CAPRU: Now with a "caption this!" feature.
Provide your best caption in the comments, a poll of the best ones will be with the next CAPRU.
Alan Bernstein:
As a Canadian scientist working in the United States, it is painful to observe the striking contrast in relationships between the U.S. and Canadian governments and their respective scientific communities. I can't remember a time when Canadian scientists have felt so outside the tent.
The current controversy over the support of science in Canada is not helpful to anyone - not our country, not our scientists, not our universities and, most importantly, not our young people. Instead of moving forward as the Americans are doing - building a new economy based on science and ingenuity - we are engaged in a dogfight in which there will be no winner. In the global search for talent, we are sending an unequivocal signal to the world: Canada is busy with a family quarrel, call us later. In sharp contrast, the United States is displaying "Open for business" signs around the world.
Mindelle Jacobs discusses the phenomena of Jewish Rabbis who don't think Israel should exist for religious reasons.
Jonathan Kay is outraged that Fox News would show such right-wing bias. It took attacking the Canadian military for him to realize the media doesn't have a left-wing bias.
For as long as I can remember, armchair critics have assured me that the problem with the mainstream media is its left-wing bias. But as this example from a right-wing source helps demonstrate, the larger problem is sheer stupidity. (CNN has no discernible bias I can detect -- but I stopped watching it when it turned itself into the all-anthrax channel in late-2001, boosting ratings by convincing millions of Americans they were about to play the role of extras in a Stephen King bio-apocalypse novel.)
People cheer on this idiocy when it serves their purposes. Juvenile Bush-bashing was a staple of the left-wing American media for years. And during the run-up to the Iraq war, conservatives supported despicable caricatures of the French (anyone remember "Axis of Weasels"?). It's only when your own tribe gets targeted that you realize how low the media has sunk.
Jeffrey Simpson on Canada's political shift on Israel-Palestine politics:
The larger lesson of this rather insignificant saga is how far the Harper government has moved to align Canada with Israel and its staunchest supporters. Canada is now the most "Israel, right or wrong" government in the world, except for the Israeli government itself.
Even Barack Obama's new administration, itself obviously pro-Israel, has uttered a few mild criticisms about settlements in East Jerusalem and the banning of certain trade with Gaza. But not the Harper government. Mum's been the word.
John Ivison: Let Galloway (A British MP who supports Hamas and is supposed to speak in Canada in the next month or so) into Canada, don't let him become a free-speech Martyr. He'll get a lot more coverage and a lot more support if he's banned at the border.
Brian Hutchison:
Twelve times in that police statement did Cpl. Robinson use the words "swinging" or "swing" when describing Mr. Dziekanski's handling of the metal stapler.
As the Pritchard video demonstrates, Mr. Dziekanski did not swing the stapler at the four RCMP officers. He did not attempt to hit them with it. The stapler was knocked out of his right hand with the first jolt of a police-deployed Taser.
Why, inquiry commission lawyer Vertlieb asked yesterday, had Cpl. Robinson claimed otherwise?
To justify their use of force, seemed the only answer.
David J. Mitchell gives some history on having a Canadian Conservative government during a depression:
Nevertheless, in spite of the Bennett government's various interventions, the Canadian economy continued to slump. "Bennett buggies" remain an enduring image of his tenure as prime minister - automobiles pulled by the horses of Westerners who could not afford gasoline.
Those were years of social protest on a scale never before seen in Canada, with Bennett often vilified as a symbol of all the economic ills from which Canadians suffered. His unsympathetic personality often made matters worse, along with a harsh leadership style that stood in stark contrast to the comforting paternalism of the U.S. president. When the inevitable election was called in 1935, the Bennett government didn't stand a chance. The Liberals, led by Mackenzie King and campaigning under the slogan "It's King or Chaos," surged back into office without enunciating specific policies or solutions to the continuing economic malaise.
Greg Weston:
Fraser wonders where the government came up with an urgent need for $3 billion if it didn't already know how the money would be spent. Good point.
One thing Fraser doesn't take offence to is Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's recent stimulus program warning that "mistakes" will be made.
Says Fraser: "It is almost refreshing to hear someone say those kinds of things instead of trying to give the illusion everything is going to be perfect because we all know it isn't."
Suncor and Petro Canada may be merging soon. National Post's Don Martin, Kevin Libin, and their entire editorial staff are wetting themselves with excitement at the thought of a massive, privately owned oil company controlling a significant chunk of the oil sands.
Vincent Marissal:
Voyez Gilles Duceppe: 12 ans à la tête du Bloc québécois, aucun ambitieux pour le pousser en bas de son trône et bientôt une sixième campagne à sillonner les routes familières du Québec sans jamais avoir à défendre un bilan de gouvernement ni présenter un programme pour prendre le pouvoir.
La nouveauté, cette fois, c'est que le Bloc québécois affrontera un nouvel adversaire, Michael Ignatieff. Mais même les libéraux admettent en privé que le Bloc est tellement enraciné au Québec qu'il est pratiquement indélogeable dans une trentaine de circonscriptions.