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The provincial election is in full swing here in B.C., so when I answered the phone tonight and was asked to take a political survey my Spidey-sense immediately started to tingle. My first reaction was to determine who was conducting the survey (Ipsos-Reid? EKOS?), but she politely told me that it was confidential to prevent introducing bias on the part of the surveyor. It turns out that wasn’t necessary.

The questions started off innocently enough. “What issue facing BC concerns you the most?” “Do you vote regularly?” “If the election were held tomorrow, who would you vote for?” “Who would be your second choice?” But shortly after rating the three major parties’ leaders, the questions took a sinister turn.
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When British Columbia’s Green Party revealed their campaign platform on April 13, I was disappointed to find their website in tatters, still covered in the cobwebs of the 2001 provincial election with the new platform nowhere in sight. But I’m happy to report that they have since given it a much-needed a facelift and the new website is a much more friendly place. And it even includes a news feed.

I’ve read through the 2005 Green Book to get a better understanding of the party’s platform, but the key points are well-summarized on their (new) site:

• Sustainability
• Social Justice
• Grass Roots Democracy
• Non-Violence
• Community Based Economy
• Gender Equality
• Diversity
• Decentralization
• Personal and Global Responsibility
• Ecological Wisdom

Sustainability is really the crux of the platform and what attracts me to this party. We really need to take a long-term view to ensure that quality of life is not only improved in the short term but also for generations to come.

The Green Party is worth checking out prior to casting your vote on May 17. They offer a refreshing alternative to the union-backed NDP and the pro-corporate Liberals (whose spending policies seem to make no sense whatsoever). Unfortunately the Greens’ poor communications have left them in the shadow of these two giants. The media hardly acknowledge their existence and fail to take them seriously when they do, despite winning a popular vote of 12% in 2001.

BC-STV, anyone? (explanation from CBC)

Agnes pointed out this article on CBC.ca today. It’s refreshing that the U.S. Secret Service and Treasury Department can take a break from fighting terrorism and the deficit to care for a single-parent family of ducks trying to make a go of it in these troubled times. Proof that a kindler, gentler administration is in charge.

American families worried about the safety of their children can take hope from this story: just camp out on the Treasury Department’s sidewalk and you too will be taken care of and “relocated to a wetter and safer location.”

Well, as long as it’s not slated for drilling oil…

These words struck me yesterday, jumping up from under the lid and urging me to continue consuming. The message is simple, almost hypnotic and begs the reader to drink yet another Coke. I’m not sure why they need to write this, or how many people fall under its persuasive spell. I rarely buy the stuff and yet I felt a slight compulsion to obey before the full meaning of the message struck me. Are we really stupid enough to fall for a trick like this?

Google recently announced support for a new link tag: rel=”nofollow”. When Google indexes your site, any links that are tagged with nofollow don’t receive a PageRank boost from your link. This is intended to reduce the incentive for comment spammers.

Everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon: Six Apart has implemented nofollow for Moveable Type & TypePad; and the latest CVS for Wordpress already includes nofollow despite a raging debate on the hacker’s list about it’s use.

I don’t think nofollow is going to save interactive sites from comment spam. It’s a nice gesture but it really doesn’t address the root cause of spam. (more...)