How to Kill Cycling in Toronto

You can solve a whole bunch of problems – at least partially – with bicycles: global warming, obesity, traffic gridlock, urban sprawl and so on. Which is why I was so vexed to see Toronto City Councilor Michael Walker proposing that cyclists be licensed. Huh? I’ve been riding a bicycle since I was six! How does a six year-old pass a driving test? The way in which most people acquire the skills needed to cycle in a big city is far too organic to fit with a licensing regime. You start out young, you ride around the block – often on the sidewalk at first. This is how cycling is passed on and I fear that some governmental regime will only kill off interest in cycling both as commuting and recreation. As I listened to Walker explain his proposal on the CBC this morning I concluded that he was either insane or he actually has no idea what cycling is.

Why We Need Unions II

I stumbled on this parody of a scene from Life of Brian:

Obligatory Michael Jackson Post

I don’t think I can say I was fan of Michael Jackson. I mean, I grew up in the 1980s so yeah, MJ was part of the milieu – he was inescapable, Thriller especially was inescapable it seamed. Of course later on the fact that Michael’s upbringing made him into a freak show was also inescapable. People are going to try to draw all manner of conclusions about his life and what it meant. I think it’s simplest to say that the man was clearly talented and yet clearly, tragically, and maybe criminally deranged.

Why We Need Unions

There are probably going to be more musings in the coming weeks along the lines of this Chris Selley piece in the National Post’s Full Comment section. With the LCBO nearly walking out and with Toronto’s city employees on the picket lines I fully expect that you’ll hear lots of questions about the continued existence of unions. What I don’t expect is for very many of the writers of these pieces to give away their underlying preconception to the reader. That preconception is that workers don’t deserve to earn good wages, because, well, they just don’t.

Here’s what I mean, from Chris Selley:

“When OPSEU, which represents LCBO employees, complains that its members’ livelihoods are threatened by part-time and casual workers making between $10 and $17 an hour, they must realize how Ontarians will react. These are cashiers and shelf-stockers, for heaven’s sake, plus the odd person who actually knows a bit about wine. I’m not saying it’s right, but the idea that that sort of work might constitute a stable lifelong career went out with leaded gasoline.”

Went out with leaded gasoline?! I’m sure that Chris isn’t trying to suggest a causal relationships. But has he asked why it is that someone who’s particular abilities may not extend much beyond shelf stalking can’t or shouldn’t earn a good living? No. Instead we get a crack about it being such an out-of-date idea that it’s like the gas used in the 1970s. Selley then goes on to draw a false comparison between “unions” and “taxpayers” who “underwrite” the unions’ benefits. As if union members don’t pay taxes. The tactic here is clear, turn non-union workers against union workers so that they are griping at each other as their standards of living erode and the bailouts for CEOs and bankers continue.

A Long, Stinky Summer

I’m not looking forward to the possibility that my local park (Christie Pits) is now apparently going to be one of the temporary dump sites during City Toronto’s strike. I don’t believe the city has said so officially, but on the radio this morning it was reported that fencing had gone up around the outdoor hockey rink. If Miller isn’t able to handle this strike quickly and effectively there’s a real possibility that it could be more damaging to his re-election prospects than the rumoured return of John Tory to the race for Toronto mayor.

Meanwhile in Iran

Reading the Twitter hashtag #IranElection is getting ever more unsettling. There are many, many posts linking to first aid instructions in Farsi. It’s still hard to separate fact from fiction but we do seem to be in a new phase where either the government is in a terminal state or we will witness a hardline resurgence followed by a crackdown of intense proportions.

Obama & Aesop on Iran

The neocons, the same gang that have shown themselves such experts on the Middle East in their Iraq blunder, now want Obama to embrace the protesters and take a hard line on the conservative clerics led by Ayatollah Khamenei. Obama continues to take the same gentle, warm approach of his Noruz greeting to the people of Iran. It all reminded me of this story attributed to Aesop:

“THE WIND and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveller coming down the road, and the Sun said: ‘I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveller to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger You begin.’ So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveller. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveller wrap his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveller, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on.”

I think Obama’s approach has so far given the uprising a far better chance than if he had embraced them and denounced the regime thus allowing the regime to claim that the protesters were American stooges.

Instead Obama is there saying “happy new year” and “peaceful protest should be respected” – I mean how silly do the hardliners in Iran look calling this guy “the Great Satan” and calling him a threat:

Taser Use Against Dziekanski Premeditated?!

There is now evidence that the RCMP officers who killed Robert Dziekanski decided beforehand that were going to deploy the Taser against Mr. Dziekanski. Will someone lay criminal charges already?

Iran Again

“If you want to serve the age, betray it”

-Brendan Kennelly

I think what we are seeing in Iran is the inverse of the above quote. If you want to betray the age, serve it. What I mean is that for years the Iranian government has insisted that it has a democratic basis for its legitmacy – the people you see on the streets are taking that at face value now and demanding that their votes be counted. In effect they are saying, “we have been told this is a democracy, now count our votes.” Which is far more devastating to the regime than a sort of cynical detached shrug that says, “who cares, my vote doesn’t count.” This is an invitation to do nothing – to see the flaw in the regime and yet nonetheless sustain it.

What is more delicious is that the chant of protest is “Allahu akbar” or “God is great” – again, this is an Islamic Republic so who can be chastised for exalting God? This is probably why Khamenei and company are threatening to take such a hard line with the protesters, they have co-opted everything for which the regime claims to stand. By taking seriously the claims of their government, the people of Iran are now undermining it.

Twitter and a Couple Twits

Hilarious cartoon by John Cole on the events in Iran and how the Iranians are using Twitter, Facebook and other forms of new media to thwart the clerics and Ahmadinejad.