Market research & the decline of (political) civilization

Just completed an online survey and got asked a couple of rather peculiar questions that need sharing. I’ve answered questions on ‘who would you vote for in the next federal election’ and ‘which party leader do you think would make the best Prime Minster’ before – a bit limiting to the definition of politics, but I understand why. However, in this recently-completed survey, I was asked which national party leader would I prefer to (and this is somewhat paraphrased):

• Who would you want to take care of your house for a week?
• If you had a flat on your car, which one would be most likely to stop and help?

I think we have reached a new level of political inanity here, folks.

Linkity-link: April 18th, 2008

In today’s episode, we have articles on the outcome of suburbanization on food accessibility, the crackdown of dissent at the University of Ottawa, and the sad and long-reaching effects of the Iraq Occupation on American soldiers. Enjoy!

The Two “Souls” of Unionism

Unionism from above and unionism from below. These are the two incompatible “souls” of the labour movement. The latter is a deeply democratic and radical strategy for working-class self-emancipation, the former is antithetical to emancipation: it’s simply bureaucratic and conservative. A comrade sadly informed me of the disturbingly reactionary tactics used by SEIU members and staffers at the Labor Notes Conference held in Dearborn, Michigan. The SEIUers’ violent behaviour is no more than acts of desperation of the old, dilapidated model of contractual unionism…

Linkity-link: April 16th 2008

n today’s episode, we have a news article about an upcoming political strike in the US, University of Florida SDS students on hunger strike for a socially just endowment investment plan, one of my favourite pieces of political theatre, and a good solid ripping of ‘Obamamania’. Enjoy!

Leaked Wal-Mart videos; Hilary Clinton on Wal-Mart Board

Interesting story I came across tonight. According to this news article, a company called Flagler Productions was on contract for three decades to video tape a bunch of Wal-Mart meetings and whatnot, including stockholder meetings. In 2006 they lost the contract, and in an act of revenge capitalism (likely due to the fact they nearly went out of business after losing their biggest client – sounds familiar!) they made all thirty years of tapes available for a fee – one of the more interesting clips is of Hilary Clinton’s tenure on the Wal-Mart Board!

G7WC to shut down?

Here’s hoping this report from the (in)famous G7 Welcoming Committee is only a April Fool’s bit:

It’s been awhile since you’ve heard any actual news from us related to this whole record label business, and for this we apologize. We’ve all been very busy doing anything and everything that has nothing to do with this record label.But that’s all about to change.