It’s over. But not really. Wednesday night was Oprah’s last show. Daytime TV will be different. The show closed so Oprah can devote time to her own network, the Oprah Winfrey Network, or OWN. It’s all hers. Daytime, night time, all the time. Oprah said goodbye, but she is not going anywhere.

I watched the two-part special tribute earlier this week. Of course, Aretha Franklin could have been singing the Wolfe Island phone directory and I would have watched that, too. For Oprah she sang Amazing Grace. An added bonus, Patti Labelle showed up to teach Josh Groban a thing or two about performing. Continue reading →

- in Ottawa, Ontario -
It was mostly old, a few bits new, rather boring and Tory blue. Prime Minister Stephen Harper had his new cabinet sworn in, and continuity was the theme. With few changes in major portfolios, it was rather dull, but Mr. Harper is successful in part because he offers as little drama as possible. Stable government was the campaign slogan. Stability was what Canadians got.

There was one major vacancy – foreign affairs – and one senior minister who had to move, John Baird, his talents no longer needed as house leader in a majority parliament. The two were matched up, and for the most part the other key players were left in place – Finance, Justice, Public Safety and Defence left unchanged. Continue reading →

Thirty years ago tomorrow, Pope John Paul II was shot in Saint Peter’s Square by Mehmet Ali Agca. It was the year of the assassins – Ronald Reagan survived the attempt on his life by a madman in March, while Anwar Sadat was killed in September by Islamists enraged by his making peace with Israel. Regarding Agca, the Turk with Bulgarian connections, however lucid he may have been at the time of the shooting, his subsequent explanations have been contradictory, even delusional. Continue reading →