Sandra Finley

2008-11-01 Lockheed Martin: The Americans want “more data on Canadians”, Commentary

 Freedom of Speech. (Remove some wrong postings from category), Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials)  No Responses »
Nov 012008
 

COMMENTARY  related to:

2008-11-01 Ottawa Citizen, “American officials are pressuring the Federal Government to supply them with information on Canadians .. Canadian officials have said .. will meet the new standard .. by 2011 .. but there’ll be tremendous pressure (from the U.S.) to get there faster.”

 

(Note:  I got carried away.  This is in bad need of editing.)

U.S. says “More data on Canadians” if Canada wants to keep visa-free access to the U.S.

Why not call them on it (refuse)?  We have more than enough bargaining power.

Our recent history is to roll over, belly up, panting to please the U.S. “Bush agenda”.

It looks as though the Government will do it again.

Lapdogs.

Unless we (our numbers) provide them with other reason.

How do I fit this news report (U.S. wants more information on Canadians) into our on-going work?

THREE POSSIBILITIES:

1.  Is it related to email  “Battle in Seattle” ?

Following the Battle in Seattle (1999), the National Guard would have strategized to prevent repeat occurrences. The protestors (50,000 to 100,000 people) were successful in closing down the WTO meeting. That is a pretty big threat to those who are comfortable wielding the reins of money and power in this old world.

Horrors!  Four years later (2003), another mass assembly of protestors at the WTO meeting, this time in Cancun.  Success again! The WTO meetings collapsed under the pressure.

The Seattle battle wasn’t confined to Seattle.  Old-timers in our network will remember Chad Kister, an American who goes city-to-city giving a presentation on the extinction threats to polar bears, a consequence of climate change.

Chad told me that he joined the peaceful protest against the WTO in 1999, but in Washington, D.C.  He was badly injured by the police.  Someone video-taped Chad as it was happening;  he later won a legal battle and compensation from the authorities.

Chad was surprised by the ability of the police to identify organizers from among the thousands of protestors.

QUESTION:  What strategies have been employed in the aftermath of the WTO in Seattle?

The obvious strategy – – deal with the causes of the protest – – is not considered.  Instead:

——–

a.  Strategic location.

Meetings that are likely to attract protestors are strategically located to make it impossible for protestors to get near them.  They are secretive, as much as possible.

——–

b.  Police officers work inside the crowd, to discredit the protestors by inciting violence (as shocking as that may be).

We circulated two videos of the peaceful protestors at the SPP Summit (Security and Prosperity Partnership) at Montebello, outside Ottawa in August 2007.  The protestors saw through the police plants whose faces were hidden by a toque and bandana, who, rock in hand were trying to turn the protest into a violent one.  An astute protestor noticed the shoes on the “violent protestors” – the shoes of policemen.  “The anarchists” were policemen, planted in the crowd to turn things violent.  This happening in Canada.  I am still dumbfounded.

For those who did not see this short video, it is in the next email. MANY thanks to filmmaker Paul Manly (Nanaimo, B.C.).  Last June I had the good fortune to spend a few hours talking with Paul about his work.  (The amazing people in this country blow me away.)

Paul’s Montebello video includes media footage of the Minister Responsible for the Quebec police, trying to justify that members of the police force were trained, disguised and deployed to join a group of protestors for the assigned purpose of turning the crowd violent.

It may be a tactic arising out of the Battle in Seattle.  Discredit the protestors.  Turn peaceful protest into violence.  The media will gobble it up.  The message of the protestors is lost.  The protestors become bad guys.

That lost or forgotten message of the protestors needs to be re-stated.  It’s in another email, important for understanding the situation in which we find ourselves today. (And thank-you to the young man, Stuart Townsend, for re-articulating that message through his script and film “Battle in Seattle“.)

———

c.  (Another strategy before and in the aftermath of Seattle): The American (and Canadian) security forces will strengthen their files on those who are suspected of organizing the dissidence.

I know a number of Canadians who went to Seattle to join the protests in 1999, and people who went to Cancun, and to Montebello. These are dedicated people who see that changes are necessary.  They don’t get paid to speak up, to travel, to help-out.  What they do is for the benefit of everyone, and “for seven generations” hence.

Steve writes:  “Seattle was a blast. We had 41 busloads of Canadians go down from Vancouver that day. Look how far we have come in 9 years.”

It is possible that part of the American plan, coming out of those very successful protests, was to obtain files on the Canadian dissidents, people like Steve.  It’s not good enough that only the Canadian security forces have the files.

“Battle in Seattle” makes it clear that the establishment was out-of-touch.  The 50,000 to 100,000 protestors were a complete surprise, coming out of  nowhere.  The establishment does not want to be unprepared again.

Unprepared for … us.  That’s who the protestors are, by and large.  People who are a little better informed, who take a little longer view of the world, who can see where we’re headed, and are resolved to make changes so that our grand-children will have an inhabitable Earth.  I see us as people who are willing to take responsibility and to work together.

9/11 and “Homeland Security” of course, added impetus to the plan for the Canadian population to come under the same surveillance as is the American population.

Imagine yourself sitting around the strategy table:  how in Canada, a western democracy with a Charter of Rights and Freedoms, can the police and military hope to contain an organized body of peaceful protestors that number in the tens of thousands?

What I want the police and military to see through is the WTO, the transnational corporate interests.  If you are deployed to police the WTO meetings or an SPP Summit, … I’d say you are between a rock and a hard place.  The protestors are actually working to make things better for the families of the police and military. The powers-that-be represented by the WTO and SPP do not serve the public interest, and yet it is them you are deployed to protect – –  psychopathic large corporations. That is your job.

There will be more and more protests.  That’s pretty easy to see, as described in the email about the Encana pipeline incidents.  I want everyone to understand that the REASON there are tens of thousands of Canadians who are willing to protest isn’t because we are a bunch of radical, violent, angry, ignorant, “crowd-followers”.

We will protest because we are a little better informed, because we see where we are headed, and fundamentally because the government has opted out of its regulatory job, in favour of subservience to ignorance, money and destruction (large transnational corporations that are very corrupt.  I can say that unequivocally because there is a long, well-documented public record of their court convictions.).

In February we circulated the information on the Canada – U.S. Troop Exchange Agreement.  In June the information about the new “Canada First Defence Strategy”:  “interoperability” with the American Military and “Compatible doctrine” among other niceties.

Okay, so maybe this American need for Canadian data “Not only about (routine) individuals, …”  arises out of an increasingly non-compliant population.  Made non-compliant by government.

Hand over the data on “(routine) Canadians” to the Americans.  To purchase visa-free access to the U.S.

BUT WITH WHAT CONSEQUENCE?

I don’t think you have to be a wizard to figure out that the cost to the government of that action will be … more non-compliance by Canadians.

It’s called non-violent resistance.  The majority of Canadians value Canada.

We stand on guard for thee.  Against thieves.

++++   OR   +++++

2.  “Handing over data on (routine) Canadians to the Americans” fits in the pattern of the email sent on Nov 15th, “Massive ‘Homeland Defense’ Joint Exercise Is Underway”

1999:  Battle in Seattle

2001:  9/11, etc,

AND THEN,

A.  2004 – health records of the Canadian military are contracted out to (American) Lockheed Martin Corp

B.  Feb 14th, 2008  –  Canada and U.S. sign Troop Exchange Agreement

C.  June 19, 2008 – Canada has a new “defence” strategy.  We will have “compatible doctrine” with the U.S. and “interoperability”.  The decades-long Canadian dedication to alternatives to “killing wars” is gone.

D.  Oct 1:  “the First Brigade of the Third Infantry Division, three to four thousand soldiers, has been deployed in the United States as of October 1.”

E.  “November 14, 2008 – The United States government’s national threat level is Elevated, or Yellow. (For airline flights it is “High” or Orange.)  They expect violence during the transition between the Bush and Obama administrations.

F.  November 12 – 18: Massive ‘Homeland Defense’ Joint Exercise Is Under Way.  (Canada is part of this, through NORAD and the other agreements we now have with the U.S.)

And now, we can add ?? :

G.  “Americans want more information about Canadians if we want access without visas” ?

The justification for the turning over of data on Canadians is not related to internal civil disruption to the corporate-driven agenda, exemplified by the WTO battle.

The justification is the military integration of the U.S. and Canada for the purpose of protecting us from externally-created terrorists.

++++   OR   +++++

Or maybe this is merely a case of Plan A didn’t work.  So we need a Plan B:

3.  2006 Census, a thwarted opportunity for the Americans to get the data on Canadians ?

The Census offered the opportunity for the American security forces to gain access to Canadian Census data.  It could have been accomplished with the out-sourcing of Census work to Lockheed Martin Corp.  Under the Patriot Act, Lockheed Martin is legally required to hand requested data over to the U.S. government (the U.S. military, of which Lockheed Martin is a major player anyway).  And note: the Canadian Government would NOT be advised when there is such a handover of information on its people.  The Patriot Act is clear about that.

However!  there was so much protest two years before the 2006 Census that the Government of Canada was forced to draw back and promise that Lockheed Martin would not have access to the Census data.

So if Plan A (the Census) was thwarted, then Plan B.  Strong-arming it:  give us access to the data on Canadians.  If you won’t, we’ll make it so that Canadians will be required to have a visa in order to enter the U.S..

In 2004, and continuing, the Canadian Government has asserted, “No way that the U.S. will have access to Canadian (Census) data.  We listened to Canadians.”

November 2008, an American (the Hudson Institute) tells us:  “Canadian officials have said this country will meet the new standard (data on Canadians), “plus or minus a little,” by 2011, he said. “But there’ll be tremendous pressure (from the U.S.) to get there faster.”

When Christopher Sands of the Hudson Institute tells a security intelligence conference in Ottawa, “we’d like to know who your suspicious people are before they enter the United States.”,  I (Sandra Finley) think I’ll just step forth and volunteer my name for the list.

I leave you to your own thoughts.

=========================================

2008-11-01 Ottawa Citizen, “American officials are pressuring the Federal Government to supply them with information on Canadians .. Canadian officials have said .. will meet the new standard .. by 2011 .. but there’ll be tremendous pressure (from the U.S.) to get there faster.”

 Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials)  No Responses »
Nov 012008
 

Repeatedly, “hand over your personal information or there will be inconvenience or costs to you”.

Information on Canadians,  “Not only about (routine) individuals, but also about people that you may be looking at for reasons, but there’s no indictment and there’s no charge,” . . .

Please – – it is not worth any amount of money to enter into a police state, to repeat the experience of Nazi Europe.

 

Free ride into U.S is over, analyst says

(Link no longer valid)  http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=64f59d78-ce97-48dc-b2fd-381859ce6c84

In exchange for continued visa-free access to the United States, American officials are pressuring the federal government to supply them with more information on Canadians, says an influential analyst on Canada-U.S. relations.

By The Ottawa Citizen November 1, 2008

In exchange for continued visa-free access to the United States, American officials are pressuring the federal government to supply them with more information on Canadians, says an influential analyst on Canada-U.S. relations.

“Not only about (routine) individuals, but also about people that you may be looking at for reasons, but there’s no indictment and there’s no charge,” Christopher Sands of the Hudson Institute told a security intelligence conference in Ottawa yesterday.

“This raises privacy flags everywhere, but we’d like to know who your suspicious people are before they enter the United States.”

He recounted a recent conversation in which Stewart Baker, assistant secretary of policy at the Department of Homeland Security, told him Canadians have “had a better deal than anybody else in terms of access to the United States and for that they’ve paid nothing.”

The Bush administration, Mr. Baker continued, is now telling Canada “we want to give you less access, but we want you to pay more and, by the way, we’re standardizing this (with other visa-free countries) so you’re not special anymore.”

Mr. Sands concluded, “this politically is a very difficult difficult message to pass on to Canadians, setting aside all of the privacy concerns, but it’s one that’s unlikely to change in the next administration.”

The case of Maher Arar also changes nothing.

“I don’t think that we’re convinced Maher Arar was vindicated or acquitted by your process,” Mr. Sands said, referring to the O’Connor judicial inquiry. “What you did was re-evaluate the treatment of Maher Arar and decide that procedural mistakes along the way had been made. That didn’t vindicate him from the charge that he was involved in fundraising for terror.

“People in Canada have turned the man into some sort of national hero, but if you expect the next administration to join you in sending him laurels, I think you’re going to be mistaken. Even Barack Obama … is not going to go near that with a 10-foot pole” and Mr. Arar will not have his name removed from the U.S. no-fly list “in my lifetime.”

European nations, meanwhile, have agreed to begin sharing more information with the U.S. on their citizens starting in January, part of what Mr. Sands said is a gradual movement by the U.S. toward a “simpler policy” for all visa-waiver countries to provide a “package of benefits,” to the U.S. in exchange for ease of access. Mexico already has such an arrangement.

Canadian officials have said this country will meet the new standard, “plus or minus a little,” by 2011, he said. “But there’ll be tremendous pressure (from the U.S.) to get there faster.”

John Sims, deputy minister of justice, later told delegates Canada is “not getting a free ride. There are challenges of how we share intelligence now and we don’t have all the answers,” he said. But, “the quality of the information that we still share regularly with our allies is of the highest quality and I have no doubt whatsoever that it’s seen to be very valuable and is prized by the people with whom we share it.”

Regardless of who wins the U.S. presidency next week, Mr. Sands said it will be a few years, at the least, before the next administration will take a political gamble on easing Canada-U.S. border restrictions.

Canada may, in fact, find it difficult to chart independent security and intelligence policy.

“You’ve been there (on shared security), we appreciate that. But I think that also sets the context for what we’re going to be asking you for after the next administration takes office.

“Because of the nature of terrorism as a threat, it is less negotiable for you to help us when it comes to domestic security measures taken in Canada that directly impact on our security at home.

“So while we live in a world in which an independent foreign policy for Canada is as possible as ever, an independent security policy, an independent intelligence policy, becomes trickier because we need Canada to help us protect ourselves and to protect yourselves.”

To maintain even the status quo along the border, the Canadian government needs to make its commitment to border and internal domestic security clear to the incoming administration, he told several hundred delegates, most from Canada’s national security establishment.

Both Mr. Obama and John McCain have talked about changes to the controversial U.S. Patriot Act, closing the Guantanamo Bay prison and altering policies on torture, and there will tremendous pressure on whichever man is president, once they made those changes, not to have another terrorist attack.

“If they do, people will say, ‘you softened the stance (of President George W. Bush), you weakened the stance and — you saw it on Sept. 11 — the great American tendency is to ignore problems too long and then overreact.”

If any such event is traced back to Canada, damage to Canada-U.S. relations would last weeks, if not years, he said.

An indication of where Canada-U.S. border relations — and therefore economic trade — will head under the next U.S. administration will be evident with the appointment of the anticipated new head of the Department of Homeland Security.

“There is no more important cabinet secretary to Canada today … because homeland security is the gatekeeper with its finger on the jugular affecting your ability to move back and forth across the border, the market access upon which the Canadian economy depends.”

It will be extremely important, he said, that the next secretary appreciates Canada’s efforts against terrorism and the “tremendous progress” the two countries have made on domestic security co-operation.

“That has to happen before we have a conversation about changing border policies. These will be new people in Washington and we need to start at the beginning, saying, ‘Canada is not a threat and we’re making every effort to make sure that we don’t foster a threat anywhere inside’ ” our borders.

© (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.

2008-09-30 Franke James: Dear Prime Minister, Will our children inherit a Canada where polar bears can only be found on Toonies?

 Climate, Green Party, Sustainability  No Responses »
Sep 302008
 

Don’t read another word!   Just click on  http://www.frankejames.com/debate/?p=111

======================

The irony is that the meltdown on Wall Street causes panic. While the melting of the polar ice caps is largely ignored. But Mother Nature cannot be ‘regulated’ or ‘bailed out’.

Franke  James

Artist and writer

www.frankejames.com

http://twitter.com/frankejames

Canadians! there are economic consequences of global warming!

—————–

Sandra Finley wrote:

My dear Franke,

I will be honoured to share your wonderful creativity with everyone on my lists, and with some facebook groups!

You are a gifted woman and indeed a gift to Canadians.

All the best,

Sandra

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

From: Franke James Sent: September 29, 2008 11:05 AM

To: sabest1  AT  sasktel.net

Subject: Franke James: Dear Prime Minister, You say a pollution tax would wreak havoc on our economy…

Hi Sandra,

Attached is my press release which will be sent out on Canada Newswire later today or tomorrow morning:

Dear Prime Minister, You say a pollution tax would wreak havoc on our economy…

A little background for you on why I wrote this visual letter to the PM:

Elections are always important but this time around I think the choice we have is more critical than ever.

When I started to imagine talking to my friends and family and suggesting they give serious consideration to voting for any of parties that have a green agenda (Liberals, Greens or NDP), I realized they would all say, “Franke, it’s a nice idea to vote for the environment, but we really have to vote for a strong economy…. ”

When that penny dropped I decided to write a letter to Stephen Harper in the form of a visual essay:

“Dear Prime Minister, You say a pollution tax would wreak havoc on our economy…”   http://www.frankejames.com/debate/?p=111

Please consider sharing this with your network!

Thanks,

Franke

2008–09-24 Celebrate, celebrate! Ottawa arms show CANCELLED! BUT the Campaign continues!

 Peace or Violence  No Responses »
Sep 242008
 

The following is a paste-together of the original action followed by the outcome.   It was a partial victory.  I believe that  the Arms Bazaar,  CANSEC, eventually went ahead.  I didn’t get that update out. 

As I understand, from 1989 until 2009  (FOR TWO DECADES)  the citizens of Ottawa were successful in keeping the Arms Bazaar out of Ottawa.   But of course, the Corporations in the War Machine did not have all the profits from war that they have today, and they did not have all the lobbyists that they have today.  

ORIGINAL PLEA FOR HELP SENT TO YOU ON AUGUST 24th, 2008: 

SUBJECT:  “Stop Ottawa’s Arms Show.  (The first since the “No” Resolution by Ottawa City Hall in 1989 )”

LETTER TO COUNCILLORS, CITY OF OTTAWA 

SUBJECT:  Consider what comes with the Military Corporations  

Dear Councillor (Monette),    (a separate email sent to each Councillor and to the Mayor)

A wise resolution was passed by the City of Ottawa in 1989: “city facilities not be leased to ARMX or other such arms exhibitions.”  

I urge you to uphold the resolution.  Imagine Canada as Iraq.  Imagine that the USA dropped cluster bombs and bullets coated with depleted uranium on us. …  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. There should be no tolerance for Arms Bazaars in Canada. 

The spread of the American military-industrial-government complex into Canada is insidious.  

Under “offset agreements” in the contracts between the Government of Canada and these people who make billions of dollars in the business of killing people and simultaneously destroying the environment, 75% of the contract value is spent in Canada. 

The exorbitant profits made possible by tax-payors become generous grants made by the corporations to Canadian universities (e.g. Dalhousie University – $2 million in May 2008 from Lockheed Martin Corporation).  There are strings attached to the grants.   

The Government should be sending tax-payors’ money directly to the universities, to serve the public interest.  It should not be filtered through the hands of the corporations, through exorbitantly-priced (military) contracts. 

But Canadian companies are the main beneficiaries of the spending throughthe offset agreements.  And so WE (stupid Canadians?) are financing the spread of the American military-industrial complex into Canada.  

The American economy is dependent upon going to war.  In the current financial news from the US, you will find that recession does not affect the fortunes of the military corporations (like Lockheed Martin and the others who will be at the Arms Bazaar).  

I am 59 years old.  If you have time for the 4 points appended, you will see that Canada is drastically changing its role in the world, from the years during which I learned Canadian values.  We are no longer peace-keepers.

Read the “Canada First Defence Strategy” released by the Government in June. 

Violence begets violence.  It does not solve problems.  It is a rather obsolete and stupid approach.  The mightiest generals have been Mohandas Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr.  They brought oppressive regimes to their knees using the weapon of non-violent resistance.  With little or no money.   Others, for example the East Germans have learned the ways of non-violent resistance and successfully brought down a ruthless Communist government.   

Please, NO military expositions. 

May we all fight to defend the heritage given to us by people of honour, integrity, intelligence and humanity like Canadian Prime Minister, Lester Pearson.  

Yours truly,

Sandra Finley

———————————

APPENDED: 

– In 2003-04 Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract to do work on the 2006 Canadian Census (in spite of large protests).  Lockheed Martin is the world’s largest weapons manufacturer.  They make cluster bombs, for example. For all intents and purposes they ARE the American Military.  In the international public record you will find that they have been convicted for bribery of officials, and paid millions upon millions of dollars in fines for other breaches of the law.

– January 2009, Lockheed was awarded a contract for fighter jets worth billions of dollars

– February 2009, the Canadian Govt signed a Troop Exchange Agreement with the US.  In the event of civil emergency in Canada, the Canadian Govt can call in the American Troops. 

– June 2009, from the new “Canada First Defence Strategy “.. the two nations’ armed forces will pursue their effective collaboration on operations in North America and abroad. To remain interoperable, we must ensure that key aspects of our equipment and doctrine are compatible.”

Canadian companies are assured that there is money to be made in the industry of war (financed by tax payors). 

The Project on Govt Oversight (POGO) in the USA repeatedly shows that the military corporations are awarded exorbitant contracts.  It is no different in Canada.  Corporations like Lockheed Martin (they manufacture cluster bombs among other niceties) get 80% of their money from the Government of the USA (tax-payors).  They have no business in Canada.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

SEPTEMBER 24, 2008

This is so awesome!  I was doubtful we were going to succeed, BUT TOGETHER WE DID ! 

If you haven’t already, do take one minute.  It’s easy to join the petition to stop the NEXT Arms Show.  Your one little addition will make a difference.  Click on:  http://prax.ca/view/coat/No-Arms-Shows 

I just scrolled through – there are 32 pages of signatures at the moment.  And the comments that people have made are enlightening.  

Thanks to Richard from COAT (Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade) for the feedback: 

Dear friends! 

YES, an upcoming Ottawa Arms Show has been CANCELLED!! 

However, COAT’s campaign (including our online petition) CONTINUES against all other Ottawa arms shows.  For details on the cancellation and our continuing struggle, see the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) website: 

http://coat.ncf.ca   

Please sign COAT’s Online Petition to Stop ALL of these Arms Bazaars!   If you haven’t done so already, it is not too late to sign our online petition to ensure that “CANSEC 2009” and ALL other military trade shows remain banned from City of Ottawa facilities.  Please encourage your friends, colleagues and fellow activists across Canada to sign this important petition!

—–>    http://prax.ca/view/coat/No-Arms-Shows   <—– 

ARMS EXHIBITION Cancelled! 

“Secure Canada 2008,” the military trade show that was scheduled for Lansdowne Park, Ottawa (Sept.30 – Oct.1) has been “cancelled until further notice.”  So says the official website of “Secure Canada 2008.” 

Feast your eyes on their cancellation notice here:  (Link no longer valid:  http://www.securecan.ca)  

This indeed calls for celebration! However, we need to make sure that City Staff do not just sign another contract with the organizers of “Secure Canada.”   

And, more importantly, there’s an even bigger arms bazaar looming on Ottawa’s horizon called “CANSEC 2009.” This huge weapons exhibition is scheduled for May 27-28, 2009 and the City has been negotiating a contract with its organizers. This too must be stopped!!   

Join COAT in celebrating the cancellation of “Secure Canada 2008” by helping us to STOP “CANSEC 2009.”  

Now that they’re on the run, let’s drive them ALL right out of town!

Can we do it?    Yes we can!    Please join us! 

Thanks very much for your help in continuing this important campaign! 

Cheers,

Richard Sanders, Coordinator, COAT

Editor, Press for Conversion!

http://coat.ncf.ca 

===================== 

APPENDED:  ORIGINAL PLEA FOR HELP SENT TO YOU ON AUGUST 24th: 

SUBJECT:  “Stop Ottawa’s Arms Show.  (The first since the “No” Resolution by Ottawa City Hall in 1989 )” 

” For the first time in almost 20 years — since ARMX ’89 — the City of Ottawa is hosting arms bazaars at municipally-funded facilities.  We stopped them before, we can stop them again!  Please join us!”  (from Sheila in Ottawa)

2008-09-20 LOST BOYS related to chemicals, Globe & Mail. Includes request to speak to U of S, Board of Governors.

 Genetically Modified, Health, Take back the University  No Responses »
Sep 202008
 

Maybe this one “ … the shrinking size of male gonads”  will get the needed action!

Cancer, disease and developmental problems don’t seem to cut it.

I conclude that the educated and influential at the Universities, in the medical professions, in the Government are not going to rock the boat.  SO … you and I have to rock the boat for them.

What is the cost if we don’t?  …  well, you can take a lesson from the USA.  Educated and influential people (even people of plain common sense) knew that an economic system based on “de-regulated” or unregulated hot air bubbles would eventually lead to the enrichment of the few at the expense of the many.

If you think the shrinking size of male gonads has consequences and should be addressed, I suggest you send MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT’s article below to every “respectable” person you know.

Every self-respecting person will see that the information becomes known.  Then maybe we will get the needed regulation, before we become extinct.

Well yes what Martin says has been known — for a couple of decades and more. But not acted upon.  That’s the thing.

I have sent Martin Mittelstaedt’s article to:

  •   one University
  • some Medical professionals
  • the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA, Health Canada), heads Karen Dodds and Connie Moase
  • one City Government
  • the Provincial Govt Health Minister  (who is a farmer)
  • and more.

But One straw doesn’t break the camel’s back.  Please add your weight.

Doesn’t matter how much, where or how.  In the end it will work.

 

SENT TO MY CITY 

Please see appended Sept 20th from Globe & Mail,  “Lost Boys” (because of chemicals).  It reminds that we need to do something about pesticides.

Calgary Herald,  July 15, 2008

City council is moving forward with a bylaw to phase out the use of pesticides by 2011. …  Calgary is one of the late-comers.

Oh well!  If Saskatoon doesn’t do anything, there eventually won’t be any males here!  Hmm… I kind of enjoy some of you guys.  Pity!

For my part, I’ve asked to speak to Board of Governors at the University. . .  (request denied).

 

================================

 

TO THE UNIVERSITY, SECRETARY TO BOARD OF GOVERNORS

– copy sent to Deans of Medicine and Agriculture also

I will be most appreciative if I could make a presentation to the Board of Governors of the University.

The article below from the Globe & Mail implicitly recommends a problem-solving approach.

We don’t need a spin doctor approach, or denial.   This is but one more piece of evidence that action on the chemicals in the environment is required.

The University is (should be) on the leading edge of helping the community to advance through application of the knowledge we hold.  It should not be an obstacle, a defender of the status quo or of commercial interests.

Persons in Departments such as Human Health, Animal Health, Environmental Studies, Hydrology, Toxicology, Agriculture. Biology have a leadership role to play.  The University needs to determine its role in this matter.

Please advise whether I may make a brief presentation to the University based on the following and other related information.

Thank-you.

 

============================

 

FROM THE GLOBE & MAIL, SEPT 20, 2008

Thanks to Hart for this article.  He writes:

The first time I saw a show about estrogen mimicking chemicals was in the early 1990s. This has been known for some time, we even had one of the co-authors of “Our stolen Future” at the conference in 1999. …  Women might get their day in the sun after all!

———-

NOTE:  the Aamjiwnaang experience is documented  in other postings, too.

HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT: LOST BOYS 

HUMANITY AT RISK: ARE THE MALES GOING FIRST?

Something is happening to today’s boys and men: Fewer are being born compared with girls, they’re having more trouble in school, virility and fertility are down and testicular cancer rates are up. Now, scientists say these ‘fragile males’ may be more vulnerable than females to pollutants, affecting their development as early as the womb. If so, writes Martin Mittelstaedt, it could be a bigger threat to our future than global warming

MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT

ENVIRONMENT REPORTER

September 20, 2008

The first clue was how difficult it was becoming to find enough young boys to cobble together a baseball team.

Then, women in prenatal groups started remarking on how everyone in their groups was having girls.

Jim Brophy remembers those casual observations with vivid clarity, and how they eventually led to one of the most puzzling scientific findings in Canada – the lopsided tally of girls compared with boys being born in the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, a community nearly surrounded by a complex of petrochemical plants.

Mr. Brophy, who runs the occupational-health centre of nearby Sarnia, Ont., was holding discussions five years ago with residents worried over the discovery of elevated levels of mercury and lead in soil on the reserve. Out of the blue, someone asked if anyone else had noticed anything odd going on

– like more girls being born than boys.

“It was almost like somebody had told the family secret,” Mr. Brophy recalls.

The impression was quickly backed up by a check of band records: In some years, nearly two girls were being born for every boy – a major anomaly given that the normal boy-girl sex ratio is 106 to 100.

The Sarnia area has been prone to many pollution-related woes, but the implications here seem to be arising all over the world: Males may be the more fragile sex when it comes to exposure to modern chemicals, from the embryonic stage on.

The recent sci-fi thriller Children of Men imagined a world population doomed to extinction when, over the coming years, every last human being on Earth becomes infertile. Now, some scientists are painting a similarly frightening picture of a widespread threat to male birth rates and later virility and fertility; what’s more, they believe serious damage to men and boys is already occurring.

Researchers tracking childhood behavioural disorders, sperm counts, testicular cancer and even the shrinking size of male gonads are convinced that something is amiss.

The University of Pittsburgh’s Devra Davis, in a study issued last year, found that the U.S. and Japan combined had a staggering tally of 262,000 “missing boys” from 1970 to about 2000 because of a decline in the sex ratio at birth. Although it could be a statistical anomaly, she says the figure is “very worrisome.”

Dr. Davis, director of the Centre for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, points out another disturbing trend – the rise in what scientists have dubbed testicular dysgenesis syndrome, a catch-all phrase for a raft of male reproductive-system ailments.

Among them is hypospadias, a disfiguring penis abnormality in babies where the urinary opening is on the underside rather than its normal position on the tip. The condition is not new, but boys today are far more likely than their fathers to be born with it. The incidence, adjusted for population size, is up about 60 per cent since the mid-1970s in Canada. Other countries have also experienced increases.

The incidence rate of testicular cancer in young Canadian men aged 20 to 44, for reasons unknown, has risen 54 per cent from 1983 to 2005, according to figures compiled by Cancer Care Ontario.  And levels of testosterone – the hormone that choreographs male development from libido to muscle mass – have inexplicably declined in U.S. men over the past two decades by nearly 20 per cent.  A recent study found that women in the San Francisco area during the 1960s who had higher levels of PCBs gave birth to a third fewer boys than women with low amounts of the chemical, suggesting in utero exposures to the now-banned toxin were able to cull males.

Oddities among males are also occurring in the animal kingdom. Studies in the laboratory and in the wild show that man-made contaminants often attack males of different species with greater ferocity.

Researchers at the University of Florida found that about 35 per cent of male toads from heavily farmed areas of the state exhibited intersex (or hermaphrobitic) attributes: Males showed female coloration and ovarian tissue growing near their testes. Compared with toads in suburban areas, the farmland males also had lower levels of testosterone, more on par with females, suggesting that something related to agricultural practices was feminizing the male amphibians.

For Dr. Davis, there are just too many peculiar things happening to be mere coincidence. “These things theoretically have a common etiology,” she says.

“Something is tweaking what we can think of as boy-making cells.”

 

HORMONAL HAVOC

A theory rapidly gaining currency is that man-made substances are upsetting the intricate working of hormones – the chemical messengers that even in mere parts per trillion are able to control key aspects of sexual and mental development.

During fetal development, all humans begin life as female, with some assuming male characteristics only after prodding from hormones. If hormones aren’t at precisely the right levels in the womb, something in that process might go awry.

University of Florida zoologist Theo Colborn is often heralded as a modern-day version of environmental prophet Rachel Carson. In 1996, she co-wrote Our Stolen Future, which first raised the possibility that synthetic chemicals may interfere with normal hormone functioning. More recently, she has begun giving lectures on “the Male Predicament.”

“I definitely feel that the males are really suffering more,” says Dr. Colborn, who is also president of the Colorado-based Endocrine Disruption Exchange.   Among her biggest fears is that some chemicals are able to harm brain development, with greater impacts on males than females. She is worried that this attack on male thinking may pose an even greater threat to society than global warming.

She backs up that astonishing claim in part with the observation that two to four times more boys than girls are afflicted by the modern scourge of attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorders. She also contends that chemical exposures could explain why female enrolment at U.S. and Canadian universities is outstripping male, currently at 60 to 40 per cent. (In the U.S., colleges such as Lake Erie in Ohio are establishing new football teams just to lure more males onto their campuses.) The most insidious of the hormonally active chemicals may be the ones that mimic the powerful female hormone, estrogen. Compounds as diverse as pesticides, plastics, mercury and uranium are able to fool cells into thinking that they are dealing with estrogen rather than a artificial imposter.

“You don’t have to be a PhD biologist or doctor to know that pouring estrogen into a male is not a good idea,” says Frederick vom Saal, a U.S. biologist who has done pioneering research into the harmful effects of bisphenol A, which is used in polycarbonate plastics. In April, Health Canada proposed adding it to the country’s toxic-substances list.

Dr. vom Saal, a professor at the University of Missouri, fears that male babies are facing “a perfect storm” from a variety of synthetic chemicals that simultaneously boost their estrogen exposure while cutting levels of testosterone and thyroid hormones.

He says the phthalates added to many plastics inhibit testosterone production (and can also, according to some researchers, be associated with irregular genital development, although the industry denies it). Meanwhile, brominated flame retardants (routinely used in products ranging from television sets to mattress foams) may block the thyroid hormone, which is crucial for proper development of both the testes and the brain.

Dr. vom Saal says this mishmash of synthetic hormones – leading to too much estrogen and too little testosterone and thyroid hormone – is making “a mess of sexual development in males.”

 

DOWN ON THE FARM

Shanna Swan, a professor at the University of Rochester, has conducted research on a related topic – the sperm of healthy, seemingly normal young U.S men – and got strange results.

Her research group took semen samples from more than 500 men in New York City, Los Angeles, Columbia, Mo., and Minneapolis who were attending prenatal clinics with their partners – a good indication that the men didn’t have fertility problems.

Yet the men in Columbia averaged only 58.7 million sperm per millilitre of semen, while New York City men produced an average of 102.9 million per millilitre; the Minneapolis men averaged 98.6 million and the Los Angelenos, 80.8.

Dr. Swan’s research team then tried to take into account factors that might cause different sperm counts, such as age, race and smoking. Even so, they were unable to explain why men in Columbia had about half the sperm of men in New York and far less than those in Minneapolis.

The only explanation that makes sense to Dr. Swan is that Columbia is more of a farming area, suggesting that pesticides are to blame.  “These are very big differences and I believe they’re environmental. … We don’t have any other explanation,” she says.

Researchers are also investigating a widespread drop in testosterone levels.

Thomas Travison at the Massachusetts-based New England Research Institutes is the co-author of a 2007 study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism that tracked a group of U.S. men from the late 1980s to 2004.

The researchers found that men in 1987 had significantly more testosterone than men of the same age in 2004. Over a decade and a half, the decline worked out to a dramatic 17 per cent – “certainly something to consider and be worried about, particularly if it is related to fertility,” Dr. Travison says.

Obesity may be a factor – extra fat is known to cut testosterone levels, and more people have become fatter since the 1980s – but he adds that the trend could also be related to exposures to hormonally active chemicals that may affect metabolism.

“Some of these endocrine disruptors in the environment could have detrimental effects on weight, which then can affect hormones,” Dr. Travison says, but he calls it a theory that needs more proof.

 

PANIC BUTTON

The whole issue of fragile males is a hotly contested area of modern science.  The declining share of male college enrolment, for example, could stem from complex social and cultural causes rather than just decreased male births.

The possibility that environmental chemicals are harming male brains is “a fascinating idea,” says William Pollack, director of the Centre for Men at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts and an assistant clinical professor at Harvard Medical School. But he says it should be viewed as a hypothesis waiting for scientific proof.

The easiest way to settle the issue would be to deliberately expose pregnant women in laboratory settings to hormonally active chemicals and then check out their kids. Needless to say, that wouldn’t pass an ethical review.

“I don’t think, from the scientific point of view, we can really draw firm conclusions in favour of implicating endocrine toxicants as major determinants of all these health outcomes,” says Daniel Krewski, director of the University of Ottawa’s Samuel McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment.

The centre maintains a website – funded in part by the chemical industry – that takes a skeptical position on scientific claims about the health impacts of hormonally active synthetic substances. Dr. Krewski says his industrial funders don’t vet what is on the site.

His reading of the research is that the weight of evidence is not yet strong enough. The unexplained rise in testicular cancer, for example, might be caused by some as-yet-unidentified genetic or lifestyle factor.  Meanwhile, Nicholas Van Larabeke observes that low sperm counts do not “immediately affect the quality of our life – except for those people who do not get the children they want.” The professor at Ghent University in Belgium has studied changes in sex ratios, such as the one in Sarnia, and calls them “sentinel” health events for hormone disruption.

On the other hand, he adds: “If ever the situation would get worse, over a longer period of time, that’s about, I’d say, the most efficient way to endanger the future of humankind.”

Martin Mittelstaedt is The Globe and Mail’s environment reporter.

***

Endangered species?

Here are science’s top five worries over the fate of the human male.

1. Lost boys

Studies on births from the U.S., Japan, and Canada have found a drop in the percentage of boys born compared with girls. The reason isn’t known.

2. Declining harvest

Men in farm country can be half as prolific when it comes to making sperm as their city counterparts, raising the possibility that pesticides undermine male fertility.

3. Downsizing

It’s disputed by chemical companies, but some researchers say they have found an everyday plastic compound – phthalates – that feminizes baby boys, causing penises and other reproductive organs to be smaller.

4. Hormones not so raging

If you’re a middle-aged man, you’re likely to be less virile than your father because you make less testosterone. In recent decades, the decline has averaged about 1 per cent a year. If it continues over another generation or two, the consequences could be dire.

5. Equipment failure

Rates of testicular cancer, hypospadias and other genital abnormalities have soared over recent decades, rising by more than 50 per cent each.

Martin Mittelstaedt

***

Chemical culprits

By some counts, nearly a hundred man-made chemicals either act like hormones or interfere with them, but scientists highlight four as major worries:

Bisphenol A, or BPA, the polycarbonate-plastic and tin-can-lining chemical, has been found in experiments by Frederick vom Saal and others to cause prostate abnormalities and other developmental changes linking to sex hormones in laboratory animals, at levels around and below currently accepted safety standards.

Phthalates (pronounced THA-lates), a family of chemicals used to make polyvinylchloride plastic more pliable, are found in everything from shower curtains, new car interiors to perfumes. It inhibits testosterone synthesis by interfering with an enzyme needed to produce the male hormone. Phthalates aren’t embedded in products through strong chemical bonds, making them vulnerable to leaching out.

Polybrominated diphenylethers, or PBDEs, are flame retardants used in plastics, foams and electrical equipment. They are able to interfere with thyroid hormones, which are essential for proper brain and testicle development, and have been linked in animal research to attention-deficit-like conditions.

Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are now-banned transformer-oil fluids widely used up to the early 1970s. They have a similar molecular shape to flame retardants and reduce thyroid hormone levels. Research has linked low PCB exposures to reduced impulse control and lower intellectual capacity in children. The most recent study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives in May, found that a mere one-part-per-billion increase in PCB concentration in a baby’s placenta was associated with a three-point IQ drop at the age of 9.

Martin Mittelstaedt

==================

Honourable Don McMorris, Minister of Health (Saskatchewan)

Health Quality Council

Saskatchewan Cancer Agency

Saskatchewan Health Information Network

Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation

MLA for Indian Head-Milestone

Don McMorris was raised in Indian-Head Milestone constituency. He graduated from Milestone High School and ran the driver education program for Prairie View School Division for many years. Mr. McMorris worked with the Saskatchewan Safety Council for ten years with responsibility for all traffic safety programs offered in the province. He also started a company called Crossroads Safety offering safety training courses to corporate clients. 

Don was first elected to the Legislature as the MLA for Indian Head-Milestone in 1999. He was re-elected in 2003, and again in the 2007 provincial election. During his two terms in opposition, Mr. McMorris served as the critic for Health, K-12 Learning and Labour.

Mr. McMorris is active in his community as a coach and player for many local sports teams. Today, Mr. McMorris and his wife Cindy operate a family farm in the Lewvan area. They have two sons.

Minister’s Office

Room 302, Legislative Building 2405 Legislative Drive, Regina, SK S4S 0B3

Phone: (306) 787-7345

susan.kalenchuk@gov.sk.ca

=============================

TO:   Dean of Medicine

Dr. William Albritton

College of Medicine

University of Saskatchewan

Phone 306-966-6149;  Email: dean.medicine@usask.ca

==============================

TO:  College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan

(306) 244-7355;   cpss@quadrant.net

.     Dr. Dennis Kendel, Registrar

.     Dr. Karen Shaw, Deputy Registrar

.     Mr. Bryan Salte, Associate Registrar, Legal Counsel

.     Ms. Barb Porter, Manager Physician Registration

 

Dear Dr. Kendel and Dr. Shaw,

 

I’ve sent following to the University Secretary and to Dr. Albritton at the College of Medicine, etc.   Doctors in the province will have an interest in the article.

I propose that Tracy Hastings who looks after your quarterly newsletter may wish to publish excerpts for the benefit of the doctors and ultimately the health of the people of Saskatchewan.

Thank-you and Best wishes,

2008-09-04 Lockheed Martin awarded contract for work on the 2011 Canadian census. Transnational corporations manipulate contract specifications so only they can meet the requirements, with collaborators.

 Lockheed Martin, War Economy (includes Cdn Census & Trials)  2 Responses »
Sep 042008
 

The Government has already signed a contract with Lockheed for the 2011 Census.

We had hoped to prevent this from happening. Geez! Now a campaign to let StatsCan and the Public Works Department know that I won’t be complying with the 2011 Census?!  Maybe it’s prudent to wait until after my trial?!

Many thanks to the investigative journalism of Travis Lupick at the Georgia Strait newspaper:

Morrison (from StatsCan) …  said that the contracts were open to bidding, and that Lockheed Martin was the only company to place bids on either contract.

” … Peter Morrison, director general for the census program branch of StatsCan.  In a phone interview, Morrison said that on July 21, 2008, a second contract worth $19.7 million was awarded to the company for work related to the 2011 census.”

No other company submitted a tender for the particular work. I don’t accept the argument.

Here’s how it works, based on work I did a few years back on a food aid order for bulghur wheat. The transnational corporation in that case was Archer Daniels Midland (ADM – huge in international grain markets.  Former Canadian Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney sits on its Board of Directors.  They who do not want the competition of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB). Neither does Stephen Harper.  I wonder how much money it’s worth to collaborate?)

The specifications for international food aid for bulghur wheat require an ingredient that only one corporation (ADM) manufactures.  You have to mix it in with the bulghur wheat, to “fortify” it.  It’s a high-priced protein ingredient.  The specifications make it so that only ADM can fill the food-aid order.  Price-wise others can’t compete.  No substitutions are allowed, not even an excellent and lower-priced pea protein made in Saskatchewan.  ADM has the people who administer the food aid programme for bulghur wheat in their pocket.  Bulghur wheat made from good quality wheat does not require fortification.

So only Lockheed Martin tendered for this contract?  Sorry but I’m skeptical.  And regardless, it is always unwise to develop a system that is dependent upon ONE supplier.  Eventually they will call the shots.  And they will make it so that other parts of the system become dependent upon their services.  It is in their interest to do so.  It’s how corporations are supposed to operate.

I maintain my position.  Articles such as the “U.S. wants more information on Canadians” (sent to you on Nov. 26) reinforce my conviction.

(link no longer valid, straight.com)

Lockheed Martin deals buoy census holdouts

News that a weapons contract has been awarded to one of the world’s largest arms makers has emboldened two Canadians charged by the federal government for refusing to complete the 2006 census.

On August 27, Lockheed Martin announced that it had received a $61-million contract to produce guided-rocket systems for the U.S. military. Its news release stated: “To date, more than 850 GMLRS [guided multiple-launch rocket system] rockets have been fired in the Global War on Terror.”

In 2004, Statistics Canada awarded Lockheed Martin Canada a $65-million contract for hardware, software, and printing services for the 2006 census, according to Peter Morrison, director general for the census program branch of StatsCan.

In a phone interview, Morrison said that on July 21, 2008, a second contract worth $19.7 million was awarded to the company for work related to the 2011 census.

Saskatoon resident Sandra Findley told the Straight that she is protesting the federal government’s spending of tax dollars on services provided by a company that makes “billions of dollars in the business of killing people”.

Findley, who is being assisted in her defence by Vancouver lawyer Gail Davidson, described Lockheed Martin’s contract with StatsCan as an example of the encroachment of the U.S. military-industrial complex into Canada. “It is very easy to make the argument that the American economy is actually dependent upon the waging of war,” Findley said. “So we are getting tangled up in all of that.”

Darek Czernewcan, a truck driver from Orangeville, Ontario, received notice of the charges last month. The former Vancouver resident told the Straight that he originally opposed completing the census for privacy reasons. After researching the issue, Czernewcan said, he learned of Lockheed Martin’s involvement. He said he also has a problem with taxpayers’ money going to one of the world’s largest weapons manufacturers.

Czernewcan explained that during the Cold War, his father was a political prisoner of Poland’s Soviet government. Later, his parents immigrated to Canada to spare Czernewcan from compulsory military service.

“I have this intrinsic aversion to anything military,” he said.

A representative of Lockheed Martin Canada referred the Straight’s questions to StatsCan.

Morrison claimed that he could not comment on “individuals’ concerns”. He said that the contracts were open to bidding, and that Lockheed Martin was the only company to place bids on either contract.

Under the Statistics Act, Canadians who refuse to complete a census face a maximum fine of $500 and three months in prison.

According to an August news release, Lockheed Martin employs 140,000 people worldwide and reported 2007 sales of US$41.9 billion.

2008-08-26 John Dear, “non-violence” or “non-existence”. Letter in support of War Resisters.

 Peace or Violence  No Responses »
Aug 262008
 

CONTENTS

(1)  “THE CHOICE IS NO LONGER BETWEEN VIOLENCE AND NON-VIOLENCE.  IT IS BETWEEN NON-VIOLENCE AND NON-EXISTENCE.”

(2)  LETTER TO MINISTER OF IMMIGRATION: CANADA AS SAFE HARBOUR FOR WAR RESISTERS

(3)  MAUD BARLOW’S REQUEST FOR SUPPORT FOR THE WAR RESISTERS

=============

(1)  “THE CHOICE IS NO LONGER BETWEEN VIOLENCE AND NON-VIOLENCE.  IT IS BETWEEN NON-VIOLENCE AND NON-EXISTENCE.”

http://www.dennisgruending.ca/pulpitandpolitics/

By Dennis Gruending

John Dear, an American Jesuit priest and peace activist, gave an uncompromising address on non-violence to about 120 people in an Ottawa church basement on August 22. “Violence doesn’t work,” he said. “War doesn’t work. War is not the will of God. War is never justified. Peaceful means are the only way ahead.”

The message was stark in its clarity: there is no excuse for violence — ever; no just war theory; no supporting a war to end all wars.

Rev. Dear has been arrested over 75 times in acts of non-violent civil disobedience for peace, has organized hundreds of demonstrations against war and nuclear weapons at military bases across the U.S. and worked to stop the death penalty.

He is also the author/editor of 25 books on peace and non-violence. Archbishop Desmond Tutu nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008.

Dear spoke at St. Joseph’s Parish in Ottawa on a Friday evening, and then left for the Galilee Centre in nearby Arnprior to lead a weekend retreat on non-violence. He reminded those in his Ottawa audience that it was 45 years ago (on August 28, 1963) when Martin Luther King Jr led 200,000 people in a non-violent civil rights rally in Washington D.C., and 40 years ago that King was shot to death while standing on a hotel balcony in Memphis. Dear said that King’s last publicly spoken words were: “The choice is no longer between violence and non-violence. It is between non-violence and non-existence.”

“The world is a mess,” Dear said. “There are 35 wars going on right now. There are 20,000 nuclear weapons and no significant peace movement. The U.S. is building state of the art nuclear weapons and the Pentagon is itching to use them. In the American church we have developed a spirituality of violence and war. In Los Alamos, New Mexico the people who the build nuclear weapons actually believe that they are the peacemakers and our priests bless the bombs.”

“Martin Luther King was hopeful at the edge of despair,” Dear said, “and we have to do this as well. Non-violence is not only a strategy; it is a way of life. There is no cause for which we will support the taking of a human life. We are willing to take on suffering in this struggle without a trace of retaliation. It’s called the cross. We really have to work on inner non-violence. The starting point is in our heart, it is our doorway to peace and non-violence.”

Dear said that the future of the movement must be inter-faith. “Non-violence is the common ground of all religions. Jesus said love your enemy. He was meticulously non-violent but he was not passive, and if you are his follower you are non-violent. It is as simple as that.”

Dear concluded with a how-to list regarding non-violence:

– Be contemplatives of non-violence. Spend time every day with God, giving up your violence and anger so that you have something else to offer. “Radiate the peace personally that you want politically.”
�
– Be students and teachers – learn, then teach the methodology of non-violence. “Every level of our society has to be transformed.”
�
– Become activists. Get involved in organizations. Pick one or two big issues and have a hand in them. “Canada is critical here.” Dear said. “I worry about Canada but there is a lot that you could do here in Ottawa.”

– Be visionaries of non-violence. “Think of the abolitionists,” Dear said. “They announced that a new world was coming and that slavery had to end. We are the new abolitionists. A new world is coming and it’s not going to be John McCain’s (the U.S. presidential candidate’s) 100 years of war.”

– Become prophets of non-violence. “Demand end to the 35 wars and the abolishment of all nuclear weapons, and institutionalize non violence in our societies.”

– Connect issues such as war, poverty and environmental degradation. “Ask this — where is the money that has been stolen for weapons but which belongs to the poor of the planet?”

Dear took questions following his remarks. One person describing himself as a former diplomat said that Canadians are told that they are good guys who are in Afghanistan to fight bad guys. “Don’t believe it,” he said. “We are fighting on behalf of the winners in a civil war against the losers. What our troops are being asked to do is wrong. We have to stand up against it. Don’t wear red on Fridays whatever you do.”

The man also said that Canada’s super secret commandos in the (CBC link no longer valid) Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2) have been sent to Afghanistan to kill people. “That’s what they do, they kill people.” He added that JTF2 is instructed in its deadly arts at Dwyer Hill Training Centre, just to the west of Ottawa.

=======================

(2)  LETTER TO MINISTER OF IMMIGRATION: CANADA AS SAFE HARBOUR FOR WAR RESISTERS    (efforts that fell on deaf ears.  Alas for Canada.)

The current Government of Canada wants to send Iraq and Afghanistan war resisters back to the USA.  During the Viet Nam War, American draft dodgers were welcomed to Canada.

I can’t participate as Maud Barlow invites us (item 3 below) because there isn’t a rally in Saskatchewan in support of the war resisters.  But I can help by sending a letter to Diane Finley, Minister of Immigration (no relative of mine, as far as I know)!

All these actions (efforts to stop the Arms Bazaar in Ottawa, stop Lockheed Martin from getting Census contracts and now this) are important and necessary to reclaiming our Canadian heritage of peace-keeping.

It only takes a minute.  The Ministers know the issue, so your message can be brief – – one sentence will do.  Item (3) below is helpful.

/Sandra

———-

SENT:   Tue 26/08/2008

SUBJECT:  Viet Nam Draft Dodgers, Iraq War Resisters

TO EMAIL ADDRESS:   ‘minister AT cic.gc.ca’

Dear Diane Finley, Minister of Immigration;

If I am wrong in my brief analysis, please tell me where I am wrong:

QUESTION:  How does the Government of Canada justify sending American War Resisters back to the U.S.A.?

CONTEXT:

–  The U.S. used lies to launch an illegal war on Iraq. Thank God, Jean Chretien kept Canada out of that war.  Lester B. Pearson helped keep Canada out of the Viet Nam War.

–  The record is clear that the U.S. tortures and abuses prisoners and operates outside the rule of international law.  Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and other atrocities stand as example.

–  American “defence” contractors like Lockheed Martin Corporation manufacture cluster bombs, in contravention of international humanitarian law (the laws of war).

–  The U.S. thwarts attempts of the international community to outlaw cluster bombs (comparable to land mines), thereby protecting the profits of its corporate directors.

–  War Resisters are not “chickens”.  They have first-hand experience with the war; they are no longer naïve.  Most of them have come to realize that the war in the Middle East is about America’s wish to control oil supplies.

Just as Lockheed Martin makes profits from cluster bombs regardless of morality, the oil companies will make profits regardless of whose resources they must appropriate, illegal wars be damned.

–  I would do all I could to stop my son from ever becoming involved in killing other people, and especially if he was laying down his life so that corporations can make profits from behavior that is best described as depraved.  If I lived in the U.S. I would do all I could to help young men and women and their families (war resisters) get to Canada.

–  Canada’s long history of peace-keeping involves standing up to the Americans.  I will fight for the legacy given us by Prime Minister Lester Pearson (Nobel Peace Prize, 1957),  McGill law professor John Humphrey who helped craft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), Romeo Dallaire (Rwanda 1994) and so on.

–  I know a few of the American draft dodgers welcomed to Canada during the late 60’s and early 70’s.  Those I know have made great contributions to our country.

CONCLUSION:

I am sorry, but I can see no reason why Canada would send war resisters back to the U.S. other than:

–  the current leadership of Canada is subservient to American and corporate interests.  We have lost our moral compass.

If there is some other reason why war resisters are turned back, I will be most appreciative of knowing what it is.

Yours sincerely,

Sandra Finley

(contact info)

=======================

(3)  MAUD BARLOW’S REQUEST FOR SUPPORT FOR THE WAR RESISTERS

—– Original Message —–

From: Brent Patterson

Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 7:12 AM

Subject: [coc-chaps-l] VIDEO: Maude Barlow asks you to join the September 13day of action for the war resisters

Dear chapter activists,

Please see this video of our national chairperson Maude Barlow supporting the US war resisters and calling on all of us to take part in the Saturday September 13 pan-Canadian day of action to allow the war resisters to stay in Canada. The 1 minute 40 second video can be seen at (Link no longer valid)  http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-5046750954616754924&ei=3auySMjRGaXI-wHn0djXDA&q=%22Council+of+Canadians%22&vt=lf.

Some of you may remember that the Council of Canadians first began supporting this cause in September 2004 by signing on to the war resisters petition and publicizing the issue in Canadian Perspectives. To see that article, please go to (Link no longer valid)   http://www.canadians.org/publications/CP/2004/fall/war_resiters.html.

Then at our November 2005 annual general meeting, war resister Jeremy Hinzman accepted an award from the Council of Canadians on behalf of all war resisters residing in Canada. The video of his speech can be seen at (Link no longer valid)(Link no longer valid)   http://www.canadians.org/publications/audio/AGM05/index.html.

And in February 2006, the Council of Canadians joined with the War Resisters Support Campaign and the Canadian Labour Congress to demand sanctuary for war resisters in Canada. Our media release from then can be read at (Link no longer valid)   http://www.canadians.org/media/peace/2006/30-Jan-06.html.

Beyond that early work, I also know that many Council chapters, staff and Board members have supported this issue and worked in their communities on an ongoing basis to ensure that US war resisters seeking refuge from militarism and an illegal war are welcomed in Canada.

Key reasons to allow the war resisters to stay in Canada include:

HOUSE OF COMMONS

On June 3, a War Resisters Support Campaign media release stated, “The Opposition parties in the House of Commons joined together today to adopt a recommendation which, if implemented, would make it possible for U.S. Iraq War resisters to obtain Permanent Resident status in Canada. The recommendation was adopted by a majority of Members of Parliament from the Liberal, Bloc Québécois, and New Democratic Parties. The Conservatives voted against the motion.” The release stated, “The motion, which originated in the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration in December 2007, calls on the government to ‘immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members…to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada; and…the government should immediately cease any removal or deportation actions…against such individuals.'” Bloomberg reported that the vote in the House was 137 to 110.

PUBLIC OPINION

On June 27, it was reported that, “A majority of Canadians would agree with the decision to let American military deserters stay in Canada as permanent residents, a new Angus Reid Strategies survey reveals…In the online survey of a representative national sample, three-in-five Canadians (64 percent) say they would agree to give these U.S. soldiers the opportunity to remain in Canada as permanent residents.”

FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA

On July 4, Canadian Press reported that, “Canada’s refugee board has been ordered to take another look at an American deserter’s failed bid for asylum in an unprecedented court ruling that could affect scores of other U.S. soldiers who’ve refused to fight in Iraq. In a decision released Friday, the Federal Court found the Immigration and Refugee Board had erred in turning down Joshua Key’s claim for asylum…In its decision, the board decided that while Key may have had to violate the Geneva Conventions in Iraq, he could not claim refugee status because he was not required to systematically commit war crimes. Federal Court Justice Robert Barnes disagreed with that analysis. A soldier who refuses to take part in military action which ‘systematically degrades, abuses or humiliates’ either combatants or non-combatants might qualify as a refugee, Barnes wrote. ‘Officially condoned military misconduct falling well short of a war crime may support a claim to refugee protection.'”

Thanks,

Brent

Brent Patterson

Director of Campaigns, Organizing,

& the Blue Planet Project

The Council of Canadians

700-170 Laurier Avenue West

Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5V5

1-800-387-7177 ext. 291

bpatterson@canadians.org

www.canadians.org

2008-08 WTO Trade Deals, Food Security, Doha negotiations collapse. Letter to Government Agriculture Ministers, University

 Uncategorized  No Responses »
Aug 122008
 

FROM:   Sandra Finley  Saskatoon SK

TO:

Premier Wall,   premier  AT  gov.sk.ca

Members of the Government of Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan Agriculture, Minister Bob Bjornerud, bbjornerud  AT mla.legassembly.sk.ca

Saskatchewan Agriculture, Deputy Minister Alanna Koch, alanna.koch  AT  gov.sk.ca

Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, Minister Rosann Wowchuk, minagr  AT  leg.gov.mb.ca

Manitoba Agriculture, Deputy Minister Barry Todd,  dmagr  AT  leg.gov.mb.ca

Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, George Groeneveld, highwood  AT  assembly.ab.ca

British Columbia Agriculture and Lands Minister, Stan Hagen, stan.hagen.mla  AT  leg.bc.ca

Dean of the College of Agriculture, University of Saskatchewan,  Ernie Barber,  ernie.barber  AT  usask.ca

Others

 

Dear All,

RE:

(1)  WTO Doha Round of Trade Negotiations collapse

(2)   “A successful World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement is essential for the growth and sustainability of our provincial and national economies.”   News Release – July 22, 2008, Government of Saskatchewan   (Copy Appended)

 

I request you to re-evaluate why the Doha negotiations failed, in light of this paragraph:

“ What the spike in food prices has made clear to developing countries is that their food security depends fundamentally not on cheap imports, but on enhancing their capacity to feed themselves. The Doha rules would have further undermined this capacity. “

http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2008/000296.html

 

I offer the following for your consideration:

Sound relationships require us to be able to view and honour the world from the perspective of “the other”.

Unhealthy relationships are centred on the self.  They breed resentment and ultimately, violence and terrorism.

What is “essential” (Government Press Release) for the “growth and sustainability of our provincial and national economies” fails to take into account what is beneficial to other economies.  You will understand from the example of failed marriages that personal economies fall apart in self-centred relationships. It is no different at the societal or international level.  The sustainability of our provincial economy is dependent upon healthy relationships. Exploitative relationships must eventually be held together through force. They are not sustainable or fulfilling.

 

Nor does the export-dependent model, with or without trade barriers, deal with the dependence of our current agricultural regime on cheap fuel.  Prudence advises that we re-model with the expectation that fuel is and will become more expensive.  It is not the Doha negotiations that are “essential” to our long term well-being.

 

The growing importance of emerging industrial economies (Brazil, China, India) and the shifting global significance of the G8 economies require a change in our approach. Let me extend the marriage example: “the wife” is empowered. She has money, information and is connected with a support network. She is no longer barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. The relationship is changed, whether or not you like it. She would like you as an equal, respectful and co-operating partner. But make no mistake, she is capable of going it on her own.

 

The Doha round of negotiations will succeed when Canada (the Government of Saskatchewan, the Government of Canada), the U.S. and Australia come on-side with other countries in the world.  That is quite evident. Canada is fighting for a minority position of self- and corporate-interest.  How can that agenda possibly succeed? It is based upon a status quo mindset that no longer exists.

 

Canadian agricultural policy is profoundly off-side, not only with the majority of countries in the world, but also with the persons who inhabit Canada.  The Government is off-side because it pursues the interests of the transnational corporate giants who wish to have even greater control over food production.  These corporate interests have an illegitimate ability to patent life forms (food crops) among other problems that should not be foisted upon other countries.

 

Many Canadians, myself included, have been embarrassed by Canada’s role in international efforts around agriculture.  Canada, through a WTO challenge, fought the right of Europeans to prohibit the importation of genetically-engineered food products.  We (Canada) tried to sabotage international negotiations to rid food crops of “terminator genes”.  By withholding entry visas for respected scientists from Africa and elsewhere to the bio-diversity Convention in Montreal (threats from genetically-engineered crops), we joined the ranks of disreputable countries.

 

Internally, the Government of Canada, in spite of overwhelming support in the population, steadfastly refuses to require the labelling of genetically-engineered food, herbs, and plant-remedies for health (crops).

 

Food is absolutely essential to our good health.  You are what you eat and drink.  It is obvious that the industrialized food supply is having disastrous consequences for health and for our over-burdened, expensive healthcare system.  Yet this is the system we would impose on other countries.

 

Until the Government gains the respect and support of its own people, it certainly cannot expect to command the respect and co-operation of persons overseas.  The Doha negotiations will not succeed until the Governments in Canada change their philosophy and strategies.

 

The failure of the Doha negotiations is the feedback from countries that have become significantly more important players in global negotiations. Your appropriate response to the feedback will help determine whether we learn, change and move forward.

 

Try as you might, you cannot impose an industrial model of agriculture on the world.  People have observed the consequences, have ample experience with the outcomes and do not like them.  Industrial agriculture puts producers out of business.  It leads to a dangerous concentration of corporate power, greater environmental pollution, malnutrition in industrialized states and now striking food shortages (starvation) in developing countries.

 

People in Africa cannot feed themselves with crop production based on cheap export coffee grown so that we in Saskatchewan can sip iced lattes and expressos.  We are engaged in exploitation and manipulation of information (the rhetoric and propaganda around agricultural production), a relationship centred on “the self”.

 

I wish for a return to Canadian foreign relationships that I can feel right about – foreign relationships that will improve the long-term sustainability of our economy. I hope you will see the connection. Agricultural policies that promote the interests of industrial agriculture (monoculture, genetically-engineered, patented (corporate-owned) seeds, loss of bio-diversity, pollution that leads to, just one example, the dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico from nitrogen run-offs from industrial agriculture, etc.) are not sustainable. They lead to the present situation of extreme food shortages.

 

Starving people will resort to violence and terrorism against those who did the imposing and the rape of resources, for their own self-interest. And then we must spend MORE money on “defence”. An economy dependent upon going to war is not sustainable in the long run. It bankrupts financially and morally.

 

It would indeed be refreshing if you would stop using the “growth” myth and mantra.  Most people understand that we live on a finite planet whose resources are under severe stress.  That stress is not only reflected in the ever-increasing scarcity of water and fossil fuels but also in high rates of cancer, autoimmune diseases, developmental problems in children, environmental pollution, the extinction of species and so on.

 

Globalization means that other countries have access to more and better information.  It means that Canadians can dialogue with persons in other nations.  Through access to information (distinct from propaganda and industry-financed “science”, independent of the media) the truth will eventually be exposed.  As persons become empowered, the manipulator is unmasked.

 

“ What the spike in food prices has made clear to developing countries is that their food security depends fundamentally not on cheap imports, but on enhancing their capacity to feed themselves. The Doha rules would have further undermined this capacity. “

 

Agriculture in Canada lags behind the understanding of persons in developing countries.  We were significant contributors to the failure of the Doha negotiations through our failure to support the need of developing countries to feed themselves.  If they require tariff barriers to protect their agricultural producers, as Canada has needed, then so be it.  Support them.

 

I urge you, in your negotiations and arguments to sincerely desire better for “the other”.  All the efforts of Canadians should be aimed at enhancing the capacity of people everywhere to feed themselves.

 

It is equally prudent for Canadians to strive for self-sufficiency in our own food production. The rising costs of fuel and the concomitant costs, not only of production, but also of transporting food stuffs around the globe will move imported avocado salad in January beyond the reach of most persons.

 

I look forward to intelligent, forward-thinking and appropriate (not self- or corporate- centred) response to the feedback from the majority of other countries at the Doha round of negotiations.

 

Thank-you for your consideration.

 

Sandra Finley

 

2008-07-28 House Judiciary Committee hearings on George Bush impeachment, Vince Bugliosi testimony. A wowser.

 George Bush war criminal  No Responses »
Jul 282008
 

Vince Bugliosi’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, on YouTube video.    Stunning

(UPDATE:  no longer at this URL.  You might find it elsewhere.)

Baby boomers will remember Bugliosi’s prosecution of Charles Manson.  I read his book “Helter Skelter” way back then, about the Manson “family” and the murders.

Bugliosi’s testimony before the Judiciary Committee is based on his most recent book,  The Prosecution of George W Bush for Murder.    Excerpt from the book:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vincent-bugliosi/the-prosecution-of-george_b_102427.html

“Perhaps the most amazing thing to me about the belief of many that George Bush lied to the American public in starting his war with Iraq is that the liberal columnists who have accused him of doing this merely make this point, and then go on to the next paragraph in their columns. Only very infrequently does a columnist add that because of it Bush should be impeached. If the charges are true, of course Bush should have been impeached, convicted, and removed from office. That’s almost too self-evident to state. But he deserves much more than impeachment. I mean, in America, we apparently impeach presidents for having consensual sex outside of marriage and trying to cover it up. If we impeach presidents for that, then if the president takes the country to war on a lie where thousands of American soldiers die horrible, violent deaths and over 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians, including women and children, even babies are killed, the punishment obviously has to be much, much more severe. That’s just common sense. If Bush were impeached, convicted in the Senate, and removed from office, he’d still be a free man, still be able to wake up in the morning with his cup of coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice and read the morning paper, still travel widely and lead a life of privilege, still belong to his country club and get standing ovations whenever he chose to speak to the Republican faithful. This, for being responsible for over 100,000 horrible deaths?* For anyone interested in true justice, impeachment alone would be a joke for what Bush did.”  

I thought Bush would be tried for War Crimes.  He will be tried instead for murder, in his own country.  Hallelujah!  And hallelujah for the people of  America.

I will send the YouTube link for Bugliosi’s testimony to our Members-of-Parliament.

(UPDATE:  well, Bush hasn’t been arrested yet!  It takes patience, perseverance and faith that everyone who is working on this effort will eventually prevail.)

(UPDATE:  14 years later,  ummm – –  it’s getting a little hard to keep the faith!  But if an opportunity arises to push the case,  people will spring into action.)

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