http://paulmitchinson.com Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:45:16 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The slow, sad decline of CBC Radio 2 continues apace, and has been well reported. So it might seem just a little petty to complain about something as insignificant as the official "voice" of the radio: "Promo-boy." The successor to the the widely despised "promo-girl," "promo-boy" is unique in that ... http://paulmitchinson.com/archives/244 Abu Ghraib got you down? Massacres in Falluja making you feel blue? Try a drop or two of Bach Rescue Remedy--it's recommended by none other than Naomi Klein! After the release of the Abu Ghraib photos, she confesses that she felt a little off-kilter. “It was scary to be a ... http://paulmitchinson.com/archives/242 Garth Turner has a well-earned reputation as an independent-minded Member of Parliament. I voted Conservative in the last election largely because of his support for gay marriage. I even joined the Conservative Party to help defend him against a nomination challenge. (After Stephen Harper turfed him out of caucus ... http://paulmitchinson.com/archives/234 Warren Kinsella in today's National Post: Graffiti is ubiquitous; it's everywhere. And one paragraph later, in case you didn't get it: It's all over the place. . . .  Kinsella is always tiresome. Tedious too. http://paulmitchinson.com/archives/233 Can reading a book rot your brains? Last week's article in the New York Times about the children's book series, Junie B. Jones, got me thinking. The journalist does a good job of drawing the controversy over the books to battles over phonics and "whole language." And her summary of ... http://paulmitchinson.com/archives/232 According to today's Toronto Star, Liberals are calling for an apology from Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, for allegedly referring to Belinda Stronach, the Aurora MP and his former girlfriend, as a dog. As a historical service, I thought I'd offer a brief -- and far from exhaustive ... http://paulmitchinson.com/archives/221 Few ideas arouse the righteous indignation of conservatives more than the notion of "moral equivalence." In fact, three weeks ago, the National Post's Comment pages managing editor, Jonathan Kay, explicitly stated that any article that "draws a moral equivalence between terrorists and the nations that fight them," would be"rejected out ... http://paulmitchinson.com/archives/220 [I published this in the March 2006 Playbill of the San Francisco Orchestra.] Pity the ghost of Dmitri Shostakovich. Thirty years after his death, it seems his soul will never be allowed to rest in peace. Hounded by Stalinist commissars during his lifetime, ridiculed by Western modernists to this day, ... http://paulmitchinson.com/archives/219 Two things came to mind after getting my second "universal childcare" cheque in the mail the other day. First, there is numerical proof that I am now more father than writer, more caregiver than historian. It's been a difficult adjustment to make for someone who has virtually lived in libraries ... http://paulmitchinson.com/archives/212 Wish I could help! How's this for a start?"Avoid piling up large boxes and mattresses that completely obstruct access to your 'Help us improve!' station." http://paulmitchinson.com/archives/215