Maggie's Farm

Am SOOOO terminally fed up with soi-disant "feminists" blaming males (usually white but not always) for their own failings. Have long considered myself as a feminist but would scorn to be allied to the screeching bitches who have anointed themselves as spokespersons for those of us whom they consider lesser beings.

I am a woman, proud of it, and with a good STEM degree. I am married to a very fine man (we're rising 50 years together) and with three great daughters. All are professionals. All have serious careers. Two are married with children, which makes life difficult. We step up when we can.

Back in the day, I was the "non-working wife", though spent countless hours doing volunteer work, not to mention being the "daughter on call" for my mother and her sister for many years. It is as it is. I do not regret the hours I spent handling family affairs; one does what is required. It's just when I see others sneering at those of us who have chosen to put family first that I get cranky.

Back in the day, there was a show on CBC which was going on about the values of having the state look after you in your old age. Some man came on who was not married and had no intention of producing offspring. Hosts applauded him for his progressive thinking. Unfortunately, I was not able to get on line to point out that someone's children would be expected to look after him; shouldn't he then be expected to pay a fair bit more to compensate for the costs those of us who had children faced so that said children could then look after him. Had a feeling that my comments would not have been appreciated.

That being said, I was the "god-daughter on call" for an aunt; she and her husband were childless. She moved to be near my mother, her younger sister, so our family had the two of them to take care of. It's rising 20 years since my aunt died (it's ten years since Mun left us), but - if asked - I rather think our children will remember very gratefully the years they had with their great-aunt and their granny.

This is a major issue in Canada as we have a fair few salmon fish farms up the West coast. Understand what is being farmed is a species of the Atlantic salmon, not the Pacific ones. We still do get Pacific salmon in season.

Reality is that the really big Pacific salmon fishery is in Alaska. So they are going to try to enlarge their market by demonizing the Canadian farmed fishery.

Reality is that the "wild" salmon catch will not satisfy the market. Right now, the "wild" salmon catch fetches premium prices in season. But the season is limited. The rest of the year, it's farmed salmon on the menu at your local restaurant.

And, yes, I can tell the difference. But, given the recommendations for more seafood on the plate, better farmed seafood than none at all.