Stephen Harper’s Very, Very , Very Revealing Comments About Europe
“Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it.” – Stephen Harper to a conservative American lobby group, in 1997.…
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Update-2: The why and how of U.S. hyperinflation
(Unlike my usual updates, Update-1 and subsequent updates for this post will not be noted as I will be making several revisions to this post as a whole as I…
EI: It’s all in the details
What not to say in an interview if you’re on EI, and other nightmares The latest detail to emerge about the recent changes to EI is from the Digest of…
Get ready for the return of sin taxes.
For weeks now, the provincial government has been warning us, in the most dire terms possible, that we’re in for a “tough budget” filled with “tough choices”, and a certain…
PRSA CHE (Higher Ed PR) Senior Summit
Every year, the Counselors to Higher Education (CHE) section of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) holds a Senior Summit where practitioners can learn hear from experienced executives on…
The Liberal leadership race is between Trudeau and Murray, with a 2014 early election
I decide when … The third debate is over. No-one blew their brains out. No-one surprised the audience. The race will be decided by March 4, when each of the…
The Surveillance Arms Race
There is a new arms race emerging between people who want to communicate freely and securely and governments that want to monitor and limit this communication. In democratic countries, this…
NRDC video: Keystone XL tar sands climate threat
This new video by NRDC and 350.org takes a cool, fact-based look at a hot topic – with current information on tar sands oil/Keystone XL. The video discusses current research…
Special message to state broadcaster Sun Media & Brian Lilley: Evangelicals and Catholics are not the same…
Canada’s state broadcaster Sun Media has been going to bat for the Conservative Party this week against their political enemies. Conservative Party spokesman Brian Lilley has been obsessively attacking NDP…
London Triptych traces queer desire across the centuries
Owing in large part to Hollywood’s discovery of its infinite star vehicle potential, the “intersecting lives” narrative has become, in recent years, something of a cop out. When the A-story…
Dad: a eulogy for a life well lived.
(For anyone interested, here is the eulogy I gave at my dad’s funeral. Lots of inside stuff, but it give you an idea of what the man was all about.)…
‘Have-not’ community has idea to solve Vancouver park board saga
February 13, 2013 By Emily Jackson Metro Vancouver Sure, it’s down at the bottom on Vancouver park board’s “have-not” list, and yes, it’s all for a little more equality between…
Liberal leadership candidate Murray wants to gang up on the Conservatives
If you want to see the Harper Conservatives defeated in 2015 – or at least reduced to a minority government – it’s time you started paying attention to what Joyce…
PEI is my home – But you may not want to ‘come play on my Island’
There is a new government campaign underway on lovely little Prince Edward Island – #PEIismyhome and they’ve gone all out to promote the brand on their website, with a YouTube…
NPR’s "API" — and why it matters
When asked what explained National Public Radio‘s successful growth of over 80% in viewership of its web page over the last year, Zach Brand, the organization’s Senior Technology Director, credited…
DC rally on climate-change Feb 17: threats posed by tar sands and Keystone XL pipeline
This Sunday, February 17, one of the largest rallies ever held in the US on climate-change will take place in front of the White House. The Sierra Club, 350.org, together…
Wrestling Not an Olympic Sport?
A scant 25 years ago, commercial considerations were viewed as “contaminating” the Olympic ideal. Now, they are viewed as being more important than 28 centuries of Olympic history. Consider this…
Update-1: The political sportscast: meet the new plan, same as the old plan
I’ve been overly stressed lately. For the past week or so I had once again written off bothering to follow the news, write about the news, comment on the news,…
International #OpenDataDay: Now at 90 Cities (and… the White House)
Okay. We are 10 days away from International Open Data Day this February 23rd, 2013. There is now so much going on, I’ve been excited to see the different projects…