"This bill is the greatest threat to freedom that I've seen in the 19 years I've been in Washington." 

House Minority Leader John Boehner, November 5, 2009

That bill, of course, is not the Patriot Act. LOL

Here I sit watching GOP Senators and Congressman give speeches before a crowd holding signs with graphic images of Dachau. A crowd that organizers say will  later on storm the offices in Congress…on this, Guy Fawkes Day.

Let's repeat that…GOP officials are speaking to a crowd that plans on storming the Congress building. On a day that commemorates rebellion.

All this over health care.

SMELL.THE.FREEDOM.

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Environmental protestor Jeh Custer apparently has been caught adding blood to his face for an interview with CBC following yesterday's Bill C-311 protest on Parliament Hill. Utterly self-defeating.

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• Bears will ice…you!
  What

What’s not mentioned is the bear completed a perfect triple-axel right before the incident:

The bear, who was wearing ice-skates when the incident occurred, attacked 25-year-old circus director Dmitry Potapov, dragging him across the ice rink by his neck and nearly severing one of his legs before relenting.

Link: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/skating bear kills Russian state circus/2137660/story.html

The City of Vancouver has made available some of it’s archival films on Youtube.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/user/VancouverArchives

Gallery of some of greatest hits of professional political hoaxers’ The Yes Men:

Link: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/gallery/2009/10/political-activists-and-pranksters.php?img=1&ref=fpb&ref=fpblg (via shareaholic)

Another shout out to the Straight: An excellent overview of the climate change denialist industry. Funnily enough, funded by industry:

Hoggan, the author of Climate Cover-Up, told the Straight by phone that average people need to gain a greater understanding of the issue to avoid being misled by the media, which echo the claims of industry-financed groups. He described these campaigns as “manipulation of the highest order” and “Darth Vader public relations”, suggesting that consulting firms can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars by coming up with simple phrases like “junk science” or “clean coal” to downplay the issue.

Link

Are the viaducts viable?

Link: http://www.straight.com/article-265325/city-puts-georgia-viaducts-future-play# (via shareaholic)

• Public space
  A public space refers to an area or place that is open and accessible to all citizens, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age or socio-economic level. One of the earliest examples of public spaces are commons. For example, no fees or paid tickets are required for entry, nor are the entrants discriminated based on background. Non-government-owned malls are examples of 'private space' with the appearance of being 'public space'.

  Public space has also become something of a touchstone for critical theory in relation to philosophy, (urban) geography, visual art, cultural studies, social studies and urban design. Its relevance seems to become more pressing as capital encloses more and more of what were thought of as 'commons'. The term 'Public Space' is also often misconstrued to mean other things such as 'gathering place', which is an element of the larger concept.

  (tags: politics philosophy democracy)
• Supreme Court of Canada – Decisions – Ramsden v. Peterborough (City)
  "If members of the public had no right whatsoever to distribute leaflets or engage in other expressive activity on government-owned property (except with permission), then there would be little if any opportunity to exercise their rights of freedom of expression. Only those with enough wealth to own land, or mass media facilities (whose ownership is largely concentrated), would be able to engage in free expression. This would subvert achievement of the Charter's basic purpose as identified by this Court, i.e., the free exchange of ideas, open debate of public affairs, the effective working of democratic institutions and the pursuit of knowledge and truth. These eminent goals would be frustrated if for practical purposes, only the favoured few have any avenue to communicate with the public."
  (tags: canada censorship)

• Kieran Healy’s Weblog – Violent Societies
  Cross-national variation in rates of violent death.
  (tags: statistics crime)