Ish Theilheimer

Ish Theilheimer is founder and president of Straight Goods News and has been Publisher of the leading, and oldest, independent Canadian online newsmagazine, StraightGoods.ca, since September 1999. He is also Managing Editor of PublicValues.ca. He lives wth his wife Kathy in Golden Lake, ON, in the Ottawa Valley.

eMail: ish@straightgoods.com

AAA – Posting procedures and timelines

Jan 212013

Uncategorized

Straight Goods News production tasks and timelines, January 2013

Newsblog, Hill Reports and the Video Gallery are updated daily or as often as
possible. Ish edits all these sections except Newsblog, which he co-edits with
Penney.

All other sections are edited by Penney, who posts new editions on Monday and
Thursday evenings for publication on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Penney needs PublicValues pieces in hand by 11 a.m., MT on Mondays and
Thursdays. At this point, they need to be fully edited with headlines and
Featured Images.

Ish should submit editorials by 3 p.m. ET ( 1 p.m. MT).

Penney will submit a list of image requests to Kenzie by 2:30 p.m. MT for
placement by 4:30 p.m. MT.

Penney will submit RPS recommendations to Dylan by 7 p.m. MT.

Dylan will change the RPS by 8 p.m. ET, by which time all new pieces will be Published.

Images. With RSS-email, we would benefit from having all stories include Featured Images, which will appear in email bulletins. In many cases, the images could be the authors. This is a something we'll have to discuss, but I have always wanted our new site to have images connected with all articles. RSS-email is another reason to have them. Can we assign Kenzie to this? – Ish

Proofing schedule: ????

(Please note there are volunteers who have offered to help proof).

Until the RSS-email utility is in place, Dylan will hand-compose the bulletin,
usually by 8 p.m. ET the night before publication. Once RSS-email is working,
with will automatically send out notification of new articles to readers on
Tuesdays and Fridays, or possibly more often if they choose to be so informed.

Jobless youth behind social discontent

Jan 142013

Editorials

Poor job prospects fuel Idle No More, other recent protests.

by Ish Theilheimer

The Idle No More movement has focused the attention of Canadians on the miserable second- or third-class status of Aboriginal Canadians and their intense and justifiable unhappiness with the status quo. At the same time, most coverage has overlooked one of the obvious underlying causes of discontent: youth unemployment.

2013 resembles Life of Pi

Jan 072013

Editorials

We all live in peril, surrounded by monsters of ignorance and ideology.

by Ish Theilheimer

The Life of Pi — the Canadian bestselling novel turned 3-D movie smash — offers a preview of what 2013 offers. Narrator Pi Patel is a smart and interpid shipwreck survivor who tells an incredible but strangely plausible story of coexisting for months at sea, in a lifeboat also occupied by a Bengal tiger.

A lot of us feel like Pi right about now. We know we're living with wild forces ready to eat us alive. We're going to have to be as clever as Pi says he was to survive.

Marooned in a blizzard of lies over F-35 fiasco

Dec 172012

Editorials

Harperites have a chance to do something right, despite themselves.

by Ish Theilheimer

The long night of the Harper majority has many depths and few heights. Among the monsters of the deep, in the closing week of Parliament before its six-week break, the Conservatives rammed through anti-union legislation (C-377). The week before, they passed an omnibus budget implementation bill that threw in far-reaching changes to the environmental protetion of navigable waters.

NL and SK set to index minimum wage

Dec 102012

Editorials

Give BC a Raise -- Raised fist on streamer background

Union activists find ways to refute right wing scare stories.

by Ish Theilheimer

Union activists in Saskatchewan and Newfoundland have won something that will benefit all workers — recommendations from legislative committees to index provincial minimum wages, so they increase, every year, with living costs. Now, they are preparing for a tsunami of opposition from right-wing pressure groups.

Ontario teachers poised to strike

Dec 032012

Editorials

Leaderless Liberals stuck with results of contract-breaking Bill 115.

by Ish Theilheimer

Public school teachers and education workers in Ontario are headed for an explosive showdown with the provincial government, talking strike for the first time since the Mike Harris 1990s. The Liberal government, or at least what's left of it, is talking tough — despite having built its image on suppport for public education and teachers. Are you confused yet? You're not alone.

Maher Arar views national security through Prism

Nov 262012

Features

Maher Arar founded the online magazine prism due to his frustration with the mainstream media.

Canada's most famous Syrian challenges lawless intelligence agencies.

by Ish Theilheimer, with transcription by Ruth Cooper

Maher Arar, Canada's most famous Syrian, is using the fame he never wanted to hold the national security establishment accountable. His story of illegal rendition from the USA to Syria in September, 2002 — followed by repeated torture while being held in a tiny, squalid cell for almost a year — became a symbol of rights abuse in the name of national security.

Finally released, thanks mostly to the relentless efforts of his wife, Monia Mazigh, he was quickly exonerated. Syria declared him "completely innocent." Canada also cleared his name, and Stephen Harper formally apologized for Canada's role in the extradition.

Defending robocalls: mendacity marches on

Nov 262012

Editorials

Why are there no protests outside Elections Canada?

by Ish Theilheimer

Never mind riots, Canadians have yet to witness so much as a polite protest against election fraud at the downtown Ottawa offices of Elections Canada and anyone who cares about democracy in Canada must wonder why not.

Getting a handle on the latest Israel-Gaza conflict

Nov 192012

Editorials

Context shows negotiation, not bombardment, only way to peace.

by Ish Theilheimer

Many Canadian progressives (like me) are confused about the Middle East — like the current exchange of missiles between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza. News accounts vary wildly, according to the tilt of the news organization. Major media in Canada tend to be pro-Israel, while the biases of other international sources are difficult to discern. And, frankly, language complicates keeping track of all the strange names, place names and complex histories involved in every story.

Private member’s bill attacks unions, middle class incomes

Nov 122012

Editorials

Terrance Oakey testifies to the Finance Committee

C-377 has PMO support in effort to drive down wages and bulldoze unions.

by Ish Theilheimer

The Harper government is planning a sneak attack on unions that could drive down wages for all Canadians and undermine the Canadian middle class — yet the news has gone mostly unreported in mainstream media, with rare exceptions like Global News.

Bill C-377 is a private member's bill introduced by Conservative MP Russ Hiebert (South SurreyWhite RockCloverdale) that claims it will make unions more accountable, even though most unions already provide financial reports to their members frequently.

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