I'm still alive but I'm over here ... Oreo Cookie Blues .... see ya... [Read More]

“Almost weekly Stephen Harper has tried everything possible to self-immolate, but Mr. Ignatieff has taken advantage of none of it.” [...]"After four years, it's hard to see why Mr. Ignatieff has bothered at all. He appears to stand for nothing except the centre, wherever and whatever that is.... [Read More]

“Mr. Harper wants to lead by ideology. There was once a proud tradition of Progressive Conservatism in Canada, but under Mr. Harper the ‘progressive’ has disappeared. Where did they go? I believe they are still out there with nowhere to go. Eventually they will realize that they belong with... [Read More]

Off to an undisclosed location until next weekend, with little or no posting in the meantime. But first, here's...Armand Van Helden - U Don't Know Me... [Read More]

Popularity for the governing provincial Liberals in British Columbia has nose dived with the introduction of a harmonized sales tax. No issue is more controversial in the province at the moment. But despite the best advice his handlers can give him, Michael Ignatieff has come out in support of BC's... [Read More]

As promised, let's take a closer look at Jack Layton's economic vision speech to the Toronto Rotary Club, with a particular focus on how it frames the role of government.The first noteworthy point is the extensive use of "infrastructure" as the main priority for government - with the term then... [Read More]

While the Wall government is showing its utter contempt for Saskatchewan's citizens on big long-term issues as well, there are plenty of examples that hit far closer to home as well. Which brings us to LRT's apt comment on the Sask Party's inexplicable delay in funding to the Chili for Children... [Read More]

A few light reads to end your week...- Yep, this census thingy will blow over any day now for the Harper Cons. Just as soon as those freeloading public health officials stop complaining that "social determinants of health" might be important for their work...- Meanwhile, to the extent there was any... [Read More]

It isn't much surprise that the Wall government has decided to put a corporate front group in charge of advising it on a possible potash takeover. But it's remarkable just how brazen the Sask Party is being in declaring that as far as it's concerned, nothing matters but big business:The... [Read More]

Shorter Stephen Harper: We need to give the police more powers to do the job they’ve already done without them. Lapsed anti-terror provisions — extraordinary measures the Conservative government has been trying to revive — might have been useful in the current effort to round up suspects... [Read More]

Without a business plan, economic or environmental impact research, Michael Ignatieff is already walking around announcing billion dollar electoral patronage mega projects .....NORTH VANCOUVER -- "Canadian naval ships will be built on the North Shore for the first time in decades if the Liberals... [Read More]

An assortment of articles for your perusal...- Just you wait, the Cons' census vandalism will be forgotten any day now:Released Thursday morning, the EKOS survey delivers nothing but bad news for the Tories, showing their support reduced to a narrow base of hardcore older Western males. This, as... [Read More]

It remains to be seen how the rest of New Brunswick's election campaign will play out - and particularly whether either the Libs or the Cons will try (however implausibly) to adopt a theme of responsible management for themselves. But for now, it's hard to imagine the NDP's chosen message fitting... [Read More]

Not that it's particularly surprising that the B.C. Libs were less than honest in claiming to have never thought about imposing the HST until roughly three seconds before they officially declared it a done deal. But for those wondering when the paper trail would emerge, here's the answer: just in... [Read More]

According to our Minister of Immigration, Jason Kenney, the European Roma that have been desperately trying to come to Canada are just a bunch of queue jumpers with nothing to fear back home. Hungary’s leading far-right party said on Wednesday that Roma who are considered a threat to public... [Read More]

I'd have serious reservations about what would likely result if he were to get his wish (and would encourage the Libs' less corporatist members to keep in mind how the party prioritized budget-slashing and tax-cutting over nation-building last time it had the chance). But I won't join those... [Read More]

One of my favorite bloggers is fellow Saskatchewan Progressive Blogger, the Jurist, who blogs at Accidental Deliberations. He has a great post that I welcome all other progressives (even those few Liberal bloggers who qualify) to read:"The Libs have long since concluded that they can't afford to... [Read More]

On June 6, 1944 as British, Canadian and American troops launched their invasion of Nazi occupied France at Normandy, Scottish bagpiper Bill Millin marched up and down, back and forth on the beach, dodging bullets and trying to inspire the troops all the while playing his bagpipe as his comrades... [Read More]

No one doubts that Michael Ignatieff's Liberal Party is firmly situated Right of the Centre in the Canadian political spectrum. Most Liberals are, in fact, quite comfortable being slightly Right of Centre. Their contempt for organized labour and issues that affect women and working Canadians is the... [Read More]

Ever since it was announced that Kory Teneycke would be starting up a version of Fox News here in Canada many of my fellow lefties have been filled with dread. They’ve even gone so far as to create and sign onto a petition urging the CRTC to prevent the station from getting on basic cable... [Read More]

Liberal Party members seem pretty full of themselves lately. Many are convinced that their leader, Michael Ignatieff has finally started to drop the 'loser' image that has plagued him since he took the party helm. The summer bus tour photos are quite nice. Iggy flipping hotcakes .. Iggy engaged in... [Read More]

The silence coming from Ignatieff's Liberals in the wake of the G20 civil rights abuses is deafening! But when you listen to Iggy and his Liberal policy on 'detention' and 'assassination', we shouldn't be surprised!"In a letter to Vic Toews dated June 29th Mark Holland, the Liberal public safety... [Read More]

I see that some of my fellow dippers are quite upset by the latest concerted attack on the NDP by the Liberals and libfloggers over the upcoming gun registry vote. I would just like to point this out to them. Think back to the last concerted attack on the NDP by the Liberals and libfloggers [...]... [Read More]

Jim Stanford offers a reminder that it isn't only south of the border that the private sector is pocketing stimulus money rather than making any investments that would actually encourage recovery:Despite a few signs of life (mostly in the oil and gas industry), overall business investment spending... [Read More]

The latest on the Harper Cons' attempt to run against the idea of cooperative politics includes one good point about what they hope to accomplish. But it's worth clarifying exactly why the Cons want to see the Libs denying the possibility - and what can be done instead:Bricker said the Tories will... [Read More]

"Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals are ready to take on Stephen Harper in a federal campaign as internal polling shows them up three percentage points from the last election and just six points behind the governing Conservatives. The new data was presented to the Liberal caucus Tuesday afternoon by... [Read More]

The Libs have long since concluded that they can't afford to allow MPs to think for themselves, and are obviously doing their utmost to impose the same standard on the NDP. But it's funny what one can accomplish by actually working with one's MPs rather than simply eliminating their free... [Read More]

Something happens to Mr. Ignatieff each year as summer ends. It is a bravado driven insanity that speaks to the core thinking of the Liberal Party and its misguided sense of entitlement to govern. Go Iggy Go!-Globe & MailCartoon by kind permission of Graeme MacKay at mackaycartoons.net... [Read More]

The long suffering Liberal Party of Canada continues to stagnate in the polls. Many Liberal activists are starting to come around to the fact that their perceived 'entitlement' to govern is not going to be embraced by Canadians again any time soon. Michael Ignatieff has done very little to endear... [Read More]

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah recently gave a reasonably strong defense of the construction of the Cordoba House Muslim community center, saying that "if the Muslims own that property, that private property, and they want to build a mosque there, they should have the right to do so." He... [Read More]

This and that for your afternoon...- Douglas Bell slams the Libs for not caring about civil rights in the wake of the G20 police abuses:In a letter to Vic Toews dated June 29th Mark Holland, the Liberal public safety critic, raises a series of concerns regarding G20 security – not one of which... [Read More]

Apparently the Saskatchewan Party is trying to avoid responsibility for making off with the PC Trust Fund by arguing that it doesn't have standing to sue or be sued. Just what you'd expect from a terrorist-loving criminal organization.... [Read More]

While I'm not entirely in agreement with his suggested examples, I'd think Murray Dobbin is generally on target in noting the need for the NDP to lead the way in opposing the Harper Cons on more than just tactical terms:More than one commentator has asked in exasperation: who will rid the country... [Read More]

The Wall government's health-care privatization plans are proceeding as expected. So let's take a moment to refer back to some of the problems with privatization which have at best been answered with vague and implausible assurances - and ask why the Sask Party doesn't seem to have even considered... [Read More]

The main area of difference between the NDP's leadership and the Libs' on the gun registry is that Jack Layton actually wants to fix it now, while Michael Ignatieff wants to hold off on doing anything until some indeterminate point in the future. Which is apparently an important enough principle... [Read More]

This is a very impressive movie:Note especially the change starting in the very late 1990s. It's like somebody suddenly turned on a light somewhere between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter (Jove is the outermost planet on the margins.)... [Read More]

Ugh. Watch as another entirely discredited voice gets free press for belatedly coming to grips with the facts that were in front of his face the entire time.The world's most high-profile climate change sceptic is to declare that global warming is "undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the... [Read More]

Here's the part that I don't get about the Glenn Beck / Sarah Palin desire to return to a 'time' in American history that was 'more' honourable. Are they talking about the time ..... :-when Americans moved west massacring the Native Aboriginal people in the late 1700's and early to mid 1800's?-when... [Read More]

Who could have guessed that both beneficiaries of an unfair and antiquated electoral system would shoot down any talk of changing it?... [Read More]

I'll have more to say later about the broad themes of Jack Layton's speech on economic vision, setting out both an expended view of "infrastructure" and a firm statement that public and social infrastructure should be able to meet public interests. But for now, let's stick to a reminder about the... [Read More]

I'm not sure if there's some explanation for Harris MacLeod's attempt to put words in the mouth of the NDP which seems to contradict the historical record. But absent some clarification, it's hard to take much else seriously about his article on the gun registry.So in the face of the party's... [Read More]

An assortment of reading material to start your week...- Gerald Caplan offers up a suggested Middle East reading list for Cons willing to learn about the true state of the world. Which should come in handy just as soon as they return from the unicorn riding academy.- Ralph Surette nicely pegs what... [Read More]

10 years ago today, me and a girl went out on a date. Everything else in my life has followed from that day in my life as surely as night follows day.When Vicki and I started dating, I was what polite company would call "between opportunities" and what impolite company called a high school... [Read More]

With at least some of the talk about PCS takeovers raising the possibility that other bidders from China or elsewhere may outbid BHP Billiton, let's take a moment to point out what both takes which have received corporate media placement seem to get wrong.On the one hand, there's absolutely no... [Read More]

As I was browsing through the New York Times this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see this op-ed by Ali Abunimah on the differences in the American approaches to negotiations in Northern Ireland and Israel/Palestine. For the record, I don't agree with Mr. Abunimah's overall view of the... [Read More]

I've previously discussed how the Cons' constant coalition talk may only serve to legitimize any coalition following the next federal election campaign. But it's worth noting as well what impact the talk should have on the campaign itself, even if the Libs thus far seem determined not to let it... [Read More]

Last night's loss to Edmonton serves to have answered one interesting question: namely, whether the CFL is enough like the low-scoring NFL of the '70s for a team to nurse a two-touchdown lead while its offence takes the rest of the game off. ("No", it would appear.)Unfortunately, it's not quite... [Read More]

It was our family’s first attempt to stuff all our stuff into a canoe and camp. Irene and I used to do this sort of thing all the time. But it’s different now with a four year old.... [Read More]

[Black Star News Editorial]47 Years From I Have A Dream to I Have A Nightmare..."If African American voters were looking for a spark to rally voters to do the right thing in the November elections, it was provided today.Joined by his Tea Party and Republican Party supporters, Glenn Beck today... [Read More]

The ultimate answer to the question of what NAFTA has cost Canada involves plenty of guesswork as to how the country would have involved politically and economically in its absence. But it's certainly worth recognizing the less disputable costs when we can - and the fact that a Harper government... [Read More]

After listening to the 'unfettered free market' speeches of Brad Wall, year after year, it is worth noting that something very different is coming from him now. Merciless attacks on the New Democratic governments of Romanow and Calvert as well as individual New Dems were his trade mark. 'Get out of... [Read More]

When a younger Brad Wall worked as a ministerial assistant during the corrupt Grand Devine Conservative administration, he bought into all of the right wing ideology concerning 'privatization' of Crown Corporations. He therefore got in line and cheered Devine's sale of the Potash Corporation of... [Read More]

The Royal Canadian Mint will soon be issuing a commemorative $1 coin celebrating the Centennial of the Saskatchewan Roughriders: 1910 - 2010.This is an exlusive first peek!... [Read More]

With a humanitarian crisis in Pakistan which dwarfs the combined devastation of the 2004 Asian tsunami, the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the lack of media attention that the flooding has received is surprising. Whereas the destruction wrought by the Haitian... [Read More]

The Rideau Canal, 175 years young last year, has a kid brother not too far away named The Tay Canal.  Far smaller than the Rideau, which winds its way from Ottawa to Kingston, the Tay extends just 9.8 kilometers from Beveridge Bay on Lower Rideau Lake to a pretty turning basin in the heart of... [Read More]

Yglesias:I fear that historical evidence of poor economic performance in the wake of asset price bubbles bursting is creating a mood of dangerous complacency. You can read that as evidence that we’re destined to experience an extended period of poor growth, but you can also read it as evidence... [Read More]

Considering that the vast majority of Canadians (the Solberg family included) have immigrant roots, you have to wonder why Right wingers like Monty hate newcomers to Canada so much. We have about 30 million people living in the world's second largest country."Almost the first issue I had to deal... [Read More]

"It would be fair, I think, to describe my first reaction to the story that was front page news throughout the Sun chain today as somewhat -- brow-furrow-y. Not, I should note, over the "BOGUS REFUGEES" headline plastered over a picture of Tamil migrants disembarking from the Sun Sea, but... [Read More]

The other night, my arms heavy with groceries, I heard my name being called at the corner of Yonge and Carlton. That’s a very busy corner so this is definitely a ‘small world’ story. He told me, as I didn’t immediately recognize him, that he was Pete Bailey from The Standard... [Read More]

 There is a tendency on the part of intelligent pundits to give up on talking about "capitalism"  because of its sheer dominance and pervasiveness.  That has has been my own tendency in recent years, as I have drifted toward looking at smaller and more manageable problems. ... [Read More]

…Whip the fucking vote, Jack. You won’t lose a single vote if you do but you sure as hell will lose votes if you don’t. ... [Read More]

"Political mathematics are endless fun.For example, our friends at ThreeHundredEight.com make a pretty good case that, contrary to some recent discussion in English Canada, giving more seats to Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta probably doesn't alter the political chessboard. It is still very... [Read More]

There's a debate emerging over an incident in which Turkey allegedly used "chemical agents" against PKK targets back in 2009. This was first brought to international attention by Der Speigel, which bases its reporting on a number of photos of bodies that appear to have been killed with chemical... [Read More]

Israeli blogger and sometime FPW contributor Noam Sheizaf has a great take on Jeffrey Goldberg's Atlantic piece. Check it out.... [Read More]

Needless to say, I don't agree with the main thrust of David Rothkopf's recent piece casting doubt on the notion that a nuclear Iran would be susceptible to the standard logic of nuclear deterrence. To Rothkopf's credit, he (sort of) avoids the trap of casting Iran's leadership as "messianic" and... [Read More]

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cMosque-Eradewww.thedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorTea Party... [Read More]

The AfPak Channel reports:Women swept all of the top spots in Punjab province's annual college exams, earning cash prizes and exemptions from further payment for future studies (Daily Times). The pass rate for women on the exam was 33.81 percent, while it was only 19.18 percent for men, with nearly... [Read More]

From Aaron Wherry comes some good news for fans of a coalition government. “If we have one duty to this country, it is to make sure a Liberal, NDP, Bloc Québécois coalition can never govern this country,” Harper told a crowd of a few hundred at the Deer Creek Golf and Banquet... [Read More]

Ghia Nodia, a professor of politics at Ilia State University, has a rather oddly argued piece in RFE/RL suggesting that Russia's war with Georgia in 2008 has brought few benefits for Moscow. Without going too much in to the contours of Professor Nodia's argument, I would say that the opposite... [Read More]

Matthew Simmons died last week, and it's a loss to the peak oil advocacy network. It was only after his death that I started to peek around his website -- the Ocean Energy Institute -- where I noticed that he too shared a belief [PDF] that ammonia played a major role in the future of any... [Read More]

That's the last line of one of Gwynne Dyer's latest columns:Before the current recession, global emissions of greenhouse gases were growing at almost 3 percent per year, and they will certainly return to that level when the recession ends. To come in under +2 degrees C of warming, we need to be... [Read More]

So I have, fitfully, found semi-regular employment where I get to write online in an informal fashion. I would normally call it blogging, except that other people keep calling it different things. Anyway, I had to explain to one of my editors what it meant when I used the phrase "shorter [other... [Read More]

So, this really isn't about foreign policy except in a very abstract, what-happens-in-the-United-States-probably-has-parallels-to-what's-happening-in-other-societies kind of way. I'll ask readers' forgiveness in advance.Ann Friedman has a piece over at The American Prospect addressing the perennial... [Read More]

NY Times writer Ross Douthat on the proposed City Hall mosque:By global standards, Rauf may be the model of a “moderate Muslim.” But global standards and American standards are different.Of course they are. I do love how the proponents of universal moral constants suddenly discover exceptions... [Read More]

WTF!!! Twenty years after Deepan Budlakoti was born at the old Grace Hospital in Ottawa, the jailed businessman is now facing deportation from Canada — his birthplace and home all his life. I think it’s time to storm the Bastille folks, and take back our nation from the collection of white... [Read More]

Both readers of this blog may recall my older item about Mallory having pinworms. They’re back.... [Read More]

So Jeff Goldberg has a new article out in the Atlantic about how Israel is going to attack Iran next spring.Except, no, that's not really what it's about. It's actually about saying Israel will attack Iran--if the US doesn't attack first. But the Israelis would clearly like the US to attack, and... [Read More]

So many screw-ups by the governing Conservatives. Day after day they stumble around with their idiotic post Reform Party ideology, screwing up one thing after another ... telling one fib after another to try and cover."We want our governments, no matter which ones we elect, to at least be smart... [Read More]

Former Saskatchewan Premier, Roy Romanow, has a great perspective on the history of census taking in Canada as well as the ongoing value of solid data for the nation:"When the next census takes place in 2011, it will mark 345 years since Jean Talon personally surveyed the 3,215 colonists of New... [Read More]

I have posted a number of stories about massive flooding in Saskatchewan this year. One of the end results is that a lot of federally funded infrastructure projects are months behind and will likely not be completed by the original target date of March 31, 2011. To date, the Harper government has... [Read More]

Whinger World #50 ... [Read More]

There's a common thread that runs through politicians as varied as Paul Martin, Jean Chretien, Dalton McGuinty, and yes Barack Obama. Maybe as far as liberalism is concerned, we should start the clock of the 21st century a bit early--the way historians talk about a "long 19th century" that started... [Read More]

Saskatchewan has been severely hurt this spring and summer by extremely unusual weather. Huge parts of the province have been flooded out. As a result, many municipalities are behind schedule in completing much needed infrastructure projects. Our premier, Brad Wall has been completely ineffective... [Read More]

via Dave Roberts at Grist, there's a debate that I think encapsulates a lot of our current problems. Basically, a number of conservatives at The American Scene were arguing over carbon taxes. Jim Manzi, a conservative who basically gets way too much credit from polite liberals, responded with a... [Read More]

A friend emailed me this a few days ago. It's basically a psychiatrist giving his own explanation for why the "American dream" is out of reach--he blames an infantilizing culture in parenting and academia, and I particularly liked this bit:They're not better educated, they just have more degrees. ... [Read More]

"There is a certain perverse pleasure in observing a dogfight in which one has no dog. So it is in this national dogfight over the census. How it shakes out makes not the slightest difference to me. I mean, it's the census. Who cares?Les MacPherson Business ColumnistSaskatoon Star PhoenixMr.... [Read More]

Fareed Zakaria takes a stand against ADL's double standards. Bravo!... [Read More]

Jeffrey Gettleman had a good piece in the New York Times earlier this week highlighting the lead-up to Kenya's constitutional referendum (left: Kenyan voters lining up yesterday to vote.) The constitution, which passed today, appears to be a big step forward for the country, devolving power from... [Read More]

The CMA Report released yesterday, "Health Care Transformation in Canada" , is receiving some mixed reviews of the eyeball-rolling "not another report" variety; for example, Norman Spector accuses the CMA of "speaking with a forked tongue" --i.e. advocating more comprehensive coverage and a single... [Read More]

... [Read More]

The Globe and Mail has a great piece on Germany's response to the economic crisis, noting the comparatively intense focus on keeping people employed. Not a strategy without problems to be sure - Germany has plenty to be criticized for in its behavior toward the rest of Europe - but paired with Paul... [Read More]

A common, and at times quite legitimate, argument brought up by those dedicated to defending Israeli policy is one of fairness and consistency. Why is Israel singled out so often by so many people for so much criticism when there are so many states around the world that commit far more serious... [Read More]

Matthew Yglesias notes that driving a car is very likely to kill your child. Yes, you--you in the back, dangling your remote starter, waiting for the lecture to be over. This is actually a really important point: owning a car is basically the leading cause of death for children.Don't believe me? ... [Read More]

Niall Ferguson has an op-ed in The Australian musing on the possibility that the U.S., due to its difficult fiscal position, might be on the verge of a rapid, cascading decline in global influence similar to that of late Bourbon France or the 1950s British Empire. First, and this may be a minor... [Read More]

Scott Adams offers an interesting idea:One of the biggest problems with the world is that we're bound by so many legacy systems. For example, it's hard to deal with global warming because there are so many entrenched interests. It's problematic to get power from where it can best be generated to... [Read More]

Solar power now cheaper than nuclear, according to Marxists at the NY Times.Hey, the government killed an investigation in to pollution in the tar sands. Ho hum.CYBORG ARM. CYBORG ARM!Christ did not die on a cross?A professor contemplates how, and why, he punished a student he caught... [Read More]

In my listless bobbing about the doldrums of unemployment, I've tried to make it through a few IR "classics" that have somehow escaped my reading list to this point. One of these that I'm very much enjoying is Paul Kennedy's The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Even twenty-odd years after its... [Read More]

The International Court of Justice ruled this week that Kosovo's declaration of sovereignty in 2008 did not explicitly violate international law. The decision is being hailed in many parts of the West as a step forward in affirming the right of ethnic self-determination; Russia, China, and Spain,... [Read More]

Not to be overly anal about this, but this is a photo of U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jerry Cannon giving a symbolic key of ownership to Iraq's minister of justice, Dara Nurredin, for Iraq's Camp Cropper prison. The photo appeared on the front page of the New York Times yesterday. Unfortunately, the name of... [Read More]

As a quick addendum to Matt Yglesias's post on Ernest Gellner, I have to recommend his Nations and Nationalism. It's one of the foundational texts of the contemporary study of nationalism, and still quite engaging and relevant.... [Read More]