INTERVIEW: Yves Engler on the Myth of Canada's role as global peacekeeper
Speaking in Castlegar and Nelson this coming weekend is a budding new critic of Canadian Foreign policy, Yves Engler, author of The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy, and Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid. Engler is already receiving positive reviews from Naomi Klein, William Blum and Noam Chomsky, who says “We bear responsibility for what […]
ATAMANENKO: A year in review, part two
This past year, my staff and I had the privilege of assisting constituents faced with federal bureaucratic problems – unfair treatment, misinterpretations or just plain despair at not seeing any hope in their particular plight. For the most part, I find the federal public service is exceptionally professional, knowledgeable and helpful, and should not be […]
Take heart, Laila--and other bloggers!
One of the best BC blogs, in my opinion, is done by Laila Yuile: I’m Laila Yuile and This Is How I See It. She has broken real news, taken on the powers that be, and opened up some great discussions on many, many topics of interest and importance to British Columbians. And her […]
Twitter blocked in Egypt as demonstrations continue
By Almira Al Hussaini Egypt has just upped its war on the Internet, and cut access to mobile phone communications, in areas where thousands of protesters are reportedly gathering in today’s Day of Revolution. The aim seems to be an attempt to control the flood of protesters and strangle the movement. Demonstrations have sprung across the […]
City services gone to pot
If you think Castlegar city council has gone down the drain, you may be right – there’s a lot of toilet talk happening at City Hall. For once, however, politics aren’t the inspiration for the bathroom humour. Actual toilets are instead. This, after Monday night’s regular council meeting saw a report recommending the extension of […]
Millennium Park due for a facelift?
A master plan for Millennium Park will soon be in the works, now that city council has unanimously voted to hire HB Lanarc Consultants conduct public consultations and develop recommendations for the park. Council chair of the transportation and civic works committee Kevin Chernoff said Lanarc's proposal stood out among the...
Clinton-era policy kept Tucson gunman out of FBI’s background-check database
By Marian Wang in ProPublica. As we noted in the wake of the deadly shooting in Tucson, the FBI’s background-check database—intended to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill—didn’t prevent Jared Loughner from obtaining a weapon [1] because he hasn’t been declared mentally unfit by a court or been committed […]
Kevin Falcon will not commit to a full BC rail inquiry
Just back from the Vancouver Sun live chat with Kevin Falcon, in which every question I submitted was given to Falcon except the last, because time ran out. So, what can you expect from Kevin Falcon if he were to be the leader of the Liberals, or worse yet–shudder–premier? He will continue to use and promote P3 projects […]
CEOs and the New Feudalism
Few developments in our era of savage capitalism are so powerfully symbolic of the new feudalism than the obscene compensation paid out to the new economic elite: the CEOs of the most powerful corporations in the country. The CCPA’s Hugh MacKenzie now reminds us yearly of this economic and social sickness by identifying exactly when […]
Tunisia: this is what victory looks like
The dictator, thief and Western client Zein al-Abdine Ben Ali, beloved until a few hours ago in Paris and Washington, has been driven from Tunisia. His reign was ended not by a military or palace coup but by an extraordinarily broad-based popular movement which has brought together trades unions and professional associations, students and schoolchildren, […]
