U.S. Unemployment History

There is a lot of discussion in the American presidential campaign about unemployment rates and the state of the economy.  The graph below is from a government source. Now let’s compare the statistics to the dates for the terms of Republican and Democrat presidents.  Remember that presidential terms are from a January to January. First [...]

Canadian banking system through the eyes of a 12 year old

While we’re on the subject of kids speaking their minds, here’s a great speech by Victoria Grant about the financial system in Canada and the national debt. Come on.  You can follow a 12 year old’s logic…

Fracking

Virginia seems to be the first of several states to ban the use of Fracking, which is a gas extraction method involving the forced cracking and fracturing of rock substrata.  Environmental groups have been saying for years that Fracking led to contamination of ground water and a possible link to seismic disruptions.  In the award [...]

Justin Trudeau

The temptation of a desperate party would be to grasp at a perceived opportunity without patience.  That’s a common result of desperation.  However, to draft Justin Trudeau into the leadership because of charisma and youthful vitality would be a mistake. I like Justin Trudeau.  He will, eventually, probably be a powerful force withing the Canadian [...]

North Carolina’s Amendment 1

Freedom and democracy are when a duly elected legislature can vote on a question or a law, come to a resolution and then enact that law.  Why would a group want to insert a state constitutional amendment that restricts the legislature’s ability to do just that?  Why not have a straight up vote?  A constitutional [...]

Mayor Ford and “FenceGate”

So there’s a pretty polarized debate happening in a dozen places or so about Daniel Dale and his evening investigation which resulted in Rob Ford charging him and threatening him with a clenched fist. One side claims that the Star is out to get Ford and sent the reporter to provoke him.  They say that [...]

The KONY Question

What is it about Joseph Kony that makes him impervious to public opinion in the Western World? Last weekend’s “Cover the Night” campaign fizzled.  An attempt to show how social media could mobilize support for a cause only demonstrated the apathy that seems to be epidemic in our society.  Was it the fact that the [...]

Canadian Majority Government Does Not Reflect Any Majority

Once again I’m going to question Canada’s Parliamentary system, where a political party can hold a majority government when more people voted against it in the most recent election than voted for it.  Also, in current polling, only 32% of the population say that they approve of the government, while the NDP can claim 33%. [...]

The Great Outdoors

So, as I said a few posts ago, I’ve been thinking about fishing, having bought a new rod and reel.  With the weather getting warmer, I’ve been looking forward to using my flexible time to hit the road and maybe go up to my favorite Crown Land site to do some fishing. I figured that [...]

O Canada

I consider myself to be well left of centre politically, but I have been thinking a lot lately about the extent to which the government imposes decisions and restrictions on us, supposedly for our own good.  I think that restrictions are important.  I think people should be required to wear seat belts.  I think a [...]

Chocolate, Easter, Child Slavery and Dumb Blindness

I was going to do an entry on child slavery being used to harvest the beans used to make Easter eggs.  Then, while researching the story, I stumbled upon something that just blew me away in its ignorance. First the chocolate story, best summed up here in a CNN video. There is another video, more [...]

How Dead Is Dead? -Part Two

Several weeks ago I posted an entry which suggested that he criteria for medical death may be somewhat ambiguous and may be inappropriately influenced by the circumstances around organ harvesting from donors.  The article suggested that the criteria may be expedient to facilitate organ harvesting, simplifying the standards for “death” and possibly ignoring some of [...]