Jack Layton Has Prostate Cancer

Photo by Darrol Hofmeister, sharpshooter photography

The breaking story is on CBC here. And the Globe and Mail has the story here.

More Yes Men Shenanigans

They did an effective bit of culture jamming during the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December (DogBlog), now they're undercutting a World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland by suggesting that poverty should be the focus instead of over-regulation of the financial sector. (YesMen)

A Wall I Can Get Behind

Maybe this is something we should think about doing? (Onion News Network)

History Lesson

We aim to replace the present capitalist system, with its inherent injustice and inhumanity, by a social order from which the domination and exploitation of one class by another will be eliminated, in which economic planning will supersede unregulated private enterprise and competition, and in which genuine democratic self-government, based upon economic equality will be possible.

So begins the Regina Manifesto, which was adopted by the CCF at its founding convention in Regina in July 1933. It was definitely a call to arms. And it was very much in keeping with the radical tenor of the times. Most people would discount, and even ridicule, those sentiments now. But consider the circumstances in which it was adopted. While the West was still six years away from the second global conflagration of the 20th century in the form of World War II, since 1929, and even earlier in some countries, North America and Europe had been ravaged by a severe depression that had caused devastating hardship for millions of lower and middle class families.

Now, much of the world is mired in another depression that has driven home the stark disparity between the haves and have-nots in our society. Is it time for those who embrace a progressive mindset to revive the Regina Manifesto? That's one of the issues that will be explored at a forum titled The Future of Social Democracy in Canada: The Relevance of the Regina Manifesto in the 21st Century. Sponsored by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and featuring the participation of CCPA senior economist Armine Yalnizyan and sometimes prairie dog contributor Murray Dobbin, it will be held Oct. 16 at the University of Regina's Education Auditorium at 7 p.m.

If you happen to be in Saskatoon on Oct. 17, the forum will be reprised at the Broadway Theatre at 7 p.m.

To get you thinking, here's a song that would probably sum up the feelings of most of the CCF delegates who met in Regina that summer 76 years ago courtesy of U2 and a special guest. (YouTube)

Go Ahead and Die!

Here's another humorous (and incisive) look at the U.S health care system courtesy the Austin Lounge Lizards. (YouTube)

B.C. Government Tells Artists to "Suck It Up"

Damn you greedy artists. Damn you all to hell for stealing food out of the mouths of starving B.C. children. (Globe & Mail)

Christian Wrong

I awoke this morning to an interview on CBC Radio's The Current with U.S. journalist Jeff Sharlet about his 2003 book called The Family. Families are good, right? They're wholesome. They're the cornerstone of our society. Well, not this one. Unless you're ideal society is a capitalist theocracy whose adherents believe that in killing, oppressing and exploiting their inferiors they're carrying out God's will. (Harper's)

Sunday Wrap-Up

A couple quick thoughts at the end of a quiet Sunday. First, Iran. Wow. This weekend the country had influential hardliners sowing the seeds for the arrest of allegedly defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossien Mousavi. The editor of a big-deal newspaper apparently called for him to be arrested and tried as a U.S. spy, which is nuts. Meanwhile, at the protest end of the spectrum , a group of Iranian clerics called Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election illegitinate. In Iran, the opinions of cleric--even fringy, reformist clerics--matters. (Guardian)

Second, Dave Batters. The former MP was laid to rest in Regina yesterday. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in attendance. (StarPhoenix).

Copious words have been spoken about the tragedy of metal illness which is at it should be. It's awful that the clinically depressed Batters committed suicide, and horror, heartbreak and sympathy are the correct responses.

But...I feel like a hostage on this tragic story. Like it's rude or self serving to point out the obvious conflict between this poor man's free-wheeling economic politics and his own frailties.

I'm going to anyway.

Batters was one of the current breed of politician (found in large numbers in two federal parties) who relentlessly champion smaller government and paying less tax. He may well have been an incredibly likable and charismatic guy, but he belonged to a fraternity that almost seems to make cancelling public programs a point of pride.

I firmly believe we have a weaker, more vulnerable and more intolerant country as a result of these political attitudes being regarded as acceptable.

Just think about it--in the last 30 or so years we've seen the programs that used to give Canadians some security underfunded and stressed: healthcare, social services, affordable housing and inexpensive university, unemployment insurance. Batter's former party has even tried to shut down very successful programs like Vancouver's needle exchange clinic because they have simpleminded, one-note ideas about how human beings are. (Pretty damn nervy, given their comrade's unspecific history of substance addiction.)

Everything's "tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts" with Canada's politicians. Everything's enslaved to this simplistic idea that people need to "pull themselves up by the bootstraps" rather than rely on government.

And I have no doubt whatsoever that a lot of people have been hurt by that.

Dave Batters couldn't pull himself out of his depression. He couldn't pull himself to safety. Will substantial new funds be dedicated to treating mental illness in the wake of Batters' death?

I doubt it. The current bunch would call that "socialism".

Rest In Peace, Mr. Batters.

Stephen Harper Is Still Prime Minister

Ignatieff's Liberals help the Tories pass the budget. What was it Tommy Douglas said about white cats and black cats?