It’s a common retort used whenever Israel comes in for criticism. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. That, somehow, seems to entitle the Israeli government to a more lenient or favourable perspective on its actions than …
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350 or bust: Is The Kremlin Now In Charge? Harper Government Silencing Canadian Artists And Scientists
The Harper Government is sending out a clear message at home and abroad that if your politics are not correct your art shouldn’t be shown, and if your findings are inconvenient your science doesn’t matter. A recent Vancouver Sun discussed t…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: TILMA by Stealth in Saskatchewan
The Saskatchewan Party had repeatedly promised not to sign TILMA. But it signed the New West Partnership Trade Agreement (NWPTA) last year. At the time, many commentators (including yours truly) noted that the NWPTA was little more than a renaming of TILMA. I see that the official TILMA website is now automatically redirecting to the […]
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: We are “refusing to cross picket lines”: Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Student Union and the SFSS CUPE Lockout
This open letter was originally written by Chelsea Mackay and the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Student Student, published originally here and republished on PoliticsRespun.org with permission. Dear SFSS Board Members and President Jeff McCann, The Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Student Union (GSWSSU) has been blindsided by the recent lockout of CUPE 3338 workers […]
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: NDP warns against Conservatives’ snooping law
NDP warns against Conservatives’ snooping law TIMMINS, ON – If the Conservatives get their way, police will be soon be able to track every e-mail sent, every website visited and every comment left on Facebook – all without warrants or judicial …
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: A Canadian Republic (with a new anthem to boot)
It is worth remembering, every once in a while, that Canada remains a constitutional monarchy. Precisely because the monarchy has no de facto power, most of us – myself included – rarely give it much thought and when we do it is of a mild form of bemus…
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Austerity Leads to Suicide Rate Increase
Friday’s Vancouver Sun had a short item that you might have missed, “Suicides up, road deaths down due to recession.” It’s in the bottom corner of page B5: Suicides rates rose sharply in Europe in 2007 to 2009 as the financial crisis drove unemployment up and squeezed incomes, with the worst hit countries like Greece […]
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Thoughts on a Filibuster
Can I get a “WOW”? Just look at all those women! I couldn’t stop grinning as woman after woman after woman rose and spoke. What happened to all the arrogant white dudes? Oh, they’re posturing and questioning. I guess someone noticed as the past few questions have been lobbed by female CPC MPs. Aside from […]
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: I, for one, would like an HST job – and it might sway my vote.
If you’re registered to vote in BC, and provided that Elections BC hasn’t completely screwed up your voter registration (I have, at times, received three voter information cards for variations on my name), you’ve probably by now received a ballot in the mail for the mail-in referendum on the HST in BC. (If you haven’t […]
Continue readingExcuses! Excuses!
Apparently, voter apathy was not restricted to the young at the 41st election. Below are the numbers broken down of the wall of shame known as the non-voters:
18 to 24 years old: 29.9% 25 to 32 years old: 30.8% 35 to 44 years old: 27.5% 45 to 54 years old: 29.1% 55 . . . → Read More: Excuses! Excuses!
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Democracy in action
Shorter Bob Bjornerud:Of course we couldn’t possibly object to giving farmers a chance to vote on the future of the Canadian Wheat Board – just as long as it doesn’t give them any actual say in the matter.
Continue readingThe Arab spring—seeking a deeper democracy than ours?
Catherine Ashton, high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, recently stated that the EU called for “deep democracy” in countries such as Tunisia and Egypt as they liberated themselves from dictators. She emphasi…
Continue readingMeanwhile, elsewhere…
June was a bleak month on the world democracy stage. Saudi Arabia cracked down on women protesting for the right to drive, while relatively more progressive* Libya showered its female citizens with machine guns and shooting lessons. Syria remains an o…
Continue readingLeDaro: In Virginia dead people can vote
Now that is true dedication to democracy. People are dying to vote.Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economyVirginia has passed a law that if a person sends in an absentee ballot and dies before Election Day his/her vote…
Continue readingLarry Hubich's Blog: Join Us For the Unveiling of a Headstone In Memory of Nick Schaack
Join Us For the Unveiling of a Headstone In Memory of Nick SchaackWhat: Unveiling of a commemorative headstone for Nick Schaack, who died as a result of his participation in the Regina Riot, July 1st, 1935, struggling for economic security on behalf of…
Continue readingDriving The Porcelain Bus: CUPW will challenge the back-to-work legislation
Canada Post union to challenge back-to-work legislation in court – thestar.comAs I was pointing out, the legislation is illegal, and the union is going to challenge it in court. Now the decision will depend on if Harper has stacked the Supreme Court wi…
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Greece at a Crossroads
Now that the Greek government has survived a confidence vote in Parliament, the stage is set in Greece for further confrontations ahead of next week’s decision on the new “austerity” plan demanded by the “troika” – the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the European Union (EU). While the origins of […]
Continue readingOn back to work legislation. Whoa, deja vu.
So, another conservative (note the small “c”) government, another round of back to work legislation. Canada violates its international obligations yet again, and is again grouped with such shining lights of liberty as Colombia. It’s the same old song a…
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