Help Japan and support your local bookstore

2:46 aka #Quakebook has finally hit the shelves in bookstores around the world, and is selling well.
All the proceeds go to the Japan Red Cross for earthquake relief work - which  four months after the massive quake and tsunami is still going on. So far Our Man in Abiko's project has raised more than $40,000 for the Japan Red Cross.
Sure you could get it as an ebook for free, if you were the kind of douchebag who'd steal the coins out of a blind beggar's cup, but you could redeem yourself for getting a free download by making a nice fat donation to the Red Cross or other earthquake charity of your choice.
Go buy it now.
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America's new national anthem

Not sure how the pictures connect with the music, but I look forward to hearing this played before sporting events.



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Best newspaper movies of all time

A discussion around the copy desk today- what are the best newspaper/media movies?

A short list in no particular order:

1. All the President's Men. Woodstien and Bernward eat Nixon's lunch. A movie (and book) that inspired a thousand journalism careers. Best part - its all true.
2. Citizen Kane. Often cited as the greatest movie ever made. "Dear Wheeler, You provide the prose poems, I"ll provide the war."
3. Ace in the Hole. Kirk Douglas as the worst of the dark side of the press in Billy Wilder's other great noir. This one still stands up so well, it could have been made last week. A remake would be oscar bait for whoever got the lead."I can handle big news and little news. And if there's no news I'll go out and bite a dog."
4.Meet John Doe. Hobo ex-ballplayer Gary Cooper and spunky girl reporter vs. depression-era fascists. Like Glenn Beck if he were a good guy.
5.A Face in the Crowd. Mayberry Noir. Most would see this as a cautionary tale of hubris and abuse of power, too many talk radio hosts coughGlennBeckcoughRushLimbaughcough saw it as a career blueprint.
6. His Girl Friday. I want to be Cary Grant when I grow up.
7.The Front Page. Same movie remade by Billy Wilder. Apparently Jack Lemon wanted to be Ros Russell when he grew up. Walter Matthau plays the Cary Grant role - possibly the oddest casting ever.
8.Deadline U.S.A. - Humphrey Bogart as a crusading newspaper editor, 'nuff said.
9.Broadcast News - Albert Brooks has one of my favorite monologues in any movie ever.
10. The Paper - not a great film, but it does capture newsroom politics, newspaper rivalries and the adrenaline rush of getting the scoop.

Honorable mention: Why Rock the Boat - the great Canadian newspaper movie. Made in the 70's for about a half-million dollars, set in Montreal in the 40's. I've never seen it, but it comes highly recommended from the rest of the ink-stained wretches around the desk.
 (You Tube links to come later)
Add you own additions in the comments



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stihl bisy

But not so busy that I can"t remind you to read David Climenhaga on why Canadians need to stand on guard for thee against Rupert Murdoch.
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Sun Papers tire of knocking collective heads against bottom of barrel, decide to get rid of barrel and start digging

One wonders what the politically correct straw was that broke the reactionary, knuckle-dragging, often bigoted, always pandering-to-the-basest-instinct-of-the-mob camel's back? Does this mean, per Blatchford, that the Sun papers are now officially not "real newspapers?" (stop snickering, no matter what you think of them in terms of their "truthiness" or ridiculous politics the Sun papers are still newspapers or a sort, or at least most of them used to be.) One also wonders what will become of the vicious boshshevik radical fifth columnist Ontario Press Council with 27 of the province's 37 member daily papers withdrawing.


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Enough with the uniform fetish already

"Wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross" indeed.
Didn't thousands of brave Canadians die in World War Two just so we could avoid exactly this kind of creeping militarism and fascist-style soldier worship? It really is just a matter of time before Stephen Harper appears in a fancy uniform with lots of gold braid and a big sash, isn't it?
Watch for the big parade of military vehicles and the air force flyover on Parliament Hill next year.
Mandatory pledges of allegiance in school and participation in "young pioneers" youth programs are probably not far behind.
Oh, and on a slightly different theme, Bill Blair can once again bite me. The media should not apologize to the police for publishing the tragic story of Constable Styles and his last words to the police dispatcher, at least not until Bill Blair and far too many of his officers go around and personally apologize to the thousand or so people they arrested or otherwise brutalized for no good reason during the G20.

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One for all parents everywhere

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Bisy Backson

Having upped stakes and relocated the pulpit--if not yet the entire family--to the Royal City and having started a new job as a night watchman at a place that makes a heckuva buggy whip, I've been too busy to write anything here even when I've had an Internet connection, but that doesn't mean I haven't been paying attention.

Poor, poor Lady Barbarella -- c'est tres triste, non?

Yes, as a matter of fact I am gloating, just like every other evil liberal journalist in the country, if not the English-speaking world. Maybe that makes me a bad person, but I think I can live with it. 
I will say this:

• Nice to see the universe shitting on the right people for a change
• "Her hair uncharacteristically dishevelled, Amiel stumbled on her snakeskin pumps as she was taken away." is my new favorite poem. The use of "snakeskin pump" in this context is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. It approaches haiku. 
• "model prisoner" indeed

Such schadenfreude-laden fripperies aside, I have little to say. Canadian politics? Well, as much as the recent election was entertaining in a "wow, that mushroom cloud sure is pretty"-"We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when" kind of way, with a Harper majority, the NDP have become the political equivalent of the Toronto Maple Leafs Stanley Cup Parade Planning Committee. My approach at this low ebb is that of Mr. Elvis Costello.



More when I have time, reason, and something more constructive to say than


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the new media is the new message

 I'll be hosting one of my occasional Maple Syrup Editions of Virtually Speaking tonight, discussing the work of one of Canada's most famous thinkers, Marshall McLuhan, with another of our country's great, if,  somewhat lesser-known, scholars and opinionmakers, University of Toronto professor  Dr. Brent Wood, whose "insights into McLuhan have a great deal of validity." ( I think he used to teach a course). We will be focusing on McLuhan, but as herr Dr. Prof. Wood is one of my oldest co-conspirators, I suspect our conversation is apt to be fairly broad. He's also run for office under the Green Party banner and so we may just touch on some Canadian political stuff as well -- I know, I know you're shocked to find gambling here at Rick's hear I might want to publicly discuss Canadian politics, but I think I'm to the point now where I can do so with a minimum of obscene language, blind rage and frustrated sobbing.

As I am starting a new job and will be working Sunday nights for the foreseeable future, this is likely to be the last Maple Syrup Edition of Virtually Speaking for little while.

For those new to the whole thing, you can always tune into Virtually Speaking via the little box on the sidebar.

Virtually Speaking is a live program of in-depth, intelligent conversations with well informed opinion makers in media, policy, politics, science, etc. Produced before a digitally present studio audience in Second Life and Webcast at BlogTalkRadio. Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Subscribe free on iTunes | Calendar |Video |Weekly Updates @ FDL @DKos|Facebook

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Most weeks, the VS Sunday panel draws from Avedon Carol, Chicago Dyke, Cliff Schecter, CS Kendrick,  Culture of Truth, David Dayen, digby, Eve Gittleson,  Joan McCarter, Marcy Wheeler, Stuart Zechman and  Susie Madrak. From time to time, the make-up of the panel shifts. Also, every 5 weeks or so, one of our regular panelists invites a guest to join them.

Sunday, May 29 | 9 pm eastern | Virtually Speaking Sundays: Maple Syrup Edition |Canadian journalist Kevin Wood and Brent Wood | Marshall McLuhan would be 100 this year: Is the global village getting the right message? Listen HERE live and later on Blog Talk Radio.

Tuesday, May 31 | 9 pm eastern | Virtually Speaking Susie | Susie Madrak | | Activist-journalists and citizen journalists stop by to dish about current events and the impact on working or wanting-to-work people. Watch this space for details.  Listen HERE live and later on Blog Talk Radio.

Thursday, June 2 | 8 pm eastern | Virtually Speaking A-Z | Stuart Zechman and Culture of Truth | This week in liberalism…. an ongoing conversation/rant/exploration. Culture of Truth in for Jay Ackroyd. Listen HERE live on Blog Talk Radio. Beginning Friday, June 3 listen here.

Thursday, June 2 | 10 am eastern | Digby (in for Jay) and Howie Klein discuss how to make activism ‘work.‘ | Virtually Speaking w/ Jay Ackroyd | Listen HERE live and later on Blog Talk Radio.

Coming up:

June 5   Joan McCarter and Eve Gittelson

June 9   Peter Moskos In Defense of Flogging

June 11  Dr. Martin Hoffert and Alan Boyle| The case for public investment in a clean energy revolution

June 12  Susie Madrak, John Amato, Dave Neiwert

June 23 Dan Ellsberg and Glenn Greenwald | WikiLeaks, security and the preservation of democracy

We have Internet Relay Chat (IRC) so you can be part of the virtual studio audience (aka chat room), sharing comments and questions while listening to Virtually Speaking live on BlogTalkRadio. Logs are shared with the show hosts and guests.

1. Connect to http://webchat.freenode.net/
2. Create a log-in name
3. Enter #vspeak into the channel field.
4. NOTE: ‘Relay Rinq’ is not a person but a bridge to IRC chat.
5. Type into the text field along the bottom of the screen.
6. Begin your question with ‘QUESTION’ so it’s easy for the host (and me) to spot.

Huzzah!

I am once again temporarily in the employ of a great Metropolitan newspaper and shall be moving to fortified compound in the tri-city area forthwith!

 Excelsior!


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What could go wrong?

From the same brilliant commonsense school of "thought" that gave us a high school dropout as Minister of Education in Ontario, the same braintrust that appoint a creationist quack as minister of Science, the Harper government has topped itself and appointed John Baird aka Shouty McAngry aka Screech O'Pointy aka Old Yeller as our top diplomat. This is sure to restore our reputation on the world stage.

After all Baird is nothing if not diplomatic



and committed to honesty and democracy


in fact, he has a national reputation for calm, quiet efficiency


Yes, Canada is "back" on the world stage. Unfortunately, it appears we are going to be the annoying opening comedian that comes on before the featured performers.

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Election images

Aislin, for my money, is still one of the most eloquent political and social pundits in this country in either language.

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It just happened here

To paraphrase Sinclair Lewis: When fascism comes to Canada, it will come wrapped in a flag and carrying a hockey stick.

Coach Harper won his majority last night thanks to smears, lies, obfuscation, vote suppression and dirty tricks on his part, vote splitting on the part of his opposition and a staggering display of selfish bourgeois Babbittry on the part of a good many Canadians. In any democracy, we get the government we deserve.

There is good news and bad news in last night's election result: The NDP won 102 seats and will form the official opposition, an opposition that will -- with 60 newly minted MPs many of whom never expected to get elected - be as hapless as it will be irrelevant. The Conservatives won only 39.6 percent of the popular vote, but 167 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons - they can do whatever they want with no real restraint on their actions. Harper has made his contempt for parliament abundantly clear already, so don't expect the opposition to be anything but a noisy decoration in Ottawa now that he has his majority and carte blanche.

The sun will still rise and set and the earth will still turn, though I for one expect a user fee to be levied for that sometime soon, so that the country can be run more like a business.

 On the bright side, Toronto will probably get a new mayor in the next year or two after Rob Ford is appointed to the Senate and joins the cabinet as the Minister of  Commonsense Gettin'er Done Tax-cutting or some such post.
On the bright side, Elizabeth May won a seat in Parliament - the first time the Green Party has ever elected a member to the house of commons. I watched here victory speech last night - she is looking forward to working in Parliament to make big changes! She also plans to ride her unicorn that eats carbon emissions and shits ice cream to work every morning.  At least we can be sure that the Greens will be part of the next leaders debate, after which they will cease to exist once the per-vote party subsidy is eliminated.

No, I'm afraid there is no amount of polishing that is going to turn this turd into a diamond. In the words of Hunter S. Thompson "Big darkness, soon come."
There will be no sudden declaration of martial law or dramatic day when CPC stormtroopers surround Stornaway or round up dissidents in the night - there won't need to be. That nice, soft-spoken, Christian economist and hockey dad who just wants to protect us from the bad guys doesn't work that way. There will just be a steady drip of manufactured small crises that lead to privatization, deregulation, and "temporary" security measures, until we get back to the good old days of the robber barons.

George Orwell described a distopian future in 1984 describing it through the mouth of one character thusly: If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever.


Naturally, this has been adjusted to fit Canadian content regulations.






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a song for election day

"I've got my spine, I've got my orange crush"

...actually the song is about the use of agent orange in Vietnam, but...well, make up your own metaphor, I'm not sure how this one is going to pan out. But I do like that line.
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where better to spend election eve?

FSM willing and the skype doesn't crash, Scott Tribe will be my guest tonight to talk Canadian politics on Virtually Speaking Sunday: Maple Syrup Edition at 8 pm EDT/5 pm PDT You can listen live here or click on the VSS player on the sidebar
If you can't make it tonight or you want to check our prediction against reality later on, the show will be archived here.
You can join the virtual studio audience in Second Life or follow the IRC (internet relay chat)  to be part of the studio audience chat stream w/o using SL.

1. Connect to http://webchat.freenode.net/ 
2. Give yourself a name.
3. Enter #vspeak into the channel field.
4. NOTE: 'Relay Rinq' is not a person but a bridge to IRC chat.
5. While listening to a live program on BlogTalkRadio, type comments and questions into the text field. Read what others write.
6. Begin your question with 'QUESTION' so it's easy for the host to spot.

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The assault on democracy

Read this excellent summary by Lawrence Martin and then tell me we can afford to give Stephen Harper another term as president prime minister.
Have a look at the regional polling numbers, the Conservatives are the choice of the majority in only Alberta and narrowly in the Prairies. They are at about 40% in Ontario and BC, but a distant fourth place in Quebec. Do the right thing tomorrow and vote for the candidate in your riding that has the best chance to beat the conservative. Local polling numbers can be seen here until midnight.
And no, I don't think the title is overstating things. All parties have their good and bad points but there is a difference between them -- so stop telling me that "both sides do it."
Both sides don't try to suppress the vote.
Both sides don't have crowds that shout down journalists when they ask questions.
Both sides don't throw people out of rallies for what might be on their facebook page.
Both sides don't want to cut corporate taxes while cutting programs for the poor.
Both sides don't fire the nuclear watchdog for doing her job.
Both sides don't pander to the religious right.
Both sides don't prorogue parliament.
Both sides haven't been found in contempt of parliament.
Both sides don't engage in specious personal smears and intimidation.
Both sides don't cancel the court challenges program.
Both sides aren't afraid to speak to the press or answer unscripted questions from voters.
Both sides don't issue manuals to their MPs on how to obstruct the work of parliamentary committees.
Both sides don't question the patriotism of those who disagree with them.
Both sides don't villify immigrants and expatriates as somehow being "less Canadian"

Think about which side you want to be on.



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The next Conservative leader of Canada

A cheep shot, but too funny not to share - if you have Flash, click and go play it now.
Pointy McShouty's Flying Circus aka Angry Bairds

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SUN gives Jack a happy ending

Much is being made by the usual suspects of this clumsy smear job on Layton by the Toronto Sun.
Give that story a very careful, very close reading and realize it is built entirely on a single unnamed source, contains no evidence of anything and is built largely on innuendo.
Layton was never charged or even arrested and there is not even any direct accusation in the story that he did anything he should not have done. He openly admits that he went to get a massage at the apparently fully-licenced massage establishment. Something lots of people do every day. There is nothing sleazy about getting a massage. The only suggestion of anything untoward in the story is the unidentified, retired Toronto cop claiming that the establishment in question was thought to be a bawdy house by the Toronto police (who, of course, have never been wrong about anything or abused their powers for political ends, ever, especially back then).
And with the incident having occurred 16 years ago, it seems awfully convenient that the SUN would, wholly by coincidence, choose to run with the story two days before the election. Given what we know about the overlap in CPC strategists and SUN employees, what are the odds the Conservative Party of Canada will somehow be found to have been involved in the release of this information if someone wants to pursue it hard enough?
How's that for innuendo?
You know what the difference is?
What the SUN would like you to believe happened - that Proletarian Jack had his means of production seized -  is a bit skeevy, but if his wife doesn't care, then why should we? It is ancient history and has no bearing on how he would govern.
What I have speculated about is recent, sinister, unethical, unprincipled, corrupt, possibly even criminal and certainly indicative of the kind of sleazy politics of character assassination the CPC has been engaging in for years. And it is more likely to be true.
I don't say any of this as any particular fan of Jack Layton. I'm fairly agnostic about the NDP in the general scheme of things. I like them better than the Conservatives, but I don't think they are going to singlehandedly usher in some kind of golden age where we all gather round singing The Internationale, nor do I think they will start nationalizing the banks and sending anyone who isn't a union member to re-education camps or anything like that.
But this kind of malicious smear campaign based on smirking innuendo should piss off anyone who values the truth, and I think that includes most Canadians. I apologize for the puns, but this kind of thing rubs Canadians the wrong way and the backlash might just be enough to turn a few close seats and give the NDP the hand it needs to give the country a happy ending.

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Who's fault will it be?

So the Globe and Mail has endorsed Harper, admitting they value money over democracy. While their competition is definitely anti-Harper, they haven't made any endorsement just yet (as of the time this was originally written, see update below) and we are constantly told, by both conservatives and the NDP, that the Toronto Star is an unofficial wing of the Liberal Party. It is a foregone conclusion that the National Post will endorse Harper, grudgingly since they feel he really isn't conservative enough. At Maclean's Andrew Coyne, a conservative but a rock-solid believer in the democratic process and parliamentary process, has decided to hold his nose and vote for the Liberals. CTV is gave Harper a chance to speak to the nation right after the big hockey game this week and has bent over backwards to argue that "both sides do it" and given the CPC fairly favourable coverage on the whole.
Pierre Karl Peladeau did his best Claude Raines impersonation earlier this week, declaring he was "shocked" to find out there was gambling going on at Rick's Cafe American a CPC strategist feeding his Sun newspaper chain false stories, a strategist that turned out also to be an advisor to SUN-TV, which is run by Harper's former spinmeister.
Given all this, I can't wait to see which "obviously biased"media organization the panic-stricken right wing in Canada decides is the latter-day Pravda responsible for the meteoric rise of the Jack Layton and the NDP. I'm sure it will be someone else's fault. The Liberals steady rightward  creep won't be blamed and the Conservative creepy mantra of "steady majority or CHAOS!" and refusal to even speak to anyone but true believers, let alone cooperate and compromise with other parties in the House of Commons certainly won't even be acknowledged. No, someone must be blamed, but who?

What about this big orange fella in Quebec?



Having said all that, I am not predicting Prime Minister Jack Layton will soon be giving the throne speech. I'm not against that happening, but I think the numbers in Ontario are still good enough for the Conservatives that Liberal/NDP vote-splitting will allow them to squeak through with between 140 and 156 seats. Your projections may vary, most do. But I would rather be pleasantly surprised than horribly disappointed, so I'm not getting my hopes up.

Update: The Toronto Star decides to live up to it nickname among conservatives - the Red Star - and endorses Layton and the NDP. I wonder if this is the final nail in the coffin for the Liberals for a few years? It depends how the next few years go - a polarized parliament of NDP vs. Conservatives with the Liberals and BQ holding the balance of power could end up driving voters back to the middle in the long run. If the Liberals can stay true to their basic left-leaning centerist principles, they could rebuild. If they decide to cave to the business-driven right-wing of the party and support the Conservatives, they will evaporate in a short span of time as the hard corporatists join the Conservatives and the progressive/leftish side jumps ship for the NDP.

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