Good morning!

Welcome back to another edition of the rabble.ca weekly blog roundup! We have yet another heavy listing of great blogs this week because of the care, attention and passion that the rabble.ca bloggers bring to their posts.

This week it is yet another diverse package of content with everything from the profit monster that is Caterpillar to the disenfranchised peoples fighting the Enbridge pipeline, to the new-found cupid and the parameters of love to the reality-based CBC Reads and the presence of the right-wing voice. Among these we also have some new bloggers joining the rabble.ca family: Laurie Miller, and, who else? Oh right, David Suzuki!

So, happy Friday and happy reading!

rabble is a bright light in the dark spaces of mainstream media and a great mechanism for developing community, solidarity, and citizen intelligence ~Anonymous

Ahhh, love letters. We admit, we like a compliment or two and last year when we did our visitor's survey we got some nice notes like the ones in this post. And you know what else warms our hearts? Pledges of support. With Valentine's Day less than a week away we encourage you to show some love and pledge your support to rabble.

I love rabble and trust it more than today's CBC, which is fighting to survive, but making massive compromises in the meantime ~Anonymous

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is basking in the uncritical media reporting of his state visit to China. His "open for business" message has been very well received in Beijing where he has just signed a slew of trade and investment deals in energy, agriculture, and natural resources. Small wonder. The world is running out of conventional energy, land, water, and natural resources. China, as the emerging superpower, needs unfettered and unconditional access to all of these.

It's getting to be that time of year again: roses appearing in the middle of winter, chocolate flying off the shelves... it must be almost time to Occupy Valentines Day!  What's more passionate than fighting for social justice? Love comes in many forms -- a sister to be remembered, the fresh smell of compost in the morning, a community you build online, but no matter how you celebrate this week's Toolkit has got you covered.

This morning on Vancouver's W2 Morning show on Coop Radio (102.7FM) I shared some of my reaction to a developing story on this year's edition of Canada Reads. These are, roughly and quickly written up, some of the arguments I made on the radio today. I would like to hear other thoughts. Both the CBC and Canadian literature should be defended, nurtured and debated passionately.

I have been reviewing the hearing transcripts of the federally appointed Joint Review Panel (JRP) addressing the Enbridge Northern Gateway project. For the past few weeks the panel has been holding oral evidenciary hearings. These hearings provide an opportunity for people to provide evidence of a character best represented in the oral form. The panel often uses Aboriginal traditional knowledge as an example of the kind of information these sessions are designed for.

Thus, not surprisingly they have seen a great many Aboriginal presenters. Again not surprisingly, many of these presenters have used Aboriginal terms when describing their connections to their territories and traditions, and a few have even presented entirely in their own language.

Most of my love stories end with me feeling like I put a whole lot of energy into trying to build something out of nothing. Lust turns to love so easily and before you know it you're invested in a relationship that seems more important than you. You end up trying to save a relationship for the sake of the relationship rather than trying to save yourself.

Before you all start accusing me of being bitter or hard or cold or damaged or whatever else women with personalities and life experience are, I'm not anti-romance and I'm not anti-love. I get sucked into all that lovey crap like the best of us. That said, I like to keep a healthy level of cynicism (hey, let's just go right ahead and call that realism) on hand.

In a carefully worded directive, obtained by Canadian Press through the Access to Information Act, Public Safety Minister Vic Towes instructs CSIS to accept information under torture "in exceptional circumstances where there exists a threat to human life or public safety." By analyzing the letter carefully, one can easily sense that the Minister chose his words carefully for reasons he only knows.

Instead of clarifying Canada's position vis-a-vis the use of information obtained under torture, this directive adds confusion to an already ambiguous and polarized debate.

Other than Canadian political parties themselves, the Fraser Institute must be Canada's most intensely political organization.

Notwithstanding its pious mission statement -- "to measure, study, and communicate the impact of competitive markets and government interventions on the welfare of individuals" -- essentially 100 per cent of the Fraser Institute's activities are 100-per-cent political.

I had a great time being a "book" in the Human Library this Saturday. This was the first time a Human Library has been organized in Ottawa on this scale. It came about as a unique partnership between CBC Ottawa, the Ottawa Public Library and the Canadian War Museum.

So, what is a Human Library? 

According to the Human Library website:

The Human Library is an innovative method designed to promote dialogue, reduce prejudices and encourage understanding.The main characteristics of the project are to be found in its simplicity and positive approach.