When Europe sank into depression in the 1930s, politics polarized. The far right became more appealing to some, the far left to others. One reassured people by harking back to tribal values, the other by insisting nothing would do but to overthrow the system and start afresh. In hard times,
Continue readingAuthor: Bill Longstaff
"Lock and load" has a new meaning in Montana
The United States saw an increase of 30 per cent in suicides among middle-aged Americans from 1999 to 2010. More Americans now die from suicide than from automobile accidents with rates highest in the “suicide belt”—the eight mountain states and Alaska. In Montana, for example, 227 people died from suicide
Continue readingBob McDonald says "stand up for science"
On CBC News, Bob McDonald, Canada’s favourite science commentator, makes a plea for both basic science and for Monday’s “Stand Up for Science rallies.” He comments on our federal government’s unfortunate shift from basic science to applied science, in other words from the science government ought to be doing to
Continue readingDid Putin really write that?
I’ve always thought of Vladimir V. Putin as an amoral ex-KGB thug. And I still do. But I have to admit he wrote a rather progressive op-ed piece in the New York Times on Wednesday. Overlook a belittling of Syrians’ desire for democracy, a fudge about who used the poison
Continue readingQuebec Charter of Values not all bad
Every cloud has a silver lining, according to John Milton. That may be a bit too optimistic for most of us but it is, believe it or not, true of the Quebec Charter of Values proposed by the governing Parti Québécois. Most of the proposed charter is offensive or just
Continue readingSeptember 15th—International Day of Democracy
Attention, all you democrats, mark it on your calendars: the International Day of Democracy, Sunday, September 15th—as declared by the UN General Assembly in 2007 with resolution 62/7. Following the big day is Democracy Week, September 16-23. Elections Canada is inviting Canadians to participate in events and activities across the
Continue readingClimate change is ruining my tea
This is really too much. Hurricanes, floods, droughts, all aggravated by climate change, and now the cruelest blow of all—it’s ruining our tea. India produces one-third of the world’s tea with the state of Assam producing over half. Now increasing temperatures and diminishing rainfall are reducing Assam’s production and fouling
Continue readingApple and the exploitation of Chinese labour
I have been an Apple fan since I got my first computer—Mac all the way. I cringe, therefore, when I encounter articles about the company and its exploitation of Chinese labour. So I really didn’t need to read this morning that Apple’s new iphone is being produced under illegal and
Continue readingWill the tax man catch up to the corporate slackers?
Globalization as we have come to know and love it is misnamed. As it advantages corporations while disadvantaging workers and governments, it might more appropriately be called corporatization or some such thing. Among its sins, it allows corporations to escape the democratic confines of the nation state and it allows
Continue readingAustralia—a win for Tony Abbott (and Richard Murdoch)
By all accounts Tony Abbott waged a highly effective campaign in leading his Liberal (conservative) Party to victory in the Australian election on Saturday. And it didn’t hurt that he faced a Labour Party splintered by internal bickering. But the biggest boost of all may very well have been the
Continue readingIs Obama forgetting that many Syrians support Assad?
As humanitarian concern over the Syrian tragedy transforms into a call for war, I wonder if we in the West—and most importantly President Obama—aren’t forgetting that many Syrians support Bashar al-Assad. The last poll I could find (January 2012) showed that 55 per cent do not want him to resign.
Continue readingOdds against Obama
Lay your bets, ladies and gentlemen. Will President Obama get the support he wants from Congress for an attack against Syria, or will he suffer an historic and humiliating defeat? At the moment the odds are long against him. Various news organizations contacting members of Congress report that the nays
Continue readingSanctions—deadlier than war?
Most Canadians, I suspect, don’t pay much attention to the use of sanctions in international politics. War, yes—people being shot, bombed, and apparently even gassed is hard to ignore—but sanctions are complicated and largely invisible, easy to tune out. Most people’s reaction is simply, “They’re a lot better than war,
Continue readingAt least the provinces (well, two of them) care about climate change
In a good news item, the governments of Ontario and Manitoba announced they will maintain the internationally renowned Experiment Lakes Area project. Ontario has committed $2-million a year and Manitoba another $900,000 over six years through its funding of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). The IISD, a Winnipeg-based
Continue readingHow will the West react when the Sauds turn on their people?
Various Western nations, including Great Britain, the U.S. and France, are exhibiting great outrage against Syria’s assaults on its own people. And outrage is indeed called for. Yet there is no small measure of hypocrisy about the West’s righteous anger. Another dictatorship in the Middle East, the misogynous Saud family
Continue readingTory MPs defy government
No, the above headline most certainly does not refer to Canadian Tory MPs. In the recent vote in the British House of Commons on Prime Minister David Cameron’s motion to initiate military action against Syria, all attention was focused on the defeat of the motion. And rightly so—the vote was
Continue readingTar sands ain’t funny, says Travel Alberta
Travel Alberta was begging for it. Its latest ads, featuring the many attractions of the province, are really quite nice. But then they end with the extraordinary phrase, “Remember to breathe.” Remember to breathe. How could any satirist resist a phrase like that coming from tar sands Alberta, the country’s
Continue readingRaising taxes on credit unions is a retrograde step
Prior to 1972, Canadian credit unions were exempt from all income and capital taxes. In many countries, including the United States, they remain tax exempt at both the state and federal levels. The justification is their non-profit nature. In 1972, credit unions were brought into the tax syatem, paying the
Continue readingInequality of Canadian justice bothers Bar
I recently read the Canadian Bar Association report Reaching Equal Justice (I ran out of mysteries) and was surprised at the strength of the language. A sampling of the phrases describing justice in Canada today includes, “abysmal state of access to justice” and “huge discrepancies between the promise of justice
Continue readingWill India defeat malnutrition?
India has a lot of a lot of things, including hungry people. It has the world’s second largest population and the world’s second highest percentage of malnourished children. It also has the world’s largest food distribution system. Unfortunately the system has been largely ineffective, riddled as it is with incompetence
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