It is refreshing to see that, unlike in Canada where government scientists cannot speak about climate change, American government employees are not afraid to draw some harsh correlations between it and environmental destruction. Recommend this Post
Continue readingTag: harper contempt for science
Politics and its Discontents: While Harper Fiddles, Canada Burns
There have been so many developments on the climate front of late that, collectively, give us a pretty stark warning and yet the media, the public and our political leadership are tuning out. We seem to be culturally embracing a sort of Andean fatalism that seems to precede abrupt civilizational
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Has Harper Betrayed The West? A Mound Of Sound Guest Post
Recent summer flooding across southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba seems to be bringing the reality of climate change home to the people of the prairies and it’s drawing some unwelcome attention to prime minister Harper. Look, it was bound to happen. You can’t have once-a-century weather disasters arriving every two
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Calling Stephen Harper
It is always heartening when young people get involved in issues that should matter to everyone: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Thomas Walkom Misses The Mark
One of the reasons I subscribe to The Toronto Star is the quality of its columnists. Tim Harper, Martin Regg Cohn, Thomas Walkom, Heather Mallick, etc. rarely disappoint. However, no one is perfect, and today’s column by Walkom is not up to his usual critical standards. Entitled Conservatives’ downfall could
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On Harper’s Hateful Hypocricsy
There is little doubt that Alana Westwood will now be joining that ever-growing pantheon of proud Canadians inscribed on Harper’s Enemies List. The PhD Candidate at Dalhousie University and volunteer coordinator at Evidence for Democracy has written a fine piece in today’s Toronto Star entitled Stephen Harper’s blatant hypocrisy on
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Forecast: Very Cloudy Indeed
Mike de Sousa is a former Post Media reporter now operating his own website continuing his investigative work into energy and the environment. He is well-worth paying attention to. His latest piece, Government’s weather forecasters shouldn’t discuss climate change, says Environment Canada, while perhaps not breaking any new ground, is
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Of Course We Could Ignore This
But are we willing to pay the ultimate price? Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: If Only We Could All Take This To Heart
Then where would the Harperites be? Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: It’s Definitely Not Democracy
That’s the conclusion fundraising expert Harvey McKinnon draws in this interview during which he discusses the Harper regime’s targeting of groups that oppose the Tory policy of environmental despoliation, about which I wrote previously. McKinnon also offers this startling information: Statistically, one in 100 charities are audited each year. This
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Another Informed Star Reader
Christine Penner Polle of Red Lake offers some observations that I suspect few but the most ardent ideologues would dispute: Re: Ottawa plans cuts to climate programs, March 12 Have we Canadians fallen down the rabbit hole? We are living in a Mad Hatter world where our federal government is
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Heather Mallick And The Climate Of Fear
Toronto Star columnist Heather Mallick has a lacerating assessment this morning of the political landscape we now inhabit, thanks to the machinations of the Harper cabal. Owen, over at Norther Reflections, has a post on her piece that is well-worth reading. I shall only add this from her column: What
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Peace Of Mind: An Elusive State
Do not go gentle into that good night.Rage, rage against the dying of the light. – Dylan Thomas I have now passed seven years of my ‘official’ retirement; it will be eight years this June since it actually began, given that I took a six-month leave before starting to draw
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Engaging Community: Some Thoughts From The Salamander
The other day I wrote a post about the Harper cabal’s systematic efforts to re-engineer Canadians’ critical thinking capacity through the gutting of science libraries and their resources. No books=no concern over climate change=cheerleading for tarsands development. It is up to each of us to combat this drift into darkness.
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: An Unspeakably Sad Picture
But this photo of materials tossed in a dumpster upon the closure of the Fisheries and Oceans Canada library in Mont-Joli, Que. also speaks volumes about the Harper contempt for any knowledge or research that contradicts his regressive and destructive policies. A war on science indeed. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The War Continues
The Harper cabal’s contempt for the environment, science, transparency, and knowledge in general has become the stuff of dark legend, provoking outrage both at home and beyond our borders. That a putative democracy can be behaving in such a totalitarian manner strains credulity. And the latest salvo against science, the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Another Clear And Cogent Explanation Of The Polar Vortex
This explanation is offered by President Barack Obama’s science advisor, Dr. John Holdren. Even if Stephen Harper hadn’t abolished the position of National Science Advisor in 2008, it is hard to imagine anyone in his employ speaking so frankly. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Ignorance Is Strength
At least it is so in Harperland. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Scientist Speaks Out
By now, the plight of government scientists is reasonably well-known. Despite the Harper propaganda machine’s vehement campaign to deny the practice, more and more Canadians have become aware that the regime has been systematically muzzling its scientists, whose research and hard data frequently contradict and expose as lies the ideology
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: David Suzuki On Harper’s Contempt For Democracy
David Suzuki has a thought-provoking essay in today’s Globe and Mail that also serves as an excellent precis of some of the things the Harper government would like us to forget, including its promotion of ignorance/contempt for factual data, its demonization of environmentalists, it arrant hypocrisy, and its general contempt
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