Secrets of the Afghani refugee camps - a Straight Goods exclusive from Peshawar, Pakistan by Ken Hechtman
  A visit to border camps explodes myths and Western wishful thinking.

Will journalism ever connect the dots? - Barrie Zwicker
 
 

Consumers

Insurance Forecast - Going UP - Pat Daley
  Big rate increases were on the way even before 9/11.
 

The Straight Goods Cyber Forum with Larry Solway Bang - you're laid off - and fed-up with anti-Americanism   Larry says job-sharing will let us spend, spend, spend like good corporate citizens - and wonders who's fooling whom in the debate over the war. Join Larry's cyber-forum and share your views. Are you as perplexed about companies that take away income while urging us to spend? Do you agree with Larry and Stephen Lewis about anti-War protestors being anti-American? Take the Straight Goods Cyber Forum survey and qualify for the Straight Goods draw.

Debating The War

Bombing is immoral, unnecessary, counterproductive - Mel Watkins
  Peace movement must renew call for the rule of law and the abolition of weapons of mass destruction.
 

Stephen Lewis supports The War, condemns rationalizing
  "I'm on the side of those who want to find and root out the terrorists," says the former Cdn UN ambassador, deputy UNICEF director, and NDP leader. From the Vancouver Sun.

The rush to pass extreme legislation - Parker Barss Donham
  The record shows the rush to reduce civil liberties in times of crisis rarely is justified by results.
 

Rogue-nation students banned from chemistry courses by Canada
  Canada bans some foreign students from university chemistry courses fearing they'll use knowledge for bomb-making and terrorism - a link to Ananova.

Pentagon hires PR - The Mercury News
  The Pentagon has hired a well-known Washington public-relations firm to help it explain U.S. military strikes in Afghanistan to global audiences, U.S. officials confirmed.

George W. and Osama feeding at same trough - CounterPunch
  The Bushes and the bin Ladens go way back.

Afghanis are fleeing American bombs and missiles, not the Taliban - Robert Fisk
  A link to The Independent.

We need a Peace Academy
  An economy based on waste is inherently and hopelessly violent, writes Wendell Berry in Grist Magazine. Thanks to reader/contributor Penney Kome of Calgary.
 

FUTURE OF THE LEFT
Peter Stoffer - direct democracy is the issue
  Nova Scotia MP Peter Stoffer says the NDP must run to govern and this begins by giving every member equal say in leaderhip selection.
 

Libby Davies says a new party is needed
  She says internal reforms to the NDP won't satisfy skeptics on the left. Correspondent Paul Weinberg spoke to her this week.
 

War on drugs
UK to decrimininalize cannabis possession
  Britain's stringent cannabis laws are to be relaxed next spring under proposals announced by the Home Secretary.

Environment
Canada could supply five percent of its energy needs from the wind by 2010 - The Canadian Wind Energy Association

OPG gets power to pollute
  The Ontario government has given Ontario Power Generation the right to continue using its coal-fired power plants. Fight back to keep your air clean.

Unions warn BC forestry changes could mean new war between greens and loggers
  "We will have a war in the woods, with environmentalists and environmental groups taking protests back onto the logging roads if they feel it means a sustainable forest industry is being undone" - union official. A link to the Globe and Mail.

Workplace
Work-life conflict getting worse
  New data shows an increasing clash between work and the rest of life.

Ontario needs its child care workers
  A new report documents how underpaid child care workers are.

Back support belts don't work
  If you do heavy lifting for a living, think twice before you risk you health - SEIU Canada.
 

What became of the million laid off in the early 90's? StatsCan says people mostly found new work - but some for less pay and others only after a long search.

Corporate watch
Settling the issue of trespassing GM crops - Arthur Hanks
  Saskatchewan organic growers are planning a class action lawsuit to defend their crops from the spread of GM food production.

Investigation reveals campaign of terror in Sudan
  New report documents intensified armed attacks on civilians by government forces, operating from Talisman air strips.

NAFTA tribunal denies citizens their say
  The Canadian postal system is under attack from new international trade law.

Change to Competition Act needed
  Democracy Watch proposes giving Canadians the right to sue over violation of competition laws.

Gender
Sexist parenting myths make men who could be empowered into power abusers instead
  Busting the Boy Code. By Anne Marie Aikins.

Aikens recently presented her ideas to other women sharing the goal of ending violence against women at a celebration at Madison Square Gardens.

Rights
Police commission upholds rest room strip searches done on sketchy evidence
  Only a court could have applied the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the commission said.

Health Care
Waiting for public home health care- Dr. Gordon Guyatt
  The frail and elderly are being put on waiting lists for home health care as mandatory budget balancing forces service cuts.

TAKE ACTION

Stop sweatshops!
  Demand that companies disclose which factories they use to manufacture their clothing.
 

On-line petition against WTO
  The Common Front on the World Trade Organization (CFWTO) is preparing for the International Day of Action against the WTO by collecting signatures urging Canada to reject the WTO.

Humour
Gordon Campbell jokes
  BC appears set to undergo the kind of surgery Ontario has enjoyed since 1995 and it's spawning a whole new genre of humour, according to reader Susanne Shaw.

How to keep a happy level of insanity
  Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks, then switch to espresso. Go to a poetry reading and ask why the poems don't rhyme. There's more.
 

Posted: October 29, 2001
Updated: October 31, 2001