University of Alberta Faculty of Law Blog

Harvard and Academic Freedom

It is bad enough that Canadian universities are slowly turning their back on the notion of academic freedom, but when Harvard University starts down that path, things are looking bleak for the West's future.

400 parts per million, or why we're totally F*#%#$

Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, our most harmful global warming gas, have hit 400 parts per million. It's this kind of rosy news item that Alyssa Battistoni must have borne in mind when she composed one of the best introductory paragraphs that I have read in a long while. Writing in the excellent new leftist political magazine Jacobin, Battistoni begins her argument for a united environmental Left thus (warning: foul language ahead):

If you spend any time keeping up with the news on climate change, or even just looking at the occasional graph or two, it's hard not to come to the reasoned, scientific conclusion that we are, in fact, totally fucked.

Read the rest here (subscription required but well worth it).

May 2013 Issue of the Toronto Law Journal is Online

The May issue of the Toronto Law Journal – which publishes pithy comments on recent cases and new legislation of interest to practicing lawyers and legal academics alike – is online here. Commentaries this month cover a new clearing house for domain names, the availability of punitive damages for directors and officers under Ontario's new secondary market liability regime, Ontario's tentative steps toward implementing a cap-and-trade system, and the Competition Bureau's latest thinking on mergers.

Check it out!

The War on Bitcoin

It seems the treasury is not happy about alternate currencies. 

BC Liberals win

The BC Liberals win, despite the polls showing the contrary. After similar bad predictions in Alberta, does this spell the end of polling as we knew it? 

Walmart says no

to a new deal being proposed regarding worker safety in Bangladesh. The main reason? The dispute resolution mechanism contained in the proposed deal. This shows how important these mechanisms are for any reforms being contemplated in the arena of corporate social responsibility.

On the other hand, it seems that Loblaws and many other retailers are signing on to the agreement.

Do Helmet Laws Work?

Helmet usage reduces head injuries for cycle riders. But do mandatory usage laws work? A new study suggests maybe not.

Jon Stewart on IRS and AP

As usual Stewart works his magic:

 

Thick Skin in the Wild

Proving my point in the previous posts that thick skin can win the day, I give you this clip (watch till the end):

 

Another Monsanto win

I had blogged about the then pending case at the US Supreme Court involving Monsanto. Today the court released its opinion, and its a win for the big corporation.

AP has rights?

The US Department of Justice has been spying on the Associated Press. Now the AP is upset. AP is a corporation so does it have free speech, free press, etc. rights? It certainly thinks so and so does every news organization.

Funny thing is: these same media organizations were upset when the US Supreme Court in Citizens United ruled that corporations had free speech rights in elections.

Cartel Strikes Again

What happens when an electric car manufacturer wishes to sell its cars so that people can drive emission-less automobiles? Why the car dealer cartel moves in to stop them, of course.

Americans and Germans in WWII

If you studied your history properly, you would be puzzled to hear that the Americans and Germans fought together in WWII. Yes, you read that right! Well, not the whole war, but for a brief period right at the end of the war, it seems that this took place.

A new book, The Last Battle, by Stepehen Harding tells the tale of how:

on 5 May 1945—five days after Hitler’s suicide—three Sherman tanks from the 23rd Tank Battalion of the U.S. 12th Armored Division under the command of Capt. John C. ‘Jack’ Lee Jr., liberated an Austrian castle called Schloss Itter in the Tyrol, a special prison that housed various French VIPs, including the ex-prime ministers Paul Reynaud and Eduard Daladier and former commanders-in-chief Generals Maxime Weygand and Paul Gamelin, amongst several others. Yet when the units of the veteran 17th Waffen-SS Panzer Grenadier Division arrived to recapture the castle and execute the prisoners, Lee’s beleaguered and outnumbered men were joined by anti-Nazi German soldiers of the Wehrmacht, as well as some of the extremely feisty wives and girlfriends of the (needless-to-say hitherto bickering) French VIPs, and together they fought off some of the best crack troops of the Third Reich. 

As the article points out - time for the movie to be made.

Newt on cell-phones

I am so glad that Newt Gingrich did not become President, because who else would ponder what we should be calling cell-phones:

 

Online health and the law

What happens when someone's son gets shot? Normally, one takes them to the hospital. Is that the normal reaction, or is it to go online and look up WebMD? After all that is what we do for almost everything else these days. So is the mother's fault that she did that instead of going to the local hospital? Maybe today that is the norm, but what will it be in a few years?

Celebs and Twitter

Speaking of thick skins, celebrities who make their income from their fame should probably also develop a thick skin too.

That is why it is funny to watch them laugh at themselves by reading out insulting twitter posts. Then again, are they really laughing?

Don't get arrested

If one is  a high school principal, it would seem to me that one should develop a thick skin, esepcially when kids and their technology these days can always be counted on to commit mischief. So if one gets arrested and the mugshot is online, don't be shocked if it gets posted to instagram. Also don't ask for the student to be arrested. It also seems odd to suspend the kid too. The kid should probably have been careful how he stated the charge, but at this point, the issue seems moot. But what do I know?

Update: Here is another group that could use a thicker skin. Sheesh, what is up with all these schools suspending kids for silly things they say. 

And there is this case where a teacher seems to be at fault and the student gets suspended:

 

The Fallout from Eng v. Toronto Begins...

Mississauga's City Council enacted a shark fin bylaw broadly banning shark fin possession etc that came into effect at the end of June, 2012. This week, the same Councillors were backtracking, and voted to take this bylaw off the books given the successful jurisdictional challenge to Toronto's shark fin ban in late-2012 (Eng v. Toronto).

News out of Mississauga suggests that some members of City Council are not ready to completely turn the page on municipal action to protect sharks, noting that Toronto will be considering how best to proceed in June (read more here).

So, what does this all mean? At this point, only time will tell. 

Simpsons' origins

Ever wonder where Matt Groening got his characters from? Look no further than his mother's obituary  (assuming it is authentic).

More CNN silliness

CNN has been in the news for making news, and not in the good way. Sometimes I wonder if it is more technical incompetence, like when two anchors were speaking to each other via satellite on a split screen, even though they were both in the same parking lot.