After years of concern about what a second Harper majority government would do to eradicate the rest of what I love about Canada, I’ve been able to reject fear and embrace change. But it was a long process that required coming to terms with Tom Mulcair. And I did. And
Continue readingTag: A Better World is Needed
Politics, Re-Spun: Elect Harper = Kill Medicare for Good
#HeaveSteve THIS is how much the Harper Conservatives resent, hate and want to kill Medicare with a slow, painful death [starting with a $36 billion cut]…leading to for-profit healthcare where the rich are OK, the companies are brutally profitable and the middle class and poor go bankrupt or die from
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Obama Battles Harper Over Climate Change
Obama spoke the other day about climate change: “we’re the first generation to feel the impact of climate change; we’re the last generation that can do something about it.” Stephen Harper denies the science. It’s about that simple. #HeaveSteve February 19, 2015 Looking for Heroes? (0) August 3, 2015 11
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Harper’s Campaign Against a Mythical Netflix Tax Backfires, Badly
Check out our savvy PM, getting all hashtaggy on us all! But to quote Mr. Layton from 2011, it’s become a #Fail, or, “Hashtag-Fail” if you will. You see, our PM has decided to say that others want to bring in a Netflix Tax. So he opposed it. But he
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Stephen Harper Is Such a Bad Economist!
He says he’s awesome, but he’s so bad, that on the economy he’s the worst prime minister since WWII. And his campaign is “don’t change horses in mid-stream, I’m a great economist, we aren’t in a recession, we have a balanced budget and only I can protect you from the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: 11 Weeks of Daily Harper Protests
The Harper Re-election Disaster Bus Totalitarianism: daily, for 11 weeks! Get used to this. People hate Harper and his Conservatives. We will see through his weak attempt to wedge oppositions parties by running a long election campaign because he has more money to spend. Saturation will come fast. We will
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: My Canada Includes…The Future!
Inspired by Nora Loreto [again], I am starting to frame my vision for what Canada should be after C-51, the TRC report and the October 19, 2015 federal election. Here are my initial thoughts: I’d love it for the very foundation upon which Canada [sic] is built, to crumble! We
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How Do YOU Fight for Workplace Justice?
How do YOU define determination? One of them gave birth the day before the vote. As soon as her baby was nursing properly and her bloodwork came back okay, she made the trip to the hotel to vote. via Inside a union drive at The Trump Hotel | Toronto Star.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Sadistic Police and Their Entitlements
If you wonder why police are losing respect as a credible element in a peaceful, democratic, civilized society, watch this video [the slightly longer version is here]. Not only does a white shirt pepper spray an unarmed man at almost point blank range, watch what else happens. The white shirt
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: An Analogy For Understanding Violent Protest In Baltimore
Let’s say you live in an apartment building, and the only way to buy groceries was to order them and have them delivered to your apartment. Everyone is told “To place your order, simply call this toll free number, state your name, address, and what you want to purchase.” The
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Disaster Tourism at the English Bay Oil Spill
By Emily Griffiths In the wake of the oil spill a few days ago, I set out this morning with my partner to see the aftermath first hand. I really didn’t want to go, because I don’t enjoy feeling depressed or enraged, but denial isn’t a healthy choice, either. We
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Vancouver’s Co-Working Co-op Stimulates Worker Empowerment
Tuesday night in the back room of The Tipper bar/bistro/restaurant on Kingsway at Victoria we are holding our Inception Meeting for a new kind of co-working space in Vancouver, one structured as a co-op. You can read about the project in The Georgia Straight piece last week, and on the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What’s Wrong with Canada? We’re Not Denmark-ish
And I don’t mean we need to become Denmark, but we need to have the dialogue about why they can do what they do and we choose not to. When Canadians are surveyed, a very large majority of us support these public goods. But those desires get subsumed with corporate,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Is It Time YOU Write With Politics, Re-Spun?
Hello! It’s time. Time to consider writing with us. We’re expanding our crew and you may be the kind of person we’re looking for. How would you know? Here are the four steps. Read the About Politics, Re-Spun page. If you understand that, you’ve passed #1! Read George Monbiot’s essay
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How Selfish Are Old People?
It’s not so cut and arid. It’s not like old people didn’t create EarthShip. But this graphic, that’s not the only study that shows how younger people aren’t so yuppie, so individualist, so consumerist, so selfish. If you don’t have enough under-40s in your life, work on it. The fall
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What Kind of Politicians Ignore THEIR OWN SCIENTISTS?
In BC and Canada, politicians actively ignore the people and their own scientists. Why? OK, you tell me. What do you call politicians who ignore their own scientists? It’s not a trick question. What if scientists tell their political bosses about the climate impacts of ramping up a mythical $1
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: International Day of Action for Burnaby Mountain and ALL Land Defenders
This is an international day of action, so check the event page to see what’s up in your town, for TOMORROW! And if there’s nothing at your home, be the change! Let’s consolidate our recent victories and continue moving public opinion to transitioning to the post-carbon energy infrastructure: wind, solar,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Entitlements? What About Understanding UNentitlements?
Punishing irony. OK, I’m fine admitting it. I focus on entitlements a lot. I’m often trying to encourage people to examine our unexamined entitlements: race, age, economic class, gender, sexuality, etc. But one way to understand entitlements is to understand how unentitlements work. I’m guilty of overlooking this. Until today.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Kirk LaPointe’s Credibility Problem: the NPA
Don’t vote for the NPA. Any of them. LaPointe is the NPA’s mayoral candidate. The NPA stands for the Non-Partisan Association. If you actually believe the NPA has no partisan ideology, please don’t vote. For almost a decade I’ve been writing about how the brand notion of the NPA is
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Work, Dignity and Living Wages?
A strong union. Corporations that understand the social contract. Corporations that know a tad smaller profit here contributes to more dignity throughout society. Corporations that recognize the value of unions. The living wage in Vancouver this year is $20.10, almost double the minimum wage. The “precariat” are precarious proletariats. We
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