Michael Ignatieff has a warning – parliamentary democracy is in big trouble and may fall victim to today’s authoritarian prime ministers.“I think something really bad has happened to parliamentary democracies all over the world — not just in my co…
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The Disaffected Lib: The Crazies Are Back
These guys are truly lining up to die. They’re a small gaggle of, let’s call them eccentrics, preparing to break the 15-year old land speed record. The current record of 1,228 kmh., a tad over 763 mph., is held by a Royal Air Force fighter pilot, Andrew Green. Now Green
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Four War Years
The sense I’m getting from the polls is that Obama is ahead but only just. Two to three points seems to be the lead, a gap that can probably be easily erased by voter suppression and minor tinkering with the electronic voting system. Eyebrows will be raised, sure, but that’s
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Is Steve at Risk in India?
Steve Harper has brought his own convoy of armoured cars to India. TorStar reports the RCMP “at least two” of the prime minister’s vehicles, including an armoured limo, to ferry him about during his visit. Neither the PMO nor the RCMP will comment on why the security India provides wasn’t
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Canada’s Bought and Paid For Government
Steve and the misses are in India now pushing Athabasca bitumen to that country’s massive energy market. He’s got to sign up customers fast to justify his Northern Gateway pipeline venture. But why are Canadians picking up the tab for Steve’s travels to flog Athabasca’s wares? Salesmen usually get their
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: So Let’s Get this Straight
Steve Harper has $28-million to blow on 200-year old triumphalism for a war between Britain and the United States but he can’t come up with $5-million year to cover the funeral costs of impoverished Canadian soldiers. Remember when that greaseball was the Canadian soldier’s Best Friend Forever, back when he
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Is An Election This Close Too Tempting Not to Rig?
Many American news services claim the vote on Wednesday is just too close to call between Obama and Romney. That elevates a problem that, it seems, no one wants to talk about, rigging the enormously vulnerable electronic voting systems so many States use. First of all, if someone tinkers with
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Joy that is Vancouver Island
It’s grey and wet and windy and cold today on Vancouver Island or what we like to call “normal.” An ability to tolerate these conditions month in, month out, for much of the year is a prerequisite for living here. There is a good reason the region is called the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: America’s Internally Displaced Refugees
We became familiar with internally displaced populations in the wake of the American conquests of Afghanistan and Iraq and the sectarian violence that ensued. America suffered a bout of internally displaced people after Hurricane Katrina hammered New Orleans and many thousands were forced to leave the city to take refuge
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Harper Stirs the Asian Pot
“Don’t Let On You Want to Bomb His Country” To Mittsy Romney, Russia is America’s biggest geo-political foe. To Harpo, it’s China that most endangers Canada. China, really? The same China we’re selling our Tar Sands to, and in partnership with whom we’re building our Northern Gateway pipeline to transport
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Will Israelis Shut the Church of the Holy Sepulcher?
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate says it might have to close Jerusalem’s Christian shrine, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, because an Israeli water company is breaking its deal with the church. The church says it’s had a deal going back to 1969 under which water was supplied at no charge.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Reefer Madness
This will come as a surprise to most British Columbians but criminal charges for marijuana possession in this province have soared 88 per cent over the past decade. But pot prosecutions aren’t the only thing that’s up. So is public support for decriminalization of possession. An Angus Reid poll found
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Just Because
It’s been one of those weeks. Chester, Chester Arthur Burnett, the legendary Howlin’ Wolf. 6’3″, 300 pounds, nicknamed “Bull Cow” as a kid. The Wolf was known as a devoted husband who, unlike so many of his contemporaries, steered clear of drugs, booze and strange women. It’s said Eric Clapton
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Terrorism on the Sky Train?
RCMP are investigating what appear to be four propane tanks lashed together and left on the Sky train commuter rail tracks in Surrey, B.C. “It certainly does appear suspicious in nature where we have several propane tanks that have been purposely strapped together and placed in a bit of a
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Alberta Wins Canadian Inequality Title
The top half of Alberta families receive 87% of the province’s income. That, of course, means the bottom half share just 13% of the pie. And that is said to be the most unequal distribution in Canada. A report issued by the Alberta College of Social Workers and the University
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Australian Climate Commission – Sandy Is the New Normal
The Australian Climate Commission has released a report concluding that man-made global warming made Hurricane Sandy bigger, fiercer and more damaging. The burning of fossil fuels had made a material contribution to the atmospheric conditions that bred and sustained the storm, the report said, echoing international studies produced over the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Is Romney’s Wall of Secrecy Crumbling?
Mitt Romney may have sailed into stormy seas. A complaint is being filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics under the Ethics in Government Act demanding that Romney be compelled to disclose details of his auto-bailout profiteering. “The American people have a right to know about Gov. Romney’s potential
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: CCCP, Meet CPC3
For years I’ve been pointing out that Stephen Joseph Harper has certain instincts reminiscent of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. The way Comrade Steve “reformed” the Prime Minister’s Office was a dead giveaway. His appointment of political commissars to disrupt public access to the civil and armed services was a masterful coup,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: China’s Second Stealth Fighter Takes to the Skies
China has flown its second stealth fighter, the J-31, the smaller cousin to its previous model, the J-20. A look at either of them reveals the classic, Lockheed-Martin, F-22 Raptor pedigree. Unlike the F-35 limited range, modest payload, marginally maneuverable light attack bomber, the Chinese 20’s and 31’s appear to
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Why Do Our Generals Suck?
Even Americans are beginning to grasp that their generals suck. The soldiers in the field and their unit commanders are first rate. The rot is at the top. And it’s not just the Americans beset by this phenomenon. A new book, The Generals, by Tom Ricks of the Center for
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