Occupy protesters target Barrick Gold

Occupy protesters plan a series of temporary occupations across the city, organizers said. And the first target will be Wednesday’s annual general meeting of mining giant Barrick Gold Corp.

After a long day of May Day events, hundreds of protesters began a late-evening march to Simcoe Park, across the street from the Metro Convention Centre, where Barrick shareholders will meet at 10 a.m.

Throughout the night, protesters and police kept a wary eye on each other.

Three protesters were charged with prohibited activity on premises, allegedly pitching a tent in contravention of a Toronto bylaw, said Const. Tony Vella.

The occupiers, who identified themselves as “chaplains,” refused to stop erecting the tent, calling the structure a “chapel,” Vella said.

Police say they escorted the three from Simcoe Park and gave them each a $60 ticket.

Vella said that Toronto’s parks department would allow protesters to stay at Simcoe Park overnight. However, police would not allow tents and other structures to be pitched after midnight. City bylaws prohibit people from erecting structures or staying in a park between 12:01 a.m. and 5:30 a.m.

What next for Occupy?

This is the transcript of a discussion that took place earlier this year between Noam Chomsky and Occupy supporters Mikal Kamil and Ian Escuela for InterOccupy, an organisation that provides links between supporters of the Occupy movement around the world.

Professor Chomsky, the Occupy movement is in its second phase. Three of our main goals are to: 1) occupy the mainstream and transition from the tents and into the hearts and the minds of the masses; 2) block the repression of the movement by protecting the right of the 99%'s freedom of assembly and right to speak without being violently attacked; and 3) end corporate personhood. The three goals overlap and are interdependent.


We are interested in learning what your position is on mainstream filtering, the repression of civil liberties, and the role of money and politics as they relate to Occupy and the future of America.

Coverage of Occupy has been mixed. At first it was dismissive, making fun of people involved as if they were just silly kids playing games and so on. But coverage changed. In fact, one of the really remarkable and almost spectacular successes of the Occupy movement is that it has simply changed the entire framework of discussion of many issues. There were things that were sort of known, but in the margins, hidden, which are now right up front – such as the imagery of the 99% and 1%; and the dramatic facts of sharply rising inequality over the past roughly 30 years, with wealth being concentrated in actually a small fraction of 1% of the population.

The Drug Czar's False Statement About Marijuana and Hemp Should Be a Bigger Scandal

In response to an online petition sponsored by the White House, which I signed seven months ago, I've finally received a response from Obama's Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske, explaining why we can't let American farmers grow industrial hemp. It's written in rather plain language, but nonetheless betrays either appalling ignorance or rank dishonesty on the part of our nation's top drug policy official.

Unfortunately, while President Obama's misleading claims about medical marijuana policy have generated considerable attention, the drug czar's recent comments about hemp have gone almost entirely unnoticed and unreported. This is his entire response right here (which apparently took many months to prepare):

    OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE RESPONSE TO Allow Industrial Hemp to be Grown in the U.S. Once Again

    What We Have to Say About Marijuana and Hemp Production
    By Gil Kerlikowske

    America's farmers deserve our Nation's help and support to ensure rural America's prosperity and vitality. Federal law prohibits human consumption, distribution, and possession of Schedule I controlled substances. Hemp and marijuana are part of the same species of cannabis plant. While most of the THC in cannabis plants is concentrated in the marijuana, all parts of the plant, including hemp, can contain THC, a Schedule I controlled substance. The Administration will continue looking for innovative ways to support farmers across the country while balancing the need to protect public health and safety. [WhiteHouse.gov]

Oil tankers and oil pipelines too great a risk: Canadians for the Great Bear

Spokespeople, representing a range of political stripes and expertise, joined forces to call for a sustainable future for Canada’s unique Great Bear region. The group raised expert concerns about the risks of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to Canadian values, jobs, and the environment.

“It’s tremendously important to me to be a Canadian for the Great Bear.  The amazing places we have in our country are part of what it means to be Canadian,” says Niedermayer, who grew up in interior B.C.

Backed by WWF-Canada and B.C.’s Coastal First Nations, Canadians for the Great Bear are calling for an energy strategy that respects nature, reflects Canadian values and works for all Canadians.

“I am a Canadian for the Great Bear because the risks of an oil tanker or pipeline spill far outweigh any potential rewards,” says Grand Chief Edward John, Hereditary Chief of Tl’azt’en Nation. “The proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline has united First Nations across the province to stop this pipeline and increased oil tanker traffic on the coast.”

Tories reveal more about plan to link EI benefits to regional labour demands

OTTAWA — The Conservative government released more details Monday of its plans to spend $387 million over two years on changes to the employment insurance program that should better link benefits to regional labour market conditions.

But it will be a few more months before the Tories define what jobs are considered "suitable employment" for Canadians applying for EI benefits and looking for work.

Opposition parties are worried many Canadians could be excluded from receiving employment insurance coverage when it's needed most.

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley also said Monday that the government will live up to its campaign promise and provide financial support for parents of gravely ill children, although details are still months away.

The EI changes come as the Harper government has been cutting jobs at Service Canada facilities that process EI claims, although Finley maintains the response times are improving.

The new pan-Canadian EI approach, unveiled in the March budget, will calculate weekly employment insurance benefits based on local labour market conditions in various regions across Canada.

Canadians feel ‘betrayed’ by Harper move to change Old Age Security payments, emails show

OTTAWA—“Betrayed.” “Cheated” “What about your own fat pensions.” And the kicker, “Hands off OLD AGE SECURITY.”

Canadians didn’t hold back when Prime Minister Stephen Harper first floated his proposal to overhaul old age security benefits earlier this year.

They unleashed a fury of angry emails to his Ottawa office, furious at the proposed changes and equally unhappy that the prime minister had chosen to pitch the idea to an exclusive forum in Davos, Switzerland, rather than telling Canadians first about his cost-cutting plans.

And there were plenty of questions about why the Conservatives had stayed silent about the contentious issue during last spring’s election.

“We would not have voted for the Conservative Party if we had known this was in the works,” wrote one person all in capital letters to drive home the point.

“Please do not mess with old age security pension,” said another echoing the sentiments of most readers.

French elections: Sarkozy courts far-right at alternative May Day rally

Nicolas Sarkozy has stepped up his appeal to France's far-right by lauding national identity, borders and French Christian heritage at a vast open-air rally in the shadow of the Eiffel tower.

But the French president was dealt a serious blow by Front National leader, Marine Le Pen, who told her supporters she would not vote for him.

Tens of thousands of Sarkozy's flag-waving supporters, many of them party activists bussed in from the provinces by his rightwing UMP party, turned out at Paris's Trocadero in front of an imposing backdrop of the Eiffel tower.

Sarkozy's alternative May day Labour rally, which he initially said was a defiant celebration of "real" work versus the traditional trade union marches, had caused a political slanging match in France.

A Communist newspaper and various commentators likened the president to Marshal Pétain, the leader of France's Nazi collaborationist Vichy regime in the 1940s, for trying to appropriate the "values of work" for the right. His party slammed the parallels as shameful and disgusting.

Sarkozy told the crowd: "We don't want Socialism!" He stressed the importance of loving France, the value of work, and promised a new French social model with fewer rules and red tape. He said France must defend "values, identity and the frontiers that protect us", adding: "Do you think China doesn't defend its identity?"

Osama bin Laden's death has had zero impact on America's security

Last week, Afghanistan; two coalition troops were injured and one killed by Afghan soldiers; the US reached an agreement with the Afghan government to maintain a presence in the country until 2024; and the US failed to break a diplomatic deadlock with Pakistan after the US refused to apologise for killing 25 Pakistani soldiers in November.

This week, the White House will celebrate the anniversary of the assassination of Osama bin Laden as though it were the crowning achievement of its foreign policy. On Wednesday, Obama will hold a rare televised interview in the situation room to discuss the raid in Abbottabad. His campaign has released of a web video in which Bill Clinton says President Obama "took the harder and the more honorable path, and the one that produced, in my opinion, the best result". The video then asks, "Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?"

The man who entered the White House with the message of "hope" and "change" wants to hold on to it with a record of "shoot to kill".

Republicans are right to criticise the president for the crass manner in which he is "dancing around the end zone". Unfortunately, those criticisms ring hollow from a party whose leader played dress up on the USS Abraham Lincoln to announce the end of a war that is still not over, and whose presidential candidate claims Obama should stop travelling the globe "apologising for" America. Moreover, the problem is not that Obama is exploiting a moment of national unity for partisan gain – though he most certainly is – but that this extra-judicial execution of an unmourned man has proved the only event capable of uniting the country since 9/11.

Samuel 'Mouli' Cohen Sentenced To 22 Years In Prison For $30 Million Fraud

SAN FRANCISCO -- A former high-tech executive convicted of defrauding investors of at least $30 million was sentenced Monday to 22 years in prison after a judge denounced him for fleecing nearly 100 victims to finance an "obscene lifestyle" of private jets, gaudy jewelry and Swiss bank accounts.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said Samuel "Mouli" Cohen was "nearly sociopathic" for refusing to show remorse for actor Danny Glover and others who suffered after he told them a company Cohen launched called Ecast that made electronic jukeboxes for bars was about to be acquired by Microsoft Corp.

The fraud caused the collapse of the nonprofit charity Vanguard Public Foundation, which Glover and singer Harry Belafonte founded in 1972, prosecutors said.

"In more than 40 years of experience with the criminal justice system, I have never encountered a con man like Mr. Cohen," Breyer told the defendant, who stood impassively in tan, jailhouse garb as emotional victims watched from the courtroom gallery. "He is serial in his proclivity to commit cons. He is nearly sociopathic in his ability to relate to his victims."

Breyer scheduled a Thursday hearing to determine the amount of fines and restitution to order against Cohen. Federal prosecutors are seeking restitution of $29.7 million. forfeiture of $31.4 million and a $250,000 fine.

Has Team Romney forgotten that the Bush years were terrible?

It was, after all, only four short years ago. And it didn’t go so well. The Bush economy is one of the worst on record. Median wages dropped. Poverty worsened. Inequality increased. Surpluses turned into deficits. Monthly job growth was weaker than it had been in any expansion since 1954. Economic growth was sluggish. And that’s before you count the financial crisis that unfurled on his watch. Add the collapse to the equation, and Bush’s record goes from “not so good” to “I can’t bear to look.”

Was all that his fault? Of course not. No economy is entirely under the president’s control. He didn’t create the tech bubble or 9/11. His responsibility for the financial crisis is, at best, partial. But Bush’s economic policies -- including massive, deficit-financed tax cuts, and his reappointing of Alan Greenspan to lead the Federal Reserve -- mattered. And, rightly or wrongly, the American people blame him for the aftermath. He left office one of the most unpopular presidents in U.S. history. And the anger has stuck: A recent YouGov poll found that 56 percent blame Bush “a great deal” or “a lot” for economic problems. Only 41 percent said the same about President Obama.

Given all that, you’d think Republicans would be running from anything or anyone who even vaguely reminded Americans of our 43rd president. In fact, the GOP seems eager to get the old gang back together.