We need to leave the tarsands oil in the ground. We need an increasing carbon tax. We need to stop subsidizing carbon energy producers. We need public money invested in post-carbon energy. We need to do it now. I say all this, as does this NASA physicist: The science of
Continue readingTag: Justice
Politics, Re-Spun: Balkan Voices: Anti-Austerity Protests in Montenegro Heat Up
Translation and contextual information by Konstantin Kilibarda Montenegro has been ruled by the same political party, the Democratic Party of Socialist (DPS), for the past 23 years. Along with the government of Belarus, Montenegro has the dubious distinction of being the only country in Europe that hasn’t seen a change in
Continue readingNorthern Insight: A false notion of the purpose and end of law
A replay from June 2010 that seemed to me worth repeating because, after almost two years, Vaughn Palmer, the Vancouver Sun’s main pundit, finally noticed the BCR scandal keeps BC Liberals mired in rough and unpredictable terrain. Weekend is a time to reflect on broad issues and to search for
Continue readingWould 42 months in prison make Harper a better Prime Minister?
I assure you that the title of this post is purely tongue-in-cheek. Heaven forbid I would want to see Stephen Harper behind bars. Nonetheless, another prominent conservative just spent 42 months in the slammer and he emerged a better man with a better sense of what prison can and cannot
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Justice is blind … to abuse, again
I republish this article from January 2011. The trial of RCMP Constable Mantler is scheduled for November 2012 and this seemingly straight forward case is scheduled to last three weeks. It is worth re-examination because, in numerous ways, it illustrates the defective operation of British Columbia’s police and court services.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Re: Huffington Post & the Quebec Spring (Again!)
I had previously been under the impression that the Huffington Post was a generally a left-liberal sort of enterprise. However, it appears that one does not win a Pulitzer these days without some token “dissent.” After all, we know how difficult it is for right-wing perspectives to be heard in
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Let’s Have an End to People Dying at Work
Ben Isitt is a Victoria city councillor, historian, professor, lawyer and optimist. Rarely have I been so moved by an account of the struggle working people have in the face of this new world order of anti-worker 1%ism. We are so effectively trained to accept the balance of power is
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Grown too rich, too powerful to punish
According to the Washington Post, Google has been under scrutiny in the U.S., Canada, France and the Netherlands for charges that it illegally collected WiFi data using its Street View cars. “…the company said the cars, which roam the world taking pictures for its location-based applications, scarfed up e-mail addresses,
Continue readingNorthern Insight: USA’s upside-down justice
From Tom Engelhardt‘s Tomgram: Peter Van Buren, Joining The Whistleblowers’ Club “… the strange, embattled world of Obama-era governmental whistleblowers. As a group, they are, after all, just about the only people inside the National Security Complex who ever get in trouble for their acts.
Continue readingDrive-by Planet: Diab extradition order: ‘dangerous new low’ in Canadian law
Earlier this month Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson signed an extradition order allowing for the surrender of Canadian citizen, Ottawa U professor Hassan Diab, to French authorities. Dr Diab has been accused of involvement with a 1980 bombing outside a synagogue on Rue Copernic, Paris. He has steadfastly proclaimed his
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Cash for kids
Former Judge on Trial in ‘Cash for Kids’ Scheme, JON HURDLE and SABRINA TAVERNISE, New York Times, February 8, 2011 “SCRANTON, Pa. — A former Pennsylvania judge went on trial in federal court on Tuesday, charged with racketeering, bribery and extortion in what prosecutors say was a $2.8 million scheme
Continue readingLarry Hubich's Blog: Court Decision Upholds Working People’s Rights
Workers in Saskatchewan, and across Canada, won a significant legal victory on February 6, 2012. Justice Dennis Ball ruled that the right to strike is a protected freedom for all workers under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He also found that the right to strike is protected by
Continue reading350 or bust: Saturday At The Movies
Just in time for Easter: Hallelujah Corporations:
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Social Justice and Democracy Activists Fool their Foes on April Fools
Long time social justice and democracy activists fooled their foes on April Fools this year giving the world a double victory with Aung San Suu Kyi and George Galloway winning by-elections to restore voices for reason in the world. Suu Kyi, a long time political prisoner, won her first election
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 – Policy Highlights
With the NDP’s leadership convention set to start tomorrow (and assorted hospitality suites already starting up tonight), I won’t be able to finish off my initial plan to put together full policy reviews for each of the candidates. But instead, I’ll take some time to highlight a few innovative ideas
Continue readingMy journey with AIDS...and more!: No sentence could undo the harms caused by Graham James
I join the outcry today over the sentencing of convicted serial pedophile Graham James to two years in prison for the sexual abuse of Theo Fleury and Todd Holt. Counter-intuitively (because I knew it would just get me stirred up) I watched the news coverage of the lawyers’ statements and victims’
Continue readingBlevkog: Kony 2012
From Wikipedia: “Joseph Rao Kony (born 1961 in Odek, Uganda) is a Ugandan guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments throughout Uganda. The LRA say that God has sent spirits to
Continue reading