Month: May 2012

Things that make me go arghhh! Part 2

For your reading and pleasure, or perhaps frustration, I present the second installment of a semi-regular series dedicated to kvetching and carping about annoying stuff that’s been on my mind or in the news. • Police culture in the city of Toronto. Shortly after a report by Ontario’s...

Canada needs Conrad Black

In honour of Victoria Day, one presumes, Conrad Black, the former industrialist and onetime newspaper baron, he of the British peerage – his lordship, if you will – took part in what reportedly will be his one and only sit-down media interview, chatting with the CBC’s chief...

Does Facebook’s face-plant mean we’ve learned something?

The relatively poor showing of Facebook’s initial public offering of its shares on the NASDAQ exchange shows that, perhaps, finally, the hype around the social networking site may finally be abating. As I post this, Facebook shares have closed around $31 after their third day of...

Netanyahu has unprecedented power. Now what?

On May 7, Israelis went to sleep thinking they were heading for an election in September, 18 months before it was required by law. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apparently decided to call an early vote in order to capitalize on his high poll numbers and strengthen his...

Obama uses gay marriage to play electoral hardball

U.S. President Barack Obama is playing hardball in his effort to get re-elected later this year. And if last week is any indication, a second term will be even more of a slam dunk than I thought it would be. In a move that led some to...

Give kids and parents a break: don’t kill summer vacation

It’s a good thing the B.C. Liberals are likely going to lose the next provincial election, because aside from being from the wrong side of the ideological pond on most issues, they’ve just resurrected a really bad idea: year-round schooling. Instead of having a 10-month school...

Is Iran making Israelis crazy?

Will Iran acquire nuclear weapons and use them to wipe Israel off the map, as its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has threatened to do repeatedly? Is Iran rational or irrational? Would it or would it not unleash nuclear weapons on Israel? Can Israel take the chance? Does...