So, according to Danielle Smith, our public schools aren't teaching the right kind of critical thinking skills. Apparently in her world, this is an excuse to defund the public schools entirely and turn the whole thing over to private schools. Given that Smith is a libertarian, this latter leap of
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The Cracked Crystal Ball II: On Government Finances and Debt
In Alberta Views this month, we have a debate column pair about government debt written by economist Trevor Tombe, and former PC finance minister Ted Morton. There are a number of respects in which I find Morton's arguments are profoundly flawed, and I would like to take some time to
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: On Media Piracy and "FairPlay Canada"
This is a new development to me, but then I haven’t been following the issue of piracy all that closely for some time. The upshot is that a group of commercial interests are lobbying the CRTC to set up an anti-piracy panel. The submissions started flowing in after the coalition
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: The "But Communism Was Bad" Argument
Lately, when debating matters of economics, people that I will broadly call “small government advocates” (usually hardline fiscal hawk conservatives and libertarians) will inevitably start throwing about the argument that “communism is a failed ideology” when they are challenged directly about the specifics of what they would cut from government,
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Do We Need A Financial Magna Carta?
There are many things afoot in the world today that deeply concern me about the role that excessive wealth is playing in the concentration of power. Back when this blog was first started, I wrote about my concerns that a new Dark Age was developing, and it wasn’t going to
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: On Honesty In Politics
Politicians have always played fast and loose with the idea of truth. Facts get weighted certain ways to support a narrative, creative “spin” is applied to manipulate the public perception of events and policy announcements and so on. I get it – everybody is trying to make their version of
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Post-Rebel Journalism Needs To Become A Recognized Profession
The ongoing collapse of Ezra Levant's "The Rebel" (no links provided – I will not link to what I consider a hate site) makes one thing abundantly clear to me: Journalism must become a regulated profession in Canada. Ezra has cried blue murder every time his company was denied accreditation
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: About The WomanMeansSomething Violence Database
So, a man by the name of Paul Dirks has created a “Sexual Violence Database” which he claims shows a strong correlation between jurisdictions where trans rights have been provided in law and an increase in sexual predation in female designated spaces. I downloaded the raw data and took a
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Comparing Transsexualism With Body Integrity Identity Disorder
Today, right-wing opinion site "The Federalist" published an essay "Woman Demands Doctors Sever Her Spinal Cord To Align Body To Mind (Same as a Transsexual Man)" by Glenn T. Stanton. The basic argument that Mr. Stanton is making is that gender reassignment surgery isn't necessary. He does this through a
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: So … You Think Silence Is An Answer?
There are a number of Jason Kenney’s supporters running around with the mistaken belief that because Kenney refuses to answer questions about his Social Conservative (SoCon) beliefs is somehow an endorsement that he will be benign on those issues should he ever become Alberta’s Premier. Like the CPC policy change
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: On Information Resources For GSAs
On Twitter’s #abed / #ableg feeds yesterday, we were treated to a rather public meltdown by opponents of Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) over content on C.H.E.W. Project’s website. Apparently, the “issue” is that they object to one particular resource – a set of information cards which is an “A-Z” of sexual
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Good-bye PC Party
On Saturday, March 18 2017, the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta (PCAA) voted to self immolate. They chose Jason Kenney as their next leader. Long time readers here will have long understood that I have been no fan of the PCs for a long time. In my opinion, they lost
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: On Budgets and Deficits In Alberta
Today was budget day in Alberta. More or less, the NDP government brought in the budget that had been expected. Continued spending on big ticket items that have been put off for years, if not decades. Predictably both the PC and WildRose opposition parties are crying foul. The argument is
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Senator Plett Reprises His Complaints on Bill C-16
Whether we are talking about Bill C-16, Bill C-279 or Bill C-389, there has been one consistent thing in the Senate – the voice of Senator Plett droning on about how terrible this legislation is. This week, second reading of Bill C-16 happened in the Senate, and sure enough Senator
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Senator Plett Reprises His Complaints on Bill C-16
Whether we are talking about Bill C-16, Bill C-279 or Bill C-389, there has been one consistent thing in the Senate – the voice of Senator Plett droning on about how terrible this legislation is. This week, second reading of Bill C-16 happened in the Senate, and sure enough Senator
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Changing Education Curriculum
The Alberta Government kicked off a major review and overhaul of the province's school curricula in June of 2016. Given that large tracts of the curricula haven't been reviewed or changed in a very long time, this seems to be a perfectly reasonable task for any government to undertake. The
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Changing Education Curriculum
The Alberta Government kicked off a major review and overhaul of the province's school curricula in June of 2016. Given that large tracts of the curricula haven't been reviewed or changed in a very long time, this seems to be a perfectly reasonable task for any government to undertake. The
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: About That 40% Suicide Attempt Rate
Over at a rabidly anti-transgender blog called "4th Wave Now" we find the following article which attempts to debunk the 40% suicide rate that several iterations of the US Transgender Survey have found. The argument largely seems to be that the US Transgender Survey is "flawed", and therefore we shouldn't
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: About That 40% Suicide Attempt Rate
Over at a rabidly anti-transgender blog called "4th Wave Now" we find the following article which attempts to debunk the 40% suicide rate that several iterations of the US Transgender Survey have found. The argument largely seems to be that the US Transgender Survey is "flawed", and therefore we shouldn't
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: The Ethics of Wikileaks
Wikileaks, and other information repositories like it, raises some interesting ethical problems. To date, Wikileaks has pretty much taken a wholesale approach to the information that comes its way – it all gets published regardless of its validity, relevance or timeliness. Many have applauded this, especially with bulk leak of
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