The Whanganui River its the first river to have the same legal stats as a person. The New Zealand federal government recently passed a bill granting the river legal personhood. This means that the river is afforded all the rights as a person under New Zealand law. The river’s rights
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Alberta Politics: It’s time for a national postal bank in both Canada and the United States
PHOTOS: The little Post Office in downtown St. Albert, where your blogger lives, which Canada Post is anxious to close as soon as possible. Below: The U.S. Post Office in Fallon, Montana, the Canadian Post Office in Dewberry, Alberta (villageofdewberry…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney sails close to the wind on Anti-Terrorism Act at picnic visit
PHOTOS: Liberal candidate Adam Vaughan’s photo of the Kurdish Peace and Cultural Festival in Toronto Saturday, with an image of PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan visible in the background. (Grabbed from Twitter.) Below: Defence Minister Jason Kenney, who bragged about being at the event, and Mr. Vaughan. Jason Kenney, who notwithstanding
Continue readingIn This Corner: Dear New Zealand: A few thoughts on your future flag flap.
Dear New Zealand: G’day, mates! Oh, wait. That’s an Australian thing, isn’t it? I’ll bet you found that just a little insulting. So, as we say in Canada, sorry. What do you say down there? The Internet tells me that the Maori have three different ways of saying hello depending
Continue readingLegislating morality—the new prostitution law
Ah, yet another step backward into a failed past. I refer, of course, to our favourite government’s new Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, a piece of legislation that criminalizes the purchase of sexual services. To begin with, the bill isn’t even logical. It criminalizes buying sex but not
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: New Zealand – Australia’s Climate Change Lifeboat
Australia is somewhat ahead of the global average for climate change temperature rise. The country just passed the 1C mark. There’s obviously plenty more heat on the way in the future, just as there is everywhere else from existing atmospheric greenhouse gases, not even counting the additional GHGs we’ll be
Continue readingThings Are Good: A New Zealand School Abandons Rules, Ends Bullying
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 readingThe Disaffected Lib: A Court Down Under Deals with Climate Change Migration
A New Zealand court will hear a refugee-status claim from a Kiribati man who contends he had to flee not persecution but climate change. Kiribati is a low-lying atoll in the South Pacific that will be among the first to be inundated by rising sea levels. There’s simply not enough
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Avez-Vous Des Bigots? Je Pense, ‘Oui’
The last week or so my view of humanity world over has been severely soured. I’ve often expressed an attitude that Alberta is the ‘Texas of Canada’ when it comes to issues of equality and progressive society. Hidden in that stance is the inference that other places aren’t as backward,
Continue reading350 or bust: Saturday At The Movies
A marriage equality bill that recognized gay marriage passed in the New Zealand parliament this past week. This is a speech that MP Maurice Williamson gave at that time. I wish Canadian parliamentarians were as clever and well spoken; there is precious little witty repartee in the House of Commons
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Fractured Land: A Dene warrior battles Big Oil and neo-colonialism
by Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive, Feb 1, 2013: This is the trailer of Fractured Land a film that tells the story of Caleb Behn, a young Dene warrior from northeastern British Columbia, “taking on Big Oil and Gas to protect his ancestral land and people from the ravages of neocolonialism.” I met Behn
Continue readingThings Are Good: Pacific Island 100% Solar Powered
Tokelau is a small island in the Pacific that has switched it’s entire power grid to solar, this is the first of a few islands in the region that will be fully independent from having to import fuel for electricity.
Before the solar power grid was completed, the New Zealand-administered grouping of three coral atolls, […]
Slap Upside The Head: Doctor Chemically Castrates Gay Patient
Slap reader Daniel sends us this crazy bit of news: A doctor in Sydney, Australia has prescribed chemical castration drugs to an 18 year old New Zealand patient in an attempt to “cure” his homosexually. Cyproterone acetate blocks production of testosterone, mostly eliminating sexual drive in males. Luckily, the Medical
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