Alternative News
Articles from non-mainstream as opposed to corporate for profit sources.
Rise of income inequality is linked to decline of unions: new IMF study
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- Published on Monday, 02 March 2015 16:22
- Written by editor
The below PressProgress post may interest your members. Please feel free to share on social media - especially on Facebook, when-and-if possible.
We really appreciate all the help we can get with spreading the word:
http://www.pressprogress.ca/en/post/rise-income-inequality-linked-decline-unions-new-imf-study
Cheers,Chris
Today: your last chance to intervene on Energy East
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- Published on Monday, 02 March 2015 11:00
- Written by editor
Friends,
Tomorrow evening the National Energy Board application period for Energy East will close. This is the biggest tar sands pipeline ever proposed, with the climate impact of adding millions of cars to the road.
Hundreds of people across Canada have already flooded the NEB with applications to talk about the climate change impacts of Energy East. The more people who apply now, the harder it will be for PM Harper and Big Oil to ignore the devastating impact of the biggest tar sands pipeline ever.
Can you pitch in by applying to intervene on Energy East now? The process takes about 15 minutes, and I made a step-by-step illustrated guide to make it easy: Click here and follow the directions to join the People's Intervention on Energy East
Every application we send makes PM Harper's work to fast track Energy East harder.
Peter Watson, the head of the National Energy Board has...
Read more: Today: your last chance to intervene on Energy East
Emergency Action To Stop GMO Tree Plantations
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- Published on Monday, 02 March 2015 10:44
- Written by editor
By Global Justice Ecology Project, www.stopgetrees.org
March 1st, 2015
On THURSDAY 5 March 2015, CTNBio, the agency that regulates GMOs in Brazil, will decide on an industry request to legalize the commercial development of genetically engineered eucalyptus trees.
CTNBio may approve this commercial release of genetically engineered (GE) eucalyptus.
That is, UNLESS there’s enough pressure, both nationally and globally, to change their mind.
If this request is approved, it will be an unprecedented decision, with devastating social and environmental impacts not only for Brazil but around the world.
In the US, a similar request to the USDA from GE tree company ArborGen to legalize their GE eucalyptus trees is currently pending, and doubtless the US will be paying close attention to this decision in Brazil.
We need you to help stop this disaster!
We are mobilizing an Emergency Day of Action to STOP GE Trees NEXT TUESDAY, March 3rd and we need your help to make it a success!
Here’s how you can take part on Tuesday:
Go to the Brazilian Embassy or Consulate nearest to you (see list of locations at the bottom of this post).
Bring signs, banners and some friends. Use these simple slogans (please use both English and Portuguese):
Brazil: No GMO Trees! / Brasil: Não às árvores transgênicas!
Brazil: STOP GMO Trees! / Brasil: Parem as árvores transgênicas!
Take some photos of you and your group with signs and banners in front of the Embassy or Consulate and send them to us by 2 PM EST (19:00 GMT) on Tuesday. This is crucial! We’ll include what we get in our press release on the action and any other media we produce.
Send those photos to our media coordinator, Kip, at either This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. OR This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Tuesday, March 3rd at 2 PM EST (19:00GMT).
Please print this protest letter, adding your or your group’s name, and hand it to the receptionist at the Embassy or Consulate where you are.
And Tweet your photos and updates from your awesome action using the hashtag #stopgetrees.
(Please let us know if you will take part by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Click here for the full list of Brazilian Embassies and Consulates
Brazilian Embassies and Consulates in the US and Canada:
[coalalert] RAVEN COAL - " HOW ABOUT NO?""
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- Published on Sunday, 01 March 2015 09:00
- Written by editor
REMEMBER THIS OLDIE BUT GOODIE FROM 2011???? HOW ABOUT NO??
YOUTUBE LINK:
Green Jobs: The Newest Challenge for Workers and Unions
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- Published on Saturday, 28 February 2015 21:22
- Written by editor
LeftStreamed — Recorded in Toronto, 22 February 2015
Green Jobs:
The Newest Challenge for Workers and Unions
We cannot develop an ecologically-responsible and just economy without considering the consequences for work and employment. But what is the meaning of 'green work' in capitalist societies of endless production and consumption for the purposes of profits? If we scale back on tar sands, fracking, and other dirty energy projects, as we must, workers who lose their jobs will need retraining, temporary income support, and a green energy infrastructure to work in. This will require a whole range of collective investments and decisions.
What issues do we need to raise as workers in our workplaces and unions? How do we link the struggle for green jobs to precarious work, which is often not only unstable but also ecologically...
Read more: Green Jobs: The Newest Challenge for Workers and Unions
Prime Minister Stephen Harpers government has spent more than $2.3 million to photograph Conservative cabinet ministers since it came to power, iPolitics has learned.
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- Published on Friday, 27 February 2015 17:44
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Source: ipolitics.ca/
Author: Elizabeth Thompson
For Harper’s ministers, pictures are worth millions: spending records
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has spent more than $2.3 million to photograph Conservative cabinet ministers since it came to power, iPolitics has learned.
Taxpayers are picking up the tab for a quarter of a million dollars on average each year to hire photographers to take pictures of ministers making announcements. Since 2006, the government has commissioned outside photographers to record more than 2,483 events.
That amount jumped 68 per cent to nearly $500,000 in the year leading up to the 2011 federal election, fuelled by a 38 per cent increase in the number of photo ops.
Aaron Wudrick, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said there should be a policy or fixed rates for government departments to follow when it comes to photo costs.
“It would certainly be helpful to have some guidelines.”
Wudrick said some spending on photography is necessary but he gets concerned when the totals start to exceed six figures.
Victoria Is Still Cleaning Up Last Centurys Toxic
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- Published on Friday, 27 February 2015 15:00
- Written by editor
by Sarah Berman
This article originally appeared on VICE Canada.
You have to give Victoria, BC, credit where it's due: that city does not rush into anything. When the rest of the world decided dumping raw sewage into the ocean was no longer a chill thing to do, Victorians held out for decades.
To this day, Victoria is still trying to figure out how to update its century-old waste system. The city has added extra pipe and a few screens, but nevertheless pumps untreated shit and chemicals out to the Juan de Fuca Strait at a rate of 130 million liters per day.
Never change, Victoria. Photo via Flickr user Alejandro Erickson
The capital city appears to be having some difficulty leaving the Victorian era behind, at least when it comes to cleaning up old messes. In fact, an even older marine dumpsite, left by a coal gasification plant operated from 1862 to 1952, is still costing taxpayers a few million in 2015.
Read more: Victoria Is Still Cleaning Up Last Centurys Toxic
Portugal Cut Addiction Rates in Half by Connecting Drug Users With Communities Instead of Jailing Them
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- Published on Friday, 27 February 2015 14:44
- Written by editor
Decriminalization has been such a manifest success that very few people in Portugal want to go back to the old system. (Image: Holding Hands via Shutterstock)
It is now one hundred years since drugs were first banned—and all through this long century of waging war on drugs, we have been told a story about addiction by our teachers and by our governments. This story is so deeply ingrained in our minds that we take it for granted: There are strong chemical hooks in these drugs, so if we stopped on day twenty-one, our bodies would need the chemical. We would have a ferocious craving. We would be addicted. That's what addiction means.
This theory was first established, in part, through rat experiments—ones that were injected into the American psyche in the 1980s, in a famous advertisement by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. You may remember it. The experiment is simple. Put a rat in a cage, alone, with two water bottles. One is just water. The other is water laced with heroin or cocaine. Almost every time you run this experiment, the rat will become obsessed with the drugged water, and keep coming back for more and more, until it kills itself.
The ad explains: "Only one drug is so addictive, nine out of ten laboratory rats will use it. And use it. And use it. Until dead. It's called cocaine. And it can do the same thing to you."
Watch: Pam Palmater on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
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- Published on Friday, 27 February 2015 14:22
- Written by editor
BY GREG MACDOUGALL | FEBRUARY 27, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_dULLnpG9Hg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_dULLnpG9Hg
Pam Palmater was in Ottawa on Feb. 24 to give a talk entitled "The Law's Role in Canada's National Disgrace: Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls" at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law. In this interview she answers why this problem of MMIWG exists, provides an analysis of the current public discourse, and talks about what's important in the urgent call for a national inquiry.
Palmater is interviewed by Greg Macdougall of EquitableEducation.ca. rabble plans to have the full talk posted shortly as a podcast.
Read more: Watch: Pam Palmater on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
[ACTIVlist] ACTIVlist Update - February 27, 2015
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- Published on Monday, 16 March 2015 13:46
- Written by editor
This daily ACTIVlist e-mail is a compilation of blog posts, media releases and action alerts from the Council of Canadians. For more information about our campaigns, how to get involved, and how to become a member, go to www.canadians.org. Please forward this e-mail and encourage others to join our list! Thank you for your interest and support.
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Council of Canadians tells Transit Police Board that public transit is not a border checkpoint
Council of Canadians organizer Leila Darwish presented a deputation to the Transit Police Board meeting in Metro Vancouver this morning.
Peterborough-Kawarthas chapter and Indigenous allies call for MMIW inquiry
The Council of Canadians Peterborough-Kawarthas chapter and its allies – the Sacred Water...
Internet Insider: #NetNeutrality win, C-51 backlash, idiotic copyright complaint and more
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- Published on Friday, 27 February 2015 09:00
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Read more: Internet Insider: #NetNeutrality win, C-51 backlash, idiotic copyright complaint and more
March 2 SCNCC call with Sean Sweeney: What does energy democracy mean?
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- Published on Friday, 27 February 2015 05:44
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Read more: March 2 SCNCC call with Sean Sweeney: What does energy democracy mean?
Too Many Broken Pipelines: Fort Peck Reservation Passes Resolution Opposing Keystone XL Through Montana
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- Published on Friday, 27 February 2015 00:44
- Written by editor
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com//2015/02/24/too-many-broken-pipelines-fort-peck-reservation-passes-resolution-opposing-keystone-xl
The Sioux and Assiniboine tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation have passed a resolution opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, the first reservation in Montana to do so.
The pipeline would jeopardize drinking water projects for the reservation, tribal officials told Indian Country Today Media Network.
On January 29 the Senate passed legislation that would force the $8 billion pipeline through, though President Barack Obama has promised to veto it when it reaches his desk on February 24. The Tribal Executive Board meeting on February 9 formalized the opposition by resolution, supporting an e-mail they had submitted earlier, on January 27, and prior to the congressional vote.
The Keystone XL pipeline is now opposed by the Sioux and Assiniboine tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana.The Fort Peck vote in effect pits the tribes against Montana Senators Jon Tester and Steve Daines, who voted in favor of the bill, a link that did not come without some mixed feelings.
“I’m a big fan of Senator Tester. He has done so much for us, and we’re on a first-name basis in talking with each other,” tribal Chairman A.T. Stafne told ICTMN. The chairman also noted that he is “a big fan of President Obama. I respect him very much.”
The Disaster in Libya
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- Published on Thursday, 26 February 2015 22:00
- Written by editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1086 .... February 27, 2015
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The Disaster in Libya
Greg Shupak
The title of Horace Campbell's book on NATO's 2011 Libyan intervention, Global NATO and the Catastrophic Failure in Libya, is an allusion to a Guardian article by Seumas Milne entitled, "If the Libyan war was about saving lives, it was a catastrophic failure." Echoing Milne's use of "catastrophic" is apt. Claudia Gazzini of the liberal NGO International Crisis Group points out that, if the casualty figures provided by Libya's National Transitional Council are accurate, "the death toll subsequent to the seven-month NATO intervention was at least ten times greater than the tally of those killed in the first few weeks of the conflict" before NATO intervened. As Campbell shows, while NATO claimed to be protecting human rights, it bombed...
Internet: Saved
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- Published on Thursday, 26 February 2015 16:44
- Written by editor
Toolkit for Change: Communications Tips for Concerned Citizens
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- Published on Thursday, 26 February 2015 15:22
- Written by editor
IN THIS SERIES
Toolkit for Change: Communication Tips for Concerned Citizens
Insights from the hard fought PR battle on Burnaby Mountain. First of a series.
By James Boothroyd, 12 Feb 2015
Toolkit for Change: Turn a PR Pickle into a 'Crisitunity'
Second in a series on communications tips for concerned citizens.
By James Boothroyd, 19 Feb 2015
Toolkit for Change: How Surprising Coalitions Trigger Social Shifts
Latest in a series on communications tips for concerned citizens.
By James Boothroyd, Today
Protesters against the Trans Mountain pipeline captured headlines last December on Burnaby Mountain. Photo: Jackie Dives.
How can citizens grab headlines? What tools help non-profits speak to key audiences? How can you frame messages that trounce better-heeled opponents? Why do coalitions, protests and teachable moments matter? These are questions answered in "Tools for Change: Communications tips for concerned citizens," by consultant James Boothroyd. With humour and anecdotes, the series draws on the author's broad experience -- as a writer for the World Health Organization, communications director of the David Suzuki Foundation and leader of neighbourhood projects -- to arm change-makers with know-how for navigating the fluid world of communications and public engagement.
Read more: Toolkit for Change: Communications Tips for Concerned Citizens
[ACTIVlist] ACTIVlist Update - February 26, 2015
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- Published on Monday, 16 March 2015 13:46
- Written by editor
This daily ACTIVlist e-mail is a compilation of blog posts, media releases and action alerts from the Council of Canadians. For more information about our campaigns, how to get involved, and how to become a member, go to www.canadians.org. Please forward this e-mail and encourage others to join our list! Thank you for your interest and support.
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MEDIA RELEASE:
After Conservative party orchestrates
robocall electoral fraud, now they send taxpayers the legal bill
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WIN! Hamilton ratifies Blue Dot Declaration
The Council of Canadians Hamilton chapter supported the campaign for the City of Hamilton to ratify the Blue Dot Declaration.
Barlow supports co-operative initiative in Smiths Falls
Council of Canadians chairperson...
CoDev presents the Just Film Festival
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- Published on Thursday, 26 February 2015 13:22
- Written by editor
You did it. You stopped the Internet slow lane.
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- Published on Thursday, 26 February 2015 12:44
- Written by editor
WE DID IT! The U.S. FCC just announced an historic ruling to ban Internet slow lanes. It’s been a long road, but the Internet won, and it’s all thanks to you speaking out. Click here to see community reaction, publish your thoughts, and celebrate with the rest of the Internet.
...More Articles...
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