Probably one of the hardest things for any writer to do is to admit when they’ve missed the mark. Once a piece has been published and your name is on the by-line, what you have said is already out there and with your name attached to it no less. In my own case, it must appear rather hypocritical for me to be slamming partisan embellishment of positions one week and then using Vaclav Havel as a model for behaviour when it comes to the war on drugs. Something, it would seem, is not quite right…
Month: September 2011
I want my TV for free, just like it used to be
We all know those people. The kind that proudly don’t own a TV, don’t need one and don’t want one. I know people like that and I sympathize. I agree that TV can be an intrusive presence and a real conversation stopper, not to mention it’s a medium dominated by corporate advertising which I despise.
Still, I never counted myself among those ranks because there is something mind-numbingly pleasing about watching a good show, even a cop show. Yes, this anti-authoritarian, anti-corporate activist likes him some CSI.
We also all know people who feel that owning a TV is…
Israel: Losing Friends by the Hour
The Israeli Government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu seems to be on a one way ticket to oblivion. His right-wing hawkish stances are jeopardizing peace in a region where the Arab Spring is still going strong heading into autumn. To make things worse, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been protesting Israel’s socio-economic problems. The UN recently released its report into Israel’s raid…
Anarchy in the UK: A Culture of Chaos?
If anyone is trying to understand the recent events in England, may I suggest watching Alfonso Cuaron’s cult masterpiece Children of Men. You would be hard pressed to find a more prescient work of art than this gritty post apocalyptic fable of a country gone mad with an Orwellian nanny state, a segregated immigrant population and a general population afflicted by profound malaise. Okay, the film also deals with a fictional plague which means…
Sleeping with the Elephant: Ending our dependence on the U.S. before it rolls over…
About twenty-five years ago Canada was ruled by a charismatic and media-savvy Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney. He was a man hand-picked for his ability to unite a somewhat reluctant progressive Conservative base in Québec with Western ‘provincialists’ and stand as a distinct yet casual alternative to the staunchly intellectual federalism of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. More or less exactly twenty years ago the sheen of the go-go eighties was gone, an economic recession was in full swing on both sides of the 49th and Mulroney, like his much-maligned American counterpart George H.W. Bush, was embroiled in scandal and generally poor approval ratings…