The brutal lessons of 2013.
2013 has been a rather tough year for this blogger. I ran for the Vice Presidency of the Alberta Liberal Party and was unsuccessful. Quite quickly I found I had…
December 2013
Ice Storm 2013
Everyone okay? Leave your stories in comments.
The Cons and the Imaginary War on Christmas
Oh no. Duck and cover. Two weeks ago I accused the Cons of waging a real War on Christmas, by laying off people and killing jobs at this time of…
Exercise of right to silence not evidence of guilt
R. v. Snelson, 2013 BCCA 550 (CanLII): If an accused person has a right to silence, it is an empty right if the Crown is permitted to seek an inference…
Holiday season is almost upon us – so we’re taking a short break
With the holiday season around the corner, your OpenMedia.ca team is starting to wind down to spend some time with our loved ones – so we won’t be around online…
In Sunday’s Sun: going postal
If governments gradually defeat themselves, then the imbecilic boss of Canada Post dramatically accelerated that process this week. Didn’t catch what Canada Post “CEO” Deepak Chopra told a Parliamentary committee?…
Predicting Politics in 2014
Omar Ha-Redeye shared a panel on Newstalk 1010 with John Wright of Ipsos Reid and Cal Bricker of Waste Management to discuss the future of federal, provincial and municipal politics.…
Saturday Photo: Celebrating in Cuzco
This was taken in a Cuzco grocery store, which a month ago was already decked out for Christmas. Love the idea of locals dancing to Andean harps while it’s summer…
Corporate media conspiracy against voting reform
Jeffery Simpson laments that Harper is only going to focus on 10 percent of voters over the next 2 years until the next election. Harper is at 30% in the…
Rob a Bank
… Read the rest on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://kersplebedeb.com/posts/rob-a-bank/
In 1912, Americans Really Waged War on Christmas. The History of SPUG.
A little slice of history of Christmas Past. In 1912, philanthropist August Belmont, created a new club, The Society for the Prevention of Useless Giving, or SPUG. Even a century…
Port City Secures Six-Month Moratorium on OilSands Exports
The city of South Portland, Maine banned the export of oilsands crude from local port facilities this week. Portland, the suburban community of 25,000 is the Atlantic terminal of the…
If the Guy at the Chevron Station Looks Ecuadorian, He Might Be Ecuadorian
A Canadian court this week granted a group of Ecuadorian fishermen and farmers the right to seize Chevron assets to enforce an $18-billion judgment they won against the company in…
Video: Idle No More 2.0
Several hundred members and supporters of Idle No More gathered at the centre court of the Polo Park Mall in Winnipeg Friday evening to sing and to dance. Some are…
What If China Had to Compensate Us for Infectious Diseases?
Just about every year there’s some form of influenza outbreak in China. Swine flu, avian flu, Hong Kong flu – it always seems to be something. Over the years there…
Precarious workers or satisfied customers: a fine line for giant retailers
This post is an appendix of sorts to my article, “Fired by Walmart for Christmas”, to be published this weekend by Common Dreams. In the article, I describe the stresses…
Putting a Myth to Rest
There’s been no end of talk from climate science denialists that global warming has slowed in recent years. Yes, global land surface temperatures have risen somewhat more slowly than they…
Open Data for Development Challenge on Jan 27-28
This just came across my email via Michael Roberts who has been doing great work in this space. Open Data for Development Challenge January 27–28, 2014 — Montreal, Canada Do…
Athabasca’s Ugly Footprint Riles Rahm Emanuel
Chicago has got an Athabasca problem – mountains of petcoke, the standard detritus of refining Alberta bitumen. According to Chicago’s mayor, it’s time to store that crap indoors. Mayor Rahm…