Entries
Who Wins & Loses in McGuinty's Ontario
In my column for the National Post , I discuss the various political windfalls that have characterized Dalton McGuinty's reign as Premiere of Ontario: Politics is about who gets what, when, and how. Let's apply that famous definition to Dalton McGuinty's Ontario: Who has been getting …
Turkey's Erdogan Goes Rogue
Turkey’s recent brawl at the U.N fits in perfectly with Recep Erdogan’s new “street credit” foreign policy. To recap, bodyguards of the Turkish prime minister got rough with UN security after it sent back the entourage, which tried to barge forward in the line in order to be present as …
No, The Red Sox Did Not Choke
It didn’t take long for the mob to start spewing venom over the Red Sox’s collapse. On the morning after the team’s season-ending defeat Wednesday night, the Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy cut to the chase: “The greatest choke in baseball history ended the only way it could have ended, with …
The Fat Diaries: It's a Struggle Keeping Out Bad Influences
My kids are finally reaching that age where I’m not involved in every aspect of their life. A few years ago I decided what they ate for breakfast lunch and dinner. I came up with, or at least supervised every activity they pursued. I enforced good manners from the moment they woke up to the …
Michael Moore and the Tea Party Deserve Each Other
img class="size-full wp-image-104549 alignnone" title="mooreteaparty" src="/files/wxrimport/2011-09/mooreteaparty.png" alt="" width="453" height="199" />The EU's Big Fat Greek Mess
Herman van Rompuy is neither a "poet lost in politics," nor “charismatic,” but rather a timid church mouse - precisely the sort of leader that a lowest common denominator institution like the EU requires. This reputation has dogged Von Rompuy ever since his contested appointment as President of the …
Why Obama is Quiet About Al-Awlaki
Michael Tomasky asks , "Why doesn't President Obama take more credit for killing the al-Qaeda leadership?" Tomasky is normally a tough-minded observer of all points of the political compass, but on this occasion he has sunk much too deep into liberal self-regard. Imagine if the Bush …
Opposition Media Fails to Stop Chavez (UPDATED)
The frustrating fact about many of the news organizations that are opposed to Hugo Chavez is that they are not very good at their job. To give a recent example, on September 28th the em> Nuevo Herald
Obama Won't Indulge Black Frustrations
When it comes to issues of race, the nation’s first black president makes us question one of the hoariest axioms in American politics: If both the left and the right are mad at you, are you doing something right? On September 29th, em> Politico
Wow, US Banks Really Hate Debit Cards
One of the really striking differences between daily life in the US and Canada is the all-pervasiveness of debit cards north of the 49th parallel and their comparative absence to the south. On the US side, banks until recently charged retailers a very hefty price for the use of a debit card, …
I May Vote for Romney, But I Won't Like it
David manfully takes up the job of stirring enthusiasm for Mitt Romney as President. I was for Pawlenty before that became impossible. Now Perry has revealed himself to be another Republican politician who cannot talk. Worse, he seems to insult the base without knowing it. At least with …
Government is a Lousy Investor
Jim DiPeso is right to draw attention to the Colony Shale disaster and the disastrous Synfuels government supported enterprise that helped make it happen. But there's a broader point to be made: the government is utterly clueless when it comes to developing consumer products. Aside from …
Want Fewer Wildfires? Burn More Wood.
The recent wildfires in Texas have returned forest management to the headlines. In Texas and elsewhere, wildfires have destroyed property, endangered firefighters and polluted the local environment. While fires are a natural phenomenon, humans can increase their severity or frequency through …
Perry: Media Bubble Boy
Texas Governor Rick Perry has had a tough week politically because of his weak performance at the last GOP presidential debate. He's had to backtrack from comments he made and his standing in the polls has taken a hit . There's been a lot of commentary regarding why Perry hasn't done as well …
When the Quotes Change, I Check My Attributions
Mitt Romney is a big fan of Winston Churchill. At a recent GOP debates he promised that if he was elected, a priority of his would be to restore a bust of Churchill back into the Oval Office. Yet it seems that Churchill-philia has gotten the better of Romney. During a Town Hall meeting in New …
Colony Shale, The First Solyndra
Solyndra is a lesson in how the substitution of wishful thinking for green eyeshades can stimulate the growth of costly energy carbuncles that emit malodorous political fumes. Today it is Solyndra. Yesterday it was Colony Shale. Don’t remember Colony Shale? Coloradans do. In the mesa country …
The EPA is Not Insane
The Obama White House is many things—flailing as it fishtails from an adult-in-the-room pose to screaming populism; cack-handed, as it both infuriates its base and loses independents; and passive to the point of paralysis, as Chris Christie pointed out in his Reagan Library speech. The Obama …
A Template for a GOP Economic Plan
America is now coping with the debt binge of the past decade and stagnating incomes across the board. Trying to provide some cushion for those left economically behind may be a good short-term strategy. But policy makers also need to work toward a restructuring of America's economic architecture. …
Can Intrade Predict the 2016 Election Winners?
I completely agree with Eli Lehrer that the Republican Party's 2012 nominee will be Romney. I also agree with his analysis of the reasons Republican nominations are decided on the question "Whose turn is it?" But what is completely lost in all the excitement over watching Mitt Romney vanquish one …