Today’s by-election for Jack Layton’s old seat in Toronto-Danforth just kicks off two weeks of intense political mania at all three levels of government, in what was once mistakenly called the Toronto-Centred Region by Ontario government planners. Inevitably all this is of most interest to actual residents of the region. (See “Jack Layton’s Toronto-Danforth riding […]

Back in the dog days of August 2010, Citizen X posted a long-hot-summer lament on this site called “A ‘lesbian-themed werewolf romance’ .. what will they think of next, etc??” His lament began with: “It may just be the summer heat that does not seem to be going away this year – or my all […]

The counterweights editors have just informed me that a piece I did last summer – “Catching up with UK hacking scandal .. Rebekah Brooks (nee Wade/Mrs. Ross Kemp) and Wendi Deng Murdoch!” – has been receiving some striking fresh attention from readers. And the editors have asked me to quickly update the ongoing adventures of […]

Like millions of others in North America who remain far more interested in politics than common sense suggests we ought to be, last night I watched the HBO TV movie “Game Change” – about Sarah Palin’s run as US Vice Presidential candidate in 2008.  And I agree that it “is gripping throughout, because it’s ‘well-acted.’.” […]

Even The Tyee in BC is talking about how “Harper backs Toronto’s mayor’s yen for subways, cars over light rail.” Here on the waterfront where we are headquartered, only half an hour from the downtown depths of the city with the heart of a loan shark itself (by public transit), we have just completed our […]

“Today,” my wife remarked as we were getting up, “is the original ‘great day for Canada.’” Having acquired much familiarity with our nuclear family legends, I knew what she meant. But I asked the obvious dumb question anyway: “You mean,” I said, “that this is your grandfather’s birthday?” (My knowledge of the legends  does not […]

Things have finally come to a head in the great question of the fate of the Ford Brothers Revolution in Toronto municipal politics. The Rob and Doug Show has at last galvanized a perhaps reasonably well organized City Council Opposition. The chosen field of bloody combat is public transit (policy and programs) in the megacity […]

So, people are asking me (well some people anyway), “have you changed your mind about THE current big issue in Ottawa since your post this past Sunday (‘Catching up with false robocalls rising in 2011 Canadian federal election’)?” My short answer, for what it’s worth, is I still don’t know – and I suppose I […]

FEBRUARY 28, 2012. Today marks the 60th anniversary of the swearing-in of Vincent Massey as “the first Canadian” Governor General of Canada. (“Until 1952, Governors General were British. The 1952 installation of Vincent Massey, the first Canadian to hold the office, reflected Canada’s new sense of autonomy and identity in the post-war era.”) In our […]

Sunday, February 26, 2010, at the edge of a great lake in the northern North American wilderness. Waiting for Oscar, looking in on the NDP federal leadership debate in Winnipeg (thank you CPAC) … and, despite my better judgment, finally starting to wonder about the May 2, 2011 robocalls election scandal (or whatever it is) […]