June 2014

30 May 2014 (RT) — A panel of experts sat down with RT Thursday 29 May to analyze the first interview Edward Snowden has given to the US media, a conversation that touched on the NSA whistleblower’s motivation to leak classified documents and how his actions have been misrepresented since.

 

Norman Solomon, director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, attorney Bruce Fine, and Jesselyn Radack, director of national security and human rights at the Government Accountability Project and one of Snowden’s attorneys, described Snowden as a hero who put his life on the line to expose abuses committed by the surveillance state.. (More)

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23 May 2014 (RT) — There is an air of unreality to Prince Charles’ spin-squad attempting this week to prove that the future British Head of State’s comparison of Putin to Hitler, while surrounded by journalists on a royal tour, was said in a ‘private conversation’.

It is not just that his views show how out of touch he and his PR team are with the nation and the real world, but Charles’ flippant remarks draw unwelcome attention to his own and his family’s close connections to Nazis, and related war-mongering.

His father Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was educated for a time in Nazi Germany and his four sisters married black-uniformed SS officers (three of them, Sophie, Cecile and Margarita, joining the Nazi party). Philip admitted to then having 'inhibitions about the Jews' to an American academic and feeling 'jealousy of their success.' Charles’ great uncle, the abdicated ex-King Edward VIII, was such a swastika-waver that MI6 had to banish him to Bermuda for the duration of World War Two, thwarting his and his Nazi wife Mrs Simpson’s attempts to join Hitler by crossing into occupied Europe. (More)

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30 May 2014 — Weather forecasters employed by the Canadian Meteorological Service have been banned from publicly discussing climate change. The decision has been justified on the basis that years of study of meteorology does not make a person qualified to discuss climatic events longer than a few months.

Since 2006, shortly after Stephen Harper's election as Prime Minister, the Canadian Government banned scientists from speaking to the media about their findings without getting political clearance. This has been conducted in conjunction with a process of shutting down research programs likely to turn up results not in keeping with the Conservative government's agenda. (More)

Lead author Amy Muise focused on the period after engaging in sexual activity as an "important time for bonding and intimacy."
 

Muise found that people who reported a longer duration of post-sex affection reported higher relationship satisfaction. (More)
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Editor's Notes

The strange world of Canadian politics

For more than half-a-century in Canada it has been apparent that you can't judge a political party by it's name. For example, in what became decades you had in Ontario the Progressive Conservative Party, 1949 to 1961 under Leslie Frost, John Robarts, 1961 to 1971, ending with Bill Davis, 1971 to 1985, governing like Liberals.

Today you have Liberal Kathleen Wynne in an election campaign with a platform that should belong to the New Democrats. There is New Democrat Andrea Horwath running to the right of the Liberals and having (not so private, as it turns out) meetings with corporate czars telling them that if she is elected she will rein-in government employees. Then you have Tory Tim Hudak with his Made-in-America plan not to rein-in government employees but to kill 100,000 public sector jobs with the bizarre claim based on false analysis that out of the ashes he will create one million jobs.

It's a political scenario gone mad. (More)

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New Democratic Party veteran lays it on the line to Ontario

leader Andrea Horwath in open letter in The Globe and Mail

Do progressives even have a place in the Ontario NDP?

This is an open letter from Gerald Caplan, who has worked with the New Democratic Party at the provincial and federal levels and writes a weekly online column for The Globe and Mail, to the current leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party, Andrea Horwath.

Wednesday 23 April 2014

Dear Andrea,

In last week’s column I pointed out the obvious dangers of Tim Hudak winning the provincial election on June 12 and asked: How do Ontario voters go about ensuring it doesn’t happen? Which of the other two parties do they vote for? Do they go for the party of the squishy centre or do they put their faith in the more progressive party? And how do they know which of the two is which.

It hurt me to write that final sentence. The NDP exists for a reason: to express certain principles and to represent certain voters. Today it is not easy to say what the Ontario party’s principles are or for whom it speaks.

I hope you’re not under the illusion here that I’m speaking only for myself, or even for other out-of-touch old-timers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Did you listen to the CBC phone-in show? Have you read the many puzzled analyses by commentators who have no axe to grind? Do you talk candidly with your own candidates? (More)

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'Kathleen Wynne is best choice by far

as New Democrats, Hudak's PCs turn right, far right'

'Given her personal and political qualities, and the significant failings of her opponents, Kathleen Wynne is the best choice for premier'

The Binkley Report

By seriously shouldering the problem of bee deaths

the Senate could prove its worth as a useful chamber

Kinder Morgan says oil spills can be good for the economy

While it is true that a massive oil spill in the Strait of Georgia likely would create a demand for "clean-up service providers," an oil company leading off their analysis of the socioeconomic effects of oil spills by pointing to all the jobs that would be created is as absurd as leading off an analysis of the effects of a recession by pointing out it will lead to a boom in demand for repossession service providers. (More)

27 B.C. climate experts rejected from

Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline Hearings

By Geneviève Hone

Where There Is A Family

There's always advice from Granny Witch

How can parents best help their children learn from their

mistakes? Consider 'Time-Withs' instead of 'Time-Outs'

Dear Granny Witch,

I feel really bad just now, guilty, worried and confused. We’ve just sent our six year old boy in time-out for the rest of the day and we’ve informed him that he won’t get to play with his cousin tomorrow. You see, Granny Witch, we discovered that yesterday he stole his sister Michelle’s favorite doll and deliberately destroyed it. His excuse is that he needed to see what made the doll cry when you pressed her belly button. So he worked on removing her head and opening her chest, and of course he wrecked the thing. He knew he had done wrong because he hid the doll underneath other stuff in the recycling bin where we found it this afternoon.

Granny Witch, I feel guilty and confused because I don’t know if we have been too harsh on Damien (not his real name) or too soft. Every time my husband and I have to punish the kids, we do it blindly, so to speak. We’ve read a couple of parenting books, and the authors recommend being fair and persistent while punishing a child. But these authors don’t actually live with a doll-wrecker who has excuses for every bad behavior he engages in. The worst part is that I’m not even certain that Damien will learn his lesson. I feel we should have handled this differently, but I don’t know how. I’m afraid I’ve damaged the good connection I have had with Damien.

Granny Witch, what is the best method for punishing children? (More)

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Bits and Bites of Everyday Life

In praise of Justin Trudeau and his firm pro-choice stand

By Alberte Villeneuve-Sinclair
True North Perspective

Alberte Villeneuve-Sinclair is the author of The Neglected Garden and two French novels. Visit her website to learn more www.albertevilleneuve.ca.

Prayer is the first step in acting for a better world

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Already armed by previous knowledge and experience, canvassing in the current provincial elections campaign has reinforced my understanding of the dire lack of affordable housing in Toronto.

 

To quote from a 26 May article in The Toronto Star, "Canada is a signatory to the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which recognizes the right to adequate housing and commits the government to address homelessness and inadequate housing."

 

But government here has the audacity to claim that "housing is not a right".

 

Scandalous!

 

And yet none of the major parties in this provincial election are addressing this issue in a serious way.

 

There is an urgent need for affordable housing and immediate relief for tenants who are being charged outrageous rents by greedy landlords. There are no meaningful laws to stop unscrupulous landlords from gouging tenants. (More)

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Social justice reporter

The night before Michael died, I had a dream. The dream was set in MacLaren’s Landing, and featured a healer called Dr. Grace.

 

This whole journey of discovering my brother since his death has been, for me, laced with grace. 

 

Deep thanks to Evelyn, who has known our family since we were in grade 5 together, walking my little brother to kindergarten at Osgoode Street School.

 

Evelyn called me in April and read Kelly Egan’s article about Mike over the phone, holding my hand as she walked me through the story of my brother — “Lost and Found”.

 

My thanks to Kelly Egan and the Ottawa Citizen for opening the door to connecting with Kevin Dooley; thanks for the gentle music, too, Kevin and friends…. Kevin has helped me to know Michael in the later part of his life and done so much to make today possible and beautiful. It warms my heart to know Michael drew such special people around him.

 

Is this not a gorgeous place for a poet to be laid to rest? (More)

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A Canadian Marxist crank or just plain common sense

America’s Middle-Class Defeat:

How Canada shamed the wealthiest nation on earth

Want to understand what's causing the decay of the American dream? Take some lessons from our Canadian friends to the north.

31 May 2014 — A few summers ago, I spent six weeks in Canada, as part of a 10,000-mile Great Lakes Circle tour. From Pigeon River on Lake Superior to Kingston on Lake Ontario, I drove and camped my way across Ontario. On Manitoulin Island, I went on a fishing charter captained by a retired nickel miner named Tom Power. The Nickel Belt is a stronghold of Canada’s most socialistic party, the New Democrats. When the conversation turned to politics (as it often did with Canadians during the George W. Bush years), Tom made a statement that would have tabbed him as a Marxist crank on the other side of the lakes.

“I don’t understand why anyone has to earn more than $200,000 a year,” he said. “I mean, honestly, what are you going to do with all that money?” (More)

 

 

7 May 2014 — A celebrity goes grocery shopping — not exactly the red carpet at the Oscars. But what happens if it’s a she not a he?

 

The mainstream press loves to hurriedly assess her exterior: What's with that outfit? Is her hair just-rolled-out-of-bed sexy or hobo-chic? Doesn't that Golden Delicious apple clash embarrassingly with her beige eye shadow?

That’s why the editors at Vagenda, a UK-based online magazine confronting sexism in the media, thought it would be a good idea to challenge its Twitter followers to “take a snarky headline and turn it around.” They received a huge response.

 

“We expected our usual followers to get involved, but we were pleasantly surprised by the quite literally thousands of other people who also jumped on board,” said Holly Baxter, an editor at Vagenda. “Some of them came up with some truly brilliant, deadpan alternatives to the sensationalized headlines we keep seeing and passively digesting in everyday media.” (More)
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30 May 2014 MOSCOW — A bill registered with the Russian State Duma aims to force media outlets with funding from abroad to register as foreign agents.

The proposed law follows similar legislation aimed at non-government organizations enacted in 2012. That law has been widely condemned by human rights organizations, with Amnesty International describing it as "the Russian government's assault on independent civil society."

A bill widening the "foreign agent" net to include any news outlet that receives more than 25 percent of its funding from abroad and engages in political activities was registered in the Duma on Thursday by a group of lawmakers that includes the Liberal Democrat Mikhail Degtaryov and United Russia's Yevgeny Fyodorov. (More)

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02 June 2014 — I cannot remember the Sunday Times publishing 11 straight pages on one story before. Its scoop that secret payments helped Qatar to win the 2022 World Cup bid was an agenda-setting revelation.

 

It was the lead to TV and radio bulletins throughout yesterday and is followed up by every daily paper today.

The phrase in its splash, "a bombshell cache of millions of documents", was surely justified, as was clear from the details it was able to catalogue.

 

And it promises more in the coming weeks. (More)

17 June 2014 (Associated Press) — A badly injured sea turtle's prospects are looking up – thanks to a new prosthetic fin designed by an Israeli team and modeled after the wings of a US fighter jet.

 

The green sea turtle, named "Hofesh," the Hebrew word for "freedom," was caught in a fishing net off Israel's Mediterranean coast in early 2009.

 

With his two left flippers badly wounded, rescuers had to amputate, leaving him with a pair of stumps that made it difficult to swim. (More)

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http://www.alternet.org

10 May 2014 — It feels like everybody’s going gluten-free these days, but the fad diet has also spread quite a bit of misinformation about the g-word.

Some people -– even those who claim to follow gluten-free diets -– don’t even know what gluten is. And if you’re one of them, that’s OK. We won’t tell anyone your secret.

We’ll even help you out: Gluten is a word used to describe the proteins found in wheat, rye and barley. You’re welcome!

Here are a few myths that have been circulating lately. (More)

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21 May 2014 — Whether given as a greeting, a sign of affection, or tentatively in those first stirrings of attraction, kissing is universal. In many cultures, kisses on the cheek are a common form of saying hello or goodbye. Despite my European upbringing, I have always been a little wary of kissing strangers, even if it's just blowing air or a light peck. There is that uncomfortable moment where you may not be so keen to engage in the ritual and you risk offending a newly made acquaintance. Yes, I am speaking from experience. Maybe for me, kissing, whatever form it takes, is more personal and intimate. A gesture reserved for ‘special’ occasions.

 

Given that some kind of lip-smacking isn’t just for us it begs the question, why do so many animals kiss? When it comes to greeting one another, be it through a kiss or a sniff, many species exchange a wealth of information about who they are, how healthy they are, what their hormone levels are, where they have been, and what they have eaten. Such is the power of even the simplest of kisses. Take prairie dogs, for example. Prairie dogs are known for their “greet-kiss” and it goes a little like this: two prairie dogs approach, they lock teeth, swap some saliva, and then inevitably, one of two things happens. They fight or they go about their business. When they fight, is this because one of them was a poor kisser? Not likely. It's because those individuals don’t belong to the same social group. (More)

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