from Talking Points Memo: President Bush: Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government. And to the extent that the federal government didn’t fully do its job right, I take responsibility. (emphasis mine) …One thing for certain; having been down there three times and have seen how hard people are […] More »

UPDATE: Thanks for the comments here, but you all should really get involved in the trash-talking going on over at rebelsell.com. Remember to read the rules all the way to the end. Only entries posted to my blog or sent by email are eligible! ***************************** Who is most punk? Tell me, and win a copy […] More »

I’d like to take a moment to introduce Blog This’s newest blogger, Suzanne Alyssa Andrew. This readers might recognize her name from the magazine, for which she has been writing most ably for the past year (at least). Suzanne is a Toronto-based writer and serves as books editor for our friends at Broken Pencil magazine. […] More »

The September/October issue of THIS Magazine should be on your local newsstand right about now. You must go and buy it. The editorial from new editor Emily Schultz is worth the price of admission. Pity poor Emily and her hair issues. I had a great time on the streetcar this morning reading the letters to […] More »

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty apparently got sick of all the bickering and decided to throw all the pieces off the game board when he announced this weekend that not only would there be no system of sharia law arbitration for Ontario’s Islamic population, but that all separate religious arbitration for family law disputes such as […] More »

Some people, it seems, are extremely dedicatd to their mockery of the U.S. government. Take this site, which directly and playfully confronts the Bush administration’s stated intention to have “intelligent design” taught in schools alongside scientific explanations for the origins of life on Earth. At the very least, a fun read. More »

The Boston Phoenix drops some innnnteresting info on the oil for food scandal now making anti-UN folks so excited. To be clear, as noted a couple days ago, Kofi Annan has said “my bad” on this scandal. This is just for perspective: …Hussein smuggled $6 billion worth of oil out of Iraq — most of […] More »

Looking for a way to give to New Orleans? Send your cheques to Maclean’s back-pager Paul Wells who has organized a benefit dinner for NOCCA, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. Details at the link above. And while you’re at it, read this week’s Wells column for some great N’Orleanian history. The past speaks […] More »

From a BBC story: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said he takes personal responsibility for the failures of the oil-for-food programme, highlighted in a new report. Wow, I wonder what that’s like, having a leader who accepts personal responsibility for the failures of his government. And just when does that Gomery report come down […] More »

“This can only be the start of a new era of public transit expansion, the beginning of a true renaissance of public transit.” This quote from Michael Roschlau, president of the Canadian Urban Transit Association, appears in the Toronto Star report on Ontario government plans, multi-billion dollar plans, to take a new leading role in […] More »

This is painful for me: Frank Stronach is doing very good work. Roy MacGregor reports on beautiful action from the patriarch. If you can get past the standard “he arrived with $40 in his pocket, blah, blah, self-made blah, blah (sometimes it’s $40, sometimes $10, sometimes just $1 — dammit how much money did Frank […] More »