Leftnews.org

Documentary film: To See If I Am Smiling

Faiz — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:11:14 +0000

Synopsis: “To See If I Am Smiling, the frank testimonials of six female Israeli soldiers stationed in Gaza and the West Bank pack a powerful emotional punch. The young women revisit their tours of duty in the occupied territories with surprising honesty and strip bare stereotypes of gender differences in the military. The former soldiers share shocking moments of negligence, flippancy, immaturity and power-tripping as they describe atrocities they witnessed and participated in.”

Community reaction to Caterpillar’s London plant shutdown | CBC

Faiz — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:19:04 +0000

“What I would like is for the general public to wake up and understand that as these good paying jobs disappear so to do our tax dollars. I paid close to $25,000 in income tax alone in 2011. At $18 an hour I wouldn’t pay even close to that. As a country we have the lowest corporate tax rate of all the G7 countries. As jobs like mine disappear where do the federal tax dollars come from to sustain our fantastic country? This is slowly becoming a country of haves and have-nots.”

Baird sticks to party line – Israel’s Likud party | The Globe and Mail

Faiz — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:32:51 +0000

“It’s not about playing politics, he insists. “There are 2,800 Jews in my constituency in Ottawa; I have 11,500 Muslims and Arabs,” he told one Israeli interviewer. It’s all about values, he says.”

Syria resolution vetoed by Russia and China at United Nations | The Guardian

Faiz — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:29:41 +0000

“[T]he Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, criticised the UN resolution, saying it made too few demands of anti-government armed groups, and could prejudge the outcome of a dialogue among political forces in the country.”

A principled move. More so, it is the anti-imperialist stance.

Ontario’s largest union commits full support for Toronto Services and City Workers

Graham — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:22:39 +0000

–Unite with the workers of CUPE 416. This is going to be a battle.

8.3%! This Was the Best Jobs Report Since the Great Recession | The Atlantic

Faiz — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:32:16 +0000

“The U.S. economy is still nearly 6 million jobs short of its January 2008 peak. This graph shows how long it would take to make back the jobs we lost in the Great Recession at various rates. If we create 200,000 jobs a month, as we have averaged over the last three months, we’ll fill the jobs gap by the early 2020s.”

Jobless rate hits 9-month high | The Globe and Mail

Faiz — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:21:11 +0000

“Since last summer, job creation has been sluggish and the unemployment rate has ticked higher … part-time positions rose by 5,900 while full-time jobs fell by 3,600″

Unpaid intern sues Harper’s Bazaar for minimum wage | Yahoo News

Faiz — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:42:05 +0000

“[T]he [magazine] does not pay its interns but instead offers them academic credit, a practice that is widespread among publishing companies and in other competitive industries. … Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a company may legally offer unpaid internships so long as they are educational and benefit the intern and not necessarily the employer, according to information published on the Department of Labor’s website.”

Police say Iraq-vet charged with killing 4 homeless men in California linked to 2 other killings | Yahoo News

Faiz — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:39:49 +0000

“[T]he Ocampo family was hit by many of the same misfortunes that have beset so many other Americans: [The suspects father,] Refugio Ocampo lost his job. The family’s house was foreclosed on three years ago, forcing them to move in with relatives of [the suspects] mother. … After a 2008 tour of duty in Iraq, Itzcoatl became traumatized and depressed, family members said, presenting another challenge to a family in crisis.”

Whitewashing Black History Month

Jeff — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:10:41 +0000

Arizona’s suppression of Mexican American studies fits a pattern of making history serve an exclusionary nationalist mythology | Gary Younge | The Guardian

Calgary-based Suncor back in Libya | Calgary Herald

Faiz — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:58:37 +0000

“[CEO Rick George] also declared a force majeure its natural gas operation in Syria during the quarter to comply with international and Canadian sanctions against the country. George reiterated the Libyan and Syrian assets were not for sale “at this time.”

Rival Libyan militias fight gunbattle in capital | Reuters

Faiz — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:47:04 +0000

“Militias have carved up Tripoli and the rest of Libya into competing fiefdoms, each holding out for the share of power they say they are owed. … Several militias from outside the capital have set up bases in Tripoli. They clash intermittently often because of disputes over who controls which neighborhoods of the city.”

Politics – The Globe and Mail

Graham — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:46:08 +0000

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/statscans-chief-economic-analyst-quits/article2323013/?service=mobile

Never a good sign.

How gentrification transformed a Brooklyn neighbourhood | BBC

Faiz — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:21:02 +0000

Hipster courage, on the front lines of gentrification in every post-modern city.

Organic outperforms conventional farming on all counts

Jeff — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:51:36 +0000

By Jane Williams | Rabble.ca | A longitudinal study by the Rodale Institute shows that organic farming can produce yields as high as conventional and in fact does better in some conditions.

thestar.com iPhone : Ontario students to protest high tuition Wednesday

Graham — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:59:02 +0000

http://www.thestar.com/iphone/Top%20Stories/article/1123958

See you in the streets!

Extremely Offensive Propaganda from the City of Toronto

Graham — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:29:41 +0000

–What is this nonsense? People should write in to the city and demand that this garbage be taken down. While it is not only is it not guaranteed that the city would save that money, it is guaranteed that the service would decline and the impact on our communities (which include public sector workers) will be negative. The current choice is ours, either we pay for our services through a fair tax system, or we undermine the fabric of our communities. We must mobilize against these attacks on workers and our communities.

Mark Steel on Question Time – bankers’ bonuses and benefit caps | Counterfire

Graham — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:19:02 +0000

–Worth watching just because it is a good rant.

Salaried bourgeois on “revolt of the salaried bourgeoisie”

Jeff — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:27:05 +0000

A reply from Lenin’s Tomb to Slavoj Žižek’s recent article.

Harper and the U.S. are wrong on the Iran threat

Jeff — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:21:40 +0000

Gerald Caplan | The Globe and Mail