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…

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…

Institutionalized Graft Part II

I’m not an accountant but I can’t believe that the cost of constructing a $5 billion bridge can be done without cost to the taxpayers. Where will the initial capital come from? Who will pay for the design, materials, salaries, equipment etc? The Tories have stated that an initially two-dollar toll will be collected and that will pay off the bridge “without cost to the taxpayer”…

Stephen Colbert For President. Sorta.

Stephen Colbert conceded on Monday night’s show that he’s suspending his exploratory research into whether or not he should run in the upcoming American Presidential election. This marks the end of the road that would’ve led to the campaign trail…had he continued on it…which he isn’t…for now…probably…The story began last time around, back in 2008, and outlined the edges of technicalities from the start…

The Primary Media

In the past, a candidate’s success in the primaries depended on momentum carried over from previous victories. This time around that momentum seems to be fueled by the media, proving that in the age of the super PAC, media still matters more than money.

The Iranian Nuclear Winter

The winter of 2012 is still less than a month old and if you had turned on a television since the New Year, you’d have found two seemingly different stories being covered on the news networks. The first being the Republican Primaries that got underway a couple weeks ago, the other would be Iran. In the past, I would have said that sabre rattling and a looming American election went together like peas and carrots…

Education Is the Key

During a campaign stop in New Hampshire the other day, Rick Santorum said “What elitist snobbery out of this man!” referring to Barack Obama’s statement that every child should go to college by 2020. I have no idea why Santorum is opposed to giving every student a chance to go to college as it is central to improving our standard of living and our economy…