Articles tagged with: News
Politics, Economics and Automobiles
was the headline of Mitt Romney’s 2008 New York Times article describing his views on the then-troubled American auto industry. “If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye.”…
Free Trade with US and Canada Means Busier Days for Port Buenaventura and Colombian Workers
The 5000 port workers who move 1200 containers of cargo per day are not the only contributors to the portside throng. There are truck drivers, stevedores, private security hired by companies and government agents who are in place to check area regulated by the Port Authority for narcotics and smuggling…
Operation #TellVicEverything – A Revolution, The Canadian Way
You know, a few months ago I wrote a parody article explaining Rebecca Black’s song Friday. It was rather well acclaimed. The lyrics to the song could very well end up being tweets from Canadians expressing their disgust at the new online privacy bill brought fourth by the Conservative government: “Hey Vic it’s 7am and I’m waking up in the morning.” “Hey Vic, now I’m going downstairs to have my bowl, I love cereal.” …
UN-Dependable
When the United Nations was created back in 1945, it was supposed to succeed where the League of Nations had failed. While there has been some success since the war of wars, there have also been countless failures. In part because of inaction (Sudan), apathy (Rwanda) and the inability to enforce international law (USA, Israel, Palestine). Last week we saw another failure…
Flying While Transgender
Last week, the transgender blogosphere exploded in response to the July 29, 2011 changes to the Canadian Identity Screening Regulations. The focus of this attention was section 5.2 (1) of the regulation, which reads: “An air carrier shall not transport a passenger if [...] (c) the passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents.” The regulation is notable for two reasons…
First Nations and the Supreme Court v. Enbridge and the Harper Government
With the debate over the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal heating up in Ottawa, and the likely scenario of some sort legal battle emerging, it might be time to look what the law, and in particular …
Roseanne Barr for President? Call it what you want, but don’t call it a joke
Roseanne Barr, the former TV star, now author, fierce tweeter and even more fierce Occupy supporter, announced her intention to run for the Green Party nomination to be their candidate for President of the United States. That’s the same Green Party who proposed Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney to the American public as an alternative to the “two” party system…
Condom Use Becomes Mandatory in LA-Based Adult Films
The Los Angeles city council recently passed a controversial ordinance requiring all porn performers to wear condoms during film shoots to reduce the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. The 9-1 vote was a significant victory for the LA-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, an organization that has been tirelessly lobbying for years for mandatory condom use in pornography…
Institutionalized Graft Part II
I’m not an accountant but I can’t believe that the cost of constructing a $5 billion bridge can be done without cost to the taxpayers. Where will the initial capital come from? Who will pay for the design, materials, salaries, equipment etc? The Tories have stated that an initially two-dollar toll will be collected and that will pay off the bridge “without cost to the taxpayer”…
Harper Kowtowing to US War on Drugs With Crime Bill
Why can’t this country do what so many others in the civilized world (i.e. California, Belgium, Holland, etc.) have done and stop this senseless and costly persecution of otherwise law abiding and tax-paying citizens for indulging in the odd puff of mother nature’s finest? Allow me to illustrate my personal crackpot conspiracy theory in the matter, by way of an analogy with the struggle of Canadian women for the right to choose an abortion…
The Primary Media
In the past, a candidate’s success in the primaries depended on momentum carried over from previous victories. This time around that momentum seems to be fueled by the media, proving that in the age of the super PAC, media still matters more than money.
2011: The Year in Posts
While it may have taken a bit longer than expected (admittedly, this is really, really late, but we’ve been busy), our list of our top 20 posts of 2011 is here. We asked our writers to tell us their favourite posts or the posts they felt were the most important, both by themselves and other writers that appeared on FTB over the year…
Is SOPA really the end of the internet as we know it?
Wednesday’s blackout of over ten thousand sites small and large has got everyone chatting about SOPA. But what is SOPA? And will it lead to the total destruction of the internet we know and love? SOPA is The Stop Online Piracy Act, a law going up the “series of tubes” also known as Congress. It was introduced by Senator Lamar S. Smith (R-TX) and co-sponsored by both Democrat and Republican members alike…
The Iranian Nuclear Winter
The winter of 2012 is still less than a month old and if you had turned on a television since the New Year, you’d have found two seemingly different stories being covered on the news networks. The first being the Republican Primaries that got underway a couple weeks ago, the other would be Iran. In the past, I would have said that sabre rattling and a looming American election went together like peas and carrots…
The good, the bad and the ugly: The Trials of 2011 in Retrospect
I know that these year in review columns, annoying though they may be, are all the rage around New Years (apologies for the lateness). Also, that they remain a cheap way for hack journalists and bloggers to basically recycle the past years work while, at the same time, attempting to pass it off as new content. So, without further ado, here are my personal top Canadian legal highlights for the year 2011 (in no particular order)…
Education Is the Key
During a campaign stop in New Hampshire the other day, Rick Santorum said “What elitist snobbery out of this man!” referring to Barack Obama’s statement that every child should go to college by 2020. I have no idea why Santorum is opposed to giving every student a chance to go to college as it is central to improving our standard of living and our economy…
