Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Cuba counts $1bn cost of Charley
–Canada should be offering aid to Cuba and more than what was rejected by Cuba from the US.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Cheney breaks with president to back same-sex marriages
–This is the Democrats position of same sex marriage. This is a tactic of the Republicans trying to move toward the Democrats before the elections so people have a hard time telling the difference between the parties. It is clear that the President and his staff have an agenda on this and the position of Cheney has not stopped them from putting forward anti-gay legislation in the House and Senate. It is a red-herring and the media should be picking up on it….

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Mark Thatcher faces court showdown over coup plot
–A continuation of the right’s way of dealing with international affairs. The fact that it is Thatcher’s son should not be the story. The coup attempt and why it was orchestrated should be.

CBC News: Missile defence for ‘coalition of the idiots’: Liberal MP
–The media is not focusing on the right issue again. Missile defence is the issue and it would be a coalition of the idiots that join it. MPs have the right to say what ever they like and not be punished for it. There needs to be more focus on the issues that are being brought up and less on whether we should muzle our MPs.

Attack on Democracy (ZNet Blog)
–A short piece from Noam Chomsky. Well worth a read.

rabble columns
–Praise for Romanow and the question of where is the politician that is going to stand up for the people and demand better public services.

COALITION CALLS ON ONTARIO GOVERNMENT TO HELP ESTABLISH BROAD-BASED INVESTOR RIGHTS GROUP
–We need investor rights… we need consumer rights…. we need to put some regulation and oversight on the people who play on the markets.

The Globe and Mail: Unions starting to make inroads at Wal-Mart
–Are we starting to see some progress in changing WalMart? Maybe but it will take more.

TomDispatch - Unidentified Flying Words (UFWs) and other strange sightings
–A few words on the weeks news from Tom Engelhardt.

POLITICS: U.N. Chief Backs Body to Compensate War Victims
–Annan brings forward a great idea… reparations to the people who suffer because of battles waged between empires. It is great, it is fantastic, it will never pass the security council…. unless there is a revamping of the UN to make it democratic.

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Malaysian rape law provokes storm
–The slow movement forward of real freedom. It just shows that people will push against religious conservatives where ever they are.

News
–THe Independent of London looks at the Conservatives and their call to get rid of people that think human rights are good…..ok, maybe “get rid of people” is a bit harsh… but maybe not.

Guardian Unlimited | Columnists | An answer in Somerset
–Monbiot on the continuing struggle to deny that we are not out of oil.

Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 | The beginning of history
–A comment article about F 9/11 and how it might change history…. or something like that.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | US pays debt at last to Vietnam war allies
–It is only 40 years late but reparations might at last be on their way. This might be in response to the Vietnamese taking the US to the International Criminal Court.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Guant�namo hearings begin
–The charade continues in Guantanamo. Fake courts for fake criminals.

Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 | Bush hails Kerry’s ‘admirable’ war record
–Ah, politics. Is it not amazing that a politician can praise someone on one hand and on the other hand be backing an group that does nothing but throw smear around like it is free advice?

Arundhati Roy: Life Comes Between a Firebrand and Her Fiction
–A little article on Arundhati Roy.

Democracy Now! | Public Power in the Age of Empire: Arundhati Roy on War, Resistance and the Presidency
–Have a listen to Arundhati Roy if you are at work and need something in the background…. or foreground.

CBC News: Generic drugs cost too much: study
–Isn’t it strange how a pro-market think tank can find fault with our generic drug programme even though we pay less than the US for drugs? It is a shocker. What I want to really know is why this gets picked up by the media as news but the reports on on things like tuition and defence from Policy Alternatives and the Polaris Institute do not.

CBC News: Wiretap laws need overhaul, police chiefs say
–I am not sure about this one. It seems to me that there needs to be a good reason for the police or communications company to collect data on anyone’s transactions. I do not think a programme of collecting data on everyone just in case you do something bad is something that will make society safer.

AlterNet: War on Iraq: The Thief of Baghdad
–The people in the US still do not understand that they are paying for the war in Iraq and that the profits are going to just a few American corporations.