Thoughts on Crimea
As the world prepares to accept the near inevitability of Crimea becoming part of Russia, the dominant feeling around the world is one best described as impotency. With the referendum…
March 2014
TransAlta and the Court of Public Opinion: A $66 million fine or multimillions in profits?
Last month TransAlta kicked a damaging allegation into the court of public opinion: did it manipulate the electricity market by improperly shutting down six power plants during peak demand hours…
Machiavelli and the Elizabethans
In 1555, Bishop Stephen Gardiner wrote a treatise to King Phillip II of Spain, in which he borrowed (aka plagiarized) extensively from Machiavelli’s The Prince and The Discourses. Gardiner did…
A Petition Worth Your Consideration
Don Aitken has started a petition on the Care2petition site calling on the government to stop politicizing Canada’s Election Act. Given the abuses inherent in the Fair Elections Act, about…
Stephen Harper and Senate scandal
Richard Nixon seemed to have spoken the same words when faced with the Watergate scandal.
Canada’s crazy idea of majority rule
I think it would be funny to watch Rick Mercer take his mike to the streets and ask Canadians what the word “majority” means. Although I probably spend more time…
New ROFO Video Coming Down The Pipe
Ford had his “out of control” night at city hall on St. Patrick’s Day 2012. @siomo says CTV says it has new video of him last night.— Daniel Dale (@ddale8)…
Georgia spring break trip redux: Savannah, Okefenokee, Cumberland Island
A lot of Canadians think “Florida” when they think spring break. And we have done that. But this year, I was the grateful passenger on another Irene Jansen organized travel…
March 16: do we have illiterate news media?
To read, listen to, and watch the news of the past week has been disturbing not just because of the news, but because of – well – the blizzard of…
Capital courts: how corporations can hold governments to ransom | Red Pepper
Capital courts: how corporations can hold governments to ransom Transnational corporations have won shocking powers to sue sovereign states, writes John Hilary, and they are not shy of using them…
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Eduardo Porter writes about the rise of inequality in the U.S., while Tracy McVeigh reports on the eleven-figure annual cost of inequality…
They Tell Tales Designed To Frighten Children
They, of course, are all who comprise the Harper cabal, that conglomeration of feckless, ambitious and disloyal louts who, through their lies, distortions and propaganda, would frighten, confuse and bully…
Sabotaging Environment Canada
Minister of the Environment Leona Aglukkaq recently released a report setting forth her ministry’s priorities. They are: “conservation and restoration of landscapes, water and wildlife; information on changing weather patterns…
Sunday Prediction, Liberal majority?
The latest prediction is for a Liberal majority. This is based on trends; IE the Liberals keep doing better than better while the PQ seems to be in trouble in…
The "Significance" Trap: New Economic Analysis Finds that Keystone XL Would Increase Tar Sands Production, Carbon Emissions
In its environmental assessment of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, the U.S. State Department severely underestimated the project’s impact on oil production, and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions. That’s according…
What Do Teachers Want?
I seem to have missed hitting “publish” on this one from a few days ago: I’ve gleaned, from Steve Paikin’s twitter feed, a version of teachers that don’t fit the…
Backing for My Views on Education
There’s an article in The Spectator, and a new book out (at your left there), that says everything I’ve been saying about education for a couple years now. It’s actually…
In Sunday’s Sun: the pendulum swings back
Are progressives on the march? Some days, it sure looks that way. From the European Union to the Americas, progressives – Liberals, Democrats, New Democrats, Liberal Democrats – increasingly seem…
The Complete Waste of the Security Establishment
When a jumbo jet disappears and no one – even after spending trillions to have them track exactly this kind of occurrence – can tell us what happened. I don’t…