Liberals Win Minority Gov't: NDP Will Hold Balance of Power

"Across Canada tonight in an extremely tight election, we hope Canadians vote to put Canada first and vote to support values that make Canada the envy of the world."
Scott Brison, winning MP of Kings-Hants riding (Nova Scotia), regarding the Liberal's minority government victory.(WP)

The Liberals have earned themselves another spin on the merry-go-round that is Canadian politics. With a reasonable showing of 135 seats, the Libs won't have the absolute majority to pass legislation effortlessly, but they'll be able to retain power if they can enlist the support of Jack Layton's NDP. They've already ruled out a coalition government but if they want the NDP to vote in step with their proposals, they'll have to give the New Democrats a reason to play along.

Contrary to the worried chatter of the financial markets, this is truly the best of all possible scenarios. Harper and his Conservative warriors have been bested; although they won roughly 99 seats, this won't be enough to remove the Liberals from office. Economists are afraid of minority governments because they associate them with higher spending.

Since the Conservatives will now be the official opposition, they will hold the responsibility of keeping Liberal spending within reasonable limits, but they won't be able to institute their heinous platform of military expansion and tax cuts at the expense of our social programs. Harper may also have a new cross to bear; his own party may question his ability to ever beat the Liberals, a party that was tainted with the stench of corruption arising from their role in the Sponsorship Scandal but who still won in the end.

The other major reason that I'm smiling from ear to ear is that minority governments in Canada have always proven themselves to be most fruitful. In the past, such governments have instituted valuable social programs like employment insurance and universal health care.

Expect the NDP to try to bring in proportional representation, similar to the electoral systems in Germany and New Zealand, which should bode well for smaller parties in the future. Proportional representation was very effective for Germany's Green Party in the past, allowing Joschka Fischer to become Foreign Minister in 1998, and giving Green party supporters worldwide a reason to be optimistic.

Jack Layton has vowed that he will hold Paul Martin to his election promises and that he won't lie down for a Liberal government if their proposals aren't up to snuff. Since his 20 or so seats will be the security blanket that Paul Martin's Liberals will be forced to clutch, there is a good chance that our country will improve and make life slightly better for everyone.

Canada has never had one voice; we are a chorus of varying tones and pitches, with nobody rising above the din to negate everyone else. This is something that we should be proud of. I commend anyone who bothered to vote and I hope that we can all take pride in our form of government, since we managed to hold an election that was over in 5 weeks and didn't require the intervention of our Supreme Court to conclude.

Also, when I look outside at the trickle of early morning traffic on Guy Street here in Montreal, I don't see any civil war developing. Peace and good government; that's all Canada ever wanted.

If the Liberals try to pull a fast one on us, I'll be waiting. Keep your eyes open, Canada.

Harping on Harper: Why you Should Not Vote Conservative Today

Today is V-Day here in Canada and across the country, polling stations will be stuffed to the brim with about 65 percent of eligible voters. In the days of old, votes were bought with free pints or cash prizes. Current election rules limit such freebies so we're destined to be charmed with grandiose election promises, most of which will never make it past the House of Commons.

Changing things in Canada is like trying to accelerate the gradual movement of a glacier; you can push all you want but things will crawl along and there is a good chance that you'll see snails and wheelchair-bound grannies whizzing by. Still, we have a vital parliamentary system that allows for several parties to play a role in governing our nation. This gives more Canadians a voice in governance since they're not faced with a "lesser of two evils" choice like our neighbours in the USA.

I realize that this is the last minute and all, but please bear with me. I'm not going to ask you to vote NDP, even though I did--they're not going to win in my riding of Chateauguay-St.Constant but neither are the tories--but I will make one small request. If you have any love for this country and all we've achieved, please don't vote for Stephen Harper and his Conservatives.

You might be wondering why I'm so concerned. First of all, he has no respect for minority rights or for the disenfranchised in our society. He wants to offer major tax cuts to the wealthy like his distant cousin George W. Bush (hopefully soon to be once removed) and we all saw what this did to the US; it created major deficits that will cause future generations to suffer and inevitably bear the burden in the decades to come.

Stephen Harper also wants to build up our military and to support our American allies on their global preemptive warfare policies. This would mean invading Syria or Iran (which one is next on the Neo-con list? I imagine it would be whichever one has more oil) and also tarnishing our reputation as a nation that admires peace and diplomacy. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have a military but I don't think Canada should become another Great Britain, docile and always eager to please the Right-wing hawks of Washington. Let us keep our hands clean and let them take care of their own illegal invasions, thank you very much.

Harper also wants to sign on to the American Missile Defence Shield, and this would be another big mistake. Missile defence of this kind is illegal by NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) standards and would be sending the wrong message to the rest of the world, since the US will still have thousands of ICBMs pointed at other countries but would be nearly invulnerable to missile attacks. One could even argue that this could lead to a world war because the mutually assured destruction theory would go out the window. I'm sure most Canadians don't want to be caught in the middle of a global nuclear arms race.

The Conservatives not only disagree with the Kyoto Accord, they want us to pull out of it. This short-sighted view will hurt our ties to the European Union, a major trading block and potential market for Canadian exports. They are solidly behind Kyoto and a British MP has reputedly warned that Canada will look silly to pull out of the accord now, especially when Russia is on the fence and waiting to see who else backs it.

If I haven't convinced you yet, Stephen Harper doesn't believe that gays should be allowed to marry. This is a form of discrimination according to our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which he says is fundamentally flawed because it might offer protection to pedophiles. This is pure bullshit because our criminal laws already cover sex crimes and nobody is arguing to change the laws themselves since they serve a valuable purpose; keeping our children safe from exploitation. Harper and his Albertan base are just using the sexual predator issue to ban gay marriage, a completely different issue altogether.

Ontario, I don't mean to single you out but you're quite influential and populous, so it is important that we understand each other. I have many relatives living in your beautiful province and a couple of them have expressed interest in voting Conservative. If it's just for the tax breaks, you should remember that you're going to pay more in the long run if the Tories win. Their tax cuts will be erased by increased fees for government services, increased tuition for students, and most Canadians won't even save all that much (it will only affect people who earn enough to pay a large amount of tax). I don't have any exact figures, but by reading the Tory platform, you can see that they will have to eliminate some of the programs that we know and love if they want to avoid running a deficit.

They've already talked about scrapping the Atlantic Development Agency which will stab the Maritimes in the heart by depriving their lackluster economies of badly-needed investment. This will mean more maritimers being forced to rely on social assistance, and that will be paid for by guess who? Ontario, Alberta, and BC, because they are the wealthy provinces who pay more in Federal tax than they receive in transfer payments.

The Liberals may have their weak points and they've definately made some mistakes, but they are still a better choice than the Conservatives. Like Joe Clark so eloquently warbled (paraphrased...), "Better the devil you do know than one you don't. Vote Paul Martin before you think of going with Stephen Harper."

One last point to ponder is that Canada is proving that it is a very left-wing nation. The Green Party, the Liberals, the Bloc Quebecois, and the NDP (all left-leaning parties) command over 65 percent of the vote, meaning if the left was united like the right (the Canadian Alliance swallowed the Progressive Conservatives, remember?), the choice would be clear. Instead, we're splitting our vote 4 ways and the Conservatives are the odds-on favourite to steal this election (with a minority government).

Locate your Electoral District.

If you believe in peace and prosperity, if you don't want us to become a virtual 51st state, if you have any friends or relatives who happen to be gay, if you believe in legalization of marijuana, if you believe that the church and the state should be separate, then voting for the Conservative Party is the wrong choice! (To get a better understanding of your political leanings based on the party platforms, visit Who Do I Vote 4.com to do a nifty little test that will give you an unbiased measure of which party really floats your boat.) Or, just vote liberal or Bloc or NDP and talk to your friends. It isn't too late to save Canada from the Blue Menace of Stephen Harper's Conservative Party; the polls close at 9:30 PM EST.

Poxy: Privateer punk or Pirate Pop?

[Sorry for that awful alliteration in the title.] In the summer of 2003, when the joints were two-papered and I still had an income, I wrote a post about "Bar Le Sapphir". Since then, I've become far more destitute and when I do come across the odd pile o' cash, I'm less prone to waste it on a baker's dozen of beers at a nightclub. Still, I miss the place. The fish in the T.V., the bar that's constantly lit on fire, the couch on the ceiling; it makes me dream of busking tomorrow to finance a Friday night there.

I want to go on Friday specifically because of "Panic with Plastik Patrik", a punky garage/new-wave/no-wave rock night. Billy Idol, The Cure, The Ramones, The Hives...I can't imagine a better place to rock out after a hard week of blogging and consuming intoxicants. [I owe it all to a pal of mine--Dennis, who runs a successful firm that sells Wi-Fi products to businesses. Contact him if you own a hotel or café anywhere in North America!--because he was the first person to tell me about Sapphir.]

Perhaps I should get to the point? At Sapphir, Xavier Caffeine is one of the DJ's (he usually opens for Plastik Patrik). He also happens to be the lead singer of one of the rising stars of the Montreal rock scene, a band called Poxy. [JB offered one of Poxy's MP3's as a "Song of the week" at least a fortnight ago]. They're from Montreal and are definately a band to watch with a telescope, because by the time you read these words, they'll probably be close to conquering the hearts and minds of several foreign nations at sword-point.

Poxy play a style of music that they have branded "Pirate Pop" (according to a Chartattack Interview) and this description fits them like a parrot on a shoulder. Their sound might occasionally wear the feather boa of glam but it is far too abrasive to pass for anything weak; sometimes sounding like punk, it's nothing like Blink 182 and their new-school-punk soft-ice-cream sound. On their own, Poxy stand aside any of the best post-rock bands like The Stills or Interpol, only they are more accessible and not as deliberately obscure. Poxy want everyone to get high and dance like they're partying with David Bowie.

Poxy

Keeping with the Pirate theme, they know how to rock the boat. Xavier Caffeine used to be a part of Caféine, a MTL glam-punk band that caught the eye of many underground scenesters locally and this provided him with enough experience to pull off gigs that blow the windows out and the chutzpah to write an album that really resonates with some people but doesn't cut corners.

I'm not the only one who thinks Poxy is worth the time and trouble. Just ask Jamie O'Meara, resident music editor of the Hour, who said that their debut album was "Hands down the best rock album to cross (his) desk so far this year..." back in 2003. Also, they've earned glowing write-ups in Chartattack, The Montreal Mirror, and the Journal de Montreal, but they have yet to tour the United States.

On another note, when Poxy played at the Bovine Sex Club in Toronto, one of their members Phil lost a mixer to a covetous fan. He wrote at their site:

"To the asshole who stole my 80$ mixer down at the Bovine, I though I'd let you know you left my 3000$ laptop right under it you stupid fuck!

Poxy will be taking the following places by storm with knives in their teeth and a murderous gleam in their eyes. Be sure to bring gold bullion or some sort of recreational drug for them to seize:

June 25th
Moncton NB w/ L'Attack

June 26th
Halifax NS w/ L'Attack

July 10th
Quebec city QC w/ Plastic Bertrand

July 29th
L'Autre Caserne, Quebec City, QC
During Envol & Macadam fest

July 30th
Le Swimming, Montreal QC
3643 St. Laurent Blvd.

Keep your spyglasses on their official site for news, press clippings and even a few MP3s. I will try to get an interview with them for JB.

Arcade Fire Feed 7" Record to Hungry Americans

Montreal's reigning royal family of the indie rock underworld, the Arcade Fire, have released a 7" record south of the border via their label, Merge Records, and you can feel the buzz from here. It is called "Neighbourhood 7" and Pitchfork already broke this news on May 4th but I thought it warranted mention just the same because Merge have begun to promote the AF on their site and I'm curious to see what the U.S public will think of their miracle-a-minute sound. ("Angel" fans may have heard the AF when one of their songs was used on the Fox TV program)

"Neighbourhood 7" Album Cover

The A-side of the record is a song called Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) which should appear on their new LP as well. The B-side is apparently a 1940's radio broadcast of Win's maternal grandfather with his 'Alvino Rey Orchestra'. Here is what their Merge bio has to say about the B-side.

"Win Butler is the grandson of Alvino Rey, who led the Alvino Rey Orchestra with a pedal steel guitar from the 30s to the 70s. He grew up in Texas where he and his brother (Will) learned how to play music from their mother (a jazz harpist)."

Reading the press release for the AF 7-inch brought a smile to my face.

"Get these now before the buzz really starts on the Arcade Fire. You can tell all your friends next year - 'I knew them when...'"

Reading a statement like that one makes me think that the music industry is modelled upon the feeding habits of the seagull. A couple of brave birds will begin to peck at a morsel of potential food to see if it is palatable, and before long, thousands more will flock to the place to try and get their beaks in on the feast.

The Arcade Fire

I'm betting that their LP "Funeral", which is slated for a September release, will earn them a Juno awards nomination in 2005. I haven't heard any of the new songs yet since they haven't played any Montreal shows as of late, but I'm 90 percent sure that the record is going to get the mainstream music press frothing at the mouth. (Most of my friends have become AF fans after hearing their self-titled EP. One exception is my cousin Anders, but he's far too obsessed with Faith No More and Tori Amos to even give the Arcade Fire the time of day!)

Being the thieving bastard that I am, here is the tracklisting for the "Funeral" LP which I stole from Pitchfork.

01 Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
02 Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
03 Une Annee Sans Lumiere
04 Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
05 Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)
06 Crown of Love
07 Wake Up
08 Haiti
09 Rebellion (Lies)
10 In the Backseat

I'll get in touch with the Arcade Fire in the fall to see if we can get a reviewer's copy of their new album for this blog; I'm sure they'll be happy to oblige. Until then, you can visit their official site for news and a couple of sample MP3's.

Canadian Political Celebrity Deathmatch, Part II (the English Leader's Debate)

Just in case you were busy sitting on your porch with a cold one, I figured I would do the right thing and watch the Canadian Federal leader's debate for you. It appeared commercial-free on CBC. I slept through the first half hour or so--I always nap after supper--but as I awoke, the stalwart four gave me several immediate impressions.

Gilles Duceppe proved to be far less reptilian than I expected. He was mostly well-spoken, especially when he confronted Paul Martin in his closing words, asking Mr. Martin to become transparent and to "tell the truth, sir." Mr. Duceppe also mentioned Quebec in nearly every sentence, demanding that Mr. Martin repair the fiscal imbalance between Ottawa and the provinces.

In the early days of medicare, the Federal government used to pay 75 percent of the costs of medicare, and during Paul Martin's time as finance minister, he reduced this by approximately 25 percent. Canada's universal public health system has been reeling ever since, suffering from longer wait times, restrictions to critical systems such as PET scanners and specialists, and hospitals that are less able to respond to emergency situations. Duceppe wants Quebec (and the other provinces) to get back that missing money since health care is under provincial jurisdiction.

Still, Gilles Duceppe did frighten me at one point. When questioned by Stephen Harper about sovereignty, he proclaimed that he believed that Quebec was a nation and there was a sort of glint in his eyes. He looked like a man inhabited by spirits, or even a rebel leader. He must truly want Quebec to separate. If not, I'd be tempted to vote Bloc Quebecois because of their impressive left-wing agenda and public policy proposals.

Jack Layton, leader of the NDP, disappointed me with his dizzying little-boy hands flailing about and his constant interruptions of Mr. Harper and Mr. Martin. Don't get me wrong--I believe that the NDP is the single best political party in contemporary Canadian politics, and will vote NDP on June 28th--but I felt that Mr. Layton seemed excitable and slightly mean-spirited. Unlike the sedated, evangelical-minister speaking of Mr. Harper, or the grandfatherly business tycoon cadence of Mr. Martin, Mr. Layton sounded like a smarmy university professor, trumpeting his views loudly but not giving his opponents the credit due. Nobody likes a know-it-all and Canadians are no different.

Even though most of what he was saying was a hundred percent true, it appears that the NDP will be reduced to participation in a minority government at best. This could happen if the Liberals win more seats than the Conservatives, but not a solid 50 plus one majority. In this case, the NDP could actually influence public policy and pull us away from the brink of joining America's imperial ambitions.

The enfant terrible of the night had to be Stephen Harper. He was gentlemanly, appearing to be as calm as a Prairie wind in springtime, even when accused of wanting to slash social programs, remove the grants to regional development groups like the one that keeps the Maritimes afloat, ban abortion, and balloon Canada's military by tens of billions of dollars. He looked very serene behind the podium, probably sensing the momentum that his party has been gaining in the usually Liberal voter stronghold of Ontario.

The last national poll I saw listed the Liberals at 34 percent, the Conservatives at 33 percent, the NDP at 19 percent, the Bloc at 11 percent, and the Green party at an impressive 5 percent (I can't recall the margin of error but you get the rough idea). This seems to indicate that Mr. Martin has a tough hill to climb if he is to retain his Prime Minister's parking spot for long. With the NDP, the Conservatives, and the Bloc all taking aim at his ten-year legacy of slashing programs in order to balance the budget, Martin is being pierced by political buckshot and that is why his party is bleeding red votes.

During the debate, Paul Martin did his best Winston Churchill impression, puffing out his chest and barreling through the constant stream of accusations and insults without blinking an eye. (Jack Layton doesn't blink very much either. That was another disconcerting little detail that caught my attention!) Mr. Martin did come across as an experienced leader when he spoke about his vision of a Canada that respects the Charter of Rights and also when he proclaimed that we would never assist in the weaponization of space.

I don't really know who "won" the debate but I think that Ontario is going to have to decide what kind of Canada they want to be a part of. Since that is where the Conservatives have really been making inroads (rumour has it that even Belinda Stronach is going to win her riding!), if Ontario decides to punish the Liberals by wandering into the Conservative fold, the whole nation will be veering sharply to the right. If the Conservatives win , before long, expect us to have troops dying in foreign wars, terror attacks in retribution for our dilly-dallying with the global-pariah American juggernaut, and a Right wing fiscal policy that would slash taxes on the rich at the expense of the poor and the social programs they rely upon.

Taxes are never going to disappear. If they're going to collect a percentage of our income, they should give it to people in need and make sure that it isn't being spent frivolously. I agree with Mr. Harper that we should be careful not to throw money at problems without analyzing their potential impact on our citizens. Still, social awareness has always been a Canadian trait and we should not abandon our legacy of social justice in favour of a Pro-market, laissez-faire capitalist nation like our American neighbours.

Above all, let us build a nation that is internationalist, transcending borders like our trans-atlantic cousins the Europeans. Let us spread peace and help the third world to grow and prosper. May we protect the environment and enrich ourselves by becoming masters of the aeolian turbine and the solar panel. The Maple Leaf should never be worn on a uniform unless involving a UN-approved peacekeeping mission. We should let gays marry and potheads smoke, provided they're buying it from a safe, government-regulated source (and the tax revenue from that would pay for a lot of social programs). Heck, we should even proclaim to the world that we'll never invade them and that they're all welcome to visit or to emigrate here.

We should open our arms to the planet and watch the global goodwill it produces. Sure, there will always be a couple of bad apples out there, but as long as we contain them with the help of friendly foreign governments and the International criminal court, we don't need to bomb them into the stone age. Let the Hawks and Elephants hunt for nations to demolish. I believe that Canada should work for peace.

What kind of Canada do you want to see? Who was the winner of the leader's debate? Comment below.

JB's Lo-Fi Cover of Arcade Fire - "Old Flame"

Lo-fi is an understatement! I'm learning that recording over the phone is quite the challenge. At least I can say I have something in common with 50 Cent; he once phoned in 8 bars of freestyle rap from a jail payphone, which later appeared on a popular mixtape. Yeah, I gots tha street cred, mofos.

Click the grey button below to hear my rendition of "Old Flame".

If Win & Regine hear this, I hope they won't shun me. I did my best but vocally, I'm more comfortable in lower tonal altitudes. I'm more a Tom Waits than a Thom Yorke, even though they're both freaking awesome.

All virulent self-criticism aside, "Old Flame" remains a great song and I hope you enjoyed it.

Reagan Will Live On

After ramping up defense spending to stratospheric heights, funding anti-democratic guerillas around the globe, and declaring that trees are a major source of pollution, Ronald Reagan passed away this week at the age of 93.

His resilience is quite impressive. Not only has he refused to yield to death's cruel scythe, he's going to run for Vice President of the United States!

"Difficult times call for great leaders -- men of vision, strength and courage. Men like George W. Bush and the shambling, reanimated corpse of Ronald Reagan. Welcome to the official Web site of Bush/Zombie Reagan 2004, Inc., home of the new Republican presidential ticket!"

Apparently, he has the vitality of a twenty year-old and the ability to withstand the loss of his limbs, as long as his skull remains intact.

John Kerry, contrary to popular opinion, is not a real zombie. He just pretends to be one in order to sit on the fence and court both the zombie and the non-zombie vote. According to the makers of Bush/Zombie Reagan, Kerry is more like a sort of Frankenstein, with his body parts culled from many good, All-American gravesites.

"Is Zombie Reagan really that much of an advantage? Doesn't John Kerry have the zombie vote locked up?

No. John Kerry, in fact, isn't really a zombie. He is more akin to Frankenstein's Monster, built out of parts stolen from graveyards under cover of night. He simply claims to be a zombie for political advantage."

When a nation is divided along partisan lines, sometimes it helps to keep a sense of mirth and laughter regarding politics. Personally, I don't hate Reagan as a person, just for what he represented--he was a master of rhetoric, a spinning politico who would spout one-liners to cover up his massive deficits or his entanglement with crooked corporate giants.

Not all Republicans are cut from the same cloth as Reagan, and thank the empty, acid-rainy heavens. I would rather listen to an earnest, trustworthy guy like John McCain than some actor who pretended to be a cowboy on the silver screen. I'm sure Reagan wasn't an evil guy but he made some baffling decisions. (Why sell WMD to Saddam Hussein? Ronald sent Donald Rumsfeld to meet the dictator and seal the deal, for fux sake!)

What do you think of Reagan's achievements/blunders? Was he the National Treasure or a Natural disaster? Please comment below

The Faint - "Worked Up So Sexual"

Courtesy of Audioblogger.com

War is inhuman. Life is precious. Choose life.

Eugene McCarthy: Maverick Politician with Balls of Steel

"Salon: You said after the 9/11 terrorist attacks that America itself is not innocent of terror.

McCarthy: That's right. It doesn't mean we should forgive those guys -- bin Laden and the rest. We shouldn't. But we need to be aware that we terrorized black people for 300 years, for nearly 100 years after the Emancipation. They were still being terrorized when we passed the civil rights legislation in the 1960s. The other effect that was a kind of terror was our buildup of nuclear weapons. When we produced the hydrogen bomb that was a so-called clean bomb -- it killed only living matter -- it didn't destroy trucks and tanks. They said you wouldn't have to rebuild the cities; the bomb only killed people. We're still not doing much about the terror of nuclear weapons."

Interview with Eugene McCarthy in Salon.com (they require you watch a brief commercial in order to read their articles. It's mostly painless!)


With the dearth of Reagan-worship going on these days, it is refreshing to read about a Democrat like Eugene McCarthy. His many years in the U.S. Senate and his unsuccessful attempts to win the presidency may have caused his name to fall by the wayside but he remains a Great Man just the same.

He had the balls to run against his own Democratic Party because they had sunk America into a quagmire in Vietnam (during JFK's presidency) but Robert F. Kennedy's strong showing caused Eugene to drop out of the race. He was also the only elected public official willing to question the other famous McCarthy's insane, quasi-paranoid inquisition of suspected communist sympathisers. In post-WWII America, this was an act of bravery. Standing up against the seemingly-immovable status quo is always reserved for the most fearless of us all.

I wish that the current Democratic nominee (although he hasn't "formally accepted" this title yet) were made of fire and water like Eugene, instead of being carved completely out of wood. Yes, it is a little known fact but John Kerry is only a couple of termites away from becoming sawdust.

Of course, if I were an American citizen, I'd gladly vote for a pile of wood shavings over the current Diablus Horriblus, George W. Bush, in an instant. John Kerry can be expected to hold the line in terms of Iraq but he will definately make strides to reach out to other nations and rebuild some of the collective goodwill that Bush has so tragically destroyed. Bush's constant refusal to engage other nations on matters of global importance and the ballooning deficit (that originated due to his tax cuts for the rich) will probably result in his political downfall.

One stumbling block to a Democratic win in 2004 is John Kerry's fear of being a Liberal. Sometimes, he seems to try to appear more Right-wing than the Republicans (witness his fear of standing with the Pro-Choice folks, or even his assertion that he is against Gay marriage) but I think he'd still be an improvement over Bush. Don't even get me started on Nader. (I love Ralph's moral conviction but he may just split the vote again and that would be both bad for America and nightmarish for the rest of the world, ie. four more years of Bush-league politics).

Eugene McCarthy is still alive (at the ripe old age of 88) and apparently he still writes the occasional poem, but he's given up on politics, except as an observer. Cheers, Eugene, and let us hope that young Americans will be inspired by your bravery and devotion to freedom, not by that brash, "cowboy with his guns drawn", world-antagonizer Ronald Reagan. (Reagan's legacy includes selling chemical and biological WMD to Saddam Hussein, arming guerillas in Nicaragua to overthrow their government, and nearly turning the Cold War into a nuclear one. I won't be weeping when they put his coffin in the ground.)

Jeremy Brendan Wants to Work for You!

Calling all benevolent billionaires, craven capitalists, and blog boosters! I, Jeremy Brendan, am tired of my lacklustre lifestyle and prolonged absence from the nine-to-five world. I need a job and my Monster hasn't been helping at all. I've been out of work for nearly a year (unless you count my 4-day stint pitching heat for a lying pack of telemarketers. I quit but left with my soul intact). I wanna work instead of banging on the keys all day.

I have a large cornucopia of job skills to offer your business/organization/cult. These include, but are not limited to; selling objects or services to disinterested strangers; writing polemical rants or completely objective, sang-froid news articles, depending on how much I trust the editor; rolling spliffs, although I max out at two papers, and I may expect to smoke if I'm going to the trouble of rolling the damned thing; interviewing musicians, as long as I can appreciate their music and they're not from American Idol (William Hung excluded); and playing rhythm guitar. I can groove to anything that sounds good but I would love to play dancepunk, indie rawk (à la Flaming Lips/Silver Jews style), or even country, as long as our lyrics aren't about the death of our dog or how much we hate hippies.

Naturally, I can also do any number of manual labour tasks but my arms are rail-thin and my cardiovascular system needs some work at the gym. I can't lift anything over 100 lbs and even 80 or so would sap my endurance if I had to cart it back and forth a hundred times. I've worked at a museum, in the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, at a cigar store, in a seedy dépanneur, at a multinational computer reseller, and at a retail technology chain (the one that used to sell parts but now it's trying to push MP3 players alongside satellite dishes).

Nine times out of ten, I'll put in an honest days work and if you're willing to pay me at least nine (9) dollars CAD per hour, I'll even throw in a smile in the morning and a spring in my step. I won't blog at work (except possibly at lunch hour, if you don't mind) and I'll keep my mind on the task at hand, not the foreign policy of my southerly neighbours or last Sunday's episode of Trailer Park Boys.

Please let me know if you want to schedule an interview or just hire me without even blinking an eyelash. I can also provide a more accurate, less readable C.V.; one with real dates, job titles, and even my real name.(It ain't Jeremy Brendan, that's for sure)

Are you on the job hunt? Has your honest spear pierced any juicy prospects as of late? Tell us about your search and whether it has produced any meals.

Nevada's High Cancer Rate & Why Uncle Sam is Responsible

I was googling for statistics on Nuclear weapons when I stumbled upon the following list of 30 facts related to the United States nuclear program. Did you know that there have been 911 nuclear tests in Nevada in the past 50 years?

Nevada has the highest rate of lung cancer among women in the continental U.S. ("45.8 per 100,000") and certain troubling "clusters" of childhood leukemia have arisen in rural Nevada. How can MSNBC's headline read: "Nevada cancer cluster baffles scientists"? I'm no doctor, but don't they see a relation?

The Journal of the National Cancer Institute seems to suggest that only cigarette smoking can be blamed for cancer. They don't even mention fallout or nuclear radiation in their report on cancer (1973-1996), despite the fact that 921 nuclear weapons have been detonated on U.S. soil in the past 50 years (911 in Nevada, the rest in NM, AK, MI, and CO).

According to the EPA, the plutonium used to build the U.S. nuclear stockpile is Pu-239. Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,100 years. This means that the isotopes left behind from 20th century testing will be radioactive for the next 12,000 years.

Even if the Nevada nuclear tests were all performed underground, there is probably some radiation leaking into the Nevadan water supply. Also, sometimes when homes are being constructed and foundations are being laid down, they have to dig up dirt and move it to other locations. This can cause whatever radiation that was buried to become airborne, resulting in minute levels of radioactive fallout.

I am quite appalled that the EPA claims not to know the effects of low-level radiation:

"The effects of very low levels of ionizing radiation are very difficult to study. They are well below the levels of normal background radiation that people receive from natural sources. In fact, the conclusions about the effects of low levels of radiation come from what we learned about the effects of higher levels of radiation exposure. As a result, there is no firm basis for setting a 'safe' level of exposure above background."

Upon further research, I found a chart at the National Cancer Institute that breaks down cancer-related mortality rates across Nevada county by county. The counties with the highest cancer/mortality rate were Lander County (274.0), Lyon County (227.0), and Carson City (226.7). They are all significantly above the national average of 199.8 cancer deaths per 100,000 people.

I discovered that several Nevada counties were offered compensation for early nuclear testing under the Radiation Exposure & Compensation Act of 1990. Guess which county was exposed to significant levels of radioactive fallout?

"In the State of Nevada, the counties of Eureka, Lander Lincoln, Nye, White Pine and a portion of Clark County were designated as downwind areas susceptible to radiation exposure from atmospheric nuclear weapons testing from January 1951 through October 1958... To date little is known about the actual number of persons affected in Lander County."

The U.S. gov't is still considering building a new nuclear waste storage facility in Yucca Mountain (against the will of the Nevada State gov't) but the Feds don't seem too worried about the effects it might have on Nevada's citizens.

"Little or no analysis concerning cumulative impact from radiation exposure were discussed in the Yucca Mountain Draft EIS."

I guess they're going to go ahead with the Yucca Mountain project. Don't be surprised if Nevada's cancer rate goes even higher in the next 50 years.

The U.S. spends approximately 35 billion USD per year to maintain a stockpile of over 2,500 operational nuclear warheads. These subterranean missiles are directly between us and world peace. Testing them gave Nevadans cancer, and if they're ever deployed, we'll be nothing but shadows. As long as a pendulum as cruel as this hangs above our heads, the peaceful people of the world will be powerless. (Yet another reason that I don't believe in empire-building. It runs counter to the will of humanity as a whole, nothing more than sinister death-worship.)

Liberals Slipping; NDP & Conservatives Gaining Momentum

The Canadian election campaign is underway and it looks like Paul Martin's Liberals are being threatened with minority-government status. A recent poll conducted by EKOS Research Associates (as reported by the Toronto Star) has placed Liberal support at only 38 percent, while NDP and Conservative support has climbed since last month. The poll placed Conservative support at about 30 percent, the NDP at 18 percent, and the Bloc Quebecois at 10 percent.

The NDP has released their 2004 election platform and it hinges on several key positions. It says that Canada ought to be a benevolent nation and should try to run a balanced budget without slashing any important social programs (such as health care or low-cost housing). It also calls for research into methods and practices that could make Canada less dependent on fossil fuels, more environmentally friendly, and more equitable in dealing with Quebec's sovereigntist aspirations.

Jack Layton is proving to be a great speaker and an intelligent policy-maker but he may lack experience at the national level. One thing Paul Martin has going for him is the fact he's already weathered many a political storm and he was the financial brains behind Jean Chretien's many years of budget surpluses and economic growth (at the expense of Canada's poor, I must add). Jack Layton may be a great source of quotes for the nation's journalists but I'm not sure if Canadians are willing to go completely NDP this time around.

NDP's 8 Main Objectives:

1. Create opportunities and jobs in a green and prosperous economy


2. Improve public health care with innovation – not privatization


3. Invest in cities and communities through clean water, housing and transit


4. Expand access to post-secondary education


5. Make life more affordable and secure – starting with protecting pensions, removing GST from family essentials and expanding childcare


6. Strengthen Canada’s independent voice for peace, human rights and fair trade on the world stage


7. Restore integrity and accountability in government


8. Balance the budget

If the NDP and the Bloc aren't going to oppose the Liberals, who will? Perhaps the Conservative Party of Canada. Stephen Harper's Conservatives are closing in on the Liberals but they frighten me. They seek to sign up to George W. Bush's Missile Defense Shield (which critics have denounced as both a useless expenditure and a violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty); they want to cut taxes at any cost; they want to expand the Canadian military and follow the US tack more often; basically, they are like the Canadian Junior Republicans, trying to get a pat on the head from the US and maybe some lucrative trade deals as a reward.

I invite you to read the platforms of every Canadian political party since everybody should know what they're signing before they vote. Personally, I am endorsing the New Democratic Party of Canada because I feel that they would best represent my values as a Canadian. (They don't stand much of a chance in Quebec where I reside but I'm going to vote for them no matter what. If the Bloc wins a couple of seats as a result, at least it's not the Liberals!)

I would have probably voted for a Green party nominee but I think that the NDP have changed their focus enough to make the Green party's existence moot. We don't need two environmentally-friendly parties (the Conservatives and Liberals will pay lip service to protecting the environment but their past behaviour has proven that they are more interested in keeping their seats in Parliament to really care about ruining the land or the sea).

If you're Canadian, which political party speaks to you? Who do you plan to vote for in June? Please comment below!

Being an "Image Shark" can be Painful

If any of you visited this site in the past few days, you may have seen an image that was both very graphic and disturbing. Since until very recently, Blogger hasn't been offering a place to store images for blogs like this one. Consequently, I am usually forced to rely on the goodwill of other webmasters by remote-linking to their images. Since I don't receive a high volume of hits (roughly 25 a day), this doesn't really cause a strain on their resources.

After writing the Andy Kaufman post (and apparently angering the guy behind the hoax himself), a bitter web admin swapped the original image with something else (which was quite bizarre) to try and ruin my reputation. I'll leave that decision in your able hands but if this happens again in the future, don't think that I'm a depraved sicko! Being an image-shark (as they call perpetrators of remote image loading) can be painful.

On another note, the original pics were of Bob Zmuda in a Tony Clifton outfit. I have no idea who was in the pic they swapped it with (you couldn't see the individual's face...it was a rear-view shot). I guess that I'm going to have to pay more attention to where I link my images from!

Andy Kaufman Lives???

"Here’s a little agit for the never-believer. yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Here’s a little ghost for the offering. yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Here’s a truck stop instead of saint peter’s. yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mister andy kaufman’s gone wrestling (wrestling bears). yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah"

R.E.M.- "Man on the Moon"

I think this is just a hoax. Andy Kaufman is supposed to be dead, or at least that's how his multi-million dollar biopic ended; with a cancer biopsy and a weeping widow, not with him slinking away to work odd jobs in the Caribbean.

This blog makes some pretty big claims but it could have been put together by anyone, and until I see a DNA test or his parents hugging him on Oprah, I'm going to have to keep on my skeptic hat and sit in the corner with all the other doubters.

The mainstream media is slowly biting into the hook. A Google News search of his name turns up 94 articles but most of them are just question-mark pieces like the one you're reading here at JB. Everybody wants to know if this is the real thing but so far all we've got is a blog and a couple of digicam shots of Tony Clifton schmoozing with the "Bunny Ranch ladies".

[Ed. Note: I apologize to my loyal readers for the image that got posted to this blog for a short time. I was remote linking to a file that got changed by some sadistic webmaster. Sorry for any inconvenience!]

Still, it would be marvelous if Mr. Kaufman actually got away with a scheme so well-planned, so intricate and outlandish. He did promise that he would return in twenty years but nobody believed him.

Cancer is no joke unless you're a shock-jock radio host or a comedian with a malignant tumour. I don't think that Andy would have pulled off such a stunt with the intention of hurting anyone but I imagine that hiding from his family and friends for twenty years would accomplish just that. It takes balls to disappear but it must take even more than that to reappear mysteriously out of the ether.

I want to see Tony Clifton doing a North American tour. I want to believe. Somehow, this death record seems more fake than Andy's "new blog". Maybe we're just waiting for the punchline, and everybody knows that Andy Kaufman didn't sink to that level. He was above all of that.

Michael wins one Moore at Cannes

Looks like the media circus surrounding Michael Moore's latest film may have paid off. Fahrenheit 9/11, a stunning critical view of President Bush's presidency and Bush family ties to the Bin Laden family, just won the Cannes Film Festival prize (courtesy of Reuters).

Congratulations, Michael & let's hope that Harvey Weinstein manages to sell the rights of the film before Disney's censorship stifles it's release on the North American market.

The Icarus Line Fly too Close to the Sun

Listening to The Icarus Line is like stepping through a portal into some parallel universe where the early 90's never ended. They're like a golem formed from the dessicated flesh of dead bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, but still fresh enough not to reek like the horrid nu-metal parade that tried to continue where grunge left off.

Visit their site for more evidence of their talent, or just read the appalling amount of praise they're earning from the critics out there. I tried desperately to avoid a knee-jerk-positive review of the I.C. but they confounded me with their dazzling virtuosity and their heavy, mind-boggling bass lines.

I.C. in a blurry monochrome press shot

According to their official bio, they've already toured with bands such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, A Perfect Circle, Primal Scream, Queens Of The Stone age, & And You Will Know Us by the Trail Of Dead.

In April, they passed through Montreal with that other Great Mic Hope the Distillers (April 2nd, Club Soda), but I wasn't lucky/blessed/intelligent enough to catch their show. It would have been a psychotropic experience, seeing two bands of such a calibre prowling the same stage. Although the Icarus Line's tour recently wound up, June and July dates should be announced in the near future. I'll keep my eyes open for any updates (and for Brody Dalle sunbathing).

Ms. Dalle Showing us all how it's Done

The Onion's Latest Headline: "U.S. to Fight Terror with Terror"

Bite into this Onion and tell me if you don't laugh until you cry. The scary thing is, they're not far from the truth. The U.S. isn't making life easy for any Americans working in the Diplomatic Corps overseas. They have to explain for all the atrocities and broken promises resulting from their government's failing Iraqi experiment.

I don't advocate violence no matter where it originates from. Fundamentalists should be resisted whether they are clutching a Bible or a Koran.

While we're on the topic of terror, I've read a couple of rumours that allege foreign agents may have been responsible for Nick Berg's death (as opposed to the Iraqi insurgency or an Al-Qaeda cell). Just google "Nick Berg" and "conspiracy" and you'll find blogs full of reasons why. I won't bother to repeat the same tired points. (ie. the discrepancy between the accent heard on the video versus a native tongue, the link between Nick Berg & Zacarias Moussaoui, etc.) Still, an investigation examining the details behind Berg's murder would be warranted.

B-52's that bomb wedding receptions from twenty thousand feet are just as frightening as homicidal terrorists or murderous rebels. Terror doesn't limit itself to civilian origins and nations like the U.S. and Israel shouldn't try to outdo Al-Qaeda or Hamas by being even more brutal.

I sense that I'm straying off the main topic of this post but I was just thinking about the contradiction inherent in a term like a "war crime". Every war should be considered a crime because every war is against humanity. (Of course, that puts me on some loose soil since it would mean intervention in conflicts impossible, potentially giving tyrants a free hand to conquer half of the globe. Then again, isn't that what we're living?)

Explosion Reported at Bombardier Factory in Montreal

Bombardier, the Canadian company widely known for it's manufacturing of snowmobiles, trains, and other vehicles, may have had an explosion sometime this afternoon. It hasn't been reported in the mainstream news media but eyewitness accounts have indicated that the blast was severe enough to cause traffic delays on Montreal's highways.

-----

I just got off the phone with Dave from CJAD 800's newsroom and he was kind enough to clear up the details of the story. It wasn't an explosion, as the mainstream Francophone radio stations originally reported--it was a fire caused by a chemical leak in the factory. Thankfully, nobody was injured and some workers have been able to return into the building because an inspector considered it safe.

I had previously questioned the cause of the accident and wondered if it was a terrorist act. It shows you how easy it is to get caught up in the web of fear that is being spun by Bush and his arachnid-like team of warrior-politicos.

Once again, I've bested the online print media (Gazette, I'm looking at you!) at their own game. They'll probably write a blurb tomorrow so keep your eyes open.

Babes Against Bush & Zell Miller's Vendetta Against John Kerry

Just when I thought I had seen it all, some scantily-clad liberal ladies appeared out of the cyber-mist and brought a smile to my face. Yes, these empowered women are using their sex appeal (and their smarts) to try and sway voters into voting Democratic in the American 2004 election.

This is taken from their site:

"What could be more un-American than that election-hijacking, economy-wrecking, war-mongering chimp George W. Bush? What could be more All-American than thirteen beautiful young women, exercising their first amendment right to thumb their nose at our bozo president?"

Funny stuff, but I'm sure they'll receive some dirty looks from the Christian Fundamentalists in the crowd and their lewd poses won't influence hardcore Republicans to change their faith in Bush. Still, I'm sure some of the 18-to-25 male demographic will be card-carrying Democrats after they visit the "Babes Against Bush" site. It's one hell of a way to attract people to the political process (although this could cause a backlash if any feminists hear tell of it, since it does encourage ogling and objectification of women!)

In other news, Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) proved that he is a war-loving, poor-folk-hating southerner with a bone to pick with John Kerry. On May 15th, Associated Press reported that Sen. Miller accused Kerry of several questionable crimes, including being an "out-of-touch ultraliberal from Taxachusetts". He also went on to say:

"With John Kerry on national security, it's vacillate, retreat and turn over to the U.N...With John Kerry on domestic policy, it's tax, spend and redistribute income...The man now wants to be the commander in chief of U.S. armed forces? U.S. forces armed with what, spitballs?"

In effect, Sen. Miller is going against the Democratic Party's ideals since he is criticizing Kerry for wanting to uplift the poor (via taxation and income redistribution) and for wanting to minimize foreign conflict so as to protect the lives of Americans. (Democrats do go to war but they're much more cordial about it. At least they seek to use International bodies like NATO or the U.N. to give their invasions some legitimacy.)

Miller is 73 years old and ready to be put out to pasture. After serving his nation for over 20 years, Zell is the one who has become out of touch with real Americans, not JFK. I'm sure that most Americans don't want to waste billions invading other countries; also, most would probably be in favour of paying some sort of taxes to ensure that the poor are given the opportunity to better themselves and afford to give their kids an education. Sen. Miller accused Kerry of not understanding the South. If that's what Southern folks truly believe, that would explain why so many Dixieland states are such fervent supporters of the GOP.

It is surprising that Christians even support the Republicans. If he were a citizen of present-day U.S.A., what would Jesus do? Can you picture him sitting at a table with Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush munching on Kentucky Fried Chicken? Whether or not you believe in Jesus, his story tells of a man who wanted to help the disenfranchised, not punish them for being poor or for being Iraqi. In fact, he consorted with prostitutes and thieves because he said they were the ones who needed saving, but I digress.

Zell, why don't you step aside and let some fresh ideas permeate your government? Your time has passed and your stark betrayal of your own Democratic Party is not becoming of you. Nobody likes a traitor.