Wednesday-Night

We have the great joy of the presence of our son Marc and his brilliant wife Jean from Singapore. Sadly, this is the last week of their summer holiday in Québec. We hope that you will be with us to enjoy their company and observations - no doubt a tour de […]

July 23
Foreign Press: All Obama, All the Time (Politico)
Barack Obama’s face adorns newspaper and magazine covers worldwide, as reporters flock to foreign capitals for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s five-country tour following stops in Afghanistan and Iraq. “It seems that there are no other news stories in Germany than the […]

China, Beijing Olympics ; Tibet
Official website
The Official Mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
The Olympic Emblem

July 23
China ‘to allow Olympic protests’
China says it will allow demonstrations in three designated city parks during the Olympic Games in Beijing.
But anyone wanting to protest will have to apply for permission from the city’s government and police.
July 22
Bunker […]

July 21
By Chris Hedges
(Truthdig) The decline of newspapers is not about the replacement of the antiquated technology of news print with the lightning speed of the Internet. It does not signal an inevitable and salutary change. It is not a form of progress. The decline of newspapers is about the rise of the corporate state, […]

See also U.S. campaign 2008
July 15
(Huffington Post) Phil Gramm’s recent disparaging of “a nation of whiners” complaining about a “mental recession” did more than offend the sensibilities of economically struggling Americans. His gaffe also served as a reminder that McCain had appointed one of the most reactionary, venal, and destructive political figures in recent […]

Tuesday Jul 01, 2008
Clay Felker, New York Founding Editor, Passes Away
Clay Felker, founder of New York, passed away this morning. At New York, which he started in 1968, the native Missourian championed the careers of many great journalists including his friend Tom Wolfe. Before founding New York, he worked at Life, Time, Esquire and the […]

More on tar sands
26 June
Brilliant move by Greenpeace. Bravo!
Jeffrey Jones, Reuters
(National Post) CALGARY — If it’s sand you crave on your vacation, then Greenpeace might have just the travel idea for you.
But you could have some hefty cleaning bills by the time you get home.
In an increasingly heated debate over the ecological impact of Canadian […]

More on Maxime Bernier

June 27
Bernier, keep daddy out of it
(Globe and Mail) … why on earth was Gilles Bernier, ex-politician and father of judgmentally challenged Maxime, taking the microphone on his son’s behalf? Can his 45-year-old son not defend himself?
June 26
Now it is he-said-she-said which will likely guarantee a continuing readership — and when will […]

See also China, Beijing Olympics and Olympic Protest Primer
22 June
Get On the Bus
Geoffrey York, Globe & Mail
The official press tour is one of the rituals of Communist China, as time-honored as the ceremony to raise the Chinese flag at Tiananmen Square every morning. It’s far from the ideal way to gather news.
But with Tibet still […]

June 17
More floods threaten south China
Dykes and embankments are being reinforced in southern China amid some of the worst storms in decades.
1.66 million people had been evacuated from the hardest-hit areas over the past 10 days. Up to 70,000 of those being evacuated are from Wenchuan county in Sichuan - the epicentre of May’s deadly […]