Law

When to shiver and when to work

January 31, 2012

in Geek stuff,Law,Politics,Rants,The environment,Writing

From Daniel Yergin’s The Quest: To demonstrate environmental sensitivity [at the negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol], the Japanese organizers turned down the heating in the conference center. But this created a new problem as Kyoto in December was cold. To compensate, the Japanese decided to distribute blankets to the delegates. But they did not have [...]

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350.org oil sands petition

January 26, 2012

in Canada,Economics,Law,Politics,The environment

As usual, Bill McKibben is saying sensible things and calling for appropriate actions. He is a non-Canadian who is concerned about the ethics of digging up and burning the oil sands, in a world where the climate is changing at a frightening pace. He is asking Canadians to sign a petition: “As a Canadian, I [...]

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Adjusting the voting system to protect the young

January 23, 2012

in Law,Politics,The environment

On BuryCoal: should younger people be given more votes, because they will survive to experience more of the future?

SOPA blackout

January 18, 2012

in Canada,Geek stuff,Internet matters,Law,Politics,Writing

Many websites in the United States, Canada, and around the world are joining together to protest SOPA – the Stop Online Piracy Act. The bill, which could become law in the United States, would have unfortunate consequences for the internet as a whole. I agree with Michael Geist that Canadians should be concerned. I remember [...]

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Ironic liberal / big government libertarian

January 16, 2012

in Canada,Economics,Law,Politics,Psychology

When I think about how to characterize my political views, it seems as though there are philosophical positions that I find appealing, but which need to be tempered in response to the strong counterarguments against them. Ironic liberalism I can see the sense in what Richard Rorty calls ‘ironic liberalism’. All that old-fashioned stuff about [...]

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Gabor Maté on addiction and drug policy

January 13, 2012

in Canada,Law,Politics,Psychology,Science

Please listen to this podcast: Gabor Maté on The Human Face of Addictive Behavior Maté makes some excellent points about the psychological basis for addiction, as well as the serious problems with our current approach of treating addiction as a crime. Maté makes a powerful case that criminalization of drug use is ineffective and unethical, [...]

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The Northern Gateway pipeline

January 10, 2012

in Canada,Economics,Law,Politics,Science,The environment,The outdoors

With the commencement of hearings, the political fight over the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline is now beginning in earnest. The proposed pipeline would carry bitumen from the oil sands to the Pacific coast for export. It would encourage the development of the oil sands and contribute to the fastest-growing category of emissions of greenhouse gas [...]

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Where Macs come from

January 9, 2012

in Economics,Geek stuff,Internet matters,Law,Politics

This week’s episode of This American Life is powerful and thought- provoking. It’s about manufacturing in China, the ten million person city of Shenzhen, and how most of our computers and phones and miscellaneous gadgets are made by hand by millions of workers working at least twelve hours a day. Apple has been conducting its own [...]

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Inside Canadian Intelligence

December 31, 2011

in Bombs and rockets,Books and literature,Canada,Geek stuff,Law,Politics,Security

Edited by Dwight Hamilton, Inside Canadian Intelligence: Exposing the New Realities of Espionage and International Terrorism is an interesting read, though I would say that there are some important counterarguments to the main ideological positions adopted by the various authors. The book describes Canada’s various present and historical intelligence services, including the intelligence branch of [...]

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Unproductive investments that harm the world

December 13, 2011

in Canada,Economics,Law,Politics,Rants,Security,The environment

Since the 2008 credit crunch, the governments of the world have been obsessed with economic conditions: trying to find ways to increase growth, improve the stability of the financial system, and cut unemployment. All other societal projects have taken a back seat. Given reasonable concerns about the economic future of the world, it seems like [...]

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