The Harper regime has lost its first attempt to thwart Gloria Taylor’s right to die. A British Columbia Supreme Court judge two months ago struck down the ban on physician assisted suicide, granting Ms. Taylor an exemption from the law while giving Parliament time to deal with the offending law.
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The Disaffected Lib: ExtremeHeat Canada Goes Online
McMaster University, in conjunction with Health Canada, the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Clean Air Partnership, has created www.extremeheat.ca. The site, available in both English and French, provides advice for the public and an accredited training program for health-care workers on how to help people manage in
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: More Green on Blue
“Green on Blue” has become the term for Afghan security officials – police or army – turning on and gunning down Western forces in their country. The latest incident cost the lives of three U.S. Special Forces soldiers who had been invited by an Afghan police commander to discuss security
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Civilization At the Crossroads. What If We Make the Right Choice?
While the future of human civilization looks gloomy, mankind might actually make it through this century repositioned to face a wonderful future. It all depends on whether we can muster the courage to choose life – for all. If not, we may be condemning ourselves to life for
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Is War With China Actually Possible? Is War of Some Sort Inevitable?
Is China on the verge of war? War with whom? There are factors building that suggest China faces the sort of instability that could force war on China and some other country. For the past few decades, Russia and China have been closely allied but their relationship since the end
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Naomi Wolf Slams America’s "Ignorance Industry"
Activist/writer Naomi Wolf has about had it with her homeland’s “stasis of stupidity” blocking any meaningful action to respond to man-made climate change. It is fairly well-known what has been behind that climate change denial in America: vast sums pumped into an ignorance industry by the oil and gas lobbies.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Ry Cooder’s Mutt Romney Blues
American guitarist, composer and songwriter, Ry Cooder, doesn’t think much of Mitt Romney. He dislikes Romney so much, he’s even written a song about the guy, the Mutt Romney Blues. “Romney is as bad as anyone can be. He’s a dangerous man. He’s a cruel man. He’s a perfect creation
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: "This is Absolutely NOT a P.R. Exercise" – Yeah, Right
Brenda Kenny has got a pair. That much you have to give her. The president of the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association plans to counter a string of public relations disasters by announcing an “Integrity First” strategy to improve pipeline safety and the industry’s “social performance.” “Kenny told reporters [in Ottawa] that Calgary-based
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Check This Out. No, Seriously, Check It Out
This link takes you to an amazing video clip from the thunderstorm that hit Vancouver yesterday. The young guy is recording the storm when, at the 6 second mark, a bolt of lightning hits a neighbour’s tree 150 feet away. If you tinker a bit with the pause button you
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Somebody Is Going to be Very Unhappy With Their New TV
A customer in Washington, D.C., ordered a 39-inch television from Amazon.com. This is what arrived on his doorstep instead. When the UPS package arrived at Seth Horovitz’s home, he thought it must be an accessory for the TV he ordered. The package was too small to be a TV, but
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Should BC Take a Page from Harper’s Own Book?
Remember Steve Harper’s “Alberta Firewall” letter, the one where he advocated the Wild Rose state should ditch the RCMP, implement its own healthcare regime independent of Ottawa and even collect and withhold income taxes? Well our very own Island Tides newspaper thinks B.C. should give Harper’s ideas a try. The
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: PostMedia Paper Calls Harper a Liar
The centre-right Victoria Times Colonist more than doubts Steve Harper’s claim that he’ll leave it up to science to evaluate the “costs and risks” of the Northern Gateway pipeline. Here’s how the paper’s editors reacted: “…when [Harper] says an independent panel will decide the issue based on scientific evidence, pardon us
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: When Nukes Just Weren’t Enough
Those of us who lived through the Cold War were painfully aware that the Soviet Union was prepared to thoroughly devastate the West with nuclear weapons. We didn’t know they had something else in mind also, a second strike to wipe out the survivors of a nuclear attack. In the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Russia Reacts to Perceived Chinese Threat
Russia is growing concerned about Chinese designs on Russian territory and resources. Russian president Dimitry Medvedev said it was essential to defend it’s eastern territories against “excessive expansion by bordering states”. Speaking days after Russia’s first deputy defence minister said two new nuclear submarines would be sent to the Pacific
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: German Banks Take Food Off Commodities Exchange
Do banks actually have a conscience? A few German banks apparently do. Germany’s Commerzbank, the country’s second-largest, has removed agricultural products (food) from its commodities index fund, following similar moves by two other German banks including the country’s largest, Deutsche Bank. Germany’s second-largest bank declined to give details about the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Arctic Sea Ice Isn’t Just for Polar Bears
The Arctic is about more than ice and polar bears. Much, much more. Most of us by now have become familiar with El Nino or his ugly stepsister, La Nina, that are lumped together as something called ENSO, the “southern oscillation.” They each bring droughts and floods only in different
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: About That Other Shoe, The One That Just Dropped
There is an enormous amount of water stored underground in aquifers. Or, at least, there used to be. A lot of it is actually “fossil” water, H2O that’s been trapped underground for, well, forever sort of. But one of the things we became really good at during the 20th century
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Harper’s Dodgy Deal with Blackwater
From 2006 to 2008 the Harper government maintained an apparently illegal contract with Blackwater for the training of special forces troops and police officers. Blackwater was supposed to disclose the deal and seek U.S. State Department approvals which it didn’t. Blackwater, now known as Academi LLC, is trying to fend
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Even for Harper, This is Perverse
The people of the African Sahel are in a bad way. You might even say that they’re the poster boy for global warming. Make that anthropogenic, or man-made, global warming which as the deluge of scientific research reports steadily confirms is largely the result of our profligate burning of fossil
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Blackwater Buys Time
Academi LLC, better known by its earlier name, Blackwater, has forked over $7.5-million to buy a “Deferred Prosecution Agreement” from the U.S. government. The case focuses on allegations that Blackwater misled the U.S. government about arming and training foreign governments. The company isn’t off the hook. Blackwater Academi has bought
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