Honestly, where do you begin?
First, Mayor Stupid's dismissing all the folks who spoke at last month's city hall all-nighter as left-wing, NDP, special-interest types trying to protect their free money. No surprise there, really. It's not as if the guy's got the intellectual wherewithal to comprehend the notion of "community" or anything.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
On that whole Nycole Turmel thing ...
While we're on the subject of journalistic ethics, let me just cite pogge and thwap. They've already said it better than I can.
From pogge:
I'll let the voters decide. And I can't predict that.
It does show that the Liberals are looking to knock the NDP off from its perch as the second party in Canada. For the issues of economic and foreign policy, I hope they fail. I hope, for reasons of foreign and economic policy, that the NDP hews closer to the principles of former BQ voters in Quebec. Because given the failure of mainstream (read: harpercon and Liberal) economic and foreign policies, the NDP might just find that adhering to Quebeckers values will resonate with more and more people in English Canada.
It's just this sort of stupidity from the Village that's brought us to the point we're at now. I'm not carrying water for anyone, but if the NDP chooses not to play this game by these rules, then I say good on them. The reaction from the political and media establishment will, of course, be furious – and predictable. That's up to them. Whether we allow it to matter is up to us.
Related posts:
From pogge:
Every year or two I find a reason to point to Declan's post on the Media Failure Two-Step. (And actually I could find a reason much more often than that.) To review, the Two-Step looks like this:
Step 1) Cause something (bad) to happen through your reporting.Step 2) Report on this (bad) thing from the perspective of an innocent bystander.And then you just repeat indefinitely.
Our latest example? With the Globe and Mail leading the charge, since yesterday many in the media have been having a great old time implying that a Quebec politician who has previously been involved with the BQ is somehow unfit for her position as an interim leader for the NDP. That in turn would imply that about half the voters of Quebec are illegitimate participants in the democratic process until they somehow redeem themselves to the satisfaction of the Globe's editorial board. And in case it isn't obvious, deserting the BQ in droves to vote for the NDP isn't sufficient for the purpose.
And from thwap:
Whether the NDP has tossed a rope down to allow the Liberal Party of Canada to clamber back up out of the grave is something I'm not prepared to speculate upon, nor is it something I'm inclined to speculate upon.I'll let the voters decide. And I can't predict that.
It does show that the Liberals are looking to knock the NDP off from its perch as the second party in Canada. For the issues of economic and foreign policy, I hope they fail. I hope, for reasons of foreign and economic policy, that the NDP hews closer to the principles of former BQ voters in Quebec. Because given the failure of mainstream (read: harpercon and Liberal) economic and foreign policies, the NDP might just find that adhering to Quebeckers values will resonate with more and more people in English Canada.
It's just this sort of stupidity from the Village that's brought us to the point we're at now. I'm not carrying water for anyone, but if the NDP chooses not to play this game by these rules, then I say good on them. The reaction from the political and media establishment will, of course, be furious – and predictable. That's up to them. Whether we allow it to matter is up to us.
Related posts:
#SunMedia and journalistic ethics: another juxtaposition
Although I sometimes wonder: given the mockery that whole "commies in the media" thing inspired, are the trolls at Sun Media really thinking any attention is good attention?
Then again, maybe I'm overthinking. These are the people whose readers do happy dances at the news of Jack Layton's cancer, after all.
Related posts:
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
As far as @pogge411 is concerned, caribou are more important than people
Typical bleeding-heart tree-hugger, getting all squishy about caribou and weeping into his tofu. Never mind the jobs involved in forestry and the Ethical OilTM Sands. And where's he getting his information? From the socialists at the CBC, of course.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Democracy withers away: Europe’s wakeup call - Le Monde diplomatique | via @NaomiAKlein
Serge Halimi: Europe’s wakeup call - Le Monde diplomatique - English edition
When the balance that keeps labour and capital in relative equilibrium gets trashed (or more likely in this context, sold off to private investors), the political and social consequences ought to be predictable.
Krugman: The President Surrenders on Debt Ceiling - NYTimes.com
The President Surrenders on Debt Ceiling - NYTimes.com
OK, can we do a couple of things for starters?
1. Lose the illusion that Obama's got any balls, or that he's in any way "progressive," or that there's much substantive institutional and policy difference between Democrats and Republicans. All the drama coming from Washington is just so much kabuki theatre.
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