tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844Thu, 05 Sep 2024 02:40:30 +0000liberal party of canadaconservative party of canadapolitical adstory governmentctvmichael ignatieffstéphane dionBelinda StronachCPLarry CraigRudy Giulianialan hale jrambassadorcanadacanadian tvdemocratelection speculationgary doergilligan's islandiggyjohn edwardsliberal bloggersmediapolitical clichesstephen harperthe littlest hobothe skipperSometimes one has to step back, take pause, and have some "second thots"http://secondthots.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))Blogger1042125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-7162510700820363499Tue, 19 Aug 2014 19:18:00 +00002014-08-19T15:18:43.875-04:00I have recently become a freelance writer again after having worked as a full-time journalist for a number of years. You can visit my new website at www.dennisfurlan.com. I also have a new blog at that site, which you can go to by clicking on www.dennisfurlan.com/blog. Thanks!http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2014/08/i-have-recently-become-freelance-writer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-7240711934326865154Mon, 23 Jul 2012 22:56:00 +00002012-07-24T20:11:56.517-04:00...if he were to come out and strongly praise the individual hard work and responsibility involved in building, growing  and maintaining a successful business. Yet he hasn't done that, has he. UPDATE: Looks like Team Obama has finally decided to take my advice: Beyond the question of who will believe what about Obama's comments, there is something else about what he has said, and the http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2012/07/obama-could-easily-recover-from-his-you.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-3362126947149435551Sat, 26 May 2012 15:56:00 +00002012-05-26T12:03:37.998-04:00He uses one internet article as a basis to defend his entire record on spending. And that article, written by a man named Rex Nutting, has been debunked as easily as one can say "one-term president." Is this really all he has to run on? I can't think of any other politician who promised so much and delivered so little. They even gave him a Nobel prize for not doing anything yet. How apropos.http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2012/05/reason-2978-for-why-obama-is-in-trouble.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-8524381476099592182Tue, 17 May 2011 15:48:00 +00002011-05-17T13:02:57.105-04:00The following is what started out to be a post in the comments section in response to this article in the National Post. However, my post got longer as I continued composing it, so I decided to publish it here instead. In a nutshell, the National Post article defends Islam against some of its most vocal critics. Below is my criticism of that defence. _____ This article engages in a number of http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2011/05/not-so-good-defence-of-islam.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-5965540836980836885Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:36:00 +00002011-02-15T20:36:42.267-05:00I came across this item in the Huffington Post about how viewing porn leads to marital infidelity. Didn't someone named Jesus say the same thing about 2000 years ago? Matthew 5:27-30: [27] "You have heard that it was said, `You shall not commit adultery.' [28] But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. [29] If your http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2011/02/jesus-huffington-post-and-adultery.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-5374099602035466604Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:31:00 +00002011-02-15T12:31:32.914-05:00Fellow Liberals: Whatever you do, don't contemplate merger once we lose the next election. Believe me, it's just not worth it.http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2011/02/let-me-rewrite-scott-reids-article-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-5347108789509973161Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:18:00 +00002010-12-08T19:25:12.230-05:00I'm not quite sure why the death of Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, has attracted so much attention from the media. Don't get me wrong. I know her story and am saddened by the loss. Nevertheless, besides being betrayed by her husband, who committed adultery while he was campaigning and she was sick with cancer, I'm not quite sure what her http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/12/why-all-elizabeth-edwards-stories.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-3302634026195817766Tue, 07 Dec 2010 21:08:00 +00002010-12-07T16:22:03.076-05:00One of the arguments that I keep hearing from the political left is that governments are supposed to spend their way through tough economic times. There's only one problem with that argument: That's what we do during good economic times, too, which is the opposite of what Keynes prescribed. That's, of course, if you think Keynes was right. So, we usually only get half of the equation right. In http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/12/tough-economic-times-require-tough.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-4410087737021836007Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:53:00 +00002010-11-14T14:54:40.560-05:00From Christina Blizzard's column today in the Toronto Sun: Vaughan MPP Greg Sorbara is particularly piqued that his old friend has crossed the line into partisan politics. “I have always had a great deal of respect for the work that Julian Fantino has done in the area of law enforcement,” Sorbara told me in an interview. “I have always considered him a friend.  “In that regard, it has http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/11/greg-sorbara-grumpy-old-man.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-1498012471896816331Mon, 27 Sep 2010 16:08:00 +00002010-09-27T12:49:57.647-04:00We get RTV, the Retro Television Network, on our antenna here in Burlington, Ontario. It's channel 2.3, which is attached to Buffalo's local NBC affiliate WGRZ. I guess the digital age and low-tech can go hand-in-hand — no cable or satellite necessary! Anyhow, one of the shows on the channel that I have found intriguing is Kojak. It had a unique way of setting up each episode, at least from whathttp://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/06/kojak-education-in-criminal.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-60577573293601025Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:26:00 +00002010-08-16T16:26:32.807-04:00There's a phenomenon that I've come across enough for me to at least make some comment on currently. Specifically, I went to Catholic school almost all the way up until university, and many of the people I grew up with appear to be specifically anti-Catholic, or at least dismissive of the religion. As someone who's the opposite, and has come to embrace the faith, I find this phenomenon to be http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/08/is-catholic-church-losing-people.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-2540745094203254002Sat, 14 Aug 2010 17:36:00 +00002010-08-14T13:36:06.461-04:00It's interesting to see Bob Herbert of the New York Times criticize President Barack Obama for not engaging in the right kind of huge big government spending. Poor Barack. Even when he tacks left, he doesn't get credit from the left. Question: If Obama's version of socialism didn't work, what makes anyone think that other versions would work instead? At some point, the bills for social http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/08/obama-gets-pelted-from-all-sides.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-3724539386732114241Sat, 31 Jul 2010 14:12:00 +00002010-07-31T15:30:23.769-04:00At least according to one woman's Liberal friends and, I suspect, many more Canadians. By "scary", they don't mean the kind of scary label that usually gets applied to conservatives in Canada, which is supposed to refer to their agenda, I guess. No. This kind of scary refers to the way that Michael Ignatieff looks — physically. And it's something I've heard from people for months. I'm not sure http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/07/michael-ignatieff-looks-scary.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-5511681396094154114Sat, 31 Jul 2010 01:35:00 +00002010-07-30T21:35:19.125-04:00I have to say, I'm not as disturbed at the thought of a sitting president of the United States making an appearance on the TV show The View as others seem to be. Could it be yet another example of our culture spiraling into depravity? Maybe. But let's just assume that that's the current reality of things, and that people generally lower the bar all the time. Put in that context, what Obama did I http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/07/obamas-apperance-on-view.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-3858282316279462206Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:32:00 +00002010-07-30T19:26:59.621-04:00This is an interesting article written by Paul Krugman of the New York Times. He basically describes an Obama administration that is risking losing its left-wing base. I suppose my problems with the article start and stop with this sentence that leads the third paragraph: Mr. Obama rode into office on a vast wave of progressive enthusiasm.  He did? You see, that's Paul Krugman's problem, http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/07/which-side-of-political-spectrum-has.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-7296087536534615309Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:23:00 +00002010-07-25T21:23:23.950-04:00Question: What will Stephen Harper's Conservative government do now on climate change, given that their policy has been to wait for the Americans, and it's now becoming clear that the United States Congress isn't going to do much of anything anytime soon?http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/07/question-of-day-climate-change-version.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-5178040615233290065Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:40:00 +00002010-07-22T13:40:18.690-04:00Contrary to conventional wisdom — and don't get me started on conventional wisdom, either — Canadians actually do care about the Senate, they do want the Senate reformed, they want to participate in electing members to the Senate, and would welcome any measures associated with any of these goals, including a national referendum on, you guessed it, the Senate. This is all according to a poll http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/07/poll-shows-large-marjority-of-canadians.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-9122846432849247779Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:14:00 +00002010-07-01T16:14:37.894-04:00Question: What is it that we've been hearing about most in the wake of the G8 and G20 summits held in the Toronto area last weekend? Answer: Protests. Civil Liberties. Anarchists. Thugs. Right? And what is it that we haven't been hearing about in the wake of the G8 and G20 summits? Answer: The saviour's inability to get world leaders to endorse his plan to keep spending our way out of http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/07/newsflash-obama-lost-out-at-g8g20-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-1072180563294050858Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:45:00 +00002010-06-29T11:45:41.396-04:00I see that Camille Paglia has written a quite intricate piece in the New York Times about the sex drives of middle class women, female Viagra, and so much more. In essence, I think what she's trying to tell us is that various complex cultural factors are to blame for a lack of libido in family women. However, I may have a far simpler explanation: the pill. There are two ironies here. First, http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/06/camille-paglia-female-viagra-and-pill.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-3314302094612361452Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:19:00 +00002010-06-15T09:19:17.315-04:00I've been exploring tools to use in order to upgrade my current humble website. By far and away the most impressive has been the offering on display over at Wix.com. They provide an easy-to-use and intuitively effective interface with which to drag-and-drop all the elements needed for a modern Web page: headers, titles, text boxes, colours, shading, and so on. The result can look great, too. http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/06/wix-aint-fix-it-could-be.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-7395139310377190376Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:34:00 +00002010-06-14T10:38:36.034-04:00There has been a reopening of the abortion debate in Canada — kind of — as a result of the Conservative government's actions concerning worldwide maternal and child health. Although it's unlikely that the status quo in abortion will be changed short-term, what this renewed debate has done is remind everyone that Canada is one of the only Western nations without an abortion law. As a result, evenhttp://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/06/when-is-baby-baby.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-943030736724337162Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:43:00 +00002010-06-09T23:56:31.531-04:00Just watched a preview of tonight's CTV National News with Lloyd Robertson. I thought it was for sure going to be about the "fake lake" hoopla and other fiscal shenanigans surrounding the upcoming global summits. Instead, Craig Oliver will be giving us his take on the rumours swirling about regarding possible merger between the Liberal and NDP parties. Given that I doubt that these latest rumourshttp://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/06/when-your-political-opponents-change.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-6764892505212806527Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:21:00 +00002010-06-09T23:21:04.058-04:00In what I suppose it typical fashion, the oh-so-dreaded forces "conventional wisdom" seem to be writing off the Philadelphia Flyers as they head into Game 6 of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks are leading the series 3-2 with a chance to clinch it with a win tonight. Well, and this shouldn't be a surprise, I'll buck conventional wisdom and predict a Philly http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/06/philadelphia-flyers-win-tonight.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-352674146345390576Wed, 09 Jun 2010 23:51:00 +00002010-06-09T19:51:30.991-04:00Avoid any publication that claims to be "upstart" or "excited to be part of a new venture and growing readership" etc, etc. They're a dime-a-dozen on the Internet, will accept any crap, will not enhance your portfolio, and amount to nothing more than slave writing.http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/06/advice-for-any-aspiring-freelance.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7223844.post-1012615735842661541Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:24:00 +00002010-06-09T17:24:39.426-04:00Is Marci McDonald Canada's Helen Thomas? OK, carry on.http://secondthots.blogspot.com/2010/06/smart-aleck-question-of-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Dennis (Second Thots))0