Try reading "'Myriad Little Connections': Minoritarian Movements in the Postmodernism Debate" for more than five minutes. No, seriously, try - I double dog dare you:

In many of the most influential interrogations of postmodernism, one can discern the promise of unprecedented participation for everyone on a global terrain without frontiers. It is a promise, however, on which the canonical texts of the debate ultimately fail to deliver. An analysis of these texts shows them following a binary scheme of political analysis that is still with us today and which it is our challenge now to leave behind: fragmentation versus unification. Minoritarian movements are seen as non-communicating fragments in need of unification by an avant-garde hegemonic force. In our post-hegemonic world, this model locks minoritarian movements into a false dilemma and fails to acknowledge their fertile interaction. In search of a "new" model that acknowledges both the distinctness and unceasing interaction of minoritarian movements, I propose a return to Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus... [read more]

I knew that you could. This delightful snippit of complete and utter fucking confusion was brought to you in part by Political Theory Daily, the letter F and the square root of -1.

'Support our troops' indeed

If I didn't know better, I'd think that The Star had stolen Jack Granatstein away from the right-wing papers write this gem of an unsigned editorial, which demands public consultations on defense policy and laments (among other things) the decline, in real dollars, of military spending in Canada since the Cold War. Silly us for buying into the rhetoric of the "peace dividend" that was supposed to come after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Sillier still to expect that the Star would stay on the 'no' side of the Star Wars debate - they're now on board, it seems:

At the same time, the Canadian Forces must be sufficiently "robust" to comfort our American allies... Ottawa is also looking, rightly, to expand Canada/U.S. air defense co-operation to include the navy and cross-border assistance. And to join the U.S. missile defense system.

The piece goes on to suggest that Martin could "spend more" and "spend smart" by simultaneously laying down the cash for massive weapons system purchases with the money saved by "making better use of the cost-efficient reserves."

Sounds much more like the Conservatives last federal election platform than a Toronto Star editorial, eh? It almost defies logic... almost. Take a look at your calendars, folks: Remembrance Day is barely a week and a half away. The mint has given us a new (albeit strange and multi-coloured) coin for the occasion, so we might as well dream up new, military-themed ways to spend 'em right?

Ok, maybe I'm just a Marxist labour nut, but this sort of debate often boils down to the systematic devaluing of human capital in favour of physical capital. Wouldn't the memory of fallen and surviving soldiers be better served by emphasizing the contributions of today's soldiers, sailors, and aviators instead of pushing techno-mechanical boondoggles-to-be to the top of the agenda?

Their pay sucks, their morale sucks, and our attitude towards them sucks. If I were a full-time, professional soldier I'd be less than pleased to see newspapers sucker-punch DND staffers with both the too-easy "bureaucrat" label and the suggestion that they ought to be replaced by cheaper reserves to free up resources for the space-based missile defense widgets that top Washington's agenda instead of more modest equipment that's appropriate to the missions Canadians prefer and to which our military is accustomed.

• NA's first smart car showroom opens, in Toronto (yes, I still want one of 'em and no, I'm still not sure why)
  
• What is Crime, anyways? The Law Commission of Canada has some ideas [via PolTheoryDaily]

• WSJ waxes nostalgic for campaign buttons [via PolTheory]

The demise of another grand narrative: forget post-modern, what of being Post-Derrida? RIP!

• Speech from the Throne to open the First Session of the Thirty-Eighth Parliament of Canada (Canada Corps, you say? I seem to remember hearing that last time)
• This just in: Kerry, a Catholic, is more Catholic than Bush, who is not; but voting Kerry is a sin [from NCR, via Political Theory Daily Review]
  
• A critique of post-Hegelian philosophy... from Jon Stewart? [so sayeth The Chronicle of Higher Education, again via Pol Theory]
  
• Red | blue (that's "red or blue" for the non-nerdy), residing on your cell phone or PDA, can calculate the relative Democratish:Republicanoid quality of your location based on a political donation database [via Wonkette]

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the newest Puisne Judges of the Supreme Court of Canada: The Honourable Madam Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella, and The Honourable Madam Justice Louise Charron. Indeed:

For those of your keeping score at home, the Court is now 44.44% female, 55.55% male. Except in the unlikely event that it is someday enlarged, and barring the appointment or a hermaphrodite, we're now literally as close as possible to complete gender parity.

From the Toronto Star:

"No other court, anywhere in the world, to my knowledge, has come so far in giving women a voice in its deliberations," said [Chief Justice Beverly] McLachlin. [read more]

Ok, yeah, that was a pretty heavily qualified statement -- but, to my knowledge, she's got a point there.

Post-binge purge of miscellany and linkage

• AmericanApparel, self-proclaimed 'T-Shirt Kibbutz', takes CAD for USD at par in its online store [good shirts + good discount + fair pay = double good wearables; check this and this]
  
• Street memes thinks "a sticker, stencil, or poster [can] spread a single image around the world" [like so]
  
• Photos from the NYC RNC 'Pier 57' pen/jail/whatever [at Gothamist]
  
• HOW-TO: Upgrade your organic dog [at Engadget]