flickering pictures

The presidential pardon has got to be one of the strangest traditions in Washington. How exactly is justice served when an outgoing president hands out clean slates to a dozen or so convicted criminals, just because he’s a few weeks away from retirement? Why should a president have the power to bypass the courts and [...]

[Read more →]

Not that it’s any of my business, since I’m not American, but on behalf of the rest of the world, congratulations on choosing the best person for the job. We — and 52% of America — could be wrong about him, and we’ll have four years to find out, but in terms at least of [...]

[Read more →]

Peter Hitchens, an excellent — if fiercely conservative — writer and columnist at Britain’s right-leaning Daily Mail, is covering America’s pre-election mood from Moscow, Idaho, which is incidentally named after a town in Pennsylvania, not Russia. Though I don’t agree with his politics, his latest editorial piece is a thing of beauty — as much [...]

[Read more →]

I nearly fell out of my chair laughing when B sent me this link. Have a wander over to sarahpalin.com. Hey Mark! I was going to msg you with this, but saw that you’re marked “Do not disturb”. I was checking something on barackobama.com and thought why not check out johnmccain.com. I perused a bit [...]

[Read more →]

Not to be a jerk or anything, but it kind of seems like a stupid question: should we find new ways to feed and maintain our addiction to oil, or decrease our reliance on the fossil fuels that are empoverishing our people and altering our fragile climate? These folks think they have the answer: I [...]

[Read more →]

You likely know that just before the Beijing Olympics, Russia invaded the neighbouring Republic of Georgia. The move earned widespread international condemnation, and the resulting war of words with the West has been making headlines for weeks. You may not know that last July the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the 2014 Winter Games to [...]

[Read more →]

In response to international condemnation of its unilateral invasion of Georgia, Russia has given notice that it will suspend all military cooperation with NATO and its 26 member states. Standing up for nations’ rights everywhere, Russia has taken the position that the world has no business interfering in the affairs of a sovereign nation just [...]

[Read more →]

The CBC reports that the International Olympic Committee has blocked Iraq from participating in the Beijing Olympics two weeks from now because “the country’s government dismissed officials in favour of its own appointees, who weren’t recognized by the IOC.” A similar ban was imposed in May — and then repealed — by FIFA, soccer’s governing [...]

[Read more →]

When politicians throw a party, their organizers work long and hard in the shadows to make sure people come. Usually this is easier said than done, and a good speech’s impact can be quickly deflated by a TV cameraman’s pan shot of a skimpy, scattered, ragtag-looking crowd. So for organizers, there are a few rules [...]

[Read more →]

Having apparently addressed their citizens’ crushing poverty, inadequate access to education and constant battles with malaria, dengue fever, typhoid and hepatitis A, Cambodian and Thai officials spent the last week threatening each other with all-out war over a newly dedicated UN World Heritage site that both countries insist is theirs. From the International Herald Tribune: [...]

[Read more →]