The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

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acanuck's picture

Speaking truth to power, Canadian-style

The Liberal Party, which ran Canada for most of the past half-century but recently has lost its resonance with voters, held a weekend policy symposium in Montreal. A featured guest was Robert Fowler, a now-retired top diplomat who advised every prime minister -- regardless of party -- for at least three decades.

acanuck's picture

The Decline, Fall, Plunge and Demise of Journalism

If you go to the Drudge Report right now, you'll see the teaser:

PAPER: Soros 'at center of hedge funds plot to cash in on demise of the euro'...

If you click on the link, you'll see the Mail Online headline:

Man who broke the Bank of England, George Soros, 'at centre of hedge funds plot to cash in on fall of the euro'

If you read the lead paragraph, you'll see:

A secretive group of Wall Street hedge fund bosses are said to be behind a plot to cash in on the decline of the euro.

acanuck's picture

Olympic update: gut-check time

I'm not one of those who see the glass as seven-eighths empty. I see it, rather, as one-eighth full. So I'm not crying in my crisp, refreshing Canadian beer over last night's 5-3 loss to the United States in Olympic hockey.

No, there is an upside: Canada won't have to face Russia or Sweden in the gold-medal game next weekend. The downside is that we will have to beat both those powerhouse teams one-on-one to get within even sniffing distance of the podium. Assuming we can first dispatch Germany tomorrow night.

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acanuck's picture

Big Olympic scandal: bogus flags on display!

The Vancouver Olympic organizing committee has gotten a lot of unfair criticism, so I hate to pile on.
But I've watched quite a few medal presentation ceremonies over the past few days, and I'm now fairly positive: that is not Canada's flag on display.
Ours is a red maple leaf on a white central square, with two red bands half as wide on either side. Its proportions are therefore 1:2.
All the flags I see raised at the medal ceremonies appear to be 2:3. And I'm making allowances for camera angles.

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acanuck's picture

Now for something completely different: But nor ...

OK, there's this nagging problem I have. Sort of an obsession. I push it to the back of my mind, where it stays quiescent for months, causing me no grief. Then it re-emerges, always re-emerges. Help me, dagblog community. HELP ME!

I blame Genghis for this latest relapse. In a comment to a post by Orlando (below), he wrote:

"A lying Mrs. Tebow would have no significance on the abortion debate. But nor would an honest Mrs. Tebow."

acanuck's picture

Who's to blame for HRC failure and Massachusetts loss? Sadly, it's Obama

Lots of blogs asking whom to blame for the loss of Ted Kennedy's seat and the looming failure of health care reform. This was an unforced error -- an own goal -- and the blame, sadly, lies with Obama. The...
acanuck's picture

Hey, AngryDems! Quit griping; just take back your party

I get it. You're angry with the incompetent, self-serving, tone-deaf leadership of the Democratic Party. Just don't try to tell me you're surprised. The good news is: the solution is at your fingertips. Channel that anger! It's a midterm election...
acanuck's picture

Hey AngryDems! Quit griping; just take back your party

I get it. You're angry with the incompetent, self-serving, tone-deaf leadership of the Democratic Party. Just don't try to tell me you're surprised.

The good news is: the solution is at your fingertips. Channel that anger! It's a midterm election year -- traditional time for throwing out incumbents. Just beat the Republicans to the punch by primarying the asses off all these pseudo-Democratic dickheads. Not all of them, of course. There are at least a handful who stand with and for the common man. But there's a long list of corporatist anti-progressives who can go.

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acanuck's picture

Some Democrats won't cry if they lose Kennedy's seat

I'm totally unqualified to predict who'll win tomorrow's Senate election, which puts me right up there with every other pundit or expert. I suspect Obama's last-minute intervention and a desperate get-out-the-vote effort just might eke out a narrow win for Coakley. But I wouldn't bet on it; she's a bad candidate with an aura of entitlement and zero resonance with the national mood Obama tapped into just over a year ago.

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acanuck's picture

Pat Robertson's soul fails to sell on eBay; devil says he expects reserve price to drop. True story

Considering what's just happened to the poor, sick, malnourished and misgoverned Haitian people, it may seem an irrelevant distraction to focus on the words of one arrogant Christian bigot. But it needs to be done. It's time for Pat Robertson to just go away.

Conjuring up bogus causality after the fact is his recurring shtick. Feminists and gays caused 9/11. Abortion caused Katrina. Evacuating Gaza caused Sharon's stroke. Health care reform probably caused swine flu. Teaching evolution no doubt led to Fort Hood and the underpants bomber. Enough.

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