Now don’t get me wrong, while I’m not much of a sports fan in general, I do watch hockey, or at least Habs games in the playoffs, I am a Montrealer after all. But to date, it’s only been in one of two situations: either game’s on TV and there’s nothing else on (or I’m at someone else’s house) or I’m out at a bar.

Quite a good evening for him: Halak

I’ll go out to a bar specifically to watch the game, but only if I’m invited. I do enjoy the competition and cheer for the home team, but I never think of going out to catch the game myself. I’ve also watched a bunch of games this season because Forget The Box was involved with the Joe Two-Four show, but again, that was with a reason.

Last night, things changed and I actually found myself searching for the Habs/Capitals game (I don’t have cable and it’s not on CBC). I found it and was glad that I did.

There’s something about the underdog coming back and last night they did. It’s also nice that I decided to tune in for goalie Jaroslav Halak’s best performance and what is now the Habs’ franchise record for blocked shots.

While I’m not usually a bandwagon jumper, this particular bandwagon feels real comfy.

The system remains profit-driven...is this really what change looks like? (photo AP)

Yes, more Americans are covered and in a few years insurance companies won’t be able to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions (something that is the very definition of wrong). Unfortunately, people in the states now have to sign up and pay an insurance company whether they want to or not and health insurance companies still exist, which is an abomination.

Health care is a community service and should be treated as such. In the states, people are treated like we treat our pets here. How much of a logical leap does it take to realize that healthcare is not a luxury like a cellphone or a car, but a need like water or

True, I did endorse passing this bill, but asked lawmakers in the US to take out anything that helps the insurance companies. I’m not the only one, Michael Moore and others urged the bill’s passing, while remaining against it in its current form.

Now, he’s come out very publicly talking about what’s wrong with the bill and I guess, with this post, I have, too. He can explain it better than me, though…

So, for coming one step closer to being in step with the rest of the civilized world, congrats to the USA, but since it’s half-assed and doesn’t change the fundamental flaw in the system, it’s gonna have to be congrats, sort of…

While admitting that drinking was a factor in the death, police spokesperson Paul Chablo told the media that officers would still be asked to use their discretion when dealing with people drinking at the parade. This is a good thing, because the St-Patrick’s parade is one of the few permitted (though technically not) street parties in Montreal. However, arguments against motorized floats did catch my attention.

This is not during the St-Patty's Parade (photo La Presse)

Around the time that the SPVM was taking a relaxed approach to St-Patty’s celebration, they were also preparing to go hardcore on protesters marching against police brutality. They even sent infiltrators and possibly agent provocateurs into the crowd.

I wrote about this on Forget the Box, but I mainly focused on bias in media coverage of the event (seeing as I wasn’t able to make it down to the march myself). I can only hope (in vain, I’m sure) that they adopt a St-Pattty’s-style approach in years to come.

That means removing agent provocateurs and infiltrators from the crowd and let the march progress, only using “discretion” if things organically get out of hand instead of through being provoked.

What’s good for Irish and wannabe-Irish revelers should be good for people exercising their democratic right to speak out against abuses by the police as well.

They weren’t the only ones, though. A group of supporters of Café Cleopatre (with a few theatre activists like me there in solidarity as well), hoping to stop the planned demolition of their performance space by noted developer and former small-time fraudster Christian Yaccarini‘s Angus Development Corporation, were there to greet the prince.

The plan was to deliver a plea in person to Prince Charles, a noted heritage buff, in hopes that he would take action to save the lower Main from this Tremblay administration-backed project. They had already issued an open letter and video plea, but despite considerable media coverage from The Gazette, the Montreal Mirror and even Paris Match, the prince has yet to respond.

Here’s the video:

Don’t get me wrong, I generally like Barack Obama. He’s smart, sometimes funny, one of the best public speakers I’ve ever heard and better than the last guy who had his job. He also speaks as though he is on the same of many issues that I am. The problem is that he speaks, but up to now, he hasn’t done all that much.

His plan to turn the American health care system from the ridiculous corporate cash grab it is into something close to what the rest of the world has isn’t going far. He hasn’t cancelled or closed the things he promised to cancel and close, in some cases saying the change will come soon and in others changing plans completely. When it comes to foreign policy, the words are nicer and the locales of focus might be slightly different, but the plan remains the same – war.

So how can the Nobel Prize committee give him the Peace Prize? Wishful thinking? Maybe. As a slap in the face to Bush? Probably. Trying to be cool and get the award more press than it usually does? That sounds like it could be the case. Even Obama didn’t wholeheartedly accept it, though he is going to take the trophy, saying it’s “a call to action.”

If he really wants to earn it, though and live up to all the hope and change he promised, he can do one of two things: reject the award, keeping the door open to receive it in the future if and when he truly does deserve it or make the world a more peaceful place (pull troops out of everywhere, negotiate treaties, etc.) before he picks up the prize in Oslo. He has until December 10th.

The Angus Development Corporation wants to raize the block of St-Laurent between Ste-Catherine and Rene-Levesque and put in a giant skyscraper to serve as offices for Hydro-Quebec.

This isn’t just about buildings, though.  There are many emerging artists who perform regularly on the second-floor showspace of Cleopatra (it’s a strip club downstairs).  Since this project is done as part of the Quartier des Spectacles (show quarter), it doesn’t make any sense to evict three performance spaces (Cleo, the Les Saints showbar and the Katacombes punk club) for an office building.

That’s what the Office de Consultation Publique de Montreal ruled at the end of July after a series of meetings held last June.  They said the project needs to be re-evaluated and now it looks like it’s going to be.

My latest piece talks about how Angus has agreed to go back to the drawing board…and just in time for a show/party/rally scheduled for Friday.  Here’s an exerpt:

Just in time for the party: Angus to re-think its plans for the lower Main

The Angus Development Corporation stated Tuesday that it would be rethinking its plan to erect an office tower on the west side of St-Laurent Boulevard between Ste-Catherine and Rene-Levesque. This comes over a month after the Office de Consultation Publique de Montreal (OCPM) released its report urging more reflection and a better plan for redevelopment of the area. “The OCPM has unequivocally stated that this whole project has to go back to the drawing board,” said Velma Candyass (read more)

I’m well aware that Obama’s nothing close to the revolutionary or socialist (if only the republicans were right about that one) that is needed right now, but he’s a hell of a lot better than what the US had for eight years and may even prove to better than Clinton, who in my opinion was just a corporate exec who was good at making progressive-sounding speeches.

Obama may have been headed down the Clinton road, but maybe, just maybe, with another depression looming and people scratching their heads over how they had allowed someone like Bush to steal two elections and visibly set the country back a few decades, progressive voices might be able to convince Obama to make a left turn and bring about the change he promises. Now that’s a pile of hope if there ever was one.

No matter how he turns out or what he does, at least he’ll sound intelligent explaining it. I recommend watching or reading his speech from last night, at one point it even brought a tear to my eye. Also, if you haven’t already, I suggest taking a listen to his speech on race relations, it’s one of the smartest and most honest speeches from a major North American politician I’ve heard in a while.

Meanwhile in Canada, $300 million dollars later, we’ve got a Conservative minority government with the Liberals in opposition followed by the Bloc and the NDP. Essentially, Canadians paid $300 million to have something we had before for free, a Bush wannabee in office. At least in two months, there will be no Bush for him to take orders from.

It might seem off the bat that we’ve fallen behind, but if you look closer, it becomes apparent that Canada is just as progressive as it ever was and in some ways more so. First off, at least smaller parties do get noticed and our debates are not limited to two competing corporate candidates. If that was the case in the states, then things would be quite different.

There were also some truly great things that happened in the last Canadian election, namely Thomas Mulcair of the NDP holding onto the Outremont riding, a riding that up until last year had been in the hands of the Liberals for pretty much ever. This is also a personal victory as I live in the riding and for the second time in as many years, the candidate I voted for actually won, which is something that doesn’t happen that often these days on the left.

The NDP picked up seats overall, too, largely at the expense of the Liberals, which is fine by me. Maybe now people on the left or center-left will start seeing that they have a chance and the Liberals will stop splitting the progressive vote.

Stéphane Dion is probably a nice guy and a way better choice than Ignatief, and is probably a nice guy, but his party seems hell-bent on shifting away from the left (even though they were only there socially to begin with), which makes Harper seem normal and center, instead of the ultra right-wing western separatist Reform Party joke that he is.

Looks like the states may have finally gotten their joke and realized it wasn’t funny. Next time, it’s Canada’s turn.

And in Quebec, looks like we’re going to have our second election in as many years…keep ‘em coming!

I was at the anti-RNC protest in 2004 covering the theatrical jamming aspect for the Montreal Mirror. Though my gig (and my personal budget) kept me in New York City only long enough to witness the official march and not much else, I did feel a foreboding air when I wandered away from the sanctioned area.

I heard the horror stories (remember the yellow mesh) through the independent press when I got back and heard from friends who were detained by the FBI and Homeland Security for an hour for being curious about a building with no windows. They were released when the powers that be realized they had stopped a couple of actors.

I wasn’t that surprised to hear that the cops were at it once again in St-Paul a few weeks ago at this year’s Republican National Convention. What was different, or at least what seemed different, this time was that they targeted the press.

They started with pre-emptive raids (Iraq, anyone?) on activist film group I-Witness Video and others, continued with the arrest of two Democracy Now! producers as they covered a protest and the show’s host Amy Goodman as she tried to get them out of custody:

They carried on throughout the week with similar incidents, including shutting down a concert by Rage Against the Machine.

All of this makes you wonder why they would go after people who could turn around and make them “famous.” Maybe they think that soon the internet will be back in their hands (“net neutrality my ass”). Maybe they just don’t realize the extent evidence of their negative actions can be spread virally. Maybe they just don’t care what a few million activists or activist sympathizers watching think.

Most likely, though, they do care and all this negative exposure they’re getting is completely intentional and designed to create a chilling effect:

“See, protestors, we don’t care if you’re filming us, ’cause we’re busting the press and anyone who gets in our way, too!” That is why it’s important, now more than ever, to keep filming, keep spreading videos and keep vigilant.

It’s also, I feel, more important than ever, to inject a bit more art into actions. If the protests carry an element that appeals to people that may not be fully aware of the political situation, either by entertaining them or catching their attention, then the subsequent police repression will piss off those people too, especially when they can’t see the video because the cops stopped the filming.

Looking like a bunch of thugs to a mass audience that isn’t necessarily politically aware is the kind of negative PR the cops don’t want to deal with.

Collage made by a bunch of drunk activists after the Harper election victory in 2006