ZNet |U.S. | Science and the Bush Administration
–An article on the way the Bush administration and the science community do not seem to get along… ever.

ZNet |Parecon | Participative Economics
–An review of Michael Albert’s Parecon: Life after Capitalism.

Popular Democracy – a vision for our movement
–What a popular democracy looks like.

Yahoo! News - Internet pharmacy group seeks funding from generic drug company
–I do not think I like the sound of this very much. The selling of generic drugs to the US is good, having a way for the drug companies to focus on private sellers instead of the government is not so good. If the government has to compete of the drugs then that is going to hurt Canadians. The only way I see this working well is if the US decides to go with generic drug perchases and develop better generic drug manufacturing in the US.

rabble news
–A short article on the two Ralphs in Canada and what it is they are doing that is so absurd.

Arbitrator blindsides Montreal outside workers
–So much for arbitrators in Canada being balanced. The unions are not going to stand for this kind of one sided decision making… nor should they.

RIGHTS: No Change in U.S. Torture Policy - Amnesty
–Torture continues as policy within US holding facilities. I do not understand why there is not more outrage on this issue. There is obviously something askew within the US main media. Kerry should be bringing this up…. might be too much to ask.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Florida ballot papers go missing
–Not only are the Republicans scaring away voters they are losing ballots. Some democracy you have there in the US… where are your UN observers?

News
–Republicans are scaring away voters. No big surprise here. What I want to see is the people upset about it.

News
–African bishops are threatening to split the Anglican Church apart over homosexuality. More power to the progressives. It might actually mean some movement forward for the people in the church.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Sharon: Arafat can leave Ramallah
–Trust is an issue and it should not be a such a critical time. The Palestinians should not have to fear going to Israel for medical treatment… but I fear that they are justified in feeling that they are not safe in doing so. If the Israeli government truly cared for the peace process then Arafat should have been invited to an Israeli Hospital. There was a chance for increased peace and they missed it again.

IRAQ: Plans to phase out rations to boost economy still debated - OCHA IRIN
–Food rations are being stopped because of money issues… how about making Haliburton pay for the food and staff? I saw their add on TV about really caring about the people, this will be their chance to show it.

Yahoo! News - Liberals add $33 million to child care, boost family subsidy by $200
–The BC Liberals have just given back what they took when they went into office and we are supposed to be thankful? Where is the outrage that they took an essential service away for no reason?

Yahoo! News - Martin, premiers reach $28-billion equalization deal; Williams storms out
–Whining and complaining. Is there anything else that politicians do? The idea that Newfoundland is any different than anyother province with regards to the amount of wealth they can accumulate and not share with the federation is crazy. We live in a country here people…. lets stop being selfish and share a little of the pockets of wealth.

ZNet |Haiti | Repression in Haiti
–Continued coverage of the crimes being commited in Haiti by our and other governments. It is not being reported and it is a key example of how our press is failing the people.

BCGEU: Right-to-Privacy Campaign presents 50,000-name …..
–Privacy is a key issue in Canada especially with the introduction of private firms being hired to run some of our public resources. I think that the best way to deal with this issue is to not hire private firms to deal with our public resources.

AFRICA: Civil Society Wants More Space
–Groups that work for the people should be supported but so should groups that are working for the people within the government. The real goal is to have a real democratic government that answers to the people.

BBC NEWS | Business | US hotels strike row intensifies
–Is this a politician in the US that has sided with workers? I think they will take what they can get at this point.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US condemned over prison abuses
–Prisoner abuse has been pointed out in US holding cells around the world. Amnesty International has released a report and people should be upset about what is going on.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Thousands raped in Congo war
–Continuing coverage of the rape crisis in the DR Congo. This needs more attention than it is getting…. much like most of the things that are important in the world.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Sharon wins historic Gaza vote
–More from the Israeli parliament. This is such a strange thing. The more I read the more skeptical I become about the aims of Sharon. This is not a good move for the Palestinians but Israel rarely does things that are good for the Palestinians. We will see what comes of the “disengaement plan”. One has to keep in mind that there was just as much violence under the Labour Party as there is under Likud. The fact that the far right nuts in government are against it should not lead us to believe it is a good plan because they are against anything that is not the destruction of the Palestinians.

Flu-Shot-Americans
–I do not agree with the way this is playing out. I do not think that Canadians should be supporting a two tier health programme that allows the rich to get flu shots and not the poor. If we are going to help the Americans and give them our unused flu vaccine we should be doing it inline with our understandings about universal healthcare. People should not be making money off this.