Was John Maynard Keynes right?

The important thing for Government is not to do things which individuals are doing already, and to do them a little better or a little worse, but to do those things which at present are not done at all.

- John Maynard Keynes
From The End of Laissez-Faire [1926]

Today is the 130th anniversary of the birth of John Maynard Keynes. The influential British economist, journalist and financier was born on June 5, 1883 in Cambridge, England.  His father, John Neville Keynes, was also an economist.  His mother, Florence Ada Keynes, was a social reformer who became Mayor of Cambridge in 1932 at the age of 70.

As a young man, Keynes was selected as a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference after World War I.  He watch unhappily as the Allies imposed severe war reparations on a defeated Germany. When he returned home to England, he wrote a book, The Economic Consequences of Peace, in which he warned that the reparations would lead to a poor and unstable Germany that would eventually threaten the security of the entire European continent.  With the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany, Keynes`prediction came true.  The Allies, having learned their lesson the hard way, did not treat Germany so harshly after World War II.

It was during the Great Depression of the 1930s that Keynes made his most significant impact as an economic theorist.  In 1936, he published what is generally regarded as his greatest work, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.  While other economists were struggling to figure out what had gone wrong, Keynes challenged the prevailing economic orthodoxy and the classical liberal view that the markets would eventually settle into an equilibrium.  He argued that economic intervention should be used as a means to bring about economic recovery. Governments, he said, must come forward and pump money into the economy during slowdowns. Businesses won't do it, because they cut back on their investments during economic slumps. This, Keynes deduced, leads to a vicious circle of fewer jobs, less consumer spending and greater economic misery.

Keynes' theories were considered quite radical during the Depression era.  As Time magazine points out in its book 100 Hundred Ideas That Changed the World: History's Grestest Breakthroughs, Inventions and Theories, " . . . the idea that governments should use deficit spending as a means to correct economic decline"  was at one time "an affront to the belief that free markets functioned best when left entirely alone."

Keynes' economic theories on the causes of long term unemployment have come to be known as "Keynesian economics."  In The General Theory, Keynes contends that it is a fallacy to assume that competitive markets will produce full employment.  He argues that high unemployment and lack of investment is likely to be the natural state unless government action is taken.  Thus, the reduction of  wages and benefits not only creates financial hardship but ultimately fails to reduce unemployment.

In the 1950s and 1960s, most capitalist countries adopted Keynesian principles.  With the advent of  Thatcherism in the United Kingdom and the election of Ronald Reagan in the United States, Keynesian economics fell out favour in the 1980s.  The global recession of the early 21st century, however, has clearly demonstrated what happens when capitalism is left unrestricted and financial institutions do not have sufficient regulations.  The result is mortgage foreclosures, severe unemployment and economic recession.

I have consistently argued in this space that jobs are more important than the deficit or the debt. In fact, increased employment is the best solution for high deficits.  Job stimulus is the key to escaping the economic doldrums.  Yet, this not mean that profligate government spending is acceptable. The hard-earned money of taxpayers should and must be used responsibly. Nevertheless, as Keynes asserted, government must act at certain times or no one else will do what needs to be done.

In my hometown of Toronto, our scandal-laden, neo-conservative mayor, Rob Ford, refuses to spend tax money on improving transit.  He speaks out in favour of building new subways to ease traffic congestion but can't explain how it will be paid for without raising taxes.  Meanwhile, traffic bottleneck is costing the city a great deal of money in lost production time and hurting citizens much more than any tax increase.  Private enterprise will no produce enough money to finance the city's transportation needs.

During the 2012 American election campaign, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney repeatedly criticized what he described as President Barack Obama's "failed" economic policies.  He referred to the president's $787 billion package of temporary tax cuts and spending hikes as "the largest one-time careless expenditure of government money in American history."

Really, Mr. Romney?  Well, the non-partisan and highly-respected U.S. Congressional Office does not concur with your assessment.  According to its 2012 analysis, the stimulus package added up to 3.3 million jobs to the American economy during the second quarter of 2010.  It may have prevented the economy from falling back into recession.

Keynesians are not calling for the end of capitalism.  They are merely opposed to unbridled or unfettered capitalism.  It is the  libertarian ideals of Republicans that have truly failed.  The disastrous policies of former President George W. Bush set the stage for the terrible economic collapse of 2008 and ushered in the Great Recession.  Obama inherited the mess and the G.O.P. has been relentless in its efforts to prevent him from cleaning it up.

The neo-conservative formula is simple.  Government is bad and must be eliminated from our lives.  The free market can solve all our economic problems if we just believe in the magic of Adam Smith's "invisible hand."  Neo-conservatives like to point to Greece and its deficit woes.  They don't mention that Western European countries such as Britain, Italy and Spain, have been economically suffocated by their governments' stubborn adherence to severe austerity measures. Austerity has not cured their financial woes.  Yet these countries continue to cut back as unemployment increases and the gap between the very rich and the very poor deepens.  The sad  truth is that the situation will not improve as long as these nations remain in an economic straitjacket.

Here in Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government employed Keynesian economic measures in its 2009 budget, acting in a manner contrary to its conservative principles.  In response to the harsh global economic downturn, the Harper government introduced an estimated $40 billion in economic stimulus, including $12 billion for a variety of infrastructure projects involving roads, Internet broadband access and renovations for aging infrastructures.  Further funding  was allocated for social housing renovation projects, job training and green initiatives.  The government estimated that the $40 billion in economic stimulus would create close to 200,000 jobs.

The Harper government, in order to appease its hard-core supporters has cut back again and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has expressed frustration at the over $500 million that corporations have just sat on and refuse to invest in the economy.  Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of Canada (who will assume the position of Governor of the Bank of England in July), called it "dead money."  An exasperated Flaherty declared,  “At a certain point, it’s not up to the government to stimulate the economy, it’s up to the private sector, and they have lots of capital.”  Well, yes, but the reality is that big business has not been investing in the economy and it has not been creating jobs.  Corporations lack confidence in it and are afraid to risk their profits.  Thankfully, Canadian banks are well-regulated or this country would have suffered more economic pain when the U.S. economy crashed.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, an economist and the leader of the world's most populous democracy, spoke in support of Keynesian fiscal stimuli during the 2008 G-20 Summit in Washington D.C.  At the India-Africa Summit last week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Singh announced that his country will lend African nations $5 billion for the next three years "to help achieve the development goals of Africa with an additional $700 million U.S. dollars to establish new institutions and training programs."  The money will be used primarily to fund infrastructure, including railways, IT, telecommunications, micro enterprises and agricultural improvements such as crop diversification.  Prime Minister Singh was asked how he can feel comfortable investing in African countries when so many of them lack political stability.  Quoting John Maynard Keynes, he replied that "an act of investment is an act of faith".

The evidence has proven that John Maynard Keynes was right,  It is truly unfortunate that neo-conservatives can't or won't recognize the facts.  Their attitude is akin to that of the Flat Earth Society or those who refuse to believe that climate change is real and that human beings have contributed greatly to it.

John Maynard Keynes passed away on April 21, 1945.  He died of a heart attack at Tilton, his farmhouse reisidence near Fife, East Sussex, England.  He was 62 years old at the time of his death and was outlived by both his parents.  His father died in 1949 and his mother in 1958.  If he were alive today, I'm sure he would provide us with an incisive analysis of the 2008 economic downturn.

- Joanne

Jackie Robinson's season in Montreal and the film 42

Had it not been for the fans in Montreal, I doubt seriously we could have made the grade so rapidly.  The fans there were just fantastic and my wife and I have nothing but the greatest memories.

- Jackie Robinson
1964 interview with the Canadian Broadcastng Corporation (CBC)

Back in 1946, the great Jackie Robinson spent a season with the old Montreal Royals of the International League. The Royals played at Delorimier Stadium and they were the Triple-A affiliate for the fabled Brooklyn Dodgers.  In the 2013 biographical film 42, Robinson, as portrayed by Chadwick Boseman, is shown wearing a Montreal Royal's uniform at spring training in Florida.  42's director, Brian Helgeland, however, did not film any part of the movie on location in Montreal.

This is not surprising for several reasons.  Filming in Montreal would have increased production costs and non-Canadian audiences wouldn't have much interest in it.  Montreal Gazette columnist Bill Brownstein offered another plausible reason in his review of 42.  "The only explanation for this oversight," he wrote,  "apart from budgetary concerns, could be precisely due to the manner in which Montrealers so accepted him - as opposed to the treatment he received in the U.S. - and thus there wasn't sufficient conflict here.  And conflict, of course, is the engine that drives drama."

Jackie Robinson's time in Montreal is just a sidelight to 42's portrayal of his bittersweet first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers.  Yet, if Robinson hadn't spent a season north of the border, he probably wouldn't have been prepared to become the first black to break the colour barrier in major league baseball.

Although the Montreal Royals folded in 1960, they will always be remembered for launching the careers of Robinson and other baseball luminaries such as Tommy Lasorda, George "Sparky" Anderson and Roberto Clemente.  The city of Montreal was eventually awarded a Major League Baseball franchise, the now-defunct Montreal Expos.  The Expos joined the National League in 1969, becoming the first MLB team based outside of the United States.  In 2004, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and they  were renamed the Washington Nationals.
 

Sparky Anderson as a Montreal Royal in 1956

Tommy Lasolrda as a Montreal Royal

Roberto Clemente as a Montreal Royal in 1954

Jackie Robinson passed away on October 24, 1972 at the age of 53.  He died at his home in Stamford, Connecticut from a heart attack and complications from diabetes.  Just prior to his death, he was interviewed by Bill Mann, who was a baseball writer for the Montreal Gazette at the time.  Jackie, who had aged prematurely, was then working as a CBC commentator at Jarry Park, the original home of the Expos.  The diabetic Hall of Famer was grey-haired, visually impaired and walked with a cane.  Mann spoke to him in the press box.   Reflecting on that interview in an article last month for USA Today, Mann wrote, “Robinson looked much older than his 53 years, and he didn’t want to talk about baseball.  He wanted to talk about his year in Montreal as a young man.”

“I experienced no racism here,” Robinson told Mann.. “None. That was a huge relief for my wife and I.  The French-Canadian people welcomed us with open arms.  I’ve always had warm feelings for this city. I knew I’d come back some day if the opportunity arose.”

Jackie's widow, Rachel Robinson, is now 90 years old.  She runs the Jackie Robinson Foundation which is based in the SoHo district of Lower Manhattan.  The foundation, established by Rachel in 1973,  provides scholarships and educational support services to minority university students.

Born Rachel Annetta Isum in Los Angeles, California on July 19, 1922, Rachel is a former nurse. She married Jackie Robinson on February 10, 1946 at the Independent Church in Los Angeles.and they had three children: Jackie Robinson, Jr. (born November 18, 1946), Sharon Robinson (born January 13, 1950) and David Robinson (born May 14, 1952).  Jackie Jr. died in a car accident on June 17, 1971, less than a year before his father's passing.  Only 24 at the time of his death, Jackie Jr. had fought in Vietnam and overcome drug addiction.  Sharon, now 63, became a midwife, educator and a director of educational programming for Major League Baseball.   She is also an author who has written books about her father including Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America (2004), Testing the Ice: A True Story about Jackie Robinson (2009 with Kadir Nelson) and Jackie's Gift: A True Story of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Jackie Robinson (2010).  The youngest son, David, now 61, has ten children and is a coffee grower in Tanzania.

Jackie and Rachel's wedding photo

While in Montreal, Jackie and Rachel Robinson lived in an apartment duplex at 8232 de Gaspé Ave. in the city’s Villeray area. Jackie earned about $600 a month with the Royals.  He played both shortstop and second base and he  guided his team to victory in  the International League championship.  Robinson was chosen the league MVP that season.  His batting average was a robust .349 and he recorded three home runs, 66 RBIs and 40 stolen bases in 124 games.

Jackie hit .400 in the five-game championship (Little World Series) against the Louisville Colonels. After the deciding game, a 2-0 victory for the Royals, the jubilant crowd lifted Robinson onto their shoulders and sang "Il a gagne ses epaulettes!"  ("He has earned his stripes!").  Sam Malton who was covering the story for the Pittsburgh Courier was amazed at the strength of goodwill toward Jackie.  He wrote that it was "probably the only day in history that a black man ran from a white mob with love instead of lynching on its mind."

Rachel Robinson was pregnant with the couple's first child during her husband's season with the Montreal Royals (Jackie Robinson Jr. was born in Los Angeles after the Royals' season had ended).  World War II had just ended and food was still being rationed.  Few in the Robinson's Montreal neighbourhood spoke English and Jackie and Rachel didn't speak French.  Yet, Montrealers reached out to the African-Americans.  Local women gave Rachel their food ration coupons and helped her sew maternity wear.  Children assisted her in carrying her groceries home.

According to Rachel, when her pregnancy began to show, "Everyone around us started watching out for me, I would usually sit outside on our porch during the day, and the neighbours would come by and ask me how I was doing, or if I needed anything. If a day went by when I didn’t go out on the porch, somebody would come by and knock on the door to make sure I was okay."  To thank the neighbours, Rachel left a fruit bowl  on a table on the porch so that they could help themselves to a snack.

Jackie and Rachel outside of their Montreal home

In 1987, Rachel wrote an editorial in the New York Times to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Jackie's historic first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.  Remembering the ugly racism that she and her husband had experienced while at spring training in Flordia, she noted:

We left the South bruised, stimulated, and more contemplative than we arrived.  A more resilient pair.  Our totally opposite experience in Montreal later that year provided us with an excellent springboard into the majors … Montreal and then Brooklyn became special havens where we gradually regained our sense of ourselves and our dignity.

On February 28, 2011, to coincide with Black History Month, officials from Canada and the United States unveiled a plaque at the Montreal apartment building where Jackie and Rachel resided in 1946.  The gold plaque, printed in both English and French, was placed at the front door of the duplex.  Although Rachel Robinson was unable to attend the ceremony, she sent a letter that was read by Lee McClenny, the U.S. consul-general in Montreal.  The letter stated:

In the end, Montreal was the perfect place for Jack to get his start.  We never had a threatening or unpleasant experience there; the people were so welcoming and saw Jack as a player and more importantly as a man.

Rachel Robinson has seen 42 and she is pleased with the film.  In an April 7, 2013 article in the New York Daily News ('Rachel Robinson feels relieved and excited after watching Jackie Robinson biopic ‘42'), she is quoted as saying, “You never know how something’s going to turn out. We waited so long to have this film done. It is so important to me, and to our family and to our foundation and to everybody who cares about Jack, that I wasn’t sure what they could do with the period they had chosen.  But I think they did a marvellous job with that period. As soon as I sat down and watched it, I was relieved. And excited.”


END NOTE

If you are interested in reading further about Jackie and Rachel Robinson's time in Montreal, Jack Jedwab, executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS), has written a 1996 book entitled Jackie Robinson’s Unforgettable Season of Baseball in Montreal.  Jewab believes that Branch Rickey, president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1940s, intentionally chose Montreal when he signed Jackie Robinson because he wanted to send Robinson to a place where race was not a dominant issue.  According to Jewab, " "Race was not a powerful dimension of inter-group conflict in Montreal, or anywhere in Canada,. Language and religion have always been greater sources of tension here. Branch Rickey felt that the United States was not ready to accept a black baseball player, but in Canada, the fact that he (Robinson) was black would not be perceived as a problem. So it seems as if it was a very calculated move for Robinson to make the breakthrough with Montreal. And it turned out to be a very good calculation."

- Joanne

Tim Hudak swerves to the far right

It seems as if Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak is trying to out-Harris former Ontario premier Mike Harris.  Hudak is veering further to the right than his Harris, his former boss and ideological soul-mate.  These days, the 45-year-old Hudak spends most of his time badmouthing evil unions and radical environmentalists. He blames them for stalling Ontario's economic recovery.

Hudak has been harsh in his attacks on unions, particularly public sector unions.  As the Toronto Star's Martin Regg Cohn put it in his July 12, 2012 column, "He (Hudak) relegates unions to the dustbin of history, comparing them to rotary phones and typewriters that have been overtaken by smartphones and touchpads."
The PC leader has described pensions for teachers, civil servants and other public sector employees as "gold-plated."

In criticizing public sector pensions, Hudak is driving a wedge between private and public workers instead of trying to protect pension benefits for all.  It is a tactic that causes private sector employees to vote against their own interests due to envy and resentment of government employees.  Do you hear many conservative politicians railing against their own "gold-plated" pensions?  Hudak should keep in mind that he and his fellow government employees fill government coffers by spending money and paying taxes. “The broader issue," as Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has stated, "is to make sure that all of the people of Ontario have the prospect of a reasonable retirement."

The environment?  Last February, Tim Hudak delivered a speech to the Rural Ontario Municipalities' Association  in which he denounced measures that protect endangered species, arguing that they have a detrimental effect on agricultural and business.  He vowed that he would remove "the more than 300,000 regulations, outdated rules, and runaround you have to cope with just to get something done."

Tim Hudak has also vowed to do away with the green energy deals in Ontario.  In May of 2011, he described the province's lucrative $7-billion agreement with South Korea's Samsung Group as "odious" and promised to abolish it should his party form a government.  So much for clean, renewable energy!

Tim Hudak is not a conservative in the mould of William Davis or John Tory. He is a dyed-in-the-wool Thatcher conservative and his policies are right from the Tea Party textbook.  Hudak and Mike Harris are on a mission to remove the term "Progressive" from their party's name, figuratively speaking.

By the way way, I do not condone fiscal irresponsibility or the waste of hard-earned taxpayers' money.  The eHealth scandal, the Ornge scandal and power plant debacle were absolutely disgraceful and a huge blight on the reputation of former Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.  What I am opposed to is the whole neo-conservative philosophy that government is the enemy.

Tim Hudak has been very clear about which direction he wants to take the province of Ontario if he ever become its premier.  He has no hidden agenda.  He has told Ontarians exactly what he plans to do in no uncertain terms.  Have we Ontarians been paying attention?  Is this the vision we have for our beautiful province.  I think not.  I hope not.


- Joanne Madden

Tulip Time in Ottawa: Photos from the Ornamental Gardens

Greetings from Canada's capital.  I'm here in Ottawa this Victoria Day weekend for my cousin's wedding.  It's a great time of year to visit old Bytown.  People are simply enjoying the sunshine and riding their bicycles along the Rideau canal.  Oh yes, and they are cheering on their Ottawa Senators in the Stanley Cup playoffs.  "Go Sens Go!" signs can be spotted all around town.

The Canadian Tulip Festival is the largest tulip festival in the world and takes place in Ottawa over 18 days in May.  The festival began in 1953 to mark Canada's role in liberating the Dutch during World War II.  It is a magnificent gesture of friendship and gratitude between the Dutch and Canada.  It is a unique bond between the two nations.

The tulip is the city of Ottawa's official flower and it was given as a symbolic gift by people of the Netherlands to the Canadian people because Canada provided a safe haven for the Dutch Royal Family during the darkest days of the Nazi occupation.  Princess Margriet Francisca of the Netherlands was born in Ottawa on January 19, 1943.  She is the daughter of the late Queen Juliana and the late Prince Bernhard.  Now 70 years old, she is the first royal baby to be born in North America.

Princess Margriet

Yesterday afternoon in Ottawa, my husband and I watched the many cyclists and enjoyed the first rumblings of summer.  We visited the Ornamental Gardens located at Agri-Food Canada's Central Experimental Farm.  The flowers were in bloom and I wallowed in the scent of lilacs.  Here are some phones that I would like to share with you.  They are a floral feast for the eyes.

- Joanne

Joanne's Journal: April 25, 2013

                                   
JOANNE'S JOURNAL
Edition No. 12


Quote of the Day

"Some folk want their luck buttered."

- Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), English novelist and poet
From The Mayor of Casterbridge [1886]


On this Day 

On April 25, 1792, the French national anthem, La Marseillaise (The Song from Marseille), was written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.  A simple French army officer and a republican during the Revolutionary Wars, he wrote the song while stationed in Strasbourg, France.  It was originally titled Chant de guerre d'armee du Rhin (War Song of the Army on the Rhine) and Rouget de Lisle intended it to be a marching song for his comrades. When soldiers from Marseilles introduced it to Paris during the French Revolution, it took on it's familiar title, La Maraillaise.  In 1795, The French National Convention adopted La Marsellaise as the national anthem of the Republic.  As for Rouget de Lisle, he never wrote another song of prominence and died in poverty on June 26, 1836 in Choisy-le-Roi, in the suburbs of Paris.

Rouger de Lisle in 1792

Below is an 1849 painting by French artist Isidore Pils (1813-1875) of Rouger de Lisle singing La Marseillaise.  It is entitled Rouget de Lisle chantants la Marseillaise (Rouget de Lile singing La Maseillaise).

On April 25, 1917, Ella Fitzgerald, Queen of Jazz, was born in Newport News, Virginia.  For more than half a century, she was the most dominant female jazz singer in the United States.  Known as the First Lady of Song, she had an amazing vocal range.  During her magnificent career, she received 13 Grammy Awards and sold more than 40 million albums.  Plagued with health problems, Ella died in her Beverly Hills, California home at the age of 79.  The 96th anniversary of her birth is being commemorated today with a Google doodle.

Ella

On April 25, 2009, Beatrice Arthur, died of cancer at her Los Angeles home at the age of 86.  The tall, deep-voiced actress had a long stage career before finding success on television.  She really made waves when she appeared on All in the Family as Maude Findlay, Edith Bunker's outspoken liberal cousin.  Her exchanges with Edith's bigoted husband, Archie, proved so popular and entertaining that Bea was given the lead in her own sitcom, Maude, in 1972.   Bea was also known for her portrayal of Dorothy on The Golden Girls alongside Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty.

In 1966, Bea Arthur won a Tony Award for her performance as Vera Charles in the musical Mame.  She also received an Emmy Award in 1977 for her role as Maude.

Bea Arthur

Roses and Thorns

Roses

ROSE: To Premier Kathleen Wynne of Ontario for showing some support for the  province's beleaguered horse racing industry.  The industry was abandoned by Wynne's predecessor, former Premier Dalton McGuinty, when his government foolishly reneged on the it revenue sharing agreement with race track casinos.  Unfortunately, a great deal of damage has already been done and many jobs have been lost.   A great deal more is needed to save the industry and to ensure that it has a future in Canada's most populous province.  What Wynne has done is not enough, although it is a start.  What happened to horse racing and horse breeding in Ontario should never have happened in the first place.

ROSE: To the Toronto Maple Leafs for finally making the playoffs after a nine-year drought.  The bar is set much lower now than it was when there were only six teams in the 1960s.  Back then, it was unthinkable for the Leafs not to make the playoffs.  It was a given.  The only question was whether they would bring home the Stanley Cup or not.  It's 2013 now and this city is starved for Stanley Cup success.  If only Leaf Nation could restrain its enthusiasm until the team actually gets close to winning the Cup.  A big celebration along Yonge Street after one victory in the first round of the playoffs would be premature.  Knowing, Leaf fans, however, it's likely to happen.

ROSE: To the good citizens of Boston for facing the horror of two bombs exploding in their city with fortitude and a sense of community.  They stood tall  in the wake of the tragedy that befell their city during the running of the world-renowned Boston marathon.  A special commendation to the law enforcement officers and emergency services personnel who served Boston during its time of crisis.

Thorns


THORN: To the Conservative Party of Canada for its scurrilous attack ad campaign.aimed against new Liberal leader Justin Trudeau.  The negative ads appeal to the lowest common denominator.  They accuse Trudeau of being in way over his head   They portray him as an inexperienced drama teacher who is not ready to lead the country.  These ads demean politics in this country and they breed public cynicism.  Although the Conservatives are not the only party that has used such ads, they use this tactic much more often and much more viciously than other parties.  They also use  hard-earned taxpayers money to fund flyers with those negative ads.  Disgusting!  I hope Canadians will ignore the ads and take time to look at the facts.

The Conservative Party is guilty of character assassination.  The Tories are not attacking Trudeau's polices.  They are belittling him and bullying him.  They did not waste any time.  The moment he was chosen leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, they unleashed a pack of vultures on him.  Let's set the record straight.

1. The Tories present Justin as "young" Trudeau.  This is absurd.  He is a 41-year-old married man with two young children.  He is older than Joe Clark was when he became PM in 1979.  Theodore Roosevelt was 42 years old when he was sworn in as President of the United States.  John F. Kennedy was 43.  Despite Justin Trudeau's youthful appearance, he is by no means too young to assume the office Prime Minister of Canada.

2.  The Tories say Justin is not experienced enough to be Prime Minister.  Here are the facts.  Trudeau has been a member of the House of Commons for the riding of Papineau since October 14, 2008.  He has never been a cabinet minister because his party has not been in power.  The Conservatives sneeringly describe him as a drama teacher.  Although he did coach drama (and what's wrong with that?), he taught several other subjects too.  According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, "From 1999 to 2002 Trudeau taught a number of subjects (eg, drama, French, English, social studies and math) at West Point Grey Academy and Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School in Vancouver."

It seems as if the Conservatives have a real problem with the teaching profession.  For some twisted region, they appear to enjoy demeaning the profession.  Similarly, the U.S. Republicans take great delight in putting down Barack Obama's past as a community organizer in Chicago.  

What about Stephen Harper's own background before he became Prime Minister?  What were his great accomplishments.  He was not widely travelled.  He called himself an economist because he had an Masters degree n Economics from the University of Calgary.  Did that really give him the right to refer to himself an economist?

I do not write this as an apologist for Justin Trudeau.  Trudeau's policies are fair game.  If the Conservatives want to criticize his positions on various issues, that's fine and dandy.  That's what democracy is all about.  It is not about bullying and distorting the facts.  Even if such gutter tactic sometimes work, that doesn't mean politicians should use them.  It doesn't mean it is right to use them - unless you subscribe to the amoral dictum that the end end justifies the means. Who is advising the Tories?  The ghost of Machiavelli?  No wonder the public has a low opinion of politics and politicians.


THORN: To the members of the United States Senate who voted against a measure last week that would have extended existing  background checks on purchases of guns.  Although most of the Republicans in the Senate behaved as expected, four Democratic senators voted against the amendment.  Those four Democrats should hang their heads fin shame for thumbing their noses at the victims of of the shooting spree at Sandy Hook Elementary School and their grieving families.  The feckless four are Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mark Begich, of Alaska, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Max Baucus of Montana.  Shame! Shame! Shame!  They could have carried the bill to passage.

The gun control amendment was due to the commendable efforts of a bipartisan group of senators to reach a compromise on the matter.  Republican Pat Tooney of Pennsylvania had the courage to oppose the majority of senators from his own party on the issue. On April 10, 2013,  Tooney  and Democratic Senator Joe Machin of West Virginia announced a deal on an amendment that would exempt all "personal" transfers of weapons between individuals, but would close the notorious gun show loophole and also include mandatory background checks on Internet sales.

Although held in high esteem by the National Rifle Association, Tooney denied that he was not concerned that his support of new gun control initiative, would lower his reputation with the gun advocacy organization.  He said, "What matters to me is doing the right thing, and I think this was the right thing."  Senator Tooney was one of only four Republicans had the integrity and good sense to back the background check amendment, but those four should be lauded.  The other three were Susan Collins of Maine, John McCain of Arizona and Mark Kirk of Illinois.  Kudos to that quartet.of Republicans who did the right thing.

Despite U.S. President Barack Obama's best efforts, the vote on the gun control amendment fell six votes short of passage in the Senate.  The final tally was 54 to 46.  Sixty votes were needed for passaage.  It is interesting to note that according to information released by the Washington-based Sunlight Foundation, all but three of the senators who scuttled the gun control measure have accepted money from firearm lobbyists.  The foundation, a non-partisan, non-profit government watchdog, discovered that the National Rifle Association has donated $800,000 since 1990 to 40 of the senators who voted against the gun control amendment.  Much of the money was given during the campaign leading up to the last election.  As the office of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg put it, "Today's gun bill vote is a damning indictment of the stranglehold that special interests have in Washington."

This isn't over yet, though.  President Obama will not let the matter rest - for the sake of the innocent who have lost their lives.  "All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington," the president declared.  He exhorted supporters of gun control to continue the struggle.   In the words former Democratic congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, a survivor of gun violence: "If members of the U.S. Senate refuse to change laws to reduce gun violence, then we need to change the members of the Senate."


Riddle Me This

I an at the beginning of eternity,
the end of time and space,
the beginning of every end,
and the end of every place.
What am I?

Answer: The letter "e."



Sports

Hockey

Wouldn't it be great to see a Toronto-Montreal matchup in the NHL playoffs?  The Leafs and Habs haven't met in post-season play since 1979.  We won't know if it's going to happen until Sunday, April 28 when the Ottawa Senators face the Boston Bruins in a game that was delayed by the Boston Marathon bombings. That game will determine the final order in the NHL Eastern Conference.  A Leafs-Habs match-up in the Stanley Cup final would be even better, but it can't happen because the two teams are in the same conference.

Baseball

April is not even over yet and the high hopes of Toronto Blue Jays fans are fading rapidly.  What a miserable start to the season for our home team!  If the Jays' record doesn't improve soon, something has definitely got to give.  As the losses mount, Rogers and the Blue Jays executives have got to be extremely worried.that the team will fall too far behind to catch up.  Rogers has too much money invested in the Blue Jays to just sit back and write off this season.

- Joanne

How Barry Keenan Kidnapped Frank Sinatra, Jr.

Almost fifty years ago, on December 8, 1963, 19-year-old Frank Sinatra, Jr. was kidnapped at Harrah's casino resort at Lake Tahoe, along the border of California and Nevada.  His ordeal lasted until December 11th, when his famous father arranged to pay a ransom that was reported to be $240,000 U.S. It was the most sensational kidnapping case in the United States since the abduction and murder of aviator Charles Lindbergh's baby son in 1932.

Franklin Wayne Sinatra, known as Frank Sinatra, Jr. or Frankie, was born on January 10, 1944 in Jersey City, New Jersey.  He is the only son of the legendary singer Frank Sinatra (Francis Albert) and his first wife, Nancy Barbato Sinatra.  Named after Franklin D. Roosevelt who was President of the United States at the time of his birth, Frank, Jr. has an older sister, singer/actress Nancy Sinatra (born June 8, 1940), and a younger sister, television producer Tina Sinatra (born June 20, 1948)

By 1948, Frank Sr. had ended his association with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and was determined to become a respected film actor.  In  order  for him to actively pursue a Hollywood career, the Sinatra family moved from  their New Jersey abode to Los Angeles.  After the move to L.A., Frank began a tempestuous affair with movie actress Ava Gardner.  The family was torn apart when he left Nancy for the sultry starlet.  After much scandal, Sinatra and the 29-year-old Ava wed on November 7, 1951, just ten days after his divorce had become final.  Frank Jr, was only seven years old at the time of his father's remarriage.

The three Sinatra children remained with their mother in their Bel Air mansion and only saw their father sporadically.  As Frank Jr. confided to the Washington Post in 2006, "He was unreachable.  He was travelling,or off making some movie . . it was only on rare occasions when we saw each other."  In 2012, he  told Nick Duerden of the British newspaper The Guardian that Frank Sr. was a good father as much as it was within his power."

In 1963, Frank Sinatra, Jr. was a music major at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).  Although a talented pianist with a fine singing voice, he found himself living in the shadow of his legendary dad.  It was difficult to escape the comparisons.  He bore the Sinatra name and his resemblance to his father was unmistakable.  In addition, he had chosen to be a crooner, not a rock and roll singer.

When offered a job as a vocalist with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, the young Sinatra jumped at the chance.  He saw it as a golden opportunity to emerge  from his father's shadow and achieve something on his own.  Thus,  he dropped out of UCLA to embark on a 36-week nostalgia tour with the revamped Dorsey's band (Tommy Dorsey himself had died in 1956).  The band was scheduled to perform at various hotels and resorts around the world.

Frank Sinatra, Jr.

The kidnapping of young Sinatra was planned perpetrated by three rather inept and inexperienced criminals - Barry Keenan and Joseph Clyde Amsler, a pair of 23-year-old former high school classmates, and John Irwin, a 42-year-old house painter.  Keenan and Joe Amsler, an aspiring boxer, had grown up in Los Angeles together and had attended University High School (The school's alumni includes an impressive who's who of celebrities - Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Jeff Bridges and Elizabeth Taylor for example).  Keenan, a UCLA dropout, was clearly the mastermind of the operation.  He recruited Irwin, his mother's former boyfriend, as a third partner.

Barry Keenan is the son of alcoholic parents who divorced when he was a toddler.  His father, John Keenan, was a stockbroker and Barry was also keenly interested in the world of finance.  In fact, he was a financial whiz kid.  In 1959, at the age of 21, Barry became the youngest member of the Los Angeles Stock Exchange and was able to accumulate a significant fortune.  A streak of bad luck, however, exhausted his financial resources.  After a short-lived marriage, he went through a bitter and costly divorce.  An injury from a 1961 car accident left him with chronic back pain and an addiction to Percodan, a prescription painkiller.

Keenan's finances took another hit when the New York stock market crashed on May 28, 1962.  It was dubbed "the Flash Crash" and the Dow Jones Industrial Index fell 7.5 per cent that day. Unemployed and desperate for cash, Barry devised a scheme to obtain some ransom money form a big name celebrity.  The celebrity he chose was Frank Sinatra, one of the most famous entertainers in the world and a friend of then-President John F. Kennedy.

Young Barry Keenan

Barry Keenan now

The kidnappers had originally intended to capture Sinatra Jr, while he was performing at Arizona State Fair.  The fist plan was never carried out because the group felt too unprepared to go through with it.  They then decided to abduct Frank Jr. while the Dorsey Orchestra were booked at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on November 22, 1963.  Their second plan fell awry, however, due to the shocking assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas on that fateful day.  The Dorsey band's show at the Ambassador was cancelled and there was heightened security across America. Ironically, JFK's brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated at that same Ambassador Hotel during his 1968 campaign for the presidency.

After their scheme to kidnap Sinatra Jr. in Los Angeles had been thwarted, the amateur abductors set their sights on a new time and place.  Harrahs casino resort in Lake Tahoe.became their next target.  It was their last opportunity to kidnap the singer before he and the  band headed for Europe.  The plan was put into motion on the evening of December 8, 1963 as Frank Jr. supped on a room service meal in his hotel room.  The singer's dinner companion was John Foss, 26, a trumpet player in the Dorsey band.. The two musicians were relaxing prior to their scheduled 10 p.m. performance.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door of Room 417.  It was Barry Keenan, claiming to have package.  He was invited into the hotel room and Sinatra Jr. instructed him to place the box on a nearby table. Amsler, who had been hiding outside the hotel room, quickly entered.  Dressed in parkas (there was a blizzard outside), the two men abducted Sinatra Jr. at gunpoint and blindfolded him.  The singer was then forced into a rented white Chevrolet Impala and driven to Canoga Park, an area of Southern California's San Fernando Valley.  As for John Foss, the trumpeter was bound and gagged and left in the hotel room.  He escaped from his bindings and called the police.

At the time of his son's kidnapping, Frank Sr. was filming Robin and the 7 Hoods with his "Rat Pack" buddies, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.  He was, however, at home in Palm Springs when informed of his son's abduction.  Stunned by the news, Sinatra immediately called a press conference and offered one million dollars for the safe return of his son.  The abductors actually demanded $240,000 and they insisted that Frank Sr. communicate with them via payphone.  During the abduction, Sinatra stationed himself at the Mapes Hotel in Reno, Nevada.  He also contacted Attorney General Robert Kennedy and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

On the morning of December 11th,  Keena and Amseler set out to retrieve the ransom money which was dropped off by an FBI agent.  During their absence, John Irwin was left in charge of Frank Jr.  Irwin panicked and released his  hostage unharmed on the Mulholland Drive overpass of Interstate 405 in Los Angeles.  Sinatra Jr. kept walking until he was able to flag down a police officer.  He  was driven to his mother's Bel Air home where he was greeted by his relieved family and a large contingent of reporters.

The FBI quickly apprehended the three kidnappers.and they were brought to trial just three weeks after the abduction.  Keenan, Amsler and Irwin were represented by renowned Los Angeles defence attorney,  Gladys Towles Root.  Although the flamboyant Root dressed in outrageously large hats, tight garments and furs, she was one of the most skilled female criminal defence attorneys of the 20th century.  She specialized in sexual assault and murder cases and was known for her razor-sharp cross-examinations.  At the trial, the defence portrayed Sinatra Jr. as a co-conspirator in his own abduction and tried to create the impression that he had willingly participated in a hoax to further his career.  Root asked rhetorically, "Was this the publicity he had been looking for to make ladies swoon over him like poppa?"

Gladys Root

The three defendants were convicted and received lengthy prison sentences for the kidnapping - although they were only incarcerated for a small portion of the time.  Barry Keenan and Joe Amsler were sentenced to life plus 75 years imprisonment while John Irwin received 16 years.  Amsler and Irvin were released in 1967 after serving three years.  Keenan was released in 1968 after just under five years at the maximum security prison at Lompoc, California.  Barry Keenan was deemed to be legally insane because he suffered from a mental illness and heard voices.  He apparently believed that his kidnapping plan had received God's blessing and that it was not immoral because he intended to eventually return the ransom money.  In 1998, Barry told People magazine that he had thought he would "borrow" Frank Jr., invest the ransom money and pay back Frank Sr. with interest.  He claimed that in his "demented state," he viewed the abduction as a "business deal."

The kidnapping story made headlines worldwide and the Sinatras had to deal with rumours that Frank Sr. had staged his own son's abduction as a publicity stunt in order to jump start Junior's fledgling career.  The rumours proved false but the innuendo was hard to take and hurt deeply.  "The criminals invented a story that the whole thing was phony, Sinatra Jr. told the Guardian last year.  "That was the stigma put on me," he added.  So, although Frankie was not harmed physically, he was hurt psychologically.  He was subjected to constant ridicule on late-night talk shows and was made to feel as if he were the one being accused of a crime.

Frank Jr. performing

Despite the terrifying kidnapping ordeal, Frank Jr. and his father remained distant.  They did not really bond until 1988, when 44-year-old Frank Jr. was performing in Atlantic City.  Frank Sr. phoned him and unexpectedly asked him to conduct his band for him.  The surprised younger Sinatra, accepted the job.  He joined the elder Sinatra's staff as musical director and concert conductor and spent the last seven years of his father's career touring with him.

After suffering a heat attack in February 1997, Frank Sinatra, Sr. discontinued his public appearances. He died of a second heart attack at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in West Hollywood, California on May 14, 1998.  Ol' Blue Eyes was 82 years old at the time of his passing. About two months after his death, his son's kidnappers finally admitted that Frank Jr. had nothing to do with the kidnapping and that they were sorry for their actions.  They reportedly attempted to sell the movie rights to the kidnapping saga to Columbia Pictures for more than a million dollars  Meanwhile, Frank Jr.'s attorneys filed suit against Barry Keenan, Joseph Amsler, John Irwin and Columbia Pictures in a Los Angeles Superior Court to prevent the kidnappers from receiving any financial game from the sale of the movie rights.

Frank Sinatra, Jr. remained a bachelor until the age of 54.  On October 18, 1998, just months after his father's death, he married Cynthia McMurry.  The union was short-lived and the couple divorced in January of 2000.without having any children. Frank Jr. does have a son, Michael Francis Sinatra (born March 1, 1987), from an previous relationship. Michael is a 26-year old college professor who resides in Japan.  His mother is  Patricia Ward Fisher, a former employee of the Sinatra family.  Although Sinatra, Jr. is rumoured to have fathered three other children, Michael is the only one he has publicly acknowledged as his child.

Frank Jr. is now 69 years old.  He continues to perform with his band in a show called "Sinatra Sings Sinatra."

Frank Jr. in 2008

END NOTES

* Are you wondering whatever happened to Barry Kernan, the young man who dreamed up the idea of abducting Frank Sinatra, Jr.?  Keenan, born in 1940, is still living.  He is 72 or 73 years old.  After his release, he became a wealthy real estate developer.  His book about the abduction of Frank Sinatra, Jr. is due to be published this year.  All proceeds are to be donated to charity.

* What happened to the $240,00 in ransom money?  J. Edgar Hoover stated that $168,927 of the ransom money was recovered at Joe Amsler's apartment.

* Joe Amsler, Keenan's accomplice in the Sinatra kidnapping scheme, died on May 6, 2006 in Roanoke, Virginia due to complications from liver disease,  Amsler was 65 years old at the time of his death.

Joe Amsler

* The story of the kidnapping was made into a 2003 television movie on Showtime.  It is titled Stealing Sinatra and stars David Arquette and Willam  H. Macy.  The film was nominated for a Primetime Emmy.

* One of Barry Keenan's closest friends was Dean Torrence of the pop duo Jan and Dean. Needing cash to fund his kidnapping scheme, Keenan approached Torrence, then riding high with the hit single "Surf City,"  He revealed his plan to his friend and requested money.  Torrence gave Barry $500 and dismissed his story as a fantasy.  When Keenan was released from prison in 1968, Torrence held a fundraiser for him.  The two later became partners in a chain of burger restaurants.

* In 1980, Keenan married Sasha White whom he had met in the late 1970s while developing White Bluff Ranch, a resort community in Lake Whitney, Texas.  Sasha and her parents, developers Bob and Marce White, were instrumental in helping Barry fight his addiction to alcohol and painkillers.  The marriage, however, ended in divorce after only three years.  In 1998, Sasha told People magazine that she did not know that Keenan abducted Frank Sinatra, Jr.  "I just thought he was this handsome, charismatic go-getter," she stated.

- Joanne


Editor's Update (March 17, 2016):  Frank Sinatra, Jr. passed away yesterday, March 16, 2016.  In a statement to the Associated Press, his family announced that the singer had died suddenly of cardiac arrest while on tour in Daytona Beach, Florida.  He was 72 years old.