Dr. Dawg: The other day, I got into it a bit with John Ivison, who expressed polite disdain for the allegedly “hapless” Chief Theresa Spence—and then admitted that he had no idea what her demands actually were. That’s all too typical. But not all of us who support #IdleNoMore are as informed
Continue readingAuthor: matttbastard
bastard.logic: Has Centralization of Power to the PMO Put Canadian Democracy on Life Support?
Don Lenihan has a must-read column up today, on how centralization of power to the Prime Minister’s office over the past several decades has atrophied the connection Canadians — especially youth — had with our government, and what he believes this could mean for Canada’s system of democracy: In the early 1970s,
Continue readingbastard.logic: These Are Not Your Father’s Tories. Seriously.
“I worked for (Mulroney-era environment minister) Tom McMillan, who was a very red Tory. I wrote speeches for him. We never checked his speeches with the PMO. He’d get up to answer in Question Period. He didn’t have a script for how to answer. Brian Mulroney was not telling his
Continue readingbastard.logic: Reappropriating Mother’s Day
Forget Hallmark and Big Flora — Mother’s Day is (and always has been) for radicals: Mother’s Day began in America in 1870 when Julia Ward Howe wrote the Mother’s Day Proclamation. Written in response to the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War, her proclamation called on women to use
Continue readingbastard.logic: All the girls at this party are into drama and Ginsberg and lemon lime Bacardi
In lieu of substantive new content (busy busy bastard, etc), here is matttbastard’s top-ten-of-the-moment list, culled from my ever-expanding Bandcamp Discoveries board on Pinterest (yes, Pinterest — shaddap): 1. Hookworms – ‘Form & Function’ (forthcoming limited edition split 7″ w/ Kogumaza on Gringo Records, released 05.28.2012) – Overflowing with naked
Continue readingbastard.logic: RIP MCA aka Adam Yauch (and RIP the Beastie Boys)
Mark Richardson: The Beastie Boys turned curiosity into a form of art. They wanted to know more about what was around them and learn everything they could about what wasn’t. Forget about Kurt Cobain for a second: For kids like me, the Beastie Boys invented the 90s. Technology was changing
Continue readingbastard.logic: The F-35 boondoggle in context: This “is oppressive, dictatorial regime-building that would do any petro-state proud”
We are definitely not in Kansas anymore, Canuckistan — and Michael Harris says that we just had our “Wizard of Oz moment”: The curtain has been well and truly whipped away from the PM’s self-promoting deceptions and he is revealed for what he is: a power-tripper on a mission to
Continue readingbastard.logic: Breaking it Down: Industrial Capitalism vs. Financial Capitalism (or, Why We’re F*cked)
Michael Hudson asks: “In light of the enormous productivity gains since the end of World War II – and especially since 1980 – why isn’t everyone rich and enjoying the leisure economy that was promised?” The answer (per Hudson) is painfully obvious, but bears repeating (ad infinitum): What was applauded
Continue readingbastard.logic: In Praise of NDP PR Jiu-Jitsu
Paul Wells on how it’s best sometimes to simply shut up and let your opponent’s own negative momentum take them down: Harper is certain to keep portraying the NDP as the only bunch of witless ideologues in sight. In quiet moments Conservative strategists say that, if they ever tire of
Continue readingbastard.logic: The Real Bev Oda Scandal: Politicizing (& Corporatizing) Canadian Foreign Aid
That now-infamous taxpayer-subsidized luxury hotel switcheroo in Mother London? Small potatoes. Don Cayo: [A]nalysis by Fraser Reilly-King, a policy analyst at the non-profit Canadian Council for International Co-operation, shows substantial cuts to foreign aid in last month’s federal budget are aimed mainly at the same kind of underprivileged countries [that were
Continue readingbastard.logic: Fun With Infographics (Ethical Oil Edition)
Via Matt Price @ HuffPo Canada:
Continue readingbastard.logic: Pushing Weight
After Ethical Oil is done with its proxy Zombie Joe McCarthy crusade against the David Suzuki Foundation (what, are Ezra & co. gonna put out a hit on Raffi next?), perhaps it might consider lobbying the feds to take a look at another clear example of untoward abuse of our noble charitable
Continue readingbastard.logic: Deja Vu All Over Again (And Again, And Again, And…)
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, Canuckistan: Stephen Harper is leaving the door open once again to extending Canada’s military participation in the costly Afghanistan war. When the Official Opposition NDP pressed the Prime Minister on Wednesday about reports the United States has asked Canada to stay in
Continue readingbastard.logic: Fun With Infographics: Measuring the Mulcair Bump
Via The G&M: ‘Nuff said.
Continue readingbastard.logic: QOTD: Rethinking Sex-Positivity & Sex Work
Audacia Ray: If we put aside our attachment to the sex positive construction of sex work, we will certainly hear things that will be hard to sit with. But for sex positivity to be a useful framework, one that encourages the pursuit of social justice, it must also engage with
Continue readingbastard.logic: Provocation, Appropriation, and That Blackface Clitoridectomy Cake
Here’s an idea for truly provocative art. No more male artists, black or white, speaking for African women. No more ever-more-graphic ever-more-voyeuristic art on the suffering of African women. Stop using the female African body as raw material to be worked – unless you happen to live in one. Then,
Continue readingbastard.logic: IOKIYAR to Infinity.
Ok, so I know IOKIYAR is (and has been for ages) SOP in DC. Still, the manner in which the Village took Rosengate oh-so seriously (and turned it up TO ELEVEN) but is now suddenly backpeddling re: The Nuge’s semi-coherent call for Obama’s assassination (gosh, campaign surrogates sure do say
Continue readingbastard.logic: Happy 30th Anniversary, Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms
According to Louise Arbour, Canada’s internationally renowned & universally lauded Charter of Rights & Freedoms (HBD, eh?) “has transformed a country obsessed with the federal-provincial division of powers and enabled it to address its diversity in a substantive, principled way.” Gee. No wonder Harpercon insurrectionists can’t stand the fucking thing.
Continue readingbastard.logic: They’re (Still) Just Not That Into You
Sorry, Evangelicals: Only one in five Jewish Americans holds favorable views of those aligned with the Christian right, a category that includes most of Israel’s evangelical supporters. […] The survey, conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute and published April 3, asked Jewish respondents to rate the favorability of several religious
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