Stephen Harper and the Theo-Cons: The Rising Clout of Canada’s Religious Right

by Marci McDonald - May 29, 2008

...[T]he religious right are equally convinced that [Canadian Prime Minister Stephen] Harper is one of their own...They see him as an image-savvy evangelical who has been careful to keep his signals to them under the media radar, but they have no doubt his convictions run deep—so deep that only after he wins a majority will he dare translate the true colours of his faith into policies that could remake the fabric of the nation. If they’re right, it remains unclear whether those convictions would turn government into a kinder, gentler guarantor of social justice for all or transform the country into a stern, narrow-minded theocracy.

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A Peek at Bernier's Briefing Notes

• -A guess at what Bernier's misplaced briefing notes might have included, by Erica Simson at Embassy Magazine. It seems that the choice of foreign affairs minister in Canada is strictly a political matter. His appointment was that approach writ large. I heard that Bernier thought that Aristide was still leader of Haiti. And this is after Aristide of (french speaking) Haiti, (and there being thousands of Haitians in Montreal) was royally put on a plane out of the country with Canada's help, five years ago. It seems that Mr. Bernier didn't even bother to read a newspaper closely.

A Peek at Bernier's Briefing Notes - Embassy - Newspaper Online.

Amusing Myself

• Li Bai

Facing my wine, I did not see the dusk,
Falling blossoms have filled the folds of my clothes.
Drunk, I rise and approach the moon in the stream,
Birds are far off, people too are few.

Amusing Myself

Colonial Canada Now. Part One

I've always thought that Canada went directly from being a colony of England to being one of the US. Robin Mathews over at vivelecanada.ca would seem to agree and explains why. I'm looking forward to part two.

Colonial Canada Now. Part One - Vive

God and the New Tories

Well, if we can't save ourselves, they'll do it for us. How comforting.

Harper's zeal for retribution seems religious.

God's Wrath, and the Tories' (in Views)
Murray Dobbin

Canada's Imperial Adventure in the Andes

Canada is about to wet it’s pants in anticipatation of hammering out a free trade agreement with Colombia. Canada is the third biggest foreign investor in South America and is quite happy, it seems, to partner with the most brutal and degenerate regime on the continent. While this is being pushed presently by Harper, it is just a continuance of policy put in place by the Liberal Party. While we might look askance at the hegemony of our neighbor to the south, it seems we are nothing but part and parcel of the same agenda.

Building its Ties to Colombia: Canada's Imperial Adventure in the Andes.

Obama and Latin America /an analysis

  Obama and the US-Latin America Time Bomb

Turning on Canada's Tap?

 

April 3, 2008 - The Polaris Institute released today a new report on bulk water exports called Turning on Canada’s Tap? The report, prepared by Tony Clarke, Executive Director of the Polaris Institute, outlines why Canada needs a comprehensive policy and strategy now on bulk water exports to the United States.

Turning on Canada's Tap?

South America nations found union

• The leaders of 12 South American nations found a union to boost economic and political co-operation.

S America nations found union

Is global terror threat falling?

Two recent reports about the threat posed by terrorism present contrasting pictures.

Three weeks ago, the US released its “Country Reports on Terrorism” for 2007, described as a reference tool for the war on terror.

 

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Bill C-51

All you want to know about this bill, moving through the Canadian parliament as we speak.

The Official Stop C-51 Website - Your Freedom And Health Are At Risk!

Cannabis, Forgetting, and the Botany of Desire

I don't have an agenda here, but if you have the time check out this talk given at Berkeley by Michael Pollan. Very well researched and presented.

Cannabis, Forgetting, and the Botany of Desire. Also, a transcript (pdf).

Democracy Inc.

Chalmers Johnston reviews an important  new book by political philosopher Sheldon S. Wolin on U.S. totalitarianism.

Inverted Totalitarianism: A New Way of Understanding How the U.S. Is Controlled | Democracy and Elections | AlterNet

LSD- Studied Again

• At a handful of sites across the country, after a four-decade hiatus, psychedelic research is undergoing a quiet renaissance, thanks to scientists like Charles Grob who are revisiting the powerful mind-altering drugs of the 1960s in hopes of making them part of our therapeutic arsenal.

Could LSD Cure Panic Attacks?

Gore Vidal- Removal of Magna Carta a Coup d'Etat

democracynow.org

AMY GOODMAN: And so, here we are, moved into the sixth year of the war with Iraq, longer than the US was involved in World War II.

GORE VIDAL: Yes, incredible. That was such a huge operation on two great continents against two modern enemies. And we're fighting little jungle wars for no reason, because we have a president who knows nothing about anything. He's just blank. But he wants to show off: ‘I'm a wartime president! I'm a wartime president!' He goes yap, yap, yap. He's like a crazed terrier. And look where he got us.
I didn't realize-I think I've always had a good idea about my native land, but I didn't think that institutionally we were so easy to overthrow, because it was a coup d'etat, 9/11.

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