When Barack Obama became President, there was an enormous outpouring of emotion at the historic fact of electing the first black President. Had Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary instead, America would most likely have had its first female President which would have been similarly venerated. Regardless of who the
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: We Do Not Comment On Bullshit Polls…
…conducted barely eight months into a four year mandate. Even (marginally) encouraging ones. And hardly a reason to plump for Bob as LPoC leader this far in advance of the leadership convention, if anyone is thinking that. Wait until he craps a gold brick in public before we declare him THE ONE. That is all.
Continue readingBetterParks for Vancouver: Civic Financial Reform
I applaud Andrea Reimer and Vision Vancouver for the motion to seek electoral financial reform in Vancouver. Of course this is really a matter for the provincial government through amendments to the Vancouver Charter, but they will only act on a request from the City. The Province has been very
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Palestinian Home Demolitions this Week
At 11:30 p.m. on that cold, rainy night, I got a panicky phone call from Salim Shawamreh, a Palestinian man from the West Bank town of Anata whose home has been demolished by the Israeli authorities four times and rebuilt as an act of resistance each time by ICAHD. “Army
Continue readingArt Threat: And the Oscar goes to…another white guy – Academy Awards #84 give middle finger to women, again
The above video demonstrates how, waaaaaay back in 2009, most movies didn’t pass the Bechdel Test for women in movies, a simple three-part process to determine whether women are afforded positive representation in any given film or not. Not only does the latest batch of Oscar nominations miserably fail the
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Reconsidering Harper’s vision for Canada
THE CAGING OF AMERICA, Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, January 2012 “…In the past two decades, the money that states spend on prisons has risen at six times the rate of spending on higher education. Ours is, bottom to top, a “carceral state,” in the flat verdict of Conrad Black,
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Alert! Episode 200
Carlo Fanelli analyses what was accomplished at Toronto City Hall to limit the regressive measures introduced by Mayor Rob Ford and the shape of the battles still to come. Political scientist Dennis Pilon reflects on the history of municipal amalgamations that bring to power right-wing mayors like Rob Ford in
Continue readingNew CETA documents leaked this morning.
The Trade Justice Network has in it’s possession newly leaked documents detailing Canada’s initial servicesand investment offers to the EU in the nearly completed free tradenegotiations. The documents, which were previously secret but leakedthis morning by the Quebec Network on Continental Integration have been posted on the Trade Justice Network
Continue readingArt Threat: Does girly Lego promote gender stereotypes?
A screenshot from the Lego Friends website. Critics are seething after Lego announced its new line of toys designed for girls. The super slim, anatomically incorrect Lego Friends figures have been accused of promoting damaging gender stereotypes and body dissatisfaction. Lego responded to the controversy by saying they were just
Continue readingBlunt Objects: HD Poll: 32-29-25
This is the second poll now to show the federal Conservatives blow 35%, the other being the recent EKOS polling done last month, which had them at 31.4%. In fact, HD almost perfectly mirrors EKOS’ 31.4-29.5-24.8 result. What does this mean? Well… it does somewhat confirm EKOS. However, not since
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: Advice from South of the Border
The Liberal convention earlier this month grabbed a lot of headlines – Mike Crawley’s 26-vote victory over Sheila Copps for party President, the party’s move to the supporter system, the decision to, like, totally legalize marijuana. As important as those events were, the real work of rebuilding the party will
Continue readingThe Equivocator: 5 Questions: Imran Ahmad, V.P. Francophone LPC
I first had the pleasure of meeting Imran at a Edward Blake Society event in Toronto a few weeks before the convention. I was really impressed and after perusing his website, I decided to vote for him. His speech at the 2012 LPC Biennial Convention was one of the best
Continue readingRedBedHead: Year One Of The Egyptian Revolution
There will be gobs and gobs of text filling the pages, websites and on air coverage today about the 1 year anniversary of the start of the Egyptian revolution. A lot of it, particularly in North America, will be stupid, low level stuff – fears of the Islamists taking power,
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Rafe Tells Harper and "Raving Maniac" Joe Oliver He’s Ready for the Bulldozers
This raving maniac Joe Oliver, Harper’s Resources minister, is a dangerous man. Indeed so is Harper. They have flung down the gauntlet, essentially saying that violence is the inevitable consequence of BC not taking the Enbridge Pipeline, the consequent tanker traffic, increased capacity and tankers for the Kinder Morgan line
Continue readingRed Tory v.3.0.3: Are You a Climate Change “Denier”?
Did you know that according to some folks, if you accept the scientific premise of climate change but happen to disagree with the fatuous and practically ineffective approaches to mitigating its effects by present means of harmful economic tinkering (mostly for political effect), you are now considered to be a
Continue readingNational Energy Board: fair and balanced
…in the vulpine sense. Reader Holly Stick brings this article to my attention. Hearings are presently being conducted into the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline. The Joint Review Panel for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project is an independent body, mandated by the Minister of the Environment and the National Energy Board.
Continue readingTrashy's World: What many of us who ride OC Transpo every day…
… sometime dream of doing… 1 httpv://www.cpc-ccp.gc.ca/en/PBLAST_Exercise_OC_Transpo 1. Disclaimer. Not that I would ever consider really blowing up public property… just sayin’…K? Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Harper Government Identifies A New ‘Enemy Of The People’ – ForestEthics
Now this is just getting outrageous to the point of surrealism. The latest story in The Star reveals that the PMO has allegedly labelled an environmental group an “enemy” of Canada for opposing a proposed west coast oil pipeline and threatened retribution if its funding was not cut off, according
Continue readingThe Left Stuff: Get a Job
The song was recorded by The Silhouettes in 1958, the year that I got a job that turned into a 37 year career. In the 1950’s the expectation was that you would work at your career, build your home and family, retire on your pension and spend the rest of
Continue readingThe Left Stuff: Get a Job
The song was recorded by The Silhouettes in 1958, the year that I got a job that turned into a 37 year career. In the 1950’s the expectation was that you would work at your career, build your home and family, retire on your pension and spend the rest of
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