NDP, Liberals – Your Summer Project
Thanks to Senator Hugh Segal, the opposition parties have a wonderful opportunity to do something useful over the summer recess – they can rally to the defence of Canadian labour…
The Mound of Sound
Now, Alberta, About That Pesky Carbon Bubble
Alberta is facing three immediate and potentially lasting problems – the prospects of frequent, severe floods; the likelihood of extended periods of severe drought; and the Carbon Bubble that hangs…
Failed States Index
Foreign Policy magazine and The Fund for Peace have released their 2013 Failed State Index. Nations are rated by five categories, Critical, In Danger, Borderline, Stable and Most Stable. Not…
Temporary Workers are a Fix, One That Keeps Us from Finding Solutions
When employers can’t find workers at a time of high unemployment, we’ve got a problem. Filling those vacant spots with guest workers is a low-cost fix, one that does nothing…
Just a Little Bit of Global Warming Goes a Long, Long Way
Chain of Fools A little warming goes a long way. That might be the real message from the floods that have wracked Alberta over the past week. It’s a message…
The Calgary Herald Discovers the Polar Jet Stream
It’s a newspaper so far right that, to steal a line from Lawrence Martin, it should be delivered in a holster. A couple of weeks ago the Calgary Herald scribes…
No Telling Whether Obama’s Okay with Keystone XL
President Obama has said the Keystone XL pipeline can only go ahead if it doesn’t “significantly increase” U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. There’s enough wiggle room in there to delight almost…
What’s on God’s Mind Lately?
Recent throughts from The Tweet of God: Well I’ve lost faith in you, too. Sorry, rest of the world, Junior and I can’t help you now. We’re too busy helping…
If Only Man’s Best Friend Could Speak Its Mind
Sad Dog Diary
Americans Begin to Ask If the F-35 Is Simply Unaffordable
The F-35’s reputation for being over-priced, under-performing and overdue is etched in stone at this point. For an aircraft that’s been in development for a dozen years, no one still…
Harper’s Building All Those Prisons. Why Aren’t We Filling Them With Conservatives?
It’s not like the Conservative ranks, federal and provincial, are short of miscreants who deserve a long stretch behind bars. Yesterday the fellow who was in command on the bridge…
Alberta Has Been Climate Changed – And It’s Forever
“This is Pacific Northwest U.S. weather we’re getting and we’re not built for it. We didn’t design our cities, our floodways, our flood maps, anything for this. ” – John…
Mandela’s Family Praying For a "Smooth Transition"
Nelson Mandela is near death. The great man’s daughter, Makaziwie, says he is at peace and the family are spending “quality and sacred moments” at his bed side. “All I…
Berlusconi Now Officially a Sex Offender
Sylvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to 7-years in prison for paying for sex with an underage prostitute. He’s also banned for life from holding public office. Sly, you old dog,…
Shouldn’t America Be Bombing Somebody? China? Russia? No, I Suppose Not.
America does not abide insubordination and the defiant often find themselves on the receiving end of U.S. firepower. Washington is practically seething over the ease by which fugitive Edward Snowden…
Is This "Two Strikes" for Calgary?
Sorry, Calgary, but when once-a-century floods begin turning up once-a-decade (or even less) you need to realize that either climate change is very real and here to stay or that…
Canadian Infrastructure Not Ready for Climate Change. Calgary Gets Two Once-a-Century Floods in 8 Years.
Decades of neglect have left Canadian infrastructure vulnerable to severe weather events of the sort now ravaging southern Alberta. The World Council on Disaster Management kicked off its annual conference…
An Updated Charter for Canada in the 21st Century
Maybe it’s time to treat Pierre Trudeau’s, and all Canadians’, Charter of Rights and Freedoms as a work in progress to be updated periodically but only for the purposes of…
Racing is Hard. Racing to the Bottom is Easy.
This may come as a jaw-dropper to you, but the country our Conservative leadership so wants to emulate is a pretty impoverished state. This chart gives median wealth, by nation.…
Saddam’s Hangman Assassinated
Iraq’s outlawed Baath Party has claimed responsibility for executing the masked man (in the blue shirt) who placed the noose over Saddam Hussein’s head. The hangman, identified as Mohhamed Nassif…