Foreign policy is ostensibly something to do with other countries. However, when politicians talk about it they are largely doing so for their own domestic interests. Discussions of foreign policy are constantly evolving in the ideas, rhetoric, policies and details; the discussion of Iran today is very different than it
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Pipelines: Which side are you on, planet or profit?
Since the Northern Gateway pipeline hit the news, the regina mom has read more posts about science than ever before. And it’s not because science claims a place in her higher reading order. Rather, it’s because the HarperCon response to public outrage about the pipeline has forced her to know
Continue readingWillful Ignorance
As the HarperCon delegation of Ministers and big biz boyz prepared to take off for China, the wise Yinka Dene Nation through whose lands the Northern Gateway pipeline is proposed to go, were busy writing letters. They sent one to the Government of China loaded with examples describing how Aboriginal
Continue readingWTF? A Poem?
WTF? A bunch of racist sexist homophobic nutbarsGOP nazis spreading shit like this is somehow okay in the land of the free, home of the brave? Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act (PRENDA) pretends to prevent race-based abortions, steals from the civil rights … Continue reading →
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Uncomfortable parallels
While a mere teenager when Richard Nixon was elected to a second term, Stephen Harper had found a mentor. A few decades later, empowered by a majority in parliament, the now Canadian Prime Minister is putting early inspirations into action. Nixon spent his early years working as an ardent anti-communist
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Molly’sBlog 2012-02-04 16:42:00
HISTORY: ROSA PARKS: On this date Rosa Parks (1913-2005), the mother of the American Civil Rights Movement was born. On December 1st 1955 she refused an order from a bus driver to give up her seat for a white and “move to the back of the bus”. This led to
Continue readingTerahertz: This is the 1%
I really hope Americans aren’t just paying attention to the race for the Republican nomination, but are actually giving each of these candidates a good look to see how contemptible each one is. Take Mitt Romney: Figures released Tuesday show that Mr. Romney was able to raise nearly $24.3-million in
Continue readingOpposing the Enbridge Pipeline: Saying No to Corptocracy
According to the Earth Policy Institute direct subsidies to the fossil fuel industry world-wide amount to half a trillion dollars ($500,000,000,000) annually. That’s a lot of zeroes for an industry that is killing people, plants, animals and whole ecosystems. That’s more than $1.4 billion per day impacting the climate. Fortunately,
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: A modern corporation
Apple: made in China, untaxed profits kept offshore, David Gewirtz, ZDNet Government: “It’s been a banner week for Apple. With Apple’s announcement of Q1 2012 results, the company is now apparently worth more than Greece. “In the same week, the President of the United States invoked the late Steve Jobs
Continue readingPMO Hates Gays & Greens, Judges & Nurses, AKA “Foreign Radicals”
Wow! This media AlerteInfoAlert from the Prime Minister’s Office is a sight to behold, dear Reader. Do take a moment to thank Kady O’Malley for postponing her book-reading and sleep in order to share it with us. the regina mom is also foregoing some book-reading and sleep to write this.
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Amazing
Yosemite Time-Lapse Video, from Earthjustice.org Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo. “Everyone knows that Yosemite National Park is one of America’s most beautiful places. Half Dome, El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, and a host of other natural wonders make Yosemite an iconic symbol of the American West. And while many
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Socialism that Works in America
What! Socialism in America? Say it isn’t so. Better start the protests now. Filed under: Humour, Politics Tagged: Bill Maher, Socailsim, Superbowl, USA
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Bill Moyers returns
Moyers & Company Show 102: On Crony Capitalism from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo. David Stockman, former Reagan Budget Director, “If they’re too big too fail, they’re too big to exist.” Stockman, quoted by Tim Dickinson in How the GOP Became the Party of the Rich, Rolling Stone, November 9, 2011: “The
Continue readingHyperbole, Haste and the Nail in the Coffin: The Death of Oil Pipedreams
It’s been more than a week now since Minister Joe (McCarthy) Oilver’s divisive screed appeared in the Globe and Mail. His attempt to create an us’n’them scenario has been thoroughly denounced and discredited in the blogosphere, as the links provided in my previous posts indicate. Commentators, even some in the
Continue readingopenalex: Republicans and Democrats Together on Climate Change…in Florida
It’s easy to forget that climate change hasn’t always been such a partisan issue. This is Mitt Romney, current Republican front-runner, in 2003: “I think the global warming debate is now pretty much over and people recognize the need associated with providing sources [of energy] which do not generate the
Continue readingThings Are Good: USA Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline
Yesterday saw two very effective protest movements in the USA, one was in regards to SOPA/PIPA and the other saw the Obama administration reject the Keystone XL pipeline. There are also concerns about carbon emissions from oil sands production in Alberta, a western Canadian province. Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org,
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Romney pays 15% tax on $200m personal fortune
Mitt Romney: the gaffes in full, Josh Marshall, The Guardian “As a fabulously wealthy man running to be the president of a country that prides itself on its middle class identity, Romney is permanently striving for the common touch while somehow keeping it real about just how different his life
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Dystopia is our neighbour
The US schools with their own police, Chris McGreal, The Guardian, Jan. 9, 2012 “…Like hundreds of schools in the state [Texas], and across large parts of the rest of the US, Fulmore Middle has its own police force with officers in uniform who carry guns to keep order in the
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Access to Abortion under Siege in the US – The Guttmacher Institute’s Depressing Overview
The pace is accelerating at which a woman’s right to choose is being taken away from her. The US is going crazy, one state at a time, the Guttmacher Institute documents the slide into insanity. “January 5, 2012 By almost any measure, issues related to reproductive health and rights at
Continue readingOn “fascism” in the U.S.
Paul Street on why the U.S. is not a “fascist” state: Even if real historical fascism could be translated across times and place to the modern U.S. it would be largely redundant for America’s powers that be. The American elite already gets the basic regressive and authoritarian outcomes of fascism
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