BLOG THIS | blog.thismagazine.ca: May 2005 Archives

The Guardian has transcribed a recent joint interview with Christopher and Peter Hitchens, sibling rivals of the highest order. They do the same job, and obviously have enormous mommy complexes that have never been resolved.

It’s sad and hilarious. They snipe and slag, and there are some excellent zingers in there. If I were judging this prizefight, I’d give it to Peter, who rope-a-dopes his brother, allowing him to take some broad first swings, widening him out as it were, before jabbing him several times where it hurts.

The exchange between CH and an offended audience member is priceless. And you can feel the burn when CH must congratulate his brother on winning an award.

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Nobody here but us warlocks

Posted by andrew at 09:36 AM ET | Comments (1)

Paul Martin's Chief of Staff, Tim Murphy, appears to be in a bit of trouble. We'd know for sure, if only the Conservatives would RELEASE THE DAMN TAPES.

At any rate, the Headwaiter to the Native Lobby has declared:

"I think in an effort of greater civility members should not make use of their immunity in this House to engage in a witch hunt," Martin said in French. "Let me repeat once again: No offer was made. That means no offer was made."

Check Coyne and Kinsella for the details on all of this. I just want to take the opportunity to steal a line of Coyne's before he uses it:

What makes this different from an actual witch hunt is that THERE WERE NO WITCHES IN SALEM.

Why?

BECAUSE THERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS WITCHES.

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May 30, 2005

Bike Week in Toronto

Posted by mason at 10:16 AM ET | Comments (9)

(Readers outside Toronto, please forgive the somewhat local post.)

A few interesting tidbits gleaned from this morning’s group commute and pancake breakfast, the official kick-off to Bike Week:

Cyclists across the country can help combat bike theft by registering their bikes in a national database. There is a cost of $10, but the term is 10 years, so it’s not so bad. When you register your beloved two-wheeler, police can search the database and return it to you if it gets stolen (in Toronto, let’s face it: when it gets stolen).

A group of cycling activists are spreading the word about City Council’s softening on the Toronto Bike Plan, a comprehensive effort to create a bike-friendly city which was passed in 2001. On May 19, council capitulated to auto interests by approving sub-standard bike lanes for a 1.6 km stretch of road in Etobicoke (1.2 m wide instead of the recommended 1.5–2 m width, and not clearly marked as a bike lane). Unfortunately, those in favour of these lanes included the chair of the Toronto Cycling Committee, Adam Giambrone, and others supposed friends of cyclists on council. A petition has been organized, so if you live in Toronto and you’re interested in cyclists’ rights, consider signing.

The world at 7 a.m. is a very different place. Weird, even.

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May 28, 2005

Potemkin Governor Fills Potemkin Pothole

Posted by andrew at 06:49 PM ET | Comments (1)

This is magnificent:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger traveled to a quiet San Jose neighborhood Thursday, and -- dogged by protesters -- filled a pothole dug by city crews just a few hours before, as part of an attempt to dramatize his efforts to increase money for transportation projects.

(link from BoingBoing.)

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May 27, 2005

why conservatism is winning in America

Posted by andrew at 12:25 PM ET | Comments (5)

Here is a long but extremely useful piece from the Wall Street Journal, about the way conservatives used philanthropical organisations to take control of the political agenda in the US. It is in many ways a companion to a similar article in Harper's written by Lewis Lapham during last fall's Presidential election race, but while Lapham's piece had a strong wiff of the conspiracy about it, this one is much more matter of fact.

I think this is vital reading, particularly by anyone who remains persuaded of the political power of toking up, who believes with Gordon Phinn (see previous entry) that "the self-inflicted genocide of Cambodia soon overtook the imperial slaughter of Vietnam just as efficiently as the enslavement of cocaine replaced the liberation of pot."

As I've remarked before: if the countercultural left had taken a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the money it has spent on pot since the sixties and directed into think tanks, endowed chairs, scholarships, and so on, there would be no reason to complain about conservatives dominating the intellectual agenda.

But of course, that's nowhere near as fun as getting stoned and rolling around on the floor yelling "yippee" and calling it a political movement. Maybe it helps you converse with the dead. What do I know?

I do know that I am somewhat persuaded by a comment made by David Brooks, and repeated in the article I link above, that "asked to name influences on their thinking, most conservatives are able to list a number of books or authors, while liberals have difficulty identifying any. This lively engagement with a coherent body of ideas forms a crucial if much overlooked aspect of the rise of conservatism, and one in which conservative foundations have played a central role."

Is this unfair? You tell me, lefties. What books, published since the end of the second world war, have most influenced your thinking? Do those books stand the test of time? Why? Help free this pontificating nerd from his neo-con naivte.

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May 26, 2005

Do Hippies Dream of Electric Bongs?

Posted by andrew at 11:39 AM ET | Comments (9)

Not happy to be back from promoting Rebelarse Vende in Spain. As some wise person once wrote, the business trip is the only authentic form of tourism. Great country, great time. Will get around to blogging again some day. In the meantime, in order to convince Degen that I do things other than promote my 1/2 book on this blog, may I draw your attention to yet another extremely negative review.

This one is written by one Gordon Phinn, for Books in Canada and was just posted to the Amazon.ca website. It's quite well-written, although I'm astonished that Mr. Phinn was able to take time out from talking to the dead to write it.

At any rate, he makes the usual mistake, of confusing our critique of the political effects of counterculural thinking with an opposition to the cultural effects. For the record, I'm a huge fan of countercultural culture.

Finally, I'm always amazed at the assumptions people feel entitled to make when reviewing the book. Phinn writes:

What's really going on here is the guilt-tripping drama of two post-punk adolescents buying into the rage-against-the-machine ethos of their generation but finding their career-struck selves as well placed profs with money to burn on real estate and world travel and only their burnished intellects to separate them from the hoi-polloi who actually live out the trends they so peremptorily dismiss ("Ever notice that the masses have incredibly bad taste?"). Maybe what Heath and Potter really need to do is quit their jobs and get a life.

Trust a brain-dead hippy to miss the irony in the sentence about the bad taste of the poor. But man, this really hurts. First of all, I have no real estate, no money to burn, and no job. I'd be happy to get a life, if only someone would hire me. Maybe Mr. Phinn can put in a good word with the afterlife for me.

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May 24, 2005

Serpent eating tail

Posted by john_d at 02:23 PM ET | Comments (12)

And now, I will blog about a blog:

Andrew Coyne has shut down the Comments section on his blog site. After Belinda Stronach crossed the floor, regular readers of Coyne’s site will have noticed a huge increase in the comments. Hell, I started commenting just before Belinda crossed, so I’m going to take some credit here—although, I don’t think I’m included in Coyne’s justification for shutting down discourse:

“I have no desire for this site to serve as a clubhouse for hard-right wackos, usually anonymous, with way too much time on their hands. Nor can I allow them to obscure the site’s vital mission and cause: personal vanity and self-promotion. I spend enough money underwriting my own incoherent ramblings without subsidizing others’.”

Kind of makes you wonder where all the hard-right wackos will go now. Doesn’t it?

UPDATE: I googled "hard right wacko discussion" and this was the first result, so they can all go there:

Sean Hannity's website

A google of "Canadian hard right wacko discussion" gave much the same result -- except Coyne's blog was mixed in the top five as well.

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May 20, 2005

Scenes from an historic day on The Hill

Posted by john_d at 12:28 PM ET | Comments (2)

I finished my meetings in Ottawa a bit earlier than expected yesterday, so in the short time before my train I wandered up to the Hill to catch a little will the government stand or fall? atmosphere.

There was what looked to be a good two-hour long line-up to get into the public galleries for question period, though a guard nearby had a theory that the line was actually for the budget vote and that once those folks got into the gallery they weren’t coming out until history had been made—which would mean a good three hours at least of pretty dry parliamentary debate before the action. Nice, hell thrilling, to see such interest in the process.

Two young guys stood on the west lawn holding a huge banner that read Enjoy Your Retirement, Paul.

Two young women stood on the east lawn with a banner reading Belinda—You the Man.

When Paul Martin arrived on the Hill, everyone wanted a piece of him. He really was, and I don’t like saying this all that much, like a prize fighter heading for the ring, with the crowd all leaning out into the aisle to touch him as he goes by.

I did not stand in line to watch the vote—early train—but I did sit in on a stirring speech by Senator Viola Léger, a Chretien appointee who, sensing it might be her last speech for awhile (or perhaps ever as she is approaching retirement), made a beautiful and impassioned plea for public support for culture—asking in fact that arts and culture be removed from the omnibus Department of Canadian Heritage and given the respect it deserves with its own focused Ministry.

She received a standing ovation from a nearly full Senate chamber.

Maybe everyone knows this, but I just noticed for the first time yesterday that Senators tend to refer to the House of Commons as “the other place”—sort of like how polite Christians favour the term “the hot place” over hell.

Say what you want about Senate reform. Yesterday I witnessed the red chamber fully engaged with Canada. They may be older, and they may be political appointees, but everyone who stood up yesterday said something smart. How often do we see that in the other place?

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May 19, 2005

This and that

Posted by patricia at 12:25 PM ET | Comments (6)

I've been reading Confessions of a Small Press Racketeer, a new book by This Magazine's literary editor, Stuart Ross. The book is a collection of columns that ran in Word: Toronto's Literary Calendar, and according to the media release from Anvil Press it's "a rollercoaster journey into the mind of one of Canada's most committed small press activists."

In "And Because it is My Heart," Ross (author of more than 30 other books and anthologies and our literary editor since early 2004) provides a list of things he is bitter about:

"This Magazine keeps making everyone but me their literary editor" comes in at number 2. We're very happy to have him.

Also, I thought I might draw attention to the strange item I've been using as a bookmark in Stuart's book. It's a little booklet, say two inches by four, called the TTC Subway Rider Efficiency Guide.

It's 14 pages of small diagrams meant to instruct subway riders which door will most closly match up with the exit/escalator they plan to use at their destination station. It's an awesome idea, and it's put together -- no, not by the TTC -- but by a group of Toronto residents and subway riders (including some folks from Spacing magazine).

This is the kind of thinking I'd like to see from the people who run the TTC.

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May 18, 2005

And this is why I love the Globe & Mail

Posted by john_d at 10:34 AM ET | Comments (12)

“For two hours they talked about public policy and the direction of the country. They dined on veal medallions, toasted pecans, spring turbot, home pickled onions and young cucumbers. For dessert they had chocolate semifreddo, mango terrine, Valrhona chocolate mousse and brandy snap. It was all washed down with a respectable sauvignon blanc and a cabernet merlot.”

Jane Taber, Karen Howlett and Greg Keenan from the Globe document, in great detail, how Belinda came to be sitting beside the PM at a press conference yesterday morning.

Mmmmmmmm, toasted pecans.

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May 17, 2005

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha

Posted by john_d at 02:06 PM ET | Comments (17)

Belinda Breaks up with Conservatives

Oh, it hurts. I can’t stop laughing.

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May 16, 2005

Singing Ode's praises

Posted by patricia at 04:30 PM ET | Comments (1)

Ode, a fabulous magazine out of Rotterdam, gives a nod to This and to Broken Social Scene in the June 2005 issue.

"According to This, Broken Broken Social Scene is a successful example of a new movement in the music world that has declared cooperation as the key to creativity.... This believes this breakthrough of democratic do-it-yourself bands will strike a new note for the nation's musical reputation."

The world needs more international, independent newsmagazines.

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May 14, 2005

May The Farm Be With You

Posted by mason at 12:47 AM ET | Comments (10)

Must-see viewing right here. My favourite is Tofu-D2. Enjoy & share...

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May 13, 2005

Everything bad is good for you (including bullfights, BUT NOT INCLUDING THE NEW WEEZER)

Posted by andrew at 11:28 AM ET | Comments (16)

Hola cada uno. A Ethpanya hoy. El ningun blogging por 10 dias por lo menos. Si algunos cuidados, mi revision de todo malo son buenos para usted aparecen en Poste Nacional de manyana. Aqui esta un bromista:

Everything Bad is Good For You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter
By Steven Johnson
Riverhead Books, New York 2005
224 pp., $35.00

The current fashion in non-fiction is for the scientific equivalent of teen pop: a short, hook-driven fusion of neurology, psychology, sociology, economics, and mass-marketing. The format was perfected by Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point, and he's had a number of successful followers, notably James Surowiecki's recent book, The Wisdom of Crowds. Now, the science writer Steven Johnson steps up with his new book, Everything Bad Is Good For You.

As everybody who has read Hal Niedzvieki knows, our popular culture consists of homogenized and low-brow entertainment force-fed to the stupefied masses by media conglomerates interested in nothing more than increased profits. Thanks to the Greshamite logic of mass production, bad entertainment drives out good, and the whole cultural currency is steadily debased. We are amusing ourselves not to death, but into a state of numb passivity, thanks to the tawdriness of reality television, the violence and retarded sexuality of video games, and the inane navel-chat of the blogosphere.

But along comes Steven Johnson with some cognitive dissonance. Instead of a dumber-and-dumberer race to the bottom, Johnson argues that our culture is getting steadily more complex and neurally stimulating, year after year.

Counterintuitive, to say the least...

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May 12, 2005

Weezer sucks

Posted by andrew at 07:04 PM ET | Comments (11)

So, all excited I went and bought "Make Believe", the new Weezer album. It is beyond garbage. The best review I've seen so far is -- alas -- the Pitchfork review, which gives it 0.4 out of 10.

As the reviewer points out, Make Believe is one of those things, like Phantom Menace or the second and third Matrix movies, that make you question the value of the earlier stuff. If Rivers can make music this crap, is it possible all of his music is crap? Is Pinkerton really that good?

Unlike the Pitchfork reviewer, I had the courage to go back and have a listen. I zipped through Pinkerton twice this afternoon. It remains triumphant.

Meanwhile, I have a copy of Make Believe that is free to anyone who wants to come fetch it.

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Most Powerful Revisited

Posted by john_d at 11:53 AM ET | Comments (0)

Just to repeat a point made a couple weeks back, Independent MP David Kilgour now appears to be the most powerful person in Canadian politics. With his all-important vote pretty much deciding the immediate fate of Paul Martin, Steven Harper, etc., he has the ear of all those who may have something to say about what Canada does in the Sudan. And he is using that power. Here’s the piece in the Globe.

Having recently watched Hotel Rwanda, and been duly re-shamed by how western political considerations helped determine the horrific fate of a million people, I’m feeling pretty good about Kilgour taking his moment and running with it.

This is a classic ethics question. Obviously, in theory, one man’s agenda should not hold hostage the governing process of an entire nation, yet Kilgour has just been handed the proverbial ‘Twilight Zone™’ life/death button, and he’s pushing it to try and save lives. Can anyone blame him?

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May 11, 2005

Summer School Exam

Posted by andrew at 03:00 PM ET | Comments (37)

Compare and contrast: The aggressive, bloodthirsty rush to depose the Liberals exhibited by Stephen Harper, with the slow-motion 10-year coup that Paul Martin carried out against Jean Chretien.

Discuss in light of Machiavelli's The Prince, especially with respect to the following passage from Chapter 8 (emphasis added by the instructor):

Some may wonder how it can happen that Agathocles, and his like, after infinite treacheries and cruelties, should live for long secure in his country, and defend himself from external enemies, and never be conspired against by his own citizens; seeing that many others, by means of cruelty, have never been able even in peaceful times to hold the state, still less in the doubtful times of war. I believe that this follows from severities being badly or properly used. Those may be called properly used, if of evil it is lawful to speak well, that are applied at one blow and are necessary to one's security, and that are not persisted in afterwards unless they can be turned to the advantage of the subjects. The badly employed are those which, notwithstanding they may be few in the commencement, multiply with time rather than decrease. Those who practise the first system are able, by aid of God or man, to mitigate in some degree their rule, as Agathocles did. It is impossible for those who follow the other to maintain themselves.

Hence it is to be remarked that, in seizing a state, the usurper ought to examine closely into all those injuries which it is necessary for him to inflict, and to do them all at one stroke so as not to have to repeat them daily; and thus by not unsettling men he will be able to reassure them, and win them to himself by benefits. He who does otherwise, either from timidity or evil advice, is always compelled to keep the knife in his hand; neither can he rely on his subjects, nor can they attach themselves to him, owing to their continued and repeated wrongs. For injuries ought to be done all at one time, so that, being tasted less, they offend less; benefits ought to be given little by little, so that the flavour of them may last longer.

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the future is latte

Posted by andrew at 12:02 PM ET | Comments (4)

Bring out your dead!

Wolfgang Puck introduced a new line of lattes this month. That the Los Angeles chef has stamped his name on yet another product isn't surprising. But the container is. It heats itself.

It took a California company named OnTech seven years and $24 million to create the self-heating cans, which are activated by pushing a plastic button on the bottom. Water flows into a sealed inner cone filled with quicklime, which is mostly calcium oxide. A chemical reaction heats the coffee to a pleasant 145 degrees in six to eight minutes, the amount of time it might take to order, pay for and receive a latte from a barista.

(Note of caution for those who find ads intrusive: The NY Times link above features an ad for Polo underwear. Joyce, the model is naked and extremley buff. Thanks to Brandnoise for the link)

UPDATE: Wait, it gets far worse. (thanks LW).

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May 10, 2005

Now that’s classy

Posted by john_d at 04:28 PM ET | Comments (24)

Stephen Harper, with apparently no regard for his reputation as a warm-blooded sentient being, gets all robotic and snakey on Canada’s ass. From the Globe story on today’s pathetic, I mean political, maneuvering:

Two Tory MPs who have cancer are being flown in for the vote, and all 54 Bloc MPs are in Ottawa today. B.C. Independent MP Chuck Cadman, who had chemotherapy treatment yesterday, will not be there to support the Liberals, so the Tories should have the votes to win.

Yet, that is not my favorite example of Harper’s borgosity. After puppet-mastering the late arrival of everyone to The Netherlands, Harper stood in front of the cameras and declared that the PM had nothing to worry about on leaving Canada since Parliament doesn’t sit on a Sunday. Good point, you freakish, emotionless weirdo—now, do you have anything to say about the graveyard you’re standing in?

Oh, I am so totally voting for this guy.

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May 09, 2005

Resist Subway Video Ads

Posted by mason at 06:03 PM ET | Comments (10)

I’m being a delinquent Web Editor by posting to the blog when I need to get the current issue up, but here’s an important development for those of you in Toronto: on Wednesday city council will be voting on whether to implement video screens throughout the subway system (in stations and on train cars) as per the pilot screens like those at Bloor and Eglinton stations.

In theory we’ve got a good idea here. Transit information, news and weather on display for riders can be helpful. The problem is the cost: the majority of the screens are simply video ads, big and intrusive and distracting if you’re trying to read, have a conversation, or simply wait for your train uninterrupted.

It’s not too late to contact city councillors to voice opposition to the latest ad scheme. Check out the Toronto Public Space Committee’s comprehensive page on the issue, and take some action.

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Drawing a blank

Posted by andrew at 11:06 AM ET | Comments (8)

Joe Heath and I are going to Spain next week to promote the Spanish edition of the thing we wrote. I'll blog if anything interesting happens, but otherwise I'm going to spend this week reading a couple of histories of Spain. I can't wait to visit a country with an even weaker central government and worse national unity than dear old Canada has.

Meanwhile, I got nothing. Zilch. Zip. Anyone have anything they want to say? I think I'm going to head down to Krazy Paul's Dominion Sale! EVERYTHING MUST GO! Maybe I'll buy myself a federal department or two, I hear they're going cheap.

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May 06, 2005

Overheard at the monkey trial:

Posted by john_d at 03:20 PM ET | Comments (5)

Kansas is at it again. According to a report in the NYTimes, the State Board of Ed in Kansas, backed by a conservative majority is holding hearings designed to introduce new science standards — standards that would leave the door open for teachers to disregard the ‘theory’ of evolution in favour of the ‘biblical fact’ of creationism — and they are being helped by the testimony of godly scientists. Okay.

Some little samplings from the hearings (Pedro Irigonegaray is a lawyer representing the interests of, um, Charles Darwin):

“Do the [current] standards state anywhere that science, evolution, is in any way in conflict with belief in God?” the lawyer, Pedro Irigonegaray, asked William S. Harris, a chemist who helped write the proposed changes.

When a later witness, Jonathan Wells, said he enjoyed being in the minority on such a controversial topic, Mr. Irigonegaray retorted, “More than being right?”

Sighing was Cheryl Shepherd-Adams, a physics teacher who took an unpaid day off from Hays High School to attend the hearings. “Kansas has been through this before,” she said. “I’m really tired of going to conferences and being laughed at because I’m from Kansas.”

“Don’t be silly, Toto. Scarecrows don’t talk.”

Okay, one of those quotes was not actually from the monkey trial. Guess which one!

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Happy Birthday...

Posted by andrew at 09:04 AM ET | Comments (2)

To Tony Blair, who was born on May 6, 1953.

I have spent the better part of the last two days at a conference, co-hosted by McGill and UdeM, addressing the question: "What remains of Cool Britannia?" There are panels on the third way and the economy, devolution, culture, europe, etc., a solid look at the legacy of Blair's first two terms.

What has surprised me more than anything is the unrelenting disdain the British academics who are attending have for Blair and the achievments of his premiership. Some of the presentations have been little more than an extended string of sarcastic remarks -- though it must be said that sarcasm delivered by Brits, especially the Scots, is deliciously entertaining.

At any rate, I have a hard time faulting Mr. Blair for being "focused exclusively on the attainment and retention of power," as the keynote speaker complained. I have little time for politicians or parties who prefer the unsullied virtue of perpetual opposition to the nasty business of actually winning elections.

In winning a third straight majority, Mr. Blair has done something no Labour politician has ever achieved. To do so, he had to transform his party from the British equivalent of the NDP into the British equivalent of the Liberals. He's marginalised the left and the right, and made enemies on all sides, no more so than within his own party. So what? He's the Prime Minister, and no one else is.

Good on you, Mr. Blair. Happy Birthday, on this glorious sixth of May.

UPDATE: Oh, jeezus. Polly Toynbee has decided that, having won an unprecedented third majority, Blair can't possibly stay on. He must turn his job over to Gordon Brown by next May. This would be surreal, except it is so damn familiar. Where have we heard this story before?

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May 05, 2005

Inside Cancerland

Posted by andrew at 10:36 AM ET | Comments (3)

While we're on the unfortunate topic of the passing of fine humans. I took a couple of hours yesterday and read -- then re-read -- Bill Cameron's piece on living, then dying, with Cancer. It's in the new Walrus, and it is one of the best pieces I've read anywhere this year.

My early impressions of Cameron were as a square-jawed, helmet-haired bingo caller on the CBC. It took me a while to realise that he was different from the rest of the breed: smarter, more compassionate, and more creative. I remember, for a while, he would read poems he'd written at the end of a newscast.

Then he disappeared, went to work as CEO for some obscure company, and magically reappeared writing features for the National Post. Cameron was an epic stylist; he's one of the handful of writers I would read simply because I knew there would be a construction I'd be inclined to file away for future thievery.

Here's Cameron, bringing his last article to a close:

Cancer is not the best thing that ever happened to me. Even if against all odds I emerge five years from now able to walk and talk, cancer will still have been a colossally enervating and humiliating drag, a sudden shunt to old age and infirmity....

I would just as soon have passed on the whole experience, even if that meant half-living on a remote asteroid of self-absorption: this is just a little stressful for an artist. But as an experience, since there's really not much choice, it will do.

It took me three good tries to keep reading after this. This is glorious writing, dignified yet appropriately indignant.

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Annals of Canadian Activism

Posted by john_d at 10:28 AM ET | Comments (0)

Sad about the news of Bob Hunter’s passing on May 2nd. I work in a complex of small not-for-profits here in ‘the big insensitive’ (Toronto), and there are a number of enviro-groups in residence. Mr. Hunter was a bit of a legend in these parts, as I’m sure he was elsewhere… and not just because he read the newspaper on television while wearing his bathrobe.

Bob Hunter was one of the original Greenpeacers. Check out his listing on Wikipedia.

I remember reading a book about that first voyage (the Greenpeace, originally the Phyllis Cormack set sail from Canada’s west coast to go and protest a US nuclear test in Amchitka, Alaska), and laughing at a story about Hunter and his crewmates getting drunk in a small fishing port in Alaska. While walking back to their boat along the pier they came across a rack of crab traps. Inside the traps was someone’s latest haul of Alaska king crab, and the budding enviro-warriors decided it was their duty to symbolically liberate at least one of these majestic crustaceans. They broke into a trap, grabbed a giant crab, ran to the edge of the wharf and threw it toward the ocean… and since the tide had gone out, the crab sailed majestically to the rocky bed beneath, where it exploded on impact.

I prefer my activists to have human foibles. Throw Hunter in there for the next round of The Greatest Canadian.

UPDATE: I stepped on Joyce's Bob Hunter post -- see below. Sorry Joyce, but our two posts make for a nice beginning to what could be a good discussion.

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Why my donation will go to Amnesty International

Posted by joyceb at 10:08 AM ET | Comments (20)

It's a sad week for the environmental movement, having lost one of its icons, Bob Hunter, to cancer, on Monday. I for one really enjoyed Hunter's "paper cuts" segment daily on Breakfast Television, I think in many ways anticipating what would become media blogging like you see here, or on Maisonneuve's media scout.

But to my point. If this job posting is any indication of the direction Greenpeace is taking I'll be saving my letter-writing energy for an organization that isn't trying so hard to be hip. The offensive phrase? "the information skills of a journalist paired with the opinionated wit of an Adbusters copy writer"
It's a shame, because I think Greenpeace does good work, in really innovative ways.

Wanted: Web Activist
Greenpeace Activist News

Do you care about our planet's future? Are you committed to using your visual imagination and macromedia flash skills to changing the world? Are you an uncommonly talented and experienced writer of English-language web content with the information skills of a journalist paired with the opinionated wit of an Adbusters copy writer? Do you thrive in an environment in which you're overworked and underpaid but using your creativity to the full, for a good cause, alongside great people? Are you a master of macromedia Flash, skilled in the use of Photoshop and Illustrator, and handy with HTML? Are you an EU citizen with rights to work in the Netherlands? If the answer to all these questions is yes, you belong on the Greenpeace Planet web team in Amsterdam. Contact Charlotte Beale: int.recruitment@int.greenpeace.org with your CV.

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May 04, 2005

Waynefest Kickoff Party

Posted by joyceb at 05:37 PM ET | Comments (6)

The lineup for this year's Waynefest will be announced tomorrow night (May 5, 8:00 pm) at the kickoff party at the Sidetrack Cafe in Edmonton. WTF is Waynefest??? Well it's just about the coolest little three-day music event organized by non-industry people EVER. And it's named for lovely Wayne Alberta, deep in the Badlands. This year's event takes place September 9-11, 2005. Tickets for the bash tomorrow night are $10 bucks, or get in free if you buy your Waynefest pass now (only 500 are available at $95). Did I mention that price includes two days of camping, pancake breakfast, and something called a "steak on a pitchfork dinner". So drop by if you're in the neighbourhood and support a good musical cause. I'm the brunette in the corner drinking pilsner -- say hello.

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Sport of kings

Posted by andrew at 10:34 AM ET | Comments (4)

To my great surprise, the Globe and Mail has been running an excellent series this week on electoral reform, using almost the full editoral space to offer balanced, cogent, and occasional wise advice on Canada's electoral system, its virtues, and its deficiencies. In particular, they gave a solid and well-deserved body-slam yesterday to the ludicrous STV system that the BC citizens forum was bamboozled into endorsing by the egghead academics who were engaged to advise them.

Today, they made part of the case for a mixed-member system, with more to come. We'll talk about that at the end of the week. But for now, it is worth pointing out that this fantasically stupid parliament by which we are currently served has put the lie to a number of reformist canards.

One of which is the notion that a minority government acts as a check on the excessive powers of majority government, and thus enhances responsible government. No sane person observing the operations of this parliament can reasonably hold that MPs have been given more power (whatever that is supposed to mean) or that the government is more responsible.

Related is the idea that proportional rep will give us more minorities, which will force MPs to work together, which will enhance the civility of our political life. The Globe trotted this one out in their editorial today. Apparently, the writer has been asleep for the life of this entire Parliament. Just yesterday, the Cons brought out their "Liberanos" poster, to which the Libs Joe Volpe responded by calling the Cons Klansmen.

Bring on MMP. Bring on responsible government. Bring on civility. You're going to love it.

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Poem of the Year -- for your consideration

Posted by john_d at 10:03 AM ET | Comments (4)

As noted on Monday, THIS Mag contributors are up for a number of National Magazine Awards this year (It is a human number, and the number is 5). Completely without prejudice, I hereby submit to you the poem that should win this year’s award for poetry, in my humble opinion—by THIS contributor Kevin Connolly.

Contractual obligation

Good afternoon. I’m a little baby.
I know I don’t look like a little baby,
but I can assure you that I am.
I thank you all for coming this evening.
I’d also like to thank this afternoon’s sponsors:
the sun, walnuts, Parma ham,
and the Woody Permanence of Chairs.
And I’m sure you’ll join me
in expressing your sincere gratitude for
bending, stretching and branding,
for rain, wind and rectitude.

I’d like to thank you all for coming
on this windy evening, full of promise;
I’d thank you not merely
on behalf of myself, a little ham,
but on behalf of our guests – sun,
wind and the woody rectitude
of permanent rain. I’m grateful for
your gratitude, for your bending
and your wilting, and especially for
your support of our major sponsor,
Sunny Walnuts.

I’d like to thank you all for coming,
but remind you to clean up after yourselves.
Did I mention the little baby?
That I have the great good fortune of being
he on this rainy, woody afternoon?
Of course, quite right, I mentioned that
in closing, before we welcomed
our guests, but after we thanked our
sponsors: wind, rain and branding.

Thanks for coming, thanks. Really,
if you’d all just shut up and take your
seats, our breathless evening of thanks
and sincere gratitude might finally begin.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to
turn your attention to the woody clearing
at the opposite edge of the stage.
On any other windy evening, it is Rectitude that
would be sitting there, but of course,
on grounds I’m sure are repugnant to you
and I, both as loyal babies and as little hams
in your own right, Rectitude is playing
rock hockey in a foreign country none of us
could pronounce correctly if we tried,
so let’s stop trying, shall we?

Good morning, I’m a little baby.
I’d like to thank our sponsors,
who I believe you now know personally,
and I’d especially like to thank you all
for coming on this windy evening.
Thank you all. If you’d please, please,
please, just take your seats in the
clearing, we’re ready to begin.

—Kevin Connolly

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Area code of the beast

Posted by andrew at 09:32 AM ET | Comments (4)

My first rock show was Iron Maiden with Twisted Sister opening. 1984, Ottawa Civic Centre. Everyone went nuts when Number of the Beast started, with the ominous voice-over reading from Revelations. My friend Kenny knew it by heart:

"Let him that hath understanding reckon the number of the beast: for it is a human number. This number is Six hundred and sixty six."

[headbanging]

Better book that tattoo-removal appointment. It turns out that 666 -- the number of the beast -- is, ah, uh, misprint. The National Post has the details.

Ellen Aitken, a professor of early Christian history at McGill University, said the discovery appears to spell the end of 666 as the devil's prime number.

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May 03, 2005

Is it safe? British voters face a Canadian dilemma. Or is it a trilemma?

Posted by andrew at 10:23 AM ET | Comments (0)

The Guardian comes out in favour of limited strategic voting: Vote Lib Dem, if it is safe.

In the end an election is about choosing a government and a parliament. We are clear where we stand, in spite of our misgivings. We want to see Labour re-elected to government and we want to see more Liberal Democrats returned to parliament, at whichever other party's expense. What we do not want are more Tory MPs, so we therefore urge progressive voters in the overwhelming majority of Labour or Liberal Democrat held seats to rally behind the incumbent party. Only in a tiny handful of seats - see elsewhere in today's paper - is it safe for Labour voters to switch to the Liberal Democrats without the risk of allowing the Tories to win. Elsewhere, think very carefully before you vote. You are voting not just for yourself but for others, frequently less fortunate, whose life chances rest on your good sense.

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May 02, 2005

This is it!

Posted by patricia at 10:36 AM ET | Comments (6)

Congratulations to the legions of writers and editors and artists who contribute to make This Magazine great! We're nominated for five National Magazine Awards:

Science, technology and the environment
Clive Thompson, Science Fiction

Health and medicine
Clive Thompson, Science Fiction

Poetry
Kevin Conolly, Contractual Obligation

Essays
Bill Reynolds, Crossing the line

Society
Alex Roslin, Killer cop

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This country brought to you by the letters A, P, E, and C

Posted by andrew at 02:27 AM ET | Comments (3)

"The sponsorship program was the right thing to do."

That's Warren Kinsella, in today's Post.

I agree, 100%. Pierre Trudeau was right, when he wrote in Federalism and the French Canadians, that Canada would never win a battle of symbols and myths for the hearts of Quebecers. But that was never a battle Canada had to win, it was one it simply had to avoid losing. Quebecers are Canadians in their bones, and all the ROC had to do is make sure that what the federal government did for them was visible, and visibly good. And they (the ROC) had to do it in the face of relentless propaganda from BOTH separatist and "federalist" parties in Quebec.

So yes, the sponsorship programme was the right thing to do. I'm with Mr. Kinsella all the way on that. But his piece continues:

Was it properly managed? No. Obviously not. That's why Jean Chretien personally called in the Auditor General, and then the RCMP. (And those two phone calls, by the way, aren't the actions of a guy who is trying to cover up anything.)

Those of us who loudly opposed the creation of the Sponsorship Inquiry did so because we felt, one, there was nothing Justice John Gomery could do that the Mounties couldn't do better, or weren't doing already. And, two, the inquiry's rules of evidence would open the door to an avalanche of unproven hearsay and innuendo. We were right. The result? The reputation of federalism - Liberal or Conservative - has been destroyed in the Province of Quebec for a decade.

But here's the problem: What if the Mounties are themselves controlled by corrupt elements within the Liberal Party of Canada?

What if we simply can't trust the Mounties, or the Liberals, with the rule of law, and our basic rights and freedoms?

What then, Mr. Kinsella?

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calm before the storm

Posted by andrew at 02:05 AM ET | Comments (6)

To the Sala Rossa on Friday to see hard-copyright victim Dan "I used to be called Manitoba till some jackass who isn't even Canadian sued me so now I have to call myself Caribou" Snaith. Russian Futurists opened. It was fantastic. Weird scene -- the room was full of hipsters in seventies t-shirts and Herman's Hermits haircuts, all looking like they'd just gotten refused entrance at the Sloan CD Release party. Felt like being back in TO.

And Saturday, to the local Crapola-plex to H2G2. What a huge disappointment. Buh-ooooohhhh-rrriiing. Sam Rockwell was great as Zaphod, and Mos Def was a dece Ford, but the movie just doesn't work.

So, I trust we've all had a pleasant May Day weekend. To ease our brains back into the heavy Parliamentary weather system heading our way this week, I direct you to the I-really-can't-believe-it-isn't-a-joke goings-on over at the Adbusters website. Check it out: The Blackspot Sneaker Mk II is headed your way. Just when you thought capitalism couldn't get any uncooler, they uncool it some more! The war is over, Phil Knight's ass is well kicked. All that's left is to figure out the pricing model.

[rolls eyes]

Ok, time to take the training wheels off and get ready for 100% Canadian politics, nonstop all the time. Coyne's spent the weekend getting us ready, so read this stuff first. WK is in the USA, but he still had time to break a lance for the Sponsorship Programme. And Paul Wells is still trying to convince himself that jazz is cool.

(thanks to Simon for the Adbusters link)

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Previous month: April 2005
Next month: June 2005

THIS MAGAZINE. BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS POLITICAL

Please note that all writers hold the copyright for their pieces and it is illegal for any portion of them to be copied or distributed without their expressed permission. So please don't steal.

THIS MAGAZINE: BECAUSE EVERTHING IS POLITICAL

May 31, 2005

Explanations all around

Nobody here but us warlocks

May 30, 2005

Bike Week in Toronto

May 28, 2005

Potemkin Governor Fills Potemkin Pothole

May 27, 2005

why conservatism is winning in America

May 26, 2005

Do Hippies Dream of Electric Bongs?

May 24, 2005

Serpent eating tail

May 20, 2005

Scenes from an historic day on The Hill

May 19, 2005

This and that

May 18, 2005

And this is why I love the Globe & Mail

May 17, 2005

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha

May 16, 2005

Singing Ode's praises

May 14, 2005

May The Farm Be With You

May 13, 2005

Everything bad is good for you (including bullfights, BUT NOT INCLUDING THE NEW WEEZER)

May 12, 2005

Weezer sucks

Most Powerful Revisited

May 11, 2005

Summer School Exam

the future is latte

May 10, 2005

Now that’s classy

May 09, 2005

Resist Subway Video Ads

Drawing a blank

May 06, 2005

Overheard at the monkey trial:

Happy Birthday...

May 05, 2005

Inside Cancerland

Annals of Canadian Activism

Why my donation will go to Amnesty International

May 04, 2005

Waynefest Kickoff Party

Sport of kings

Poem of the Year -- for your consideration

Area code of the beast

May 03, 2005

Is it safe? British voters face a Canadian dilemma. Or is it a trilemma?

May 02, 2005

This is it!

This country brought to you by the letters A, P, E, and C

calm before the storm