One interesting topic for a Canadian living in Australia is the manner in which fiscal and social responsibilities are divided between the levels of government. Both countries are big, regionally diverse, and resource-rich (with all the pluses and minuses that entails). As in Canada, Australian states are largely responsible for the big-ticket social programs: including […]
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Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.- Martin Regg Cohn exposes the Ontario Libs’ pay-to-play governing strategy, as cabinet ministers have been instructed to use their roles and access to meet fund-raising targets of up to half a million dollars per…
Continue readingThings Are Good: Australian Library Puts its Collection Outside
Story Wall is an art project running at the State Library of South Australia with the goal of getting more people to read. Even if people don’t read they can enjoy the library’s collection since the works are being projected on to the library itself. “Through our conversations with the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Why the World’s Eyes Will Be on Canada on October 19th
Next week’s general election will decide whether we can restore the Rule of Law and a functional democracy to Canada. Both hinge on driving Stephen Harper out of office. Yet that’s just scratching the surface of what it means to Canada and to the world to rid our country of
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Could Syria Become the 21st Century Sarajevo?
There were plenty of proxy wars during the Cold War only back then the principals had enough sense to avoid direct clashes. That was then, this is Syria where today we find the rival superpowers circling each other inside the same phone booth. You could search the world over and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney sails close to the wind on Anti-Terrorism Act at picnic visit
PHOTOS: Liberal candidate Adam Vaughan’s photo of the Kurdish Peace and Cultural Festival in Toronto Saturday, with an image of PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan visible in the background. (Grabbed from Twitter.) Below: Defence Minister Jason Kenney, who bragged about being at the event, and Mr. Vaughan. Jason Kenney, who notwithstanding
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Bernie Sanders: Australian Perspective
Here’s a facebook comment from Australia I enjoyed. Aleta Langdon: A POLITICAL TIP FROM AUSTRALIA: The Republicans, Fox and Rupert Murdoch want Hillary to win the nomination so that they can crucify her in the Presidentials. (So much history, so much scandal, so many unanswered questions, so much to criticise,)
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Another Hot Year, Even Hotter for 2016
Word from Australia that this year and next will probably see record-breaking temperatures. Sea temperatures around Australia are posting “amazing” records that climate specialists say signal global records set in 2014 may be broken this year and next. March sea-surface temperatures in the Coral Sea region off Queensland broke the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: When The Flames Are At Your Door…
… it is pretty hard to deny reality. Australia’s scorching heat wave of 2013, which triggered fierce bushfires and broke more than 100 temperature-related records, including one for the country’s hottest day ever recorded, would have been virtually impossible without climate change, a new report says. “The evidence on the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Aussie Fireworks Rescheduled. The Spill Happens Monday.
Perhaps Tony Abbott hoped that moving his caucus ‘spill’ vote to Monday instead of Tuesday would leave his main leadership threat, Malcolm Turnbull, unable to make up his mind whether to challenge the prime minister. Sorry, Tony. As it happens, Turnbull’s people apparently got to him today and they claim
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Australia Churns this Weekend
There’ll be few calm moments this weekend as Australians prepare for Tuesday’s “spill vote” that could see the removal of Tony Abbott as prime minister. Some Aussies are having a lot of fun with it. There’s a group that blitzkrieged a pro-Abbott twitter account, #ImStickingWithTony. #ImStickingWithTony because gay muslim refugee
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Well, They Do Have It Coming
If you can’t stand the heat, get out of Australia. A new report claims that the ‘land down unda’ will be hit harder by climate change impacts than the rest of the world. It’s a real ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’ predicament. Most of the country
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Ditto What Australia Said. America Can Be a "Dangerous Ally"
Former Australian prime minister (1975-83), Malcolm Fraser, fears his country’s dependence on the United States could drag Australia into a war not of its own choosing, a war with China. In Fraser’s book, he describes how Australia’s blind faith in the UK before World War II left the country unprepared
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: MORE Sexism Against Female Canadian Athletes!
THIS picture respects the dignity of a tennis player. Not, “give us a twirl” demeaning, sexist abuse. Today is a terrible day for gender equity in sports. What it looks like is either continued sexism, or increased anti-feminist backlash against women who have been asserting their human rights to safety
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Mariana Mazzucato comments on the role of the innovative state – and the unfortunate reality that we currently lack anything of the sort due to corporatist thinking: (T)hanks in part to the conventional wisdom about its dynamism and the state’s sluggishness, the private
Continue readingThings Are Good: Austrialian Team Gets Solar Efficiency Over 40%
It’s been said that once solar power efficiency gets to 40% it’ll be a tipping point for the mass use of solar panels. Now we can see if that is true as a team of researchers partnered with industry has developed technology to make it so solar energy conversion can
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Dear Tony, You Can Kiss Our…
A group of Australians gathered on Bondi Beach to bury their heads in the sand in protest of their prime minister’s fossil fuel fetish. More than 400 protesters stuck their heads in the sand on Australia’s Bondi Beach on Thursday, mocking the government’s reluctance to put climate change on the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: "Coal Is The Future" – Tony Abbott
Australia’s prime ministerial windbag, Tony Abbott, leaves no doubt about where he stands on climate change – it’s “crap.” Since coming to power, the now seriously unpopular Abbott has wasted no time boosting coal energy, coal exports and dismembering the country’s renewable energy and climate change initiatives. Here’s what Abbott
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Austrialia Is Nuts About Space
And Australian conservatives may just destroy Earth. What we don’t know, could demolish us faster than anything else. In the space age, it’s really flabbergasting that we’re not doing everything technologically possible to watch for NEOs. Could a responsible country like South Africa, or New Zealand pick up the slack
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Monstrous Planet Burners
He would have us believe that terrorism is a greater threat than climate change. But with every day that passes the burning planet proves Stephen Harper wrong.For imagine what might happen if a city of 20 million people runs out of water. Read more »
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