Killer Tornadoes: How Devastating Extreme Weather Is Linked to Human-Caused Climate Change

AlterNet - May 27-'11 - News audiences are seeing an increasing number of "severe weather" warnings on TV, but little connection has been made to the role humans have played in driving climate change.

Details here.

Retiring AG Sheila Fraser says Climate Change, First Nations Must be Dealt With

By: Bruce Cheadle, The Canadian Press - May 25-11
OTTAWA - Auditor General Sheila Fraser delivered a farewell address Wednesday in typical blunt-spoken fashion. Details here.

Cars Swept Away by Colombian Floodwaters

US Military Goes to War With Climate Sceptics

Guardian.UK May 20'11 - Political action on climate change may be mired in Congress, but one arm of government at least is acting: the Pentagon. Details here.

Updated Building Codes in Manitoba Apply Only To New Hog Barns. Why?

Barn Fire Kills 4000 Hogs (Free Press 23 May) - Letter to the Editor

There are not many experiences as horrifying as trapped animals
being burnt alive and the stench of death after the fire.         

Kichiro Sato AP

I consider this great loss and the multitude of previous hog barn fires can be attributed to the failure of our government(s) to protect the welfare of animals and those who take care of them. 

Where was the stand of the Pork Council and the Association of Manitoba Municipalities.? Shouldn't they have been questioning the lack of appropriate safety codes and regulations.? Regulations and codes that would help  protect "the Industry" that they helped to spawn, nurture and expand over the past decade and more?.                                                                                 

For years, Hog Watch organizations and rural people complained that those huge hog  factories being constructed as ordinary farm buildings, was wrong for the  building codes were not adequate.

These were Industrial complexes, being built to the minimum of building code standards.

Nobody paid attention. It was too expensive.

John Fefchak, 
Virden, Manitoba.
Also by John Fefchak, "Born of the Stump."

Iraq and Syria Under Attack From Devastating Alien Weed

FAO - May 24th - UN
Rome - Silverleaf nightshade takes root in Lebanon and Jordan too. Details here.

PLT - Globalization strikes another blow - against farmers. l.p.