sick of arguing with white dudes on the internet

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation thinks Ignatieff shouldn’t get involved in health policy questions.

That's what QMI Parliamentary Bureau reporter Daniel Proussalidis wrote. I quoted it on Twitter, then spent most of yesterday afternoon arguing semantics with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Derek Fildebrandt, National Research Director, chastised the Liberal leader for commenting on Vancouver's Supervised Injection Site, claiming Ignatieff had no jurisdiction to speak to the matter as healthcare is a provincial function. CTF's man in Alberta, Scott Hennig, via his Twitter feed, hounded me for an hour over the business.

I asked Hennig several times why the CTF had remained silent over these many years as Stephen Harper has waged an unnecessary wasteful and lethal war against Insite, yet jump in to dismiss Michael Ignatieff's comments on the subject.

Fildebrandt, perhaps, was not privy to Ignatieff's comments, which did not mention setting healthcare policy, and in fact showed respect for the provinces' jurisdiction over healthcare:

This is about harm reduction, and so we strongly support Insite. And as it proves its worth and as other provincial health systems adopt the valuable lessons learned at Insite, we would support its expansion, yes.

But the Canadian Taxpayers Federation wanted to dismiss Ignatieff's comments. I asked Mr. Hennig several times why the CTF refuses to speak out against Harper's shameful war on Insite and received no answer. I asked Mr. Hennig who the CTF's "supporters" are, again no answer. I asked Mr. Hennig if the CTF would draft a letter stating its belief that healthcare falls under provincial jurisdiction and therefore the federal government's Supreme Court battle to shutter Insite is unconstitutional and wasteful of taxpayers' money. He refused. The CTF says that federal leaders should not comment on provincial health policies, and yet tacitly condones by their silence Stephen Harper's jurisdictional interference in BC with regards to Insite. They apply their supposed principles inconsistently, and only when it benefits their ideological allies.

Their "cut taxes at any cost" ideology has infected municipalities across Canada, hobbling municipalities' ability to sustain even the most basic needs of infrastructure. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is a right-wing think-tank without the think and without the tank. When they turn their self-interested eyes toward healthcare, we should all be worried.

don't talk to me about 2.0

A little over a month ago I went to a party. I know, bad idea. It was mostly okay, work-related, lotsa people I actually like, etc. But somehow I got cornered into a conversation with a fella who seemed intent on impressing me with the fact that he works in "Web 2.0, you know what that is?"

"Um, that means you're on Facebook?"

I spent the next 25 minutes in the year 2006. And yeah, basically the dude sets up Facebook accounts for businesses. Which is fine, but the guy had that evangelical zeal for "interactive online community" that inevitably trumps content or even function. Which is, like, at the corner of Nowhere Street and Whocares Avenue. My unwelcome Ajax tutorial finally ended when I admitted to having a blog but not having a solid SEO strategy.

mp3: "Narrow Minds" by Angil and the Hidden Tracks

I Know I Didn't Care When I Was In That Coma Last Year, But It's Sure Nice To Have Friends

I've actually got a recording of what it sounds like outside my window, but when I had to retool my computer, I lost the software I needed to y'know, upload my recordings. I wasted a whole afternoon looking for it, but with no luck. I'll find a way though. I always do.
All the same, you can probably get an idea of what it sounds like outside my window.
As you can see, it's not raining today. That makes it a good day.
If you know my sister, call her and wish her a happy birthday!

I don't usually blog about US politics (and I tried not to blog about Canadian politics, but sometimes you just gotta say something), but this is interesting from a comedy/media POV. Wade over at Signal Response keeps up on US politics a little more, and he keeps up on cool design shit even more than that.

An album you should own is XI by the Howling Hex. I've been living with it for about a month now. As you know, I've devoted most of my musical attention to Roger Dean Young & the Tin Cup's new alb, Threshold (which continues to fascinate and enthrall me), so it's only been in the last week or so that I've really started to listen to XI with any sort of intensity. At first I was put off by the fact that Neil Michael Hagerty backs off quite a bit on this record. I don't know who any of the other players are, but there are at least two other featured vocalists (and presumably songwriters) here. So I kinda brought a bit of baggage to XI and I had to sort of look at it sideways before I could really get into it.
Now that I am into it, I'm really into it. Despite the variety of voices, it actually most reminds me of the Neil Michael Hagerty & the Howling Hex album (the one with all the triangles). It's a bit of a singer-songwriter (see: "Martyr Lectures Comedian") album with a lot of syncopation and country-rock boogie overtones (see: "Fifth Dimensional Johnny B. Goode").
It's kinda weird, sitting here reflecting, to note the differing routes Hagerty and former bandmate Jennifer Herrema have taken since the split (has been seven years already?)(it has!) of Royal Trux. RTX (Herrema's project) is making the kind of records I think a lot of people wanted Hagerty to make: noisy, macho crotch-rock swaggering. Hagerty, meanwhile, has consistently defied (maybe on purpose?) expectations. Just when you think you've figured out what he's doing, he does something else. And then he does something like Bill Callahan's recent Woke on a Whaleheart, which is a staggering work of production and arrangement.

MP3: "Ambulance Across the Street" by the Howling Hex (Drag City)

DA FUG???

The Parkas have a new album, Put Your Head in the Lion's Mouth, and NO ONE TOLD ME ABOUT IT. This is the Internet's revenge for my denouncing MySpace and Facebook. Or is it because I shaved my rhetorical moustache?
I will try to get an MP3 soon, but in the meantime, here's an awesome video for a song from their 2006 EP, The Scars to Prove It. The song is called "Darling, The Wolves".

30 Under 30 #12: Closing Time

Says Travis Bickle:

I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention, I believe that one should become a person like other people.

Says Jon Ronson:

[T]he internet gives us the illusion that we're wonderfully gregarious people. When we type away on discussion boards and post comments on one another's blogs, it feels as if we're sitting outside a pub in the evening sunshine with our attractive, cool friends. But we aren't. That's what we did before we got addicted to the internet. Instead we perform some empty, unsatisfying facsimile of that. We sit alone in our rooms, becoming more and more isolated from society. And, inevitably, this turns us into mad, yelling, wild-eyed loons.

And that, more or less, is what happened.

MP3: Diary of a Taxi Driver (album version) - Bernard Herrmann

Adventures in Pandora, Episode 1: WTF

On the nightshift, and sometimes just at home, I often listen to ye olde Pandora on the internet. Quite frequently, I listen to Jon Ronson's Ronson On archives, but sometimes I listen to music, too.
As of right now, I have, um, let's see, 10 stations on Pandora, which follow:

Bad Ass Folk: based on my suggestions of the Mountain Goats, Two Gallants, etc.
Big Pop: which is an attempt to scratch my Andy Kim/Tommy James itch.
Global Psych: this is the newest station, still very ill-defined. Hoping for some Luaka Bop-type stuff. Os Mutantes, Jorge Ben, etc. I've been trying to get some 60s French pop in there too to try to broaden the base.
Herky Jerky: a dismal failure reaching for White Hassle/Railroad Jerk type stuff, of which there is none. So instead, based on the Railroad Jerk entry, I get tubloads of 90s rock, including Hootie & the Blowfish.
Howling Hex: for all things Neil Hagerty/Jennifer Herrema related, I suppose it should be called Truxrox or something, but having it "H" based keeps it near the top of the list, alphabetically.
Mello Instro: another poorly defined station, ranges from Precious Fathers to Tin Hat Trio. Okay, "poorly defined" in this case = "too narrowly definied"
Nerd Rap: De La, Talib, Ghostface, etc
Sweet Country: trying to get countrypolitan, like 70s Jerry Lee Lewis, but the Jerry Lee Lewis stuff triggers 50s r&b, so it's kind of a bust. And the Willie Nelson suggestion triggers Sheryle Crow(e?). So it needs more
Sweet Soul: I plugged in the Dramatics and the Commodores.
Rough Soul: Rufus Thomas to Sugarman Three.

So that's what I'm working with. I'm listening to Sweet Soul right now, and it's playing the Commodores' "Night Shift", which is, y'know, PERFECT. But two songs ago, when I decided to start this entry, it played "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind)", one of my VERY FAVOURITE Soul/R&B songs, only they played the one (I didn't even know it existed, HOW COULD I KNOW?) by the New Kids On the Block!!! And that's why Robots will never rule the Earth. They have no judgment, no sense of context. This Pandora robot just coldly examines quite superficial aspects of songs and doesn't seem to take in to consideration the fact that I am not a 12-year-old girl in the year 1990! In fact, the mere suggestion that I am a 12-y-o-g-i-t-y-1990 should make the Pandorbot self-destruct. And then I could go back to listening to Mastodon on the iTunes.
So now, I've switched to Sweet Country, and it's playing Jay Bennett, who I think used to be in Wilco or somesuch, which has ZERO to do with what I'm looking for in this station, but I think I entered Smog into the computation, which has completely ruined the experiment. Okay, axe the J-Ben, and we get "Why Baby Why" by GeoJones, which is is still a little hillbilly for what I'm after. Fast forward it, though, cuz I still might some 70s George, esp. George & Tammy, whoo! So now it's giving me Merle Haggard (thanks to the Willie, no doubt), CRIPES. Merle gets THUMBS DOWN. Not it life, just for this station. THIS IS SCIENCE DAMMIT. So now it's playing Iron & Wine. GIVE ME ONE BREAK, YOU CURSED MACHINE!
Okay, switch I&W to Bad Ass Folk, right? That's more or less the secondary reason for that station, as a clearing house for most of the stuff that's coming up in Sweet Country thanks to my ill-conceived Smog request (I just wanted to hear "Dress Sexy at My Funeral", which, to me, is a Countrypolitan song).
Okay, Charley Pride, "A Shoulder to Cry On". Nice. I've interviewed CP about three times, back in my music journalist days. I highly recommend interviewing him if you get the chance. He'll tell you a story, and I don't just mean he'll tell a story, but he'll tell YOU a story. He'll take the jist of your conversation, and find some anecdote that will sublimely express the very thing you were wondering about, only he won't actually answer your question, and he'll take LOTS of sidetrips in making the point. But it's wonderful. And if you can get tix at a decent price, go see him. He wears awesome sweaters, and still sings great.

DIRECTOR'S CUT BONUS MATERIAL CHARLEY PRIDE PULL QUOTE

Each night that I go out there and I hear that applause and appreciation, it's just like it was the first time. I love what I do, and I think that permeates out to my fans and right back to me. They love it, and we love doing it. It's a good marriage.

Okay, let's move over to the Howling Hex station...what've we got? Old Time Relijun, YES! Skronky w/o sax (at least no sax yet). I don't think these guys have any actual connection to Trux, but I dig their spirit in the same way. There's a sort of rock-as-freejazz, but not really aesthetic. Next up, the Minutemen, which, okay, that's closer to OTR than Trux for nu-jazz fakeness and turbull singing, but okay, yeah, plus the Meltzer connection (D. Boon had a Meltzer pome in his pocket when he died, sad, huh?). So now, Erase Errata, who, um, I think my brother likes these guys. I get why Pandorobot is playing this, it has that same syncopated Zappa-like swirl thing, but it's a little to proggo for me. So skip that, and now it's Tricky Woo, which I plugged in as a variable. Only, Pandora has a very poor selection of CanRock, and they only have Tricky Woo's hair metal album, First Blush, which I like, but, um, I don't think I like the stuff that it triggers, so maybe I should take it out of the equation. So now I get Chavez, which has nothing to do with anything except 90s alt-rock (i think they toured with the Smashing Pumpkins, blecccchhhh). So this station is broken. TIME TO MOVE ON.
Let's see what Herky Jerky gives us...Clem Snide, okay, I can kinda see the Railroad Jerk connection there. Very Brooklyn-y, very, um, rootsy but also wordy. Urbane. Or as Pandorbot sez: "features subtle use of vocal harmony and electric guitar" GREAT. NICE TO PULL OFF THE PANEL AND SEE THE MACHINE AT WORK. But I kind of like "End of Love", so who cares WHY, let's just listen. Back to the Nat'l Post cryptic x-word, which feels reallyl easy this week. Anagrams are always the easiest for me, because, y'know, the answer is LITERALLY right there. I mean, Withdraws corrupt decrees (7)...
Who the hell is Karl Blau? Sometimes I think Pandorbot just makes shit up to piss me off. NEXT!
Global Psych, okay, this one holds the most promise of actually introducing me to new (to me) music, since it's sort of a (fake) genre that I'm only sort of casually into. Zuco 103, sorta triphoppy, foreign language, I like. Sez P'bot: "features minor key tonalities, portoguese lyrics and synthesizers", which are all things P'bot believes I dig, so: RESULT!

BONUS CHARLEY PRIDE PULL QUOTE PART TWO

When I first got in to the business, people would always ask me, 'How does it feel to be the Jackie Robinson of country music? How does it feel to be the first coloured country singer? How does it feel to be the first negro country singer?' I'd say, 'I don't feel no different.'