Headline of the Day
January 26, 2011 | No Comments
From The Ottawa Sun, this is something I never thought I’d read. Hitler’s bodyguard gives up on fan mail More than 65 years after World War Two, Adolf Hitler’s last surviving bodyguard says that he can no longer respond to the continuous deluge of fan mail he receives from around the world because of his advanced [...]
Catching Up with Richard Albert
January 25, 2011 | No Comments
Richard’s a pretty busy dude, so it’s no wonder we don’t see him around here as much as we like (full confession: “as much as I’d like” = “all the freakin’ time”). Sometimes, Richard feels the need to slum it at less prominent web sites like Politico. Here he is on the L’Affair Scalia: The chorus [...]
Catching Up With Patrick Baud
January 25, 2011 | No Comments
It’s been a while since Patrick has blessed us with a post here at the Commons, but I imagine that is because he is quite busy elsewhere. In case you’re interested (and you should be), he’s writing for The Varsity, and recently participated in a debate about direct democracy with David Woolley. Patrick writes against direct democracy. Here’s [...]
Megaphone Diplomacy
January 25, 2011 | 4 Comments
It seems the latest fad is to leak confidential information; Al Jazeera has disseminated a series of documents – over 1,600, which narrate the dialogue between Israel and the Palestine Leadership Organization (PLO), regarding the ever so anticlimactic peace process. The documents disclose the internal discussions, amongst the parties involved in the peace process from [...]
Week in Review
January 24, 2011 | No Comments
Last week’s top five posts: Max Fawcett: David Akin’s Dream World Jonathan McLeod: You’d Think They’d Need All Those Daggers to Slice Up the Charter of Rights and Freedoms Scott H. Payne: A New Course for Ignatieff? Jonathan McLeod: Question of the Day (I am existentially please that this made the cut.) Scott H. Payne: The [...]
What is, becasue it’s not espionage, Alex?
January 24, 2011 | No Comments
I have an appreciation for Ezra Levant. Rarely, these days, do I agree with him, but he’s always good for an enjoyable rant. Here’s his most recent piece, entitled, Why doesn’t Canada deport an Iranian diplomat? A snippet: The Iranian Embassy sent a formal request to Canada’s national Library and Archives last week demanding they [...]
Intolerance Day
January 24, 2011 | 10 Comments
First, I would like to send a hearty ‘Welcome Back’ to Andrew Lawton of Strictly Right. As noted previously, Mr. Lawton had some serious health issues that lead to his hospitalization for much of December and January. Thankfully, Mr. Lawton is back, and has no serious after effects from the illness or treatment. Not only [...]
In Praise of Negative Ads
January 23, 2011 | No Comments
There’s a lot of chatter these days about political ads. The Tories are going negative; the Grits are going negative; oh why, oh why must we have negative political ads? It’s as if political watchers have gone all Stuart Smalley on us, desiring only positive, affirmative, touchy feely campaigning. Well, I am not one to [...]
Canadians United
January 22, 2011 | No Comments
What a wonderful confluence of events. On Friday, the anniversary of the Citizens United case – a powerful free speech victory in the U.S. – Impolitical offers up a blog post highlighting our need for a Canadian version of the landmark ruling. Well, I don’t think that was her intention, but that’s what I’m taking away [...]
A New Course for Ignatieff?
January 21, 2011 | 1 Comment
We often puzzle over and wrestle with the cynicism that politics breeds. “Why should it be that the political process jades so many so quickly?” we ask ourselves. The answer, of course, isn’t that hard to deduce. Politics breeds cynicism because politicians and political parties often speak in terms of principles and act in terms [...]