Cop funeral suspicions
I’ve been scratching my head for days over this royal funeral for Sgt Ryan Russell that’s taken over the city (NOW, January 20-26). I’m so sick of it, I’m turning the TV off and not bothering with the newspapers!
The coverage and level of tribute is ridiculous if not just completely bizarre. Hero? Perhaps someone should look that definition up. And who’s paying for all of this anyway?
I realize it’s sad to lose a friend, dad, co-worker, son, member of society whose job it is to help keep the peace. However, I don’t understand why one officer is getting this kind of attention. It seems suspicious. I have to wonder if this isn’t a way to shine up a heavily tarnished police force after the G20.
Sabian Talla
Toronto
Tragedy well timed for Blair
The death of officer Ryan Russell was tragic. He chose a dangerous profession, and thank goodness there are individuals willing to do this often thankless job.
My comments are in no way meant to detract from the solemnity of this sad event. Having said that, I believe it has provided a fortuitously timed platform for Chief Bill Blair to demonstrate the power of the Toronto police.
Being able to generate one of the largest gatherings of police in North American history has strengthened the force’s position that they are untouchable. How dare Rob Ford think he can dictate to Toronto Police Services? How dare the public question the alleged G20 police brutality?
W. Jorgensen
Toronto
U.S.’s history of violence
Wayne Roberts connects U.S. violence and its obsession with junk food but ignores the nation’s bloody history (NOW, January 13-19).
Arizona was the scene of a murderous rampage even more shocking than the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson. In 2005 and 2006, Phoenix, the state’s largest city, was under siege by two serial killers, one of whom killed six people, the same number as Giffords’s shooter.
Yet unlike the coverage of the Giffords tragedy, the U.S. media didn’t hype the incident.
Jacob Mendlovic
Toronto
Library demands
The urban affairs library at Metro Hall slated to close because of budget cuts is currently a reference library (NOW, January 13-19).
It ought to be a full-service library with its own collection, shared with the 123 other libraries in our (one of these days it’s going to be) great city.
With TIFF’s Bell Lightbox Tower, the Ritz and Shangri-La among the many developments within a two-block radius, there’s going to be real demand for a place to read, pick up a book, DVD, CD or spend time reading with/to your kids.
Linz Masters
Toronto
Suburbans ruin club district
Who Killed The Club District (NOW, January 13-19)? All I have to say is good riddance. No one who lives in the city gave two craps for the area. It was a playground for pathetic suburbanites and people from the areas that are Rob Ford’s Toronto.
I can’t count the number of douchebags I’ve seen disrespecting the downtown core by “slumming it in the city” for the evening, simply because they couldn’t find contentment and meaning in their working lives the other five days of the week.
The sooner buses full of screaming 20-somethings acting like they’re on some high school field trip disappear, the better. That said, I can’t wait to hit the lanes and improve my bowling average.
Stacy Edward
Toronto
To dine on swine is not fine
A whole section on pork power: Toronto’s Best Pork Dishes (NOW, January 13-19)? Come on, NOW. You’d never be caught dead doing a feature section touting Hummers, yet meat generates more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transport industry.
You’d never do a cover story on Cool Child-Labour Threads, yet apparently you can ignore the horrific conditions endured each year by the almost 30 million pigs that go through Canada’s factory farming systems. A publication can’t be serious about environmentalism or compassionate living unless it stops being pro-meat. Now, that would be power.
Kimberly Carroll
Toronto
Coral riffing
In Are Coral and Algae Calcium Eco-friendly? (NOW, January 13-19), Adria Vasil discusses ecologically correct coral calcium supplements.
I’m deeply disappointed that someone who purports to care deeply about the environment and human health would promote such bogus and potentially harmful products.
Some coral calcium from Okinawa, for example, contains dangerous amounts of lead. Coral reefs take centuries to develop and are endangered, so why promote products that will likely damage them even further?
Lastly, Vasil thinks osteoporosis is caused by calcium shortage and can be treated and prevented by calcium supplementation.
Osteoporosis is a disease of calcium metabolism, i.e., more calcium is being removed from bones than is being replaced. You can ingest adequate amounts of calcium and still develop osteoporosis.
Moses Shuldiner
Toronto
