Mad as a Newt
Newt Gingrich is going all out to snatch the Republican presidential nomination from the man nobody seemingly wants, Mitt Romney. And Newt figures the guy most Republicans are looking for,…
The Mound of Sound
Why North Americans Don’t Get Climate Change
I was talking to a friend tonight about the studies and planning undertaken by the province and municipalities of the Lower Mainland of sea level rise projections. It’s a complex…
Snow On the Wet Coast
Snow, what the hell?
Just Sayin’
Now imagine this was a supertanker filled with bitumen. Only imagine it’s a supertanker full of diluted bitumen wrecked off the proposed tanker port of Kitimat. Okay, there are differences.…
Why No One Ever Wins in Afghanistan
Afghanistan defines the notion of “wheels spinning within wheels.” It is the very home of policy chaos where virtually every action invites blowback of one or more kinds, usually unforeseen.…
First They Battled Evolution, Now They’re Fighting Climate Change
There’s a powerful conservative movement in America determined to purge unwanted subjects from their schools’ curricula. For generations they’ve fought against teaching kids about the theory of evolution. Now that…
First It Was International Law. Now Israel’s Supreme Court Trashes Human Rights.
Israel’s paper thin veneer of being a Western-style liberal democracy is being shredded. It’s the inevitable result of Israel having to come to grips with issues it has for decades…
Mitt’s Hot Potato
Barack Obama seems to have found Mitt Romney’s petard. Now if he can only light the fuze. The petard, or bombshell, is the issue of income inequality in America. While…
And, Speaking of Afghanistan
The War Without End drags on laboriously. The past few months saw a curious optimism about a political settlement between Kabul and the Taliban. That might have been premature. A…
The Middle East, 2012 – All Embers and Kindling
The Middle East is a smouldering mess that could erupt into a regional conflagration this year among Sunni and Shiite Muslims as well as Israelis. That’s the assessment of the…
Americans Waking Up to Class Warfare, Find Themselves Under Attack
This could just be what the corporatist Right fears most; the American public realizing there’s a class war underway and they’ve been taking fire. If the American people get in…
Where Is America’s "Reset" Button?
There’s over the top and then there’s “over the top” American style. Perhaps it’s all just part of America’s transformation into a full-blown warfare state but an article in today’s…
It’s Romney In a Landslide
Mitt Romney can say all sorts of crazy stuff such as how much he likes to be able to fire people. It don’t matter. Short of getting caught in public…
Will Britain’s PM Energize Quebec Sovereigntists?
British PM David Cameron is prepared to roll the dice. He’ll tell the Scots this week they can hold a binding referendum on sovereignty provided, 1) that it be held…
Spain Pushes the Consumer "Reset" Button
Spain, like Italy, and especially Greece and Ireland, is in the throes of an austerity purge. Some 64% of working Spaniards now take home about a thousand Euros per month.…
Still Not Sure The World Has Gone Mad?
Well then how ’bout this? Investors paying a premium to lend money to Germany. That’s right, negative interest. The auction of six-month German government bills on Monday produced a negative…
The Hypocrisy of the Petro-State
“It is a pitiless, one-sided, mechanical view of the world, which elevates the rights of property over everything else, meaning that those who possess the most property end up with…
To the NDP and You Dippers. Thanks But No Thanks.
The holiday spirits seem to have finally cleared our collective bloodstream and it’s back to the old nonsense. Stuff like pathetic pleas from Dippers who can’t think of anything else…
How Do You Save a Fish Worth $750,000?
A prized bluefin tuna, all 269-kgs of it, fetched $746,000 Cdn. at the opening tuna auction in Tokyo. The price is said to be symbolic, the buyer paying a huge…