Letters to the Editor
We have the receipts. Please go to http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_cr/s092002.html (Page S8987-S8998 of September 20, 2002 Congressional Record). While Saddam Hussein is “performing” in protective custody and Ossama bin Laden has free reign in drumming up business for the Military Industrial Complex, Bechtel (and the bin Ladens) have been given US contracts to rebuild Iraq ( see…
Letters to the Editor
THE BUSH “OILIGARCHY” WAS NOT LYING ABOUT WMD by Joseph Morales Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. We have the receipts. Please go to http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_cr/s092002.html (Page S8987-S8998 of September 20, 2002 Congressional Record). It would do well for you to memorize the respective symptomologies because privateers, like Bechtel, may have secretly recovered the remnant…
Love the way we Bitch
Off your chest and on the web / Too hot for the printed page.
Carded
Remember that episode of Friends where Selma Blair tried to get Chandler to cheat on Monica when he was stuck in Oklahoma or wherever the hell for the holidays — stop your lies, you know it as well as we do — and his company’s Christmas bonuses were donations made in every employee’s name to…
Main streets
While most bands are occupied with last-minute holiday shopping, on top of it all, the Danny Mainstreet Band will squeeze in a last-minute show December 23 at The Attic. Frontman Ben Hughes says the band is anxious to help Halifax relieve any holiday stress it may have. Just don’t expect Santa Claus. “I suppose if…
Altered space
Alteregos Cafe in the Halifax Backpackers Hostel at 2193 Gottingen has expanded its dining room to include one of the hostel’s former dorm rooms. The expansion happened two weeks ago after Alteregos closed its patio for the winter, but didn’t want to turn away all the people still stopping by for coffee or lunch. “It’s…
Machine green
Dear Bruce Wark, Having been active in Green politics for over 20 years, it is with a great sense of sadness that I agree with your editorial “Up for debate” (Dec 15). Under Jim Harris’s leadership, the Green Party has largely abandoned the Global Green Charter’s commitment to a sustainable environmental future based on non-violence,…
How does Wayne do it?
Dear Liz Feltham, We would love to heat your buns for your burgers but don’t have the equipment yet (“Like a rock,” Dec 15). We’ll get there. But keep in mind, you can always ask to have it heated, Wayne will. Also, we have a handful of customers who request home-cut fries, and as long…
Bench press
Dear everyone, We regret to inform you that the recently available position of NSCAD President has just been filled by The Bench Society. As of the abandonment of the school by the current president, Paul Greenhalgh, the role of president has been bestowed upon us, by each other, at an undisclosed location which was not…
FREE WIL ASTROLOGY
Raise your Laugh Quotient, Capricorn, says Rob Brezsny.
Draft pick
Jay Dahl doesn’t have many compliments when he talks about his home province. “I always wanted to make films,” he says. “I’m from northern Alberta, so that possibility just did not exist. There’s no such thing there as the arts, I guess.” Dahl isn’t someone who’d let that keep him from getting what he wants.…
Savage Love
My humiliating loss-of-virginity story is so incredibly unbelievable that it’s virtually an urban legend among my friends. But I swear that each and every word of this is true. When I was in high school I was awarded the opportunity to go on a foreign exchange to a lovely tropical paradise—ah, Brazil—for senior year. As…
Game face
Mayor Kelly’s latest ‘Christmas gift’ to HRM has stirred up heated debate between two keen political observers—Monica and Mike Bobbsey. The 26-year-old twins have sharply opposing views on the SuperCity’s successful Canadian bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. “Imagine blowing a million bucks just to compete for the friggin’ Games,” says Monica, referring to the…
Body language
Imagine this. You’re new to the country. You don’t speak English—at least, not much. And you’re sitting in the emergency room at the IWK, willing the words “knee” and “fracture” and “pain” to translate themselves into English. But this is South Street, not 34th Street, and there’s not a Christmas miracle in sight. So who…
THE LOWEDOWN
On a recent episode of NBC’s Fear Factor, contestants braved a dark tunnel filled, by turn, with sewage, rats, tarantulas and two walls of fire. Where, I wonder, was the eggnog? The holiday “treat” — eggs whipped with sugar and milk or cream (plus whatever abominable chemicals the commercial brands are laced with — what…
Invisible city
Launched earlier this year, a slim volume of short stories and poems by local writers (or ones with Halifax connections), aptly called To Find Us, hit two important marks. First, thanks to the book’s editor Sue MacLeod, HRM’s inaugural poet laureate, the book proves new writing happens in this city, about this city. Second, the…
Family plot
Relatives at holiday time are just like wasps at a picnic. All you want to do is enjoy yourself and maybe have a little bit of that Jell-O salad, and there they are. Buzzing annoyingly in your ear. Tracking every sweet morsel or tasty glass you bring to your lips. Threatening to sting as soon…
Wrapper’s delight
Click to download, print and wrap your christmas gifts in a custom wrapping paper by Ray Fenwick.
Wanting
The first time Molly sees a peacock, an expression comes to her: “I never forget a face.” Where the phrase comes from, she isn’t sure. Maybe it’s something her grandmother says. More likely, she’s lifted it from a lipstick commercial, or a movie about a stalker. Late movies on cable are usually about stalkers. It’s…
Turkey run
Grandma Pilsworth lived in a small, narrow two-storey semi-detached house on Concord Avenue—then, the heart of Toronto’s Little Italy. She had lived in the house for the better part of her life and had seen the working class neighbourhood’s ethnic mix change to reflect the federal government’s immigration policy of the day. The street character…
Punk politics
Since forming two years ago, hardcore punk group Raygunomics have become used to performing for a loyal all-ages following. Now that all four members are of legal age, they are facing the challenges associated with making the transition from dry to drinking establishments. “We’ve played shows for literally two and five people, and that never…
King Kong
Scale and spectacle are the two words most apt in describing the new King Kong. Peter Jackson’s three-hour remake is nothing if not big. It’s an impressive feat and — with generous frequency — a thrilling one. Yet it’s also this reach for monumental status that keeps it from greatness. Were the movie an hour…
Hit the Jim’s
Jim’s Pizza House has been an institution on the Bedford Highway for as long as I can remember. The long, narrow restaurant perches overlooking the rail tracks and the Bedford Basin. Forget trying to find a parking spot at 5pm, when all the early birds come out to eat. The front half of Jim’s, the…
Over easy
It’s funny how things you only do once a year can become routine. When I was growing up, Christmas morning was about stockings and presents and chocolate oranges—and my grandmother’s Christmas morning casserole. I looked forward to the casserole as much as I did all the rest of the proceedings, because we only ate it…
SAVAGE LOVE
Dan Savage presents a cavalcade of embarrasing first times.
