“The post office is Canada’s most trusted institution? That’s the story reported over the weekend. It seems a poll by the Strategic Counsel puts Canada Post ahead of such revered national icons as … um, the RCMP? Er, the CBC? The (sigh) House of Commons? Tallest building in Wichita, in other words.”
Andrew Coyne in National Post May 23, 2007
“We deliberate not about ends but about means.”
Aristotle Ethics
In my latest Loonie Politics column I ask why a sudden increase in the intensity of the American debate on abortion should have any effect on Canada, let alone cause a wave of militant conformity.
“the great and awful book of human folly, which yet remains to be written, and which Porson once jestingly said he would write in five hundred volumes!”
1841 Preface to Charles Mackay Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
“Economists... conducted an experiment at a poor, minority school district near Chicago where they randomly assigned some teachers to receive end-of-year bonuses based on student improvement, while other teachers received upfront bonuses that could be revoked at the end of the year if student improvement was below average.... the only difference was the timing of the bonus. There were ‘large and statistically significant gains’ on math test scores when bonuses were paid upfront, but not when bonuses were paid at the end of the year.... the prospect of having to give back money they had already received was more motivating for teachers than the prospect of getting money.”
The Boston Globe, reprinted in “Social Studies” in Globe & Mail August 7, 2012
In my latest National Post column I say while politicians often hurt us by mistake, they boasted repeatedly that they would make gas unaffordable. So how’s it working for you?
In my latest Epoch Times column I say the federal Tory leaders’ debate on Friday May 5 was surprisingly revealing… and had a surprising winner.
“the road to hell may just as well be paved with no intentions as with the proverbial good ones.”
“Preface to Part Two: Imperialism” in Hannah Arendt The Origins of Totalitarianism (specifically regarding the claim that the British Empire was acquired absent-mindedly).