Society
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I love Maclean’s. Their app gives me convenient access to so much blog fodder I get inspired every time I open it. Q: When is a mercenary not a mercenary? A: When the US government says he’s part of a “private security firm” hired to train African Union troops serving in Somalia. Bancroft Global Development…
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On CNN’s website, I just read two current articles about attacks on medical personnel in conflict zones around the world. I understand their outrage. After all, until quite recently, it was understood by all involved forces that medical facilities and personnel were off limits. It was an entry level piece of every professional soldier’s training.…
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This one comes straight from the “They Said What?” file. According to a recent article on Maclean’s magazine website, the UN has filed a formal complaint of racism against the Canadian government. After a thourough review of the dreadfully racist policy, a Canadian delegation must now appear before a UN review panel to explain our…
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Whatever else Amy Winehouse may have been, regardless of how she may have lived, she was a person. According to Stephen Marche writing in Maclean’s magazine Aug 9, that doesn’t matter. In a burst of self-indulgent idiocy of truly epic proportions Mr. Marche not only pretends to know the “real” meaning of her album “Back…
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Earlier today I was browsing conversation threads on TED.com when the following subject caught my eye. “How we can use social media on a world scale to launch a global campaign to recognize Internet access as a basic human right?” My initial response was, “Excuse me. Could you repeat that please.”. As I read through…
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In light of the recent debt crisis fiasco in the US, it seems the President has been appointed as the official fall guy. I’m not claiming to be smarter than all the anti-Obama crowd, but I would like to shine different light on him. According to A variety of news sources, President Obama’s debt reduction…
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I’ve been reading again. This time about the evolution of media and it’s role in society. One of the points made by the author regarded the Rwandan genocide in 1994. They state that elements within the government used some local media to incite violence. So far, so good. The article goes on to say that…
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I recently read an article about the need for men to attend Church (their capitalization) to ensure the next generation will also attend. So far so harmless. They go on to say that if the Mother attends but not the father, the next generation is less likely to than the other way around. According to…
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Something that always annoys me is to hear some atrocity described as “inhuman”. Unless it was in fact committed by a non-human, then the use of this word is always unjustified. This is the basest form of self-indulgence. We want to reassure ourselves that we could never do whatever it is. The easiest way to…
Brain Bits To Go 