What Should the Price of Gasoline Be to Cover the Real Costs?
Contributed by Jim Elliott
Sunday, 08 June 2008
Based on a study by the International Center for Technology Assessment, the cost of gasoline is nearly $3.17 per liter. If this were added to our current price of $1.34, we should be paying $4.51. We have been externalizing the costs for years. When do we stop and bring them back into the price and make it real?
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Everyday products sold
in Canada -- from lipstick to laundry
detergent -- would be forced to carry warning labels listing toxic ingredients
as hazardous under a private member's bill backed by consumer
groups.
Bolstered
by the environmental law group Toxic Free Canada and the Quebec consumer group
Options Consommateur, Peter Julian of the New Democrats tabled legislation
Thursday requiring that all products sold in Canada have clear warning labels
specifying their toxic substances.
I don't have many heroes in life but Utah Phillips was one of them. His connection to and depth of understanding of the social movements of the United States and Canada was simply astounding. He wove humor, courage and compassion into his songs and stories, bringing the history of working people and those on the margins alive for generations of people like myself who might not have otherwise heard those stories.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Utah in the summer of 2001 at the Vancouver Folk Festival I believe, for a radio show I was working on called Making the Links. It was one of the best interviews I ever conducted. Write Comment (0 Comments)
Billions wasted on CCTV in Britain... They Don't Work
Contributed by Werner Scott
Saturday, 31 May 2008
Here's a short report from some activists in England on the continuing decline of civil liberties in the UK. The real "hope" on the part of cops and the state is the development of ideographic "tracking" of people the government doesn't like. But I don't see how brand labels on clothes will be correlated with political beliefs but there is no understanding the mind of the average policeman or politician. What is also notable was the original pressurefor CCTV within Britain was a reaction to IRA bombings in the eighties. I would not like to see anything similar happening in Canada. Write Comment (0 Comments)
In Great Britain the New Labour project of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown is coming to an end. The government experienced a major defeat in the recnt local elections and was then humiliated in the Crewe and Nantwich bye-election, where they lost a safe Labour seat by almost 8,000 votes. Public opinion polls have them running 20 points behind the Conservative Party. There are calls for Gordon Brown to step down as party leader and prime minister. However, the only two potential replacements are also strong supporters of the Labour Party's strong move to the political right.
What is happening here is not unique to social democratic parties. In Germany the Social Democratic government was defeated in the last election. Rather than form a coalition government with the new Left Party, they chose to back the Christian Democratic Party in a national alliance in order to continue the neoliberal policies of free trade and the free market which they had pursued while in office. In France the Socialist Party moved strongly to support the New Democrat policies identified with Tony Blair and were soundly defeated. In the recent election in Italy the social democrats abandoned the broad left coalition in order to pursue a Blairite program and were ousted from government by a right wing coalition of parties which includes neo-fascists.
Did you know that Burma’s
generals are highly superstitious? And that they are deathly afraid of women’s
undergarments? They believe contact with women’s clothing worn below the waist,
especially panties, will erode their power. The women of Burma know this,
and that’s why they started mailing their panties to the regime beginning in
October. And now they’re asking sisters around the world to do the
same.
These men are afraid of your undies. Lanna Action image.
Behind The Secret Report Proposing Nuclear Power at Lake Diefenbaker
Written by Jim Harding
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
Behind The Secret Report Proposing Nuclear Power at Lake Diefenbaker[1]
In early May 2008 a secret report entitled "Sask Power - Preliminary Siting of a Nuclear Power Plant" was leaked to the Saskatchewan media. The report was completed in February 2007, when the Lorne Calvert NDP government was still in power, but its fallout was left for the new Sask Party Premier Brad Wall.
A flurry of pro and anti-nuclear opinion was aired in the aftermath of the leaked report, but in the haste to make news there was little in-depth analysis of the reports premises, methods or conclusions. The 38-page report and 12 pages of appendices deserve careful scrutiny as the controversy unfolds.
Neither nuclear power nor uranium mining were debated during the October 2007 provincial election.[2] Nevertheless, the pro-uranium Calvert-led NDP had a policy of "no nukes"; while the Wall-led Sask Party left the impression that it was open to considering nuclear power. This leaked study suggests that the Calvert NDP was secretly exploring the nuclear option, though it apparently did not want the voting public nor party membership to know.
Join all First Nations on the National Day of Action- Thursday May 29th,
2008. The National Day of Action is an opportunity for First Nations and
all Canadians to stand together in the spirit of unity to realize a
better life for all First Nations peoples by challenging the government
to address the issues. Together, we can demonstrate that the
relationship between First Nations and Canadians is based on the principles
of Respect, Dignity, and Fairness.
On May 29th, the Federation of
Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) will give voice to First Nations citizens
and communities and will lead our March of Solidarity beginning at 9:00 am at
the First Nations University of Canada (1 First Nations Way) and proceed to
the Saskatchewan Legislative Building (2405 Legislative Drive).
Press
Conference with Saskatchewan political leaders at 11:00 am on the Legislative
Grounds.
If you're in or near North Central on Friday, turn your radio dial to 89.9 FM. Cheryl
L'Hirondelle will be working from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (high above on the roof of Scott Collegiate!)
with a radio transmitter to help share the stories of North Central Regina to
the surrounding communities. If you can't pick up the station, just
start heading towards North Central and you should be able to pick it up. The broadcast marks the beginning of a project to give greater voice to inner city residents, supported by Commonweal Community Arts. Write Comment (0 Comments)
Maisie Shiell June 7, 1915 - May 21, 2008
Written by Maisie Shiell
Saturday, 24 May 2008
To Saskatchewan Citizens:
As I lie on my deathbed I have
an urgent message for Saskatchewan citizens in our democracy where we
citizens are responsible for what our governments are doing.
Our governments are allowing the mining development of
extremely high-grade uranium. Nowhere else in the world are such
dangerous, radioactive, high grade ores mined the milling of which
inevitably leaves radium- 226 in sediments in the near-by lakes.
It is up to us citizens to find out how this could
seriously affect future life in the environment, and after a number of
centuries seriously affect human life.
We need to understand this by self-study if possible. (We are not learning this in the education systems.)
I beg Saskatchewan citizens to find out more about this. (I have spent over 30 years trying to.)
- Maisie Shiell
A come-and-go celebration of
life will be held June 1 between 2 and 5 p.m. at the Canadian Legion on
Spadina and 17th St. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the
Inter-Church Uranium Committee Educational Co-operative, Box 7724,
Saskatoon, S7K 4R4. E-mail messages can be sent to
. Write Comment (0 Comments)
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I don't have many heroes in life but Utah Phillips was one of them. His connection to and depth of understanding of the social movements of the United States and Canada was simply astounding. He wove humor, courage and compassion into his songs and stories, bringing the history of working people and those on the margins alive for generations of people like myself who might not have otherwise heard those stories.
Did you know that Burma’s
generals are highly superstitious? And that they are deathly afraid of women’s
undergarments? They believe contact with women’s clothing worn below the waist,
especially panties, will erode their power. The women of Burma know this,
and that’s why they started mailing their panties to the regime beginning in
October. And now they’re asking sisters around the world to do the
same.
Join all First Nations on the National Day of Action- Thursday May 29th,
2008. The National Day of Action is an opportunity for First Nations and
all Canadians to stand together in the spirit of unity to realize a
better life for all First Nations peoples by challenging the government
to address the issues. Together, we can demonstrate that the
relationship between First Nations and Canadians is based on the principles
of Respect, Dignity, and Fairness.
To Saskatchewan Citizens:
