Al Gore shuts down CBC Newsworld

and only now has CTV received permission to do what they want with their Newsnet channel.

While the news report on the CBC business page is entitled "CBC to shut down Newsworld" the reality depicted by the article, further down, is that Al Gore is shutting down CBC Newsworld. Him and the group of investors that he represents successfuly purchased an operating chunk of CBC Newsworld from Vivendi in 2004. Vivendi, also not Canadian.

For one, I thought there were ownership rules governing Canadian media that demanded an operating share to be owned by Canadians. For two, what is part of a government run media outlet doing in Al Gore's hands?

Apparently, Gore is going to ressurect the channel and call it the "Current" - a "youth-oriented" news channel that will somehow gain programming from user input off of the internet. Well, here's my contribution as someone of the youth-orientation.

While this is my contribution - check out the CBC Board of Directors contribution to not only coverage of the Gomery case but also to the coiffeurs of the Liberal Party.

The case for rationalism, progress and globalization.

"Why are they not more convincing?" - The Economist holds up the old Enlightenment band wagon in their review of two books, one by Dick Taverne and the other by Thomas Friedman.

...the book's greatest weakness: an insistence that the scientific, rationalist world-view is not just mostly right, but always so without exception. This is manifest in its skimpy and simplistic treatment of religion. In attacking a loosely defined “fundamentalism”, Lord Taverne conflates private piety with public zealotry, and appears to assume that deeply held religious belief is always synonymous with intolerance.

Which service is worthy to be...

...in the news. The Canadian Atlas Online (which recieved money from the Canadian government) or Google's satellite maps (which hasn't)?

Charges against Canadian blogs?

What Free Trade did to the Neanderthals may just be what the Internet will do to the Liberals and their luddite comrades.

The Attorney General is apparently considering to charge Canadian blogs. Excuse me? Anyone can go to a search engine, type in "Gomery leaked" and come to a US based blog and find the same thing. Stopping Canadians stops nothing. Actually, come to think of it, is telling people how to find the information the same as linking?

Moreover, if it is already out there doesn't a ban on links or means to find the information mean that only an internet savy elite are allowed to have potentially powerful information?

And what about all those people that just happened and will happen to go to the US site in question on a regular basis for their news?

And what are they going to do about the Globe and Mail who give people a key phrase to search up? Three guesses where "Captain Ed" will take you too when you google it?

Blogs are becoming a threat to the ruling it would seem - threatening the media and politicians. To put it more bluntly, discourse is becoming a threat to the ruling powers.

An exercise to prove we're prepared, I mean...

So the US, together with Canada and the UK, are running a major anti-terrorist exercise.

The BBC selected a fantastic quote from US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff:

"The point of this [the exercise] is not to design a simulation that makes us "look good" because we were able to figure out how to pre-package everything that we wanted to do..."

Of course not and of course they would not admit something like that and of course they would not fail their own exercise miserably. It would be interesting to know how useful these exercises will really be. Hopefully all evaluations will be academic.

Will blogs take down Canada's Government?

"The explosive testimony given out of the public eye last week at the
Gomery commission began appearing on websites yesterday, capping a
weekend of frenzied rumours about snap elections and covert political
meetings in Ottawa."

Will Blogs Bring Down Canada's Government?

This is an interesting blog and quite unrelated to the topic at hand.