Posted: March 26, 2002

Workplaces
Could BC be Canada's right-to-work beachhead? - Carole Pearson
  Wages lower wherever open-shop laws introduced in US.

Labour unrest boils over in China
  As China overhauls state industries, public protests by displaced workers are becoming larger and angrier.

Alabama coal giant Drummond sued over killings in Colombia - New York Times

Education

Increasing surveillance of on-line learning threatens academic freedom
  An excerpt from Digital Diploma Mills: The Automation of Higher Education by David F. Noble.
 

The Straight Goods Cyber Survey and Speaker's Corner with Larry Solway Passover and power politics   How do you reconcile tradition with the current tragedy of Israel and Palestine? What's your opinion on Israel and Palestine? Can we reconcile justice and the Passover message with current reality? Visit the Straight Goods Cyber Survey and Speakers' Corner and tell us what you think. Qualify for a prize in the weekly Straight Goods draw.

Time for Canada to follow US and close soft-money loophole - Aaron Freeman
  Elections Act allows unreported between-elections payoffs.
 
 

Who do Harper and Eves owe for their victories? - Democracy Watch
  Campaign finance laws don't force them to say.

Low taxes are bad for business - Charles R. Fulweiler, Ph.D.
  An American CEO says low taxes have plagued his country's economy with a bad education system, bad health care, homelessness and other afflictions.

FROM LAST WEEK
Commonwealth and South Africa have opportunity to help Zimbabwe - Clyde Sanger
  Nation's ugly history begets ugly present, but resilient Commonwealth and Zimbabwe's African neighbours have bought some time to make positive change.

Health care
Australia's private health care disaster - Dr. Gordon Guyatt
  When the affluent have no personal stake in public health care, resources for it decrease.

The affordability of health care - Larry Brown
  Canadians like their public health care system. They just want it to work well - a pretty reasonable goal.
 

BC coastal health cuts are 'indefensible' - NUPGE
  Hospital, mental health care and home support budgets dangerously slashed.

Social justice is good for your heart
  Societal factors - not lifestyles - are the major causes of heart disease in Canada and elsewhere, says Dennis Raphael.

Northern Exposure
INCO at 100 - More dependent on Sudbury than ever - Mick Lowe
  With world demand and staff levels up and little competition, Big Nickel chugs along - but changes loom.

Environment

A Straight Goods Book Excerpt:
Good News for a Change
  An excerpt from David Suzuki and Holly Dressel document efforts for an equitable future in new book.
 

Dangers of pesticide use gain recognition - Suzanne Elston
  Recent pesticide phase-outs and bans are the fruits of decades of awareness-raising by environmental activists.

Federal legislation updates pesticide laws... - Canoe
  ...but environmentalists are arguing that it's not enough.

World security depends on averting water wars - Environment News Service
  United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan warns over conflict to come.

Genetically modified corn invades Mexican - CorpWatch
  Mexican farmers are up in arms over the genetically altered corn produced by biotech giant Aventis that has contaminated their crops.

Outbreak of sockeye disease in Clayoquot Sound - CBC News
  Sockeye disease has infected as many as 100,000 Atlantic salmon in three pens.

Giant Antarctic ice shelves break away - Environment News Service
  The accelerating break up of Antarctic ice shelves has reached a new peak.

Greenpeace comes out against Hydro privatization
  Privatizing Ontario Power Generation could kill the Kyoto Treaty, argues the environmentalist group.

SRI Reports* Union's shareholder activism could prevent Enron-style accounting   Carpenters use pension fund holdings to successfully pressure companies to disclose what they are paying their auditors for audit and consulting work. Enbridge to adopt human rights standards in Colombia following shareholder pressure - Social Investment Organization   Company will voluntary standards on human rights and discuss implementating them with interested shareholders.   * SRI Reports is a regular Straight Goods feature offering news and information on SRI - Socially Responsible Investment - to help Canadians invest wisely and ethically.

Community, Rights and Change
Victory in an empty fridge - Reuel S. Amdur
  Quebec mini-budget all spin, no help for poor.
 

Consumers
Store Wars
  A new PBS documentary explores what happens when the mega-store Wal-Mart comes to town.

Break the chain
  Tired of e-mail chain letters? Wonder which ones are legitimate? Check out a new Web site and avoid getting suckered.
 

Reports find organic more nutritious
  Two reports from both sides of the Atlantic document that organic agriculture is more nutritious than conventional agriculture.

Seniors and health care** Taking care of aging eyes - 50 Plus   About one percent of the population suffers from low vision - and the figure is rising.   ** A partnership with the Ontario Coalition of Senior Citizens Organizations - OCSCO

Media files
Attacks on the Press in 2001
  The Committee to Protect Journalists has released its annual report documenting the global press freedom crisis.

Israeli army censors media coverage
  Two reports on the news blackout in Israel.

The Global Media: New Missionaries of Corporate Capitalism
  A 1997 interview with Edward Herman and Robert McChesney about the state of mass media and predictions for the future.

Sex and what city? - PopPolitics
  Show is set in New York - a city that apparently has no blacks, Hispanics, or Asians and maybe five Jews.

Public at risk from "owner chill" - CBC Radio Commentary
  Don Johnson gives his commentary on the censorship allegations surrounding CanWest Global.

Corporate watch

No nooses for white collars - Molly Ivins, Workingforchange
  Better to steal a million bucks like Arthur Andersen than a loaf of bread.
 

The globalizer who came in from the cold - AlterNet
  Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist of the World Bank, on how corporate globalization has gone horribly wrong.

Greg Palast's World Bank Scoop - Scoop
  A British reporter interviews Joseph Stiglitz and obtains secret documents.

Hot headlines
Fish fillets grow in tank - New Scientist
  Could we make meat on demand without slaughtering animals?

British cannabis scheme saves police time - Guardian
  New policy on cannabis saved police 1,350 hours of time in six months.

Lucy Lu freed from church - Toronto Star

Surprise - US federal spending may have eased recession - New York Times

Once-secret "Nixon tapes" show why US outlawed pot - AlterNet

Bob Rae on Mike Harris - The Globe and Mail

Chretiens' Monterrey statement infuriated Castro - Canoe

Take Action
Thousands hit rally to protest BC gov't cuts - Canada.com
  Marches and rallies clog cities in protest against Campbell cuts.

Alternatives to war and militarization
  Attend a peace conference to discuss alternatives to the militarization of state functions.

Pro-postering web site
  Toronto's proposed by-law severely limits postering, against the majority opinion of Torontonians. Find out what you can do to protect public space.