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"A Family Tradition for 134 Years" J PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, November 30, 1999 - 7 The Bod Berry Stay Question of the Week... Do you have a suggestion that Do you think it is a good idea for - vk LN g ne p hy neal 20 nt John Hume Vic Sparrow in fo high own a It's a good idea. I think someone should Something is going on because they're all get- ting together. This is a do something; the prices are too high and there's no earthly reason for that. Jane Davy-Ward Yes. The prices are exces- sive and seem to be uncontrolled. The govern- ment should control the Terry Hildred It's a good idea. I think all the gas companies are making far too much profit and if this is a lean time for them they should use those large profits to carry them through it. Yes, because as taxpayers we're getting ripped off. | don't think it's very fair. The gas prices are ridicu- you think would make a good free enterprise and they There's lots of gas and prices. lous. question of the week? should set their own oil, they're just doing Call us at 905-985-7383. prices. what they want with it. LETTERS Quality home care is under attack To the Editor: Quality, community based home care in Ontario is at risk. The Tories' American-style, competitive bidding model for the delivery of home care administered through Community Care Access Centers is resulting in non-profit agencies competing with each other and with for-profit multi-nationals. They are forced to undercut each other and bid for home care work they have pro- vided for decades. Cheaper care, poorly paid workers and privatization through competitive bidding compromises the quality and continuity of patient care by parceling out home care con- tracts to the lowest bidder. * Recently in Windsor/Essex, 226 VON nurs- es lost their jobs, and home care patients quality nursing, when the VON lost a com- petitive bidding war to for-profit, private companies, one of them an American multi- national fined $90 million for fraud in the United States. The VON had provided community-based nursing in Windsor/Essex for 72 years. As we are pushed out of hospitals sicker and quicker, we are forced into using home care. The Tories have limited the amount of home care we can have, even though more may be needed. This has put elderly people at the end of the line for home care, which was supposed to help them stay in their home longer. We all need to call our MPPs. We need to stop hospital closings. We need to fight for quality home care. Helen Gibb For the Committee to Preserve Community Health Care, Oshawa. Something on your mind? You can e-mail the editor: port.perry.star @ sympatico.ca by Jeff Mitchell MORE MILLENNIAL MORONS Deeply immersed in the morass that is taxation, | found myself (if you'll pardon the phrase) at a loss. "Explain this to ~ me," | implored one knowledgeable source, " as if | were a moron." "I have been," she said curtly. The interview kind of petered out after that. Once you've flunked at Basic Municipal Taxation For Morons, there aren't too many other options available to you. There's always Bylaws For Boobs, perhaps, or Essential Zoning for Total Idiots... but who wants to delve deeper than necessary into one's own shortcomings? But we're surrounded by things we don't understand, aren't we? One day as we watched National Geographic my boy asked me how something as big as an elephant could be squeezed through the skinny wee cable wire. ...Huh? There comes a point in every child's life, unfortunately, when he realizes that Dad isn't the all-knowing, omnipotent being he's been regarded as all along. In fact, the kid thinks, Dad may not be all that bright. In fact, he continues, | think I'm smarter than he is. It's sad. Once that awe-inspiring wisdom and physical strength is gone ("Dad can't open that jar of pickles! But Mom can!") the Dad mystique, shall we say, begins to evaporate. But it's not his fault, you see? Can you tell me, off the top of your head, how your fax machine works? Sure, you have an idea of what it does, but how does it do it? Not a clue. And when it breaks, you're at the mercy of those with the expertise. How can a machine that cost $450 originally possibly entail a repair bill of $600? Technology. Cell phones. Laptops. Home computers. The internet. Digital this. High definition that. I'm getting the willies just thinking about it. We realized, early in this century, that we were mechanizing ourselves right out of our own jobs, but we kept on. We are so enamoured and enthralled by technology that we often fail to ask the question: At what cost? Indeed: Now that we've invented everything there is to be invented, some real smart fellers are tinkering with.... us. That's right: The integration of computers, and human bodies. Cyborgs. Man-machines. Futuro-geeks. Some day, | sometimes think, I'll awake, and everything I've always dreaded will have come to pass. The missiles will be flying. The Black Death will be on the march. The Beast will have assumed mastery of the universe. Alice Cooper will be President of the United States. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks will be Stanley Cup champions. We'll all be doomed. Wait: Is this what they call Millennial Angst? Is it? Help! Nurse! Em - na oo