The Galloping Beaver: Water world . . .
CALIFORNIA, NEVADA, ARIZONA: three states where water is becoming top-of-mind, because it may become rather scarce. According to Austin Troy's Design Observer article, "Thirsty City", it's been a long time coming."Under no contingency does the natural face of Upper California appear susceptible of supporting a very large population"So wrote Navy lieutenant Henry Augustus Wise, after spending considerable time in the Golden State in 1847. Although Lieutenant Wise would no doubt be surprised to know that California is now home to almost 40 million people, the fundamental water constraints that …
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Northern Reflections: Smug Stupidity
Jeffrey Simpson wrote in yesterday's Globe and Mail that:Under the Harper government, Canada lost its bid for a Security Council seat – the first time it had ever been defeated. Were a vote held today, chances are Canada would get even fewer votes.Consider Canada's performance on the world stage since Stephen Harper became prime minister:The latest egregious example of truculent morality was this week’s visit by Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to the West Bank. At a meeting with the most moderate leadership in Palestinian Authority history, the …
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The Galloping Beaver: Who wrote this?
We don’t want to return to the bad old days of the back alley, when a poor vulnerable person who made the mistake of stepping out of line had to be forced into the shadows and have the realities explained to them with a tire iron.If I told you, Mark Steyn, you probably wouldn't believe me. But I would be the one who's right. Steyn, however, is just fine if we return to the bad old days of the back alley, as long as it's occupied by a poor vulnerable pregnant woman forced into the shadows and facing the realities of a coat hanger. …
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The Galloping Beaver: Demotivation . . .
DEMOTIVATIONAL POSTERS are such a delight, especially if you have a sense of humor that is somewhat oblique. The Demotivator is part of the Tumblr world, and is a great collection from all sorts of places. Great place for a cynical re-charge. …
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Molly'sBlog: Molly’sBlog 2012-02-04 18:42:00
HISTORY:ROSA PARKS:On this date Rosa Parks (1913-2005), the mother of the American Civil Rights Movement was born. On December 1st 1955 she refused an order from a bus driver to give up her seat for a white and "move to the back of the bus". This led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott that was the first action of the civil rights movement in the USA. The notice for this anniversary was from the Daily Bleed. To learn more about Rosa Parks see this Wikipedia entry. …
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The Galloping Beaver: Sure glad I wasn’t there . . .
LEONARD COHEN has a fabulous new CD out. Love that guy, and so does Liel Leibovitz at The Tablet, whose review of Lenny's new oeuvre, "St. Leonard’s Passion" is a great read. Remember the festival at the Isle of Wight in 1970? Lenny was there. The account is hair-raising:The audience wanted to see Jim Morrison, so they tried to burn down the stage.By the time Jimi Hendrix came on, they succeeded. …
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the regina mom: What will the neighbours think?
One part of the brain can work something out while another part is doing something else, or so it seems. the regina mom stayed up all night. When that happens, it’s usually because she’s been engaged in a good read or a good write. This time it was neither. And it wasn’t a party, either. No, this time trm‘s eyes were glued to the screen catching up on episodes of The Young and The Restless and The Colbert Report, shows she watches only occasionally these days. It’s as though her brain needed a time out from the case of overload she’d contracted …
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bastard.logic: The New 1% Doctrine in Action (Electro-Motive Diesel Edition)
While many the US were celebrating seemingly positive job numbers yesterday, for London, Ontario residents such news was caustic, rock salt poured into a gaping wound.
WSWS:
Caterpillar subsidiary Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) has announced that it is transforming the lockout at its London, Ontario diesel-locomotive manufacturing facility into a plant closure.
Six weeks ago, Caterpillar locked out the 465 production workers at its London plant after they overwhelmingly rejected the company’s demands for a 55 percent wage cut, the elimination of their pension plan, and other sweeping …
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Sister Sage's Musings: Fallout from the Komen disaster. New-found power for pro-choice voices.
Sitting back after the dust has settled on Susan G. Komen’s awkward about-face (which is actually no about-face at all but a bit of temporary cover), one thing has become clear. Komen has given a renewed voice back to the pro-choice movement, too long drowned out by the money and loud talking . . . → Read More: Fallout from the Komen disaster. New-found power for pro-choice voices. …
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Northern Reflections: We’ve Been Played for Chumps
It's been quite a week. It began with Mitt Romney declaring, "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there." It ended with Caterpillar shutting down its locomotive plant in London, Ontario and moving operations to Indiana -- two days after Governor Mitch Daniels signed legislation making Indiana a right to work state.It's not that Caterpillar is in trouble. Last year the corporation made $4.9 billion -- an increase of 83% over last year. Caterpillar bought the plant from General Motors in 2010. In 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave the plant $5 million in federal tax …
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Facing Autism in New Brunswick: Autism Vaccine War: Is Scientific Inquiry Being Suppressed?
Dr. Beatrice Golomb's presentation This Is Your Brain On Politics pulls no punches in its critique of conflicts of interest, bias, censorship and intimidation involving pharmaceutical companies, health authorities and academic institutions and publications. Professor Golomb's presentation includes commentary on pressure tactics, including intimidation, used by some pharmaceutical industry representatives to silence criticism of their products and the research that accompanies them.
Professor Golomb's presentation provides an interesting framework with which to consider the continued …
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It's Cowboy Steve: Prime Minister announces new naval base for London, Ontario
LONDON - Taking the sting out of the recent closure of the Electromotive plant, the Prime Minister announced Friday that London will be the site of the Navy’s new headquarters and largest naval shipyard. London's new military command centre will oversee operations of Canadian Fleet Atlantic, responsible for the operation and readiness of the Atlantic fleet. The Canadian Task Group Centre in London will be the home base for any East Coast deployment of ships to military exercises or operations. The new Ontario base will have the ability to protect Canadian waters while boosting employment in …
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The Galloping Beaver: Surprises appear . . .
TALI-TUBBIE. Now, that sure is something you don't see every day. …
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Molly'sBlog: Molly’sBlog 2012-02-03 23:24:00
AMERICAN LABOUR: WORKERS WIN INJUNCTION AGAINST WALMART CONTRACTORS:Here's an interesting item and an appeal for solidarity from the Making Change At Walmart group.*************************Workers win injunction against Walmart contractorsPosted on February 2, 2012 by benjaminwaxmanYesterday, employees working for two Walmart contractors that operate warehouse facilities won a major victory in federal court. The U.S. District Court for Central District of California issued an injunction prohibiting two companies, Schneider Logistics and Rogers-Premier Unloading Services, from firing workers …
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unrepentant old hippie: Last but not Least, the Predictable Whinefest
Fetus fetishists whining and crying victim because they didn’t get their way with Komen/Planned Parenthood? Now whoever coulda seen that coming!? K-Lo breaks out the violins on Twitter: But not before the deranged SUZANNE had added her dulcet tones to the rising tide of whine: Oh well, I suppose it changes things up from regular [...] …
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Peace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night
Blame Twitter. Someone was tweeting about a musician named Lincoln Durham the other day and when he included the magic words — slide guitar — I went off to see what I could find. The result is the set you see before you beginning with Living This Hard.
Once I'd found Lincoln Durham I poked around some more. I thought this was interesting: Blackie and the Rodeo Kings with Another Free Woman Gets To Walk Away.
I'd seen Will Kimbrough before but not this track and it makes a good closer. This is Piece of Work. Have a good weekend. …
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the regina mom: Oh, Those ‘Radicals’!
Today the HarperCons stepped into the cesspool polluted waters tarsands issue to announce a water monitoring project which will take 3 years and $50 million to fully implement. the regina mom agrees with Halifax NDP MP Megan Leslie; this is a PR stunt. And, trm shares Edmonton MP Linda Duncan’s concerns that First Nations’ communities were not adequately consulted and that many more tarsands projects could be approved before this monitoring begins. trm considers this announcement to be a reflection of the great work the ecojustice community “radical groups” are …
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unrepentant old hippie: The Komen Decision that was Totally Not Political
…but was secretly nurtured and guided by former Bush Press Secretary and Planned Parenthood critic Ari Fleisher: Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for George W. Bush and prominent right-wing pundit, secretly helped guide Komen Foundation’s disastrous strategy regarding Planned Parenthood. Fleischer personally interviewed candidates for the position of “Senior Vice President for Communications and External [...] …
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Keeping it Real...: Sun TV Runs FAKE News
Well, so much for their trustworthy “new” perspective on Canadian news: Sun News Network have been caught AGAIN running faked content.
The latest embarrassment surrounds a faked Citizenship Ceremony created in Sun TV’s Toronto studios last October, because for some mysterious reason, covering the 13 already-scheduled swearing in ceremonies around the city for new Canadians was not good enough.
It didn’t start out as a faked event ….but became one when not enough “real” new Canadians could be found to take part. So six federal bureaucrats stood in, …
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unrepentant old hippie: #WINNING(?)
Well, maybe. At least consider the Komen controversy well and truly #occupied: The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation backed down from its decision to cut funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion and birth control services, a move that had thrust the world’s largest breast cancer charity into a deeply politicized controversy. Komen [...] …
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