A confrontation is brewing on the north island where remote Raft Cove Provincial Park is bracing for a flash mob of 2,000 hippies planning to stay there for up to a month. It’s called the “World Rainbow Gathering”, an annual event that’s been going on since 1972 at different spots
Continue readingAuthor: The Mound of Sound
The Disaffected Lib: "The Greatest Water Grab in History"
Across south and east Asia, water is power. If you want to know why China invaded and seized Tibet, it was the water. New academic research shows that India, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan are engaged in a huge “water grab” in the Himalayas, as they seek new sources of electricity
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Gun, Check. Point at Head, Check. Squeeze the Trigger?
Think we’re on the cusp of a “clean energy revolution” that will sweep the world and rescue our grandkids from environmental catastrophe? Think again. A report from the Our World 2.0 project of the United Nations University warns that coal, that accounts for almost half of energy-sector greenhouse gas emissions
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Swiss Inmates Going to Pot
Swiss prisons have a marijuana problem and Swiss prison guards like it that way. A recent study published in the International Journal of Drug Policy estimates that 50 to 80 percent of inmates in Swiss prisons use marijuana. Prison staff told researchers they found marijuana to be a relatively safe drug
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: NSA Funnies
Found at TruthDig:
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Of Meteors and UFOs
I saw a UFO last night, maybe a pair of them. Vancouver Island has two seasons; wet (9 to 10-months) and, dry (2-3 months). The Pacific night sky holds a lot of fascination for me because it’s a virtual stranger for so much of the year. Before turning in, I
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: California Climate Changed
The California Environmental Protection Agency has released a report documenting how the state has already been “climate changed” and warning of plenty more change on the way. The study, written by 51 scientists, tracked a variety of indicators and found widespread evidence of the toll climate change is taking across
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: What Do a Kid’s Sneakers and a Warplane Have in Common?
When I was a youngster growing up in the early postwar era, parents used to economize a little more than we do today. I think we were more likely to wear our clothes until they wore out. Being second in line, I got a lot of “hand me downs.” But,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Australia’s Senate Drops Climate Change Wrench into General Election
The contenders to form Australia’s next national government have night & day differences on climate change. The incumbent, Labor’s Kevin Rudd, trails his rival, Tony Abbott’s Liberal Coalition, 48 to 52. Abbott is a strong climate change denier. Now into the mix comes a bipartisan report from the Australian Senate,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Could the F-35 Be the Biggest Blunder in Canadian Military History?
A timely warning about “locking in” to novel technologies such as the over budget, overdue and under-performing F-35 from Brookings Institution senior fellow Peter Singer. His advice – learn from the mistakes of the past, just don’t repeat them. In 1934, the British Air Ministry poured money into a new
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Real Women Don’t Fancy John Baird
I never thought I’d wind up sympathizing with John Baird but I do now. Real Women of Canada has their ‘size wholesome’ knickers in a bunch over Baird’s criticism of countries such as Russia and Uganda for passing laws targeting homosexuals. RWoC accuses Baird of abusing his office in pursuit
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: MM&A Pulls the Pin
The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway has filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors (read “victims”). MM&A went Chapter 11 in the U.S. and its Canadian division filed under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. “It has become apparent that the obligations of both companies now exceed the value of their
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Women Just Don’t Like Drones
A Pew Research study has found a big gap between men and women in their outlook on U.S. drone strikes so popular with Barack Obama. In six of the twelve countries surveyed, more than half of male respondents approved of drone strikes although only the United States (at 70% approval)
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Cash Crunch Offers New Insights Into the F-35.
The United States Air Force is scrambling to protect the F-35 light attack bomber from the threat of cancellation. There has been talk over the past week that the F-35, in the era of budget sequestration, could be a goner. It’s funny how a cash crunch can shake out straight
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: FOX News – Fair and Balanced Misinformation 24/7 – And It Works!
You don’t have to be stupid and gullible to watch FOX News but they’re hoping you are. A new study finds that FOX News is an effective tool in spreading and reinforcing climate change denialism. It’s remarkably similar to how FOX News audiences were so misinformed about the conquest of
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: While You Weren’t Looking
Backwoods, western Alberta. Here’s a montage of images taken from one of those motion-sensing game cameras hunters sometimes use to scout game. It’s pretty funny.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: How Do You Like Your Frog Legs? Boiled?
Proof that the Boiling Frog Syndrome is as powerful as ever was plentiful from the release, yesterday, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s report on the state of climate change in 2012. The 260-page, peer reviewed report, was compiled by a global team of 384 scientists who digested and
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Climate Change, British Columbia Style
Giant Sunfish or ‘Mola’ British Columbians don’t need to be persuaded that climate change is real and its impacts are coming on hard and fast. The evidence is inescapable: changes to the mountain snowpack; premature snowpack melting; the relentless spread of the lodgepole and mountain pine beetle infestations; species migration
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Jared Diamond on How We Can Avert Collapse
A funny-looking little man delivers a decidedly unfunny little talk. If you want the short talk, you can skip to 10:35 where Diamond discusses how elites can undermine and collapse their own societies. He describes what is going on today within our governments and our boardrooms and how little time
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Der Spiegel Calls Manning Conviction "Obama’s Defining Injustice"
Der Spiegel’s foreign news editor-in-chief, Hans Hoyng, has written a scathing editorial about the conviction of Wikileaks leaker, Bradley Manning, and calling for Obama to pardon Manning without delay. President Richard Nixon tried to use the Espionage Act to put the leaker of the Pentagon Papers — about the planning
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