If you’ve ever been curious about the differences between the labour movements in Canada and the U.S., have a look at this quirky little contest from Working America, an AFL-CIO affiliate. The winner of the best “bad boss” story competition wins a vacation (sorry, the voting period is already past), and there are some real […] More »
Inspired by the looming Dominion Day weekend, a 7 hour return “motor coach” ride to Calgary and Mason’s earlier protest song playlist request, here is your all for singing you around (hee) Canada Day playlist request. The Rules: 1. Can-con (obviously). 2. Sounds best with windows/top down and singing along out loud. (Even if you […] More »
Graham Greene– thanks to wikipedia for the image. I direct your attention to possibly the last interview ever with one of my all time favorite writers — Graham Greene (thanks to Bookninja thru Maud Newton for the tip). Graham Greene died at age 86 in 1991. If you haven’t read The Quiet American, you have […] More »
CBC’s Middle East bureau chief Adrienne Arsenault is leaving Jerusalem for a new post in London (according to this report on the Zerb blog). I’ve probably mentioned this before, but I consider Arsenault to be one of the best working Canadian journalists. I admire the subtle, difficult, balanced work she’s done during her time in […] More »
Helen Thomas, the long-time White House correspondent, was on the Daily Show tonight, and she said things like*: “Democracy isn’t spread with the barrell of a gun” and “I believe people have a right to know everything their government is doing.” Is this woman a defender of democracy or what? * paraphrased, of course More »
THIS Magazine’s super-efficient and ever-delightful new editor, Jessica Johnston dropped off an advance copy of the July/August THIS (her first) at my office this morning — as she was also dropping off a small pile of poetry submissions to the literary contest (I am a panner for poetic ore). The mag will hit store shelves […] More »
What is your favourite protest song? I’m working on a very fun project for the magazine and I’m trying to compile as many essential songs of resistance as I can, from 1966 onward. Any genre, and country, any language—I’m trying to make this pretty comprehensive. Sure to make my list already are artists such as […] More »
Checking out the link to The Nation in Mason’s excellent post below, I noticed an ad promising to show me the future of the Internet. So I clicked, and got a lobby site for a group called Hands Off The Internet. I watched their little animation, which makes some clear and easy delineations between good […] More »
The Nation magazine will print in its July 3 issue an updated chart detailing media concentration in the U.S., which of course spills over to affect Canadian news audiences on a daily basis. Follow the link and download the PDF to see who owns what news outlets. Heck, why not print it out and post […] More »
Editor and publisher weighs in today on the (latest) Ann Coulter controversy with an interesting editorial on how conservatives like Coulter can demonstrably go much further over the line than progressives without jeapordizing their jobs or their audience. As long as Coulter jokes about killing people in her books and on TV, her column is […] More »
If we can take a break from all the Oiler-adulation for a sec, thanks…. I’d like to direct your attention to more worthy Stanley-Cup-related pursuits, such as the first novel by our own John Degen, The Uninvited Guest. Actually, to call this a hockey novel would be a mistake, since it seems (114 pages in) […] More »