Stageleft: life on the left side

Climate Change: While Dinosaurs Fight

stageleft — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:32:09 +0000

You may have noticed that while the climate change debate rages in the media and various quadrants of the blogosphere and twitterverse I haven't dedicated any space to it of late.

The reason for that is relatively simple, it would be pointless to do so. While no one was looking a whole bunch of people not actively involved in the trench digging and insult hurling made a decision and now the deal is done.

“Backwards” Is A Good Word, So Is “Hick-A-Billy”

stageleft — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:56:01 +0000

If you thought that the only place this sort of thing happened was in undeveloped and backward theocracies - think again.

An 18-year-old lesbian student who wanted to take her girlfriend to her senior prom is asking a federal judge to force her Mississippi school district reinstate the dance it cancelled rather than let the couple attend.

Stephen Harper Says

stageleft — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:32:44 +0000

Step out of the car and prove you are sober.

There are all sorts of different ways that the proponents of this chunk on intrusive law are going to try and spin it, but essentially that's what we're looking at - drivers in Canada will soon be pulled to the side of the road and forced to prove that they are sober.

Stephen Harpers Government

stageleft — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:18:49 +0000

Getting things done -- or at the very least talking a real good game.

CIDA’s Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund: millions raised, nothing spent

Partisan Straw Grasping

stageleft — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:25:44 +0000

Every now and again you read something from someone who really should know better - this is one of those times, and David Akin is one of those people.

The judge who sentenced Rahim Jaffer is a Tory?

God Apparently Scribbled On His Hand Too

stageleft — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:57:21 +0000

At an Ohio Right to Life fundraiser Friday night, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin once again defended the notes she wrote on her hand during last month's Tea Party Convention. She said she didn't have a good answer to media criticism at the time, but now she has one: God did it too.

Give it to Mikey

balbulican — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:09:33 +0000

A photographic salute to Michael Ignatieff's bold and unequivocal response to the Harper Budget.

Vatican Hit By Gay Sex Scandal

stageleft — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:29:28 +0000

Vatican chorister sacked for allegedly procuring male prostitutes for papal gentleman-in-waiting

How convoluted is it that the same organization known for sheltering and protecting pedophiles will give someone the papal pink slip for arranging a simple business transaction between consenting adults where no harm or hurt is involved.

A Picture’s Worth A Thousand Words

stageleft — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:44:03 +0000

I popped over to the Liberal.ca site to have a look at what they had to say about the latest Harper budget but didn't get much passed the image of Ignatieff they have on the page -- that's a "Oh please don't make it a budget we absolutely have to vote down!! pose if I've ever seen one.

Pop Culture Iconosynchronicity

balbulican — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:28:05 +0000

Elvis and Che. A curious coincidence that occurred fifty years and one hour ago.

If I Was A Liberal I’d Quit In Embarrassment

stageleft — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:06:16 +0000

So there was Iggy, plastered across my TV screen, wearing that arrogant sh*t eating grin of his and saying [paraphrased] "we won't support the budget but we won't vote against it in numbers large enough to bring down the government because Canadians don't want an election" -- seriously people, what, by the great and ponderous hairy bag of the Daghda himself, is that supposed to mean?

Fiscal Conservatism At Work

stageleft — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:33:10 +0000

I've always liked the way our politicians describe the acquisition of debt - and the current bunch of (supposedly) fiscal conservatives are no exception.

After racking up a $53.8 billion deficit this time around they're planning on a $49.2 billion deficit next year, a $17.5 billion deficit the year after that, $8.5 billion the year after that, and a piddling $1.8 billion the year after that -- that must be good 'eh? I mean... the numbers are getting smaller so that must be good - right?

Sure it is, it's absolutely peachy keen, until you start doing things like using the word "annual", and digging out a calculator - because what Uncle Jim Flaherty is really saying is that they'll have added $130.8 billion in "accumulated debt" (not counting interest on that debt) to what we already owed when they started.

Harper Says It – Lowell Green Parrots It

stageleft — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:28:23 +0000

Such is the way of hyper-partisan politics.

I've been listening to Lowell Green in the mornings for years, it's part of the news/talk radio addiction that has become part of me - and until this morning, after the GG read the Throne Speech Stephen Harper penned for her yesterday, I had no idea that Lowell was so very concerned about the wording of the Canadian national anthem.

Should Funny-Looking Clothing Be Outlawed?

balbulican — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:39:42 +0000

It's no surprise that the usual terrified Muslim-haters are leaping on the bandwagon to applaud a Quebec school board who kicked a student out of class for wearing a niqab. It was a bit more surprising to see the expulsion celebrated by some "progressives".

Thoughts On Thursdays Ottawa West-Nepean By-Election

stageleft — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:57:12 +0000

On election day, when you vote for the "lesser of two evils," you shouldn't be shocked when what you get is evil.