Happy New Year

Guardian Unlimited | Columnists | Jonathan Steele: Not a good way to start a democracy
–An interesting look at the Ukrainian elections and the US involvement.

Wireless Politics May Determine Future of Digital Democracy
–Wireless and politics. If you do not think that this new technology is going to affect everyone you are dead wrong. The people must maintain control of this technology and its implimentation. There is little room for getting this wrong.

Alternatives : Do we support the planned Iraqi elections�?
–I think I published this before but it has come back onto the wire. Have a read on if we should be backing the “elections” in Iraq.

MSF Canada | Bienvenue | Welcome
–Take a look at what doctors without boarders are doing in Aceh and see what you can do to help.

TheStar.com - Courts must have final say on arbitration
–Thomas Walkom of Rabble.ca takes a look at Islamic law in Canadian society.

CHALLENGES 2004-2005: The War on CAFTA Is Just Beginning
–Free trade agreements are finally coming under some real fire. It is about time.

CHALLENGES 2004-2005: Bye Bye Unipolar World
–Jim Lobe takes a look at the end of the year and says goodbye to the Uni-polar world. have a read.

CHALLENGES 2004-2005: If Not a Unipolar World, Then What?
–Second Part of the Jim Lobe end of the year address.

Education
–Top-up fees in the UK are reaching levels similar to Canada and the US. Is the idea of affordable education no longer on the table? Why is it that the system is once again swinging towards allowing only the rich into university?

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Israel stops Palestinians voting in Jerusalem
–Democracy is not the name of the game anymore. Elections are now about scaring the people into submission.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Fears of fresh waves trigger panic
–Numbers range from 90 to 120 thousand dead and that number will grow. Bush cam eon the TV yesterday and stated that his country has provided 2.4 billion in aid last year (that includes the aid to Iraq) and says that comments about its stingyness are “misinformed”. Well I will tell you this: Canada has pledged 33 million, the US has pledged 35 million. We have 40 million people and the US has 300 million people. You do the math and tell me who is being stingy.

ZNet |Iraq | No, you don’t own it
–Naomi Klein takes a look at Iraq and what is needed to be done by all of us and why it is that the US does not own Iraq.

ZNet |Corporate Globalization | WTO Derailed
–History on the WTO.

ZNet |Haiti | Christmas in Haiti
–Just a little information on what is happening in Haiti.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Winners and losers in … South Africa
–A little on South Africa over the past year.

News
–Yushchenko has blocked efforts for challenging the results. Strange how this is true democracy but when the other side does this it is called cheeting the people. I just cannot wrap my head around how these people get a licence to report the news. The call for the court to examine the elections and to see how to get things to work better should be the number one priority of the justice system.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Travel sector feels impact of tsunami
–Poor insurance companies. They will have to pay people money when things go wrong, Imagine that.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Wave toll ‘could exceed 100,000′
–It is a disaster when a wave kills 100 000 people but when the US and Britain kill 100 000 civilians in Iraq it is call “democracy”. Interesting.

AxisofLogic/ Economy
–Another response in the Washington Post about the privatization of Social Security in the US. If everyone knows that privatization is bad and does not want it, why is there such a push from the government to privatize it? Well, it is because the US is not a people’s democracy, it is a corporate democracy…(read: oligarchy).

More on the Draft (ZNet Blog)
–More on the Draft from Noam Chomsky.

Freedom: a moral hypothesis (ZNet Blog)
–Freedom, baby, ya! Noam Chomsky.

Public Expense & Private Profit (ZNet Blog)
–Public expense and private profit by Noam Chomsky.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israelis hold candidate Barghouti
–Israel continues its repressive actions against Palestinian democracy.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Main Sunni party pulls out of Iraqi election
–I think it is fair to say that there will be no election in Iraq. If you cannot get to the voting booth and, if you could get there, you cannot vote for the party that you belong to then it is not an election.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | After the devastation, the grief
–Death toll could go as high as 56000. That is a lot of people and we are not talking about the long term effects of disease.

CBC News: Canadians asked to help relief effort
–Relief call from aid organizations dealing with the tsunami crisis. Forward to all your rich friends who can give…

Socialist Worker / www.socialist.ca
–Not so sure that this is what the Left had in mind when it said solidarity. Business and corporate globalization is not the “new” reality. It has always been that way and it is what the Left has been struggling against. To invite business to the table of the NDP is to forget who the NDP are standing for.

ZNet |Haiti | Radio Address from Hiding
–A message from Haiti.

ZNet |U.S. | US and Ukraine
–More on the Ukraine

HEALTH-CANADA: Drug Injection Site Pricks U.S., U.N.
–Safe injection site angers the US…. too bad, we are our own country and we will do what works for our citizens.

CHALLENGES 2004-2005: U.S. to Take Bigger Bite of Iraq’s Economic Pie
–More money for the US from Iraq. Emad MeKay takes a look.

MEDIA-U.S.: Terrorism Shaped 2004 News Agenda
–Jim Lobe looks back on 2004 and what made the news run…

UKRAINE: Yushchenko Set to Win Presidential Election
–Another perspective of the Ukrainian election.

Hungry for Change, Visionaries Promote Alternatives to Foods Banks
–A new model for food banks that does not rest on the corporate model. This will be of interest to those that like the sound of Parecon.