The Stelmach government—which was selling itself in Washington as environmentally responsible when the incident occurred—is facing accusations of a coverup for refusing to release photos of the ducks.
The provincial government is also being skewered for summarizing its U.S. junket as “Mission Accomplished.”

I can’t imagine why Stelmach and friends are catching flak for hyping their tour as “Mission Accomplished.” The dead ducks in the oilsands wastewater show that the premier and his crew appreciate the phrase in a way similar to George W. Bush, as the president spoke on an aircraft carrier in 2003.

“No U.S. reporter had to work with the CIA in order to be allowed to leave the country,” said Ernest Skalski in the Globe and Mail.

Skalski, a long-time friend and fellow reporter, also added, “KapuÅ›ciÅ„ski had to. … If he didn’t agree, he wouldn’t have written his books. There would be no KapuÅ›ciÅ„ski.”

Evaluators of KapuÅ›ciÅ„ski’s files say his reports did not provide significant information and did not seem to hurt anyone.

The journalist’s “outing” is the latest in a processes started in February by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Poland’s Prime Minister, and his twin brother Lech, the President to cleanse Poland of its communist past. Lech Kaczynski signed a law banning people who collaborated with the secret police from working as judges or high-level civil servants. Poland’s former president, Aleksander KwaÅ›niewski, was a minister during the communist era. He also worked to bring his country into the EU in 2004.

Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

The Kaczynski brothers wrote ‘lustracja’ — that is lustration, or illumination of the secret police past of their politically unpopular contemporaries — on their flag. However this whole movement of plundering the files has now reached the limit of people’s tolerance. This is made clear by the predominant reaction of rejection and outrage at the rampant scandal-mongering that you see these days in the discussion forums of the major newspapers on the KapuÅ›ciÅ„ski case.

On Tuesday, the FDA passed a drug called Lybrel, which stops a woman from menstruating. The Washington Post reported that it is designed “for women who find their periods too painful, unpleasant or inconvenient and want to be free of them.” While the FDA said the risks of this pill are the same as any contraceptive, an endocrinology researcher at UBC said the menstrual cycle is not understood well enough and the consequences of suppressing it are unknown. Others feel this pill reinforces negative attitudes and taboos surrounding menstruation.

Also on Tuesday, a team of Canadian and American researchers revealed that spiking a Northwestern Ontario lake with synthetic estrogen really messed up the minnows. The male fish started developing eggs instead of sperm. The level of estrogen was the same as that found in water discharged from sewage treatment plants in Canada and other countries.

While I don’t know how the dosage of estrogen in the menstruation-suppressing pill compares with current contraceptives, aquatic life near sewage treatment plants should probably start lobbying for better filtration.

Named for the essayist and member of The Globe and Mail editorial board, the Charles Taylor prize has been honouring works of Canadian non-fiction since 2000.

Books eligible for the prize were works of literary non-fiction written by Canadian citizens or permanent residents, published between November 1, 2005 and October 31, 2006 and widely available across the country. The jury, which included Senator Laurier LaPierre, Dr. Margaret MacMillan and Jan Walter, made the shortlist from a record 98 books submitted by 23 publishers.

Now, I have no problem with cutting through rhetoric that is used to cloud or mask poor arguments, but I don’t understand why Murphy is singling out Stern. The knighted economist isn’t your run-of-the-mill dirty hippy beseeching you to give Momma Earth some TLC. Stern has been to Cambridge, Oxford and the London School of Economics. His report is based on many estimates, but that’s what economists do, isn’t it? Why is it that an economist’s estimates are seen a rhetoric when he’s dealing with the environment? What’s up Mr. Murphy? What’s with your hate on for the environment? What, you find it too hard to sort your waste into biodegradables, recyclables and garbage?

OK, those questions weren’t just rhetorical. They had some ad hominem mixed with hasty generalization.

A few weeks ago, I and my house-mates found ourselves in the odd position of trying to explain Pierre Berton to a German grad-student. I don’t remember what we said about Berton, whose works are on our parents’ books shelves and maybe some of our own, even if we haven’t read them. Talking about bow-ties, black-and-white TV shows vaguely remembered and certified Canadian subjects like the War of 1812, the Klondike and the railway just didn’t convey the institution that he was. We then had to try and tell the German grad-student why Berton’s televised joint-rolling lesson was insanely hilarious. Recreational drug use aside, Berton achieved a cool that not only appealed to CBC listening parents, but also literary hipsters like Russell Smith. (Since the Globe and Mail considers its back-catalogue so precious, you need to be an Insider to get at Smith’s article on Berton. Also, it’s nice to see that the National Post is able to use Berton’s death to keep its sniping feud with the CBC alive.)

Berton’s death marks the second passing this year of “an old man of Canadian letters.” Jack McClelland, who published a number of Berton’s books, died in June.

CanLit’s grandfathers are slipping away.

I started my conversation class with the question, “Who do you think will win the election today?” My students looked at me as if I was speaking a foreign language. I gave the background to my statement—US, election, voting—and then posed the question again. Then a student asked me who you could vote for if you didn’t want Bush to win. Once I taught everyone how to pronounce his name properly, Kerry was a shoo-in.

According to the following pole, two of the students would vote for Kerry and the third would vote for Bush. The Republican student soon admitted that he really preferred Kerry.

“I just said Bush because they said Ker… Kerr… the other guy,” he said.

Standard teenage compulsions are stronger than politics.

My conversation class has four fairly advanced students. Class turnout today was three students, which is high.

My other class is at a much lower level. I had to teach the word “election” before we could talk about it. Once they understood, one student said, “I hate Bush-ee.” He’s Korean and English speakers from that country add “ee” to the end of quite a few English words. The other two students in the class didn’t comment. Attendance was 100%.