Friday miscellany…
So Harper is acting all smug and tough in Davos, isn’t he? Although short on details, Mr. Harper’s speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday made…
January 2012
Does this look to you like Obama’s threatening Jan Brewer (R-AZ)?
Of course not. But judging from Brewer’s breathless account and headlines from the usual bevy of right-wing blogs, a ‘threatening’ Obama “intensely” reproached the Governor for comments about the “thin-skinned”…
Anti-American or anti-American empire?
Americans are a militaristic people. That, I suspect, is why President Obama made praise of the military a major theme in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. He…
Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jack Knox comments on how the rest of the world sees Canada under the Harper Cons: A week after bleating about foreign radicals…
LGBT clubs in Ontario Catholic schools get neutered
After a protracted battle over the issue of whether so called ‘gay-straight clubs’ must be allowed in Catholic schools, many LGBT allies thought a legitimate victory had been attained when…
Reagan-backed genocidaire to face justice
Efraín Ríos Montt, an American-backed monster who ruled Guatemala in 1982-3, is going on trial at last. Torture, rape and mass extermination of Guatemalan Mayan Indians were this born-again Christian’s…
Damn the Paulbots!
As much as I agree with many of Ron Paul’s principled stances on various issues, I just cannot stand the cult of over-zealous fanatics that support him… Despite all evidence,…
A shock to the system: Harper goes after seniors
Or, almost-seniors. Those approaching the age of 65 must be gasping for breath this morning, learning of Harper’s hint at perhaps raising the age for receiving ‘old age’ benefits to…
Class actions and preferable procedure
Fischer v. IG Investment Management Ltd., 2012 ONCA 47 deals with when a class action will be allowed. A class action will not be allowed if there is a preferable process to vindicate…
BC Ferries: The Little Private Monopoly That Couldn’t
DoNotPassGo PayThroughTheNoseForPick-UpParkingVille Robert Matas, consistently the best thing going in The Globe, BC Division, has a pretty good analysis of the Ferry’s Commisioner’s report up. Here’s his lede: BC Ferries…
Enemygate: Harper’s divisive politics
Margaret Atwood has dubbed it ‘Enemygate’. ForestEthics whistleblower Andrew Frank accuses Harper of bullying tactics. John Bennett of the Sierra Club frets that this is “a scary time for Canadian…
Odious profits and the Enbridge pipeline
Two obvious but generally unstated details about the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline are climate change and that oil and gas companies stand to make mega-profits. An honest appraisal of the…
Canadian Triumphalism Increasingly Bizarre
Prime Minister Harper went to Davos yesterday to sing Canada’s praises. No sooner had he finished reciting a long list of our national achievements, however, then he launched into a…
ode to a hero: attorney for the damned (with thanks to jill lepore)
Clarence Darrow was one of my earliest heroes. I first encountered Darrow in the guise of Spencer Tracy, who portrayed the lawyer in the 1960 movie “Inherit the Wind”. Darrow…
Cargo Container Coffee
In very unsurprising news: Starbucks has opened a new coffee shop. In surprising news: that Starbucks store is made from repurposed cargo containers! With many containers scrapped at the end…
ebook download surges
Phenomenal, is all I have to say. Phenomenal. Honestly, I think this is great. It is far to easy to read this as though I intend irony or sarcasm, but…
The Uneasy Relationship Between Explaining Science to Conservatives…and Explaining Conservatives Scientifically
democrat_and_republican_symbols.jpg Over the past year or more, I’ve profited from a series of conversations and exchanges with Yale’s Dan Kahan, the NSF supported researcher who has made great waves studying…
You’re only as old as other people think you look
I have new next-door-neighbours again. In the five years I’ve been here, I’ve had five different sets of people living on the other side of my east wall. The most…
Rogers Communications wants to change Ontario law so it can continue ‘misleading advertising’ in peace
I love when the right and big corporations use the ‘free speech’ (or in this case, ‘freedom of expression’) argument from everything to excusing defamation and libel to putting out…
Americans Fear Their Election Could End up Like Canada’s. I Can Help
In the upcoming election, Barack Obama will not be challenged by the Republicans, who frankly have given up on even pretending to be politicians serving the public, but by the…