Making the Liberals Eat their HST Lies
Before we explore how the BC Liberals are going to spin their extended lie about not having the HST on their radar before the 2009 election, based on FOI records released Wednesday, let’s first take a look at how the National Post bungled its BC reporting today. In this piece, they pick up the Jordan [...]
A Back-To-School Wishlist for Society
Simply, two things. Let’s make sure our public school system recognizes two things: Our children are priceless individuals with immense capacity to excel, not standardized, interchangeable commodities who can be warehoused in assembly line learning factories. Thinking matters, not just filling up heads with data. A week before the new school year starts is a [...]
Respinning Unsound Tamil Presumptions in the National Post
It’s time to respin the National Post. So much so, that I’ve signed up for their 90-day free trial subscription. Mainly, I’m looking to get a stack of newsprint for lining our garden this fall for next spring. And it’s not just because the CanWest zombie has rebranded itself as PostMedia [whatever they intend that [...]
Save the Earth and Vote
There is no environmental crisis, and global warming is just “a socialist plot” – at least according to Prime Minister Harper, when he was denouncing the Kyoto Accord. But while Harper’s many sins are serious – ignoring child poverty, sending Canadians to fight in Afghanistan, attacking women’s rights – the worst one is his minority [...]
Politics, Re-Spun on Coop Radio, 8.16.10: The HST, Tamil Ship, Haiti…
Last night it was Imtiaz Popat and I on “The Rational” talking about the HST, HST petition oddities, recall of MLAs, a fall legislative session, the BC Conservatives and the NDP on the HST, a new BC Liberal leader, Kim Campbell and Rita Johnson, a fall federal election, direct democracy, Vic Toews being an immigrant [...]
The Tamils’ Gift: Some Needed National Values Exploration
I think one of the key issues in all my questions about the Tamil ship the other day is what kind of Canada do we want. Are we really open to visitors, immigrants, refugees? If there is a federal election this fall, the G20, the long-form census and how we ought to treat “visitors” like [...]
A Basic Primer on the Tamil Ship
Before anyone starts talking about the Tamils who will arrive in Canadian territorial waters today, make sure you understand more than just a 50-word summary of what is going on. For instance, we have this statement in a news report: The Tamil Tigers have been outlawed in Canada as a terrorist group since 2006. via [...]
Capitalists: The Flat-Earthers of the 21st Century
I’m not just talking about the old white guy with the mustache and top hat in Monopoly. I’m talking about all the folks who think the market will save us and that the economy must grow and that to be critical of all that is to be unpatriotic or a threat to social order. And [...]
Building Community as a Tonic for Political Cynicism
More than just political burnout, there is a malaise of cynicism present in many progressives across Canada right now. Instead of just being tired from fighting many battles with social and economic conservatism, more and more progressives I’m encountering have become disillusioned with those who ought to be our champions. There are number of head-scratching [...]
Blair Lekstrom: Even Less Principled Than We Thought
Once upon a time, Blair Lekstrom quit the BC Liberal cabinet and caucus not so much because he disagreed with the HST, but because lots of people in his riding would fire him if he continued drinking the Kool-Aid. Now we find out that–SHOCK–the Conservative MP up in the Peace is not running for re-election [...]
Bill Bennett, Future BC Liberal Leader
In the last 15 months, Bill Bennett has blamed just “some folks” at a pub for wanting to give away free beer to lure voters in during the provincial election campaign and now he is blaming a staff member for calling some activists “eco-facists” [sic]. I used to think it was just him being lucky [...]
An Informal Name Change for Stanley Park?
In recent weeks, we’ve heard the suggestion of renaming Stanley Park Xwayxway, after a native village that existed in the park for centuries before Europeans settled here. Despite a decision to leave the name alone, I think we can informally add a name to it. And we can do that all by ourselves. Share the [...]
More Bad News for Dreams of Solid Journalism
A little over a year ago, I wrote about the importance of supporting and encouraging community papers, even in this electronic era with the ascendance of ambient media. But today we’ve seen another fail in the possibility of quality community journalism in BC with the announcement of another shakeout in community papers in BC. Black [...]
Yuan Good Turn Deserves Another
Sheesh. It’s about time. China has finally walked the plank (or was prodded with sticks until they lept) and is now dog-paddling in the sea of flexible exchange rates. The word on the street? China has decided it’s time to cease pegging the Yuan at artificially low rates against the US Dollar, thereby allowing it [...]
A Fine Collection of Canada Day Racism
First Nations propose changing Stanley Park’s name to Xwayxway. What an interesting story about changing the name of Stanley Park to remove the colonialism. We now have Haida Gwaii and the Salish Sea. Removing colonial markers is about us as it is about the First Nations. But I am thoroughly astonished, but sadly not surprised, [...]
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