Notre nombril: Sommes-nous moralement supérieurs aux Américains?
By Pierre K. Malouf on February 16, 2011
Dimanche, 9 janvier 2011, 17 heures. Les nouvelles à RDI. À quel événement Radio-Canada donne-t-il la priorité ? Choix de réponses:
Le rapport Payette: Un autre affront à la liberté d'expression
By Beryl Wajsman on February 16, 2011
Au-delà d’un an, Dominique Payette, une ancien journaliste et maintenant professeure à l'Université de Montréal, a été mandatée par la Ministre de la culture Christine St-Pierre pour étudier des façons dont les médias dans les régions du Québec et les médias indépendantes dans les villes pourraient être aidés à l’ère des nouvelles technologies. Son rapport final, présenté la semaine dernière, est allé bien au-delà de son mandat. En fait, c'est le plus grand affront à la liberté d'expression depuis les lois linguistiques. Ça mérite un rejet retentissant.
Revenge of the nerds
By Dan Delmar on February 16, 2011
I was wrong. Almost exactly two years ago, I wrote in these pages that, as a proud journalist, I would be boycotting Twitter and limiting my use of Facebook. I argued at the time that traditional forms of media could remain competitive with social media if they simply fought back andput out a more entertaining product.
Boycott this!
By Beryl Wajsman on February 16, 2011
Ainsi, une partie des puissantes forces "progressives" du Québec ont décidé de boycotter les produits et les compagnies israéliens en raisonde « l’apartheid politique" d'Israël. Simplement de l’hypocrisie et une ruse. Par leurs mots et leurs actions elle a démontré, en folie et en honte, le vrai visage de cette partie de la société « civile » du Québec qui tout en déclarant hardiment sa propre « différence », est vraiment hanté par un doute de soi-même poussé par une jalousie des croyances individuelles des autres.
Les souliers d’Amir
By Éric Duhaime on February 16, 2011
Le député de Québec solidaire, Amir Khadir, ne fait pas que lancer des souliers. Il les boycotte!
Au cœur de son comté de Mercier, la boutique Le Marcheur a pignon sur la rue St-Denis depuis 25 ans. Yves Archambault y vend des chaussures venues des quatre coins du monde. Le 2 octobre dernier, Monsieur Archambault reçoit une «mise en demeure» d’une organisation radicale de gauche qui le menace de piqueter devant son commerce pour lancer un appel au boycott s’il continue de vendre des souliers fabriqués en Israël.
Le boycott sur St-Denis est un échec
By P.A. Sévigny on February 16, 2011
Quand cinq députés fédéraux, les chefs du PQ et du Bloc québécois et un nombre de plus en plus important de députés provinciaux condamnent vos manifestations hebdomadaires comme étant « … totalement inacceptables dans une société démocratique» vous pourriez envisager de plier les banderoles et de rentrer à la maison. En date du samedi passé, ce semble être ce qui s'est avéré car les militants de PAJU (Palestiniens et Juifs unis) ne se sont pas présentés alors que presque 20 personnes se sont réunis devant Le Marcheur, le magasin de chaussures de la rue St-Denis de Yves Archambault, pour démontrer leur soutien au droit de l'homme d'affaires de la rue St-Denis de gérer sa propre entreprise et ont repris la rue. Une victoire après presque treize semaines.
Canada already knows a Muslim Sit-Com is not the answer
By David Solway on February 16, 2011
CBS anchor Katie Couric recently went on record deploring the “bigotry” and “seething hatred” that Muslims are supposed to be facing in the U.S., and proposing a “Muslim version of the Cosby Show” as a remedy to this lamentable situation. Of course, Ms. Couric’s reading of America’s ostensible anti-Muslim attitude is total nonsense of the sort associated with the political delirium of the “progressivist” class. The American people on the whole are probably among the most tolerant to be found anywhere in the world, with the glaring exception of the scandal-mongering left that has falsely donned the egalitarian mantle.
New START Had It Easy
By David T. Jones on February 16, 2011
On December 22, 2010, the Senate having spent much time wailing and gnashing teeth approved the New START Treaty with Russia. From the language, one could have thought its advocates believed it to be the arms control's Second Coming (or at least a much accelerated new millennium) while its opponents characterized it as a cup of hemlock for the Republic.
Haiti and the scandal of The Global Fund
By Mischa Popoff on February 16, 2011
Your hard-earned tax dollars have been pouring into Haiti since the earthquake last year and things have only worsened. Here’s a thought... maybe money and aid aren’t the answer.It is now crystal clear that The Global Fund, although much ballyhooed, is totally corrupt. This is the high profile charity that pretends to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and which benefits from lucrative, high-profile support from the likes of U2 front-man Bono, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and France’s First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. The United States and Canada have pledged to give a whopping $10 billion to this fund for various third-world improvement projects, including Haiti. But if the fund can’t even keep its own affairs straight, we must demand that our politicians stop contributing to it immediately.
Democracy in the Arab world
By The Hon. David Kilgour on February 16, 2011
As more and more Arab countries turn their backs on autocracy, Canada can be a key player in encouraging democratic governments to take hold.
In the 22 member states of the Arab League, many people now appear to be turning their backs on autocracy, declaring to themselves and the world that governance of, by, and for the people is a universal value.
The Flashlight at the End of the Tunnel Can we cement a fragile recovery in 2011?
By Robert Presser on February 16, 2011
Statistics often mask a reality that is more complex than the numbers. The US has been in recovery for over a year, yet most Americans will tell you that it feels as if it has not even started. In Canada, our recession was the mildest of all the industrialized nations yet our mindset is still influenced by the slow recovery of our southern neighbour. Economists in both countries have said that employment growth is the key to sustaining the recovery; consumer confidence and, eventually, consumer spending must be strengthened via income growth overall.
The imperative of individualism
By George Jonas on February 16, 2011
When I was 10, a rusty mastiff followed me home from the playground. It accepted a dish of liver from my mother, then curled up in front of my bed. Whenever my parents approached, it raised its massive head and growled.
I felt flattered. The dog had a collar but no tag. “Can I keep it?” I asked my father.
“If that were a real question,” my father replied, “my answer might be yes. But you and I know that what you’re actually asking is: Will you, dear parents, keep a dog for me? Feed it, walk it, groom it, muzzle it? And the answer to that is no.”
L'Itineraire
By Bill Economou on February 16, 2011
The newsroom at L’Itineraire, magazine remains one of the most unique in Montreal because it is the only one in the city where you will also find several tables set aside for homeless people to eat. That’s because the publication is published, sold and written by members of Montreal’s homeless population and serves as a vehicle to help restore their pride while articulating their points of view.
The magazine is published by a non-profit organization and about 150 people, including myself, sell L’Itineraire in different locations across the island of Montreal. Each vendor is assigned at least one or two locations to sell. A number of us can also be found in métro stations.
A tribute to Diana and David Nicholson's Wednesday Nights
By Isabelle Ramsay-Brackstone on February 16, 2011
The Nicholsons greeted me in their salon for the first time back in 1996. I was then a graduate student at HEC Montreal, completing a M.Sc. in International Business. I love debates, sharing ideas, learning about the arts, trade, diplomacy, and politics, among many other subjects.
More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: They make it relevant
By Donna Logan on February 16, 2011
had the great, good fortune to meet Diana and David long before they started the Wednesday Night Salon. I already knew they were very special people. The salon started... I have many fond memories of great sessions and meeting a broad, cross-section of incredible people!
More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: Dear Wednesday Nighters
By David Beigie on February 16, 2011
I regret that I was unable to represent my dad Carl at the 1500th gathering. But I wanted to share these words of congratulations as you embark on the next 1500.
My father enjoyed debate and discussion. And he loved to teach. This was his main currency in life. Wednesday Night provided an ideal setting for all his passions to come together in one place with people he cared about.
More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: Rage, rage into Wednesday Night
By Felix von Geyer on February 16, 2011
Like the two matching lines of a villanelle poem such as Dylan Thomas above, Diana and David Nicholson intertwine their alternate lines that have recurred throughout the poetry of Wednesday Night that last December pushed through its 1500th successive Wednesday – more than 25 years.
Between them they introduce, compare and contrast people, their perspectives, opinions and deeds that are the substance and form that bring shape, solidity and occasionally lingering noeticism to any informed debate or opinion.
More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: Beyond measure
By An Thien Ngo on February 16, 2011
How to measure the contribution of Wednesday Night to our society and to the lives of the individuals who gather each week in the Nicholsons' salon? By insights gained, connections forged, endeavours catalyzed, new fields explored?
More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: The University of Wednesday-Night
By P. David Mitchell on February 16, 2011
The Age of Enlightenment spawned the salon, an important place for the exchange of ideas, an increase in knowledge and a source of pleasure and friendship for participants. And an influence on society.
More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: Something unique
By The Hon. David Kilgour on February 16, 2011
Diana, David and friends have achieved something unique and important with their uninterrupted Wednesday salons over so many years. In our travels around the world, we have never heard a similar institution.
More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: Never better, never warmer
By Stephen Blank on February 16, 2011
From someone who spent some moments on Canadian TV in the 1990s (when I headed the Council of the America’s Canadian Program in New York City), I can tell you that the lights were never hotter, the questions never tougher, the company never keener and the conversation never quicker than around the Nicholson’s table on Wednesday night. Might I also say, the friendships were never warmer, the wine more plentiful or hosts more gracious. Hail to David and Diana!
More celebrations of Wednesday Nights: Plus ça change..the 700th tribute
By Sam Totah on February 16, 2011
Dear Diana and David,
The year is now 2011, you have just moved out of the house - 33 Rosemount avenue, Westmount, Quebec, still in Canada (!) and I just reviewed what I had written some fifteen years ago about your Wednesday Nights Salon on the occasion of the 700th anniversary. Now, you have passed your 1500th anniversary of your unforgettable “plus ca change plus c’est la même chose” soirées with some slight changes, but the spirit is still the same ! Hope you would like the following to …my tribute to the 700th
