A Modest Proposal for Effective Electoral Reform
Manitou only knows how we’re struggling to find democratic reform for our ailing electoral system. At the moment some type of proportional representation is the favoured approach. I have another…
The Mound of Sound
Peter MacKay’s Hole in the Ocean
Sailors often complain that a boat is merely a hole in the ocean into which you pour money. This brings us to Harper DefMin, Peter MacKay’s 250-million dollar hole in…
What’s the Chance of a Northern Gateway Supertanker Disaster? Try 93-99%
Simon Fraser University has released a study of the likelihood of an environmental catastrophe from the Harper/Enbridge Northern Gateway bitumen pipeline/supertanker scheme. Not surprisingly, their conclusions aren’t quite as carefree…
Some Say, When the Wind is Blowing Right, It Still Does
1,900-million years ago, Ontario smelled like rotten eggs. Some say, if the wind is blowing just right…
Some Say, When the Wind is Blowing Right, It Still Does
1,900-million years ago, Ontario smelled like rotten eggs. Some say, if the wind is blowing just right…
A Voice from Guantanamo
When we think of the men held captive by the Americans at Guantanamo we probably conjure up images of men in orange jump suits with long beards but that’s about…
A Moment to Ponder Time
If you want to beat your intellect to a pulp, ponder time. What is it? Does it exist? Is it really what we perceive it to be or is it…
You’re Not the Chamber of Commerce, You’re the Government.
Canada’s business community has the understandable view that the Harper government is the handmaiden of commerce. And so, when the conservative government was caught out over abuses of the temporary…
Climate Change News Round-Up
European Union nations have been warned to renew climate change adaptation programmes. The European Environment Agency has released a report that concludes cities around Europe may have to install flood…
The Every-Country-For-Itself Face of the Global Food Insecurity Crisis
Consider these two realities. (1) The United Nations World Food Programme toils to keep millions of people alive (2) in the same African nations where affluent grain-importing countries like Saudi…
That Decision Just Got a Lot Easier
Looks like I’ll be voting NDP in the upcoming British Columbia elections. I had some qualms about backing the NDP or my party of choice, the Greens, especially when it…
F-35 Cyber-Warplane, Cyber-Vulnerable
One of the big selling points of the F-35 is the warplane’s stealth electronics. The F-35’s systems are so advanced that the maker had to write almost ten-million lines of…
Why Mulcair Shouldn’t Be Trusted to Govern Canada.
Any doubts whether T. “Tony” Mulcair is ready to govern Canada are resolved by his actions in the modest controversy over the Supreme Court of Canada’s handling of the 1981…
Time For the Left to Stage a Comeback?
In Paul Krugman’s Friday NYT column, the nobel laureate economist took a broad and deserved swipe at the “Austerians” and what he calls their 1 Percent Solution. At this point,…
First He Gagged the Public Service and the Armed Forces. Now It’s the RCMP, the Royal Conservative Mounted Police.
The Harper government seems to have politically captured the RCMP. One of the most astonishing abuses of democracy perpetrated by the Harper conservatives has been the “capture” of Canada’s public…
Harper Cons Are "Neanderthals" – James Hansen
Take that, Joe Oliver. Retired NASA Goddard Space Laboratory director James Hansen says Harper and his underlings are lashing out at him because they’re getting very worried. Pipeline Minister A…
Cut & Paste Leadership, the Modern Political Condition
In his thoroughly insightful book, American Fascists, Chris Hedges details how fundamentalists pervert Christianity by willfully excluding anything that doesn’t suit their various ideologies. That is why, according to Hedges,…
Cut & Paste Leadership, the Modern Political Condition
In his thoroughly insightful book, American Fascists, Chris Hedges details how fundamentalists pervert Christianity by willfully excluding anything that doesn’t suit their various ideologies. That is why, according to Hedges,…
Shame On You, Congress, Shame, Shame.
America’s “bought and paid for” Congress is notorious for obstructing any meaningful action to respond to climate change. Now a group, “Organizing for Action”, is preparing a campaign to target…