In search of a new simile

“Pure” and “driven snow” don’t always go hand in hand: Smelly, multicoloured snow falls over Siberia Updated Fri. Feb. 2 2007 9:03 AM ET Associated Press MOSCOW — Russian emergency workers have flown to a Siberian region where smelly and multicoloured snow fell earlier this week covering about 100 square kilometres, officials said Friday. Thecontinue reading

Things fall apart

Unfortunately, I can’t find the actual excerpt of Jack Granatstein’s book that Radwanski summarizes here , or I’d link to it. It certainly sounds promising: First, if an 8.9 hurricane hits Vancouver, and terrorist cells in both Montreal and Toronto decide this is the time to strike, and one of them has “somehow secured severalcontinue reading

another one bites the dust

Peter Harder, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, has resigned, according to CTV. It’s relatively rare for a high-powered DM to outright resign, so certainly an opportunity for some ill-informed speculation. What was the straw that broke the camel’s back? Being passed over for the job as Privy Council Clerk? Two and half years ofcontinue reading

Body language

For anyone close to a TV, it’s worth tuning in for a few of the remaining moments of the State of the Union address, on now, to see the body language between Pelosi and Cheney, seated side by side. They clap at different points in the speech, and look distinctly uncomfortable when they both happencontinue reading

Bedside manner

From Konrad Yakabuski’s multi-page profile of Stephane Dion in the weekend Globe: When he appeared on the Tele-Quebec public affairs show Les Francs-tireurs last fall, interviewer Patrick Lagace asked him to prove that he has a sense of humour. Mr. Dion replied by asking whether he was familiar with the world’s shortest bedtime story. “Docontinue reading

Cynicism, part 815 in a series

So Canada’s New Government (getting things done — for everyone) has announced some “new” initiatives that will give homeowners grants for retrofitting their homes. This new ecoENERGY (why is the combination of lower- and upper-case letters so appealing to governments?) retrofit program will provide grants of about $1000 for homeowners who make their homes morecontinue reading

Another reason to hate the Beaches

I had reserved judgement on those objectors to the new “Out of the Cold” program in the Beaches until the community meeting had happened. Well, now it has, and I am just amazed by the ignorance and fear of the residents who still object to the very modest 12-person program suggested. (And I’ll stick tocontinue reading