Chinese Firm Huawei In Control of UK Net Filters

Why not run as a state operation or contract to a domestic firm?
Why are UK politicians handing over control of the internet to the communists?
It's obvious that the politicians are corrupt.

Solution: develop checks and balances that prevent corrupt politicians from damaging the national security interests of democracy. Politicians should not be allowed to sell out their country.       
We need to develop systems that automatically deal with politicians who work for the enemy.
No sane patriot would hand over assets to the communists, not for anything, no surrender.
The people need to organize in support of democratic state sovereignty and security.

Irresponsible traitors will try to bring down our free society and all it has accomplished from within, the people must support the state, and the state must support the people. A symbiotic relationship.

Society is worth preserving, our freedom and the peace that it underpins are not to be cast aside.
Under no circumstance are politicians justified in selling off control to foreign totalitarian regimes. 

The only reason you have rights, the only reason you have democracy is because of the people in the security services and military who volunteer to risk their lives to protect your constitutional rights. If we did not have forces to defend our state security we would not have a state, and with no state we would not be guaranteed constitutional freedom, or a vote, or any sort of basic security.

I very much doubt that MI6 would approve of handing over the keys to the intelligence store to a company founded by a highly placed Chinese Communist military officer. The problem is that the corrupt and incompetent politicians do not listen to the state funded advice provided to them, and in so doing disregard the national security interests of the people. Political re-adjustment is both possible and necessary. Just as the constitution acts as parameters for political action, the national security rights of the public should be enshrined in some kind of parameter that would prevent politicians from betraying state security. If we have freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom to vote, freedom of the press, and general freedom of conscience,  than why do we not have freedom from politicians who sell out national security. Security is the ultimate freedom in that it underpins all else.

Democracy will only last so long as the security services can guarantee its continued existence.
Support the troops, and when you vote, vote to give our lads a fighting chance.
 
Chinese Firm Huawei In Control of UK Net Filters



Chinese firm Huawei controls net filter praised by PM

UK to review involvement of Huawei in Oxfordshire cybersecurity centre, as firm denies spying claims

Britain to review Huawei's UK-based cyber center

Former US Spy Chief Says Huawei Spies For China

Why Xi Jinping's 'Anti-Corruption Campaign' Is Hollow, Unserious, and Ultimately Doomed

Slaying of watermelon seller triggers fresh anger in China

Vigil at Chinese Embassy Marks 14 Years of Persecution

Persecution of Falun Gong Continues Unabated

Party Official, Undercover, Publishes Book on Tibet

Faith and human rights groups join in condemning Chinese regime’s human rights abuses

China’s salami-slice strategy

Japan Alarmed By China’s Air and Naval Surveillance

China Coast Guard ships confront Japanese cutters

Dark days for China and the Philippines

PLA Navy to Begin First Strategic Missile Submarine Patrols Next Year

US Should Take Lead Against Organ Harvesting in China, Says Doctor

Will U.S. Face Trade Sanctions for Anti-Smoking Law?

Obama Administration Stands Firm on ‘Dolphin-Safe’ Tuna Labels; Will the WTO Authorize Trade Sanctions?

Is Economics a Science or a Religion?

There’s nothing partisan about disclosure of political spending

Corporations Express Fear of Democracy

What the Prince of Cambridge can teach the United States about the benefits of a single payer health care system

Expert: Cuba could hit U.S. with EMP death blow

Panama finds MiG fighter jets on North Korean arms ship

Mike Rogers: China, Iran, and Russia Launching Cyber Attacks Against U.S.

Russia opposition leader freed on bail, protests rattle Kremlin

Russia's top lawyers sound alarm about government abuse of the Constitution

Egypt starts amending constitution despite political divisions

New Egyptian PM seeks dialogue, end to divisions

Islamist-Kurdish fighting spreads in rebel-held Syria

Water Crisis in the Middle East

Kitimat ocean program set for oil tankers

‘Nobody understands’ spills at Alberta oil sands operation

God and Democracy

God and Democracy

Philosophy is the anti-thesis of ideology. The true philosopher has no pride, no sense of self. The philosopher is king and always will be, as the conceptual limits of our world are often set by men who have been dead for hundreds or thousands of years. The mighty emperor is governed by his ability to perceive the world around him, and his perception is informed by the will and words of the philosopher.

In Egypt, the birthplace of civilization, we witness an illustration of contrast that hopefully will give birth to new understanding. We must first suspend judgement if we are to understand.

There are two opposing forces vying for control of Egypt. Backers of the establishment of an Islamic state believe that man should be governed by Gods will as interpreted by the Koran. Backers of the establishment of a constitutional democracy believe that it is gods will that man should be governed by reason.

This distinction is crucial to understanding what democracy is. Democracy is not about the imposition of Karl Marx, Milton Friedman, or any other version of God. Democracy is rule by reason, rule by philosophy. Democracy is not a dictatorship of the proletariat. Democracy is not a dictatorship of the market. Democracy is not a dictatorship of the Koran. Democracy is not about self it is about truth.

The two faces of ego are ideology and greed. These are manifested when men seek control of the state to impose what they believe without the support of reason, and when men seek control of the state to accumulate wealth and power as an end in and of itself. A cynic would say that the two faces of ego are the only paths history will take, but there is a third way out and its democracy.

Democracy is when people come together and solve issues based on reason. The central word here is reason. Decision making is not allocated based on social status, money, or party monopoly. The objective of democracy is not to “win” what you want or to crush your “opponent”. In a pure democracy you have no opposition and there are no winners or losers. In a pure democracy all you have is people working together. That doesn't mean they will always agree on everything it just means that they will approach governance from the perspective that it is not about them.

The fundamental misunderstanding of the Chinese Communists is the perception that reason is just a tool of power. In their mind everything is war, a political struggle for ideological dominance. They will spend considerable resources constructing ideological arguments in order to manufacture perceptions that advance their interests. Truth can not be manufactured, only perceptions. True reason will stand alone apart from interest.

How ought we as human souls reconcile the truth of our connection? Democracy is the answer to this question. It conceptually nurtures compassion and starves ego. Our duty is to recognize the others as we would ourselves and pursue the public interest based on informed and well reasoned dialogue. The failure of modern liberal states in a global context is not a failure of democracy, it is an example of what happens when people forget what democracy is.

If we are to look to God for answers we should look to him as the original financial advisor. When Jesus Christ said love one another, he implicitly said that if we do not follow that commandment than we will all end up poor, dead or both. Without people there is no wealth, it is a concept within us. If people do not follow the financial advise of God there will be poverty and social problems. Loyalty to your wife and family, respect for others, forgiveness and compassion are the recipe for a better society. God should be a cultural compass that leads to comprehensive wealth, not a system of governance.

As a rejection of ego, democracy is the only option we have that respects people and principal above ideology and greed.

Democracy is the next evolutionary step in human awareness, but there is no guarantee that human society will progress. Democracy is a seedling threatened from all sides by the weeds of selfishness. Totalitarianism lives, and so long as it does it plots to stamp out any alternative to it's authority.

We must defend democracy from the well organized infiltration of communist totalitarian forces enabled by a corrupt and incompetent capitalist class. Our freedom will only be preserved by the actions of brave souls who take it upon themselves to carry the legacy of our forefathers. The people will be preserved and strengthened within the house of the lord. Amen.

Adjournment Proceedings Canada-China FIPA

Time to Put the Pieces of the Puzzle in Place

Elizabeth May

"Energy security would start by establishing the principle that we only export once domestic needs are met."

If all the key pieces of Canada’s energy future – the climate crisis, a prosperous economy, labour issues, east-west connectivity, energy efficiency, technological innovation, federal-provincial relations – were jigsaw pieces on our collective family table, it would be worthwhile to find the picture on the box the pieces came in.

The cover of the box, a glorious sustainable energy roadmap, would depict where we want to be, with: a meaningful carbon reduction plan; phasing out coal across the land; bringing in energy conservation and efficiency standards; producing far more energy from renewable sources; applying cleantech solutions broadly; paying attention to energy security; and shifting from a strategy of rapid export of unprocessed product to managed production at a steady rate of upgraded and refined product, with value-added creating far more employment in oil production while energy efficiency targets create jobs everywhere in overhauling our built infrastructure.

In the case of the current energy debate, the dialogue is so devoid of content that one cannot dignify the noise by calling it debate. Back to that Canadian family table with all the jigsaw pieces we need to fit together, sadly, the family cat got on the table knocking most of the pieces to the floor, while toddlers argue over the three remaining pieces shouting “Mine!”

A grown-up discussion starts with acknowledging that Canada needs an energy strategy. Federal and provincial jurisdictions respected, we need to think like a country. Rather than pit one region against another, we should start the conversation by setting out some over-arching goals.

Energy touches everything. A discussion about an energy strategy is not fundamentally about the oil sands. The oil sands are part of the conversation, but, back to our puzzle metaphor, those toddlers are fighting over the oil sands pieces of the puzzle. Nothing gets solved that way.

National goals should include:
 1.    Energy security
 2.    Energy pricing
 3.    An effective greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction plan for the needed transition to a post-carbon     economy
 4.    Full employment goals
 5.    The promotion of innovation and competitiveness in Canada
 6.    Social justice; ending energy poverty
 7.    Energy strategies for a resourceful and resilient Canada

Taken separately, we could be fighting over these individual elements without resolution. Taken together in a grown-up conversation, they all fit together.

Starting with energy security. Right now, if there were a disruption of supply from OPEC nations, most Canadians would have no home heating oil, no gas, and eastern refineries would be in crisis. While debating how best to export as quickly as possible, as much as possible, raw, virtually unprocessed bitumen, more than half of Canada is dependent on imports of foreign oil from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, and Norway. As Gordon Laxer of the Parkland Institute identified, Canada has no energy security. Unlike the US, we have no Strategic Petroleum Reserves. If there was a blockade of foreign oil or economic embargo, those in Eastern Canada would have to wait for tankers to bring them bitumen for processing through the Panama Canal and up the eastern seaboard. As bizarre as that sounds, it was the solution offered by a Suncor executive when asked in Natural Resources Committee about the vulnerability of Eastern Canada to embargos.

The irony is that the dividing line of foreign oil to the east and Alberta oil for the west was the result of deliberate government policy – aimed at helping the Alberta oil and gas sector. Back in 1961, the National Oil Policy decreed that eastern Canadians (east of the Ottawa River) would only receive imported oil while those in the West had to purchase Alberta product. By deliberate policy, Eastern Canadians became dependent on foreign oil, while Alberta oil was consumed by those in western provinces and exported to the US. Now it is time to think like a country.

We also need to improve our east-west electricity grid to allow renewable-rich provinces to export to provinces with less.

The current proposal to link us east-west also makes no sense. Former New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna has proposed shipping unprocessed bitumen to Saint John, NB, to put it in tankers and export it from there.

Energy security would start by establishing the principle that we only export once domestic needs are met.

That brings us to the importance of maximizing employment opportunities. It makes much more sense for Canada to upgrade the bitumen, before trying to make it sufficiently fluid to flow in pipelines. Bitumen is not crude oil. And it isn’t even oil at all. It is thick and solid, described as being the consistency of peanut butter. (Before mining, bitumen is 10 percent of the volume of soils, then described as being the consistency of molasses. Oil-like analogies seem to run to food.)

To make it flow, a naphtha-like fossil fuel substance, called a diluent, is added. All the controversial pipelines now under debate (Keystone XL, Enbridge’s Line 9 and Northern Gateway), are intended to carry a 70-30 mixture of bitumen and diluents – brilliantly described as “dilbit.” According to Enbridge’s evidence in the NEB hearings, its twinned pipeline will carry imported diluents from Kitimat to Alberta to be mixed with the bitumen. And the diluents will be purchased from the Middle East, and put in tankers to Canada. So much for being a domestic source of oil.

Back to energy security, jobs and minimizing environmental risks, if the bitumen was upgraded to synthetic crude in Alberta we wouldn’t be talking about moving the most hazardous of all spillable fossil fuels. Check out the US government reports on the findings about the Enbridge spill in the Kalamazoo River to understand how much more damaging dilbit is in the natural environment than any other pre-crude, as well as how much more challenging and expensive it is to clean up a spill. The   summer 2010 Kalamazoo spill is still not completely cleaned up.

Prior to the 2008 recession, several upgraders were planned for northern Alberta. Once the recession ended, the multinationals with under-capacity refineries for unconventional oil looked south to the refineries already built and sitting on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The Alberta upgraders were cancelled and replaced with a pipeline proposal to move dilbit to US refineries. No wonder the Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers Union, representing most of the energy patch workforce, is against the Keystone XL pipeline. It’s taking jobs previously slated for Alberta.

One reason the upgraders were cancelled is that what the late Peter Lougheed used to call “the traffic jam.” The hyper-inflationary bubble over northern Alberta is created by the push for constantly expanding production targets. Labour and capital are both scarce and pricey. (This is the explanation for Stephen Harper’s remarkable transformation regarding China. From his holier than thou treatment of the People’s Republic of China over the Beijing Olympics to the compliant, “Where do I sign?” greeting to President Hu in Vladivostok last September, when he penned the Canada-China Investment Treaty. There just isn’t enough capital from profit-oriented private sector oil multinationals to keep building new, and potentially unprofitable, oil sands mines without China).

We could with a bit of the planned approach, once advocated by Peter Lougheed, produce a steady amount of oil, upgraded and refined in Canada. Without the “traffic jam,” the industry could afford to build the ancillary infrastructure of upgrading and refining. We could do so within a plan for dramatically reduced GHG from Canada, by shutting down all coal-fired power plants, following the lead of another former premier, Dalton McGuinty. The carbon reduction plan would have the benefit of diversifying our energy sector with the commercialization of renewable energy – from wind, sun, geo-thermal, tidal. We also need to improve our east-west electricity grid to allow renewable-rich provinces to export to provinces with less.

It would create jobs in all parts of Canada through the retrofitting of buildings – commercial, institutional, residential – from energy wasters to energy misers, as well as through investments in modern, convenient mass transit.

The cleantech sector has the potential of becoming a $60 billion contributor to the Canadian economy within only seven years, according to a study by the Pembina Institute. Our myopic focus on the oil sands, as if it were the only part of Canadian economy that mattered, is blinding us to other and better opportunities. As the World Energy Outlook, reproduced by the International Energy Agency, pointed out, the world is coming to the realization that we must keep at least two-thirds of all known reserves of fossil fuels in the ground if we are to avoid such catastrophic levels of climate change that we put our very survival as organized societies and successful economies at risk.

A major new report from the UK, “Unburnable Carbon 2013: Wasted capital and stranded assets,” engaged the talents and expertise of Sir Nicholas Stern through a collaborative research project involving Carbon Tracker and the Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The result is a new concept – the “carbon bubble.” The essence of their work is this – a great deal of the stated value of stock exchanges around the world is in unburnable fossil fuels. The level of capital expenditure in developing those reserves over the next decade would amount to $6.74 trillion in wasted capital – developing reserves that simply cannot be burned.

This new realization of the “carbon bubble” means that fossil fuel investments could very rapidly become stranded investments leading to financial ruin.

No harm can ever come from diversifying an economy. And that diversification and embrace of clean tech will help address our growing productivity gap with the US through innovation and R&D.

Sustainable energy is attainable. Stopping the waste of energy, noting that more than one half of all the energy Canada uses is lost as waste, is essential. There is no excuse for not getting it done.

Originally published in Policy Magazine.

Apache spill is one of Alberta's largest pipeline ruptures

Kinder Morgan reports oil leak near Merritt, BC

Regulator, industry find oilsands cleanup harder than first thought

Mining, oil and gas companies to face tougher rules around disclosing payments

New BC Liberal government raises pay for political staff

Steelworkers rally against low wage Temporary Foreign Worker Scam

Insight: In Washington, lawmakers' routines shaped by fundraising

^This is a major problem, lawmakers spend so much time begging for money they have no time to actually lead the country. And what happens with all that money, it gets spent buying political ads that do nothing to enhance the quality of political discourse, buying political staff and spin doctors who contribute nothing to society but counter productive ideological talking points, and further the legislative agenda of a class of people who have demonstrated that their business interests are not aligned with the national interest of our society. The problem is not democracy, the problem is that money in politics has blocked democracy from being able to efficiently function. Money in politics is a threat to national security.   

Time for a change at the White House (de)regulatory office

Obama's Top Trade Official Nominee: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

On June 12, House will approve the “AIG Bailout Certainty

Senkaku Islands are "core interest" of China, Xi tells Obama

In New Book, Former US Army Officer Warns of Romancing China

China buildup generates fear in Asia-Pacific

South China Sea row risks wider clashes

The Nicaragua Canal: China’s Secret Motive

Russian protesters march as Putin seeks firmer political footing

Heavy Pressure Led to Decision by Obama on Syrian Arms

Lebanon threatens retaliation against future Syrian attacks

War of words over anti-aircraft missiles could escalate


Could Syria ignite World War 3? That's the terrifying question as the hatred between two Muslim ideologies sucks in the world's superpowers.

Assad threatens attack against Israel

Wars over water will be everywhere in Africa

Egypt threatens to beat war drums for the Nile

Canadian Government Officials On Chinese Payroll

‪
Officials Hired to work at Communist controlled Mining Company, conflict of interest.
 
Chinagate: Aftermath‬

Questions Remain in HD Mining Case

Questions Remain in HD Mining Case
Key evidence was struck from the record in federal court, say unions.

‪Chinagate: Who's Minding the Resource Store?‬


Asia tension could lead to conflict—DFA chief

China seals first free-trade deal with Switzerland

China should not be a "free rider" in global trade, the EU's trade commissioner has warned.

Report Hits Out At China's Black Jails, Self-Immolations

Activists Warned Off Tiananmen Memorial March

Toxic Rice Highlights China's Lack of Openness on Pollution

Kinder Morgan takes next step in its Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion plan

Bitumen Doesn't Float

Activists demand public hearings for coal export project

USDA Stands Firm on Consumer Meat Labels, but Will the WTO Continue its Anti-Consumer Legacy and Authorize Trade Sanctions?

RECAP FROM LIMA: Experts, Activists, and Peruvian Members of Congress Rally Against the TPP

London on edge and police fill the street as public beheading stokes ethnic tensions

Stockholm calmer but violence spreads outside Swedish capital

Accused in alleged terror plot seeks lawyer who will use Qu'ran as 'reference'

Canadian drug policy experts recommend decriminalizing all drugs

Russia’s top military officer skeptical about further nuclear arms cuts

Police agency Interpol quashes Russian bid to hunt down UK investor

Court dismisses union challenge of temporary foreign worker permits

Court dismisses union challenge of temporary foreign worker permits 

If there is one thing that this entire incident has proven, it is that Unions are the only political force left that will protect the people. It was the Unions that stood up for us, not business, not government. I was raised to hate unions, anti-union propaganda everywhere, but when the chips fell and everything was on the line the only thing that stood up for us was the Unions. The Unions make every effort to protect our jobs, our communities, to stop unfair trade treaties, to protect workers health and safety, to protect our national sovereignty, to defend the middle class from the 1%. Unions are the reason we have weekends, property, savings, education. Unions prevent slavery and the temporary foreign worker program is the evidence. Unions have proven to be almost as important as the military as a mechanism for national defense. God bless Tommy Douglas and his Big Government National Health Care. God bless Big Government for winning World War II.

Everything political is a matter of organization, just look at how we the people have suffered national humiliation under big business and foreign powers. The answer to this is that we unite and organize into a political entity that sets objectives based on the interests of the people.

Big Government wins wars.

It is the only force capable of this, and we must gain power over it.

God bless the Unions.
God bless the Military.
God bless the Police.
God bless National Health Care.
God bless any Public institution that Defends the People.

We are public citizens, it is our duty to uphold our society.
Trust must be re-build between Government and Citizenry.
Individualism will not save us from this decline, collectivism will.

We must establish a new social contract, one where we take on greater responsibility for society in return for a government that backs us up when we need it too. What we have now is an arrangement where everyone looks out for themselves, big business attacks our countries, while citizens behave with extreme irresponsibility. This does not work. We need to look out for each other, work as a team. Whether you believe in god or not is irrelevant to the fact that Christianity was a code of conduct that provided a cohesive and functional social order. This is now gone and we are seeing the result.

Government should protect our people from both military and economic attacks. Government should protect our people from the conspiracies of the elite. Government should be a part of our family, our community. We should be the government, our interests should be represented in government.
Our government should be concerned with providing us with jobs, affordable housing, and education. Not catering to a foreign elite who stifle citizen opportunity, inflate housing prices, and destroy the cultural cohesiveness and values of our once prosperous communities.  

It is your responsibility to take care of yourself and your community. Eat right, exercise, don't use drugs or alcohol, educate yourself, work hard, pay your taxes, commit everything to building up the society around you. Live below your means and invest the excess wisely. Become a kinder, more patient person and be ethical. When you speak to people, say what you mean, be genuine. The biggest problem the world faces is one of communication, be genuine and don't judge. Have a heart. Commit to being a better person, commit your life and time to achieving a better world around you. Chose your spouse carefully and stick with them. Take care of them and your children for the rest of your life. Stop this endless cycle of broken homes and social problems. Learn to love, then learn to love the whole of society as it where your own family, because it is.

Time is something that people don't understand. That is why lives are wasted. That is why civilizations fall. When people only experience the now they lose context of where they have come from and where they are going. When the links of communication through time have been broken, knowledge and purpose are lost. Do not fall to distraction. Imagine where you will be when you are old and what you have accomplished. Realize that all those short term meaningless distractions did not contribute one bit to you getting to where you want to be. Stop making excuses and do it. Stop complaining about things and change them. Figure out what you want and then get the skills and knowledge required for you to be in a position to contribute to the vision you have.

We need to create of society of no excuses and no judgement, one where we are all focused on solving problems. A society that has a government that cares for the people and a people that cares for the government. A seamless, symbiotic culture of achievement.

Failure is a result of the actions of both the citizen and the administrator, but so is success.

Yes government has failed us in many ways, but don't fall for the anti-government propaganda preached by big business and foreign powers. We need a cultural new deal.              

Bill Gertz On Obama's US Nuclear Force Cuts



China’s nuclear program still shrouded in secrecy

Old School Chinese Espionage Behind Alleged NYU Theft

Ai Weiwei rages against state abuses in song

Syrians reported attacking the Israelis on daily basis along Golan Heights

Israeli air force chief says military needs to be ready for 'surprise war' from Syria

Moscow warns Jerusalem about attacking Syria

Hezbollah forces mass on Israel’s northern border

Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister: Iran is Positioning Itself to Become a Nuclear Superpower

The World is Entering a Pre-Collapse State

Immigrants riot in Stockholm

Man dead in suspected London terror attack

Major anti-worker trade legislation appears increasingly likely to clear Congress

Loblaws Only Canadian Firm to Endorse Worker Safety Accord in Bangladesh

Difficult Truths about 'Difficult Oil', Must transition to Nuclear Power

Democracy Watch: Less than a quarter of eligible voters supported Libs

Democracy Watch: Less than a quarter of eligible voters supported Libs

Single Transferable Vote Better A System - Must break money, party monopolies

Reasonable, Sincere Public Discourse is an act of Public Service.
The defense of our relatively free society is the primary responsibility of the state.
The arsenal of democracy should never be surrendered. Lest we Forget.

Billionaires Own American Politics

Bloomberg: "Coup d’Etat to Trade Seen in Billionaire Toxic Lead Fight"

Tech, labor brandish dueling studies in U.S. immigration fight

New U.S. Chamber attacks on corporate political spending disclosure

Justice Stevens: A rock star at Public Citizen gala


Stop Persecution of Falun Gong: Solemn, Peaceful Protest

Group of Chinese Lawyers Beaten After Visiting Brainwashing Center

China vs. Japan and U.S. on Okinawa

Having gone unchallenged for decades, and facing budget cuts, the U.S. Navy is in danger of losing its capability to challenge the PLA in its near seas.

US Army's top enlisted soldier says cuts could leave troops unprepared for war

After Fighting Over Mountains, India and China Lock Horns in the Indian Ocean

The Kremlin Antagonizes Obama Administration with Impunity

UK inquest into ex-Russian spy's death may be scrapped

Israel-Syria tensions remind me of pre-1967 war period, says ex-intel chief

Elizabeth May Speaking at Falun Dafa Month Rally on Parliament Hill

Elizabeth May Speaking at Falun Dafa Month Rally on Parliament Hill

" The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) banned the practice of Falun Gong in 1999, using tactics employed against peaceful Falun practitioners including imprisonment, forced labour, torture, murder, Orwellian indoctrination and even allegations of live organ extraction.

Help Elizabeth push the Canadian government to tell the Chinese government to stop their persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Sign or download her petition, get as many people as possible to sign it, and mail it – postage free – to either her Ottawa or Sidney offices. With as few as 25 signatures, Elizabeth can present your petition to the government in the House of Commons. "




Elizabeth May is one in a million. A politician that stands for ideals that you can trust. As you all know politicians are usually the worst kind of people on the planet. The vast majority of politicians have no bravery, they go along with the crowd and never stand for anything. Politicians are usually the opposite of leaders. Politicians go along with our flawed and corrupt systems without ever taking the risk of standing for real change. We are all human, we want to love one another, but the world that we want is not the world that we have. Nothing will change if we do not act to change it, and that requires bravery. The calculation of a better world is not a cold equation of personal gain and power, a better world is build by devotion to sacrifice.

We like to pretend that we are ok as a society, but we are not. Money and violence rules humanity as it always has, and through the process of globalization our responsibility for the ongoing atrocity has been collectivized. Our political processes are games between organized gangs of thugs, just as they always have been. The objective is and always has been to keep you addicted to the things that don't matter and ignorant of the things that do.

I don't want this. I don't want to feed this beast. It will only get bigger. I don't want a world where our money, our labour, our tears and the blood of our sons are spent to enrich foreign dictators. I don't want the money that I spend to be used to oppress people for the ideas that they have. I don't want to engage in a commercial system that enriches psychopaths and hurts ordinary people.

Long ago the ruling families were bound by family ties, today our political entities are bound by commercial ties. Money binds your "representatives" to histories greatest monsters. Money enables "democracy" to occur without informed debate or fair choice. Money makes law. I am not against wealth, in fact I view it as something virtuous, so long as it is paired with moral purpose. 

I am not a radical for wanting to ensure that we live in a world with human rights, democracy, an educated and informed citizenry. This is not the world we are currently building.

The only radicals I see are the thugs in the 1% who want to maintain their power through any means necessary. And it is through this they lose what it is that they seek to gain.

What scares the elite is that Elizabeth May is the most powerful person in Ottawa.
The seeds have already been planted, and they will grow.

CTV: Mike Duffy Tried To Influence CRTC Decision On Sun Media: Source

International Internet Copyright (Censorship) Conference Underway

Our Fair Deal

White says SEC not now writing political spending rule

Okinawa doesn't belong to Japan, says hawkish PLA general

China Conducts Test of New Anti-Satellite Missile

Chinese military unit said to resume cyber spying

Russia building up missile defenses while seeking to limit U.S. Defenses

Cold War Never Ended

ERICKSON: Missiles to meet the new threat curve

Iran agents training to storm Israel's border

Israeli Official Signals Possibility of More Syria Strikes

4 reasons Why Christy Clark must go

1) Christy Clark Mismanages the Economy – Increasing debt, deficits – Selling off public property – Creating budgetary dependency on raw resource extraction while spending away the proceeds when they should be saved and invested for future generations.

If the resources of a nation are to be used, they should increase the wealth of the nation. Development can be a responsible and cautious conversion of underground wealth to above ground wealth. Underground wealth should be used to supply domestic industries, entered into a strategic stockpile, or saved and invested in a sovereign wealth fund. In this way the wealth of the nation increases over time. However the current ruling neo-liberal school of thought forces us to shovel as much wealth out the door as soon as possible at the lowest prices. Any revenues generated are spent on current consumption/ operating costs. Neo-liberal economic theory puts the interests of multinational corporate profits over the objective of national wealth/ development/ power. The Communist Chinese dictatorship is taking advantage of the failed economic ideology of Western Neo-liberalism in order to corrupt and interfere in our internal affairs. Any political party that gives away our sovereignty to foreign dictators is a puppet of foreign powers and a danger to the peace. The two headed liberal/conservative movement are the same beast. In the interest of national security, all liberal/conservative candidates should be booted from office as soon as possible. We the people demand a world of non-violence and compassion, and we demand that any trade, investment, or business operations be conducted according to the highest of human rights standards. Hight standards, whereby business, government, and society in general is a place where people love one another, and whereby truth and respect takes precedence over greed and self interest.

Why Isn't Christy Clark More Popular?
“BC Liberals are on their way to doubling the provincial debt since 2001, from $33.8 billion to $66.3 billion in 2015!”

The Era of Tax Cut Stupidity that Starved BC

Election year, BC's small projected surplus depends on asset sales and optimism

Selling off property to pay the bills, selling off non-renewable resources for a piece of what they are worth, does that sound like strategic fiscal management to you?

Oil riches wasted discredit the 'Calgary School.' But a proven path to prosperity exists.

“Norway produces roughly the same amount of oil as Alberta, yet this tiny nation has managed to salt away over $600 billion in accumulated oil wealth in a sovereign wealth fund that now amounts to more than one per cent of global equity markets. 

Norway has no public debt, full employment and fully-funded social programs that Canadians would drool over. Norwegians enjoy free university tuition, universal day care and 25 days of paid holidays per year. Per capita spending on healthcare is thirty per cent higher in Norway; funding for arts and culture is more than three times higher than Canada.”

Why can't neo-liberal economics (conservative/liberal) ever balance the budget?
your government pays too much of its road, education, and hospital bills with finite and volatile hydrocarbon revenue.

“ must "redirect the revenues gained from the sale of resources away from the government's budget and toward saving," ”

" "As we noted previously this is the solution to the problem of energy price volatility that has been successfully employed by energy-rich Norway... ”

2) Christy Clark Supports FIPA

Premier Clark Supports Canada-China Trade Deal, Abandons BC's Constitutional Rights

Rafe Mair

1. “It applies to trade agreements between Canada and China and, thanks to the premier, BC as well.
2. It is, like NAFTA, a treaty that for practical reasons, is all but unbreakable for 31 years.
3. It gives China the ability to obtain huge damages if we don’t perform our side of any deal and to sue for them in her own courts
4. This agreement has not been debated in Parliament nor in the Legislature of BC
5. It won’t be debated in Parliament or the BC Legislature because both the Prime Minister and Premier Clark don’t think they need the agreement of our legislative bodies
6. Without any question, this treaty will impact upon the Province of British Columbia and could cost us hundreds of millions of dollars
7. It seriously compromises the constitutional rights BC has under Section 92 of the Constitution Act (1982)”

“We live in a federation where both the federal government and the provinces have legal, inviolable rights. This is the glue that holds the nation together.” 

“On the pipelines/tankers specifically there are a number of areas where BC has the absolute right to make conditions or ban them outright. Premier Clark, in her disastrous statement, has, on the face of it, estopped BC from exercising our rights. “Estopped” means that she has taken a position upon which another has acted and can no longer exercise the rights she signed away.”

“In short, by agreeing to this treaty, she has, for the length of the contract, surrendered our right to exercise our constitutional rights.”

“We have, then, given our constitutional rights away without any consultation with the people who lose these powers. It’s been called “economic treason” and I agree.”

The Rush to Ratify: BC Rejected International Investment Deal in '98 and Should Do So Again

3) Christy Clark Supports Pipelines, Tankers

The Economics of Oil Pipelines and Supertankers

Robyn Allan

“The debate about oil pipelines and supertankers is not about economic benefit stacked against environmental cost to see if the risk is worth it.

That’s a false dichotomy. It’s developed by oil interests to pit ordinary Canadians against ordinary Canadians.”

“ The energy strategy in Canada is about multinational oil companies and national oil companies of foreign governments reaping vast financial gain and market power versus economic and environmental cost for the rest of us.

I am going to discuss the oil industry and how two pipeline projects—Enbridge’s Northern Gateway and Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain twining—fit into the oil sector’s strategy for Canada.

The costs of these pipeline proposals come in many forms.

What are they? Here’s the top 10:

1. Decades of higher oil prices for Canadian consumers and businesses across the country;
2. Lost opportunity to add value, create meaningful jobs and control environmental standards here at home;
3. Hollowing out of the oil sector as raw bitumen exports take precedence over upgrading and refining;
4. Twice the number of pipelines and almost double the tanker traffic to move diluted bitumen as compared to upgraded bitumen;
5. As soon as Northern Gateway and Trans Mountain are approved, more pipeline capacity will be requested;
6. Rapidly rising exchange rates along with rising diluted bitumen oil prices, impacting other sectors of our economy and our ability to export;
7. Continued reliance on foreign, higher priced oil imports through eastern Canada;
8. A growing dependence on foreign condensate imports through western Canada;
9. Crowding out of BC’s legitimate and vibrant economic activity; and
10. Supernatural British Columbia becomes a Supertanker terminal for Alberta. ”

Bitumen’s Deep Discount Deception and Canada’s Pipeline Mania: An Economic and Financial Analysis

“1)Western Canadian unconventional heavy (WCS) and light crude (SCO) oil experienced normal differentials as compared to WTI in 2012.
2)The majority of oil sands supply comes from producers who are also integrated downstream operators and they make up the difference in the second step–the WTI to Brent spread–in their refinery margins.
3)It is effectively Canadian consumers and businesses that are price-gouged at the pumps. We pay petroleum product prices as if all Canadian crude oil was purchased by refineries at Brent prices–as if we imported all our crude oil from foreign markets.
4)The “supply glut” in Cushing, Oklahoma was largely industry induced and much of it was anticipated. It is expected to be sorted out within the next year, or so, as companies solve their technical difficulties with refinery and pipeline capacity expansions. This throughput realignment will occur without approval of the three bitumen export pipelines.”

The day after the release of Bitumen’s Deep Discount Deception, CIBC World Markets released a short report claiming losses from the double discount. I contacted CIBC to request their underlying analysis. Unfortunately CIBC will not be transparent or accountable for their calculations and refused to discuss their figures or the shortcomings in their methodology. I have addressed the recent claims in an article published in the Tyee “Oil Sands Money ‘Left on the Table’ and More Myths”.

Oil Sands 'Money Left on the Table' and More Myths
“Economist Robyn Allan on why Canadian petro fortunes aren't hurt by lack of pipelines.”
“Petro industry's interests aren't Canada's, The 'opportunity loss' myth”

Calgary fundraiser for BC Liberals to support oil sands agenda
" More than 100 business elites are expected to attend a private fundraiser Thursday night for Christy Clark's B.C. Liberals -- in Calgary. "

Canada's Petro Lobbyists Grow Faster than Pipelines
"Oil and pipeline companies, including seven of the world's largest corporations, have intensified their lobbying efforts in Ottawa over the last four years and held 2,733 meetings with public officials."

Rafe Mair: All I Want for Christmas Is a May election that puts in power true defenders of BC's natural bounty.
“To me the dominant issue before all others going into May's provincial election is the environment. Fiscal fudge-ups can be fixed as can most bad policy. But environmental damage -- be it due to fish farms, pipelines, tankers, Site C or loss of agricultural land -- is, to all intents and purposes, permanent.”

---

Opposition Statement on Government support of pipelines:

This isn’t the first time the BC Liberals have failed to act in the public interest. When it came time to stand up for our province in the Enbridge pipeline review process, they passed the buck to Ottawa – over 4000 kilometres away from the people the project will directly affect.

 Only you and your neighbours can truly understand the environmental and economic devastation a major oil spill might bring to your community.

4) Christy Clark backs Temporary Foreign Workers Program, HD Mining

HD misled saying it needed Chinese specialists for 'long wall' mining

" The company said it intended to use the so-called long-wall technique to harvest coal from its Murray River mine and insisted the Chinese workers were needed for their specialties in the use of it."



"But according to documents obtained by the union, HD Mining's application to the B.C. Ministry of Natural Resource Operations in June 2011 shows during a two-year bulk sample collection period the company had no plan to employ the long-wall technique. "

“After winning a court decision to have resumes of 300 Canadians who applied for the positions handed over to them, unions have accused the company of turning down fully qualified Canadians for the jobs.”

“Unions began their fight against the company on the basis that Canadian resources should be used to create jobs for Canadians”

" The case has been an open pit of controversy since it was discovered by the United Steelworkers union the company had listed Mandarin as a language requirement in job advertisements.

Labour groups contested that was done to eliminate Canadian candidates so the company could be granted Labour Market Opinions supporting their case for foreign miners for smaller wages. "

Steelworkers Allege BC Importer of Chinese Miners Tied to Deadly Accidents
“Dehau Mines linked to Shandong energy group, whose subsidiaries had five disasters killing nearly 200 workers”

HD Mining's Biggest Backer Is Mysterious, Say Steelworkers
“It also questions the backgrounds of some of the people involved in the company, such as the company's chief consultant Ye Qing, referring to him as "as high-level an insider as one might hope to become within the Chinese Communist Party."

---

The government is not serving the people, it is time for a replacement. Patriots Vote.

UBC trains Chinese officials how Canada Government works

 
The elite school many Canadians can't afford to go to rolls out the red carpet for Communist party officials to be given a world class education in how to work the Canadian government. Odds are this will be the most under reported story of the year. No major mainstream coverage.

UBC trains Chinese officials how to work Canada Government
" The University of B.C. will soon become a temporary home to about 125 Chinese civil servants looking to learn as much as possible about the Canadian political system and public policy. "

Sauder to train Chinese bureaucrats in public policy
" UBC has finalized a deal for Chinese government officials to come to the university and take summer classes for the next five years. "

China’s stealth wars of acquisition
" Since the Mao Zedong era, China has adhered to ancient theorist Sun Tzu’s advice: “The ability to subdue the enemy without any battle is the ultimate reflection of the most supreme strategy.”

This approach involves taking an adversary by surprise by exploiting its weaknesses and seizing an opportunistic timing, as well as camouflaging offense as defense. As Sun Tzu said, “All warfare is based on deception.” Only when a war by stealth cannot achieve the sought objectives should an overt war be unleashed. "

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is fighting for the right of oil, gas and mining corporations to keep payments to foreign governments secret
Industry lobbies for right to bribe corrupt officials.

Global Civil Society Expresses Rejection of the Report, “The Future of Trade: The Challenges of Convergence”

Our World is Not For Sale
" The “Our World is not for Sale” (OWINFS) network is a loose grouping of organizations, activists and social movements worldwide fighting the current model of corporate globalization embodied in global trading system. OWINFS is committed to a sustainable, socially just, democratic and accountable multilateral trading system. "

This Workers’ Memorial Day, “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living” 
(Mother Jones, 1925)

SEC commissioner, others call for SEC to protect investors from forced arbitration

Charles Schwab Corporation responds to Public Citizen petition

Digital currency dealers grapple with big banks and murky financial rules


  

Gradual politicization of Canadian security apparatus threat to independent state

Senior Mounties told not to meet MPs without prior approval

"Specifically, they are to notify a liaison office that co-ordinates RCMP strategy with the office of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews."

"It's not appropriate for the government to reach into the police operation. It's a very, very fundamental part of what we must be assured exists so that the police aren't doing the work of the government, they're doing the work of the public."

" Garrison, who is the NDP critic for public safety, said "these memos raise some very serious concerns about whether the government is interfering in the operations of the RCMP to try and assist in controlling their political message. So I think it's very serious." "

" Liberal Senator Grant Mitchell, critic for an RCMP reform bill, C-42, said he feared the "politicization of the police force." "
Spy watchdog shouldn't work for Manning Centre, NDP says

"Non-partisan federal appointment conflicts with role as director for conservative think tank"

"Duncan then asked whether the Canada Revenue Agency would investigate the political activities of the Manning Centre, which is a federally registered non-profit organization, although it does not issue any tax receipts and is not a registered charity."

Government Response:

"That would be unlawful, and it would be inappropriate, and it's bizarre that the NDP would suggest it," said Kenney, who repesents a Calgary riding.

The government makes a response that it would be unlawful to investigate the political nature of a non-profit organization that is organized to funnel industry money into training loyal conservative party goons, just after it spend $8 million taxpayer dollars investigating environmental charities for their alleged political activities.

" In its own words, the Manning Centre for Building Democracy, which runs a "state of the art training centre" in downtown Calgary, is "dedicated to building Canada’s conservative movement – by strengthening the knowledge, skills, ethical foundations, and networks of political practitioners." "

^Read: Organization Training Harpers Brownshirts deemed non-political by government
What about the Government using the CRA against David Suzuki:

Suzuki forges onward despite Tory cuts, CRA audits

"David Suzuki says he finally feels free to speak his mind since stepping down six months ago as a director of his namesake environmental charity, which he founded more than 20 years ago."

" “It’s very demoralizing, because so much of that resource then is dedicated to that process, and the last time we were audited I think it cost over $100,000 of our money to do that, so it’s a very expensive, punitive thing that can be done,” he said. "

"The foundation has been audited three times before. A recent internal review of the its finances found less than one per cent of its resources are dedicated to political activity — well within the 10 per cent legal limit."
One year and $5 million later, Harper’s charity crackdown nets just one bad egg

"An $8-million pot of money included in last year’s federal budget to crack down on charities suspected of engaging in “excessive” political activities has so far resulted in only one having its charitable status revoked, out of nearly 900 that were audited."

"Environmental charities were widely reported to be the primary target of ramped up compliance measures after Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said environmental and other “radical groups” were trying to undermine the national economy by blocking pipeline and other fossil fuel projects."
CRA audits charitable status of Tides Canada amid Tory attack

"The charity – which had revenues of $14.5-million in 2010 – has two main funding arms. Tides Foundation finances other charities ranging from Big Brothers and Big Sisters organizations to Environmental Defence Canada, and Tides Initiatives does its educational, social and environmental work."

"Environment Minister Peter Kent raised the stakes last week when he accused an unnamed group of essentially engaging in “money laundering,” echoing attacks against Tides launched by Conservative senators and the pro-oil-industry, Conservative-connected group, EthicalOil.org."
"In the March budget, the Harper government ordered the CRA to step up its efforts on education and compliance with charities that engage in political activity.The government said then that it was responding to concerns that some charities may not be respecting the rules, and that it also intended to increase the reporting rules for charities that take money from foreign donors."

David Suzuki charity questioned for alleged partisan politics

"The David Suzuki Foundation on Tuesday became the target of a complaint to the Canada Revenue Agency, just days after its namesake co-founder stepped down amid heightened tensions between environmental charities and the Conservative government."

"A week before, David Suzuki stepped down from the foundation he helped create so he can “speak freely without fear” his words will be deemed too political, according to an open letter posted to the group’s website last week."

"Mr. Ellerton said that organizations should forgo charitable status — and all the economic benefits it brings — if they want the freedom to be political."
Battle for Free-speech in Parliament rages

Meet the man who's selling Canada short

Harper regime attacks opposition MP for his Charity fundraising work

Purchasing power: Five ways consumers can be more socially conscious in shopping

Israel wary quiet on Syrian front about to end

Philippines calls China out on de facto occupation

Cover up of ISA virus outbreak - Food Security at risk - Salmon Confidential

Salmon Confidential— Industry / Government Cover-Up Threatens Health and Ecosystem

At chicken plants, chemicals blamed for healthailments are poised to proliferate

Parliament rejects NDP motion to stop FIPA

Parliament rejects NDP motion to stop FIPA

See 'Whipped,' Sean Holman's Expose on Slavish Politicians


Big thinkers still stumped on global economic crisis

Civil service shuffle sees CSIS director Fadden moved to Defence, Fonberg to PCO

Chris Hedges: Harper is “venal”, U.S. politics is “totally rigged”

Foreign Giants Line up to Develop Chunks of BC's Coast

Politicians Begin to pick up on Growing Public Anger over Foreign Imperialism
Patriot Movement Slowly Seeps into Mainstream Political Discourse.

Adrian Dix on the Kinder Morgan Pipeline‬


‪Too valuable to sell‬


BC NDP promises $24 million to grow local agriculture industry

‪Cullen calls on government to scrap Canada-China trade agreement‬


‪MP Nathan Cullen on Enbridge Northern Gateway‬

Globalist Conservatives/Liberals both back FIPA

Members of Parliament will finally have an opportunity to vote on this secretive and dangerous Agreement, and we need your help to make sure that all MPs stand with the majority of Canadians who do not want this treaty ratified.

Please call or write to your Members of Parliament
http://www.greenparty.ca/stop-the-sellout/letter-to-mp

On Monday, there will be a vote on an NDP motion to demand that Canada not ratify the Canada-China FIPA. We strongly support this motion and believe that it represents the will of Canadians.

Currently, both the Conservatives and Liberals have promised to vote against the NDP motion.
Please take a few minutes of your time to call or write to your your NDP and Liberal Members of Parliament ask them to reach a compromise to prevent the ratification of the Canada-China FIPA without ANY public consultation.



Most importantly, please call or write to your Conservative Members of Parliament and ask that they stand up for Canada and vote to prevent Prime Minister Harper from ratifying this Agreement behind our backs. We only have a few days left.

Red Carpet for China
So what is the Canada-China Investment Treaty? Simply put, it is the most significant trade agreement signed by Canada since NAFTA. Only this time our “partner” is the communist government in Beijing, an authoritarian regime with an appalling record on human rights –and it isn’t getting better. This deal requires that Chinese government-owned companies be treated exactly the same as Canadian companies operating in Canada. Once in force, it lasts a minimum of 15 years. If a future government wants to get out of it, a one year notice is required – and even once the treaty is cancelled, any existing Chinese operations in Canada are guaranteed another 15 years of the treaty’s benefits.

We at the Green Party of Canada believe there are many flaws in that agreement. And we think Canadians should know about them:

1. Open bar for Chinese state-owned enterprises
The Canada-China Investment Treaty means easier takeovers of Canadian assets, especially in the resource sector. In the context of the possible takeover of Nexen by the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), it is crucial that we collectively pause to consider the wisdom of granting Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) such an easy access to our natural resources.

2. The right for China to claim damages over Canadian laws
The Canada-China Investment Treaty allows Chinese companies (including state-owned enterprises) to sue the Government of Canada over decisions that can limit or reduce their expectation of profits. In treaty language, this is called “tantamount to expropriation.”   China can claim damages against Canada for decisions at the municipal, provincial, territorial or federal level.   Even decisions of our courts can give rise to damages. The damage claims start with six months of diplomatic negotiation. If that fails, damage claims move to arbitration – behind closed doors.  

3. Secret hearings
The Canada-China Investment Treaty would allow Chinese investors to sue Canada outside of Canadian courts. Special arbitrators would take the decisions. These arbitrators, unlike judges, do not have secure tenures or set salaries. Their decision cannot be subject to judicial review. And the arbitrations are to be secret. Even the fact they are happening is to be secret.

4. Limit right to be heard
Only the federal government is allowed to take part in the arbitration process. Provincial governments or Canadian companies, even if their interests are affected, do not have the right to voice their concerns during the arbitration process.

5. China’s obsession for secrecy
The Canada-China Investment Agreement makes Chinese lawsuits secret . At any time, we will not know if we are being sued and who will decide the case. We will not know what our government is saying on our behalf. We will not know if Canada has been ordered to change government decisions. This is a complete U-turn for Canada who has always insisted on complete openness in investor-state arbitration, for example when signing the Canada-US-Mexico free trade deal.

6. Restrictions on our use of our own resources
The Canada-China Investment Treaty requires that if, in the future, Canada wants to conserve natural resources (fisheries, water, oil, uranium, forests --   everything is covered), and reduce Chinese access to these resources, we are only allowed to do so to the extent we limit our own use of those natural resources.

What the Greens have done
The day after the Canada-China Investment Treaty was made public on September 26th by the Conservatives, Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May held a press conference to warn Canadians on the dangers of the treaty with China. The following day, Elizabeth wrote to the Speaker of the House of Commons demanding an emergency debate about the deal. The Speaker turned down May’s request, saying it did not meet the tests of an emergency.

We were the first (and for some time the only) party to raise the issue, demanding debate and alerting Canadians to the threat -- reduced sovereignty, reduced democracy, all for more Chinese ownership of Canada's resources.

We now call on Canadian citizens to also demand a democratic process for Canada’s ratification of the Canada-China Investment Treaty while we still have time.

Please call or write to your Members of Parliament
http://www.greenparty.ca/stop-the-sellout/letter-to-mp

New Democrats make last-ditch effort to stop FIPPA trade deal with China

NDP: Canada-China agreement should not be ratified in current form

Parliament debates NDP motion to defeat FIPA

The Outrage That Is Outsourcing, forcing workers to train cheap foreign replacements. Business Elite Globalist Conservatives/Liberals work to wipe out Native Born Middle class.

Vast Coastal Protection Plan May Hinge on Election

Elections are not for shale

Big Pharma wants to own naturally occurring genes

Businesses Crowd Corporate-Hosted Government Hearing on Trans-Atlantic "Trade" Deal

Who is Too Big to Fail: Does Dodd-Frank Authorize the Government to Break Up Financial Institutions

Woman Recounts Torture in Most Notorious Labor Camp in China

Chinese Authorities Muzzle Labor Camp Victims After Exposé

Armed Chinese troops, helicopters cross boarder, set up camp in Indian territory

China's Victim Complex

Asia-Pacific Military Spending Spree, Aggressive China, Rivalries Drive Naval Buys

In the next 24 hours, a vote in Parliament could stop FIPA

Breaking news from Ottawa:
 In the next 24 hours, a vote in Parliament could stop the secretive and extreme Canada-China investor deal, FIPA, for good.

http://www.leadnow.ca/stop-fipa-vote

If the Canada-China FIPA is ratified, this extreme and secretive deal would pave the way for a massive natural resource buyout, and allow China’s companies to sue Canadian governments in secret tribunals for unlimited damages, restricting Canadians from making democratic decisions about our economy, environment and energy.1

FIPA is the most sweeping trade deal in a generation, and experts thought Prime Minister Harper would sneak it through Parliament without a vote last November.2,3

Nobody expected your campaign to unite Canadians against FIPA. But, together, we put overwhelming pressure on Conservative MPs, divided their caucus, and the government had to shelve the deal while they try to repair the damage.4

Now, the NDP are holding a vote in Parliament that could stop FIPA. There are deep divisions inside the Conservative benches, and if we create a massive public outcry right now we have a chance to stop this terrible trade deal for good.

We only have 24 hours -- tell your MP and all the party leaders to VOTE TO STOP FIPA, then share this with everyone!

http://www.leadnow.ca/stop-fipa-vote

Background
Canadians have a right to determine our future, but this investor deal will undermine our democratic rights and lock us into an inescapable path of foreign-ownership and resource extraction until at least 2040.

In December, Prime Minister Harper approved the takeover of Canadian oil company Nexen by China's state-owned giant, CNOOC. If FIPA passes, companies like CNOOC can take over Canadian resources and then sue Canadian governments in secret, if the government does anything that threatens the company’s profits.

Any Canadian law or government decision – even ones that protect Canada’s environment, create jobs and stop dangerous projects – could be fought in secret tribunals outside of our legal system. Arbitrators unaccountable to the Canadian public would have the power to award billions in damages to foreign corporations if we do anything that hurts corporate profits, like improve environmental standards or slow down the export of cheap, unprocessed resources.1,5,6
We need to act now. Tell your MP and party leaders: VOTE TO STOP the secretive and extreme Canada-China FIPA.

Additional Information
Our government has not been transparent and accountable to the public.
There has been no real debate in Parliament, no binding vote, and no reports on the risks. The government’s talking points about this FIPA have been dismantled for misleading the public by a Canadian international legal expert.7 China is just as important as the US, and there was a whole election fought over NAFTA. If this is such a good deal, why don’t they want us to hear about it?
Investor-state lawsuits undermine our democratic control.

The ability for corporations to sue foreign governments in private courts, called “investor-state arbitration,” is a controversial practice built into many trade deals like NAFTA that has cost Canada millions and over-ruled democratic decisions, but none impose the level of secrecy in the Canada-China FIPA.

These private courts have a track record of systematically ruling against the interests of Canadians.8 Under this system, Canada has already been sued more than any industrialized country in the world.9,10

Right now, an American company called Lone Pine Resources is using a similar measure in NAFTA to sue Canada for $250 million dollars. Why? They are suing because Quebec placed a temporary hold on gas fracking to study the controversial practice’s impacts on health and environment.11
Incredibly, if BC tries to regulate or block Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline, Sinopec, another Chinese state-owned oil company with investments in Canada’s natural resource infrastructure, may be able to sue for damages, and we may never even hear about it the case or the details of the results.5,6

Other countries are moving away from this runaway global system.
Other countries like India, South Africa and Australia are moving away from this kind of trade deal. Last year Australia rejected investor-state arbitration due to concerns that it would “constrain the ability of Australian governments to make laws on social, environmental and economic matters”.12,13

This deal threatens provincial and indigenous rights.
By allowing foreign corporations to sue Canadians governments for decisions made by any government - federal, provincial, or First Nation - this FIPA threatens the constitutional rights of provinces and First Nations.

In the 1990s, many provinces spoke out against the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), which had similar investor-state tribunals, joining a global groundswell that stopped the MAI in its tracks.14

The BC Union of Indian Chiefs has written an open letter to Prime Minister Harper condemning the Canada-China FIPA. They begin their letter: "On behalf the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, we are writing to firmly express, advise and direct the Government of Canada to reject the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement with China as the Government of Canada has breached its fiduciary duty to consult First Nations on our respective constitutionally-enshrined and judicially-recognized Aboriginal Title, Rights and Treaty Rights."15

The Chiefs of Ontario have also written to both Prime Minister Harper and China's Ambassador to Canada advising that the Canada-China FIPA investment deal violates First Nation Treaty rights and international law, and should be postponed indefinitely, pending nation-to-nation discussions between Canada and First Nations.16,17

Sources:
1. Canada-China Investment Deal Allows for Confidential Lawsuits Against Canada (Toronto Star)
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1264290--canada-china-investment-deal-allows-for-confidential-lawsuits-against-canada

2. Tories quietly table Canada-China investment treaty (Globe and Mail)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tories-quietly-table-canada-china-investment-treaty/article4573635/

3. Battle over CNOOC’s proposed Nexen Takeover Heats Up In Ottawa (Financial Post)
http://business.financialpost.com/2012/09/17/battle-over-cnoocs-proposed-nexen-takeover-heats-up-in-ottawa/

4. Opposition, activists in last minute push for more scrutiny of Canada-China treaty (The Globe and Mail)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/opposition-activists-in-last-minute-push-for-more-scrutiny-of-canada-china-treaty/article4762814/

5. Chinese Companies Can Sue BC for Changing Course on Northern Gateway, says Policy Expert
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/sustainability/chinese-companies-can-sue-bc-changing-course-northern-gateway-says-policy-expert

6. Chairman Harper and the Chinese Sell-Out (The Tyee)
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/10/11/Chairman-Harper/print.html

7. Taking apart Tories' Party Line on China-Canada Treaty (The Tyee)
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/11/05/Van-Harten-FIPA/

8. China Investment Treaty: Expert Sounds Alarms in Letter to Harper Toronto-based authority urges PM to halt ratification, laying out numerous 'deep' concerns. The Tyee, October 16, 2012.
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/10/16/China-Investment-Treaty/

9. Canada has the 6th most investor-state cases against it in the world -- 17 cases against it to the end of 2011. UNCTAD publishes its annual review of investor-State dispute settlement cases, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. February 2012.
http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/webdiaeia2012d10_en.pdf

10. If you include all notices of claims on the Government of Canada, Canada would have 34 cases against and be second in the world (US would rise to 16 cases). NAFTA - Chapter 11 - Investment. Cases Filed Against the Government of Canada: Notices of Intent Received and Current Arbitration, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.
http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/disp-diff/gov.aspx?lang=en&view=d

11. Quebec’s St. Lawrence fracking ban challenged under NAFTA. The Globe and Mail, November 22, 2012.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/quebecs-st-lawrence-fracking-ban-challenged-under-nafta/article5577331/

12. Trading our way to more jobs and prosperity (Government of Australia)
http://www.dfat.gov.au/publications/trade/trading-our-way-to-more-jobs-and-prosperity.html#investor-state

13. Multiple Countries Rejecting Investor State Dispute Settlement (Janet M Eaton, PhD)
http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/main-page/multiple-countries-rejecting-investor-state-dispute-settlement

14. Special Committee on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, First Report. Third Session, Thirty-sixth Parliament. December 29, 1998
http://www.leg.bc.ca/cmt/36thParl/mai/1998/1report/part_iv.htm

15. Open Letter: Canada – China Agreement Abrogates Rights of Indigenous People (Union of BC Indian Chiefs)
http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/News_Releases/UBCICNews10311201.html

16. China Canada FIPA - Chiefs of Ontario Letter to PM Harper
http://www.scribd.com/doc/112459570/

17. China Canada FIPA - Chiefs of Ontario Letter to China's Ambassador
http://www.scribd.com/doc/112459565/

Help raise the alarm
Thousands of us are urgently calling on our MPs to vote to stop the Canada-China investor deal and its unprecedented giveaway of natural resources to foreign control - but we urgently need to reach thousands more before the vote on Thursday, and to do that we need your help to spread the word far and wide.

http://www.leadnow.ca/stop-fipa-vote

NAFTA investor lawsuit against shale gas moratorium adds reason to fear FIPA.

RBC and the Harper government's double message on 'guest workers'

Capitalism as usual: Why RBC's outsourcing isn't really a surprise

RBC replaces Canadian staff with foreign workers

RBC takes heat for Ottawa’s flawed outsourcing policy: CD Howe expert

He said RBC executives told managers, “You can only hire a Canadian if you can show that iGATE can’t supply the worker for you.”

RBC outsourcing jobs

Outsourcing bank jobs is common practice, say employees

Labour Shortage in Canada? Evidence Is Skimpy

George Carlin – Business Globalist Elite Don't Care about You

Oil Sands 'Money Left on the Table' and More Myths

Bitumen Bottleneck and Pipelines Fix a Myth: Economist

Decision looms in case of Chinese workers at B.C. coal mine

China’s Military Issues Implied Threat of War Directed at Japan

The global business elite flocked to China's Boao forum last week


Earlier this month China introduced of a more effective weapon system to assert its territorial claims—a cruise ship with thousands of tourists.

A Chinese show of force to remember in the South China Sea

How China enables North Korea’s mischief

China confirms military exercises near N. Korean border

Russian strategic bomber conducts practice strikes on U.S. missile defenses in Asia

ART CASHIN: It's During Times Like These I Think About How World War I Started


A Gang Of Racist Chinese Kicked a Little UYGHUR Boy in the Head, street crowd laughs 


This is what happens when a gang of thugs rules a country, they teach the people to be thugs, and compassion becomes a lost concept. Imagine if a violent totalitarian regime ruled your country for decades, people lived in fear, people accept the violence and oppression of the authorities. After living through the cultural revolution, standards and norms of acceptable behavior must have changed. To us it may seem strange, but to people who grow up under a such a regime, the culture of violence and racism is normal. Many Chinese people accept the Communist party because they believe the Communist party makes their country strong. For them human rights don't matter, they want power, expansion of the empire, they are doing it all for the so called "race". With an ultra nationalist school curriculum, increasing economic and military capabilities and claims to neighboring country's territory, this does not bode well for world peace.

“China dream.”
“renaissance of the Chinese race:”

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Apple attacked by Chinese hackers, Mac software tool coming to protect consumers

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China exporting massive amounts of Date rape drug

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Tory MPs rebel against Prime Minister's Office control

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Another Conservative MP comes to defence of muzzled backbencher

Congressional momentum on SEC political spending

Ecuador auctions off Amazon to Chinese oil firms

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China stepping up drone deployment

China confirms nuclear deal with Pakistan

A Chinese amphibious task force sparks jitters around the region by reaching the southernmost waters of its claimed domain

China and Vietnam row over South China Sea clash

The dangerous drift towards world war in Asia

Putin foe Berezovsky dead, circumstances "unexplained"

New Report Spotlights Trade Rules' Conflict with Sound Financial Regulation

First SOPA then ACTA, now TAFTA- here we go again