Creationism (and it’s dressed-up-in-drag younger brother, “intelligent” design) is the black mold of education. It’s an insidious infection of the mind, an intellectual parasite. And like real-life black mold, it creates a toxic environment – for learning and critical thinking. … Continue reading →
Continue readingLet Freedom Rain II: Saturday Night Movies: ‘Road House’ Redux – Or, how the Libs can kick the living shit out of the Cons by talking nice
Road House is a popular movie among males, especially action movie geeks. I’ve seen it a few dozen times or so but only because it’s ALWAYS on some channel or another. I’m almost beginning to really love it. It’s so simple, almost biblical. Let’s face it – the only way
Continue readingThe World Famous Dan Shields: 6115…Nelson Mandela, RIP
Joe Leary shared this sad news on Facebook. Nelson Mandela has died. Very sad news. What a great man!! Nelson Mandela, born on July 18, 1918 in Mvezo, was a South African politician. He died today at the age of 94. The news has left the world shocked and saddened.
Continue readingThe World Famous Dan Shields: 6114…Gays Be Marching
It is Pride season again. First Pride march seems to be in Edmonton. Straight up here is what drives me crazy about Pride: pick a frigging day. Like Christmas is on December 25; St. Jean Baptiste June 24th and; you get the idea. Not hating. Just wish it was one
Continue readingStraight Outta Edmonton: Bedford Challenge to Canada’s Prostitution Laws
Prostitution is legal in Canada. There are no laws prohibiting the sale of sex. However, criminal prohibitions on bawdy houses (such as brothels), living on the avails of prostitution, and communicating in public for the purposes of prostitution make almost all forms of sex work illegal. Out-call work, where sex
Continue readingStraight Outta Edmonton: Bedford Challenge to Canada’s Prostitution Laws
Prostitution is legal in Canada. There are no laws prohibiting the sale of sex. However, criminal prohibitions on bawdy houses (such as brothels), living on the avails of prostitution, and communicating in public for the purposes of prostitution make almost all forms of sex work illegal. Out-call work, where sex
Continue readingStraight Outta Edmonton: Bedford Challenge to Canada’s Prostitution Laws
Warren Kinsella: In Sunday’s Sun: 130 seats
In politics, body language is important. In particular, the body language of Messrs. Harper, Mulcair and Trudeau. One of them does not seem worried; the other two look like they are taking nothing for granted. Some pollsters, naturally, tell a somewhat different tale. If you believe successive polls — and
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression warns against communications surveillance
The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion warns that the widespread use of surveillance technologies to monitor peoples’ communications violates the human rights to privacy and freedom of expression. He also argues that here is no way to ensure freedom of expression without respect of privacy in
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Olivia Chow–Gonna Run For T.O. Mayor?
I just got a robo-call from Olivia in her role as MP asking me to tune-in to a live call later this week re public transit. Since much of the country doesn’t have and doesn’t give a crap about public transit, I am assuming it will have something to do
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Mass Surveillance: Shamrock, Prism, and Supercomputers
As I kind of expected, when I suggested on Friday that we could now foresee an age where mass surveillance by governments was so cheap and easy that it would be effectively impossible to prevent, the main objection was that while it might be easy to collect essentially unlimited information,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Wheels of G20 Justice Move Very Slowly
Although I have written countless posts about the abrogation of charter rights and myriad instances of police brutality that occured in Toronto during the infamous G20 weekend in 2010, the story never seems to be over. This past week saw one officer acquitted in the assault of Dorian Barton; Glenn
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Saturday Photo: Japense Maples and Russian Olives
The air right now is heavy with the smell of Russian olives. Not olives, but certainly a native of the Russians steppes, these hardy trees are considered a nuisance in many places where they’ve been introduced. But here, the winters are so severe that they don’t run wild, and lend
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: June 8: Words, words, words….
Us human types are forever using words we don’t understand – and, worse, we speak them to other people who don’t understand them either, but whose misunderstanding is a different one from hours.. And so we get into hopeless shouting messages so meaningless that one of us could be speaking
Continue readingThings Are Good: Band of the Month: Human Bodies
This week, I will be featuring two bands as a small highlight of the 1000 plus talented bands from all over the globe performing in Toronto’s upcoming NXNE music festival that runs June 10-16. The first of two bands is Human Bodies. Patient, lush, and explosive all rolled into a
Continue readingMorton's Musings: Crowdsourcing and Criminal Justice
Crowdsourcing and the criminal justice system have obvious but usually overlooked links. To a degree that is because crowdsourcing has been seamlessly integrated into police investigation for so long that it is invisible. But for the practicing lawyer modern crowdsourcing techniques allow for insights and legal precedents rapidly and inexpensively;
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Jillian Berman reports on research showing that the predictable effect of decreased unionization is a transfer of wealth from workers to shareholders: The jump in corporate profit over the past few decades can be explained largely by a decline in union membership over
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