Winnipeg Free Press

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

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. Alberta should welcome cooling economy

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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. Rural Canadians need to find their voice

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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. One savage summer

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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. Targets for Taliban

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

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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

36. 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

37. 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

38. 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

39. 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

40. 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

41. Dare to dream -- rapid transit for Winnipeg

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

42. 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

43. 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

44. 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

45. 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

46. 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

47. 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

48. 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

49. 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

50. 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

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

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

52. 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

53. 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

54. 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

55. The great divide

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

56. 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

57. 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

58. Thinking outside the green box

    A few years ago, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, called upon his suit-loving nation to wear short-sleeved shirts more often in the summer. His rationale was quite simple. Despite Japan's scorching hot summers, cultural protocol kept business men and women in suits on the hottest days of the year. This, of course, meant many workplaces, including government offices, had to crank up their air conditioners to levels higher than required. As you can imagine, this resulted in inflated electricity bills that cost Japanese taxpayers and ratepayers millions of dollars each year. Updated 12:10 AM

59. Obama begins to wear thin

    The most politically potent emotion of the past 18 months has been Obamamania. This condition allowed a neophyte senator from Illinois to seize his party's nomination from the jaws of the formidable Clinton machine. The big question now hanging over American politics is whether Obamamania is giving way to Obama fatigue. Updated 12:10 AM

60. Durban II: Let the hate flow

    I confess I had forgotten about the United Nations World Conference against Racism, in Durban, South Africa, on Sept 8, 2001. It turned so quickly into a racist, anti-Semitic hate-fest that United States Secretary of State Colin Powell stood up and walked out. Updated 12:10 AM

61. When loons go bad, bird world pays price

    Loons are among North America's most popular birds, but their behaviour has a very dark side that is tarnishing their image. A recent incident in northern Manitoba illustrates an ongoing pattern of unpleasant loon behaviour involving unprovoked fatal attacks by loons on other species of birds. Updated 12:10 AM

62. The silence of the intellectuals

    George Keenan, the dean of American diplomats, called The Gulag Archipelago, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's account of Stalin's terror, "the most powerful single indictment of a political regime ever to be levied in modern times." Updated 12:10 AM

63. Don't sacrifice human rights for 'Olympic spirit'

    There was a certain stage-managed quality to President Bush's mini-clash with China over human rights last week. The words he employed were indeed strong: "The United States believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human beings," Bush declared. "So America stands in firm opposition to China's detention of political dissidents, human rights advocates and religious activists." Yet he spoke these words not on Chinese soil but in democratic Thailand. They came near the end of a broader address in which the president touched on many Asian subjects and offered countervailing praise for Chinese co-operation on international issues. The president released his text well in advance, giving Beijing plenty of time to respond. "We firmly oppose any words or acts that interfere in other countries' internal affairs, using human rights and religion and other issues," the Communist government replied -- and promptly returned to preparations for the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, which Bush and other Western leaders attended. Updated 12:10 AM

64. Death on a Greyhound

    Vincent Weiguang Li stood in a Portage la Prairie courtroom Tuesday and asked for death. Updated 7:06 PM

65. Don't let the horror make you abandon the bus

    The first thought I had when I read the news was there must have been a mistake. Surely this sort of thing only happens across the border in the United States, and certainly not in sleepy Manitoba? But no, the news story was correct -- the horrific, unprovoked beheading had happened just west of Portage la Prairie on a Canadian Greyhound bus travelling from Edmonton to Winnipeg. Updated 12:25 AM

66. L.A. dumping sprawl for tall

    With the Summer Olympic Games underway today, all eyes are on Beijing and its $43 billion makeover, the costliest ever in Olympic history. As China scrapes away its undesirables to present a fa ßade of gaiety, a grande old dame of two Summer Olympics is also challenging stereotypes with master plans of her own. Los Angeles, the poster child of suburban blight and spider web freeways, is taking steps to sprawl no more. One has to look no further than downtown. Updated 2:00 AM

67. Making policy on the fly is risky business

    With Parliament in summer recess, it should be easy enough to rest one's mind from monitoring the general nastiness and over-heated rhetoric which has largely displaced rational and measured political discourse. Even in summer's dog days, however, unexpected events force one to consider what our politicians are doing or proposing to do. Two in particular are arresting: both raise questions about the wisdom about continuing down paths on which we have already embarked; both illustrate the dangers of making policy on the fly. Updated 2:00 AM

68. Is it 1960, 1980 or 1988 again?

    American presidential politics provide a prime example of the old adage that history often repeats itself. Updated 2:00 AM

69. Canadian TV cool? What gives?

    From high above, the overhead shot of the marina looked liked a classic beginning for the American TV show Miami Vice. The water had the deep blue sheen that is more common to film than to real life and the sense of tranquillity promised a sudden eruption of violence. Updated 2:00 AM

70. Big Easy still struggling

    Bourbon Street was rocking one night in late July, the bars and clubs filled with music as people enjoyed one of New Orleans' most popular nightspots. Almost three years after Hurricane Katrina, the city seems to be back in business -- at least as far as tourism is concerned. Updated 2:00 AM

71. Where is the black outrage?

    Blacks are greeting the Beijing Olympics with a deafening silence when they should be denouncing the racial injustice of China's support for Sudan. Updated 2:00 AM

72. Definitely, a new world

    It's time for a reintroduction. Last we heard of Kuir Kon, a new Winnipegger who fled the civil war in Sudan, via Ethiopia and Uganda and Kenya -- the life of an indigent refugee is full of experience -- he was just back in September 2005 and ready to start university. He had made good money in the slaughterhouses of Brooks, Alta., and bucked the traditional immigrant pattern by returning to Manitoba to pursue post-secondary education. Updated 12:50 AM

73. Will Canada and Obama clash in Latin America?

    Forty years ago, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean were largely an afterthought for Canadian governments. Rights-abusing military regimes, stagnating and closed economies, and abject poverty and crushing indebtedness confined this region to the margins of Canadian foreign policy. Updated 12:50 AM

74. Syrian politics get murky

    TEL AVIV -- If I were Syrian President Bashar Assad, I would be very disturbed by the assassination last Friday night of Gen. Mohammad Suleiman, Syria's liaison officer to Lebanon's Hezbollah. Updated 12:50 AM

75. Women as weapons

    A wave of shock and sensation swept over the globe as the first reports of four women blowing themselves up last week in the Karada district of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk appeared in the media. These attacks claimed the lives of at least 57 Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and Kurdish protesters in Kirkuk. Updated 12:45 AM

76. Inquiry needed into native deaths

    Last week, I spent some time walking around Selkirk Avenue, getting people's opinions on a question buzzing around in the community. Updated 12:45 AM

77. An atomic failure to produce

    No matter how horrendous an event was, I had a friend who usually said: "What we have here is a failure to communicate." The first three times he said it, it was almost humorous. Updated 12:45 AM

78. MTS Centre a good deal for Winnipeg

    We feel that Winnipeg has and continues to be a desirable place to live and work. We are proud to be associated with the MTS Centre, which we believe to be a fine example of a successful private venture and which has and will continue to serve the interests of the community well and enhances the quality of life in this city and province. Updated 12:25 AM

79. How should Canada deal with Iraq war deserters?

    Judging by the extensive media coverage of Iraq war resister Michael Welch's protests against deporting American soldiers who have come to Canada after going AWOL from the U.S. military, and the number of letters to the editor in local newspapers calling for the Canadian government to send these same soldiers stateside, there is certainly interest in what to do with this latest round of war resisters, if not agreement. Updated 7:13 AM

80. Delay the death penalty

    The case of a Mexican national on death row in Texas continues to roil the international community and subject the United States to criticism that it is unwilling to live up to treaty obligations. Congress is in the best position to deliver a legitimate fix. It must do so, and soon. Updated 12:25 AM

81. China thwarts Olympic hopes

    'Sport," as George Orwell noted more than 60 years ago, "is an unfailing cause of ill-will." Updated 12:25 AM

82. Drunk with arrogance

    Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, there used to be an old-timer who went to the beer parlour in the Marion Hotel in St. Boniface every morning and ordered four glasses of draught beer. He would put two in front of him and two in front of an empty chair on the opposite side of the table. Updated 12:35 AM

83. Canada must rejoin war against AIDS

    Two years ago, Canada hosted the largest global gathering in the history of the AIDS pandemic -- the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto. Among more than 20,000 attendees, there was overwhelming consensus about what needs to be done to prevent the further spread of HIV, care for those living with and affected by the virus, and mitigate its impact on entire communities and economies. We have, or could easily have, the tools at hand to take effective action. What is often lacking is leadership from those making policy and committing funds. Hence the theme of the 2006 conference: "Time to Deliver". Updated 12:35 AM

84. Move from blind hate towards a prevention-focused approach

    What is it about July that brings out the worst in us? Updated 12:35 AM

85. Australia's awful amphibians

    They hopped ashore in Australia's far north in 1935 -- 102 squat little gremlins from South America with a speckled, brown, warty skin and an appetite with all the thoughtful discernment of a locust plague. Updated 12:50 AM

86. What's killing the planet's honeybees?

    It's likely that most people have never heard of Gaucho. And no, it's not a South American cowboy. I'm talking about a pesticide. Updated 12:50 AM

87. Priestly celibacy is not to blame for deviance

    Some people have suggested in recent years that clerical celibacy be ended, as if a sexually abstinent lifestyle contributes to sexually deviant behaviour on the part of offending priests. Based on my clinical work with troubled clergy, this idea is misdirected. Updated 12:50 AM

88. Who guards the guardians?

    There was a time when most good people had an impression of the justice system as hallowed ground where men and women in gowns and robes and uniforms conducted their solemn business. These people -- judges, lawyers, police officers and senior civil servants -- were often regarded as second only to clergy in terms of character and moral virtue. Their word ("If you can't trust a police officer, who can you trust?") was beyond reproach. Updated 2:00 AM

89. Education spending works for Doer's NDP

    The defining nature of political success comes down to winning elections. In between elections, however, there are many small steps and missteps that lead to voters' final decisions. Updated 12:13 PM

90. Marriage or divorce -- it's our choice

    Mark Nov. 13 on your calendar if you are interested in aboriginal peoples and what comes after the federal government's apology for residential schools. This is the date by which the Government of Canada must respond to the Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples. The committee wants a drastic shake-up in the implementation of comprehensive land claims agreements, our modern treaties. Twenty-one of these agreements are being implemented, covering more than a third of the country, including the three territories, northern Quebec, Labrador and northwest British Columbia. They are the law of the land, but are not being fully implemented. Ottawa has been dragging its feet. Updated 2:00 AM

91. In Canada, rights are second class

    All amendments are equal, but some are more equal than others. Recently the U.S. Supreme Court narrowly upheld the view that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed) means what it says. You may laugh, but four of nine justices didn't think so. Whatever they thought it meant, now some lawyers and activists are raising the question if "amendment" really means "amendment." Updated 11:45 PM

92. Where to build stadium?

    Five years ago, the City of Winnipeg rewrote the downtown zoning bylaw. As part of the process the planning department reviewed the range of building and land uses which would be appropriate in the city's centre. This review was carried out amid an international consensus that more diverse types of use are best for downtowns -- and that blanket restrictions prohibiting certain land uses should be implemented only with great restraint. The authors of the new zoning bylaw noted that an asphalt plant would not be permitted in our downtown, and that only extremely noxious, or obnoxious, land use would be prohibited. Updated 11:45 PM

93. Getting lost in space

    When asked what he would like as a birthday present for the organization he runs, Michael Griffin answers: "An understanding that not everything that is worthwhile can be justified in terms of immediate dollars and cents on the balance sheet." It is an artful reply. But NASA, America's space agency, did not survive to be 50 years old without being artful. Updated 11:45 PM

94. Lebanon left to bleed

    TEL AVIV -- Those in the West who welcomed Syrian President Bashar Assad's visit to Paris earlier this month, and who hoped for an end of Syria's subversion in Lebanon, better have another look at Syria's long-range regional policies. Updated 11:45 PM

95. Why we Sundance

    Colleen Simard recently took part in a Sundance ceremony in Saskatchewan. This is the second part of a two-part column on the experience. The first part, Call me Buffalo Woman, was published July 21 and can be found at Updated 12:35 AM

96. Should Victoria Beach apologize?

    Want to know what our communities might look like after oil hits $300 a barrel? Updated 6:22 AM

97. Canada's federal inquiry system is broken

    The Gomery inquiry into the Liberals' "Adscam" sponsorship program scandal, the Mulroney-Schreiber inquiry, and other recent investigative hearings by federal parliamentary committees, have revealed that when it comes to discovering the truth of many situations of alleged wrongdoing, the federal government's inquiry system is broken. Updated 12:35 AM

98. Karadzic was in disguise, but not hiding

    Radovan Karadzic's disguise was quite elaborate, but he didn't spend the past 13 years hiding from the Serbian authorities. Updated 11:24 AM

99. Obama's big week

    Americans are being bombarded with images of Barack Obama posing as the commander-in-chief. Obama standing shoulder-to-shoulder with world leaders. Obama flying in a helicopter over Iraq with Gen. David Petraeus. Obama shooting hoops with the troops. Obama boarding a jumbo jet with his name emblazoned on the side. Obama addressing 200,000 in Berlin. Updated 12:10 AM

100. Why clear food labelling matters

     As a parent, you know that there are many decisions your child makes on a daily basis that can be a cause for worry, but deciding on which package of cookies to buy at the grocery store should not be one of them. Yet if your child is like mine, at risk for a life-threatening allergic reaction from food, the worry is very real. Updated 10:54 AM

101. Dion's carbon tax proposal won't wash in Alberta

     CALGARY -- It may come as a surprise to the rest of Canada that Albertans are actually deeply concerned about the state of the environment, with all the posturing and chest-thumping that grabs the headlines. Updated 12:10 AM

102. Games outside the Games

     BEIJING -- A few days ago, I called a Chinese friend who happens to be a high-profile lawyer in Beijing. Updated 12:10 AM

103. Where have all the grosbeaks gone?

     Manitoba could soon lose one of its most distinctive and popular birds. The evening grosbeak is undergoing an inexplicable continent-wide population collapse, particularly in eastern and central Canada. Updated 12:10 AM

104. Tasers save lives

     If Winnipeg police officers were carrying Tasers back in 2005, would Matthew Dumas still be alive today? Updated 12:15 AM

105. Great debate: Paper towel vs electric dryer

     Public restrooms with electric hand dryers should be banned. They are bad, bad, bad. This is not a trivial complaint. The entire global warming thing is implicated. Updated 12:15 AM

106. In my professional opinion

     Just about two years ago, I had to go to the Victoria Hospital emergency ward where, after I had been poked and prodded by half a dozen people, scanned all over and been forced to submit to various other indignities, the doctor told me that I would have to have my gall bladder removed and it would have to be done immediately. Updated 12:15 AM

107. All in the family

     The month of July started with the fluttering of the Canadian flag on Regatta Point on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin in Australia's national capital of Canberra. Updated 12:50 AM

108. Pay-as-you-drive auto insurance shows promise

     Faced with record-high gas prices, not a day goes by without a politician's pitch to provide Americans with some relief -- be it to permit offshore drilling, crack down on speculators, curb inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or grant a gas tax holiday. Yet each of these policies would have a negligible impact on gas prices. Updated 12:50 AM

109. Iraq positions of both Obama and McCain are flawed

     I can understand why John McCain is PO'd. Updated 12:50 AM

110. Water park follies

     On July 16, Winnipeg city council passed a resolution that will see $7 million of public money go to subsidize a private water park, which is part of a larger redevelopment of the Canad Inns Hotel at Polo Park. Updated 12:40 AM

111. Manitoba's economy

     Apple, the apparently invincible purveyor of all that is new high-tech and trendy, surprised Wall Street this week with a lower-than-expected forecast of its earnings and revenue growth and, hey, presto!, down went its shares. Updated 12:35 AM

112. Union-think trumps common sense in Montreal

     Many years ago I worked as a drama producer for the CBC. We used a lot of equipment -- cameras, lights, props, and so on -- that required hands-on attention, provided the hands belonged to the appropriate bargaining unit. Updated 12:35 AM

113. Last blast expected from Delta Queen's merry steam calliope

     Barring a last-minute reprieve, America's last proper paddle-wheeled steamboat may disappear by the end of the year. Updated 12:25 AM

114. Cottage eccentricities

     Cottage eccentricities Saturna Island, B.C. -- I enjoy going to the cottage. So peaceful. Updated 12:25 AM

115. Religion could be part of street-gang solution

     Education, recreation, health funding, along with calls for harsher punishments or more police -- these are the kinds of things that often come up whenever people wonder what should be done to address Manitoba's growing problem of youth crime and gangs (Youth homicide rate cause for concern, July 20.) But why doesn't anyone ever mention religion? Updated 12:25 AM

116. Obama worrisome for Israel

     TEL AVIV -- Israel welcomes today the presumptive democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, with a lot of curiosity but also with a certain degree of concern. Updated 12:25 AM

117. How to win the global war on terror

     Optimists believe some kind of victory is in sight: Iraq is improving; al-Qaida has been unable to stage a big attack in the West in three years; and terrorists have shown little sign of using weapons of mass destruction. Jihadists face an ideological backlash, even from radical "brothers" who disagree with killing Muslims. Updated 12:25 AM

118. Set to self-destruct

     The mangonel was the big gun of antiquity. But this siege engine, used to catapult rocks, burning objects or dead animals into fortified cities, troubled Islamic scholars. Some early authorities disallowed it on the ground that it was an indiscriminate weapon. Updated 12:25 AM

119. Call me Buffalo Woman

     We're driving along a dirt path that separates swaying wheat from a canola crop. It's getting towards sunset and nervous thoughts are creeping around in my head. Am I going to be able to do this? Updated 12:25 AM

120. Fussing over chopper etiquette

     'Jump on," my friend Melanie tells me, gesturing towards her big, black and chrome motorcycle sitting on the driveway. But I can't move. Updated 12:25 AM

121. Taking a crack at Obama jokes

     I believe comedic change is possible. Since The New Yorker dropped a bum joke on its most recent cover, comedians have appeared on every news outlet to whine about how hard it is to make fun of Barack Obama. Really? Updated 12:25 AM

122. 'Katastrophists' lack imagination

     One of the most common topics on blog sites and newsgroups here in New Zealand and around the world is: "What does the end of cheap oil mean to the future of our cities?" Updated 12:20 AM

123. Religious origins of clothing

     For centuries, clothes have been an expression of one's cultural identity and religiosity. Even before we speak, our clothes express important information or misinformation about our origin, personality, religion and social status. We consciously or unconsciously register the information and judge each other on our perceptions of one another's dress. Updated 12:20 AM

124. The state of church

     If one of your Catholic friends is prattling on, as Catholics sometimes do, about the virtues of belonging to the One True Church, you can usually shut her up, stuff a sock in her mouth, so to speak, by simply uttering one word -- Torquemada. Updated 12:20 AM

125. Association with nature stronger at the lake

     When I go to my cottage at Winnipeg Beach I take a walk along Prospect, the most distinguished road in town, to test the mood of the populace. Prospect is a popular place for those taking their morning constitutional because it is in view of the lake and its accompaniment of refreshing winds. Updated 12:20 AM

126. Civic pride comes not from slogan or sign

     Winnipeg truly is one great city. Updated 2:00 AM

127. Science, sunshine and strategy power solar racers

     Strategy more than anything might determine which of 15 entries wins the North American Solar Challenge race this year. Updated 2:00 AM

128. Park wardens brought low

     Subhead:Handgun issue reduces proud institution to T-shirt and ball-cap cops Updated 2:00 AM

129. Pilgrimage to Australia

     Canadians David and Gillian Kantor are among the swarms of youthful pilgrims who are this week threatening to transform the spiritually ambivalent nation of Australia into a foot stompin', hallelujah hollerin' revivalist's tent. Updated 12:25 AM

130. Urine bottles used to bash trucking industry

     I am responding to Selena Hinds' article (Time in a bottle, Free Press, June 28). Updated 12:25 AM

131. Just so long as it doesn't go to your head

     From the earliest of times, mankind has been obsessed by what we refer to in Hebrew as kovid, loosely translated as "public honour." Updated 12:25 AM

132. Doer's dynasty

     You can tell it's summer when one of the more interesting stories of the week is about former cheerleaders cheekily showing more of their assets than they do in their usual skimpy uniforms. Updated 12:45 AM

133. Incoming, incoming! Killer crows at two o'clock!

     'If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be crows." Thus said Rev. Henry Ward Beecher in the mid-1880s. There have been complaints recently about crows, mainly because of their noisy, incessant cawing. Also, crows are suspected of killing off the songbird population by stealing their eggs. This has led to suggestions that we should cull the population. As in, "Load up the shotgun, Jim Bob, and let's git ourselves a few crows." Updated 12:45 AM

134. How Grandma spiced up visit of agriculture minister

     My grandma, Elizabeth Nickel Kroeker, was a terrific cook. She learned her culinary skills from her mother in a Saskatchewan Mennonite community and honed them further when she married my grandfather in 1914 and moved into a teacherage near Winkler. When he later went into farming, she learned to feed ravenous harvest crews. Updated 12:25 AM

135. Canada too chicken to end supply-managed agriculture

     Next week, agriculture ministers and trade negotiators from around the world will meet in Geneva. One way or another, the beleaguered Doha round of negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) will lurch toward the finish line. What conclusion this will have -- a successful opening of world markets or the first failed round since the Second World War -- depends upon governments around the world. Updated 12:25 AM

136. Dying to entertain

     The 2008 Calgary Stampede is over -- and so is the life of one of the horses that participated in the chuckwagon races. Updated 12:25 AM

137. Olmert flies home to disgrace

     TEL AVIV -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert returned from the inaugural meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean in Paris knowing that his political career has come to a shameful end. Updated 12:25 AM

138. Parking ticket resolved by e-mail

     Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008, 10:17 Updated 12:25 AM

139. Obama's hard-edged cynicism sits well with voters

     The reaction to Jesse Helms' death on July 4 is a reminder of how bipolar American politics has become. The right praised him as a man of principle who also overflowed with the milk of human kindness. The left retorted -- rightly, in our view -- that he was also a bigot and a bully. Updated 12:25 AM

140. Computer geeks in decline while jobs on incline

     A recent article in the Winnipeg Free Press (Students pick perfect time to enter summer job market, June 20) noted there are many job vacancies and too few young people to fill them. The article noted that although there are many jobs available, not all students are able to secure summer positions in their field of study. Updated 12:20 AM

141. If we're so lazy, why are we rich?

     How come we are wealthier than Americans, yet we can still be scolded for having shoddy work habits? Updated 12:20 AM

142. Foxes hit mega-peak

     Northern Manitoba is abnormally inundated with foxes this summer. Scientific and anecdotal information suggests that the current copious numbers of red and arctic foxes in that region are wreaking extraordinary havoc on some local ecosystems through excessively aggressive targeting of ground-nesting birds and their eggs. Ducks, geese, shorebirds and ptarmigan are especially vulnerable to the high fox numbers. Updated 12:20 AM

143. This time, full disclosure

     Rocky Kravetsky is a Winnipeg lawyer. He represented the Save the Eaton's Building Coalition in the legal side of its battles against the City of Winnipeg over the construction of the True North Arena. The Master Funding Agreement was first disclosed to the public when it became, over the city's objections, part of the record in that litigation. Mr. Kravetsky suspects he is one of a very few people who has actually read the Master Funding Agreement. Updated 12:05 AM

144. Time to grow up

     As one who has written extensively on the subject, it has been difficult to fend off the frustration one feels at the small-town tone the "debate" over rapid transit in our city has assumed. Updated 12:05 AM

145. A ring tone that says -- still not communicating

     There ain't no flies on me. There might be flies on some of you guys -- and gals -- but even in this age of intense technology, there ain't no flies on me, despite the undeniable truth that I am an aging mossback. Updated 12:25 AM

146. Wild Rose Country open to 'Green Shift'

     With a Stetson on his head and a swagger in his step, St ©phane Dion strode into the Wild West last week to sell his controversial carbon tax to skeptical Albertans. As expected, the Liberal leader's opponents were holed up in the hills, ready to make their ambush. Updated 12:25 AM

147. Germ of a brilliant idea

     Under imperial Rome, the roads in cold, wet Britannia were no straighter than those in sweltering North Africa. The same sestertius could buy a lampful of oil. Across the southern Mediterranean and northern Europe alike, Latin was the lingua franca -- 1,500 years before anyone had coined the term. Updated 12:25 AM

148. Hunger feeds crime

     What if I told you that the best deterrent to car theft isn't a club or even an immobilizer, but a glass of milk? That a bowl of oatmeal can fight arson. And soup stops vandalism. Updated 12:40 AM

149. Apology made, now let's all work together

     On June 11, the House of Commons opened its floor for the first time in its history to individuals not elected into federal government office. These individuals were the survivors of the residential school system for which Canada apologized. Updated 12:40 AM

150. Whose rights matter?

     On a cloudy and cool October morning in 1967, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Birch found themselves without a home. After a four-year battle with municipal authorities, their home was expropriated despite their effort to remain. Updated 2:00 AM

151. A good city sells itself

     No, please, not again. Please let us not have another marketing study, consultancy report, specialized image expert, advertising agency or anyone else creating a new slogan for Winnipeg. Updated 2:00 AM

152. Road to 35 million BC

     'Damn! I think we just passed the last exit for the Holocene!" Updated 12:50 AM

153. Sunny days for Manitoba business

     For years now our provincial government has been pressured by the business community to lower taxes. Businesses and their lobby groups are understandably reticent to justify these requests by simply stating that they want more money. Rather, they have argued that lower business taxes would benefit all Manitobans by making the economy more competitive. The implication seems to be that the Manitoba economy, labouring under the restrictive yoke of state taxation, is falling behind the rest of the country. Updated 12:50 AM

154. Politics of provincial selfishness hurts Canada

     Amid all the Canada Day flag-waving, the iconic Snowbirds Peace Tower flypast, the fireworks and the festivities, came a sobering reality check. Updated 12:45 AM

155. Disability elitism rears its head

     I was astonished to read Dashboard Deceivers, by Paul Gackle and Selena Hinds (Free Press, July 5). Interspersed with examples of obvious abuse of disabled parking spaces were what might be construed as attacks against people who don't have "politically correct" disabilities. Updated 12:55 AM

156. Franco-Syrian rapprochement comes at Lebanon's expense

     TEL AVIV -- Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak once likened Israel to an "isolated villa in a jungle." He warned that should Israel lose its deterrence, it will be eaten up by the jungle animals. Updated 12:55 AM

157. Enhanced driver's licence gives license to snoop

     When I first got my driver's licence, it assured the public that I had passed certain tests and requirements to allow me to operate a motor vehicle in Manitoba. Updated 12:55 AM

158. Return of the urban core

     During the 1990s, the price of regular unleaded gasoline in Winnipeg averaged about 60 cents per litre. Gasoline prices in Winnipeg as in the rest of Canada have risen steadily and today are more than twice the price during that bygone era. Updated 9:20 AM

159. Siren song from our Prairie neighbour

     Maybe you noticed a few billboards around the city asking people to consider moving to Saskatchewan for good paying jobs. They say there are many "Opportunities Next Door." Updated 9:20 AM

160. Dion outfoxes Harper on political front

     You may have a difficult time restraining your unmitigated joy, but a few days ago Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives set a record for the longevity of a minority federal government. Updated 9:20 AM

161. Take away the premier's free pass

     For four years now, Mayor Sam Katz has been Public Enemy No.1 for progressive Winnipeggers who believe our city can be better. I'm one of many local who targets him when he cancels good projects (like rapid transit and public art) or champions bad ones (like OlyWest and Waverley West). Updated 7:23 AM

162. Running on empty

     Last week, shares in General Motors, America's biggest carmaker, fell below $10, valuing the giant firm at little more than $5.6 billion. The last time GM's share price was this low, the Cadillac Eldorado had yet to grow fins and Volkswagen's Beetle was a funny-looking novelty on American roads. That was in 1954. Updated 10:12 AM

163. Light shed on the sweetest part of summer

     A lot of people are still complaining about last winter, how cold and long it was. But not me. Updated 7:59 AM

164. Communism no laughing matter, but jokes were

     Jokes under Soviet communism were not just a welcome contrast to the dreariness of everyday life; they also helped undermine it. For example: "How do you deal with mice in the Kremlin?" "Put up a sign saying 'collective farm'. Then half the mice will starve and the others will run away." Updated 12:05 AM

165. Nice pictures, but so what

     Anyone who saw the pictures of a transformed South Point Douglas in the June 28 Winnipeg Free Press is bound to have been dazzled, as I was, by the possibilities that could open up as a result of the development of a football stadium in the area. Updated 12:05 AM

166. A ray of hope in Baghdad

     Whenever I am trying to get a glimpse of what's happening at street level in Baghdad, I call my friend Abbas. Updated 12:05 AM

167. Fish board's ship sinking, report confirms

     There is a rebellion taking place in Manitoba that has again brought aboriginal people together to fight for a common cause. Not since the Red River Rebellion in 1869 have so many Indian or M ©tis people risen in defiance of legislation meant to disenfranchise them. Updated 12:05 AM

168. What Central Park needs

     From previous columns about living next door to Central Park, I have become known as "that guy who writes about the neighbourhood" to the seniors who watch immigrants from Africa play flag football in daishikis and see Slurpees sipped by shawl-covered sisters from Iran and Iraq. Updated 1:51 PM

169. Morgentaler deserves Order of Canada

     It's not surprising that a maelstrom of controversy followed the announcement Tuesday that Henry Morgentaler will be receiving the Order of Canada this year. Updated 12:25 AM

170. Debate between recent converts might amuse

     Prime Minister Stephen Harper this week declined an invitation from Opposition Leader Stéphane Dion to debate with him in Alberta the Liberals' carbon-tax proposal, or, as Mr. Dion likes to call it, his "Green Shift" policy. Updated 12:25 AM

171. My Winnipeg, too

     I thought I did a weird thing the other night. I was headed home after a showing of Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg at the Burton Cummings Theatre, when I found myself at Ellice Avenue. Updated 8:00 AM

172. 'Rural tigers' transforming Manitoba

     Rumours of the death of rural Canada appear to be greatly exaggerated. Updated 12:25 AM

173. From boom to bust in one year in Australia

     Australians are being warned that the next government budget will be a horror. Updated 12:25 AM

174. It worked on South Africa

     Prior to Karlheinz Schreiber becoming a household name, Prime Minister Stephen Harper would periodically seek the advice of former prime minister Brian Mulroney. This was especially true in the area of foreign policy, as reflected in his Conservative government's enhanced focus on Latin America and Canada-U.S. relations. Updated 12:50 AM

175. Why we rescue dogs, but not nations

     Snickers the dog is safe in Las Vegas, you'll be happy to know. Updated 12:50 AM

176. Canada Day party pooper

     Anne Golden sits in front of her desk in a rather sparse office looking like the Jeremiah Queen of Canada. Updated 12:50 AM

177. Political ruling

     Is the pot calling the kettle black? Updated 12:50 AM

178. The worse, the better, Dion believes

     Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has built a political career on bucking conventional wisdom. As intergovernmental affairs minister, he brushed aside the pundits and pollsters who said his Clarity Act would fan the flames of Quebec separatism and was proven right. Updated 12:50 AM

179. Olmert scandal putting Israel at risk

     TEL AVIV -- The ongoing corruption scandal involving Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is causing Israel irreparable strategic damage as the politically damaged leader attempts to shore up support, perhaps at the expense of the nation's security. Updated 12:50 AM

180. Leaving Kyoto behind

     The bitter arguments in the United States Senate this month over the Lieberman-Warner climate-change bill, which would have required major emitters to pay for the right to discharge greenhouse gases, proved that climate change caused by humans has come to the fore of U.S. policy debates. This fact may comfort those who believe that future generations will judge us on the zeal with which we face the challenge. It may even assuage the fears of those who believe that warming will end life as we know it. But political rhetoric is unlikely to put us on a path toward solving the problem of climate change in the best possible way. Updated 2:00 AM

181. Refugees have a tough time renting

     An exhaustive, two-year study of recently arrived refugees in Winnipeg shows they face significant housing challenges. Updated 2:00 AM

182. Beaded belt has tales to tell

     The belt's glittery beads winked at me from across the little thrift store. Since I've been suffering from magpie syndrome lately -- an unreasonable attraction to shiny things -- I quickly headed over to check out the possible find. Updated 2:00 AM

183. The godlike geek

     Wh