civics today

Winnipeg Free Press - June 09, 2006

Going Forth

Rabbit, as some of you may recall, was the name of VW's compact sedan back in the 1980s. Plagued by poor reliability, the Rabbit name was retired in favour of Golf, by which the car has gone elsewhere in the world. And then Golf went on to have some reliability problems of its own. One of the key marketing stories on Rabbit is its price. The three door starts at $19,990 and the five-door at $20,990. That's a few thou above entry-level Civics, Corollas, Mazda3s and Nissan Sentras, but the Rabb...

Winnipeg Free Press - December 18, 2008

Clintons, Kennedys and Cuomos Clash

Appearing on NBC's Today, [Andrew Cuomo]'s ex-wife, Kerry Kennedy, seconded her daughter's observation: "This is very awkward, Mom." Some Clintonistas are gagging at Kennedy's unalloyed ambition. But Clinton sent out word Tuesday that they should put a lid on it presumably because her new boss (a.k.a. the president-elect) is a big fan of Kennedy, and because Clinton has Senate confirmation hearings ahead and doesn't want anyone smudging her image. "As we always say, politics in New York is a ...

Winnipeg Free Press - April 08, 2007

Rolling Back Time Highlights Consequences of Aging

Since Rollback is fiction, and fiction requires conflict, the answer is of course "no" -- but prominent Toronto sci-fi novelist [Robert J. Sawyer] spins an interesting story as he explores the consequences of finding the fountain of youth. [Sarah]'s rollback procedure fails, but Don's works. He ends up with the strength, energy and libido of a 25-year-old, and a wife in her 80s. Worse still is the realization that not only will he outlive his wife and friends, but also quite likely his childr...

Winnipeg Free Press - December 14, 2007

Saturn Astra-Nomically Good

Of course it does. (Cue a collective Big Three forehead slap here.) Cars like GM's Opel Vectra and Opel Astra and Ford's European Focus (not to be confused, even with today's new Focus, with the Focus sold here) and Mondeo have been earning both sales and critics' kudos abroad. Which brings us to the Saturn Astra, which unlike the last Malibu, did not pass through the Department of Justifying One's Existence on its way to sales floors here. Nope. Dump the Opel name and badge, put on the Satur...

Winnipeg Free Press - December 14, 2007

The Most Likable Red-Hot Honda

It wasn't always so. Previous versions of Honda's four-banger that used the company's VTEC variable valve timing mechanism may indeed have been powerful (especially for their displacement), but they could be irritating little beasts. I remember my experience with the Integra GS-R's 1.7-litre version as the most annoying car I have ever driven. There was no power to speak of below 5,000 r.p.m. and the engine buzzed at highway speeds, leaving the impression that Honda somehow forgot an extra ge...

Winnipeg Free Press - August 08, 2008

Carmakers, Dealers Cut Back On Leasing

General Motors announced Monday it was ending its leasing program in Canada. Chrysler Financial has announced a complete end to leasing in the U.S. starting Aug 1. and Ford has said it will be raising monthly lease rates to fix what it describes as "extreme losses" on its leased trucks and SUVs. The four-dollar-a-gallon price of gas in the U.S. has hurt the Detroit automakers' leasing arms just as badly as their production divisions. "They're getting hit twice," [Erich Merkle] said. "They're...

Winnipeg Free Press - July 06, 2008

:Running On Empty

Last week, shares in General Motors, America's biggest carmaker, fell below $10, valuing the giant firm at little more than $5.6 billion. The last time GM's share price was this low, the Cadillac Eldorado had yet to grow fins and Volkswagen's Beetle was a funny-looking novelty on American roads. That was in 1954. Chrysler said it would slash production of the Dodge Ram and shut one of its two North American minivan factories. Chrysler's minivans have long been regarded as the firm's "crown je...

Feliciter - Vol. 55 Nbr. 5, September 2009

Inside an Axis of Evil Library: A First-Hand Account of the North Korean Dear Leader's Library System

... Third, the Grand People's Study House - as a representative of all libraries - makes a strong physical and symbolic statement: it is a special place where civics, religion, national identity and cult of ...

Canadian Foreign Policy - Vol. 14 Nbr. 1, January 2008

Two Solitudes? Canadian Foreign Policy / Politique Étrangere Du Canada

Yet reports on the lack of coherence in international studies curricula, (Ishiyama and Breuning 2004; Brown, Pegg and Shively 2006) the parochialism of international relations teaching in the United States, (Alker and Biersteker 1984) or the issues left largely unaddressed in US international affairs courses, (Murphy 2001) speak of the extent to which educators do have a decisive (if not always welcome) impact in defining the nature of international affairs and foreign policy for their studen...