There’s really no better way to understand another society that to live there. I have never known the United States better than during the years I spent studying there back in the Vietnam war era. This is why I was drawn to the observations of Volker Stanzel, former undersecretary of
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Political Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Climate deals and pipeline steals
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/podcast-141128-oil-and-climate.mp3 Today’s episode is focused on the economics and politics of climate change, both more globally and locally. To get a global perspective on the state of climate negotiations and the recent US-China climate deal, I speak with Leigh Phillips, a science writer and journalist who has written for Nature,
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Forget Mount Rushmore: Richard Nixon’s last laugh
Richard Nixon laid back Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace, after his Watergate tapes had shown the public just what kind of a man he was. Despite his claim that I am not a crook!, most believed he lied to the Congress, to the public, and probably to himself. There is
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Doug Henwood on US economics and politics
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/podcast-141114-doug-henwood.mp3 This week, it’s my great pleasure to present a feature interview with Doug Henwood — economic analyst, author of books including Wall Street and host of the wonderful Behind the News radio show and podcast that inspired this show. Doug always introduces his show by saying his guests will be “taking a look at worlds of
Continue readingThings Are Good: China and US Agree to Cut Emissions
The world’s largest polluters have agreed that they have a problem and they need to stop it. The USA and China have come to terms with the fact that they are the worst polluters and have both decided to take action using various policy tools and joint cooperation. This is
Continue readingLeft Over: Keeping Remembrance Day in My Own Way….
Gap’s ‘Remembrance Day deal’ not appropriate, Toronto veteran says ‘The point is not to exploit and profit from this day,’ says Cpl. Chuck Krangle CBC News Posted: Nov 10, 2014 11:10 PM ET Last Updated: Nov 11, 2014 10:57 AM ET Have to agree with Cpl. Krangle, it is
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Kshama Sawant
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/podcast-141001-kshama-sawant.mp3 Last year, Kshama Sawant shocked the continent by winning a seat on Seattle’s City Council. She defeated an incumbent Democrat to become the first openly socialist city councillor in Seattle in a century. Sawant, an immigrant from India with a background as a software engineer and an economics professor,
Continue readingThings Are Good: Vermont Stops Their War on Drugs, Will Help People Instead
The war on drugs is a backwards, destructive, and anti-human campaign that has destroyed lives. It was launched by Nixon and since then it the ‘war’ has negatively impacted everything it touches from people’s lives to the global economy. The USA tries to enforce it’s inflexible approach around the world,
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: UN Under Attack
I’ve avoided making many blog posts on Middle East politics because they tend to descend into dogmatic shouting matches on the Internet. I also don’t know every historic, geographic, religious, and political detail so don’t count myself among the experts. One doesn’t have to be an expert to comment on
Continue readingThings Are Good: USA to Stop Landmine Procurement and Production
Unfortunately not every country has signed the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personal land mines. Recently the largest producer of armaments, the USA, has opted to stop production of landmines. The army has also committed to not purchasing new landmines. “Our delegation in Maputo made clear that we are diligently pursuing solutions
Continue readingCuriosityCat: USA: Elizabeth Warren takes the fight to Wall Street
The Real USA The highly intelligent, courageous and scrappy new senator is not stopping in her fight for the middle class. She is pounding the streets, raising money for long-shot Democrat candidates, and focusing on the rigged stock market that favours the wealthy and has a lock on many elected
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Four Minutes, One Hundred and Fifty Four Bullets.
I get email: From the Sandyhook Promise – Dear Friend, “The person who killed my precious son Dylan carried 10, 30-round, large-capacity gun ammunition magazines into Sandy Hook Elementary. 300 rounds. He deliberately left the smaller-capacity magazines at home. In approximately four minutes, he shot 154 bullets, killing 20 children
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Four Minutes, One Hundred and Fifty Four Bullets.
I get email: From the Sandyhook Promise – Dear Friend, “The person who killed my precious son Dylan carried 10, 30-round, large-capacity gun ammunition magazines into Sandy Hook Elementary. 300 rounds. He deliberately left the smaller-capacity magazines at home. In approximately four minutes, he shot 154 bullets, killing 20 children
Continue readingThings Are Good: Obama Takes On Coal Power Plants
Coal is one of the worst sources for energy given that its contribution to destruction of our planet is unmatched. There have been attempts to make coal branded as “clean coal” but even then, the radiation emitted from coal power plants is too high and the pollutants released into the
Continue readingTrashy's World: I. Trashy. Am depleting the atmosphere. Kill me now.
Solar panels are draining the sun. Crap. Double crap. This week, a scientific research facility in Wyoming made a startling discovery that is certain to change the way millions of Americans look at the environmentalism movement, after they found conclusive evidence that solar panels not only convert the sun’s energy
Continue readingThings Are Good: High Speed Rail Coming to……Texas?
Texas is an American state best known for its gun-loving, big truck driving, cowboy, remember the Alamo culture. It is the last place I’d expect high speed rail infrastructure to actually get support in the USA. The good news here is that not only are Texans in favour of high
Continue readingdrive-by planet: In-depth interview with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov [video - English]: ‘If we’re attacked, we’ll certainly respond’
Given the American MSM angle on Ukraine that paints more or less the same picture with minor variations, I thought it would be interesting to get the Russian perspective courtesy of foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in this recent interview on RT’s Sophie and Co. Lavrov comes across as a no-nonsense
Continue readingCuriosityCat: President Elizabeth Warren in 2016?
President Elizabeth Warren 2016? Right now, the person I would like to see take over from Obama in the White House in 2016 is freshman senator Elizabeth Warren. Here’s one take on her: Her takeaway from defeating Republican Sen. Scott Brown in 2012 has a similar tone. “What is the
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: What’s the risk? Climate activism aiming at supply and demand
One way to think about climate activism is to see if it focuses on the supply of or demand for fossil fuels – pipelines or cars, hydrocarbons or carbon emissions. This distinction is not a new one, is doubtless very simplistic and has often been used to chastise activists. Here,
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Working class disarmed, Canadian redux
Looking at the prevalence of strikes in the US over the past six decades, Doug Henwood writes, Second Amendment fetishism aside, there’s an old saying that the working class’s ultimate weapon is withholding labor through slowdowns and strikes. By that measure, the U.S. working class has been effectively disarmed since
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