Intrepid CRTC investigator looks into Sun News Network’s on-air obscenities. Agents of the Canadian broadcast regulator may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Sun News commentator Ezra Levant; Bernie M. Farber. Canada’s broadcast regulator has dropped its investigation of foul-mouthed commentator Ezra Levant’s obscene on-air language last June after Sun
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Politics and its Discontents: Our American Cousins?
One can’t help but wonder if Harper’s police force has been giving lessons to their American cousins in stifling free speech at right-wing political rallies. Recommend this Post
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: URGENT PETITION: Free Members of Feminist Punk Group Pussy Riot Now!
Recently, the Putin regime in Russia extended the pre-trial detention of 3 members of the feminist punk group “Pussy Riot” until January 2013. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Ekaterina Samutsevich had been in detention since March after they were arrested for committing the ultimate crime in Vladmir Putin’s Russia: singing
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Unsuccessful at the polls, Alberta market fundamentalists want the courts to impose two-tier health care
What heath care for the rest of us will look like if the market fundamentalist right’s battle for insurance companies’ “rights” ever succeeds. Below: Private health-care advocate John Carpay; Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne; Alberta Liberal Health Critic David Swann. Not satisfied with their failure in the Alberta provincial election,
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Question for regulators: Can Sun News Network be trusted to keep inconvenient agreements?
Promises, promises: It’s not a musical, and it’s not funny. What confidence can Canadian broadcast regulators have that Sun News Network will abide by the agreements it makes? Below: Broadcaster Ezra Levant. Whatever one may think of the value of obscenity to public discourse, the debate over the use on
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Can one old man with a typewriter really have Fox News North on the ropes?
The Source, With David Climenhaga: Here I am on the set of my new Fox News North TV show with two polite young people from the Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties to whom I’m about to be rude. Below: Sun News Network commentator Ezra Levant; Senator Patrick Brazeau. Sun News
Continue readingNorthern Insight: New shoes make everything seem right
Two stories that will leave you wondering about the direction Canada is taking under Stephen Harper. This is not the Canada we once knew… nor the one we voted for. Unraveling File # 8-10-(2012-06), Michael Harris, iPolitics, April 26 “At the federal level, it’s getting to be the kind of
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Obama now leader of the not-free world
Chris Hedges writes: “The NDAA implodes our most cherished constitutional protections. It permits the military to function on U.S. soil as a civilian law enforcement agency. It authorizes the executive branch to order the military to selectively suspend due process and habeas corpus for citizens. The law can be used
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Consequences of Expressing An Opinion In HarperWorld
Just a brief post here. Apparently airport groundworkers in Toronto and Montreal are out on a wildcat strike as a result of three members expressing an opinion of Labour Minister Lisa Rait: Strikers accused Pearson airport security of heavy handedness after they said three of their fellow ground workers were
Continue readingOccupy Ottawa: A Whistleblower’s Open Letter to the Citizens of Canada
Prime Minister’s Office Tries to Silence Pipeline Critics; Labels Environmental Group “Enemy of the Government of Canada” and “Enemy of the people of Canada.” My name is Andrew Frank. I grew up in a small …Read More
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: "The corporate coup is over – they won"
In politics today, trolls live in the sewers of think-tanks, communications firms, corporate media, old-line political parties and government ministry offices. They provide material to fill the airwaves and pages of the press with absurdities. So-calle…
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: News of the World, Kai Nagata & the Omnibus Crime Bill
No, this isn’t a game of “One of These Things Is Not Like the Others”, ‘though I’m sure to suffer from the catchy tune playing in a loop in my head for the next several hours. Trust me, it’s more like a game of Tri Bond. If you have been off planet, embedded in an […]
Continue readingMediabuzzard.com: Bring back the Duel…
Many people would agree that one’s right to freedom of expression also implies responsibility. That is one must also accept the fact that there are possible consequences ,e.g one’s words may impact another person’s sense of dignity. In “polite society” libel & hate-speech laws are the preferred -or should I
Continue readingDrive-by Times: Nadia Plesner win: EU court rules against Louis Vuitton
In a win for art, an EU court has ruled in favor of Nadia Plesner in the case brought against her by Louis Vuitton for including a look-a-alike Audra style handbag in her painting Darfurnika. The ruling includes the following: “the importance of Plesne…
Continue readingThus Prate the Pundit » Social Critique: First Take on the Public Domain Manifesto
Communia published its Public Domain Manifesto. The manifesto identifies the public domain concept with respect to historical development and more urgently, its relevance to culture today. I think it makes an important statement, in terms of offering a level, common understanding that could be used widely across society, government, and
Continue readingThus Prate the Pundit » Social Critique: Motivating Anti-IP Activism in Canada
In the scheme of things, few people have the interest (or is it patience?) to delve deeply into the concept of “intellectual property” (IP). I think that is why IP regulation is among the most under-considered issues in public political discourse today. It’s difficult, in the snap of a soundbite,
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