It’s not a couple of low-lying islands about to sink under a risking sea. It is the 7th-most populous country in Asia, 12th in the world.Its 92-million people are scattered throughout the 7,100 islands that make up their country and cover 300,000 sq.kms. And, right now, they’re reeling from the
Continue readingAuthor: The Mound of Sound
The Disaffected Lib: Iraq Runs Dry
Just what a country riven by ethnic and religious conflict needs – a water crisis. The country is Iraq where Shiite and Sunni struggles overlap into Arab, Persian and Kurdish conflicts under a hopelessly corrupt and brutal, Shiite-dominated central government. So which bunch is going to have to get by
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Meat Kills Our Environment
A United Nations Environment Programme report urges people in wealthy countries to become “demitarians” by cutting their meat consumption by half. The reduction is said to be necessary to curb environmental destruction caused by excessive demand for meat products. The quest for ever cheaper meat in the past few decades
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Canadian’s Don’t Buy Mulcair’s "50 Plus One" Pitch
Three out of four Canadians reject NDP leader Tom Mulcair’s contention that the barest of majorities, 50 per cent plus one, in support of Quebec sovereignty should oblige the federal government to negotiate. The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey suggests almost three-quarters of Canadians don’t buy Mr. Mulcair’s assertion… Indeed, on
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Canadians Are On To Harper’s "Action Plan" Propaganda
Eight polls, all of them of course on your tax dollar, were commissioned by the federal finance department between 2009 and 2012 to learn that Canadians are fed up with Harper’s incessant “Economic Action Plan” ads. The polls, by the way, alone cost $300,000. The most-recently released survey has respondents
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Another Day, Another Warning, This Time from the World Bank
World Bank president Jim Yong Kim had a blunt message for G20 finance ministers meeting in Moscow, telling them it’s time they “tackle the serious challenges presented by climate change.” “These are not just risks. They represent real consequences,” said Kim, calling the lack of attention to the issue by
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Rube, Rube, Rubio
Maybe they should have stuck with Bobby Jindal. Up and coming Republican Marco Rubio of Florida was picked to give the GOP rebuttal to president Obama’s State of the Union speech this week. Rubio showed how quickly he was able to shed his lizard skin for the sake of a
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: What the Stones Did for Me – and For You Too
For nearly half a century I’ve been a devoted follower of the Rolling Stones. Still am, always will be. They came along in the wake of the Beatles but what a difference. To most they were the rowdy boys to the Beatles’ good boys. But that was never it, not
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Another Day, Another Warning
The American Association for the Advancement of Science annual convention is underway in Boston and climate change seems to be what everyone is talking about. Heat waves have become more frequent across the United States, with western regions setting records for the number of such events in the 2000s, said
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Crowdfunding – The Way to Get Help Where It’s Needed
It’s easy to balk when you’re asked to donate a hundred bucks to this cause or that or to take on an open-ended, monthly donation to help some individual or cause on the other side of the planet or the other side of town. That’s where crowdfunding comes in. What
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: UN Security Council Delves Into Climate Change
The United Nations Security Council is conducting hearings to explore the connections between climate change and global conflict. Imagine India in 2033. It has overtaken China as the most populous nation. Yet with 1.5 billion citizens to feed, it’s been three years since the last monsoon. Without rain, crops die
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: New Studies Confirm Conservatives are Fear-Driven
Sideshow Steve Harper understands the power of fear to distract and manipulate his supporters. He conjures up images of threats and dangers and watches his Conservative flock recoil in shock and terror. Two new studies confirm the brain differences between conservative and liberal minds. First, in the American Journal of
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: 3C, Maybe. 5C, Possibly.
The British scientist who formerly chaired the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says we’ve pretty much lost any chance of holding climate heating to 2C and now have just a 50/50 chance of staying within 3C. The scientist, Professor Sir Robert Watson, chaired the Panel from 1997 until 2002,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: America’s Tab for 2008? 22-Trillion Dollars.
The non-partisan Government Accounting Office has done the math on the 2008 financial crisis and concludes it cost America over 22-trillion dollars. “The 2007-2009 financial crisis, like past financial crises, was associated with not only a steep decline in output but also the most severe economic downturn since the Great
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Making Sense of Iraq, Ten Years On
The Hawks were wrong. That’s the view of Huffington Post UK political director, Mehdi Hasan, about Iraq ten years after the Anglo-American conquest. Hasan concludes that, contrary to neo-con mythology, post-Saddam Iraq isn’t better off. Over the past ten years, Iraqis have witnessed the physical, social and economic destruction of
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Rome Lives on in the Roman Catholic Church
Gwynne Dyer points out that Roman Catholic is more than just a name. How Roman are the traditions and instincts of the church that Pope Benedict XVI has led for the past seven years? Well, one of his titles is “pontifex maximus”, usually translated from the Latin as “Supreme Pontiff”.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Sheila Fraser Calls for Regular Audits of Commons and Senate
Former auditor general, Sheila Fraser, says Canadians shell out half a billion dollars a year on Parliament and are entitled to know where their money is going and how it’s spent. Fraser suggests that the auditor general conduct comprehensive audits of the Senate and Commons at least every 10 years,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Harper’s Grotesque Spectacle
Maybe we should call him Sideshow Steve for, when it comes to distracting the Canadian public with gimmicks, Steve Harper has the instincts and moral compass of a carnival barker. Steve reads people’s fears and knows how to play them. That much was evident when he recently staged a photo-op
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Video of Meteor that Hit Russia
Pretty dramatic stuff
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The China Dream
Prominent Chinese military officers are speaking of an east Asia from which the U.S. has been forced out. And they’re hoping to see that reality within 20-years. Senior Colonel Liu Mingfu, at the People’s Liberation Army’s National Defence University, told Fairfax Media this week that American strategic influence would be
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