Sunshine! Thank God I did not awake to the pitter patter of rain. I am probably the only person in Toronto who was glad glad glad when yesterday’s rain turned to snow. I was late meeting a friend for coffee and ran in the snow in my sneakers and the
Continue readingSpam-A-Lot Revisited….Why Won’t The proMedia Follow The Money?
AllTheNewsThatDoesn’tQuiteFit MissingLinkVille Look. I like Doug Ward’s stuff in the VSun. A lot. He’s a hard-nosed guy who clearly digs and then often writes hard-boiled stories that are anything but boilerplate. But I, for one, was pretty disappointed with what he didn’t write about in his (otherwise excellent) piece on
Continue readingMorton's Musings: Unnecessary complexity of the jury charge can constitute a stand alone basis for the reversal of the verdicts?
R. v. Rowe, 2011 ONCA 753 is an interesting case dealing with the proper treatment of an unsavory witness who is both inculpatory and exculpatory. The case also considers, without finally deciding, if an overly complex jury charge can ground an appeal. The Court holds simpler and more direct charges are necessary. Quaere —
Continue readingQueer-liberal: A great clip from ‘Designing Women’ on World AIDS Day…
This scene and this episode of ‘Designing Women’ meant so much to me when it first aired in the late 1980s. I was a closeted teenager living in homophobic and AIDS-phobic times, quite used to sad depictions on television and elsewhere of effeminate, weak gay men dying like helpless victims
Continue readingTerahertz: Nathan Cullen, the republican NDP candidate? #ndpldr
Nathan Cullen seems to be finding his niche as the controversy candidate in the federal NDP leadership race. His first idea to hold joint nomination meetings quickly moved him to the bottom of a number of peoples ballots, but I’m reconsidering him given his latest statement Hold a plebiscite on
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: Rob Ford’s Budget Con Job – "a giant scam being perpetrated on the citizens of Toronto."
The Grid TO | Budget 2012: Rob Ford’s sleight of hand If Rob Ford hadn’t cut or cancelled all those taxes, we’d have enough to cover the entire budget hole without eliminating a single bus route, library hour or arts grant, without laying off a single staff member, and without
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Who’s Profiting from Those Day Care Centres–Families or Entrepreneurs
Jeanne and her parents are looking for good child care these days. She’s 15 months old, and until now they’ve been able to work their schedules so that one of them is free, with a healthy amount of baby sitting by grandparents. But waiting lists are long for the usually-excellent
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Gingrich & Romney: The Tale of the Intensity Chart
A very interesting chart by Gallup measures the intensity of support of Republicans of their candidates for the presidency. It takes the positives and deducts the negatives. Since July the chart has been bad news for Mitt and wonderful news for Newt: As for the rest of the motley crew
Continue readingMorton's Musings: Where the trial judge intends to jump the Crown on sentence the judge should advise counsel and give them the opportunity to make submissions
R. v. Hagen, 2011 ONCA 749 deals with the situation where a judge intends to exceed the sentence sought by the Crown. While in Canada the judge is not bound by sentencing submissions, the caselaw is clear those submissions ought to be given considerable weight. The Court holds: [3] The appellant
Continue readingConfessions of a Liberal Mind: Update
Its been since May, since I wrote a blog, but there has been some really interesting developments in the Liberal Party Of Canada, so tomorrow I will have my endorsements for the National Executive election. I have met with candidates from all the positions and formulated my choices. So it
Continue readingConfessions of a Liberal Mind: Update
Its been since May, since I wrote a blog, but there has been some really interesting developments in the Liberal Party Of Canada, so tomorrow I will have my endorsements for the National Executive election. I have met with candidates from all the posit…
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Not So Much Reform as Special Interest Groups
Jeffrey Simpson has an interesting column this week: Remember the Reformers? They’re still here In it he suggests that the Conservatives are now putting policies in place written for the Reform Party, two decades ago. However, while the cowboy law and order agenda was early Reform Party, most initiatives are
Continue readingExcited Delirium: Where Did the Fed Get $7.7 Trillion?
The Fed in the US as explained by Dennis Kucinich.
Continue readingResources re: Attawapiskat
Trying to sort through the muck the HarperCons are spinning around the humanitarian crisis on the Attawapiskat First Nation and First Nations communities across the country? Well, here are two important resources. The first is a blog, âpihtawikosisân, in which the writer unravels the HarperCons’ racist spin, including a breakdown of
Continue readingShorter Harpercons: Yeah, We’re Behind Those Pesky Phone Calls, Spreading Irwin Cotler Resigning Rumours, So What?
It’s not like it hasn’t been done since 1999, they say. Let’s see how some of them justify these latest actions, shall we? “Every political party in the House identifies its voters in one way or another,” Conservative MP John Williamson said. “This is an important part of the political
Continue readingCritical Brain Candy: Meat and sustainability
I posted a new article over at YouSustain: Meat and Sustainability: The Facts. It has some interesting comparisons of how resource-intensive it is to produce various types of food. Let me know of any comments and please share it if you like it!
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: guy boutilier’s secret election campaign.
Earlier this week, I wrote about Councillor Don Scott‘s entry into the Progressive Conservative nomination contest in the soon to be created Fort McMurray-Conklin constituency. Now, from the website MyMcMurray.com comes word that PC-turned-Wildrose Party MLA Guy Boutilier has been nominated as his party’s candidate in one of the two
Continue readingConfessions of a Liberal Mind: Update
Its been since May, since I wrote a blog, but there has been some really interesting developments in the Liberal Party Of Canada, so tomorrow I will have my endorsements for the National Executive election. I have met with candidates from all the positions and formulated my choices. So it
Continue readingTrashy's World: This shows quite clearly…
… how childish and petty the “Mayor” of Toronto can be! Mayor Ford has no obligation to speak to or be interviewed by the Star. That is entirely his choice. However, when it comes to public press releases and public notifications from his office as mayor of all the people,
Continue readingMorton's Musings: Conservatives admit they’re behind false byelection calls for Liberal MP’s riding
I have a pretty high tolerance for this type of thing; but this really is very very very wrong. Irwin is a decent man and deserves better than this from the Government of Canada. Postmedia News Vincenzo D’Alto / Postmedia News files Constituents in Liberal Irwin Cotler’s Mount Royal riding
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