Toronto Mike

Politics

Total 198 Posts

Politics in the Age of YouTube

YouTube has become such a ubiquitous facet of the web, it's hard to believe this year's American presidential election will be the first one since YouTube was created back in 2005. Before YouTube, we had video on the web, but we didn't have dummy-proof embedding that makes it laughably easy
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No End In Sight

CBC Newsworld aired Charles Ferguson's No End In Sight on Sunday night.  No End In Sight was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at this year's Academy Awards and it's about the American occupation of Iraq. I finished it last night and it does an excellent job of taking everything you
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Bill Clinton Endorses Obama?

Laugh if you will, but we've been playing will.i.am's "We Are The Ones" quite a bit these last two days.  Even my kids love it and can be heard chanting "O-BAM-A, O-BAM-A" as they play around the house.  The Obama message of change and hope is only getting
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We Are The Ones

will.i.am is at it again.  First there was "Yes, We Can" and now "We Are The Ones". "Yes, We Can" packed a more powerful punch, in my opinion, because it was pinned upon a Barack Obama speech, but I will admit the background O-BAM-A here is pretty catchy.
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Obama v. Clinton

For years I've been referring to Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States of America.  I firmly believe the democratic nominee will win the day next November and I've felt Hillary Clinton would likely end up with that nomination. Today, I'm sensing Barack Obama has seized the
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935 Lies

Shockingly, Dubya's administration lied like a rug during the two years following 9/11.  A nonprofit journalist organization called Center for Public Integrity worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from
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Stephane Dion Sent Me A Card

We're having a pretty good discussion about the separation of church and state in the comments of my What Really Matters? entry.  After sharing my concern at the overtly religious nature of Dubya's Christmas Card I had a laugh when I came home from work today and found I had
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What Really Matters?

I am not American nor have I ever lived in the United States of America, so I realize how it may be perceived were I to throw stones at our neighbours to the south.  Fully understanding that we aren't perfect up here and those living in glass houses shouldn't throw
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Why Didn't You Vote?

Excluding the one-hit wonders, those who visit this site after Googling "running playlist" or "mp3 collection or whatever, the vast majority of people who visit this site live in Ontario.  That's not surprising, I'm blabbing about very Toronto-centric stuff which loses its appeal the further you go from the GTA
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Ontario Election 2007 Final Thoughts

Dalton McGuinty's Liberals just won the first back-to-back Liberal majority government since Mitch Hepburn won 70 years ago.  The Liberals took 71 ridings, 17 more than the 54 needed for a majority in the 107-seat legislature, and left just 25 seats for John Torys' Progressive Conservatives. Here are my final
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FPTP vs. MMP

When I first wrote about the Ontario referendum, I admitted I was undecided.  Since then I've heard compelling arguments on both sides.  The Star even did a nice job surmising the pros and cons of mixed-member proportional representation. Q: What are the advantages of MMP? A: Smaller parties like the
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Referendum Ontario

Most people in Ontario who go to the polls will know who they're voting for, or at least which party they're voting for, but how many will be ready for the referendum?  Are you ready for the referendum for an electoral system? The Question Which electoral system should Ontario use
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Making You Sad

Freddie P just wrote about my Political Apathy entry from last week.  In his entry of the same name, he says my entry made him sad.  Here's what he wrote. Every day I check in with several blogs and among those I enjoy very much is Toronto Mike.Mike has
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Political Apathy

Here in Ontario, the signs have sprouted on our lawns like fall flowers.  We must be due for an election or something.  Oh yes, we're going to the polls next month to vote for our MPP. I haven't written about politics in a while because I'm jaded by the whole
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It's Time To Move On

As promised by the PM, the Conservatives tried to pass a motion to reopen same sex marriage legislation.  It was defeated 175-123 this afternoon. C-38 filled me with pride and I'm glad to see it stick.  It's time to move on and let it be.
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The Next Prime Minister of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada has selected Stéphane Dion as their new leader.  That means Stéphane Dion will be the next Prime Minister of this great country.  It's all unfolding according to plan. I layed out the plan back in January, just before Harper's Conservative party won a minority government.
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Hurricane Hazel

The winner of our Mayoral election may be a foregone conclusion (have they called it yet?) but at least there's enough of a race that one feels compelled to cast his or her ballot.  Do our neighbours to the west in Mississauga even bother to follow their Mayoral race? I
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