It’s a dreary rainy morning in my part of the country, so this rather grim reminder of present political realities seems appropriate if one is familiar with the notion of pathetic fallacy. H/t Scott Monette Recommend this Post
Continue readingTag: environmental degradation
Politics and its Discontents: David Letterman On Fracking
This was most gratifying to see, although I was puzzled by the laughter that periodically erupted from the audience: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Modest Proposal
Kyle Farmer takes issue with The Star’s failure to ‘connect the dots’ between increasingly destructive weather and climate change: At a global warming tipping point What will it take before the Star commits to covering the unfolding crisis of environmental sustainability? The Star dutifully reports on droughts and floods when
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Political Activism that Bears Fruit
Probably one of the biggest challenges politically aware and active people face is the fear that even after giving it their best, little, if anything, will change. The powers that be seem deaf to reason, the bureacractic wall seems imenetrable, and the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Can We, In Good Conscience, Allow This To Continue?
There are, without doubt, many justifications and rationalizations that people have for being willfully ignorant of the larger world around them: work pressures, home stresses, lack of time, lack of sleep, etc., etc. I will readily admit that one of the luxuries of retirement is the gift of time and
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Tim Speaketh Again
The only trouble is, everytime he does, he affirms his incompetence. Yes, young Tim Hudak, the leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, has weighed in on yet another ‘obstruction’ that he believes can be remediated through his simplistic prism. This time it is that pesky perennial problem of those
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Meat Kills Our Environment
A United Nations Environment Programme report urges people in wealthy countries to become “demitarians” by cutting their meat consumption by half. The reduction is said to be necessary to curb environmental destruction caused by excessive demand for meat products. The quest for ever cheaper meat in the past few decades
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Wherever We Go, Our Presence Is Felt
Well. I’m back from hiatus, but too tired to post anything of my own, so I leave you with this video I just came across. Unfortunately, ‘enjoy’ is not the correct verb to use in relation to its sobering reminder of our depredations: Recommend this Post
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Suicide on a Grand Scale
Prince Charles states the obvious. “Mankind is on the brink of ‘committing suicide on a grand scale’ unless rapid progress is made on green issues, the Prince of Wales warned today.”In very strong language, Prince Charles claimed the planet was do…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Another of Donald Trump’s Depredations
While watching this video, which accompanies a story on Salon.com about ‘the Donald’s’ depredations in Scotland, I couldn’t help but think of a well-known biblical rhetorical question. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On Pipeline Safety
Given Calgary’s recent designation as the “greatest city in Canada” and the entire province enjoying sainthood status under the current Prime Minister, it is with some trepidation that I draw your attention to a story that could get me labelled as divisive and an environmental terrorist. In a column that
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What The Closure of The Experimental Lakes Area Really Means
To learn the truly tragic dimensions of this Harper maneuver to silence yet another dissenting scientific voice, please check out this article by Michael Harris. After reading it, I think you will likely agree that the health of Canadians is pretty low on the list of Dear Leader’s priorities. Recommend
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Incomparably Incompetent Peter Kent
I have to start this brief entry by invoking an old cliche: the best defense is a strong offense. That certainly seems to be the strategy ‘Environment’ Minister Peter Kent is pulling out of his very limited playbook at the UN conference on the environment in Rio as he intones
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Harper Mentors McGuinty
It is very interesting to note that despite their often uneasy relationship, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has learned some lessons about how to use budget omnibus bills to gut environmental protection from that master of duplicity, Stephen Harper. Thomas Walkom provides the details in today’s Star. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: New Disgrace For Both Harper And Kent
Environment minister’s office urged bureaucrats to blame media for recycling controversy Nope, no surprises here in the depth of contempt both the P.M. And Peter Kent feel for the people they ‘serve’. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Death By Download?
Although a cliche, it is nonetheless true that knowledge is power, which probably explains why Canada is currently under the yoke of the most secretive and undemocratic federal government it has ever known. The latest restriction on access to information is reflected in the Harper termination of the National Roundtable
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Why A Budget Omnibus Bill?
It’s the best way to hide your real purpose, which, according to Thomas Walkom, is this: It is aimed at eliminating regulations — particularly environmental regulations — that interfere in profit-making. It is aimed at reducing wages (which is why the Conservatives take swipes at unions whenever possible). It is
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Tempering My ‘Enthusiasm’
Despite postings I have made on both critical thinking and avoiding fallacies of reasoning, I am well-aware that my own thinking and writing sometimes fall far short of the standards they demand. In my deep and abiding contempt for the neoconservative agenda and the simplistic, uni-dimensional thinking of its adherents,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The World We Are Willfully Destroying
Last year, I wrote a post on the power of the documentary. In it, I discussed how a good nature documentary can very powerfully help us to see both the wonders of the world and how we are destroying that world. Last night I watched the show Nature on PBS.
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