Jerry West

U.S. election results no surprise

rabble staff — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:58:47 +0000

Monday, November 19, 2012

Well, the election circus down south is over. Some people are happy, some are really frothing at the mouth, and most are glad that it is over. As some commentators have declared, it was a case of choosing the least vile option that decided the outcome. And, as others have pointed out, it is also a case of the banks and big business retaining control given that both of the candidates were in their pocket.

Well, the election circus down south is over. Some people are happy, some are really frothing at the mouth, and most are glad that it is over.

U.S. politicians and archaic politics in a modern world

mgregus — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:56:02 +0000

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

One has to wonder about the people who run the world, and those who hope to run it. Not many of them seem too interested in running it for the benefit of most of the people on it or for future generations. If they were, things would not be in such a mess today. The more I watch the performance of world leaders and those striving to be a leader, like the current crop of Republican presidential hopefuls south of the border, the more it is obvious that we are in a 21st-century society being governed by 18th and 19th-century thinking. That, of course, is assuming that there is much thinking going on at all.

The more I watch the current crop of Republican presidential hopefuls the more it is obvious that we are in a 21st-century society being governed by 18th- and 19th-century thinking.

Occupy movement: The revolution of 2011?

mgregus — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:24:09 +0000

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The year 1848 is noted for the revolutions that swept across much of Europe. Historians in the future may write of the revolutions of 2011. What started as a popular revolt in Tunisia in late 2010 and spread throughout the Arab world has now gone worldwide as people gather everywhere to protest the current order.

The year 1848 is noted for the revolutions that swept across much of Europe. Historians in the future may write of the revolutions of 2011.

The mythology of 9/11

mgregus — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 12:49:16 +0000

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001 has come and gone. One could not help but notice the media was full of articles on the event, and of public officials and others holding forth on what it all meant, yadda, yadda, yadda. There was no opportunity passed up to pander to the fears and gullibility of the citizenry and feed them fantasies and half-truths. A propaganda event, in other words.

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in his statement on the occasion, classified the event as a horrific act of terrorism. Fair enough, they all got that right, it was. But he also characterizes the acts on that day as senseless and cowardly. Really. I do not think that he is ignorant enough to believe that, but it is part of the official story that he hopes the public swallows.

The 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001 has come and gone. The media was full of articles on the event, and of public officials and others holding forth on what it all meant.

How we got here

mgregus — Thu, 19 May 2011 12:42:35 +0000

Thursday, May 19, 2011

It is amusing to watch the never-ending battle of opinions, often devoid of all but the tiniest sliver of fact, if that, in the political arena in the U.S. and Canada. It is particularly entertaining when observing the scene in the United States where fantasies and off-the-wall ideas seem to be a staple in political discourse between the major parties and groups like the Tea Party.

So much of what is said and taken for gospel by one side or the other appears myopic, as if people only pay attention to those parts of history that they find favourable while ignoring the rest. One might reasonably conclude that many do not pay any attention to history at all, aside from the spin that they pick up, created to push one view or another.

What follows is a list of a few things that happened over the past 110 years, in more or less chronological order, that have had a major impact on shaping our world.

B.C.'s HST referendum: Choosing how to be gored

alex — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:43:17 +0000

Thursday, April 21, 2011

The election season is upon us: first the federal election on May 2, then an election this summer on the fate of the HST, possibly a provincial election in the late summer or autumn depending upon how Premier Clark feels, and then the municipal elections in November. If Clark goes for it that will be seven elections in three years. Voter fatigue, anyone?

The HST referendum is the interesting one as the public gets to make a direct decision on something, rather than pick which bag of promises looks better. Unfortunately the decision is limited, and the public only gets to choose between which kind of goring it would prefer.

As the gap grows the total share of income gets larger and larger for the few at the top.

What is the point in burning a book?

mgregus — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:19:50 +0000

Friday, April 15, 2011

Those who follow the international news will know that the nutcase pastor down in Florida burned a copy of the Koran. This prompted the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, to call for the arrest of the pastor resulting in a bunch of yahoos in Afghanistan rioting in protest and in Mazar-i-Sharif even killing UN aid personnel. Western governments criticized the action, General Petraeus, commander of NATO forces, condemned the act, and even the reactionary commentator Bill O'Reilly condemned it, saying that the pastor, Terry Jones, had blood on his hands.

Those who follow the international news will know that the nutcase pastor down in Florida burned a copy of the Koran. One cannot help but wonder at the stupidity of all of this.

An open letter to B.C. NDP leadership candidates

mgregus — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 19:47:34 +0000

Thursday, March 24, 2011

March 18, 2011

Candidates:

I, and many others, are concerned about the most pressing problem of our time and are looking for leaders who will put this problem foremost in their policy. It is a core problem that many of our other problems are connected to, and if we do not solve it first it will prevent any lasting solution for the other issues that are being addressed.

The pre-eminent issue that must be dealt with now, ahead of all others, is the issue of environmental sustainability. What we need at this time are leaders brave enough to tackle this issue.

B.C. leaders must prioritize the environment

alex — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:57:54 +0000

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Liberal and New Democratic parties are coming into the homestretch on their run to choose a new leader. The Libs will pick one this weekend, and B.C. will have a new premier. Seven weeks later the NDP will choose, and who knows how long before the new premier decides to call an election. Speculation is sometime before the 2013 mandated date.

The most important issue facing the province, in fact facing the world, is stabilization of the environment and the development and implementation of policies to insure a sustainable ecological system that can continue to support human society without a radical readjustment of that society. A readjustment that is certain to come if we continue to alter our ecosystem at to the degree and at the rate that we currently do.

The Liberal and New Democratic parties are coming into the homestretch on their run to choose a new leader. The most important issue facing the province is stabilization of the environment.

U.S. political extremism leads to violence

alex — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:16:18 +0000

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Anyone who follows the news knows that last month U.S. Congress Woman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in Tucson. Those who follow a lot of news also know that this incident has generated a lot of finger pointing and other reactions (some might say overreactions) from both sides of the political spectrum. Given the degree of polarization and lack of civil dialogue in the U.S. at the moment, none of this is surprising.

Before the smoke had even cleared in the shopping mall blame was being laid on the Tea Party and their ilk for creating a poisonous atmosphere in the country that led to this sort of violence. Of course the TP types struck back with all sorts of rationalizations as to why they were in no way to blame for something like this. That, of course, is a fantasy.

It is plain to all but the most naive that the course of political discourse in the U.S. over the past few years was going to lead to something insane like the Giffords shooting.

Environmental sustainability is the core issue of our times

mgregus — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 13:07:03 +0000

Monday, December 27, 2010

Sustain: to keep in existence, maintain. Sustainable: capable of being sustained. Sustainability: the property of being sustainable.

There is at least one clear fact about human society -- it is an integral part of the environment and the environment dictates how it functions. For human society to remain in a form similar to what we developed historically, it must have a stable environment that contains most of its historical features. How society treats the environment affects its stability.

Sustain: to keep in existence, maintain. Sustainable: capable of being sustained. Sustainability: the property of being sustainable.

Winds of change in B.C. politics?

alex — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:34:02 +0000

Friday, December 10, 2010

The B.C. Liberal Party is scrambling to find a new leader who will most likely drag Gordon Campbell's rotten baggage into the next election. Issues like BC Rail and the HST, just to name a few, will be hard to avoid, and even harder to explain to a hostile public. The Liberal leadership race, however, is a sideshow compared to what is going on in the New Democrat Party.

People who understand effective leadership should be shocked and amazed at what has gone on in the NDP, and those that expect politicians and their advisors to act like adults should also be disturbed at some of the childishness being exhibited in Carole James' fall.

The Liberal leadership race is a sideshow compared to what is going on in the New Democrat Party.

In B.C. more than a change in government is needed

alex — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 19:19:32 +0000

Thursday, December 2, 2010

People who follow the news in British Columbia can see that politically the province is in turmoil. The current government, probably one of the most corrupt and destructive in recent history, is finally coming unglued. The only thing remarkable about that is that the public foolishly tolerated it for so long, either by voting for the government, or not bothering to vote at all.

One can sympathize with the non-voters -- the options at the polls have not appeared to be all that hot. Many people are disillusioned with politics, and given the performance of both the government and opposition over the past few years it is no surprise. Of course choosing to be a non-voter is a surrender to whatever fate delivers.

People who follow the news in British Columbia can see that politically the province is in turmoil.

Solving the problem of biodiversity

alex — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 02:32:14 +0000

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

This year is the International Year of Biodiversity, and the past week almost 20,000 people, representing the 193 parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity that was created at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, held a biodiversity summit in Nagoya, Japan. According to the press release at the end of the summit "A new era of living in harmony with Nature is born...."

This year is the International Year of Biodiversity, and the past week almost 20,000 people held a biodiversity summit in Nagoya, Japan.

Shooting down the gun registry

alex — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 17:20:36 +0000

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Sometimes political arguments amaze me. Listening to debate on certain issues makes one wonder whatever happened to logic and reason. Perhaps those things are no longer taught in schools, or maybe the will to win a point is stronger than common sense for many people. In either event the net result is a dumbing down of society and the attendant poor results that are liable to come from the political process.

The arguments in favour of the gun registry are full of holes. What lies behind the push to keep the registry?