It goes like this: “If we had had more ambition [on emissions cuts from rich countries], we would not have to ask for so much [money] for adaptation. If there had been more money for adaptation [to climate change], we would not be looking for money for loss and damage.
Continue readingAuthor: The Mound of Sound
The Disaffected Lib: CPC3 – No, It’s Not a Star Wars Character
Calgary Petroleum Club – Beijing Chapter CPC3 – it’s the unholy union of the Conservative Party of Canada, the Calgary Petroleum Club and the Communist Party of China. Peas in a pod. In more ways than you might care to imagine. So when does Beijing get to start running its
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Root of All Evil
Liberal, New Democrat, choose your poison. Layton, Ignatieff, Mulcair, Rae or Trudeau, makes no difference to me. They sold me out and they sold you out in the bargain. To echo Mulroney’s attack on Turner, they had a choice. Not one of them chose us, you and me. No matter
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Tundra is Fuel and It Will Burn Us
We hear a lot about the tundra that blankets the far north thawing due to global warming. As it thaws it releases previously trapped methane and CO2. Well it does more than that. As tundra thaws it turns into fuel for wildfires. And let’s put it this way, fire fighting
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Steve’s Friday Night Special – China Gets Nexen
Steve Harper, whose credibility is beyond shredded, is pledging to Canadians that he’ll never, never, ever, ever let the Chinese government corner a chunk of the Tar Sands – except for this one time. Just this one. No more. Ever. Promise. Unless, of course, it’s “exceptional.” While green-lighting the sale,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: America’s Mini-Civil Wars
There’s one brewing in the midwest, another raging in the southeast and a third building in the southwest. They’re regional, inter-state conflicts over distribution of dwindling groundwater resources. In the southeast, the Army Corps of Engineers is under simultaneous attack by lawsuits from Georgia, Florida and Alabama, each state accusing
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: British Nurse Hoaxed by Australian Radio DJs Takes Own Life
Jacintha Saldanha was on duty when two Aussie DJs tricked her into thinking they were the Queen and Prince Charles calling for an update on the Duchess of Cambridge. Saldanha put the call through to a duty nurse who divulged confidential, intimate information about the expectant royal. Just before 9:30,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Legitimacy of the Harper Majority is No Longer In Question. It’s Over, Finished.
It wasn’t just a troubled warplane that crashed and burned with Harper’s decision to cancel the purchase of the troubled F-35 light bomber. The legitimacy of the Harper majority government crashed and burned alongside it. In addition to the robocalls and other election chicanery, Harper won his majority by lying
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Sifting Through the Wreckage of Canada’s F-35 Fiasco
The Harper government’s abandonment of the “troubled” F-35 buy has seismic implications. This is the first time Stephen Harper truly lost his mojo. He wanted this hopelessly flawed warplane so bad. It was Canada’s admission ticket to America’s aerial Foreign Legion. It was stepping up to the plate, staring down
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Canada Bails Out on the F-35
It’s over!!! Canada will not be buying Lockheed’s “troubled” light strike bomber. Faced with the imminent release of an audit by accountants KPMG that will push the total projected life-cycle costs of the aircraft above $30 billion, the operations committee of the federal Cabinet decided to scrap the controversial sole-source
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: A Big Win for American Progressives
U.S. chain restaurants like Papa John’s and Applebee’s didn’t pull any punches before the November elections. In fact they outright threatened they would retaliate against an Obama win, taking it out on their employees. Papa John C.E.O. John Schnatter vowed to cut his employees’ hours so they wouldn’t qualify for
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Mind Over Matter
Can we really train our minds to do tasks we once considered possible only with our hands and feet? It seems the answer is “yes.”
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: World Bank – High Food Prices are the New Normal
High food prices mean one thing for many people, food insecurity. A report from the World Bank warns that high food prices have become the “new normal” meaning that the scourge of food insecurity for the most vulnerable is now permanent. The world cannot afford for high and volatile food
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Atmospheric River Hammers California
It was around this time last year that an atmospheric river was singled out as the culprit responsible for causing massive flooding in the U.K. New Scientist posted a chart of it. Now California is getting hammered by another atmospheric river shown in yellow here: An atmospheric river is a
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Maybe It’s Time to Get Out of Dodge
This was bound to happen. Inevitable. American cellular giant Verizon has filed a patent application for a device to watch you watching TV. Who is interested in watching you watch TV? Probably more people than you can imagine but TV advertisers would be near the top of the list. That’s
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: One of My All-Time Favourite YouTube Clips
Maybe he just needed a haircut.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: NGOs Make Emergency Appeal in Doha
Greenpeace, Oxfam, WWF, Christian Aid, Action Aid and Friends of the Earth have issued an emergency appeal for immediate and forceful action by the delegations at the Doha climate summit. [Their statement warned] the Doha talks were on the brink of disaster and that rich governments had 24 hours to
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Moon Goes Commercial? Maybe, Maybe Not.
A company calling itself Golden Spike has announced it will start commercial moon travel service by 2020. The company will take people and gear to the lunar surface and back for $1.5-billion a trip. Golden Spike will follow a model like that of the Russian spaceflight industry in the 1980s
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Think You Don’t Live in a Conservative/Liberal/New Democrat Petro-State? Think Again.
If you don’t believe your political party of choice is selling out your grandkids and their kids you had better ask yourself why you could possibly believe that. The fossil fuelers have their ear and they’re eager for the message. It come down to this. We have what is a
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: F-35 May Not Be Usable in Asia Either.
Range may be the Achilles’ Heel of the F-35 stealth light attack bomber. At the end of the day, the Joint Strike Fighter may not be the right warplane for the Pentagon’s Pivot to Asia. A detailed story of the F-35’s troubles and shortcomings was recently published in The New
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