As millions of Canadians and Americans (and others worldwide) sat down last night to watch the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, CTV and NBC seem to have made a barbaric and Machiavellian ratings decision to broadcast the Olympic equivalent of a snuff-film.

While CTV and NBC have made attempts to justify their decision to broadcast the death of a Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, one really needs to wonder (little) if the nationality of Kumaritashvili had been Canadian or American, would the network executives have made a different decision.

As people in North America and worldwide continue to donate funds in order to help the people of Haiti recover from the earthquake, a Canadian-American organization called Healing Hands for Haiti is already on the ground helping Haitians meet their immediate and long term health and disability needs. The following is an interview with this organization’s Executive Director, Eric Doubt.

Paul Boin: I understand that your organization’s facilities were also damaged by the recent earthquake in Haiti.

While the rest of the western mainstream media (having not learned their lessons from their role in aiding and abetting the 2003 Iraq war) seem all to willing to let warmongers get the best of them, the Globe and Mail's Doug Saunders has given the global public interest some hope for his profession and a more peaceful world. 

If you’re reading this, you have just until Monday February 23 (extended from Feb. 17) to offer your opinion to the CRTC as to how you want the best characteristics of new media (the Internet) to be protected.

Despite numerous UK new reports over 5 days ago (e.g., Evening Standard, The Times) regarding the Israeli government's use of the chemical white phosphorus in Gaza, (along with stories of Israeli official denials e.g., Financial Times) Canadian mainstream media outlets have completely ignored the story up to this point.