No sentence could undo the harms caused by Graham James
I join the outcry today over the sentencing of convicted serial pedophile Graham James to two years in prison for the sexual abuse of Theo Fleury and Todd Holt. Counter-intuitively…
Justice
Kony 2012
From Wikipedia: “Joseph Rao Kony (born 1961 in Odek, Uganda) is a Ugandan guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign…
Asbestos registry needed, says cancer patient
Read more here……
Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
When asked at colleges if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science that describes what is happening…
NDP Leaders, By the Numbers and the Intangibles
There are some interesting dynamics going on with the NDP leadership race that we can track with numbers, see way below. And while numbers tell some stories, they don’t necessarily…
Reconsidering Harper’s vision for Canada
THE CAGING OF AMERICA, Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, January 2012 “…In the past two decades, the money that states spend on prisons has risen at six times the rate…
Treading on the public welfare
News Item, January 11, 2012: “Shaw Media announced Wednesday that it has filed an application to the CRTC for a 24/7 regional, all-news channel for the province. “The channel is…
Judging the judge, again
Also read: J. Leask: Questions of perspicacity and impartiality B.C. Appeal Court overturns cocaine conspiracy acquittal…, Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun, Jan. 10, 2012 “VANCOUVER — A three-judge panel of the…
Day Two of Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons January 6-8, 2012 Vancouver/Burnaby All panelist biographies are here: Below are some lessons learned and observations from the sessions. Friday: The opening…
Opening Panel from the Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
This weekend I attended Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons community gathering in Vancouver and Burnaby, sponsored by these groups and people. The basic premise is not so…
How You Can Support the Gitxsan Blockade
Photo courtesy of Gitxsan Against Enbridge website. Despite very public chest thumping, trumpeting and proclamations by Enbridge, mainstream media and Hereditary Chief Elmer Derrick, the song remains the same: the…
Inside Job, Narrated by Matt Damon (Full Length HD)
Inside Job, Narrated by Matt Damon (Full Length HD) on Vimeo. “‘Inside Job’ provides a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, which at a cost over $20…
Victoria’s practitioners of distraction
“The impact of the government’s changes to the drunk-driving laws have been felt in a very real way across the province. They were highly controversial. They were argued about. They…
Things I wonder about
1. — Exactly who is the federal government representing as they try to suppress evidence that they are suppressing evidence of the ISA threat to westcoast fisheries? From Tamsyn Burgmann,…
Effective and sustainable? Who knows?
“Old news” – new anxieties for Liberals, posted three weeks ago, mentioned Basi/Virk judge Anne MacKenzie’s reasons for sentence and her dialogue of standard clichés, wordplay, and nonsense: “…a conditional…
A snail’s pace is quick by comparison
To emphasize that the Basi/Virk trial was merely meter-spinning theatre from the injustice system, I bring back a Northern Insights piece from almost 18 months ago. I think it captures…
Victoria’s old-time policing continues
Victoria police assault probe not over yet, CBC News, November 23, 2011: “A provincial court judge ruled George Chong used excessive force in applying a chokehold that rendered Frank Blair…