Oct. 31: Damn!!!!
I have just completed four hours of writing a blog, Then, it disappeared just as I tried to send it. I have no idea why. Instead of devoting it to…
2015
Scaling the Heights of Language, its Learning, and its Teaching
This is a summary of a talk by Diane Larsen-Freeman at TESL 2015. It was a treat to listen to. Errors and omissions are entirely my own.This is a beautiful…
If We Are Known by the Company We Keep, Why Are We Keeping Company with Thugs and Butchers?
By “thugs and butchers” I’m referring to the House of Saud and the detritus of princes and sheikhs of the other Gulf States at whose behest we in the West…
Rafe: Woodfibre LNG opposition isn’t NIMBYism – it’s based on real fear
Photo: Flickr/KsideB If you don’t think that the approval of an LNG plant in Squamish – Woodfibre LNG – was a raw political decision, you not only believe in the…
On Childhood Angst
Can children be existentialists? What I’m asking isn’t so much whether or not it’s possible, but should we allow it? If I dare to claim to define some central ideas…
Saturday Photo: Halloween…
Spent Wednesday afternoon making pumpkins with Jeanne. It’s very nice to have grandchildren since you have license to do all the artsy-craftsy things that you are supposedly too old to…
Monbiot Proclaims the Arrival of Eco-Apocalypse
Who knew it would begin in Indonesia? Who knew the world’s mainstream media would simply ignore it? Guardian enviro-scribe George Monbiot is gobsmacked at the wildfire devastation that has swept…
Chevron says it won’t reroute LNG pipeline around Unist’ot’en blockade
Unist’ot’en blockade on Morice River in 20124 (Photo: Two Island Films) Read this Oct. 27 story from Mark Nielsen in the Prince George Citizen, on Chevron’s refusal to reroute its…
Promises, Promises
They’ve run the numbers and it’s not enough; not nearly enough. In advance of the Paris climate summit, officials of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change have worked out…
Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Emily Dugan writes about the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s finding that young UK adults are facing the worst economic prospects of the…
Syria: Foots on the ground
“The American footprint in the war against ISIS is about to get bigger and for the first time U.S. ground troops are going to be based inside Syria” Here we…
Police Wife: The Secret Epidemic of Police Domestic Violence
Domestic violence takes place in up to a staggering 40 percent of law enforcement families, but police departments mostly ignore the problem or let it slide, write ex-police wife Susanna…
Canada’s election: Voters defeat Harper, but elect another Trudeau
Photo by Renegade98 Canada’s federal election October 19 was effectively a plebiscite of voter opinion on the decade-long rule by the ultra-neoliberal Conservatives (Tories) led by Stephen Harper. With some…
Corporate and military plunder in the Philippines
Photo by Keith Bacongco For many in the Global North, certain countries only appear on our radar screens as discount winter vacation hotspots. Other times, when natural disaster strikes, these…
On decision points
I’ve previously challenged any attempt to pressure Thomas Mulcair to abandon the NDP’s leadership. And I’ll take a moment do so the same in response to Scott Gilmore’s admonition to…
Can We Please Advocate For Caregiver Support Without Demeaning Our Loved Ones?
On the eve of the first day of National Family Caregivers Month, I’ve decided to plant a stake in the ground for the dignity of our stories in the media.…
Revisiting The Old Days
I am old enough to remember the days here in Ontario when getting alcohol of any kind from the Liquor Control Board (fondly known here as the LCBO) was a…
Democratizing The Corporate Media
http://www.the-latest.com/ A lot needs to be done to re-establish democracy in this country. Murray Dobbins writes that the place to begin is with our corporate media. They almost universally endorsed…
Democratic renewal has to start at the top.
If you think the Trudeau Liberals will push democratic renewal very far, you need to learn what politicians mean when they say they will study something. Admittedly the Liberals never…