I haven’t discussed Omar Khadr since video of his “interrogation” by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service at the Guantanamo prison camp was released by his lawyers.
Partly, this is because I’m not sure what to say about it. Surely, the video isn’t an accurate portrayal of Mr. Khadr’s illegal kidnapping and torture. The dismissive and [...]
Thanks, George.
I wish the world remembered you were more than seven words you can’t say on TV.
You will be greatly missed and doubtless remembered.
From Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing:
Last year, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation created a new radio show, Search Engine, to chronicle the shifts being wrought upon global culture and politics as a consequence of technology. It was smart, funny, broke important stories, changed Canadian politics, won awards, and was a global success.
So the CBC cancelled it.
A [...]
I imagine you’ve seen it — but if you haven’t, I’ll save you the searching.
Letter-perfect. An astounding display of charisma that is both inspiring and chilling with its efficacy.
I had the specific privilege of watching the primary event with a group of highly engaged young Canadians — campus leaders and policy addicts with homes [...]
Here’s a Guardian article from Cory Doctorow I missed a few months back on “security” superstition and actual security. It’s bang-on and captures how disconnected authorities have become with our safety.
The superstitions that grip airport checkpoints and banks are themselves a threat to security, because the security that does not admit of examination and [...]
The very tiny monarchy on Bhutan has slowly become a democratic constitutional monarchy. Since 1999 Bhutan has been moving towards democracy through an incredibly well-paced, peaceful and inclusive process.
Notable for their use of Gross National Happiness over Gross National Product as a measurement of the state’s performance, they are increasingly notable for the steps [...]
Loretta Napoleoni, Italian economist and Fulbright Scholar, has a new book that’s piqued my interest. Her appearance on Democracy Now this week finished with me very interested in her book. [Full Transcript] Napoleoni defined rogue economics at the start of her interview with Amy Goodman:
Rogue economics is a sort of umbrella under which we find [...]
This is the first of a series of posts on free culture and podcasting. I’ll be pulling out some of my favourite podcasts for discussion and highlighting some of the best podcasting available in the commons.
Free Culture Podcasts: One
Canada’s Robert J. Sawyer on TVO’s Big Ideas
Science fiction — or, as it is often wished to [...]
On Tuesday, March 18, Obama gave the speech above (full text) and it’s set the internet(s) ablaze with conversation. Imaginably, that is entirely what he intended.
It is an important speech. Some call it the most important speech on the state of politics, race, and class in the United States in decades.
Glenn Greenwald [...]
Alex Steffen at Worldchanging points us to Ethan Zuckerman’s superb recap of his talk at ETech. In it, he outlines his “Cute Cat Theory of Digital Activism” which is both prescient and perversely hope-inspiring, making one feel more safe from government censorship.
Zuckerman’s theory goes as follows (1) create web to share research, (2) develop [...]