Assorted content for your Saturday reading. – Rick Salutin writes about the need for the labour movement to better promote its contribution to the general public – and my only quibble is that I’d prefer to see a focus on what still can be (and needs to be) done rather
Continue readingTag: Poverty
Politics, Re-Spun: Are You Just Too Tired? We’ve Known Why for Decades
You actually do deserve a break today. What ails us? A large proportion of the total produce goes to a small minority of the population, many of whom do no work at all. Owing to the absence of any central control over production, we produce hosts of things that are
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Why Do They Want Us To Shut Up?
If we were harmless, the riot cops would stay home. It’s Friday. It’s been a long week. Like most weeks. We are taught to fit in and obey. We are told that individuality and the search for social justice will get us in trouble, either by government surveillance or social
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on the questions raised by a sudden drop in potash prices – and why we should reconsider our economic and social priorities so that a minor fluctuation in a still-ample level of wealth isn’t seen as reason to push the panic button. For further reading…– My discussion of Robert
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Poverty the biggest barrier to good health for Canadians: Report
Poverty is making Canadians sick, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), “the national voice of Canadian physicians.” The post Poverty the biggest barrier to good health for Canadians: Report appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Thomas Walkom points out that while Stephen Harper managed to push the world in the wrong direction over the past few years, he may be missing the boat on where it’s headed: The Harper government’s failure is longer-term. It still operates under the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Bill Gardner discusses the effect of inequality and poverty starting at birth: There are three important facts packed into this slide. First, the lines stack up in order of increasing age, meaning that older people reported worse health than younger people. Second, all the lines
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Peter Buffett rightly questions the trend toward making the provision of basic necessities subordinate to a corporate mindset, rather than putting human needs first: As more lives and communities are destroyed by the system that creates vast amounts of wealth for the
Continue readingThe Political Road Map: Detroit Wants Robocop!
Movies, while providing a source of entertainment, also possess the ability to inspire us, move us and provide an example of the direction our society is moving in. Robocop among many memorable movies of our youth or general collection, gave us an image of a city named Detroit suffering from
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Marc Lee takes a high-level look at the absurdity of our destructive economic choices: Exhibit one: the North Pole at the moment is a one-foot-deep aquamarine lake. After reaching record low ice cover and thickness at the end of summer 2012, an ice-free
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Why We Must #HonourTheApology to Residential School Survivors [#INM]
I don’t know why we still have to do this kind of thing, but here goes. The federal government “apologized” to survivors of residential schools 5 years ago. It is clearly quite empty, considering how much neglect, abuse, victimization and racism has spewed forth from Stephen Harper’s government since then.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – John Myles discusses the Cons’ war on evidence: The mandatory Census was the lifeblood of almost all social and business planning. It provided key data for studying things like income inequality and poverty since both low- and high-income households were required to report.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Duncan Cameron discusses how the G20 is dancing around the problem of corporate tax evasion. The Economist issues a call to action against offshoring. And David Atkins points out what’s more likely needed to deal with a global problem which can be
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Evening Links
This and that to end your Thursday. – The Huffington Post discusses a study showing how poor Canadians pay the highest marginal tax rates on income that pushes them over benefit thresholds. But it should be fairly obvious that the solution is to set up rational models for social programs
Continue readingCanadian Political Viewpoints: All The World’s a Laboratory
Source: Maclean’s Magazine: http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/07/16/hungry-aboriginal-kids-adults-were-subject-of-nutritional-experiments-paper/ When I woke up this morning, I had intended to talk a bit more about the news that the PMO is actively withholding emails from the RCMP over Duffy-Wright, but I think this is a big issue we need to talk about. A story has come out
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Zimmerman and Alexander: Racism and Sexism in America
Can you handle the contradictions? I’ve been seen things in twitter for the last few days that puts some grotesque perspective on the American culture. I’m actually quite speechless: Two Florida towns, 125 miles apart. Two people firing weapons at unarmed aggressors, purportedly in self-defense. George Zimmerman, the 29-year-old neighborhood-watch
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Why does BC have the highest poverty rate in Canada?
Statistics Canada recently released new data on the incomes of Canadians and it shows two worrisome trends continuing through the economic recovery: BC has the highest poverty rate in Canada and the highest child poverty rate (tied with Manitoba); and Ordinary families haven’t had a raise since 2008 – family
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: At The Squamish Nation Powwow This Weekend!
Enrich your understanding at the Squamish Nation Powwow this weekend. In the quest for a better Canada, one that is more democratic, inclusive, consultative and less rejecting of science and climate change realities, it is important to reach out. Sovereignty Summer is part of that movement, coming out of Idle
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – George Monbiot rightly challenges the attempt of corporate interests and their political sock-puppets to demonize anybody concerned about our planet’s future: Exotic invasive species are a straightforward ecological problem, wearily familiar to anyone trying to protect biodiversity. Some introduced creatures – such
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Terrace: Regulating Housing Dignity Is Far Easier Than You’d Think
How to Research a Slumlord! In this era of hyper neoliberalism, we are so used to tax-cutting governments chopping regulations off the books to allow the Blessed Free Market to guide human existence. This caveat emptor mentality, however, means lots of vulnerable, marginalized and economically precarious people are hung out
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