Striking back at the empire

James Laxer, political science professor, warns in an op-ed piece in The Globe and Mail Sept. 24 about the new imperialist America: “It may very well be true that there is not much the rest of the world can do about America’s military might. But former imperial powers that have proclaimed their right to dominate others have ended up creating adversaries that multiply faster than the means to control them. However comfortable the yoke that is offered, people won’t accept it over the long term. Those who want a world in which no power is supreme and which laws and covenants are used to settle conflicts will begin a new debate — about how to contend with imperial America. Americans may live to rue Sept. 20, 2002, the day they turned in the old republic for a new global empire.

Like father, like son

Canadian comedian Eugene Levy never moved to Hollywood so his children could grow up among more normal folk in Toronto. Ironically, he and his wife are set to tell Hollywood hopefuls how to get a slice of the American Pie and, also ironically, his son Daniel is now starting York University in the film and television program, reports The Globe and Mail Sept. 24.

The highest price for power

“It is an unparalleled sum in the history of Ontario politics,” political science professor Robert MacDermid said of Ernie Eves’s $3-million leadership campaign, in a story in The Toronto Star Sept. 24. “It is probably the most expensive leadership race in the history of Canadian politics [and Eves is left] owing a lot of favours.”

Lawyers dream up dating Web site

Shmuel Stern, 26, an Osgoode Hall Law School graduate, has launched GOITGuide.com, a Web site listing places to take your date in Toronto. (GOIT is short for Going Out In Toronto). It lists 200 places, including where to end a relationship or propose. However, Stern admits in a National Post story Sept. 24, “I have found that creative date ideas tend to be overrated. It’s not the idea that makes the date – it’s the date itself.”

What about the frozen embryos?

Roxanne Mykitiuk, law professor, discussed how to resolve disputes between separated couples who cannot agree on what to do about frozen embryos they have created together, on CBC Radio’s “This Morning” Sept. 20.

Bullying

A story on schoolyard bullying in the Sept. 24 The Hamilton Spectator refers to York psychologist Debra Peplar and Wendy Craig’s study on bullying.