… were rabid cheerleader against the oil sands or any other conservative darling, you can bet that there asses would be on the line! But Rex Murphy can exult in the virtues of the massive western projects all he wants and with impertinence without fear of reprisal. He can take
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Writings of J. Todd Ring: Advertising, bondage and consumerism
I turn off the mute on the radio, to check if the nauseating ads are finished and we can get back to the music, and I hear, “New York steak…” – so I mute it again immediately; and I think: Advertising = the intensification and multiplication of human wants and
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Mr. Harper: Pathetic Media Flop
The contempt that our employee, Mr. Harper, holds for his 36 million employers is palpable. Sometimes it’s just goofy. He’s taken to skirting the “real” media, whom he despises, to becoming his own media, like bloggers or vloggers. Watch, and let’s examine how pathetic an employee he is: There are
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Bread and Circuses
Not owning a television is one of the best decisions TIO and I made. Well, we do have a TV but no cable so we can watch the occasional DVD if we so desire. What the media focuses on and what is important is often two very different sets of
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: This Week Will Clobber You, Politically
I apologize in advance, British Columbia. This will be the week from hell, and it started yesterday while we were all Family Day-ing. Hold your breath: Yesterday, the Conservative Soft Fascist Party of Canada rammed through the “Fair (sic) Elections Act” that will further protect us from the possibility of
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Canada’s Job Market: Slower, Lower, Weaker
The following commentary on yesterday’s job numbers is quoted in today’s National Post (page FP4): The Olympic motto may be “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” but Canada’s employment growth is slower, lower and weaker going into the winter games. Of the 29,000 Canadians who supposedly gained employment in January, 28,000 reported being
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: David Suzuki: Remembering Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger at a “Farm Aid” concert, joined by Neil Young, Dave Matthews and Willie Nelson “This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.” – Words painted on Pete Seeger’s banjo A man with a banjo can be a powerful force for good. Pete Seeger, who died January 27
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Media Corruption Trifecta!
It’s a trifecta of moral corruption! Rex Murphy shills for Big Oil and Gas. Postmedia consigns its editorial control to the Oil and Gas Lobby[TM]. Postmedia, naturally, fires one of the best energy/environment reporters in the nation. Film at 11. Ok, it’s 11. Let’s drill down. Journalists should declare when
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – Zoe Williams interviews George Lakoff about the need for progressive activists and parties to work on changing minds rather than merely pursuing an elusive (and illusory) middle ground: (T)he left, he argues, is losing the political argument – every year, it cedes more ground
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Dutch Disease, Prices and Wages in Saskatchewan
Jim Stanford recently pointed out that many of the conservative economists who had defended the overvalued loonie have quickly shifted to applauding its depreciation. The Government of Saskatchewan may be making a similar conversion on the road to Damascus. When federal NDP leader Tom Mulcair expressed concern about Dutch disease,
Continue readingLeft Over: Oh, RoFo, Oh Harpo…….(with apologies to John Lennon)
New Rob Ford video leaves council members frustrated, stunned Toronto mayor should step down for the good of the city, Coun. Michael Thompson says CBC News Posted: Jan 22, 2014 9:28 AM ET Last Updated: Jan 22, 2014 5:33 PM ET Personally? LMAO, sorry, but this latest RoFo Rant knocked Harpster off
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Can We Stop Treating Women Like Meat? Now? Maybe? Please?
Women-as-sex-meat, 2014 edition begins now. The #FacePalm is appropriate. It’s nothing new, but when can media just stop. Maybe when it’s no longer profitable? We need a revolution in media by boycotting all venues that perpetuate the women-as-sex-meat theme. Here’s what’s new, this time with Eugenie Bouchard and Cate Blanchett.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How to Spot a Good Journalist
It’s getting harder and harder, what with constant corporate media concentration, and corporatist convergence of messaging from right wing governments and their informal corporate media PR departments. But everyone once in a while we see evidence that there is a growing number of journalists who exist with integrity and can
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Lena Dunham: My body’s nobody’s body but mine! You run your own body, let me run mine!
“My body’s nobody’s body but mine! You run your own body, let me run mine!” -Old song that used be in the elementary sex-ed program in the Canadian Curriculum Here […]
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Crossing the line
There’s a story on ipolitics that in part echoes my own thoughts about media and responsibility. Yet the author draws different conclusions than I believe I would have, were I still in the media. It’s called “Paul Calandra and the tale of the naked senator” and it’s written by Paul
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Curing Gender Imbalance in Media? MONEY!
Movies that pass the Bechdel Test…make…more…money. The best things in life are free, but you can give them to the birds and bees. Media corporations love their money. And in a sexist society, common sense indicates that movies with lots of testosterone and no whiny women should make more money.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What Does Post-Corporate Media Look Like?
I know you’re wondering. But it’s hard to imagine. Kind of like a fish imagining life without water. We’ve known corporate media for generations. Since the advent of psychology and marketing, the influence/manipulation of corporate media is ubiquitous. And not in a good way. But let’s take a few moments
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Real Reason We Need to Get Rid of Corporate Media
Goodbye. While I’m also sad that the Kamloops Daily News is closing, I think Warren Kinsella is over-simplifying a few things [see below] with respect to how the media climate will be affected by the closing of this for-profit business, earning shareholder value by producing mass media content, while sometimes
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alberta’s 13 most under-reported political news stories of 2013
Another aircraft takes off from Fort McMurray International Aerodrome loaded with CO2 captured from Alberta’s Athabasca bitumen sands. The gas will be stored in the basements of Russian buildings as part of a deal worked out through the province’s $2-billion “carbon capture” program. Actual Alberta carbon capture boondoggles may not
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On deflection
Shorter Preston Manning: Mike Duffy openly flouted the Parliamentary Press Gallery’s rules for years by seeking to trade his celebrity for a patronage appointment. When Stephen Harper was the only Prime Minister willing to offer that deal for political gain, Duffy proceeded to flout every new set of rules which
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