The new media duality
Publish anti-Muslim material: it’s free speech. Publish anti-Kate Middleton material: it gets your newsroom raided. And some wonder why large swaths of the world mostly detest us. Wonder no more,…
September 2012
Enbridge Expands Ruptured Tar Sands Line to Move Bitumen East Along Trailbreaker Route
With the two year anniversary of the “Dilbit Disaster” fresh on our minds it seems improbable that Enbridge, the company responsible for the 1 million gallon spill of dilbit, or…
The People Who Don’t Count
Two days ago, Mark Garneau asked the prime minister what he was going to do about youth unemployment: “Yesterday we witnessed the very sad spectacle of the Conservatives and the…
PC plan a threat to small town Ontario?
The Progressive Conservatives (PCs) plan to turn health care funding responsibilities over to 30 to 40 hospitals. These “hub” hospitals would be licensed to move money from one provider in…
Ask Me Anything #7: Are you a reader?
I’m answering Leeann’s question out of sequence, because I need more time to think about Auntiemichal’s question. Leeann asks: “You often post about writing, but I don’t recall ever seeing…
Dr. Tundra enters a bar …
Dr. Tundra enters a bar and orders a drink. The bar has a robot bartender, with great drink-making and conversational algorithms, but no facial or voice-recognition software. The robot serves…
The Emerging Arctic World Order
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland speaks at the Arctic Imperative Summit, 2012 in Girdwood, Alaska. Well worth the 30 minute listen – this is one politician that speaks the…
The Budget and Oil Prices #nlpoli
Just when everyone thought it was safe, a gigantic Twitter exchange erupted on Wednesday evening between Telegram report James McLeod and Deanny MacDonald, the guy everyone thinks is already the…
Tariq Ramadan on Muslim protests, Islam and the Arab awakening
There has been so much heat and accusation lately over the protests sparked by the schlock anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims it has been hard to find measured voices that…
Tubby Van Loan and the Mighty Mulcair
If anybody still thinks that the Con regime is not out of control, the sight of Peter Van Loan in Question Period today should have been enough to cure that…
Reporting back: OpenTheTPP.net & the Virginia negotiations
Last week, negotiators and trade representatives behind the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement met in Virginia for another round of discussions. Once again, citizens of the pro-Internet community were left…
News from Imperial Washington: Alberta Diary’s surprise endorsement (sort of) from afar
You want moments in American history? Apropos of nothing, here lies Alexander Hamilton, slain in a duel by his political foe Aaron Burr, who got off scot free. Top that!…
COM 698: Media Law at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Law of Public Communication 2013 Update (8th Edition), the textbook for COM 698: Media Law at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. If you ask the average person they…
Liberal Leadership ’13: We Don’t Really Know What’s Going to Happen
If anyone thinks they know what’s going to be the end result in the Liberal leadership contest (which just had its new rules announced) they’re dead wrong. Nobody knows what…
Canada Already Has A 1¢ Carbon Tax
Last year this Conservative government collected $424,418,000 in taxes to pay for carbon emissions. That same year Canadians used 38,208,346,000 litres of gasoline. Doing the quick math, Canadians paid 1.1¢…
Cutting Your Nose to Spite Your Face: Maintenance Cuts Hurt the Bottom Line
For those of us who love the Vandusen Botanical Gardens, this was a bit of a disappointing year. The gardens just weren’t as beautiful as they have been in the…
Calling them out
Sixth Estate calls out Harper on his excuse for pension “reform” and the Globe and Mail for falling for it.First of all, its not much of a reform: The “reforms”…
Bill C-279 proceeding to committee for amendments
Offered without comment, other than to say that Bill C-279 is reported to be headed to committee very soon. No date has been given thus far, and it’s not on…
5172…NFL Scab Refs Have Come To This
Watch the Giants/Panthers game tomorrow night on the NFL Network if you don’t believe me. WFDS