Friday. The last Friday of April as a matter of fact. I always run into May  •  with as much surprise as despiration as when March arrives. The magnolias are  •  coming into bloom here. Saw "mag-noooo-lias" like one of those Bugs Bunny  •  southern-gent-in-white-suit characters. Can't do that in …

I have always considered the desire to firmly fix the future - to seek certainty in the uncertain flux of what is to be - a sign of some sort of weakmindedness, hubris over the temporal. No wonder, then, that the news of the day, a cap on trade in lumber to the US and set dates for Federal …

Someone cleverer than I actually did a bit of the math:  •  “The institute has calculated that the families who will benefit most from the child-care allowance, after taxes and clawbacks, are those making $200,000 a year or more with one parent at home. They will keep $1,076 of the $1,200 annually …

As Moises Alou put the first home run into the stands last night I wondered why I do not follow the Giants or even the Mets whose pitcher gave him the opportunity to put it out so far? It was a glorious stroke and reminded me again of the Expos of the 80s and 90s - when Moises was captured in a …

This is another fairly fair and usably useful article, this time on the practical questions facing the Harper government on the issue of income tax in their upcoming budget, including the further unexpected windfall from oil and gas prices being so high and climbing. As we have learned, PM Harper …

The professional press is a wonderful thing, often taking to time to actually check things out before begining to type. This article in The Toronto Star provides useful background information to this week's protest by people of the Six Nations, including:  •  “In 1783, commanding Gen. Frederick …

portland was really concerned last Friday. It was like watching someone betting his savings on the junk bond market, hoping that things would turn around, that the numbers would be higher. It was instructional, sitting at a reader's house waiting for chatters to chat in a different country. What …

I was going to not post about Harper for a while but this stuff is just so darn entertaining:  •  “Harper rejected two positions his party had previously taken on high gasoline prices — to eliminate the GST on the portion of gas prices that exceed 85 cents a litre and to eliminate the GST on …

Let the re-engineering of knowledge begin!  •  “The new Conservative government has decided to slash spending on Environment Canada programs designed to fight global warming by 80 per cent, and wants cuts of 40 per cent in the budgets devoted to climate change at other ministries, according to …