Winnipeg Free Press

Thirsting for a water strategy

JASPER Alta. -- You get a sense of Canada's critical water problems looking at the Athabasca Glacier in the Columbia Icefield south of here. Updated 7:45 AM

1. The deadly hubris of doctors

   I was saddened to read Dr. Adrian Fine's commentary (Demand versus conscience, Sept. 21) regarding the case of the late Samuel Golubchuk, whom doctors wanted to remove from life-support without his consent and against the adamant objections of his family. Updated 7:15 AM

2. Election tests America for colour blindness

   If I had a nickel for every time some pundit has opined about Barack Obama and the dreaded "Bradley effect," I could rescue Wall Street. Updated 7:15 AM

3. Give me liberty, and give me death

   I looked death in the face. All right, I didn't. I glimpsed him in a crowd. I've been diagnosed with cancer, of a very treatable kind. I'm told I have a 95 per cent chance of survival. Come to think of it -- as a drinking, smoking, saturated-fat hound -- my chance of survival has been improved by cancer. Updated 2:50 AM

4. Olmert sees the light too late for peace

   Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was well aware that he resembled the generals who join a peace movement as soon as they retire. "I have not come here to justify my actions over the past 35 years," he said. "For a large portion of that period, I was unwilling to look reality in the eye." Updated 7:10 AM

5. Not voting? Maybe you shouldn't

   Canadians will be going to the polls Oct. 14 to exercise their franchise. So far no theme has emerged. During the past few elections there has always been an election theme. Updated 2:50 AM

6. Open season -- with reason

   Thousands of exotic wild boars are rampaging across the Canadian Prairies, ravaging crops and damaging ecosystems. Efforts to control the powerful cantankerous porcines are ongoing, but are having various degrees of success. Manitoba is at the forefront because feral boar abundance in Manitoba has been, until very recently, higher than elsewhere in Canada and because control measures in Manitoba have been comparatively successful. Updated 2:50 AM

7. Petraeus focuses his sights on Afghanistan

   In less than two years Gen. David Petraeus has become the most admired American general of recent times. His success in overseeing America's military surge in Iraq, reversing the country's descent into a sectarian bloodbath, has earned him praise from both contenders in America's presidential race. Updated 2:50 AM

8. Open season -- with reason Feral boars an increasing danger across western Canada

   Thousands of exotic wild boars are rampaging across the Canadian Prairies, ravaging crops and damaging ecosystems. Efforts to control the powerful cantankerous porcines are ongoing, but are having various degrees of success. Manitoba is at the forefront because feral boar abundance in Manitoba has been, until very recently, higher than elsewhere in Canada and because control measures in Manitoba have been comparatively successful. Updated 2:50 AM

9. Somewhere in heaven, Norman Rockwell is smiling

   THERE are some moments when members of Updated 2:50 AM

10. A freeway of benefits

    THE Perimeter Highway’s stop­and- go inefficiency as a high­speed route due to signallized intersections has been a target of criticism for years. Updated 8:59 AM

11. Vote for minority government

    With the countdown to the Oct. 14 federal election entering its final phase, there are a few things Inuit, First Nation and Métis voters might want to consider on their way to the polls. Updated 6:30 AM

12. Canadian election? Pass the poutine

    Los ANGELES -- The night air was cool, the breeze salty. It was the sign that gave it away. "Deli Montreal Smoked Meat" it read and here at the Redondo Beach Cafe, hundreds of metres from California surf and thousands of kilometres away from Canada, I'd found the regional hangout for Canadian expatriates. Updated 2:50 AM

13. Harper on hot seat

    If the U.S. financial crisis has, for the moment, trumped the presidential elections as the issue of the day, it is reducing the Canadian election to something of a sideshow. Yet, if political paralysis in the U.S. allows financial crisis to turn into a general economic crisis, Canadians may regret not paying closer attention to matters closer to home. Updated 1:01 PM

14. Contagion

    America's Congress is not used to being second-guessed. But as lawmakers wrestled in the Capitol, world stock markets have been giving real-time odds on the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout becoming law. Updated 2:50 AM

15. Global warming and a financial meltdown

    On Tuesday morning, the full force of the global financial storm descended on the Australian stock exchange, blowing away $55 billion before lunch. Updated 2:50 AM

16. Downside of democracy

    First, Wall Street, the world's pre-eminent financial system teetered on the verge of collapse and then Washington, the most vaunted political regime in the world, failed to save it. Updated 2:50 AM

17. No wonder I'm broke

    WASHINGTON -- It's not like I didn't get sound financial advice. Updated 2:50 AM

18. Protective blanket comes off Sarah Palin tonight

    Last week, I received an e-mail from a freelance scheduler who often offers me celebrities for my radio program. He had a question: Updated 2:50 AM

19. The second time as farce

    This is not the Crash of 1929 revisited, and we are not heading into a second Great Depression. No developed country this time around is going to face the 25-per-cent unemployment rate that the United States experienced in the 1930s. Updated 6:18 AM

20. A Harper majority would have minority support

    Five political parties and an archaic and politically toxic first-past-the-post electoral system have long turned Canadian federal elections into a crapshoot. The Oct. 14 election promises to be the wildest crapshoot of them all. Updated 2:50 AM

21. What to watch for during the election debates

    The leaders debate in French begins tonight at 7 p.m. CDT. The English debate Thursday begins at 8 p.m. CDT, as does the U.S. vice-presidential debate. Updated 2:50 AM

22. Global warming issue cooling down

    This was going to be the green election, a transformative contest with political parties campaigning on competing climate change policies. Updated 2:50 AM

23. X-band defends Israel

    TEL AVIV -- By deploying the X-band advanced American anti-missile radar system in Israel, the U.S. has practically assured itself that Israel will not act unilaterally against Iran's nuclear installations. Updated 2:50 AM

24. We should treat patients like the consumers they are

    Based on a recent visit with a family member to one of our hospital's emergency rooms (which one is not important) I, like anyone who has actually been through a visit, saw first-hand the experience of long, crowed, demoralized, frustrating waits -- not one or two hours, but five! Updated 2:50 AM

25. B.C. not out of the woods

    PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. -- In the middle of the night, the party in the motel unit below mine erupts in a crescendo of voices. Updated 6:18 AM

26. Make national child-care plan a reality

    I don't have kids, nor am I planning to have any in the future. Updated 2:50 AM

27. Give First Nations their own ridings

    Can Indian people flex their political muscle by dramatically increasing voter participation in the upcoming federal election? No, they can't. At least not within southern Manitoba's First Nations. Updated 2:50 AM

28. Honk if you love geese

    One of the first signs heralding a change of seasons is falling leaves. It has never made sense to me that leaves should fall in autumn to prepare for the cold days ahead. The trees are left bare, shamelessly naked and fully exposed to the harshness of the icy, cold winds and blowing snows of winter yet to come. If anything, the leaves should multiply and thicken like the coats of animals, to shelter them against the elements. Updated 2:50 AM

29. History is back

    In a recent editorial (For better teachers, Sept. 20) drawing attention to the Iron Science competition for science teachers, the Free Press called for more recognition of teachers who "struggle to make learning interesting and fun." Science, said the editorial, is a lucky subject in that it is inherently more spectacular and interesting than most others. Updated 2:50 AM

30. Inveterate plotter brought down

    It was widely believed of South Africa's outgoing president, Thabo Mbeki, that the only time when he wasn't plotting was when he was asleep. More than his bizarre views on AIDS or even his failure to do much for South Africa's poor, it was that reputation as an inveterate plotter that finally brought him down. Updated 7:08 AM

31. Sound, no fury -- on to Palin-Biden debate!

    OXFORD, Miss. -- The first debate seemed like the perfect moment for Barack Obama to re-enact the Code Red courtroom scene from A Few Good Men, to slide under John McCain's skin and irritate until he goaded McCain into doing exactly what he really wanted to do: tell off the whippersnapper who'd never bled for his country. Updated 2:50 AM

32. How does your garden grow -- in 2050

    Gardens are more than just yard decorations for the green-thumbed: they also express a world view. As concern over climate change grows, environmentally sensitive gardens are becoming more popular. Updated 2:50 AM

33. No to nitrogen

    For the past decade, massive blooms of blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria) have plagued Lake Winnipeg every summer. This is the result of increasing inputs of nutrients, the phenomenon termed "eutrophication" by scientists. Updated 2:50 AM

34. How to spend the $700-billion bailout

    WASHINGTON -- Even if congressional leaders can close a deal on the bank rescue, the real debate is just beginning. The key questions about the plan are not the ones that Congress debated: How much it would cost and whether it would impose symbolic pay caps for bosses whose wealth has already been hammered. Rather, the key question lies in the execution of the bailout. Updated 2:50 AM

35. First Nations candidate makes election more interesting

    Lyle Morrisseau is a political long shot. Updated 2:50 AM

36. Lipstick mafia flees

    Even though I'm a stalwart Liberal party supporter, I just can't bring myself to vote for Stéphane Dion. I really don't want a Conservative majority, but I can't support the current Liberal leader. A new Harris/Decima poll says that although female support for the Tories has slipped to 34 per cent from 40 per cent, Dion's numbers remain at 27. The lipstick mafia has fled to the Greens, the NDP and the Bloc. Here's why I'm just not that into Dion: Updated 8:08 AM

37. Australia's pension problems

    Australia's pensioners have thrown the blanket off the knees, strapped on the orthopedic shoes and stormed the political stage demanding an increased share of the nation's wealth. Updated 8:08 AM

38. Bill 17 chills investment climate in Manitoba

    The following is an open letter sent Thursday to Premier Gary Doer by the Business Council of Manitoba: Updated 8:08 AM

39. Financial horse gone, but door still needs closing

    My aged mother sat watching the television and reading the newspapers in her home in England last week in fear that many of her savings and those of my ex-banker father were about to disappear. Updated 2:50 AM

40. Pakistan at risk of becoming a failed state

    The devastating bomb attack on the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad that left 50 dead and 300 injured underlines the terrible and increasing power of terrorists in Pakistan. Updated 2:50 AM

41. Mismanagement of ERs widespread

    Early on Sunday, a Winnipeg man was found dead in a waiting room at the Health Sciences Centre, 34 hours after he arrived at the hospital's ER. The details have not all been made public yet. What is known is that he arrived at HSC after being seen at the Health Action Centre clinic four blocks away, and that there is no record of his being seen by a triage nurse. Updated 2:50 AM

42. Weather reports from Mars

    Extreme conditions have been reported throughout this summer by a Canadian weather station: lows of minus 80°C, a steadily falling atmospheric pressure and few clouds in the brown sky. Updated 9:25 AM

43. Suit seeks to open Canadian health care to privatizers

    Canada's growing flirtation with private for-profit health care has led to the first legal assault on Canadian medicare under the investor-state clause of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Updated 6:07 AM

44. Time to restrain spending, cut taxes

    With Canada's federal election just weeks away, the combination of the financial crisis in the U.S., volatile commodity prices, and troubled sectors such as manufacturing may yet make this an "economic issues" election. Updated 2:50 AM

45. On the right track

    Finally, one of our federal party leaders is crossing the country looking for votes the old-fashioned way -- from the back of a train. Updated 2:50 AM

46. Forming coalition government least of Livni's difficulties

    TEL AVIV -- Ehud Olmert's resignation as prime minister of Israel and the entrusting of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, with the task of forming a new government have cast long shadows over peace talks with Syria and the Palestinians and other concerns. Updated 6:14 AM

47. North likely to remain barren ground for Harper

    When a handful of Norwegian sailors calling themselves Wild Vikings were arrested and deported last month for trying to slip their sailboat Berzerk II through the Northwest Passage unregistered, it was a minor victory for Canadian sovereignty. Updated 2:50 AM

48. Waiting for a ram among the sheep

    It is clear that the most pressing federal election issue is the state of the economy. While Canada has been relatively insulated from the global economic downturn, the economic anxiety is definitely mounting as we witness the dark tumult going on beyond the borders of our little shire. Updated 2:55 AM

49. Carbon tax a tough sell even in Lotusland

    It seemed a good idea back in February, when B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell got climate change religion and announced the first real carbon tax in North America. Updated 2:55 AM

50. Hair today, gone tomorrow

    The NDP's election website proclaims that the party's leader Jack Layton "is applying for a new job: Prime Minister of Canada." But, as even he might concede, Mr. Layton is facing an uphill battle over the next month. It's not only because Canadian voters are wary of NDP policies that have prevented the federal party from ever achieving better than third place. No, what this election really comes down to is facial hair. If Mr. Layton truly wants to be considered prime ministerial material, then he'd better head to the nearest barbershop and have his stubbly salt-and- pepper moustache shaved off. Updated 7:11 AM

51. Albertans have reason to feel they are being used

    The Sunday morning that Stephen Harper called this election, CBC Newsworld called me up. The nice Newsworld folk were asking pundits across the country for a quick comment on the election mood in their regions. "Tell us, what are the most interesting races in Alberta?" I was asked. Updated 2:55 AM

52. Demand versus conscience -- a physician speaks

    A recent, widely publicized case pitted Winnipeg physicians against a family in defining appropriate care for a patient. The facts of this case are not in dispute. An elderly patient with multiple strokes causing severe dementia deteriorated, as dying patients do, to the point that artificial ventilation and tube feedings were all that could be offered to postpone his inevitable death. Updated 2:55 AM

53. Questions for the prime minister on defence

    Canadian defence specialists generally agree that Stephen Harper's Conservatives have built on the Paul Martin government's budgetary and planning foundation to improve the condition and capabilities of the Canadian Forces. But there are still many questions that need to be asked of Harper, not least because he appears to be on the cusp of a majority government. Updated 2:55 AM

54. Recognizing FASD

    The recent announcement by the province to spend more money on diagnosing and supporting Manitobans living with brains that were damaged in utero by mothers who drank while pregnant is a welcome step. It falls short, however, of tackling the full and looming problem that fetal alcohol syndrome presents to this province. Updated 2:55 AM

55. Why Canada should give sanctuary to U.S. war resisters

    Why should Canada allow American war resisters to stay in our country? Updated 2:55 AM

56. From skinny kid to criminal

    I almost jumped off the couch when I saw a picture of Daniel Wolfe on the national news a few weeks ago. He was one of six escapees from the Regina jail. Charged with a double-murder, they called him one of the founding fathers of the Indian Posse street gang. I called my aunt and some of my other relatives. Updated 7:45 AM

57. Green cart before the energy horse

    Canadians might be surprised to learn that Canada does not have an energy strategy. Despite our vast endowment of energy resources -- from our offshore energy potential and the oil sands to hydro and uranium power -- we do not have a strategy in place to manage this wealth and to maximize the opportunities it presents for Canada. Updated 7:45 AM

58. Conservative sweep in Saskatchewan possible

    Remember the days when Saskatchewan and Manitoba used to be the dress-alike Bobbsey Twins of Canadian politics? Updated 7:45 AM

59. Palin's post-convention bounce set to fizzle

    Nixonland, an engrossing book by Rick Perlstein published earlier this year, describes Richard Nixon's success at putting together a coalition that in the last 40 years has come close to being a near-permanent Republican majority. Updated 9:15 AM

60. Forget the 401, the action is on the 403

    The battle of Ontario is underway. Updated 9:15 AM

61. This Bligh led the mutiny

    A charismatic multi-millionaire named after Captain Bligh led a mutiny that on Tuesday ousted Brendan Nelson, the likeable but ineffective leader of Australia's federal opposition Liberal party. Updated 9:15 AM

62. Scared economy is frightening

    The darkest hour is just before dawn, unless, that is, there's a tornado-carrying thunderstorm on its way. Updated 9:45 AM

63. Tories hold high ground in Battle for Quebec (deux)

    Quebec City has always had a flair for drama. Updated 9:45 AM

64. How to speed up nuclear revival on Prairies

    Alberta and Saskatchewan are poised to join the global nuclear revival. Updated 9:25 AM

65. Warm and fuzzy Harper is an election tactic

    Is warm and fuzzy Prime Minister Stephen Harper real? Updated 6:21 AM

66. Incumbency is not so comfortable this time

    In a typical federal election -- if there is such a thing -- New Brunswick would be one of the more stand-pat provinces. Updated 2:55 AM

67. Camouflage is green

    Today's green movement uses certain buzzwords -- organic, locavore, renewable -- to the wry amusement of 15 million to 20 million of us who've actually lived the eco-friendly lifestyle that these words describe. Updated 2:55 AM

68. Iraq MP faces treason charge

    TEL AVIV -- Iraqi Sunni MP Mithal Allusi paid a very heavy price for attending the eighth annual conference on international terrorism on Sunday in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv. Updated 6:11 AM

69. Politics and prosecutions

    Last week, Attorney General Dave Chomiak was vigorously challenged on why he didn't personally intervene in the prosecution of Derek Harvey-Zenk and provide political direction on how the case should proceed. Those demands were ill-conceived and, if they had been met, would have led Manitoba down a very dangerous path. Updated 2:55 AM

70. Liberals' grip on P.E.I. weakens

    The winds of change could be blowing over the red sandy beaches of Prince Edward Island, Canada's smallest province. Updated 2:55 AM

71. The Arctic heats up

    For centuries the Arctic Ocean was considered a barrier to the treasures of the east. Now, it is being seen as a treasure in its own right. Updated 6:24 AM

72. Birthplace of Canadian democracy looks like Tory deathbed

    HALIFAX -- What better time to go to the polls than in the midst of a celebration of the birth of Canadian democracy? Updated 2:55 AM

73. Place poverty on election agenda

    Pooping puffins and quips about vegetables? Updated 2:55 AM

74. The wrath of Dan

    It was a state-of-the-province speech, but aimed at a national audience. Updated 2:55 AM

75. A soldier remembered

    About 800 soldiers from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry are returning home after a six month deployment in Afghanistan. Friends and family plan to welcome them by, among other things, papering their return route with some 2,500 yellow ribbons. The gesture is a sure-fire morale booster and a touching, public way of reminding the soldiers just how much they have been missed. Updated 2:55 AM

76. Ask the kids first

    We have all heard of First Nations children being removed from stable foster homes to be placed in culturally appropriate homes, whether it is high profile cases such as Gage Guimond or children we know within our own circles. I work with children in the care of child welfare and hear and see of such cases often. I have come to see the risks associated with the high value that First Nations authorities and agencies assign to placing children in culturally appropriate homes. Updated 10:04 AM

77. Look for the lit in the obits

    I have always enjoyed reading the obituaries in the Winnipeg Free Press. Even when I'm in Palm Springs (where I spend eight months of the year) I'll routinely access the Free Press website to read what I consider the best obits I've ever come across. I've lived in New York, Los Angeles and Vancouver and found their newspaper's obit pages to fall short of the mark set by my hometown paper. The sometimes fascinating, almost always interesting mini-biographies of seemingly ordinary Manitobans who have realized their own mortalities are in a category all their own. Updated 2:55 AM

78. It would be wrong to write off Microsoft's new campaign

    The self-appointed marketing experts of the blogosphere immediately pounced on the opening shot of what will probably be this year's most discussed advertising campaign. Microsoft, the huge but boring software company that has been pummeled by the advertisements of its smaller and cooler rival, Apple, is fighting back. Updated 2:55 AM

79. Is Kim Jong Il Dear Leader or Dear Departed?

    This week rumours swirled that Kim Jong Il, North Korea's dictator, was gravely ill. The 66-year-old, officials said in Seoul, had suffered a "collapse." South Korea's president, Lee Myung-bak, was worried enough to call an emergency meeting with senior aides. Updated 2:55 AM

80. Feminism scrambles back Sarah Palin redefining the movement

    This was supposed to be the year in which America's feminists celebrated the shattering of the highest glass ceiling. Updated 2:55 AM

81. What would I do without Grits to kick around?

    According to legend, Scipio Africanus wept as he watched Carthage burn. It was the end of the Third Punic War between Rome and Carthage and he and his army had just conquered the city. Updated 2:55 AM

82. It's time for a Bannock Book Club giveaway

    Probably the first book I ever read was a battered old copy of Nancy Drew -- The Clue of the Leaning Chimney. It probably belonged to one of my teenage aunties, who I'd always bug to read to me. Updated 2:55 AM

83. Oz has its eye on Canada

    Australians normally view Canadian elections in much the same way they view the Australian Ice Hockey Federation -- with a benign but deeply-rooted ambivalence. Updated 2:55 AM

84. Getting reacquainted with Transit Tom

    It was an interesting summer on the bus, much of which I spent with my nose in a book, catching up on the reading that I have missed since I stopped riding the bus in the mid-'80s, when I moved away from my university life and into downtown Winnipeg where I could walk to just about anywhere I needed to be. Updated 2:55 AM

85. Only strategic voting can stop Tory majority

    From the day Prime Minister Stephen Harper began his public musings about a fall election, he repeatedly downplayed the possibility of the Conservatives actually winning a majority. The numbers, he said, weren't all that promising and there was a very good chance of another minority government being elected. Harper made these comments, presumably, for two reasons: first, he wanted to dismiss any suggestion that his intended dissolution of Parliament was merely opportunistic, a cynical junking of his own fixed-date election with the sole purpose of obtaining a majority and giving his party complete control over Parliament. Secondly, he must recognize that nothing is more likely to hurt his chances for a majority than the public sensing that he is about to win one. Updated 2:55 AM

86. New hope for down and out

    A newspaper cartoonist once depicted former president Ronald Reagan looking out the window of his bullet-proof limousine at a homeless man living in a cardboard box. "Why does he live like that when he could live like us?" the president asked. The cartoonist intended to illustrate that Reagan's belief that everyone could lift themselves up by their bootstraps (like they do in the movies) was ridiculous and that it was the president, not the homeless man, who was delusional. Updated 7:25 AM

87. Heart of the continent

    This election is the perfect time to pursue federal political party support on the issue of creating an inland port in Winnipeg for the betterment of Manitoba and Canada. Updated 7:25 AM

88. Somehow, we never learn

    In the early 1970s, a major bank in the United Kingdom one weekend put out a press release to tell the world it was not in trouble. That bank has survived and gone on to bigger and better things. But many smaller banks failed. The Bank of England was forced to create a rescue package to keep the system afloat. Updated 7:25 AM

89. A North End shrine

    Few buildings in Canada's history have as colourful a history as the Ukrainian Labour Temple in Winnipeg's storied North End. Updated 10:12 AM

90. Tories don't have hidden agenda, just an ugly one

    The Conservative agenda isn't hidden. It's in plain view, thanks to a University of Calgary political scientist. And contrary to the intent of the Conservatives' election framing question, it makes a Conservative vote the real risk. Updated 6:54 AM

91. Al-Qaida remains a threat to the West

    As we approach the seventh anniversary of 9/11, many Americans may be confused about the nature of the current terrorist threat. Updated 6:40 AM

92. Jack's chance for hollow victory

    Jack Layton is saying the right things to move his party forward. Updated 12:40 AM

93. Peace talks with Syria tempting

    TEL AVIV -- As Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's political career comes to an end, his potential successors in his Kadima party are facing a crucial question: Should they continue to deal with the Palestinian Authority on a final settlement, as Olmert had promised U.S. President George W. Bush, or should they prefer the "Syrian Option," as recommended by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and which appears -- for now at least -- the easier alternative? Updated 12:40 AM

94. Province would handcuff freedom of information

    The Manitoba government is on the verge of clamping down on the public's access to government information, and in particular information concerning aboriginal groups and band councils. Updated 12:40 AM

95. How officers use deadly force

    After a tragedy such as the murder of Tim McLean, it is normal human reaction for family and friends of the victim to lash out and seek someone to blame. It is also normal for lawyers to circle and start pointing fingers. But they are pointing fingers in the wrong direction. The person solely responsible for this tragedy is the one in jail, not the ones who arrested him and put him there. Updated 10:44 AM

96. The Stéphane versus Stephen showdown

    OTTAWA -- After promising to play nice with rivals he suddenly claims to respect; crediting his kids for making the top job bearable; thanking Canadians for the chance to lead their country; and doing a happy-face mingle with reporters on his campaign plane, the first question of the 2008 election was obvious. Updated 11:00 AM

97. Critics want change, not accreditation from police

    Nine months into the job and it's two steps forward, one step back for Keith McCaskill. Updated 6:29 AM

98. Bobwhites going the way of the dodo

    Canada lost the great auk forever in 1844 and the passenger pigeon by 1910. Now, the end of the road is fast approaching for another native Canadian bird, the bobwhite quail. It is one of North America's favourite birds. Ontario is its sole Canadian stronghold. Now, there are only a few remaining and they seem doomed. Many attempts have been made to establish bobwhites in western Canada, and all have failed. Updated 10:22 AM

99. Gramas gon glfn

    I smile as I listen to the small, sweet voice of my eight-year-old grandson, "Charlie," on my answering machine. He sounds very annoyed with me. Updated 10:19 AM

100. Guangdong's bizarre black market in corpses

     In a country overcrowded by 1.3 billion people, finding a resting place -- final or otherwise -- is a challenge. Updated 10:16 AM

101. Palin's gender won't sway women

     Most women will never be considered for vice-president. Sarah Palin should never have faced that challenge either. As many have pointed out, she doesn't exactly have the heartiest resume of political experience. Kay Bailey Hutchison comes to mind as a better choice, as do Christine Todd Whitman and Olympia Snowe. Surely there are others who could have filled this role and also been of the gender that McCain wrongly believes is necessary to court women voters. Updated 10:13 AM

102. Sarah Palin's Alaska thrives on pork

     John McCain's decision to anoint Sarah Palin as his running mate looks eccentric for many reasons. Not the least is economic principle. Thanks in part to Palin, Alaska's economy is built on two things that McCain has spent the last few years railing against. Updated 10:06 AM

103. McCain risks self-destruction

     THE most audacious move of the race so far is also, potentially, the most self-destructive. Updated 10:00 AM

104. 1.1 million voters have clout

     We're on the edge of an election, and I've been nibbling on my nails a bit, already thinking about who's going to get my vote this time around. I did a little online digging, and have been keeping close tabs on the evening news. Updated 7:16 AM

105. Political cleansing

     For Canadians, having a fall election is kind of like going for a cleanse. It might flush the toxins out of Parliament for a short time, but unless our habits change, it's only a matter of time before bad stuff begins poisoning our body politic again. Updated 2:00 AM

106. The Governor General can say 'No'

     In an essay in the Aug. 30 edition of the Globe and Mail, Osgoode Hall Law School Dean Patrick Monahan argued that Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean would be obliged to dissolve Parliament if called upon by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to do so. Updated 2:00 AM

107. Small minds, not towns

     By now you all know the deep dark scandal undermining the candidacy of Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee in the United States. Updated 7:28 AM

108. By accident or design, the right choice

     John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate managed to trump most other U.S. political developments this week -- on both the Republican and Democratic sides. The choice of a virtually unknown governor from Alaska -- seemingly a state separated by more than just geography from mainstream America -- invited questions as to what McCain intended and, indeed, whether he knew as much about her as he needed to know. Updated 10:21 AM

109. Aussies' light load gets heavy

     Australia was in a solemn mood Wednesday after receiving the news nine Australian soldiers had been injured in a firefight with the Taliban in Oruzgan province, Afghanistan. Updated 10:21 AM

110. France, Syria seek to fill U.S. election-year void

     TEL AVIV -- While the U.S. and Is­rael are busy electing their future leaders, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has secured for his country a major role in shaping future develop­ments in the Middle East. Updated 9:39 AM

111. Dream of fields

     HAVE you ever passed Kelvin High School on Academy Road, crossed the Maryland Bridge toward Gordon Bell High School and noticed the vast difference between the grounds of the two schools? Updated 9:36 AM

112. Restlessness that Ricky knew is dying out

     Ricky Graves was one of the restless ones. Updated 12:40 AM

113. Alberta the spend-aholic

     It is no secret that the Alberta government has a spending problem. Just how serious this addiction is was highlighted earlier this week when the province issued its first quarter budget update. Updated 12:40 AM

114. Learn from the Kiwis

     Only five years ago, the New Zealand municipal governments of Christchurch (pop. 338,000) and Hutt City (pop. 95,000) were the weakest links in their local communities. Updated 12:40 AM

115. Convention cracks kept showing

     There were two conventions in Denver last week. One was a joyful event. Cheered on by throngs of jubilant activists, the Democratic Party's brightest and most boisterous speakers praised Barack Obama extravagantly and rejoiced that in a mere four months the Bush-Cheney tyranny will be over. Updated 10:02 AM

116. McCain's surprising strength

     NEVER let it be said that politics deals no surprises. After weeks of speculation about his choice for vice-president on the Republican ticket, John McCain bypassed the names most often mentioned, Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney. On Friday he chose little-known Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska for less than two years. Updated 12:15 AM

117. Joe Biden: 'Notorious windbag' for veep

     His first run for the presidency collapsed, in 1987, after a bizarre act of plagiarism. Bizarre because Joe Biden not only borrowed the words of another politician, Neil Kinnock, the leader of the British Labour Party, he borrowed his life story, too. Updated 12:15 AM

118. Michelle Obama's winning ways

     IMAGINE that you're the wife or husband of a leading politician. Updated 10:02 AM

119. A speech, ahem, to the delegates

     My fellow Americans, it is an honoor to address the Democratic National Convention at this defining moment in history. We stand at a crossroads at a pivot point, near a fork in the road on the edge of a precipice in the midst of the most consequential election since last year's American Idol. Updated 12:15 AM

120. Remember the visual

     REPUBLICANS had needled Barack Obama for accepting the Democratic presidential nomination in an enormous sports stadium. But their efforts to dampen the mood failed to spoil a grand party. Updated 12:15 AM

121. Refreshing 'audacity' in the Obama strategy

     One test of a presidential candidate's strength, and often his best shot at winning, is how much he can mold his party in his image and rally it around a powerful argument for his election. Barack Obama left Denver having made significant progress on both fronts. Updated 12:35 AM

122. Lessons from God's Lake school

     My cousin Candace and I took a trip up to Gods Lake Narrows First Nation a few weeks ago. She was invited to speak at the community's youth conference. I was her chaperone. Updated 12:35 AM

123. Strategy for unions to get off their knees

     As you look around this Labour Day weekend, the things you take for granted as part of our good life were won by the political struggles of the working class and its allies: free health care; free K to 12 public education; minimum wages; labour standards; the health and safety regulation of workplaces; workers' compensation; employment insurance; the Canada Pension Plan -- the list goes on and on. Updated 12:35 AM

124. Harper 'fixing' federal election date

     Stephen Harper is itching for an election; and, if he wants it, he will get it. Updated 7:41 AM

125. Crime pays Down Under

     Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has a criminal ancestry -- his great grandfather was a thief. Updated 12:45 AM

126. Conventions create phoney image of a divided America

     As the nation's attention reluctantly turns to the political parties' conventions, with their scripted suspense and stage-managed sentiment, it is important to keep in mind that these are phony representations of American political life. But the slick video profiles, the teary appearance of a beloved party elder -- these are not what is phoniest about the conventions. Updated 12:45 AM

127. Fall election? Ho hum

     So, it seems that the country will have a federal election in the fall that nobody wants, to choose a prime minister that few will like. Updated 2:00 AM

128. High anxiety for Democrats in Mile High City

     DENVER -- I've been to a lot of conventions, and there's always something gratifyingly weird that happens. Updated 2:00 AM

129. What dysfunction?

     OTTAWA -- After deciding the House of Commons was too unstable to recall and cancelling a leaders' summit due to scheduling difficulties, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's only justification for his sabre-rattling rush to an election has become a dysfunctional Parliament. Updated 2:00 AM

130. Domestic is foreign

     Trevor Lautens' column last week exhorting the purchase of domestic cars instead of foreign cars is based on a laudable goal -- supporting fellow North Americans by purchasing the cars they make. Updated 8:33 AM

131. Alberta should welcome cooling economy

     Albertans -- or at least this generation of them -- aren't used to bad economic news. Updated 2:00 AM

132. Oil-rich nations shopping for farmland

     While Saudi Arabia sets up its first sovereign wealth fund, ordinary Saudis are more preoccupied with the rising price of food. This is prompting the Saudi government to consider a new direction for foreign investment: buying farms in the poorer parts of the world. Updated 2:00 AM

133. Canada needs a peace movement

     Nations need armies to protect their national interests. Nations also need peace movements to help ensure that those interests are properly defined and not twisted to support unjust causes. Updated 2:00 AM

134. Russia ramping up its influence in Middle East

     Syrian President Bashar Assad ended his two-day visit to Moscow last Friday by granting Russia a major strategic gain in the Mediterranean. In return for new supplies of modern Russian arms, Assad agreed to make the seaport of Tartous, in northern Syria, a main Russian naval base in the Mediterranean. Updated 2:00 AM

135. Water worries are a bigger concern than oil prices

     'Water is the oil of the 21st century," declares Andrew Liveris, the chief executive of Dow, a chemical company. Updated 2:00 AM

136. Rural Canadians need to find their voice

     From the land, Canada, must come the soul of Canada. Updated 12:50 AM

137. The best summer of my life

     The summer I was 12 my dad and I went to stay in Manigotagan for a few weeks. Updated 12:50 AM

138. The bear facts on Russia

     You are schlepping along alone in a sun-dappled alpine meadow when suddenly a massive grizzly bear rears up about 50 yards from you, growling and waving its front paws. Updated 12:50 AM

139. In defence of fantasy

     Cynicism and hypocrisy are always part of international politics, but in the case of Poland and the anti-ballistic missile missiles everybody is over-fulfilling their norm. Updated 12:10 AM

140. Give women more representation in the halls of power

     The results of recent public opinion surveys conducted by the Canada West Foundation show that we need more women in politics to articulate their increasingly unique point of view. Updated 12:10 AM

141. Media's grade-school crush on Obama flunks smell test

     STANFORD, Calif. -- Anyone who thinks the media have been balanced and unbiased during the current election simply hasn't been paying attention. Updated 12:10 AM

142. Two wheels good, four not better

     I am a cyclist. Everyday I put on my helmet, and sling my bag over my shoulder in preparation for my daily commute. Whether I'm going to work, the store or a social event, safety is always my first priority. Not just my safety but the safety of those I share the road with, whether they be fellow cyclists or drivers of automobiles. Updated 12:10 AM

143. China's tarnished gold

     To a surge of jubilant national pride China for the first time has won more gold medals at the Olympics than any other country. For China's leaders, the gold medal haul is wonderful news after a grim few months that have seen crippling snowstorms, upheaval in Tibet and a deadly earthquake. Updated 12:10 AM

144. We need a Morgentaler of adoption

     Question: What do the letters "b" and "r" have in common with the letters "d" and "p"? Updated 12:10 AM

145. A dream of fields

     Have you ever passed Kelvin High School on Academy, crossed the Maryland Bridge toward Gordon Bell High School and noticed the vast difference between the grounds of the two schools? Updated 12:20 AM

146. One savage summer

     Goodbye, summer. Good riddance. Updated 12:20 AM

147. Allure of U.S. election irresistible to some Canucks

     Until last week, Darren Gudmondson was willing to sacrifice a week of his time and a sizable chunk of his paycheque just to direct traffic and fetch coffee for people in a convention centre. Updated 12:20 AM

148. Police requirements of 1829 still valid today

     The infuriating injustices done to the Taman family tarnish the image of the Winnipeg Police Service and the East St. Paul Police beyond immediate repair. Updated 12:20 AM

149. Stronger, faster, higher -- eh!

     As the Beijing Olympic Games wind down, our euphoria over Canada's recent surge in the medal count will soon give way to a more cold-hearted analysis of why this performance was not better. Updated 12:35 AM

150. Prejudices dog ex-convicts after debts paid to society

     On Thursday morning I once again found my name prominently mentioned in the Winnipeg Free Press. The story on page four with a feature box on the front page outlined the breaking news that I am gainfully employed. Updated 12:35 AM

151. Hot air and heat pumps: It's better to go with gas

     I write in regard to the report Thursday under the headline Province sweetens pot to convert to geothermal systems. Updated 12:35 AM

152. Buy Canadian

     VANCOUVER -- An amiable question: If you're in the market, why buy a (several adjectives deleted) foreign car and add to the damage to Canada's economy? Updated 12:40 AM

153. Housing crisis making homes affordable again

     'Keep your house" reads the handwritten sign on a chain- link fence some 100 kilometres east of downtown Los Angeles. It is an advertisement, although it could be the attitude of an overstretched buyer who owes the bank more money than his home is worth. Updated 12:40 AM

154. Gambling addicts sue revenue addicts

     REGINA -- If we still require evidence that the world has too many lawyers, I draw your attention to a case which is apparently about to come to trial in Quebec which must be absolutely mouth-watering to Tony Merchant and like-minded ambulance chasers everywhere. Updated 12:40 AM

155. Targets for Taliban

     I've often felt there were a number of similarities between aid workers and soldiers. Updated 12:25 AM

156. Russia, Iran become regional superpowers

     TEL AVIV -- The brutal Russian aggression in Georgia and the successful launching of the Iranian "Safir" (Ambassador) rocket carrying a test-satellite into space are two sides of the same coin. Both events have highlighted the fact that Russia and Iran have become regional superpowers in Eastern Europe and in the Persian Gulf. Updated 12:25 AM

157. Judge's decision spared Harvey-Zenk a severe sentence

     All the evidence at the Taman inquiry is in, except what might be the most important evidence of all, namely, the testimony of the trial judge who agreed to the conditional sentence of the accused, as recommended by counsel for both the Crown and the accused. Updated 12:25 AM

158. Georgian debacle could destroy NATO

     NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a remarkable case of institutional survival in the face of changing circumstances. It was created in 1949 to protect Western Europe from the Soviet threat, and in 1989 the Soviet threat vanished. Yet NATO not only survived the collapse of the Soviet Union but expanded, taking in all the former satellite states of Eastern Europe and even the Baltic republics that had been part of the Russian empire for more than 200 years. But the Georgian debacle could break NATO. Updated 7:25 AM

159. Olympics win no medals on Yabao Road

     Yabao Road in Beijing's embassy district is normally bustling. Russian traders scour its wholesale shops for furs and boots. Hawkers throng the pavements. The street is jammed with taxis and pedicabs. But the Olympic games are on. Yabao Road is now strangely quiet. Updated 7:25 AM

160. Winnipeg is not a city

     In the 1970s, Ed Schreyer's NDP government decided it was time Winnipeg grew up. It was time to end the "small towns" of Winnipeg, St. James, St. Boniface and nine more, each of which had its own city council and create one big city, namely Winnipeg. Updated 7:25 AM

161. Manitoba chiefs pick a leader

     Elections are a big deal on any reserve -- but the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) election is an even bigger deal. Updated 8:27 PM

162. Squeezing 'em dry

     First it was fuel. Next it was baggage. Then it was soft drinks and water. And now it's blankets and pillows. Just when it seemed like airlines were running out of things to charge more for, along comes news that passengers on JetBlue, an American airline, will now have to pay for blankets and pillows on flights that last more than a couple of hours. Updated 12:15 AM

163. Immigrants count in Canada

     STEINBACH -- This town of 9,500 roughly 60 kilometres from Winnipeg can teach a lot of Canadians about immigration, one of today's key issues. Updated 12:15 AM

164. Putin is the winner

     America's George W. Bush delivered a stark warning to Russia this week that led Russia to begin to pull back its forces in Georgia. Bush sent his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, to Georgia and told his defence secretary, Robert Gates, to organize a humanitarian-aid operation. The first American military aircraft landed at Tbilisi airport on Thursday, Aug. 14. Updated 12:15 AM

165. Winnipeg's Russian revolutionary cause c ©l ®bre

     In 1908, the Russian radical and socialist agitator Savva Fedorenko was on the run. After being charged with the murder of a Russian policeman, who had tried to arrest him and a group of his friends in a village near Kiev, he had fled to Austria, Brazil, Argentina, England, and then Canada. In the summer of 1910, he turned up in Winnipeg, claiming innocence and declaring that he was a political refugee escaping the repressive monarchy of Czar Nicholas II. Updated 12:15 AM

166. Medical tourism booming

     Health care has long seemed one of the most local of all industries. Yet beneath the bandages, globalization is thriving. The outsourcing of record keeping and the reading of X-rays is already a multibillion-dollar business. Updated 12:15 AM

167. Let public vote on stadium for Winnipeg

     There's no doubt about it, it would be great to sit in a brand new stadium to watch Bomber Games. David Asper should be commended for trying to make that happen. His interest in the football club and his desire to continue to invest in Manitoba is exactly what this province needs. Updated 12:15 AM

168. Dare to dream -- rapid transit for Winnipeg

     Jack Layton's stopover over in Winnipeg this week was uncannily well timed. Updated 12:25 AM

169. Wrong person protected by publication ban

     There is a person in Winnipeg, accused of an extremely serious crime, whose name you should be reading in the pages of this newspaper. Updated 12:25 AM

170. Reining in street gangs

     MONTREAL -- A number of cities are struggling to rein in youth street gangs, many of which are ethnic-based, without appearing to have it in for particular racial or cultural minorities. Updated 12:25 AM

171. Drums of change sound in Beijing

     On or about last Friday, the world changed. With two very different coming-out parties -- the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and the invasion of Georgia -- China and Russia put everyone on notice that the power relationships of the past have been reshuffled and that formidable new powers are challenging the established order. Updated 12:35 AM

172. Treat bus drivers with dignity

     Workers at Winnipeg Transit have twice rejected the contracts negotiated between their union (Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505) and the transit management. A third version of the contract, with some of the issues due to go to binding arbitration (meaning a neutral arbitrator will review both sides and impose a compromise solution) will be voted on Aug. 20 by the ATU membership. The union executive has decided that they will go on strike immediately should this third contract be rejected by the membership. Updated 12:35 AM

173. Padre takes power in Paraguay

     Apart from featuring in a couple of novels by Graham Greene, Paraguay has rarely attracted the attention of outsiders. It is a poor, sweltering, landlocked tract of South America with only 6 million people, many of Amerindian descent. Updated 12:30 AM

174. Farmers' voices must be heard

     No matter where you stand on the Canadian Wheat Board, you have to admit that what happens to it is farmers' business. Not the business of the butcher in Burnaby or the real estate salesperson in Regina. Updated 12:30 AM

175. The Phelps phenomenon

     Most school children who take part in track and field or swimming must fantasize about going to the Olympics at some point in what is often a short, competitive career. Updated 12:30 AM

176. The city's underground economy

     One afternoon, my wife Erin answered the door to a man who stood on our step with an ancient, motorless lawn mower and rake in hand. He was a kind and honest-looking man who lived around the corner in a Euclid Avenue rooming house and was out trying to make a little money. Updated 12:30 AM

177. Systematic barriers give immigrants a raw deal

     Amid all the celebration that is Folklorama, a more in-depth look at immigration in Manitoba is more crucial then ever. Immigration patterns have changed dramatically over the last quarter century. While more immigrants arriving today are coming from non-traditional source countries, they are generally far more educated than newcomers a quarter of a century ago, and more than current born Canadians. Despite this, the earnings and income of recent immigrants have been on the decline and poverty rates have risen, according to Statistics Canada. Updated 12:30 AM

178. 'Just trust me' doesn't work anymore

     'Just trust me' doesn't work anymore Updated 12:30 AM

179. Sex scandal nothing new

     Ho hum. What's new? On Friday night, the most-watched cable news channel, CNN, devoted almost its entire evening telecast to the latest sex scandal involving former presidential hopeful John Edwards. It seems that in 2006, Edwards had an extramarital affair with someone who had been involved in his campaign. The scandal was exposed by the National Enquirer some time ago but was vigorously denied by the former senator. Last week Edwards was caught visiting his former mistress and her baby, alleged by the Enquirer to be his, in the early hours of the morning at a motel. Edwards was forced to own up and issued a statement admitting the affair but denying paternity. Updated 12:25 AM

180. Israel's link to the Georgia-Russia conflict

     TEL AVIV -- Suddenly, without any prior warning, Israel has become indirectly involved in the Russian-Georgian conflict over South Ossetia. Updated 12:25 AM

181. Bin Laden's driver should be freed

     The first U.S. military commission since the Second World War rendered a stunning verdict and sentence last week against Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's former driver. The commission's decision was remarkable not because it was the first of its era but because it appeared to be measured, thoughtful and fair -- or as fair as a hopelessly flawed system could hope to produce. Updated 12:25 AM

182. The great divide

     It's the great divide. Updated 12:00 AM

183. It would be a tragedy if the world gave up on trade

     English writer G.K. Chesterton said "journalism largely consists of saying Lord Jones is dead to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive." Updated 12:00 AM

184. Manitoba Hydro is on solid ground

     A recent article in the Free Press by Dan Lett (PUB doubts Hydro's business model, July 4) implies that because The Public Utilities Board (PUB) ordered a higher electricity rate increase than requested by Manitoba Hydro, that Hydro's core business model of selling surplus energy on the export market to keep rates low in Manitoba is in doubt. The article suggests that rapidly rising construction costs and the strong Canadian dollar will make Hydro's export sales unprofitable. Updated 12:00 AM

185. Thinking outside the green box

     A few years ago, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizu