“A shocking new report in the British medical journal the Lancet on human rights abuses in Haiti finds that 8,000 people were murdered and 35,000 women and girls raped during the U.S.-backed coup regime that followed Jean Bertrand Aristide. Those responsible included Haitian police, United Nations peacekeepers and anti-Lavalas gangs.”

–This is outrageous. The NDP should be taking a stand against the atrocities that have happened under the US, French, and Canadian backed coup of the democratically elected Aristide government. –graham

–Here is a good picture of Chavez and a good article out-lining how the US is trying to undermine the democracy in Venezuela. The constant spending of US dollars against the people of Venezuela and the Chavez government must be exposed and the people must be told. Hands off the Venezuelan people’s revolution.

–I thought that this cartoon was rather good, especially in the wake of Tony Blair talking about “values” leading the way for British politics and Bush talking about “values” getting in the way of economic production in the US.

–The Labour movement in the US still has some people who are active and militant labour organizers against the imperialist ambitions and projects of their current government.

–Speaking more in depth about what is going in inside the US Administration to try to undercut Cuba sovereignty than Chomsky is below is this article. Have a read about the Machiavellian workings of some of these right-wing politicians in the US.

–Chomsky has it right here. Cuba sovereignty must be respected. Only the Cuban people have the right to decide their future and the US is trying to undermine that right.

–Murder is still rampant in Haiti. The murder is still coming from the UN and other troops on the ground that seem to not be able to deal with the culture or the people in a respectable manner. We must continue to put pressure on our politicians and organize around this issue or this constant assault on the people of Haiti will not end.

–A resurgence of Labour activism and left-wing politics is on the move in Canada. People are starting to get the message that the promises made by the right-wing and their capitalist minders are not able to come true under the current system. Labour must move forward both for economic as well as political gains if it is going to help in the struggle for a better and more equitable future.

–An article explaining how the Liberal Party’s leadership race is nothing but a gong show.

–Couldn’t be more true from what we saw when we were down in Venezuela.

–For those of you that still do not know much about what makes Venezuela’s new revolution (the Bolivarian Revolution) tick then this is a great article to read. There is much that is going on in Venezuela that is not being reported in the media and there is much that is going that is being reported badly in the main presses. This might clear some of those misconceptions up.

–More public control over oil and more oil profits going to the people. Venezuela is on the right track.

–Here is a more indepth look at the recent calls for expropriating golf courses and country clubs in Caracas, Venezuela. I have to say again that the taking over of golf course land in Caracas to build houses for the poor is something that should gain massive support if people actually stopped and thought about it instead of getting bent out of shape over “property rights”. The people that own the land would be compensated and the poor would have new homes. All seems good to me.

Saddam for his 1990 attack on Kuwait and Bush for his 2003 invasion of Iraq.

–There really should not be much debate on this kind of issue. Cluster bombs kill indiscriminately and are mainly used against front lines of troops and civilians. End the production and use of cluster bombs and land mines now.

–The taking over of Gulf Courses to give people homes that are in desperate need. Sounds rather good to me.

–The corporate press is rather annoying at times. Have a read of this article. Iran is not going to give up its nuclear energy aims and the Guardian, BBC, and other “major” news networks are writing like it is the end of days. Almost all of the Western Nations have nuclear energy capabilities. So, I ask: what is the big deal? If the international community cannot play nice even with countries that have leaders that we do not like (but were democratically elected) even when it comes to energy production then I do not think this world will ever be very safe.

–I love this. Canada can do more for Afghanistan but it doesn’t come in the shape of a bullets. If Canada truly, as a nation, wanted to help Afghanistan it would put more money into the rebuilding of infrastructure for the people of Afghanistan instead of minding the oil interests of the country.

I hear that they launched this Kit “for” First Nations with almost no First Nations present. This from David MacKinnon with the Transboundary Watershed Alliance: “Jerry Asp was there in a token capacity and no one seemed aware of the irony that Asp, their First Nations spokesperson and a key developer of this document on communicating with First Nations, was someone who had been forced out of Tahltan leadership largely over his failure to communicate adequately with his fellow Tahltans on the deals he was making with the energy and mining sectors. On the other hand, the free banana bread at the launch was very tasty.”

–PSAC supports the student workers at New York University. A shout out to those still fighting for their right to organise in New York.

–Yep, this is one of the people that speaks for the Christian Conservative right in the US. Is there any question that he is a complete and utter racist?

–The pressure on WalMart to play fair with its workers that are trying to unionise is building. The PR campaign that WalMart has been pushing is not having the desired effect as more people do not have a favourable image of the corporation. Support the workers’ rights, support the right to organise and unionise.

–Check out this group of ignorant bigots in BC.

–With Irving running most of the province it is not surprising.

–This is becoming the year of Conservative attacks on the lives of same-sex couples and gay and lesbians individual rights and freedoms. There is a move by the rather reactionary lot that make up the Conservative parties in North America to focus all their energy on oppressing this group of people. The Left must stand opposed to this Conservative behaviour and engage in some real tolerance and acceptance building.

–Yes, it is a critique of Tony Blair but it is nothing new at all. The Left has been saying this since he got into the leadership of Labour and brought his NeoLabour cronies with him. There is a new wave in the party under Brown to have more of the same only a little more right-wing. Things have to change in Britain and they are only going to do so if people continue to organise from the grassroots and either start taking back the Party or building a new one.

–History of Cuba and the current situation of the US and Cuba relations (or lack there of). This is a very interesting read and well worth printing out for later.

–The oppression of the poor in Haiti is just unbelievable. The so-called peacekeepers in Haiti are treating the local population like animals. Our voices need to be louder here in Canada if we are going to stop the killing of innocent civilians.

–There should be international condemnation of this barbaric act.

–More immigrants? We always welcome more immigrants, but what is to stop them from going out West with the rest of the people that want jobs? The real solution to the migration of our working people to Alberta is to start investing in real jobs and a living wage here in NB. The current plans for this province are not very inventive and are really just more of the same. If we want people to stay in NB and work we are going to have to change the way we look at our economy and the bank on the real value of our people here in the province.

–The pipeline cannot be too popular in Alaska.

–One wonders how dangerous these suspected “terrorists” actually are if they are releasing them on bail all the time. I would suspect that they are not. We need to really start think about rights of people in Canada and some real ways that this country can deal with a government that seems to be more interested in sowing fear than peace.

At least five people, including a 14 year old boy, were killed when Bangladesh police opened fire on a demonstration of 20,000 some people against a UK-owned coal project on Saturday.

–Unions are under attack again in the US at a very basic level. There are many in the business community that would love to re-classify everyone under the “supervisor” label so that the workers would lose their union membership. It is something that we should keep an eye out for up here as well.

–Here is the speech given by the Fredericton Sexual Assault Crisis Center at the recent Pro-Choice Rally held in Fredericton, NB. The pictures of the rally are also up on the Citizens’ Press. This needs to be made an election issue.