It’s Heating Up Out There
What a week it has been! With the backdrop of the verging-on-farcical U.S. debt credit crisis brought on by the tea-baggers in Washington, and the pieing of Rupert Murdoch, a…
July 2011
Australia May Ditch the F-35
The Australian government has revealed it may scrap its plan to buy 100 F-35s because of delivery delays and ongoing cost overruns. Repeated delays and ballooning costs in the F-35…
How Did We Expect to Achieve Anything in Afghanistan by Partnering with Mobsters?
Of late the Taliban have been busy hauling out the trash. They've been clearing out Hamid Karzai's support network in the Pashtun south by a series of targeted assassinations that…
On comparative advantages
Naturally, Jack Layton's leave of absence has raised plenty of speculation as to what will happen on Canada's opposition benches over the summer (and perhaps beyond). But Tim Powers hints…
How to Transform a Democracy Into a Feudal State
High drama in Washington. It's the sort of political theatre that is enormously riveting. Congress is tossing about a ticking time bomb - supposedly - the US federal debt ceiling.…
Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week.- Trish Hennessy crunches the numbers on vacation time for Canadians:47Percentage of Canadian workers who say they need a vacation more today than they’ve needed…
The Enchanted April: A Review
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim tells the story of four women in the early 1920′s who share a small, remote Italian castle for a month, and in doing…
All the "easy" oil and gas may be gone, but still …
While most regions of Canada have imposed moratoriums on "fracking," using jackhammers and / or high pressure water injections to get out natural gas, one province -- British Columbia --…
CBC: Many Bell customers have no idea they’re being erroneously charged
From CBC News One Bell Mobility cell phone customer in B.C.'s Okanagan is warning others to double-check their phone bills after she was charged upwards of $30 a month for…
Friday miscellany – Liz, cowboys, Arsenal and a cottage
1. Elizabeth May’s sudden crusade against Wi-Fi has disappointed me. I had thought she would latch on to an environmental issue that was beyond reproach. The tar sands. GHGs. Volatile…
140 Law – Legal Headlines for July 29, 2011
Here are today's leading legal headlines from Wise Law on Twitter:Conrad Black's son in court - http://goo.gl/94nlYMan arrested near G20 fence had rights violated - CBC.ca -http://goo.gl/iqduv Companies with ties…
Exciting Race Brewing for LPC Presidency
Given the challenges facing the Liberal Party, January's national executive elections could very well be the most important in the party's history. And the way it’s going, it looks like…
Dobby Lives, and he’s Harry Potter’s friend!
You know, I always thought that Dobby was an annoyingly needy elf-turd, but he certainly didn’t deserve to die for it. Alltop thinks this is vaguely familiar. Originally published in…
The Vultures Are Circling
John Boehner is in the same spot he was in a week ago, when he walked out of budget negotiations with President Obama. He doesn't have the votes. The difference…
More Than 400 Boxes: Going to Disconnect in Order to Reconnect
There is not likely to be much here over the next few days. The boxes arrived yesterday--something like 450 of them containing about 5,000 books and the various collections of…
Advice from Paul Krugman That Nycole Turmel and the NDP Should Find Useful
As usual, Paul Krugman today is right on the money. "Republicans have, in effect, taken America hostage," he says. Part of the problem is "the cult of “balance,” the insistence…
Biggest Buffoon In Canadian Politics?
I remember the first time I heard of Tony Genco, when his name was floated to take on Julian Fantino in Vaughan. I immediately did some research, wasn't particularly impressed…
Is this what normally happens? Prisoner abuse in Ottawa
If this was Damascas we'd expect as much but Ottawa is not the capital of Syria. http://bit.ly/mUcMVi
Mary Trapani Hynes AKA Next Mayor of Toronto?
Mary Trapani Hynes, a senior, was among the deputants who came to let Mayor Boss Hogg, his brother Donut Dougy and the rest of the clan know how they felt…