On the surface it may seem like this planet’s current crop of ‘influential’ political leaders is deliberately trying to sabotage voluntary, collaborative societal evolution by placing draconian restrictions on freedom of doubt, freedom of criticism, freedom of assembly and expression, let alone the freedom to openly question, dissent and oppose the status quo. All over the world…
Year: 2012
Politics, Economics and Automobiles
was the headline of Mitt Romney’s 2008 New York Times article describing his views on the then-troubled American auto industry. “If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye.”…
We’re Not Clients and Our Transit System Isn’t a Store
Call me passenger, traveller, transit system user, citizen even, just please don’t call me a client. I’m not. Just like the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) isn’t a business, or at least it shouldn’t see itself as one. It’s a public utility that does need to charge a fee to function. It also should balance its books, but it should not be run like a for profit corporation…
Free Trade with US and Canada Means Busier Days for Port Buenaventura and Colombian Workers
The 5000 port workers who move 1200 containers of cargo per day are not the only contributors to the portside throng. There are truck drivers, stevedores, private security hired by companies and government agents who are in place to check area regulated by the Port Authority for narcotics and smuggling…
Spanish Judge Garzon Subject of Kafkaesque Trial
People love to invoke the name of Franz Kafka for the slightest fucking absurdity in their lives. Example: I waited in line at the post office for an hour. Then I was told by the clerk that I would have to put my own envelope in the mailbox! WHAT A KAFKAESQUE TWIST OF FATE! In truth, very few situations in our humdrum daily lives would actually make good material for one of this Czech/German/Jewish writer’s novels or short stories…
UN-Dependable
When the United Nations was created back in 1945, it was supposed to succeed where the League of Nations had failed. While there has been some success since the war of wars, there have also been countless failures. In part because of inaction (Sudan), apathy (Rwanda) and the inability to enforce international law (USA, Israel, Palestine). Last week we saw another failure…
Still My Body, Still My Choice: 21st century, indeed!
The official statement is that the Harper government has no intention of reopening the abortion debate. I acknowledge this off the bat, as it means that I officially have nothing to be worried, let alone seething about. So why am I feeling particularly proprietary on the subject of my ovum…
First Nations and the Supreme Court v. Enbridge and the Harper Government
With the debate over the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal heating up in Ottawa, and the likely scenario of some sort legal battle emerging, it might […]
Roseanne Barr for President? Call it what you want, but don’t call it a joke
Roseanne Barr, the former TV star, now author, fierce tweeter and even more fierce Occupy supporter, announced her intention to run for the Green Party nomination to be their candidate for President of the United States. That’s the same Green Party who proposed Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney to the American public as an alternative to the “two” party system…
Caterpillar Crawls Away
The locked-out Electro-Motive plant in London, Ontario has decided to close the plant permanently. The announcement comes just over a month after Progress Rail decided to lockout its workers citing operating costs as its main motivation. Progress Rail Services Corp., a subsidiary of U.S. construction equipment conglomerate Caterpillar that owns the Electro-Motive plant had locked out its unionized workers on New Year’s Day…