I soon understood what Tamar Liebes, the director of the Smart Institute of Communication at the Hebrew University, meant when she said: ‘Journalists and publishers see themselves as actors within the Zionist movement, not as critical outsiders ...... Did the entire Palestinian people, citizens of Israel, inhabitants of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, people living in refugee camps in neighbouring Arab states and those living in the diaspora make the claim?

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Manufacturers, and car companies in particular, down on the budget. The Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters turned Flaherty’s theme of “Advantage Canada” right around on him:

The federal government may tout its budget as Advantage Canada, but for the nation’s largest business sector, it’s putting manufacturing at a competitive ...   more »

Senators Obama and Clinton, appealing to Democratic voters in a Rust Belt state where manufacturing jobs are evaporating, are avowing that one of the first things they’ll do upon winning the White House is to take the United States out of the North American Free Trade Agreement. ‘Course, if ...   more »

The Toronto Star’s Susan Delacourt lights up her blog and the blogosophere is richer for it. Welcome, Susan!

Her first posts are from the frontlines of today’s federal budget reaction.

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Auto analyst Dennis Desrosiers says, "the average weeks of before-tax family income needed to purchase a new vehicle in Canada dropped to 18.9 weeks ... the lowest level since 1991. So relative to before-tax income Canadians paid almost the same for a new vehicle in 2007 as they did in 1991. "   more »

As we approach Budget Week — the first key confidence motion checkpoint — it’s interesting and not a bit confusing to see some well-respected polling firms getting different responses from voters. In all cases, the Conservatives are leading or tied for the lead but in no case are they at majority territory. The Libs are doing very poorly according to one poll but doing as well as the Conservatives in two others.    more »

Bob Metcalfe says the lessons of the Internet's construction hold some promise for the great challenge at the beginning of the beginning of this century: clean and cheap energy. "I'm interested in silver bullets. I think they exists. So I'm hoping to find some in the energy space."

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Sachs takes a look at the demographic makeup of the Canadian Forces and finds that the CF -- mostly white and male -- doesn't look like much like contemporary Canada and, given various projections, certainly won't look like Canada in the next decade or so.... The piece is not necessarily a criticism of the CF; rather it explores some of the factors that have made the CF look the way it does today -- Esprit de Corps publisher Scott Taylor figures 30 per cent of those serving now are from military families and are following dad's footsteps -- and explores some of the ways the CF is trying attract more visible minorities, aboriginals, and women.

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The Prime Minister’s Director of Communications Sandra Buckler passed along the following this afternoon:

The Prime Minister spoke yesterday to Prime Minister Tusk of Poland to express Canada’s appreciation for the contribution Poland is making to the international effort in Afghanistan. With 1300 troops on the ground, as well as ...   more »

The Prime Minister’s director of communications Sandra Buckler provided us with the following information this afternoon:

Prime Minister Harper spoke today to Prime Minister Janez Janša of Slovenia. The Prime Minister congratulated Prime Minister Janša on being the first new European Union (EU) member state to hold the rotating Presidency ...   more »