Funny Ha Ha December 21, 2006
Posted by politicsranter in Media, Politics.1 comment so far
Scott Feschuk’s Weekday Update is quite hilarious today. My favourite bits are the following:
Remember Harper’s five priorities? The environment wasn’t one of them. This is the man whose flagship piece of environmental legislation promised action on climate change by 2050, at which time he would be 91 years old and, given current trends in global temperature increases, broiled to a nice medium-well.
and
Stephen Harper is not writing a book on hockey. I hate to be the one to break this to you, sir, but it needs to said. For two years now your aides have been peddling the notion that you’re researching and writing a book on the history of hockey… In one year-end interview, you told a reporter that you currently devote 15 minutes a day (and sometimes less) to your work on the book. The only way you’re producing a book on 15 minutes of work a day is if your name is Jim Davis and you’ve just come up with another wacky bit of mischief involving Garfield and a plate of lasagna.
How did I ever find him unfunny?
Follow Me! December 20, 2006
Posted by politicsranter in Media, News.add a comment
I’ve been hired as one of Torontoist’s new contributors! I’m pretty psyched. My first post will be up later this morning. I’ll still be politics ranting here, but you should all check me out on Torontoist too. I’ll be writing about all sorts of good things – Toronto events, food, politics and music.
Can we say opportunist? December 19, 2006
Posted by politicsranter in Environment, News, Politics.1 comment so far
So Stephen Harper says the environment is top priority for his government. I said it before, and it still stands: no one is going to believe for a minute that Harper and the Conservatives actually care about the environment. But if he does want to give it a shot, his first move better be to fire useless Rona Ambrose. He’d also better re-think his Kyoto strategy. Everyone keeps pointing out that emissions rose by large amounts under the Liberals after they had signed Kyoto. True. But only so much can be blamed on the government. Individual people have to be willing to work towards reducing emissions, and from what I can see, no one wants to do that. People find it good in theory, but not so good when it means you have to give up your SUV.
In the same interview, Harper also gave himself a pretty hilarious pat on the back:
The prime minister said his most important short-term achievement has been improving national unity and making the country feel better about itself.
He referred to Afghanistan and the growing sense that Canadians are making a difference in the world.
Right. Because Afghanistan is totally working out, and not a giant debacle at all. The US Senate majority leader called it “unwinnable”, as did the president of CARE Canada. Sounds like it’s going awesome!
One thing he’s on the right track with is his desire to see a “quicker integration of skilled immigrants”. Canada has been boasting about being a fabulous multicultural wonderland while treating immigrants like shit for far too long. Our ethnocentric view that only Canadian credentials, and those of the US and some European countries, are valid is stupid and racist. We can’t keep luring engineers and doctors with the promise of a wonderful new life in Canada, and then give them minimum wage service jobs. We can’t tell people everything will be great and then keep them impoverished.
Comments December 15, 2006
Posted by politicsranter in News, Politics.add a comment
I was always under the impression that readers of the Globe and Mail were a fairly intelligent bunch. After reading a bunch of the comment sections on articles, it appears that I was mistaken. Here is a smattering of comments from an article on Maher Arar and the fact that the US still has him on their watch list, with my snarky responses attached:
And if he doesn’t like being tortured, he should give up Syrian citizenship.
-Right. So anyone who is Syrian deserves to be tortured? My sister’s boyfriend is Syrian, and, like Maher Arar, he’s never done anything to warrant punishment. But I guess he should give up his citizenship if he doesn’t want to be tortured!
Far, far too much media, time and money being spent on this matter. Time to put it to bed.
-Yep, ignoring massive breakdowns in our national policing system and human rights is totally the way to deal with them. Also, it’s quite easy for someone sitting on their couch in Calgary to say that. I’m sure it doesn’t feel as easy to shrug off when you’re the one who was tortured for a year.
if i were an american i would seriously consider of putting all canadians on the watch list
-Oh my god. I think this one speaks for itself.
The parts that bother me the most is that people are so unfeeling and flippant about someone being wrongfully deported and tortured and that people don’t understand the concept of precedence. They don’t seem to realize that the impact of something like this isn’t just one incident. If the US thinks they can do this to one person, what’s to stop them from doing it again and again?
Telephone landlines: going the way of the dinosaur December 13, 2006
Posted by politicsranter in Uncategorized.1 comment so far
I almost had one installed when I moved into my new apartment. Luckily, I missed both my “appointments” (vague three-hour time frames, then they call you early and ask if you’re home. No, I’m not. I’m still at work.) Then I realized that I had absolutely no need for one, since I found a cell phone plan with unlimited incoming calls and 1000 evening and weekend minutes. There’s no switching anything when I move, no having of two phone numbers business. Wireless internet comes to me free, so I don’t even need a line (or a mysterious fake line, like Amy has) for that. And for when I need to be the one doing the calling, especially long distance (which my cell plan doesn’t include), Skype (an internet phone application) makes a land line even more redundant.
They’ve had a promo on this year where all calls are absolutely free. Making, receiving, everything. The sound quality isn’t superb, but it’s not bad. I’d been wondering what the prices would be like once they stopped giving it away for free, and they’re still uber-reasonable. If you sign up before the end of January, it’s only $14.95 for unlimited calls for the entire year. After that, it’s $29.95. So for the price of one month of basic local land line service, you can make unlimited local AND long distance calls. The quality and price are only going to get better, too. I love it!
That man is PISSED December 12, 2006
Posted by politicsranter in Politics.add a comment
If you click on the link, you’ll see what I mean. Check out that fire-engine shade of red on his face.
And rightly so. A 25% pay raise? Where else in the country could you work where that would happen? Nowhere, I’m pretty sure. Sure, politicians do an important job, once in a while, but they also get tonnes of time off and generous perks. Lots of other people do important jobs and work their asses off all the time and get paid peanuts – early childhood educators and nurses, to name a couple. Maybe I’m just bitter about the fact that if I pay back my loans at the rate OSAP has set out (which is the max I can afford), it will take me 9.5 years to pay back the government (with over $6,000 in interest on a $13,000 loan!), but MPPs can fuck off with their pay raise.
And so this is Christmas December 11, 2006
Posted by politicsranter in Uncategorized.add a comment
About 15 minutes ago, I was walking my dog on Carlton Street. A woman stopped me and asked me for money. “I’m well enough hungry, please miss,” she said. I dug into my pockets where I usually at least have some kind of change, even if it’s only a dollar in nickels. I had nothing, not even a penny. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t have any change at all.” She began to cry. I felt awful, liked I had teased her by going into my pockets, but I really expected to have some change. I could tell she had heard it a million times before, probably at the same time as she heard change jangling in pockets. “Please miss, I haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.” She was crying still. “I’m sorry, I really don’t have anything.” I kept walking, trying not to cry. I wondered how it is that people can be standing on the street crying from hunger a five minute walk from a mall where you can go to buy $400 pens and $60 eyeshadow brushes, as though they’re a necessity, as though they’ll write better ideas or paint you a better person.
When I have kids, when they ask me how it is that Santa can make it to every kid’s house on Christmas, I’ll first tell them that not everyone celebrates Christmas (I still remember the sting of shock from when I found out not everyone did) and then I’ll probably tell them that not every little boy and girl has a home, so that cuts the number down even further. It’s going to be nothing but the grim truth for the little Beathers. I think that’s the only way people will learn adequate empathy. I think we grow up thinking everyone has lives like us, so that we don’t really believe it when we realize they don’t – it’s too hard to unlearn the lie.
Way To Go! December 8, 2006
Posted by politicsranter in Entertainment, Media.3 comments
As a Communication Studies grad, I’ve heard the theories about different media approximately 8 million times each. Writing lends things credibility that orality doesn’t have, the printing press is the best thing in the history of things, etc etc etc. One big one is that the internet ramped up the timeliness of news in a big way. Back in the day, before phones, news would be a month old before it found its way to the people via boat or horse. Then phones and telegraph came along and the news was actually new by the time people read it. Now, with the internet, newspapers seem old news by the time you get them in the morning – you’ve already seen it all online. It’s one of the internet’s big advantages.
Someone, maybe, should tell Pitchfork that. Today, they have a review of Skin and Bones by the Foo Fighters, an album that came out on November 7th. That’d be a month ago. The fact that they give it a 3.8 just tells me they really wanted to say to everyone, “We’re so cool, we don’t like Dave Grohl, even if he was in Nirvana. But Justin Timberlake is super! We’re so cool, we’re allowed to like him and still be indie rock snobs!” Ugh. Seriously, even magazines (who have huge lead times) manage to review albums even before they come out once in a while. Pitchfork’s review is a month late, and they didn’t even have to send it across the ocean on a ship.
