Category Politics

Entering The Twilight Zone

I have seen this a couple of places, but thought I should pass it on in case you missed it. While it looks like a possible spoof, it really is a television listing for this Friday. People in Scotland got to see it first as it ran in this week’s Sunday Herald. I remember the […]

Let Them Eat Cake

The story is told, probably apocryphally, that at the outset of the French Revolution in 1789 the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, was told the peasants were rioting because they had no bread. Her response, immortalized in history, was “let them eat cake.” The result of such an uncaring response was the end of the […]

The Pollsters’ Nightmare

Instead of hanging up I listened, even though it was an automated call. As the machine recited the choices I could see the looming problem. Political leadership races don’t always gain a lot of attention, even in the party holding the contest. So you are forgiven if you weren’t aware the Conservative Party of Canada […]

Electoral Reform I

I wrote this a couple of weeks back, then decided not to post it. Today I’m reconsidering. For Canadians I’m just retelling something they already know. But it occurs to me that not everyone has had a chance to join the conversation – and it is not limited to Canadians. So today a lesson in […]

Ethically Challenged

Cash for access. It was a major issue in the US presidential election this year, when it was revealed that more than half of the people who had meetings with Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State also made donations to the Clinton Foundation. There may have been nothing illegal about that, but it […]

The China Question

Apparently the Chinese government has its nose out of joint. Donald Trump has spoken to the President of Taiwan. I am sure that many people (probably most Americans) don’t understand why this is such a big deal. Democrats are probably saying that it is another sign Trump is unfit for office, without explaining why. Republicans […]

The Renovation

They don’t make them like they used to. Probably because they can’t afford to. Just refurbishing Ottawa’s Wellington Building, opened in 1927 as the headquarters of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, cost $425 million and took seven years. That’s a lot of money; my guess is about $424 million than it cost to build it […]

Monday Morning Question

About 25 years ago, when I first acquired the email account I still use today, I was very diligent at clearing out my inbox. I never had any unread messages and never more than 200 emails in total. Back then email space was at a premium, no matter whether you used a free service or […]

ITYS – II

For the first part of this post, check Thursday’s offering. I have mentioned Donald Trump (and Hillary Clinton) a few times over the past 16 months of the American Presidential election campaign. I just looked and discovered he was mentioned in about 40 posts since the first one, which is a lot of attention given […]

I Told You So – I

I have mentioned Donald Trump (and Hillary Clinton) a few times over the past 16 months of the American Presidential election campaign. I just looked, and discovered he was mentioned in at least 40 posts since the first one. That is a lot of attention, especially given that this is not a blog about politics […]