Posted: March 23, 2004

Lack of leader was Conservative party's biggest asset - Linda McQuaig
  Moderates who told pollsters they would back the new party are now waking to the reality of the right-wing agenda.

A new nuclear bath for Ontario consumers? - Ole Hendrickson
  Manley and Epp report: "Let's back a loser."
 

Calls grow to block US guns imported into Canada - Paul Weinberg, Inter Press Service
  Police report at least 50% of retrieved Toronto gang killing-linked guns originated in US.

Workplaces

Pensions, part 2: defined benefit vs defined contribution plans - Mike Martin
  Corporations favour the kind that assigns the risk to the beneficiary - you.
 

Your health and health care

Take waiting list horror stories with a grain of salt - Gordon Guyatt, MD
  Public health-care wait is worth it, considering the alternatives.
 

Commentary
Two Spanish regime changes - Hanns F. Skoutajan
  Spain's election brings to mind another socialist victory in Spain - February 1936 - and the disaster that followed.

Tough love, Canadian style - Mike Martin
  Ten step program for fixing hockey.

Communities, rights and change

Anti-Israel not the same as anti-Semitism - Reuel S. Amdur
  Confusing the two will only feed the cycle of violence.
 

Hot headlines
First anniversary of Iraq invasion creates worldwide demonstrations - Sarah Ferguson, AlterNet
  Message is clear: end the war.

Canada got it right on Iraq - Paul Heinbecker, The Globe and Mail
  We should not shrink from disagreeing with the US when it is wrong - and it was wrong to go to war, says former UN ambassador.

Spain's decision to withdraw from Iraq is not appeasement - Gwynne Dyer, Salt Lake Tribune
  Like most of the world, does not see Iraq campaign as part of global war on terror.
 

Venezuela ceases all training of soldiers at the School of the Americas - SOA Watch
  Graduates of notorious US military training school cited in coup attempt against president Hugo Chavez in April 2002 and embassy bombings in Caracas in February 2003.

Storm brewing in Papua - Tom Benedetti, Asia Times Online
  Country being ravaged in escalating program of repression by Indonesian military.

Media Files
US government faked Bush news reports - Chris Tryhorn, The Guardian
  Paid actors play journalists.

British MP Galloway accepts libel damages - BBC News
  Christian Science Monitor must pay up after alleging he accepted money from Saddam Hussein

Spun out of office - David Mathieson, Guardian Unlimited
  Spain has showed voters' contempt for media manipulation.

Reader Feedback
Baby boomers were a bonanza for employers - Mike Dirienzo
  Best thing boomers can do for social progress is to tune in, turn on, and drop out of the work-and-spend rat race.

Hockey now a full contact sport - Maggie J., Nanaimo, BC
  Will Moore get same treatment as Bertuzzi for Naslund incident?

What - does SG have a movie section now? - F.G., BC
  Still a Gibson fan.

Shari'a law in Canada unquestioned by our media - N.S.E. Miller

Take action!
Petition to Paul Martin in support of Mohamed Cherfi - Comité de solidarité avec Mohamed Cherfi
  Algerian human rights activist was arrested while claiming sanctuary in Québec church.