It's not who you believe, but what you believe...

Media Companies Form Coalition in Hopes of Shutting Down CBC Music Streaming Service

warmandpunchy:

masonpitzel:

OH COME THE FUCK ON

america has spotify, turntable.fm, et al. we can’t even get this.

Student-Loan Debt Reaches Record $1 Trillion, Report Says

jakke:

Holy eff this is bleak. Some highlights:

• There is now more outstanding student-loan debt than credit-card debt in the United States.
• Debt is growing not just among students, but also among people who have left school and are falling behind on payments.
• Ten percent of the outstanding balance is delinquent - i.e. they are more than a month past due with no payments.

So yeah, this is basically going to prevent the generation currently entering the job market from ever enjoying the same standard of living as any college-educated generation before them! I mean, to be fair, things are looking even bleaker for the non-college-educated. But these are some absolutely dismal stats.

Note to Romney: the fact that a lady once married you does NOT make you well-versed on women's issues

(Source: jessicavalenti)

if you think canadian politics aren't fucked up, read this

warmandpunchy:

On the eve of the election, Oct. 13, 2008, the last of a series of irregular activities took place. A robocall went out to NDP supporters, purporting to be from the campaign office and urging them to vote for their candidate. No mention was made in the call that the candidate had stepped down, nor that his withdrawal was too late to have his name removed from the ballot. On election day, my 25,367 votes were 2,621 below Lunn’s. The difference was less than the 3,667 votes for the non-existent NDP candidate who finished at nearly 6 per cent of the vote. That this might be an illegal activity affecting an election outcome crossed many people’s minds.

…

Meanwhile, the NDP ethics critic in March of 2009 called for Lunn to step down with regard to the third-party allegations while investigations were underway — except that no one had any way of knowing if the investigation was even underway. Our riding association and the citizens’ groups continued to push Elections Canada for over a year. My last personal email inquiry elicited this response in March of 2010: “In this case, this Office examined thoroughly the complaints received and advised the complainants that there is no evidence that the Canada Elections Act has been contravened.”

more here. the clear statistical benefit to one party across multiple elections in multiple ridings can’t be dismissed. and it’s not the only recent instance of violation of election law benefiting the party in question.

please, american readers, do me a favour: stop saying anything nice about canada or its leaders. disabuse yourself of the notion that our tories are somehow like your democrats. our immigration minister is a cryptoracist xenophobe. our last few finance ministers have plunged us into terminal austerity, and social programs and arts spending and all of the things that can breed democratic thinking are going to be the first out the door, as they always are. meanwhile we’re building bigger prisons and, thanks to the ramming through of a draconian omnibus crime bill with the living-satire title the safer streets and communities act, planning to send considerably more of our citizens there, employing mandatory sentences for crimes like smoking pot.

if things get bad in the states after this fall’s election, i have some bad news for you: running to canada isn’t going to do you much good. consider scandanavia instead; similar climate, but more interesting architecture.