Sophistry and the Right

The parochialism of Little Canada is killing us
An excellent diplomat, winding up his years in this country, was saying last week that Canada has everything at its command. Huge geographic spaces. Enormous natural resources. A well-educated population. Good governance. Chests were undoubtedly swelling in his audience. He made us all feel very good about being Canadian. Death of the penny? He was talking about Big Canada, and its great prospects. He was kind enough not to speak of Little Canada, and its discontents. Little Canada, alas, makes...

Seaway shipping of generators delayed
The seasonal closure of the St. Lawrence Seaway and delays in the licensing process mean that a proposed shipment of large radioactive generators will not happen until the spring, at the earliest. Nearly 80 groups, including the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, oppose the shipment of 16 decommissioned 100-ton radioactive steam generators through the Great Lakes and the Seaway. Bruce Power, owner of the Canadian nuclear plant that is proposing shipping the generators to Sweden for Recycling, has sa...

Pakistan spooks kill brothers of forcibly disappeared: report
WASHINGTON DC: Brothers of at least two Victims of enforced disappearances have been killed extra judicially by Pakistan intelligence services, a premier organization that helps protect Human Rights Voice of Copts was informed Thursday. There have been cases in recent weeks a brother who tries to secure the release bof victim of enforced disapperances by creating public awarness is killed by the secret agencies. Asim Karim Baloch, 18, was a Student of Multan Polytechnic College and a member of B...

Americans Have It Right: Ditch Tenure, Raise Pay for Effective Teachers
Americans are finally accepting the fact that the nation’s public education system is deeply flawed. And a new poll reveals that the public is ready to embrace a logical Compromise that would effectively address the problem - do away with tenure protection for bad teachers and provide higher salaries for good teachers. According to the poll, conducted by Stanford University and the Associated Press, 78 percent of respondents believe it should be easier for schools to get rid of ineffective...

Jewish Malware
[The following, by Charles Jacobs , appears in this weeks' Jewish Advocate in edited form.] Reports surfaced last week that stuxnet, the computer virus mysteriously implanted in the computers running Iran's nuclear sites, is still wreaking havoc, despite claims by Teheran that it has been contained. No one knows for sure how much damage is being done, or if it can be stopped, or who in the first place infected Iran's mass-death program -- but Israel is a prime suspect. When it was found that t...

Japan knife rampage on buses leaves 13 injured
A knife-wielding Japanese man went on the rampage on two packed buses on Friday, slashing at least four people in an incident that left 13 injured, mostly school Students, police and media reports said. Police said they had arrested a 27-year-old unemployed man identified as Yuta Saito after the attacks during the morning rush hour outside Toride railway station, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Tokyo. "The suspect got onto the buses and wielded a knife and slashed passengers in there...

Japan knife rampage on buses leaves 13 wounded
A Japanese man with a knife went on a rampage on two packed buses Friday and wounded 13 people, mostly teenage school Children, by slashing and beating them and sparking a panicked stampede. Police said they had arrested 27-year-old unemployed Yuta Saito after the attacks during the morning rush hour outside Toride railway station, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Tokyo. "The suspect got onto the buses and wielded a knife and slashed passengers," said a local police spokesman after th...

Just another Conspiracy Theory? From loonie to 'here comes the amero'
When the Canadians in 1987 started to emboss a common loon on the back of their dollar coin, it affectionately became known as the loonie.  That affection has since worn thin as a successful investor calls for its abandonment.  Herbert Grubel, a Canadian Economist who developed the concept of a North American currency comparable to the euro, recommends that Canada come up with a new Canadian Dollar to replace the loonie.  Right now the loonie is worth a little more ...

For Canadian Santa fan it's Christmas every day
What began as an innocent legacy from an elderly aunt has turned into an obsession with all things Christmas which has won retired Canadian teacher Jean-Guy Laquerre a place in the record books. That gift, an early 20th Century Santa figurine, "awakened the child in me," said Laquerre, with a twinkle in his eye looking around at his collection, describing his unusual yuletide fixation as "Santaphilia," a term he coined himself. "I started my collection in 1988. Over the past 22 years, I've accum...

Wal-Mart and union reach settlement over website
Wal-Mart filed a motion in a Quebec court in June 2009 claiming Trademark Infringement by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW Canada) on a website aimed at Wal-Mart employees. The motion noted among other things, the website's logo was similar to the retailer's circular yellow "spark" logo. The company also objected to the site using the name www.walmartworkerscanada.ca. Both sides declined to discuss details of the settlement, which was reached late on Wednesday, but on Thursday...

Canadian highway reopens after snow closure
Both directions of Highway 402, part of the main route between the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron and the Toronto area, are now open to traffic. Officials in Ontario opened the eastbound side on Wednesday but had to remove snow and abandoned vehicles before reopening the westbound lanes today. The highway closed for more than a day because wind-driven snows stranded more than 237 drivers in their vehicles amid snow drifts as high as five feet. Canadia...

Can Ottawa right-size government without slashing services?
Last updated Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 4:29PM EST We asked, you voted: what are the next eight discussions Canada needs to have? Join us Thursday, Dec. 16 at 12 p.m. ET for a live discussion on one of your top choices: Right-sizing government. Is it possible for Canada to cut its aggregate Deficit only by cutting Government Spending? Can the feds cut spending in Ottawa only and leave transfers to people and provinces alone? Does cutting spending mean cutting services? Mel Cappe, President and ...

The Problem Child: Why Won't America Publish Sheila Heti's Second Novel?
"We live in an age of some really great blow-job artists," begins the fiction piece in the latest issue of the literary journal n+1. "Every era has its art form. The nineteenth century, I know, was tops for the novel." The narrator is a female playwright obsessed with becoming a world-renowned genius. It's still a distant goal, but, she says, one good thing about being a woman is that there aren't many examples of female geniuses yet. For all we know, she could be one! In the meantime, she say...

MPs say happy holidays with pets and troops – but little snow
The Globe asked the guy who skewers politicians for a living to rate, comment, rave about or simply critique this season’s political Christmas Cards. But comedian Rick Mercer declined when confronted with photos of politicians with their kids, the family dog or posing with Canada’s young men and women fighting in Afghanistan. There was nothing for him to say or add. Indeed, what to say about the Harper family posed in front of 24 Sussex Drive on a sunny fall day? Truly relaxed, the...

Breaking down the Canadian junior team
TORONTO — They had the 22 players they wanted on the ice for the team photo, but they did not know which of their two goaltenders would start, which of their Veterans would wear the captain’s ‘C’ on his sweater, or exactly what the team would look like when the games begin for real later this month. Canada’s junior Hockey Team has sketched the outline, naming its roster Wednesday for the world junior championship, but it still has to colour in several open spaces. &...

Mafia probe targets seven in Canada, 53 in Italy
Adrian Humphreys, National Post · Friday, Dec. 17, 2010 An anti-Mafia Probe in Italy has brought Arrest Warrants against seven men living in Canada, including a businessman who won large government contracts to put Recycling Bins on the streets of major Canadian cities. Also wanted in Italy are two men revealed by the National Post in September as being among seven alleged Mafia leaders dominating Crime in Toronto, and a former mayor in Italy who recently visited Ontario and is now accused...

How Should a Peron Be?: Literary Darling Sheila Heti's Unpublishable Novel
"We live in an age of some really great blow-job artists," begins the fiction piece in the latest issue of the literary journal n+1. "Every era has its art form. The nineteenth century, I know, was tops for the novel." The narrator is a female playwright obsessed with becoming a world-renowned genius. It's still a distant goal, but, she says, one good thing about being a woman is that there aren't many examples of female geniuses yet. For all we know, she could be one! In the meantime, she say...

237 motorists lifted from highway after motorists get straded due to giant snow blizzard global warming
I have traveled highway 402 many times on my way to Toronto, CA. It;s about a 4 hour trek from here through Sarnia. I'm glad I didn't make that trek the last couple of days, because if I had I would have joined 237 people who got trapped on that highway and had to be airlifted to safety: And from the Detroit Free Press: Canadian highway, Blue Water Bridge reopen Authorities in Ontario this afternoon reopened part of the Canadian expressway closed amid pounding snows that trapped hundreds of dri...

Immigration in Canada: A smaller welcome mat
CANADA has long been known as one of the world’s most welcoming countries for immigrants, and thus a good bet for Refugees, who are granted most of the same rights and freedoms as citizens. At first, this open-door policy was a product of necessity. The world’s second-biggest country, Canada needed people to fill its wide open spaces and build an economy. But Multiculturalism has been a part of the national identity since 1971, when a Liberal government embraced it as official policy...

Megabus.com starts Richmond service
Megabus started its discount intercity bus service in Richmond yesterday and already more than doubled its operations. The express bus company is running seven daily departures from Richmond, up from the planned three daily departures from its arrival-and-departure location on Richmond's East Main Street opposite Main Street Station. "It's crazy, the amount of money you save," said Wes Queen, a Virginia Union University Student boarding the bright blue and yellow Megabus on Wednesday. Instead of...

Smash Earth on your computer! Website lets you calculate damage from comet or asteroid
© Information Technology at Purdue/Michele Rund A new website lets astronomers - and anyone who likes to watch stuff blow up - calculate the damage a comet or asteroid would cause if it hit Earth. The interactive website, called Impact: Earth!, is scientifically accurate enough to be used by the Department of Homeland Security and NASA , but user-friendly enough for Elementary School Students, according to the researchers who developed it. The site could help scientists and the public a...

An Iowan on Santorum: 'Very Presidential in Stature'
The closing item in the Morning Jolt mentioned Rick Santorum’s event on a cold night in Davenport, Iowa. A Campaign Spot reader, Meredith, was at last night’s meeting. Her take: LOVE love love The Morning Jolt. It’s the first thing I look for in the a.m. I was there in Davenport last night. I’m looking for a Candidate. I don’t think the “reruns” can beat Obama; they weren’t that popular the first time (i.e. Huckabee and Romney). I am not an offic...

Its always sunny for Ignatieff
If Michael Ignatieff is ever wounded by the insults and reversals of political life, he hides it well. Neither he nor his wife, Zsuzsanna, has any reason to welcome the press to Stornoway, the Opposition leader’s residence. Yet, Mr. Ignatieff is in a relaxed mood as he fields a day of interviews. It’s the last Interrogation of the day and, far from being in testy humour, he wanders into the living room in an open-necked shirt, laughing away, and takes a bite of Zsuzsanna’s bisc...

City's Payroll Head Suspended After CityTime Scandal
Comptroller John Liu and Mayor Mike Bloomberg just announced that Joel Bondy, the city's Payroll head, has been suspended. The Disciplinary Action comes after massive Fraud was uncovered by four consultants hired by the city to computerize the municipal Payroll system. The four are accused of bilking the city for more than $80 million. Says Bloomberg, "Any violation of the public's trust is categorically unacceptable and we are implementing a series of changes to reform Oversight of the CityTi...

American Praises Her Iranian Captives?!
Editor’s note:  be sure to check out Reza Kahlili’s fascinating new book on his life as a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. The U.S. hiker recently freed from Evin Prison in Iran, Sarah Shourd, stated in an editorial on CNN that while she was in prison, she was treated with respect and that her captors showed compassion and understanding. She recalls how a guard brought her homegrown roses twice a week and how the guard consoled her and told her that everything was go...