Opinion
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Not just another number
I hastily joined the provincial NDP party last spring without realizing the level of committment they were expecting from me. I thought I was signing up to be just another number in their records; another name to add to their sizable roster.
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Free speech on campus
I can still recall the first protest I witnessed on campus. During my first year at the University of Winnipeg, a wild-looking group of Jesus freaks walked along the bike racks yelling that the Lord was coming, and we sinners were about to pay for our wickedness (that is, unless, we joined their church, but that’s another matter). Between summoning Jesus and yelling in the “gay marriage equals the devil”- style of Christian worship, this rabid band of devotees to the almighty seemed not to care that the students around them were outraged.
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Enhanced interrogation is not torture
BURNABY, B.C. (CUP) – One of Barack Obama’s campaign promises was to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility one year after he took office. The closing date is tentatively planned for January 2010. Just recently, the American senate voted on a bill that would allow current detainees to be moved from Gitmo to be tried in the United States.
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Why we need higher education – or at least, higher than kindergarten
Someone once said: “All I really need to know, I learned in kindergarten.” This week, I’d like to talk about why whoever said that is an idiot.
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Much ado about nothing
The Day of Action, an institution of student politics on campus, has come and gone for another year. We are neither richer nor poorer for it.
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The heavy hand of government regulation
Upon receiving a flyer recently from my local MLA describing the achievements of my provincial government, I noticed that 75 per cent of these accomplishments involved the banning of something.
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Forgotten history
I have been fortunate to have taught quite a few students from Sudan in my classes. One of the things that surprises them the most is when I tell them that aboriginals from Canada were on the Nile River during 1884 and 1885 on an expedition to try and save British Maj.-Gen. Charles Gordon from the rebel armies of the Mahdi, who were attempting to drive the British from Sudan.
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Gang roots run deep
There has been much fuss made recently about the increase in youth gang violence across Canada. You hear about Asian gangs in B.C. and gun violence with gangs in Toronto. What about in our own backyard?
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In support of gender equality costumes
So here we are. It’s November already and another Halloween has come and gone. It’s always a sad time of year for me, because the Halloween is by far my favourite holiday. This is for a number of reasons.
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Don’t fear the chain store
A small commercial building is under construction at a vacant corner of Sherbrook Street and Westminster Avenue. The main tenant of the building will be a Subway restaurant. Like Stella’s Bakery next door, this small development has been regarded as an attempt to breathe new life into Sherbrook south of Broadway, which some have speculated could become another Corydon Avenue.
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Make it official
During the years I have been teaching, it has often been mentioned that aboriginal children have poor language skills.
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Toward a poverty-free Manitoba
Each month over 704,000 hungry Canadians use a food bank. In Manitoba, nearly half of food bank users are children.
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Think of the children
Shock and despair were in large supply a few weeks ago when the so-called “balloon boy,” six-year-old Falcon Heene, was allegedly trapped in what looked like a large Jiffy Pop high in the sky over Colorado. As the initial story – which was suspiciously short on details – went, young Falcon had become entrapped in his father’s backyard balloon, which then took off in highly dramatic, made-for-TV fashion.
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Indicating what’s wrong with GDP as an indicator of a country’s well-being
In our globalized world, increasing a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is increasingly considered to be imperative. Whether we should be basing humanity’s progress on abstract monetary values is highly contestable, but GDP is the monetary value which our world leaders rely on when they debate and compete for public office.
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Comment on Manitoba Hydro
Editorial cartoons
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Bus ridership
This week, I’m going to focus on something that I consider to be extremely good: Public transportation. Before all you stinky hippies get excited and break out the celebratory granola, bongs and hacky sacks, I should probably explain why I think public transportation is so good.
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Harper’s unnecessary paranoia
Could anything be more clichéd than another screed against Stephen Harper? They seem to be as certain as the sun’s rising each morning and setting every night.
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Sickening sales figures
It’s cold and flu season again. This year, I was unable to avoid the onslaught. In two weeks of being down for the count, I spent $250 on cold and flu medicine. The real kicker though is that most of it didn’t even work. Is it just me or does that seem kind of messed up?
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Re-thinking the anti-poverty strategy
Wading through the ocean of press releases and “calls to action” from Manitoba’s anti-poverty groups in preparation for this piece triggered many feelings. Confusion. Sorrow, perhaps. Exasperation kicked in by the time I had read the term “coalition” for the 400th time.
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The moral question
The fallout from Israel’s Operation Cast Lead still lingers, much to the annoyance of its new/old Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.