Gary Mar Premier Alison Redford has ordered former cabinet minister Gary Mar, now the Government of Alberta’s representative in Asia, to take an unpaid leave of absence during an ethics investigation of a recent fundraiser held in Edmonton. Mr. Mar, who placed second in the 2011 PC leadership, hosted a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On risky business
Michael Den Tandt suggests that the Cons’ budget later this month will be “revolutionary” – which fits the conventional wisdom that a majority government will try to get its most controversial moves out of the way at the earliest opportunity in order to seem less dangerous by the time the
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Robots Take Over the World
The Leader Post could not be more funny; Funny strange, and “haha”. In a week where Robocalls are on the lips of every politically aware Canadian, they run this photo gallery… Gallery: Robots take over the world Robots swim, play soccer, and fight with lightsabers in our 2011 robot round-up.
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Opinionated inanimate objects
I love these cartoons by Marc Johns — I hope he does many more. That’s not toasting, that’s typing! Fezzes have notoriously high standards. I agree, but the Google Font Api changed all that. You can get all these as … Continue reading →
Continue readingNote to media: Can we stay focussed, please?
Roboscam, not robocalls. And, although I’ve taken to using “roboscam” as shorthand, let is remember that live callers have also been implicated in this national vote suppression initiative. The issue isn’t robocalls. I don’t like ‘em, but they aren’t illegal per se. I’ve already voted online for the next NDP
Continue readingBirth Pangs: Doonesbury Tackles Abortion
Sounds like a great strip and very on point however newspapers will be given the chance to replace it if they deem themselves and their readership hypocritical enough to accept and support state sponsored rape but too precious to actually know the reality of it. The comic strips feature a
Continue readingOf course we can pay for subways! What are you, thick? | #TOpoli
Maybe it’s more of a … Madrid kind of idea … Permalink | Leave a comment »
Continue readingThose Emergency Blues: Favourite Poems XLIX
Eight haiku by Matsuo Bashō, translated by R. K. Blyth. Wikipedia tells us the Shinto priesthood deified Basho in 1793, a sort of minor god of poetry, and for a time critical evaluation of his work was literally considered blasphemous. 1 Moonlight slants through The vast bamboo grove: A cuckoo cries 2 Ah, summer
Continue readingMorton's Musings: Pat Robertson is now more progressive than the people running the federal government. That’s quite a feat.
http://bit.ly/zEm8Mu "I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol," Mr. Robertson told The New York Times this week. "… This war on drugs just hasn't succeeded." He has made similar remarks before on his show The 700 Club, but he went even further in this
Continue readingManning Networking Conference, 2012–all about freedom
…unless you’re a journalist who broke a story the Cons would have preferred to keep under wraps. From the conference agenda for March 9: 9:00 pm – 12:00 am Manning Rocks the Capital (Empire Grill (47 Clarence Street) A social evening with music, food and drink. Note: presentation of a
Continue readingwmtc: pity the 1%
“Cash bonuses on Wall Street are expected to drop by 14 percent during this year’s ‘bonus season’.” Only 20 billion will be doled out instead of the usual 121,00 billion. How sad. That’s billion, with a B. Bankers’ trophy dates are sad, too. Be sure to click – and read
Continue readingThe Great Christy Clark Sell-Out: The ‘Iron Snowbird’ embraces Conservative values at Manning conference
Nothing says ‘Liberal’ like a big dollop of Conservative values. Not just Conservative values but the more radical Reform, Alliance ones. The BC Liberals have always been accused of being Conservatives in Liberal clothing and nothing says phony and sell-out like Christy Clark and the BC Liberals. On Friday, he
Continue readingknitnut.net: Am I sick or am I stoned?
Many years ago, when I was in my teens, I spent a pleasant afternoon with three friends drinking Tussionex, which is a prescription cough syrup. Personally, I preferred to spend my time at the other end of the spectrum, doing amphetamines and staying awake for days on end. But these
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Activist Communiqué: Robo-call rallies around Canada
In a new Ipsos Reid poll on the robo-calls scandal, conducted for Postmedia News and Global TV, Canadians are uncompromising about the way forward. A whopping 68% want new by-elections in all affected ridings. Elections …Read More
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading. – On the Robocon front, Glen McGregor and Stephen Maher’s latest good work investigating the Cons’ electoral fraud got Maher expelled from the Manning Centre’s hive-mind-building exercise. And the robocalling firms themselves are being similarly aggressive in trying to shut down any discussion of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What Did You Expect?
Our capacity as a species for delusional thinking and rationalization seems to have few limits, our sad record on climate change and our cheering on of oppressive and anti-democratic government measures when our convenience is at stake but two examples. In today’s Star, Heather Mallick, with whom I frequently lose
Continue readingWhat Mr. Fryer Was NOT Forced To Do.
ThisIsWhatADemocracyCentre LooksLikeVille First, what Mr. Fryer, the public administrator guy from UVIC, did do… He apologized and made it clear that his statements were not meant to suggest that two very fine folks, and the even finer ‘Campaign Research’ group, have done anything illegal or unethical. To wit: Campaign Research
Continue readingWhere’s the outrage from the right over Louis CK being dropped from Correspondent’s Dinner?
Whether he quit or was forced, Louis CK is no longer speaking at the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Assn. Dinner. The reason? He has in the past referred to Sarah Palin as a cunt. Scrambling desperately to make up for their idol Rush Limbaugh being called out for calling Sandra
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: By Whatever Means Necessary
Consider what has happened in the last three elections: In 2006, the Harper Conservatives — in their quest for a majority — broke Canada’s campaign finance laws. In 2008, they broke their own fixed date election law. In 2012, by suppressing key voters in key ridings, they flipped an election.
Continue readingMorton's Musings: Toronto police stop and document black and brown people far more than whites
Hardly a surprise: http://bit.ly/z74Alv "A Star analysis of Toronto police stop data from 2008 to mid-2011 shows that the number of young black and brown males aged 15 to 24 documented in each of the city's 72 patrol zones is greater than the actual number of young men of colour
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