Tuesday digest

- As the United States Supreme Court is about to hear a case which will determine whether or not the phrases "natural family", "marriage" and "union of a man and a woman" constitute hate speech - demonstrating once again that you should keep your politics to yourself in the workplace - the cartoon above from the syndicated comic strip "Opus", which ran this past weekend, demonstrates how the vocation of fatherhood is being increasingly viewed as disposable. (Give it a click to see a larger version.)

That said, this fella isn't exactly the dad of the year.

- An author asks why the Western Left still romanticizes and makes excuses for Communism, here, despite both the cold, hard facts as well as the plain truth being in clear view.

- I don't think that China is going to be the massive economic juggernaut a lot of commentators do for a number of reasons. For example, how can you devise an effective social insurance system in a place where well over a billion people share only one hundred surnames? On top of that, there are 100,000 people who go by "Wang Tao", China's most popular name.

- Next time you hear someone talk about saving Africa with all of the usual accompanying platitudes, ask yourself what the UN and international aid programs have done to slow or halt this reign of terror.

- While Joe Lieberman has said that the bombing of Iran ought to be on the table, it's important to not overlook Pakistan.

- I wouldn't be surprised in the least if some of Bob Rae's cabinet are now gainfully employed in the llama farm business.

- A lot of folks don't like the guy, but Steve Simmons sifts through the numbers here and concludes that the Leafs really do suck.

Can't argue with that.