Steve Harper, the greatest threat to Canadian security in the modern era. Happy August! Happy Day! I have a few comments about this, the 1,000th editorial at Politics, Re-Spun. But you can read them below, about my sabbatical plan, new visions for this almost 12-year-old website, and other things. But
Continue readingTag: International Relations
Politics, Re-Spun: The Occupy Movement Has Changed the Narrative, But We’re Not Done
Recently, with the WEF spending the last few years acknowledging global income inequality is a problem, I’ve declared a kind of victory for the Occupy Movement: getting the lexicon on the 1% and inequality on the tongues of the sly gazillionaires who rule the world, and into mass consumption. Now
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The 1% Has More Solidarity Than We Do
In Davos, the 1% rule the world. Literally. They also have the guns. The 1% are claiming we have it out for them; that if we don’t tone down the rhetoric and stop calling them names like “the contemptuous rich,” we might end up starting a class war. But they
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: My Deepest Apology to Stephen Harper, Military Genius
Yes? For years I have been openly mocking our prime minister. He believes he’s the combined reincarnation of General Douglas MacArthur and Winston Churchill, often touting things like the Canadian victory in the War of 1812, even though Canada wouldn’t exist for another 55 years. Pish posh. In reality, I
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How the Tsilhqot’in Land Title Ruling Can Help Kill Enbridge
Watch Pam Palmater’s response to the SCC ruling. Click above. Stephen Harper had about a week to enjoy the glory of his remarkably understated whispery notification that the Enbridge climate killing pipeline will proceed. Yesterday the Supreme Court shut down the prime minister, which they have a tendency to do
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What Does Soft Fascism Look Like These Days?
We don’t see brown shirts and jackboots, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t seeing the de-democratization of our society. In Vancouver this month, armed police with guns drawn, raided a house because they suspected people inside not of being terrorists, but of spray painting “No Pipelines” all over the place.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Let’s Play Cowboys and Indians
Why not? It seems to be working in Washington, DC. And you know what? They’ve got our backs. When ranchers are farmers and tribal communities realize that the tarsands and their toxic pipelines threaten us all, it’s pretty easy to figure out how working together gets things done. They’re even
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Democracy Blooming at the Margins: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine and Taiwan
From OpenDemocracy.net, yesterday. Jasmin Mujanović 14 April 2014 The terrifying spectre in these countries is not of ravenous foreign capital, though there is plenty of experience with this too, but of the persistent suffering of being an oft bloodied geopolitical borderland. Blockade and occupation of Taiwan’s legislature enters day seven.
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Vladimir Putin’s strategic crisis in 2014 sure looks a lot like John F. Kennedy’s in 1962
President John F. Kennedy signs the proclamation of the “Interdiction of the Delivery of Offensive Weapons to Cuba” on Oct. 23, 1962. The order imposed the U.S. naval blockade on Cuba that Mr. Kennedy had announced during his televised address the night before. Below: Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev, Russian
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How the Conservative Government Dishonours the Military
So Canada is leaving its occupation of Afghanistan. I never liked the mission. I never liked the context. I never liked the propaganda. I never liked the transformation of some kind of Canada into this occupying Canada. 162 killed and 2,179 wounded? But here’s the very very hard question. Who
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: If the 1% Has Russell Brand Killed…
If the 1% has Russell Brand killed, we will see it in the corporate media as a drug OD relapse, or a freak accident. Why? He is dangerous because he fearlessly tells the truth and challenges pretence. Let’s examine this in some detail here [with video]: His brain works twice
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Advice to Canadian politicians and media: Proceed with caution on your support for Ukraine’s rebels
Anti-Government Ukrainians prepare to fight police in Kiev. Below: Rioters throw gasoline bombs at police in Ukraine; Alberta Labour Minister Thomas Lukaszuk. (Wikimedia photos.) You can bet money that when trouble is brewing abroad things are always far more complicated than local enthusiasts for one side or the other make
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Because You’re Not As Dumb As They Think You Are!
Today is Friday. Let’s make it “think for ourselves Friday.” It’ll work: the government/corporations/1% won’t see it coming! Twitter / occupythemob: http://t.co/doHx1xWO4l. December 17, 2013 Fried Squirrels (0) December 20, 2013 Enbridge: What Now? We Escalate Our Fight (4) January 7, 2012 Day Two of Tragedy of the Market: From
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Jesse Ventura Is On Our Side On Racist Team Names
More support for changing the name of the NFL team in Washington comes from Jesse “The Body” Ventura. Yesterday, I wrote about how incredibly easy it would be to change the racist name of any kind of team. It’s really not that hard. Imagine the reverse, though. Imagine changing the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Yugoslavia as Science Fiction
Over the past two years, a collection of photographs of WWII memorials from (the former) Yugoslavia has made the rounds on social media. Popular sci-fi and fantasy blog io9 reported on it and this post from Crack Two appears to have been “liked” over 173,000 times on Facebook alone. And here is the same
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Mandela Was More Radical Than Most Know
Well, I miss Mandela. The post-Mandela world is sadly less colourful. While all sorts of people, including reprobate politicians in Canada laud him for this and that, it’s important to remember that he never seemed to angle for being a darling of right wing, neoliberal libertarian freedom fighters. Here are
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: More Clever Climate Change Awareness Actions!
…Burning oil caused the melting in the first place… A week ago [was it that long?] two climate change activists pulled a Yes Men on our greatest employee, Mr. Stephen Harper. But last summer, you may not have seen an equally clever, but more hi-tech, stunt by Greenpeace’s Save the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Cheap T-Shirts Keep Harper in Power
Whenever I read stories about corporations wanting to do the right thing, I never hold my breath. Clothing corporations, the sector where “sweatshops” originates, want us to believe they care. They don’t. Read what nonsense they are trying to peddle to get us off their back for exploiting people so
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Yesterday’s Climate Justice Protest #SpinAlert
Sean Devlin, of ShitHarperDid.ca, had the temerity to interact with our employee, Mr. Stephen Harper. Yesterday, we saw a new level of action against climate destruction policy. In the style of co-conspirator Brigette DePape, two protesters crashed Harper’s contemptuous public appearance. Harper holds the media and the general public of
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Just How Lazy ARE Indigenous People, Anyway?
It’s a trick question. And let’s not forget how many of us are told we are inherently lazy because we are native. Hard to shake that. via Twitter / apihtawikosisan: And let’s not forget how many …. And if you want to read one person’s analysis of destructive, racist stereotypes,
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