The Cranky Beaver

I don't know who does page layout at the Globe and Mail these days. Maybe that's a function that's been out-sourced to some sweatshop in India by now. For "efficiencies," of course... Regardless, I often get the impression that whoever it is has a more nuanced appreciation of current events than the nabobs who make the big calls at the Globe. Take the front page of Report on Business today, for example. Note the clever juxtaposing of two stories re: Canada's fossil fuel dependency. You've got Brent Jang's story on Coastal GasLink above the fold, and Jeffrey Jones' story about orphan wells right under it. Jang's story is all about the colonists running rough-shod over the natives. Sure, you people had your "hereditary Chiefs" and all, but fuck that, your're gonna be democratic now, so we'll only deal with the democratically elected Chiefs. Apparently most of the elected Chiefs recognized by the Colonists are all in for ...

Took an early morning tour around The Shwa today. That's Oshawa for those who aren't aware that 'The Shwa' is a thing now. Oshawa should be in mourning. It's been lights out at the GM plant since a couple weeks before Christmas. Picked up a coffee at the Timmies that overlooks the giant empty parking lots, where the guys who used to build the GM trucks parked the GM vehicles they drove to work. They don't anymore, but fear not, dear consumer. You can still buy that same truck at a GM or Chevrolet dealer near you. You won't even notice the difference. The difference is that instead of being built in Oshawa by workers earning $34/hr., they are now built in Mexico by workers earning $3/hr. That's the beauty of NAFTA! That's the beauty of "free trade." That's the beauty of the USMCA free trade agreement that Chrystia just hammered out for us... You might not notice, but they notice in The Shwa.

My name is neumann, and I'm a compulsive writer. There's no known cure for this condition. Sure, there's an abundance of therapies out there, and I've tried most of them, but nothing has worked. But I've made peace with my higher power. I just keep writing. In pre-internet times my writing was confined to letters to friends, random political pamphleteering, and keeping a journal. Then the internet came along and soon birthed the "blog." I was a late adaptor, but  thousands of posts later, I've come to appreciate blogging as the methadone for writing addiction. I've often thought my blog was a little too all-encompassing. I've got everything under one roof, everything from where my cats shit to my latest ruminations on the state of the world. One of my go-to themes has been Canadian politics. That's a topic I've lived and read extensively. I bring to politics a deep-rooted working class perspective. I was a schmuck on the shop...