Neil Blazevic's blog

I've been doing some writing on a topic of local interest I might try to get published in an appropriate venue. While I was writing it, it occurred to me that it could benefit from some peer review, not specifically for editing but for factual errors and inconsistencies, reccomendations for additions, and other responses. There are lots of areas this might be useful for LC members when the content is intended to reach a wider audience. How could something like this be done on London Commons?  read more »

 I saw the following leader in this week's Economist: 'Why ethical food harms the planet', and rushed to read it. I subscribe to the Economist and reading it is always both an informative and philosophically challenging experience. I struggle with two opposing perspectives while reading it: knowing that it is well written and taking their positions seriously, and knowing that it is knowledge that is valid within a certain frame of reference and perspective. It is a good example of the approach I take to the relativity of truth, and is a factor that ensures that I do not 'other' conservatives, neoliberals, and mainstream politics (without naively buying the discourse, or at least trying not to).  read more »

PDF file. Print it out, would be a great bumper sticker. Found at http://www.freewayblogger.com/

http://www.freewayblogger.com/images_index/endless.pdf

Watch them come in, live...

http://www.lfpress.com/specialreports/election_live.html 

 

Go Anne Marie, Gina, Joni and Judy! 

Joe's out of work!

I don't recall off the top of my head who else we were rooting for. 

London North Centre's empty MP seat will be filled in a November 27th by-election.

That means 1 month and 5 days to organize. No major Conservative has stepped forward yet, the President of the Liberal Party may seek nomination, and last I heard, Elizabeth May would be coming to London to seek the seat for the Green Party if a by-election was called. I'm all for that!

Obviously what we are seeing playing out, cataclysmically spurred by a single newspaper's publication of 12 cartoons, is an extraordinarily complex phenomenon. Is it the 'straw that broke the camel's back' in a global "clash of civilizations" between the Western and Islamic worlds? Or is it purely an issue of free speech and censorship? A couple of thoughts on free speech...   1. Free speech has historically been an endogenous struggle. The media or other 'free speakers' exist on a societal hierarchy of power and influence. Speech that threatens the established order or the authority of a hegemon is repressed.  read more »