Nothing to fear this Halloween
I was never a big fan of Halloween as a kid. I always had a fear of being mugged by bigger kids who might rip open my pillow case and…
Maurice Tougas
The (almost forgotten) October Crisis
In October 1970, Canada was looking pretty good, at least in the eyes of a 14-year-old boy, mainly me. An avid newspaper reader in the early stages of a long…
R.I.P U.S.A.
I confess to being kind of excited to watch the first presidential debate between Democrat Joseph R. Biden II (his full New York Times title), and Trump party candidate Donald…
Everything I know about Britain I’ve learned from TV
As a forced-into-retirement man approaching senior citizenship, I watch a lot of TV. Actually, I’ve always watched a lot of TV. When I was a kid, when we had just…
Telus v. Shaw: Pick your poison
Here’s a test: get together with friends and/or family (at a safe distance, of course), and ask them if they use Shaw or Telus for their TV and internet needs.…
The Trump that Ate America
When the Democrats held their virtual convention to crown Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (this is the actual way the New York Times describes Biden), I didn’t watch a moment of…
Hey, Edmonton. Put down that beer and grow up
Edmonton doesn’t have much to celebrate these days. The Oilers of the NHL exited the faux Stanley Cup playoffs in almost the fastest manner possible. There is no CFL team…
Adieu, Dr. Foth
In my checkered 40-plus year career in and out of the newspaper business, I’ve written hundreds of opinion columns. I started at the Fort Saskatchewan Record (sports, amazingly), spent many…
Hockey in August? Pass
So it’s a 30C day in August, and the Stanley Cup playoffs are in full gear. What’s wrong with this picture? Everything. The only ice I want to see in…
Us versus U.S. We’re not the same, kids
A lot of Canadians – particularly young, American-media obsessed Canadians who have never been taught enough about their own country – seem to believe that Canada and the United States…
Is this the end of ‘the E word’?
As you may know, there is a controversy over the name of the Edmonton Canadian Football League franchise. The Edmonton …. I dunno, Energy? Emeralds? Executives? Exhibitionists? End Zones? Various…
Gun crazy
As a Father’s Day gift, my youngest son Blake took me to the Wild West Shooting Centre at West Edmonton Mall so we could share some father-son blasting time. During…
It’s a puzzlement …
These are difficult times. I know this because every second commercial on TV mentions ‘these difficult times’ (TDT). They are so difficult, in fact, that I just want to punch…
Trump goes nuts, and Trudeau gets his moment
You’ve got to hand it to Donald Trump. Just when you think he couldn’t go any lower, he digs himself deeper. The man’s consistency is amazing. Trump was in full…
America is burning
I’ve always pictured Minnesota as being as close to a Canadian province as you’ll find in the United States. It’s northern, it’s cold, and it’s nice. So watching the city…
Scenes from a Mall II
Here in Peoples Republic of Alberta, life is returning to some semblance of normal; or, if I may employ the most overused expression of the day, the ‘new normal’. If…
We now resume our COVID coverage …
Well, I managed one full week without mentioning you-know-what. One week is about all one can accomplish. So let’s take a quick look at some COVIDicisms … This past week,…
A 100% virus-free blog
The things you notice while you have nothing else to do. The other day, I was having my daily glass of beer with my wife. (This requires some explaining. We…
Tennis, anyone? Don’t you DARE!
In Victorian times, doctors had an expression: “The operation was a success, but the patient died.” Doctoring in Victorian times was a pretty iffy proposition; once they ran out of…
And now, some good news …
So, for a chance of pace, let’s talk about something other than Covid-19. So-o-o-o, how about that weather, eh? Nice to have some sunshine for a change. But jeez, it’s…