Teddy’s prediction for 2015
Given current polls, and my expectations for the BQ and F&D, these are my current predictions for 2015.
January 2015
“Nature Deficit Disorder”
At first glance this would seem to have little to do with our central theme here at Democracy Under Fire but when we look at the actions of the Harper…
Matt Ridley Fires Off About Coal Fortune
“I have declared my interest in the coal mining on my family’s land whenever and wherever relevant both in my writing and in Parliament. However, I generally argue in favour…
Is Stephen Harper Planning a March Election?
In his scary year-end interview Stephen Harper claimed, from under six coats of pancake makeup, that he had no plans to call an early election.But he wouldn't rule one out,…
Leelah Alcorn’s Suicide, Parents’ Rights… and Kids’ Rights.
On Sunday, December 28th, 17-year-old trans* Ohio teenager committed suicide by stepping in front of a tractor-trailer on the interstate. She was killed instantly. Her tragedy says something profound which…
The ethics of business
Something got me thinking about business ethics and that brought to mind a short piece I wrote for the Jewish Western Bulletin (now The Jewish Independent) in 2003. The item…
Nobody’s servant…
North Van’s Grumps is the proprietor of Blog Borg Collective. While I search for material in the main aisles of information warehouses, NVG prowls the dark recesses. Happily, he shares…
Leelah Alcorn’s Suicide, Parents’ Rights… and Kids’ Rights.
On Sunday, December 28th, 17-year-old trans* Ohio teenager committed suicide by stepping in front of a tractor-trailer on the interstate. She was killed instantly. Her tragedy says something profound which…
Poll says all is well in the Alberta garden as disappointed voters file sombrely back into PC ranks
Support for the Wildrose Party is plummeting as supporters angered by the defection of 11 MLAs to the governing PCs have turned on the five Wildrose MLAs who didn’t cross…
2014 — Canada’s Year of the Pipeline
Keystone XL wasn’t the only pipeline project to rankle Canadians in 2014. WIDESPREAD PUBLIC DEBATE on building vast networks of snaking energy pipelines throughout Canada dominated the country’s environmental newsreel…
Why We Hate Taxes – and why we shouldn’t
A somewhat shorter version first appeared in albertaviews January/February 2015 as Taxes: a small price to pay for civilization About a year ago, my son Jordan, some friends and colleagues…
Disruptive Power
The Crisis of the State in the Digital Age Anonymous. WikiLeaks. The Syrian Electronic Army. Edward Snowden. Bitcoin. The Arab Spring. Digital communication technologies have thrust the calculus of global…
West, Weyler team up to battle Kinder Morgan
Ben West addressing a Vancouver crowd about Kinder Morgan in 2012 (Damien Gillis) There’s big news on the environmental front! Ben West, the eminent young environmentalist until now with Forest…
Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Robin Sears offers his theory that the upcoming federal election could represent a meaningful referendum on competing visions for Canada – and Paul…
Jan. 3: Pope Francis is an environmental-terrorist threat to New Brunswick
The Irving press seems to be ignoring the story; but the pope has announced at a recent environmental council that he is declaring climate change his issue of the year.…
After Chávez: The Maduro Government And The ‘Economic War’ in Venezuela
Photo by Valter Campanato Nearly two years after the death of Hugo Chávez, the key question that many on the left are debating, in Venezuela and elsewhere, is whether his…
47 Ronin Reviewed
This week, after watching the 2013 film, 47 Ronin, starring Keanu Reeves, I had to wonder why Hollywood felt it necessary to take a powerful story, a great historical drama,…
Determining a direction for the Dauphin.
If you are assuming that sometime in the next eight to ten months, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau will leave off the platitudes and say something substantive, you could be disillusioned.…