I don't, as a rule, pay a great deal of attention to Canadian politics. I was vaguely aware that something unusual is going on there this week. Then Emma pointed me to the Yarn Harlot's ex­pla­na­tion of what's happened.

In brief, for the last two years, Stephen Harper's minority government has been playing a high-stakes game, repeatedly forcing the opposition parties to either vote with him or force an election, which they would likely lose.

Last week, as soon as Parliament resumed after October's general election, Harper put forth an "economic strategy", which included removing federal election subsidies to all par­ties—­ef­fec­tive­ly hobbling the opposition. The opposition were deeply unhappy about that, and also …continue.

Yesterday, I said that it seemed like the economy was one giant Ponzi scheme.

Via Eric, Michael Lewis's The End of Wall Street's Boom

[Whit­ney’s] message was clear. If you want to know what these Wall Street firms are really worth, take a hard look at the crappy assets they bought with huge sums of borrowed money, and imagine what they’d fetch in a fire sale. The vast as­sem­blages of highly paid people inside the firms were es­sen­tial­ly worth nothing. For better than a year now, Whitney has responded to the claims by bankers and brokers that they had put their problems behind them with this write-down or …continue.

Today's paper said that 3,400 out of 4,300 WaMu jobs in Seattle will be cut.

Emma worked at WaMu as a software tester for three years. I'm sure that if she were still there, she'd be one of them. Most of her friends from that time have moved on; just as well.

A few years ago, WaMu seemed too big to fail. Now? Circling the toilet bowl.

Our whole economy seems like it was one giant Ponzi scheme, with everyone selling worthless paper to everyone else. It's hard to tell how much was wilful ignorance, and how much was making a buck while the good times lasted and damn the con­se­quences.

Dereg­u­la­tion …continue.

For decades, Detroit has fought a rearguard action against change—seat­belts, CAFE standards for increased fuel efficiency, met­ri­ca­tion, renewable energy, building gas guzzling SUVs instead of hybrids, all come to mind.

Change is needed. The current management must go. The big three must build vehicles that make sense.

It's not often that I agree with Mitt Romney, but his op-ed piece, Let Detroit Go Bankrupt, in Wednes­day's NYT lands in the vicinity of the mark.

He ignores one big reason for the higher costs of American cars, the cost of company-funded healthcare.

But another article in the same day's paper, Advantage of Corporate Bankruptcy Is Dwindling, points out:

Harsh as it is, a bankruptcy filing has …continue.

Via Amer­i­ca­Blog, I see that Kos is ridiculing Nader and his diehard supporters.

I was mildly sym­pa­thet­ic to Nader in 2000, though I em­phat­i­cal­ly disagreed with him that Gore and Bush were Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Eric Alterman argues that Nader cost Gore the election.

I was pissed when Nader ran in 2004, after going dark for three years. He had built up a big movement in 2000. Nearly three million people voted for him. If he was remotely serious about the issues he was cam­paign­ing on in 2000, he would have done something in 2001–2003. God knows there was plenty of things that needed fighting. He could have made a difference. But he didn't. He …continue.

Angry about the passage of Propo­si­tion 8, the anti-gay marriage amendment in California, and other anti-gay measures in Florida, Arizona, and Arkansas?

A nationwide protest is planned for 10:30am PST on Saturday, November 15th. The Seattle protest starts at Volunteer Park. Fes­tiv­i­ties begin at 10:30, the rally begins at noon, then we'll march down to Westlake, concluding with a rally there at 2:00.

The Stranger has more background.

I'll be there. Will you?

In the meantime, watch two moving videos from Keith Olbermann and Sam Harris.

Are we really this bad?

(This one's for Jacob and Will.)

There was only sour note to the huge victories in Tuesday's elections: the passage of Propo­si­tion 8, the anti-gay marriage amendment in California. A deceitful campaign preyed on voters' fears and homophobia. The No on 8 campaign was massively outspent and not very effective.

I'm convinced that marriage equality will come, but this is a setback. Gay couples, who only gained the right to marry earlier this year in California, have lost that right.

The Mormon Church was the prime mover behind the Yes on 8 campaign, donating $19 million, nearly 80% of the total raised. A backlash is brewing. John Aravosis of Amer­i­ca­Blog is trying to organize a boycott …continue.

I'm delighted! Today, the American people made an excellent decision and chose the right man for the job.

Obama fought a long, hard campaign, rising from underdog to an assured victory. He ran an exemplary, innovative campaign, that empowered millions of grassroots activists. He shattered barriers and inspired voters.

He won by a huge margin in the Electoral College, giving himself un­equiv­o­cal legitimacy. He'll need it. The country has deep problems and it's not going to be an easy presidency.

Nev­er­the­less, I look forward to the next four years.

I'm voting for Obama, which is no secret to anyone who knows me. I agree with his policies and I'm impressed by the man. Over the last two years, he's run an excellent campaign, going from underdog to all-but certain victory. Clearly, he has executive ability.

Moreover, McCain is the wrong man for the job. I strongly disagree with his policies (es­sen­tial­ly Bush's), his campaign is thrashing spas­ti­cal­ly, and he dis­qual­i­fied himself by picking that blithering idiot Palin as his VP.

I'm more worried about Christine Gregoire, who is running for re-election as Governor of Washington. She's un­com­fort­ably close in the polls to Dino Rossi. The Building Industry As­so­ci­a­tion of Washington and the …continue.