The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

6 economist sunsuntribune saturday nov 13 2004 suntnbune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave stouffville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot opinion editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director of production interactive media john futhey advertising director retail flyer sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management cord paolucci letters to the editor daughter gets message i was beginning to wonder if our kids understood the real meaning of remembrance day and why they should be remembering once every year we talk to them about war how horrible it is and how may lives were lost we try to explain that their greatgrandparents fought in wars to preserve freedom and ensure the life they live today my 13yearold daughter composed a poem that reas sures me she has an understanding mark hopkins unionville my remembrance day poem why should we remember that sad sad long ago day when hundreds of men and women gave their lives away why remember i heard you say you dont care do you do you i care more now that i know tfiere are people who let their lives go i lost a great uncle to war for me that makes my heart very sore two went to that tragic fight only one came back all right you dont understand you told me last night you dont understand do you do you i didnt understand a while ago then i talked to great uncle mo he came back from the fight with pride wltile great uncle richard died oh how my grandma cried she lost a brother to war she wishes war would be no more i heard you say it before you dont appreciate it do you do you i didnt appreciate it either all those men and women who died there in flanders fields is where they lest so its our turn to do our best and preserve what they got for us as they fought for us i heard you say it just now will you remember willyou by michelle chalmers councillor right to oppose bats re disease fear shelves ballantrae bat boxes oct 28 kudos to councillor phil bannon for puting health concerns first its time to recognize residential growth needs to be factored into deci sions such as the ballantrae park renat- uralization project bat boxes raptor poles and snake hibernacula are more appropriate to centres such as bruces mill and not adjacent to an elementary school day care centre and residential properties helen alan thompson ballantrae fm not anti- american im just against bush politics dont mistake us criticism for con tempt what have you done what have you done its the question i wanted to ask my american friends after the nov 2 election but i already knew the answer they did everything they could they just lost so now we have four more years of george w bushs regressive social environmental and foreign policies that certainly doesnt bode well for science the environment or human rights in america or elsewhere for that matter do such statements make me anti- american according to many pundits and politicians weighing in on both sides of the border after the election it does the irony of course is that this is exactly the kind of youre either with us or against us mentality that drove many of the criticisms of the bush administration in the first place in his first term president bush forged a path of american unilateralism in the world commu nity he pushed a mefirst agenda and was david suzuki willing to trample human rights science and the environment to do it just ask the 5000 sci entists including 48 nobel laureates who signed a a statement accusing the bush administration of manipulation of the process through which science enters into its decisions et now those who dare criticize the choice of the slim majority of american voters who picked bush are called antiamerican well if being antiamerican means oppos ing the war in iraq supporting womens rights and progressive environmental policies oppos ing the missile defense system supporting stem cell research and of samesex marriage then sign me up but i dont believe it does simply disagreeing with that slim majority of voters does not make a person anti- american in my youth i received a scholarship from an american university worth more than my father made in a year and it allowed me to attend one of the finest colleges in the world later i earned a phd there and i am forever grateful to americans for that when i returned to canada i could not compete with my peers elsewhere in the world because of the poor funding available in canada at the time i stayed because i received a large us grant i will never forget the generosity of the us but it is precisely because i love america that i am so profoundly disturbed by what is going on there unquestioning acceptance of the status quo isnt exactly an american ideal in fact it strikes me as decidedly unamerican so yes when 52 per cent of americans vote for mr bush i will say i think they made a mis take and when 11 states vote overwhelmingly to ban gay marriage i will speak up disagreeing with a ban on samesex marriage is not a matter of being out of touch with american values its a matter of human rights pundits who insist that critics of president bush are antiamerican are really saying if 52 per cent of americans believe anything then thats what america stands for and everyone else has to respect that this is a morally relativistic viewpoint that doesnt even withstand the most basic of scrutiny and bush administration critics should not be bullied into believing it does those of us who believe 52 per cent of american voters made a mistake nov 2 dont hate americans on the contrary we care enough about the people and ideals the coun try is supposed to represent to be very very concerned take the nature challenge and learn more at wwwdavidsuzukiorg editorial editor jim mason newsroomtconsiwcom advertising managing director new business distribution sales dawna andrews dandreivsyrngcom classified manager ann campbell acampbellymgcom real estate manager mike rogerson mrogersonymgcom production production manager pam nichols pnicholsymgcom director of distributioncirculation barry black bblackymgcom director of distributioncirculation systems lynn pashko lpashkoymgcom administration office manager vivian oneil voneilyrngcom york region events managing director debraweller divelleryrngcom shows manager stacey allen sallenymgcom editorial 9052942200 fax 2941538 advertising 2942200 classified 1-800- 7433353 fax 8534626 distribution 9052948244 york region printing j itcliu dob general manager bob dean bdeanymgcom canadian ontarloprcss circulations audit council board member suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the stoufmte sun- tribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a wholly owned subsidiary oftorstar corporation metroland is comprised of 65 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thomhillvaughan crtffenthc erabanner serving newmarket and aurora georgia advocate york region business times north of the city ycfkregtoncom and vbrk region printing letters policy the markham economist sun welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the economist sun reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space letters to the editor the economist sun 9 heritage rd markham on l3p1m3