what i’m reading: swamplandia! by karen russell
Swamplandia! caught me by surprise. At first, Karen Russell’s debut novel seemed like a quirky family story, a strange and somewhat sad tale told with great wit and humour. Then…
November 2014
It’s Called "Blowback"
Our confused, incoherent, even knee-jerk response to ISIS appears to be backfiring on us, at least in Syria. There, it’s reported, US air strikes are driving anti-Assad groups – outfits…
Deniers Pretend to be Skeptics. They’re Not.
A lot of climate change deniers present themselves as skeptics. There’s a huge difference that is often overlooked. A denialist is someone who says, “No, the Earth is flat and…
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Lynn Stuart Parramore writes about our increasingly traumatic social and political culture, along with the response which can help to overcome it:…
Canada’s Fearless Tax Warrior
That intrepid capeless crusader for core Conservative concepts, Finance Minister ‘Uncle’ Joe Oliver, has found yet another weapon in his utility pouch to save us from the implacable clutches of…
Nowhere Man
http://www.musicstack.com/ Yesterday, I wrote that Stephen Harper’s refusal to deal with Kathleen Wynne could have significant electoral consequences. Martin Regg Cohn writes that those consequences are being felt now with…
Sometimes, you cannot choose your friends.
A casual observation made in a commentary the other day about the difficulties of having Americans as neighbours and friends evoked some questions. It comes down to the fact that…
Electioneering on our Dime?
We all know that we are inundated with TV advertisements promoting the Harper “government” in thev egis of telling citizens about their “plan” or some other “program” non of which…
Shelly Glover and the New Con Assault on the CBC
I have to admit that when I heard that the Con Heritage Minister Shelly Glover was warning the CBC to boost its ratings, or ELSE, I thought of her former…
Tory income-splitting tax policy: It’s about creating and preserving gender inequality and making rich guys richer
Whew! This income splitting is a killer. Actual perfect families as seen by the Harper Government may not appear exactly like Canadian reality. Below: Queen’s University tax law professor Kathleen…
Absence of evidence and evidence of absence
It has been a while since my last blog post (yes, I love euphemisms). I have not been writing for the simple reason that I ran out of things to…
Ferguson waits
Decision day in Ferguson will be Monday at the earliest | Toronto Star: “We’re living under a governor’s declared State of Emergency, we’re facing school closures, and we’ve got enough…
Rafe: Tough on Kinder Morgan, Corrigan & Robertson my kind of mayors
Re-elected mayors Gregor Robertson & Derek Corrigan. Photos: CP (left) / Dale Cornish/Forest Ethics (right) Derek Corrigan is my kind of mayor. So is Gregor Robertson. Both of these mayors…
Well that was stupid: Strava Boom challenge almost wrecks me
Lately I’ve been pretty proud of how I’ve been running. Managing longer distances at faster pace, and feeling great complete with normal heart rate the next day. Yay me. So…
Canada’s Petro-Politics Playing Out on B.C.’s Burnaby Mountain
The way tensions between pipeline opponents and Kinder Morgan contractors have escalated during the last week should come as a surprise to no one. The mishandling of the National Energy…
Nov. 22: Sorry I’m late.
It is really too bad that we have not seen EastEnergy ads since Thursday. They are really quite wonderful examples of how to lie to people, and manipulate them. Hitler’s…
Ethnography 101: La cour de Babel and La marche à suivre
The only thing I hate more than bad puns is bad ethnography, and La cour de Babel walks a fine line on that. Following an integration class for new immigrants…
All-Out War in Ukraine
Photo by Pete Souza Introduction There are clear signs that a major war is about to break out in Ukraine: A war actively promoted by the NATO regimes and supported…