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Born in the USA, living in Canada for the past 41 years, I'm a Vietnam war resister, a revolutionary democratic socialist, a member of Canada's New Democratic Party, on the executive committee of the St. Paul's NDP constituency association; a retired hospital worker, a member of Local 1.on of the Service Employees International Union and of the SMART reform caucus of SEIU.
Saturday, December 24, 2011 Unions Weigh California's Taxing Situation | Labor Notes
Several tax initiatives could be headed for next year's ballot in California, and unions are weighing their endorsements as they decide between taxes aimed at the 99%--or the 1%.
Monday, December 5, 2011 CSIS head urged government to fight ban on information obtained through torture
MONTREAL -- Canada's spy agency was so reliant on information obtained through torture that it suggested the whole security certificate regime, used to control suspected terrorists in the country, would fall apart if they couldn't use it.
That's the essence of a letter written in 2008 by the former director of CSIS, Jim Judd, obtained by the Montreal Gazette.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011 Emergency Labor Network--Demise of the Super Committee--Major Struggles Lie Ahead
The failure of the congressional "Super Committee" to reach agreement on reducing the national debt doesn't mean that the threat of devastating cuts to critical safety net programs protecting millions of people is over. Far from it!
Massive cuts to Medicare are scheduled for January 1, 2012 and more cuts to that and other human needs programs to the tune of $600 billion are slated under "sequestration" on January 1, 2013. There is also discussion in Washington about other means to slash hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars from these programs.
And let us not forget that $500 billion-plus in spending cuts to social services were agreed to last August 2 under the last-minute deficit reduction deal.
Sunday, November 20, 2011 29 Tech Companies Back SOPA
After writing a rather lengthy and somewhat firey post on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) yesterday, I realized this morning that I didn't know Microsoft's position on the matter. As I edit our Microsoft channel, I immediately sent off a query to the company concerning the Act.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Stop Online Spying in Canada
Petition to show opposition to the Canadian government's proposals for warrantless searches via the Internet.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 Questions and Answers on the U.S.-NATO Intervention in Libya
QUESTION No. 1: Are French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister David Cameron and U.S. President Barack Obama not right to want to put an end to the bloody dictatorship of Qaddafi?
Obviously, the Qaddafi regime is a dictatorship. We have not just started saying so today.
Let's note that the statements made by these governments in recent weeks about the Qaddafi regime are inconsistent with the policy they have followed toward him for 10 years. After the 9/11 attacks, Qaddafi announced that he would endorse the coalition led by the U.S. government in the fight "against terrorism." In June 2003, Qaddafi privatized the companies that he himself had nationalized in 1969, in particular the oil companies. Several U.S. companies won big oil contracts in Libya. In 2006, welcoming the Qaddafi government's attitude, the U.S. administration quietly removed Libya from the list ...
Sunday, February 13, 2011 Dynamics of the Revolutionary Wave in North Africa
Article fron the International Secretariat of the Fourth International, especially interesting for what is going on in Algeria - the RCD are trying to organise a sellout of Algerian sovereignty to Europe in the name of democracy.
Monday, November 22, 2010 Psycho-Babbling Obama | Black Agenda Report (2 comments)
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
Still unwilling or unable to admit that they were "psyched out" by Barack Obama and his corporate handlers, Lefties search for psychological reasons that the First Black President has been such a disappointment. It's the failure to fight thing, or the lack of vision thing, or the failure to communicate thing, they say. "It isn't that Obama has trouble conveying his vision, ...
Friday, September 17, 2010 Let's Have a Real Protest, Not a Democratic Pep Rally, on October 2nd | Black Agenda Report (1 comments)
"A Washington rally for jobs, justice and peace that makes no specific demands on President Obama would amount to a capitulation to the status quo on all counts." The October 2 "One Nation" rally, initiated by the NAACP and organized labor, is a huge work in progress, drawing numbers from "nearly the entire spectrum of labor, social justice and peace formations in the United States."
Friday, August 20, 2010 EFF to Verizon: Etisalat Certificate Authority Threatens Web Security | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Dear Verizon,
We are writing to request that Verizon investigate the security and privacy implications of the SSL CA certificate (serial number 0x40003f1) that Cybertrust (now a division of Verizon) issued to Etisalat on the 19th of December, 2005, and evaluate whether this certificate should be revoked.
Friday, August 6, 2010 The BRAD BLOG : AlterNet: Rightwing DIGG Group Caught 'Burying' Stories From The BRAD BLOG, Other Progressives
As usual, when Rightwingers can't win outright, they cheat. Such is the case on the very popular social aggregator website DIGG, documented today at Alternet.
We've suspected for quite some time that links to The BRAD BLOG's articles as posted on DIGG have been quickly "buried" by Rightwingers hoping to keep our stories from reaching the front page --- or even the "upcoming" page, where others might see the story rising in
Friday, July 23, 2010 Security operation or political theatre? - thestar.com
There is strong circumstantial evidence that, faced with a public relations defeat over the cost of the two summits, high-ranking members of the government and police orchestrated a clandestine security operation. The operation was orchestrated to inflame the public imagination against all protesters. Strategically, it was designed to justify what is still truly unjustifiable -- $1 billion on security.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 G20 Toronto Riots perpetrated by Agents Provocateurs of the Police
Two weeks after the G20 protests in Toronto it is becoming more and more apparent that what many of us suspected is indeed true: the June 26 "violence' (i.e. property damage and police-car fires) was most likely perpetrated by agents provocateurs of the police.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 Civil liberties lawyers, MPs gathering evidence against G20 summit arrests | The Hill Times - Canada's Politics and Gove
NDP MP Don Davies says he and Liberal MPs will force a second Public Safety meeting if the Conservatives do not agree to the inquiry this week. Civil liberties lawyers and Parliamentarians are gathering evidence they say will show Toronto police systematically violated legal and human rights as they quelled protests with the largest mass arrests in Canadian history at the G20 leaders' summit in Toronto last month.
Monday, July 19, 2010 Tata India - Are its Tea Estates Above the Law? | IUF UITA IUL
An international IUF fact-finding team has been denied access to an Assam plantation to investigate the recent deaths of three workers. The plantation is owned by Amalgamated Plantations in which Tata Global Beverages is the major shareholder. The 930 hectare Powai estate has one of the world's largest tea-processing factories and employs some 1,800 permanent and 1,200 temporary workers. Tata is already under fire for its brut
Thursday, July 8, 2010 Toronto's geography played a role in G20 mayhem | rabble.ca
Sunday June 27, Canada woke up to saturation media coverage of police trying to reassert themselves as the dominant force in protest-ravaged Toronto. Attention focused on the downtown core, where reports were coming in the morning of overnight raids at the University of Toronto and at the Novotel Hotel on the Esplanade. The geography of our city was being rewritten before our eyes on all news channels ...
Thursday, July 8, 2010 MPs wade into G20 security swamp - The Globe and Mail
Bill Davies of the NDP has agreement from his Liberal and Blocqiste colleagues to convene a special meeting of the Public Safety Committee. "The New Democrats say the aim of this special summer gathering is to address concerns about the conduct of summit security personnel, violations of civil liberties, violence and property destruction, and the political and operational decisions that led to these problems."
Thursday, July 8, 2010 Salvadoran Terrorist Deported to Cuba
Havana, Jul 8 (PL): The Cuban Interior Ministry reported on Thursday the arrival in the country of Salvadoran-born terrorist Francisco Antonio Chavez Abarca, arrested in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 1.
According to an official source, Chavez Abarca traveled to Venezuela using a false ID with the objective of perpetrating violent actions.
Once his true identity was publicly revealed and international legal procedures
Monday, June 21, 2010 G20 Brings The Green Zone To Toronto | Before It's News
Excessively armed thugs parading through the streets, military checkpoints at traffic lights, police helicopters hovering over the city, a long chain-link fence around the center of downtown, secret snipers on rooftops, urban warfare weapons, bomb-sniffing dogs, sound canons; this is not the sight of the infamous Green Zone in blood-drenched Baghdad, but a picture of what downtown Toronto will look like this weekend ...
Thursday, June 10, 2010 ITUC Annual Survey - ITUC-CSI-IGB
he ITUC's Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights has documented a dramatic increase in the number of trade unionists murdered in 2009, with 101 killings â€" an increase of 30% over the previous year. The Survey, released today, also reveals growing pressure on fundamental workers' rights around the world as the impact of the global economic crisis on employment deepened.
Sunday, June 6, 2010 An act of state terrorism | SocialistWorker.org
Outraged protests have spread around the world following the Israeli commando raid on a flotilla carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza. At least nine people were killed, and many more injured when Israeli forces attacked the unarmed peace activists in the middle of the night on May 31. But the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to spin lies about the assault ...
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 Web Exclusive: An Open Letter to the Israeli Jewish Public: Support the Gaza Flotilla! | Articles | Canadian Dimension
f we were not Israeli Jews, if the nine ships bringing 800 peace-makers from 40 countries would be sailing with humanitarian aid to an imprisoned population of a million and a half to, say, Haiti, the flotilla now on its way to Gaza would be hailed as a monumental event, and the government of Israel would donate another 50 tons of food and materials and a brigade of army volunteers from the "rescue corps."
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 G20 Police Won't Rule Out Breaking The Law | Toronto Media Co-op
Spokesmen for some of the police forces responsible for "keeping order" during the G20 Summit in my city will not say that they will not use agents provocateurs, although veterans of the RCMP unequivocally say that it would be illegal.
I will be there, and i anybody picks up a brick, they will be outed as a cop IMMEDIATELY.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010 Doctor behind MMR vaccine scare was 'dishonest'and 'irresponsible' - Scotsman.com
A "DISHONEST" doctor at the centre of the MMR row will be struck off the medical register, the General Medical Council has ruled.
Andrew Wakefield was found guilty of serious professional misconduct at a hearing in central London yesterday.
The 53-year-old, who is currently in New York, is expected to appeal against the decision.
Monday, May 24, 2010 In Canada once more, U.S. troops fleeing a war By Judy Keen, USA TODAY
Patrick Hart came here in 2005, when he couldn't face a second deployment to Iraq. A U.S. Army sergeant with almost 10 years of active duty, he would rather stay in Canada forever than return to a war he thinks is wrong.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010 Iran: Farzad Kamangar executed
Campaign to protest the execution of Farzad Kamangar and 4 other political prisoners by the IRI regime.
Saturday, April 24, 2010 The government seems to be inviting suspicion - The Globe and Mail
The federal government's secretive behaviour and dismissive treatment of the Military Police Complaints Commission speaks to secrets it wishes to keep.
The commission is investigating allegations that the military police consorted with Afghan torturers. The two commissioners have the highest level of security clearance possible. What does the government not want the commission to see?
Saturday, April 24, 2010 Afghanistan: end of a debacle - The Globe and Mail
Locals can always outwait foreigners, so the West will soon leave thousands of civilian casualties behind in a country it never understood to begin with
Friday, March 26, 2010 Fomented outrage and phoney censorship, by Alheli Picazo
Ezra Levant, the self described expert on free speech in Canada, is crying crocodile tears over the cancelation of Ann Coulter's scheduled Tuesday appearance at the University of Ottawa.
Levant's been busy on twitter, Facebook, TV and radio, desperately trying to sell the public his version of events and paint himself and Coulter as hapless victims of 'left wing censorship.'
Saturday, February 20, 2010 Google: free VP8, and use it on YouTube - Free Software Foundation
With its purchase of the On2 video compression technology company having been completed on Wednesday February 16, 2010, Google now has the opportunity to make free video formats the standard, freeing the web from both Flash and the proprietary H.264 codec.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 Harper's political agenda on display - thestar.com
"Stephen Harper's desire to axe Rights and Democracy and set up a U.S.-style partisan organization promoting "democracy" has been an open secret for years. It was clear in 2007 when I set up Rights and Democracy's new office in Kabul while Ottawa insiders forecast trouble for R&D's future." Sarah Kamal, Former Project Coordinator, Women's Rights in Afghanistan
Friday, January 22, 2010 Anger over Health Care Bill Creates Uncertain Future | Labor Notes
A Massachusetts local union president called it before the January 19 vote for senator: "I've never seen this much anger at the Democrats from union people," said Jeff Crosby, president of a General Electric factory local near Boston, as he prepared a last-minute leaflet to hand out in the plant. "It's worse than NAFTA."
Saturday, January 2, 2010 Tactics of desperation: using false accusations of "anti-Semitism" as a weapon to silence criticism of Israel's behaviou (1 comments)
At the same time as it attempts to crush internal resistance, the Israeli state, aided by its supporters in the United States and Canada, has launched extremely aggressive and well-financed propaganda campaigns abroad whose goal is to counteract the decline in support for Israel.
A telling characteristic of these campaigns is that they by and large do not focus on attempting to justify Israel's behaviour...
Wednesday, December 30, 2009 PM suspends Parliament - thestar.com
NDP Leader Jack Layton accused Harper of trying to avoid accountability on climate change, pension reform and Afghanistan.
"You've got a serious democratic deficit in addition to a whopping economic deficit," he told The Canadian Press.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 Carol Miller: We Need Health Care, Not Insurance
A very complex, mandatory private insurance scheme recently passed the U.S. House. The public is being overwhelmed by sound bites on one hand about how great it is, on the other, how terrible. We are hearing few of the details that are actually in the bill. Having read the bill, it is clear now that what started as health reform has emerged from the political process as health "deform," building on ...
Monday, October 12, 2009 Interview: Malalai Joya Talks to London Progressive Journal, by Steven Littlewood
Malalai Joya has been described by the BBC as “the bravest woman in Afghanistan”. A long-term opponent of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) presence in her country, Joya first rose to prominence through a heartfelt and controversial speech in 2003 that was an indictment of the powerful positions gifted to Afghan Warlords by the US-led coalition.
Monday, October 5, 2009 The end of Israel? Hannah Mermelstein (2 comments)
"The day will come when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights. As soon as that happens, the state of Israel is finished." Ehud Olmert
Friday, August 21, 2009 Straight Goods - Beware American fibs about Canadian programs - Right promotes profit over people in health care, pensio
With the American right poised to derail yet another attempt to bring public health care to the United States, Canada has been dragged in for a disturbing cameo role.
By any reasonable measure, our health-care system is stellar compared to theirs, yet ours has been cast as the scary bad guy to serve as a cautionary tale to those who consider it urgent to provide health-care coverage to the 47 million Americans who don't have
Saturday, July 25, 2009 EFF Demands Intelligence Agencies' Reports About Possible Misconduct - EFF
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit today against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a half-dozen other federal agencies involved in intelligence gathering, demanding the immediate release of reports about potential misconduct. EFF filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), requesting records of intelligence agencies' reporting of activities since 2001 that might have been unlawful ...
Thursday, July 23, 2009 DailyKos bans writer for mocking settlements - Cecelie Surasky
What's up with DailyKos? This isn't the first time they've banned bloggers for writing about Israel and Palestine, but this surely is the dumbest case. Guess that free trip to Israel really went to their heads.
Mondoweiss reports that Jane Stillwater got booted from DailyKos for making fun of, um, settlements.
Seriously. She made fun of illegal, immoral, ridiculously anti-peace, settlements ...
Thursday, July 16, 2009 Washington & the Coup in Honduras: Here is the Evidence - Eva Golinger (2 comments)
No one doubts that the fingerprints of Washington are all over the coup d'etat against President Manuel Zelaya that began last June 28th. Many analysts, writers, activists and even presidents, have denounced this role. Nevertheless, the majority coincide in excusing the Obama Administration from any responsibility in the Honduran coup, blaming instead the lingering remains of the Bush-Cheney era ...
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 That commenter on your blog may actually be working for the Israeli government - Cecilie Surasky (1 comments)
Straight out of Avigdor Lieberman's Foreign Ministry: a new Internet Fighting Team! Israeli students and demobilized soldiers get paid to pretend they are just regular folks and leave pro-Israel comments on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other sites. The effort is meant to fight the "well-oiled machine" of "pro-Palestinian websites, with huge budgets... with content from the Hamas news agency." The approach was test-marketed
Monday, July 6, 2009 McKinney released, returning to United States | ajc.com
Cynthia McKinney's mom said she's learned that her daughter is on the way home.
Leola McKinney said a friend who contacted the U.S. Embassy in Israel reported that the former congresswoman was released from Israeli custody and taken to Ben Gurion International Airport.
Thursday, July 2, 2009 TheStar.com | Opinion | In a crisis, bash the workers
In tough times, diehard free market disciples can be relied on to do two things: revert to divisive hard-right talk and scapegoat. The poor, unionized workers and those on the margins are common targets for attacks that pander to a base of support and baser emotions, rather than seeking solutions that are best for all people. Sid Ryan, national president, CUPE
Thursday, July 2, 2009 McKinney: I'm in Jail in Israel (5 comments)
Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney revealed in a phone call posted online that she is in an Israeli prison with others who attempted to run a blockade to deliver supplies to Gaza.
McKinney and about 18 other activists in Israeli custody for the past three days will likely be released by Sunday, according to the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C.
Friday, June 26, 2009 Lunch hour protest by London's workers at crackdown in Iran
Workers from across London will be giving up their lunch hour tomorrow (Friday 26 June) to protest outside the Iranian Embassy in Kensington at the Iranian government's harsh treatment of trade unionists during the current crackdown.
Sunday, June 7, 2009 Veenezuelan opposition unions have not held elections for over 5 years (1 comments)
Let it be known that ALL democratically legitimate trade unions in Venezuela are giving their full support to the philosophy of President Chavez' political and economic revolution in out country: Oil workers, utility services, Iron & steel industry workers, aluminum workers, Metro- and Transport workers, school teachers, public administration workers, construction workers, health workers ... the list goes on and on!
Saturday, June 6, 2009 EFF and ACLU Planning to Appeal Dismissal of Dozens of Spying Cases | Electronic Frontier Foundation
San Francisco - A federal judge today dismissed dozens of lawsuits over illegal domestic surveillance of American citizens, ruling that telecommunications companies had immunity from liability under the controversial FISA Amendments Act (FISAAA). The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) California and Illinois affiliates are planning to appeal the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit C
Sunday, May 24, 2009 More attempted repression on Guadeloupe
Again the French State, with the complicity of key elected officials from Guadeloupe, has used its repressive apparatus against the youth, workers, and people of Guadeloupe.
Thursday, May 21, 2009 Gustavo Coronel continues insisting on the indefensible return to the IV Republic...
VHeadline commentarist Carlos M. Pietri writes: In the article "Ten ways Hugo Chavez hurts the United States of America," written by Gustavo Coronel, who has been both lying and bitter about Venezuela and Chavez for at least the last ten years ... he continues insisting on the indefensible return to the IV Republic...
Friday, April 17, 2009 Guadeloupe: The Government prepares to amputate the Bino Agreement
The government is preparing to announce a "limited extension" of the wage agreement reach in Guadeloupe.
The edited agreement would cut the preamble characterizing the economy of Guadeloupe as a "plantation economy" and would cut Article 5 charging employers with the ¤ 200 increase in wages "by the end of the period of state aid (36 months) and local aid(12 months).
* "This would result in many more strikes in Guadeloupe,"
Saturday, April 11, 2009 Colombia liquidates Cali unions < Global Justice | CUPE
Unionists i Colombia are defying the central government and the city of Cali at the risk of their lives. Defend their right to a decent living! Defend your own!
Saturday, February 21, 2009 The general strike on Guadeloupe: Update
Received via the ILC, an update to the events in the French Antilles islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. The French state is dragging its feet, and so far one union official has been killed.
Friday, January 30, 2009 Support Net Neutrality | SaveOurNet.ca
Net Neutrality - our ability to create our own content, at websites like OpEdNews - is still under enormous threat.
Thursday, January 8, 2009 The truth about those Hamas rockets
Five years ago, the Bush administration lied about weapons of mass destruction to dupe us into supporting an illegal, immoral invasion of Iraq.
A few days ago, Israel trotted out only an infinitesimally more credible excuse -- the Hamas rockets case -- as justification for its own murderous shock and awe in Gaza, a long-planned campaign perniciously aimed at ousting a "regime" that came to power via popular, democratic vote.
Monday, December 22, 2008 An open letter to Tarek Fateh, in Seven Oaks Magazine.
The following letter was sent to Tarek Fatah some ten days ago. The response was so flailing and off topic that we felt it was worthwhile to post the original note to him as an open letter, though we have no illusions of generating a coherent response or a change of course. Mr. Fatah's slide to the Right – in his case from the NDP to the Liberals, and from opposing Israeli apartheid to collaborating with authorities ...
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 From Gaza to the Galilee - Worker-to-Worker Solidarity across the Green Line
On December 3, 2008, Sawt el-Amel's Legal Department filed compensation claims on behalf of 13 workers from Gaza in Israel's labour courts.
Early in 2008, Yussef Abu Kameel, a worker from Gaza, contacted Sawt el-Amel by telephone on behalf of a group of workers from Gaza City. All had worked for the same Israeli employer in two carpentry shops in Ramle (central Israel) and Erez (Israeli industrial zone at Gaza border) ...
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 Education International Help save the life of Farzad Kamangar!
Help save the life of Farzad Kamangar! Iranian Kurdish teacher, sociali worker and teacher's unionist ssentenced to death on no evidence may be hanged within the next few hours.
