The New Nunc Scio is Live The new Nunc Scio is now available here. All Nunc Scio blogging activities will be now be located at the new URL. Thanks for reading this one, and here's hoping you like the new one too.  ¶ 9:46 a.m. 0 comments

  The Hardy Boys and the Case of the Amazing Missing Nunc Scio It's in the abandoned lighthouse! Look in the lighthouse!

For the two of you who read this blog with any regularity (hi Mom!), you're probably wondering why there is never anything new on it.

The explanation is simple: a top secret project known simply as "Operation Blog Suck-No-More". Yes, I'm redesigning my blog and relaunching it. The launch of the new site is imminent, and I will keep you posted.

On a personal note, I can't wait to start blogging again, mostly just to empty my brain of three months' worth of soupy polemic that is clogging up my brain and occasionally leaking out of my ears.

To sum up: new Nunc Scio soon, stuff coming out of ears = gross.

I thank you for your attention.  ¶ 11:39 a.m. 2 comments

  Toronto Votes...and the choice is clear Here's another reason why Dave Miller is the only choice for Toronto:

Miller Campaign Headquarters Tonight: Steam Whistle Brewery

Pitfield Campaign Headquarters Tonight: Brant House.

To wit: Miller will be celebrating his win at an innovative, up and coming brewery that invests in the community and the arts. Pitfield will be mourning her loss with wankers and enjoying the $400 bottle service.

Back to Don Mills with you, Jane.  ¶ 6:15 p.m. 1 comments

  US States Embrace "Shoot First, Who Cares About Questions?" The NYT is reporting that a spate of new laws in 15 American states make it easier for people to shoot someone "in self defense".

The new laws relax the 'duty to flee' contained in many previous self defense statutes. This means you don't have to 'retreat to the wall' before being authorized to use deady force. So now, you can shoot anyone that makes you feel 'threatened'.

Not surprisingly, the National Rifle Association is over the moon. Said a spokesperson:

If they make a decision to save their lives in the split second they are being attacked, the law is on their side...Good people make good decisions. That’s why they’re good people. If you’re going to empower someone, empower the crime victim.

And here's an account of 'good people' making 'good decisions':

Jason M. Rosenbloom, the man shot by his neighbor in Clearwater, said his case illustrated the flaws in the Florida law. “Had it been a year and a half ago, he could have been arrested for attempted murder,” Mr. Rosenbloom said of his neighbor, Kenneth Allen.

“I was in T-shirt and shorts,” Mr. Rosenbloom said, recalling the day he knocked on Mr. Allen’s door. Mr. Allen, a retired Virginia police officer, had lodged a complaint with the local authorities, taking Mr. Rosenbloom to task for putting out eight bags of garbage, though local ordinances allow only six.

“I was no threat,” Mr. Rosenbloom said. “I had no weapon.”

The men exchanged heated words. “He closed the door and then opened the door,” Mr. Rosenbloom said of Mr. Allen. “He had a gun. I turned around to put my hands up. He didn’t even say a word, and he fired once into my stomach. I bent over, and he shot me in the chest.”

And now this kind of psychotic behaviour is legal! God bless America.  ¶ 10:43 a.m. 5 comments

  Memo to Christie Blatchford: Hire Fact-Checker for Breathy Rants Oh, Christie. What have you done?

I wasn't surprised by C-Bomb's jingoistic and vaguely racist tirade in today's Globe. But I was surprised by the gigantic, godzilla-sized factual error smack in the middle of the article.

She's on about Islamic 'thuggery', and her primary example is how Taliban insurgents launched the assault that killed 3 Canadians from inside a school.

Quoth the Blatchster:

In most civilized parts of the world, schools are places of learning, places for children, places of peace; to the Taliban, and to all those who would keep their fellow Muslims in perpetual poverty and ignorance, so that they might be made into martyrs, schools are buildings to be burned down, trashed, defiled and turned into launchpads by those who, if they understand nothing else about the West, understand that Western soldiers, with their regard for education and soft spot for children, must struggle on some level to seriously regard the school as a likely spot to set up an ambush.

There are several problems with this statment:

1) It's badly written. That's one clunky, 101 word, 10 comma monstro-sentence. I had to take a brief nap in the middle of it.

2) It makes ridiculous, over reaching statements that suggest that, simply by virtue of being Western, Canadian soldiers have a magical reverance for children and schools. That may be true for some, maybe most, of our soldiers, but there's no way to prove it as a universal trait. And I hardly think that Taliban insurgents sit around the campfire and say, "Generally, Canadian values are a mystery to me, and they confoud my attemtps to understand. But I tell you one thing I know: they sure love schools. Let's put an ambush there". C'mon, now. That's just silly.

3) And the zinger: it's just not true. In the same newspaper, not ten pages earlier we find a story written by real journalists who are actually on the ground in Afghanistan. According to them:

Stealthy Taliban forces had formed a horseshoe around the troops holed up in a tiny schoolhouse surrounded by land mines, then launched a volley of rocket-propelled grenades their way.

So, basically, the Canadians were hiding inside the school. Interpret that little nugget however you like, but it seems Blatchford's theory is based on an error. That's just bad journalism.

I'm not sure how to explain this little lapse. Maybe Blatchford is working on a book about Taliban indifference to schoolhouses, or is just phoning in her columns. But one thing is for sure; there's no way that should have gotten past the Globe's editors. More to the point: why is this person writing a column? I'm sure there are dozens of excellent writers who, while not having Blatchford's gift for aspersion, innuendo and rhetoric, could at least get the facts right.  ¶ 11:35 a.m. 0 comments

  Summer Wish List #1 A Prime Minister with a god-damn backbone

Nice, Stephen. Blame the dead UN Peacekeepers for 'putting themselves in harm's way'. We wouldn't want to say anything bad about our buddies in Israel. No, because the Unky George might get mad and not want to play anymore.

Mr. Harper, you should be ashamed.  ¶ 10:02 a.m. 4 comments

  'Abject' or 'Total'? All that's left to decide about Bush's foreign policy is what adjective to put in front of 'failure'.

Seriously. I think everyone can now safely recognize the uncanny ability of the Republican's policies to achieve the exact opposite of their stated goals. Remember how, after changing the line from "Find the WMDs!" to "Let's bring democracy to the middle east and forget we ever said anything about WMDs", they were all real keen on their success? Well, let's review. The LA Times is reporting today that in Iraq, Civil War is "all but declared". Meanwhile, Lebanon, whose 'Cedar Revolution' was once the pride of neo-con FP is now being pummelled by America's closest ally, Israel. Awesome, guys. Cigars and high-fives all around.

Open your eyes, America. Your leaders are clowns.  ¶ 10:24 a.m. 1 comments

  On the Road with the Bush and Harper
Or is it the Bush Experience Featuring Stephen Harper? I never know.

Anyone holding on to the notion that Harper is anything but a Bush Style neo-con should take a hard look at yesterday's whirlwind love-in at the Oval Office. Bush was downright giddy, fawning over his buddy 'Steve' (does anyone else call him that? Harper is so stiff, it looks like anything less than 'Stephen' would give him an apoplexy). I guess Bush knows a kindred spirit when he sees one.

Still, its always nice to see a new celebrity couple on the scene. Brangelina and Tomkat were getting so tired. What shall we call the newbies? Busharper? Harpush? Hush? So many options. How about "bad news"?  ¶ 9:47 a.m. 1 comments

  Global Warming: Now Killing Oceans! That's it. We're screwed

I'd like to thank the following for denying global warming and ensuring my kids live in an arid, barren wasteland:

1. George W. Bush
2. Stephen "Me A Conservative" Harper
3. Big oil and gas
4. Human greed and ignorance, which after 30,000 years of near misses, seems finally posed to wipe us all out.

Decorative floral arrangements are on their way.  ¶ 9:50 a.m. 4 comments

  The Return of Nunc Scio Well friends, its been a heckuva 6 weeks. But I'm happy to report that after six exams, an unconscionable amount of alcohol, an epic luggage battle with Air Canada ("Sir, you can't put that suitcase on the plane". "Why Not"? "It will crash, and you will die". "Oh".) and one international move later, I have returned to the land of my birth ready to once more battle the forces of darkness (Stephen Harper), ignorance (the Conservtive Party) and general lameness (the conservative movement in general. See also: top 40 radio). I might also play some frisbee. We'll see how I feel.

Look for some interesting projects in the next few months, including a re-designed Nunc Scio and a new podcast in partnership with The Floater Blog. Good times.  ¶ 8:09 p.m. 0 comments