Category Archives: Politics

Boobquake: in which Catherine gets annoyed at the press

By Catherine Winters | Published: April 26, 2010
“So! Boobs, huh?” That’s right, boobs. Or what-have-you. “I don’t get it.” Well, the other day, Tehran’s acting Friday prayer leader Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi–yes, he’s not even an Ayatollah. I know, right?–went and said some crazy shit about boobs and how they cause earthquakes. Or more specifically, no, he didn’t really. As PBS explains: While delivering [...]
Also posted in Blogosphere, Canada, Gender, History, LGBT, Memes, News, Pop Culture, Vancouver | Comments closed

Sure, we can put a man on the moon, but we can’t put–oh, right.

By Catherine Winters | Published: December 14, 2009
I’m skeptical of the usefulness of manned spaceflight, even as I believe in its long-term necessity. (Besides, should it be necessary for humans to leave Earth, we could get that going on fairly short order. The technology’s straightforward, even if we don’t have interplanetary ships today.) I was born almost a decade after the last time [...]
Also posted in History, News | Comments closed

Critical Pride Part 2: Midnight Mass & the Dyke March

By Catherine Winters | Published: July 30, 2009
As a followup to some of the discussion resulting from yesterday’s post comparing Pride and Critical Mass, I thought I’d extend the metaphor to my preferred alternative events: Midnight Mass and the Dyke March. Speaking personally, Pride is generally not generally my thing: it’s loud, it’s hot, and the parade, at least, is not really participatory. [...]
Also posted in Blogosphere, Cycling, LGBT, Vancouver | Comments closed

Critical Pride

By Catherine Winters | Published: July 29, 2009
On his blog this morning, Buzz Bishop posed the question: Are you proud of Pride? In his post, Buzz asks if the imagery we’ll see in Vancouver’s Pride Parade this Sunday is really the best way to demonstrate that gays are just like everyone else. This reminded me of another familiar argument, about Critical Mass: are [...]
Also posted in Blogosphere, Canada, Catherine, Cycling, Events, LGBT, Vancouver | Comments closed

Blogathon 2009: “Legally, we have to refer to you as Catherine December.”

By Catherine Winters | Published: July 25, 2009
After hearing Dave Olsen talk a bit about the restrictions being applied — in particular, to the “pedestrian corridors” being established here in Vancouver during the Olympics, I’m concerned about the implications for free speech, as well as the potential for these laws to endure after the Olympics have ended. I’ve been convinced for a long [...]
Also posted in Blogathon 2009, Blogosphere, Brands, Canada, Law, Media, News, Privacy, Vancouver, Web 2.0 | Comments closed

How to write a US Political Thriller: Start with the Secret Service codenames.

By Catherine Winters | Published: November 9, 2008
So the most pressing question of the post US-election period, beyond “did adults seriously come up with the name ‘labradoodle’?” and “will Team Obama need to buy their own keyboards?” is clearly, “what is Sasha Obama’s Secret Service codename?” Apparently, it’s Rosebud. I find that a little weird on its own, but particularly so in [...]
Also posted in Brands, Events, News | Comments closed

A question about Russia

By Catherine Winters | Published: August 9, 2008
Has Russia, in any of her historic guises, ever invaded a neighbouring state, won, and then withdrawn? I see.
Also posted in News | Comments closed

Jack Bauer wouldn’t have stood for that!

By Catherine Winters | Published: December 19, 2006
I thought this was kind of interesting: “RCMP Spied on Tommy Douglas”. I don’t just mean the culture of J. Edgar Hoover-esque agency creepiness that would ultimately lead to the downfall of the RCMP Security Service and the subsequent creation of CSIS, Canada’s modern intelligence agency. (For those of you outside Canada, CSIS is known [...]
Also posted in Brands, Canada, Media, News, Pop Culture, Privacy | Comments closed