7.03.2008
Four Horsemen & a Dead Mermaid
Starbucks' is closing 600 U.S. locations, blaming the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the fuel crisis, and every other crisis short of the 'people no longer willing to pay $5 for a cup of cofee' crisis or the 'way too many Starbucks' locations to begin with' crisis'. Surely, the fact that the number of Starbucks' locations is going down, rather than up, is a sign of the Ameripocalypse.
Assume the position, repent, or just brew your own like this page does.
6.26.2008
Chequebook Civics are NSF
The Town Council in the Vancouver Island community of Ladysmith wants residents to pool their carbon tax rebate cheques together to purchase a trolley bus system. This page commends Mayor Rob Hutchins for good intentions, but the B.C. Liberals' belief that Climate Change can be successfully addressed through the whims of individuals and the markets is paving a Hell of a road for future generations. It looks like protecting the Environment is moving to a User Pay model because Gordon Campbell wants to keep what's left of government revenues for such 'green' initiatives as The Gateway Project, Raw Log Exports, and Offshore Oil Drilling.
Why do we elect Members of the Legislative Assembly? What's the primary function of government? Is it bribing the public and buying elections, or is it...I dunno...GOVERNING?! If this page wanted the Libertarian gutlessness of the Province cutting me a cheque and telling me to figure something out on my own, I could have just moved back to Alberta. Victoria could have simply provided funding for public transit in Ladysmith, instead of expecting the locals to pony up their allowances for some public-private partnershipwreck of a bus system.
6.25.2008
Lorne Again
Lorne Mayencourt is worried about rapidly disappearing rental housing in Vancouver's West End. He just realized this week that this was happening?
For those of you just joining us, Mayencourt is the B.C. Liberal MLA for Vancouver-Burrard, the constituency which includes the West End. Mayencourt has been their representative in Victoria since the 2001 election. Mayencourt did nothing when his government colleagues passed changes to the Residential Tenancy Act which allowed landlords to to save up rent increases over five years, and drive tenants out with cumulative rent increases of up to 20%. If that didn't work, Landlords could also use the new legislation to evict tenants for renovations, the purpose of renovations being to jack rents even higher when the tenants move back in.
Why would Mayencourt be worried? The more well-to-do condo owners that move into the riding and squeeze out struggling renters, the more likely it is that Burrard stays in Liberal hands. The more likely it is that any sense of community disappears as selfish NIMBYs start screaming for strict enforcement of Mayencourt's fascist pet project, the Safe Streets Act, and insist that the neighbourhood be remade in their selfish image. Anyone else notice how the Davie Village Business 'Improvement' Area ripped down the rainbow Pride banners from the lampposts along Davie Street? Anyone else wonder how that can happen on the watch of an openly Gay Member of the Legislative Assembly?
Of course, Mayencourt expects the City of Vancouver, which will more than likely be administered by a Vision Vancouver Council after November, to penalize property owners who convert rentals to condos, while the Liberals continue to wash their hands of the potential for an even greater housing crisis in the Lower Mainland. Is Mayencourt just trying to save face, or is he worried about another punch in the face?
6.24.2008
Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, Tits.
6.20.2008
What's wrong with this picture?
American Muslims are upset with the Obama campaign for barring two hijab-wearing supporters from appearing in photos with the Democratic Presidential nominee.
For a candidate reputed to reach across racial, ideological, and religious boundaries, Barrack Obama's path is clear: apologize and say 'cheese' with Hebba Aref and Shimaa Abdelfadeel. Any other response from the campaign panders to lowest common denominator bigotry. After going out of his way to point out that he is not a Muslim, this incident raises further questions about whether Obama is no more a 'Unity' candidate than John McSame, whose Rethuglican candidacy trades on a ready supply of Islamophobia.
This page works with a number of Muslims, some of them born in Saudi Arabia, just like Osama Bin Laden. I also work with a a few Americans, some of them born in the State of New York, just like Timothy McVeigh. I don't know if any of these Muslims or Americans would want to have their picture with me, but if they did, I would be honoured, and maybe I'd even get a second set of prints.
6.19.2008
NDP Courts the Mullet Vote
Carole James and the BCNDP are taking a swing at the Campbell Carbon Tax, demanding that the Liberal government 'Axe the Gas Tax'. This page says be careful with that thing. Is it just me, or do any other New Democrats get nervous when the party takes positions nearly identical to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the Vancouver Province? It's nice that James is drawing on a populist tradition seldom seen on the left since the days of Tommy Douglas and the CCF, but if I just wanted to hear dumbed down griping about high gas prices, I'd switch on CNN and watch Lou Dobbs for a while.
It's not enough to say 'Axe the Gas Tax': the principle of a carbon tax has merit, which is why James will be rushing to block the exits to keep converted Green Party members from rushing back to their myopic hovel of compostable capitalism. For every 4 X 4 driving Mullet in the Kootenays or Prince George that might vote NDP out of spite because he can't drive 55 (at an extra three cents a litre), there's a Scooter buzzing hipster in the Lower Mainland who won't because someone at Starbucks said that the environment is important. What's the difference between an axe and a double-edged sword when each can cut both ways?
If Carole James does lead the NDP to victory in 2009, what happens a couple of months, or years down the road when Translink and BC Transit need more money just to maintain capacity? What if a climate a change-related disaster (like the pine beetle infestation or the severe windstorms of 2007) elicits demands for the government to pull out all the stops to address climate change? Premier James will have little choice but to consider a tax at the gas pumps to go along with a cap and trade system. The NDP's tax may be fairer and be directly targeted to spending on the environment, as opposed to the Liberals greenwashed attempt to buy votes Carole Taylor says is a Carbon Tax, but it won't stop the Right-Wing Dogs of War in the media to cry havoc and scream for another yet incarnation of the Socreds to rise from the ashes of the Liberals' defeat to strangle the socialists in 2013.
What James needs to be talking about here is Just Transition: there is no reason why changing the economy to protect the environment has to leave anyone behind. She also needs to be telling the truth about the fact that taxes can be a good thing. Taxes aren't supposed to be for financing tax cuts for the rich, they're supposed to finance government programs, which are supposed to reflect the aspirations of the people. If the government was serious about fighting climate change, a carbon tax would go directly to things like public transit, green retrofits for public buildings, community fruit & vegetable gardens, and expanding passenger rail in the Highway 99/Interstate 5 corridor: How many cars are idling between White Rock and Blaine every weekend? Is it that a carbon tax is wrong, or is Campbell's carbon tax wrong?
A Socialist party should be agitating for coherent, collective solutions. Obviously, the laissez-faire, free market approach got us into this crisis, so why would anyone in their right mind think it's going to get us out of it? However, do you know what else brought us to the brink we're teetering on now? Lowest common denominator politics like 'Axe the tax'.
6.18.2008
The Sky's The Limit
Is Air Canada's firing of 2000 employees a) A response to rising fuel prices,
b) A message to remaining employees whose contract expires next year,
c) A passive-aggressive attempt to collect a government bailout, or
d) An attempt to soothe its panicky corporate and institutional shareholders?
This page picks d): Who's driving up fuel prices because of speculation in oil & gas futures, shifting the blame for a corporate culture of selfishness and ineptitude to an ever-dwindling roster of employees, and bankrolling governments who sign on for such free-market tomfoolery as 'Open Skies'?
Either way, air travel as we know it appears to be coming to an end. One would think that governments and corporations would be stepping in to promote alternatives, such as rail travel, but nobody's willing to invest in it like they are in guessing how much corn can be taken out of peoples' mouths for 'alternative' fuels or flogging pet toys online like they were doing at the turn of this century. Supply and Demand be damned: today's economy is the triumph of marketing over common sense.
A decade ago Eastern Europe finally figured out that Communism wasn't that great an idea. Could the rest of us be starting to feel the same way about Capitalism?
