An NYT editorial on why the United States and the rest of the world has to start giving a damn about Africa:

The NYT's Maureen Dowd engages in a bracing round of Bush-bashing centred on his recent meeting with the great Russian democrat Vladimir Putin.

Toronto Star columnist Chantal Hebert looks at the recent performance of Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper and finds it wanting.

He's painted himself in a corner by being so hardline on same-sex marriage and by ...   more »

I wonder whether Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's demand for more money from Ottawa will eventually hurt the federal Liberals -- or provide an opportunity for the Conservatives.

In a recent post, I discussed NYT columnist Maureen Dowd's musings about the beauty pressures on women. Sarah Marchildon, who blogs at The Hollywood North Report, left a comment, which led to one from me.

At one point, I recommended she watch Roger Dodger. Her is her response (taken from the comments of an unrelated post because ... why, exactly? Take it away, Sarah! :)  ):

This Toronto Star story looks at how two former Canadian broadcast journalists, John Roberts and Thalia Assuras, may end up hosting the CBS Evening News together after Dan Rather hangs it up.

So, you made it into the $100K (US) salary club, eh? Big deal. In the more expensive American cities, you're not doing really well unless you've topped $200K -- from an ego perspective, if nothing else, sez this yarn.

Gary Brolsma is a 19-year-old New Joiy-sey guy who made a short video of himself dancing to a Romanian pop song. He put it on the Internet. He became briefly famous. He's wishing he didn't.

It appears Halle Berry was purr-fectly bad in her role as Catwoman -- so bad that the Razzies crowned her worst actress of the year who starred in the worst film of the year!

But in a completely unexpected move, she showed up at the Razzies (no "winner" ever does that -- with one exception)  -- and parodied her best-actress acceptance speech for Monster's Ball!

The Oscars are on tomorrow night! Big deal.

It tends to reward films, actors and directors I don't particularly like, and snubs the ones I do.

Mary Murphy, one of three CBS staff asked to resign in the wake of Memo-gate, has finally done so.

The following reviews of Hugh Miles' Al-Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel that is Challenging the West are from the L.A. Times and the Guardian.

Trolli Roadkill Gummi Candy -- which looks like flattened animals -- is soon to be no more. Kraft Foods says it will order its subsidiary to stop production.

Here's two columns by the NYT's Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd about how the same people who brought you the Swift Boat attack ads on John Kerry are now after the American Association of Retired ...   more »

I haven't seen this feature before. Pete Clifton, editor of the BBC Online, ends the week with a note to readers, plus an invitation to drop him a line.

The Guardian, apparently having some mischevious sorts behind the editorial controls, came out with a workaholism quizz that they published on a Friday -- like people need one more reason to gear down. :)

Former Flare editor Suzanne Boyd departed for the Big Apple last year to produce a new mid-market fashion magazine aimed at black women. It was called Suede.

Some links to an email discussion over the past 10 days or so between Jeff Jarvis of Buzzmachine and NYT executive editor Bill Keller.

Saw this first at Buzzmachine: Simon Waldman, director of digital publishing at the Guardian, finds the open-source news offerings of Wikinews to be wanting.

Novelist Lucian K. Truscott IV reminisces in the NYT about Hunter S. Thompson's struggling young days as a writer.

Herbert reviews the Arar case, where the Tunisian-born Canadian citizen  was sent to Syria by the United States where they knew he would be tortured.

You gotta love the admission in here from one official charged with fighting the war on terror that there will be innocent casualties.

For the geek who has no one: a virtual girlfriend!

TL mocked, and Conrad sued -- for $2.1 million. But now he's settling for what is no doubt a heartfelt apology.

Toronto Star media columnist Antonia Zerbisias holds forth on the rumours swirling around Bellglobemedia -- the parent company of my employer, CTV.

And then The Globe and Mail, another Bell Globemedia property, reports on BCE chief executive Michael Sabia's remarks on the issue from Banff.

The host of 'Bad Cop, No Donut!' on CKLN Radio in Toronto has agreed to change his show's e-mail address, but that's about it.

The addy was ihatepigs@hotmail.com. It will now be ron@ckln.fm.

The whacking of star sportscaster Chris Cuthbert by CBC Sports has triggered some conspiracy theorizing.

This survey on work-life balance in the craft was just published. It found that almost half journalists would consider leaving the craft.

That was one question put to David Mindich, author of Tuned Out: Why Americans Under 40 Don't Follow The News. That was one of five questions put to him by the American Press Institute.

A few articles on the restructuring working its inexorable grip on the U.S. newspaper business.

Blogger and journalist Arash Sigarchi has been sent to jail after being found guilty on charges of spying and aiding foreign counter-revolutionaries, says the BBC.

If you're a Toronto resident, that could imply Church and Gerrard. I'm talking College and Clinton.

You might be thinking prostitution. I'm thinking cabbies. But it's a unique experience (and possibly comparable) none the less.

Hunter S. Thompson wants to go out with a bang on March 5: He wants this family to have his ashes shot out of a cannon! :)

And a few other last tidbits on this brilliant wacko.

Some lovely thoughts about Hunter S. in the NYT and Rolling Stone:

This NYT piece at some of the socially objectionable behaviour of the Miles character in Sideways and asks why alcohol abuse is funny in this day and age.

The mud the opposition has thrown at the Liberals in the last few months simply isn't sticking.

According to a new Ipsos-Reid poll for CTV and The Globe and Mail, the Liberals have many positives right now that hint they could form a majority government.

The Toronto Star's Lynda Hurst offers a much better look at where U.S. nuclear weapons policy is going than the NYT did a few week ago.

In a continuation of her railing about the uneven deal women appear to be getting, the NYT's Maureen Dowd takes on the topic of "road beef."

Sounds like a great Weekly World News headline, doesn't? Wrongo! It's the Beeb!

This AP story looks at some of the issues surrounding the departure of CNN executive Jordan Eason (background), the power of the blogosphere -- and the timidity of news organizations.

CNN Headline News is much like CTV Newsnet; a continuously rotating "wheel" of news briefs.

Well, the U.S. version is undergoing a make-over. An excerpt from the AP story on Yahoo! News:

One of the most original voices in American journalism has apparently ended his own life.

Hunter S. Thompson was found dead in his home near Aspen, Co.