Brace yourself. You owe it all to this dapper bunch. Nice black knee socks, eh? Or maybe you’re more into the ankle socks.
Continue readingAuthor: The Mound of Sound
The Disaffected Lib: Can You See Where This is Headed?
Apparently the world is on the cusp of the “Consumption Revolution.” The developing economies are surging, opening up what could be a $30-trillion a year demand for, well, stuff – stuff that affluent consumers sometimes buy. A report by McKinsey’s business and economics research arm, McKinsey Global Institute, calls it
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Well They Need the Money to Buy Canadian Bitumen
China is flooding sub-Saharan Africa with cheap assault rifles and ammunition. Weapons from China have surfaced in a string of U.N. investigations in war zones stretching from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Ivory Coast, Somalia and Sudan.…China has stood apart from other major arms exporters, including Russia, for
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: If You’re a Liberal, Explain It To Me
If you’re a real, committed Liberal, I could use your help. As a truly disaffected Lib, I’ve become disconnected from the party, detached from whatever it supposedly stands for today. For most of my life I considered myself a true Liberal. I certainly wasn’t a New Democrat, although I admired
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: North America’s North Koreans
When I see Tea Party rank and file interviewed on television I’m often struck by how thoroughly indoctrinated they are. They’re sort of the white bread equivalent of North Koreans only obviously much better fed. They’ve been taught things that they come to firmly believe and it seems they’re programmed
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Man in Black Fades to Grey
This was apparently recorded at a small venue in 2003. It is said to be the last recorded performance of Johnny Cash. At this point he’d recorded a few Dylan songs. This one seems to be written atop “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.” I doubt Dylan would begrudge Johnny Cash
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Will British Columbia be Harper’s Waterloo?
British Columbia is shaping up to be the battlefield where the Conservative government will suffer the decisive defeat that will bring it down. BC’ers of all political persuasions are massing in opposition to the Northern Gateway pipeline initiative and, through it, Harper’s Conservative government. Even prominent Tories can smell what’s
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Price of Inequality – Your Last Warning?
If there’s one message for you Gen X’ers and Millennials to be gleaned from Nobel laureate economist Joe Stiglitz’ new book, The Price of Inequality, it’s that you’re not going to get your problems fixed at the ballot box. If you want your due, you’re going to have to
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: A Free e-book You Won’t Take to the Beach
Think you know what you need to know about Enbridge, the pipeline giant behind the Northern Gateway project? Chances are, you don’t. ONEarth.org has a three part feature on Enbridge and the Kalamazoo River bitumen catastrophe that you might find interesting. You can even get it free in e-book format.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Harper’s War on British Columbia
Is Stephen Harper waging a deliberate campaign to suppress British Columbia and her people? I have been working on compiling a list of the measures Harper has imposed on British Columbia to facilitate the Northern Gateway pipeline and bitumen trafficking to China. Taken individually, these measures are affronts, typical of
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Earth Overshoot Day – August 22, 2012
In 2006 when I first wrote of it, it happened on October 9th. Just six years later it has crept up to August 22, almost seven weeks earlier. “It” is Earth Overshoot Day, the benchmark of our planet’s day of ecological reckoning. It’s the day on which mankind is determined
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Why Bitumen Supertankers Are Far Too Risky for BC’s Coast
The Globe & Mail has published a 7-screen graphic detailing the northern BC coast Enbridge/Harper want to expose to supertanker catastrophe. From pointing out that the Hecate Strait is considered the fourth most dangerous for navigation in the world to the proven perils and pitfalls posed to supertankers plying the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: I’m not Sure We Need "by your leave" to Actually Leave
What if British Columbians decided we’d rather be independent than Alberta’s and Ottawa’s sodomites? What if we actually told the “ROC” rest of Canada to fuck off with their pipelines and bullshit? We could quite easily force “you” to leave “us” instead of the other way around as Quebec has
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Adios, Bob
I’ve waited but it’s time to say farewell to the legendary bassist, Bob Babbitt. He was an enormously talented musician but a far bigger man.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: I Will Never Vote Liberal Again, Until…
I vow to never vote for a Liberal candidate again until the party puts forward meaningful policies to reverse the growing inequality in Canada and to deal with global warming, in all its aspects. Inequality – of wealth, of income, of opportunity – is a malignancy that metastasizes the longer
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: South America Backs Ecuador on Assange Asylum
This takes everything to a whole new level. The 12-foreign ministers of the Union of South American Nations have joined in support of a resolution backing Ecuador in granting asylum to Julian Assange and calling for a negotiated settlement. “We reiterate the right of states to grant political and diplomatic
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Pussy Riot Needles Putin
They’re off for two years in the slam for mocking Russia’s thug-in-chief, Vlad Putin, but Pussy Riot left a parting gift – a video entitled “Putin Lights Up the Fires.” A good stretch from the Delta Blues I prefer but it does make its point.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: "Legitimate Rape"
Missouri Republican senate candidate Todd Akin is against abortion – under any circumstances – and that includes what he calls “legitimate rape.” According to Akin, victims of legitimate rape have some internal switch that prevents the woman from conceiving.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Treacherous Prime Minister
Douglas Channel Steve Harper’s environmental assessment of the Northern Gateway bitumen pipeline proposal is an utter sham. Steve says the fate of the pipeline will be decided by science but, after so many years, anyone who puts stock in what Steve says is, well, let’s say cognitively impaired. The fact
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Enbridge Treachery
The pipeline operator is working overtime to turn its Northern Gateway initiative into some abstract debate on resource wealth and opportunity (for some). It even produces animated video that greets viewers with totally misleading images. Here’s what Enbridge, Alberta, and Ottawa don’t want you thinking about. *This is not an
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