BartBlog

from breadwithcircus.com

I didn’t see this coming at all. It looks as if the parties of Canada’s divided-majority left (Liberal Party, Bloc Quebecois and New Democratic Party) are about to join forces and defeat Stephen Harper’s Conservative minority government. Personally, I’m excited about this prospect. The proposed coalition could be the most representative government of my lifetime, it could perhaps be the most democratic government in Canadian history. The coalition government’s survival would depend upon appealing to the differing interests of the three parties involved. This would be good for democracy as the interests of a greater number of Canadians are represented. The coalition would be forced to act in good faith with measured compromises and political accommodation. Though Stephen Harper may have failed to understand it, this is how a minority parliament is supposed to work.

Let’s look at this by the numbers.

Seats

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives – 143
Coalition Parties – 163

Seats by %

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives – 46
Coalition Parties – 53

Popular Vote Share by %

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives – 38
Coalition Parties – 55*

*not including the 8% who voted for the Green party.

The Conservative talking points are calling what is happening a coup, but that’s nonsense, particularly if you look at the raw data and have an understanding of the way parliamentary democracy is supposed to work. Whoever controls the House of Commons makes up the government. Harper failed to win a majority of the house in the last election so the opposition has the right to govern. The Conservatives should have known that their survival depended upon appealing to at least one of the other three parties. Harper, however, has behaved as if he didn’t need to compromise. Perhaps he didn’t believe that the opposition would ever be able to put aside their egos or have enough of a spine to stand up to him. Regardless, Harper acted like an autocrat and now he’ll pay the price for it. The nearly two-thirds of Canadians who did not vote for the Conservative Party will be represented in government if the proposed coalition takes power. It is all up to the Governor General now. I hope that her decision is one that best serves the will of the people.

Did you know that there is over $13 trillion of American Capital in offshore banks due to the high tax structure in this country, money that could be used to create jobs?

How to bring that money back home?
Install a federal consumption tax to replace the federal income tax and all other income taxes including the social security tax.

A well researched proposal called the FairTax would do the job. If the FairTax eclipsed income taxes, not only would the IRS be out of your life, but the $13 trillion in moneys held in offshore banks would come home, dramatically stimulating the economy.
Grimgold

from breadwithcircus.com

Originally Posted November 26th, 2005

The madness has begun. I don’t know how it goes in the rest of the “Christian” world, but North Americans are about to be inundated with a month of consumption. American Thanksgiving was Thursday, that led to “Black Friday” and the official start of the Shopping Season. Spend Spend Spend! Here is your chance to make up for a year of disappointing your friends and family by trying to buy their love. Since entertainment companies own the media, (and stand to profit by shaming people into buying what their parent companies sell) reporters acted as cheerleaders on Friday morning. Correspondents were stationed at big box stores across the US, capturing embarrassing footage of porcine consumers trampling each other in a race to the pile of DVD’s. These “reports” were little more than thinly disguised commercials for Wal Mart and the like. They interviewed executive types who were thrilled to talk about the great deals that their stores offered. They challenged viewers to get out there and consume, for the love of the economy, do your patriotic duty and buy crap now!

In North America, Christmas has very little to do with Christ. It is a (month long) holiday that celebrates our culture of consumption, nothing more. I would suggest that the very survival of our exploitative (not to mention unsustainable) economic system is entirely dependent upon Christmas spending. Why is the day after US Thanksgiving called “Black Friday?” It is the day that the retailers are expected to break even. In the last month of the year, there are tremendous cultural pressures urging us all to spend lots of money. The beast needs to feast before the end of the fiscal year. What does this have to do with Christianity? Though the gift-giving tradition may originate with Oriental Kings following their astrologer’s advice and making a pilgrimage to Palestine, Santa Claus is nothing more than the bastard child of Coca Cola. Would the Christ want us to celebrate its birthday by going into debt? Our culture tells us that we must be sure to match or outspend everyone else so as not to seem cheap or uncaring. If they spend hundreds of dollars, we must do the same. Its a classic race to the bottom, inspired more by pride and guilt than by love. Is this what the Christ would have wanted? We’ve really missed the point of Christmas. There’s nothing wrong with gift giving, but it has spiraled out of control. I challenge Christians to tone it down this year, give the gift of time rather than money. In the end, it will be much more appreciated. If you do intend to spend money, why not give it to the Red Cross, they need it more than Sony does. Let us reclaim Christmas from the retailers. Let us once again make it about spending quality time with family. Jesus was not a fan of merchants in the temple. The Beatles were right, you can’t buy me love.

Ryan Adams has always been one of those artists that you either loved or you hated. When you loved him you hoped he would get more focused so you could love him more. When you hated him you hoped he would become more focused so you could love him. With the release of Cardinology with the Cardinals he has finally found a band to make an album that reminds us of the genius of Whiskeytown.

Adams, along with his crack band the Cardinals, have made a classic rock-country record and I mean that in a very good way.  Adams has messed around with a lot of sounds from the alt-country of Whiskeytown to his solo excursions in rock, rap and country, and Cardinology is the melting pot of all of it. The album opens with the stellar “Born Into A Light” which shows Adams at his melodic best. ”Let Us Down Easy” and “Fix It” are strong songs  with great melody and strong muscular playing from the band of Neal Casal, Brad Pemberton, Chris Feinstein and Jon Graboff. The band veers throughout the album from rockers like “Magick” to more poignant songs like “Crossed Out Name” with equal grace and emotion.

Long time fans will appreciate the songwriting and consistency of this record along with the excellent playing of the Cardinals. Easy Tiger, Adams’ previous record, showed us a glimmer of what he could do, Cardinology shows us the light.