I’ll get back to my electoral series eventually, I swear. But I had this weird idea today and I wanted to spell it out. It’s not an argument; more just thinking out loud. (Well, so to speak. “Speak”.)We don’t have enough housing going to the people who…
Continue readingTag: politics
Pop The Stack: Vote, Check, Stalemate
Just saw this post about NDP-Liberal Coalitions by Gregory Morrow over on democraticSpace and my comment was getting so long it might as well be a blog post. Greg makes the point that with all this talk of how the NDP and Liberals should form an alliance or coalition before or after the election one […]
Continue readingPop The Stack: A nod is as good as a wink to a blind bat
Another day, another justification for dropping the mandatory long-form census by the Conservative government. Today’s argument comes from Finance Minister Jim Flaherty; he basically argues that because a bunch of policy wonks came voluntarily to a meeting when invited by the Federal Finance Minister that most Canadians will fill out a 40 page census form if they […]
Continue readingPop The Stack: Beware the Power of the Dark Side
Sometimes, when I see the crazy places some people want to take our country or other countries I wonder to myself, are they serious? Do they really believe that government is a sham, that it would truly be better for everyone if we paid no taxes and just lived off our own initiative and money? […]
Continue readingPop The Stack: Stockwell Gets Tough on Imaginary Crime
Oh Stockwell, you never let us down do you? Whenever we doubt for a moment that the Conservative government makes all its decisions based on gut instinct, emotion and irrational fear you’re there to remind of the true Reform-Alliance-Conservative way of thinking, like protecting Canadians from the “alarming” amount of unreported crime. You have to […]
Continue readingConflict Minerals Act Will Not Harm the Congolese Economy
Last week, the US Senate passed the Wall Street Reform Bill, embedded wherein lay provisions for the tracing and monitoring of conflict minerals. This provision was prompted by recent media attention and global outcry relating to the ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo – the deadliest war since WWII. Waged since 1998, the […]
Continue readingOn secrecy and Wikileaks.
IntroductionSo, as everyone and their brother’s roommate knows, Wikileaks managed to get their hands on another chunk of material that the powers-that-be would rather the rest of us never saw. This time, of course, it was a collection of documents rela…
Continue readingPop The Stack: Spectorvision is Skewed on UK Election Lessons for Canada
I’m not sure what Norman Spector of the Globe and Mail is trying to get at with his recent article about the coalition situation in the UK. He points out that the coalition seems quite stable for now given their agreement on a fixed term election: So Britons have been spared the leaks and jockeying […]
Continue readingA. Picazo: Lies, Damned Lies, And The Census
“(The Unites States), and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world.” – Stephen Harper, 1997 In an astonishing display of incompetence, and a complete disregard for the facts, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is forging ahead with plans to
Continue readingPop The Stack: Disturbing Censusgate News
Two disturbing articles on the census today: The first collects together a few comments from people who know Harper and his people well about how they hope to use prolonged presence in government to change the public ethic, the culture of Canada towards a Libertarian philosophy. I don’t think this is always as conscious as […]
Continue readingPop The Stack: No, wait, I got a dumber one!
I am endlessly surprised by the creativity the Conservative government is putting into explaining why their irrational, scientifically unsound decision to scrap the mandatory long form census is really A-OK. This one comes from none other than Minister Doris Day himself: “All we’re saying is, people shouldn’t be threatened with jail because they don’t want […]
Continue readingOn proportional representation (2): the case against
IntroductionLast week, I argued for the claim that proportional representation (PR) is preferable to single-member plurality (SMP) as a system of electing representatives to a democratic assembly. The central reason for this conclusion was that PR is t…
Continue readingPop The Stack: Censusgate Continues
Two comments on the ongoing censusgate saga: The Chief Statistician has resigned his position in light of the dispute: Fantastic, good for him. He should have done it sooner but it seems last night’s ‘clarifying’ interview with Minister Clement pushed him over the edge. The Minister pointed out that some people at StatsCan believe the […]
Continue readingPop The Stack: Guessing About the Silent Majority
Just a quick note on the continuing CensusGate. Some questions over Minister Clement’s honesty and very fun sarcastic response to recent contortions to explain their ‘reasoning’ to drop the census. It has been pointed out that the US actually experimented on a small scale with a voluntary census and abandoned the plan as it would […]
Continue readingElection time approaches!
I used to enjoy reading about politics. In high school, when I was just developing a conciousness about politics, I used to find the littlest, most menial government tasks absolutely fascinating, and I would exuberantly encourage my peers to read about…
Continue readingOn proportional representation (1): the case for
This week and next I’ll be writing a two-part series I’ve been intending to write for a while on proportional representation. This first part presents the case in favour of proportional representation, while the second part will present the case agains…
Continue readingPop The Stack: Census is too intrusive, says Idiot.
Oh my God, I can’t believe Warren Kinsella is such an idiot. I’m sorry, did I say that out loud? I didn’t mean to read this story, it just happened, and now it can’t unhappen and I’m very upset. Call me crazy, call me anal, call me “someone who understands statistical methods” or “someone who […]
Continue readingPop The Stack: An Economist Who Doesn’t Want More Data? UCalgary Called, they Want their Degree Back.
Witness Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the first non-lawyer to lead this great nation since Lester B. Pearson. Bachelors and Masters degrees in Economics from the fabled University of … Calgary. He dropped out of UofT. And Witness Tony Clement, proud UofT graduate in Political Science and Law and one of the architects of Mike Harris’ Common Sense […]
Continue readingPop The Stack: Democracy is a Canadian Tradition
Just a housecleaning post with a bunch of random stuff I’d like to get out there. Canada is awesome and Vancouver’s not bad at all, at all. This site went over 8000 reads today due to a post from last year entitled Canadian Traditions. It shows the big human flag from Victoria’s Canada Day celbrations […]
Continue readingbastard.logic: Obligatory WFT McChrystal?! Post
by matttbastard Cole drops an Apocalypse Now reference, while The Artist Formerly Known as Tacitus thinks shitcanning is imperative if the republic is to survive the impact of McChrystal’s insta-infamous still-unpublished Rolling Stone interview [h/t Ben Smith]. Perhaps. Laura Rozen usually has sound instincts and excellent sources: One early … Continue reading →
Continue reading