Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Lawrence Martin notes that the Cons’ push for yet more layers of bureaucracy is based purely on a desire to cater to prejudice rather than any intention to improve the lot of Canada’s First Nations: Shortly after Stephen Harper’s Conservatives came to power
Continue readingMorton's Musings: Conservative MP seeks to have human rights protection for fetuses
This is almost certainly nothing more than public relations (ignore the legal analysis which is quite flawed). Stephen Harper has made it clear the issue will not be raised by his government … of course, a private members bill might give cover. But still, I doubt it: http://bit.ly/umRdNR
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Help for the CBC on conflicts of interest
Regular readers will be aware that I filed a complaint with CBC Ombudsman Kirk Lapointe over the conflict involving Legislative Bureau Chief Stephen Smart, husband of Rebecca Scott who holds the position of Communications Officer and Deputy Press Secretary for Premier Clark, a relatively senior OIC political appointment. Lapointe referred
Continue readingpale’s sh**…… errrrr git list. 2011
Who has been naughty, and who has been nice? Truthfully, the sh**’s…..SORRY! gits outnumber the rest. The Harpercon Borg tops my list for Canuck politics. But you knew that. I won’t even bother rattling off the reasons, I would be here for 12 days and 12 nights. I would need
Continue readingFerry Crash Number Four….The Door Has It.
NowIsZeeTimeOnSprockets WhenWeMakeZemDanceVille It turns out that, in addition to the dock, the latest BC Ferries crash at Duke point also damaged one of the ship’s doors. And recall, if you will, that this is one of those new gas guzzlers from Germany. Which means that you can’t order up a
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Trans woman asked by NWT Finance Minister to leave to accommodate “spooked” Governor General
CBC News is reporting that a human rights complaint has been filed against Northwest Territories’ Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger over an incident that occurred during the December 9th visit to Aurora College by Canada’s new Governor General, David Johnston. Miltenberger, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Thebacha, is alleged to have
Continue readingSanity comes ashore in Virginia
Q. How do you know when DADT is truly D-E-A-D? A. When something like this happens, and nobody gets arrested. The two women in the video are both petty officers in the US Navy. And as you can see, they’re glad and relieved to be out of the closet now,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: NCC: Not Much Blood on Canada’s Hands!
NCC logo.jpg It's Christmastime in Canada – when all self-satisfied ideologues take a moment to lift the finger of blame and point it at somebody else. "Credit" for outstanding performance in this regard must go to National Citizens Coalition President andf CEO Peter Coleman. In ringing defence of the former NCC
Continue readingHave The Politicalized PABsters Become The Policy?
Communications’RUs Clark’sVilleStation Rob Shaw, writing in the VT-C after talking to UVIC poli-sci guy Norman Ruff, has come up with an interesting angle on the document-dump Friday appointment of Christy Clark’s bridesmaid to head the PABsters last week: Premier Christy Clark’s decision to appoint someone from her office to oversee
Continue readingMost people don’t matter.
It’s easier to please those on the top. It’s far more beneficial to please those on the top, as they can benefit you the best. The underclass and the commoners are easier to ignore when you’re surrounded by those on the top. The Conservatives don’t care about you. Well, you being the
Continue readingBene Diction Blogs On: VotePrayServe violates Canada Elections Act
An Elections Canada investigation into Faytene Grasseschi and the mini-Faytenes at 4MyCanada and whoever else participated with MyCanada in putting up a federal election website has been concluded. Both Rick and I wrote about VotePrayServe in April. I looked at the Elections Act and who the website was promoting. Rick
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Very Conservative Christmas Message
Couldn’t resist this one. Thanks to Mark-Leiren-Young. Recommend this Post
Continue readingInflation
On May 24, 2005, a by-election was held in the federal riding of Labrador, after the unfortunate passing of MP Lawrence O’Brien. One interesting thing about that by-election is this little graphic found on the Elections Canada website: It is particularly interesting in light of this excerpt from a recent
Continue readingMorton's Musings: Time to get on a veggy diet?
Gotta lose some weight after packing on the pounds: too much Christmas food!
Continue readingwmtc: baseball history meets the information
The best part of James Gleick’s The Information was, for me, his history of communication and information technologies. Here’s a terrific article that applies that lens to baseball: “The History of How We Follow Baseball”, by Philip Bump, writing in The Atlantic. In 1912, the Red Sox played the New
Continue readingAnonymous publishes personal/credit card info of Florida Family Association supporters
In moves partially to avenge the Occupy movement, three separate internet postings last week from Anonymous attacked both the website of the anti-gay, Islamophobic Florida Family Association and released personal information on thousands of police officers who evicted Occupiers from all over the US. Granted this news comes from the
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Veiled Threats to Women: It’s Not Covering Your Head That’s Important, It’s What’s Inside
What do Nancy Reagan, the Virgin Mary, and the girl in the blue bra have in common? All of them have covered their heads out of respect for custom and/or religious beliefs.That’s why the photo taken earlier this week at the rally in Tahir Square in Cairo is so shocking.
Continue readingKim, Kim, Kim…
Il-sung is still served under glass, Now Jong-il’s dead— All things must pass The people weep, As they do each day Future and past One shade of grey: Anything new Under the son Now Kim the Third Is numéro Un?
Continue readingChiquita si, tar sands no
Chiquita Brands has caused a bit of a flutter on the Canadian scene by announcing it will avoid using fuel from Alberta’s tar sands. The company says it has joined 13 other companies in trying to reduce its carbon footprint. The announcement is timely. According to an industry report, the
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Politics après Jack
Jack Layton’s legacy by Murray Dobbin The outpouring of grief from across the country over the sudden and cruel death of Jack Layton continues to affect politics in this country. The NDP is up in the polls across the country — virtually tied with the Conservatives — and in Ontario
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