Discussion is healthy, indeed #nlpoli
From the Telegram a former chief of staff in the Premier’s Office puts it as eloquently as only he could: If public discussion, questions and debate on any issue should…
free speech
When the right whines about ‘free speech’, what do they want to say they can’t say now?
Conservatives on both sides of the border love to wail about how their right of ‘free speech’ is being curtailed. Yet it’s not clear to me at least what they…
Mining Industry Caught On Tape Plotting To Corrupt Media
* This week Australian mining billionaire Gina Rinehart became the largest shareholder in Fairfax Media, having already bought a stake in Channel Ten. But this new video reveals this move…
Rogers Communications wants to change Ontario law so it can continue ‘misleading advertising’ in peace
I love when the right and big corporations use the ‘free speech’ (or in this case, ‘freedom of expression’) argument from everything to excusing defamation and libel to putting out…
Let’s not be arresting bloggers in Canada
There’s a case going on in Fredericton, New Brunswick that deserves some attention: “Fredericton blogger's arrest attack on civil liberties.” This blogger, Charles LeBlanc, who blogs here, was arrested last…
Mitt The Ripper
The unaffiliated (definitely not co-ordinating with Stephen Colbert) SuperPAC “Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow” has just released the following advertisement, which logically proposes that if “corporations are people” then…
Fixing Vision Vancouver’s Democratic Deficit
Now that Vision Vancouver has self-actualized as a political party, it’s time to see if they’ll now address some longstanding democratic deficits. The complexion of the city changed markedly last…
Robert Reich @ UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley Professor (and former US Labor Secretary) Robert Reich delivering the Mario Savio memorial lecture last night.
Freedom of linkage and hatred
It seems like liberals (of the traditional variety) have reason to celebrate Canada’s current Supreme Court bench. First, the Court ruled unanimously that Insite, Vancouver’s Safe Injection Site, could not…
The end of “parental rights” in Alberta?
More good news out of Alberta, premier-elect Alison Redford is hinting that she may reverse the most controversial bits of Bill 44. The bill was an overdue amendment to Alberta’s…
A Tale of Two Georges
I shouldn’t have to say it, but for the benefit of the cerebrally-deprived I will anyway: I am not a fan of George W Bush — far from it. But…
Why I’m Not Jumping On Board The Google+ Bandwagon
by matttbastard Jillian C. York on why the current corporate backlash against online pseudonymity is misguided: There are myriad reasons why an individual may feel safer identifying under a name…
Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. - Just as in this year's federal election, the NDP will need to look to move voting intentions once the campaign is underway. But…
Political Rights
My condolences to the families of the 92 people killed in the Norway attacks. It is a horrible thing to kill children and terrible to kill fellow human beings in…
“Not an inch of space”
Never mind that Europe is supposed to be all metric all the time, here’s a quote relating to yesterday’s tragedy: "That the perpetrator apparently comes from the far-right scene shows…
New column day
Here, on the need for Canadian workers to follow Kai Nagata's example in valuing and insisting on the right to express their opinions.For further reading...- Sandra Thomas' rebuttal to Nagata…
Saturday Morning Links
This and that for your weekend reading.- Kai Nagata's post on why he quit his job as a reporter is well worth a read in full. But let's particularly note…
Wikileaks: It’s not free speech
Part 1: An issue of semantics? Maybe I’m splitting hairs, but I don’t necessarily view the Wikileaks drama as being an exercise of acting on a person’s right to free…
McGuinty Just Wanted to Help the Police
In response to the Ombudsman’s report that the use of a wartime act to police the G20 protests in Toronto was probably illegal and unconstitutional, our Premier had the following…