George W. Bush
Flashback Tuesday: “The Graduate”
In this week’s flashback, we take a look at Sarah Schmidt’s piece on the University of Toronto’s 1997 decision to award George Bush Sr. an honorary Degree. Schmidt rightly skewers the university for choosing to honour a man who played a decisive role in classic American misadventures such as the 1987 Iran-Contra scandal and whose… More »
Flashback Tuesday: “Trading Futures”
In honour of our January-February edition, This Magazine waded through hundreds of archived stories on Canada’s complex and often fraught relationship with our neighbours to the south. The result: Twelve favourites that span the period from Trudeau-Nixon to Chrétien-Bush. Together, these stories offer a fascinating cross-section of the events that have helped shaped contemporary American-Canadian… More »
Body Politic #10: Tories won't say it, but birth control saves lives
Update, Friday, March 19: It seems to me that it’s impossible to truly know where the government stands. One moment the foreign minister says birth control isn’t included in their G8 maternal health push. The next the prime minister’s backing up on that, saying discussion around birth control’s not out of the cards. *** There… More »
Listen: Our Iraq war cover story on the radio!
Anthony Fenton, the investigative journalist who wrote “Hostile Takeover: Canada’s outsourced war for Iraq’s oil riches,” the September-October cover story in This Magazine, has been on the air three times in recent weeks, talking about the article, Canada’s part in the Iraq occupation, and the private businesses that profit from the conflict. Here’s Anthony talking… More »
The U.S. finally gets its act together, so Canada's "grown up," apparently
Let me get this straight: The United States finally elects a credible president; moves to enact more humane health care policies; attempts to rein in its legions of lunatic financiers; and gets a clue on climate change. Meanwhile, Canada chugs along with its boring-but-stable banks and an imperfect but respected single-payer healthcare system. And we’re… More »
Friday FTW: Fox "F%#kos" and GOP loons consume themselves, Jon Stewart watches
If you missed the Daily Show this week, on Wednesday it offered a kind of condensed, sweetened version of the current political moment in the U.S., a methodical and droll demolition of the out-and-out insanity that has gripped the American right. In the segment—which, by the way, earns every ounce of smugness it exudes—the archives… More »
The Evil One resigns
Karl Rove’s work is done, apparently. The Economist has a thoughtful/ detailed blurb about Rove’s resignation here. It cites Rove’s ability to get Bush re-elected in 2004 as his biggest triumph, which, you have to admit, was quite the feat. Rove knows his market: the American people, unfortunately, wanted the big, dumb approachable “guy next… More »
Democrats assume power, and blame
A nasty, I believe Republican, stomach virus had me lying wretchedly in bed watching almost 24 hours of non-stop American election coverage recently — alternating between CNN and CBCNewsworld (I like that Henry Champ — good suits). It’s an experience I cannot recommend, even for the natural audience of this blog, who would have been… More »
Maybe Kerry was right
Democrats can’t get away from him fast enough and Republicans hope his “botched joke” marks a turning point in the U.S. mid-term elections, but what few people are not saying about Senator John Kerry—flubbed comedic stylings or not—is that he was right on Monday when he said a lack of education will get you stuck… More »
If Michael Moore were President of Venezuela
Responding to Hugo Chavez’ speech to the General Assembly at the UN yesterday (from The New York Times): Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Mr. Chavez’s comments were “not becoming of a head of state.” And I agree, which means that Condi and I now agree on two things (Peter McKay can be very charming… More »
