A day – and era – for Dummies
Couldn’t let this one pass: “MPs hit new low in Question Period “for Dummies.” The Harper government has taken us to new lows, yes. But the “for Dummies” characterization is…
Nancy Leblanc
Late night
<p>&amp;lt;a href=”http://firstratepeople.bandcamp.com/track/someone-else-can-make-a-work-of-art”&amp;gt;Someone Else Can Make A Work Of Art by First Rate People&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;</p> There is a free mini-album download by the Canadian group, First Rate People at this link. Their…
Krugman vs Summers
Probably the best read on last night's Munk debate in Toronto that you will find: "Krugman vs Summers: The debate." Felix Salmon, the great blogger at Reuters, was here for…
CBC takes the high road
Today the CBC turned over documents to the Commons ethics committee "under protest": In a speech before the National Press Club Foundation, CBC President Hubert Lacroix confirmed what NDP House…
Harper’s former SIRC Chair
A follow-up to the news of the past week that Arthur Porter, the chairman of the civilian CSIS oversight board (Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC)), has resigned that SIRC post…
The Conservatives’ strained relationship with the rule of law continues
The parliamentary law clerk has written a strong opinion on the legality of the Conservative push at the ethics committee to compel CBC to provide documents to the committee while…
Sunday reading
Jeffrey Sachs on a new force in the U.S. that has begun with Occupy Wall Street: "The New Progressive Movement." After reviewing the influence of Reagan on the modern era,…
Every leader gets their day
Mr. Berlusconi is departing as leader of Italy and the citizenry reacts: From the New York Times' coverage: “This is the most dramatic moment of our recent history,” Ferruccio de…
Friday night
I go with Avicii's Levels this week. Huge song this year. Also recommend this and this, good ones from the week. Have a good night!
Renewal: For Paul Summerville, candidate for National Policy Chair
In connection with the upcoming Liberal Biennial Convention in Ottawa in January, part of the proceedings will involve elections of new party officers to the national executive. Jumping right in…
They’re not impressed in Peterborough
"No B for behaved" for Dean Del Mastro from the local Peterborough paper in the wake of his attack on Justin Trudeau's religious bona fides. They're embarrassed: When we endorsed…
Renewal: Liberal primaries
The idea of a primary style system being adopted by Liberals for the next leadership selection is the focus of John Ibbitson's column today. An excerpt: The party executive will…
Consistency on merit based appointments
In the news this past week, we have seen that Senator Leo Housakos is not thrilled with the Auditor General appointment: "Tory senator remains critical of unilingual AG appointment." He's…
The "new politics"
This doesn't feel new at all: Scrapping the long-gun registry has been a particularly controversial issue for Ashton as MP for a northern Manitoba riding, one that has a heavy…
Friday night
I go with new Deadmau5 tonight. If you need your Kaskade fix, llove this one this week. Have a good night!
"I certainly make no allegations"
So, this happened today: "Veteran public servant quits in protest because new AG can't speak French." A veteran of the federal public service has quit in protest because the country's…
Shortsighted
This may come back to bite: "Harper says no Canadian money for European bailout." Pay some now or will we be paying much more later? We'll see. Great photo accompanying…
Doing your bit
This video was put together in connection with an award Paul Krugman recently received. I'm posting it for three reasons beyond the fact that it's well done and is a…
An alliance for useful evidence
You can't speak a much plainer truth than Jeffrey Simpson does today on the Harper government's criminal justice policies that are not rationally connected to the facts and are commandeering…
Can’t trust ’em
This story is on fire at the Globe site today: "Liberals storm out of House vote on unilingual Auditor-General." A lot of predictable comments there, irrelevant Liberals, the third party,…