Light is Right Joe Campbell I can see that I haven’t kept up with our symbols and emblems. Only recently I discovered that Saskatchewan has had an official bird since 1945. That’s the year my province appointed the sharp-tailed grouse to represent us. What ornithologists call the sharp-tailed grouse, we call the prairie chicken. I’m not sure I want a [...]
Talk Turkey Josie Luetke Dear young pro-lifer, how do you feel about becoming a plumber? A farmer? A carpenter? I ask not to imply that these careers are inferior (for they are not), but to imply, rather, that your options may be limited. It is becoming more and more difficult for a pro-lifer or a social conservative to pursue the [...]
Jacob Rees-Mogg Jacob Rees-Mogg is a remarkable British politician: although he is well known in Britain as a wealthy, old-Etonian and Catholic aristocrat with no cabinet experience, he rocketed last summer into the lead in popularity among potential Conservative successors to Prime Minister Theresa May. The ascendancy of Rees-Mogg is all the more remarkable in that he has never made [...]
The rancid feast that is the news cycle served up a pair of groaning platters recently when the death of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner was quickly followed up by the destruction of the public reputation of Harvey Weinstein, a Hollywood producer and the founder of Miramax studios. Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy and champion of sexual license and abortion rights, died [...]
Talk Turkey Josie Luetke In a YouTube video published on July 25, as part of a series called “Philosophy Time,” featuring actor James Franco and his friend Eliot Michaelson, Princeton University philosophy professor Liz Harman tries to justify the view that early-stage abortions are morally neutral. Her argument, in a nutshell, is this: If a fetus does not have moral [...]
Law Matters John Carpay In Canada today, if you want to shut down the conference, rally or speaking engagement of someone whose opinion you disagree with, all you need to do to is accuse your opponent of being far right, racist, fascist, white supremacist, Islamophobic, or homophobic. The accusations need not be true, as long as they are shocking and [...]
In Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life, Jessica Nutik Zitter, a Montreal-born physician and specialist in critical care medicine, gives a graphic insider’s account of how well-meaning critical care specialists like herself are all-too-apt to inflict futile, unnecessary and agonizing suffering upon dying patients in an intensive-care unit (ICU). To begin with, Zitter describes her first attempt [...]
In 2002, Richard Florida published his book The Rise of the Creative Class and made a career for himself as an urban theorist, traveling the world lecturing and advising on how struggling, economically challenged cities could revive themselves. His “creative class” – a loose coalition that included artists, tech workers, academics and, interestingly, gay men and women – were rebuilding decimated downtown [...]
Light is Right Joe Campbell Oh, I know it can be addictive, especially if you start using it in your teens. But it’s also medicinal. Among other benefits, a compound it contains may reduce anxiety, ease symptoms of schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease, and prevent weight gain. Nevertheless, it’s still under a stigma. I’m not talking about marijuana. I’m talking about [...]
In a summer of box office disappointments, Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk was an unexpected hit, since nobody thought that an epic film about the evacuation of British troops from Europe in the early days of World War II would be much more than a money-losing Oscar contender, meant to open deep in autumn. This would be the popular image of what was known [...]
Law Matters John Carpay In a free country, should a religious group be able to determine its own membership criteria? Or should judges have the power to impose their opinions about whether someone meets religious requirements? The Supreme Court of Canada will soon consider this question, raised by Randy Wall, who challenged his expulsion from a Calgary congregation of Jehovah’s [...]
Light is Right Joe Campbell I don’t agree with settled science. But I’m not entirely disagreeable. I do agree with settled sense. Settled science is unscientific, as new experiments commonly falsify old conclusions. Even children learn that unless a hypothesis is falsifiable, it’s not scientific. I thought everyone knew that all scientific theories, from macroevolution to global warming, are provisional. [...]
National Affairs Rory Leishman In a widely acclaimed new book, Sex and the Constitution, Geoffrey R. Stone, former dean of law at the University of Chicago, commends the Supreme Court of the United States for revising the laws and the Constitution to conform with contemporary values. Laurence H. Tribe, professor of law at Harvard University, lauds Sex and the Constitution [...]
Talk Turkey Josie Luetke A pro-lifer I met leading up to the 2015 federal election said to me, “I don’t care if we all live in mud huts so long as abortion is ended.” Now, nobody wants to live in a mud hut. I do not want to live in a mud hut, and, of course, the economy matters. When [...]
Talk Turkey Josie Luetke The Canadian Press recently highlighted the story of a single Nova Scotia woman who was enraged with having to undergo several blood tests and an ultra sound before being referred for a surgical abortion. In this women’s case, the process to obtain her abortion took about two months. Abortion advocates say Nova Scotia is the only [...]