’Twas two nights before Christmas
When all through the House
Not a Representative was stirring
’Cause they’d already voted the previous day
When all through the House
Not a Representative was stirring
’Cause they’d already voted the previous day
 Yesterday, President Obama commuted the sentences of eight people serving tragically harsh prison terms due to old federal guidelines that treated crack cocaine as if it were 100 times worse than the powdered stuff. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 cut penalties for crack cocaine offenses, but it was not retroactive. Now, for these eight human beings, each of whom has been locked away for at least 15 years, the long nightmare is finally coming to an end.
 A man decides to build a stone wall, and another man decides to film the process. It's supposed to take weeks. It takes years. The result, for filmmaker Bill Stone, is Triumph of the Wall, a beautifully shot, meditative, quirky documentary that you can watch online for less than the price of a grande latte, courtesy of Doc Alliance Films. It's not packed with drama, but it's reflective and at times funny, and I found it deeply satisfying overall.
 In the category of obvious things that are obvious comes the revelation that on average, Americans are quite a bit more generous than Canadians. According to a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, Americans gave on average just over twice as much of their incomes to charity as Canadians did in 2011 (1.33% vs. 0.64%). In other breaking news, it has been confirmed that gravity makes things fall down, not up.
 Santa Claus would have loved for everyone to keep right on thinking he had nothing but their best interests at heart. But his good luck could only hold out for so long. In my latest Québécois Libre article, "Santa on Trial," I report on the breaking news that the old elf has been apprehended at last and brought to court to defend himself against a whole range of extremely serious charges.
 The coverage* of the World Health Organization's latest data on global cancer rates in today's Globe and Mail was typical of the media in general: "the disease tightened its grip in developing nations struggling to treat an illness driven by Western lifestyles." And a glance at the WHO's GLOBOCAN Cancer Fact Sheet maps seems to confirm that "Western lifestyles" are the culprit, since living in a wealthier part of the world increases your risk of getting cancer. But what's wrong with this picture?
 Sad news this morning: Barbara Branden, author of The Passion of Ayn Rand, has died at the age of 84. A close friend of Rand's for many years, she was a talented writer and an impressive human being in her own right. My girlfriend and I were fortunate enough to sit at her table at the closing banquet of one of The Atlas Society's annual conferences several years back. We were a little star struck at first, but Barbara quickly made us feel at ease.
 What's a few billion dollars among friends? And by "friends," I mean the American government and General Motors. Cronies, some might say. The government infused some $50 billion of taxpayer funds into GM to keep the automaker from going under a few years ago. This week, the Treasury Department sold off the last of its GM shares. The net loss for US taxpayers: $10.5 billion.
 A new documentary about Calvin and Hobbes has helped me understand and sympathize a little more with Bill Watterson's decision to forego all licensing. While the famously reclusive creator does not appear in Dear Mr. Watterson—now playing in select theatres and also available on DVD and for download—many of his colleagues are interviewed, as are others involved in the business in one way or another. In particular, Stephan Pastis, creator of Pearls Before Swine, discusses Watterson's controversial decision.
 For my money, the Onion headline was not far from the truth: "Nelson Mandela Becomes First Politician To Be Missed." He may not have single-handedly defeated apartheid, but he certainly played a pivotal role in bringing down South Africa's brutally racist regime. For that alone, he deserves a great deal of admiration.
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