Or Maybe They’ve Stopped Arresting Anyone Who Just Pisses Them Off
June 28, 2011 | 2 Comments
The Ottawa Sun is getting its low-key righteous indignation on with this article/column/opinion piece, More drunks getting a pass from Ottawa cops. Helpfully, they also show an image of Stacy Bonds getting the crapped kicked out her. Oh, but wait, Stacy Bonds wasn’t drunk; she wasn’t committing any sort of crime. She just resented being [...]
That’s a feature, not a bug!
June 28, 2011 | No Comments
This Globe editorial in defence of our un-democratic senate strains credulity: The bill’s elements got actual clause-by-clause scrutiny, in a process that Senators often use to improve legislation. Liberals reminded Conservative senators of their opposition to similar back-to-work legislation at Canada Post in 1997. The Senators questioned the key players from the government, company and [...]
Commenting today, the last day of this parliamentary sitting
June 26, 2011 | No Comments
It has been some time since I watched Question Period or debates in the House of Commons more than once in a week or for any extended period of time. I could only be a political junkie so long with the previous official opposition yelling scandal here and there. As commented elsewhere by Michael Hammond, [...]
Quote of the Day
June 23, 2011 | 7 Comments
Stephen Gordon, commenting on this Mike Moffatt post about subsidies for political parties: I don’t see what public subsidies for spin doctors and attack ads has to do with democracy. If people want to spend their money on that, fine. But let’s not pretend that it has anything to do with democracy. Read Mike’s entire [...]
Apparently, Canadians have started caring about water polo.
June 21, 2011 | No Comments
Who knew? It seems that one of the Vancouver rioters is a promising young water polo player who, as a result of trying to light a police car on fire, has been kicked off the national junior team. Vengeance is in the air, and many are calling for him to be permanently banned from playing [...]
Her Brother Played the Riot
June 20, 2011 | 4 Comments
The other day, The Ottawa Citizen offered us the front page headline, Why? Vouncouver’s Police Chief blamed ‘anarchists and criminals’ (sorry, no working link, but Daphne Bramham notes it here). Bollocks. Sure, we could get all tautological and say that because the rioters committed crimes, they’re all criminals. It’s dumb, desperate cover for a massive [...]
Programming Notice
June 20, 2011 | No Comments
Family life (what with the new baby and all) and work life have gotten tremendously busy these past few weeks, and, thus, have severely restricted my time to blog. Just as my work life is starting to return to normal, my computer has decided to go on the fritz, even further restricting my opportunities to [...]
Hoserdom, hockey and Dudley Do-right
June 20, 2011 | 4 Comments
There is no doubt Canada’s reputation as the feel-good, peace-loving Dudley Do-right of the world has taken countless beatings in recent years, but none was more jarring than seeing the site of Vancouver Canucks fans destroying their downtown after losing the Stanley Cup. There are a number of theories about how it was caused and [...]
Thoughts from inside then outside the bubble
June 14, 2011 | 2 Comments
When I first heard of a security breach during the Speech From the Throne, it was over Twitter, so naturally, I was concerned and alarmed. Then, the story of the ”rogue page,” and Brigitte DePape’s ’Stop Harper’ sign emerged and my reaction was downgraded to underwhelmed. To take a risk of such proportion (in the worst case scenario, DePape could have been [...]
Should Liberals Celebrate or Blame Trudeau?
June 14, 2011 | No Comments
Twenty-seven years ago on this day, June 14, 1984, the Liberal Party of Canada opened its leadership convention to choose a successor for Pierre Trudeau, the party’s outgoing leader and the country’s retiring prime minister. (For a blast from the past, take a look at this short video clip featuring a 35-year-old Peter Mansbridge promoting [...]