Tuesday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Seth Abramson previews the foreseeable paths toward the breakdown of U.S. civil society in light of Donald Trump's intention to ignore both judicial and constitutional limitations on absolute power. David Roth comments on Trump's culture of sadism, while noting that there's still every need to imagine and build toward something better. And Lisa Needham and Stephen Robinson note that no amount of money (nor willingness to grovel) will ever make anyone safe from the MAGA protection racket, while Robert Reich warns that Trump is bullying far too many people into fearing dissent. 

- Meanwhile, Melanie McFarland discusses how the U.S. needs libraries and other "third places" which encourage learning and the development of community.

- Graham Redfearn reports on new modeling finding that global warming of 4 degrees Celsius will slash standards of living by 40%, while Corbin Hlar surveys reports from multiple big banks which both predict and signal an intention to contribute to carbon pollution which would drive us toward that catastrophic outcome. Austyn Gaffney reports on new data showing global sea ice at record low levels. And Thor Benson reports on Trump's attempts to spin the climate breakdown as a plus - in tandem with both his own patron in Vladimir Putin, as well as petropoliticians like Danielle Smith and Scott Moe. 

- Finally, Andrew MacLeod argues that Canada's political parties should be focusing on building our country for the long term, rather than limiting their vision to tax baubles. Alexandra Mae Jones notes that Canada can be a magnet for researchers and academics fleeing the U.S. Karen Foster et al. point out that a self-sufficient domestic food system is a must from the standpoint of national security. And Cherise Burda discusses how investment in non-profit housing can provide an immense economic boost. 

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Sandra Laville reports on a new actuarial study showing that the shocks expected on our existing path of climate breakdown could result in half of the world's economic activity disappearing before the end of the century, while Nikhil Venkatesh argues that anybody caring about long-term welfare needs to incorporate challenges to the capitalist forces which threaten it. And Sharon Kelly maps out the echo chamber used by the oil, plastics and agrichemical industries to try to prevent us from perceiving any option other than destruction as usual. 

- Rebecca Shaw expresses surprise only at how embarrassing our corporate overlords are in seeking approval while destroying the planet, while Felix Salmon discusses how the wealthiest few now feel empowered to impose their worst impulses on everybody. And Amanda Marcotte discusses how Donald Trump's populist con job has given way to strictly-enforced oligarchy, while Marc Lee points out how Pierre Poilievre is yet another cynical politican pretending to speak for the working class in order to better serve his corporate masters.  

- Grace Blakeley offers a reminder that the only viable response to concentrated wealth and power is collective action. And Andrea Pitzer discusses the need to move beyond worrying and speculating to shape the course of events. 

- Noelle Allen writes that Canada doesn't need yet another "pro-business" prime minister when it's deference to corporate interests that has trapped so many people in precarity and despair to begin with. And John Clarke discusses how neoliberal austerity has fed the rise of the alt-right.

- Suzanne Rent interviews Scott Santens about the value of a basic income in giving people the ability both to say "no" to exploitation, and to say "yes" to causes worth pursuing. 

- Finally, Simon Enoch points out how public libraries which are perpetually starved for funding serve far more people (and perform far more important functions)  than the major event venues which are regularly showered with public money. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Piers Forster reports on new research showing that both greenhouse gas emissions and temperatures continue to push past all recorded records. Andrew Freedman adds sea surface temperatures to the list of indicators setting off alarm bells for anybody bothering to pay attention. And Shannon Osaka, Michael Miller and Beatrice Rios write about the danger that we're sleepwalking into a "fire age" even as our corporate overlords command us to keep burning things. 

- Bryan Owens writes about the causes of what may be an entire season of wildfire in Canada, while  David Ball reports that British Columbia is among the provinces facing the prospect of a devastating drought. Caroline Mimbs Nice connects California's recent spate of fires to the effects of climate change. Justine McDaniel writes about the possibility that direct experience of the consequences of a climate breakdown will make people more eager to push for action - along with the risk that it will be minimized and memory-holed at the first opportunity. 

- Frank Jordan comments on the glaring gap between the corporate sector's empty "net zero" pledges, and its willingness to follow up in any meaningful way. 

- Vanmala Subramaniam discusses how temporary CERB benefits provided workers with a modicum of opportunity to seek out better positions - which explains why it was discontinued so quickly and has been attacked with such vitriol by the Cons and their anti-social base. And Nicholas Hune-Brown discusses how libraries have been turned into the social service provider of last resort and singular cost-free public space (without having been provided with the resources needed to fill those roles). 

- Finally, Chris Pepin-Neff points out how the bigoted right's anti-trans campaign fits into the history of violent moral panics. 

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Marco Zuin et al. examine the connection between COVID-19 infections and subsequent heart attacks. And Felicity Liew et al. study the effect of mucosal defences which don't arise from injected vaccines, but can be promoted through nasal ones. 

- Meanwhile, Consumer Reports finds that dark chocolate is rife with dangerous levels of cadmium and lead - meaning that a product often promoted as a healthier alternative may be smuggling harmful metals into people's bodies.   

- Alex Cooke reports on Halifax's failure to ensure that unhoused people have access to safe accommodations as winter endangers their lives. And Colin Butler points out how encampments made more precarious by the threat of police removal are at particular risk of having concealed fires burn out of control. 

- The Energy Mix discusses how oil is headed down the same path toward obsolescence as telephone landlines due to the increasing availability of superior alternatives. 

- Austin Grabash reports on the private religious schools which insisted on censored tours of the Canadian Museum of Human Rights to avoid any acknowledgement of the rights of LGBTQ people. And Feo Snagovsky discusses how the UCP and Saskatchewan Party are causing real damage to Canadian federalism with their performative posturing about sovereignty.  

- Finally, Marsha Lederman writes about the importance of investing in public libraries. 

Friday Morning Links

 Assorted content to end your week.

- Joshua Schiffer highlights how the best response to COVID-19 for now involves the use of imperfect but easily-applied means of reducing its spread, rather than doing nothing until some perceived perfect answer is available. And Jessica Corbett reports on Oxfam's new study showing how the lack of policies to assist workers and reduce inequality left many countries completely unprepared to respond to a pandemic. 

-  Austan Goolsbee points out how the largest corporations are using the pandemic as an opportunity to further expand their monopolistic control. And Annie Lowrey writes that the increased wealth at the top is exactly why the Trump administration hasn't so much as recognized any economic problem with the increased precarity facing most of the U.S.

- Alex Hemingway weighs in on the benefits citizens receive from public vehicle insurance as the B.C. Libs try to undermine ICBC for good. And Christine Saulnier offers a reminder of the dangers of P3s in allowing corporate predators to raid the public purse based on the experiences of Newfoundland and Labrador.

- Sir David Attenborough discusses the need to rein in the excesses of capitalism in order to preserve a liveable environment. Reuters examines how thawing permafrost is just one of the byproducts of climate change which may ultimately accelerate a planetary breakdown. Fiona Harvey reports on new research showing how close much of the Amazon is to converting from a rainforest to a savannah - again with devastating effects which would reverberate around the globe.

- Meanwhile, Geoff Leo reports on the continued lack of study or remediation of the site of Regina's long-defunct Imperial Oil refinery.

- PressProgress examines the connections between spurious astroturf attacks on Sikh-Canadians, and fossil fuel-funded efforts to turn India into an increased export market. 

- Finally, Marc Lee discusses Vancouver's moves to encourage more dense housing development, while noting the need to ensure a city's revenue matches the need for more concentrated services. And Randy Burton calls out the backward thinking behind Rob Norris' attempts to torpedo the construction of a new Saskatoon central library.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Joseph Stiglitz points out that a few gross numbers based on top-end wealth can't change the reality that Donald Trump's economy has only squeezed the working class. Jim Stanford highlights Australia's "retail apocalypse" resulting in massive job losses and disruption, while Josh Robin notes that male workers in Toronto have seen their wages stagnate since 2000. And Phillip Inman reports on the IMF's recognition that we're at risk of another crash at any time due to inequality and a precarious financial sector.

- Kelly Cryderman points out that Jason Kenney's supposed plans for jobs in Alberta are doomed as long as he insists on skimping on child care. And PressProgress is duly scathing in response to Doug Ford's desire to pattern Ontario's education system after Alabama's.

- Lee Fang exposes the lobbying and disinformation campaigns by pesticide producers to avoid accounting for the dangers of poisons which have been found to devastate bee populations. And Rebecca Cohen writes about a foiled corporate attempt to empty a basin beneath the Mojave Desert to be sold into Los Angeles' suburbs.

- Meanwhile, Sarah Boseley reports on the public health dangers arising out of Big Pharma's complete failure to adequately research new antibiotics (and the concurrent reluctance of governments to fund research designed to produce public benefits rather than private profits).

- Finally, Jennifer Pagliaro writes about the underfunding of libraries which keeps them from serving vital purposes - including as a place to go for people who otherwise lack one.

Saturday Morning Links

Assorted content for your weekend reading.

- Ernest Canning writes about the importance of treating corporatism as a specific and extreme position, rather than allowing it to define the political centre. And Norm McKee rightly argues that Canada's federal election campaign needs to include a focus on ensuring the rich pay their fair share - though he inexplicably fails to mention the NDP's plan to do just that.

- Christopher Leonard reports on Koch Industries' alarming track record of worker injuries and deaths at Georgia Pacific as it has sought to wring ever more production out of fewer and fewer exhausted employees - and the Koch brothers' determination to keep extracting immediate and unsustainable profits at the expense of workers.

- Julie Lalonde discusses the importance of working on improving our health care system to ensure Canadians receive the care we need, rather than merely being satisfied with it being less costly and dysfunctional than the U.S.'. And Eric Topal highlights the role organizing within the medical profession can play in pushing for policies which improve social health.

- The Rocky Mountain Outlook writes that the UCP's reckless combination of immediate corporate slashing and calculated uncertainty for all public services is only making life worse for Alberta's most vulnerable residents. And Tahirih Foroozan and Sarah Rieger examine Jason Kenney's choice to leave libraries in particular with doubts about their ability to operate.

- Finally, Brian Feldman observes that the apparent death of the headphone jack represents another worrisome step toward technology being proprietary rather than connected.

Thursday Evening Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Katharine Hayhoe offers some suggestions as to how to reach people in talking about climate change. Karine Peloffy writes about the growing mobilization of support for real action to avert climate disaster, while Roy Culpeper comments on the importance of Canada participating in (and indeed leading) a global movement toward environmental justice. Alex Ballingall reports on Abacus' polling which found two-thirds of Canadian already favouring a Green New Deal funded by more revenue from the wealthiest few. And Dave Mills points out that GM's abandonment of Oshawa could be turned into a massive opportunity if its plant can be repurposed to build electric vehicles.

- Meanwhile, Amanda Stephen reports on the sustainable jobs which stand to be lost if Jason Kenney follows through on his threat to axe Energy Efficiency Alberta. And Sarah Lawrynuk reports on the efforts of librarians to preserve Alberta climate change data before Kenney's wrecking crew has a chance to destroy it.

- And as a reminder of what tends to happen once a know-nothing government is in full swing, Emma Paling reports on the shortfall being created in Ontario's health care system by Doug Ford's government, while Lauren Pelley highlights a billion dollars in direct cuts to public health. Fatima Syed points out the "pay-to-kill" scheme intended to allow developers to avoid accounting for risks to endangered species. Marieke Walsh focuses on Ford's refusal to offer any explanation at all for gutting Indigenous Affairs funding, while CBC News reports on a similar attack on library services. And to top it all off, Lucas Powers reports on Ford's plans to make it uniquely difficult for citizens to sue for the misfeasance and negligence which represent his signature governing style.

- All of which is to say that Tanya Talaga is absolutely right in noting that children plainly don't come first in the Ford PCs' plans - nor anybody aside from their cronies and their desire to distract the public from what actually matters.

- Finally, Jorge Barrera reports on the federal government's continued fight to avoid addressing the effects of its discrimination in funding child welfare. And Maura Forrest reports on the recognition by one case management judge of the apparent plan to avoid compensating residential school students until it's too late.

Tuesday Morning Links

This and that for your Tuesday reading.

- Larry Elliott reports on Oxfam's latest study on wealth inequality, showing that 26 extremely rich people now own as much as half of the world's population. And Ronald Quaroni notes that half of Saskatchewan families are on the brink of insolvency - the highest level of any province in an already-bleak national survey.

- Given that inequality and individual insecurity, it should be little surprise that trust in government and social institutions is eroding (as Louis Putterman points out). And Matt Taibbi highlights how the U.S.' political establishment fails to understand the public's understandable frustration:

I have no idea if Ocasio-Cortez will or will not end up being a great politician. But it’s abundantly clear that her mere presence is unmasking many, if not most, of the worst and most tired Shibboleths of the capital.

Moreover, she’s laying bare the long-concealed fact that many of their core policies are wildly unpopular, and would be overturned in a heartbeat if we could somehow put them all to direct national referendum.

Take the tax proposal offered by Ocasio-Cortez, which would ding the top bracket for 70 percent taxes on all income above $10 million.

The idea inspired howls of outrage, with wrongest-human-in-history Alan Greenspan peeking out of his crypt to call it a “terrible idea,” Wisconsin’s ex-somebody Walker saying a 5^th grader would know it was “unfair,” and human anti-weathervane Harry Reid saying “you have to be careful” because voters don’t want “radical change quickly.”

Except polls show the exact opposite. Almost everyone wants to soak the rich. A joint survey by The Hill and Harris X showed 71 percent of Democrats, 60 percent of Independents, and even 45 percent of Republicans endorse the Ocasio-Cortez plan.

Is it feasible? It turns out it might very well be, as even Paul Krugman, who admits AOC’s rise makes him “uneasy,” said in a recent column. He noted the head of Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers estimated the top rate should be even higher, perhaps even 80 percent.

We’ve been living for decades in a universe where the basic tenets of supply-side economics — that there’s a massive and obvious benefit for all in dumping piles of money in the hands of very rich people — have gone more or less unquestioned.

Now we see: once a popular, media-savvy politician who doesn’t owe rich donors starts asking such questions, the Potemkin justifications for these policies can tumble quickly.

- Andrea Janus reports on the widespread food waste in Canada - particularly within the food industry rather than at the consumer level. And Daniel Tencer examines how Canada's housing market has become thoroughly unaffordable for far too many.

- Finally, any Saskatchewan readers are encouraged to participate in what little public consultation the Moe government is offering when it comes to the province's library system - and particularly to point out that libraries do far more than merely lending materials.

Sunday Morning Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- Michael Savage discusses new projections showing that the luckiest 1% could control two-thirds of the world's wealth in a little more than a decade:

World leaders are being warned that the continued accumulation of wealth at the top will fuel growing distrust and anger over the coming decade unless action is taken to restore the balance.

An alarming projection produced by the House of Commons library suggests that if trends seen since the 2008 financial crash were to continue, then the top 1% will hold 64% of the world’s wealth by 2030. Even taking the financial crash into account, and measuring their assets over a longer period, they would still hold more than half of all wealth.

Since 2008, the wealth of the richest 1% has been growing at an average of 6% a year – much faster than the 3% growth in wealth of the remaining 99% of the world’s population. Should that continue, the top 1% would hold wealth equating to $305tn (£216.5tn) – up from $140tn today.
...
Danny Dorling, professor of geography at the University of Oxford, said the scenario in which the super-rich accumulated even more wealth by 2030 was a realistic one.

“Even if the income of the wealthiest people in the world stops rising dramatically in the future, their wealth will still grow for some time,” he said. “The last peak of income inequality was in 1913. We are near that again, but even if we reduce inequality now it will continue to grow for one to two more decades.”

- Lois Weiner writes about the much-needed renaissance of labour activism in the U.S.' red states, while LOLGOP points out the link between tax giveaways to the rich and the recognition that it's time to take to the streets. And Nick Hanauer discusses rules around overtime as the minimum wage for the middle class - while noting the urgent need to ensure excess hours lead to fair pay.

- Meanwhile, Ben Schneiders and Royce Millar take note of an Australian push to ensure that employers face a real prospect of jail time for wage theft.

- An anonymous library worker comments on how homeless people and others with urgent needs suffer the most from attacks on public library funding. And Nicola Slawson reports on research showing that GP visits to care homes can substantially reduce the disruption and cost of future hospital visits.

- Finally, Azeezah Kanji writes that any ignorance of systemic racism is utterly disconnected from reality. And Noah Smith rightly challenges the claim that demographic uniformity enforced through the repression of minorities somehow contributes to social cohesion or trust.

Monday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material to start your week.

- Paul Krugman notes that after promising to bring some outside perspective to politics, Donald Trump is instead offering only a warmed-over version of the Republicans' typical voodoo economics. And John Cassidy highlights how Trump's plan appears to be nothing more than to wage class warfare on behalf of the rich.

- Meanwhile, Phillip Inman offers a reminder as to one of the ways in which our economy is already rigged against workers, noting that the cost of child care in the UK in some cases forces families ot effectively pay to work.

- Geoff Leo exposes the terms of the Saskatchewan Party government's land deal with CP - which features the public giving away land for free even as it was overpaying to buy it through Sask Party donors.

- Jason Hammond lists a few of the lessons Elwin Hermanson and the rest of the Saskatchewan Party could learn if they visited a library rather than merely threatening to cut funding. And CKRM highlights the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association's recognition that the Sask Party's contempt for local government is unprecedented. 

- Finally, Duncan Cameron points out how Justin Trudeau has followed in Stephen Harper's footsteps with a top-down, PMO-controlled government. And Tom Parkin writes that Trudeau's model for the Senate is managing to prove even more regressive than Harper's version by imposing roadblocks to a government bill intended to facilitate union organization.

On bodily integrity

It was bad enough when the Saskatchewan Party declared its intention to put as many barriers as possible in the way of access to social services, particularly by making excuses about whether people are "able-bodied".

But it's even worse that the responsibility for applying that standard lies with a minister who apparently doesn't know the difference between a budget surplus and a capital asset - resulting in her impliedly suggesting that libraries sell, say, their books in response to the Sask Party's budget cuts.

Which raises the question: under Tina Beaudry-Mellor's philosophy, will Saskatchewan people be required to auction off their organs before being able to count on any public assistance?

New column day

Here, on how Brad Wall's costly and counterproductive decision to trash the Saskatchewan Transportation Company mirrors his government's worst traits.

For further reading...
- Jason Warick reported here on the plan to shut down STC - as well as the absurd day-long shutdown of the service for nothing more than communications purposes. And the government's excuses are found here (PDF).
- Adam Hunter followed up by examining some of the effects of taking away STC service.
- Warick also reported on the first wave of protests against library cuts, while CBC took note of protests to save STC as well.
- Meanwhile, the CP highlights Don Morgan's bizarre claim that Saskatchewan has too many libraries.
- And finally, Doug Caldwell offers his take on the Saskatchewan Party's burn-the-furniture budget.

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Jim Stanford discusses how the Trans-Pacific Partnership is renegotiating NAFTA - and taking away what little Canada salvaged in that deal. And Jared Bernstein highlights the TPP's impact on prescription drug costs.

- Rick Smith rightly challenges the effort some people have made to minimize the difference between Canada's political parties:

Though the constant spinning of basically unchanging polling results is annoying, I’m not sure it’s corrosive to the democratic process.  On the other hand, the notion that it doesn’t matter who we elect is not only factually inaccurate, it does Canadians a disservice.

Over the past nine years an important part of the Conservative project has been to reduce participation in elections: restricting Election Canada’s ability to do outreach and education; making it harder for students and others to vote; and an outright disenfranchising of entire groups like Canadian expats. Diminishing the importance of voting just feeds this trend.  In fact, the only people who benefit from electoral nihilism are Conservatives, who have a vested interest in turning people off politics thereby keeping them home on election night.

Pretending that all politicians and party platforms are the same or shades of gray is also unfair to the many progressive community leaders running in this – and other elections — who are trying their damndest to actually make a difference. 

- But sadly, Kelly McParland only adds to Smith's list of commentators glossing over the real differences to create a narrative of voters tuning out the election.

- David Keith writes that the most scandalous element of Bruce Carson's involvement with the Cons is the role he and his oil industry cronies have played in exacerbating climate change. And Charles Mandel reports on yet another research library the Cons set out to destroy - though the good news is that in this case, PIPSC managed to step in before the damage was complete.

- Finally, Jeremy Nuttall reports that the Cons are also putting a price on previously-available information about temporary foreign workers. PressProgress finds a Con candidate telling young workers they should work for free rather than thinking paid employment is an option. And Sid Ryan offers his take on what the labour movement needs to do to improving working and living conditions for everybody.

Sunday Afternoon Links

This and that for your Sunday reading.

- The World Bank's latest World Development Report discusses how readily-avoidable scarcity in severely limit individual development. Melissa Kearney and Philip Levine write that poverty and a lack of social mobility tend to create a vicious cycle of despair. And James Ridgeway examines the deliberate interference aimed at preventing many of the U.S.' poor from ever building secure lives.

- Meanwhile, Mark Thoma reminds us of the role the labour movement needs to play in ensuring greater equality across the income spectrum. And Deirdre Fulton writes that the first tentative steps toward improving the minimum wage as a matter of public policy have proven highly successful (contrary to the warnings of the corporate sector).

- The CP reports on Canada's embarrassing international status as one of the main obstacles to progress when it comes to climate change. And Harsha Walia writes that we'll need an alliance between labour, First Nations and environmental activists to produce a sustainable economy.

- Jessica Desvarieux reports on the extreme secrecy surrounding the TPP, while Dean Baker highlights how the arguments being made to try to push it on unsuspecting citizens are getting ever less plausible. And Stuart Trew and Scott Sinclair comment on its disastrous implications for Canada.

- Sean McElwee writes about the U.S. media's bias both in how it talks about issues, and in its choices as to which topics to cover.

- And finally, Katrina vanden Heuvel discusses the importance of public libraries as an essential source of economic and social benefits:

While it would be wonderful to assume that all media are available to all New Yorkers at all times—and that the only thing standing between us and the world is a sticky connection or a malfunctioning server—this simply isn’t so. And if you spend a morning observing a job-search program at the public library—where recent immigrants, perhaps, and parolees and recovering addicts sign up for their first email addresses and struggle with a QWERTY keyboard for the first time—you recognize such a sentiment as woefully naïve. As The New York Times editorialized last month, “The libraries are where poor children learn to read and love literature, where immigrants learn English, where job-seekers hone résumés and cover letters, and where those who lack ready access to the Internet can cross the digital divide.” Imagine everything you did today that utilized the Internet—checked your checking-account balance, ordered a birthday present for a friend, read your hometown newspaper—and now imagine having to go to the library, during library hours, to do it. Can’t make it to your local branch between 10 and 6 (between 1 and 6 at many Queens locations)? Tough luck. Hop on the bus and try again tomorrow during your 20-minute lunch break.

Beyond mere fairness, there are viable economic reasons for sustaining New York City’s public libraries. In 2010, the City of Philadelphia spent $33 million on its public libraries; private donations contributed $12 million more. Subsequent to the funding, the value of an average home located within one quarter-mile of one of the city’s 54 public library branches rose $9,630. In the aggregate, the public libraries contributed $698 million to home values in Philadelphia, which translated into an additional $18.5 million in property taxes for the city and school district. Other studies have demonstrated that for every tax dollar that libraries take in, communities receive anywhere between $2.38 and $6.54 in return. Simply put, it’s not just cruel to starve our libraries—and the communities that utilize them. It’s bad for business, and bad for America.

Friday Morning Links

Assorted content to end your week.

- I wouldn't want to take Dan Gardner's conclusion as to the effects of power as an immutable truth - as he himself notes in pointing out means of minimizing its risks. But it's certainly an apt description of what's happened since the Harper Cons took power:

The government could have responded by making a show of listening to the opposition and Conservative backbenchers, picking a few innocuous amendments, and passing them. Doing that would have cost the government essentially nothing. But it may have softened the complaints a little. And, at a minimum, it would have taken away the inevitable opposition attack line of “They wouldn’t change so much as a comma! They’re treating Parliament like a rubber stamp!”

But they didn’t do that. Instead, they methodically and relentlessly voted down every single one of hundreds of proposed amendments, no matter how modest or reasonable they may be — making themselves look immodest and unreasonable and seeming to confirm that they do, indeed, expect Parliament to rubber stamp legislation.

Strictly from the perspective of the government’s self-interest, this was astonishingly dumb.

And there’s been a lot of that lately.
...

(If a) powerful person lives in a bubble, insulated from criticism, surrounded by bobbleheads and bootlickers, his judgment will only get worse. And worse. Until he is making decisions like, hey, let’s announce a plan to make ordinary people work longer to receive Old Age Security in a speech to an audience of billionaires at a Swiss resort! Or, let’s announce changes to Employment Insurance without making so much as a single phone call to the premiers whose provinces will be most affected! Or, let’s automatically reject any amendment suggested by the opposition and ram the bill through even though it would seem to confirm the nasty accusations being levelled at us! 

Power corrupts. And it makes the powerful stupid.

Smart leaders know that, of course. It’s why they disperse and decentralize power, and create checks and balances. It’s why they seek out contrary views and dissonant information, why they consult, negotiate, and compromise.

- And Errol Mendes also comments on the Harper Cons' aversion to checks, balances and accountability.

- Meanwhile, it's certainly worth noting that Dean Del Mastro's denials of any knowledge of Elections Canada's investigation aren't any more plausible than most Con spin. But the part I find most interesting is the Harper-esque relationship between the financial agent who's actually responsible for campaign finances, and the candidate who denied any knowledge whatsoever of what was happening:

Ritchie’s affidavit describes how he and another Elections Canada investigator, Al Mathews, went to Peterborough to interview Daniel Rosborough, the financial agent of Del Mastro’s electoral district association.

According to Ritchie’s sworn statement, Rosborough told them “He had contacted Dean Del Mastro after I had called him and that he was advised by Dean Del Mastro that he (Dean Del Mastro) would handle the matter with Elections Canada.”

And, Ritchie said, Rosborough told them, “He (Daniel Rosborough) would not provide access to the EDA’s records or be interviewed unless authorized to do so by Dean Del Mastro.”

The two men had arranged to interview Rosborough about the association’s finances two weeks in advance of their Dec. 15 meeting, but when they got to his Peterborough office, he refused to be interviewed and told them to talk to Del Mastro directly.

- Robert Skidelsky points out that the long-promised link between corporate-owned technology capable of replacing difficult work and greater leisure time has never materialized.

- Finally, Jonathan Douglas discusses the link between library services and poverty alleviation in the UK - a particularly important connection at a time when appointees who don't seem to have any interest in the latter are showing their lack of interest in the former:

Libraries have always had a bias to the poor. It sat at the heart of their founding vision. In the past fifteen years this has been rediscovered in the context of social inclusion policy. The challenge is to put this into practice at a time when libraries’ resources themselves are being savagely cut in many places.

However the prize is great: If libraries can effectively work with individuals and the communities most at risk of poverty, they can turn lives round, boost relative social mobility and even stop the newly enlarged poverty footprint in the UK becoming intergenerational. They will also demonstrate their indispensible role in UK policy. They will demonstrate that their statutory role is no whim, but recognition of how libraries make society fairer and richer, in every sense.

The evidence  for libraries’ impact on poverty is compelling,  particularly in combating the inequalities associated with child poverty.  The Effective Provision of Preschool Education research and more recently the Avon Longitudinal  Study of Parents and Children have demonstrated the power of libraries in closing the one year gap in school readiness that exists between rich and poor children and which lays the foundations for many later inequalities.

However the effectiveness of libraries against the poverty agenda is dependent on the extent to which they commit to this audience as a priority, and the extent to which they provide services which  tackle poverty. Learning and literacy need to be at the heart of this approach.