The flagship site at work – the one I’m mainly responsible for – needs a complete overhaul. Near as I can tell, it’s more than 3500 static pages composed mostly of little news nugget items about various rounds of bargaining between us and the various employers who sit across the
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Video: Taiaiake Alfred – “The Psychic Landscape of Contemporary Colonialism”
Check out this video with Mohawk activist and scholar Taiaiake Alfred giving a talk in Ottawa called “The Psychic Landscape of Contemporary Colonialism”: (Found via Intercontinental Cry.) [Scott Neigh is a parent, activist, and writer based in Sudbury, Ontario. This post originally appeared on his personal blog.]
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Treading on the public welfare
News Item, January 11, 2012: “Shaw Media announced Wednesday that it has filed an application to the CRTC for a 24/7 regional, all-news channel for the province. “The channel is set to launch this summer, pending approval from the CRTC, which is the country’s broadcasting regulator. The new channel will
Continue readingBene Diction Blogs On: The Survivor Fund Project – Prairie Bible Institute speaks for RCMP and independent third party. Again.
Despite a mixed promise by Prairie Bible Institute for appropriate third-party help for abuse survivors who came forward last year, it appears PBI is confused about 3rd party responsibility. The latest confusion comes an announcement of a PBI initiated project The announcement was posted on two PBI alumni Facebook pages
Continue readingWhy is Ethical Oil so terrified of confirming if it is funded by Enbridge?
Wow. Just wow. Watched Power & Politics with Huffington Post’s Kathryn Marshall representing Ethical Oil debating with a representative from the Sierra Club foreign involvement in the Northern Gateway hearings. What was so amazing is that every time host Evan Solomon correctly asked if Enbridge was funding Ethical Oil, Marshall would loudly
Continue readingThe Equivocator: Looking For A New Liberal Leader? Why Not Scott Brison?
If you are looking for something to do at the Liberal biennial convention this weekend I have a suggestion for you: Walk up to Scott Brison (only if he isn’t engaged in conversation. I don’t want you to bother him) and tell him that it would be great if he
Continue readingRed Tory v.3.0.3: The Bain Capital Debate in a Nutshell
More than 20 years ago, the Norman Jewison film Other People’s Money quite neatly described the fundamental contours of the debate that may be about to unfold in the GOP race concerning the nature of Mitt Romney’s dubious yet highly profitable endevours as a vulture capitalist: The question now is
Continue readingTrashy's World: Public transportation…
Taxi version… Ottawa versus Barbados. Based on recent experience. 1) Lots of baggage and taxis, Barbados. Part One. Driver cheerfully picks up from Granley Adams Airport and carefully sets our 5 heavy suitcases carefully down in the back of the minivan. Smile on face, he talks us up on the
Continue readingBlunt Objects: Shorter Bob Rae
I think this government sucks and the government I ran, which most people think sucked, doesn’t suck as bad as this one does. I kid, of course. His speech was actually very worthwhile to listen to and I enjoyed every moment of it. I have conflicted feelings over Rae –
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: ‘Dinner for two’ for first journalist who dares to explain Conservative ideology
Journalists in the mainstream Canadian media are being intimidated from fully describing the soulless ideology practised by the Harper Conservative government – at least this has been my impression for some time now. Wanting to find out what journalists are really writing about the Tories and neoliberalism, I spent some
Continue readingTerahertz: Management for skeptics
At some point near the end of last semester I checked out Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton from the SFU library. As a graduate student I had access to term loans from the library so I took the book out knowing
Continue readingHalf an Hour: The Argument from Theft
The argument from theft once again rears its ugly head, this time in an OER discussion forum. On 01/11/2012 6:44 PM, Jacky Hood wrote: There is an alternative: stop forcing people to pay for research, education, etc. How good is something that requires jail sentences and fines to get people
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Rob Ford And White Trash
Try and read the story through the link below and NOT think of the theme from Deliverance, which I would render in text as follows: Dingalingningningning…ning…ning…ning. Dingalingningningning…ning…ning…ning.Dingalinganinganing…Dingalinganinganing….Dinalinganinganinganinganinganinganing…! …and etc. I swear to God: before Rob Ford’s first term is out he will tell somebody to squeal like a pig.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Update: Legal Services Society of BC and the Definition(s?) of Sexual Abuse
A while ago I wrote about the puzzling decision on the part of the Legal Services Society of BC to publish a handbook on sexual abuse against men that defined such things as being made to ”feel embarassed” by a woman, being “criticized on performance” by a woman, or the
Continue readingsomecanuckchick dot com: When will Ethical Oil release its donor list?
Ethical Oil was quick to slam environmental groups for taking US money… It appears Ethical Oil accepts funds, via PayPal, from around the world — including the USA. Just out of curiosity, when will Ethical Oil release its donor list?
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Americans Waking Up to Class Warfare, Find Themselves Under Attack
This could just be what the corporatist Right fears most; the American public realizing there’s a class war underway and they’ve been taking fire. If the American people get in a mood to counterattack, the forces of corporatism and their rightwing political minions could be in a very bad way.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Foreign influence in Canada’s oil patch
Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver’s contention that the National Energy Board hearings on the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline are loaded down with foreign special interests is exactly right. But it is not the “environmentalists and other radical groups” that are the problem. It’s the oil and gas industry. This Statscan table
Continue readingChairman Mao rolls in his grave
150 computer factory workers had to be talked down from a “suicide jump” in protest of lousy working conditions at the infamous Foxconn. This would not have made the news when Mao Zedong was in charge of China… The workers were eventually coaxed down after two days on top of
Continue readingRed Tory v.3.0.3: Summing Up the Republicans
Good discussion about the current state of the GOP with respect to the primary race and hypothetical outcomes should a Republican become president, featuring David “Axis of Evil” Frum, New York Magazine writer Jonathan Chait and National Review editor Kevin Williamson. Towards the end of the conversation, Paiken wheels out
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Civil Unions vs Full Marriage Equality
Civil unions, as opposed to gay marriage, are often advocated for by the moderate right, and sometimes as a pragmatic solution on the left. The main idea is that civil unions provide a more reasonable approach that lets gay people enjoy the benefits of something close to marriage without upsetting those who do
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