The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

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True North, strong and free: a quiz

By acanuck on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 7:53pm | Sports, Potpourri, World Affairs

Happy Canada Day, everyone. Snap quiz, if you're up to it:
1. Exactly what are we celebrating the anniversary of?
2. Who gets top billing as "Father of Confederation?"
3. Name one other.
4. Where exactly is the Canada-U.S. border (I mean the long straight part)?
5. Why did Canadians decide they wanted a country anyway?
6. What's the national anthem? Fairly easy one.
7. What's the flag? Ditto.
8. What's the national sport? What, another gimme?
9. How many provinces are there? Territories?

Topics: 
Sports
Potpourri
World Affairs
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Welcome back, Manny

By acanuck on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 3:42am | Sports

I thought I'd share one of those channel-surfing moments that make you wish all TVs came with a screen-grab function. I happened to switch to TSN as they were doing an item on the end of Manny Ramirez's 50-game suspension. What immediately caught my eye was the chyron at the bottom of the screen: "suspended due to darkness."

"Holy crap, TSN," I immediately thought. "You can't say that. They caught the guy fair and square." A second or so later, I realized I was seeing the second half of a line that probably referred to the game he'd been expected to play in.

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Sports
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Larry Franklin catches a break in court

By acanuck on Mon, 06/15/2009 - 5:34am |
Former Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin had his day in court yesterday, seeking a reduction of his 12-year sentence for leaking classified information to two lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The same judge who initially sentenced him took...
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Rafsanjani out? Iran gets murkier

By acanuck on Sat, 06/13/2009 - 7:10pm |
Unconfirmed reports out of Iran say former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has resigned as chairman of the powerful Expediency Council, which arbitrates disputes between the religious leadership (Council of Guardians) and the Majlis or parliament. Rafsanjani also chairs the Assembly of...
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Iran: all tree, no forest

By acanuck on Sat, 06/13/2009 - 6:09pm | World Affairs

For those of us who, like Mir Hosein Mousavi, are wondering what happened to our projected landslide green revolution, Josh Marshall links to an interesting Guardian article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/13/iranian-election

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World Affairs
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Vancouver 2010: coolest Olympics ever!

By acanuck on Tue, 05/26/2009 - 3:14am | Sports

The torch design for next year's Winter Olympics was apparently unveiled months ago. Only now have some sharp-eyed reporters started asking each other, "Hey, what does that look a bit like to you?"

Personally, I love it. It sums up in one image the best British Columbia has to offer: winter sports and B.C. Bud. Now if only the organizers can sign up gold medalist Ross Rebagliati to kick off the torch relay.

Topics: 
Sports
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Memo to the president: here's how you shut Gitmo

By acanuck on Sat, 05/23/2009 - 5:03pm | Politics

Orlando posed a puzzler yesterday: if you shut the Camp Delta prison, what do you do with inmates who have committed no known war crimes or acts of terrorism, but who still pose a security threat? How do you keep them from taking up arms or otherwise waging jihad against the U.S. and its allies?

It's triflingly simple: Ask them to promise not to.

"Huh?" I can hear you all saying. "That's crazy talk, acanuck. What's to stop them from breaking their word?" Well, first of all, the concept of "parole" has an honored place in Arab and Muslim history. It resonates.

Topics: 
Politics
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It's Hockey Night in America

By acanuck on Sat, 05/16/2009 - 9:40pm | Sports

OK, Hockey Afternoon in America.

Tomorrow (Sunday), at 3 p.m. Eastern, the NHL's Western Conference final series kicks off between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings.

Why should you care? Why should anyone care?

Topics: 
Sports
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Bottom line: Saberi was a spy

By acanuck on Thu, 05/14/2009 - 6:37pm |
After all the hand-wringing over Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American "free-lance journalist" jailed in Iran for espionage, can we now finally concede the obvious? She was indeed a spy. Just not a very good one. The TPM main page links to...
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Whup-ass: a question

By acanuck on Wed, 04/29/2009 - 6:45pm |

Something's been bugging me lately. It's this:

Why does whup-ass only come in those huge cans? I understand that's it's more economical, but it's also really wasteful. And probably leaves a big carbon footprint. Why hasn't somebody come up with the idea of selling mini-portions? Or at least quart-size containers?

But no. If you listen to the ads, you're encouraged every damn time to open up a brand-new huge can of whup-ass. Like you, the back of my fridge is stuffed with jars of the leftover stuff. It's not like it ever goes bad, right?

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