US Presidency: Rick, George and Mitt
Rick Perry would be a dramatically different president than George Bush Junior was, if he lives up to his stated intentions. Unlike most recent Republican presidents, who have hypocritically preached…
Our fiscal Conservatives. Now it’s $750 for new military trucks.
As we spend our way into an elite military, Harper makes cuts to everything else that matters. Who cares if the military is shiny and buff when the rest of…
Is This Harper’s Plan for Athabasca?
The Australian government is moving to protect steelworkers' jobs against the impacts of its own carbon pricing regime at a cost of $36,000 per year per worker.In a report to…
Kapitalism = Capitalism – Regulation
Karl Marx had a theory of capitalism that few of us have managed to understand and fewer still accept. We wrote him off as a communist agitator, an enemy of…
Random notes on television comedy
August 11, 2011 On July 29, an article titled “Curb Your Racism” appeared on the widely read Mondoweiss, a blog devoted to “the war of ideas in the Middle East”.…
Steve Jobs’ Biggest Success: Sweatshops & Fat Salaries
The other day I mused on the simultaneous outpourings of sadness and loss over Jack Layton & Steve Jobs and what each of them represented. As I noted at the…
Christy Clark Dabbles in Tea Party Rhetoric
It’s one thing to lose a referendum on a regressive tax that came in on a lie, that was a tax shift from businesses to real human beings, and that…
The Stop Mulcair Movement
Just so everyone knows, I think it exists. It exists in all parties, when the supposed "front-runner" of a leadership battle who tends to be the opposite of what the…
I’m awake…
if what you're reading here grips you, holds you, fascinates you, provokes you, emboldens you, pushes you, galvanizes you, discomfits you, tickles you, enrages you so much that you find…
Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous content to start your week. - Ian Welsh reminds us of the golden rule that should govern politics and everyday interactions alike: To paraphrase many of the greatest religious…
What Now?
This is hardly the first, and won't be the last, post on the future of Canada's New Democratic Party after the loss of its most popular and successful leader in…
And so it begins…
What is “it”? The speculation, naturally. Olivia Chow is just newly widowed, and already there is talk of whether she’ll run for the top job in the NDP. The one…
Number One Lesson *Not* To Take Away from Hurricane Irene
800px-Atlantic_hurricane_tracks.jpg I was watching CNN this morning. I don’t know why—except that it was on in the gym at the hotel where I’m staying. Pretty soon, I was arguing...
The Alternative
No one delivers a speech the way Stephen Lewis does. His diction is crisp and clear and his passion is absolutely authentic. But a Lewis speech is more than just…
O Why O Why Did I Pick Up The Phone?
Phone rings. I look around. There is no ward clerk in sight. Damn. I answer. “Emergency, Charge Nurse.” “Can I ask you a question?” The voice on the other end…
An Internet Explorer Tip
For all the people out there using Internet Explorer, here’s a tip on how to block specific websites that could harm your computer, or, in this case, hurt your brain…
Nalcor Royalties: yet more information
Part 1: Resource give-away Part 2: Nalcor Royalties – more information Nalcor estimates the company will pay anticipated royalties to the provincial government totalling $2.06 Billion dollars. That’s…
140 Law – Legal Headlines for August 29, 2011
Here are today's leading legal headlines from Wise Law on Twitter:First Circuit upholds right to record public police action -http://goo.gl/b3RVSConferences for judges and JPs cost $590000 0 - Toronto Sun…
Good Sense from The Gazette, for Once: Leave the Car at Home
We've not been readers of The Gazette on a regular basis for years (long story, having in part to do with a class action I'm involved in against it) but…
Where do they go from here?
After a week of tributes and mourning, the talk in Ottawa is sure to turn to "what now" this week, as the NDP begins the process of replacing Jack Layton.…