All entries by this author

Mrs. Sheehan and Ms. Baez at the United Nations

Aug 22nd, 2005 | By | Category: USA Today

[UPDATED Thursday, August 25]. You can be excused if you woke up earlier this week and thought some intelligent designer had turned the clock back 40 years. Last Sunday night veteran Vietnam War protester Joan Baez gave a free concert for “about 500 … gathered …. a couple of miles away” from George W. Bush’s ranch in […]



Good news from down under .. summer reading from a wizard of Oz

Aug 13th, 2005 | By | Category: Key Current Issues

It is a usually ignored commonplace that Australia, even though it is just north of Antarctica far away, has a lot in common with especially English-speaking Canada.Both places involve comparatively small numbers of people in very large aspiring national geographies. Both are former self-governing dominions of the defunct British empire (unless you think Washington really […]



Marc Emery and the Canada-US marijuana outrage .. can the war on drugs spread north?

Aug 8th, 2005 | By | Category: Canadian Provinces

VANCOUVER, Wednesday, August 3, 2005 [UPDATED TO MONDAY, AUGUST 8]. Canada’s so-called “Prince of Pot” Marc Emery, who just might be extradited to the US on drug and money-laundering charges, has now been granted bail (at $50,000) by a BC Supreme Court judge.Emery and his BC Marijuana Party colleagues, Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek and Gregory Williams, have […]



Inspired pick for Governor General .. but PM still shouldn’t be doing it all by himself

Aug 4th, 2005 | By | Category: Canadian Republic

OTTAWA. Thursday, August 4, 2005. So it would seem that the wily  federal Liberals in Canada have done the trick again. In one sense it is impossible to object to Prime Minister Paul Martin’s pick as the new governor general – “48-year-old Montreal journalist Michel Jean – the first black woman ever to anchor a network TV news […]



Summer breezes .. Chuck Cadmans’ death, more London transit disaster, war in Iraq, etc.

Jul 15th, 2005 | By | Category: Key Current Issues

TORONTO. Friday, July 15. 4:00 PM. It is very hot in this part of the world these days. News about politics and the big picture comes as so many short summer breezes. For avid fans of the almost prime-time soap opera in Canadian federal politics, the July 9 death of Chuck Cadman, independent MP from Surrey North in […]



Legal gay marriage : in Belgium, the Netherlands, and now Canada (and Spain) too

Jul 1st, 2005 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

OTTAWA. Tuesday, June 28, 2005. 11:30 PM. So third and final reading on the Bill C-38 gay marriage legislation has now passed in the Parliament of Canada, by a 158-133 vote. As CTV News has put it: “After the same-sex vote was put to bed, the House immediately adjourned for the summer, thus ending one of […]



Liberals survive again .. and the summer holidays are coming soon

Jun 15th, 2005 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

OTTAWA. Wednesday, June 15, 2005. 2:00 AM. Paul Martin’s Liberal minority government has now survived “16 confidence votes” in a marathon late-night parliamentary session Tuesday. You might almost think the MPs were trying to show how they sometimes do have to work very late. But they were also just rushing to finish up for the summer holidays. There […]



Round two in Ottawa : the answer is blowing in the wind?

Jun 1st, 2005 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

The members of the 38th Parliament of Canada have returned to Ottawa “for what is scheduled to be the final four weeks of the spring session.” And the “Conservatives say they will attempt to block the government’s two budget bills from being passed before the House of Commons summer recess.” Conservative leader Stephen Harper has indicated […]



The morning after the night before .. was it maybe somehow all worthwhile?

May 20th, 2005 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

Now that Canadians do not have to rush into another federal election right away, the national commentariat has time for assorted post-mortems on the recent events in Ottawa. As Terry Weber of the Globe and Mail has reported, the ultimate razor-thin survival of Paul Martin’s Liberal minority government on Thursday, May 19, by a final parliamentary […]



Light at the end of the twilight zone .. the conscience of the nation returns?

May 14th, 2005 | By | Category: Ottawa Scene

SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2005. 5 AM. According to CTV News, all four Canadian parties “have now agreed to sit down and meet to discuss a fair strategy for dealing with some of the MPs who are sick and unable to attend the vote,’ NDP Leader Jack Layton said Friday evening.” Jack Layton’s comments have apparently been […]