My latest article in the Varsity. All the president’s deeds This article was published on Nov 9, 2009 in the Comment section Since his historic victory one year ago, Obama has done more harm than good Josh Xiong The conventional liberal interpretation of current events is that, one year after winning the U.S. presidential election, Barack Obama does not have much to show for his presidency. In a now notorious Saturday Night Live skit, Obama was lampooned for doing “jack” and “squa... Read Full Story

As an atheist, I am always baffled by the extent to which people are willing to compromise, both morally and factually, to justify and explain an omnipotent, omniscient, wholly good god’s existence. A reduction of Epicurus sums up my frustration quite nicely: As Epicurus points out above, more eloquently than I can, if God isn’t omnipotent then he can’t be the source of moral authority.  If God is omnipotent, then he is a fucking asshole . . . I don’t get into religious arguments ... Read Full Story

My latest article over at the Varsity. As Canada braces for the 2010 G8 Summit in Huntsville, one question is on the mind of every pertinent policy maker and opinion leader: how should the Group of Eight expand? There are endlessly differing concepts of how the G8 should enlarge itself, from the usual talk of adding China and India to more ambitious plans of merging the G20 and G8 into one. The proposals have resulted in a Bingo-call of sorts—the G14? G8+5? G22?—but very little concrete dec... Read Full Story

My first post since the establishment of the “Ferdisphere” comes off as slightly critical. While I agree with much of what Ferdinand has to say about gender and sexual politics, I will have to politely disagree with his take on Jhumpa Lahiri. At Two Blowhards, he writes: No more. Today’s crop of popular novelists, having missed the subtext, are “writing what they know,” the likes of which is small enough to fit into a shot glass. Let’s take Jhumpa Lahiri as... Read Full Story

Rick Reilly’s commentary on Michael Jordan’s HOF speech is maddening and astonishing. As a sports journalist, he should know better than most the psyche of great athletes. Michael Jordan’s Hall of Fame talk was the Exxon Valdez of speeches. It was, by turns, rude, vindictive and flammable. And that was just when he was trying to be funny. It was tactless, egotistical and unbecoming. When it was done, nobody wanted to be like Mike. And yet we couldn’t stop watching. Bec... Read Full Story

There is nothing more disconcerting than the emptiness of Michael Ignatieff. For all his blather about being able to “do better” than Harper, he hasn’t done much himself. His criticism of the current government comes down to an inconsistent line on economics. He first complains that the government isn’t spending enough, and then laments that the spending has produced a 50 billion dollar federal deficit. Well, which is it? If he wants the government to get its Keynes on... Read Full Story

The furor over Wilson’s remarks border on the asinine. In a free and enlightened democracy, do we really think any politician is entitled to deference and protection from criticism? Rep. Wilson’s outburst may have been tactless in the larger scheme of things, but it is objectively a good thing that a congressman is willing to overlook the traditional pomp and ceremony - and for that matter, the facade of bi-partisan harmony - by calling the president out when he is incensed by his... Read Full Story

Question: When the Nobel Committee decided to give Krugman the award, did they think he would write an op-ed endorsing Nixon-era politics? Don’t answer that. A friend e-mailed me this article: But the Nixon era was a time in which leading figures in both parties were capable of speaking rationally about policy, and in which policy decisions weren’t as warped by corporate cash as they are now. America is a better country in many ways than it was 35 years ago, but our political system’s a... Read Full Story

I don’t have much to say about George Will’s column calling for troop withdrawal in Afghanistan. I should be incensed, but I only feel despair. As bad as the situation in Iraq may have been, one can at least argue that the majority of blunders were self-inflicted. It is entirely likely that the end result would have been much more conducive to goals of democracy and stability had better strategies - like more troops, Petraeus-style counterinsurgency, and faster transition to democ... Read Full Story

I have a list of issues on which I’m undecided. This list is actually fairly long, and includes weighty topics like abortion and gay marriage. I usually find myself sitting on the fence because neither side can produce arguments that are overwhelmingly convincing. Take torture for example. There is a sickened feeling one gets from knowing the state is actively involved in the infliction of physical and mental pain. Moreover, in an age where detainees suspected of terrorist activities ar... Read Full Story