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 [...]
Bush was naturalizing citizens in Monticello, today. AP reports:
Anti-war protesters shouted out calls for Bush’s impeachment on nine occasions during Bush’s brief remarks, and the president responded by saying he agrees that “we believe in free speech in the United States of America” [...]
The last six Fourth of July holidays have taken place amid [...]
Drilling through my RSS feeds today I fell back in love with the Strange Maps blog. A wonderful collection of cartographical curiosities; I had forgotten how much I enjoyed reading it.
This particular selection details federal ownership of land across the United States. Private ownership-loving America holds about 30% of it’s total landmass in federal hands. [...]
Christie Blatchford had a bit of a run in with the security state last week. In her article in Saturdays Globe Blatchford recounts the excitement that began with a discussion of ongoing terrorism trials in Canada:
… I told Rosie about some evidence at the Khawaja trial, particularly the testimony of a key witness, himself [...]
San Diego Country isn’t happy with the McCain family. Turns out, one of the many trusts that administers one of their seven homes hasn’t paid taxes in four years. McCain’s trust scrambled to pay nearly all of the outstanding debt to the county. $1,742 of a total $6,744.42 remains.
If that seems like an [...]
As you may be aware, House Democrats have been shockingly kind to the White House. The just passed FISA-”compromise” bill, which is nothing but a compromise of the rule of law and extremist corporatism, is another damning example.
Obama has come out in support of the FISA bill, which grants retroactivity immunity to telcos, grants [...]
Fantastic Gawker sci-fi blog io9 writes about the upcoming film extension of the Iron Man franchise.
The film’s strength, they argue, arrives from the flexibility of its political message. Too, they say, it exceeds the source material by politicizing and moralizing rather dry super-hero style material with a storyline about American corporatist interventionism and weapons proliferation. [...]
This is the second 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. [One: Canada's Robert J. Sawyer on TVO's Big Ideas]
Free Culture Podcasts: Two
Linda McQuaig on Canadian Voices 3: Holding the [...]
Empire or Humanity? at Mother Jones brings us the words of Howard Zinn in his essay, “What the classroom didn’t teach me about the American empire”. It is the week of publication for his new book A People’s History of American Empire, a new graphic novel treatment of his “People’s History” series.
I first [...]
During the lead-up to the Alberta General Election I strongly cautioned those around me from getting too caught up in the rather ridiculous process. There is little about elections that are democratic and responsive; rarely, if ever, do they produce the results society is seeking. Rarely, if ever, are the elections fair. And rarely, if [...]