My comments are newspaper articles that are published. (PART VIII)

Various newspapers around the world invite their readers to submit their views for publication on the various articles they publish. What follows are nine submissions of the many of mine that were published. I will quote in part some of what was published by THE TORONTO STAR and then give you my published comments typed in bold.

Ontario Provincial Police responded at 5:15 a.m. on the first day of September 2008 to reports that a black Yukon SUV and maroon-coloured Pontiac Grand Am or Grand Prix sedan were racing at high speeds, passing each other on the eastbound lanes of Highway 401 near Milton, Ontario. One car tried to merge with the other one and that started the road rage. The driver of the Pontiac came in front of the SUV and jammed on the brakes, causing the SUV to swerve, hitting the guardrail. The driver of the SUV was ejected from his vehicle when it rolled over. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the Pontiac sped off but investigators later arrested a 39-year-old man, thanks in part to tips from the public. Wayne Winsor, of Milton, was charged with criminal negligence causing death, dangerous driving causing death and fail to remain.

The minimum sentence should be 20 years in prison

I think drivers who kill someone because of their dangerous driving should be convicted of manslaughter and serve a minimum of 20 years in prison. If that doesn't act as a deterrent, I don't know what will.

Published by the Toronto Star on September 12, 2008


An anti-abortion group is calling on the prime minister to change the rules governing who gets the Order of Canada. Angelina Steenstra of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign says membership should not be given to people who cause divisions within Canada. Steenstra's group delivered a box of petitions Wednesday to the Governor General's residence in Ottawa, which she said contained the signatures of 30,000 Canadians opposed to the naming of abortion doctor Henry Morgentaler to the Order of Canada.

His life had an effect on many people in Canada

It must be remembered that because of the courage of this man, hundreds of women didn't die every year as a result of them committing abortions on themselves. It takes a lot of courage to fight the government and he successfully did that subsequently and brought in new laws that protect women from harming themselves via their own attempts at bringing about their own abortions

Published by the Toronto Star on September 1, 2008


Once upon a time, a young and handsome king ruled over a land of mountainous splendour and crushing poverty near the southern tip of Africa. He liked to marry, and as the years passed, he took 13 brides, each of them a great beauty. His subjects wanted him to be happy, but some also thought taking so many spouses was an extravagance. After all, Mswati III often provided these wives a retinue, a palace and a new BMW. This all came to the fore as great event approached. To prepare for the day – the 40-40 Celebration, so named to honour the king's 40th birthday and the nation's 40th year of independence – a new 15,000-seat stadium was built and a fleet of top-of-the-line BMW sedans was ordered for the comfort of visiting dignitaries. Once again, some people wondered how the kingdom, Swaziland, could afford the expense. Some 1,500 of citizens of that small nation grumpily marched in protest through the capital after news reports said several queens and their entourages had gone on an overseas shopping trip aboard a chartered plane. Poverty has entrapped two-thirds of the people, leaving hundreds of thousands malnourished. And these days, death casually sweeps away even the strong. Swaziland has one of the worst rates of HIV infection in the world. Life expectancy has fallen from 60 years in 1997 to barely half that now. Nearly one in three Swazi children has lost a parent.

Nothing has changed

Tin pot dictators continue to use up their country's resources to make themselves appear to their people as if they are the saviours of their countries. The more they spend on themselves, the poorer their people get. I think it is shameful that other countries send their representatives to countries like that when the tin pot dictators spend so much money on their extravagant birthday parties.

Published by the Toronto Star on September 7, 2008

A malicious email circulating on the Internet claiming there has been a deadly nuclear accident in Ontario is likely the doing of Russian fraudsters, an official with anti-virus company Symantec Canada announced. One version arrives with the heading "A report on radiation contamination in Canada" and talks about reports of a "powerful explosion at a Canadian nuclear power station located in the suburbs of Ontario" that took place at 3 p.m. on Sept. 9th. It encourages recipients to click on an attached file showing "explosion consequences and victims' bodies. If a user clicks on the file it installs a Trojan program on their computer. It opens a back door that goes to a site in Russia. At that point, it's possible that more malicious programs can be uploaded or the computer itself can be remotely taken over.

People who send viruses into our computers should be jailed.

I believe that these people should be jailed for five years for their first offence, ten years for their second offence and twenty years for their third offence. We have to get these computer thugs out of our computer systems and away from society. The best way to avoid viruses and Trojan bugs is to not open anything that hasn't been sent to you by someone you know. Also get an anti-virus program installed in your computer.

Published by the Toronto Star on September 12, 2008
I addressed a UN conference in Vienna in 2000 on this very subject.


The lingering threat of airborne asbestos and serious damage to half a dozen buildings bordering the site of a massive propane explosion in Toronto left hundreds of people displaced from their homes, unsure of when they'll be able to return. Six buildings damaged in Sunday morning's thunderous blasts were deemed structurally unsound, leaving those residents facing the prospect of repairing their properties before they can return.

It was a big mistake

I don't think any large propane facility should be permitted to operate within a distance of at least one kilometre from any residential area and no homes should be built within the same distance from such a facility. Further, I believe that such facilities should be built at least fifty feet below the normal level of the ground. Such facilities could be built in abandoned quarries. This way, if there is a massive explosion, for the most part, the residents will never be harmed unless a tank flies in the air and lands on their home, which is probably unlikely.

Published by the Toroto Star on September 1, 2008.

Then I added;

The company should pay all the costs. They should have insurance to cover the costs of the cleanup and the damage caused by their carelessness. If they don't have the money, then their property should be sold and the costs of the cleanup and damages derived from the sale of the property.

Another reader Lloyd B., made a comment after reading my comments.

“I have to agree mainly with Dahn's comments, but who was there first? If the propane station was there first, then the people who issued the building permits and those developers who built that close to the station were at fault. If the homes were their first, then who ever allowed the propane station to be built there is to blame. This is a lot like the people who live around the Toronto airport, blaming the airport for the noise of the planes taking off and landing..... Hey, when you went to look at your house before buying it, was that when the Toronto airport has on shutdown so the developer could sell you that house. Or did you not look around at your neighbourhood to see what may cause you an inconvenience and then decide if you still wanted to live there. Unfortunately, we can blame any one for this disaster because we live in Ontario. If the developer who built those houses was not given the building permits, or the owner who wanted to put the propane station there was denied, then all they had to do was go to the OMB which is a political appointed organization that has the power to over rule your elected representatives whenever they feel like it.” Aren't you glad we live in a democracy.”


As the province prepares to add restrictions to young drivers, the widow of a trucker killed in a street racing crash has launched a safety campaign that will encourage motorists to call police when they spot aggressive drivers. At yesterday's campaign launch, police urged drivers to call 911 or dial *OPP to report the licence number of cars they see speeding, weaving, following too closely or making unsafe lane changes. Truck driver David Virgoe was hailed as a hero in June 2007 when he managed to steer his rig toward an embankment rather than into the path of other cars after he was cut off on Highway 400. In June, Nauman Nusrat, 20, was sentenced to two years of house arrest, followed by two years of probation, after pleading guilty to criminal negligence by way of street racing causing death, driving without insurance and having forged insurance documents.

Sentence is outrageous

Street racers who cause deaths to innocent motorists or pedestrians should automatically be sent to prison for a long time. Sentencing them to house arrest for two years while their victims are in their graves is outrageous. Further, I don't think calling the police while witnessing street racing or other forms of dangerous driving really works. I called the police a number of times while witnessing dangerous drivers and not once did they come onto the scene even though I was following these drivers for more than half an hour. Recently, I saw a woman speed up and go through a red light and later when I asked her why she did that, she said that she went through the red light because I wouldn't let her get ahead of me. I immediately went to the police and gave them the information. I said I would go to court as a witness. She wasn't charged with anything even though I witnessed her speeding through a red light. So much for police cooperation.

Published by the Toronto Star on September 12, 2008


A Toronto charity that claimed it received a whopping $464 million in donations for the city's poor has been shut down by the federal government. The International Charity Association Network (ICAN) embellished the amount of donations it received over a three-year period as well as the amount of good work it did in the community, says the federal charity regulator. It was part of a tax shelter scheme that saw donors get high tax receipts for low donations. An ICAN manager said yesterday the Scarborough-based charity will close its doors later this year and distribute $2 million in assets to needy groups in the city. The ICAN case is part of a Canada Revenue Agency crackdown on tax shelter schemes. Promoters cannot issue tax receipts directly, so they link up with small charities that can. The promoter, backed by a legal opinion, devises a plan for people to make a donation and get a tax receipt worth many times the value of the donation.

Rogue charities need more policing

It is because of rogue charities that I rarely give money to charities, especially when they come to my door or phone me. What the government has to do is police these charities and make sure that they can account for all of the money they get. Unfortunately for some poor souls, they are so gullible, they would even give money to an organization that calls itself, "The Society for the preservation of Passenger Pigeons. These birds were extinct in the last century.

Published by the Toronto Star on August 12, 2008


Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer said in a speech to the Canadian Bar Association that while personal details can be important to a case, she's not convinced they need to be known to the world at large. She said that the open court rule, which is extremely historically important, has now become distorted by the effect of massive search engines. Court decisions and other related documents "which contain all sorts of personal information" are now searchable worldwide, which was never intended when openness rules were devised. She said that although information in court records is considered public, it has in every practical sense stayed obscure until fairly recently, because few people besides reporters would wander into a courthouse basement to read it. The results can be devastating if intimate details about a case are published, she argued, pointing to the example of a child who was crushed after reading the court judgment from her parents' divorce case years later. As a general rule, court documents, including not just judges' decisions but lawyers' written briefs, spell out the names of the parties involved, although there are exceptions. Young offenders have their identities protected and are usually identified by initials, as are sexual assault victims. (Most media also have policies against naming complainants in these cases). Courts – including the Supreme Court of Canada – are also considering whether they should take steps to conceal names and personal information from documents posted on their websites. And they would typically look to agencies such as the privacy commissioner's office for guidance in developing a policy.

Exceptions should be made

I believe that all names that are listed in family courts should be reduced to initials only. That can be brought about with an order of the family court judge that heard the case to the court reporter who types up the decision. With respect to all other court matters, I see no reason why the full names can't be printed in the decision other than those under the age of 18.

Published by the Toronto Star on, August 20, 2008


Do students learn anything by completing 60 extra math problems at home? Some believe homework helps students perform better and learn organization and time management. Certainly for older students, there is a connection between homework, studying for tests and achievement, although research has shown more than a couple of hours a night is counterproductive. But in the elementary years, the link isn't as clear, and it has led some U.S. jurisdictions to abolish homework for primary pupils, save for reading or unfinished in-class work, as a school in Barrie, Ontario has done. In the U.K., teachers have asked for a ban on homework for primary students and limits for older ones, saying it makes children stressed and unhappy, and is especially frustrating for lower-income students. In general, most boards adhere to the 10 minutes per grade rule, meaning a student in Grade 4 should have 40 minutes of homework per night.

Homework is necessary

I have always recognized that homework is necessary. For example, a teacher will explain how to solve a mathematical problem. But in order for the student to be able to do it again, he or she must practice doing it. It can't be done in school because time doesn't permit it. It must be done at home. However where I see a problem is when other teachers are telling the student to also do homework. This can result in the student spending hours and hours doing homework every night of the school week. Students should have to do no more than one hour of homework a night. Further more, five or more teachers shouldn't be giving the students homework for each night. The teachers can spread the homework amongst them to a point where only one hour of homework is necessary. I think saddling the students with too much homework is one of the reasons why students quit school.

Published by the Toronto Star on August 31 2008