Music for a Sunday: They met in a hurricane…
A song to fit both the weather (Hurricane Irene, now a tropical storm petering out) and my mood (sombre and pensive, but still daring to hope.)
August 2011
Flying while Black in America
The terrorists have won. ...
Catastrophise
Catastrophise. noun: 1. To turn into a catastrophic state. e.g., “The Progressive movement in Canada was catastrophised by the results of the spring 2011 election. 2. Falsely Catastrophise. To portray…
Random Post in Latin: Coat of Arms edition
Quaerite Prime Regum Dei - srbp -
The False Dichotomy of Emotionalism vs Rationalism
There is this bizarre perception in our society that we are somehow in a great conflict between forces of emotionalism and rationalism. The idea here seems to be that going…
Shall we stop calling things "politics"?
A number of events of the past week really got me thinking on whether the omnipresent terms "politics" and "politician" are adequate and even appropriate to describe the actions and…
Dalton McGuinty, You Magnificent Bastard: Part III
I do a "Dalton McGuinty: You Magnificent Bastard" post whenever Dalton unveils a policy I think is maudlin, stupid, chintzy, cheesy, or entirely unrealizable--but also a honkin' huge vote getter.…
Jack Layton’s Funeral, Learning About Jack, The Family Man. A Few Words To Critics,
Jack Layton’s state funeral service couldn’t have been more fitting. Different kinds of music being played, from classical to Quebecois from Martin Deschamps to pop to a gospel rendition of…
The Ugly Face of the Corporatist State
A big h/t to Carey over at Finding Clarity for posting this Carlin sketch. And they called Carlin a "comedian." I'm reposting the clip because it needs to be disseminated…
Unscheduled musical interlude
Just did a minor version upgrade and wanted to test that everything is working. So have a tune: 13 by Friday's Child....
Homeopathy Under Fire in the US, UK, Italy, Israel and Australia
Skeptic North, a well-written Canadian team blog advocating for science, skepticism and rationalism, has been a great source of information on the ongoing scientific, intellectual and moral train-wreck that is…
Leadership 2012: Preliminary Candidate List
Having posted about the target groups and issues for the NDP's leadership campaign, let's take the next step and put some names to the possibilities. As hinted at in my…
An Australian Definition of a Canadian In case anyone asks you who a Canadian is . . .
From Facebook:You probably missed it in the local news, but there was a report that someone in Pakistan had advertised in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone…
Rob Ford’s War On Graffiti Is Out Of Hand and Costly
Strutting And Fretting « All Fired Up In The Big SmokeRead the link for a story about someone getting a notice to remove graffiti from their back-alley garage door. The…
We have, and need, more Jacks
As we begin to move forward now with Jack Layton's celebration of life behind us, and as we consider what his lasting legacy will be, I think it would be…
No Wonder Harper Wants Us Kept In The Dark On CETA
While our government continues to refuse to let the Canadian public in on the details of the current negotiations toward finalizing the Comprehensive Economic & Trade Agreement (CETA) with the…
Conspiracy Theories – Education – Did We Do This On Purpose?
I often wonder whether the changes to education over the last decades were just innocent mistakes made by wrong-headed education experts.
What the Liberals really need
More of this.Whatever his faults, Jean Chretien was a leader. He just went ahead and did it. It pissed off a lot of people but he was a fighter who…