January 23, 2013: In a previous post, I compared and contrasted Cuba and Canada in terms of the opportunities for achieving one’s potential through access to information, ideas, etc., noting that in Cuba the opportunities are almost non-existent, while sadly, in our country, there are those who choose not to
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Politics and its Discontents: Cynical Politics – Ontario Style
It is likely a truism to observe that the value burning brightest in the hearts of most political parties is the passion to get and retain power. Concern for the public good is at best but a very distant secondary concern. We are reminded of this fact by the reaction
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Reflections From Cuba
The following is one of several pieces I wrote on my Blackberry Playbook while on a recent holiday in Cuba. Because Internet access and outside information is limited there, I spent some time writing pieces largely drawn from things I was thinking about at the time, and therefore are perhaps
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Christ Hedges On The Failure of Churches
As a member of the United Church of Canada, my wife receives The United Church Observer, a monthly publication offering an array of interesting pieces and interviews. This month’s issue has an interview with renowned journalist and activist Chris Hedges, a man whose deep social convictions and activism I deeply
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Wherever We Go, Our Presence Is Felt
Well. I’m back from hiatus, but too tired to post anything of my own, so I leave you with this video I just came across. Unfortunately, ‘enjoy’ is not the correct verb to use in relation to its sobering reminder of our depredations: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On Hiatus
There won’t be any new blog posts for the next two weeks as we begin our annual hegira to Cuba, where the climate and the people offer a soothing respite from the Canadian winter. This will be our sixth visit to the island, and each time there we learn another
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Retribution
…when Exhibit A extends to Exhibits B-C-D, when the allegations start stacking up, then what you’ve got is a pattern and a pathology, not an anomaly. A career lies in tatters because a man who’s always been able to express himself well enough, extemporaneously, annexed the parlance and patter of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Why Chris Spence Must Be Fired
It is hardly an insight to observe that ours is a world that bears witness to institutional and organizational failures on a massive scale. Those bodies that should be there to promote and protect the public good have proven far more adept at promoting and protecting their own interests instead.
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What Happens When The ‘Top’ Educator Plagiarizes?
Probably nothing, if your name is Chris Spence and you are the Director of the Education for the Toronto District School Board. A shocking story in this morning’s Star reveals that the highly-paid functionary plagiarized great gobs of an article he recently ‘wrote’ for the paper on the importance of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Finger-Pointing 2.0
Well, there can be little doubt that both The Toronto District School Board and the Ontario Ministry of Education have fully embraced the digital age. Finger-pointing abounds on both sides. In the ongoing saga that I think could best be described as a clash between Jimmy Hazel’s union muscle (and
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: SIU Versus Toronto Police: An Update
As noted the other day, there has been an ongoing jurisdictional battle in the case of alleged police brutality victim Tyrone Phillips. The complaint, filed by Phillips to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, could not be investigated by the SIU because Toronto Police, citing provincial regulations, refused
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Harper Subversion of the Civil Service
That the Harper regime uses a myriad of tactics to exploit, manipulate and deceive the Canadian public through its propaganda, demagoguery, and demonization of those with contrary policy views has been well-chronicled in the media. Epithets like ‘Taliban Jack’ and the denigration of Thomas Mulcair and the NDP for “their
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Jimmy Hazel and His Crew Prevail
As I have mentioned in this blog before, one of the many reasons I respect The Toronto Star is that it doesn’t let its adherence to The Atkinson Principles blind it to good stories, even when those stories may lead to some uncomfortable questions about the abuses that unions are
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: TTC to Customer: We Take Your Complaint Seriously …
But we won’t tell you if we did anything about it. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Toronto Police: Again and Again and Again ….
Albert Einstein famously defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. By that standard, perhaps both the Toronto Police force and I are insane; I seem to periodically write essentially the same blog post about their misbehaviour, and they seem to keep practising
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Beyond Cynical By Any Standard
Using the legislative power that Bill 115 provides, Ontario Education Minister Laurel Broten has announced she will impose contracts on Ontario teachers but then rescind Bill 115 because it has become a “lightning rod.” In doing so, she hopes teachers will forgive and forget and resume coaching sports teams and
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: To Read, Perchance To Think
Shakespeare purists will perhaps forgive my titular, out-of-context paraphrasing of a famous line from Hamlet, but it occurred to me yesterday and today as I read two fine essays published in The Toronto Star. The first, by former Globe writer Michael Valpy (strange how that ‘newspaper of record’ has either
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: But We’re A Peace-Loving Country
My, my, my, the sins that are committed in our name. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Industry Self-Regulation – Another Update
Last week I wrote two posts on the Harper regime’s ideological decision not to impose mandatory reporting of drug shortages on the pharmaceutical industry. The government instead has placed its market-driven faith on a voluntary system, with results nearly as disastrous as those in Canada’s food industry, which also enjoys
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Good News: It’s a New Year – the Bad News: Expect More of the Same
Best wishes to everyone in 2013. I would like to express my hope that all will enjoy a prosperous 12 months ahead, but given both domestic and international realities, I know that will not be the case for many. This, despite the self-congratulatory tone Stephen Harper frequently strikes when talking
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