TEA & TWO SLICES: On Corporate Freedom Of Expression And Ignoring Stephen Harper

by Sean Orr | In High Rent Cities, Vehicles Become Homes. The good news is that pretty soon you’re gonna be living in a van down by the river.

Opinion: Game over? Vancouver’s slow slide speeds up. Brother, can you spare a bitcoin?

Because we are unwaveringly tied to the US economy, food prices to grow 3 to 4 per cent in 2013 as a result of U.S. drought. And yet Don Cayo suggests we become even less protectionist and open up our industries to foreign (read: American) interests - Canada must preserve its profitable relationship with the US. Well, if it makes cheese less expensive, I’m all for it.

Meanwhile, in what reads like some wacky leftist conspiracy: Canada, U.S. ink deal to let troops cross border. I suppose their destiny is manifest.

Via Morningfile: “The oldest captive beluga whale in North America died yesterday at its home in the Vancouver Aquarium”. No it didn’t. There is still, somewhere, an oldest captive beluga whale in North America.

Rogers Communications challenges false advertising lawsuit with freedom of expression. Right. Because Rogers is a person. Sigh.

Prime Minister doesn’t take questions at Surrey event. Dear all media, stop covering his events.

TEA & TWO SLICES: On The National Post’s War On Culture And Fiddling With Our Dix…

by Sean Orr | More tacky than attacky: BC Liberals launch “RiskyDix” attack ad, website. We would have also accepted “Too Many Dix on the (House) Floor” if they’d done a remake of the song by Flight of the Conchords. Or “Whistling Dixie”. Or “You don’t know Dix”. Or “The Dix Files”. Or ‘Dix In a Box’. Or…

Cirrhosis of the River: Albion ferries sold to B.C. company for fraction of asking price. And just in case you forgot, it was ferries that brought down the previous provincial government. Chances of that happening again? Zero.

Surrey MLA to live on welfare rate of $610. I love that he waited until after Christmas/Boxing Day. Smart.

Ye Olde War on Culture: Downsized, decentralized CBC remains key goal for Tories: Heritage Minister James Moore. The National Post wants you to know that it’s not them saying this, but the actual guy appointed to preserve our heritage. I mean, they say this also, but just this time it was someone else.

Tweet of the…oh fuck it, I’m just stealing this dude’s line: “Slobbering fans of Sun News Network oddly lecture us that journalists should be balanced and objective. Adorable”.

Even the left wingers at The Tyee know how to write some good sensationalism: Why We Shouldn’t Ban Shark Fin. The same reason we shouldn’t ban foie gras, trans fats, and even egg whites in cocktails.

Shrapnel from the battle against fun: BC’s Five Looniest Liquor Laws. NO DANCING!

The Shape of Racism to Come? How precedent forces courts to bend over backwards for First Nations defendants. Just when you think Blatchford couldn’t go any lower than trashing Layton after his death…

Make-shift bomb blows up patio in Abbotsford, B.C. Uh oh, it’s 2012 and the hicks are gettin’ ready for the Apocalypse!

TEA & TWO SLICES: On Cheating BC Businesses, Blackface And Breaking People

by Sean Orr | Former Canuck Raffi Torres faces criticism after dressing as Jay-Z for Halloween. Because if Wayne Simmonds went as the Pope everyone would be super offended. Pfft.

In any event, it couldn’t possibly be as offensive as when a Top US foreclosure law firm threw Halloween party where staff dressed as foreclosed-upon Americans.

Some B.C. employers cheating on minimum wage.The irony is that they can’t police it because of “a massive cut in staff”.

It’s confusing when local corporate media seem to only really care about issues when there’s a special needs child involved, as though they’re somehow more deserving of our pity than others. Let me explain. The piece is called Breaking People, and it details how BC’s drastic cuts to the social safety net is breaking people (a typical neo-conservative reaction while the government is simultaneously cutting corporate taxes). The truth is that Donny and Marlene could just as easily be one of the many marginalised people that The Sun-Province-Post so often dismiss with both thin and broad strokes of the pen.

And when that fails, they just make shit up: Occupy Vancouver activists say no rat problem at tent city despite media reports. Oh, don’t get us wrong. They’re all over the place! It’s just that they’re not a problem. In fact, they make great companions and are surprisingly warm.

Way to perpetuate the stereotype guys: Of the first 60 charged in riot 21 are from Surrey. Does anyone still think that the Stanley Cup riots had nothing to do with class (or more specifically the decline of the middle class, suburbanization, and the politics of boredom)?

Geoff Meggs: “New VAG show challenges voters to embrace gallery expansion alongside vision of new creative space”. I’d like this better if it read, ‘Voters challenge Vision to embrace creative spaces’. Read more