Politicspeak with simultaneous translation
The Guardian’s Polly Toynbee was writing about Nick Clegg and Britain’s Liberal Democrats but she could have been writing about the Campbell/Clark BC Liberals: “a string of the same weary…
Norman Farrell
Renewal without reform?
A skilled and practised word hunter, Ian Reid can flush out sources from behind stone walls. Thursday, he scooped the Legislature’s press gang and published Mea culpa, mea culpa, the…
The rumour mill
Here’s a quick one that came my way today from a pretty decent source. Within the next four months, Christy Clark will decide to focus on the important duties of…
September summer
The Spider’s Web The spider, dropping down from twig, Unfolds a plan of her devising, A thin premeditated rig To use in rising. And all that journey down through space,…
Words to ponder
“In any society where wealth and income concentrate overwhelmingly at the top, the affluent will almost always come to sneer at public services and the men and women who provide…
Tax avoidance, crippled services, monster deficits
“The Republicans have got the facts backward. A rising tide definitely raises all boats. They somehow believe that rising boats raise all tides.” William O. Beeman, commenting on Bill, Barack…
School begins again
Forty-eight years ago this week, I departed small town Powell River and took up residence at UBC’s still under construction Totem Park student housing. In those days, males and females…
Not so free speech
Piper Super Cub threatens Otawa Labour Day weekend, RCMP arrested the pilot of a Piper Supercub flying near the Gatineau Quebec Hot Air Balloon Festival. Not because Gian Piero Ciambella…
Serving the real masters
“Royal Dutch Shell PLC has begun construction on a $950-million project to capture and bury greenhouse gas emissions, the first of its kind to sequester carbon from Canada’s oil sands.…
In sheep’s clothing
Bob Mackin has an interesting piece in The Tyee about a newspaper tycoon and BC Liberal abettor. David Black’s bluster was about about oil refining but the part of Mackin’s…
A little update on the homefront
Ten days ago, comment writer Lew related his renovation experience, saying, “I was seriously considering a special alteration to the original plans that would effectively conceal the body of a…
The blogger has not disappeared…
He’s at home, under a pile of rubble. The dreck and detritus will have but a fugacious claim on the writer’s attention.
One reason why the rich stay that way
Harry Reid: Bain Investor Told Me That Mitt Romney ‘Didn’t Pay Any Taxes For 10 Years’, Huffington Post, July 31, 2012 WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has…
Liars believe their own lies
Corporation That Paid Nothing In Taxes For Four Years Tells Congress It Pays Too Much In Taxes, Think Progress, July 20, 2012 “Over a four years period from 2008 to…
And I’m making stuffed sole for dinner
Regular readers will know that I’m involved in a home renovation project, one that is just beginning. Presently, the 20 foot shipping container in the driveway is being filled with…
Fascinating reads about sports and human behaviour
In Honor of the Olympics, the Best Investigative Reporting on Sports, by Cora Currier and Suevon Lee, ProPublica, July 27, 2012 “The 30th Summer Olympics officially opened today in London.…
Pit stop
Posting will be somewhat irregular during the summer as my attention is diverted to a renovation project at home. We haven’t even begun and we’re already over budget and behind…
A bubble of dference and flattery
Pathos of the Plutocrat, Paul Krugman, New York Times, July 19, 2012 “…Mr. Obama always bends over backward to declare his support for free enterprise and his belief that getting…