Democracy gone Astray: Friday, October 21, 2011

Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.

This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, October 21, 2011

Former Financial Regulator William Black: Occupy Wall Street a Counter to White-Collar Fraud

Broadcasting on the road from Kansas City, Missouri, we’re joined by William Black, a white-collar criminologist, former financial regulator, and author of "The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One." Black teaches economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and recently took part in Occupy Kansas City. "If you look [at the Occupy protests], not just nationwide, but worldwide, you will see some pretty consistent themes developing," Black says. "Those themes include: we have to deal with the systemically dangerous institutions, the 20 biggest banks that the administration is saying are ticking time bombs, that as soon as one of them fails, we go back into a global crisis. We should fix that. There’s no reason to have institutions that large. That’s a theme. That accountability is a theme, that we should put these felons in prison... That we should get jobs now, and that we should deal with the foreclosure crisis. So those are four very common themes that you can see in virtually any of these protest sites... I think, over time, you won’t necessarily have some grand written agenda, but you’ll have, as I say, increasing consensus. And it’s a very broad consensus."

Video
Source: Democracy Now!

The Commons: Democracy and testicles

The Scene. Time, once again, to yell about the Canadian Wheat Board.

The first sign that this afternoon would not pass without shouting was the Prime Minister’s right fist, bobbing up and down in front of him as he asserted that “Western Canadian farmers have long been looking for the freedom to market their grain, just like farmers in Quebec and other parts of eastern Canada have, and we are going to give them that freedom.”

This was but the end of his first answer and already he was gesturing forcefully. Usually, at this point, he is all shrugs and up-turned palms. But there would be no conciliatory hand movements this day.

Nycole Turmel stood here and insisted on reading what is written on some piece of paper somewhere.

“Mr. Speaker,” she said, “here is what the law says: ‘The Minister shall not cause to be introduced in Parliament a bill that would exclude any kind, type, class or grade of wheat or barley unless (a) the Minister has consulted with the board; and (b) the producers of the grain have voted in favour of the exclusion or extension.’ That is the law of the land. Why will the Prime Minister not respect the law, respect the producers and keep the Canadian Wheat Board in place?”

Occupy Wall Street Hits K Street

If you want to understand how the top 1 percent have accumulated such power in American politics, look no further than Washington’s K Street lobbying corridor. Wall Street has long been the dominant player in the capital. “The banks,” Senator Dick Durbin said in 2009, “are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”

The financial sector has spent more money on campaign contributions and lobbying than any other sector of the economy—$4.6 billion on lobbying since 1998, according to Open Secrets. This year, commercial banks and securities and investment firms have spent over $82 million on lobbying, employing over 1,000 lobbyists.

Given these facts, it makes sense that the Occupy Wall Street movement has spread to K Street. Since October 1, demonstrators have gathered in MacPherson Square, their numbers and visibility growing in recent days. Yesterday Harvard professor Larry Lessig, one of the pre-eminent advocates of true campaign finance reform, spoke to Occupy K Street. Nation intern Cal Colgan attended the talk and passed on some notes.

“Forget the 99 percent,” Lessig said yesterday. “We are the 99.95 percent of people who have never maxed out in a Congressional election campaign by giving the maximum amount. It is .05 percent of America who have given $2500 in the last election to a Congressional candidate, .05 percent, and Congress listens to them.” These are the same people who pay lobbyists to convince lawmakers to gut crucial regulations and oppose new ones.

The Silence of the Elites

Nero’s fiddling while Rome burned may be nothing compared to the folly of Washington and Wall Street’s inaction while the world economy teeters on the verge of global depression. No wonder the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators have spread across the world. By raising a din, they might wake folks up.

Last week, yet another filibuster by Republican senators blocked even a debate on President Obama’s jobs bill, which is already modest in the extreme. More than half of the bill would simply avoid making things worse—extending the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance, and trying to limit layoffs of teachers and police officers next year. Without the extensions, the cuts in government spending and hikes in taxes would reduce an estimated 2 percent of GDP from growth next year—at a time when the economy is already near a standstill.d

A good portion of the bill would provide tax breaks for businesses. And a far-too-small part would provide money for building schools, roads, sewers and other infrastructure projects that will put some people to work.

Feeling some heat, Republican senators released their version of a jobs act, which offers up sacrifices to the business gods. It would repeal financial and healthcare reform, suspend regulations across the board and advance a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. And Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) promises, with some Kentucky magic, that it would produce 5 million jobs.

Worse, the bipartisan gang of twelve legislators in Congress’s “supercommittee” continues to meet in closed sessions to decide how to cut another $1.2 trillion from deficits over ten years. If the members fail to agree, deep cuts in defense and domestic spending begin in fiscal year 2013.

Newt Gingrich got this right for once: “It’s like saying we’re going to shoot you in the head or cut off your leg, which do you prefer?” And with the committee tasked to report before Thanksgiving, we are virtually guaranteed to spend the winter arguing about how to mutilate the economy, not about how to get it going.

Origin
Source: the Nation

Everyone wins in shipbuilding contract but Quebec and the taxpayers

The denouement of the great multi-billion-dollar shipbuilding bonanza has left almost everyone popping Champagne corks —except perhaps Quebec, and the poor, bloody taxpayer who will end up footing the bill for the inevitable cost overruns and delays that will result from the government’s made-in-Canada national strategy.

Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax won the lion’s share of the work, with the $25-billion contract to build around 22 combat vessels, while Seaspan in Vancouver will be happy with its $8-billion non-combat vessel consolation prize. There will be bleating from Quebec that its Davie yard won bupkis, but even Premier Jean Charest, always evenly balanced with a chip on either shoulder, didn’t argue that the process was skewed against his province.

The Harper government bent over backwards to persuade anyone who would listen that this was a “transparent, arm’s length process.” Rona Ambrose, the Public Works Minister, said Cabinet was not involved in evaluating the bids.

THE Congressional “super committee” charged with finding $1.5 trillion in debt savings through 2021 is under growing attack from both the left and the right for carrying out most of its work in secret. As Senator Kelly Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republican, said recently, “We don’t get a better result for the people of this country when things are done behind closed doors.”

But greater openness by the panel, officially known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, would actually be harmful to the public interest. Private meetings are essential to give the committee’s six Republicans and six Democrats the freedom to step away from party orthodoxies, conduct serious negotiations and search for common ground, rather than engage in political posturing.

For the committee’s recommendations to be voted on in the full House and Senate, 7 of the 12 committee members must agree on them. If all of the meetings were held in public — as a number of lawmakers and open-government advocates propose — the prospects for such agreement would drop from slim to none.

WASHINGTON — As the housing market began its collapse, Wall Street firms and sophisticated investors searched for ways to profit. Some of them found an easy method: Stuff a portfolio with risky mortgage-related investments, sell it to unsuspecting customers and bet against it.

Citigroup on Wednesday agreed to pay $285 million to settle a civil complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had defrauded investors who bought just such a deal. The transaction involved a $1 billion portfolio of mortgage-related investments, many of which were handpicked for the portfolio by Citigroup without telling investors of its role or that it had made bets that the investments would fall in value.

In the four years since the housing market began its steady descent, securities regulators have settled only two cases related to the financial crisis for a larger sum of money. This is also the third case brought by the S.E.C. accusing a major Wall Street institution of misleading customers about who was putting together a security and about their motive. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Company both settled similar cases last year.

A few months ago, the cable-television and radio host Glenn Beck began his Fox News show with one of his favorite props: a pipe clenched between his teeth. “I’ve got my pipe,” he told his audience, his speech slightly muddled by the stem, “because we’re going to speak about schoolish kind of things.” The theme of the day was “Restoring History,” and Beck, looking professorial in a neat dark blazer and a pink button-down shirt, began the lesson by peering at a stack of history textbooks and pronouncing them full of falsehoods, produced by “malicious progressive intent.” Progressives, he explained—liberals, socialists, Communists, the entire spectrum of the left—“knew they had to separate us from our history to be able to separate us from our Constitution and God.” For the next hour, Beck earnestly explained some of the history that “is being stolen from us”: the depression of 1920, for example, or how conservative economics saved the nation from the “near-depression” of 1946—crises that progressives don’t want you to know about. “You’ve been taught one lie, I think, your whole life,” he said.

Preoccupied

Visiting the site of Occupy Wall Street last week—a month after the protest began, and shortly before Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s threatened and aborted cleanup—was a bit like visiting a civilization at its peak: Paris in the twenties, Rome in the second century, or, at the very least, Timbuktu in the fifteen hundreds. Zuccotti Park, once a humble office plaza, had developed its own language—the “human microphone” that the protesters use to amplify their voices without megaphones had popularized terms like “block” and “mic check” and “temperature check” (wiggling fingers); it had a financial bureau (the group claims to have raised more than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars); and was equipped with a newspaper, a library, and a space for worship (a “sacred tree,” ringed by candles, near the drum circle). Its influence and culture had spread across the land, and it had inspired fear among its enemies. Deutsche Bank employees were having black cars pick them up blocks away from the office; New York Stock Exchange workers were taking roundabout routes to the trading floor; and the Brooks Brothers at the corner of Trinity Place and Liberty Street had given up hope of selling ties on the weekends. “Something good will come out of it, don’t get me wrong,” a Brooks Brothers manager said of the movement. “But it’s not good for business.”

HALIFAX - Workers in hard hats waving Nova Scotia flags celebrated with a giant roar Wednesday when the Irving Shipyard won the $25-billion contract to build the navy's next fleet of warships, a moment that meant secure jobs in a province where work can be hard to find.

"I'll have a job till I retire now," said Adam Watson, a 31-year-old painter and sandlbaster at the shipyard.

Watson said he has been employed by the shipyard for 10 years and has seen some hard times with multiple rounds of layoffs.

"Now (that) I've got steady work it means great things for my life," said Watson, one of hundreds of workers who huddled inside an outdoor tent at the shipyard in anticipation of the announcement.

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) said the Occupy Wall Street movement was "laughable" for its "hypocrisy" and alleged that the movement had ties to the Communists and Nazis in an interview Tuesday night with conservative media outlet Newsmax.

"I think the hypocrisy of this movement is somewhat laughable," he said. "I would agree with them that we don’t need to have crony capitalism in the United States of America, where we have government picking winners or losers in the free market or trying to be a venture capitalist. But when I see signs that these people are holding up signs saying ‘end capitalism,’ then my question is: What do you replace it with?"

"I think there is a danger in the people on Capitol Hill starting to embrace this movement, especially now that we know that the American Nazi Party and the American Communist Party are also starting to align themselves with this Occupy movement," he said.

The congressional super committee tasked with reshaping the social contract between the government and the American people has not had a public meeting since the middle of last month. The next public hearing, meanwhile, is scheduled for October 26th, more than a month after last one was held. On Wednesday, the Gang of Six, which also conducted much of its deliberation behind closed doors, met privately with the super committee members.

As the panel's opacity becomes more conspicuous, centrist advocates have begun to defend the necessity of shielding the public from its decision-making process. "[G]reater openness by the panel, officially known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, would actually be harmful to the public interest. Private meetings are essential to give the committee’s six Republicans and six Democrats the freedom to step away from party orthodoxies, conduct serious negotiations and search for common ground, rather than engage in political posturing," wrote Jordan Tama in a widely read New York Times op-ed Wednesday.

Imagine you are walking through a gold, orange and red canopied autumn woodlot. You've got a fragrant, steaming mug of cider to ward off the chill, and as you wander, eating and drinking, local buskers serenade you as you make your way through crowds of friends to a stage where your favourite Canadian musicians are playing live. Nice dream, eh?

Sometimes these dreams become reality. On Sunday, Oct. 16th, more than 28,000 people drove (or were bussed) from all over Ontario, through shifting rain and sun, howling winds and chill air, to a woodlot in the middle of Lennox Farms, about 90 minutes north of Toronto. Their reason for confronting the weather, and the inevitable mud is Foodstock -- a culinary adventure with dozens of contributing chefs, and Canadian recording artists and activists on the main stage. More than 40 acoustical bands and individual artists played in the woods along the muddy trails that led from one food station to another.

This was an event in the planning for several months with farmers, activists and even township councillors pitching in to create a fundraising and awareness event in support of the courageous efforts by locals to stop the building of a mega-quarry on prime food-producing farmland. Chef Michael Stadtländer convinced about 100 chefs from across Ontario and Canada to volunteer their time and food for the cause. As Footstock volunteer co-ordinator David Waters said so succinctly, "you can't eat gravel."

Three years ago, it would have been unthinkable for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to say, “Income distribution is important and there is a concern that a very, very small group of people have very large incomes and that others do not have those same opportunities.”

Only misguided critics of capitalism and their followers used that kind of language.

It would have been even more surprising to hear Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney defend street protests against income inequality as “entirely constructive.”

Central bankers seldom speak out in public — certainly not on sensitive political issues. Moreover, Carney spent 13 years as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.

Conditions have changed, of course. The world has gone through a devastating recession and hovers on the brink of another one. The high-flying financiers who caused the meltdown in 2008 and received massive government bailouts are back on top, raking in gargantuan performance awards. And no one could legitimately argue, as every member of Stephen Harper’s government did three years ago, that the global economy is performing satisfactorily.

In a wide-ranging discussion, John Turner, 82, spoke candidly about the people and issues that marked his tenure in politics from the 1960s through the 1980s. Notably, it was on the subject of how politics has changed - for the worse - that Turner was most emphatic. Mark Kennedy reports

The Canadian political system needs a fundamental "renewal" to restore public faith in politicians and encourage young people to run for office, says former prime minister John Turner.

"We've got to get a revival, a renewal, of the whole political process," Turner told Postmedia News. "We need a whole new generation in there. We need a restoration of parliamentary decorum, and a dedication to making public life more important."

Turner's comments come as a new book about his political career is about to hit the book stores later this week.

The book, Elusive Destiny, is written by Carleton University historian Paul Litt.

A revised set of rules governing the conduct of federal public servants is coming soon and government watchdog Duff Conacher says he is worried that instead of strengthening the rules, the changes will actually weaken them.

Mr. Conacher, founder of Democracy Watch, said he is concerned that the updates to the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service may actually relax today’s standards to bring them in line with the codes of conduct for Members of Parliament, Senators, Cabinet ministers and staffers.

“Believe it or not, the least powerful public servant has a higher ethical standard that they have to adhere to than the Prime Minister,” said Mr. Conacher in an interview with Civil Circles last week.

“It’s because Harper, and Martin before him, gutted the rules in the Conflict of Interest Act, and MPs and Senators wrote their own rules, and when they first wrote them in 2004 and 2005 they just put in huge loopholes,” he stated.

Eat your heart out Tories, Milewski gets it right

The CBC recently sent Terry Milewski to Texas, the blood and guts state, where he asked conservative politicians and various experts what they thought of building more prisons, and filling them up, as a means of driving down crime. “Don’t,” was the basic answer. “It doesn’t work. That’s why we’re doing the opposite.”

It was a nice piece on a serious policy issue. It reminded us that the federal government seems to consider crime legislation inside a hermetically sealed chamber. But for that very reason, nothing any journalist says is likely to make any difference. If contrary evidence carried any weight in Cabinet, the omnibus tough-on-crime bill, C-10, wouldn’t be before Parliament. The fact that elites recoil at its provisions and spew champagne out of their noses is a feature, not a bug.

And, if I may briefly adopt the voice of a partisan blogger, the mainstream media would denounce the law of gravity if it somehow helped the Liberals (or the NDP, depending what day it is). The CBC, in the memorable words of Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, “lies all the time.” And Mr. Milewski, as we all know, chairs the left-wing media conspiracy.

Our tax code is pockmarked with costly exemptions

Professionals and many union members earn above the average income for Canadians. And yet, they can deduct their professional or union dues from their income tax. The cost to the Treasury of forgone revenue: $745-million in 2010.

University students, by and large, earn income well above the average income of Canadians once they enter the work force. And yet, students or their families can enjoy tax credits for tuition, textbooks, tax exemptions for scholarships, student loan interest and other benefits. The cost to the Treasury of forgone revenue: $1.6-billion.

Individuals fortunate enough to enjoy company health and dental plan coverage don’t have to consider these benefits as income for tax purposes. The cost to the Treasury: $2.9-billion.

Canada’s clergy, if they live in accommodations supplied by their congregations, don’t pay income tax on the housing allowance. The measure dates to 1949. The cost to the Treasury: $86-million.

CBC lashes out at Quebecor’s $500-million in public subsidies

The CBC is fighting back against Quebecor’s attacks on its $1-billion in annual federal funding, accusing the private broadcaster of receiving $500-million in public subsidies over the last three years without being accountable to taxpayers.

Having been accused for months of being a “money drain,” the CBC is going further than ever in a bid to defend itself, accusing Quebecor Media Inc. of using public subsidies to “make record profits.”

The CBC added that Quebecor president Pierre-Karl Péladeau has “sent over a dozen letters to the Prime Minister and others in government to complain that Radio-Canada does not spend enough money advertising in his newspapers.”

CBC officials refused to release their copies of the letters, adding their goal was simply to correct the impression that Quebecor gets nothing from the public while the CBC receives $1-billion a year in federal funding.

Quebecor publishes newspapers across Canada, runs the dominant TVA network in Quebec and has recently launched the all-news Sun TV, which is in competition with the CBC News Network.

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (10.690.141.33%)unveiled a sweeping $560-million overhaul that will see it close most of its aging meat-processing factories in Canada in a bid to slash costs as it fights with more efficient global rivals.

Facing increased competition from U.S. meat suppliers and pressure from shareholders to improve the financial results, Maple Leaf chief executive officer Michael McCain pledged in an interview to significantly boost the company’s profits by closing eight plants and distribution centres, building a massive new factory in Hamilton and upgrading plants in Brampton, Ont., Winnipeg and Saskatoon. But the plan also comes with a human cost: It will cut 1,500 jobs, or about 12 per cent of the work force in the meat division, Maple Leaf’s largest unit.

The radical remake of Maple Leaf, one of the country’s largest food manufacturers, underscores the challenge facing Canadian manufacturers that can no longer rely on a weak Canadian dollar to help them compete. Canadian factories are “starved for capital,” Mr. McCain said, because a low Canadian currency during the past two decades has allowed them to make gains internationally without investing in more efficient technology. Now that the loonie is close to par with the U.S. dollar, he said, Maple Leaf Foods and other food processors are struggling to compete against larger, more productive U.S. companies.

About 100 public servants at the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency were told Wednesday morning their jobs could soon be eliminated – the latest in an ongoing trickle of cuts as departments and agencies squeeze into tighter budgets.

The cuts at ACOA are the end result of previously announced “strategic reviews,” which are much smaller than the Strategic and Operating Review currently being led by a special cabinet committee.

The cuts, which were confirmed by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada and the Public Service Alliance of Canada based on official notice to the unions from the agency, include 80 PIPSC member positions, mostly in commerce. Cuts to PSAC members include 12 jobs in New Brunswick, two in Nova Scotia and five in Ottawa.

A government official stressed, however, that while 104 workers received letters Wednesday, it is the first part of a month-long process that is expected to whittle down the number of cut positions to no more than 42.

Conflicts Of Interest Abound At The Federal Reserve, Report Finds

When the Federal Reserve was handing out emergency loans during the financial crisis, some of the money didn't have to travel very far.

More than a dozen members of the regional Federal Reserve boards have had ties to banks or companies that received emergency funds during the crisis, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

The report highlights a close relationship between the Fed's regional banks and many of the institutions they were lending to, adding credence to concerns that the financial sector enjoyed a largely consequence-free rescue in the wake of the crisis, thanks to its connections with the federal government.

Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and a HuffPost blogger, said that the report's findings reflected "an institutionalized conflict of interest" within the Federal Reserve.

"We don't let Comcast appoint people to the FCC. We don't let Pfizer appoint people to the Food and Drug Administration," Baker told HuffPost. The degree to which bankers can assume regulatory responsibility for their own industry, he said, is "without precedent."

Herman Cain recently criticized the Occupy Wall Street protesters, saying, "Don't blame Wall Street. Don't blame the big banks. If you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself."

At Tuesday night's CNN debate, Cain stood by his comments -- to loud cheers from the audience.

"I still stand by my statement," he said.

"They might be frustrated with Wall Street and the bankers, but they're directing their anger at the wrong place," he added. "Wall Street didn't put in failed economic policies. Wall Street didn't spend a trillion dollars that didn't do any good. Wall Street isn't going around the country trying to sell another $450 billion. They ought to be over in front of the White House taking out their frustration."

In response, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) criticized Cain for blaming the people who have been hurt by the financial crisis through no fault of their own.

"I think Mr. Cain has blamed the victims," he said. "There's a lot of people that are victims of this business cycle. We can't blame the victims. But we also have to point -- I'd go to Washington as well as Wall Street, but I'd go over to the Federal Reserve. They create the financial bubbles."

Origin
Source: Huff

Omnibus Crime Bill: Tories Fire Back At Experts Who Say Legislation Will Make Crime Worse

OTTAWA - One expert after another is warning the federal government that its massive crime bill will do more harm than good, costing taxpayers dearly for a punitive system that will only serve to make the streets more dangerous.

But Conservative MPs are questioning the credibility of those experts, suggesting they are advocating for criminals or are too detached from the real world to offer solid advice.

"We believe the substance of this legislation both to be self-defeating and counterproductive, if the goal is to enhance public safety," Eric Gottardi, vice-chair of the Canadian Bar Association's national criminal justice section, said Tuesday.

"It represents a profound shift in orientation from a system that emphasizes public safety ... rehabilitation and reintegration to one that puts vengeance first."

The omnibus bill merges nine previous pieces of legislation, and adds new elements, tying them into a massive package that critics say is an "incoherent" attempt to crack down on dangerous criminals.

The package fulfills a key Conservative election promise to bring forward failed or languishing anti-crime legislation from previous parliaments within 100 days of the new government.

Tuesday was the first full session of hearings from witnesses, establishing an uncomfortable tone.

Two protesters have been tasered and 23 arrested after clashes broke out with authorities as police moved into the Dale Farm site in Essex, where a planned eviction is underway.

Many of those trying to stop the eviction wore scarves to cover their faces, while residents and protesters attached themselves to objects within the site using bicycle locks and chains.

As night fell bailiffs and police continud to work on removing the barricades, but a spokesperson for Basildon council said they would not attempt to evict residents until the morning.

"There won't be an attempt to ask travellers to leave the site over night ," he said.

Officers in riot gear entered the site after breaking down a rear fence just after 7am, prompting angry confrontations. The move came as police and bailiffs held discussions, described by supporters as a distraction, at the main gate.

Irresponsible partisanship is muddying what should be a point of pride for Canada on the world stage.

In the wake of the controversies and failures of the interventions in Kosovo and Rwanda, then UN Secretary General Kofi Anan asked the General Assembly how the international community should respond to situations in which populations are placed in grave jeopardy without grossly violating state sovereignty. In response, in September 2000, the Canadian delegation announced to the General Assembly the establishment of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty.

The Russian leader is now clear to be president until 2024, but many Russians are voting with their feet

In most official democracies, citizens must wait until an election is held to find out who will be running their country. Russia is different.

Last month, Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president and its supposed head of state, told a congress of the ruling United Russia party that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would run for president in March, returning to a job he held from 2000 to 2008. At the same conference, Putin proposed that Medvedev lead the United Russia party list in parliamentary elections, and assume the position of prime minister.

The announcements confirmed what many had long suspected: Putin, forbidden by Russia’s constitution from running for a third consecutive term, had simply appointed Medvedev to keep his seat warm for four years until he, Putin, could return to power. Despite claiming earlier this year that he would like to continue as president, Medvedev admitted the two had cooked up the deal “several years ago.” Putin is now clear to hold the presidency until 2024.

The Scene. These are awkward times. Various people are marching in the streets and camping in the parks, shouting various things about various concerns. No one is quite sure what it means or if it means anything except to say that some people are somehow unhappy about something. And that they may have some cause to be somehow disenchanted.

Our elected leaders are thus put in variously awkward positions. And so increases the likelihood that they will say awkward things.

Witness Ted Menzies, affable-seeming minister of state for finance. Yesterday he was presented with the spectre of said protests and the suggestion that perhaps said protestors were on to something.

“Mr. Speaker, it is fortunate that all Canadians have the right to peacefully express their views,” he said, as if this were some kind of profound observation.

OTTAWA

The Conservative government — along with TransCanada Pipelines and the Alberta oil sands — are at risk of being dragged somewhere they don’t want to be.

The politics surrounding the giant Keystone XL pipeline means Stephen Harper and his cabinet have become major players in an issue that is becoming increasingly emotional, an issue that is becoming a political dilemma for U.S. President Barack Obama.

Opponents of the pipeline are determined to make it an issue in the presidential election.

Obama has promised a decision by year’s end on the $7 billion, 2,700-kilometre pipeline that would ship Canadian oil from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico, traversing six U.S. states.

When Doreen Wallace fell and broke her hip in the lobby of a Niagara Falls hospital, she figured at least she’d get help — and fast.

But that’s not what happened.

Instead, the 82-year-old Wallace — who was leaving with her son after visiting her dying husband at Greater Niagara General Hospital on Oct. 8 — was told by staff no one could help her until an ambulance was called.

To a hospital.

“It was horrible. It really was. Everybody who walked through the door stopped and stared at me,” said Wallace, who already had a broken arm from a previous fall. She ended up spending almost 30 minutes on the ground.

“I was inside the hospital. Why did they have to wait for an ambulance to come and pick me up?”

Supreme Court ruling big victory for Internet freedom

Writers and publishers can’t be held liable for online publications that link to defamatory material, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Wednesday.

The court dismissed an appeal from Wayne Crookes, a Vancouver businessman and volunteer for the Green Party of Canada.

He contends that Jon Newton, who runs the website p2pnet.net, defamed him by publishing an article that hyperlinked to libelous material.

The case required the court to consider whether the common practice of hyperlinking exposes writers and publishers to lawsuits.

Internet and public policy experts see it as one of biggest online defamation cases to date and have been following it closely because it deals with issues fundamental to how the digital world works.

Information-sharing platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, are built around the concept of the hyperlinking and are used daily by millions, the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic at the University of Ottawa, an intervener, told the court.

As the city begins negotiating new collective agreements with its workers, a council opponent of Mayor Rob Ford is trying to make it harder for the mayor to lock workers out if bargaining falters.

City negotiators are expected to adopt a tough bargaining stance under Ford. Councillor John Filion, citing widespread “rumours,” said he was concerned the mayor “might be planning to do something impulsive” if left unchecked.

Filion’s proposal would require any lockout to be approved by council. At present, the labour relations committee, which is dominated by Ford allies, can direct the city to keep workers off the job on its own.

“I think most residents of the city would be alarmed to know that, as the rules now stand, an impulsive mayor could shut down the city without ever coming to council,” Filion said.

Mark Ferguson, president of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 416, which represents outdoor workers, said a “very highly placed individual” had confirmed to him that Ford plans a lockout.

In a Democracy Now! exclusive interview, we speak to Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Yemeni activist, Tawakkul Karman. The U.N. Security Council is set to vote on a resolution calling on Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to immediately step down after 33 years in power. All five permanent members of the Security Council back the measure, which "strongly condemns" government violence against demonstrators. The popular uprising in Yemen continues despite more attacks by government forces, including dozens of demonstrators murdered by snipers in recent days. Karman has been in New York City all week to press for international pressure on the Saleh regime. She is the first Arab woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. A 32-year-old mother of three, an outspoken journalist and Yemeni activist, Karman has agitated for press freedoms and staged weekly sit-ins to demand the release of political prisoners from jail. She founded Women Journalists Without Chains and has played a leading part in the struggle for women’s rights and for democracy in Yemen. Most recently, she has led rallies in the continuing protests against the rule of Saleh. "We have the dream, and we have the ability," Karman says. "We know what it means to be free, and we will achieve it." Of today’s vote at the United Nations, Karman adds: "The international community has to create pressure on Saleh... Dictatorships are going down and are done. There are a lot of scenarios for the end of those dictators…like running away like Ben Ali did, or to be held accountable and prosecuted just like Mubarak, or maybe getting killed like Gaddafi. In Yemen, we will have our own scenario. We will not go in the direction of violence. And I ask the international community not to let Yemen go in that direction."

Video
Source: Democracy Now!

Hill Dispatches: Attack dog tactics trump an adult discussion of public transit

It's been a deadly few weeks for pedestrians and cyclists in Ottawa.

A week ago a cyclist was killed when a driver opened a door on her on a downtown street. This past weekend a pedestrian was killed by a motorist driving on the wrong side of a street. Meanwhile, there is a trial going on of a driver who wreaked havoc on a group of cyclists in suburban Kanata and then left the scene of the accident.

If nothing else, all of this serves to remind us that issues of traffic and transportation are not just crucial to cities; they can be matters of life and death.

Against this backdrop, the House of Commons Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Committee is currently studying the question of a public transit strategy for Canada. The Committee heard from two groups on Monday afternoon, and the session showed how a tenacious attachment to ideology and political gamesmanship can stop any constructive or useful dialogue in its tracks.

It's time for a union of concerned economists to oppose the tar sands pipeline.

The Keystone XL pipeline protest movement is in its final phase. The bureaucratic processes of environmental assessment and public comment – proven to be an incestuous mess of oil companies, Clintons, the diplomatic corps, and management consultants posing as environmental assessors – are complete.

Starting in August, this movement set a tone (disciplined and serious) and bar (civil and disobedient) for popular movements on the left to raise a soulful voice, transforming passive outrage into public action. As a result, centrist environmental groups tacked left, media coverage exploded, and dissent on the left found common cause in challenging industrial oil, Wall Street hording, militarism, and failed governance. In the same news cycle, Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, Jeffrey Sachs, and Reverend Billy preached a unitive message.

Have we given up on legislatures?

Scott Stinson wonders whether we care about our legislatures (or whether our legislatures give us anything to care about).

The speaker was explaining that she didn’t think much of the work conducted in the provincial legislative assembly. “Most of my issues are around the quality of debate and the research and the fact that you can pretty well get up in the house of assembly and say whatever it is you like,” she said. “You don’t have to be concerned with truth.”
… It’s not an uncommon sentiment among members of the public, and if the statement was from one of those ubiquitous morning-radio bits where they stick a microphone in front of someone who is filling their gas tank to measure “the public’s” opinion, it would have been unremarkable. But this was the Premier speaking. Kathy Dunderdale, the newly elected Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador.

I won’t repeat everything I’ve said before (I’ll just link to it), but here’s one measure to consider.

The House calendar for 2012 shows 132 scheduled sitting days. That’s more than the House managed in previous years of minority government, but far fewer than in previous eras of majority government. Is Parliament now that much more efficient? Are the debates less contentious than they used to be? Is there less for the legislature to do because most of the nation’s problems are now solved? Would sitting for, say, 160 days in a year allow more than four days to debate and study the government’s last budget implementation bill or ~~two~~ four days to study the government’s omnibus crime legislation? Would it matter in any tangible way if those bills did receive more consideration?

There are good debates to be had about all those questions. Indisputably, most of what is said in the House is ignored, but—as Scott notes—Canadians like to have some vague sense that something is going on. See not only the hit Michael Ignatieff took after Jack Layton accused him of missing work, but also the hit the Conservatives took when they prorogued the House to start 2009. How little would the House have to sit in 2012 for it to precipitate a similar backlash?

This isn’t really about what we might find distasteful about Question Period. It’s about what we want our legislature to be and to do and what we—all of us—need to do to realize that. Maybe we’re fine with the House the way it is. I’d argue the decline in voter turnout is at least one suggestion that we’re not.

But now I’m starting to repeat myself.

Origin
Source: Maclean's

Critics of omnibus bill ‘advocate for criminals,’ Conservatives charge

One expert after another is warning the federal government that its massive crime bill will do more harm than good, costing taxpayers dearly for a punitive system that will only serve to make the streets more dangerous.

But Conservative MPs are questioning the credibility of those experts, suggesting they are advocating for criminals or are too detached from the real world to offer solid advice.

“We believe the substance of this legislation both to be self-defeating and counterproductive, if the goal is to enhance public safety,” Eric Gottardi, vice-chair of the Canadian Bar Association's national criminal justice section, said Tuesday.

“It represents a profound shift in orientation from a system that emphasizes public safety ... rehabilitation and reintegration to one that puts vengeance first.”

The omnibus bill merges nine previous pieces of legislation, and adds new elements, tying them into a massive package that critics say is an “incoherent” attempt to crack down on dangerous criminals.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will award the province of Ontario an additional 13 seats in the House of Commons — half of the 26 new constituencies being proposed, the Star has learned.

Under the revised plan, which Harper discussed with Premier Dalton McGuinty last Friday, Ontario would be boosted to 119 seats from 106 in time for the 2015 federal election to reflect population growth.

In other changes, Alberta would gain six seats and jump to 34, British Columbia an additional five for a boost to 41, and Quebec another two to increase to 77.

While Ontario’s tally is lower than the 18 seats the province had been expecting, sources say McGuinty is pleased that “representation by population” is finally being recognized.

The change would increase the Commons to 334 seats from 308 today.

Urban Canada’s voice is being diminished at the federal cabinet table, says a long-time Toronto area mayor who is urging the Prime Minister to immediately pass promised legislation giving fast-growing provinces more seats in the Commons.

From his vantage point in Ajax, Ont., Steve Parish – who has been mayor for 16 years – sees huge population increases yet urban issues are not front and centre on the government’s agenda.

“Population growth in the GTA has been explosive and far outstrips many other parts of the country, including Quebec, “ Mr. Parish told The Globe. “There are important urban issues that the House of Commons needs to address. There are important constituencies that need to be properly and thoroughly represented in the House of Commons.”

He wants Stephen Harper to use his majority to quickly pass a government bill that would see 18 more seats added in Ontario, seven in British Columbia and five in Alberta. Under this formula Quebec would not gain more seats, which is proving to be controversial.

MONTREAL—The Quebec Bar Association is asking the Harper government to reconsider its appointment of a unilingual judge to the Supreme Court of Canada.

It decries the nomination of Justice Michael Moldaver, who does not speak French.

The bar association says Canadian citizens have the right to expect that, when they appear in court, they will be understood regardless of what official language they speak.

It says it would still oppose the nomination if Moldaver only spoke French — not English. The association says the issue here is that a nominee to the high court should be able to understand arguments in both official languages.

Yesterday’s nomination has intensified a debate over bilingualism in the justice system.

Opponents of mandatory bilingualism say what matters most is that a judge can understand the law — and, if there’s a problem with language, the court has translation services.

But the bar association says that’s not fair; it says an earpiece and interpreter are no substitute for understanding someone directly when they’re arguing in court.

The association says this appointment means two of the Supreme Court’s nine judges are now unilingual.

Origin
Source: Toronto Star

Crime bill splits witnesses at Commons committee

A parliamentary committee studying the Conservative government’s controversial omnibus crime bill heard conflicting testimony Tuesday about whether it will do more harm than good.

Members of Parliament on the justice and human rights committee heard from a number of witnesses who were for and against Bill C-10, the Safe Streets and Communities Act.

One called the government's actions "undemocratic" while another said critics shouldn't be concerned about its cost because of its protection for victims of crime.

The bill combines nine pieces of legislation that were introduced in previous sessions of Parliament but not passed before the spring election. Among its measures are tougher sentences for some drug offences and sexual offences against children, stiffer sentences for young offenders, limiting access to conditional sentences for certain offences and other changes to the parole and corrections systems.

A money-saving plan to cut library hours has been put on hold for at least one month as board members gather more information and hunt for new sources of revenue to allow branches to keep their existing hours.

“We don’t have to jump tonight – there is no fire right now,” Councillor Sarah Doucette, a library board member, told a meeting Monday night.

The board – meeting for the first time with eight new members of the public – was asked to consider more than $17-million in cuts for the 2012 budget.

The cost reductions – a response to a directive from city hall for all departments to find 10 per cent savings in next year’s budget – include reduced Sunday openings, fewer weekday hours, less spending on collections and the elimination of 100 full-time jobs.

Underwhelming results from some big U.S. financial institutions, including a quarterly loss from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., (101.070.210.21%) have raised fresh questions about the health of the country’s financial sector.

Beyond the headlines, however, key fundamentals are improving. While institutions with the greatest exposure to Wall Street trading are showing disappointing numbers, banks that are in the bread-and-butter business of taking deposits and making loans slowly continue to clean up their balance sheets, fuelling hope for an eventual U.S. economic rebound.

Analysts say those looking for signs of another crisis in the U.S. financial industry are coming up short. Instead, the banking sector is muddling through another quarter, gradually pulling itself out of its funk.

“The U.S. economy in the third quarter did a little bit worse than expected because of a sharp drop in consumer activity and confidence,” said Erik Oja, who follows big U.S. banks for Standard & Poor’s. “But looking into the different components, commercial credit is doing very well, with mid-market and small businesses borrowing and expanding.”

The federal government has to be careful that its planned budget cuts don't have an undue impact on bilingualism, the commissioner of official languages warned Tuesday.

In his annual report, Graham Fraser said official languages shouldn't bear an unfair proportion of the reductions.

“I am not claiming that official languages are being targeted specifically — or that they should be exempted — but there is a risk that they will be unduly affected,” he said at a news conference.

“The government must ensure the decisions that are made during each department's budget review take into account potential consequences for official language communities.

“It is important to make sure that there are no unintended consequences for Quebec's English-speaking communities and for French-speaking communities in the rest of the country.”

Occupy Toronto: Who Are These People?

"It is a speaking out, coming out, dancing out." says playwright Eve Ensler. "It" being Occupy Wall Street, of course.

In Toronto, to where the protests have spread since Saturday, the movement is certainly "speaking out," although it's rather difficult at times to hear what they're saying. "Dancing out"? Well, if this is a dance, as Ensler calls it, then the performers are tripping all over each other.

St. James Park -- Toronto's Zuccotti -- is playing host to the Occupy Toronto protesters. Porta-potties have been installed, tents are being erected, and people from all walks of life are coming to see what exactly it's like to protest in the 21st century. I imagine this was much to the chagrin to the young couple who were being married that day in St. James Cathedral (a favourite spot of the Queen when visiting the city), which would explain the bridesmaids' black dresses.

When I first get there, I count more cameras than signs, and suddenly remember the G20 when every Ryerson student and his blogosphere kin thought if he just got that one picture, he'd be the next Marinovich. But as the day wore on, more and more painted signs crowned the crowds, the majority of them announcing the end of capitalism, that "revolution is the only solution," and that "if you can't beat 'em, eat 'em." Pictures of Marx and Mao were common features, as well as the crossed out images of former president Reagan.

The crowd is a hodgepodge of the things headlines are made of, and stereotypes wrought. Between these two extremes are more everyday folk, from parents with young children, to the veterans of protests gone by, happy to see the return of emotion on the street. A great deal of the protesters wear Guy Fawkes masks of (sadly) V For Vendetta fame. These masks, whose rights are owned by Time Warner, are meant to express the anonymity of various protesters, members of Anonymous amongst them. Robin Hood costumes are abundant, as well as the type of clothes one would expect to find at a rave (I imagine these to be the stragglers from the World Electronic Music Festival unable to let go of their glow-sticks).

Full Article
Source: Huff

Occupy Wall Street: Sergeant Shamar Thomas Yells At NYPD Officers After Times Square Protest

After the violent clashes between police and protesters at Saturday's massive Occupy Wall Street demonstration in Times Square, a marine who served in Iraq delivered an impromptu speech in front of some NYPD officers, denouncing their crowd-control methods and police brutality. "This is not a war zone!" he yells at NYPD officers. "These are unarmed people."

A crowd eventually gathers around the marine, identified as Sergeant. Shamar Thomas, who served with the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion USMC in Iraq. Thomas, a New York native, then explains that his father served in Afghanistan, his mother served in Iraq and that he doesn't like seeing cops hurting the people he and his family fought to protect:

NEW YORK -- The month-old Occupy Wall Street movement continues to grow, with nearly $300,000 in the bank and participants finding satisfaction in the widening impact they hope will counter the influence on society by those who hold the purse strings of the world's economies.

The expanding occupation of land once limited to a small Manhattan park in the shadow of the rising World Trade Center complex continued through the weekend, with hundreds of thousands of people rallying around the world and numerous encampments springing up in cities large and small.

For the most part, the protest action remained loosely organized and there were no specific demands, something Legba Carrefour, a participant in the Occupy D.C. protest, found comforting on Sunday.

"When movements come up with specific demands, they cease to be movements and transform into political campaign rallies," said Carrefour, who works as a coat check attendant despite holding a master's degree in cultural studies. "It's compelling a lot of people to come out for their own reasons rather than the reasons that someone else has given to them."

The bankers love Mitt Romney, but their affair with President Barack Obama hasn't gone completely cold.

A new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics finds that professionals from the finance, insurance and real estate sector are largely backing the former Massachusetts governor over the incumbent Democrat and Romney's rivals for the Republican nomination.

Employees (and spouses) from those industries have given Romney's campaign $7.5 million as of the third quarter of 2011 -- more than the seven other top GOP candidates and Obama received, put together. Obama has received $3.9 million; Texas Governor Rick Perry has received $2 million; none of the other Republican candidates took in more than $500,000.

And when it comes to five particularly big banks -- Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley -- Romney is also the clear favorite when it comes to contributions by their employees and their spouses.

JERUSALEM -- A plan for settling thousands more Jews in a strategic part of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem has quietly cleared a key bureaucratic hurdle, threatening to cut a link between Jerusalem and the West Bank and endanger already slim peace prospects.

The proposed Givat Hamatos development would complete a Jewish band around a part of east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital, complicating any future partition of the city.

"This is a game changer," Daniel Seidemann, a Jerusalem expert, said of Givat Hamatos. While relatively small in size, "this is a mega-settlement in terms of impact," he added.

The plan calls for about 2,600 apartments, including about 1,800 for Givat Hamatos and 800 for an expansion of Beit Safafa, an adjacent Palestinian neighborhood, Seidemann said. Construction could begin by the second half of 2012, he said.

WASHINGTON -- Fifty percent of Americans favor legalizing marijuana, according to a new Gallup poll, a record high. And those numbers, up from just 36 percent in 2006, could have significant implications for state and national marijuana policy.

The past two decades has seen a marked shift in public opinion on the issue. Asked in 1970 if people thought the drug should be made legal, only 12 percent of respondents agreed. That number rose to 28 percent percent by the late 1970s, dipped slightly lower in the 1980s, and then rose to 36 percent in 2006.

Support has spiked in the past five years, with 40 percent of respondents favoring legalization in 2009 before numbers jumped another 10 percent, according to the annual crime survey conducted Oct. 6-9, with majorities of men, liberals and 18-29 year-olds currently support legalizing cannabis.

Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has some advice for people who support the anti-union law passed in Ohio that faces a statewide repeal vote on November 8: Find out who's voting to repeal the bill and block them from ballot box. The onetime Arkansas governor suggested deflating tires and giving these voters the wrong election date. "That's up to you, how you creatively get the job done," Huckabee quipped.

Huckabee's remarks came during an appearance on Friday in Mason, Ohio, before a crowd of 350 people, according to MasonBuzz, a local blog that first reported the remarks. On November 8, Ohioans will vote on Issue 2, a much-contested ballot referendum on whether to repeal Gov. John Kasich's controversial anti-union legislation (known as SB 5) that curbed collective bargaining rights for his state's public-sector unions. Recent polls have shown that a majority of Ohioans support repealing Kasich's bill. Enter Huckabee. He has been stumping for voting yes on Issue 2—that is, to uphold Kasich's anti-union bill—urging members of the audience to do the same, and to pray in support of the measure. As part of his plea, Huckabee told the Mason crowd:

Don't vote alone. Vote with someone—family, friends, relatives, people you work with. Make a list. Make a list of 10 family members, 10 friends, 10 neighbors, 10 folks you work with or have worked with in the past and call them and ask them, 'Are you gonna vote on issue, and are you gonna vote for it?'
If they say no, well, you just make sure that they don't go vote. [Crowd laughs.] Let the air out of their tires on election day. Tell them the election has been moved to a different date."

Local media have suggested Huckabee's voter suppression suggestions were offered a joke. Below is the audio of Huckabee's remarks (the voter suppression part begins at 12:00). You be the judge:

Huckabee's advice came at the end of a bitter stretch in the SB 5 fight. Earlier in the week, a group backing the law was caught manipulating an ad supporting SB 5's repeal and remaking the spot to say the opposite. In the original ad, paid for by the union-allied We Are Ohio group, an elderly woman named Marlene Quinn credits firefighters with saving the life of her great-granddaughter, Zoey, during a house fire, and says that voting to repeal Kasich's anti-union bill will help firefighters do their job. But in the recut version, the pro-SB 5 group Building a Better Ohio (whose staff includes Kasich's former chief of staff) selectively edited the first ad's footage to make it appear as if Quinn supports SB 5. We Are Ohio and other repeal supporters immediately condemned the disingenuous ad, and at least 30 TV stations pulled it from the airwaves. Quinn called the recut ad "dishonest and downright deceitful" and said she felt "violated." However, Building a Better Ohio has stood behind the ad, and Gov. Kasich said "what they're doing is fine."

Melissa Fazekas, a spokeswoman for We Are Ohio, says Huckabee's comments were "really shocking" and a clear example that SB 5 supporters "are willing to go to extremes" to silence Ohioans who oppose SB 5. Given that the fight over SB 5 has been a front line in the national clash over union rights, what happens on November 8 will hardly be a joke.

Origin
Source: Mother Jones

Ohio's War on the Middle Class

The decor of Erin and Anthony Rodriguez's guest room could really only happen in the United States. In fact, a European did lay eyes on it one time, and his superior brow furrowed instantly with disbelief as he said, "What…is THAT?" It isn't just the powder-pinkness of the third bedroom in their Gahanna, Ohio, home. It's more the hot pink stars stenciled along the ceiling border, and that between them alternate the words "Katie" and "an American Girl." Erin, who's 30, Ohio born and raised, Ohio for life, can't decide herself if she should be excited—I mean, it's not not funny—or mildly embarrassed to show it to people. Nobody named Katie lives here. This paint scheme was left by the previous owners. On the early June afternoon when I drop my suitcase by the bed, Erin exclaims, "You can be our Katie!"

We've been roommates before. But that was back when we went to Ohio State, from which we graduated almost 10 years ago. Now Erin has a grown-up job as a public school teacher and a husband who's a public information specialist for the Ohio agency that keeps tabs on local utilities and makes sure they don't go all Enron on consumers. They have a baby, Jocelyn, who is extremely cute and well behaved, as well as a gray cat named Princess Vespa and a black cat named Barack Obama. For a long time, my contact with Erin has been limited mostly to occasional phone check-ins during which we brief each other on, like, how adulthood is going. Now I'm taking up temporary residence here not as a fun former roomie but as a reporter. I write Erin a rent check for a third of the mortgage—$430. She says she's really happy to see me, even though she knows the grown-up reporter reason I'm here is that she and her husband are state employees, so something bad is bound to happen to them in the next month. That $430, she tells me, might make an important difference in their finances soon.

As Canadian and European Union negotiators sit down Monday for the ninth round of talks on a sweeping and controversial trade agreement with the EU, The Huffington Post has learned European officials expect Canada will get the short end of the stick.

"At the moment Europe will be able to export more than what Canada will be exporting," Anna Robash, a Danish member of the European Parliament, recently said.

"We will gain a bit more," a European official closely linked to the trade talks also suggested.

"A good deal today is a win–win," he said. "But of course, there will be some losers, there are always losers."

Fears over which Canadian sectors will lose when the final text of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) — the largest and most ambitious trade deal Canada has ever negotiated — is concluded weigh heavily on opposition politicians in Canada and industry groups who feel they have been left in the dark.

Electricity prices are going up by an average of 1.8 per cent for the average residential consumer using smart meters, the Ontario Energy Board has announced.

Off-peak, on-peak and mid-peak rates are going up starting Nov. 1, the regulator said in a release Monday.

For the average residential consumer using 800kWh a month, that means an increase of $2.11 on the electricity portion of the bill. The increase affects residences and businesses hooked to smart meter pricing — 66 per cent of all consumers as of August.

All Ontario electricity consumers are expected to switch over to smart meter pricing by mid-2012.

Meanwhile rates are going up for those on tiered pricing as well — the average consumer stands to pay an extra 20 cents a month.

The main causes of the increase, the board said, are "increased nuclear and renewable generation coming online during the forecast period."

But the board said while rates are going up, the overall total bill for businesses and residences on smart meter pricing will be lower Nov. 1 than they were one year ago at the same time because of a 10 per cent rebate the government has provided.

Origin
Source: Huffington

Texas conservatives reject Harper's crime plan

'Been there; done that; didn't work,' say Texas crime-fighters

Conservatives in the United States' toughest crime-fighting jurisdiction — Texas — say the Harper government's crime strategy won't work.

"You will spend billions and billions and billions on locking people up," says Judge John Creuzot of the Dallas County Court. "And there will come a point in time where the public says, 'Enough!' And you'll wind up letting them out."

Adds Representative Jerry Madden, a conservative Republican who heads the Texas House Committee on Corrections, "It's a very expensive thing to build new prisons and, if you build 'em, I guarantee you they will come. They'll be filled, OK? Because people will send them there.

59 library branches may have hours chopped

Fifty-nine library branches would lose some of their operating hours under a cost-cutting proposal from the city’s chief librarian.

Of the 39 branches left untouched by Jane Pyper’s proposal, many are small branches open only 40 hours per week. The busiest libraries in the system, including the 17 high-circulation district branches and the two large research and reference libraries, would all lose hours.

Amid a public outcry, numerous city councillors spoke out this summer against a proposal, since abandoned, to close branches. Mayor Rob Ford may have difficulty convincing councillors to vote in favour of cutting hours at branches in their own wards.

Some councillors, however, are far more amenable to cuts than they were to closures. Councillor Karen Stintz, a Ford ally who was among the first councillors to publicly oppose closures, said she was willing to consider a proposed reduction of 9.5 hours per week at the Northern District branch at Yonge St. and Eglinton Ave. W.

At the height of Toronto's rush hour commute, a group of about 100 to 125 people staged a roaming protest starting with the occupation of Bay and King Sts.

The demonstrators sat in the intersection for several minutes before marching north to occupy the intersection of Yonge and Dundas Sts. around 6 p.m.

“Whose streets? Our streets!” the protesters chanted at Bay and King Sts.

After several minutes, the group marched north in the middle of Bay St., to Queen St., where they marched east.

The group stopped in front of the Eaton Centre, blocking traffic.

They marched to the intersection of Yonge and Dundas Sts. where protestors sat on the ground, forming a “99%” symbol to viewers in nearby buildings.

The repressive policies of the Tory's Bill C-4 includes forced detention of certain refugees for one year.

The House of Commons will soon vote at a second reading on the Conservative government’s Bill C-4, or the “Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada's Immigration System Act.” This legislation sends a misleading and dangerous message to Canadians: that foreigners pose a threat to the country.

From a policy perspective, Bill C-4 is a jaw-dropper. It is advertised as an anti-smuggling bill intended to deter the arrival of refugees that are smuggled into the country. Its provisions, however, mainly target the refugees, rather than the smugglers. The legislation imposes mandatory one-year detention for refugees upon their arrival in Canada, without review by a judge or tribunal. This, however, is only the beginning of the bill’s incoherencies.

Citizen empowerment and the direct democracy being practiced suggest Occupy Wall Street can reinvigorate the left.

The Occupy Wall Street protests in New York’s Zucotti Park seem to have settled in for the long haul, although only time will tell if they will have a lasting impact in spawning a new social movement or reinvigorating the left. The double-decker buses en route to the 9/11 memorial slow down, and tourists gawk: The protests seem to have become another stop on the downtown tour. Entrepreneurial vendors ribbon the park’s perimeter, selling the usual street food and sidewalk kitsch. Even the police officers assigned to the protest beat seem relaxed, enjoying a shift that promises street theatre and hopefully an afternoon in the warm fall sunshine. A lot of them are happily earning overtime pay. One generous sign even effused inclusiveness, stating “NYPD: You are the 99%”.

On the first afternoon that I hung out in the park, there were almost as many reporters and interlopers as protestors. Because of NYC’s famous diversity, the international media have no trouble finding people to interview in languages other than English. Given that one hallmark of the protests is their “leaderless-ness,” pretty much anyone qualifies as a spokesperson, which unfortunately translates into cartoonish television coverage. Dreadlocks and tattoos tend to attract the cameras.

At first glance, it’s easy to dismiss the protests as a lefty version of the Tea Party, a big tent of the disaffected with many an axe to grind – from ballooning student debt to fracking, overseas wars, nuclear power, and even debit-card charges. One young activist vaguely explained that he was protesting because “U.S. economic interests” were “hurting the world” – while making a half-hearted effort to hide a joint under the flap of his sleeping bag. However, I then listened to a matronly registered Republican who had voted for Bush explain why she was supporting the protestors: because they were being unfairly represented in the media and she felt that they truly were the 99 per cent, which, in the American context, means earning less than roughly $1,100,000 per year.

Maybe I’m a weirdo but I miss minority government. I miss the tension, the brinkmanship, the Liberals being even remotely relevant. I miss the thrill that comes with John Baird going hyper-partisan, his face turning the kind of purple that under different circumstances would prompt a good Samaritan to apply the Heimlich manoeuvre. I caught a bit of question period not long ago and heard Baird use something that sounded an awful lot like an inside voice. It was as jarring as listening to Back in Black performed by a harpist.

It’s been a tough transition for the political enthusiast. Without the ever-present threat of an election, the Conservatives have no reason even to pretend to feign fake-caring about opposition queries. And the opposition seems similarly disinterested. This is pretty much every exchange in the House these days:

Why aren’t you doing stuff about jobs?

—We are doing stuff about jobs.

But, um, why aren’t you doing stuff about jobs?

—Your mother. Army boots. And so on.