Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Jim Stanford points out that when it comes to manufacturing, any talk of an “invisible hand” doing much for productivity is based purely on faith rather than evidence: When it comes to Canada’s lousy record in productivity and innovation, the standard prescription of
Continue reading#OCCUPYXMAS kicks off Nov 25/26
Adbusters is at it again. I don’t know how influential this campaign will be. People just like spending money too much.
Continue readingIt’s now unAmerican to eat Thanksgiving turkey
This turkey wants to kill your mama Why? Because Butterball turkeys are the victim of ‘Islamic slaughter’. Well not actually, it’s just that when one of Pam Geller’s readers wrote Butterball asking if its turkeys were halal, the firm replied in the affirmative. So what’s a wild-eyed Islamophobe to do?
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Dalton McGuinty’s Mama Didn’t Raise no Fools
Part of the Ontario Liberal campaign Forward Together was a promised cut to tuition fees for post-secondary education. I’m sure many students thought they’d heard that before, but last week, McGuinty kept his campaign promise and announced that tuition fees would be slashed by 30% for any student whose parents
Continue readingRecreating Eden: QWF Update
Neither David or Merrily won in their categories. In fiction Dimitri Nazralla won for Niko (Véhicule Press) while Joel Yanofsky won in non-fiction for Bad Animals: A Father’s Accidental Education in Autism (Viking Canada). Both sound good: must read them.
Continue readingMorton's Musings: Liberal PTAs and Commissions
Recently there has been discussion in the media about the Liberal Party and how the Party cannot compete because of an 'awkward' management structure. I disagree. First, the argument we cannot compete rests on the unspoken assumption that PTAs and Commissions are inherently more costly than a unitary structure with
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: What the Crap P.E.I? – No Access to Abortion/Reproductive Services?
Our friends who live on the East coast seem to be clinging to a few anachronistic views about the autonomy of women and the spectrum of choice that should be available to them when it comes to reproductive services. “Even though it’s a legal medical procedure, P.E.I. remains the
Continue readingFar and Wide: THEM
It is perplexing that people are perplexed by the Harper government’s recent bullying and nasty behaviour. Dan Gardner does a terrific job dissecting the underlying motivations for this government, which if truly understood put recent incidents in their true perspective: Stephen Harper doesn’t want to beat the other side; he
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Huffington Post: Indie ISP group says online spying bills will kill the competition
By Daniel Tencer for the Huffington Post The controversial online spying laws Ottawa has promised to reintroduce in Parliament could force independent Internet service providers to shut down, an industry advocacy group says. The Canadian Network Operators’ Consortium, a trade group composed of 25 small and mid-sized ISPs, says the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Today’s Globe Editorial on Occupiers
Ever the arbiter of all things significant, it is hardly surprising that in its latest editorial, The Globe and Mail has the arrogance to assume to speak for all when it says that “the [Occupy] movement has tried everyone’s patience.” Nonetheless, it should put aside its very conservative prejudices to
Continue reading350 or bust: What Are We Waiting For?
A powerful message beamed onto the Verizon building in New York City: Now is the time to STAND UP for yourself, to be BOLD, be CREATIVE, be RADICAL To Dream BIG, IMAGINE, Feel the fear but DO IT! Anyway its time to Question Expert Authority, ASK hard questions, PROPOSE and
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Who Do You Serve?
As Toronto police cleared St. James Park this morning, one of the few remaining protesters yelled at an officer, “Excuse me! Who do you serve? That’s the basic question behind the Occupy Movement. And every elected official needs to answer that question — in the context of what the figures
Continue readingImpolitical: November 22, 1963
Yesterday was the anniversary of JFK’s assassination. This short video by acclaimed film maker Errol Morris is at the New York Times’ site as part of their commemoration of the day: “The Umbrella Man.” It’s the story behind the man holding the black umbrella on that sunny fateful day in
Continue readingTrashy's World: Some would say that this is pretty…
…I’m not one of them… Only 37 days till Barbados!! Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario
Continue readinggay persons of color: Denmark to approve gay church weddings
The Danish government on Wednesday announced that it is now preparing to allow same-sex couples to get married in formal church weddings, instead of the short blessing ceremonies that the state Lutheran Church currently offers.From the Washington Post: In 1989, Denmark became the first country to allow registered gay partnerships.
Continue readingWise Law Blog: 140 Law: Legal Headlines for November 23, 2011
Today will be a big day for those watching British Columbia’s polygamy case, with a ruling expected from the BC Supreme Court. Stay tuned for the decision. And now, without additional fanfare, here are today’s leading legal headlines from Wise Law on Twitter: Landmark polygamy ruling to be handed down
Continue readingLarry Hubich's Blog: Together, we can do it
In October, TCU Place in Saskatoon played host to the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour’s 56th annual convention. This year’s convention was another overwhelming success with 500 to 600 delegates in attendance. Convention delegates were treated to a number of presentations by a variety of accomplished speakers, some of whom you
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: "ClimateGate" II: The Media Snores
Outside of the usual suspects, this seems to be the typical media response to the latest batch of emails stolen from CRU: its just scientists arguing things out, occasionally being mean to one another, but (as was the case with the first batch), nothing science-altering. A couple of things to note. 1) I haven’t
Continue readingThe Skwib: Sad Spaceman needs to cut the cord
Alltop just watches youtube all day.
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Homophobia In The Workplace Not Completely Gone Yet
A new poll released by Angus Reid this month suggstes that anti-gay discrimination is still a reality for some people in the GLBT community. While 90% of GLBT employees in Canada indicated that their current bosses and coworkers are tolerant of their sexual orientation, just under 50% indicated that they’ve
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