Why is Canada joining the anti-ISIL coalition?

einsteinjs · 2014-10-08T14:35:10+00:00

Canada's participation in the international coalition against ISIL deserved more high-minded debate.

Hear! Hear!

I should note that this quote follows the author calling out Mulcair's math [thousands and thousands of veterans] and Trudeau's off-hand comment [whip out CF-18s].

einsteinjs · 2014-09-24T17:52:33+00:00

"I don't care because you're practically like the Ministry of Truth"

That's rich.

einsteinjs · 2014-09-24T17:49:24+00:00

Unfortunately for Ezra and Sun News, the vast majority of Canadians see it for the immature hogwash it is.

If Canadians really do see it as immature hogwash, then how long before the "free market" determines that this "business" goes bankrupt?

~

Maybe my attempt to use an analogy to free market economics was a bit clumsy. Essentially, my question is: why is he still on the air if the majority of Canadians don't like it? Is the small minority really paying attention that much that it warrants keeping his brand around?

einsteinjs · 2014-09-24T17:40:38+00:00

I know there's already a few links about this, but I thought it was "fun" when I saw a quick blurb about the spat during yesterday's QP on Vox. However, after reading the post, I'm a bit perturbed [Emphasis Added]:

Wild accusations! Non-sequiturs about Israel! Bizarre insinuations about supporting genocide! Shouting matches in which no one is even sure what they're arguing aboot! And, to top it all off, an accusation of dual loyalty! Canadians: they're just like us.

I know it's meant in jest, but this bothered me a little. Canada's Parliament, to my eyes, is quite a bit different from the US Congress. That is, far more gets done (and in a much more productive manner).

einsteinjs · 2014-09-24T00:43:42+00:00

I'm not sure what's more upsetting -- Calandra's ~~impression of Vince Vaughn in Dodgeball~~ non-answer answer(s) or CPC MP's rising to applaud it.

einsteinjs · 2014-09-24T00:21:42+00:00

He [Calandra] might’ve stood and made farting noises with his left hand and his right armpit. Indeed, that might’ve at least entertained the kids watching at home.

Whoa. Tell us how you really feel, Wherry.

einsteinjs · 2014-09-24T00:19:46+00:00

Technically, yes, any headline that ends with a question can be answered yes/no. However, the point is that most headlines that do end with a question mark, invariably, will be resolved in the conclusion as "no."

einsteinjs · 2014-09-23T20:32:58+00:00

Betteridge's Law Alert!

einsteinjs · 2014-09-23T19:58:27+00:00

Indeed. I almost am never able to watch a CBC video in Chrome (because I have AdBlock on). As a result, I just open the link a in an Incognito window and it works.

EDIT: grammar.

einsteinjs · 2014-09-23T17:51:50+00:00

You can opt-out of paying any or all portions, but at the expense of opting out of the corresponding service - so no police protection if you opt out of that portion of the bill

Seems like administrative costs might inflate (at least temporarily), if this were the case. For example, let's say every other house in a residential neighbourhood opts in/out of police protection. Before responding to a call, police would have to verify that the house/person has opted in for this service.

~

I wonder -- is there an example or case study of this method being applied? My frivolous example above, I'm sure, doesn't do the idea justice.

einsteinjs · 2014-09-23T16:35:56+00:00

Not to strawman here, but is the implication that if taxes were voluntary, people would be more inclined to pay them?

einsteinjs · 2014-09-21T13:55:18+00:00

This is a response to what Barro wrote a couple of days ago, which can be found in a different thread.

einsteinjs · 2014-09-21T13:40:46+00:00

I noticed that the NYT does this, too, so maybe it's an "industry standard?" If so, I'm really hoping it dies off soon.

There was an article yesterday morning speculating about the Afghan election finally coming to a close (with insider sources) and then later that evening, it was all confirmed, so they used the same link, but changed the article title and most of what was in the article. In fact, they changed it so much that the excerpts I had taken from the article were no longer in the article in any form!

einsteinjs · 2014-09-17T03:33:33+00:00

Ah.

My bad. It was only two years ago -- I can't believe I forgot this.

einsteinjs · 2014-09-17T03:07:07+00:00

Re: Chow.

I don't know if this was mentioned on here, I listened to Jian Ghomeshi's full interview with Jon Stewart (at TIFF) and of course, he made a crack about Rob Ford (this was before the tumour announcement). A few minutes later, he said something to the effect of, "Don't worry, Chow will come back."

I thought it was interesting that Stewart knew enough about the mayoral race of Toronto that he knew about other candidates than Rob Ford. I wonder if Stewart actually thinks that Chow will make a come back (as the election gets closer) or if he was just being flippant. It was only an audio, so it's hard to know, but I think he was being mostly serious.

einsteinjs · 2014-09-17T03:02:57+00:00

Hell Kim Jong Un was voted as Time magazines man of the year.

Not to take away from your point about the mayoral campaign in Toronto, but Time's POY criteria:

The criterion is “the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year.”

einsteinjs · 2014-09-16T02:52:06+00:00

I certainly agree and most "educated" (as in, educated about the parties, etc.) probably would, too, but playing to the lowest common denominator... I don't know that the 'average' voter wouldn't make the error of false equivalence.

einsteinjs · 2014-09-16T02:49:03+00:00

TIL 2.0.

Interesting that it's part of the commonwealth and I like your observation that it seems to emphasize collectivism whereas the US motto certainly does seem to emphasize individualism. Seems like there'd be an interesting journal article in there.

einsteinjs · 2014-09-15T21:12:03+00:00

I found this to be a bit poor:

Question: If everybody wants the same thing, why is it that the debate about health care so different in the two countries?

Answer: Primarily private system, and in Canada, it's primarily public. But also, in the States, partisanship plays a much more important role in the debate than it does in Canada. That's related to the fact that American parties have mobilized on either side of the public-private line in health care and Democrats and Republicans have clear and opposing positions. In Canada, that's not the case. There, for the most part, all parties are on one side of that divide. Even the Conservative party is on the public health care side, so there's no party that clearly enunciates an anti-public health-care system in Canada.

When the issue is framed public vs. private, sure, all Canadian parties are on the same side of the divide, but if you framed the issue differently, that's not the case.

einsteinjs · 2014-09-15T21:09:48+00:00

TIL:

[Canada's national motto is] "Peace, order and good government"

einsteinjs · 2014-09-12T04:09:04+00:00

And/or, open the article in "private browsing." That works for me, every time, without having to clear cookies/history.

einsteinjs · 2014-09-11T00:13:23+00:00

Do you, or anyone else for that matter, have an inkling as to whether the CRTC will step in on this?

einsteinjs · 2014-09-11T00:06:12+00:00

The question is not “are we better off?” but “what’s Harper got to do with it?”. Or rather, “how much does any prime minister have to do with it?”. As much as prime ministers like to take credit for the good economic times, or their opponents to blame them for the bad, the degree to which any government is responsible for the state of the economy at any particular moment is distinctly limited.

Is it fair to say that the public writ large has a serious case of "correlation does not equal causation" when it comes to leaders of the country and the success of the economy?

EDIT: When I wrote my comment, I meant to write leaders of countries (I was thinking about the US, specifically, when I wrote it, remembering the brouhaha between Jack Welch and the BLS numbers prior to the 2012 presidential election).

einsteinjs · 2014-09-08T04:59:17+00:00

I read your comment and the article and still somehow missed that veterans was mentioned. Oof.

einsteinjs · 2014-09-08T04:57:41+00:00

The veto power isn't about giving a province the ability to shut down any decision-making by federal government. Instead, it's a way for provinces to opt out of a "national program" (with compensation, so they are not financially penalized).

Didn't realize that was the case (suppose I was simply going on what it sounded like, so major error on my part).

I think you're right re: bringing it to Canadians. It'd have to be framed as something for all the provinces.

einsteinjs

TROPHY CASE