Now Available from AK Press & your local Infoshop! The touchstone for many of the struggles currently enveloping us—from the Arab Spring to the Occupy Movement to the events in the Quebec—is the question of how far our conception of democracy …

Below is a recent tweet from a new worker/NDP/union attack Twitter i.d. talking about how awful unionized workers are. Read it, then let’s de-spin it for sanity: Average salary in BC $44k, average teacher salary $70k bced.gov.bc.ca/reporting #Underpaid #Overworked #Lies #BCPoli #BCNDP #BCTF via Twitter / @NotBCNDP: Average salary in BC $44k, …. Firstly, teachers [...]

I am tired. TAh-erd. Despite now (mostly) sleeping through the night, I am still bagged by the end of every day. Something about the work/kids/life/marriage/exercise/home/friends balance (or lack thereof) is just taking it out of me. I know I’ll look…

"Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible" Escher…

Ben Isitt is a Victoria city councillor, historian, professor, lawyer and optimist. Rarely have I been so moved by an account of the struggle working people have in the face of this new world order of anti-worker 1%ism. We are so effectively trained to accept the balance of power is heavily tilted towards employers and [...]

Just a quick memo to Canada’s vocal, reactionary minority (with vast over-representation on online forums and comments sections): the students in Quebec do not care that you think they are: “spoiled brats,” “crazy,” “anarchists,” “communists,” and/or “French” (?!). Your moaning and complaining is absolutely and utterly vacuous. Why? Because the students, unlike you, are actually [...]

On the best and worst jobs in Canada, where the world’s happiest employees live and easing household debt levels.

At my new job, I phone people. Don’t you think that’s ironic? I’m phonophobic, yet somehow I ended up with a job that involves phoning taxpayers all over the world and asking them questions in an effort to sort out their residency and world income and so on. I didn’t even find out that that [...]

"feeling shy" www.artstudioforchildren.comQ :What is worse than being fed to wolves?A :Speaking to a group of teenage girls about what you do for a livingok that is not entirely true but I did feel very nervous when the Head of…

Before I get into my increasingly radical antipathy towards the NHL and NHLPA and their callous disregard for brain injury risks, I’d like you to spend a few moments watching this gratuitous display of intent to injure at a bantam hockey game in Kelowna last month involving teenagers. It will properly explain what I am [...]

Via Ryan Grim (ICYMI): Apparently Ann Romney forgot to mention to Willard that moms who don’t work outside the home do THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB IN THE WORLD!!!1 and already have ample dignity, thankyouverymuchyousupersexistsoand… oh, wait — Mittens meant those moms — y’know, the ones who can’t afford dignity. Sorry. They gotsta earn their Caddies (if not teh [...]

CCOC (Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation) wasn’t just a nice place to work. It turned out to be a nice place to leave, too.

On my last day of work, they took me out for a lovely lunch and presented me with a swap box (!) filled with goodies like antique office supplies and a bird’s nest [...]

Thursday was one of those days. I’m still figuring out the buses on my commute to and from work, and I somehow got myself turned around at the Billings Bridge Transitway and ended up taking the 148 in the wrong direction. And then, when I got to work, I realized I’d forgotten my security pass [...]

Behind the emerald curtain. On Friday I got whipped by Erika Lyremark and it hurt so good. I did it because several of you were raving about her, so I thought, let’s see. I thought I knew what it was – a freebie session with a coach aimed at getting me onboard as a client [...]

Within two months Canada’s ruling Conservative Party rejected government intervention in one labour dispute and leapt at the chance to intervene in another. In January a manufacturing plant owned by Electro-Motive Diesel, a private company that…

When I’m writing a provocative or possibly-shocking piece, or about to do something shocking or provocative and possibly controversial and need to protect myself by preparing for the consequences, there’s an exercise I do. I call it “This Is Not For You.” (And you can do it with your own writing, with your own art, with [...]

Whenever I spend a chunk of time with my mom she says to me one of two thingsyou are working too hardor How is business? How are you managing financially? They are completely opposite. It kind of cracks me up.I can’t always…

Marking a complete reversal by the Conservatives in intergovernmental relations, on Friday the process of creating a new health agreement between the federal government and the provinces will be announced. This will be a dramatic change from the Conse…

Nowadays people oppose strikes like they drive a car. It’s not about the all the people going forward anymore, it’s only about one person getting where they want to go. Decades ago when unions went on strike the average joes not only put up…

Let’s say someone you know knowingly put someone you love in danger. Knowingly made a choice that could have ended your loved one’s life. Not an accident, not a misstep…a deliberate decision, of course shrouded in denial and admittedly without true malice or evil intent, but a selfish calculation with consequences that were equally obvious [...]