http://www.willems.ca/blog Michael's grumpy world commentary weblog. Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:53:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Canada's Tories seem to have seriously lost their way, judging by the news. Start with the ill-timed but presumably well-intentioned Census flap. Support the libertarian wing of the Tory heartland in a way so inept that it is guaranteed to do them more harm than good. Follow this by Stockwell Day's comical ... http://www.willems.ca/blog/?p=1154 As of today, Saudi Arabia has banned the Blackberry. The United Arab Emerates are about to do the same. Indonesia, India, Lebanon and Algeria appear to be close behind. That is because all these dictatorships want to listen in on all conversations, emails and messages sent and received by their citizens. Evidently, ... http://www.willems.ca/blog/?p=1153 Get good service, tell a few friends; bad service, tell them all. And that is what I am doing here, in an off-topic post. Executive summary: Avoid Sears Oakville, and in particular their clock and watch department. I took my Omega watch in to them a few months ago to have ... http://www.willems.ca/blog/?p=1152 The grey suits in the copyright industry will never get it, will they? For the first time in years I am about to buy music. Patti Smith, two albums, meaning I am about to spend $20 on MP3s. Amazon sells MP3 music - good decision, because I know it's standard format ... http://www.willems.ca/blog/?p=1151 Ontario passes a temporary law in secret, without debate. And even worse, a police officer's word is considered convincing proof under this law. Huh? I am not sure even the Nazis went quite that far. Amazing, what our government will do. http://www.willems.ca/blog/?p=1150 ...third world cops who do not know the law, it seems: read my blog post on this here. http://www.willems.ca/blog/?p=1149 I posted a few snaps of that preposterous "security fence" here: http://blog.michaelwillems.ca/2010/06/11/berlin-wall/ http://www.willems.ca/blog/?p=1148 ... wall, that is. For the next weeks (a total of a month) Toronto is in chaos. Roads closed, cameras mounted, a billion dollars of tax money (my tax money) being wasted in "security" (yeah, security: Hitler and Goebbels used that excuse too). And of course luxury hotel rooms and four-star ... http://www.willems.ca/blog/?p=1147 OK, so Toronto has to host the G20 conference. I see the following: Thousands of people in the run-down Toronto congress centre (a disgrace by international standards) Much of downtown entirely closed for two days, with a closed Berlin Wall fence around it. Severe disruption in the days leading up to, and after ... http://www.willems.ca/blog/?p=1145 ...you can't hide. I see that my old comments on The Economist web site are here: http://www.economist.com/user/mwillems/comments Fortunately, I think I still stand behind them...! http://www.willems.ca/blog/?p=1144