Monthly Archives: May 2012

I don’t share diamonds with just anyone

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As an e-biker, I try to be a good citizen on the road.  I believe in sharing the road with bikes, transit vehicles and cars, and I always give way to non-motorized cyclists and pedestrians.  I make the occasional boneheaded mistake, like everyone else, and I can be forgiving when others do the same.

But I have a line that I draw in the sand: I don’t share the diamond lane with single occupant vehicles during rush hour.  Especially when they’re driving luxury cars or SUVs.  Or, god forbid, luxury SUVs, which more and more of the ruling class seem to feel they need in order to navigate the wilderness of downtown Toronto.

Cyclists and e-bikers have the right to take up the whole lane on the road if we need it, and other vehicles are supposed to either use the next lane to pass, or at least give a few feet of clearance.  The diamond lane I ride on every day has a lot of potholes and uneven patches close to the side of the road, and I feel absolutely no duty to wreck my bike or risk a spill by driving through them so that some jerk who isn’t even supposed to be using the diamond lane can swipe past me with a couple of inches of clearance.

So, I take the lane when I need it.  I’ll move closer to the side if I see someone is making an effort to give me space when they pass me, but for single occupant vehicles in the diamond land during rush hour?  No quarter.

Don’t like it?  Then GTFO of the diamond lane if you’re not supposed to be there.

Casseroles Night in East Toronto

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The biggest solidarity Casseroles Night in Canada protest in Toronto was happening at Dufferin Grove Park in the west end.  But there were other protests in the city as well, including this small but lively and noisy group in Leslie Grove Park at Queen E. and Jones.

Not a cop in sight – guess they were all hanging out at Dufferin Grove.  Luckily, civilization as we know it didn’t collapse, despite a protest happening in their absence.

Paula Fletcher showed up – nice to see a city councillor supporting the 99%.  We’re not Ford Nation yet!

In the apartment building across the street, we saw a woman in the window banging her pot along with us, her kids watching out of the next window.

Next Wednesday, same place, same time?

 

Your guide to “Casseroles Night in Canada” 8 PM to Midnight Tonight!

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Many thanks to the folks at rabble.ca for publishing this handy guide to “Casseroles Night in Canada”.

The Casseroles protests will take place in at least eight locations in Toronto, about sixty towns and cities across Canada plus in Washington, DC, New York, Little Rock, Arkansas, Paris and in Brussels that we know of.

Bring your pots, pans and wooden spoons! Make some noise and show the austerians that we’re mad as hell and won’t take it anymore!

May 30th – “Casserole” pots and pans protests going Canada-wide!

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It started out as a battle between Quebec students and the provincial government over tuition fees.   Quebec students have no desire to become permanent mortgage slaves like their fellow students in the rest of Canada.

Quebec students don’t see provinces like Ontario as a model for how to do post secondary education. Ontario tuition fees are the highest in Canada and so is the level of student debt.   Instead, they look to many of the countries in Europe where there are no tuition fees.

Even a little country like Iceland, with a population of barely over 300,000, that suffered  a world class bankster inspired economic meltdown, still manages to provide a free university level education to anyone who wants one.   Imagine that eh?

Instead, we have Quebec provincial premier Jean Charest imposing the biggest violation of democratic rights seen in Canada since the 1970 War Measures Act in an effort to get the students to shut up, stay home and fork out more cash.  Even the lawyers are now protesting!

People are fed up and pissed-off at the “austerians” who insist on making workers, what’s left of the “middle class”, students, poor folks etc. pay the price of a crisis created by Wall Street, Bay Street, “The City” and anywhere else that banksters hang out.

This past week, folks in Montreal have been staging nightly peaceful protests, marching through the streets banging pots and pans.    The “Casserole” protests have spread out across Quebec and this week they will begin across Canada.

Classrage.ca is headquartered on the 93rd floor of the Class Rage Tower in Toronto and so we know what’s going on in this part of the world.    Tomorrow night (May 30th) meet at 8 PM at Dufferin Grove Park (875 Dufferin St.)  Bring your pots, pans and wooden spoons.   Dress in red if you can!

In other cities across Canada, just listen for the noise at 8 PM Wednesday night!

Who needs to remember old stuff anyway?

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Archivists protest cutsThe Harper government needs to find the cash for those F-35 jets somewhere eh?   So why not kill the National Archival Development Programme?

This little programme gives little grants to little archives scattered across Canada.   It helps folks remember the good old days.

But who needs little old dusty things when we can have big shiny new jets!

In any case the Conservative Party isn’t much into having folks remember things … like long term jobs that paid half decently and gave you a pension after years of hard work, the days when students weren’t being turned into 25 year old mortgage slaves without the house to live in, toys that didn’t break within a week of the holiday season or that Canadians haven’t always taken the crap that our governments dish out lying down.

So now we have archivists marching on Parliament Hill.   Who’s next?

Need a job? Become a defeated Tory candidate!

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A Postmedia story today reported that one out of every four defeated federal Tory candidates managed to land themselves a plum public sector appointment.

That’s much better than your chances of winning the lottery…or getting a job considering that there are an average of six unemployed Canadians for every job vacancy.

It doesn’t matter whether your vote tally on the big day was less than the number of folks who believe in Santa Claus … or that Elvis is still alive.    Your post awaits you!  Just run for the Tories and lose.

You could become a Senator and make a cool $132,000 a year.    All you have to do is to stay awake during sittings and follow orders from our fearless leader.

Or as a consulation prize, you could get a part-time job on the EI Board of Referees for $425 per sitting day actually having to listen to real people who’ve been screwed over by the EI system.

But have no fear.   As part of the budget omnibus bill Harper is going to fix all of this.

No, he’s not going to abolish the Senate.   They can all go back to sleep.

He’s going to get rid of the EI Board of Referees and replace it with a new fangled 74 member “Social Security Tribunal”.   No doubt that’ll create some full-time jobs for defeated Tory candidates and tie those disgruntled unemployed folks up in bureaucratic knots forever!