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

A Prescription for what ails Democracy

What I Would Change About Politics in Canada
Elizabeth May


Democracy is, as Winston Churchill once quipped, the worst system of government, except all the others that have been tried.

He also, less famously said, “The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter,” but I don’t think the average voter is our problem in Canada. And I do think we’ve got a problem.

The symptoms of the problem are easy to spot — low voter turnout, with worryingly low levels among young people with no sign they will start voting once they are over 30, a less than vital Fourth Estate, undermined by an alarming level of concentration of media ownership in very few hands, public apathy, indifference bordering on antipathy toward the whole process, excessive power in the hands of the few (or the one, since I refer to PMO), a loss of respect for the fundamental principle of the supremacy of Parliament, misuse of the talents of Members of Parliament of the large parties as MPs are expected to toe the party line on every issue, big and small, and its flip-side, excessive control by the un-elected top party brass in all three main parties.

Add to this, that the average voter in Canada — if anyone can be called “average” — is incensed by the goings on related to the excessive claims of certain Senators and the outrageous accommodation for Senator Duffy by the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff cutting him a cheque for $90,000 so he could make it seem he had personally paid back what he took through inappropriate means. The fact of a $90,000 cheque from the Prime Minister’s top ranking staff member and closest confidante remains just simply stunning. It was, on its face, illegal. It makes no sense and no sensible explanation has been offered.

So, what could we change to restore the kind of healthy democracy that would re-engage voters, stop the growth in public cynicism and give Canadians a system — and individual politicians –they could believe in?

Here’s a short prescription for what ails our democracy:

1. Get rid of “first past the post” and elect MPs, as is done in most modern democracies, by some form of proportional representation. Make sure every vote counts so voters feel the impact of their vote. Thanks to first past the post, in 2011, a minority of voters elected a majority government. Such “false majorities,” as University of Toronto Prof. Emeritus Peter Russell has dubbed them, have occurred for Liberals as well as Progressive Conservative and now Conservative governments. Such results are only possible due to First past the post.
2. Reduce the powers of the Prime Minister’s Office — regardless of who is the occupant. It is an invention, not mentioned in our Constitution. Its powers and budget are unchecked and unaccountable. It is now at $10 million/year. Cut it in half to $5 million…or cut it more. Its total power in times of majority Parliament is anti-democratic, especially in a situation of a “false majority.” Cut the power of PMO. Restore a healthier Cabinet system of government.
3. Restore a respected, professional civil service. Return to evidence-based decision making. Rebuild the wall between the PMO and the PCO (Privy Council Office). Only under PM Harper have the political operatives in PMO run roughshod over the civil service, contaminating government information with partisan spin. This must be stopped.
4. Pass legislation that deals with concentration of media ownership to encourage the rebirth of local journalism and reduce the powers of a handful of owners (our current legislation dealing with competition in the news media fails to deal with this issue and only addresses issues of the price of media products.)
5. Restore respect for the supremacy of Parliament. Ensure that the control of the public purse is restored to Parliament, where it belongs.
6. Remove the power of leaders of federal parties to sign the nomination forms for their party’s candidates. Allow the caucus members of parties the right to trigger leadership reviews.
7. Senate reform — open conversations and negotiations with provinces. Is abolition possible? Could a council of the federation with more effective representation from municipalities, provinces and territories bring something useful to Parliament?
8. And perhaps most important of all — re-assert the constitutional requirement that MPs are elected to represent their constituents, not to be mere ciphers of the back-room hyper-partisan spin doctors who call the shots.

Bring back Westminster parliamentary democracy. All our rules say we have one; only our political habits tell us we are moving toward an elected dictatorship. This prescription to restore and heal democracy can only be filled when the citizens of Canada demand it.
Canada Day 2013 is a good time to start.

Originally published in the Huffington Post.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Half of voters don't see Harper Conservatives as an option

Activists, indigenous people plan healing walk in 'sick' tar sands landscape

BC government bodies spent $18.8 million on carbon offset scam in 2012



'No more beards!' Egypt celebrates arrest of Muslim Brotherhood leader as army hunts THREE HUNDRED followers of deposed president Morsi
^The military in this instance has acted in defense of democracy. No corrupt political party should be allowed to wield too much power over the people. Political parties are anti-democratic in that they are small groups of organized conspirators who seek to impose their absolute power. Democracy is not about going out to vote for a new dictator every few years, it is a process that is meant to happen all the time. The military and associated security apparatus has a role, it must protect a nation from the corruption of weak "leaders". Take the rise of Hitler as a prime example of how politicians can cause real damage to democratic societies. Hitler was democratically elected but after election he proceeded to dismantle German democracy and violate the human rights of German citizens. The German military should have intervened in the 1930's to protect German democracy. There were plans among the officers to do just that but unfortunately none succeeded. The point is that democracy is not just about elections, it is a process, a state of existence that respects people. My concern is that people from countries without cultural knowledge of what democracy is must have many misconceptions about what it looks like. Even in countries with strong democratic traditions much of the population is unaware of the philosophical origins of the modern world. If you set up a system where a radical segment of the population imposes their agenda on everyone else, that is not democracy. Even if you hold a vote every few years, the winners of the vote still must respect everyone's rights. Democracy is not meant to be about winning power over others, it is about bringing everyone together and finding solutions. I am disgusted that the competing mainstream parties take every opportunity to spout off spin and talking points every time they are granted access to the media. They are all fighting over the opportunity to form a "majority" so they can impose the agendas of their backers. The constant partisan messaging is an exhibition the profound immaturity and ignorance of our politicians. This is in sharp contrast to our brave members of the military who volunteer to risk their lives in service to god and country. I trust our generals more than I do our emperors. Men of honour in the tradition of Roméo Antonius Dallaire and Maximus Decimus Meridius are more trustworthy than most politicians. Just because someone "wins" an "election" it does not mean they are acting democratically or that democracy is healthy and on the right track. Some states have ruling political parties that control the media and arrest dissenters. Some states have ruling corporations and business elites who dominate the political process with money. Just because a vote occurs, it does not necessarily mean that democracy is happening. Democracy is more like a goal on the horizon that we continually chart a course for through reform and reconciliation. Don't get me wrong, we have a lot to be grateful for, our politicians are much better that the thugs of the completely corrupt and evil Chinese Communist party, but there are systemic and cultural issues that need to be resolved if we are to have any hope of dealing with the deteriorating economic and security conditions. We need leaders to put aside themselves, to put aside all sense of self. We must transcend crisis, history, and division to accomplish the preservation of our ideals. Hear me, I am speaking to you. You must make the dream a reality. You, in whatever capacity you serve, must do everything within your power to build our future. You must transcend your"self", and make "us" possible.                       

Obama Poking Holes in America’s Nuclear Umbrella

Why Countries Build Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century

Sequester Effect: Army Undergoing Massive Restructuring, Includes Cutting Brigades

As Britain's military shrinks, US concerns grow

Iran conducts test of new rocket motor with ICBM capability

US quietly invites Iran to talks based on mutual respect

The Expendables: How the Temps Who Power Corporate Giants Are Getting Crushed

Russia deploying new missile defense radar while seeking curbs on U.S. Defenses

SCHNEIDER: Russia’s arms-control violations

Chinese general warns India

China media warns Philippines of 'counterstrike' in South China Sea

Four Chinese ships in disputed waters: Japan

Japan has 'serious concern' about China drilling rig

Chinese military in S.China Sea threatens peace

Both the Philippines and Japan are conducting military drills with the US

Revealed: Iran’s secret nuke deal with China, N. Korea

Missouri vetoes raise questions for Smithfield-China deal

Thousands March For Democracy and Autonomy In Hong Kong

Case of Tang Hui, A Petitioning Chinese Mother, Highlights Labor Camp System

Chinese Police Are Regime’s Violence Machine, Says Official in Viral Video

China’s West Erupts in Violence 2nd Time in 3 Days

New Tunisian protest movement takes cue from Egypt

Blue Helmets hurt in Darfur ambush: top peacekeeper

Asia driving 'explosion' in global arms trade: study

Asia driving 'explosion' in global arms trade: study

China's Foreign Minister warns nations seeking help From US will find their efforts "futile"

China Military Buildup Risks Accident

Japan vows to help Philippines amid China sea row

The Obama administration’s risky disarmament agenda

The sequester’s bite

Growing Tyrannies across the world are crushing dissent. 
Is it possible that democracy is dying?

Russia evacuates Tartus, also military, diplomatic personnel from Syria. High war alert in Israel

Russia said to be violating 1987 missile accord

China, Russia gained access to Snowden’s secrets

In Shift, Snowden Now Said to Reveal US Monitoring of China

China Activist Chen Guangcheng Visits Taiwan

Movie Review ‘Camp 14: Total Control Zone’

The Dangers of Blogging in Oppressive Regimes: Film

‘Youngest Prisoner of Conscience’ Escapes House Arrest in China

Unjustly Treated Officer Quits the Chinese Communist Party

Chinese Rubber Stamp Legislature Boosts CEO Profits

DID CHINA BUY NICARAGUA?

Oil pipeline shut down as second leak in as many weeks plagues Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain near Hope

First Nations group calls for B.C. to reject Northern Gateway pipeline work permits


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

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

Communist China wins BC election

After all polls predicted a major liberal loss, the Communist backed ruling Liberals win a solid majority victory. The battle over the infamous pipelines advances to the next stage as citizens prepare for a showdown with foreign imperialist forces.

Cyber Threats could overwhelm Canada within two years:  CSIS

Harper assailed for cutting Elections Canada budget despite rampant vote problems

Procedural errors rampant during 2011 federal vote: Elections Canada

BC's Labour Market Weaker than Worst of Recession

The Pipeline Plan that Rattled BC, Explained

Probability of Enbridge oil tanker spill as high as '99.9%': SFU study

Enbridge breaks safety rules at pump stations across Canada

No evidence BC gov't investigated recruiters charging temp foreign miners produced

BC's Fish Farm Falling out, Explained

Drug companies not involved in ministry purge, says minister

Five Reasons to Turf Christy Clark's Liberal Crew


Green party's Elizabeth May on Energy Security


Debate has been about how best to export raw, virtually unprocessed bitumen — as much as possible and as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, the eastern half of Canada depends on imports of foreign oil from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, and Norway. As Gordon Laxer of the Parkland Institute tried to point out to a Parliamentary committee (before the Conservative chair ordered him to stop talking and stormed out of the room), Canada has no energy security.

I feel some responsibility for this shift in debate, as I was the first political leader to point out that there was something wrong with the picture.

Unlike the US, we have no Strategic Petroleum Reserves. If there was a blockade of foreign oil or an 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 committee about the vulnerability of eastern Canada to embargos.
Oppositional Canada

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.
The Solution: Shipping East?

However, the current proposal also makes no sense. Former New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna has proposed shipping unprocessed bitumen to St John, New Brunswick, to put it in tankers to export it from there. Others are proposing refining it in New Brunswick.

The first decision point is Enbridge’s application to reverse its Number 9 pipeline. This pipeline was built in the 1970s and had originally flowed west to east. It was reversed in the 1990s as the markets favoured cheaper foreign oil.

Now, Enbridge is applying to reverse it once again, running a different product, dilbit, from west to east. The request to the National Energy Board is being considered in two stand-alone applications; Line 9A (Sarnia to North Westover) and Line 9B to Montreal.

From there the bitumen would likely go south through New England. When I was in Washington DC, I heard from quite a few Congressmen and Senators that they do not want those pipelines over their territory.

Bitumen

The nature of bitumen and diluents in pipelines is a critical issue in why the Green Party oppose pipelines of unprocessed product to either coastline. So, before talking about the direction of pipelines, we need to talk about the product.

Even after the extensive and intensive process of extracting the viscous material known as bitumen from the soil in which it is found (generally about 10% by volume), it is still not processed to even the level of crude oil. Crude oil can flow. Bitumen cannot. It has the consistency of peanut butter, so needs to be mixed with something else to flow. That something else is called ‘diluent’—a mix of undisclosed chemicals. The most commonly used diluent is a natural gas condensate, similar to Naptha. The public does not know the make-up of any particular diluent. Some have more benzene than others—benzene is a well-documented carcinogen.

The resulting so-called dilbit product is about 30% diluents and 70% bitumen. We do know a lot more about dilbit than we used to. And we did a lot of that learning through the 2010 Enbridge dilbit spill in the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. We know it both floats and sinks; that it is far harder and far more expensive to clean-up than unprocessed conventional crude. The Kalamazoo spill is still not cleaned up.

Meanwhile a debate rages about whether dilbit is more likely to cause pipeline failure. Cornell University found that between 2007 and 2010 pipelines carrying dilbit had a spill-rate three times higher than pipelines carrying conventional crude. Oil sands products have a higher sulfur and a higher acidic content than conventional crude and those properties could explain its increased corrosive nature.

This finding led to the Department of Natural Resources to commissioning a study by a group called Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (ATIF). That study compared dilbit and conventional crudes and concluded the types of corrosive compounds between the two products were comparable. So we have labwork versus the real life rate of spills in US pipelines. At the moment, despite what Harper’s Cabinet ministers claim, the science on the corrosive nature of dilbit is not settled.

Meanwhile, if local residents along the Number 9 pipeline wish to speak before the NEB hearings, or even submit a letter, they are required to fill out a 10-page form, and are also encouraged to submit references and a resume! This is an NEB effort to meet the new requirements imposed by the horrific overhaul of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act that took place last year in the Omnibus Budget Bill (C-38).

Unlike the previous CEAA, which was premised on a fundamental commitment to rights of public participation, the Harperized CEAA restricts access to only those ‘directly affected’. The NEB has made this restriction even worse by demanding that any citizens who want to make comments, fill out the forms and apply within a two-week period—which will close before this article will be in print.
Refineries In Alberta

So, what should be done? The best environmental, economic and climate outcome would be to slow down the boom-and-bust cycle of constant expansion in the oil sands. What the late Peter Lougheed used to describe as the ‘traffic jam’ of feverish expansion in the oilsands prevents the construction of ancillary infrastructure, like upgraders and refineries.

The hyper-inflationary bubble that sits on northern Alberta is what makes it cheaper for Big Oil to build a $7 billion pipeline to Texas, rather than build facilities in Alberta. Any reasonable carbon plan would set a level of managed growth for oil sands production—say 2 million barrels of oil a day (more than the current 1.7 million barrels, but less than Harper’s goal of 6 million barrels of oil a day). That level of production could cool down the capital and labour markets enough to build upgraders and refineries near the resource. Then, we could be talking about shipping—by pipeline, truck or train—a finished product whose properties are better understood. Shipping a product with a far lower risk of environmental impact in the event of spills.

If we are thinking like a country, we should get Alberta oil to Eastern Canada, but we should not ship bitumen + diluents.

Weaver wins first ever Green seat in BC: Globe

Elizabeth May Tables Bill Targeting Excessive Party Discipline


Conservatives boost resources ad spending to $16.5M, target U.S. audiences

Harper Government Media Monitoring: Opposition Accuses Tories Of Spying On MPs

Effort afoot in court to sue Canadians for illegal downloads

Public Citizen and Sierra Club Denounce World Trade Organization Attack on Successful Clean Energy Program

Who hires temporary foreign workers? You’d be surprised

For young Canadians, labour market as bad as during the recession

Trade Talks? Only Business Insiders Invited

Global youth unemployment set to rise, UN warns

Canada's foreign-born population soars to 6.8 million

What Is TPP? Biggest Global Threat to the Internet Since ACTA

Canada loses appeal at WTO over Ontario's green energy legislation

More Conservative MPs say No to taxpayer-paid attacks against Trudeau

John Ivison: Grim report warns Canada vulnerable to an aboriginal  insurrection

12 Latin American Governments Gather to Confront Extreme Investor Privileges Regime

Pentagon plans to share missile secrets with Russia

Did Citizens United thwart the effort to overturn “Citizens United” in Washington

Pentagon Paying Chinese for Satellite Bandwidth

Republicans say U.S. headed toward ‘armed revolution’: Poll

Why the world is reading Gillard's defence paper

‘Get ready to fight’: China shifts from Deng’s ‘low profile’ to Mao’s aggression | World Tribune

China Escalating Territorial Disputes with Neighbors

Chinese think tank warns of more 'serious' incidents

AFP: China should ‘reconsider’ who owns Okinawa: academics

Medvedev Says Russian Rearmament On Level With WWII

Why China Lets North Korea Run Wild

Russian military again flies strategic bombers near Alaska

North Korea missile can hit US with nuclear warhead, Pentagon report says

Xi Jinping and the Chinese dream

China’s rift with Japan is open challenge to U.S.

China Registering the Religious in Xinjiang

Chinese government has U.S. auto industry in cross hairs

Chinese Hackers Raiding U.S. Military Tech Secrets

Inside the Ring: Russia builds up, U.S. down

China risks war as it pushes its territorial claims in Asia

Red Lines, Deadlines, and Thinking the Unthinkable: India, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, and China | Center for Strategic and International Studies

China's Militant Nationalism

Xi's War Drums

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

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

Canada Should Take Note of India’s Freeze on All Investment Protection Agreements

“Canada Should Take Good Note of India’s Freeze on All Investment Protection Agreements”

OTTAWA – With ratification of the Canada-China Investment Treaty still pending, the Green Party of Canada underscores India’s decision to move away from bilateral investment protection agreements and their investor/state dispute system.

After facing the threat of international arbitration from foreign companies, India has ordered in January 2013 a freeze of all bilateral investment protection agreements negotiations until a governmental review is carried out and completed. Although news of India's decision has not been mentioned in the Canadian media, the decision is clearly relevant.

“In November 2012, Prime Minister Harper told me in the House of Commons that the Indian Prime Minister was committed to signing a foreign investment promotion and protection agreement with Canada. I think Canada should take good note of India’s freeze on all investment protection agreements,” said Green Leader Elizabeth May, Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands.

“The investor/state dispute system contained in investment agreements allows foreign companies to sue Canada outside of Canadian courts. Special arbitrators would take the decisions; 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,” said May.

“India is joining nations such as Australia and South Africa in saying ‘no’ to investor/state provisions. It’s time for Canada to also turn the page on this out-of-date and undemocratic international trade model,” said May.

Tightening the grip: muzzling of scientists ramps up in Canada

Elizabeth May

Back in October 2011, I wrote in Island Tides about the muzzling of DFO scientists. The scientist in question, Dr Kristi Miller, had achieved levels of scientific respect as her work on viruses linked to salmon aquaculture operations had been published in the internationally prestigious journal Science. When Science attempted to arrange media interviews with Dr Miller, the Privy Council Office ordered her to refuse.


It seems that the public outcry over that event, and others including ozone scientists at Environment Canada, led the Prime Minister’s Office to decide the contractual arrangements with scientists were too lax. As of February 1 this year, new rules were put in place requiring all scientists working on projects in conjunction with DFO in the Central and Arctic Region to treat all information as proprietary to DFO, and—worse—await departmental approval before submitting research to any scientific journals.


The story was broken by veteran journalist Michael Harris, in the online journal iPolitics. Harris has been one of the few journalists willing to dig into the pervasive repression, slashing of science and rejection of evidence based decision-making in Harper’s Ottawa.


The reaction from DFO was swift. It posted this attack on its website:

‘The iPolitics story by Michael Harris published on February 7th, 2013 is untrue. There have been no changes to the Department’s publication policy.’


Harris recounts that he was stunned. He had verified the change with several scientists, external to DFO. He called Dr Jeff Hutchings at Dalhousie University who re-confirmed the changes. Then Harris received support from an unexpected source—an anonymous DFO scientist posted the email from Michelle Wheatley, the Central and Arctic science director, sent out to detail the new publication policy.


The anonymous scientist wrote, ‘Here is the e-mail I got from my division manager on January 29, 2013: ‘Subject: New Publication Review Committee (PRC) Procedures for C&A Science …’. The email was reproduced in full, and began, ‘This message is regarding the new Publication Review Committee procedures for C&A Science…’


The email noted that the new policy was to take effect on February 1, 2013.
The anonymous scientist concluded: ‘You decide who’s being untruthful.’


A few days after DFO tried to deny that there were any changes, the Vancouver Sun broke the story of a US scientist, doing collaborative work with DFO, who is refusing to sign the new conditions. Calling it a ‘potential muzzle,’ Dr Andreas Muenchow, of the University of Delaware told the Sun, ‘I’m not signing it.’ Muenchow has been working on a project with DFO scientists in the Eastern Arctic since 2003.


In 2003, when the collaborative research project began, there were quite different rules about sharing data: ‘Data and any other project-related information shall be freely available to all Parties to this Agreement and may be used, disseminated or published, at any time.’


Within days of February 1st’s new publication policy, on February 7, came another DFO email to scientists: now they must obtain prior consent before applying for research grants.


You can see where this is going. It is not enough to muzzle scientists like Dr Miller when their research is published. The tightening of control over science must be established far earlier in the process. Stop the research from being submitted to journals. Stop the scientists from collaborating with others. Stop scientists from applying for research grants. Stop science from happening at all.


The elimination of whole branches of scientific work within the federal government, the slashing of governmental funds for science, and now a departmental veto on applying for research grants or submitting results to peer reviewed journals fits in the larger systemic dismantling of any aspect of governmental activities that could throw doubt on the wisdom of pressing for rapid expansion of fossil fuel exploitation.


‘Chilling’ is one word, but it does not seem adequate to this development. This is the 21st Century equivalent of the Dark Ages. This is book burning and superstition run rampant. This is the administration of a steady, slow drip of poison to a weakening democracy.

Canada no longer one of top 10 most developed countries: United Nations

What Really Killed Soviet Union? Oil Shock?

Oil Sands Cleanup Opportunity: Pay As You Go

Ask Your Senators and Representative to Support the Democracy Is For People Constitutional Amendment

"U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and U.S. Congressman Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) have introduced a powerful constitutional amendment that would prevent corporations from spending to influence elections and would enable to government to regulate campaign spending from individuals."

New ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ Gives Monsanto Power Over US Government
"Monsanto is at war once again against health conscious consumers with the latest ‘Monsanto Protection Act‘, managing to sneak wording into the latest Senate legislation that would give them blanket immunity from any USDA action regarding the potential dangers of their genetically modified creations while under review."

Vaughn Palmer: How did a $6-million loan to two ex-government aides magically vanish?

Six fired, two lawsuits, one dead — but still no answers

Report details misuse of government resources

CBC balked at running taxpayer funded ads promoting (ruling party) BC budget

Government backs down on controversial forestry bill

CBC - Secret document details new Canadian foreign policy

Stephen Harper Trades Canada Away

Secret document details new Canadian foreign policy

" Draft policy calls for closer economic ties 'even where political interests or values may not align' "

Respect for Human Rights Better plan for Trade and Investment: MP Irwin Cotler

12 Reasons Why Globalization Is A Major Problem: Gail Tverberg 

 

Globalization levels the playing field, in a way that makes it hard for developed countries to compete. A country with a lower cost structure (lower wages and benefits for workers, more inexpensive coal in its energy mix, and more lenient rules on pollution) is able to out-compete a typical OECD country. In the United States, the percentage of US citizen with jobs started dropping about the time China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. - See more at: http://www.economywatch.com/economy-business-and-finance-news/12-reasons-why-globalisation-is-a-major-problem-gail-tverberg.26-02.html#sthash.kewzAwZz.V7JoIdKS.dpuf

Globalization levels the playing field, in a way that makes it hard for developed countries to compete. A country with a lower cost structure (lower wages and benefits for workers, more inexpensive coal in its energy mix, and more lenient rules on pollution) is able to out-compete a typical OECD country. In the United States, the percentage of US citizen with jobs started dropping about the time China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. - See more at: http://www.economywatch.com/economy-business-and-finance-news/12-reasons-why-globalisation-is-a-major-problem-gail-tverberg.26-02.html#sthash.kewzAwZz.V7JoIdKS.dpuf

The failure of one country has the potential to pull many others down, and with it much of the system. - See more at: http://www.economywatch.com/economy-business-and-finance-news/12-reasons-why-globalisation-is-a-major-problem-gail-tverberg.26-02.html#sthash.kewzAwZz.V7JoIdKS.dpuf

CNOOC completes $15.1-billion takeover of Calgary oil and gas producer Nexen

Investigation into massive data breach widens to Justice Department

CHINA'S 'SOFT POWER' AND A REAL 'RED DAWN'

" Beijing is now a major financial partner in Hollywood, a place where money has always trumped art, let alone truth. Communist China will now take a direct hand in the manufacturing of what American audiences see. "

" The main goal is to desensitize the American people to Communist China's growing military power, outright aggression against its neighbors, and the continuing brutal oppression of its own people. "

" These are also developments which China's smiling Communist elite do not want Americans to think about. We are to think of the Peoples Republic in terms of valuable business partners and graceful practitioners of Tai Chi. "

The Coming Water Wars

Dear Stephen Harper: Tibet is Burning

105th Tibetan Self-Immolates Inside China

"illegal" Student Protests in Montreal

Climate change, urban growth, agriculture driving water study need: report

BC Liberals planned to use gov't resources to win "ethnic" vote 

 

The 17-page document is a "Multicultural Strategic Outreach Plan" aimed at co-ordinating party, caucus and government resources to "re-engage with ethnic voters and media." It includes plans to work on a media strategy, build a database of contacts and find "quick wins" such as apologizing for past injustices. - See more at: http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/02/27/BC-Libs-Outreach/#sthash.UJh00ypO.dpuf

The 17-page document is a "Multicultural Strategic Outreach Plan" aimed at co-ordinating party, caucus and government resources to "re-engage with ethnic voters and media." It includes plans to work on a media strategy, build a database of contacts and find "quick wins" such as apologizing for past injustices. - See more at: http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/02/27/BC-Libs-Outreach/#sthash.UJh00ypO.dpuf

The 17-page document is a "Multicultural Strategic Outreach Plan" aimed at co-ordinating party, caucus and government resources to "re-engage with ethnic voters and media." It includes plans to work on a media strategy, build a database of contacts and find "quick wins" such as apologizing for past injustices. - See more at: http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2013/02/27/BC-Libs-Outreach/#sthash.rPEMcv2B.dpuf

White House says it will seek "fast-track" trade authority

Ex-security officials press Obama to cancel cuts to nuclear arsenal

Deterrence Works, Argues Top Air Force Official

Big cuts spur calls to Congress from irate constituents

" "They want to kill us all," Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, said of his constituents. "

Obama Officials Refuse to Say if Assassination Power Extends to US Soil

" Since then, the administration – including the president himself and his nominee to lead the CIA, John Brennan – has been repeatedly asked whether this authority extends to US soil, i.e., whether the president has the right to execute US citizens on US soil without charges. In each instance, they have refused to answer. "

The Missing Recovery

" Foreign hires are not additions to the work force, but replacements. The corporations force their American employees to train the foreigners, and then the American employees are discharged. Obviously, if skilled employees were in short supply, they would not be laid off. Moreover, if the skills were in short supply, salaries would be bid up, not down, and the 36% of those who graduated in 2011 with a doctorate degree in engineering would not have been left unemployed. The National Science Foundation’s report, “Doctorate Recipients From U.S. Universities,” says that only 64% of the Ph.D. engineering graduates found a pay check. "

" By focusing on the bottom line at all costs, corporations are destroying the US consumer market. Offshoring jobs reduces labor costs and raises profits, but it also reduces domestic consumer income, thus reducing the domestic market for the corporation’s products. For awhile the reduction in consumer income can be filled by the expansion of consumer debt, but when consumers reach their debt limit sales cannot continue to rise. The consequence of jobs offshoring is the ruination of the domestic consumer market. "

" To sum up, the corporations’ focus on the bottom line has disconnected US incomes from the production of the goods and services that the American people consume, thus weakening and ultimately destroying the domestic consumer market. The Fed’s focus on saving banks, which mindless deregulation allowed to become “too big to fail,” has created a bond market bubble of negative real interest rates and a dollar bubble in which the dollar’s exchange rate has not declined in keeping with the large increase in its supply. Both the corporations and the Fed have created a stock market bubble based on profits obtained from labor arbitrage (the substitution of cheaper foreign labor for US labor) and from banks speculating with the money that the Fed is providing to them.

This situation is untenable. Sooner or later something will pop these bubbles, and the consequences will be horrendous. "

Growth, Debt and Trade

" The current economic model assumes that perpetual growth is possible on our fragile and finite planet. This economic model is dependent on consumption and the waste that accompanies consumption means that most of what we buy is cheap and ends up in our waste streams within six month of purchase. The economy is financed by debt and debt levels are unsustainable and growing. Virtually all levels of government, individuals and families carry too much debt compared to their income.

The globalized economy was made possible by cheap fossil fuels and globalized trade. Fossil fuels are no longer cheap and most countries’ economies are contracting.

BC Greens will work with British Columbians to plan for and transition to an economy based in place and community where trade is local and based in durable goods and services. "

Why It’s Smart to Be Reckless on Wall Street

"Find a best friend at a competing bank or hedge fund and take opposite sides of the same large bet."

China moves mobile missiles near coast amid tensions with Japan over islands

China to intensify Sea patrols

Buchanan: World turns to Nationalism

" How does the Chinese Communist Party justify control of all of China’s institutions today — economic, political, military and cultural?

If Marxism is mocked behind closed doors by a new economic elite and tens of millions of Chinese young, what can cause the nation to continue to respect and obey a Communist Party and its leaders, besides the gun?

The answer of Europe in the 1930s is China’s answer today.

Nationalism, tribalism, patriotic war if necessary, will bring the masses back. If the Chinese nation is being insulted, if ancestral lands are occupied by foreigners as in olden times, the people will rally around a regime that stands up for China. Nationalism will keep Chinese society “under control while you go forward.” "

Tensions rapidly escalating around South China Sea

" China’s assertion that almost all of the South China Sea and adjacent waters are part of its territory seems to be growing more dangerous with each passing week. "

Revanchist China

" Having dominated East and Southeast Asia for all but the last two centuries of the past two millennia, China is chafing at the current US-led regional order of sovereign states, in which even the smallest enjoys the same rights, privileges, and protection as the largest. Modern China has benefited enormously from this arrangement; nonetheless, there is keen resentment that the Chinese civilization-state’s vast achievements over several thousand years offer China no special status.

To a people imbued with a deep sense of superior moral worth, historical achievement, and victimization by foreign powers, this state of affairs is unjust and unnatural. It follows that pulling back from any territorial dispute with smaller and inferior states would be seen as a humiliating defeat, rather than a step toward ensuring long-term regional stability. "

Internet Sleuths Add Evidence to Chinese Military Hacking Accusations

The cacophony of the world

" The information revolution has created a more global, interdependent, and transparent world than ever. But this has led, in turn, to an anxious, Balkan-ising quest for identity. "

China tests Japanese and US patience

" According to Abe, relations between China and Japan have been suffering due to unintended consequences of moves by the Communist Party of China to retain its legitimacy. China’s economic opening led to unequal prosperity, eliminating the Party’s main pillar of support, equality. To counter that, the Chinese government pursued a two-prong strategy of economic growth and patriotism. Economic growth required Beijing to expand its sourcing of commodities, moving China naturally onto the sea. Meanwhile, patriotism, tinged with anti-Japanese teaching, has come to pervade the educational system and society.

Abe argued that China is pursuing a path of coercion or intimidation, particularly in the East and South China seas, as part of its resource-acquisition strategy. Anti-Japanese undercurrents in Chinese society due to the inculcation of patriotism have won domestic support for the assertive Chinese actions. "

Taiwanese Groups Condemn Organ Harvesting in China

" The statement calls for the Chinese regime to release all prisoners of conscience, and requests that the Taiwanese government and other governments implement legislation to prohibit organ transplantation using organs from illicit sources. "

The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking

" The existence of many individual camps and ghettos was previously known only on a fragmented, region-by-region basis. But the researchers, using data from some 400 contributors, have been documenting the entire scale for the first time, studying where they were located, how they were run, and what their purpose was. "

Censoring the Internet a Lucrative Industry in China

" Coming across the message “this page cannot be displayed” while browsing the Internet is a common experience for Chinese netizens, and is often a sign the content was removed by Internet censors. "

Exclusive: China plans bond overhaul to fund $6 trillion urbanization - sources

" The Party aims to bring 400 million people to cities over the next decade as the new leadership of president-in-waiting Xi Jinping and premier-designate Li Keqiang seek to turn China into a wealthy world power with economic growth generated by an affluent consumer class. "

Inside the Ring: Chinese pressure points

South Korea's ongoing security dilemma

Iran's 'Plan B' for a nuclear bomb

Report: North Korean test may mean Iran has a nuclear missile warhead

Syrian strife prompts Israeli rethink on Golan

The Copyright Propaganda Machine Gets a New Agent: Your ISP

" It’s been a long time coming, but the copyright surveillance machine known as the Copyright Alert System (CAS) is finally launching. "

Grassroots Group OpenMedia.ca Hopeful Pro-Privacy MP Borg’s Online Privacy Bill Will Lead to Important Safeguards

Maine setting standard for EMP defense

" Maine’s state legislature is stepping out to confront a problem Washington has been avoiding, taking action to guard the electrical grid system in the state against a natural or man-made electromagnetic pulse attack. "

Monsanto drags over 400 U.S. farmers to court over GM seed patents

U.S. dairy industry petitions FDA to approve aspartame as hidden, unlabeled additive in milk, yogurt, eggnog and cream

China Has Its Own Debt Bomb

Capital Flight from Russia Tells a Tale About Regime Failure

Why the Euro Crisis Isn't Over

Canada’s innovation is lagging

Drug war has become 'slow motion holocaust' says new documentary.

Alberta's Tar Sands Pollution Refugees

Riding official blogs about party corruption 'Why I quit the BC Liberals'

Good Policy = Localize + Sustainability + Security