The Three Eras of Canada’s Democracy or How We Got to Where We Are Today.
I first voted in the 60s and I’ve watched Canadian democracy evolve, not always in a good way, ever since. I’ve witnessed three political eras in my lifetime. There was…
The Mound of Sound
Finally, a Mulroney We Can Believe In.
David Mulroney served as a deputy minister in charge of Canada’s Afghanistan task force. It seems he learned a thing or two from the experience, enough to know that we’re…
Whacking Iran – Maybe Sooner Than You Might Think – The Warmonger Digest, vol. 2
It’s reported that the Saudis have given Israel a green light to overfly Saudi Arabia should Netanyahu decide to launch an attack on Iran. Jerusalem and Riyadh do not have…
Germany Alarmed at NATO’s (and America’s) Ginned Up Claims on Ukraine
A Warmonger and a Fearmonger Angela Merkel thinks that Germany (and the rest of the West) is being conned by NATO and the U.S. inflating the Russian threat to the…
Making Po’ People Vote
Barack Obama has been musing about the benefits of Australian-style, compulsory voting. Nothing would scare Republicans more than that sort of law, especially in this period of demographic change. The…
Netanyahu’s "Dog Whistle" Might Have Fetched the Hounds
Maybe some day Benjamin Netanyahu will be known as the founder of the state of Palestine. Strange things are happening. From the Sydney Morning Herald:Already the US is hinting that…
Apparently There’ll Be a Solar Eclipse Today. I’m Staying Juicy, or So I’m Told.
For some, maybe, but apparently not for us. Here’s what EnviroCan says is in store for us on the wet coast: Rain, at times heavy, continues. A series of storms…
Thomas Friedman: You Cannot Win that Dirty and Just Walk Away Like Nothing Happened.
In today’s New York Times Tom Friedman writes; The biggest losers in all of this, besides all the Israelis who did not vote for Netanyahu, are American Jews and non-Jews…
The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself – Unfortunately Fear is Winning
The fuel of the authoritarian state is always the same. It’s fear. Distorted, wildly inflated, even irrational, fear is the cheap and dirty solution to grasping, holding and perpetuating power.…
Maybe These Are the "End Times" or Someone Left the Asylum Door Unlocked Again
I take it all back. Maybe there is a God. After all there must be someone of the stature of a deity driving America’s right wingnuts batshit crazy. A case…
Can You Get to the Top of a Rightwing Party Unless You’re an Unrepentant Liar?
Florida governor Rick Scott vehemently denies there’s any such thing as a ban prohibiting state employees from using terms such as “climate change” or “global warming.” Tell that to longtime…
When Beauty Meets Sadness
It’s not often that something this serenely beautiful, wrapped in a bittersweet story, shows up on this blog. Who knows, you might enjoy it. It’s the story of Houshi Ryokan,…
This One Spells Trouble.
The vast Amazon rainforest is sometimes called “the lungs of the planet” for its historic role in absorbing atmospheric CO2 and replenishing our supply of oxygen. That appears to be…
Britain’s Deputy PM Calls for the UK to Recognize the State of Palestine
That didn’t take long. Nick Clegg has called on prime minister David Cameron to formally recognize the state of Palestine in response to Israeli prime minister Netanyahu’s rejection of independence…
A Palestinian Rejoices in Netanyahu’s Victory
An op-ed in The New York Times, by Palestinian Yousef Munayyer casts the powerful election win of Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as possibly the best news the subjugated Palestinian…
Netanuyahu’s Win Could Be Israel’s Greatest Defeat
Tossing ideas around yesterday I came to a “What If” moment. What if, I wondered, Israeli prime minister re-elect, Benjamin Netanyahu, has destroyed Israel’s lifeline – the backing of the…
What If?
What if a motion to recognize Palestinian statehood comes before the United Nations Security Council and the United States elects not to use its veto? What if? The veto power…
Just Sayin’
Notice how we’re beating the war drums over Russia’s annexation of predominantly ethnic-Russian Crimea yet when Israel steals the Palestinian homeland in the West Bank we sort of cheer them…
Victoria’s Take on C-51
From this morning’s Times Colonist:
Ed Davy’s Onside. Justin, Tommy, What’s Your Excuse?
He’s the British government’s energy and climate change secretary and Ed Davey says he’s solidly behind The Guardian’s climate change campaign. Earlier this week the newspaper announced its intention to…