In case you’ve been sleeping under a rock for the last few months, the National Post’s Matt Gurney has a useful summary of Mike Duffy’s corrupt antics in the Senate, up to and including the decision by the Prime Minister’s Office to bail out Duffy with $90,000 in cash from
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The Sixth Estate: The BC NDP’s Error: Nobody Cares
I’m not terribly interested in speculating, at least for the moment, about why the pollsters would be devastatingly incorrect — again — about a provincial election campaign. My guess is that in this case it has something to do with young people not voting, but again, the answer will become
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Why Conservatives are Missing from the Climate Change Debate
As promised, I am steadfastly avoiding discussing the Globe & Mail, and its latest partisan salvo — a preposterous endorsement of the BC Social Credit-turned-Liberal Party that reads like it could have been written by said party’s PR hacks — doesn’t help matters. (The Globe describes the NDP leader as
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Why Bacteria Are Smarter Than Drug Companies, Part 2
This post is part 2 of a series on science, politics, and the future. You can also check out Part 1: “Science Denialism and the Future of Humanity.” More or less on a weekly basis, every serious news outlet delivers a new report about antibiotic resistance. This week’s pertains to
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Canada’s New National Research Council: Same As the Old One, Digging a Deeper Hole
One of the most irritating features of government-by-press-release is the “re-announcement” — the enthusiastic proclamation, with full fanfare, of something that has already been proclaimed before, often many times. Today the Conservative government engaged in this practice, or, just as conveniently, had the media do it for them by playing
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Survey Says: Many Canadians Are Unreflective About Religion
The latest census is out and for one reason or another, one of the several numbers upon which media attention has been fixated are the religion figures. This sort of ties into my new series on science, evolution, and the future of humanity, but actually it’s a separate question which
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Science Denialism and the Future of Humanity, Part 1
Recently, answering questions about the future of scientific research in Canada and the ongoing transformation of the National Research Council from a basic science research organization into a facilitator of “commercially relevant” private-sector research, Science Minister Gary Goodyear said the following: On publishing, scientists—and frankly, professors at university—will tell you
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: ICAO Won’t Relocate, But Not Because of Harper Government Diplomacy
Until yesterday, I suspect very few Canadian outside of the airlines industry actually knew that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the UN organization which promotes regulation of international air travel, had its headquarters in Montreal. Some more Canadians probably know it is today, and, as you probably know, the
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Andrew Coyne’s Drive-by Attack on “Big Government”
Update: Andrew has suggested to me that it is unfair to judge the column by the title, since he didn’t write it, which is true, although it strikes me that such a complaint would be better directed to the people who write the headlines than to the people who read
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Attention BC Liberals: Space for Rent
In regards to this… First of all, to the genius publishers of 24 Hours, nicely done. I know you’ve got a business to run, but all you’ve done is to make me instantly discount and ignore any “news” you print on your first page ever, ever again. I’m not sure
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Who is the Auditor-General Protecting in New Report on $3 Billion Boondoggle?
What’s more interesting in the Auditor-General’s latest report on government fiscal atrocity isn’t what it says, which you can already read about at your leisure in any credible mainstream news source, but what it leaves out. Being an Auditor-General is a tough job, especially when you’re continually investigating a government
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Sixth Estate Endorses Mischa Popoff in BC 2013 Election
After a good and I like to think well-deserved hiatus, I’m going to be easing back into blogging now. And I thought that perhaps the way to do it would be to endorse a party in Canada’s only current election campaign, the one in B.C. One of the things that
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: CBC Backtracks on Fact-Checking, Supports Government — But a Former BC Liberal Leader Disagrees!
Yesterday I published a fairly scathing review of CBC’s attempt at a fact-checking service payday loans lenders online , which appeared to conclude that the right-wing BC Liberal Party (a former Social Credit gang which is now a close ally of Stephen Harper) was spreading untruths about the record of
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: CBC Can’t Stop Spinning, Even When It “Fact-Checks”
I view the rise of so-called “fact-checking” in the mainstream corporate news with mixed emotions. First of all, it is nice to see them, you know, doing their jobs for a change. But second of all, why do they need a fact-checking column? Does this mean that they’re not, um,
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Peter Penashue Plumbs New Depths in Conservative Corruption
Well, at least we have it confirmed for us. The reason that Vic Toews is a Cabinet minister despite being convicted of election fraud, the reason that Peter Penashue is allowed to stand as a Conservative candidate despite being responsible for similar violations of the law, the reason Peter Van
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Sorry for Hiatus
As regular visitors will have noticed, I haven’t been up to my usual feisty self lately. The truth is, real life intervenes some times, and I’ve been hellishly busy lately so far this year. I promise, though, that it won’t be a permanent disappearance. Tweet
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: The Cyprus Banking Crisis and How Banks Really Work
The Cyprus banking crisis is a useful teachable moment about banking and taxation — so I guess I’m not surprised that this opportunity is being entirely missed by the media, most of whom probably don’t know what’s actually going on, either. Both the left and the right are incensed at
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: I’m Giving Up on the Globe & Mail
I have stood by the Globe & Mail since I started this blog. You might not have noticed, given all the names I’ve called them over that time, but I have stood by them. When commenter after commenter tells me just to give up on them as an irredeemably right-wing
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Conservatives Lose $8 Billion, Get Free Pass From Media
It’s possible to trace, year over year, the increasing negligence and partisanship of the Canadian media by how they react to government budgets. Take this year’s budget, for instance. If a Liberal or NDP government anywhere in the country, let alone federally, tabled a budget that blew past its previous
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Conservative Lawlessness Reaches its Rubicon
If I had a shred of real optimism left, I’d say the wheels are starting to fall off of the Harper bus. But I have no such shred left. Instead all I have is a sinking suspicion that yet another wave of pro-government editorials will soon sweep the free press,
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