Morning Brew: May 5

As the Tyee reports, welfare rate raises have been deemed 'unreasonable,' and according to the government would turn BC into a welfare 'magnet.' Growing up in Cowtown, I'm reminded of Ralph Klein's 90s scheme to solve Alberta's unemployment: one-way bus tickets to BC.

Concerning those Beijing uniforms... just ignore the fact they were outsourced to China - they're made of bamboo and coconut! The plant has become a real darling of eco-marketing, but apparently bamboo ain't so 'green'. You might wanna re-evaluate the impact of those lululemon pants, as I know you don't need any more convincing on Beijing.

Sniper in Surrey goes on a shooting rampage... with a potato gun. Celebrating Year of the Potato Surrey-style?

Photo: gearing up to be the unofficial uniform of the 2010 Olympics?

Two points for all you fans of basic freedoms: taser safety is under further review both nationally and locally, while UBC doctors unanimously urged Stephen Harper to allow Insite to continue operations. Good to see.

I wonder if many people took part in both the Vancouver Marathon and the Million Marijuana March. I can definitely tell you which one of these was more "painful"...

Saturday was also Free Press Day, and on a related local note is The Vancouver Manifesto's recent post about VoterMedia and Fair Vote Canada, two online resources defending real democracy in Canada.

An interesting read from April's Harper's, now available online in full: Inside the Raw Milk Underground.

And finally, the age of consent in Canada gets raised from 14 to 16. For all you randy fifteen-year-olds, live vicariously through something thats far more beautiful than humans could ever be: slug sex. Seriously.

Photo courtesy of The Blackbird