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Afghanistan Presidential Election Poll

chrisdye — 2009-10-21T14:55:01-04:00

It's pretty difficult to find a poll by a reliable polling firm on the second round of Afghan elections on November 7, so let's try this unscientific poll:

If an election were held today, who of the following would you choose as President of Afghanistan:

- Abdullah Abdullah
- Hamid Karzai

Post your answer in the comments section, and we'll tabulate the results just before the vote.

FDP Endorsement

YvonTripper — 2009-06-03T11:38:04-04:00

While travelling, I saw this attack ad of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) by the German Socialist Party (SPD) :

The ad suggests that "Financial Sharks" want to vote for the FDP in the upcoming European Parliament elections. The pictured financial shark seems very happy and friendly. I therefore encourage all European citizens registered in Germany to vote for the FDP on June 6.

I May Not Know Much About Art, But...

goodladd — 2009-04-17T10:03:29-04:00

Artist Justine Lai:

"I paint myself having sex with the Presidents of the United States in chronological order."

Hilarious.

My Dear American Neighbours,

vinny9 — 2008-12-04T16:23:47-05:00

Neil Macdonald on our current situation

Yeah, that's Norm's brother.

Harper's Accomplishments

dustin — 2008-10-10T14:40:07-04:00

VIDEO: The Harper government: here for a good time?

Guaranteed Victory

vinny9 — 2008-10-08T10:02:38-04:00

How to work around the Electoral College without a constitutional amendment

You Win Some, You Lose Some and Sometimes You Do Both

vinny9 — 2008-09-19T10:33:53-04:00

Vermont Congressman wins both Democrat and Republican nominations for the same post.

Six degrees of starvin' nations

Mirzipan — 2008-04-09T19:23:49-04:00

In 788 words, Paul Krugman sums up the global policy trap surrounding food. It's not funny or youtube, but it is insightful. He goes from the food crisis to emerging economies to oil prices to bad weather to biofuel to political mis-management.

Here's the beginning of Krugman's NY Times Op-ed 7Apr2008, "Grains Gone Wild":

"
These days you hear a lot about the world financial crisis. But there�s another world crisis under way � and it�s hurting a lot more people.

I�m talking about the food crisis. Over the past few years the prices of wheat, corn, rice and other basic foodstuffs have doubled or tripled, with much of the increase taking place just in the last few months. High food prices dismay even relatively well-off Americans � but they�re truly devastating in poor countries, where food often accounts for more than half a family�s spending.

There have already been food riots around the world. Food-supplying countries, from Ukraine to Argentina, have been limiting exports in an attempt to protect domestic consumers, leading to angry protests from farmers � and making things even worse in countries that need to import food.

How did this happen? The answer is a combination of long-term trends, bad luck � and bad policy.
"
Article continues in link above

Obama on religion and politics

Sean — 2008-02-11T16:44:37-05:00

For me at least, this 40 minute video is a pretty remarkable thing. Barack Obama speaking to a church charity about the role of faith in progressive society. He speaks as a Christian, but his words are thoughtful, attentive, tolerant, complicated. Even as an atheist I am persuaded and almost moved.

watch the video here

It's remarkable to me - almost unprecedented - when you contemplate that this guy might actually have a shot at the presidency.

Yes We Can

dustin — 2008-02-05T15:34:09-05:00

I'm rooting for Obama bigtime. Video comes from Dipdive.com.

Politics and Mights

stretch — 2008-01-19T16:54:55-05:00

Who do you want to win the primaries, and why?

I would vote for Clinton for the Dems; she strikes me as having less potential for greatness, but more potential for competence.

For the Republicans, i guess i would want McCain as pres because he is the least crazy, but i would want Huckabee as the candidate because he would be easiest for the Dems to beat.

LSD

dustin — 2007-07-18T02:49:34-04:00

Wired.com has an intriguing article LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug?

Like Herbert, many scientists and engineers also report heightened states of creativity while using LSD.

"We have been deeply touched by our experiences with psychedelics and it is hard that there is not a single legal study with LSD given to humans anywhere in the world," said Doblin. "We need to bring what is underground and illegal back into a legal context."

What's it like in Nairobi, Kenya?

dustin — 2007-04-22T20:27:36-04:00

The online community around Lux is a pretty diverse group. One member has been living in Nairobi, Kenya for the past 2 years. He recently made a detailed post in the forums describing the situation there. It's a fascinating read, here's a snippet:

Just like the world's largest slum (in terms of population per square meter [yes, that is correct. Over one million people in two square kilometers]), Kibari, "doesn't exist" according to the government. It's just a big open air market. Because Kenya doesn't have any slums, you know. Not even Mathare (another "not a slum") where the murder rate per day is comparable to Oakland CA's per /week/...in a space just over a square kilometer.

Attaque!

YvonTripper — 2007-04-16T00:01:52-04:00

Here are some of the attack ads soon to be airing on TVQ:

Others are available at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y18LADP7w4U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kzk-YaL-AI

The Case for Separated Bike Lanes

dustin — 2007-04-01T23:54:16-04:00

This video does a great job of showing how bike lanes that share roadspace with car traffic on busy streets suck. It's entitled The Case for Separated Bike Lanes and was created by StreetFilms, an NYC group dedicated to making their urban spaces more livable.

Vancouver could use this advice in a number of places. I was biking in the shared bike lanes along Pender and Richards coming home today, and in both cases it was an exercise in avoiding the buses that are making stops along those same streets. It's dangerous and not very fun. Bring on the separated lanes!

Classy newspaper

Bryan — 2007-03-23T19:54:32-04:00

The director of elections in Quebec recently stated that women who wear the burka or niqab are allowed to vote without revealing their faces. This caused a firestorm of protest and the director has since reversed position. (Somehow what was legal one day was illegal the next.)

It's nice to see that the Journal de Montreal could be counted on to address the issue with taste and courtesy for both sides. (See top of newspaper)

Vancouver homelessness video

dustin — 2007-01-28T22:57:32-05:00

A commenter pointed to this short video about homelessness in Vancouver, BC.

Healthcare battle: Canada vs USA

dustin — 2007-01-17T03:20:32-05:00

We hear a lot in Canada about problems in our health care system. What we don't often hear about are the success stories. Here's an article from Yes Magazine, written from the US point of view and comparing their system with Canada's public one:

the United States has been the unwitting control subject in a 30-year, worldwide experiment comparing the merits of private versus public health care funding. For the people living in the United States, the results of this experiment with privately funded health care have been grim. The United States now has the most expensive health care system on earth and, despite remarkable technology, the general health of the U.S. population is lower than in most industrialized countries. Worse, Americans' mortality rates--both general and infant--are shockingly high.

Food for thought as the Canadian system continues to come under attack by private interests.

Dion

Bryan — 2006-12-02T22:54:24-05:00

The best man won the Liberal nomination, imho. Yer thoughts?

Man, what a nerd, though. If looks could kill, we would all live forever.

Why Does Canada Hate?

goodladd — 2006-11-08T13:58:47-05:00

Take our motherf**king asbestos, developing world.

Apologies if this is old news. I'm a little out of the loop these days.

Iggy for Canada?

dustin — 2006-11-03T04:09:27-05:00

I was checking out the website of liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff and found that he has an open policy forum on it. That's pretty cool. I made 4 posts there:

I don't have strong feelings about Ignatieff either way at the moment. I was quite pleased with his website though. I'm curious to see if my posts in the forum get any responses. I also wonder if Ignatieff reads what gets written there.

You guys have any thoughts on Iggy?

Renaming Parc Avenue to be Robert Bourassa Avenue?

dustin — 2006-10-20T04:50:21-04:00

Apparently some Montreal politicians want to rename Parc Ave to be Robert Bourassa Ave (CBC report).

I have mixed feelings about it. The street passes between Parc du Mont-Royal and Parc Jeanne-Mance, which together form Montreal's glorious downtown park. I spent a lot of time at the Parcs playing sports, at the Tam-Tams or just hanging out. The name Parc Avenue is a great tribute to the culture that takes place there. Plus there are tons of stores on Parc above and below the Parks that have taken up the name.

On the other hand, Parc currently becomes Rue Bleury below Sherbrooke. I've always thought it was stupid to have streets change their names part-way through. Also, I do think it would be cool to have the intersection of Robert Bourassa and Rene Levesque.

PS: This blog entry was originally about something else. However since it (randomly) got a comment from a concerned citizen along with some follow-ups, I have repurposed it to the issue.

Important issues

YvonTripper — 2006-10-17T01:07:04-04:00

Two important political events flew under the radar this week. First, the courts ruled that political parties do not need to get 2% of the vote to get federal funding. This is very good news for the Bloc Quebecois de l'Ontario; we no longer have to try to get a large number of people to vote for us.

Also, a woman protested the tax treatment of income trusts in a bikini at the Liberal Party debate over the weekend. I am very encouraged that the most serious and eloquent public discussion of tax policy comes from a misprinted sign held by someone in sequined swimwear; it shows that people are receptive to messages coming from people as serious and determined as those of our party.

2007 BC Budget Consultation

dustin — 2006-10-05T14:48:27-04:00

One thing the the current BC Liberal government seems to be good at is asking people for their input. They're currently running a 2007 Budget Consultation. It gives everyone an opportunity to share their views on where the budget should spend more and less. It includes an on-line response form, so if you live in BC go and tell them what you think.

My input (in a nutshell): Spend more money on public transport and to support increased bicycle use. Try and fix healthcare spending before all the baby boomers retire. Ditch the highway expansion spending.

What exactly is Canada doing in Afghanistan?

dustin — 2006-09-11T18:16:08-04:00

There hasn't been a ton of info available talking about what exactly Canada is doing in Afghanistan. Sure, we're trying to "maintain peace" which is a great goal, but how exactly are we doing that?

There are some actions taken in the name of "maintaining peace" that are clearly counter-productive. Things like dropping big bombs from the air that happen to destroy civilians and/or their infrastructure, or burning down farmer's poppy fields in the name of the war on drugs.

I'm not saying that Canada is engaged in these kind of things. I don't really know. I wish we had more information about what the big-picture goals and actions of Canada's troops in Afghanistan are.

Here are the links that sparked this post:

Dion likes the ladies

dustin — 2006-07-15T01:53:04-04:00

The Tyee reports on Liberal leadership candidate St�phane Dion's pledge towards gender parity in the Liberal party and parliment. Included was this interesting passage:

"it's possible that a gender-balanced parliament might ultimately choose to follow the example set by Norway and Sweden. Both have introduced legislation extending the principle of gender parity into the private sector. Last year, 600 of Norway's largest publicly-traded companies reached their first deadline to increase the number of women on their corporate boards from 8.4 per cent in 2002 to 40 per cent. Those which fail to meet the target by 2007 could see their boards de-certified -- essentially losing their license to operate in Norway."

El Cheapo

chrisdye — 2006-07-06T19:08:33-04:00

USED ITEMS FOR SALE

LOGO for former political party. Ideal for small, third world party too cheap to create own logo. Contact stephenh@conservative.ca

World Urban Forum 3 - Montreal Thoughts

dustin — 2006-06-19T06:43:27-04:00

This week is the third World Urban Forum (francais), "established by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanization in a world where half of humanity lives in cities and where in the next 50 years that proportion is expected to reach two-thirds of the global population."

There are some real-life meetings happening in Vancouver, but the overall goal is to bring out discussion from across the world. Different cities face different conditions after all. Here's a blogosphere search for posts that link to the WUF site.

I posted some thoughts on my new city in a version of this thread at Urban Vancouver. Here are my thoughts on Montreal:

I think the redevelopment of the Parc and Pins intersection is a positive step. Opening up Mount-Royal to the downtown is an excellent plan and I hope it turns out well. The universities all seem to be growing (I know that McGill, Concordia and UQAM are) and this also bodes well for the city.

Montreal could badly use a better public transport link to the airport. The current setup involving bus switches is ridiculous. A high speed train line linking Montreal to Toronto (and maybe ottawa in between) would also be good for all the involved cities I think.

I think that downtown underground passages should be expanded. With Montreal's winter they can be a real boon. It wouldn't be too far to grow them West from peel to Concordia. Developments involving digging under things always seem to be really hard and take a loooong time, but I think this is an area where Montreal could find some positive long-term advantage.

Montreal would be at its best as a fully bilingual city. I think that Canada as a whole (and Montreal in particular) should take a good hard look at how we're teaching languages in the school system. Compared to some Europeans countries where multi-lingual fluency is the norm, we're way behind. There's a huge flow of smart people through Montreal's english language universities that the city doesn't keep since they can't work there without better French skills. The city would get a nice boost if it could keep more of the students that pass through. If Canada were ever to seriously look at this then Montreal is the natural place to start.

Sass suffit

YvonTripper — 2006-05-26T18:36:35-04:00

----- Original Message -----
From: "G******, Paul"
To: blocquebecois@mailpuppy.com
Subject: manuel d'instruction en anglais seulement
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2006 10:22:20 -0400

Monsieur/Madame;
Comment justifier le refus (ou le manque) de protester du parti lorsqu'il a ete publie dans les journaux que l'armee ne procurera un manuel d'instruction pour un de leurs engins de destruction que dans une des deux langues officielles et ce, pour des raisons de couts. Quelle honte!

Je m'attendais a plus du parti.
Paul G*******
(veuillez m'excuser, mais je n'ai pas les accents sur mon clavier)

-------------------------
To: "G******, Paul"
From: blocquebecois@mailpuppy.com
Subject: re: manuel d'instruction en anglais seulement
Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 06:34:51 +0800

Monsieur/Madame:

Comment justifier le manque (ou refus) de mettre des accents sur votre clavier?

Yvon Tripper
Chef du bloc qu�b�cois de l'Ontario

The right solution

vinny9 — 2006-05-19T13:38:23-04:00

The downside to food aid