December 14th, 2007, 6 Comments »
There are lots of things to hate about the U.S. electoral system. However, the Americans do one thing right: they get real characters as candidates. I mean, the Democrats are going to choose a woman or a African-American (er, Halfrican-American?) as their presidential candidate! How cool is that? And the Republican side is full of nutty dudes like Giuliani (who kind of reminds me of Gollum) and Mormon Mitt Romney.
Canadian politics feels so staid by comparison. Hello, Frozen Nation! Which French-Canadian middle-aged white guy will we elect as Custodian in Chief this year? I’m not sure why that is, but I wish our elections had a little more attitude and a lot more diversity.
To learn about the election (and that nutty American electoral system), I’ve started listening to the Slate Political Gabfest podcast. It’s chock full of over-educated liberal elitists, but I’m nearly all those things, so I don’t mind (plus, I’ve developed a bit of a crush on Emily Bazelon).
The Slate podcast is a well-moderated round table conversation among professional writers and pundits. It covers a lot of ground, but it’s fairly compelling and continues to inform my limited knowledge of American politics.
I would, however, like to find an analogous podcast for the Republican side of the election. Ideally, it should be professional, well-moderated and the level of required knowledge should be, at best, intermediate. Similarly, I’d like to find a Canadian political podcast that meets those requirements.
Does anybody have recommendations for equivalents to the Gabfest?
6 Comments »
September 11th, 2007, 3 Comments »
Yesterday I read this anxious cautionary tale from Emily Bazelon, warning people of the perils of reclining your seat in a moving vehicle. She did so, and was injured in an accident:
I’ve recovered nicely, thank you. But the more I thought about my accident, the more I wondered whether I’d inadvertently done myself in by tilting my car seat back—as I do on just about every long drive…The carmakers have argued that it is “common sense” that an upright seat is much safer than a reclining one. In other words, everyone knows, or should know. Maybe I’m the only clueless one out there, but I don’t think so.
I’m going to have to go with ‘clueless’ on this one (and the discussion forum associated with the article seems to mostly agree with me). I’m not sure if my parents told me not to do this, or that it was simply self-evident, but I’ve known for as long as I’ve sat in the front seat that it was a bad idea.
Bazelon calls for the the government and automakers to do a better job of warning the public of this lurking menace. She cites a number of medical studies and legal decisions, but fails to establish two essential facts:
- How many people don’t understand the risk of reclining your front seat in a moving car?
- How many accidents result from this behaviour each year?
Any sound argument for action surely must include these two numbers. Otherwise, Bazelon’s only got anecdotes and hysteria, and that only leads to litigation and ‘Hot’ labels on coffee cups.
UPDATE: Speaking of unnecessary warning labels, I was reminded of this Saturday Night Live sketch poking fun at such disclaimers by Yes But No But Yes.
3 Comments »
