Wednesday, February 1, 2012 On January 30th, media, First Nations groups, activists and one law student intern crowded into a hotel room on the outskirts of Edmonton for a press conference held by the Yinka Dene Alliance. Alberta and Northwest Territories First Nations signed on to the historic “Save the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Dunderfalls #nlpoli
This is a screen cap of the picture VOCM is using on their front page to illustrate a story on Muskrat Falls. C’mon guys. This isn’t artsy. This isn’t creative. This is just unflattering to the Premier and therefore inappropriate. Next thing you know she’ll be slicing into the evil
Continue readingBoycott the Komen Foundation for the cure
…for cowardice, anti-choice capitulation—and lawfare against other charities. How many donors know that their money—a million smackers a year—is being used to persecute other charities that have dared to use the word “cure” in their names? Since when can you trademark a common English word? In the US, apparently you
Continue readingthe woodshed: Next from the CPC: senior citizens and ice floes, our new money-saving plan for Canada’s elderly
I really don’t think it is a stretch to say that only a conservative could come up with something this brazenly evil and stupid and then try to sell it as a way to save taxpayers’ money. That it is a member of the Canadian senate proposing it just proves
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Alert! Episode 201
Noted health care analyst Pat Armstrong reflects on what lies behind Harper’s new health care policy. It’s not just a matter of numbers. Pensions expert Andrew Jackson shows why Harper’s pension policy is fiscally unnecessary and devastating, especially for low income seniors. Investigative journalist Martin Lukacs talks about Harper’s tar
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Green Party Leader May and NDP Critic Angus to Join Discussions of Online Surveillance Bills
SOS_100xx100.png Event to Inform Criticism of Proposed Bills That Would Allow Warrantless Electronic Spying Ottawa, ON – In response to proposed bills that would allow warrantless electronic surveillance of Canadians, the Ottawa community is invited to join digital affairs experts and political representatives—including the NDP’s Charlie Angus and the Green
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Most Commentators and Economists Say Threshold Change for OAS is Unnecessary
Surveying recent media coverage including economists referenced or interviewed, one will discover that roughly 9 out of 10 commentators argue that the age threshold for OAS does not require changing to maintain sustainable funding for the program despite swelling seniors’ ranks and a decreasing Canadian population. Neither the argument that
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Hell In A Handbasket
American spy charged with spying, by his own government, when he revealed to reporters that the CIA was acting illegally by torturing people. Obama’s War on Whistle-blowers, rages on. Bradley Manning is rolling over in his pending grave for allegedly feeding Collateral Murder and other information to WikiLeaks. == Our
Continue readingSen. Boisvenu’s modest proposal
And so the first trial balloon on the restoration of capital punishment is sent aloft, to jostle with the anti-abortion blimps. As it turns out, there’s nothing new under the sun. The Harper Senator is in good, aristocratic company: same warped world-view, same stunned politics. (Jonathan Guinness was the scion
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Same Thing Might Work For Senate Reform
A tough-on-crime Conservative senator said murderers should be provided with the tools to kill themselves in jail. Abolition by attrition, as it were.
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: NDPers dreamin’ of victory, ‘trash’ power sharing with Libs
The issue of having the New Democratic Party form an alliance with other parties – if such a move would keep the Conservatives out of power in 2015 – is vitally important for Canadians who fear the possibility of another four years of disastrous cutting and slashing. But some of
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: It’s a nice project, but… #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Manitoba Hydro’s limited review of Muskrat Falls is now available publicly. Manitoba Hydro concluded that the project is indeed the lower cost option of the two they were limited to studying and using all the assumptions they had to use under the question set for them by the people behind
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Bow Down Canadians, Corporations Are King
Two recent stories out of Ottawa underline the ongoing political and economic assault on ordinary Canadians. More Canadians are now working for low wages than at any time in decades, continuing a trend that began in the early 1990s, and Stephen Harper has announced major changes to retirement benefits —
Continue readingwmtc: who is behind the susan g. komen foundation’s decision to cut ties with planned parenthood?
When a leading breast-cancer charity severs its relationship with the largest provider of reproductive health services in the US, we have to ask, who is behind this terrible decision? The Atlantic: The nation’s leading breast-cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which has spent nearly $2 billion over the
Continue readingStaffroom Confidential: Kevin Falcon speaks the Liberal truth – serve the rich
I was gob-smacked this morning to read a quote from Kevin Falcon, the Finance Minister, reacting to the recent BC Statistics report on growing income inequality. The report showed that BC has the biggest gap between the top and bottom twenty percent of workers of any province in Canada. Falcon
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Capitalism is Working Just Fine… That’s the Problem
In Manila , Mexico City and Delhi communities of people make their livelihood sifting through massive garbage dumps on city’s edge. In London, lavish shops and middle-class stability stand amid massive unemployment, yet there is bafflement when rioting and looting break out. A global economy — think Greece, Spain, the
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Fox News Versus The Muppets: Do Conservatives Have Different Senses of Humor Than Liberals?
kermit.jpg You’ve probably already heard: In a video “press conference” that has already been seen by almost two million people, Kermit and Miss Piggy take on, and take down, Fox News. The provocation? A comment by a conservative media watcher, Dan Gainor of the Media Research Center, on the Fox Business
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class Updated
In his 1899 work The Theory of the Leisure Class, Thorstein Veblen wrote, “The basis on which good repute in any highly organised industrial community ultimately rests is pecuniary strength; and the means of showing pecuniary strength… are leisure and a conspicuous consumption of goods.” In Crass Struggle, McGill University
Continue readingBetterParks for Vancouver: An inauspicious beginning for the opposition at the Park Board
With another Vision majority on the Park Board we have 3 more years of them doing pretty much whatever they want. That is the nature of democracy and I respect that. I have not always agreed with the direction they have taken and voiced my concern while I was sitting
Continue readingOf big brothers and little birds
Yup, they’re watching, and we’d just better get used to it. Item: A British couple hoping to holiday in Los Angeles was seized at the airport and incarcerated overnight, then deported. The reason? Two Tweets. One made reference to “destroying” America, British slang for partying and getting drunk. The other,
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