I like to think of the Easter story as a cautionary parable about bad election campaign management.

( Blasphemy ensues )

I'm actually kind of pleased that Bob Rae is likely running for the Liberal leadership. I always felt sort of guilty about liking him, being a partisan Grit and all. I can remember reading The Three Questions and thinking I agree with this part. I agree with this part too. And this part. Why is this guy a Dipper?Bob Rae is also responsible for ( Read more... )

So last night after sword practice and a goodly quantity of beer, the conversation turned to religion and politics and the subject of the Danish cartoons came up yet again. I think the cartoons are obnoxious and shouldn't have been published, but I don't think I held up my side of the debate particularly well. It wasn't until this morning that I ( Read more... )

Today's reading is George Duby's "The evolution of judicial institutions" from The Chivalrous Society. Interestingly enough, his description of how barons and warlords in tenth and eleventh century Burgundy took control of the courts away from the king kind of explains why the Guardian Angels' attempts to start a Toronto chapter are not going over ( Read more... )

Politicians sometimes have good reasons to cross the floor. I have some sympathy for Belinda Stronach, for instance, since her positions on social issues never really corresponded with those of the Conservative party ( Read more... )

Want to know why I sat out the last election? Read Adam Radwanski's January 30th column in the National Post. I was on one of those yellow school buses with Adam in January of 1999. He's actually leaving out some of the sleazier things the Martinites did to him and his campaign that weekend. The Party lost some serious talent when he turned to ( Read more... )

Think the Conservative platform is new and fresh and never-before-tried? I would like to refer you to a little Greek text from 448 AD by one Priscus. Mr. Priscus had the unfortunate job of leading a Byzantine diplomatic expedition to Pannonia to beg Attila the Hun not to invade his empire. While he was hanging around Hun Headquarters one morning ( Read more... )

The last time I was this inactive during a general election was 1984. It feels very strange to walk past Party HQ on St. Mary Street and see lights burning into the night but have no idea what's going on in there ( Read more... )

I've spent the last ten days away from a reliable Internet connection. What a culture shock. During that time the Christmas season and the federal election reminded me of a story I heard a couple of years ago ( Read more... )

Today it was Richard Kaeuper's War, Justice, and Public Order: England and France in the Later Middle Ages. It occurs to me that present-day debates about gun control are really the tail end of a very long struggle between public justice systems and private rights to bloodfeud ( Read more... )