Provocations

The bottom of the oil barrel is covered in tarsand

Investments and vested interests can cloud vision. Maybe there's enough in this video to break through a few hardened hearts, hardened to the state of our planet and its people.

I think I'd have more respect for someone who said, I know it may be hurting our planet and its people but I still think it's the best thing to do. Instead most support for the tar-sands seems to rely on smoke and mirrors. Meanwhile, true to the pattern of addiction (money, oil . . . ), it is the addiction that drives. And, of course, the whole family suffers; in this case, the human family, starting with the most vulnerable:

Why Harper’s Conservatives need to be defeated

This post is by a guest author:
"John Sobol is a veteran journalist and author, a digital strategist and curator, and a skilled saxophonist and public speaker. He has developed a practical philosophy based on his experience and expertise in oral, literate and digital practices, milieus and technologies. It is called: Interactivism."  - JN

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Downloadable Anti-Harper Collateral

Posted on April 8, 2011 by lobosloboslobos

I noticed that we were missing a tool like this, a document that would summarize why Harper’s Conservatives need to be defeated. So I wrote one. I am planning to photocopy and distribute it (door to door and on the street) as widely as I can. I invite you to do the same, especially if you live anywhere near a riding where the outcome is in doubt. You can download it here:

www.johnsobol.com/Anyonebutharper.pdf

Good luck!

Here is the text in blog post format:

DO YOU REALLY WANT TO VOTE FOR HARPER’S CONSERVATIVES?

Harper’s Conservatives spent over $1 billion on security for the G8/G20 conferences, which resulted in the largest mass arrests in Canadian history (1,105 people, of whom only a handful have been convicted), even though the cost of security at the previous G20 Summit in London, England was only $30 million and only 63 people were arrested. Harper’s Conservatives are bullies.

Harper’s Conservatives are the only government in Canadian history to have been found in contempt of Parliament. This ruling was made by the Conservative-appointed Speaker of the House of Commons, Peter Milliken, based on clear evidence that the Conservatives had repeatedly lied to Parliament. No government (in Canada or Britain) has ever been found in contempt of Parliament before, in over 200 years of parliamentary procedure. Harper’s Conservatives are liars.

Harper’s Conservatives have twice shut down Parliament simply because they didn’t like what was happening there. No Canadian government has ever prorogued Parliament in this way before. Harper’s Conservatives do not respect democracy.

Harper’s Conservatives have made Canada one of the world’s most despised nations when it comes to environmental issues. According to StatsCan, The United Kingdom, France and Germany have per capita emissions that are about half of those produced by Canadians, and we are increasing our pollution faster than any other industrialized country, partly due to our exploiting of Alberta’s tar sand reserves, using a process that produces three times the emissions of conventional oil extraction. Harper’s Conservatives are destroying our children’s future.

Harper’s Conservatives are planning to purchase 65 stealth fighter jets from Lockheed Martin. This is the biggest military procurement in Canada’s history and it was sole sourced. Harper’s Conservatives claim that the jets will cost $75million each, but even the Ministry of Defense’s own estimates say that they will likely cost twice as much, or close to 30 billion dollars. Harper’s Conservatives are lying to us about the largest purchase in Canadian history. Can you think of anything better to spend 30 billion dollars of taxpayer’s money on than American fighter jets? Harper’s Conservatives can’t.

Harper’s Conservatives cut millions from laboratory testing programs, which ensure Canadians have access to clean food, air and water. They slashed funding for essential scientific research to help manage our fisheries, our forests, and our health. And Harper’s Conservatives also eliminated the mandatory Canadian census, which was an essential research tool for every government department. Harper’s Conservatives don’t like facts and don’t like critical thinking.

Harper’s Conservatives are planning to spend billions of dollars on a dozen huge new prisons, even though violent crime today is at its lowest level in Canada in a generation. Harper’s Conservatives have also introduced minimum mandatory jail sentences for non-violent crimes such as growing a single marijuana plant, even though over 45 percent of Canadians say they have smoked pot at some time in their lives. Harper’s Conservatives want Canada to be more like America, where 2.4 million citizens are currently in jail (25% of all the prisoners in the entire world), most for non-violent crimes such as marijuana possession.

Harper’s Conservatives were elected on a platform that celebrated accountability and transparency. And yet the high profile Integrity Commissioner they hired to oversee their much-ballyhooed Accountability Act received a $500,000 golden handshake after being fired for gross negligence. In 3 years, her office received over 200 complaints from whistleblowers, but only investigated 7 of them. Harper’s Conservatives actually hate transparency and hate being held accountable.

There is more. Much more. Harper’s Conservatives are poisoning our political culture, seeking to divide and conquer, to polarize and demonize, just like they do in the USA. But we don’t want that sort of destructive leadership here in Canada. We want leadership that is honest, transparent, and that seeks to build, not to destroy. Harper’s Conservatives will not provide that leadership. If Harper’s Conservatives win a majority in the next Parliament, anyone they don’t agree with will be silenced, cut off, and vulnerable.

So please, on May 2nd vote for anyone but Harper’s Conservatives.

It’s up to you to make your voice heard on election day.

VOTE!!!

Tucson shootings and trashtalk - who wants real change?

If you're having difficulty seeing any clarity in the fog of political duelling exacerbated by the Arizona shooting, here is what I consider a voice of sanity and reason - and even a sense of direction. I think what Paul Jay says relates to all of us, even in countries like Canada where public debate isn't nearly as extreme or rancorous.

US Government going after Wikileaks supporters

You won't read many articles like this as the (US) government intention appears to be to silence willingness to speak up because of fear of retribution. In his Salon.com article, Glenn Greenwald says:

Most of those expressing these concerns were perfectly rational, smart, well-informed American citizens.  And yet they were petrified that merely donating money to a non-violent political and journalistic group whose goals they supported would subject them to invasive government scrutiny or, worse, turn them into criminals.  A government can guarantee all the political liberties in the world on paper (free speech, free assembly, freedom of association), but if it succeeds in frightening the citizenry out of exercising those rights, they become meaningless.

Read on

A simple way to reduce the rich-poor gap

To put it simply, it's more efficient, more compassionate, more dignified to give citizens enough to live on than to have them suffer until they are desperate, sick, uneducated  . . . .  Some have called this a guaranteed minimum income, Brazil calls it a family grant.  The core idea is the same. With the gulf between rich and poor widening in many affluent nations to the point of obscenity, it's clear that state and private charities do not work (while, of course, they significantly help some people and situations). In wealthy Canada the child poverty rate is very high and not going down.

Tina Rosenberg's article, in the new York Times opinion pages updates this option with the news that a significant number of countries give regular payments to poor families  resulting in a significant reduction in the gap between rich and poor.  She writes:

The city of Rio de Janeiro is infamous for the fact that one can look out from a precarious shack on a hill in a miserable favela and see practically into the window of a luxury high-rise condominium.  Parts of Brazil look like southern California.  Parts of it look like Haiti.  Many countries display great wealth side by side with great poverty.  But until recently, Brazil was the most unequal country in the world.

Today, however, Brazil’s level of economic inequality is dropping at a faster rate than that of almost any other country.  Between 2003 and 2009, the income of poor Brazilians has grown seven times as much as the income of rich Brazilians.  Poverty has fallen during that time from 22 percent of the population to 7 percent.

Contrast this with the United States, where from 1980 to 2005, more than four-fifths of the increase in Americans’ income went to the top 1 percent of earners. (see this great series in Slate by Timothy Noah on American inequality)  Productivity among low and middle-income American workers increased, but their incomes did not.  If current trends continue, the United States may soon be more unequal than Brazil.

Several factors contribute to Brazil’s astounding feat.  But a major part of Brazil’s achievement is due to a single social program that is now transforming how countries all over the world help their poor.

The program, called Bolsa Familia (Family Grant) in Brazil, goes by different names in different places. In Mexico, where it first began on a national scale and has been equally successful at reducing poverty, it is Oportunidades. The generic term for the program is conditional cash transfers.  The idea is to give regular payments to poor families, in the form of cash or electronic transfers into their bank accounts, if they meet certain requirements.  The requirements vary, but many countries employ those used by Mexico: families must keep their children in school and go for regular medical checkups, and mom must attend workshops on subjects like nutrition or disease prevention.  The payments almost always go to women, as they are the most likely to spend the money on their families.  The elegant idea behind conditional cash transfers is to combat poverty today while breaking the cycle of poverty for tomorrow.

Read on

Are Canadians suffering from battered electorate syndrome?

The evidence is clear. Even though you may dismiss some of it, the dictatorial and dismissive way in which Stephen Harper regards those he is supposedly serving is unprecedented in modern Canadian democracy. Along with this go many decisions and practices that treat people, the legal system and the parliamentary system with disdain and even contempt.

Kathleen Ohara in Rabble.ca gives us Ten reasons to oppose the Harper candidate in your riding

Here are a few of her examples:

• To raise funds, the Tories promoted the HST, which moves the tax burden from corporations to consumers, increasing the cost of essentials like food and heat. The Ontario government has admitted that this will cost citizens at least $500 a year per family.

• Harper and Company earned a reputation for heavy-handed stonewalling during the UN Climate Change negotiations in Copenhagen. In Cancun, they lobbied against an extension of the Kyoto Accord - which they have continued to ignore in spite of the 2010 weather horrors, estimated to cost $220 billion globally.

• More stonewalling and what some saw as "contempt of Parliament" led to an extraordinary ruling by Speaker Peter Milliken, condemning the government for a breach of parliamentary privilege because it refused to release uncensored documents. Thanks to Harper's manoeuvres, however, the torture issue is now lost in the complexities of an ad hoc parliamentary committee.

• Crime rates are down and the population is ageing, but the Harper government claims it must introduce tougher laws, incarcerate more Canadians, and spend $9 billion for more prisons - some of them American-style super-prisons - because of an increase in "unreported" crime.

• A new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives think-tank says that harsher prison conditions, longer sentences, and more crowded prisons will increase the chance that criminals will re-offend. Already, prisoners have to wait too long for rehabilitation programs and are being crowded into cells, contrary to United Nations standards.

• Harper has helped stop the UN from declaring asbestos a dangerous substance, and still promotes exports to poorer countries.

• Harper abandoned our internationally praised development partnership with eight of the poorest countries in Africa. Instead, he is focussing on Colombia - a militarized, right-wing country with government death squads.

• Prime Minister Harper campaigned on accountability and transparency. The Information Commissioner has found the Harper government the most secretive ever when it comes to Access to Information requests; one senior government aide was caught interfering with the process.

• There is an atmosphere of "trench warfare" and "disdain" as the government refuses to co-operate with parliamentary committees. Staff members, who should be accountable to the public, are no longer allowed to testify before them.

• Contrary to his position as an opponent of the unelected Senate, Harper used his new majority to recently stop a climate change bill passed by the elected majority in the House of Commons.

• Elections Canada is battling with a few former Tory candidates; police have raided their offices, over what are considered systematic attempts to hide national campaign expenses during the 2006 election.

How long will we voters take this "beating"? Will enough of us break the spell and leave this abusive leader? Or will we continue to rationalize his behaviour and put up with the abuse? 

Watch his behaviour through this perspective and you will see how much of his "leadership" is based on fear, including inciting fear of the alternatives to his rule.

The opportunity is getting closer: an election and the ballot box could be the opportunity to elect a party with social vision and respect for our democracy.

Study: Politically conservative brains geared for fear.

A study at University College London in the UK has found that conservatives' brains have larger amygdalas than the brains of liberals. Amygdalas are responsible for fear and other "primitive" emotions. At the same time, conservatives' brains were also found to have a smaller anterior cingulate -- the part of the brain responsible for courage and optimism.

So much for personal choice!

I'd be interested in who the exceptions are - those who've gone beyond thier genetic programming. My guess is they would have a more enriched understanding and outlook.

Read the article

A graphic dose of fossil fuel reality

Bad news and good: the cavalry ain't coming but this is not a job for the cavalry.

Richard Heinberg's been putting this stuff out for a very long time. I know this in more detail than most because I ran his web site for a few years. Sad to say, while his message is updated, it's not that different from what he was saying ten years and more ago. Scientists have known for a lot longer that we are heading for a fuel crisis that is threatening the foundation of most developed economies and cultures as well as the viability of our planet as we know it. But, what do scientists know? Just find one doubter with a degree in something and we can dismiss the seriousness of the situation and continue heading in the same direction.

Solutions are around but, for now, here's a little tool that may help us face the facts. Gotta do that first. My names Jeffrey and I'm a fossil-fuel-aholic. A 12-step process for governments? Maybe. My country's Canada and it's a fossil-fuel-aholic.

Questioning the assumptions of war and the lies on which they are built

Sometimes I am aware that a post does not meet the title of this blog because of the negligible amount of provocation involved. I think that this interview does qualify, by challenging much that many of us assume is OK. Importantly, it is filled with reason and a few questions - about an aspect of US conduct which is common to many other countries: the lies used to justify war.

David Swanson is the co-founder of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, and has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign. David is the author of "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union", and his latest book is called "War is a Lie", published in November 2010

The erosion of Canadian democracy continues

Whether you agree with the issues represented or not, this is the kind of interface where our Canadian democracy is eroding: unprecedented restrictions on freedom of expression.