Half of Emperor Penguins Could be 'Wiped Out by End of the Century' Due to Melting Sea Ice

The Independent 

Global warming is melting sea ice so fast that more than half of Antarctica’s population of Emperor penguins are set to be wiped out by the end of the century, according to alarming new research saying they should be listed as an endangered species. Details here.

The Next Breadbasket

National Geographic Magazine

She never saw the big tractor coming. First it plowed up her banana trees. Then her corn. Then her beans, sweet potatoes, cassava. Within a few, dusty minutes the one-acre plot near Xai-Xai, Mozambique, which had fed Flora Chirime and her five children for years, was consumed by a Chinese corporation building a 50,000-acre farm, a green-and-brown checkerboard of fields covering a broad stretch of the Limpopo River Delta. Details here.

"P in P" Promotes Canada's Chief Bee-Killer (CBK) - Ted Menzies, to CHIEF BIRD KILLER (CB&BK), as Well!

by Larry Powell

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Menzies (above) was a Conservative MP for about 10 years before being appointed early this year as President and CEO (AKA CBK) of Croplife Canada, an industry organization representing chemical giants like Bayer. Bayer makes "Neonicotinoids," the world's worst family of bee-killing pesticides. CropLife is in the midst of a major lobbying and public relations campaign to prevent Canada from adopting a ban on the pesticides, action the European Union took more than a year ago.

Dear old Ted will be based in Ottawa, where lobbying his old government buddies will come easy. This will help ensure that both the already fat bottom lines of the "Agri-Biz" corporations he now represents and the slaughter of our precious pollinators will continue! 

Meanwhile, the Sierra Club Canada Foundation has asked the Ethics Commissioner to examine Menzies' appointment under the Conflict of Interest Act.

According to John Bennett, National Program Director of the Sierra Club Canada Foundation, “A cabinet minister went directly to the board room of CropLife, the pesticide industry’s lobbying arm. We are advised that this could constitute a conflict of interest under the Act and should be investigated.” 

Please also read: "New Studies Show Farm Chemicals Are Affecting More Than Bees. Bird Populations are Declining, Too." 

New Tests Find Bee-Killing Pesticides in Over Half of “Bee-Friendly” Plants From Garden Centers Across U.S. and Canada

Friends of the Earth

Washington, D.C. – Many “bee-friendly” home garden plants sold at Home Depot, Lowe’s and Walmart have been pre-treated with pesticides shown to kill bees, according to a study released today by Friends of the Earth and allies. Details here.
PLT photo.

Related: Meet Canada's Chief Bee-Killer (CBK) - Ted Menzies

Is Ottawa Bedding Down With Crooked Bankers? (Letter)

Dear Editor,

Crooked bankers of the world, rejoice! 

Wikileaks has revealed that negotiators from 50 countries, including Canada, have been meeting in back rooms, cooking up ways of making it even easier for these financial titans to fleece their customers, everywhere!

It's all part of the ('til now) super-secretive "Trade in Services Agreement" (TISA), a massive deal that would affect the way the big banks are allowed to do business, world-wide.

According to the confidential draft text, TISA would "further deregulate global financial services markets." 

Not only that, it would prevent these nations, including Canada, from ensuring that sensitive customer data remains in the country of origin! I'm no financial whiz. But, if we want to keep our precious banking records secure, this can't be good!

Why is all of this happening? According to the text, "To assist the expansion of financial multi-nationals – mainly headquartered in New York, London, Paris and Frankfurt – into other nations by preventing regulatory barriers."

Have we learned nothing from the past? Weak to non-existent regulations, deception and conflict of interest in 2008 allowed crooked financial marketeers, mainly in the 'States, to commit countless crimes against their customers, burst the financial bubble worldwide and force many ordinary citizens into ruin. These disgusting crimes have gone pretty much unpunished to this day. 

Wikileaks notes that the draft was supposed to have been kept secret, not just during the negotiations, but for five years after the TISA enters into force! This kind of secrecy borders on the criminal. It is more befitting of a tin pot dictatorship than a western democracy!

So why does Prime Minister Harper seem so willing to play fast and loose with Canada's reputation as a sound and safe place to bank, by flirting with the notion of actually perpetuating and expanding an already failed, discredited system of "deregulation?" 

Maybe we should ask him this when he comes 'round, wanting our vote!

Larry Powell 

Neepawa, Manitoba.
RELATED: "Greed Kings of 2014: How They Stole from Us"

Pesticides Linked to Bee Deaths Must be Banned, Scientists Say

CBC News

Neonicotinoids, fipronil linked to ecosystem damage in new report. Full story here.

PLT photo.

See What Yes Is Doing (Video)