Monday digest

- Toronto's NDP mayor is having to deal with an illegal strike by transit workers this morning who don't want to see some of their jobs moved from the day shift to the night shift.

It's stunts like this that made even Bob Rae come to his senses about public sector labour unions.

I am just loving it.

- On Wednesday, Ontario and Quebec are going to have laws in place that will pretty much ban lighting up a cigarette in any bar, restaurant or other public place across both provinces. Although I think smoking is dumb, a waste of money and a whole lot of other things, aren't there more important things for the province to be doing than to protect people from a substance like tobacco, sales of which the the public sector is dependent on for a significant chunk of change? Besides, if there's sufficient demand for non-smoking establishments, which I'm sure there is, let an entrepreneur open one up. This one-size-fits-all approach is heavy-handed government at its worst.

- Yesterday, I suggested that it's a good sign that debate within the Democratic party is broadening. Former editor of the liberal magazine The New Republic weighs in here with a very well thought-out piece on the White House's Iran strategy in light of Iraq. More reasoned argumentation rather than the hysterical shrieking and frothing at the mouth we've come to expect from most liberals is only going to raise the level of discourse.

- Here's a no-nonsense look at what Hamas is up to. Another article here suggests that Israel should stand their ground in the West Bank for the sake of stability in the whole region.

- Finally, in Soviet Russia, the Village People were banned on the grounds that they promoted violence.

Huh?

That explains a lot about how backwards they had it in Moscow, doesn't it?