So a handsomely profitable corporation buys a London Ontario locomotive factory in June 2010 and promptly tells the 465 or so members of the CAW local there that they’ll have to cut their wages in half and give up their pension plan to keep their jobs. Things lead to things
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Pop The Stack: Demanding Leadership on Democratic Reform
I’ve been offline and travelling for a while if you’ve been wondering about the radio silence (I know, unlikely). But I’m back now, living for the next two years in the self-declared “Greatest Democracy on Earth™”. We’ll see if they have any better luck than we are having up in
Continue readingPop The Stack: Demanding Leadership on Democratic Reform
I’ve been offline and travelling for a while if you’ve been wondering about the radio silence (I know, unlikely). But I’m back now, living for the next two years in the self-declared “Greatest Democracy on Earth™”. We’ll see if they have any better luck than we are having up in
Continue readingThe perfect blend of politics and poetry
Phil Rockstroh gives us this piece of beauty and politics and reality. A Journey to the end of Empire: It is Always Darkest Right Before it Goes Completely Black. P’n’P shall simply bask in it. A Journey To The … Continue reading →
Continue readingThe Equivocator: 5 Questions: Alexandra Mendès
The race for the Presidency of the Liberal party was an embarrassment of riches. I could listen to Ron Hartling talk about re-building riding associations for hours. Ms. Copps’ speeches on the strength of the Liberal ideal and the need to reach out to the LGBTQ community were truly inspiring.
Continue readingcmkl: They’ve got their own government, their own TV network
Naturally they’ll be feeling a bit cocky. So cocky that they figure they can fake the oath. That would be the citizenship oath. A fake oath with fake citizens on TV show about fake issues.
Continue readingThe Equivocator: …and Boisvenu makes three.
First, Julian Fantino writes about his love of the death penalty in his book. Then PM Harper talks about his support for the government having the ability to kill Canadians in an interview last year. On Wednesday it was reported that Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu suggested that prisoners should be
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: NDP Move to Protect Old Age Security – Vote on Feb 6th
The NDP used the Opposition day in Parliament today to put forward a motion that the federal government not pay for its agenda on the backs of Canadian Seniors by raising the age at which they will qualify for Old Age Security (OAS). Several times NDP members put the question
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Founding Fathers/Founding Principles of the United States Secular, Not Religious
Confirmation bias might be the end of us all. For the zealots who think that the US was founded on anything but secular principles, watch and learn. Filed under: Politics, Religion Tagged: RDF, Religion, Secular Society, Separation of Church and State?, US Constitution, zealots
Continue reading350 or bust: Citizens Climate Lobby: Wanted, Men & Women for Hazardous Journey
* Amory Lovins, Chairman and Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and renewable energy pioneer and a giant in that field, is the speaker on this month’s Citizens Climate Lobby international conference call, this Saturday February 4th. His most recent book is “Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: NDP Leaders, By the Numbers and the Intangibles
There are some interesting dynamics going on with the NDP leadership race that we can track with numbers, see way below. And while numbers tell some stories, they don’t necessarily track intangible criteria of leadership qualities like these, which I would perhaps suggest in this order: intelligence progressive vision: social,
Continue readingArt Threat: Groucho Marx: What this country needs
This is an excerpt from Groucho Marx and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales: Selected Writings of Groucho Marx, edited by Robert S. Bader. During the 1940s Groucho would often write about topics related to World War II while remaining, for the most part, non-political. At home, however, most discussions
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: The Stupid Senate
“I felt like it is kind of an insult to be a denier for a long time,” said Sen. Bert Brown, last month at a parliamentary committee studying energy policies. “It feels pretty good this morning.” What I find particularly disturbing about so many climate change deniers ending up being
Continue readingThe Equivocator: Queer Liberal Caucus Coffee House A Huge Success
On Sunday, January 29th a group of 45+ Queer Liberals, Liberally Curious Canadians and allies of the LGBTQ community (myself included) met at the Church Street Community Centre to talk, drink coffee and build on the momentum of the biennial convention. I was really impressed with the turn out for
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Conservative Senator: “Every murderer should have a rope in his cell”
The Conservative government’s universally-condemned omnibus crime Bill C-10has a confirmed YES vote in the Senate. The name behind the vote: tough-on-crime Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu. Earlier today, Boisvenu said a prisoner “should have the right …Read More
Continue readingcmkl: C’mon people now, smile on your brother everybody get together try to love one another right now
A line from a cheesey hippie song from the sixties. À propos of nothing, really, except this. No, I’m not expecting Stephen Harper will start getting together and trying to love all the low-income seniors he’d screw out of two years of OAS even as the F-35s scream overhead.
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: How to tax the rich in this political climate
There is a lot of agreement that the rich pay too little of their wealth, that inequality has sharply risen over the last three decades benefiting the rich tremendously, and that the rich in America now enjoy a privileged status made possibly by their influence in politics. That GOP frontrunner
Continue readingelementalpresent: Delaying Retirement: What Does it Mean for Younger Workers?
Since the announcement that his government was considering raising the eligibility age for Old Age Security (OAS), Stephen Harper has backed off slightly, assuring the public that such reforms are years away. Nevertheless, media and experts of all kinds have fired into gear, speculating on the possible motivations for OAS reform,
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Romney’s lack of concern for poor people
Campaign coverage often likes to jump from gaffe to gaffe as if this (and poll data) is the only relevant thing to talk about in a Presidential race. Perhaps it is just a function of the overly polished, trite vacuousness of the rest of their tightly controlled campaigns that the
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Hell In A Handbasket
American spy charged with spying, by his own government, when he revealed to reporters that the CIA was acting illegally by torturing people. Obama’s War on Whistle-blowers, rages on. Bradley Manning is rolling over in his pending grave for allegedly feeding Collateral Murder and other information to WikiLeaks. == Our
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