Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. - Lawrence Martin slams the proliferation of gratuitous surveillance on citizens, with a particular focus on the Cons' "lawful access" legislation: In Canada, the…
Stephen Harper with his new majority
He is all set for September to open up Parliament, when he was in Brazil the president, Dilma Roussef, gave him a nice hat, partially made of toilet paper because…
Mission Accomplished
Back here I opined about the reason for the reversion of the names of our air and naval forces to RCAF and RCN. Basically that the Harper Government wanted to…
The Great Shopping Shift
I end each day quietly lamenting how I haven’t yet succeeded in completely reforming the global economy. Certainly, it’s a tall order. I search for economic and environmental sustainability. I…
Further to Warren Buffet: The Gini Coefficient, a Measure of Income Inequality
When talking about taxing the rich and the effects of inequality, it's useful to look at a country's Gini coefficient. That is a measure of household income inequality where 0…
Make Money Having Fun, A Company That Makes Money Contaminating Water Supplies
money fun.jpg An Oklahoma coal fly ash disposal company has found themselves in hot, contaminated water over their practice of using oil and gas wastewater brine in the disposal of…
An icky, creepy (yet strangely apt) similarity
Separated at birth? On the left, “Dr.” Marcus Bachmann, spouse of a certain US Republican presidential aspirant, and professional homophobe who always sets my gaydar bleeping. On the right, John…
Become What You Despise? Why "Beating" Conservative White Male Climate Deniers May Mean Joining Them
1112_no-nukes.jpg David Roberts of Grist has written a wonderful and psychologically deep portrait of why conservative white males deny climate change—and much else—and how this ...
CNN’s Piers Morgan and Hacking
As the News of the World coverup starts to crumble, with fresh revelations of old letters (including two versions of one letter, with NOW issuing one letter with references to…
Is This a ‘Goodbye Charlie Brown’ Moment?
Those with long enough memories will recall a famous confrontation that took place in 1986 between Brian Mulroney, then just nine months into his mandate, and Solange Denis, a senior…
Best use of a bible ever!
Who knew the bible would make for such decent rolling papers?Prison guards have seized almost as many Bibles from B.C. inmates as porn magazines, according to government data obtained by…
Observations and Assessments
Notions to small for a blog post, all in one place. You need to take your pain medication. Once upon a time, TorontoEmerg had some fairly significant surgery on a…
Royal Canadian Air Farce, Or Harper Really Doesn’t have the Interests of the Country at Heart
A Nanos poll reported in The Globe and Mail says that Stephen Harper's decision to add the designation "Royal" to the names of Canada's Air Force and Navy would boost…
No defence in admitting illegal drugs but not specific narcotic
R. v. Rai, 2011 BCCA 341 deals with a situation where an accused agrees that he was involved with some type of illegal drug but denies the specific narcotic. That…
Introducing Ottawa-Vanier Green Party Candidate Dave Bagler
Media Release - For immediate release Introducing Ottawa-Vanier Green Party Candidate Dave Bagler Ottawa,ON (August 17, 2011) - The Green Party of Ontario welcomes Dave Bagler to its growing Green…
Life Goes on Department: The Ducks Did It Again This Summer
As I said earlier, I've been catching up on my usual walks now that we're back in the house. Last year I was delighted to find that ducks had raised…
Trademark this ™ (part 473)
The federal Conservative Party ™ can't have it both ways. It is going after a retired university professor who is using the party's logo within an ad banner on her…
Tea Party Alive and Well in the 905
Well, this is extremely disturbing:First, Ontario Provincial PCs (note that I'm this close to starting to refuse to call them "Progressive", at least until they bring back a live one…
The problem with Hudak
Hudak has a number of problems, the largest being trust. People don’t trust him. In particular, women don’t trust him. In a new poll, Nanos Research concluded that only 1…
The problem with Hudak
Hudak has a number of problems, the largest being trust. People don't trust him. In particular, women don't trust him. In a new poll, Nanos Research concluded that only 1…