The onset of extreme weather events is rapidly culling the ranks of climate change skeptics. Megastorms, droughts, heat waves and floods are prevailing as science never could, especially in the home of denialism, the United States. A poll released on Friday by the Associated Press-GfK found rising concern about climate
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The Disaffected Lib: 27 Dead, 18 Children, in Connecticut School Shooting
When are Americans ever going to come to their senses about gun control? School shooting in Connecticut. 27 dead including 18-children. The shooter, the father of a student, was gunned down. You can almost turn this into a form story with blanks to be filled in for numbers, location and
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: At Least It Won’t Kill the Fish
In British Columbia, our provincial government has its own fondness for fossil fuel windfalls. The big difference is that it’s not heavy bitumen but natural gas. Premier Cristy Clark is hellbent on flogging the province’s gas resources to Asia just as fast as possible. Not surprisingly that means tankers running
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Enbridge Public Hearings Coming to Victoria. Public Told to Bugger Off Down the Road.
There won’t be any public at the Enbridge public hearings when they reach Victoria in January. The hearings will be closed to the public. The hearing room will admit only registered speakers, one guest per, the media and the apparently terrified Joint Review Panel members. Spectators will not be allowed
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Campaign to Rehabilitate the F-35 Has Begun
If you felt relieved that the Harper authority had given up on the F-35, think again. That the stealth light attack bomber is still very much alive in the bosom of the Harpies is obvious from the remarks of MacKay’s parliamentary secretary on CBC’s The Current: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2012/12/13/fighting-words-over-f-35-fighter-jets/ The first thing
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: A Pipeline to be Built on Lies
A University of British Columbia study finds just one tanker spill from the Northern Gateway supertanker project could more than wipe out any financial benefits accruing to the province from the pipeline. Just one. Remember, local Coast Guard personnel have warned that, when it comes to a supertanker disaster on
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Will Lockheed Even Compete for Canada’s Fighter Business? Don’t Count on It.
As a face-saving measure the instinctively dishonest Conservatives say they have ‘reset’ the programme to find a CF-18 replacement and, this time, there’ll be a proper competition. Don’t hold your breath. A real competition would have the rivals all flying in to Cold Lake for flight demonstrations and evaluations. That’s
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Next Time Someone Rails On About Sharia Law, Remember This
From the December issue of Harper’s, an item captioned Grounded for Life. From “God’s Law: The Only Political Solution,” by Charles R. Fuqua, an e-book published in April and aiming to show how the Bible can be applied to U.S. law. Fuqua, a former state legislator in Arkansas, was,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Harper’s 46-Billion Dollar Boondoggle
The numbers are in and the big number is 46 as in 46-billion dollars to purchase, arm, fuel, fly and maintain a paltry fleet of 65 F-35s over a 42-year lifespan. The KPMG report puts the lie to the Harper/MacKay/Ambrose/Fantino fabrication machine. Yet the number might actually be on the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Should We Still Heed the IPCC?
Imagine you’re aboard a commercial jetliner on a really foggy approach to your destination. The aircraft has a ground speed of 220 miles an hour. You’re ten miles from the runway. The pilot’s altimeter is out of whack, telling the pilot that you’re a thousand feet higher than you really
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Why Do We Keep Whining About Kabul Corruption?
Yes, Afghanistan is, next to Somalia, the most corrupt nation in the world. So, what else is new? Now that we’re coming to grips with the reality that our military adventures in Afghanistan have been for naught, we seem to have taken up Afghan corruption as a diversion. The Christian
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Heather Sticks Her Bitumen Boot Up Harper’s Backside
It’s gradually setting in. Harper’s capitulation to China’s Communist rulers on Nexen is an admission of how much trouble the Tar Sands are really in. The Toronto Star’s Heather Mallick wades into the Bully Boy’s blunder on Nexen. Harper couldn’t say no to China because he wants quick money for
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Harper’s Assault on Canadian Labour Continues
Whether we like to accept it or not, organized labour was instrumental to the evolution of Canada’s middle class. Yet, since he came to power, Steve Harper has relentlessly worked to undermine organized labour and he’s nowhere near finished.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Social Networking = Privacy Confiscation
Surely you had to know that posting all that personal information online would eventually lead to its confiscation. Information is knowledge; knowledge is power; power is valuable, marketable and highly lucrative. I am admittedly and hopelessly backward on this social media stuff. I have a Facebook page but it serves
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: After the Fiscal Cliff – The Joe Stiglitz Recipe for American Recovery
In a recent op-ed in The Guardian, Nobel laureate economist Joe Stiglitz lays out his recipe for America’s economic rehabilitation. “…here is what Americans should hope for: a strong “jobs” bill – based on investments in education, health care, technology, and infrastructure – that would stimulate the economy, restore growth,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Homer Should be Proud. Meet Sea Shepherd’s Latest Addition, the Sam Simon
Oh the Japanese must be furious over this one. The Japanese government was tricked into selling the latest addition to the Sea Shepherd society’s anti-whaling fleet, the MV Sam Simon. The ship was acquired through an intermediary with funds furnished by the co-creator of The Simpsons, Sam Simon.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: "Chasing Ice" Teaser
The Guardian has posted this clip from the documentary, Chasing Ice. It is astonishing, the largest iceberg calving event ever witnessed. 7.4 cubic kilometers of ice simply fell off the Ilulisat glacier in Greenland. To play the clip, select “full screen” and try to get your mind around the magnitude
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Amelia Earhart’s Hard Bargain
She’ll always be an true American darling and her country’s First Lady of the Air. She may have been a mediocre pilot but she was as bold and determined an aviatrix as there’s ever been. Now it turns out she was also something of a wild child. Here is a
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Tories May Not Believe It But Canada’s Third Largest City Knows Climate Change Is Real
There’s been an interesting series of articles in The Vancouver Sun about climate change threats to the Lower Mainland. The low-lying Fraser River estuary is particularly vulnerable. It’s a witches’ brew of sea level rise, storm surges and rivers in flood being backed up by the sea. “If you have
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Battlefield: Brain, Yours Quite Possibly
Military researchers are looking for ways to get inside their enemy’s brain. Get inside and stir things up goooood. This new battlespace is not just about influencing hearts and minds with people seeking information. It’s about involuntarily penetrating, shaping, and coercing the mind in the ultimate realization of Clausewitz’s definition
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