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Shouting Fire
A hateful idiot makes a nasty video about Islam and posts it on Youtube. Predictably enough, similar things having happened a number of times over the last few years, murderous violence breaks out in some Muslim countries as a consequence. (Unusually, there have been Western victims this time.) Predictably too, some people have been calling…
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De la connerie
Je voudrais revenir sur une chronique qu’a publiée hier Alain Dubuc dans La Presse. Faisant allusion à la une récente de Libération qui, s’adressant à l’homme le plus riche de France, qui aurait demandé la nationalité belge dans le but de payer moins d’impôts une fois établi dans le plat pays, hurlait “[c]asse-toi, riche con!”, M.…
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State, Means, and Ends
I am auditing Jeremy Waldron’s seminar on human dignity this semester. Since prof. Waldron’s rule is that auditors “must be seen but not heard” in class, I will use the blog as an outlet for thoughts and comments. One thing we did in yesterday’s seminar was to go through the rights-protecting amendments to the U.S.…
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Property and Propriety
I wrote yesterday about the judgment of the Québec Superior Court holding that the destruction of the gun-registry data concerning Québec is unconstitutional. As promised, I would like to volunteer some thoughts on the decision. In a nutshell, I think the outcome is sound, but the reasoning not the best that could have been offered.…
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Québec Wins Gun-Registry Battle
Justice Marc-André Blanchard, of Québec’s Superior Court has ruled that the federal government’s attempt to destroy the data from the now-defunct long-gun registry is unconstitutional. (I have written extensively about this case; all of my posts about it are collected here.) The CBC’ has the story, and has helpfully posted a copy of the judgment online.…
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A Forecast on Suing the Weatherman
First of all, apologies for my disappearance. The last two weeks have been hectic, and I have been most neglectful of the blogging duties. I hope to resume them now. My first comeback post will be a lighthearted one though. The New York Times Magazine has an entertaining piece―actually, an adaption of a excerpt from a…
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Pas de droit de réplique
J’ai déjà écrit quelques billets sur l’effet réel des restrictions sur le droit des citoyens, d’organisations ou des groupes, autres que les candidats et les partis politiques, de dépenser de l’argent pour prendre part au débat public pré-électoral. Comme j’ai souligné ici et ici, au Canada, ce sont surtout des syndicats qui se sont heurté…
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Bad Timing
In an interesting story yesterday, the Globe and Mail reported that “British Columbia’s largest public-sector union is appealing a fine of more than $3-million levied by Elections BC over a television advertisement that aired during the spring by-elections.” The union started an ad campaign three days before the by-elections were called. As the article tells the story…
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Le mépris de Pauline Marois
J’ai essayé, depuis le début de ce blogue, de le garder non-partisan. Cependant, lorsqu’un parti politique propose des mesures non seulement à l’encontre, mais au mépris des droits fondamentaux et de la constitution et de la loi qui les protègent, je dois le dénoncer. C’est ce que fait aujourd’hui le Parti québécois. Comme le rapporte…
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The Forms and Limits of Persuasion
There was a very interesting piece by Maggie Koerth-Baker yesterday in New York Times magazine, about the ways in which we make up and change our minds. The immediate context to which it is directed is U.S. presidential campaign, in which both contenders (though especially Mitt Romney) have had some notorious “flip-flops.” But of course the…
Double Aspect 