You Don’t Have to Sell BC Hydro to Give it Away by Dr. Marvin Shaffer Consulting Economist specialized in energy, transportation and environmental economics and Adjunct Professor SFU Public Policy Program Policy […]
More Olympic history
Avery Brundage became President of the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1929 and later took the IOC appointment of an American expelled for advocating a boycott of the Berlin Games. Brundage opposed the […]
Origins of our traditions
Excerpts from the New York Times, Hitler’s Berlin Games Helped Make Some Emblems Popular: “The torch relay is so ingrained in the modern choreography that most people today assume it was a […]
While you are distracted
The illusionist deflects your attention: Look at the pretty flame, the famous athletes, powerful citizens and posh people. And, feel the ghostly spirits of games past. What an occasion! Greece was the birthplace […]
Follow the links
A $1 billion dollar expenditure for security requires perceptions of enemies. If they don’t exist, we must provide them. Hearings to be held for agents provocateurs
Rod Mickleburgh says
Why is the government spending half a million untendered dollars to entertain select guests at the posh, private Terminal City Club during the 2010 Games? Um … “If you look at the […]
"Not good enough"
So said one of more than 300 people crowding a meeting at Sullivan County (N.Y.) Community College, many voicing the concern that they have little control over the drilling that seems destined […]
Welcome to the court of public opinion
Ian Mulgrew of the Vancouver Sun wrote: Access to justice in B.C. is becoming more problematic for the less-than-wealthy and is a principal reason for declining confidence in the legal system. Court […]
Perhaps, it’s too late already
Drawing with permission (sans title) from Stephen Gilpin The Big Picture
Billionaire Bailout Society
Here are its salient features: We promote accumulation of vast fortunes without limits. We shun progressive income taxes that could narrow the gap. We keep most of finance deregulated even after it […]
If we ain’t broke, don’t fix it
I won’t admit to learning about this first on Global TV. Let’s say that I stumbled on it during newsgathering. You should too.Billionaires for Wealthcare A few members of this organization: Bill […]
Ground-beef or slaughter house trimmings?
A while ago, Gwen and I decided to change our food buying habits. Wherever possible now, we buy as close to the producer as we can and we select ethically grown products. […]
Oversight or undersight?
The David Suzuki Foundation gives natural gas a higher score than coal and nuclear fuels but still finds its use problematic. Combustion emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides contribute to acid […]
Warning issued
New Face of Community Policing Dr. Mike Webster, interviewed by Global TV News, warns that all is not well in the Olympics militarization team with its $1 billion budget. He is worried […]
Apologies come after the Games
Lately, I’ve been thinking of Network, a great Sidney Lumet movie written by Paddy Chayevsky. It makes we wonder. Is it, finally, time to be angry? Will even that question result in […]
Credible conclusions
Doug McArthur, from SFU’s Public Policy Program, wrote comments here about Jessica MacDonald’s disconnection from levers of power in Victoria. The Prof is qualified to speculate about whether or not MacDonald jumped […]
Ethics in science
Elizabeth Blackburn, of the University of California, San Francisco, shares the 2009 Nobel prize for medicine. She and others were credited with important advances in fundamental knowledge of cellular biology, with relevance […]
Compounding regressivity
Lobbyists and media outlets, each serving special interests, push North American governments to favor regressive taxation. Unsurprisingly, the tax systems, rife with avoidance opportunities, burden the middle and lower classes more heavily […]
What recession?
If you are not regular readers of Paul Willcocks at Paying Attention and Andrew MacLeod at The Tyee, you should be. They shine light on an expense payment of $167,342 to BC […]
How to become a dominant retailer
Story from a book by Nelson Lichenstein: Around the time that the young Sam Walton opened his first stores, U.S. Congress extended the minimum wage to retail workers but granted an exclusion […]
Thanks, good summary of the fiasco. Mr Eby will likely resign his seat when the new leader is in place,…