[LINK] "NDP aims to translate federal breakthrough into provincial wins"

If the NDP are successful in this, as the Globe and Mail's Ian Bailey notes, this could cement the NDP's position as the second party.

Federal NDP insiders, giddy over their new 103-member caucus, think they have a winning strategy to share – and many provincial and territorial New Democrats facing elections this year agree.

For that reason, the party’s weekend biennial convention in Vancouver is not just a celebration of the party’s 50th anniversary, but also a classroom for some New Democrats from across Canada.

“Everybody is here to learn a bit and to adjust to fit their own province,” Moe Sihota, president of the B.C. New Democratic Party, said Saturday during a break in the proceedings.

At least seven elections are expected this year in such provinces as Ontario, Newfoundland and British Columbia, where federal New Democrats picked up an extra three seats in the province in the federal vote.

[. . .]

Successful provincial and territorial NDP parties are in the interest of the federal party, says Brad Lavigne, the party’s national director.

It’s also a more immediate issue for the party, which is four years away from a federal election that will test the party’s drive to become Canada’s next government.

In an election workshop for delegates, Mr. Lavigne ran over increases in the popular vote for federal New Democrats on a province-by-province basis.

“We have got to harness this, and make sure we translate the support we got on May 2 in the federal election into support for our provincial elections,” he said in an interview.

“One of the best ways we can cement the support that we gained is by ensuring that we get it for the provincial elections coming up.”

While he said there are distinctions between federal and provincial campaigning, there are common areas where ideas can be shared, he said.

That said, he conceded that not every NDP provincial party is in within sight of government, and the calculation varies across Canada.

“We measure the success based on where we start,” he said.

[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto teams ranked poorly by ESPN"

And people wonder why Torontonian are losing their interest? Or, at least, becoming more pathetic in their devotion?

Toronto's sports teams are scoring low points both on and off their respective playing surfaces, according to ESPN The Magazine's Ultimate Standings.

In the ninth annual list of rankings published by the U.S.-based magazine, the sports broadcast giant listed Toronto's sports teams among the bottom in some eight categories including bang for the buck, fan relations, affordability, stadium experience, and overall franchise performance.

The categories, ESPN said, were based on what fans want from their teams.

Of the 122 North American pro sports teams, Toronto's top teams ranked among the lowest, with the Maple Leafs placing 120th, the Raptors placing 116th, and the Blue Jays placing 63rd.

Significantly outscoring the Toronto Teams were the Super Bowl-winning Green Bay Packers (1) and the National Hockey League's Tampa Bay Lightning (2).

The Toronto Maple Leafs, one of the most lucrative sports franchises in the world, placed 22nd in the 30-team NHL this year with 85 points, while the NBA's Raptors, also owned by Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, placed 27th in the league out of 30 teams.

Aside from the CFL's Toronto Argonauts' Grey Cup triumphs in 1996, '97 and 2004, Toronto sports fans haven't seen championship glory since baseball's Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and '93.

Brian Burke, the president and general manager of the Maple Leafs, called the rankings "absurd."

"I don't pay any attention to stuff like that. I don't think ESPN knows a whole hell of a lot about hockey, and I certainly don't watch them to learn anything about hockey," he told reporters.

"You're talking about one of the great sports towns in the world, in my opinion. No one complained about this as a sports market when the Blue Jays won two World Series titles."

That was two decades ago.

[LINK] "Lady Gaga and Slavoj Zizek?"

Oh, if only this story was true.

On Tuesday, the news that leftist philosopher Slavoj Žižek had been fraternizing with pop culture queen Lady Gaga was too tempting not to post here. However, as the report was in the N.Y. Post, we did so with a big question mark and caution to consider the source.

Alas, the story was almost certainly untrue. In the Air, the online gossip column from Art+Auction, points out the N.Y. Post's source for its story about Lady Gaga and Slavoj Žižek seemed to be a blog post from March. The careful readers note that the blog post, which purports to be written by Žižek, was probably not written by him at all. In the Air explains:

[t]he Post appears to reference “Zizek/Gaga: Communism Knows No Monster,” a text posted on the site waaaay back in March that purports to be by Slavoj Zizek, in which the philosopher, who often uses examples from pop culture to illustrate various counter-intuitive points, refers to “my good friend Lady Gaga’s theoretical contributions.”

To anyone familiar with Zizek’s work, the post is pretty transparently fake (the anarchist politics implied in it are out of line with Zizek’s particular brand of Marxism, he quotes feminist-vegan philosophers rather than his usual Hegel and Lacan, and it’s not really very funny, to boot).

The source of the pseudo-Žižek post (or, perhaps, satirical-Žižek or hoax-ing-Žižek) -- was Deterritorial Support Grouppppp, which hopes "to offer analysis and propaganda from an ultra-leftist perspective," among other anti-authoritarian goals.

[URBAN NOTE] "Ford to skip Pride parade, critics say it sends the wrong message"

No one is particularly surprised by this. Mayor Ford had, before his ascension, an unpleasant record in this regard, as in many things.

Facing blistering criticism of Mayor Rob Ford for choosing his cottage over marching in the landmark Pride parade, his brother Councillor Doug Ford says they might both be at the event.

“I’m possibly going to try to make it back for Sunday,” July 3, when hundreds of thousands of revelers will march to in the celebration of equality and gay rights, Doug Ford said Wednesday.

“We have 20-odd people going up to our cottage for Canada Day but, if I can make it back I will, and we’ll see if I can bring Rob.”

The councillor noted he handed out rainbow stickers at last year’s parade, as part of his brother’s election campaign, “and had a really good time.”

On Wednesday morning, at a Board of Trade event, Ford was asked by a Star reporter if he plans to attend the signature Pride event attended by his predecessors David Miller, Mel Lastman and Barbara Hall.

“I’m going up north, no. I’ll be up at the cottage,” Ford replied, adding it’s a long-standing Canada Day tradition for the Ford family.

[. . .]

Parades attended by Ford since his election last Oct. 25 include two Santa Claus parades, St. Patrick’s Day, the Beaches Easter event and the Good Friday procession in Little Italy.

[. . .]

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, who has held out olive branches to Ford from the gay community since she was elected last October, and offered to host a Pride event for him, said the mayor is making “a grave mistake”

“It sends the wrong message to the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) community. He has a ways to go to making amends,” said Wong-Tam (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale)

[. . .]

“Unless the mayor is incredibly busy for those 10 solid days, and can’t spare a single minute for the LGBT community, we’re all going to draw our own conclusions.”

Doug Ford called allegations that his brother is homophobic “nonsense”, noting he has friends who are gay.

The consensus of the tweets selected by blogTO seems to be that if he's uncomfortable he may as well not go and save everyone the effort.