This Is What Democracy Looks Like

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Yaacov

George W. Bush covered the invasion of Iraq and the thousands of deaths it caused by claiming that the U.S. was bringing democracy to the Middle East. Seven years later, the war hasn’t brought much democracy. However, the recent people’s movement in Tunisia seems to be spreading quite a bit faster, with protesters in Egypt picking up the pro-democracy chant in the streets of Cairo.

Posted in CBC, Human Rights, Politics | Leave a comment

Oilsands Pollute the Athabasca River

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Yaacov

The joint government/industry water quality monitoring body that tracks water pollution in the Athabasca river has been saying for years that the oilsands mining is not affecting water quality. This despite abnormally high cancer rates in the First Nations communities that live downstream. Today the CBC reports that a University of Alberta study shows that the Athabasca river has much higher levels of pollutants downstream from oilsands mining operations that upstream of them.  I guess sometimes the obvious is big news.

Posted in CBC, Environment, Human Rights | 2 Comments

Radical Extremist

Posted on June 24, 2010 by Yaacov

Think you should be able to play music you buy at the iTunes store on your non-Apple stereo? Well then, you’re a radical extremist according to Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore.

Speaking about the recently introduced copyright bill, Moore said that “The only people who are opposed to this legislation are really two groups of radical extremists.” The bill has a provision making it illegal to break digital locks on content, even if you own the content and are using it in a manner consistent with the rest of copyright law.

Moore added a shot at University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist, a well-known and well-respected expert on copyright who has suggested modifications to the bill by saying “There are those that pretend to be for copyright reform, but they don’t believe in actual copyright reform. There are those that are cited as experts by the media endlessly who are not in favour of copyright reform.”

Posted in CBC, Copyright and Patents, Politics | Leave a comment

Climategate Retracted

Posted on June 21, 2010 by Yaacov

It may be four months late, but at least one UK newspaper has finally published a lengthy retraction of stories it published in February claiming that the IPCC had made “bogus” claims about the effects of climate change on the Amazon rainforest. I’d post a direct link, but it seems to have already disappeared from the Sunday Times’ website, so this story about it (with a link to a scan of the printed retraction) will have to do.

Posted in Climate Change, Environment | Leave a comment

Public Opinion

Posted on June 21, 2010 by Yaacov

Today’s XKCD is too good not to share:

Posted in Politics | Leave a comment