In precisely two weeks I will have finished the semester and be in Maine - not just regular Maine, but the Fox News capitol of Maine. So between 17 and 30 December, if anyone would like to email me or post anything left-wing or Stephen Harper's newest ludicrous comment, that would be warmly welcomed.

Speaking of Harper, interesting news item from a few days ago...one of his election platforms is to roll back the GST. Apparently it's a brilliant campaign strategy. Economists are appalled: cutting down a consumption-based tax aparently is bad for the economy, instead they should apparently be lowering income taxes to encourage people to earn more. I'm ambivalent about this point (let it be known that I consider conventional economics to be pretty idiotic in general - I'm more of a Genuine Progress Index kind of girl), and in fact surprised that Harper would be intorducing such a seemingly left-wing measure. Regressive taxes like the GST hit lower-income earners harder than higher-income ones, as opposed to progressive taxes like income tax which is more equitable. However, the ecologist in mke is saying "NO! Don't make mindless consumption cheaper!" Anyway Dave mentioned something that I never thought of before: the opinion that resource-consuming goods should be taxed but services shouldn't. I think that would be a good happy medium for my sensibilities: lower the (regressive) tax on services, which don't inherently involve ripping resources out of the planet, and keep the tax on resource consumption. It's not perfect, obviously, but what is? Besides Better Pecan Tofutti, that is. MMMMM...

OK, papers to write now about Aboriginal political representation in Canada, and effective family planning provision worldwide.