologize to a corporation is unconscionable!
NICK TERNETTE
Winnipeg
Kudos to MTS Centre staff
I recently attended an event at the MTS Centre with my 19-year old-daughter who had undergone knee surgery three days prior to the event. We were worried about attending this event under the circumstances of a recent surgery, but the minute we walked into the MTS Centre, we knew we were going to be well cared for. We were greeted by staff who went out of their way to make sure we had comfortable seating and helped us in any way possible. They accommodated us with handicap seating and provided a wheelchair to and from the seating area.
I can't tell you enough how grateful we were for the attention and care that the MTS Centre staff gave us.
PEGGY & JACKIE GLASSCO
Winnipeg
Deserter issue complex
It was with considerable interest that I read recent responses to the debate as to whether military deserters should be allowed asylum in Canada. I believe that to get the right answer, we must first ask the right question.
America's leaders are famous for trumpeting patriotism, usually when blind obedience is needed from the masses. This is not to suggest that this is some uniquely American propensity. To quote a non-American who truly understood the value of patriotism: "The people can always be brought to the bidding of their leaders. All you have to do is tell them that they are in danger of being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism" (Hermann Goering).
This is a complex and deeply emotional issue. Such debates cannot be summed up by double-edged quotes and narrow-minded rhetoric. Quoting warmongering generals like Douglas MacArthur does little to convince me that a soldier cannot decide whether a war is just or unjust. It is undeniable that most Americans now realize that the invasion of Iraq was an unjustified, illegal waste of thousands of lives.
The question at the core is: What if that soldier discovers that he or she has been sent to war for immoral reasons or an unjust cause? Should he or she have the right to say no? To quote one more old demagogue, "Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president" (Theodore Roosevelt).
WAYNE ENNIS
Winnipeg
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