The Folly of Empire

TruthDig.com

The final days of empire give ample employment and power to the feckless, the insane and the idiotic. Details here.

Canadian Fracking Protests Turn Violent; Police Cars Set On Fire

Huffington Post

Police in the eastern Canadian province of New Brunswick arrested about 40 people on Thursday after efforts to dismantle a highway barricade turned violent and protesters against shale gas exploration set several police vehicles on fire. Full story here.

Stop Further Tragedy in Brazil. Say NO to the Disastrous Canadian Mine, the "Belo Sun."

Português | Español | Deutsch | More Belo Sun No! Stop further tragedy on the Xingu River This week Amazon Watch joined a global coalition of organizations to launch a campaign in defense of indigenous and traditional communities threatened by the Canadian mining company Belo Sun. The Toronto-based company plans to build Brazil's largest gold mine on the banks of the Amazon's Xingu River in the very area that is most impacted by the disastrous Belo Monte dam.

And the Award Goes to....Monsanto? Please Sign the Petition!

This year’s World Food Prize will be awarded to top executives at Monsanto and Syngenta for creating GE crops. GE crops are about feeding the profits of biotech giants, not the world’s hungry. 

Free Our Greenpeace Heroes From Russian Oppressors

E-mail the Russian Embassy to protest against the charging of these activists with piracy when they were only protecting the Arctic.
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A Mine, a Movement And a Town Divided

The Tyee

In Mexico, local resistance to Canadian mining companies is growing as the industry booms. Full story here.

Related: CONFLICT DOGS CANADIAN MINING ABROAD

These are Dark Days for Bearers of Truth

"It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong." -Voltaire Common Dreams Bradley Manning: 35 years in military prison. Edward Snowden: Political refugee in Russia. Looks like Voltaire is more timely than ever. Whistleblowers and journalists are being hunted down in all corners of the globe for exposing grave and illegal government activities—the targeting of innocent civilians on the battlefield, massive surveillance operations, torture. They are being pursued for bringing you the truth.

Migrant Voices

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Migrant Workers in Manitoba. Details here.

Seven Killed in Bangladesh Garment Factory Fire

Dhaka, Bangladesh (CNN) -- At least seven people died in a fire in a clothing factory in Bangladesh's capital late Wednesday, police and the factory's general manager said. Details here.

Policy and Poverty in Manitoba - Budget 2013

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

It was a welcome change to hear politicians of all stripes talking about poverty in the lead up to the 2013 provincial budget and in the analysis that followed. Unfortunately much of the chatter will serve the interests of politicians more than those most affected by government decisions. Details here.

Should Capital Punishment be Applied in the Bangladeshi Garment Tragedy?

by Larry Powell

I don't believe in capital punishment. Never have. 

But maybe now is the time for me - and the rest of society- to step back, take a deep breath, and take another look.

The profound evil which has been at play in the recent, horrific collapse of the garment factory in Bangladesh - killing hundreds of innocent workers - sinks to such depths of depravity in every aspect, such a re-assessment seems suddenly appropriate.

And I'm not sure I'd stop at the owners of the building. Western multinational corporations  have blood on their hands, too, by using such despicable sweatshops to make their clothing, cheap - Wal Mart, Sears, Loblaws (the latter through its "Joe Fresh" clothing line in Canada and the 'States) - they've all filled their boots with more than their share of guilt. And the history of such things, steeped in blood as it has already become over the years, offers no way out for these heartless entities, to somehow claim ignorance of what is going on. 

Perhaps its time to round up the CEOs, and ship them all off for trial before the ICC. I'm not even sure whether the death penalty is within that court's mandate. If it is not, perhaps it should be! Let the court assess their guilt, or degree thereof, and make its judgement.

For they are just as surely guilty of neglect, criminal negligence and, yes, even murder, as the buildings owners/managers who forced those poor (in more ways than one) souls, into that building when they apparently knew full well it was not safe. There, hundreds died horrible and sometimes slow deaths over several agonizing days.

Whether they be corporate entities, individual executives or even shareholders, whether they be in my country, the US or abroad, I can feel no more sympathy for them than I do for terrorists or pedophiles. And what about the millions of consumers, who expect to buy clothing dirt-cheap without giving a thought, or caring whether they are creating consequences down the line? Should they be considered blameless? I'm sure many are just plain ignorant - or don't give a thought - as to what happens in the world around them. Does that render them innocent? 

I wonder.

Having said that, I am under absolutely no illusion that what I suggest here, will happen. Thanks to hollow, greedy people and their spineless enablers, our lawmaking politicians, our world has now fallen under such complete domination by the globalists and free marketeers, all hope for justice or even for vengeance, is indeed nothing more than a pipe-dream.

While, by writing this, I may have succeeded in getting something off my chest in some superficial way, it will be cold comfort indeed to the families of the innocents whose lives have been so needlessly and senselessly taken from us.

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Related article:  Battling for a Safer Bangladesh

Secrets of the Rich

Billionaires are hiding behind a network of “independent” groups, who manipulate politics on their behalf.

By George Monbiot... the Guardian 

Conspiracies against the public don’t get much uglier than this. As the Guardian revealed last week, two secretive organisations working for US billionaires have spent $118m to ensure that no action is taken to prevent manmade climate change(1). While inflicting untold suffering on the world’s people, their funders have used these opaque structures to ensure that their identities are never exposed.

The two organisations – the Donors’ Trust and the Donors’ Capital Fund – were set up as political funding channels for people handing over $1m or more. They have financed 102 organisations which either dismiss climate science or downplay the need to take action. The large number of recipients creates the impression that there are many independent voices challenging climate science. These groups, working through the media, mobilising gullible voters and lobbying politicians, helped to derail Obama’s cap and trade bill and the climate talks at Copenhagen. Now they’re seeking to prevent the US president from trying again(2).

Edgar Schmidt and Canadian Democracy

By Dennis Gruending

Edgar Schmidt, a senior lawyer in the federal Department of Justice, has taken a courageous and highly unusual step. Details here.

Brazil Becomes Stinking Rogue State - Builds Illegal Mega-Dam - Petition & Video

Dear Larry, 

I've just returned from a wildly intense journey to the Xingu River in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon where construction of the catastrophic Belo Monte Dam has begun. There, I joined an occupation of the cofferdam led by fishermen, indigenous warriors and their families, including women, children and elders. What began as a protest by 13 fishermen turned into a 200-person occupation that lasted 35 days to demand JUSTICE NOW for their rights and rainforest homeland.
They need your voice! Help these courageous leaders demand that members of the Brazilian judiciary stop stalling on the many outstanding legal cases against the Belo Monte Dam. Sign the petition for JUSTICE NOW!
This year has been marked by glorious moments of victory and heartbreaking disappointments in the campaign to stop Belo Monte. During this recent occupation, our partners reached out in a truly brave attempt to foster real dialogue with the Brazilian government and to denounce grave violations of human and environmental rights due to the illegal construction of the dam.
We must stand up together with a unified voice to demand governments and companies respect indigenous rights, comply with the law, and be held accountable for their life-threatening and reckless actions.
Join me on this peaceful path of resistance calling for a free-flowing, life-giving Xingu River led by our brave partners in Brazil. Demand JUSTICE NOW!
For the Xingu, 

Maira Irigaray
Brazil Campaigner 
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Help Malala - She Deserves the Nobel Prize!

 P l e a s e  sign the petition, here!

Occupy Winnipeg! The World-Wide Movement for Justice Catches Fire on the Canadian Prairies (PLT Video)

If you enjoy this blog, please consider donating to the 

author to keep it going. Just click on the link below.  

Thanks!  Larry

Josh Brandon: "One of the things I think that it shows, we have right now a government that is afraid of criticism.  Every time the Harper government hears word or hears voices that it doesn't agree with, its response has been to eliminate funding. So we've seen that, even civil servants now, like Environment Canada, they've had their funding slashed because they are reporting things like global warming, holes in the ozone layer, messages that the federal government does not want to hear. So rather than listen to the science, listen to the scientists, what we've seen is, those voices are being cut. That's true with the environment, womens' groups, it's true with labour."
Please also read: "Cold Prairie Winds Not Enough to Drive Winnipeg Occupiers Out of Memorial Park"

COMMENT:   Hi Larry,

I saw you posted a section of my talk from the Occupy Winnipeg online.  Thanks for doing that.  You tell the story much better than we hear in the mainstream media.

Thanks,
Josh   

Koch Brothers' Deeds Exposed in New Film - Please Donate!

AlterNet
Dear Friend,
I'm writing to ask you to support an incredibly important film, one that will save lives and thwart what may be the most destructive pair of brothers in American history.

A $50 gift today will get you listed as 
a "producer" plus this exclusively

designed Shepard Fairey t-shirt 
with the Koch-topus logo
https://bnf.actionkit.com/donate/kb_donation_alternet 

By now you have probably heard of the nefarious Koch Brothers. They are two super wealthy radical conservatives who are spreading their billions to crush working people, destroy the environment, undermine health care, demean immigrants, avoid responsibility for their own death and destruction, and the list goes on.

Already the Koch's have paid $30 million in fines for 300 oil spills, and invested $34 million to support groups who are trying to steal rights away from teachers,fireman, police, nurses -- our neighbors and friends.
We have to get the truth about the Koch's to millions more people and the best person to do this is Robert Greenwald. Greenwald and his team at Brave New Foundation. They have produced "Outfoxed," "Walmart," and " Iraq For Sale" -- all political film classics that have had a huge influence on the public debate -- and now they want to expose the Koch brothers.

Please become a "producer" of the expose film about the Koch brothers. Be part of history. Your support will help produce this eight-part video series, documentary film, and campaign while earning you what many are considering the coolest t-shirt of the year, featuring an exclusive Shepard Fairey design of the "Kochtopus"

The movie needs to be made ASAP. So your help right now is incredibly important.

Yours in the fight against the radical right,

Don Hazen
Executive Editor, AlterNet 
 P.S. We have teamed up with Brave New Foundation in the past. I can assure you that they are very tough and creative. They make Hollywood-quality films with great story telling that millions of Americans will want to see and that make a difference.