Month: March 2011

A Question of Choice: this Saturday’s Protest Against Charest

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered this past Saturday to send Premier Jean Charest a cautionary warning on the contents of the upcoming budget. After the shocking social cuts that were announced almost a year ago in Charest’s previous budget, social activists came out of winter hibernation to remind Charest that the people of Quebec will not tolerate a repeat.

The roughly 50,000 protesters, comprised of students, union members, women’s groups, les patriotes, the raging grannies and the average pissed-off citizen with baby in tow, gathered at…

Puddles ‘n’ Potholes: from the Mayor’s slush fund to slush on the streets of Montreal

Good evening everybody. I hope all is well. It’s March 14, and a good thaw to you all. My thaw so far has been one of frustrations, particularly where my car is concerned. The other day, I hit a pothole that was hidden by a speed-bump, and was filled with water. My car stalled out on me the next day. After around half an hour, the car started again without a problem…

Japan Battles the Elements; Earth, Water and Fire

The war in Japan has been over for more than sixty-five years, but if you didn’t know any better you might think the war was still going on, judging from some of the images we’ve seen in the last few days. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake on Friday was so powerful that it shifted the entire main island of Japan as much as two meters. And yet…

Sweater-vests make me hurl: Young people and voting – not as boring as you might think!

Do you hate politics? Do attack ads and sweater-vests make you want to cap a bitch? Do you throw up a little in your mouth when you think about an election happening? Well you’re not alone. The trend in recent elections has been a sharp drop in participation, most noticeably among young voters. While seniors vote so often that they’ve been known to write-in the name of their favourite candidate…

The right to be outside

Dirt, mud, snow, ice, slush, branches, fences, sand, sunburns, bruised knees, leaves, hills, fields, bikes, shovel and pail, hide and seek, skates, tag, slide, skipping ropes, skateboard, ball-bat-mit, burping contests, cloud watching, popsicles, trampolines, puddles. And now?

Yaz heard about the Bayer lawsuit?

Do you or a significant other rely on contraceptive pills for your sexy peace of mind? Depending on the type of pill taken, I’d rethink doing that. A popular birth control pill Yasmine and its contraceptive cousin Yaz are the subject of lawsuits between several thousand consumers and the manufacturer, Bayer Pharmaceuticals. The lawsuit against Bayer involves thousands of American plaintiffs and a separate class-action lawsuit

Angus scraps plans to expropriate Café Cleopatre, but is the Cleo safe for good?

It looks like the independent burlesque, fetish and drag artists who call the second floor of Café Cleopatre on St-Laurent their artistic home will be able to continue doing so, at least for a while. City-backed developer Angus Development (SDA) told Radio Canada that they have scrapped their plans to expropriate the venue, and now plan to build two 13-storey buildings on either side of Cafe Cleo. This turn of events brings to a temporary end what is probably the biggest local David versus Goliath story to come about in a long while…

Latest: U.S soldiers shot, one killed at German airport

There has been a shooting of U.S. Soldiers at the Frankfurt International Airport.

The Gunman, believed to be from Kosovo, drew a weapon and attacked a bus full of soldiers located near terminal 2.

The motivation for the attack remains unknown, but some are speculating that it could be politically motivated.