A new survey indicates that Canadians are increasingly acknowledging the reality of climate change while recognizing that we are the culprit. An Insightrix Research, Inc. poll reported that 98 per cent of us believe climate change is occurring with 86 per cent believing that human activity is at least partly
Continue readingAuthor: Bill Longstaff
Are the feds backing off Northern Gateway?
The federal government has, up until very recently, been a major cheerleader for the Northern Gateway pipeline project. After all, the pipeline is intended to carry Mr. Harper’s favourite energy source—Alberta bitumen—to offshore markets. The government has proclaimed the economic benefits of the pipeline, castigated its critics as foreign-funded radicals
Continue readingMexicans solving U.S. immigraton dilemma
Mexican immigration has been a hot political issue in the U.S. for some time resulting in, among other unpleasant phenomena, Arizona’s controversial Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act which was fought all the way up to the Supreme Court with mixed success. Now it seems the immigrants are
Continue readingFrance embraces Robin Hood tax
On August 1st, France introduced its long-promised Financial Transactions Tax (FTT). Popularly referred to as a Robin Hood Tax, or Tobin Tax, the 0.2 per cent levy will apply to sales of publicly traded shares, including credit default swaps, of businesses with a market value of over €1-billion. Ten other
Continue readingDrought, ethanol and the looming food crisis
That the drought in the U.S. will cause a rise in food prices is hardly news. However, scientists at the New England Complex Systems Institute are warning that the potential for a price spike has already been created by “misguided food-to-ethanol conversion programs and rampant commodity speculation.” The drought will
Continue readingUnintended consequences—Bangladesh suffers from Iran sanctions
The Bangladeshis are entirely innocent of any real or imagined transgressions on the part of Iran, yet they are being punished nonetheless. Their sin is a heavy reliance on the jute crop. Jute is a major industry in Bangladesh, worth a billion dollars in exports, mainly to Iran. Forty million
Continue readingIs Omar Khadr an untermensch?
I have thought long and hard on why so many Canadians hold such a callous attitude toward Omar Khadr. Here is a young man who has spent his whole life as a pawn of others. Indoctrinated in an extremist philosophy throughout his childhood; sent to serve jihadists in Afghanistan when
Continue readingThe Tea Party outperforms the Occupy Movement
The financial and economic collapse of 2008 in the United States precipitated two “revolutionary” movements: one on the right, the Tea Party, and one on the left, the Occupy Movement. If we now ask what each has accomplished, the answers are straightforward: the Tea Party a great deal, the Occupy
Continue readingThe revolution and the reality—why Egypt elected Islamists
No small amount of surprise was generated by the recent elections in Egypt when Islamist parties swept the parliamentary elections and the Muslim Brotherhood candidate won the presidential election. Coming after a revolution conducted by progressive elements, convincing victories for Islamists was unexpected. But it shouldn’t have been. The revolutionaries
Continue readingThe amusing story of JPMorgan Chase
Reading about the latest foibles of JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States, one cannot help but chuckle. CEO Jamie Dimon initially reported a trading blunder had cost the bank a mere $2-billion and dismissed concerns as a “tempest in a teapot.” He now admits the tempest may
Continue readingCall for international solidarity with Canadian scientists
As the federal government’s assault on science encounters increased resistance from Canadian scientists, the international community increasingly takes notice. In a recent column in The Guardian, science writer Alice Bell suggests that our scientists deserve international support, saying “We can’t pretend Canadian science is simply a Canadian matter any more
Continue readingAustralia’s Girl Guides drop the Queen … and God
Having posted recently about an attempt to purge swearing allegiance to the Queen from the Canadian Oath of Citizenship, I couldn’t help but notice an article in The Guardian about Australia’s Girl Guides dropping reference to Her Majesty in their pledge, or “promise” as it is properly called. The Guides
Continue readingFukushima—Japan’s remarkable mea culpa
There are mea culpas and there are mea culpas. The report by an independent commission on the nuclear disaster at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant is a dandy. In the preface to the report the commission chairman, Kiyoshi Kurokawa, a medical doctor and professor emeritus at Tokyo University, laid it on
Continue readingRoach vs. the Queen
“I affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen.” Just kidding. Of course I don’t. This is,
Continue readingAustralia’s Dutch disease
Canada is not alone in suffering from the insidious Dutch disease. Australia, too, is feeling the pain. Whereas Canada’s version is caused by booming tar sands production, Australia’s is caused by booming iron and coal production. The resources industry is credited in part for keeping Australia out of recession and
Continue readingNo more pecker snipping in Germany
With a ruling that circumcising boys constitutes grievous bodily harm, a German court has effectively outlawed the practice in that country. The case was brought against a doctor in Cologne who circumcised a four-year-old Muslim boy on his parents’ wishes. When, a few days after the operation, the boy was
Continue readingThe windmill next door
As a citizen of Alberta, Canada’s oil province and the birthplace of wind energy in Canada, I have perhaps less innate concern about windmills than citizens from other provinces. Indeed, the first time I walked up to a windmill, I was favourably impressed. Although I found its size somewhat intimidating,
Continue readingDrunk driving a capital offense?
If you think that Alberta’s new drunk driving laws are tough, consider Iran. Two Iranians, their names not released by authorities, have been sentenced to death for persistent consumption of alcohol. Not that they weren’t warned. They had been convicted twice before and subjected to 160 lashes each time, but
Continue readingJimmy Carter, drone attacks and moral authority
Jimmy Carter was, in the opinion of this non-American, one of the better presidents the United States has had in recent history. Americans didn’t agree of course, and dumped him after one term, but his record speaks in his favour. And nowhere, does it speak more eloquently than on the
Continue readingScientists warn, politicians ignore
The Global Network of Science Academies, representing 105 science academies around the world, issued a press release last week highlighting what they referred to as “two of the most profound challenges to humanity—population and consumption,” and went on to call for “urgent and coordinated international action to address them.” They
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