And then there’s this one, which makes me so angry I’m not sure I can even write coherently about it. A day after a report revealed Canadian officials knew of Omar Khadr’s harsh treatment by the U.S. military, Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday repeated vows to leave the case in U.S. hands. … A Canadian official visiting Khadr in… Read more →
Tag: canada
Conservatives in league with war criminals, despite will of the public
Here’s one that both angers me and makes me embarrassed to be a Canadian: globeandmail.com: Canada deports U.S. army deserter U.S. army deserter Robin Long was quietly deported from Canada Tuesday morning, while protesters unaware of his whereabouts picketed the Canada-U.S. border crossing south of Vancouver. The first and most important question here is why are we letting a minority… Read more →
Conservatives: cheats and liars
I am filled with rage at our offensive, crypto-Republican right wing minority government today. Let’s look at few things in order of ascending offensiveness. First we’ll start with financial irregularities, disregard for the rule of law, and good old talking points spin: Elections chief counters Tory defence on expenses practices Elections officials found no evidence that other political parties engaged… Read more →
Canada’s Most Ridiculous News Story This Week…
…is here The frightened mother rushed back to the campus and was stunned by what she heard – the principal, vice-principal and her daughter’s teacher were all waiting for her in the office, telling her they’d received allegations that Victoria had been the victim of sexual abuse – and that the CAS had been notified. How did they come by… Read more →
For the record
I received this response to my “Canadian DMCA” letter from my local MP today: Dear Mr. McLaren: Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns about the new copyright legislation introduced by the Conservative government yesterday in the House of Commons. I certainly share many of your concerns and assure you they will be raised during discussions in… Read more →
Oh CBC, no.
I have often said that I hate hockey. That’s a product of being a kid in a family where my dad played in two leagues, and my brother played, and did hockey school all summer. That meant that I was pretty much always at the rink. At least three nights a week one of them had a game, and most… Read more →
This would not happen south of the border
Most unexpectedly heartening moment: When I realized that of the twelve final selected jurors, all of whom were given the choice of swearing on a Bible or merely making an oath of affirmation, every last one of them chose the non-faith-based alternative. I did miss the usual irony of seeing people swearing to tell the truth on a book of… Read more →
Putting My Own House In Order
Or rather, bitching about my own country’s politicians for a change. It seems like I can’t turn around lately without seeing another story that just embarrasses me as a Canadian. The classic example, which I’ve talked about here before, is the Tories’ continuing attempt to force a DCMA-style law down our throats. After getting his ass more or less handed… Read more →
He folded
Biff, did you call Prentice again today? ’cause if not, then it was definitely me this time. No Canadian DMCA This Year The roller coaster that is the Canadian DMCA has taken another turn. Sometime between yesterday afternoon and this morning, the government decided to hold off. At 10:00 am this morning, the introduction of new government bills came and… Read more →
Canadian DMCA — Act Now
If you didn’t do anything last week, you really need to do something now. Here’s what Geist posted yesterday: There are rumours in Ottawa this evening that Industry Minister Jim Prentice has decided to forge ahead with the Canadian DMCA with the bill to be introduced tomorrow morning. There has obviously been a huge amount of coverage of this issue… Read more →
Minor Victory
I’d like to think my call and email were the straws the broke the camel’s back. Because it’s not enough for my ego for me to be part of a success (no matter how minor or temporary), I have to be pivotal to it! Michael Geist – Canadian DMCA Introduction Delayed The word this afternoon is that Industry Minister Jim… Read more →
Canadians: Did You Call Jim Prentice Today?
I did. Don’t know who Jim Prentice is? Why he’s the Minister of Industry in Harper’s evil regime. And why should you have called him today? Well, that’s a long one. The short version is that he’s spearheading a really, really, REALLY bad law–essentially a Canadian version of the American’s dire DMCA–and since he’s been either dodging any questions from… Read more →
My Country Embarrasses Me
For years now I’ve been known to laughingly comment on the fact that you hear all these wacko religious groups opposing Harry Potter, but you never hear anything about groups opposing Pullman‘s His Dark Materials–a series that is also marketed as YA, and that sells if not Rowlingesque numbers, at least very impressive numbers. This is an especially amusing discrepancy… Read more →
A small discussion on US$ and Canadian$
While I was in Boston last week I took advantage of the relative strength of the Canadian dollar versus the US dollar to purchase a pretty large set of stuff. I made a 32 item order from Amazon, which I had delivered to a friend’s house, and I suspect the savings of doing this were vast: I got the benefit… Read more →
Apparently I need to move back to Ontario…
… just to slap argue some sense into some people. Look at this: Creationism raised as Ont. election issue TORONTO — Publicly-funded religious schools would be allowed to teach creationism and other theories, says Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory. Speaking to reporters at the a Jewish day school in Thornhill, Ont., on Wednesday, Mr. Tory defended his plan to bring… Read more →
