Political Category Archive
How Sarkozy won
With apologies to all my french friends. ;) French version of "Who wants to be a millionaire". What gravitates around Earth? a) the moon b) the sun c) Mars d) Venus He goes to the pubic vote, which comes back...
The party's over...
Absolutely most see. "Robert Newman gets to grips with the wars and politics of the last hundred years - but rather than adhering to the history we were fed at ... all » school, the places oil centre stage as...
What a coup
The *official* website for last week's Thai military coup d'état: "The Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy" via GVO of course, from a feed we prepped for Reuters while we were doing the Turner event... ;)...
"UK and US companies sold mobile phone tapping equipment to Vietnam"
Reporters sans frontières - Vietnam: Reporters Without Borders has learned that a British company, Silver Bullet, and a US company, Verint Systems (a subsidiary of Comverse Technology), sold equipment for intercepting mobile phone calls to the Vietnamese intelligence services. The...
"George Galloway Savages SKY NEWS"
(SKY is apparently the british equivalent of Fox News, both Rupert Murdoch properties. Rupert also owns MySpace now. Beware, the brainwash machine expanded by a couple million more brains... very narrow brains mind you... ;) Erasure of memory, loss...
Voting with money
Zephyr got in touch with me today to ask about helping out with some UI for an organization she's now involved in. Poking around their site, I found this screencast showing how to use a site called "opensecrets.org" to find...
It starts at the edges...
Excuse me but what the fuck is Canada doing deporting Costa Ricans seeking to live in Canada? Why are we rejecting refugee claims *at all*, and then throwing entire families into jail to await deportation? I have zero tolerance for...
"Shattering the China Dream"
Rebecca lobs a grenade at the feet of visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao in the form of a Washington Post OpEd: Another victim of Chinese state kidnapping -- with whom I am personally connected -- is Wu Hao, an independent...
Don't do evil
Oops, seems in their fervor, the community has forgotten to define *what is evil*. Last year Google hired the bipartisan lobbying firm Podesta Mattoon, whose lobbyists include Daniel Mattoon, a Republican and longtime friend of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and...
David Suzuki
I've been meaning to write about David Suzuki for a long time, and haven't yet mainly because I have not done what I told myself I'd do first: actually get acquainted with "his stuff", knowing it would affect my life...
Orwell's "Notes on nationalism"
Don't have the time to expound on this seminal text more profoundly at the moment but wanted to point it out. First a salient quote: Indifference to objective truth is encouraged by the sealing-off of one part of the world...
"America's Online Censors"
Rebecca does an absolutely great job of summing up many of the issues and thoughts and results of the U.S. Congressional hearings held last week concerning U.S. technology companies and their roles in Internet censorship regimes around the world. We...
Open borders?
Consider this: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said the Bush administration should put on hold a deal to stop state-controlled Dubai Ports World of the United Arab Emirates from managing sea ports in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New...
Local Government Organizations (LGOs)
ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiative) - Local Governments for Sustainability We provide technical consulting, training, and information services to build capacity, share knowledge, and support local government in the implementation of sustainable development at the local level. Our...
Comparing
Long story but yesterday over lunch with my new good friends John and Colin, I committed to building this side-by-side comparison of Google China and Google in Chinese for the OpenNet Initiative. The reason for doing this is explained thusly:...
Impotence
Well, no election for me... Canada's upcoming federal election is this coming monday. By the time the polls open I'll be sitting on the tarmac on my way to Cambridge for 3 days. "But you could have voted in advance!"...
freedom vs. liberty
Dictionary definitions of these two terms, just to make something clear: FREEDOM noun the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint : we do have some freedom of choice | he...
Accepting
"Have the courage to change what you cannot accept, the strength to accept what you cannot change, and the wisdom to know one from the other." I've long admired this proverb but it never quite sat well with me. I...
Two disturbing
Mark Federman recently posted two rather disturbing entries. And How is One Certified as Sane? Although this story is a year old, one of our students brought it to my attention last evening. According to the British Medical Journal (and...
Expression Under Repression
Rebecca and Ethan and a few other of the Global Voices Online team were WSIS in Tunisia this week and today gave a workshop presentation on "Expression Under Repression", despite technically having been canceled "by the authorities". Very exciting, awesome...
Lord of War
Ok, first of all, it IS a Hollywood movie, which means it is replete and chock full of everything a Hollywood movie needs: clichés, one liners, understated deadpan melodrama; the works. Second, Nicholas Cage gives a great rendition of...
Safe travels gaucho
So, Steven's probably sitting on the tarmac at Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport right now, beginning a 2 month trip to Cuba and, I suspect, to the core of himself. No, he's not going to go sit on the beach. He's...
"We're not afraid!"
Right... The man shot and killed on a subway car by London police in front of horrified commuters had nothing to do with this month's bombings on the city's transit system, police said Saturday in expressing their regrets. They identified...
Touché
Damn... I'm on the verge of popping a reblog feed of Andrew's blog in my sidebar...The Karl Rove situation is a litmus test for just how far the Bush administration is willing to go to cling to power and lie...
Fair and balanced?
I'd like to point out that, assuming that the terrorist attacks in London were perpetrated by Al-Quaeda / Muslim "extremists" - Der Spiegel and BBC Monitoring have reported a claim of responsibility by "Secret Organization - AlQuaeda in Europe" as...
Can hate be good?
"Hate something, change something." That's what was on the mind of Honda engineers when they supposedly made a better diesel engine. Interesting. I think it is an all-out race to not only find any and all alternatives for fossil fuels,...
Well said.
Andrew continues to make me cheer with his canadian political commentary. His take on bill C-38, "C-38 is a uniter, not a divider", is well worth a read. (Bill C-38 is same-sex marriage legislation that just got passed in Canada.)...
UNESCO slaps U.S. & WTO's wrist, fighting to preserve cultural exception
This is a few days old, but I didn't see it anywhere else. (Found in Sylvain's del.icio.us stream) French article and it's Google MangleTranslation. I'll try to un-mangle the more salient parts: After two weeks of negotiations, involving 500 experts...
Just don't call it Brussel sprouts!
"Economic democracy" is a powerful concept in all kinds of ways both in its ambiguity as well as its linkages. There's a lot that goes with it practically and theoretically--and it should become a very familiar concept to the broader...
WSIS, censorship & RSF
Michael is in Winnipeg participating in a UNESCO sponsored conference in preparation for it's presence at the WSIS summit in Tunisia in the fall. This is serious, big boys stuff. ;) He just reported something VERY disturbing: The Tunisian ambassador...
Say it ain't so, Joe, please, say it ain't so...
Gaaaaahhh U.S. Senator Evan Bayh is a heartland Democrat with a proven and broad appeal, and a history of advancing progressive values in a heavily Republican state. First elected Governor at the age of 32 – the youngest in the...
Ameraka
The original. The remix. Cringe cringe cringe....
Politically correct in Quebec
(or "baladi-balado") Ok some background. I live in Quebec, a predominantly francophone ("french speaking") province ("state") of Canada. The francophones here are ridiculously anxious about protecting "their culture" (while they love nothing more than buying american products and seeing their...
The King of Yet-Also
Momus gives us this fantastic essay about Michael Jackson: Nota: This is not about your or my or anyone's morals. One of the reasons the Michael Jackson trial is so unfortunate is that the world of Either-Or will pass judgment...
Just how blinding is greed?
It's incredible how every day, they seem to push the gap between the rich and the poor ever wider open... AlterNet: Open Fire On U.S. ConsumersSo what does the bill do? It makes it harder for average people to file...
Non-Disclosure Agreement
After not even hearing the words for well over 3 years, today I was faced with no less than two prospective NDA's to sign. I haven't yet. Reading over the one I did get sent to me, I am struck...
Canadian public geo-data copyrighted and sold by the government
Some cool folks, working on a cool project, are looking for some reliable geo-data for Canada. Place names and GPS coordinates, mostly. So I turn to Natural Resources Canada of course, the governmental body that has this stuff. The first...
Gustav
Discovered amongst the tracks of the recently mentioned Blogothèque compilations (go go go grab it!!! Junkie Brewster's rendition of "Like a prayer" alone is worth the download!) is a gem called "We shall overcome". Here is the video version. Gustav,...
Gratuitous political statements of the day
In the spirit of Turkey Day, here is "A thanksgiving Prayer" by William S. Burroughs Thanks for the wild turkey and the passenger pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts. Thanks for a continent to despoil and...
It's up to you
There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part, you can't even tacitly take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears...
The US becomes 'situated'
Absolutely brilliant article by Nick Currie (Momus) regarding the U.S. after the Bush re-election: The US becomes 'situated'. A postmodern national identity happens when you see yourself as The Other. Before it saw itself as The Other, the US saw...
There are two kinds of republicans
Every single american who voted republican yesterday falls into one of two categories: Those who know exactly what is going on and support it, vociferously. Those who haven't got a clue, are picking their bellybuttons and do as they are...
Bigger than... Jebus!
I wasn't going to say anything about all this, but I just saw something that made my jaw drop... Not the numbers or stats or anything like that... look closely... juuuust beneath the face-off box... First line after it. "Election...
What Barry Says
I don't care who barry is, this is RIGHT ON the money.
Creative Commons Activists and Activism
all VERY well done!), I can't seem to find a resources center and a community support network for people to get really involved beyond choosing a license and applying it to their work - provided they get it and they actually produce stuff. There are loads of people who don't read weblogs, or WIRED magazine, who not only don't know that they as creatives have options, but also don't fully realize the cultural lock-down they are living in. Ignorance of rights and responsibilities is the death knell for freedom, choice, democracy...
Center cut
Jim Moore's Journal: Addiction to the Center Friend Jim makes a dower observation: Here is the same line from the DLC: "The Democratic Party has lost the Senate, the House, and the Presidency. People see us as unprincipled and without vision. Of course we need to run like Republicans! What the hell would you do?"
Oh god, no
This makes me so incredibly, furiously ill. Why, oh why oh why oh why oh why does man so single-mindedly seek to destroy his own humanity? (To be clear, this is not, in my view, an islamic issue: it is human.
Suspect Device
- STIFF LITTLE FINGERS Inflammable material is planted in my head It's a suspect device that's left 2000 dead Their solutions are our problems They put up the wall On each side time and prime us And make sure we get fuck all They play their games of power They mark and cut the pack They deal us to the bottom But what do they put back?
The poets
Armed with poetry poets lurk streets and shoes skirts and sun poets lurk armed with poetry with lyre and rhythem poets yell into a sea of heads bobing across concrete below the shadow of the all seeing buildings armed...
"UN travel documents for a stateless person"
Bloomberg: Bobby Fischer wants to give up his US citizenship Onetime world chess champion Bobby Fischer has submitted to the U.S. embassy in Tokyo a letter of intent to renounce his U.S. citizenship, said John Bosnitch, the head of the...
A failure of will
Sudan: The Passion of the Present: A failure of will Forces from across the world are poised to help the people of Darfur, but no nation has the will to move forward. We are in a tragic and signal moment,...
The precedent is set, the case law is clear. Round up the perpetrators and prosecute.
To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime, it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole. /.../ if...
Children at Abu Ghraib
This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow: July 04, 2004 - July 10, 2004 Archives Three days ago, a German TV newsmagazine called Report Mainz broadcast an eight-minute segment reporting that the International Red Cross found at least 107 children in...
Amendment X
The U.S. Constitution Amendment XThe powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people....
Where there's smoke
A quick note on Michael Moore/Fahrenheit 9/11... Yes, it is propaganda (not a dirty word, remember... propaganda is not always a synonym for "lies"...), yes he may present things out of context sometimes, yes he's making alot of noise... But...
Corruption, culture and democracy
"I think a general government necessary for us, and there is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people if it is well administered; and believe farther that this is likely to be well...
The separation of people and state
Escapable Logic I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better...
Gulag in America
From What is The Message? (McLuhan Program at UofT Weblog) The Reversal of America. In a democratic country that values the rule of law, that has a constitution with enshrined "God-given" rights to due process of law and public trials,...
This is getting medieval
AlterNet: EnviroHealth: Condom Wars Lethal new regulations from President Bush's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, quietly issued with no fanfare last week, complete the right-wing Republicans' goal of gutting HIV-prevention education in the United States. In...
Oh, Canada
Mark Federman over at the McLuhan Program says this about the upcoming Canadian elections. I've been meaning to write about the imminent Canadian election, scheduled for June 28, because the message of the discourse has been bothering me tremendously of...
Fahrenheit 9/11 trailer online
The trailer for Michael Moore's new film, the Cannes Palme D'Or winning Fahrenheit 9/11, just went live online. Check it out. I've heard alot of left-leaning people refer to Mr. Moore as a quack, self-aggrandizing big mouth, what have you...
On elections
Now, lemme get this straight... "On Sunday, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin called general elections for June 28, 2004." One month. On Politics 'In our time the destiny of man presents its meanings in political terms' - Thomas Mann HOW...
The F-word in school
No, not *that* f-word... The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Editorials: Hard lessons from poetry class: Speech is free unless it's critical A school military liaison and the high school principal accused the girl of being "un-American" because she criticized the war...
An economy of caring
Friend Jim Moore is doing all he can to garner attention, raise awareness and just get people to care about a situation of genocide and other nastyness happening in Sudan at the moment. Much of his efforts are focused on...
Reading the graph
over at Jim Moore's . I read it like this: The more information leaks out of Iraq, the less enthusiastic the American public is about the whole thing. (There is hope afterall!) And, look at what was needed for...
Glad I'm not american
I wasn't going to comment about the hostage takings starting up in Iraq, but this Globe & Mail homepage shot makes it quite clear. The japanese and the canadian hostages stand a good chance of going home. The american...
Absurdity and that "F" word i keep using...
From the Interesting People mailing list: Recent comments about how we live in dangerous and chilling times (after 9/11) should be seen in perspective to 1968, when: - 25000 American soldiers had been killed in 3 years of the Vietnam...
Baseball
One night about a week before leaving for the ETech Conference/Digital Democracy Teach-In, and just after having spent some time hanging out with the very cool Dean For America gang, I caught "Field of Dreams" playing on late-night television. I...
Equal schmequel
Equal footing of social standing on a level playing field is a pipe dream; one that if you smoke too much from will blind you to the malcreants who will take advantage of your torpor to hoist themselves above you....