Salem-News.com Articles written by Daniel Johnson

Marijuana Update

A cultural evolution is underway with cannabis and Americans of all ages.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - “Marijuana, Once Divisive, Brings Some Families Closer” is the title of the article in Saturday’s New York Times.

The title says it all. Fewer than 1 percent of people over 65 reported smoking marijuana last year. Nearly 4 percent, about six times as many, in the 50-65 age group, made the same admission.

The Planets: Finding Uranus

This is a particularly easy time to find Uranus because it is in a field where there are few other stars to cause confusion.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - The solar system has eight “official” planets although some still consider Pluto to be a planet. Looking only at the “official” list, from the Sun outwards, there is Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. All eight are readily visible to the naked eye or binoculars

Right now Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn are too close to the Sun to be visible. Venus is bright enough so that if you know where to look it can be spotted with the naked eye during the day.

501(C)4 -The Money Finally Takes Over

Those who think the Tea Party movement is some grass roots movement to bring back real democracy, need to lay off the Kool-aid.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - Forget about “we the people” and the “wit and wisdom” thereof. You’ve been had. There is no developed country in the world so out of control of their own destiny as the American people.

501(c)4 is the legal designation for the partisan committees that are taking in millions of dollars from shadowy people and corporations and putting it behind most of the Republican candidates in this year’s election.

Reframing the Environment (1)

The global environment is under assault as never before in history. But on this, America is off the hook; the United States is as much a victim of the environmental degradation as any other developed nation on earth.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - During the summer heat wave of 2006, temperatures in some of the passenger cars of the London Underground went as high as 47°C (116 °F). Signs at the stations advised passengers to carry a bottle of water to help keep cool. These were extreme temperatures, but it is still routine for passengers on some lines to suffer onerous heat even during a normal summer.

How could this be in one of the world’s richest cities? Can’t they afford to air-condition the cars?

America`s Rotten and Corrupt Foundation

One of the ingredients of American Kool-Aid is the belief in the prescience of the Framers and the profundity of the Constitution they produced.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - I call Americans in general People of the Kool-Aid. Kool-Aid was invented in Hastings, Nebraska in 1927 and production moved to Chicago in 1931. It was sold to General Foods in 1953 and is now one of the Kraft Food brands.

The cultural reference to drinking Kool-Aid refers to the Jonestown Massacre in Jonestown, Guyana where 907 people died of cyanide poisoning which had been put into a drink called Flavor Aid (not Kool Aid).

American Denialism

America is the most economically inequitable nation on earth among the developed countries.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - I recently read a book: Denialism: How irrational thinking hinders scientific progress, harms the planet and threatens our lives.

It was about: people who refuse to have their children vaccinated in the face of all the evidence demonstrating the efficacy of vaccination; people who believe that “organic” food is “better”...

On Real American Life

There must be an economic floor for social existence, beyond mere subsistence.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - There was a time, only a few centuries ago, when the adolescents of North America—not the palefaces—were taught about the world they were about to enter as men.

Although they had been observing the adult world since infancy, in early adolescence they were initiated into adulthood and taught how to track, hunt and fish; how to make weapons (primarily for hunting, seldom for aggression) and tools; how to read the sky for predicting the weather; and many other subtle skills.

America Will Survive: But at What Price?

America will survive, but it will become the class structure it has always publicly eschewed itself to be.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - I’ve written a lot of critical commentary about what I see as the Decline of America, and I’ve been consistently taken to task about how I don’t see or understand America’s resilience, entrepreneurial spirit, etc.—from the American viewpoint.

My friend and colleague Hank Ruark, regularly refers to the “wit and wisdom” of the American people who will somehow overcome adversity and obstacles. With all due respect to his years of knowledge and experience, he is looking backward, not forward.

Movie Review: The Candidate

A defining movie for Americans?

(CALGARY, Alberta) - Americans, on the whole, just don’t get it. .

Canada in the Twenty-First Century

Daniel Johnson's critical analysis of Canada - as his home country celebrates 143 years.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - For those of you who think I’m only critical of the U.S., here is an unabridged piece I published in Calgary’s FFWD Weekly newspaper on July 1, Canada Day.


On July 1 we celebrated Canada—143 years as a nation. Through those fourteen decades (put that way, it doesn’t sound all that long), much has changed—both inside and outside our borders.