It’s official! Rather than holding his head up high Prime Minister Stephen Harper took the coward’s way out of next Monday’s planned non-confidence vote in the House of Commons by suspending Parliament until the new year (known as “prorogation”). Congrats Stephen, you’ve saved your own worthless hide for a few weeks by declaring a stop to the works of our elected representatives right smack in the middle of the worst economic crisis in decades, and with no budget passed. Way to toss Canada under the bus to protect yourself, big guy.
The video link trends continue with some rally racing.
If you’ve got a couple of hours to kill why not watch Too Fast to Race? It covers the history of Group B, which is in my mind the best and most bad-ass car racing series the world has ever seen, and (most likely) will ever see. Link goes to part 1, look in the “Related Videos” section for the rest.
What do you mean, “becoming”?
CBC’s Search Engine asks, “Is Canada Becoming a Digital Ghetto?“. Canadians reply, “hasn’t it always been one?”
A TV show for non-TV watchers!
Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe is a show that takes a look at TV with a humorous, foul-mouthed critic’s eye… like someone watching the tube so you don’t have do, which is great for someone like myself. Link goes to the first episode, follow the Youtube links from there…
A surprisingly insightful documentary
While checking out documentaries on the web recently I came across this brilliant one. It’s a documentary produced by Adam Curtis (of The Power of Nightmares fame) for the BBC called The Trap. It’s about “freedom” in our modern times, but it has even more important undertones (in my opinion) dealing with the individual’s “self” in the context of society, and game theory. It’s quite hard to explain, but very much worth a viewing. Links after the jump. Continue reading A surprisingly insightful documentary
And the Canadian consumer takes it in the shorts again.
We Canadians get the short shrift on just about everything, be it mobile phone services, or cars, but now someone’s come up with a comparison of broadband internet providers that shows just how much we’re getting screwed here north of the 49th parallel.
That’s economic crisis porn for ya.
Those of us who have lost a bit of cash on the market recently can take a little schadenfreude-based relief in this site, whose name says it all: Sad Guys on Trading Floors. Featuring pictures of, you guessed it, sad guys on trading floors.
Clearly the current crisis wasn’t unforeseen.
The financial crisis is all over the news nowadays, but some people did see it coming. Watch this CNBC appearance by Peter Schiff if you want to see someone getting it right two years ago… and listen to Art Laffer foolishly attempt to rebut him with see blind, jingoistic optimism.
The Paulson Trillion-Dollar Bonanza: What’s Not to Like, Part III
I’ve been giving some thought as to the actual value of continuing with this series, because a)over the weekends the bailout proposal has changed considerably, and as of the time of my writing this this newer agreement has already been turned down by the House of Representatives. Continue reading The Paulson Trillion-Dollar Bonanza: What’s Not to Like, Part III
One last reading for tonight…
While we’re on the subject of banking crises, we quickly forget that Japan had its own troubles in this area just over a decade ago. This article on the crisis, written by the then-Director of the Bank of Japan, makes for interesting reading in these interesting times.