Tonight I missed a very special event at the Lo Pub. Organized by Michael P Falk of Les Jupes and Robin Mae, For the love of Winnipeg was concocted as an event and an online conversation about the city we all love to gripe about. As I mentioned I unfortunately could not make it to the event, so I was grateful to Tessa Vanderhart for capturing the night on her phone.
politics
You Can Play Project responds to the Cam Janssen radio interview /
I won't get into the details of the statements, but basically Cam Janssen of the New Jersey Devils made an offensively homophobic comment on a talk radio show which spurred an emotional debate on Twitter.
Patrick Burke and the rest of You Can Play waited for the reactionaries to quiet down and released their official statement.
Excerpt from the concluding paragraph of You Can Play Project's official statement:
Athletes have been raised in a culture that encourages, if not celebrates, casual homophobia. Changing their habits is certainly necessary, but it is not easy. We simply must give athletes a chance to learn, to grow, and to be educated on these issues. We must never condone the private or public use of these hateful slurs. But we must also be constantly aware that for many athletes, they do not see the full extent of the hate these words carry. We remain convinced that we are on the right track.
Canada's PM Stephen Harper faces revolt by scientists /
"The Harper government is the most environmentally hostile one we have ever had in Canada. Harper pulled Canada out of the Kyoto protocol, gutted the Fisheries Act (our strongest freshwater protection law), and hollowed out our environmental assessment legislation, making it easier for extractive industries to get licences to exploit," said Maude Barlow, a former UN advisor on water and chair of the Council of Canadians. "It is heartlessly shutting down a programme that costs very little to run given the incredible benefits it brings, in order to silence the voices who speak for water."
Canada is becoming increasingly polarized around environmental issues. There are those who believe that Canadians have a responsibility to protect and nurture the many natural wonders within our borders (and around the world), and then there are those who see only resources ready to be exploited for short term economic gain.
Canada's top soldier says troops ready and eager for new overseas missions - Winnipeg Free Press /
Bill Graveland, writing for The Canadian Press:
When it comes to future missions for the Canadian Forces, Canada's top soldier has to battle to keep his eager troops satisfied with staying out of major combat zones for now.
Translation: we've so completely indoctrinated these people that they are no longer able to function in society and therefore must wage wars on foreign soil to keep them appeased.
Fidel Castro and social media /
Nelson P. Valdes, has a piece on CounterPunch about Fidel Castro's new briefer communiqués. He's scaled back his 5 hour speeches to haiku-like snippets of knowledge. Valdes points out that many American journalists are questioning Castro's sanity based on his recent musing, but as Valdes points out, Castro may be tipping us off to the rapidly changing world around us with comments like this:
Simply reading these news items shows the possibility and the necessity we have of enriching our knowledge which today is fragmented and scattered. Perhaps it takes us to more critical positions on the superficiality with which we deal with cultural and material problems. I have not the slightest doubt that our world is changing much more quickly than we are capable of imagining.
Our world is changing indeed. Imagine traveling back in time to 1962 and telling your grandparents/parents that one day Fidel Castro will be tweeting about yoga.
When it comes to oil, we need to stop being so shortsighted /
The goal of our government and industry leaders appears to be to dig up as much oil as possible, as quickly as possible, and sell it overseas, and damn the economic and environmental consequences. If that means selling entire tar-sands operations and the bitumen to companies owned by a government known for human-rights abuses and environmental destruction; if it means polluting water and putting people’s health at risk; if it means killing birds, caribou and wolves; if it means putting our manufacturing industry at risk and not joining the green-energy economy, all for the sake of a few short-term and even fewer long-term jobs, who cares? There’s a quick buck to be made. And the economy will appear to chug along until the next election and maybe the one after that. And that’s surely enough time to dismantle many of the laws, policies and institutions that have made Canada the great country it is!
David Suzuki is quite possibly the brightest and most beloved scientific mind in this country, yet his voice is perpetually ignored by those in power, particularly the current government.