Coast Salish Orca In 2017, I wrote this post: accusations of cultural appropriation are a form of bullying — and don’t reduce racism, and a follow-up: postscript: some clarifications and addenda to my recent post on cultural appropriation. For a less-lengthy refresher, scroll down to “The current climate of accusation
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Taking the Environment to Heart or You Are What You Breathe
How’s your ticker? Probably it’s not as good as you imagine. The problem is – poison air. That’s especially true for those who live and work where the air is often worst, urban centers. The hearts of young city dwellers contain billions of toxic air pollution particles, research has revealed.
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Embracing Pessimism
The British, David Olusoga writes, are reflexively optimistic. But, as Britain hurtles to a messy Brexit, he argues that it’s time to embrace pessimism: Brexit, the rise of populism and the constitutional crisis in which we are still utterly ensnared – despite the passing distraction of the Tory leadership circus
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: When Premiers come out to play.
It was an interesting pack of premiers around the conference table at this year’s Canadian premiers’ meeting. They hardly had Justin Trudeau under their thumb. And they hardly bothered to try. This was a meeting to plan for October’s federal election. The odd men out were the bookends—John Horgan of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Andrew Sheer would let Canadians rot in foreign jails before giving up an electoral edge!
I rarely paid much attention to John McCallum during his years as a federal Liberal cabinet minister under three prime ministers and, on the few occasions I did, he never left much of an impression one way or the other. But I was shocked last week both by the specious
Continue readingThe Decarie Report: July 13: Dreadful
About 1900, Canadian troops were fighting a British war in South Africa. (The enemies were Dutch settlers called Boers. Much of the Canadian role was to guard Dutch families in prison camps where thousands men, women and children died. But why on earth were Canadians there in the first place?
Continue readingThe Political Road Map: A Salute to Progressive Bloggers
The October election is coming fast and with it one can only imagine what tricks and zingers the main political parties along with the Russian trolls are coming up with. Memes anyone? This post is simply a thank you to everyone at Progressive Bloggers and to everyone who takes the
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: British Political Humour Getting Their Own Trump-basketcase
I will keep bigging up Marina’s impossibly brilliant work until she is rightfully appointed Queen of Everything. The stunning last line here should be beamed into the brain of every living human being https://t.co/uXHyhl1cGJ — David Lewis (@davidclewis) July 12, 2019 “We’d be better off picking someone at random and
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Elizabeth May’s Absurd Reasons For Hiring Warren Kinsella
As I said in my last post, Elizabeth May's decision to hire the toxic Trudeau hater Warren Kinsella is one of the most bizarre political decisions in modern Canadian history.And tweets like this one only make it sound crazier. For asking Kinsella not to be offensive or insulting is like
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Owen Jones offers a needed reminder that no matter how often it gets trotted out as a basis to ignore the ideological underpinnings of parties oriented toward the concentration of wealth and power, the concept of compassionate conservatism is nothing more than a
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Canada finally accedes to Arms Trade Treaty
Ottawa has finally announced that Canada will become a party to the UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) later this year. The government has introduced Bill C-47 which amends the Export and Import Permits Act to ensure full compliance. In a press release on June 19, Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Saturday Photo: Time to Plunge Back into Concrete
Once upon a time, I had planned to have a book on concrete appear in 2019. But things got away from me–the zeitgeist, my editor said–and so the book for this year is Frenemy Nations: Love and Hate between Neighbo(u)ring States. That’s pretty much ready for the printer, so it’s
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Iceberg
Andrew Scheer hopes — desperately — that Doug Ford will keep his mouth shut. But that’s something Ford just can’t do. Consider Ford’s proclamations over the last week. Adam Radwanski writes: First, while in Calgary, the Ontario Premier accused the Prime Minister of not co-operating with the provinces, slammed federal
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Transgender Politics are Not Feminist Politics Female – Case in Point FGM.
I have watched men who gender as women repeatedly gain political power and establish themselves as a Patriarchy, which should be called a Transarchy. Transgender activism is really lead by men who gender as women. The other Transgender activists who are non-binary or who are women that gender as men
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Be kind to your local NDP.
No doubt we all know a few new democratic party stalwarts. They are neither as numerous nor as annoying as they once were but they all need a hug these days. They are angry, bewildered, concerned, depressed, you name it. They are not their formerly misguided but cheerful selves. They
Continue readingIn-Sights: New Era of Truthfulness at BC Hydro?
In BC Hydro’s most recent annual report, the company promised “one of the largest expansions of electrical infrastructure in British Columbia’s history.” To gain approval for massive spending, BC Hydro doctored load forecasts, issuing a steady stream of pronouncements about demand increases…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Musical interlude
Delerium feat. Mimi Page – Blue Fires
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: When You’re So Pleased With Your New Hire You Have to Wrap the Announcement In An Apology.
Elizabeth May has always been a good measure less progressive than the party rank and file, probably the inevitable result of her Mulroney years. Like her provincial cohort, Andrew Weaver, no one would consider her even centre-left. She and the membership have clashed in the past. In one instance it
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Day Elizabeth May Went Over To The Dark Side
As I've mentioned many times I've always liked Elizabeth May. She always struck me as the kind of decent politician I admire.I liked her so much that I would have been quite happy to see her and her Green Party prop up a Trudeau minority government if that turned out
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