Revolutionary thought of the day: The Gilded Age returned with a vengeance in our time. It slipped in quietly at first, back in the early 1980s, when Ronald Reagan began a “massive decades-long transfer of national wealth to the rich.” As Roger Hodge makes clear, under Bill Clinton the transfer
Continue readingTag: history
wmtc: the harper government’s vision of canada, in our passports and in our wallets
Some years ago, I analyzed the “Discover Canada”, the most recent guide for immigrants studying for the Canadian citizenship exam. I compared the booklet to the previous citizenship guide, “A Look At Canada”, and found within its pages the Harper Government’s vision of Canada. Later, we learned that the citizenship
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: What Bread Would Chaucer Have Eaten?
I was mulling over the growth of the whole ‘artisan bread’ movement as I made another batch of dough last week to cold ferment in the fridge. As I lay in bed reading one night, I started to wonder what sort of bread Chaucer would have eaten. Or Shakespeare. That led
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Molly’sBlog 2013-10-25 22:00:00
NORMAN BETHUNE AND BLOOD TRANSFUSION: A GREAT CANADIAN LIE If you visit pretty well any Canadian government site, or one receiving its funding from the government, you will come across the claim that the Canadian Communist surgeon Norman Bethune founded the first mobile blood transfusion unit in the world
Continue readingwmtc: faludi: corporatist pseudo-feminism vs radical change for women and all working people
I would like to draw your attention to an excellent article by Susan Faludi in The Baffler: Facebook Feminism: Like It or Not. Faludi contrasts the corporatist, individualistic, me-first, privileged, self-centered, pseudo-feminism of “Lean In” with the collective, cross-class activism of some of the original feminists: the “Mill Girls” of
Continue readingwmtc: dirty wars: an important movie, marred by nationalism
Last night we watched “Dirty Wars,” investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill’s documentary film exposing the United States’ covert, lethal, extra-governmental operations around the globe. It’s an important film. Depending on your level of knowledge of the US, it may be eye-opening, or it may be shocking. If you have not yet
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: 1927, a Year to Remember
1927. It was the year America sent troops to Nicaragua, forcing a US-supervised election. The year Alfred Hitchcock released his first movie. And the year when Fritz Lang released his masterpiece, Metropolis. Buster Keaton released The General that year, although it bombed at the box office. Clara Bow starred in
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Poor Lao Tzu: He Gets Blamed for So Much
Poor Lao Tzu. He gets saddled with the most atrocious of the New Age codswallop. As if it wasn’t enough to be for founder of one of the most obscure philosophies (not a religion, since it has no deity), he gets to be the poster boy for all sorts of
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: I Didn’t Know That…
One of the great delights of learning is to be able to read or hear something new, something unknown, something that challenges the mind or your previously formed ideas and opinions. Something that fascinates and delights you. That “ah ha!” moment. Last week I stumbled across a website called History
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: A Cup of Pu-Erh
It’s dark in the cup, but in the glass pot for brewing, it’s a deep copper. It smells of earth and age, a hint of horses and leather. A rich, slightly sweet and crisp taste. Black, no milk. With milk, it changes to a hot-chocolate light brown, and the flavour
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: John Pilger on the War You Don’t See
Mornin’ gentle readers. It’s movie Tuesday here on DWR, so lean forward find your favourite box of tissues and watch The War You Don’t See by John Pilger. If you are not up for violence and death, then watch anyways because if you rely on the MSM for your view
Continue readingPostArctica: L.A.’s Famous Four-Level Freeway Interchange, ‘The Stack,’ Turns 58
by Nathan Masters on September 22, 2011 3:00 PM Fifty-eight years ago today, the Four Level interchange first opened to traffic. This iconic concrete ribbon that binds the 101 and 110 freeways is an almost inescapable feature of many Southern Californians’ commute. Admired by some and feared by others, the
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Quote of the Day – John Pilgers
During World War One, 10% of all casualties were civilians. During World War Two, the number of civilian deaths rose to 50%. During the Vietnam War, 70% of all casualties were civilians. In the war in Iraq, civilians account for up to 90% of all deaths.
Continue readingwmtc: hedges: "when harper passes right-to-work, you must go on a massive general strike, or you’re finished"
Last night, I heard author, journalist, and activist Chris Hedges speak at the Bloor Street United Church in Toronto, sponsored by the excellent Canadian Dimension. Hedges is a radical intellectual, in the Chomsky vein, also compassionate and fearless, in the mode of Howard Zinn. He touched on many subjects –
Continue readingbastard.logic: The Atomic Road To Damascus (With a Detour Through Goldsboro)
Hey, remember when the US almost detonated an atomic bomb (260 times more powerful than either Fat Man or Little Boy) over North Carolina? Good times: The document, obtained by the investigative journalist Eric Schlosser under the Freedom of Information Act, gives the first conclusive evidence that the US was
Continue readingbastard.logic: The Atomic Road To Damascus (With a Detour Through Goldsboro)
Hey, remember when the US almost detonated an atomic bomb (260 times more powerful than either Fat Man or Little Boy) over North Carolina? Good times: The document, obtained by the investigative journalist Eric Schlosser under the Freedom of Information Act, gives the first conclusive evidence that the US was
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Rethinking the Industrial Revolution
Five Centuries of Transition from Agrarian to Industrial Capitalism in England Michael Andrew Žmolek, University of Iowa In Rethinking the Industrial Revolution: Five Centuries of Transition from Agrarian to Industrial Capitalism in England, Michael Andrew Žmolek offers the first in-depth study of the evolution of English manufacturing from the feudal
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The First and Second 9/11 – The Hidden End of Chilean Democracy
Greetings gentle readers, should we not consider the first 9/11 and also mourn for its victims? The first 9/11 essentially ruined Chile as a country; Chile was thrown backward into dictatorial hell where thousand of its citizens were systematically abducted, tortured and murdered. Why we choose not to mourn
Continue readingwmtc: the other september 11, why "they" might hate "us", and the right to live in peace
For many people in the world, especially people in South America, the date September 11 was significant long before 2001. On that date in 1973, Augusto Pinochet, with the help of the United States government, overthrew the democratically elected, socialist government of Salvador Allende. Allende was either murdered or forced
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: How many humans ever lived?
This infographic supplies an estimate for how many human beings ever lived. (140 billion) And if that sounds like an astonishing number, imagine how crowded the planet would be if they all existed at once. Actually, you don’t have to … Continue reading →
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