Are we too dumb for democracy?
Hey, the above is not my line. I plagiarized it from a CBC article about a new thesis from the University of B.C. that suggests our brains aren’t up to…
Bill Longstaff
Who is "part of the problem," Mr. Cameron?
Recently British PM David Cameron, even while encouraging Iran to help deal with ISIS, couldn’t resist taking a shot at the country. In his UN speech, he stated superciliously that…
It wll be lonely without the animals
We are a rapacious species. Since we first walked out of Africa we have been decimating our neighbours. Today, according to the World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Report 2014, we…
Hong Kong—a people who actually care about democracy
North Americans don’t seem to care much about democracy. Canadians don’t, and our good neighbours the Americans don’t. We enjoy considerable freedoms along with our electoral systems of government, but…
Greyer is greener
As I slip slowly into my dotage I have at least one consolation—I’m less of a burden on the planet. A study by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research…
National Post climate change deniers "paranoid"—so says their own editor
The prattling of climate change sceptics/deniers in the National Post has been ridiculed by one of its own editors. In recent comments on the CBC’s The National, Jonathan Kay repeated…
Will capitalists save us from global warming?
In her latest book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, Naomi Klein argues that if we are to defeat climate change we must defeat capitalism. At this week’s UN…
Homeowners opt out of sprawl
Homeowners, it seems, at least in the Greater Toronto Area, are opting out of sprawl, or they would like to. So says the Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest…
Congratulations, Edward, well-deserved
If I had heroes, Edward Snowden would be among them. Sacrificing his career, accepting exile from his homeland, and risking long years in prison, Snowden revealed to the world the…
Instruct your MP to support Bill C-621
When it comes to taxes, corporations can be shifty. For example, some shift profits by setting up a storefront office in an offshore tax haven and then sending large invoices…
ISIS—a force for peace?
A juxtaposition of two articles in the Guardian this week suggested a very odd development indeed in the Middle East—the barbaric hordes of ISIS currently marauding through Syria and northern…
Why are Americans so frightened?
ISIS has thrown the fear of God into Americans. According to a poll conducted by the Opinion Research Centre, ninety per cent of Americans believe the group is a direct…
The Islamic State—should we be helping to clean up the Americans’ mess?
In early 2003, there were no Islamic extremists in Iraq, or at least none that dared raise their heads above ground. Then the Americans and their “coalition of the willing”…
Hamas popularity surges
Whatever damage Israel did to Hamas during the recent war, it didn’t harm the group’s standing among the Palestinian people. Quite the contrary. According to a survey by the Palestinian…
Sister Simone for pope
What you may ask is a non-Catholic, indeed a non-Christian, doing recommending someone for pope. Well, it’s partly tongue-in-cheek, of course, even if American Sister Simone Campbell might very well…
Putin leads Russia from Communism to Fascism
Russian president Vladimir Putin is on record as saying that the collapse of the Soviet Union was one of the 20th century’s major geopolitical disasters. Some might say this suggests…
Evidence for Democracy
Our current federal government’s aversion to facts is now, unfortunately, well-established as a fact itself. Examples are legion, but I will just mention one. Health Minister Rona Ambrose has assured…
Calling the bluff on "we must compete in the global marketplace"
The soul-numbing mantra “we must compete in the global marketplace” is much heard these days. Conservative politicians and business groups toss it out tirelessly as an argument to reduce taxes,…
Who would you believe—Stephen Harper or Willie Nelson?
Apparently the $24-million of our tax money the federal government spent on an ad campaign to promote Canadian oil and the Keystone XL pipeline in Washington has gone down the…