Harper foes whip up a net storm

(rabble.ca news) - This isn’t the U.S. yet, and the results of this fall’s peculiar electoral mix won’t be decided mano-a-mano. We are a country full of different contests with their own dramas. In many ridings, unpredictable vote splits could alter the outcome. And perhaps because Stéphane Dion is so weak and the vote-shifting opportunity is so ripe, the grassroots are starting to sprout.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: rabble.ca news, Alice Klein, Sep. 18, 2008 ]

The climate crisis: Five parties, no solutions

(rabble.ca news) - Despite much sound and fury, none of the major political parties is proposing effective measures for dealing with the climate change crisis. The differences between them amount to ?Don’t do anything? versus ?Don’t do much.?

READ MORE HERE [ Source: rabble.ca news, Ian Angus, Sep. 23, 2008 ]

Indigenous people lead Bolivian democracy struggle

(rabble.ca news) - On September 11, rightist gangs massacred more than 30 unarmed supporters of the government of Evo Morales in the Bolivian state of Pando. The government of Stephen Harper has said not a word about the political terrorism in Bolivia.

A popular uprising in Bolivia is defending its government and democratic institutions against U.S.-inspired minority violence.

On September 23, about 20,000 peasants and miners marched on the eastern city of Santa Cruz, where the right-wing government has been encouraging terrorism and intimidation of Bolivia’s indigenous majority and trying to oust the government of President Evo Morales.

Popular assemblies in La Paz, Cochabamba and elsewhere in the country added to the pressure against this disruptive minority, whose supporters have killed dozens of Bolivians in recent weeks. The right-wing opposition’s banner is “autonomy” for the provinces they rule, but their real goal is to return the rich oligarchy to power.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: rabble.ca news, John Riddell, Sep. 29, 2008 ]

Hurricane Harper

(rabble.ca news) - As Nova Scotia faced up to the fearful prospect of Hurricane Kyle, all of Canada must now face the prospect of a Harper majority government. Hurricane Harper does not threaten the Atlantic provinces directly, people remember all to well the “culture of dependence” theme which Harper once evoked in talking about the region.

The Harper threat is receding in Quebec, as his negative comments about the arts and culture, and the announced intent of his government to imprison 14-year-olds with adults, has caused the popularity of his government to plummet.

Ontario is where Harper has picked up the pace and can win the seats he needs to form a majority government. Coupled with continued support on the prairies, and Liberal weakness in B.C., if the Conservatives hold on to their existing seats East of the Ottawa river, major gains in Ontario will unleash Hurricane Harper.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: rabble.ca news, Duncan Cameron, Sep. 30, 2008 ]

An open letter to Stephen Harper

(rabble.ca news) - Monsieur le premier ministre,

We are neighbours. We work across the street from one another. You are Prime Minister of the Parliament of Canada and I, across the way, am a writer, theatre director and Artistic Director of the French Theatre at the National Arts Centre (NAC). So, like you, I am an employee of the state, working for the Federal Government; in other words, we are colleagues.

Let me take advantage of this unique position, as one functionary to another, to chat with you about the elimination of some federal grants in the field of culture, something that your government recently undertook. Indeed, having followed this matter closely, I have arrived at a few conclusions that I would like to publicly share with you since, as I’m sure you will agree, this debate has become one of public interest.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: rabble.ca news, Wajdi Mouawad, Oct 1, 2008 ]

Bilateral accords quietly push neo-liberal agenda

Currently Canada is pursuing bilateral accords across the planet, with countries as far afield as Colombia, Korea and Jordan.

READ MORE HERE

Is Canada cloning a lousy U.S. copyright law?

Last week Industry Minister Jim Prentice and Heritage Minister Josee Verner introduced Bill C-61, the long awaited revamped copyright reform bill. It's really a Canadian redraft of the ten-year-old U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

READ MORE HERE

The real green shift

The most obvious problem with the Green Shift proposed by Stéphane Dion is that the Liberal party plan will not reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly, if at all. The hidden assumption is that if the new carbon tax works, it will reduce the revenues available to the federal government.

READ MORE HERE

The Wal-Martization of our cities

Why is a proposed big box retail emporium on Eastern Avenue in Leslieville symptomatic of our urban crisis? The answer is that in this topsy-turvy world, what looks like investment is disinvestment, what looks like jobs is deskilling and what looks like sustainability is its toxic opposite.

READ MORE HERE

TILMA makes pariahs out of Alberta and B.C.

Under TILMA, provincial, local and government agency policies designed to protect the environment or the health of communities are, incredibly, not exempt from potential corporate lawsuits claiming they are veiled barriers to trade or investment.

READ MORE HERE

Historic vote in Parliament for war resisters

Canadian MPs ? the majority opposition representing the majority of Canadians ? stood in support of Iraq war resisters when they voted to pass an asylum motion yesterday in Parliament.

Liberal, NDP and Bloc MPs (137 in total) stood in favour – literally stood up to vote as procedure dictates, though for a second the line of MPs could be confused for a makeshift honour guard of sorts – of the "war resister" motion. From the ranks of the Conservative Party, 110 MPs stood against. They did not look happy. Perhaps because they knew Bush would not be happy (first it was former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's wicked Iraq criticisms and now this northern dissent. Someone is going to bed angry!)

The motion, first presented to Parliament on May 29 by NDP MP Olivia Chow, was based on an earlier Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration motion (Standing Order 108(2)) in December 2007.

It called for the creation of a special government program to "allow conscientious objectors and their families ... who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations … to apply for permanent resident status."

The motion also called for the government to immediately "cease any removal or deportation actions that may have already commenced against such individuals."

READ MORE HERE

Social media in the spaces in between

As most folks who have become fans of social media and microblogging will attest, used well, social media and interstitial packratting can save time.

A couple of weeks ago I was explaining social media to a client. I was talking about microblogs - like Twitter and Tumblr - and about how millions of folks were posting and commenting on videos using their webcams. The client, an older, busy executive responded with an arched eyebrow and a dismissive, "I really don't have time for that."

I don't think that's true. To understand why, consider the San Francisco-based photographer Thomas Hawk. Hawk (a pen name) is an investment advisor and the CEO of Zooomr, a photo site. He's also the father of two young girls. And, every day, every single day, he takes between 100 to 300 pictures and post-processes and uploads 30-50 of them to Zooomr and flickr. His goal is to publish a library of one million finished, processed pictures before he dies. So, here's a busy executive and family man who manages to find time to take sometimes hundreds of pictures daily. He's also an avid Twitterer. Hawk is doing what I call interstitial packratting.

READ MORE HERE