Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Monday, October 05, 2015

 Bureau of Sex Slavery

I am thinking of the price list leaked out from the ISIS Sex Slave Market that included women and girls on the same list as cattle. ISIS needed to impose price controls as they were worried about a downturn in their market.

Forty- to 50-year-old women were priced at $41, 30- to 40-year-old women at $62, 20- to 30-year-old women, $82 and 1- to 9-year-old children, $165. Women over 50 weren’t even listed. They had no market value. They were discarded like milk cartons with past sale date markers. But they weren’t simply abandoned in some smelly dung heap of trash. First, they were probably tortured, beheaded, raped—then thrown into a pile of rotting corpses. I am thinking of a 1-year-old child’s body for sale and what it would be like for a hefty, sex-deprived, war-driven 30-year-old soldier to buy her, package her, take her home like a new television. What would he be feeling or thinking as he unwrapped her baby flesh and raped her with his penis the size of her tiny body?

Harper: If TPP Deal Is Reached, Canada Will Release Details

MONTREAL — It sounds like an agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership is close — and when it's done, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper says he intends to disclose the details of what he's billing as the largest trade deal in history.

Harper says while the talks taking place in Atlanta have not yet wrapped up, he is receiving regular updates on what he calls "significant progress."

Liberals: Voting Irregularities Should Be Reported To Elections Canada, Party

OTTAWA — Federal Liberals are urging voters to report voter irregularities, such as misleading phone calls, to both Elections Canada and the party itself.

The Grits, who have also vowed to strengthen the Canada Elections Act if they form government Oct.19, have created a voter incident reporting system where Canadians can document election problems.

Conservatives Dominate 'Ten Percenters' Top-Spenders List

Nineteen of the top 20 MPs who charged taxpayers the most for bulk mailings belong to the Conservative Party, according to a report released by the Board of Internal Economy.

The report published Monday outlines expenditures billed to taxpayers during the first quarter of the 2015-2016 year. Government House leader Peter Van Loan topped the list, spending $11,892.19 on "ten percenters" in a three-month period between April 1 and June 30.

Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks Pushed To Take-It-Or-Leave-It Phase

ATLANTA -- A day of decision lies ahead for international trade talks as 12 countries must determine Sunday whether to tune out nagging individual worries in order to create the world's largest trade zone.

Ministerial meetings in Atlanta have dragged on three days longer than scheduled and it appears this might be the make-or-break moment for concluding the Trans-Pacific Partnership here, and now, before the Canadian election.

Harper’s pot is ‘infinitely worse’ than tobacco assertion ‘misleading’ — health experts

Public health experts are slamming Stephen Harper’s assertion that marijuana is “infinitely worse” than tobacco, saying the remark has no basis in scientific fact.

The Conservative leader made the comment the morning after the final debate of the election campaign Friday night, during which he criticized Justin Trudeau’s proposal to legalize the drug.

This Is What The World's Largest Companies Are Making Off Their Employees


Marketing firm MVF Global has calculated the “true value” of employees around the world, and maybe not surprisingly there is a pretty large gap between what workers at the world’s largest companies are paid and what they're actually worth to the company.

Joyce Bateman, Tory Candidate, Lists Retired General Among 'Enemies' Of Israel

A Conservative incumbent sparked boos at a debate this week after reading out a list of Liberal candidates and volunteers she identified as "enemies" of Israel.

But those jeers reportedly turned to cries of "shame" when Joyce Bateman, running again in Winnipeg South Centre, got to Andrew Leslie, the Liberal candidate in the Ontario riding of Orléans.

Leslie is a retired Canadian Forces lieutenant-general who commanded troops during the war in Afghanistan.

In the Public Interest: Monsanto and Its Promoters vs. Freedom of Information

Next year, the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) will celebrate its 50th anniversary as one of the finest laws our Congress has ever passed. It is a vital investigative tool for exposing government and corporate wrongdoing.

The FOIA was championed by Congressman John E. Moss (D-CA), who strove to “guarantee the right of every citizen to know the facts of his Government.” Moss, with whom I worked closely as an outside citizen advocate, said that “without the fullest possible access to Government information, it is impossible to gain the knowledge necessary to discharge the responsibilities of citizenship.”

Kenney Says Tories Would Strip Every Convicted Terrorist Of Citizenship, If Only They Could

The Conservative party would strip all Canadians of their citizenship if they were convicted of terrorism offences but can't because of a UN convention, Tory incumbent candidate Jason Kenney said in an interview this week.

"Oh, yes. Oh, absolutely. If we did not have the legal constraint, then the legal principle of revocation for convictions of political violence against Canada, like treason, acts of war, terrorism, would lead to revocation of citizenship," he told CBC Radio's "As It Happens" on Monday.