Sandra Finley

2011-03-02 Saskatchewan spending $30M on nuclear research centre

Mar 022011

It will be game over for climate change. These reactors are for tar sands expansion. We are organizing the Green Party in Saskatchewan, federal and provincial, as fast as we can but it’s not fast enough. /Sandra

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/03/02/sk-nuclear-money-1102.html

Sk. spending $30M on nuclear research centre

CBC News

Posted: Mar 2, 2011 11:50 AM ET

Last Updated: Mar 2, 2011 12:12 PM ET

Beginning of Story

The U of S is home to the Canadian Light Source synchrotron and will soon be expanding its nuclear infrastructure. (File/CBC)

The Saskatchewan government will spend $30 million to create a new nuclear research centre at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.

The money, to be spent over seven years, will be used to expand nuclear medicine but also materials science and small reactor design, Premier Brad Wall said in a news release.

University of Saskatchewan president Peter MacKinnon said the research centre will focus on nuclear science and engineering, materials and neutron science and nuclear health sciences.

There will be new staff hired and academic programs added in nuclear engineering, nuclear and reactor physics and radiochemistry, MacKinnon said.

The money will add to the existing nuclear research infrastructure on campus, which includes the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, the SLOWPOKE research reactor and the STOR-M Tokamak device, MacKinnon said

In January, the province and the federal government also pledged $12 million for new equipment and research aimed at making medical isotopes at the synchrotron.

In 2009, public hearings were held that looked at the possibility of building a massive nuclear power plant in Saskatchewan.

The government later said it wouldn’t move forward with that idea, although small reactors were still a possibility.

2011-03-02 Mercury toxicity. Mercury in dental amalgams is not stable.

Mercury poisoning, dental amalgams. See also Vaccinations. No Responses »

Mar 022011

http://www.talkinternational.com/use-dmps-chelation.html

Mercury Toxicity and the Use of DMPS Chelation

by John C. Cline, M.D., B.Sc.,C.C.F.P.

Medical Director — Oceanside Medical Clinic

History of Dental Amalgams

For the past two centuries, mercury amalgam use in dentistry has increased in popularity as the preferred tooth filling material.(1,2,3) However, when mercury amalgam was initially introduced into North America in the 1830s, its use was vehemently opposed by the dental licensing authority, the American Society of Dental Surgeons and official policies were adopted to prohibit the use of this material. Their concern was focussed upon the safety of placing mercury into humans since many toxic effects of mercury were well known; including dementia and loss of motor coordination. In spite of this official prohibition, several dentists continued to use mercury amalgam and some were subsequently suspended for malpractice. The popularity of this inexpensive, durable and easy to work with material continued to rise amongst dentists and by 1856, there were so many dentists using mercury amalgam that the American Society of Dental Surgeons was disbanded by overwhelming opposition to their policy surrounding amalgam fillings. Following this, in 1859 the American Dental Association was founded on the premise that mercury amalgam was a safe and desirable tooth filling material. Because of the low cost of amalgam, dentistry was now available to the masses for the first time. By 1895, the mercury amalgam mixture of metals was modified and this formula continues to be used to this day, with a typical mixture containing 50% metallic mercury, 35% silver, 9% tin, 6% copper, and a trace of zinc. Mercury amalgam continues to be the material preferred by 92% of dentists for restoring posterior teeth.(4,5) and over one hundred tons of mercury is now used in dentistry in the U.S. each year.

Mercury release from dental amalgams

The basic premise for regarding the amalgam filling as safe was the assumption that the amalgamation process resulted in a stabilization of the normally volatile mercury. This premise has now been shown to be entirely false. Since the 1980s, it has been well established that mercury vapor is continuously released from amalgam fillings. The release of this vapor into the mouth increases immediately after chewing(6) or tooth brushing(7) and can result in a daily absorbed dose of mercury which exceeds the excretory capacity via the urine and stool. It has now been well established and published by several authorities, including the World Health Organization, that amalgam tooth fillings are, by far, the major source of mercury exposure for the general population.(8) This was recently reiterated by Health Canada in its 1995 position paper on dental amalgam.(9) According to the World Health Organization’s expert committee, the daily human exposure to mercury vapor from amalgam fillings ranges from 3micrograms to 17micrograms as compared to a maximum of 2.6micrograms from all other sources. It is disturbing to note that mercury was recently removed from latex paint in North America due to the health risks associated with inhalation of mercury vapor from the paint. Exposure to mercury from paint was estimated to be 4.6micrograms per day for approximately two weeks following application of the paint.(10) If mercury in latex paint was clearly considered such a health risk, why are amalgam fillings such a source of scornful dialog amongst the dental and medical community when amalgams are a much greater source and a far more persistent source of inhaled mercury?

Pharmacokinetics of inhaled mercury

Mercury vapor released from dental amalgams is efficiently absorbed through the alveoli. Following absorption through the lungs, elemental mercury vapor (Hg0) is only found very transiently in the blood. Due to its high lipid solubility elemental mercury is rapidly transported through cell membranes (including cell membranes of the cells comprising the blood-brain barrier). Once inside metabolically active cells, elemental mercury (Hg0) is then oxidized by catalase to form ionic mercury (Hg2+). Ionic mercury (Hg2+) is not lipid soluble and it therefore results in a high degree of retention of absorbed mercury and a tissue half life ranging from days to decades depending on the particular organ.(11,8,12,13,14,15) This phenomenon clarifies why, studies have repeatedly demonstrated that after placement of amalgam fillings, blood and urinary mercury levels remain relatively low even though many organs develop concentrations of mercury many times greater than that of the blood.(16,17,18) Thus, blood or non-challenged urinary mercury levels bear little relationship to the total body burden of mercury gradually acquired from amalgam fillings.(19)

Biochemical effects of inhaled mercury

Once mercury enters the cell, it ultimately becomes bound covalently to the sulfhydryl groups found in glutathione, and to a lesser degree to cysteine, biotin, lipoic acid, coenzyme A as well as to other protein sulfhydryl groups. The major intracellular sulfhydryl compound in mammals is the tripeptide glutathione. Glutathione and the glutathione rich enzyme, glutathione peroxidase are probably the most important antioxidant defenses in most species including the human.(20) Mercury has been shown to cause a marked reduction in glutathione production and glutathione peroxidase activity and thus it may result in a marked rise in oxidative stress within the brain and other organs.(21,22,23) Apart from the loss of antioxidant protection from mercury induced inhibition of glutathione and glutathione peroxidase, mercury results in a marked increase in free radical generation through Fenton reactions and other mechanisms.(22)

In addition to its key role in antioxidant defenses, glutathione is also a critical component in the liver’s detoxification mechanisms. Enzymes within the liver must form conjugates between glutathione and certain toxic metabolites, organic xenobiotics, and heavy metals to enable these toxins to be eliminated from the body. This process of glutathione conjugation makes toxic molecules more water soluble and enables their excretion via the bile or through the kidney. If liver glutathione production is markedly inhibited, as occurs when mercury accumulates within hepatocytes, mercury and numerous other toxic substances may more readily accumulate throughout the body because the excretion of such substances are significantly impaired.(24,25,26,22) Furthermore, because the majority of mercury is excreted through the stool and urine as a glutathione conjugate, individuals with long standing body burdens of mercury (and thus depleted glutathione production) may not demonstrate elevated levels of mercury in the urine, blood or stool when specimens are gathered in the absence of a challenge with an appropriate metal chelating agent. Thus, tissue biopsy of target organs or a provocation test measuring urinary mercury after the administration of a chelating agent, may be the only valid means to assess chronic mercury body burden.(27,28,29,30)

Uptake and distribution of inhaled mercury

Numerous studies have been performed demonstrating the body tissue uptake and distribution of mercury from dental amalgams. Studies using whole body imaging in primates with dental amalgams have clearly demonstrated that the amalgams result in high levels of mercury in the kidney, intestinal tract, brain, liver, and other organs. (31,16) Of great concern are human fetal and neonatal studies which demonstrate that mercury concentrations in kidney, liver, and brain correlate significantly with maternal amalgam surfaces.(32) Furthermore, a recently published study has firmly established the presence of mercury from dental amalgam in the milk of nursing mothers.(33)

Clinical effects of inhaled mercury

The impact of chronic, low level mercury exposure is now known to adversely impact numerous other cellular and organ system processes.(19) Ionic mercury is antigenic and may contribute significantly to autoimmune processes.(34,35) Mercury is also immunotoxic and it may result in immune suppression and allergy.(36,37,38,39) Recent research has also demonstrated that multiple strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria develop rapidly in the gut and oral cavity of both humans as well as non-human primates following the placement of amalgam fillings.(40)

Amalgam fillings have been shown to contribute to mercury accumulation in human and animal kidneys and this has been associated with a significant decrease in renal function.(41,42) Human fertility has also been shown to be significantly impacted by low level exposure to mercury vapor. A recent study examining 7000 dental assistants demonstrated that this group experiences a fertility rate approximately 40% less than that of women who have no occupational exposure to mercury.(43)

Of perhaps greatest concern is the potential role of low level, chronic mercury exposure upon central nervous system function. It is now well established, that amalgam derived mercury accumulates in monkey and human brain tissues.(41,31,13) Mercury has been shown to concentrate selectively in human brain regions involved with memory function and it may play a significant role in the etiology of Alzheimer’s disease.(44,45) Other reports have shown subclinical motor and neuropsychological deficits amongst dentists and dental workers as compared to control subjects.(46,47) Mounting evidence has lead some to suggest that, in fact, mercury from amalgams may play a highly significant role in the etiology of numerous mental illnesses and neuropsychological disorders.(48, 49,50,51,52,53)

Pharmacology of DMPS (Dimaval; 2,3-dimercapto-1-propane sulfonate, Na+)

DMPS (sodium salt of 2,3-dimercapto-1-propane sulfonic acid) is not a new drug. It was developed in the former Soviet Union in 1958. In 1978, DMPS became available to the western world following its synthesis and production by the German pharmaceutical company, Heyl.54 DMPS is a chelating agent in the group of dithiols, along with dimercaprol (BAL, British anti-Lewisite) and succimer (DMSA, 2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid).

DMPS has been used extensively in Europe and on a limited basis in North America as a treatment for mercury (55), arsenic (56) or lead intoxication (57). It is a registered drug in Germany and, in fact, due to its long record of safety, is now available without prescription.(28) When compared with D-penicillamine and N-acetyl-DL-penicillamine, DMPS was the most effective agent to clear mercury from the blood of victims of the Iraqi mercury disaster in the 1960’s. (58)

In addition to its safety and utility as an agent for detoxification, DMPS has been used frequently as an agent to approximate mercury body burden.(56,59) As described above, resting urine or blood levels of mercury bear little relationship to body burden of mercury in cases of long standing, low level intoxication, such as that which may occur from dental amalgams.(27),

There is a great wealth of scientific literature on the use of DMPS as both a diagnostic tool and a treatment agent in cases of acute and chronic heavy metal intoxication. Much of the European literature surrounding DMPS has been summarized in the English language in a thorough scientific monograph which is in its sixth edition.60 This monograph forms the basis for the rational use of DMPS by clinicians throughout the world. This monograph also formed the basis for the FDA sanctioned, multicentered trial on the use of DMPS in the evaluation of mercury body burden and response to mercury detoxification therapy in polysymptomatic patients with dental amalgams. (As an aside, Dr. Cline was a participant in the official training program for researchers participating in this multicentered trial and he achieved a mark in the 90th percentile range on the examination required for participation).

In the DMPS monograph, there is extensive reference to the work being done by European clinicians in the treatment of the polysymptomatic patient suffering from demonstrable mercury body burden. DMPS is initially used to assess the body burden of mercury and other heavy metals through provocation testing. Several methodological variations of this test are described. Because of the high degree of patient compliance, and because this methodology is in keeping with the pharmacokinetics of DMPS, I have elected to use the provocation testing methodology advocated by the German toxicologist, M. Daunderer, M.D.(61, 60) In this methodology, DMPS is given as a slow IV push. The patient then provides the first voided specimen after one to one and one half hours. The urine is then sent overnight to a toxicology laboratory. Mercury and other heavy metals are reported as micrograms metal per gram of urinary creatinine. The creatinine compensates for variations in urinary dilution. This has proven to be a simple test to perform, with a high degree of patient compliance. The quantity of heavy metal returned has generally correlated well to the symptom severity of the patients I have seen. Furthermore, the changes in metal excretion with this provocation test have corresponded well to the changes in symptom severity of the patients which I have seen. The provocation test forms a rational approach to the use of DMPS. When high quantities of toxic metals are no longer found with provocation urine testing, the DMPS is of no further value and its use may discontinued.

As mentioned previously, the pharmacology of DMPS has been extensively described.(54,28) Both oral and parenteral preparations of this agent are available. Pharmacokinetic data on both preparations are available.(62,63) The parentaral from of this agent allows for better control over the dosage in highly sensitive patients (the treatment can be interrupted if the patient experiences adverse effects). The parenteral route also avoids transport of metals from the gut to the liver through the portal circulation and may be better tolerated by the highly sensitive patient.

The metabolism of DMPS has also been studied thoroughly. DMPS is excreted largely through the urine. Before its excretion, DMPS is biotransformed largely to acyclic and cyclic disulfides. This mode of biotransformation may suggest one advantage of DMPS over the other dithiol chelator, DMSA (succimer). As opposed to DMPS, DMSA is biotransformed almost completely to a cysteine conjugate. Because of this, DMSA may lead to further depletion of cysteine and glutathione stores, which are often already low in metal toxic patients.(64,62,65,23) DMPS undergoes both renal and biliary excretion.(66) DMPS is distributed in both an intracellular and extracellular manner.(66,67,68) However, Unlike most other chelating agents, such as BAL and EDTA, DMPS does not cross the blood brain barrier and does not redistriute mercury to the brain(28).

The toxicity of DMPS is well known and, in this regard, it provides very distinct advantages to the officially approved dithiol chelator, Dimercaprol (BAL). Although BAL continues to be stockpiled by the military in preparation for chemical warfare attack with the arsenical nerve gas, lewisite, it is 300 times more toxic than DMPS, has no corresponding challenge test and it clearly causes redistribution of metals to the brain.(69) Animal studies on the acute and chronic toxicity of DMPS have been carried out and the results illustrate the safety of this agent and its wide therapeutic window.(60) Numerous human studies have failed to uncover any significant adverse impacts of DMPS upon human renal function, liver function, cardiovascular system, blood, immune system, G.I. tract or any other organs or systems. Minor or avoidable side effects such as local irritation at the site of parenteral infusion or hypotension with overly rapid infusion of the agent have been reported.(60)

Rationale For Using DMPS:

The scientific rationale for using DMPS in determining the body burden of and the removal of mercury and other heavy metals has been outlined above. The clinical rationale for using DMPS in people suffering from idiopathic polysymptomatic disorders such as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome is as follows. Current scientific understanding of these disorders suggests that the etiologies are multifactorial and may have significant environmental components including accumulation of heavy metals in key target organs. Most patients coming to my clinic with these chronic disorders have already attended several practitioners and have tried all sorts of therapies, usually to no avail. These patients are well educated regarding the various possible underlying etiologies and want to explore the possibility that heavy metals may be an underlying factor. I have observed that in most individuals in which mercury and other heavy metals are present, that a major improvement in their health usually occurs when they undergo detoxification using DMPS. This is in keeping with the observations made by numerous clinicians in Europe and in the USA by the principle investigators in the multicenter phase III, FDA approved clinical trial mentioned earlier. Finally, I want to emphasize that DMPS is not being utilized as the sole treatment in individuals suffering from these disorders, but rather it is being utilized as a method to relieve the patient of significant physiological stresses by decreasing the body burden of heavy metals. Although further research is clearly required in this area, my clinical experience over the last year in using DMPS has convinced me that this valuable agent has a key role to play in the management of highly disabling and previously intractable cases of chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. There are many patients in my practice who are now healthy productive citizens instead of hopeless invalids, thanks to the use of DMPS administered in a safe manner.

Click here to view the References for this article.

2011-03-01 Most mercury-filled products to be banned in Canada. Mercury is still safe in the human mouth but no where else. The Government invites your input.

Mercury poisoning, dental amalgams. See also Vaccinations. No Responses »

Mar 012011

(From item #5 below) “Please provide your written comments (INSERT: your story on dental amalgams) on the proposed regulation by May 12^th, 2011 to:

Address:
Waste Reduction and Management Division
Environment Canada
351 St. Joseph Boulevard, 14th floor
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0H3

Email: mercury@ec.gc.ca

Telephone: 819-997-5876

Fax: 819-997-3068″

– – – – – – – – – – – – — – – – – – – – — – – – –

With thanks to Grant:

Hi…interesting (article below) Most mercury-filled products to be banned in Canada.

Mercury is still safe in the human mouth but no where else.

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CONTENTS

RESPONSE TO GRANT AND HIS REPLY
CTV NEWS MARCH 1, MOST MERCURY-FILLED PRODUCTS TO BE BANNED IN CANADA “The public has until May 12 to comment on the new regulations.”
THE MEETINGS AT SIMPSONWOOD – BIG GOVERNMENT, BIG PHARMA RE MERCURY IN VACCINATIONS.
EMAIL TO THE MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE (HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT). MY COMMENTS. YOURS? OTHERS?
THE GOVERNMENT INVITES YOUR COMMENTS RE MERCURY
CBC NEWS REPORT ON THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION TO BAN MERCURY-FILLED PRODUCTS
INPUT FROM DEVELOPER OF 12 VACCINES, MERCK SCIENTIST DR. HILLIMAN
HEALTH CANADA WEBPAGES ON MERCURY

— – – – – – – – – – – – – – – — — –

(1) RESPONSE TO GRANT AND HIS REPLY

I just talked with a woman at Health Canada. They are working with Dept Envir on this legislation. I gave the woman an ear full; my apologies to her. Encouraged her to take the information we’ve assembled and input it into the Government deliberations. (www.sandrafinley.ca) Click on INDEX to heavy metals ( mercury is just one), foreign proteins and DNA in vaccinations PLUS mercury in dental amalgams.

See below, concerning the public comment opportunity. Email: mercury@ec.gc.ca

Altho they don’t often listen, it’s worth a try. I’ll put it out into my network and to VRAN, also to a woman I just met who works with autistic kids and said that 25% of the parents relate their child’s autism to a vaccination.

We should be able to get the vaccine people and the dental amalgam people together and push hard to get legislation that will actually lead to a reduction in the disease and developmental outcomes caused by these neuro-toxins, teratogens and carcinogens that we are pumping into not only ourselves and our kids, but into the environment where it poisons other creatures, too.

The Health Canada representative raised the complexity issue. I agreed and pointed out the influence of big money from the pharmaceutical industry and from the mercury amalgam people that sit on the Board of the American Dental Association that is still promoting dental amalgams (mercury) as safe. Pointed out the European countries that have banned dental amalgams. Also that the Government and dental professions are more concerned about covering their (@*$) behinds than they are in actually addressing the problem. Were it ever to be publicly acknowledged that there is a link between the vaccinations and developmental problems, for example, the repercussions for the “officials” would be monumental (witness the conversations at Simpsonwood (item #3 below).

I also pointed out that the medical people do not relate health to immune systems – – if you understand how the immune system works you will understand that the same toxins will produce different outcomes in different people.

/Sandra

2011-02-28 20,000 Canadians participated in yesterday’s Council of Canadians’ tele-town hall

Trade Deals, PPPs, Integration Canada-U.S., Water No Responses »

Feb 282011

The Council of Canadians has 50,000+ members. The work they do is incredibly important.

It will be an even more powerful statement when Maude Barlow (The Council) can say: this is the voice of 100,000 Canadians. Encourage people to take out a membership. http://www.canadians.org/ /Sandra

Council of Canadians’ hosts tele-town hall

http://www.rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/word-rings/2011/02/council-canadians-hosts-tele-town-hall

By Pina Belperio | February 28, 2011

On Feb. 27, the Council of Canadians, Canada’s largest public advocacy group held its first ever tele-town hall. The goal was to engage its 50,000+ members in an intimate forum on a cold, snowy Sunday afternoon with the Council’s chair, Maude Barlow. By all accounts, the event was a huge success with over 20,000 Canadians joining in the call. Callers had a chance to learn about the Council’s political campaigns, ask live questions and vote in two live polls.

In addition to celebrating its 25th anniversary last October, Barlow highlighted two big wins for the Council of Canadians, which included the adoption of the UN’s Resolution on the Right to Water and the halting of Schedule 2, a new federal bill that allows mining companies to dump toxic waste into pristine lakes.

The Council along with the Tsilhqot’in Nation fought to protect Fish Lake from Taseko Mines in British Columbia. A federal assessment panel recommended against the Fish Lake project due to adverse environmental effects, but the Council continues to oppose a similar project in Newfoundland, where Brazilian mining giant, Vale Inco plans to use Sandy Pond as a dump site for tailings from its hydromet processing plant in Long Harbour.

“When it comes to water, we have a myth of abundance in Canada, but our federal government is not taking care of our water.” said Barlow.

Barlow is embarking on a new campaign to protect the Great Lakes. Her long-term vision is to work with Canadians, Americans and First Nations to have the Great Lakes designated a Commons, a public trust and a protected bioregion. Barlow will release her new report, “Our Great Lakes Commons: Protecting the Great Lakes Forever” on March 22 (World Water Day)

The Council continues to advocate on the climate justice front, fighting the Harper government’s proposed five-fold increase in Alberta’s tar sands.

“Canada is the only country that ratified Kyoto and then backed out. The tar sands are becoming the largest source of greenhouse gases in the world and we have a proposed pipeline taking raw bitumen down to the Gulf for processing,” said Barlow.

The Councll advocates for a solution that is not market-based such as carbon credits or cap-and-trade, but encourages people to live within their means.

Trade Thrives After 25 Years
The Council of Canadians was at the forefront of the NAFTA negoatiations and was the first group to sound the alarm on the new Canada-EU trade agreement called CETA: the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. Once again, no public consultation or parliamentary debate. Déjà vu from 25 years ago when the Council of Canadians was fighting the NAFTA deal under the Mulroney government.

What makes CETA different than other trade agreements? If signed it will be the first trade agreement to allow corporations to access government procurement at all three levels, and will affect hospitals, schools, water, etc. Like NAFTA, CETA has a Chapter 11 provision and allows corporations to challenge local rules if they impede their profits. Watch for the Council’s CETA tour, coming to a neighbourhood near you this spring.

The Council remains on guard and continues to fight the security perimeter deal between Canada and the United States. As Maude told the callers, “This new agreement is actually an American security perimeter around Canada, with all the laws being written in Washington.”

If these agreements are so great, why are they always signed in secrecy as if we’re too stupid to understand what’s being negotiated?

Members ask Live Questions
Callers had the opportunity to ask Maude Barlow questions live. Concerns ranged from the protection of groundwater, bottled water licences, expansion of the tar sands to the export of Canada’s water.

“NAFTA turned Canada’s energy supply into North America’s energy supply. Essentially, Canada has become America’s gas tank, leading to one of the world’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Cancer clusters are now showing up in children in the First Nations town of Fort Chipewyan,” said Barlow.

Hydraulic fracking (or fracking) has become a hot issue right across the country. Fracking is a new mining technique, where water is pumped into shale rock seams to release the natural gas stored beneath. I wasn’t surprised to learn that Dick Cheney’s firm, Halliburton (from the Iraq war fame) is involved in creating the chemical cocktails used to break the seams apart.

Fracking uses clean water and leaves behind toxic-filled lagoons. Barlow explained that fracking is not better than coal extraction, if it comes at the expense of water.

“We can’t pit air against water.”

Already, Atlantic Canada has placed a moratorium on fracking and the Council is calling for a moratorium on new oil drilling in the Arctic.

Other callers asked about the implications of the government’s recent announcement to allow nuclear shipments to be transported through the Great Lakes to Europe. An absurd concept and a recipe for disaster.

When asked how to engage more Canadians in the election process, Barlow expressed her concerns that an increasing number of young people are choosing not to vote. If a federal election is called in the coming months, Council members are encouraged to attend the All-Candidates meetings and ask those tough questions important to them.

A caller from Williams Lake, B.C. asked what can be done to ensure that revisions to BC’s Water Modernization Act won’t open up the province’s water to water markets, following in Alberta’s footsteps. Barlow explained that the B.C. government is looking to modernize the existing Water Act to allow corporations and wealthy owners to trade and/or hoard water licenses for the future. Helps explain why the Campbell government issued so many water licences under the guise of Independent Power Projects (IPPs). Once a province or territory allows for the export of water, it then becomes a tradable commodity.

The tele-town hall was a great way to simultaneously connect with thousands of other Canadians. I just wish our elected officials would adopt an open door policy and stop negotiating important deals behind closed doors.

Further Resources:
Film (2010): Water on the Table
Film (2010) Gasland (Hydraulic fracking)

2011-02-25 U.S.A. Main Street Movement erupts as thousands across the country protest the War on the Middle Class

Corporatocracy or Democracy or Administrative State or WHAT?, Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials) No Responses »

Feb 252011

CONTENTS

THOUSANDS PROTEST IN THE USA – WISCONSIN, GEORGIA, IDAHO, INDIANA, MONTANA, OHIO, TENNESSEE, WASHINGTON
CEO SALARIES IN CANADA

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1. THOUSANDS PROTEST IN THE USA – WISCONSIN, GEORGIA, IDAHO, INDIANA, MONTANA, OHIO, TENNESSEE, WASHINGTON

QUESTION: Is this being reported in the mainstream news? I don’t watch enough of it to know. /Sandra

Thanks to Janet:

What would get Canadians off our butts…………eh??

Price of gas or a case of beer going up?

Anything else????

Shame on us……

Begin forwarded message:

Date: February 25, 2011 9:54:36 AM GMT-05:00

Subject: FW: Most people don’t know it yet, but we may be experiencing the Lexington and Concord of the second American Revolution

Main Street Movement Erupts as Thousands Across Country Protest War on the Middle Class

Thursday 24 February 2011

by: Zaid Jilani | Think Progress | Report

In support of workers in Wisconsin, hundreds of middle-class workers from the DC area gather for a solidarity rally outside the offices of Gov. Scott Walker on February 23, 2011. (Photo: David Sachs / SEIU)

Last week, 14 Wisconsin Senate Democrats inspired the nation when they decided to flee the state rather than allow quorum for a vote on a bill that would have decimated the state’s public employee unions and dealt a crippling blow to the state’s hard-working teachers, sanitation employees, and other middle class union members. Since then, tens of thousands of Wisconsinites have taken to the streets in even greater number than before the walkout in support of the fleeing legislators and in opposition to Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) anti-middle class agenda.

Inspired by the events in Wisconsin, thousands of Americans all over the country are taking action to battle legislation that would attack their labor rights, defund their schools, threaten their health and safety, and decimate the American middle class. Here are just some of the places across the nation that are taking part in this new “Main Street Movement”to defend and rebuild the American middle class:

– GEORGIA: Hundreds of workers demonstrated outside the Georgia capitol yesterday, declaring their solidarity with striking Wisconsin workers. Some demonstrators wore “cheesehead” hats, a clear reference to a cultural tradition in Wisconsin.

– IDAHO: Hundreds of teachers marched against legislation that would layoff 770 teachers and leave schools severely understaffed.

– INDIANA: In Indiana, House Democrats fled the state, preventing a vote on legislation that would enact “right-to-work” laws that would’ve crippled the right to organize. After the House Democrats took off, hundreds of workers and students marched into the capitol building and staged a massive sit-in, pledging not to leave until the radical legislation was withdrawn. Yesterday, Indiana’s Main Street Movement scored its first victory as Republican lawmakers withdrew the anti-union bill. Indiana Democrats are refusing to come back until right-wing legislators withdraw legislation to undermine the state’s public education system.

– MONTANA: More than a thousand “conservationists, sportsmen, firefighters, teachers, correctional officers and others” descended on the Montana capitol to protest against “unprecedented GOP attacks on public services and education and laws that protect land, air, water and wildlife.” Students carried signs that read “Keep Us In School,” protesting crippling cuts to the state’s education system.

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– OHIO: In Ohio, thousands of ordinary Americans who rely on the right to organize to earn good, middle class incomes are facing off with Wisconsin-style legislation backed by Gov. John Kasich (R). Nearly 10,000 protesters demonstrated in Columbus, Ohio, gaining the support of former Gov. Ted Strickland (D-OH) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). So many demonstrators showed up that the Ohio Highway Patrol was ordered to lock the doors of the state capitol to stop more demonstrators from getting into the building.

– TENNESSEE: Hundreds of Tennesseans gathered to protest a bill that would completely strip Tennesee teachers of collective bargaining rights. “What you have right now is 300 or so of us, standing and asking the state legislature to focus on what the priorities are right now, instead of attacking working people,” said Mary Mancini, executive director of Tennessee Citizen Action. “If they listen to us, well then that’s great. … If not, I can see this thing growing.”

– WASHINGTON: 2,000 demonstrators in Olympia, Washington, marched against the state’s proposed budget cuts that would harm students and middle class Washingtonians and in solidarity with workers in Wisconsin. “If Scott Walker succeeds in ending worker rights in Wisconsin, the birthplace of public servants’ liberty, it could happen here,” said Federation of State Employees President Carol Dotlich.

ThinkProgress has put together a video compilation highlighting protests by ordinary Americans all over the nation to defend the middle class from this unprecedented assault. Watch it:

Even larger demonstrations are planned this Saturday, as thousands more Main Street Americans plan to take to the streets to protest the ongoing assault against the middle class. Moveon.org is organizing protests at every single state capitol in the country, aiming to “Save the American Dream.” Meanwhile, US Uncut, an activist group inspired by United Kingdom’s UK Uncut, plans to protest against American tax dodgers, asking why the rich in the country have been able to get off easy on their taxes while low- and middle-income Americans continue to be asked to sacrifice.

UPDATE To see what the war on the middle class that the Main Street Movement is battling looks like, see this chart of the income distribution from Mother Jones:

UPDATE Dozens of parents protested yesterday outside Rep. Blake Farenthold’s (R-TX) local office, demanding that the congressman not support drastic cuts to the Head Start program.

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All republished content that appears on Truthout has been obtained by permission or license.

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2. CEO SALARIES IN CANADA

Search results (on the CCPA Monitor www.policyalternatives.ca)

NOTE: The Feb 2011 issue of The Monitor has an updated article on CEO salaries. I am getting error messages when I try to get back on the website – will try again later.

Neo-Con Economics and Canadian Well-Being

$1.8 million in income to join) made extraordinary gains. CEO salaries and bonuses have skyrocketed. The average earnings of the top 100 CEOs (now $7.3 million) ballooned from 100 times the average … Mackenzie, Hugh: A Soft Landing: Recession and Canada’s 100 Highest Paid CEOs. (2010) (National …

The Monitor – October 27, 2010

Equality is the Core Value of Democracy

and the compensation of the top 100 CEOs went from an annual average of $3.5 million to $10.4 million — up 300%. … of continental Europeans who took the lead at the last G-20 meeting to curb the outrageous salaries and bonuses …

The Monitor – February 22, 2010

March 2008: Corporate Power, Voter Powerlessness

The CEOs are so confident their influence will prevail politically that they no longer care if they’ve lost … to mass outsourcing and layoffs, $100-a-barrel oil, and a looming recession. They shrug off obscene CEO salaries, pay and tax inequities, even corporate scandals. A few of the worst business rogues—the Enron …

The Monitor – April 25, 2008

March 2004: The Most Destructive Epidemic

obscenely high CEO salaries and perks–even the business takeover of our political system. We nod our heads when the CEOs and their political, academic, and media propagandists tell us that all … it can function. It’s the same with corporations. Their CEOs are also programmed to maximize …

The Monitor – September 19, 2004

April 2006: Taxing Our Credulity

their bosses divert into profits, dividends, and big CEO salaries and perks don’t show up on the T-4 slips. …

The Monitor – May 10, 2006

Barbarism Lite

put on CEO salaries by President Obama. The architects of the modern democratic state knew very … policy of favouring regressive tax cuts over social spending. Canada’s top 100 CEOs, whose annual income …

The Monitor – June 18, 2009

November 2003: Corporate Crime Goes Unpunished

or “reckless.” Their high-salaried and well-dressed managers could surely never be held responsible, much less … be an exaggeration to say that Canada’s CEOs and investors are the “contract killers” of the more than 1,000 Canadian …

The Monitor – September 20, 2004

March 2007: A Special CCPA Report on Work, Wealth, and the Economy

As reported by the CCPA early in the New Year, the average annual pay of the 100 top CEOs in Canada in 2005 … that the average high-paid CEO this year received as much remuneration by 10:04 a.m. on New Year’s Day as one … salaries, bonuses and perks enjoyed by corporate executives, or to the multi-million-dollar “severance” …

The Monitor – March 30, 2007

2011-02-24 An action item aimed at the root of the problem: Monbiot: of interest to ALL of us (re: Internet highjacking)

Corporatocracy or Democracy or Administrative State or WHAT?, Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials) No Responses »

Feb 242011

How COULD I send you a message without having done a related “action” item?!

George Monbiot asks a question at the end of this article, “what should we do to fight these tactics?”.

ACTION:

I sent him an idea. You’ll find it below, following his article.
I changed the “subject” of this email to “Help Vermont State Legislature change the laws that define Corporation”. And sent it to people in Vermont.

/Sandra

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Begin forwarded message:

From: George Monbiot

Date: February 24, 2011 2:21:00 AM GMT-05:00

Subject: Monbiot.com

Robot WarsPosted: 23 Feb 2011 04:47 AM PSTOnline astroturfing is more advanced and more automated than we’d imagined.

By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 23rd February 2011

Every month more evidence piles up, suggesting that online comment threads and forums are being hijacked by people who aren’t what they seem to be. The anonymity of the web gives companies and governments golden opportunities to run astroturf operations: fake grassroots campaigns, which create the impression that large numbers of people are demanding or opposing particular policies. This deception is most likely to occur where the interests of companies or governments come into conflict with the interests of the public. For example, there’s a long history of tobacco companies creating astroturf groups to fight attempts to regulate them.

After I last wrote about online astroturfing, in December, I was contacted by a whistleblower. He was part of a commercial team employed to infest internet forums and comment threads on behalf of corporate clients, promoting their causes and arguing with anyone who opposed them. Like the other members of the team, he posed as a disinterested member of the public. Or, to be more accurate, as a crowd of disinterested members of the public: he used 70 personas, both to avoid detection and to create the impression that there was widespread support for his pro-corporate arguments. I’ll reveal more about what he told me when I’ve finished the investigation I’m working on.

But it now seems that these operations are more widespread, more sophisticated and more automated than most of us had guessed. Emails obtained by political hackers from a US cyber-security firm called HB Gary Federal suggest that a remarkable technological armoury is being deployed to drown out the voices of real people.

As the Daily Kos has reported, the emails show that:

– companies now use “persona management software”, which multiplies the efforts of the astroturfers working for them, creating the impression that there’s major support for what a corporation or government is trying to do.

– this software creates all the online furniture a real person would possess: a name, email accounts, web pages and social media. In other words, it automatically generates what look like authentic profiles, making it hard to tell the difference between a virtual robot and a real commentator.

– fake accounts can be kept updated by automatically re-posting or linking to content generated elsewhere, reinforcing the impression that the account holders are real and active.

– human astroturfers can then be assigned these “pre-aged” accounts to create a back story, suggesting that they’ve been busy linking and re-tweeting for months. No one would suspect that they came onto the scene for the first time a moment ago, for the sole purpose of attacking an article on climate science or arguing against new controls on salt in junk food.

– with some clever use of social media, astroturfers can, in the security firm’s words, “make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/herself to key individuals as part of the exercise … There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas”

But perhaps the most disturbing revelation is this. The US Air Force has been tendering for companies to supply it with persona management software, which will perform the following tasks:

a. Create “10 personas per user, replete with background, history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographically consistent. … Personas must be able to appear to originate in nearly any part of the world and can interact through conventional online services and social media platforms.”

b. Automatically provide its astroturfers with “randomly selected IP addresses through which they can access the internet.” [An IP address is the number which identifies someone’s computer]. These are to be changed every day, “hiding the existence of the operation.” The software should also mix up the astroturfers’ web traffic with “traffic from multitudes of users from outside the organization. This traffic blending provides excellent cover and powerful deniability.”

c. Create “static IP addresses” for each persona, enabling different astroturfers “to look like the same person over time.” It should also allow “organizations that frequent same site/service often to easily switch IP addresses to look like ordinary users as opposed to one organization.”

Software like this has the potential to destroy the internet as a forum for constructive debate. It makes a mockery of online democracy. Comment threads on issues with major commercial implications are already being wrecked by what look like armies of organised trolls – as you can often see on the Guardian’s sites. The internet is a wonderful gift, but it’s also a bonanza for corporate lobbyists, viral marketers and government spin doctors, who can operate in cyberspace without regulation, accountability or fear of detection. So let me repeat the question I’ve put in previous articles, and which has yet to be satisfactorily answered: what should we do to fight these tactics?

www.monbiot.com

COMMENT I SENT TO GEORGE MONBIOT:

The root of the problem is “the corporation”. We should get on board with people in the US (I’m from Canada) who are fighting to change the legal definition of “the corporation”. The state of Vermont legislators have an amazing resolution underway. See 2011-01-22 (www.sandrafinley.ca – archives). “Vermont politicians are moving to deny corporations the rights that humans enjoy…” We should all work with people in Vermont to get this into being. “Public Citizen” is another group that is fighting for same change. Further, Lockheed Martin Corp is often behind “the nasties”. You should encourage people to boycott your census – non-violent resistance to get LM out of the UK census. Take LM out of its “surveillance” initiatives. If you have any doubts about the necessity: www.sandrafinley.ca, see “Lockheed” on the drop-down list under “Pages”. Have fun. Many thanks for your great work! And best wishes. Sandra

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – —

REPLY RECEIVED 3/1/2011

Dear Sandra,

Many thanks for this,

All good wishes, George

2011-02-23 Greenwashing War: Vermont Mayor Signs Deal With Lockheed Martin (a Climate Change partnership). Will citizen outrage stop it? Includes good info on Lockheed’s F-35 stealth bombers.

Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials) No Responses »

Feb 232011

Item #3 below: I extended solidarity. Citizens in Vermont are uniting against a Mayor’s partnership with Lockheed Martin in – – – would you believe – – – climate change projects!

Jonathan Leavitt is a community organizer and writer based in Burlington, Vermont. He wrote the (item #1) very excellent article about the situation with Lockheed Martin in Vermont, now also coming into schools.

If you know anyone in Vermont, the mayor’s email address and phone number are at the bottom of the article. Every straw added to the camel’s back is essential.

Mayor Kiss is showing himself to be

anti-progressive in a state that is
unusually progressive.

See 2011-01-22 Vermont politicians are moving to deny corporations the rights that humans enjoy. . . . This is an amazing story worth reading. I was so excited when I read it, I posted it right away, then didn’t find time to send it to you. It’s a good read opposite the Mayor’s action below – – giving hope that the citizens of Burlington, VT will put the run on Lockheed Martin.

– – – – – – – – – – – –

CONTENTS

GREENWASHING WAR: BURLINGTON, VERMONT MAYOR SIGNS DEAL WITH LOCKHEED MARTIN
LOCKHEED ‘NOT A PRACTICAL ANSWER’
EMAILS OF SOLIDARITY WITH PEOPLE IN VERMONT

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GREENWASHING WAR: BURLINGTON, VERMONT MAYOR SIGNS DEAL WITH LOCKHEED MARTIN

Greenwash: the practice of promoting environmentally friendly programs to deflect attention from an organization’s environmentally unfriendly or less savory activities.

Etymology: green ‘environmentally friendly’ + ( white)wash ‘conceal flaws’

http://www.towardfreedom.com/americas/2245-lockheed-martin-and-burlington

Thursday, 30 December 2010 02:43 Jonathan Leavitt

When it leaked in Seven Days, a local alternative weekly, that Mayor Bob Kiss of liberal mecca Burlington, Vermont had inked a deal with the world’s largest war profiteer all hell broke loose inside the Burlington left. Charges of “corporate greenwashing” and hypocrisy lit up Facebook pages and coffeeshop conversations. These charges land fresh like the daily newspaper at the doorstep of most mayors of American cities. Mayor Bob Kiss however, is a former conscientious objector, and a member of Vermont’s Progressive Party, the most successful third party in the US, which touts a platform totally at odds with war profiteers like Lockheed. It’s the party that claims Bernie Sanders, the US’ lone socialist senator, recent Filibuster leader and viral web sensation amongst its founders. Mayor Kiss, whose party has for 28 of the last 30 years controlled City Hall, was learning what many social movements that assume governmental control learn: wielding power without alienating the community organizers and social movements that put leaders into office can prove to be quite the difficult equation to balance.

That few details were available when the contractual “letter of intent,” adorned with Lockheed Martin’s corporate logo, was signed by Mayor Kiss and Lockheed’s Senior Vice President certainly didn’t assuage the rising indignation of community organizers. Interestingly, it was Mayor Kiss who approached Lockheed about the deal at the inaugural “Carbon War Room,” which took place simultaneously with the Vancouver Olympics. The Carbon War Room is a pet project of the 212th richest person in the world, billionaire Sir Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Group. Branson’s record and cola empire also counts amongst its corporate family global warming contributors like Virgin Airlines and the quixotic, carbon emissions nightmare of Virgin Galactic, space tourism for $200,000 a ticket.

Branson’s Carbon War Room partners cities with corporations like Lockheed and private financiers to create market based solutions to climate change. The single-sided, single page letter of cooperation details vague projects for Lockheed to partner with Burlington on including “Urban Triage,” “Vertical Wind Turbines,” “Solar Photovoltaic Systems,” “Telemetrics” and “Three dimensional LIDAR City models.” Branson’s War Room describes itself as a “30-month challenge to help cities around the world use innovative mechanisms to bring capital, energy technologies and jobs to their citizens in a sustainable and wealth creating way.”

Wealth creating in this sense means privatizing existing not-for profit climate change fighting measures like the PACE program (PACE lets US home owners bundle home renewable energy financing into their mortgage, spreading out the payments over 25-30 years instead of the usual home improvement loan term of lease of five years). According to the Climate War Room’s literature the United States’ PACE market, “is valued at $500 billion.” This sort of privatization, which spins governmental non-profit programs into new markets, and thereby so much gold for “gold-level” corporate sponsors of the “War Room” like Lockheed, and billionaires like Branson, is but one of the objectionable pieces of the deal to its detractors. Perhaps even more immediate and inflammatory is the planned interaction between Burlington’s school children and Lockheed Martin engineers.

“Are We For Bomb Makers?”

One of the controversial aspects of the deal would allow Lockheed engineers to work inside Burlington schools with schoolchildren. In the past five years Burlington parents’ and students’ outrage boiled over when war profiteer General Dynamics’ program of giving away pencils, bookmarks and books stamped with their corporate logo came to light. When a nine year-old student at Burlington’s Champlain Elementary was faced with going to an assembly during the school day to listen to General Dynamics employees, her mom Laurie Essig says her daughter Willa asked, “‘Are we for bomb-makers? Do we think it’s right to kill people? Her basic question was, ‘Why are we treating these people like heroes?'” Due to a perception on Willa’s teacher’s part, that nine year-old Willa might offend the weapons manufacturers’ employees, the teacher, “brought all the other students down to get their free books and left my daughter sitting alone in the classroom.” Essig says. Longtime Vermont peace activist, Joseph Gainza said, during an interview, “I would hope that the City of Burlington and the Burlington School District wouldn’t let a corporate member of the military industrial complex take credit for solving the climate change problems it helps everyday to perpetuate.”

Meg Brooke, Chair of Chittenden County Progressives says of Lockheed’s slated involvement with school kids:

I’ve been trained by the National Interreligious Service Board for Conscientious Objectors (NISBCO) and given many hours to council students how to avoid war. I’ve fought to remove military recruiters from our schools. I regularly taught classes in non-violent conflict resolution in Vermont high schools. I am deeply concerned by the way we normalize violence and war and desensitize our young to the horror our military perpetrates, especially on the young, women, and the elderly. Welcoming one of the leaders of this military industrial complex into our schools goes against all I, and many others, believe. I do not want young Vermonters to see the Lockheed logo on TV and have a positive thought about what that business might have done in their school.

Who is Lockheed Martin?

“We Never Forget Who We Work For” is Lockheed Martin’s motto. That mindfulness of who they work for takes a different meaning when one considers that 84 percent of Lockheed’s revenue comes from the US government, with the majority of that being Pentagon contracts. Lockheed contracted 98 different lobbyists, was mentioned in 142 Congressional bills and spent nearly $10 million in lobbying just in 2010. This is the multi-national war profiteer which to quote Bernie Sanders, “according to the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight, the three largest government contractors — Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman — have engaged in 109 combined instances of misconduct just since 1995, and have paid fees and settlements for this misconduct totaling $2.9 billion.” Further, something is seriously amiss when George W. Bush’s Department of Justice, not exactly known for setting precedents in corporate crime prosecution, files a 2007 fraud lawsuit against a corporation raking in a net $3.033 billion in FY ’07 (It’s worth noting that 1% of Lockheed Martin’s annual profits alone roughly equals the City of Burlington’s approximately $30 million budget).

Defense contractors are notorious for their fraudulent overcharging of tax payers for weapons systems that things must have risen to truly historic levels of fraud for Bush’s DoJ to take action. Indeed Lockheed is number one in the Federal Contractor Misconduct Database, at 54 instances of contractor misconduct, totaling $577.4 million in settlements, nearly twice as many as the next closest war profiteer.

Lockheed Martin has had separate racial, age and gender discrimination lawsuits filed against it in the past two years alone. Does Mayor Kiss really want Burlington’s hard won image attached to the world’s largest war profiteer whose supervisors in the last 24 months allowed “deaths threats” and threats to “lynch” an African American employee “to continue unabated – even though the company was aware of the unlawful conduct”? One might think all of the above flies in the face of the subsections of Mayor Kiss’ Progressive Party platform which state the Progressive Party will, “Insist Vermont will contract only with responsible employers, including local small businesses and local entrepreneurs, hiring local employees” and “Promote cooperative, worker-owned, and publicly-owned enterprises as democratic alternatives to huge profit-driven multi-national corporations.” Indeed, many inside Kiss’ Progressive Party have expressed concerns with these provocatively strange bed fellows.

Progressive City Councilor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak who represents Burlington’s Ward 3 said in a statement, “When any municipality considers partnering with a corporation there needs to be some sort of conversation around a set of standards and principals that reflect the community. With Burlington those standard would need to include language to reflect issues long enshrined in the fabric of the City’s life: human rights issues, equality issues, peace and war issues. Any agreement or discussion needs to be guided by these community standards, be it on a project level or a policy level. Sometimes the money involved in a potential deal or partnership is not enough to compromise these principals. This deal, frankly, considering Lockheed’s long track record would violate any reasonable community standards for the City of Burlington.”

Lockheed and Grassroots Organizers

What isn’t immediately clear is what is left for Lockheed engineers to do around Climate Change in Burlington that isn’t currently being done by Burlington’s many NGO’s, non-profits and local companies without war profiteer logos on their arms. From award-winning Efficiency Vermont to AgRefresh, from the University of Vermont’s Gund Institute to Burlington Walk/Bike Council, from Carshare Vermont to 350.org, from Permaculture Burlington to the Localvore movement, and on and on. Even the City’s Department of Public Works is involved, installing rainwater gardens into the very street itself on Decatur St in Burlington’s Old North End. There are also local organic farmers playing funk and disco as they make the rounds in their solar powered veggie delivery van. “Corporations like Lockheed Martin are simultaneously funding the denial of global warming and trying to profit from it,” says Brian Tokar, Director of Plainfield, Vermont’s Institute of Social Ecology and author of the recent book Toward Climate Justice. “It’s hard to imagine what they could possibly contribute to Burlington’s already leading-edge efforts to become greener and more self-reliant.” Progressive Party Chittenden County Chair Meg Brooke states in plainsong, “Lockheed is going to show and take credit for twenty years of grassroots organizers blood and sweat, paid for out of their own pockets.”

Then there are the unspoken ironies of Lockheed working on climate change: the US military, with all its Lockheed technologies has a 363,000 barrel per day oil habit, making it the single largest purchaser of oil in the world. If the US military were a country it would be amongst the top 20 countries in annual oil consumption well in front of Australia. Activist Joseph Gainza points to this saying, “Private corporations that helped create climate change are not going to be part of the solution.” What’s more, as Chittenden County Progressive Chair Meg Brooke said, “The military is the number one enemy of sustainability and Lockheed isn’t going to do much to change that as their money comes from manufacturing machines that are completely unsustainable. Their F35’s, which threaten our environment, use 2,000-4,000 gallons of fuel and hour.”

The F-35 is Lockheed’s new next generation fighter plane which is controversially slated to be stationed at Burlington Airport. James Leas, one of the main organizers of the Stop the F-35 Coalition in Burlington writes in a widely circulated open letter to Mayor Kiss “Lockheed Martin is one of the world’s largest war profiteers. Its products are designed to destroy the environment and living things. Please help me understand how Lockheed Martin, a company that is one of the chief purveyors of death and destruction, is going to be telling Burlington about sustainability?” In 2007, Lockheed sheepishly admitted it had overcharged, and would repay, the Federal government $265 million plus interest for over-billing American taxpayers on the same F-35. Lockheed called the $265 million dollar over-billing “inadvertent.” Author Brian Tokar says, “Lockheed’s F35’s and other military hardware are among the most petroleum-gorging products in the world. Burlington doesn’t need their noisy fighter jets, nor should Vermont tolerate Lockheed’s feeble attempts to greenwash their image.”

That said, if this pact between Burlington and Lockheed was purely results based, “most sustainability bang for the buck” venture, and not about corporate greenwashing, could Lockheed silently fund the many engineers and community organizers who have been doing climate change and sustainability work inside Burlington for decades, often with little resources? If Lockheed wanted to get the most climate change prevention for their investment, without causing ripples, could they silently dovetail with Burlington’s award winning Climate Action Plan and the 200 project ideas it generated? Unlike the Lockheed deal, the Climate Action Plan had many opportunities for public input.

Or perhaps this funding could quietly award under-capitalized companies like Efficiency Vermont, whose low income home weatherization has a two year waiting list. Additionally there is an unfunded Chittenden County Metropolitan Planning Organization study on how physical barriers to separate bike lanes from car traffic would positively or negatively impact downtown business. In many cities where the study has been done, including cities as large as New York City, physical barriers to demarcate bike lanes from car traffic have been shown to create safer, friendlier communities, which increases bike use while simultaneously helping businesses thrive. Absent the capital for the study though, the false “it’s bad for business” argument will prevent these bike lane improvements. One climate change consultant estimated the cost of which to be about $10,000 or about the cost of 1/5th of one second in Iraq war spending. But if it were an anonymous benefactor Lockheed couldn’t ride Burlington’s credibility to the bank, and credibility is the only thing war profiteers like Lockheed Martin can’t buy.

The Need For Action in Burlington

In an exclusive meeting with Mayor Kiss he said that the Lockheed/Carbon War Room was not the only way to finance the projects he envisions the City of Burlington taking on, merely the more “serendipitous.” I asked Mayor Kiss at the end of the meeting to what degree the outraged grassroots of Burlington can shape the outcome, considering both the media and the community members have discussed possible civil disobedience to stop this contract with the world’s largest war profiteer. Mayor Kiss, after demurring several times said, “Well there’s nothing date certain in it. This is just a letter of intent, it doesn’t have specific benchmarks for specific projects.”

What the Mayor is saying is that the community organizers can shape the outcome by calling and emailing him, by organizing your friends and neighbors, and continually raising the stakes to oppose this. Certainly holding a single public hearing where community members could voice concerns would be a natural place for the Mayor to show his responsiveness to the electorate that put him in power. Community organizers and concerned Burlingtonians could ask for City Council resolutions the critiquing the deal using the community standards and principals Councilor Mulvaney-Stanak calls for.

Mayor Kiss and the Burlington City Council have proven themselves responsive policy makers for Burlingtonians when citizens organize and make demands of them in City Council meetings packed with advocates. Indeed that is exactly how in the past year Burlington passed a resolution to boycott the State of Arizona over its controversial immigration law SB 1070, and how legislation pushed by Burlington Police Chief Michael Schirling and downtown business organization The Church Street Marketplace Association to make it a crime to be poor on public sidewalks was stopped cold. If the community continues to organize against Lockheed and if the Mayor is responsive to the grassroots that built his party, then the single page “letter of intent,” with no benchmarks, could be slipped deep into the City’s archives. That is to say, as usual, everything depends on community organizers building a countervailing pressure to the moneyed interests of corporations and the military which is so strong the elected officials have no choice but to do the moral, just and right thing.

Here are the details for contacting the Mayor’s office:

Call: 802-865-7272 (Mayor’s Office)

Email: mayor@ci.burlington.vt.us

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Partial List of Environmental Lawsuits and Settlements Against Lockheed Martin

(Links no longer valid)

Source: Federal Contractor Misconduct Database

Groundwater Treatment (Burbank, CA)
Groundwater Cleanup Violation (at the Burbank area of the San Fernando Valley Superfund Site)
Wastewater Discharge
Tallevast, Florida Groundwater Toxic Contamination
Pantano Wash Hazardous Waste Disposal Settlement
Emissions Violations at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory
Nuclear Safety Violations (Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory)
Nuclear Safety Violations (Oak Ridge, TN)
Nuclear Waste Storage Violation (Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory)
Radiation Exposure (Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory)
Reactor Safety Violations (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
Toxic Substances Control Act Violation (PCBs – 2005)
Toxic Substances Control Act Violation (PCBs – 1998)
Violations of Louisiana Environmental Quality Act
Falsification of Testing Records (Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory)
Radioactive Work Control Deficiencies (Sandia National Laboratories)
Radiological Control Deficiencies (Sandia National Laboratories)
Violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (Sandia ational Labor

2. LOCKHEED ‘NOT A PRACTICAL ANSWER’

(Link no longer valid) http://www.vermontcynic.com/mobile/lockheed-not-a-practical-answer-1.2476166

EXCERPT:

The SGA asks for more transparency from city mayor

By Maura Satti

Published: Monday, February 21, 2011

Updated: Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Lockheed Martin may be coming to Burlington soon, but some students say they aren’t sure about the city’s partnership with the global company.

The Student Government Association passed a resolution on Feb. 8 supporting Burlington citizens’ opposition against Mayor Kiss’ partnership to participate in climate change projects with Lockheed Martin, the resolution stated. ….

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3. EMAILS OF SOLIDARITY WITH PEOPLE IN VERMONT

From: Rob Williams Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 7:26 PM
To: Sandra Finley
Cc: Jonathan Leavitt; Ian Baldwin; Rick Foley; Gaelan Brown; Ron Miller; cheryl diersch; Robin Lloyd; Matt Cropp; Robert Wagner
Subject: Thanks for VC New Feature Article: Burlington Kisses Lockheed? Just Say No. (FEATURE)

Thanks for your encouraging words, below, and CoeurRage, Sandra. I copied Jonathan and our editorial board here.

Permission to blog your letter at our web site?

Free Vermont!

Publisher Rob

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

On Feb 23, 2011, at 7:47 PM, Sandra Finley wrote:

http://www.vtcommons.org/journal/2011/02/jonathan-leavitt-burlington-kisses-lockheed-just-say-no-feature

Many thanks to Jonathan Leavitt for the excellent article.

If you can use any of the information at Lockheed Martin, index (from http://sandrafinley.ca) please help yourself. There is a growing record of successful resistance. I hope you are agreeable if I further circulate and post Jonathan’s article.

Lockheed Martin is evil incarnate. We in Canada are working with people in the U.K. to roust them out of our censuses (March and May this year). They run the American Census, too, as you may know. I have been on trial because I refused to cooperate with our 2006 census, because of the work out-sourced to LM. The census boycotts are just one way of refusing to be complicit with the LM agenda.

Unfortunately, with the quislings in Canadian Govt, the Canadian economy is fast moving to one, like yours, that is dependent upon the waging of war. Fortunately, repressive regimes are being overthrown. Lockheed Martin will go down the same way, if we share information and work together.

I am also very impressed by your state legislators’ resolution in January to take away the “personhood” status of corporations.

Fight the good fight!

Best wishes,

Sandra Finley

2011-02-22 Korten, David

Corporatocracy or Democracy or Administrative State or WHAT?, Economy / Political Economy, Sustainability No Responses »

Feb 222011

– David Korten http://www.davidkorten.org/ “We humans are Creation’s most daring experiment with reflective consciousness. This gift is the source of our distinctive capacity to choose our future as an intentional collective act. For some 5,000 years, we have demonstrated our ability to use this capacity foolishly at an enormous cost to ourselves and to other living beings. We must now take the step to a new level of species maturity and demonstrate our ability to act with collective wisdom and foresight. “

If you only have time for one thing, make it this: http://essentialsharingdocs.blogspot.com/2010/04/david-korten-agenda-for-new-economy.html

2011-02-20 Lawyers integral in making justice accessible: Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin

Freedom of Speech. (Remove some wrong postings from category) No Responses »

Feb 202011

http://www.lawtimesnews.com/201102218262/Headline-News/Lawyers-integral-in-making-justice-accessible-McLachlin

You may want to read the article at the above URL. The “Comments” from practitioners are worthwhile.

NOTE: the Chief Justice has been calling on the legal profession for years to address problems with the system. Her detailed statement, see 2007-03-08 Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin address to the Empire Club, Toronto.

Law Times

Lawyers need to do their bit to stop Canada’s justice system from becoming the preserve of the very richest in society, says the country’s top judge.

Since no one else can provide legal service, the profession must do its bit to ensure justice for all, says Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin.

Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin told a group of leading lights in the legal world that the profession’s monopoly over the provision of legal services conferred with its special responsibilities.

“If you’re the only one that can provide a fundamentally vital social need, from which you benefit, I think it follows that you have to provide it. And I don’t think it’s enough to say we’re providing it for the rich and for corporations.

I think you have to find a way to provide it for everybody,” McLachlin said. “No one else can provide this, so the legal profession must.”

McLachlin was the keynote speaker at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law’s Middle Income Access to Civil Justice Colloquium on Feb. 10. It explored the problems middle-income people have in finding adequate legal representation.

McLachlin said full representation is out of the question for many, with average legal fees hovering in the range of $340 per hour. Low legal aid cut-offs have made that option equally unrealistic for the growing group caught between two financial extremes.

“Do we have adequate access to justice? I think the answer is no. Among those hardest hit are the middle class and the poor. We have wonderful justice for corporations, and for the wealthy.

But the middle class and the poor may not be able, in many situations we have found, to access our justice system,” said McLachlin. “Public confidence in the system of justice is essential. How can there be confidence in a system that shuts people out, that does not give them access.”

McLachlin said the situation must change if Canada’s justice system wishes to retain its reputation as one of the best in the world.

“We can draft the best rules in the world, we can render the most enlightened decisions, but if people can’t take advantage of that body of law, if they cannot have access to it to resolve their own legal difficulties, then it is for nought,” she said.

Ontario’s Attorney General Chris Bentley said his government is working to tackle the problem, but warned the tough economic climate meant very little new resources were available for the cause. In any case, “there is no appetite among middle-income Ontarians, or anyone else, to pay more money for access to justice,” said Bentley.

“It would be ironic if we asked them to, because by definition we’re saying they don’t have access to the system of justice that they should have, and that they already pay for,” he said.

Instead, Bentley said he has worked with the profession to develop programs that assist low- and middle-income people in the system. He pointed to the recent amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure, which increased the monetary limit in the cheaper and faster Small Claims Court.

In family law, he promoted a pilot that mandates information sessions for all litigants and provides them with upfront access to duty counsel; “triage” lawyers who point them in the most suitable direction for their case. More Small Claims Court forms have gone online, with advice on how to fill them out, alongside an information hotline.

“People want information, upfront in an easy to understand way,” said Bentley. “They want a little bit of advice on whether it’s worthwhile proceeding, and better if it’s free. Then they want to get to the decision point as quickly as possible.”

But professor Russell Engler, another speaker at the conference, warned the multitude of self-help programs that have sprung up around court systems across the continent can have unwelcome side-effects.

“There is a very real danger that the trade-off is second-class justice for those who can’t pay,” he said.

Engler, who is the director of clinical programs at the New England School of Law in Boston, highlighted a study of a self-help legal centre in California, which was very popular among people who used it, and court staff whose lives were made easier by its existence.

But the study also found that in landlord-tenant cases, where the power imbalance is often greatest between litigants, tenants who used the self-help centre ended up paying more in back rent than those who went it alone.

“We can have a philosophical discussion as to whether it’s a good or bad thing that tenants pay their rent. But if we’re trying to design programs to assist people, I’m going to make a case that they are better off with more money in their pocket than less money,” Engler said.

“The theory is that the self-help centre acted as a dispenser of norms, so that tenants had their expectations lowered about what was achievable. Whether we want our assistance programs to be dispensers of norms or whatever we want them to be, that should at least be part of the conversation.”

According to Engler, program evaluations must focus on actual outcomes, rather than just customer-service style surveys, which can only tell you about how well people felt they were served by a particular program.

“Unless we do that, however well-intentioned we are, I think we’re never going to know whether we actually have expanded and provided equal access to justice, or whether we are providing second-class justice, despite our best intentions,” he said.

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EXCERPT: Interview McLachlin, The Gauntlet, 2000-05-18

G: What would you say the emerging legal issues are for the next decade?

M: It is hard to predict, but I think that as technology, bio-medicine, science and so on progresses we are going to see a lot of issues associated with those things. Of course, primarily it will be parliament and the legislatures that have to grapple, but the courts will inevitably be involved at some level.

2011-02-19 Our role in Guardian article, “Boycott the UK census over links to Lockheed Martin, protesters say”

Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials) No Responses »

Feb 192011

Hey what a blast! Geoff Meaden from the U.K. wrote: “So, Sandra if it gets published I should be on the first flight to the John Diefenbaker airport (Saskatoon) where I will publically kiss your feet!!!”

What’s YOUR opinion? Do I get my feet kissed?!

Here’s the story:

The U.K. census is on March 27th. Ours is in May.
David Sharrock, U.K. journalist, asked about our experiences with Lockheed Martin in the Canadian census.
I sent him our background material, see the email thread below.
I also sent our material to persons named in the alternate media. Including Geoff Meaden (will publically kiss (my) feet! – – if the protest over Lockheed gets published in the London Observer). (Ref: 2011-02-10 UK Census March 27. Boycotting because of Lockheed Martin Corp.)
David Sharrock’s article on the protests in the UK over Lockheed Martin was published in the Guardian on Saturday (item #1).
Question: do I get my feet kissed? Maybe there should be a cost-benefit analysis for Geoff Meaden?!

. . . . You start to feel in your gut what “solidarity” means.

If the Egyptians and other people can throw off violent regimes, surely to Goodness, we can throw off Lockheed Martin Corporation! In solidarity.

Who do you know in England and in Wales? They might want to know that we’re engaged in the same battle.

Very few people in the UK knew that Lockheed was involved in their 2001 census. They can’t be in solidarity with us against Lockheed and vice versa, if people are “in the dark”.

It’s small things like connecting with other people that makes it possible to do the impossible.

/Sandra

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CONTENTS

BOYCOTT THE UK CENSUS OVER LINKS TO LOCKHEED MARTIN, UK GUARDIAN, FEB 19, 2011
FROM DAVID SHARROCK OF THE LONDON OBSERVER, Feb 16
REPLY TO DAVID – CANADIAN EXPERIENCE WITH LOCKHEED MARTIN IN CENSUS, Feb 16
FROM DAVID, Feb 16 and 17th
EMAIL TO GEOFF MEADEN AND OTHERS INVOLVED IN THE U.K. PROTEST, FEB 18.
EXCHANGE WITH GEOFF MEADEN. FEET KISSED? And “We, I believe like you, face a ghastly electoral system which we call “first-past-post” under which it is almost impossible for us to gain electoral success. So we are run by genetically produced Conservatives who stand for little else other than big business, economic growth and development and the maintenance of the status quo.”
GHETTS, THE CENSUS AND GUANTANAMO BAY, THE GUARDIAN, JAN 13

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1. BOYCOTT THE UK CENSUS OVER LINKS TO LOCKHEED MARTIN, UK GUARDIAN, FEB 19, 2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/feb/19/census-boycott-lockheed-martin

Boycott the UK census over links to Lockheed Martin, protesters say

We’re ready to face £1,000 fine, declare anti-war protesters in row over role of US arms firm Lockheed Martin in data gathering

Comments (233)

David Sharrock and Jamie Doward

guardian.co.uk, Saturday 19 February 2011 21.15 GMT

Article history

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35C, in a test flight over the Chesapeake Bay. Photograph: Lockheed Martin/APPeople are being urged to boycott next month’s UK’s census because the US arms manufacturer responsible for Trident is involved in gathering the information.

Protesters say they are willing to break the law and face a £1,000 fine and a criminal record by refusing to fill in the 32-page questionnaire. Resistance to the decennial census is growing as a coalition of anti-war groups, pacifists, religious organisations and digital activists begin raising public awareness about the role of Lockheed Martin, America’s largest arms manufacturer.

The company, which makes Trident nuclear missiles, cluster bombs and F-16 fighter jets, won the £150m contract to run the census on behalf of the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

A spokesman for the Stop the War Coalition said: “We will certainly be calling for a boycott and telling people not co-operate with the warmongers.”

The Green party has dropped its original opposition to Lockheed Martin’s lead role “because the census is extremely important and needs to be accurate”, but there is grassroots disquiet.

A campaign to address the issue, bringing together religious groups, peace activists and digital data campaigners opposed to Lockheed Martin, is expected to emerge in the coming days. One of its organisers has told the Observer that a call for a boycott would be one of its major considerations. Siân Berry, a former Green party member who led the party’s 2008 campaign against Lockheed’s bid for the contract, said she was disappointed by the decision to support the census.

“The really worrying thing is the fact that the information being collected in the next census – including new questions on sources of income and place of birth [to help monitor immigration] – would be ideal fodder for the kind of anti-terror analyses being carried out by Lockheed, and could lead to a faraway database identifying thousands of us as potential ‘threats’.”

Lockheed Martin – which does 80% of its work for the US defence department – assists more than two dozen American government agencies and is involved in surveillance and data processing for the CIA and FBI. It has controversially provided private contract interrogators to the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. All US-based companies are subject to the Patriot Act, which allows the US government to have access to any data in the company’s possession. Campaigners have warned this could give the US government access to detailed and personal data on the UK’s entire population.

But a spokesman for the ONS dismissed the fears. “No personal census data will be handled or seen by any American-owned company. No Lockheed Martin employees will see or handle any personal census data. The public can be reassured that their personal details from the census will be kept confidential and will remain so for 100 years,” he said.

That assurance has failed to convince objectors. According to Geoff Meaden, a peace campaigner and former Green party parliamentary candidate, “we have no legal precedence as to whether, under the pretext of national security, this census information can be acquired by the US government.

“The Office for National Statistics claims that our data will be safe but the UK government has demonstrated on several occasions that it cannot be trusted with managing digital data containing personal records.”

Simon Barrow, co-director of the Christian thinktank Ekklesia, which examines the role of religion, ethics and values in public life, said: “There are several reasons for concern over Lockheed Martin’s involvement in the census. The government may have endangered the census by granting the contract to a company whose involvement has triggered a boycott.

“Many British people are likely to object to aiding the profits of a company that arms oppressive regimes and which has played a heavy role in the unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is understandable that some will conscientiously object to participating in the census and will choose to boycott it.”

Any boycott of the census could lead to further funding problems for local councils, who already fear they will miss out on hundreds of millions of pounds of funding from central government because hundreds of thousands of people will not be counted.

The last census in 2001 has been accused of failing to count a million people and this time a number of major councils have expressed fears that lessons have not been learnt, a claim denied by the Office for National Statistics.

Census statistics are used to allocate public money for local services including education, housing, transport and health. Over £100bn per year of public money is distributed nationally using population estimates.

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2. FROM DAVID SHARROCK OF THE LONDON OBSERVER, Feb 16

—–Original Message—–
From: David S    Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 5:25 AM
To: susan.thompson    at    vivelecanada.ca
Cc: sabest1   at     sasktel.net
Subject: lockheed and UK census – from David Sharrock of the London Observer

Hi there,

I’m researching an article for my paper about Lockheed and the calls for a boycott of next month’s national UK census because of Lockheed’s involvement and I would love to get your views and experiences.

Best wishes,

David

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3. REPLY TO DAVID – CANADIAN EXPERIENCE WITH LOCKHEED MARTIN IN CENSUS, Feb 16

Good to hear from you David!

I was in contact by email with a couple of people from the UK, 2-3 years ago when people were speaking out. I recall a woman with the Green Party. I have intended to get back in touch with them, to see whether the opposition is ramping up, with your census imminent.

I am happy to hear that there is a call for boycott in the UK. Will get this news out into Canadian networks. We are calling for the same here. Our census is in May. We have only recently been able to crack the mainstream media’s reluctance to talk about Lockheed Martin’s role in the Canadian, US and UK censuses. The Americans are probably most in the dark about who is behind their “census bureau” (their census was last year).

In addition to Vive le Canada’s involvement:

– Don Rogers from Ontario runs www.countmeout.ca (In response to the Govt’s “Count Me In” campaign in 2006.) Don’s blog is up and going for May.

– www.sandrafinley.ca, my own blog. To find the Lockheed Martin file, an INDEX to the postings: go to the “Pages” on top left. Look for “Lockheed Martin” on the drop-down list.

My personal experience:

– In 2008 I was charged for failure to comply with the 2006 census. I didn’t comply because of Lockheed Martin’s involvement.

– The trial dragged on, to advantage. The “guilty” decision followed by an absolute discharge (sentencing) just came out in January 2011. The focus of media attention was thereby delayed until a few months before the 2011 census. We have been building awareness since 2003.

– The judge’s decision is under appeal. The legal argument (defence) in Canada, given the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is the Charter Right to privacy of personal information. There is a strong case to be made that the Judge (Provincial Court, a lower court) erred in her decision.

Just this week I sent an email to the new Chief Statistician for Canada (responsible for the census). The link to it is at the top of the INDEX. You might find it useful (scroll past the introductory remarks regarding the police/military).

Please ask if you have any questions I might be able to help you with.

Best wishes,

Sandra Finley

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4. FROM DAVID, Feb 16 and 17th

Feb 16th

this is great Sandra, many thanks – will get stuck into reading it all now!

Best wishes,

David

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Feb 17

Sandra, perhaps you could give me a quote for my piece? Along the lines of telling people thinking of boycotting the census next month but fearful of breaking the law why you think this issue is sufficiently important for you to have taken a stand – and I guess you are going to do the same again with your own census in May?
Best wishes,
David

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – —

Mon 2/21/2011 2:40 PM

SORRY DAVID,

I missed this in my inbox until today.

I think it is too late.

Your piece is already published.

Sandra

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5. EMAIL TO GEOFF MEADEN AND OTHERS INVOLVED IN THE PROTEST OF LOCKHEED MARTIN IN U.K. CENSUS, FEB 18.

SENT: Fri 2/18/2011 2:52 AM (versions also sent to the Green Party, to the Quakers (“Friends”), and to a couple of others)

Dear Geoff Meaden,

The Canadian census follows yours by a month.

I have posted information related to Lockheed Martin’s involvement in censuses to a blog so it is available to more people. It’s an issue “our network” has worked on since 2003.

North America, including Canada where I am from, is under-going a transformation that is driven by transnational corporate interests. We are moving closer and closer to a police state. I encourage people to take a firm stand against Lockheed Martin’s involvement in their census, down to boycotting. The assembled information makes the case. There are a number of issues in the wider picture.

“IBM and the Holocaust” (2001) by investigative journalist Edwin Black is the fascinating story of the role of mechanized census data in Nazi Europe. There is a link to a description of the book on www.sandrafinley.ca (Look for “Lockheed Martin .. census” under “Pages”).

David Sharrock from the London Observer contacted me. See the email thread below. It explains things further.

Best wishes,

– – – – – – – – – – – – –

Hello people at CAAT, (Campaign Against Arms Trade) http://www.caat.org.uk/

I wish to express solidarity with you. And with the people of Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere whose lives and lands are destroyed by the military-industrial complex. Number one player, Lockheed Martin Corporation.

I have been on trial for refusal to comply with the 2006 Canadian census. There are times when you have to draw your line in the sand. … ETC.

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6. EXCHANGE WITH GEOFF MEADEN. FEET KISSED? And “We, I believe like you, face a ghastly electoral system which we call “first-past-post” under which it is almost impossible for us to gain electoral success. So we are run by genetically produced Conservatives who stand for little else other than big business, economic growth and development and the maintenance of the status quo.”

From: Geoff Meaden Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 6:04 AM
To: Sandra Finley
Subject: Re: lockheed and UK census – from David Sharrock of the London Observer

Sandra,

How absolutely wonderful for you to make contact with me. This Lockheed Martin issue is something I have been following for a couple of years now, i.e. as soon as I heard about this grotesque tie-up between our Office of National Statistics and LM. Like most people I knew nothing about the fact that LM had been involved in our 2001 census. Unfortunately I (like you it seems) am extremely busy in a host of other causes and, though recently retired, am working almost full time for the UN (as a fisheries adviser). So – I do not have a lot of time to push this census thing – but we must do our best.

Anyway, as soon as I read your message this morning I got onto David Sharrock by email. He has just phoned me back and it looks like he will be doing a piece for this Sunday’s Observer newspaper. This will be great because it is a major national paper with several million readers. So, Sandra if it gets published I should be on the first flight to the John Diefenbaker airport where I will publically kiss your feet!!!

I do hope that your local Green Party is flourishing. We, I believe like you, face a ghastly electoral system which we call “first-past-post” under which it is almost impossible for us to gain electoral success. So we are run by genetically produced Conservatives who stand for little else other than big business, economic growth and development and the maintenance of the status quo. I read in yesterday’s paper that (and I quote) “Mr Fox (our national defence secretary) said that MP’s would not be given a vote on whether to press ahead with ordering the replacements for our fleet of Trident nuclear submarines.” (manufactured of course by LM). Can you imagine living in a country where MP’s are not even allowed to participate in this level of decision because of course they might vote the wrong way!

Keep in touch.

Geoff

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FEB 18

It’s -23 celsius today. You just added a whole lot of warmth and sunshine Geoff! And some laughter to lighten up the day. Many thanks for taking the time.

I’d rather have a laugh; otherwise we’d be crying in our beer together. The script you wrote is transferable to Canada: We, I believe like you, face a ghastly electoral system which we call “first-past-post” under which it is almost impossible for us to gain electoral success. So we are run by genetically produced Conservatives who stand for little else other than big business, economic growth and development and the maintenance of the status quo.

In all the mess, Saskatchewan is in a terrible and strategic situation. The Alberta tar sands don’t end at the border with next-door Saskatchewan. It’s as though the climate change issue is going to be decided right here. We have become a petro-state. The destruction of the boreal forest, a beautiful land of lakes and trees in the northern half of this province, capable of sustaining the largely First Nations and Metis people that live there, is in the process of going the way of the Niger Delta, the fate of the Ogoni people. The movie “Avatar” is a perfect description.

What you are seeing in the fisheries – – all I can say is Thank Goodness for you and the work you are doing.

But Hey! We are going to get past all this. As long as I can live long enough.

We are looking at upcoming elections, federally (expected anytime soon) and provincially (Nov). Elizabeth May, our Federal leader is wonderful. She and the Party are working our buns off – there’s a real chance of getting her elected, in spite of f-p-p.

Will keep in touch,

Have fun!

Sandra

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7. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/13/ghetts-census-guantanamo-bay-lockheed-martin

Ghetts, the census and Guantánamo Bay

The US arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin is to handle the UK’s census data. Does the grime artist see the sense in that?

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 13 January 2011 15.30 GMT

Article history

Ghetts’s new track, Invisible, is part of a drive to persuade ethnic minorities to fill in the census. Photograph: www.invisible2011.com”Some don’t know what a census is,” the London grime artist Ghetts begins, “some do but they don’t see the sense in it.” Over a catchy hook and with a flashy video to accompany, his new track, “Invisible”, seems to be part of the government’s drive to persuade young people and ethnic minorities to fill in this year’s national census population survey.

But there is a small fact they are failing to mention in the promotional material. In December 2008, the government quietly awarded the £150m contract to collect and securely handle the 2011 census data to Lockheed Martin, the second-largest arms manufacturer in the world. It makes bombs, bomber jets and has run most of the US military’s intelligence gathering and interrogation, including at Guantánamo Bay, where it operated through subsidiary companies. Nice people to be doing business with.

Even if we ignore the fact that Lockheed Martin sits at No 1 on the Pogo Federal Contractor Misconduct database, with more than 50 alleged cases of corruption, fraud, bribery, environmental damage and discrimination, there’s worse to come. As a US-owned company, under the post-9/11 USA Patriot Act, Lockheed Martin can be forced to hand over any private data in its possession to the US government and/or the CIA. It doesn’t make the government’s promises to keep our data safe sound quite so reassuring.

All this raises the question: was Ghetts fully aware of what he was getting himself into? It is difficult to envisage him being talked through the intricacies of the US military machine before the track was made. Surely if Lockheed Martin has been awarded such a huge contract to carry out the census, its name should be plastered across every song, poster and advertisement that encourages people to fill it in?

Even if we discount the possibility that Lockheed Martin could or would do anything untoward with our personal data, and even if we ignore accusations of the government selling on our census data to third parties in the past, the fact remains that £150m of taxpayers’ money has been directly channelled into a company that profits from and enables war and destruction. That is unacceptable.

What the Ghetts track makes clear is that young people, those who have never filled in a census before, are the government’s target audience. And the choice has been made clear: fill in the census, or you are breaking the law and could end up in prison. Or, as Ghetts rhymes: “Just remember this, if minorities don’t fill in the form, what’s the point of living in Britain at all?”

Surely all British citizens have a right to live here, regardless of whether or not they feel like giving Lockheed Martin and the British government their personal data? It would certainly be interesting to get Ghetts’s side of the story: first, how much was he paid to make the song, and second, will he be filling in the part about the “names, sex and birth dates of any overnight guests”? I, for one, will certainly not.

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