Posted on December 31, 2008 by Ray Argyle
As this is my first end-of-year posting, I thought I would discuss the books I’ve read in 2008 and pass on a few gleanings from what I’ve learned. I’m always amused when I see politicians being asked what books they’ve been reading. Most of them stumble around before naming whatever might be the most popular current [...]
Filed under: Authors, Books | Tagged: Annie Proulx, Best books of 2008, Joseph Boydon, Kate Grenville, Morley Callaghan, Pierre Berton, Ragtime, Scott Joplin | 2 Comments »
Posted on December 30, 2008 by Ray Argyle
Graphic courtesy of Wall Street Journal At least one American blogger likes the idea. Posted at http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2008.12/would_minnesota.php Well, the United States is really screwed financially and it’s all falling apart. Talk about fear-based journalism written by a Russian. But what if this guy is right? Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting the U.S. will [...]
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: Breakup of United States, Igor Panarin, Upper Midwest Joining Canada | 2 Comments »
Posted on December 28, 2008 by Ray Argyle
The seven deadly sins are rooted in what the early Christians considered as acts involving the most objectionable of all the vices. They’ve been the stock of fables and morality tales ever since. But they can also be applied to a catalog of the world’s worst events of 2008: LUST, overpowering craving, as in Robert Mugabe’s [...]
Filed under: Culture | Tagged: Economic Meltdown, melamine, Mumbai attack, peak oil, Seven deadly sins, tar sands, Zimbabwe | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 23, 2008 by Ray Argyle
Wishing all my readers and friends the Best of the Season
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 20, 2008 by Ray Argyle
I enjoy exchanging thoughts and ideas with my friend Michael Callaghan. With Michael’s permission, I thought I would share with you some of our recent conversations. On Friday, I sent Michael a copy of a letter I submitted to the Globe and Mail (which was published the next day.) Here is what I wrote: “It [...]
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: Flaherty's economic council, George Bush and greed, Stephane Dion, Stephen harper borrows from Dion | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 18, 2008 by Ray Argyle
For the past few years we’ve all bowed down to the great god Free Market, not realizing we were giving free rein to all the thieves, cheats and liars of big-time Capitalism to run roughshod over our economic well-being. One guy who didn’t fall over and lie down in front of the corporate steamroller is [...]
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: AbitibiBowater, Man of the Year, NAFTA, Premier Danny Williams | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 16, 2008 by Ray Argyle
People say such stupid things that it’s never too difficult to pick out the most egregious (and sometimes insightful) in any roundup of sound bites. Here’s a few that I thought worth passing on: President George Bush Dec. 16 – “I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system.” Muntadhar al-Zaidi, Iraqi TV [...]
Filed under: Culture | Tagged: Sounds bites of 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 14, 2008 by Ray Argyle
I am always intrigued by the lengths politicians are willing to go to avoid answering a question. The other morning, I watched Finance Minister Jim Flaherty being asked what he thought about the Bank of Canada’s declaration that we could expect a lot more mortgage foreclosures in Canada in the future. Here’s how he answered that one: [...]
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: Bank of Canada warning, Finance Minister Flaherty's non-answer, Sub-prime mortgage crisis | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 11, 2008 by Ray Argyle
Michael Ignatieff. Author and journalist. Harvard professor. Public intellectual. Politician. The new leader of the Liberal party has succeeded in each of the fields he’s chosen to enter since being raised in Toronto as a member of a Russian emigre family with a distinguished history. Best known for his books (a novel Scar Tissue was [...]
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: coalition government, Ignatieff's b ooks, M ichael Ignatieff Liberal leader | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 9, 2008 by Ray Argyle
In the days since the Governor General permitted Prime Minister Harper to close down Parliament, it’s become more clear than ever that only the Coalition of Liberals and NDP will restore majority democratic government in Canada. Once again, Mr. Harper demonstrated today in his interview with the CBC’s Peter Mansbridge that he has no real understanding [...]
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: Canadian political crisis, Michael Ignatieff Liberal leader, Need for Coalition | Leave a Comment »