MoveOn.org Launches McCain Attack Ad

"And you thought no one could be worse than George Bush..."

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog vs. Political Spin Doctors

This is from the 2004 Presidential campaign... hopefully we'll see a repeat in 2008.

Ontario NDP Supports Back-to-Work Legislation

Shame on Howard Hampton and the NDP for joining the Tories and Liberals in this anti-union exercise.

Here's the a quote from Hampton's speech:

So what is to be done in those circumstances? There are a number of interests to consider. There are all of those people in the greater Toronto area who utilize the Toronto Transit Commission to get to work themselves and to get to doctor appointments and to get to school and to get their children to child care and do all the other things that happen in a very large urban agglomeration like this. There are also the issues of whether this city can even work minus the TTC on an ongoing basis. Finally, you have to consider, as I said earlier: Is there a likely prospect that things will be settled by further discussions at the bargaining table?

I think, on all of those fronts, the recognition arrived at yesterday is that there are serious interests here that need to be addressed-public interests, human interests, the interests of the city-and also the fact that bargaining is probably at an impasse. For that reason, we will support this legislation.

Hampton's entire premise is flawed. If an issue is hard to settle at the bargaining table, a strike or lockout raises the stakes and forces the parties to come to an agreement. Back-to-work legislation, on the other hand, forces an end to the labour dispute, but makes labour relations much worse in the long run because the process of collective bargaining becomes a charade.

In the past, the NDP has effectively stalled implementation of anti-union back-to-work laws. If the party thinks this move will help it make gains, I think they will be very disappointed.

She's F*cking Obama?

h/t to Sarah Silverman ;-)

To Blog or not to Blog

That is the question I've been asking myself these days. The current academic term is winding down and teaching an extra course has taken its toll on my little blog. I've also been busy publishing in the non-blogosphere (Look for me in the Supreme Court Law Review, the International Journal of Canadian Studies, Labour/Le Travail, The Review of Constitutional Studies, and Municipal World). In short, my academic career has taken centre stage and will likely continue to do so into the summer. I plan on writing a new book and cranking out a few more articles before the end of 2008... so it's not that I won't be publishing, I just won't be publishing material here for the next little bit. As always, continue consulting my favourite blog in the right-hand sidebar.