Quote of the Day
February 23, 2011 | No Comments
From PUBLIUS at The Gods of the Copybook Headings, linking conservative blunders from Dief to Dubya: There is, however, no such thing as government compassion, as compassion is a voluntary act between individuals and families, not a series of bureaucratic spending priorities. I haven’t decided if I completely agree, but I don’t completely disagree (and please [...]
A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Drags
February 23, 2011 | 2 Comments
By now, I’m sure you’ve all seen it – a picture of embattled cabinet minister Bev Oda stealing a cigarette outside of Parliament. It’s a bit of a nothing picture – an unattractive candid shot – but it has caused a bit of a stir, leading people like Adrian McNair to come to Oda’s defense*, [...]
Week in Review
February 22, 2011 | No Comments
Family Day in Ontario means a late Week in Review. Anyway, here are some of the top posts from last week: Jonathan McLeod: Of Life and Death and a Week. Lindsay Watt: Pipes, The CRTC, Mexican Donkey Porn and UBB. (And cheers to Lindsay for working “Mexican Donkey Porn” into his first post with us!) [...]
Dark Horse
February 21, 2011 | No Comments
It has been exposed that the besieged ‘diplomat’ – Raymond Davis, is a CIA agent; Mr. Davis has been charged with the murder of two civilians by a court in Pakistan. This diplomatic quagmire began on January 27 when Davis murdered two civilians in downtown Lahore; he claimed his actions were the result of being [...]
Tony on my mind
February 21, 2011 | 2 Comments
I’ve been thinking a lot about Tony Clement lately. Yes, this is a problem. More specifically, I’ve been thinking about his Twitter feed. A few months ago, I subscribed to it, but then unsubscribed, thinking that it must be an imposter, since the posts were actually creative, candid, challenging and informative. It really was his [...]
Pipes, The CRTC, Mexican Donkey Porn and UBB
February 20, 2011 | 1 Comment
What a couple of weeks. The CRTC casually announced that they would allow usage-based billing (UBB). Within days hundreds of thousands of Canadians signed a petition (even apathetic people like me-more on this later). Then Tony Clement’s twitter feed took charge and said that the decision would be reversed: So what’s going on here? Do [...]
Twitter/Facebook made me do it
February 18, 2011 | 1 Comment
What role is social media playing in contemporary politics, specifically revolutions? This is the question posed by NYU Internet scholar Clay Shirky in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs. It is a cogent look that goes beyond the typical excitement over emerging technology. Essentially, Shirky states that social media’s strength lies not so much in [...]
What Wise Men Say…
February 17, 2011 | 4 Comments
For most people, the events in Egypt over the past few weeks have been engrossing to say the least. That is particularly true of events last week. To watch hundreds of thousands of people struggle for freedom for seventeen days straight, seemingly fail to achieve their goal, persevere, and then have their opponent fold under [...]
Justin Bieber Justin Bieber Justin Bieber
February 17, 2011 | No Comments
I figure if I type Justin Bieber‘s name enough times, we’ll get a million hits here at the Commons. Anyway, you’ve probably already heard that The Bieb has entered into the abortion debate and the health care debate (against the former, for Canada’s system for the latter). I’d say Maclean’s Jaime Weinman wins the day for [...]
Of Life and Death and a Week
February 17, 2011 | 7 Comments
I learn a lot from my daughter. Not necessarily anything that she explicitly teaches me, but many things that I learn – if only of myself – because I have a daughter. On Tuesday, I learned that I was going to have pizza for dinner. I’m not one of those parents who claims that having [...]