Billy Bragg We’ve been experiencing what we refer to as ‘Andy Warhol Weather’ here today: fifteen minutes of rain, fifteen minutes of sun, fifteen minutes of hail etc etc. As a result, I couldn’t take my guitar amp out onto the rubble mound this week for the #ClapForNHS #ClapForCarers #ClapForKeyWorkers
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THE FIFTH COLUMN: COVID-19 and Education in Ontario – An Imaginative Approach
Let me start by saying that I understand that hindsight is a big advantage and some may ask why didn’t I think of this sooner and my response is that thinking about education in Ontario is not my full time job but it is for Ontario’s Ministry of Education. While
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: The Pensioner and the Pandemic and …
The Government Wants to Lock Me in My Room Well this blog post is taking somewhat of a change of direction from that planned, which was to focus on the benefits of being a retired pensioner at this time, since the Ontario government is telling me that I will suddenly
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: On Immigration
Canada welcomed the highest number of new immigrants in more than a century last year, opening its doors to 341,180 people from 175 different countries. That annual total, which exceeded Ottawa’s target of 330,000, was topped only twice before — in 1913, when 401,000 new immigrants arrived in the country,
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: On Being a “Boomer”
Generations When I was growing up in the 1950s and onward there was not all this talk about generations that seems to have become a fascination of the last twenty years. Although I became aware of the baby boom and even the term baby boomers (now apparently just boomers), I
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: New Year Prediction – The New Veganism
Perhaps not this year, but I can see it coming as clear as the lighting in a laboratory clean room. It started with vegetarianism, a dietary preference to avoid eating meat. And it morphed into veganism, a morality cult claiming any food products related to animals in any way are
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Happy New Year – We Are All Going to Die
Yes, we are all going to die and that’s it, the end. Except for the Christians, of course, they get to go to an afterlife of either heaven or hell. There seem to be two schools of thought on who goes where. One seems to believe good people go to
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: The War Against Holiday Diversity
They call it the War on Christmas, but in reality it is just an opportunity for a few people to get apoplectic, or is it apocalyptic, about the fact that some people acknowledge that many holidays are celebrated at this time of year. Proponents of the theory like to claim
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Towards a Green Social Democratic Economy
Background/Context Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit.[1][2][3][4] Characteristics central to capitalism include private property, capital accumulation, wage labor, voluntary exchange, a price system and competitive markets.[5][6] In a capitalist market economy, decision-making and investments are
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: The Truth About the Kanata Lakes Golf Course Development Proposal
Many of you probably see the opposition to replacing the Kanata Lakes golf course with housing as just a NIMBY response of a bunch of privileged entitled suburbanites living in their low density paradise. After all golf courses are not usually considered environmentally friendly and there is a real need
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Federal Election 2019 Reflections
The big surprise of the election has to be the Bloc Québécois resurgence, although I am sure they probably saw it coming even if the rest of us didn’t. This certainly makes leader Yves-François Blanchet’s position secure. The other surprise was the late campaign resurgence of the New Democratic Party
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: On Inequality, Democracy and Taxing the Rich – A Modest Proposal
No doubt many raised in our capitalist society, where inequality rules and excessive incomes and wealth are seen as a right (and where even the NDP only proposes a measly 1% tax on excessive wealth), will consider this proposal to be radical but it is actually quit a modest proposal.
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Guns – What Are They Good For
War The Wikipedia section on the history of guns makes it clear that the history of guns and war are clearly intertwined, guns being developed primarily as a means to kill people in warfare. Indeed even with the advent of weapons of mass destruction, the infamous WMDs, guns are still
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: On Free Trade
Even among left wing parties and progressive politicians trade is worshipped as the saviour of the world, but perhaps we should ask ourselves Is Trade Evil ? After we do that we can consider the question of free trade and free trade agreements. We need to seriously look at the
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Can We, Should We, Will We Live Forever Online
When typing for this blog I have often wished I could just think my thoughts at the computer and have them type out on the screen. This, no doubt, has much to do with the fact I am a one finger hunt and peck typist (having been streamed into drafting
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Metric for Americans
American exceptionalism often means things like calling football soccer while the rest of the world calls it football . Yes, us northern neighbours do the same thing but it’s still wrong. My biggest peeve about American exceptionalism is the fact they cannot get their political colours correct. Every American election
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: On Television
Definitions: 1 A system for converting visual images (with sound) into electrical signals, transmitting them by radio or other means, and displaying them electronically on a screen. 2 A device with a screen for receiving television signals. Source: OED https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/television Television (TV), sometimes shortened to tele or telly, is a
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Primitive vs Civilized Societies
As someone born in 1950 and raised and educated in a Eurocentric culture I learned early that civilized societies are intellectually, socially, and technologically superior to primitive societies. This despite the fact that the indigenous peoples of this land I was born on have for centuries had their own distinct
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: On Gender Identity
I was born in 1950 at a time when spouses were specifically excluded from rape laws and homosexuality was illegal. Homosexuality was only whispered about in “polite company” and people with a gender identity or gender expression that differed from their assigned sex did not exist, and by that I
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Is American Democracy Fucked ?
So is the American political system completely dysfunctional. I suppose the easy answer is to say they elected Trump so case closed, but of course it is much more complicated than that. What advanced developed democracy cannot manage to keep it’s government functioning. The obvious answer should be “none” but
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