Enbridge’s Line 2 **Line 67 tar sands** pipeline has leaked an estimated 600 gallons of crude oil at its pump station near Viking, Minnesota. Line 2 was built in 1956 and has a history of spills. Regulators ordered Enbridge to reduce its Line 2 operating pressure in October 2010 following the company’s
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Whipped -The Denial of Democratic and Effective Representation
Sean Holman Sean Holman of ‘Public Eye Online Fame’ has just released ‘Whipped’ which shines a much needed light on the dysfunctional practice of ‘Party Discipline.’ All parties practice it and from time to time elected officials push back as is being done in the Federal Conservative Party right now.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: English as the Official Language of the European Union?
There’s a move afoot to have English declared the common language of the European Union and it’s a German who is pushing the idea. Here The Guardian gives a pretty clear reason why a common language might be helpful when representatives of the constituent nations sit down to parlay. Money
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Are average Canadians paying too much in taxes?
On April 23, the Fraser Institute released the annual update of their misleading Consumer Tax Index report. The piece is meant to feed the anti-tax sentiment with numbers sprinkled liberally for their shock value instead of providing any meaningful analysis. Here are some of the main flaws with the report’s
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Americans Settling In to Reality of Terrorism
The American people might just be getting terrorism fatigue after more than a decade of efforts by their politicians and media to keep them in a heightened state of anxiety. How long can anyone do that and stay sane? What price has already been exacted of them by those who
Continue readingLisaKirbie.com: Harper government using taxpayer dollars to attack Trudeau – UPDATED
The Tories say that Justin Trudeau is in over his head but I think that the Harper government has lost its mind. As a Grit staffer for many years, I have produced and had distributed countless 10%ers and Householders in my early Hill career (ask any staffer what the least
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: It’s a "No Lose World" Once You Have Captured the Political Process
The Great Recession of 2008 devastated broad swathes of the population of the developed world. Foreclosures, unemployment, insolvency, homelessness, the gamut of economic misery. For most but not for all, not for some. A new report from the Pew Research Center finds that the first two years of the recovery
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: Canadian terror suspect: problem solved
Quote: “One of the two men accused of an al Qaeda-backed plan to derail a passenger train in Canada questioned the authority of Canadian law to judge him, telling a court on Wednesday that the criminal code is imperfect and is not a holy book. Chiheb Esseghaier, a Tunisian-born PhD
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: ‘Whipped’: New Doc Explores Secret World of Party Discipline
I’m pleased to announce that award-winning political journalist Sean Holman is premiering his new 40-min documentary Whipped in Vancouver and Victoria this week. I worked with Sean as the cinematographer for the project, so I’m not in a position to review the film. But I will say, humbly, that he’s
Continue readingThings Are Good: 10 MW Ocean Power Plant Planned for China
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) uses the difference in temperature at different water depths to produce energy, similar to how geothermal works. A green resort in China is going to be powered by the OTEC system and the companies involved in building the power plant are hoping that this will
Continue readingBlunt Objects Blog: PLQ leads in Quebec, Wildrosers lead in Alberta
Today is a double feature of polls from two corners of the country, one out in Alberta and the other in la belle province. The opposition in both provinces is leading the incumbent governments, mainly due to the pure ineptness of said incumbents. Starting off in Quebec, sondage CROP has
Continue readingArt Threat: Little girls are better at designing superheroes than you are
“Little girls are better at designing superhoroes than you are” is a part-time project of California based artist Alexandria Law. Of the project she says: “Kids are more impressionable than you, but kids can also be less restricted by cultural gender norms than you. Kids are more creative than you,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Carbon Bubble: Are We Exploring for Fossil Fuels We Won’t Need?
Despite an international agreement to reduce emissions from carbon-intensive sources, oil and coal companies continue to pour hundreds of billions of dollars a year into finding new fossil fuel deposits containing enough carbon to more than double global climate pollution emissions. This is the conclusion of a new report
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: How Do You Like Your Odds?
A decade ago, Britain’s Astronomer Royal, cosmologist Martin Rees, wrote “Our Final Hour, A Scientist’s Warning: How Terror, Error, and Environmental Disaster Threaten Humankind’s Future In This Century – On Earth and Beyond.” In it he makes compelling arguments that, with bio-terror and bio-error and similar man-made hazards that confront
Continue readingQueer-liberal: Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau fights back with ‘Channel Change’ TV ad
Canadians are fair people. They understand that 40-somethings just elected to new, massively challenging leadership roles need time to continue to grow and do their jobs. In response to Trudeau’s overwhelming popularity with Canadians, the fearful Conservatives under Stephen Harper launched TV attack ads last week trying to undercut that
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Calgary Politicians Paid Off By Developers to Vote The Right Way
Richard ‘Hub’ Hughes- Political Blogger Global TV has caught Calgary developer Cal Wenzel speaking to a large group of developers/builders with the goal of electing Councillors that will ‘Vote the Right Way. ‘Many were ‘bought and paid for’ but there were those from the dark side on Council that did not
Continue readingThe World Famous Dan Shields: 5908…War On Terror Is A War On You
Seriously. Last year, 2012, according to something I read in The New York Times, 17 people in the States died in terror attacks. 33,000 were shot to death. Prioritize. WFDS
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Liberals Respond Justin Time
When the Conservatives launched attack ads against Stephane Dion in January 2007, it took the Liberal Party three months to respond. Never again, they vowed. Next time we’ll fight back! Just Visiting first aired in May 2009, yet we didn’t see a rebuttal until Labour Day . So the first
Continue readingThe World Famous Dan Shields: 5907…Rob Ford Make This Happen
He is the mayor of Tronna. Man of the people. Leaf fan. Got this from K-Rock Kingston. Now that the Maple Leafs have clinched a playoff spot.. there is a petition going around to turn the CN Tower into a giant goal light!Want to sign the petition? do it here: https://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/turn-the-cn-tower-into-world-s-biggest-goal-light-for-the-leafs-playoffs
Continue readingLeDaro: Boston Marathon Violence
Since the Boston Marathon Violence I have been feeling very depressed. What kind of morons brainwashed these two brothers and what did they achieve? They killed three innocent people and wounded many others. The older brother is dead and the younger one is in serious condition; he will suffer a
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