Sagas of Icelanders » Politics

Treaty 6

Swany — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:53:44 +0000

Alberta Online Encyclopedia : “Can we stop the power of the white man from spreading over the land like the grasshoppers that cloud the sky and then fall to consume every blade of grass and every leaf on the trees in their path? I think not. Before this happens let us ponder carefully our choice of roads.”

— Plains Cree Chief Ahtahkakoop (Star Blanket), as quoted by interpreter Peter Erasmus at the Treaty 6 negotiations at Fort Carleton in 1876

McCain shares his triumph with W.

Swany — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:50:46 +0000

McCain well ahead following Super Tuesday

The Truth about Jaywalking

Swany — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 18:41:21 +0000

maisonneuve :: eclectic curiosity: The first step is to accept walking as a legitimate form of transportation, one that is equal—or even superior—to vehicle transport.

“If an A-Bomb Falls” and “The H-Bomb and You”

Swany — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 16:57:31 +0000

Ethan Persoff: “Two interesting snapshots of 1950s atomic anxiety. Full of bombs, communists, ducking, covering, charts, maps — and useful instructions for removing those pesky cancer-causing radiation fallout stains.”

Litter tax proposed for fast-food places

Swany — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 20:27:57 +0000

OAKLAND: “Fed up with kids dropping burger wrappers, beverage cups and french fry cartons on the streets and sidewalks surrounding the city’s schools, the Oakland City Council is poised to take the unprecedented step of taxing fast-food joints and convenience stores to help clean up the mess.”

Labor is the Superior of Capital

Swany — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 18:44:38 +0000

kuro5hin: “Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves the much higher compensation.”

Abraham Lincoln, State of the Union message, 1861

Gore Vidal: President Jonah

Swany — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 15:08:57 +0000

Truthdig : “While contemplating the ill-starred presidency of G.W. Bush, I looked about for some sort of divine analogy. As usual, when in need of enlightenment, I fell upon the Holy Bible, authorized King James version of 1611.”

Noam Chomsky: the Terrorist in the Mirror

Swany — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 19:02:02 +0000

Counterpunch: “Terrorism directed or supported by the most powerful states continues to the present, often in shocking ways.”

The bonfire of the inanities

Swany — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 20:16:52 +0000

Portland Phoenix: For 2005, my annual task of reviewing the past year has been complicated by an old adage: oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. Here I sit, tangled in a web that many people began weaving way back when the Gipper was protecting us against deadly pollutants released by old-growth forests. It was a jumble out there this year — one that defies linear documentation

The war on Winter Solstice

Swany — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 18:36:08 +0000

Nanovirus: For thousands of years humanity had celebrated the beginning of days getting longer in a peaceful and celebratory manner: No longer. There is a war on. Historians generally agree that the Cult of Christ started the War on Solstice. They began by coopting the symbols of this most ancient of celebrations: holly, evergreen trees and the Yule log. Those cultists even moved the date of their god’s birth from summer to winter!