Although Canadians have traditionally regarded themselves as champions of the underclass, that image is challenged in yesterday’s Toronto Star column by Linda McQuaig as she examines how the Candian Government’s support of multi-national corporations i…
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Politics and its Discontents: Cost-Saving Innovations in Policing
Dismayed as I may be over the sometimes heavy-handed actions of police, I would never suggest that the necessary role they play in society is exaggerated. Nonetheless, there appear to be ways of providing service that help to reduce overall costs witho…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Cell Phone Use and Cancer
Having just completed Disconnect, a book by epidemiologist Devra Davis showing the relationship between cell phone use and cancer, I was heartened to read that the Who has just released a statement that cell phones may in fact be carcinogenic. Although…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Star Editorial Recommendation
I really have nothing new to add to the continuing saga of the Toronto Police Service’s obstruction of efforts to get at the ugly truth behind the G20 security debacle. However, today’s Star editorial does a good job of explaining why a complete and u…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Mark Pugash and the G20 Police Scandal
Mark Pugash is certainly earning his salary these days. The vexing and pugnacious Director of Corporate Communications for the Toronto Police has been loyally but, in my view, futilely acting as a human shield for Chief Bill Blair, the leader mysteriou…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The G20, The Toronto Police and The Art of Critical Thinking
For those who might wish to sharpen their critical thinking skills, I am providing a link to an article in today’s Star that provides a timeline of the investigation into Dorian Barton’s abuse at the hands of Toronto police during last June’s G20 Summi…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Redoubtable Rick Salutin
Never one to allow either his ethnicity or his political beliefs to overshadow his intellect, Rick Salutin in today’s Star has an article of interest to anyone who feels uncomfortable with Stephen Harper’s unconditional support of Israel. As well, for …
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Journalism You Can Sink Your Teeth Into
For those who think all journalists have lost their bite, I suggest they read Rosie DiManno’s column today as she writes disdainfully of the Toronto Police Force and its consistent failure to track down officers who abused citizens during the G20. Mak…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Couple of Video Reminders of Abuse and Duplicity By Police During G20 Summit
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Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: And The Two Chief Culprits Remain silent
Today’s story in The Toronto Star shows how the search for the identity of the officer who allegedly beat Dorian Barton is reaching absurdist levels.
Yet despite the increasing evidence of flagrant police obstructionism, Toronto Chief Bill Blair and P…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Despite Police and SIU Obstruction, G20 Lawsuit Moving Ahead
I have already written extensively about the G20 police abuses of our Charter Rights and have cited the McGuinty Government’s collusion in those abuses as the main reason I cannot vote for the Ontario Liberals in October. However, a story in today’s S…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Lawrence Martin on the Shortcomings of the Press
Lawrence martin, in a piece called Has the fourth estate lost its tenacity? wonders whether it is the failure to offer much followup on stories of abuse of authority, dirty tactics, etc. that might explain why none of the wrongdoing on the part of the …
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Harper Collins and E-book Ripoffs
While I have not yet succumbed to the allure of the e-book, I was shocked to learn that the publisher Harper-Collins has decreed that libraries can only lend out their books 26 times before having to once more pay full rights to the company. A small A…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: American Sweatshops
Since I started subscribing to the Toronto Star, one of the big difference I’ve noticed from the Globe’s business section is its emphasis on the human, as opposed to the corporate dimensions of companies. Today is a good example as David Olive looks a…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Stephen Harper, John Steward, and Asbestos
An online article in today’s Globe and Mail, written by Gerald Caplan, explores how the Harper government’s retrograde policies have made Canada something of an international pariah. Especially interesting is how the export of asbestos was recently ske…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Guerrilla Tactics, Civil Disobedience, And The Census
Given the ideological reasons behind the Harper government’s decision to eliminate mandatory completion of the long-form census, all rational objections to the move having been summarily and imperiously dismissed, many Canadians regard the 2011 Census …
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: And They Did This BEFORE They Got Their Majority
Probably to the surprise of few who have tracked their anti-democratic and anti-transparency propensities, last month the Harper regime terminated The Coordination of Access to Information Requests System, or CAIRS, an electronic list of nearly every …
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Maude Barlow on the Election
While I have been having a bit of a difficult time recovering from the double blows of the Harper majority and the apparent apathy of 40% of my fellow Canadians in their failure to vote in last Monday’s election, I took some comfort in reading Maude Ba…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Rick Salutin on the NDP Surge
Always an original thinker, Rick Salutin offers a very interesting explanation for the record number of NDP candidates elected last Monday.Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Pension Reform’s Opponents
Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti has written a good article entitled Canadians betrayed on cpp reform that discusses the need for reform to the Canadian Pension Plan and how efforts by the financial industry have convinced the Conservat…
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