Lawrence Martin on Harper's proto-fascism | #cdnpoli

Under this PM, the state is everywhere - The Globe and Mail:

'via Blog this'

It doesn't make up for the fact that it still publishes Wente, but every now and then the Globe manages to do something worthwhile.

My only quibble with Martin, other than that he still hasn't appeared on the Tweeter, is that he doesn't quite go where he's obviously heading and use the F word. The propensity for control and domination is staring us right in the face.

Just take a look:

• Fetishizing the military
• A publicly funded propaganda machine, amplified by willingly braying transmitters at Stun Media
• Disdain for democratic accountability
• Obsessive message control
• Warrantless citizen surveillance
• Jails, jails and more jails
• Demonizing and smearing of opposition

Really, are these the hallmarks of a government that has its citizens' welfare at heart? Haven't we seen this movie before?

Related posts:

• The Sun's effect on our national conversation is obvious, but what about the Globe?
• Media culpa: George Monbiot’s unedited letter to the Globe and Mail
• Why not just have the Americans write our legislation for us? - Peace, order and good government, eh?
• The capacity for critical thought - how do we build it?
• "Find new ways to protect Parliament?" WTF?

Lt. John Pike, UC Davis Police: Little Eichmann of the Day

Time to revive a dormant feature.

Here's the tough guy, pepper-spraying unarmed students. Can't help but notice the contrast: students sitting peacefully and silently get pepper-sprayed in the face. Students trashing their campus and destroying vehicles because a child-rapist football coach got fired get ... a stern frown?

Full story here. Why do I get the feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of this, both down there and up here?

Related posts:

• Little Eichmann of the Day
• Authoritarian whacking material: the Stacy Bonds video
• Hey, RCMP? How's that kicky, tasery, shooty thing workin' out for ya?

The Sun's effect on our national conversation is obvious, but what about the Globe?

It's a straightforward question: what are people talking about? What's capturing their attention and imaginations? Public conversation. Nothing gives you a better sense of a community or a society than gauging what people are talking about. (24/7 on Kim Kardashian? That's got to tell you something.)

It's been one of this little corner's favourite hobby horses for as long as I can remember. Public discourse. National conversation. Provincial. Municipal. Whatever. You want civic ambition, you need to look at the quality of the conversations people are having. (I'm focusing on civic ambition because in a recent piece, the Globe's ideologically reliable urban-affairs curmudgeon Marcus Gee was complaining about the lack thereof. More on that in a minute. )

Detroit hate rally, via Arizona News ...

Detroit prayer rally draws protests - Arizona News from USA Today:

'via Blog this'

Ignorant hateful superstition? Check.

Racism? Check.

Religious intolerance? Check.

Homophobia? Misogyny? Fundamentalist fetus fetishism? Yep. All there.

Sandbags along the border, people. The Sewer of Stupid^TM is backing up again ...

Related posts:

• Thoughts for Remembrance Day, and Matt Taibbi figures out the Occupy movement
• America overheats: The Sewer of Stupid is about to overflow | #USpoli
• About those attacks on Planned Parenthood ...

Thoughts for Remembrance Day, and Matt Taibbi figures out the Occupy movement

It's a big man who can start a national column with an admission that he got it wrong.

This little corner's been relatively silent on the whole Occupy thing, but now that it's gotten the Masters of the Universe sufficiently rattled, they're cranking up the apparatus of repression. At encampments everywhere, the cops are moving in.