Same old, same old

About four years ago, I wrote a letter to the editor of 'The Calgary Herald', saying pipelines will never get built.  Yesterday, Margaret Wente of  'The Globe and Mail' wrote a column saying exactly the same thing.  There is too much emotional, non-scientific objection to pipelines by too many people and it's very sad because wither Alberta, wither the Canadian economy and wither jobs. 

It's ludicrous.  And will Trudeau "lite" do anything?  No.  To get past those throwing themselves in front of bulldozers he will have to do what his father did:  Declare the War Measures Act and call in the army.  But he doesn't have the nuts.

Yesterday there was a great opinion piece in 'The Globe', written by a former Playboy Bunny.  "Why I became a Playboy Bunny" was penned by a former Bunny who worked for Hefner in London, England, in the sixties.  When Hefner died, I wrote about what a feminist I thought he had been (see "I thought he was a feminist", 28/09/17) and I stand by that piece -- especially after having read the first-person account of this woman whose life was turned around by having been one.

"The strict regimental training was brutal and quickly whittled out the less stalwart," writes Mary Sharina, a.k.a. "Bunny Zoe".  She became a croupier -- a skill that took her around the world and made her lots of money.  "Playboy club management realized that most of their Bunnies had disapproving parents, so they invited parents for a tour of the club, a reassuring talk and a complimentary dinner.  Once wined and dined -- it was the first time my parents had dined on haute cuisine -- my dad was a convert," she says.

Zoe was able to buy her parents a telephone, vacuum cleaner, colour TV and washing machine -- all of which transformed their lives of drudgery.  "I regret nothing.  It gave me my financial freedom, enough money to help my family and plenty of opportunities to travel.  My skill as a croupier would eventually take me around the world.  I felt empowered, not demeaned, and I look back over the years feeling privileged and proud to have been a part of something so iconic.  How many women can say the same?" she writes. 

Amen to that.