by Nikole Hannah-Jones | ProPublica: The four-bedroom house advertised on Craigslist sounded like just what Claire Rembis and her husband had been looking for. It sat on two verdant acres with plenty of room for their seven home-schooled children to run and play. And the $850 monthly rent was much cheaper than
Continue readingTag: United States
Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Shooting at a Place of Education
The mass shooting in Connecticut was tragic, and it’s amplified by instantaneous news making irresponsible reports, misidentifying accused suspects, and encouraging copy-cats by propelling the shooter to world-wide notoriety instead of leaving them in obscurity where they came from. It doesn’t take a malicious act such as this to harm
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: ConCalls: Week of Hell #RoboCon
The Conservatives have had a (deservedly) rough week, and it’s about to get more rough next week. The Council of Canadians’ court challenge is Monday. The Prime Minister closed out the final news cycle hour this week by actually taking questions from the press, (which has hardly ever happened before).
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Justin Bieber and Chris Brown
Justin Bieber at the Grey Cup wasn’t the only ‘interesting’ pop music story of yesterday. I’m not a Bieber expert (Belieber), but I did watch his biopic a few months ago, and he’s certainly got some real musical talent. How he is as a human being will probably degrade with his over-worldly fame, but he […]
New leaders face challenge as U.S. and China mistrust grows
With Xi Jinping assuming leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, China and the United States have both now chosen their leaders for the near future. They both face considerable challenges, not the least of which is the growing mistrust between the people of the two superpowers. According to a Pew
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Good Ol’ American Sex Scandal
The American media is very primitive, which is why it avoids complex and important issues, and instead resorts to tabloid topics like sex scandals. While their country is embroiled in an unprovoked war in Iraq, occupies Afghanistan (along with Canada), and itches to bomb Iran for oil, they’re worried more about where the wiener Petraeus […]
Is the U.S. right rigging elections?
After reading an article in the November 2012 issue of Harper’s (“How to Rig an Election” by Victoria Collier), I’m not as surprised that Barack Obama won the recent presidential election as I’m surprised he was allowed to win. The article points out that most votes in the U.S. are
Continue readinggay persons of character: Video: [Stereotypical] Gay Men Will Marry Your [Stereotypical] Girlfriends
I find it sad that the above video relies on ridiculous stereotypes to promote gay rights and marriage equality in the United States (where same-sex nuptials are now a legal reality in nine states and the District of Columbia). Even sadder perhaps is that the video has gone viral thus
Continue readinggay persons of character: Video: [Stereotypical] Gay Men Will Marry Your [Stereotypical] Girlfriends
I find it sad that the above video relies on ridiculous stereotypes to promote gay rights and marriage equality in the United States (where same-sex nuptials are now a legal reality in nine states and the District of Columbia). Even sadder perhaps is that the video has gone viral thus
Continue readinggay persons of character: Video: [Stereotypical] Gay Men Will Marry Your [Stereotypical] Girlfriends
I find it sad that the above video relies on ridiculous stereotypes to promote gay rights and marriage equality in the United States (where same-sex nuptials are now a legal reality in nine states and the District of Columbia). Even sadder perhaps is that the video has gone viral thus perpetuating at an accelerated rate a monolithic image of gay men as effeminate, musical-loving, ultimatum-slinging, gym bunnies, among other cringe-worthy clichés. And all this in addition to the one-dimensional portrayal of girlfriends as actually wanting to be with the aforementioned type of man. Created by the folks at College Humor, this is activism at its very lowest form of expression.
Continue readingGeoff Campbell: Starbucks VP Speech at Newhouse
On Friday, James Olson, Vice President, Global Public Relations for Starbucks Coffee Company came to campus to present his talk, “Enlightened Leadership: How to Turn a Company into a Movement”. It was a story about how the company, according to media reports, was in dire straights in October 2008. The stock was tumbling so Howard Schultz came back to […]
Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: How People Vote is Broken #cdnpoli #election2012
A great many people yesterday voted for people they don’t really believe in. They voted for Obama, or Romney, because they felt there was no other choice compared to the danger of the unknown, or the risk of a too-familiar vote split to let a kleptocrat win. I’m not certain what forces and situations need […]
Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: US #election2012
It bothers me how little regard professional media pays to math when “projecting” results. They have computers that can tell us if the race is clinched or not, just as they do for sports playoff spots. It’s a disgrace that it’s easier to know if a sports team has a mathematical chance of attaining a […]
Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff: ConCalls: Moving #RoboCon Along
It’s a national disgrace that 18 months after the criminal phonecalls that ruined the 2011 election, there have been 0 people charged with the fraud of misdirecting voters to fake polling locations. The urgency to solve this just isn’t there in Elections Canada or the RCMP, even though we know
Continue readingAmericans and global warming—science bounces back
Earlier in this century, almost 80 per cent of Americans accepted that the Earth was warming and almost half believed we were causing it. Then skepticism increased and those believing in warming fell to 57 per cent and those believing we were causing it fell to a third. This increasing
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Sandy Wind Blows
The largest hurricane recorded is underway, and it’s hitting the US and Canada. Is it because of climate change? The short answer is, yes. If you’re asking that question because you’re wondering if climate change is real, the answer is, yes it is real and we have to make a
Continue readingFalse positive: private profit in Canada's health care: Quality Program Fee Increases and IHF Corporate Concentration
This year Independent Health Facilities (IHFs) in Ontario will start paying an annual administrative fee to cover the costs of their quality control program plus a new fee for the direct costs of each quality assessment. Prior to June 2012 the Ministry of Health had paid the College of Physicians
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: How an Accused Guatemalan War Criminal Won U.S., Canadian Citizenship
by Sebastian Rotella | ProPublica In May 1985, a Guatemalan Army lieutenant named Jorge Vinicio Sosa Orantes deserted, flew to San Francisco and requested political asylum, asserting that leftist guerrillas in his war-torn homeland were gunning for him. The 27-year-old officer described his combat exploits in his application for asylum. He said he
Continue readingAmericans increasingly belligerent as foreign policy debate looms
On Monday, Obama and Romney will debate foreign policy. Recent surveys indicate that Americans, on at least two important issues, are feeling increasingly hard-nosed which probably means advantage Romney. Regarding Iran’s nuclear program, early in the year more Americans felt it was more important to take a firm stand (50
Continue readingU.S. and Russia vie for Iraq arms business
Much has changed in Iraq since the Americans invaded in 2003. Saddam Hussein is gone, replaced by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki who appears to want to replace Saddam’s one-party Sunni-dominated state with a one-party Shia-dominated state. And Russia has been replaced by the United States as the chief arms
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