Having zero tolerance policies in schools is a truly horrible way to treat children. It can blunt curiosity and punish severely for minor infractions, combine such oppressive control with bizarre rules (like no playing schoolyard games) and you’ll bored, agitated and disengaged kids. When children aren’t able to express themselves
Continue readingTag: freedom
Politics, Re-Spun: Capitalism: Swing Your Sledgehammer
It’s all about vision and hope, in an effort to envision how economics and markets can exist after the toxicity of capitalism is gone, gone gone. Are you up for it? Last night, John Holloway, author of Crack Capitalism, was the SFU Institute for the Humanities‘ guest lecturer, skyped in
Continue readingThe Political Road Map: Why Sochi 2014 is My Generations 1972 Summit Series
I was not around in 1972 to experience the dramatic and intense summit series between Canada and the Soviet Union, however I have read a lot about the event and heard many stories from hockey fanatics who had the pleasure of experiencing it live. The Summit Series was an immensely
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Australians to Canadians: Beware TPP economic fallout
Over 125,000 people – including tens of thousands of Canadians – have now spoken out about the damaging Internet censorship proposals in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). We know from leaked drafts all about how the TPP would make your Internet more expensive, censored, and policed. Now, our friends in Australia
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Nelson Mandela and What That Giant Meant To Me
When I heard the news that Nelson Mandela had died at first I was sad, like billions of people all over the world. For he was my greatest living hero, and somehow I had hoped that he would live forever. “Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father,”
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: New studies show babies have basically decent impulses and are strongly driven by moral imperatives
More research shows once again that compassion, empathy and mutual aid, and an instinct toward cooperation, are innate in human beings, confirming what the great Russian biologist and anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin had already amply demonstrated over a hundred years ago, in his monumental work, Mutual Aid. My but our
Continue readingRemember who? And for what?
Canada first observed Remembrance Day on November 11th, 1919, to commemorate the armistice that had ended WWI one year earlier and to remember those in the military who had given their lives in the war. The narrow focus on the military has become less legitimate—the majority of those who died
Continue readingLeDaro: Benjamin Netanyahu has a problem with his genes. :)
He made an off-hand comment that if Iranians were free and had a democratic government then Iranian people will be free to wear jeans and listen to Western music. That remark backfired on Natenyahoo.
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Simple pleasures and the greatest of treasures
Ok, it’s that time. Time to put down the pen, or in this case, the keyboard; start cooking dinner – very slowly, for maximum flavour – and cut the grass in the golden sun of the late afternoon… And, crank up the rock and roll on the wireless headphones! Whoo-hoo!
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: US government shutdown, and other fairy tales and political theatre
I’m not sure what to make of the hoopla going on in the US right now. I’m inclined to think it’s all just political theatre, as Gerald Celente calls it, designed to distract the people from the real issues – the central one being, who controls the government and the
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The deeper reasons for the “war on drugs”
There is a deeper reason for the war on drugs, which is the central reason for the policy, even outweighing profits from private prisons and seizure of property by law enforcement officers, both of which no doubt are also significant and strong motivations for keeping the “war on drugs” going.
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Key of Keys
Egoless divine pride: the most glorious concept I have ever heard – from Tibetan Buddhism. The Uttara Tantra elaborates: There once was a prince, who lost his memory and forgot who he was. Lost in forgetfulness and confusion, he wandered aimlessly, and became a homeless beggar. Years later, a minister
Continue readingThings Are Good: Choose Cage Free
Animal cruelty sadly still exists and we can all make a difference in the suffering of domesticated animals by changing our shopping habits. The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has launched an education campaign to get people aware of the dangers of factory-farming hens while celebrating the
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Anti-Harper Ad The CBC Doesn’t Dare Run
It may seem hard to believe, but in a country where the government keeps an Enemy List, and rules by fear, the CBC has decided to muzzle itself. Read more »
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper’s Stealth War on Gay Canadians
In just a few hours I'll be following the rainbow, or waving it, at the Toronto Pride parade.Along with about a million gay people and their straight friends and supporters.It's always an awesome spectacle. A chance to celebrate our community, our survival, and in my case at least, send a giant
Continue readingKen Chapman: Edward Snowden, Freedom and the Media’s Manufacture of Meaning
There is no doubt there is a need for fear, or at least anxiety, over our government’s secret intrusion into our online personal lives. Yes the Government of Canada too, not just the United States, is doing this.Reassurances from those perpetuati…
Continue readingKen Chapman: Edward Snowden, Freedom and the Media’s Manufacture of Meaning
There is no doubt there is a need for fear, or at least anxiety, over our government’s secret intrusion into our online personal lives. Yes the Government of Canada too, not just the United States, is doing this. Reassurances from those perpetuating this travesty say that the surveillance is only
Continue readingKen Chapman: Edward Snowden, Freedom and the Media’s Manufacture of Meaning
There is no doubt there is a need for fear, or at least anxiety, over our government’s secret intrusion into our online personal lives. Yes the Government of Canada too, not just the United States, is doing this. Reassurances from those perpetuating this travesty say that the surveillance is only
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Top Priorities of the 21st Century
If I were asked what I felt were the top priorities facing human beings today, in the 21st century, I would have to say there are four that top the list, in my mind. 1. Halt the global corporate coup. Defeat the corporate war on democracy, which is now escalating
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Ezra Levant And All His Friends
From the Twitter “fake follower” check, which tells you how many of your twitter followers are real: So it looks like someone has been buying Ezra bulk followers. Anyway, compare this with the report you get for a real journalist–Canada’s sweetest little angel, Kady O’Malley: Or even Hairface, from Lethbridge: So
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