by Sean Orr | B.C. government workers stage 1-day strike. Never mind that this is the first strike action in 20 years; never mind the almost exponential increase in the cost of living; never mind the raises they gave themselves – the government just can’t afford to pay the people that operate the government.

Cue the knee-jerk: Self-serving teachers’ union thwarts system. And the opening line is? “Returning from a vacation in the Land of the Gun and the Bible.” I always suspected Jon Ferry’s column to be a tour-de-force of satire, but now I know for certain.

I got halfway through this article when The Province’s new paywall came into effect and told me I have read 15 free articles and now I have to pay. I guess I could do that, or I could just open a different browser: Angry year in Quebec politics reaches its peak in shooting tragedy; police remove victim from scene. That’s right, folks! The Canadian Press just managed to tie a horrible shooting tragedy to the one of the most important student movements in the history of our country.

“But the moment was short-lived and as party faithful filed out, they were greeted with a sight familiar on the streets of Montreal during months of student protests — lines of stern-faced police officers. But this time there was no street demonstration.

Well played CP, well played.

B.C. building boom nears pre-recession levels. Wait, which recession was that again? I thought we officially called that event Tough Economic Times?

Good thing the recession is over! B.C. students warned to stick to budgets. Aw, that’s cute. Make your little charts and graphs and colour them in corresponding colours and pad the pockets of the diamond mine executives that run our universities.

Good thing the recession is over! 47% of Canadians still live paycheque to paycheque. Or in my case, about two or three days before the paycheck. #someonebuymeasandwich

Environment Minister Peter Kent to weaken emissions rules for coal-fired power. And yet you still can’t have a bonfire of dead leaves in your back yard in the Fall in Surrey so that everything smells nostalgic, casting a mauve haze over the blushing peak of Mount Baker as children do jumps on unsafe ramps in the woods behind your house…

Glass transit: Cracked rail blamed for massive Skytrain delays. Or “why we will never have an all night subway service”.

Man accused of hacking into Carly Rae Jepsen’s computer, trying to sell nude pictures. “I just met you/ This is crazy/ So here’s my computer/ Stalk me maybe/”.

Poems over Pomo: Why we are all still Modernists. Because of bathos: Moody Port.