The Globe and Mail : "Under the prime ministership of Stockwell Day,
[eeughhghh] Parliament would hold a free vote on marijuana use, natives on reserves would lose their sales-tax exemptions, the CBC would be put up for sale, and 25 per cent of the voters in a riding could unseat a member of Parliament." I have only one thing to say if Canadians actually elect these fucking wingnuts : Oui. Where did the country I thought I lived in go, exactly? Look, I don't have any illusions about Canada's history. We,
despite what the CBC will have you believe, were not born of an especially inspiring past. This country was built on greed ( the railways and then banks that followed ) and equals parts fear and revenge ( preventing the Americans from going any further up the West Coast. ) Canada was not shaped by a grand and hyperolic vision like the one set out in the U.S. Constitution. Our idea of self was, atleast until
The Rant, largely a reaction to the U.S. Civil War in the form of the
B.N.A. Act which is really just a list of who's on first. The point is that despite all this, we have managed to create something that is greater than the sum of it's parts. How sad is it that we seem to be degenrating into little more than a nation of annoying roommates who squabble over whether or not to wash someone else's cutlery? see also :
The Un-RantThe 2000 Massey Lecture : The Rights Revolution
"In Canada, rights have become the trump card in every argument from family life to Parliament Hill. But the notorious fights for aboriginal rights and for the linguistic heritage of French-speaking Canadians have steered Canada into a full-blown rights revolution.
This revolution is not only deeply controversial here, but is being watched around the world. Are group rights — to land and language — jeopardizing individual rights? Has the Charter of Rights empowered ordinary Canadians or just enriched constitutional lawyers? When everyone asserts their rights, what happens to responsibilities?
Michael Ignatieff confronts these questions head-on in The Rights Revolution, defending the supposed individualism of rights language against all comers." Live 20h30 EST and re-broadcast next week. (real evil g2)
Mike Hall : JavaScript Crunchinator
"This is not a script you would include on a web page. Instead it's a utility that you can use to reduce files sizes by compressing JavaScript code. By removing comments and extraneous spacing you may significantly improve download times on pages that use long scripts."