Trudeau’s Meaty Speech
It’s been pointed out, like over at Far and Wide, that nobody else in Canadian politics says anything substantial, so why should Justin Trudeau have to be the only one?…
Purple Library Guy
Complex Societies
It’s accepted in many circles that increased complexity is a necessary price of progress. The idea is that technological advance and improvements in productivity necessarily involve increases in complexity. Hence…
A Threat to Our Society:
Colour consultants. They have a conspiracy going to make us live in an ugly world. The way it works is, people instinctively like pretty colours. Nobody can make money selling…
Queen’s Jubilee
At this time, the British should be thanking their lucky stars they still have a Queen. Sure, she’s a relic of a barbaric time, harking back to a completely bankrupt…
So how’d that Libya thing work out?
Every so often a new intervention by NATO and the usual suspects gets proposed, and there’s always an argument all over again about whether it’s a good idea. Generally, there…
Facebook, business as usual
So apparently the Facebook IPO was a pump-and-dump, with insiders making out like gangbusters and small investors left holding the bag. For some reason lots of people seem to be…
A moment of parochialism
For decades now the right wing in Alberta, which has been in control of the province for that whole time, has made no bones about not giving a damn about…
Just for the record
So the good people at Dammit Janet! are having an argument with certain other bloggers who apparently also belong to “Progressive Bloggers”, and with the site administrators of “Progressive Bloggers”,…
My $2 billion on F-35: How much really? and Why?
First, that figure the auditor general has been talking about, that $25 billion. While it’s a useful number to know about as a demonstration the Cons were hiding things, we…
Everybody is overreacting
So Mulcair has been elected leader of the NDP. His supporters are saying he is the greatest thing since sliced bread, that he is the only one who had a…
You’re either with me or you’re with the terrorists
No, really. I support a negotiated settlement to the troubles in Syria, and a stop to the arming of rebels and mercenaries against the regime. It so happens that Al…
One Bank to Rule them All
Centrist and leftist economists have been spending a lot of column inches wondering what has possessed the European central bank top brass lately. Even some mainstream to right-wing economists seem…
Capitalism and Finance
The rise of finance may be the death knell of the system as we know it. I'd like to sketch out a notion of the difference between what you might…
Capitalism and Finance
The rise of finance may be the death knell of the system as we know it. I'd like to sketch out a notion of the difference between what you might…
I’m sorry, you can’t enter the protest without a tie
These "occupy Wall street" protestors and the various satellite venues have been letting the side down in no uncertain terms. The media have rightly been very severe on this issue,…
Labour costs shifted to the consumer
I often complain, online and in person, about declining wages. Whether it's a more formal talk about how median wages have flatlined or worse by the numbers, or just an…
They’re winning every battle
The story goes that after the Vietnam war a US officer, unable to understand or accept US defeat, pointed out to general Giap, "We won every battle", to which general…
How the mighty are fallen
On the question of the mooted Liberal-NDP merger, I don't have much interest in the question directly. The main thing it says to me is, you know the Liberals are…
"Let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."
I've seen a lot of people talk about hope dying, Jack being irreplaceable and so on. Not everyone by any means, which is good, but too dashed many. To those…
Los Evenimientos de Mayo
So I was in Madrid a few days ago. I'd have posted quicker, but had trouble with internet access. But here I am at an internet cafe in Toledo and…