August 2009
Neil Hrab: U.S. bank closure tally reaches 64 ...... →
Late last year, Full Comment took a look at a distressing phenomenon known as “FDIC Friday”. FDIC Friday refers to how, with gloomy regularity, the U.S. Federal Deposit and Insurance…
A civil servant's worst nightmare: Outsourcing... →
The British government is exploring new frontiers in the art of outsourcing, with a plan to ship civil service jobs off to India. Timesonline says 100 jobs at The British Council will be…
Jonathan Kay: Don't insult 9/11 'Truthers' by... →
Ever wonder what happened to all those right-wing loonies who sent you email in 2008 insisting that Barack Obama was a Muslim? Turns out they now have greater ambitions: They’re trying to…
Jack Layton: In defence of Canadian health care →
Canada’s health-care system has come in for a drubbing in the battle over U.S. health-care reform. Critics, many of them Canadian, have pointed out its flaws and warned Americans against adopting a…
Chris Selley: Waiting for the next refugee crisis →
If Canada’s refugee problems weren’t so serious, and so wrapped up in human misery, this CTV News article from earlier in the week would be almost laugh-out-loud funny. Citizenship and…
July 2009
George Clooney and Bill Murray in new Wes Anderson... →
Check out this preview for what looks like the animated movie of the fall: The Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Written and directed by Wes Anderson, and voiced by Bill Murray, George Clooney and Merryl…
Sniff Test: Elizabeth Arden Pretty →
Elizabeth Arden’s latest leaves the big city sophistication of Red Door and 5th Avenue perfumes behind and is, simply, Pretty ($63 for 50ml at department stores). If the bottle reminds you…
Concert Review: Elbow and Coldplay, July 30,... →
Coldplay (with Elbow and Kitty Daisy & Lewis) Thursday, July 30, 2009 Rogers Centre Toronto, Ontario
It was a rare alchemy that made last night’s concert at the mammoth Rogers Centre a…
Extremely Bad Advice: The Vintage Advantage →
Dear Steve, I’m in my late thirties, married, and have a real urge to
sleep with an older woman. There are a number of attractive older
women where I work and I’m thinking, “the older the bottle,…
Colby Cosh: Dishonesty, bad judgment at the United... →
The United Church of Canada is back in the news this week for having its head trapped in its fundament, as attendees of its upcoming general council will be asked to vote on a resolution…
Lorne Gunter: Ontario Human Rights Commission puts... →
As if more proof were needed of how out-of-control Canada’s human-rights commissions have become, and what a threat they pose to impartial justice, along comes the Ontario Human Rights…
Peter Shawn Taylor: Saving the world now requires... →
Wal-Mart is more than just the home to everyday low prices. It’s also a magnet for environmentalists, enemies of capitalism, community organizations, traffic planners, religious groups, unions and…
National Post editorial board: Reconciliation on... →
During the recent military campaign in Sri Lanka, this newspaper was broadly sympathetic to the Sri Lankan government’s goal of confronting and subduing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE,…
Jonathon Narvey: Vancouver surrenders to the bike... →
The cops in Vancouver have surrendered the streets to Critical Mass. “Police took the unusual step this week of warning motorists
away from the city’s downtown core Friday in an effort to ease…
Obama loses the Iowa old lady vote →
Is Barack Obama overexposed?
According to the Daily Times Herald, in Carroll, Iowa, at least one woman thinks so:
“A
78-year-old Carroll woman says she’s so tired of seeing…
Chris Selley's Full Pundit: The Toronto strike —... →
Provincial affairs
Help wanted: Doping control officer at the Vancouver Olympics. Salary: $0.
If Toronto City Council rejects the new municipal workers’ contract, the Toronto Star’s…
Looming bulb ban has Germans in a lather →
Remember this story?:
OTTAWA - The federal government will develop national standards for
energy efficient lighting by the end of the year and ban inefficient
bulbs by 2012, Natural…
David Frum: A Democratic revolution on the rocks →
How awful to be a liberal Democrat these days! You give money, volunteer time, work through the primaries. You win the first big Democratic presidential victory since 1964, you gain seats in…
Kelly McParland: Jack Layton keeps getting paid... →
A few days ago I posted a press release from Jack Layton, in which he complained about executives at pension firms getting bonuses in a down year, adding a snarky comment of my own….
Guest editorial: A child of Alberta Hutterites on... →
[Colby Cosh writes: I talked with reader Martin Hofer for the first time after my Michael Jackson column, when we compared notes on our media-starved childhoods; a former Hutterite who now…
Darcy Meyers: Ignatieff's do-nothing strategy →
The leader of the official opposition, Michael Ignatieff, promises we’ll all have something to talk about this fall.
Thank goodness, I’m tired of wafers and canoe trips acting as…
Matt Gurney on David Miller: Toronto's reluctant... →
With the Toronto strike grinding towards its final hours, among pundits, guarded skepticism is giving way to outright dismay at just how badly the Toronto taxpayer got swindled. Despite all…
Band of the Day: Kitty Daisy & Lewis →
Band of the Day: Kitty Daisy & Lewis
When it works, musical chemistry comes easy for siblings - almost as if it’s built into the DNA. I can attest that there is almost a psychic level of…
Lefevre's 'Twilight' part is recast, along with... →
Montreal native Rachelle Lefevre has reportedly been dropped from the cast of the third Twilight movie and will be replaced by Terminator: Salvation and Spiderman 3 star Bryce Dallas…
Zac Efron jumps off a bridge →
Don’t worry folks, he’s okay.
The star of the High School Musical franchise took the time to jump off a bridge at Whistler Bungee on Saturday. He’s currently in Vancouver shooting…
What's cooler than being cool? Big Boi from... →
There’s really nothing to add to this. Possibly the best YouTube clip ever.
Via Buzzfeed.
Amy Poehler to anchor SNL newsdesk - twice! →
After a brief hiatus last season, Emmy nominee Amy Poehler is rumoured to be returning to Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday for two episodes this September.
Entertainment Weekly…
Raphael Alexander: Jason Kenney is doing a great... →
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has managed to impress me several times during his time in his current portfolio. He affirmed that Canadian values need to be more emphasized to new…
John Ivison: Michael Ignatieff dreams big in a... →
Michael Ignatieff has a vision of a Canada that celebrates its 150th birthday in eight years, having undertaken a number of bold national initiatives under his leadership — from opening the…
Chris Selley's Full Pundit: All aboard Tony... →
Much ado about Tony Clement Between rebuilding small-town bandshells and fending off the Swedes, Canada’s Industry Minister is having a busy summer.
The Toronto Star’s inimitable Bob…
Gerry Nicholls: David Miller's summer sellout →
After six weeks of mounting garbage, union-boss bullying and cancelled events, Toronto Mayor David Miller caved in and gave striking city workers just about everything they wanted. And make no…
American Idol rigged, says ex-contestant Ju'Not... →
An ex-contestant on the popular reality series American Idol says the singing competition is “fixed.”
Ju’Not Joyner, who appeared on the show’s eighth season, made the claim during a live…
No Google: The Top Ten Soundtracks of All-Time →
Last week, our friend at Now magazine did a piece about the all-time best film soundtracks to coincide with the opening of the terrific new Mirvish production of The Harder They Come. Now, by…
TIFF 2009 announces eight new films →
The movies just keep coming.
The Toronto International Film Festival added eight more films to this year’s festival: four Gala Presentations and four Special Presentations.
• The Galas include The…
'The Anal Sex Position Guide' proves popular in... →
As David Akin notes over on his blog, Ottawa’s public library has been stocking explicit sex manuals because, shockingly enough, people like to read them.
Who would have guessed?
As reported in…
National Post editorial board: Selective support... →
Diversity. Tolerance. Multiculturalism. Anti-discrimination. These are the supposedly universal values that inform our secular cultural canon. The words sound nice. The problem is that they’re…
Father Raymond J. De Souza: The unnecessary defeat... →
An aggressive bureaucratic mentality in Alberta has forced an important religious freedom case to the Supreme Court of Canada, with serious consequences for the Hutterian Brethren of Wilson…
Matt Gurney: Resisting a war by running away →
Kimberly Rivera, a U.S. soldier, was sent to Iraq in 2006. Like many other American soldiers deployed since 9/11, she eventually came to have doubts about the mission. In February of 2007, while…
Raphael Alexander: New Conservative clemency... →
According to the government of Canada website, Foreign Affairs recently announced that it would not be intervening in cases where Canadians have been sentenced to death outside of their…
Kelly McParland: David Miller's deal adds to smell... →
Toronto residents have every right to feel betrayed by their boyish, big-spending mayor as details emerge of the appalling deal he crafted with the city’s 30,000 workers. Support for the…
The myth of manufacturing decline →
The 2009 recession has produced another round of
hand-wringing over Canada’s declining manufacturing base. Weakness
in high-profile sectors — autos, forest products, telecom — add to
the…
Union trumps 'final offer' →
I was wrong. Never pick a fight with a union leader who’s
dealing the cards. In Tuesday’s column on the garbage deal I
concluded that Mark Ferguson, leader of the Canadian Union of Public
Employees…
Final Fantasy braves the downpour at Hillside →
As the rain came down in droves and lightning struck the lake (and, rumour has it, a dozen people standing in a puddle), Owen Pallett, a.k.a Final Fantasy, played on….
David Frum: The political cost of giving in to... →
In a previous post, David Frum discussed the erosion of right-wing confidence in the U.S. as conservatives struggle to regroup. “The United States in 2009 is living through the fiercest…
Chris Selley: First they came for the seal hunt... →
In the midst of an editorial that’s sympathetic to Canada’s seal hunters — as one would expect from a Halifax newspaper — the Chronicle Herald makes a concession to the other side: “The…
Arizona so broke it may sell off its House, Senate... →
Has Arnold Schwarzenegger heard of this?
Arizona’s financial condition is so desperate the state is considering selling off its legislative structures, including its Senate and House buildings,…
The Simpsons coming to Vancouver Olympics with... →
In an episode of The Simpsons this coming February, Homer and Marge will be crashing the Winter Olympics with hopes of winning a medal in curling. One of the show’s writers, Rob LaZebnik,…
John Mraz: Ottawa slumbers as issues fester →
It is a myth that Washington DC was born of swamplands. It may be described as a fetid swamp by some, but that’s nothing more than a tired joke. It is, however, a hot and humid place in the…
Handgun bans and the world of make-believe →
You don’t need to be a fan of handguns to accept that a ban is useless unless there is some likelihood the prohibition will succeed in reducing the ability of criminals to get their…
Hillary Clinton meets the man of her dreams →
Full Comment’s Araminta Wordsworth brings you a regular dose of international punditry at its finest. Today: Hillary Clinton has blended seamlessly into the Obama administration Cabinet,…
