Former Senate page Brigette DePape’s bit of parliamentary pluck has garnered near universal praise from the Canadian Left. But while her mute entreaty during the Throne Speech to “Stop Harper” earned loud applause, her appeal in subsequent statements for “a Canadian version of an Arab Spring, a flowering of popular movements” provoked some fiery debate.

“The best thing you can do for New York right now is to go out and shop !” So decreed former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani in answer to how New York was to re-settle itself economically – even spiritually – following the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. A crude suggestion, perhaps, but one nonetheless summarily taken up by millions upon millions of Americans, many of whom are likely now scratching their heads in debt-inspired bewilderment.