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Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Election NotesA few of the Red Ensign bloggers will be covering the current federal election by focussing on their individual ridings. I live in Ottawa Centre, but unfortunately, a better blogger than I already called Ottawa Centre. So I'll be doing Ottawa South. The three main parties have all nominated candidates for the election: the Liberals have put up their incumbent: David McGuinty, who is the brother of the Premier of Ontario. This was his first term as a Member of Parliament. The Conservatives came up with something of a dark horse, Allan Cutler, who is probably best known as a whistleblower in the Adscam scandal. It could make it an interesting campaign. The NDP have put up Monia Mazigh as their candidate once again. Ms. Mazigh first came to prominence agitating for her husband's release from Syrian imprisonment. I was of the opinion that someone as devoutly Muslim as she evidently is would be uncomfortable in the NDP, but she seems to be comfortable in the party. Its going to be an interesting race. Let the best candidate win. And hopefully, we'll see them update their websites someday.... Correction The NDP has nominated Henri Sader for Ottawa South, not Monia Mazigh. Someone had told me Monia, and I hadn't bothered to check it for myself. Oops! I'll have more on Sader when I've had a chance to research him a little. Sunday, October 30, 2005
Today is the 10th anniversary of the Federalist rally that may well have turned the tide against separation during the 1995 referendum in Quebec. The Montreal Gazette has an instructive editorial on the impact of the referendum and on Mr. Martin's baffling silence on the question of sovereignty in Quebec. (hat tip to Paul Wells) There was an interesting point in the editorial to the effect that Quebecois were not swayed by arguments based on 'Dour economic Calvinism', which is not an unreasonable point. During that referendum campaign, up to the point of the rally, I had thought that as a non Quebecois...it was not my problem, that Quebec would decide and then we would work out what needed to be done afterwards. The rally changed all that. It made me realize that there was something important at stake for all Canadians and that it was up to us to persuade Quebecois on a visceral level that there was something worth saving here. In this country. And ten years later, it remains. And is still worth it. So, where are you, Mr. Martin? And you also, Mr. Harper? Friday, May 06, 2005
I was looking around the CBC Ottawa website for some information about the War Museum opening and came across this. We're everywhere. Saturday, March 05, 2005
Kate over at Small Dead Animals has a note on Laurie Garrett's piece about how corporate ownership has corrupted journalism and journalists. The problem fundamentally is the paradigm that commercial television introduced into journalism in the 1950s and 1960s: the idea that journalism, news, could be made to pay on a commercial basis. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with that..except that the way news was gathered and presented began to be shaped by television's need for spectacle, drama and sensation. As time has gone by, television has taken this to its logical extension..that only those events that have those elements get reported. And the trend has spread to other media: newspapers and the Internet in particular. Where do we go from here? The blogosphere vs. MSM paradigm gives us a partial answer, I think..that motivated and intelligent bloggers act as a sort of corrective to corporate media. Is that the only answer? Friday, March 04, 2005
Maintiens Le DroitCanada's Federal police force has suffered a rather horrendous loss in Alberta: 4 officers shot dead trying to serve a warrant against what turned out to be a marijuana grow-op. The irony is that they weren't initially there because it was a grow-op..they were just serving a warrant against one James Roszko..who is evidently something of a known lunatic in the area. One story had it that the RCMP hasn't suffered this kind of loss since 1885, by which I imagine they mean the battle of Duck Lake during the North West Rebellion. Sad business, all in all. But I'd still like to know what a "rapid fire auto carbine assault style rifle" is. Addendum: Once again, the delightful Kate proves invaluable: the 'rapid fire auto carbine assault style rifle' turns out, apparently, to be the Heckler and Koch HK-91. Which is neither a carbine, nor automatic, nor 'assault style' whatever the hell that is supposed to mean. I understand it when media screws things up like weapons..but I'll be damned if I can understand it when our federal law enforcement agency can't avoid a twisted phrase like 'rapid fire auto carbine assault style rifle'. Incidentally, under the Canadian Firearms act the HK91 (semi auto) is a 12(5) Prohibited weapon..which means that one has to have a 12(5) Prohibited weapons note on one's Possession and Acquisition licence to own one...Mr. Roszko, having a criminal record, ought not to have had a PAL at all..and so owned this weapon illegally... Saturday, February 26, 2005
A test. I'm a Lifer!  To you, a job is what pays the bills. You put in your hours, follow the rules, and then go home. Occasionally, you consider quitting, but then you think of how bad the job market is and you reconsider. Whatever happiness you get, you get from your life outside the workplace. Relationships, family, hobbies, and outside creative pursuits are what really matter to you. You're probably taking this test at work because you don't have anything better to do. Talent: 33%Take the Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz. |