Omar bin Laden condemns father’s killing

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 1:33 PM - 12 Comments

Omar bin Laden, the fourth son of Osama bin Laden, told the New York Times on Tuesday that he wants to know why his father was not captured alive, and asked “why an unarmed man was not arrested and tried in a court of law so that truth is revealed to the people of the world.” Statements attributed to the family appearing on Islamist websites have also decried the U.S. government’s decision to bury bin Laden at sea, saying it “demeans and humiliates his family.” U.S. officials have acknowledged that bin Laden was unarmed, but also say he had given no indication that he would surrender. Attorney General Eric holder has deemed the killing lawful. But the bin Laden family is demanding an inquiry, saying, “we maintain that arbitrary killing is not a solution to political problems and crime’s adjudication as justice must be seen to be done.”

BBC News

Obama’s approval rating highest in 2 years

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 1:19 PM - 3 Comments

U.S. President Barack Obama’s approval rating has hit 60 per cent, according to an Associated Press-Gfk poll taken after the death of Osama bin Laden. The results are being attributed not only to the assassination, but also to a surge in support from independent voters and an improvement of how Americans perceive Obama’s foreign and economic policy. 73 per cent of Americans say they’re confident that the president can handle terrorist threats, and 52 per cent approve of his handling of unemployment. But the news, which comes as Obama gears up for a lengthy re-election campaign, wasn’t all good—the poll also found that 52 per cent of Americans still feel the country is on the wrong track.

Toronto Star

Strategic campaigning

By Erica Alini - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 12:49 PM - 5 Comments

Adam Radwanski explains Elizabeth May’s first-past-the-post conundrum.

Of all the arguments to examine how we elect our representatives, the plight of the Green Party probably isn’t at the top of the list. But just as it was beside the point to complain about Ms. May’s exclusion from this year’s debates, which was really just a reflection of her relevance within the current system, it’s equally beside the point to criticize her for making the best of what that system dealt her.

Elections Canada investigating fraudulent robocalls

By Erica Alini - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 12:41 PM - 4 Comments

Elections Canada is investigating reports of voters being called on election day and wrongly told their polling stations had moved. The agency says the calls were a hoax and that no polling stations were moved. CBC News obtained a copy of a fraudulent message, which told voters that “due to a projected increase in voter turnout, your poll location has been changed.” Elections Canada was alerted to such calls by residents in Guelph, Ottawa and Kitchener, and received several formal requests for investigations. No one has claimed responsibility for the calls.

CBC News

Former Vancouver mayors join fight to defend Insite

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 12:31 PM - 4 Comments

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and five of his predecessors have joined together in a bid to stop the federal government from shuttering Insite, the city’s controversial safe-injection site. Robertson, Philip Owen, Larry Campbell, Mike Harcourt, Art Phillips, and Sam Sullivan have signed a letter arguing the facility is a medical service that’s been effective in saving lives and urging Ottawa to abandon its case against Insite, which is set to go before the Supreme Court on Thursday. “Drug addiction is a health issue, not a criminal issue, and Insite needs to be recognized for what it is: a valuable health service that saves lives,” Owen said. “To help people who are addicted, we need a comprehensive, health-based approach, and Insite needs to be a part of that.” Arguments filed by the Justice Department show Ottawa plans to argue its authority over criminal justice matters trumps the province’s jurisdiction over health care facitilities.

Vancouver Sun

To see and be seen

By Nicholas Köhler and Ken MacQueen - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 12:00 PM - 0 Comments

Getty Images

As their Bentleys and Rolls-Royces crawled up the stately thoroughfares lined with thousands of spectators, guardsmen armed with fixed bayonets watched over the royal wedding guests. It was that kind of day—one of contradictions, of whimsy and moving spectacle. A guest list that in the last days threatened to cast a pall over the whole affair—snubbed past prime ministers, slighted foreign presidents, all those despots—dissolved on the Westminster Abbey steps into a confection of colour, occasional poor judgment and elegance. And in an England otherwise made austere by hard times, many of the 1,900 invited used fashion to make their statements.

Carole Middleton strode in wearing an ice-blue wool crepe coat dress, the kind of thing Jacqueline Kennedy might have worn had she been a British royal rather than a bona fide fashion plate. The bride’s mother reportedly got her first choice of colour and outfit, followed by the Queen, who opted for a primrose dress complemented by Queen Mary’s True Lover’s Knot brooch—an appropriate touch. Elsewhere, though, there were real missteps. Sarah Ferguson, the duchess of York and ex-wife of Prince Andrew, being herself a prior Windsor slip-up, wasn’t invited, but her two daughters, the princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, in beige and blue respectively, wore garments (particularly those towering, vertiginous hats) that suggested a recent sojourn in the Land of Oz.

Lesser royals arrived in buses like tourists across the tarmac from a charter flight, including Montreal-born Autumn, wife of Peter Phillips, the Queen’s grandson. England rugby captain Mike Tindall, engaged to Peter’s sister Zara, made his debut at an official royal event wearing his incomparably broken nose. And there were others from the farther edges of the royal orbit. Prince Albert of Monaco came with his fiancée, Charlene Wittstock—Europe’s next major royal wedding. Earl Spencer, whose last memorable appearance here came during his sister Diana’s funeral (when he delivered a eulogy stinging to the Windsors), now found himself shunted to the side with his Canadian fiancée, Karen Gordon (her hat: giant, pink, spaceship-like); William found a moment to chat with them briefly.

Continue…

Kids these days

By Erica Alini - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 11:38 AM - 73 Comments

A survey of young people conducted by Historica-Dominion Institute finds support for the NDP.

The survey found that with the exception of Alberta, the NDP beat out other parties for the youth vote (24% said they would vote for NDP pre-election, 44% said they did) and was most likely to speak to youth issues (46%) as compared to CPC (23%) and Liberals (16%). Harper’s focus on the economy won points with young voters (who report it as a top issue) but attack ads were seen unfavourably while disrespect for democracy had only a minor impact on image. Ignatieff was punished for perceived poor leadership and personality while Layton was most liked for his platform, personality and the NDP “surge” story. 

The beginning of the end of al-Qaeda?

By Nancy Macdonald - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 10:10 AM - 4 Comments

Courtesy Peter Bergen

Peter Bergen began covering the rise of al-Qaeda long before the twin towers fell. One of the few Western journalists to have interviewed Osama bin Laden, Bergen is CNN’s national security analyst, and has written three books about the terrorist organization. In his latest, The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict Between America and al-Qaeda, he argues that 9/11 marked the climax of al-Qaeda’s power. Bin Laden’s organization, he writes, has been in decline ever since. Bergen spoke with Maclean’s from Washington.

Q: Al-Qaeda has now lost its best recruiter and fundraiser. Is this the beginning of the end?

A: Yes. When you joined the Nazi party, you didn’t swear an oath of allegiance to Naziism; you swore a personal oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler. When you join al-Qaeda, you swear an oath of allegiance to bin Laden, not to al-Qaeda or al-Qaedism. Similarly, when groups join al-Qaeda in Iraq, they swear a personal fealty to bin Laden. He’s the grand fromage of al-Qaeda and the jihadi movement. No one can replace him.

Continue…

Midnight in the garden of evil

By Brian Bethune - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 10:00 AM - 0 Comments

Photograph by Andrew Tolson

There’s an obvious chicken-and-egg question that arises in an interview with British author Philip Kerr. A thorough pro, Kerr has penned stand-alone novels in various genres, including science fiction, and a first-rate preteen fantasy series (Children of the Lamp). But he’s best known for seven thought-provoking novels featuring German private eye Bernie Gunther. A note-perfect Berliner, from his alcohol consumption to his instinctive antipathy to authority, Bernie is both an everyman striving to maintain his humanity (and his life) in the Nazi and postwar eras, and the Teutonic reincarnation of Raymond Chandler’s PI, Philip Marlowe.

So which came first, noir or Nazis, an interest in hard-boiled detective stories or in the Third Reich? “Germany—I went there long ago,” the 55-year-old replies, “to do a post-grad degree in philosophy of German law. Really, just an excuse to read German philosophy. You know how Bernie hates lawyers? That’s because I hate lawyers.” Immersed in German history, Kerr—like so many writers before him—fell under Berlin’s spell. “Its role in the world wars and the Cold War, its cultural influence in the 1920s—Berlin is the ur-city of the 20th century.”

And the city’s inhabitants won him over too, partly because Berliners had, in Kerr’s opinion, the right enemies—any group loathed by Bismarck and Hitler couldn’t be all bad—and partly because of their black humour, which “sounds cruel if you don’t understand it,” Bernie once remarked, “and even crueller if you do.” Rather like the detective’s comment during his harrowing if brief stay in the Dachau concentration camp, where he met an inmate who was not only Jewish but homosexual and a Communist: “That made three triangles. His luck hadn’t so much run out as jumped on a f–king motorcycle.”

Continue…

This is why we can't have changed things

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 9:57 AM - 90 Comments

Amanda Clarke considers what stands in the way of democratic reform.

This perfect storm of shared disappointment should make parliamentary reform a rare easy win – not just for a campaigning party, but for anyone with a stake in Canadian democracy. Yet, the reforms we have accomplished in the recent past represent relatively paltry efforts to revive our politics … At the same time, initiatives that could have an appropriately transformative effect on the nature of our democracy – electoral reform, cleaning up Question Period, and loosening party discipline, to cite just three examples – are often discussed as impossible feats, and are rarely raised as election issues.

Something doesn’t add up. If citizens want reform, and so do their leaders, why have we cast these more groundbreaking opportunities for democratic renewal aside?

The middle path

By Erica Alini - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 9:00 AM - 8 Comments

Leger surveys NDP voters in Quebec.

Among the key findings of the Internet survey: 67 per cent of self-declared NDP voters said they were very (35 per cent) or somewhat (32 per cent) attached to Canada. That was right between the two extremes — the 95 per cent of Liberal voters and 94 per cent of Conservatives who proclaimed an attachment to Canada, and a mere 28 per cent of Bloc Quebecois voters who did…

NDP voters also found themselves between the two sides on political ideology: only 29 per cent of them called themselves left wing or centre-left. That compared with 21 per cent who said they were centrist, while 11 per cent identified themselves as centre-right and three per cent as right wing.

Fox Cancels Everything

By Jaime Weinman - Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 12:46 AM - 9 Comments

Fox tonight was the first network to announce some of its 2010-11 pickups and cancellations – mostly cancellations. I don’t think Fox fully deserves its reputation as the evil cancellation-happy network; they’ve stayed with many shows through mediocre or worse ratings. But they’ve definitely decided to clean house this time, except for Fringe, which has already been renewed.

Simon Cowell is taking over the network with The X-Factor, which I greatly fear will be a crushing hit like it is all over the world, and that makes him the Jay Leno of Fox: everything has to go to make room for him. So in order to clear space for Cowell while still picking up some new scripted stuff, the network has canceled virtually all its “bubble” shows:

- Breaking In, which had decent ratings that were, however, heavily inflated by an American Idol lead-in, is gone. This makes Christian Slater’s third straight failed series.
- The Chicago Code is gone, making Shawn Ryan’s second canceled series in a year. This is the really sad one among the cancellations: a good cast and some good writing, plus the Chicago atmosphere Continue…

Why Bush stayed away from Ground Zero

By John Parisella - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 6:28 PM - 23 Comments

Among the many side debates that have emerged since the death of Osama bin Laden, one has surfaced concerning George W. Bush’s refusal of an invitation by President Barack Obama to visit Ground Zero on May 5, 2011 to lay a memorial wreath. Explanations have been offered concerning Bush’s motives, but none seem sufficiently definitive to end the discussion.

In October 2009, President Bush was invited to speak in Montreal as part of a North America tour ahead of the launch of his book. I was asked to be the moderator of the event and was invited to a private one-on-one meeting with the former president before the event. Bush was friendly and gracious as we discussed the conference format. Not long into the conversation, the president emphasized two points: Continue…

Will anonymity and hyperlinks be illegal in Canada?

By Jesse Brown - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 5:20 PM - 90 Comments

I’ve blogged before about Stephen Harper’s tough-guy campaign promise to bundle up and ram through a bunch of crime bills within 100 days of gaining his majority. One of the three bills he’s mushing together deals with online crime, focusing of course on the usual boogeymen: child porn and hate speech. I’ve pointed to one atrocious aspect therein—Lawful Access, which will allow police to demand all sorts of information about Canadians from their ISPs without having to bother with pesky warrants.

Here are two more reasons to be very concerned about/appalled with the upcoming legislation: Continue…

A dress for the ages

By Anne Kingston - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 5:20 PM - 0 Comments

Tom Pilston/APs

The fact that Kate Middleton’s bridal legacy was assured months before anyone had an inkling of what it was going to be tells you all you need to know about bridal-industry conformity. Before the big day was even over, factories in China were pumping out knock-offs of the dress. Had she arrived in the swan getup Björk wore to the 2001 Oscars, future brides would be shedding feathers as they walked down the aisle.

Yet the path Kate had to navigate was uniquely her own. She had to present as a bride for the ages, which meant pulling off a tricky high-wire balancing act: honour royal tradition while making a personal statement; provide a showy fashion moment yet be sensitive to the dire economic climate; inject new life into a beleaguered royal family; and, most perilously, prevail over the inevitable comparisons that would be made between her and Prince William’s mother, Lady Diana Spencer, on her wedding day 30 years ago.

As the smiling bride alighted from a Rolls-Royce Phantom VI at Westminster Abbey, it appeared all of the boxes had been checked off, and brilliantly. All eyes were on the dress, of course. The restrained V-necked white-and-ivory satin-and-lace gown with a two-metre train won near universal approval for being pitch perfect—classic yet fresh, formal yet fluid. She wore it; it didn’t consume her, unlike the fate of Diana Spencer who was overwhelmed by her billowing organza confection with an unwieldy 7.6-m train.

Continue…

The House: The meaning of Ruth Ellen Brosseau

By Erica Alini - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 4:48 PM - 75 Comments

We return to our periodic series on the House of Commons. This time to consider the case of Ruth Ellen Brosseau.

For the record, in the election just completed 22,403 eligible voters in the riding of Berthier-Maskinonge marked a ballot in favour of Ruth Ellen Brosseau. Those 22,403 votes were more than any of the other five eligible candidates in that riding received. As a result, Ms. Brosseau, like the other 307 individuals who officially registered as candidates and subsequently received the highest number of votes in their respective ridings, is lawfully entitled to take a seat in the House of Commons.

That much is fairly indisputable.

So what precisely is the problem here? Continue…

What it all means

By Erica Alini - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 2:35 PM - 21 Comments

Elly Alboim reviews what we might’ve learned and projects forward.

Although the polarization among the electorate is quite clear, so is the mood for a change in behaviour. A four year majority probably means a more measured and considered pace in Parliament. It also desensitizes in a fundamental way some of the partisan cockpits. Committees will no longer be paralyzed by intense partisanship and no longer be able to investigate anything Opposition members choose to be of political advantage … And finally, and most importantly, the constant brinkmanship over votes of non-confidence will be gone. There will be no more weekly watches for the possibility that the government might fall.

Over all, Canadians will hear much more about what the government does rather than about the partisan processes and overheated rhetoric of parliament – at least for a long while.

The newly elected member for Saanich-Gulf Islands

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 1:16 PM - 72 Comments

Kady O’Malley explains all of the things Elizabeth May won’t be able to do as an independent MP.

As an Independent, May will not be able to avail herself of the additional financial resources provided to officially recognized parties, which are allocated by formula depending on caucus size, and include a salary boost for the leader, as well as extra funding for staff, research, hospitality and travel. She will not automatically be allocated time during debate, nor will she have the right to respond to ministerial and other statements. She certainly won’t be guaranteed a regular speaking slot during the opening round of QP … May also won’t be able to count on clocking in time at committee unless one of the other parties is feeling particularly generous when Procedure and House Affairs meets to draw up the membership lists. As an Independent, she won’t be given a seat at the table unless another party is willing to give up one of their slots. 

Former senator Lavigne facing jail time

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 1:00 PM - 8 Comments

Raymond Lavigne, the former senator convicted of defrauding the government and breaching the public’s trust, will be spending time behind bars if the crown prosecutor in the case has his way. Crown attorney Jonathan Brunet has asked the court Lavigne be sentenced to 12 to 15 months in prison for his crimes. Lavigne’s lawyer has instead argued the disgraced politician should serve his sentence in the community. The former Quebec MP and senator faces up to 14 years in jail for fraud and up to five years for breach of trust after being found guilty this past March. Lavigne will be sentenced June 16.

CBC News

Harper government given failing grade for openness

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 12:39 PM - 27 Comments

A report by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression has given Stephen Harper’s government a grade of F-minus grade for its openness for the second straight year. “More than half of the federal institutions surveyed for their performance on access to information ranked below average and five failed outright,” the report states. “The governing party was ruled in contempt of Parliament for failing to produce information about major spending programs.” According to the report, 44 per cent of access to information requests aren’t met within legally prescribed deadlines and it take more than a year to resolve an ATI complaint.

Toronto Star

The NDP agenda

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 12:25 PM - 8 Comments

The party is ready to propose language law reforms. And Brian Masse, potentially the industry critic in the next NDP shadow cabinet, sees an opportunity for high(er) speed rail.

In the meantime, the federal government should back “prep work” needed for a Windsor to Montreal high-speed network, such as building road-rail grade separations, Masse said. Improving travel time from Windsor to Toronto by an hour to 90 minutes should be the initial goal, he said. “It’s doesn’t have to be high-speed, but can be higher speed,” Masse said. “Then it becomes real viable. That’s when we have a real ability to start connecting it internationally.”

The man in uniform

By Cathy Gulli - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 12:25 PM - 0 Comments

Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Prince William had his back turned to Catherine Middleton as she walked with her father down the aisle at Westminster Abbey. It was an old-fashioned, austere moment: the demure, veiled bride escorted to her stoic bridegroom, who stared ahead at the altar. To William’s right stood Prince Harry, who also accompanied him from Clarence House to the abbey in a state Bentley, while crowds exclaimed, “We want Wills!” Harry has, in fact, always been at his big brother’s side to provide comic relief and encouragement. Now was no different: Harry broke form by looking over his shoulder and, smiling, advised William, “Right, here she is now.”

Throughout the formal 75-minute service, William remained the picture of regal restraint: he wore the red uniform of the Irish Guards; he was appointed the regiment’s honorary royal colonel by the Queen in February. His blue sash was that of the oldest and highest order of chivalry in Britain. He recited his vows in a quiet voice; he knelt and sang with his head bowed. When William and Kate strode down the aisle, she beamed, chin up, and surveyed the guests; he gave the same shy smiles, slight nods and sideways glances that his late mother Diana was known for.

Also like his mother, William appeared most comfortable during the less formal times. That’s when his charming, even coy, nature revealed itself: he blew kisses to his aunts before the service began. He joked with Kate and her father, “We were supposed to have just a small family affair!” To Kate, he gushed, “You look beautiful.” During the sermon, when the couple was urged to “persevere in prayer,” he initiated a warm exchange of grins between them. Once out of the solemn abbey (where Diana’s funeral was held in 1997) and among the cheering fans, William waved and laughed heartily. By then, he had put on his military cap, which is adorned with the regiment’s motto. Translated from Latin, it reads, “Who shall separate us?”

Continue…

Microsoft buys Skype

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 12:21 PM - 1 Comment

Microsoft has agreed to buy Skype, the popular Internet phone service, for $8.5 billion. The move will give Microsoft a potentially lucrative toehold in the video-conferencing market, especially if Skype’s technology gains widespread adoption in businesses. But the acquisition came at a high price for the maker of Office and Windows. The $8.5 billion price tag is more than twice as high as the $3 billion to $4 billion valuation Skype had been estimated to garner from other deals.

Reuters

'How I Met Your Mother' can't stick the landing

By Jaime Weinman - Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 12:14 PM - 6 Comments

Watching last night’s How I Met Your Mother, I was not pleased – though I wasn’t inspired to the heights of invective that Alan Sepinwall reaches in this post, where he devastatingly lists everything that has been wrong with the Zoey arc and the Zoey character this season.

Here’s the thing: this has been one-half of a fine comeback season for HIMYM after what was generally agreed to be a disappointing fifth season. Several episodes have been very good, there have been some good guest characters (John Lithgow) and the stuff revolving around fathers – Marshall losing his dad, Barney finding his – has made for some funny and touching material. Even the Zoey arc produced some good material thanks to the character of the Captain, played by Kyle MacLachlan.

But the character of Zoey wasn’t appealing, and her relationship with Ted became a sort of collection of all the show’s weak points, rolled up into one cute and quirky ball. It’s not news that Ted has been the show’s most problematic character literally from the beginning. It’s the Achilles heel: the whole thing is built around his search for the right woman, and he’s the narrator of the story, yet he’s the hardest character to like. And for some reason, when the writers put him together with a woman he’s serious about, he gets worse – his “cute banter” with Zoey was even more appalling than his “cute banter” with Sarah Chalke’s Stella. (I don’t think this was intentional. As I recall, his banter with Stella was supposed to show how delightful they were together even if they ultimately weren’t right for each other. Instead it accidentally made a lot of us not want to see them together.) Because Ted is so unappealing matched up with almost any woman on a regular basis, this kind of makes it hard to care who the Mother is, let alone look forward to them teasing it out for two more seasons. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the best relationship he had on the series was with Robin, in the best season of the series, the second. Not only because Robin was someone we could actually like, but because the relationship was already announced as doomed before it began – no teasing or fake-outs – and the writers could concentrate on the problems, not trying to make it look cute.

The other issues the show faces are just typical season-six issues. Some of their devices (relationship metaphors, characters making up crazy quasi-scientific rules to explain typical relationship issues) can still be fun but have been done over 100 times, so for every episode where they work, there may be another one where they feel tired. But that’s normal for any show that has gone over 100 episodes, particularly when they have a very tight-knit group of characters and can’t add new regulars or shift focus. It reminds me of Frasier, which also had a failed arc that it never fully recovered from (as I’ve said in the past, Frasier getting fired is like Barney and Robin getting together) and stayed focused on the same five characters. Maybe sometimes adding a Scrappy Doo makes sense, just to freshen things up. They should see if Kyle MacLachlan’s available.

On a positive note with a hint of negativity: I can’t believe Pamela Fryman has never been nominated for a Best Director Emmy for this show (or any show, for that matter). The work she does as director of How I Met Your Mother has been one of its most important assets through good scripts and bad, and she has one of the toughest jobs of any TV director, essentially shooting two different types of show in one. Plus the unconventional shooting format of the series is largely her creation. Her failure to land a nomination is a sign of the bias against four-camera sitcoms in the Emmy voting – no director of a multi-camera show has been nominated since 2005.