Could Greece Become the Salvation of Western Democracy?
Greece is revered as the nation that gave mankind democracy. Could it now become the nation that restored democracy to mankind? Around the world, democracy has taken a pounding from…
The Mound of Sound
I’m With George. End the Politics of Fear. Vote Green.
The Guardian’s George Monbiot sees the neoliberal consensus collapsing. This, he argues, is the time to let go of the politics of fear. He is addressing his fellow Brits who…
Jeffrey Simpson’s Eulogy for John Baird
John Baird got out while the getting was good. According to The Globe’s Jeffrey Simpson, Baird’s departure won’t leave much of a vacuum. His departure weakens a cabinet of distinctly…
Harper’s Bitumen Policy – Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
The Harper government has gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid the public learning just what’s in bitumen and the risk that stuff poses to our rivers, our lakes, our groundwater…
Let’s Rebrand Measles. Call it "ISIS-Pox"
It’s political correctness stood on its head. New Jersey governor and Republican presidential nomination contender, Chris Christie, thinks American parents should have “a measure of choice” as to whether to…
Texas Proclaims "American Sniper" Day
It’s official. February 2nd will be Chris Kyle Day in the great state of Texas. Governor Greg Abbott wasn’t content to honour this mass killer and self-confessed murderer, he also…
Two Feet, Please.
Only in North America would this be a big deal. In HarperLand it would be an impossibility. Barack Obama has signed into law a provision requiring federal infrastructure – such…
Will Our Grandkids Be Smarter, Smart Enough to Fix Everything We’ve Broken?
It’s called the Flynn Effect. Put simply, we’re getting smarter at the rate of .3 IQ points every year. That’s 3 IQ points every decade and it’s happening everywhere, not…
Are Canada’s Disaffected the Raw Material for a Leftist Renaissance?
Europe is still reeling from the victory of the Syriza party in the recent Greek elections. It was a matter of days before that spread to austerity-wracked Spain’s Podemos movement…
Alberta – Yet Again, Number One!
It seems that Alberta has claimed another world record. This time it’s for the magnitude of a fracking-induced earthquake, a 4.4-magnitude temblor last week at Fox Creek. “The location of…
The Seven Deadly Traits of a Permanent Warfare State
Classic military science holds that war is a state of affairs that exists between periods of peace. In other words, war is intended to achieve peace on terms acceptable to…
Is the F-35 the West’s Flying Maginot Line?
The overpriced, overdue and under-performing F-35 could actually weaken the defences of America and her allies, including Canada. Even pretending, for the sake of argument, that the Lockheed light attack…
So Far This Century, We’re 14 for 15
Bad news for the tinfoil hat brigade. The UN World Meteorological Organization reports that 14 of the 15 hottest years on record have occurred since 2000. Only one year this…
Could "Rapidly Proliferating Threats" Derail the F-35?
(Remember, this is the plane that the Harper government wants to saddle our aircrews with for half-a-century, fifty years. But, I digress.)Trying to keep tabs on the development of Lockheed’s…
A Costly Fix for One of the F-35’s Achilles’ Heels?
Two big drawbacks to the F-35 are its limited range and mediocre speed. It doesn’t go very far in stealth mode on its internal fuel and it is incapable of…
The Taliban Finally Have Something to Worry About – ISIS
The Taliban have a new enemy, ISIS. The Talibs figure ISIS is trying to take over their turf and, when former Taliban stalwart, Mullah Abdule Rauf Khadim, returned to Afghanistan…
That Salman Guy, the Saudi King Whose Ass We’re Lining Up to Kiss? Brace Yourself.
Maybe we should just paint the ISIS logo on those armoured fighting vehicles we’re supplying to the Saudis. An eye-opener in Foreign Policy magazine notes that, far from being the…
The Hypocrisy is Blinding
One of these people is Not Happy to Be Here Barack Obama cuts short his state visit to India, after lecturing his hosts on tolerance and women’s rights, so that…
Weak Economy? ‘They’ Wouldn’t Have It Any Other Way.
Take it from Joe. Nobel laureate economist Joe Stiglitz to be precise. The near-global stagnation witnessed in 2014 is man-made. It is the result of politics and policies in several…