In defence of white male students

By Nicholas Köhler - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 1:00 PM - 28 Comments

In an interview not long ago about the future of post-secondary education, University of Alberta president Indira Samarasekera found herself defending an unlikely category of students: white males. “I’m going to be an advocate for young white men, because I can be,” said Samarasekera, a metallurgical engineer originally from Sri Lanka. “No one is going to question me when I say we have a problem.”

That “problem” is well known. Recent StatsCan numbers show the proportion of male vs. female university grads has dropped precipitously over the years: 58 per cent of grads aged 25 to 34 are now women. “The presidents of the major universities are very concerned we are not attracting young men in the numbers we should,” says Samarasekera, who worries about a loss of gender diversity in the future ranks of CEOs and judges. That was cause for concern when men outnumbered women, she argues—why not now? “We’ll wake up in 20 years and we will not have the benefit of enough male talent.” Continue…

98.5%

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 12:47 PM - 37 Comments

Yesterday Richard Colvin reported that, “according to our information, the likelihood is that all the Afghans we handed over were tortured.”

Here is an April report from the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, a commission Canada funds and is partnered with in the monitoring of detainees. On page 31, it concludes in part:

Torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment are common in the majority of law enforcement institutions and at least 98.5% of interviewed victims have been tortured. Institutions where torture has occurred include police (security, justice, traffic), prosecution office, national security, detention center, custody, prison, and national army.

*Note: The report’s use of the term “victim” above is slightly confusing in that context. Here’s how the AIHRC puts it at page 12 of the same report: “The findings of this research reveal that torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment are a commonplace practice in the majority of law enforcement institutions and that at least 98.5% of interviewees believed they had been tortured by these institutions.” It’s possible there is an issue of translation here. Readers are encouraged to review the entire report.

A biopic with no leading man?

By Jonathon Gatehouse - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 12:20 PM - 1 Comment

Hollywood filmmakers know all about dealing with recalcitrant stars. But making a movie about a figure who can’t be depicted for fear of enraging his 1.5 billion followers is a whole other challenge.

Earlier this month, Barrie Osborne, the American producer of such blockbusters as The Matrix and The< Lord of the Rings, announced plans for an “epic” retelling of the life of the Prophet Muhammad. The US$150-million biopic, scheduled to begin production in early 2011, is being financed by the Al Hashemi Group, a Qatari construction and petrochemical conglomerate. Their aims sound laudable: “Hopefully this film can bridge some cultural misunderstandings,” Osborne, reached in San Francisco, told Maclean’s. “Muhammed was a great man, he made incredible changes to society.” However, even aside from Islamic traditions that forbid visual or aural representations of the Prophet or members of his immediate family (a prohibition driven home by the worldwide rioting that greeted a Danish newspaper’s publication of a series of Muhammad cartoons in 2005), the project seems a fair bit more fraught than the usual studio fare. Continue…

'The government has left no other recourse'

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 12:18 PM - 7 Comments

The NDP calls for a public inquiry and releases this timeline of events.

Sir Mix-A-Lot

By Kate Lunau - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 12:00 PM - 6 Comments

When Toronto DJ Yale Fox performs for a young crowd, he’ll generally only play a song for a minute or so before mixing out to the next one. “I rarely play past the first chorus,” says Fox, 24. “It sounds weird, but it’s nightclub standard nowadays.” When he played his first corporate gig (where the audience was 30-plus), Fox was surprised. “Everyone kept saying, ‘You’re mixing the songs too fast,’ ” he says. “I had to slow myself down and play the whole song.”

That night, Fox became aware of what he calls a “generation gap” in how younger people (say, those aged 25 and below) listen to music, compared to older crowds. He sees it when he’s driving with his parents, too: Fox will skim through tracks on his iPod, while his parents “scream, ‘Just let the song play!’ ” Working with University of Toronto sociologist Robert J. Brym, Fox has written a paper that coined a term for his generation’s inability to listen to a piece of music that lasts more than 90 seconds: musical attention deficit disorder, or MADD. It’s a condition he’s been studying—as a DJ, first-hand—and one he believes is on the rise. Continue…

Works on vampires, doesn’t it?

By macleans.ca - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 11:57 AM - 1 Comment

Col. Sergiu Vasislita, chief doctor for the 6,500-strong army of Moldova, a small former Soviet republic bordering Romania and Ukraine, plans to feed his soldiers onions and garlic to help them ward off swine flu. Vasislita said 25 grams of onions and 15 grams of garlic will be added to each soldier’s daily diet, roughly a small onion and a couple of garlic cloves. Those are traditional remedies in Moldova, where they are widely believed to boost the immune system. The measure was taken after 24 soldiers fell sick with H1N1 in the past two weeks. More than 1,000 Moldovans have swine flu with 90 new cases reported daily.

Star Tribute

How the U.S. Postal Service stole Christmas

By macleans.ca - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 11:55 AM - 0 Comments

Every year since 1954, children all over the world have written letters to the big man himself, addressed only to “Santa Claus, North Pole.” The letters, in turn, made their way to the small town in Alaska known as North Pole, where thousands of volunteers answered them on Santa’s behalf. But now, those days are over. The trouble started last year, when a postal worker discovered that one of the Operation Santa program volunteers in Maryland was a registered sex offender and ended with the U.S Postal Service’s announcement it was ending the half-century-old program. “It’s Grinchlike that the Postal Service never informed all the little elves before the fact,” protested North Pole Mayor Doug Isaacson. The Operation Santa Program will continue to run, but children will no longer be able to address letters to the North Pole.

CBC.ca

Obama calls on North Korea to resume talks

By macleans.ca - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 11:45 AM - 0 Comments

U.S. President Barack Obama wrapped up his Asian tour with a stop in Seoul, where he and South Korean leader Lee Myung-bak extended an olive branch to North Korea. The leaders tabled a “grand bargain” laden with both political and economic incentives, and Obama announced that he and special envoy Stephen Bosworth would fly to the country next month to start bilateral talks aimed at resuming the six-nations nuclear disarmament negotiations. Tensions have been growing on the Korean Peninsula since Lee took power and ended a policy of free-flowing trade with the North, leading the communist regime to resume nuclear and missile tests and announce that it had produced weapons-grade plutonium. “I hope that by accepting our proposal, the North will secure safety for itself, improve the quality of life for its people, and open the path to a new future,” said Lee.

Guardian

Coming now to a TV near you

By Katie Engelhart - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 11:40 AM - 0 Comments

Traditional television needs a fairy godmother. Or maybe a visit from a knight in shining armour. Perhaps that’s why Rogers Communications, one of the country’s largest media companies, is betting on the man who was at the helm of Walt Disney Co. when it launched hit titles like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.

Last month, Rogers (which owns Maclean’s) announced plans to invest millions in Vuguru, a Web video studio launched by former Disney chairman Michael Eisner—the man credited with reviving the Magic Kingdom at a time when Disney was flailing financially. The investment bought Rogers a minority stake in the venture, which will produce around 30 Web series every year, each made up of “mini-sodes” that are a few minutes in length. It may be Rogers’ foothold into what many see as the future of television. Continue…

'There is no proof'

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 11:26 AM - 2 Comments

More from Lawrence Cannon. The commanding Canadian general takes a slightly different position.

The Canadian general who commands all forces overseas said Thursday in Kandahar City that he was not able to speak to Mr. Colvin’s specific charges because he was not in charge at the time.

“What for me is important is that there is due process,” said Lt.-Gen. Marc Lessard, commander of Canadian forces overseas. “People will testify. You have to deal with the past if things were wrong.”

Shopping on Air Canada

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 11:20 AM - 6 Comments

Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt is a busy politician. Shopping time is limited. But she did pick up this necklace and bracelet while on Air Canada.

Racing to rebuild GM

By Chris Sorenson - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 11:20 AM - 4 Comments

The idea was for Bob Lutz, the vice-chairman of General Motors, to challenge doubters of the beleaguered automaker to race him on Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats. He would drive Cadillac’s muscular, 556-horsepower CTS-V luxury sedan while challengers would have their choice of rival production models. And, with any luck, Lutz would win and a brilliant marketing campaign would be launched.

But the ad agency’s concept apparently wasn’t bold enough for the former Marine, who, incidentally, flies fighter jets in his spare time. He pushed for having the throwdown on an actual racetrack, where the chance of damage to GM’s battered brand would rise with each twist and turn. “I said, ‘Hey, that’s an interesting idea, but let’s not use the salt flats, because going fast in a straight line isn’t proving anything to anybody,’ ” Lutz said in an interview with Maclean’s. “The world has always known that Americans can build cars that go fast in a straight line.” Continue…

On Colvin's story: what we can learn from an earlier military inquiry

By John Geddes - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 10:56 AM - 9 Comments

Sorting through Richard Colvin’s disturbing testimony yesterday before the House committee on Afghanistan will no doubt take months. But some troubling questions that arise from the diplomat-whistleblower’s allegations can be answered right away with a fair degree of confidence, thanks to a military report released early this year.

At least the way I read it, the Canadian Forces board of inquiry report of Feb. 6, 2009, titled “Afghanistan In-Theatre Detainee Handling Process,” offers solid support, not for Colvin’s specific charges, of course, but for much of his description of the context surrounding detainee transfers.
Continue…

Asthma and H1N1 a bad mix for kids

By macleans.ca - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 10:45 AM - 0 Comments

More children who have asthma get sick from H1N1 than seasonal flu, according to a new study by The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Between last May and July, 22 per cent of paediatric pandemic flu cases were children with asthma–compared to just six per cent for seasonal flu over the last five years. What’s more, asthmatic kids accounted for almost half of ICU admissions for H1N1. Most of the paediatric H1N1 patients were age five or older, and had a fever or cough. The median hospital stay lasted four days—the same for both types of flu. None of the H1N1 paediatric patients died, compared with one seasonal flu death. The researchers say that, given their study, asthma is a significant risk factor for admitting children with H1N1 to hospital.

Cmaj.ca

Brain-eaters protected from mad cow-like disease

By macleans.ca - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 10:32 AM - 0 Comments

In the highlands of Papua New Guinea, villagers have an unusual practice: women and children ritualistically consume the brains of dead relatives. This practice can lead to a brain disease called kuru, which once wiped out entire generations of women; yet according to researchers from the University College London Institute, women with a protective gene could survive to an old age, while women without it died of kuru. It could lead to treatment for similar brain-wasting conditions, like mad cow disease, Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease, and others, all of which are fatal and incurable, causing spongy holes in the brain. In the study, Dr. Simon Mead looked at over 3,000 Papuans, including 709 who’d participated in these cannibalistic feasts. Of them, 152 had died of kuru. They found a gene mutation, called G127v, that protected people from kuru. Only those who survived after eating brains had the gene, causing experts to believed the mutation evolved because of the selective pressure caused by eating brains. “It is remarkable how few definite examples there are that we can really link with a clear history of a disease or an event. It was such a devastating disease and well-documented … and we can now see the effects of this genetically,” Mead said. He hopes it could lead to treatments for CJD, which occurs randomly in about one in a million people.

Reuters

Twilight's New Mooning

By Brian D. Johnson - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 10:23 AM - 4 Comments

True confession. I’m no teenage girl, but even though I’m totally the wrong demographic,  I liked Twilight—the first movie. I was charmed by the novelty of it, by the fresh-faced vampire family, and by the actors, who were clearly relishing their roles. It was funnier than I’d expected. And there was an intriguing chemistry at its core. For a boy-crazy girl, Kristen Stewart conveyed a cool, self-possessed intelligence, and Robert Pattinson smoldered with the slow burn of a mock James Dean. The film found that elusive sweet spot between earnest romance and comic irony. The special effects were as makeshift and unsophisticated as Catherine Hardwicke’s direction, but somehow the thing worked. Yet despite the movie’s massive success, Hardwicke was summarily dumped from the Twilight series almost as soon as it was launched.  And Chris Weitz (The Golden Notebook) was hired to replace her for the first two sequels, giving them a more mainstream gloss and shooting them back to back in British Columbia.

Last night I was among a handful of male viewers in an audience of several hundred girls and women at the Toronto premiere of Twilight: New Moon. Sometimes a movie is not just a movie; it’s a pajama party. But I was expecting screaming hysteria, and was surprised at how relatively subdued the audience was compared to the one that turned out for the first film. With me was Jessica, a Twi-hard fan who works at Maclean’s. She was so keen to score a ticket, I expected she’d be beside herself. But this self-confessed addict of the Stephenie Meyer saga told me she was expecting the movie to be bad. Nevertheless, she was happy to devour it, like a junkie who’s in no position to quibble with the quality of the smack. She compared it to candy. I’ve found this to be true with a lot Twilight fans, who are often well-read, literary girls longing for a little guilty pleasure. Most of them feel they’re smarter than the stuff that has them hooked. They have a love-hate relationship with their trash. So how bad was New Moon? I’m not quite sure. But it feels like it’s waning, not waxing. The novelty has definitely worn off. And the allegedly timeless romance between Bella (Stewart) and Edward (Pattinson) already feels belaboured—it gets mired in so much lovesick sludge that the movie should be called New Mooning. Continue…

A president of Europe who lived in Canada for 44 years?

By Paul Wells - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 10:15 AM - 15 Comments

You’ll be shocked to learn that the European Union is mired in a cumbersome process.

This time what they’re trying to do is to pick a stable long-term president for the Union, and a stable long-term foreign-minister type, now that the Lisbon Treaty seems about to be implemented. Until now the “presidency” of Europe has fallen to the head of government of whichever country gets the rotating six-month presidency. Which means, pre-Lisbon, that every 13 and a half years everyone gets to be figurehead for half a year. This new system should be an improvement. But first, of course, it’s a schmozzle. Tony Blair has enemies, nobody else is particularly exciting. Apparently some people are mentioning our old friend Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the former President of Latvia who spent much of her adult life in Montreal. Expect a TV ad campaign against her, on the premise that she’s just visiting and it’s all about her. The linked article also mentions François Fillon, the last sane man in French politics, as a possible dark-horse candidate. This would be a very bad idea, because Fillon could not possibly help Europe as much as his departure from Paris would hurt France. But don’t get me started.

AND-YOU-THOUGHT-OUR-DEMOCRACY-WAS-BROKEN UPDATE: Great analysis from Der Spiegel, whose sources can’t decide whether Sweden is to blame because it didn’t sufficiently pre-cook the results, or Poland, because they want the process to be at least minimally democratic.

Mitchel Raphael on who's in charge if the PM gets swine flu

By Mitchel Raphael - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 10:00 AM - 1 Comment

Which MPs are getting the swine flu shot?

When it comes to the H1N1 vaccine, some MPs are weighing their options. Trade Minister Stockwell Day says he will talk to his doctor; he never gets even the regular flu shots. Justin Trudeau has also never had a regular flu shot, but is considering getting the H1N1 vaccine since he is now a father. NDP Leader Jack Layton and his MP wife, Olivia Chow, always get their flu shots and will get the H1N1 vaccine when it is widely available. Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla, who is also a chiropractor, will get it too. She also always gets her flu shots. Because of his asthma, Stephen Harper would be considered in the high-risk category, but he plans to wait a while. (Eventually the PM and his family will all be vaccinated against H1N1.) Should the PM become incapacitated for any reason, not just swine flu, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon has been chosen by Harper to take over, since the Tories have no deputy PM. Continue…

Johnny Mercer, Moon River and me

By Mark Steyn - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 10:00 AM - 60 Comments

We’re after the same rain-

bow’s end

Waiting round the bend

My huckleberry friend

Moon River and me . . .

Where is Moon River? Everywhere and nowhere. But, if you had to pin it down, you’d find it meandering at least metaphorically somewhere in the neighbourhood of Savannah, Georgia. At one point, the town’s most celebrated musical emissary was Hard-Hearted Hannah, the Vamp of Savannah. But then the American Songbook’s huckleberry friend showed up: John Herndon Mercer, born in Savannah 100 years ago, Nov. 18, 1909. The family home, the Mercer House, is the setting for the most famous book written about Savannah, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and Clint Eastwood’s film made the connection even more explicit with an all-Mercer soundtrack: Kevin Spacey singing That Old Black Magic, k.d. lang Skylark, Diana Krall Midnight Sun, and Clint himself taking a respectable thwack at Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive. Continue…

The best-ever music in a musical?

By Jaime Weinman - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 9:40 AM - 2 Comments

What have Broadway musicals been missing? Great songs. Finian’s Rainbow, the 1947 musical whose first-ever Broadway revival opened Oct. 29, was once considered too dated to produce: the script, about a leprechaun and a pot of gold in a fictional U.S. state called “Missitucky,” is a strange combination of political satire and whimsy. But the revival, based on a popular concert performance, is getting some of the strongest reviews of any musical this season. And the main thing critics are singling out is the score, by lyricist-librettist E.Y. “Yip” Harburg (The Wizard of Oz) and composer Burton Lane. It may be the best set of songs ever written for a Broadway musical: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more musically satisfying Broadway show,” marvelled Terry Teachout in the Wall Street Journal. At a time when hit musicals have few memorable songs—successes like Avenue Q, Spamalot and The Drowsy Chaperone are filled with parody songs that aren’t always supposed to be interesting on their own—it’s no wonder that audiences may be ready to rediscover the pleasures of what lyricist-librettist Michael Colby (Charlotte Sweet) describes to Maclean’s as “a score where every song is a gem.”

Though one Finian song (How Are Things In Glocca Morra?) became a pop hit, most of the score hasn’t become as familiar as other Broadway classics. Which may be why theatregoers are delighting in the songs as if they’re new; they haven’t been overexposed. But it’s also because Harburg and Lane filled the score with what Harburg’s son Ernie, author of the book Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz?, calls “a variety of styles unlike any other Broadway show. There’s gospel, there’s classical, there’s Irish gavotte.” Continue…

The response

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 9:24 AM - 6 Comments

The Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Affairs Minister repeat previous assurances. David Mulroney declines comment.

A textbook for Canada

By The Editors - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 9:00 AM - 8 Comments

If you want to pass the test, study the textbook. Any teacher or student will tell you that. So it is with becoming a Canadian citizen.

Yet the booklet given to potential new Canadians to study for their citizenship test has always been a dreary and incomplete affair. Last revised in 1995, “A Look at Canada” takes an antiseptic approach to Canadian life, ignores most of our past and is lacking in passion for this great country. If we want to provide immigrants with a full appreciation of Canadian rights and responsibilities, we ought to start by fixing the textbook. Continue…

In the future, we will know what every MP eats for breakfast

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 8:49 AM - 13 Comments

Responding to criticism from various commentators, Charlie Angus takes to the Facebook to defend his dismissal of the Twitter.

Kady O’Malley calls me draconian. The National Post says I’m a luddite. It’s all over my comments that MP twitter posts lie between the banal and the inane. Have no fear national media — your ability to read what Carolyn Bennett eats for breakfast will not be shut down. I only wish I could have gotten this national uproar over the crisis being faced by children in Attawapiskat who are sleeping in tents tonight.

Michelle Simson attempts, via Twitter, to negotiate.

We love Butchers

By Anne Kingston - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 8:40 AM - 1 Comment

“I’m doing a little Frenching now, guys,” Stephen Alexander announces to an enthralled audience as he shows off his way with a blade. “Leave a little extra fat on it,” the charismatic 38-year-old butcher-farmer instructs as he addresses his pork loin, shearing the meat from the bone just so. “I’m anti-lean meat myself.” The mostly female crowd gathered at Bonnie Stern’s Cooking School in Toronto on this late October night murmurs appreciatively.

Provocative as the banter may sound, Alexander’s intent here is utterly virtuous. Since arriving in Canada from his native Australia in 1994, Alexander, who operates three Cumbrae’s meat shops and Cumbrae Farms, has become one of the country’s most zealous advocates for the humane, healthy farming and butchering of animals. “He wants people to eat better food,” cookbook author Bonnie Stern says. “It’s a passion.” In the process, he has cultivated a groupie following among people who clamour for his sustainably raised meat—quite literally. Continue…