There will be plenty of time to say Merry this and Happy that on Blog This. Judging by the traffic to most blogs these days, the world is falling into a pre-holiday slumber. As it should be. On the other hand, what the heck is this all about? From The Guardian online: Famed British broadcaster’s […] More »

Don’t know if y’all are following the snoopgate story down in the States—the Presidential authorization of domestic wiretapping and spying without a warrant or the oversight of the secret court already in place to facilitate such emergency measures. Now the President and Vice-President claim they are simply restoring powers to the Presidency that should never […] More »

Campaign update: Warren Kinsella calls Jack Layton, “one smart friggin’ customer” this morning. Why? Because of this statement from Layton: “If you think Jean Chretien made the right call on Iraq, vote for the NDP that supported him. Not Paul Martin who undermined him as Prime Minister and Liberal leader.” An NDP leader invoking the […] More »

There’s been little said on Blog This, in the daily newspapers, on rabble.ca or most other places I’ve looked recently on what went down at the WTO meetings in Hong Kong last week. A chance bus encounter with The Globe’s Report on Business offered a glimpse, but I hadn’t seen much other than that until […] More »

Jack Layton making a major policy announcement this morning outside a Toronto Transit station: New Democrats will increase the Gas Tax Transfer to the full five cents per litre requested by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Right now – year one. No long Liberal phase-in. No time for Paul Martin to break his word once […] More »

My preference for where to begin the argument: The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law. The invasion was an arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of […] More »

The Globe has been following a story since Saturday on a Toronto law professor who is battling Rogers Wireless over charges applied to her cellphone when it was stolen. The interesting part of the story, to me, is that her partner, a technology journalist named Harry Gefen, did some reconnaissance work on her behalf at […] More »

During last fall’s US election campaign, I occasionally expressed on this blog the opinion that John Kerrry was hardly the epigone of moral consistency that some of his supporters – in the US and in Canada – had made him out to be. It seemed to me that Kerry had flip-flopped on a number of […] More »

The high-profile campaign for Toronto riding Etobicoke-Lakeshore officially begins this Saturday afternoon with a rally in support of NDP candidate, Liam McHugh-Russell. Russell, a 25 year-old U of T law student, is taking on Harvard professor and rumoured challenger for the Liberal leadership, Michael Ignatieff, famous for his pro-invasion, pro-torture support for the Bush administration’s […] More »

I’m happy to provide an update on last week’s item about Ford Motor Company’s ad buys in gay media. From today’s New York Times. Ford, Reversing Decision, Will Run Ads in Gay Press DETROIT, Dec. 14 – Less than two weeks after the Ford Motor Company said it would all but eliminate its advertising in […] More »

Here’s what filled my ears this year, whether on the subway, at home or out with friends: 10. Digital Ash in a Digital Urn by Bright Eyes 9. Idols of Exile by Jason Collett 8. The City by The Fembots 7. Arular by M.I.A. 6. Has a Good Home by Final Fantasy 5. Get Behind […] More »