Piper Super Cub threatens Otawa Labour Day weekend, RCMP arrested the pilot of a Piper Supercub flying near the Gatineau Quebec Hot Air Balloon Festival. Not because Gian Piero Ciambella was in restricted airspace or violating laws of aviation. RCMP grounded him for displaying a banner they construed as hate
Continue readingAuthor: Norman Farrell
Blogging regularly since April 2009 on public affairs with focus on BC politics, journalism, the environment and ethical matters in the public arena.
Northern Insight: Serving the real masters
“Royal Dutch Shell PLC has begun construction on a $950-million project to capture and bury greenhouse gas emissions, the first of its kind to sequester carbon from Canada’s oil sands. The project is largely funded by government …” So, under rules of our current corporatocracy, private enterprise is welcome to
Continue readingNorthern Insight: In sheep’s clothing
Bob Mackin has an interesting piece in The Tyee about a newspaper tycoon and BC Liberal abettor. David Black’s bluster was about about oil refining but the part of Mackin’s story that caught my eye involved one-time Province newspaper publisher Paddy Sherman. In 1958, Sherman was both a news reporter
Continue readingNorthern Insight: A little update on the homefront
Ten days ago, comment writer Lew related his renovation experience, saying, “I was seriously considering a special alteration to the original plans that would effectively conceal the body of a certain municipal building inspector…” Are there any missing inspectors? I presume Lew was kidding. You were Lew, weren’t you? So
Continue readingNorthern Insight: The blogger has not disappeared…
He’s at home, under a pile of rubble. The dreck and detritus will have but a fugacious claim on the writer’s attention.
Continue readingNorthern Insight: One reason why the rich stay that way
Harry Reid: Bain Investor Told Me That Mitt Romney ‘Didn’t Pay Any Taxes For 10 Years’, Huffington Post, July 31, 2012 WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has what he says is an informed explanation for why Mitt Romney refuses to release additional tax returns. According a Bain
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Liars believe their own lies
Corporation That Paid Nothing In Taxes For Four Years Tells Congress It Pays Too Much In Taxes, Think Progress, July 20, 2012 “Over a four years period from 2008 to 2011, Corning Inc. was one of 26 companies that managed to avoid paying any American income taxes, even though it
Continue readingNorthern Insight: And I’m making stuffed sole for dinner
Regular readers will know that I’m involved in a home renovation project, one that is just beginning. Presently, the 20 foot shipping container in the driveway is being filled with our stuff. George Carlin knew about stuff. He said, “If you didn’t have so much god damned stuff, you wouldn’t
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Fascinating reads about sports and human behaviour
In Honor of the Olympics, the Best Investigative Reporting on Sports, by Cora Currier and Suevon Lee, ProPublica, July 27, 2012 “The 30th Summer Olympics officially opened today in London. In honor of the Games, we’ve rounded up some great sports muckreads, from college sports to racetracks…”
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Pit stop
Posting will be somewhat irregular during the summer as my attention is diverted to a renovation project at home. We haven’t even begun and we’re already over budget and behind schedule. The unhappy reality is that a choice made to resolve one issue typically results in new issues arising –
Continue readingNorthern Insight: A bubble of dference and flattery
Pathos of the Plutocrat, Paul Krugman, New York Times, July 19, 2012 “…Mr. Obama always bends over backward to declare his support for free enterprise and his belief that getting rich is perfectly fine. All that he has done is to suggest that sometimes businesses behave badly, and that this
Continue readingNorthern Insight: The way a 3-year old cleans spilled milk
The Cost of an Oil Spill in Burrard Inlet: $40 Billion…For Starters, Rex Weyler, The Common Sense Canadian, May 2012 “But let’s keep in mind: “There is no such thing as “cleaning up” an oil spill. Most “clean ups” get about 10 percent of the oil spilled, like the way
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Unwelcome hero of working people
In the preceding article It is an old and cruel tactic, a reader’s comment referenced long dead miner Albert ‘Ginger’ Goodwin. Today, few young adults know this icon of trade unionism but he deserves a more prominent place in the history of our province. Goodwin had been targeted in 1918,
Continue readingNorthern Insight: It is an old and cruel tactic
The Battle of Blair Mountain, Chris Hedges, Truthdig “…Reduce wages and benefits to subsistence level. Break unions. Gut social assistance programs. Buy and sell elected officials and judges. Fill the airwaves with mindless diversion and corporate propaganda. Pay off the press. Poison the soil, the air and the water to
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Lying about telling lies is Liberal truth
Margaret MacDiarmid was pushed onto the BCLDB platform by Christy Clark and Rich Coleman and the puppet masters behind them. Standing alone in the spotlight, the ironically named minister of open government is expected to justify the sale of British Columbia’s liquor distribution system to friends of powerful Liberal lobbyists.
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Important summary of Cohen Inquiry evidence
Watershed Watch presents a “Cliff’s Notes” version of key evidence and testimony from the ongoing Cohen Sockeye Inquiry. “Concerned that key evidence was hard to access and could become buried and forgotten, we took on the task of summarizing key evidentiary highlights on the many subjects considered during the inquiry,
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Rewards for success or failure
Paying Workers More to Fix Their Own Mess, David Leonhardt, New York Times, March 2009 ” ‘We cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and staff the A.I.G. businesses — which are now being operated principally on behalf of American taxpayers — if employees believe
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Trust in God, but not in Enbridge
Not long ago, an animated parody by editorial cartoonist Dan Murphy offended oil transporter Enbridge. The company tried to make Murphy’s troublesome work disappear by pumping up pressure in the Postmedia boardroom. That crude move simply ensured the cartoon enjoyed focused attention and wider distribution than if Enbridge had taken
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Hero – redefined
Bravery and drone pilots, Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com, July 10, 2012 “The Pentagon is considering awarding a Distinguished Warfare Medal to drone pilots who work on military bases often far removed from the battlefield… “So medals would be awarded for sitting safely ensconced in a bunker on U.S. soil and launching
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