Worker Bashing 101
For those people on your Christmas list who think you’re full of hot air when you complain that there has been a concerted attack on workers in the last few decades, here are a few examples of demonizing rhetoric to introduce them to, courtesy of Adrian MacNair: We don’t need no stinkin’ unions | National [...]
The New Normal and the End of the World?
“This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper.” – T.S. Eliot An Apocalyptical Cliché Large swaths of Pakistan are in ruins. The same is still true of Haiti, to say nothing of the long-standing devastation [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
A Voice from Haiti, Who We Are Further Victimizing
This morning I wrote about how we and the French are continuing to rip off Haiti 7 months after their earthquake. Today I read about one woman’s experiences. She sounds so much like us. Getting to the human level during these kind of existential events, we always see that “they” are just like “us”. I [...]
How We [and the French] Keep Ripping Off Haiti
It was so nice to see so many billions pledged to help Haiti after its earthquake where the planet kicked the country after it was down from centuries of racist, imperial and neoliberal exploitation. But how much money pledged has shown up? And worse, did you know that Haiti spent more than a century paying [...]
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 [...]
Banks’ Obscene Profit = Child Poverty
First quarter (3 month) bank profits in Canada were $5.3 billion for the big six banks. The Conference Board of Canada reports that Canada ranks 15 of 17 in the developed world regarding child poverty rates. The child poverty rate increased by 2% between the mid-90s and the mid-00s. Should the world really Follow Canada’s [...]
How is the HST Initiative Campaign Shaping Up?
From: HST not the lone Lib time bomb set to explode. Point Grey [Gordon Campbell's riding]: 10% of required signatures in one day. Peace River North: 1,820 signatures on day one [over half] This bodes well. Even with the initiative legislation not being binding on the government, getting 10% of voters in 85 ridings should [...]
National Housing Strategy Rally in Vancouver: Bill C-304
Halfway through the Olympics on Saturday, February 20, hundreds gathered at the Vancouver Art Gallery to call for a national housing strategy. NDP MP Libby Davies’ private members bill C-304 lives on despite Stephen Harper’s cynical proroguement of parliament. Despite killing all his own pending legislation, the prime minister can’t kill private members bills by [...]
Protesting the Corporate-Debauched Olympics
I’ve spent the weekend reflecting on the success of various confrontations to the Olympic brand and the emerging global corporate feudalism. I’ll start off with a recognition that I’m sitting here in my “I am a free speech zone” t-shirt, having celebrated Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year and observed Vancouver’s Missing Women Memorial March, [...]
Shirley Bond’s Marie Antoinette Complex
shirleybond The heat wave continues-imagine being loaded on an Air Canada flight and then sitting on the tarmac in the heat for an hour – yup it was me!10:45 PM Jul 29th from web Shirley Bond should keep using Twitter so we can see a better sense of her lack of empathy and perspective. Former [...]
Fixing Vancouver’s Homelessness: A Survey With Teeth
Welcome to our Community Consultation Survey on Homeless Solutions and the Howe Shelter via City of Vancouver Homelessness Solutions Survey. In a time where Vancouver city council may or may not have the will to oppose a provincial government they seem to be cozying up with, they issue a survey to see what the citizens [...]
Igg’s Empty Deal with Harper
In 2005, New Democrats turned corporate tax breaks of $4.6 billion into $1.6 billion for affordable housing, $1.5 billion for post-secondary education, $900 million for transit, $500 million for foreign aid and $100 million for pension protection. In 2009, Michael Ignatieff could only manage a “blue ribbon panel” on Employment Insurance with limited scope that [...]
Peak Oil Will Kill Neoliberal Globalization: More Support
A year ago today, I wrote about how a few years earlier at lunch with friends I was thinking that peak oil will kill neoliberal globalization. Last year, there was a piece in Report on Business about just that, making me feel mighty vindicated. It’s nice to see corporate media affirming your views. A few [...]
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