Political Compass: Canada 2008 Edition!

Just a quick update on the Canadian federal election: the folks at the Political Compass (that try to popularize charting political identity on a two-dimensional chart instead of the single-dimension left-right axis) have completed a chart plotting the overall positions of the major parties in this election (including the Tories, Liberals, NDP, Green, and Bloc).

How can a socialist participate in the Canadian federal election?

It appears the Canadian government has fallen – although, unfortunately, not in a guerilla-marxist coup. The PM Stephen Harper decided to pull the plug on what has apparently been Canada’s longest-running minority government. There will be a federal election on October 14th, and since the parties were more-or-less expecting this to happen, I’ve already received about 15 e-mails from my former political home, the NDP.

Note that I listed the NDP as former; this election actually presents a unique situation for me. It will be the first election (provincial or federal) ‘after the break’, as it were.

DNC protests: continuing the fine tradition of left splintering and liberal-left selling out

As the headline states, the DNC protests have continued the fine tradition of left-wing organizations splintering into factionalism, in this case caused by the usual liberal-’left’ sellouts. For those of you who have missed it (it certainly isn’t getting much in the way of media attention-surprise surprise), the protests, originally organized under the (rather clever, I have to say) Recreate ‘68 banner. What the organizers are referring to with ‘recreate’ is the protests against the Vietnam War at the 1968 DNC, and presumably, the broader history of left activity in 1968.

Of course, nothing like this could go on without some splintering.

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!