Reflections on Political Leadership
Inveterate cynic that I am, I have long believed that most politicians see us, to borrow a phrase that I think originated in The Depression, as ‘easy marks,’ people who…
Lorne
The Royal Bank Responds With An Attempt At Damage Control
Somehow, I don’t think George Orwell would be too impressed by the RBC response to its public relations nightmare over the outsourcing of Canadian jobs: Said Zabeen Hirji, RBC’s chief…
More On Wealthy Tax Cheats
As noted in a previous post, many of our more prosperous citizens feel no obligation to the country that made their great wealth possible. Rather, they are quite happy to…
Now It All Makes Sense
RBC CEO Gord Nixon I just knew there had to be a logical explanation. This explains that. Recommend this Post
Empirical Evidence Versus Bluster
Although this is just a brief clip, it does, I think, show why the ‘right’ prefers ideology and ‘talking points’ to empirical evidence: Recommend this Post
The Royal Bank’s Abasement of Its Employees
It may be helpful to remember the following video the next time you see an RBC ad portraying the bank as the solution to everyone’s problems. Forty-five soon-to-be-former employees (after…
More Praise for Kevin Page
Readers of this blog will know that I have a deep and abiding respect for people of real integrity, those capable of moving beyond narrow self-interest to embrace ethics and…
Just Trust Us
We all remember the abortive attempts by Kevin Page, Parliamentary Budget Officer, to find out specifically how federal budget cuts were going to affect programs. The Harper regime was of…
The Scourge of Wealth
I often think of the famous line from the New Testament in which Jesus says “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than…
Internet Interruptus
Today is the second day I have been without direct internet access owing to some sort of problem on the Bell network. Yesterday I was in the midst of writing…
Pondering Pandeering Political Parties
I am long past the age where I expect very much from politicians of any stripe. While it is easy to target (and I frequently do!) the Harper-led Conservative Party…
Some Inspiration From Kevin Page
There is an excellent piece in this morning’s Star by outgoing Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page. In it, he talks about how his son’s death was the catalyst for his…
Conservative Equilibrium
Ever wonder what would happen to the reactionary conservative sense of identity if it ever ran out of things to be outraged about? Happily for its psyche, that is not…
More On Harper’s Dereliction of Environmental Responsibilites
As is so often the case, Star readers eloquently speak on issues close to the hearts of many. Reproduced below are two from this morning’s edition that address the Harper…
We Are Not Alone
Those of us who write in the progressive blogosphere, I suspect, often have a ‘dark night of the soul,’ fearing that we are only preaching to the converted in our…
Some Low-Hanging Fruit
My, my, my, they are incorrigible, aren’t they? Recommend this Post
Can We, In Good Conscience, Allow This To Continue?
There are, without doubt, many justifications and rationalizations that people have for being willfully ignorant of the larger world around them: work pressures, home stresses, lack of time, lack of…
Porter Air, Pension Funds, and Invisible Strikers
Many years ago, in the midst of my teaching career, there was a movement by a group of us to try to get the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to divest…
The Deteriorating Conditions at Walmart
Perhaps the land of low prices and deteriorating conditions could learn something from Costco, which believes in paying its employees a living wage. Recommend this Post
Some Misplaced Right-Wing Anger
The ‘lady’ in this video, so agitated by the number of Americans on food stamps, is right to be angry, but for the wrong reasons: H/t Eric Dolan Recommend this…