Doug Saunders wrote a nice piece in Saturday’s Globe (I’d link to it, but it’s only accessible with subscription) about problems in Athens related to the Olympics. To wit: the venues were built in a rushed manner, using poor materials and methods and done over budget to make deadlines, and now they are virtually useless […] More »

From the new edition of the American Prospect: The spirit of ’68 still lives on in some quarters of the left. Too bad — there are much more effective ways to be an opposition party than by reliving the past. More »

Three years ago, I wrote a piece for This Magazine entitled “Death Rays.” It was a short, fun little thing pointing out that American scientists seemed to be devoting a great deal of energy to building Death Rays. But you can never to be too playful. My piece was reprinted in the Ottawa Citizen (back […] More »

CBC radio host Paul Kennedy is launching a campaign to get Leonard Cohen nominated for a Nobel Prize. The campaign begins, with help from George Elliott Clarke, Michel Garneau, Edward Palumbo and Karen Young, on Saturday, April 2 at 20h30, at Blue Metropolis in Montreal. Does Leonard Cohen deserve a Nobel prize? Is it the […] More »

Hobbesian nuts like Heath and Potter (and the late philosopher John Rawls) not-so-secretly pine for an all-powerful social contract that would create permanent cultural and political synthesis. So you see, kids, it’s your inborn duty to rebel. Otherwise the future development of human history will be a thing of the past. Heath and Potter have […] More »

The New York Times has thrown a heavyweight editorial into the creators’ corner in the ongoing struggle over copyright in this crazy, mixed up digital world. Here’s a bit: Both the court and Congress should be sensitive to evolving technologies. But they should not let technology evolve in a way that deprives people who create […] More »

Imagine the following scenario: In a bid to make Parliament more “democratic”, the government decides that it will no longer independently debate policy, draft and introduce legislation, submit a budget, or make executive decisions without the explicit say-so of “the people”. All proposals would have to come from “the citizens” and would be subject to […] More »

from The Toronto Star “In a brief appearance before reporters at the Prairie Chapel Ranch yesterday, as the three leaders walked along with Barney, the president’s Scottish terrier, a casually dressed Martin joked that the big difference between Bush’s farm and his own in Quebec’s Eastern townships was the lack of snow. Deputy Prime Minister […] More »

This hasn’t been widely reported by the eastern-bastard media, but Saskatchewan’s bid to get energy revenues excluded from the equalization formula has hit a bit of a snag. The House of Commons defeated a Conservative motion to that effect yesterday. The bid was defeated by a vote of 182-105 with the Bloc Quebecois siding with […] More »

It would appear that wannabe trenchcoat mafioso Jeff Weise left a handful of clues to his murderous intentions. Apparently his favourite bands included Korn, Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, and John “happpiness is a warm gun” Lennon. But more interesting is the bit of flash animation he posted online. Called “Target Practice,” the bit shows a character […] More »

Nice work by the Globe and Mail this morning, reporting on Paul Martin’s meet ‘n greet with U.S. President Bush. Judging by the photo below, they got all chummy together in a Waco. Of course, the photo accompanying the actual story pulls back a bit to show that Mexican President, Vicente Fox (Ringo, to his […] More »