Defence department’s basic science and technology organization faces cuts to life-saving research

OTTAWA — Just months after Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk credited them with saving the lives of soldiers in Afghanistan, hundreds of civilian employees of the Defence Department’s science and research branch have been told their jobs no longer exist.

Documents leaked to the Citizen show that Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) is taking a significant share of the government’s cuts at DND; its budget has been slashed by 13 per cent and its workforce will be reduced by 15 per cent, or 242 full-time jobs.

As a result of the layoffs, the defence science organization is stopping work on a bomb detection project at its Suffield, Alta., site. The Counter Terrorism Technology Centre at Suffield, which conducts research into chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive incidents, will also be scaled back. Some robotics work will be cut, and commitments to research for public security programs will be reviewed.

Scientists at DRDC Ottawa will reduce their efforts in computer network security and support for radar system design work, according to the documents. Basic research into naval radar will be stopped.

Cannibalize the Future

One general rule of modern politics is that the people who talk most about future generations — who go around solemnly declaring that we’re burdening our children with debt — are, in practice, the people most eager to sacrifice our future for short-term political gain. You can see that principle at work in the House Republican budget, which starts with dire warnings about the evils of deficits, then calls for tax cuts that would make the deficit even bigger, offset only by the claim to have a secret plan to make up for the revenue losses somehow or other.

And you can see it in the actions of Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, who talks loudly about acting responsibly but may actually be the least responsible governor the state has ever had.

Mr. Christie’s big move — the one that will define his record — was his unilateral decision back in 2010 to cancel work that was already under way on a new rail tunnel linking New Jersey with New York. At the time, Mr. Christie claimed that he was just being fiscally responsible, while critics said that he had canceled the project just so he could raid it for funds.

Now the independent Government Accountability Office has weighed in with a report on the controversy, and it confirms everything the critics were saying.

Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS Funded By $10 Million Checks

WASHINGTON -- The “GPS” in Crossroads GPS ostensibly stands for grassroots policy strategies, but the Washington Post reported Friday that nearly 90 percent of the money flowing through the Karl Rove-associated group has come from as few as two dozen anonymous donors, two of whom gave at least $10 million each.

The group, known for funding hard-hitting attack ads against congressional Democrats in the 2010 elections, has said that it and its sister group, American Crossroads, intend to spend $300 million in this year's elections. Most recently, Crossroads GPS spent $1.7 million on television ads attempting to blame President Barack Obama for high gas prices.

Crossroads GPS won't divulge the names of its donors, citing its self-declared status as a nonprofit organization operating under section 501(c)(4) of the tax code. That section is intended for “social welfare” groups that have a primary mission other than political activity.

The IRS has yet to formally grant Crossroads GPS that status. Several campaign finance reform groups have demanded that Crossroads' request be denied.

The group let the Post see the tax forms it plans to file with the IRS next week. Those forms reportedly disclose that the group has spent about $17 million on “direct election spending.” It also reported spending $27 million on “issue advocacy,” which the Post notes is “often a subtle distinction, since the ads inevitably help one political figure or party.”

Should the IRS consider that spending political in nature, it could well deny the group 501(c)(4) status -- possibly subjecting it to massive fines for nondisclosure.

The Post reported that the group also passed along money from its secret donors to other conservative groups, including $4 million to Americans for Tax Reform and $2 million to the National Right to Life Committee.

The complete domination of Crossroads GPS by large donors is further evidence of a clear trend that has emerged in campaign financing since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision. Money flowing into the groups that have sprung up in the wake of that decision -- namely Super PACs like American Crossroads and 501(c)(4)s like Crossroads GPS -- have become vehicles for the super-rich to influence politics more easily than any time since before the Watergate era.

Original Article
Source: Huff
Author: ---

Nazi Party Registers Washington Lobbyist

The American Nazi Party attempted to make a foray into Washington's halls of power this week, registering their first lobbyist as a liaison to U.S. lawmakers.

John Bowles, the National Socialist Movement's presidential nominee in 2008, registered Tuesday, U.S. News and World Report notes. He stated on his registration form that he intends to lobby on the issues of "political rights and ballot access laws."

Asked by U.S. News and World Report if he thought an avowed Nazi would actually be able to secure meetings with politicians, Bowles responded with confidence:

    "I don't see why not," he says, adding that he knows lobbyists rely on their credibility. "Of course I won't approach anybody in Congress unless it's a very interesting issue or law," he promises. "I'm going to be very careful about the issues I choose for this."

While Bowles seems self-assured, Business Insider flags a 2008 interview with WikiNews that may make some congresspeople think twice before sitting down with him.

In the interview, Bowles says he once ran as a Baltimore City convention delegate to the Republican Party Convention in 1984 and explains his 2008 presidential platform:

    I am running as "The White People's Candidate" for President of the USA in 2008 because I believe that America has changed for the worse because the once-dominate White European-American is being reduced to second-class citizen status and losing political power. Much of the present American Southwest is reverting to a Spanish speaking Mexican culture, with Puerto Ricans breeding faster than Blacks in New York City, and Cuban refugees still crowding into Florida it is possible that North America may soon look like South America. White Americans need to start voting as a bloc and not as individuals if they are to have an effective voice in government or America will turn into a third world country.

Original Article
Source: Huff
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Suncor Gas Price Fixing Reaps $500K Fine

Suncor Energy Products Inc. has agreed to pay a $500,000 fine for price-fixing at some of the company's gas stations in Ontario.

The federal Competition Bureau said Friday that the Calgary-based energy giant has been fined for fixing the price of retail gasoline at service stations in Belleville, Ont., between May and November 2007.

"We are committed to pursuing those who engage in anti-competitive behaviour that harms Canadian businesses and consumers," Canada's competition commissioner, Melanie Aitken, said in a release.

The fine is related to an ongoing probe by the bureau into anti-competitive behaviour in the retail gasoline industry.

Earlier this month Canadian Tire, Pioneer and Mr. Gas stations in nearby Brockville and Kingston, Ont., pleaded guilty to anti-competitive behaviour surrounding gas prices. In that deal, the three companies agreed to pay fines totalling $2 million. The Competition Bureau said in the case that the "gas retailers or their representatives in these local markets phoned each other and agreed on the price they would charge customers for gasoline."

The federal agency's probe continues.

"Illegal agreements between competitors to fix prices deny consumers the benefits of competitive prices and choice," Aitken said.

Original Article
Source: Huff
Author: cbc

David Suzuki: Saskatchewan Fires Back At Environmentalist's Foundation Over Climate Change Report

REGINA - Saskatchewan's environment minister is fuming about a report that says the province isn't taking climate change seriously.

Dustin Duncan said Thursday that he's disappointed that the David Suzuki Foundation released the report without talking to the province about what it's doing to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

"It is an issue that we are taking seriously, despite what the Suzuki Foundation believes," said Duncan.

"We are making significant investments in technology like carbon capture and sequestion which has been recognized as leading technology when it comes to reducing emissions, while still providing jobs for people that work in the coal and in the power industry."

The report notes that Saskatchewan has the highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. It criticizes the province for not having a plan to end its reliance on coal-fired power plants.

Coal-fired power plants are the primary source of energy in Saskatchewan and Duncan said there's no plan to get rid of them.

Ten lessons in situational math – and ethics – for Peter MacKay

‘If you went out and bought a new minivan and it was going to cost you $20,000, you wouldn’t calculate the gas, the washer fluid, the oil and give yourself a salary to drive it for the next 15 to 20 years,” Defence Minister Peter MacKay said recently, attempting to explain the government’s failure to reveal the full estimated cost of 65 F-35 fighter jets to be $25-billion, not the $14.7-billion figure previously claimed.

Not so fast, Mr. MacKay. Here are some of the situations in which I would stop to calculate exactly those kinds of things:

1. If it were the specific job I was hired to do: For example, say I was asked by the Speaker of the House, more than a year ago, to hand over “all documents that outline acquisition costs, life cycle costs and operational requirements associated with those snappy new minivans you’ve been telling everyone you’re buying” – much as the government was told to do on the F-35s.

This wouldn’t be like the time I worked at the Pita Pocket and no one would tell me whether I should cut the pita open before I toasted it or after (and I had culinary reservations about toasting a pita in the first place). I think, when it comes to clear job expectations and correct procedure, Mr. MacKay has it easy.

Death by a thousand cuts: Resistance is not futile

Government attacks against worker rights and the social wage are threatening hard-earned gains and advances for workers in Canada on many fronts and in many incremental ways. In this two-part series, we will look some of these struggles and what is at stake, with Part 1 focusing on the teachers' union in British Columbia, airline workers and the public pension. Part 2 takes a look at what must be done if we are to protect individual, public and social rights in Canada.

As governments and corporations intensify their attacks on workers' rights and the social wage, a trend of growing resistance is sweeping across Canada.

Recent strikes include library workers in the city of Toronto, transit and university workers in Halifax, daycare workers across Quebec, teachers and students in British Columbia, as well as Air Canada workers who have staged a series of protests and strikes in the past year. The most spectacular strikes have been taking place in Quebec, where students are waging a massive campaign against rises in post-secondary tuition fees.

Provincial government workers are restive. Some 300,000 in British Columbia are bargaining a new collective agreement and saying "no" to the wage and services freeze that is being imposed on teachers. In Ontario, the response has been nothing if not angry to the recent Ontario budget that cut billions of dollars of spending from public services along with thousands of jobs.

A farmer’s final stand

For six years now, Frank Meyers has been doing his best to ignore the elephant on his farm. Ask him about it—the fact that the federal government wants to kick him off his beloved land in order to build a new headquarters for the military’s elite special forces squad—and the 84-year-old brushes it all aside, like the dirt on his pants. Meyers, a dairy farmer for seven decades, is dealing with his bad luck the only way he knows how: with pride, toughness and a bit of humour. “What are they going to do?” he asks. “Bring a task force in to take me out? They might have to.”

But on Thursday, during a public hearing that will finally decide the fate of his historic property, not even Meyers could stop himself from tearing up. As one of his daughters read an emotional statement for the record, he sat two chairs over, quietly wiping his eyes. “By the time my father was 14, his fulltime job was maintaining this farm,” said Elaine Meyers Steiginga, speaking into a microphone. “I cannot begin to imagine what he is feeling right now, thinking about his lifelong hard labour that he put into this farm, only for it to be gone with just a signature. This wouldn’t just be the end of our family farm. It would be the end of a family legacy.”

Liberals and NDP push committee for emergency meeting on F-35s

Members of the House of Commons’ public accounts committee are set to trade in their Easter break for an F-35 investigation, after the Liberals and NDP teamed up to request an emergency meeting in Ottawa.

Liberal MP Gerry Byrne initiated the process, requesting Friday that members convene in the next few days to begin their study on the auditor general’s scathing spring report on the F-35 procurement process.

“The sooner the better,” Byrne said. “This obviously has to take huge priority.”

But Byrne is the only Liberal on the committee, and to get a meeting called during the break, he needed the support of three other members. There are six Conservatives and three New Democrats who sit on public accounts. The three NDP MPs – Malcolm Allen, Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe and Matthew Dubé – backed him up.

“We’ve decided to go ahead and do that,” Allen said. “The F-35 is clearly top of mind for a lot of Canadians. There’s a great deal of interest in it. I think folks want us to get underway as quickly as we possibly can.”