Rick Santorum’s us vs them mentality
During the Arizona CNN Republican debate, Rick Santorum passionately defended two items: earmarks and his voting on No Child Left Behind. The way he defended them demonstrates his hyperpartisan nature.…
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Iran and the CNN Arizona GOP Presidential Debate
CNN Arizona GOP Debate As it often has been in the past, Iran was the principle foreign policy topic discussed in what may well be the last GOP Presidential Debate…
The staggering ignorance of the public on Iran
A new CBS/Opinion Research poll indicates that 71% of Americans believe that Iran already has a nuclear weapon. Sigh. While it certainly should not be a surprise anymore given numerous…
Rick Santorum signals the declining relevance of the Tea Party
Rick Santorum’s recent rise to the number one contender spot versus perennial front-runner Mitt Romney has frequently been described as simply being the last in line of a long list…
NDP Leadership Candidate Policy Comparisons: Israel/Palestine
The Israel/Palestine issue is the foreign policy issue to which politians are most expect to have a cogent answer to. It is a necessary right of passage and, for many,…
The Harper government’s us vs them mentality resurfaces in Internet privacy laws
“He can either stand with us or with the child pornographers” So says Public Safety Minister Vic Toews defending the proposed Lawful Access legislation which would give sweeping new powers…
Why you should register (by Feb 18th) to vote in the NDP Leadership Election
NDP Candidates at the Quebec debate February 18th is the last date for which new NDP members are eligible to vote in the NDP Leadership elections that will occur on…
A domestic foreign policy: Iran, Israel, and the US
Foreign policy is ostensibly something to do with other countries. However, when politicians talk about it they are largely doing so for their own domestic interests. Discussions of foreign policy…
Obamacare, birth control, and religious freedoms
The Obama administration has recently adopted a very narrow definition of religious exclusions in the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. The effect of this is that ostensibly religious…
John Baird’s response to the Israel/Iran conflict
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird Right now, we have one sovereign United Nations member making explicit overtures about launching a unilateral military attack on another sovereign United Nations member. It…
How to tax the rich in this political climate
There is a lot of agreement that the rich pay too little of their wealth, that inequality has sharply risen over the last three decades benefiting the rich tremendously, and…
Romney’s lack of concern for poor people
Campaign coverage often likes to jump from gaffe to gaffe as if this (and poll data) is the only relevant thing to talk about in a Presidential race. Perhaps it…
Halifax NDP Federal Leader Debate January 29th Analysis
The following is various reactions and analysis of the Halifax NDP Federal Leader debate on January 27th. Previous NDP debate commentary: Dec 4th Ottawa Debate | January 18th Toronto Debate…
A changing psychology of economics
My 96 year old grandmother, after selling the old family farm late in her life, doesn’t need to worry about money. Yet, she worries about it constantly going to great…
LGBT clubs in Ontario Catholic schools get neutered
After a protracted battle over the issue of whether so called ‘gay-straight clubs’ must be allowed in Catholic schools, many LGBT allies thought a legitimate victory had been attained when…
Would a female NDP leader be an advantage?
When Barack Obama became President, there was an enormous outpouring of emotion at the historic fact of electing the first black President. Had Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary instead,…
Lessons from Full Tilt Poker and MegaUpload
Many of us – and that number was shown to be in the tens of millions – who believe that the Internet ought to be a fundamentally free and private…
The N-Party Problem
There is a famous problem in classical mechanics, a branch of physics, called the n-body problem. While interesting in its own right, the problem can be used as an analogy…
Issues and Themes in the Toronto NDP Federal Leadership Debate
Part one of this blog’s coverage of the Toronto NDP Federal Leadership debate on January 18th gives an overview of the various candidates more on the side of personality, debating…
Toronto NDP Federal Leadership Debate Reactions
I attended the Toronto Area Council NDP Federal Leadership Debate. What follows is a range of reactions about the candidates, policies, and themes in this debate. Crowd: The crowd packed…