Inspirational, Politics, Videos Afghanistan, Iraq, Military, Ron Paul, US

This is why.

I couldn’t believe I was having such a hard time finding a cohesive video about #OccupyWallStreet. That’s why it took me so long to post something like this.

Follow #OccupyToronto

Check out photos from #OccupyToronto

Politics, Videos Bill Maher, Occupy Wall Street

Learn more about Occupy Wall Street

Business, Politics Justice, Occupy Wall Street

Carolyn Weatherson wrote on Facebook: “The Omnibus Crime Bill is not just a financial disaster, it’s a social disaster as well. Fighting crime by building prisons is like fighting cancer by building cemeteries. We are creating victims of crimes by cutting funding to prevention programs and putting all those resources (and much more) into building for-profit jails for wealthy investors. If you want tougher sentences for certain crimes that’s fine, so do I but this is NOT the way to go!”

Jokes, Politics Canada, Comic, Prisons, Stephen Harper

From Abacus Data: Federal Election: Party Leader Favourability Ratings

Politics Canada, Federal Election, Jack Layton, Micheal Ignatieff, Stephen Harper

This is painful.

Photo credit: Jedediah Baker

The building itself is almost ageless having survived three city fires including the Great Fire of 1892. Now part of the side that has for years prominently showed this colourful art is being renovated.

As seen in Google Street View

It was only a few years ago (2004) that this wall was restored after having lost some of its 74 year lustre. It was a $10,000 restoration contract issued by the city.

The same city that is shutting out condos and big businesses for proposals that interfere with downtown St. John’s heritage is allowing this? How two-faced.

From The Scope: Golden Pheasant Tea mural - Link courtesy of Ryan Pugh

Local News, Politics Art, Golden Pheasant Tea, St. John's

Everyone wants an honest politician to represent them. I would be surprised if Clint Webb does not get elected.

“Here’s an unflattering photo of my opposition:”

“Here’s a quote of his taken out of context:”

Comedy, Politics, Videos Clint Webb, Whitest Kids You Know

Today I noticed a friend had posted a link to “Vote No” on The Muse’s levi referendum. It had sparked quite a bit of discussion on the issue. This was my two cents:

Unfortunately The Muse has no control over their rates to their consumers when they need to cope with inflation.

In order to remain a free publication for the student body The Muse needs to collect fees from the students and from advertisers (and semi-new by-laws prevent their biggest advertisers, like Molson, from advertising).

The Muse has been collecting a small $2 levi fee from students dating well back beyond the time when I started working there (2002). A lot has changed since then.

I remember the revenue from levi fees during my time was barely enough to scrape by. I can only imagine the financial struggle they have now.

If you do not like The Muse, don’t read it. But don’t actively seek to financially dissolve the only student paper over $2 per semester.

If you want to kick a fuss over fees for a service you do not use (I am speaking generally here) then kick a fuss over the mandatory $40 Field House Rec Fee. Most students don’t use it.

But most students do read The Muse, at least occasionally.

I think it would do you good to see the conditions many of these volunteer writers are working in. Drop into The Muse office on the second floor of the UC and check out their outdated computer systems and decrepit furniture. I know I wouldn’t find it very motivating. A few dollars could go a long way.

I also find “an increased budget will improve the quality of the writing” troubling. The students that do actually get paid at The Muse have to live and breath that paper day in and day out to keep it flowing on the stands. They have no time for other jobs and I know first hand how the workload can affect academics.

Their small honorariums have to go to pay for a meager cost of living. This is especially hard since in the past couple of years the cost of living in St. John’s has essentially matched the cost of living in a big city like Toronto.

On the flip side, these have become troubling times for print newspapers because of the internet’s overwhelming efficiency and speed in spreading news.

Many other publications are changing their business models to cope with the changing information world. I would like to see what initiatives The Muse has taken on in an effort to adapt.

If they do get the additional levi, I hope they have plans to do something creative and new as well.

Local News, Politics Referendum, The Muse

Everyone talks about how much they dislike Stephen Harper but few people take the initiative to do anything about it.

Someone created a Facebook Page for this onion ring and their social experiment is to determine if this onion ring can conjure up more supporters than Stephen Harper

I am proud to say that an onion ring has more fans on Facebook than Stephen Harper does. As I write this there are 30,136 people who are fans of Stephen Harper. There are 73,600 fans of this onion.

Politics, Wacky Facebook, onion, Stephen Harper

Is it just me, or is it silly that an election for an office of power for the next four years was determined by a coin flip?

I know it’s legislation and it’s only fair that the rules laid out be followed, but it seems like this particular rule was drafted under the impression it was an impossible scenario.

I know nothing about the mayoral candidate from Paradise, except that one is a 19 year old student and they other is a seasoned municipal politician, but I don’t think what happened in that municipality was fair to either candidate or very democratic.

For anyone unfamiliar with this case the mayor was literally chosen at random after a recount resulted in a tie. In Newfoundland that is how we resolve electoral recounts.

Costly as they are, I think that legislation needs to be upgraded to allow additional recounts or a tie-breaking election. If there were any discrepancies from one count to a second, coundn’t it also be possible that the recount was inaccurate?

Could you imagine if a hockey playoff match tie was determined by a coin flip? I suspect people would lose interest in hockey.

Local News, Politics, Rants Elections, Paradise