North American capital cities shaken up on Tuesday; Mother Nature and Barack Obama

Capital cities in two North American countries were shaken up on Tuesday. The Canadian capital Ottawa felt the earth move shortly after 4:05 am when a 4.5 magnitude earthquake struck near the Quebec town of Papineauville. Some Montrealers were also awakened by the quake but fortunately no injuries or damage have been reported. Just Mother

Sandy could be October Surprise

In American political jargon, an October surprise is a news event with the potential to influence the outcome of an election, particularly one for the U.S. presidency. The reference to the month of October is because the date for national elections (as well as many state and local elections) occurs between November 2 and 8,

Bob Schieffer needs to focus on time restrictions, not the number of words; they’re politicians, they’d talk all night

Tonight’s third and final presidential candidates debate – the rubber match by most accounts with Romney taking the first and Obama squeezing out a win in the second – will be moderated by Bob Schieffer. Moderating a debate should be the easy part; it’s the debaters who will be in the spotlight, or that’s how

The best advice Obama will get for tonight’s debate…

If a picture is worth a thousand words, an editorial cartoon must be triple that. Today’s cartoon by Aislin in The Gazette hits the nail on the head.

Obama needs debate coaching from hockey greats

The first of three presidential candidate debates is now in the books and, as I mentioned earlier, the debates are a critical element of the US election campaign process. While there may not have been a knock-out punch thrown, there were enough points scored by Mitt Romney to give him some momentum heading into the

Wooing minority votes – Anglophones in Quebec, Hispanics in the US

The Gazette‘s Philip Authier has a piece on Jean Charest and his Liberals as they enter the last full week of the campaign. The focus is on the courting of the Anglophone vote that was once a given. Jean Charest says anglophones should have no doubt about his commitment to their community. While in the

US Presidential hopefuls and Olympic weightlifting

The clean and jerk is one of the two Olympic weightlifting events; seems it could also be a description of the candidates for president.

Working cat or just misdirected?

During CNN’s report on Mitt Romney’s visit to 10 Downing Street to meet with the British Prime Minister a tabby cat wandered up to the front door and seemed to be waiting to be let in.  CNN reported that it was a stray, however it appears that the cat in fact works patrolling Downing Street

Mitt Romney and the Hispanic vote

Andres Oppenheimer’s article on Mitt Romney and the Hispanic vote from the Miami Herald.  The idea of telling different audiences different things may have worked in the days before mass media and social media on the Internet. Statements such as the one below imply that people don’t have the brains to follow what a candidate