In May of this year the U.S. military bombed villages in Farah province, killing 146 civilians, mostly women and children. There were demonstrations across Afghanistan opposing the U.S. and NATO military presence. There was a major demonstration at Kabul University, where students chanted “Death to Americans.” These demonstrations received no coverage in the North American media. The mass media collectively refuses to print any photos of the death and destruction caused by the NATO military activity. Afghanistan is not Iran.

Public opinion polls revealed that a large majority of Afghans were opposed to the Obama administration’s decision to escalate the war. In one major poll, 78% of Afghans said aerial bombardment was “unacceptable.

In the German town of Vauban, a suburb of Freiburg, they do not allow anything on four wheels and an engine on the streets.  In the German town of Vauban the cyclist is king.

In this suburb of Freiburg, you have to either ride your bicycle or take a tram to work.  If you do want to have a car, you have to park it in the outskirts of the district and pay 20,000 Euros for space in one of the garages.  But unlike here, 57 per cent of residents actually sold their car to allow them "to enjoy the privilege of living here", said Andreas Delleske, one of the founders and promoters of the Vauban project.

In Vauban, a suburb of the university town of Freiburg, luxuriant beds of brilliant flowers replace what would normally be parking outside its neat, middle- class homes. Instead of the roar of traffic, the residents listen to birdsong, children playing and the occasional jingle of a bicycle bell.

If there is a need for a car for holidays or to move things, there either rent one or they join one of the town's car-sharing cooperatives.

Many of the users of Roundup know of the active ingredient in it that kills the weeds, that being glyphosate.  But the active ingredient is not the only chemical in the trademarked concoction that is sprayed in your yards and in fields across this province.

What you generally don't hear about are the other chemicals that are there as well.  Some of these are there to help the active chemical spray stay on the surface of the plant and not be washed away or run off.  The others, so-called inert chemicals, are said to not have any activity or problems attached to them.

But today, researchers have found that one of Roundup's inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells.

The new findings intensify a debate about so-called “inerts” — the solvents, preservatives, surfactants and other substances that manufacturers add to pesticides. Nearly 4,000 inert ingredients are approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Amnesty International Canada has launched a petition calling for an immediate and unconditional release of Burmese democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. If you have not signed the online petition yet, here is the link.

http://www.amnesty.ca/free_aungsansuukyi/index.php

The European elections in early June revealed the continued decline of social democracy. Across Europe the total vote for the traditional party of the left declined from 28% in 2004 to only 22%.

Where there were social democratic governments, the voters spoke loudest. In Great Britain, the vote for Labour fell to a meagre 16%, below that of the UK Independence Party! In Spain, the vote for the Socialist Party fell five percentage points. In Germany the vote for the SPD was down to 21%, an all time low. In Portugal, the vote for the Socialist Party fell to only 27%.

The turnout was only 43%, exceptionally low for Europe. It was lowest in the Eastern European countries of the former Soviet Union.

Why is this happening? As the Financial Times rightly pointed out, today's social democrats are on the same page as the traditional conservative parties. There are no significant policy differences. The world is in economic and financial turmoil, the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the social democratic parties have nothing different to offer.