Behind the headlines of the mainstream media in Canada you can find that the U.S. government is increasing its military forces in Haiti today from 4,000 to 11,000. The Harper government is to raise its military forces there by another 1,000. As in New Orleans, Hilary Clinton has announced that the primary objective of the mounting military presence is to provide “security.” Military forces are reported to have opened fire on desperate Haitians who have been looting stores, looking for food and water. The U.S. military is in complete control at the international airport and giving priority to U.S. aircraft.

Across Saskatchewan people are mounting campaigns to help Haitians in this time of great tragedy. It is important to make sure that donations go to those organizations in Haiti who are actually assisting the victims of the earthquake and the years of political and economic repression. Money should be sent to the organizations identified with the Canada Haiti Action Network. They can be found at the following web site:

http://canadahaitiaction.ca

In a Regina Police report debated on Monday, the federal government is covering the cost of sending 20 police officers to the Vancouver Olympics.  Twenty police officers being sent to Vancouver will be costing Canadians $169,400 for base salaries, $149,000 for overtime and per diem expenses of $15,600 for a total of $334,900. 

This is likely how the staff are to be collected, that being, seconding the staff from across Canada.  There has already been some concern about rural RCMP officers going to the Olympics and leaving the towns and rural Canada unsecure.  How many other cities and communities across Canada are being limited in their capacity to handle crime?

In Regina, there are 529 FTE staff positions in the Regina Police Service.  The report does not identify how many of those are police officers or how many are civilian staff.  The secondment to the Olympics is a 3.7% decrease in overall staff during the period of the Olympics.  This will likely create limits to taking holidays and increases in overtime.  This year's overtime bank is increased by 222,500 with a cost recovery of $184,900.  How much of this will be utilized during the Olympic period, one can only speculate, perhaps none.

But because the discussion and presentation of this budget was in a closed door in camera meeting last week with the Regina Police Commission, it is likely that any speculation on the side of the Police Service or the Commission will never been known.  As well, it would be unlikely that a report will come after the Olympics to assess their impact on the Regina Police Budget. 

Are Regina residents being asked whether they want to support the ballooning $1 Billion security budget?  Are they willing to send their police officers to perhaps arrest protesters of the corporate greenwashing or extinguish Canadian human rights of Vancouver and Whistler residents?

Of course, this will not include the police presence at the Torch Relay that came through this city last weekend.  Is this a cost of the Olympics or a cost for Regina taxpayers?

• Daughters of Africa International Inc.
• Rodney Sidloski, HELP International
• Jeremy Wildeman, Project Hope
• Making the Links Radio
• Isabel Muzichuk
  

See the ActUp events calendar for information on the Awards Galas in Saskatoon and Regina, as well as our International Development Weeks Arts and Activism workshops.

In a report released today, the average pay packet of Canada's 100 highest-paid CEOs hit more than $7.3 million in 2008.

The list of 25 buried stories also includes U.S. arms in Gaza, oil exploration in the Amazon and the mysterious death of Karl Rove’s “election thief,” Mike Connell.  Project Censored is a faculty-student project of Sonoma State University that has been publishing an annual list since 1976.

Read the full list: Top 25 Censored Stories.

A scene from James Cameron's new movie: Much of the criticism has come from the political right.

This Christmas saw the release of James Cameron’s long awaited 3-D science fiction film, Avatar. Despite a number of negative reviews in the mainstream media, in two weeks it has proven to be a major commercial success.

In Calgary for the holidays, friends dragged me off to see it at a large-screen Cineplex theatre. By all means shell out the extra cash and see it in 3-D. It is an outstanding film experience. I agree with those reviewers who have argued that this is a special movie, a technical breakthrough, entertainment at its best. Most of the filming was done in Hawaii, with special effects from Weta Digital of New Zealand.
   
Cameron has long been known for his special effects, as in The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989), True Lies (1994) and of course, Titanic (1997). There is a major war scene near the end of the film, which some have found disturbing. The industry reports that in the first weeks its appeal has been mainly to men over 30, but this did not seem to be the case in Calgary.