In self-defence
…may I and the rest of the 60% who voted against Harper in 2011 fire warning shots over the heads of Conservative cabinet ministers?
Dr.Dawg
Excited delirium
A man is Tasered for walking two lapdogs off-leash. Apparently the park ranger thought it would be educational. When the park ranger confronted Hesterberg and asked for his identification, for…
Two authors pursued by a character
In the end, good triumphed over banality: Carmen Aguirre, the “bloody terrorist” who should never have been allowed into the country according to one of the judges, won the Canada…
Nothing new under the Sun?
News of a Colombian FARCe: The chief prosecutor’s office obtained an arrest warrant Thursday for ex-President Alvaro Uribe’s longtime peace commissioner for allegedly choreographing the bogus surrender of a column…
Broken English
In Arizona, even if you are democratically elected, you can be removed from office by the courts—for not speaking “acceptable” English. Just another weapon to use against Hispanic Americans in…
Political bribery still legal
…thanks to the able assistance of both wings of the Librocon party, the Bloc rump—and Elizabeth May, that ardent defender of the democratic process. Crossing the floor of the House…
Mining, at home and abroad
Big Mining is at it again. In Ontario, you’d think that Dalton McGuinty had learned his lesson by now. In 2008 the provincial government was offering carte blanche to mining…
Scheer waste of skin
Stephen Harper’s new Speaker—and I have no hesitation describing him as such—has just disgraced himself yet again. He bounced an NDP MP who was nursing her baby. I don’t want…
Anne-France Goldwater doubles down
The apologist for fascism and apartheid who disgraced the CBC’s “Canada Reads” program a couple of days ago is sticking to her guns. Anne-France Goldwater: …he has no regrets about…
Catholic follies: non-apology retracted
The former bishop of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Edward Egan, has withdrawn his 2002 non-apology to victims of sex abuse by priests. CT Magazine: In 2002, you wrote a letter to parishioners…
Tropes
…are figures of speech. They are NOT themes, motifs or recurring images. “Mystical pregnancy,” the “magical Negro,” etc., are not tropes. The sexism and racism being analyzed are real enough,…
Health Minister promotes ill-health
Leona Aglukkaq should be bloody well ashamed of herself. Our Minister of Health is in the business, it seems, of promoting ill-health in Canada, to make Big Food rich. Positively…
CBC scrapes bottom
It’s getting harder and harder for me to defend the CBC against unofficial state broadcaster SunTV when it continues, fatuously, stupidly, to curry favour with its enemies. What is it…
Attawapiskat update: delivery of homes delayed
Winter’s half over. But the 22 homes promised by the Harper government to keep Attawapiskat families from freezing in tents cannot be delivered because the lots have not been prepared.…
Canada’s descent into depravity
In December, 2010, Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews quietly approved the use of torture to defend “lives and property.” We wouldn’t do it ourselves, of course—it would effectively be…
Gutless, indecent Con MPs
Recall Remembrance Day, when party leaders traditionally make short statements in the House of Commons to pay their respects? The Harper Conservatives weren’t having any of that nonsense: Conservative MPs…
Syrian bloodbath: the Canadian connection
The slaughter continues to this very moment, and the screams of tortured children echo in Syria. Russia and China (the owner of big chunks of our tar sands and the…
"Honour killings": the category explodes
From now on, says one of the Usual Suspects™, all domestic murders of female Muslims by male Muslims will be considered “honour killings.” And never mind what the bereaved families…
Harper’s Canada and the reptilian brain
It’s out of fashion now, but Paul D. MacLean’s triune brain model still seems to have some limited application to the political sphere: MacLean contended that the reptilian complex was…
Chris Selley goes PoMo
On why the Kenney/StuntTV faux-citizenship story doesn’t matter: I can’t help wondering: Just how “real” do we imagine TV news normally is? Do we think interview subjects really spend half…