Assorted content for your Friday reading. – Zoe Williams questions when being poor became grounds for deliberate discrimination and ritual public humiliation (h/t to Mound of Sound): What I cannot help noticing is a failure of normal human respect for the people at the bottom of the heap – Tuesday’s
Continue readingTag: europe
The Canadian Progressive: Excessive corporate rights in Canada-EU CETA trade deal unacceptable to Canadians and Europeans
Transatlantic Statement Opposing Excessive Corporate Rights (Investor-State Dispute Settlement) in the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) By Trade Justice Network | Feb. 5, 2013: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM and OTTAWA, ONTARIO and MONTREAL, QUEBEC – Labour, environmental, Indigenous, women’s, academic, health sector and fair trade organizations from Europe, Canada and Quebec
Continue readingArt Threat: Art at War surveys creativity under Nazi occupation, from Picasso to Dubuffet
“History isn’t the lies of the victors … I know that now. It’s more the memories of the survivors, most of whom are neither victorious nor defeated.” – The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes On the last Sunday in the year, the Parisian bourgeoisie were out in force.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Jeffrey Simpson rightly notes that Alberta (like other resource-heavy jurisdictions) should be trying to diversify its revenue sources and economic development instead of relying on the one-time sale of publicly-owned resources to pay the bills. And Robyn Allan points out why we
Continue readingArt Threat: Sony hatches ploy to keep Bob Dylan out of the public domain
Bob Dylan has a new album out, but you’re not supposed to listen to it. Sony Music has released a box set of demos by the artist, entitled The 50th Anniversary Collection: The Copyright Extension Collection, Vol 1. With only 100 units available, the ultra exclusive release isn’t intended to
Continue readingThings Are Good: In Ireland, Carbon Tax Means Less Waste and More Revenue
Modern economies indirectly subsidize environmentally damaging corporate practices by ignoring the environmental costs ( younger generations have to deal with the environmental damage), this can be seen in everything from the tar sands in Alberta to ewaste in electronics. In Ireland they have started a carbon tax to deal with
Continue readingArt Threat: Carrot loophole saves theatre from tax hike
Austerity measures in Spain have increased taxes on nearly everything. Tax on theatre tickets was bumped from 8 to 21 percent, and in an already challenging economy, theatre companies were naturally worried about whether higher costs would keep the public away. In the town of Bescanó, two hours north of
Continue readingArt Threat: Girls with guns, boys with blow dryers – Is this gender-neutral toy catalog just a holiday publicity stunt?
Designing a toy catalog — or most any mass-market consumer catalog for that matter — is usually an exercise deeply rooted in the status quo. Top-Toy, the largest toy retailer in Northern European and licensee of the Toys “R” US chain in that region, is gently disrupting some of society’s
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Euros Strongly Back Assisted Suicide Laws
A poll of 12-European countries conducted for the Swiss Medical Lawyers Association found very strong majorities in all but one country in support of legalizing assisted suicide.In almost all the 12 countries polled, three-quarters or more of those re…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: What? Another Dire Report on Global Warming?
We used to get climate change reports once, perhaps twice a week. Now they’re flooding in daily. That’s not surprising given that scientific research papers on various aspects of anthropogenic global warming are now coming in at…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Default Option
Here is an important op ed from the Irish Times by a former senior IMF official, arguing that the most heavily indebted euro countries will have to default on some of their public debt. If they do not, public debt will continue to rise to even more uns…
Continue readingdrive-by planet: N14 anti-austerity ‘day of protest’ across Europe: pictures and video links
Millions across Europe turned out November 14 in an anti-austerity ‘day of protest and solidarity.’
The coordinated protests are happening at a time when Europe is headed back into recession as determined by economic indicators, although there have…
Continue readingdrive-by planet: November 14 ‘day of action’ against austerity: protests in Greece
Over the past months there have been protests in Spain, Portugal and Greece against government-imposed austerity measures.
This week an austerity bill was passed by the governing coalition in Greece despite strong political opposition and protests…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: $12 bil CETA GDP Claim from SimCity, not Real World
This week’s edition of Embassy newspaper contained a very interesting briefing insert on the Canada-EU CETA talks. Below is a commentary from me critiquing the ubiquitous but unbelievable claim that free-trade with Europe would boost Canada’s GDP by $12 billion, create 80,000 jobs, and life incomes by $1000 per family.
Continue readingThings Are Good: We’re Helping the NotFound Project
Sadly, even in these modern times, children go missing and finding them can be difficult. The NotFound Project hopes to help find missing children by making use of 404 pages online. 404 pages refer to pages on a website that cannot be found, so it makes thematic sense to use
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: In Spain, An Anti-Austerity Revolutionary Uprising (VIDEO)
This must-see video delves into the heart of Spain’s recent violent anti-austerity protests, and reveals the deep divide between the government and the people. “The government is trying to scare the people,” one protester says. Video available on YouTube
Continue readingThe Adventures of Diva Rachel: Stephen Harper trumpeted his lust for Brit colonialism in 2006 speech
At the heart of our relationship is the golden circle of the Crown which links us all together with the majestic past that takes us back to the Tudors, the Plantagenets, the Magna Carta, habeas corpus, petition of rights, and English common law […] all those massive stepping stones which
Continue readingThe Adventures of Diva Rachel: Stephen Harper jubilait son admiration pour la colonisation britannique dans un discours de 2006
Au cœur de notre relation se trouve le cercle de la Couronne, qui nous relie tous avec son passé majestueux qui nous ramène à l’époque des Tudors, des Plantagenets, de la Magna Carta, de l’habeas corpus, de la pétition des Droits, et de la Loi du peuple britannique […] tous
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Just How Stupid is Niall Ferguson? Very Stupid.
“But the real point of me isn’t that I’m good looking. It’s that I’m clever. I’ve got a brain! I would rather be called a highly intelligent historian than a gorgeous pouting one” – Harvard historian Niall Ferguson, Sept. 2011. One of the predictable habits of the mainstream media is
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