It's that time of year again, the week when no one dares show their face on Canadian television, or indeed in any public place in Canada, without a red poppy…
Guest post: Allan reports on "An Evening with S. Brian Willson", a benefit for the War Resisters Support Campaign, Monday, November 7, 2011.(Willson speaking at a church in San Francisco,…
My own government labeled me a terrorist and attempted to murder me. My story is strongly relevant for activists today in this climate of an unending 'war on terror.'S. Brian…
Earthquake.jpg On the heels of yesterday’s report detailing Cuadrilla Resource’s admission that their fracking practices were responsible for small earthquakes in the U.K., new report...
Richard Gwyn talks about his new book Nation Maker, the second volume about the life and times of Sir. John A. Macdonald covering the period from Confederation until his death…
Malcom Gladwell spins a fascinating story about the strange origins and ultimately twisted fate of a fabulously complicated yet practically hapless bomb-sighting device developed at extraordinary expense for the U.S.…
This post - like its subject - is old but still relevant.Over the summer I read Life, Keith Richards' memoirs. When I blogged about it here, I was loving it,…
There is a tendency to think that what we see in the present moment will continue. We forget how often we have been astonished by the sudden crumbling of institutions,…
If you're interested in the issue of war resistance and the history of war resisters in both Canada and the US, you'll want to be at the Steelworkers Hall in…
Landmark Civil Rights Act Made Racism Slightly Less Overt (Season 1: Ep 3 on IFC)
Ten years on. Ten years of Islamophobia, endless war, the open rationalization of torture and massacre. Ten years of surveillance, insidiously creeping police state, witch hunts, shredding of personal freedoms.…
"Can anyone on Capital Hill read?” demanded a sign held by a protester at one of the first Tea Party rallies, back in February of 2009."If so read the ConstitutionAs…
Two weeks ago, my coffee maker broke. It was a electric percolator (I wrote about my preference for it here), made by Cuisinart. It's the third such percolator I've had…
As a political scientist and somewhat of a historian I prefer our system of government based on a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. I also appreciate the role that our…
I recently read a few unrelated items that dealt with racism, equality and civil rights in the US, which raised some thoughts I want to share. This time I'm purposely…
There is a lot of history on the debt ceiling in the united states. In fact for many decades the debt ceiling increased tremendously without the need of any compromise…
Earlier this year, I blogged about a dangerous, racist myth about US history: that the southern states seceded from the union not because of slavery but because of "state's rights".…
Do you remember sitting on the couch in the house off Broadway the summer that everything seemed so unreal, the day you told me you were falling in love with…
One hundred years ago, this week - July 7, 1911, to be exact - an American man named Hiram Bingham found the ruins of an ancient ceremonial city, mostly overgrown…
What Canadians Need to Know About Canada Canada is a country the world can be proud of. This is despite our numerous shortcomings and mistakes over our 144 years of…
