After more than a week of extraordinary revelations, another one this morning: the Star is reporting that someone senior in Rob Ford’s office – paid for by Ford’s mythologized taxpayer – knew where to find the video of Ford smoking crack cocaine. That is, the video that Ford now confidently
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Protected: A Reluctant Emcee
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Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: The big fat truth, the BMI sucks
This is a fascinating article in Nature showing evidence that being slightly overweight may be healthier. Of course, the real morsel of truth in the whole article is that the BMI (Body Mass Index) isn’t exactly the most fine-tuned way … Continue reading →
Continue reading350 or bust: This Is Water: Thoughts On Living A Compassionate Life
It’s TED Talk Tuesday on 350orbust, but I’m breaking with tradition and posting a non-TED talk. It’s an excerpt of a longer commencement address given at Kenyon College in 2005 by the late American novelist David Foster Wallace. When I came across the video, nine days after it was posted
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Developments In On-Line Defamation Law
From Colby Cosh, the hirsute one himself: Early commentary on Burke’s lawsuit over claims he had an affair with a broadcaster was focused on the difficulty of tracking down internet anonymice and serving them with the right papers. The established pathway is to go through internet service providers to get
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Do we have it? #nlpoli
Kathy Dunderdale had a pretty easy audience on Monday for her relaxed, ambling speech about a whole bunch of stuff. It was the St. John’s Board of Trade. As a rule, the townie business community have the guts of political guppies. They’ll run along with whatever the government says and
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: NBTA Acknowledges Education Department’s Obsession With Inclusion Philosophy
The New Brunswick Teachers Association has spoken up … sort of … about New Brunswick’s extreme inclusion philosophy. The NBTA to its credit acknowledges, finally, that inclusion is a philosophy not an educational plan as stated by outgoing NBTA President Heather Smith at a meeting of delegates from around the
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Boss Harper and the Ford Duffy Nightmare
Golly. I'm sure Stephen Harper must look back fondly at the time when he had big plans for Rob Ford.Those happy days when him and Big Boy could pose together under the logo of the Toronto police, declare they were for law and order, unlike the opposition who were for the criminals.
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Expect Joe Anglin – potential problem for Danielle Smith – to be in for a talking to
Walter Sobchak, played by John Goodman, explains some of the harsh realities of life to the Dude and other characters from The Big Lebowski. In Alberta, when we crave this kind of frank talk, we listen to MLA Joe Anglin, the Wildrose representative for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre. Below: The real
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: The confusing reinvention of Alberta’s Natural Governing Party.
TweetSuccess comes with challenges, and for Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives, forty-two years of electoral success has come with its own unique set of challenges. One of the PC Party’s biggest successes has been its ability to reinvent itself over its more than four decades in power. It is sometimes difficult to
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Rise of the Electric Automobile
There’s a battle rumbling south of the border. And it’s one Canadians aren’t hearing a lot about unless they plumb the news feeds online. It started for Tesla Motors during the 2012 U.S. presidential race. As the electric car company paid off its governments loans earlier this month, American government
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Word From The West
We are still in Alberta, having just returned to Edmonton from a trip to Banff and Lake Louise conducted by our son. I suspect that even if we weren’t here, I would have some sympathy for the West’s reaction to the latest utterance from Justin Trudeau. Although I generally don’t
Continue readingCanadian Political Viewpoints: Rethinking the Senate
I’ve had to give this topic a lot of thought, given my past views favouring reform of the Senate over complete abolition. For the longest time, at least from my perspective, it had appeared that corrupt Senators was the abnormality in the Upper Chamber rather than the norm; of course,
Continue readingToronto Lawyer | Omar Ha-Redeye, J.D. » Politics: South Asian Heritage Month at the Ontario Legislature
On May 28, 2013, the Network of Indian Professionals (NetIP) partnered with several other organizations to host an event at the Ontario Legislature to celebrate South Asian Heritage Month. The event was co-hosted by Hon Michael Coteau, Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, MPP Todd Smith and MPP Jagmeet
Continue readingwmtc: bilbao to madrid, but not toledo
For most of the trip, I was hoping to spend a few hours in Toledo on our last day in Spain. Allan was skeptical at best, feeling it would make the day too rushed and pressured. I was holding out hope until the last moment, but once we found the
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: In Tuesday’s Sun: an unlikely Conservative pair
It’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma: Why did Nigel Wright destroy his political career to protect Mike Duffy? In Ottawa political circles, it’s one of the many Senate scandal questions now being mooted every day. Why would the prime minister’s chief of staff — the most powerful unelected person
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: BC provincial election elaboration 2: Negativity
So now let’s talk about going negative. I believe that narrative makes all the difference when it comes to going negative. If you don’t have a narrative, then sliming your opponent is nothing more than that. Even if accurate, it will be perceived as mean-spirited. It generally only applies to
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