Homo Sum:
humani nil a me alienum puto

I’ve been quick to criticize American history for HUAC, and CoIntelPro, and the general internal espionage of the early FBI, as well not recognizing the lessons of history when they swing around again, so I should probably also point out that we do a lot of the same stuff.
As you can see in the story [...]

Apparently the insidious Kentuckian1 plan of using false Canadian flags while abroad to smear the international reputation of my nation has not worked.
Canada takes No. 1 spot in global image poll
Canada came out best in a globe-spanning survey of attitudes toward 12 major nations, in a poll released Tuesday. Israel, Iran and the United States [...]

And then there’s this one, which makes me so angry I’m not sure I can even write coherently about it.
A day after a report revealed Canadian officials knew of Omar Khadr’s harsh treatment by the U.S. military, Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday repeated vows to leave the case in U.S. hands.
…
A Canadian official visiting [...]

Here’s one that both angers me and makes me embarrassed to be a Canadian:
globeandmail.com: Canada deports U.S. army deserter
U.S. army deserter Robin Long was quietly deported from Canada Tuesday morning, while protesters unaware of his whereabouts picketed the Canada-U.S. border crossing south of Vancouver.

The first and most important question here is why are we letting [...]

I am filled with rage at our offensive, crypto-Republican right wing minority government today. Let’s look at few things in order of ascending offensiveness.
First we’ll start with financial irregularities, disregard for the rule of law, and good old talking points spin:
Elections chief counters Tory defence on expenses practices
Elections officials found no evidence that other political [...]

…is here
The frightened mother rushed back to the campus and was stunned by what she heard - the principal, vice-principal and her daughter’s teacher were all waiting for her in the office, telling her they’d received allegations that Victoria had been the victim of sexual abuse - and that the CAS had been notified.
How did [...]

I received this response to my “Canadian DMCA” letter from my local MP today:

Dear Mr. McLaren:
Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns about the new copyright legislation introduced by the Conservative government yesterday in the House of Commons. I certainly share many of your concerns and assure you they will [...]

I have often said that I hate hockey. That’s a product of being a kid in a family where my dad played in two leagues, and my brother played, and did hockey school all summer. That meant that I was pretty much always at the rink. At least three nights a week one of them [...]

Most unexpectedly heartening moment: When I realized that of the twelve final selected jurors, all of whom were given the choice of swearing on a Bible or merely making an oath of affirmation, every last one of them chose the non-faith-based alternative. I did miss the usual irony of seeing people swearing to [...]

Or rather, bitching about my own country’s politicians for a change. It seems like I can’t turn around lately without seeing another story that just embarrasses me as a Canadian.
The classic example, which I’ve talked about here before, is the Tories’ continuing attempt to force a DCMA-style law down our throats. After getting his ass [...]

Biff, did you call Prentice again today? ’cause if not, then it was definitely me this time.
No Canadian DMCA This Year
The roller coaster that is the Canadian DMCA has taken another turn. Sometime between yesterday afternoon and this morning, the government decided to hold off. At 10:00 am this morning, the introduction of [...]

If you didn’t do anything last week, you really need to do something now. Here’s what Geist posted yesterday:

There are rumours in Ottawa this evening that Industry Minister Jim Prentice has decided to forge ahead with the Canadian DMCA with the bill to be introduced tomorrow morning. There has obviously been a huge amount [...]

I’d like to think my call and email were the straws the broke the camel’s back. Because it’s not enough for my ego for me to be part of a success (no matter how minor or temporary), I have to be pivotal to it!
Michael Geist - Canadian DMCA Introduction Delayed
The word this afternoon is that [...]

I did.
Don’t know who Jim Prentice is? Why he’s the Minister of Industry in Harper’s evil regime.
And why should you have called him today? Well, that’s a long one. The short version is that he’s spearheading a really, really, REALLY bad law–essentially a Canadian version of the American’s dire DMCA–and since he’s been either dodging [...]

For years now I’ve been known to laughingly comment on the fact that you hear all these wacko religious groups opposing Harry Potter, but you never hear anything about groups opposing Pullman’s His Dark Materials–a series that is also marketed as YA, and that sells if not Rowlingesque numbers, at least very impressive numbers. This [...]