As Shock and Awe turn into Grief
September 12, 2010 | No Comments
I pose the following questions. Do you remember when President Kennedy was shot? When Bruce Lee, Elvis Presley and John Lennon died? When President Sadat, President Reagan and Pope John Paul II were shot? When two Prime Ministers Gandhi, President Premadasa or Prime Minister Rabin were shot? When the Challenger and the Columbia space shuttles [...]
Sense and Sensibility on the ninth anniversary of 9/11
September 11, 2010 | 1 Comment
To burn or not burn, that was the question. I am glad there was no burning of books today in Gainsville, Florida. Back in Toronto, there was the Jesus in the City Parade this Saturday afternoon. Driving home on Yonge Street after finishing a medical conference downtown, I got caught in this parade of floats, [...]
Leviathan’s reach
July 25, 2010 | No Comments
No, this is not commentary on the book by Thomas Hobbes. Having read Angelo Persichilli in today’s Toronto Star reminded me about the size of our government and the value of our news media. If an intrepid reporter or a loud-mouth politician has not reported or spoken about it, would you know any of the [...]
On tax and stimulus, a second take
July 11, 2010 | No Comments
Exit polls indicated that Japan’s governing party lost in Sunday’s election of the Diet’s upper house. Beside corruption scandals, the Wall Street Journal reports that a prime ministerial pledge to increase the national sales tax played a role in the electoral losses. Readers will recall that a mineral resources rent tax and cigarette tax added [...]
Anarchists: “Black bloc”, “criminals”, “looters”, “the mob”, “rioters” or “thugs”?
June 27, 2010 | 1 Comment
Yesterday at home I switched between live FIFA World Cup games and one of the Canadian 24-hour news channels and watched what happened in several streets of Toronto close to where I used to live. The images and reports stunned me. Beside the person detained during the week for possession of a crossbow in [...]
Respect vs. contempt
June 20, 2010 | No Comments
These days no one is free from scrutiny. Sometimes, do you really want to know? It used to be the case that public figures were the subject of political attacks, ridicule and satire, mostly by opponents and the print media. President Clinton, Prime Minister Mulroney and Prime Minister Chretien made their marks in history for [...]
Looking ahead at the coming week
June 6, 2010 | 7 Comments
Which of the following issues are you following? BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Dollar increasing in value against other world currencies. Europe’s prospects of economic recovery after investors soured on the Hungarian government. The world’s attention on the Israeli government. Threats from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea against its [...]
Ahoy!
June 6, 2010 | 8 Comments
Amid the various news and comments from the media about the boarding of ships by the Israeli Defence Force enforcing an arms embargo over Gaza, I have the following questions for the lawyers and politicians. What is the international and maritime law on this situation? What is the difference in this situation compared to the [...]
On tax and stimulus, a G20 preview
June 6, 2010 | 9 Comments
Since 2008, the world all over has been awash with government stimulus money, ranging from the loans to American automobile companies, to the infusion of capital to British banks and the purchase of American troubled assets to the offering of cash for clunker automobiles to the initiation of shovel-ready construction projects. Stock markets have [...]
Uniting the Left vs. the Right
June 5, 2010 | 3 Comments
Between the 2007 book, Dead Centre, by Jamie Heath, the op-ed by Scott Reid in the Globe and Mail yesterday, and the blogs of Chantal Hebert and Paul Wells, there have been numerous arguments and musings for and against uniting the left. The factors preventing a unity of the parties of the left are numerous. [...]