Checkered Lounge Pants

Make the rich pay. Obama proposes $1.5tn tax hike to cut deficit - Americas - Al Jazeera English

A good read... in spite of the sleazy dictator and his self-serving family. Original Investigation: The Untold Story in Libya: How the West Cooked Up the “People’s Uprising”

Activist Powless shoots 'iconic' photo of NASA scientist arrest at tar sands protest | rabble.ca

BY  ANDREA HARDEN-DONAHUE   |  SEPTEMBER 2, 2011 Today the Council of Canadians joined with the Indigenous Environmental Network and Greenpeace Canada to send a clear message to Gary Doer (Canadian Abassador to the U.S.): stop lobbying for the Keystone XL pipline. We delivered a letter with this demand to Chris Plunkett, counsellor and spokesperson with the embassy, outside of the embassy in Washington. Doer was unfortunately unavailable to join us, he is currently in Winnipeg. We were a group of around fifteen Canadians present in Washington to support the ongoing unprecedented  two weeks of non-violent civil disobedience sit-in  outside the White House demanding Obama refuse to sign the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. We had large photos of tar sands operations to help passing public understand why we are present, and honestly, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. This is particularly true in the case of the tar sands, whose tailing ponds ar...

Liliane Bettencourt is among those offering up some of her wealth Some of France's wealthiest people have called on the government to tackle its deficit by raising taxes - on the rich. Sixteen executives, including Europe's richest woman, the L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, offered in an open letter to pay a "special contribution" in a spirit of "solidarity". Later the government is due to announce tighter fiscal measures as it seeks to reassure markets and curb the deficit. They are expected to include a special tax on the super-rich. Before the announcement, expected on Wednesday evening, a letter appeared on the website of the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur. It was signed by some of France's most high-profile chief executives, including Christophe de Margerie of oil firm Total, Frederic Oudea of bank Societe Generale, and Air France's Jean-Cyril Spinetta. They said: "We, the presidents and leaders of in...

Jack Layton is survived by his wife Olivia Chow (left) and two children Canadian opposition leader Jack Layton has died after a second bout of cancer, aged 61. Layton passed away at his home in Toronto early on Monday surrounded by his wife and children, his family said in a statement. His left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) surged to become the official opposition for the first time in May's federal elections. He stepped down only last month as party leader to fight his illness. In a letter released by the NDP after his death was announced, Mr Layton said he remained optimistic about Canada's future and its political system. 'Cherish every moment' "Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped," he said. "So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue." Layton urged readers to "to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of...

What happened that night in Abbottabad. by Nicholas Schmidle August 8, 2011 . Shortly after eleven o’clock on the night of May 1st, two MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters lifted off from Jalalabad Air Field, in eastern Afghanistan, and embarked on a covert mission into Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden. Inside the aircraft were twenty-three Navy SEALs from Team Six, which is officially known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU. A Pakistani-American translator, whom I will call Ahmed, and a dog named Cairo—a Belgian Malinois—were also aboard. It was a moonless evening, and the helicopters’ pilots, wearing night-vision goggles, flew without lights over mountains that straddle the border with Pakistan. Radio communications were kept to a minimum, and an eerie calm settled inside the aircraft. Fifteen minutes later, the helicopters ducked into an alpine valley and slipped, undetected, into Pakistani airspace. For more than sixty years, Pakistan’s military has mainta...

I just realized this morning that my annual post on Canada day did not get attended. The week seemeed filled with unusual time demands that I have come to illfully manage since being retired for.... hmmmm let us see, it is 3 years this month. Happy Canada Day!!

New PR campaign gushes goodness about Vancouver in aftermath of Stanley Cup riot By: The Canadian Press Vancouver Canucks fans riot following game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup final in downtown Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday, June 15, 2011.Vancouver is launching an aggressive offensive to clean-up its tarnished reputation following last week's Stanley Cup riot. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Geoff Howe VANCOUVER - Vancouver is launching an aggressive offensive to clean-up its tarnished reputation following last week's Stanley Cup riot. The city wants the world to forget the smashed windows, looted storefronts and clouds of tear gas that marred the skyline after the Canucks loss to the Boston Bruins, and focus instead on the smiling, happy images of the Tourism Vancouver website, "This is Our Vancouver." The website says the actions of a few aren't a true reflection of the city, and it commends the Good Samaritans who helped to clean up the streets. News that Vancouver area hockey...

http://http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/05/06/136061056/was-anonymous-behind-playstation-hack

Al Qaeda Frontrunner Kills 18 - The Daily Beast

Here's something to think about as Japan continues working to fix its stricken reactors. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is now criticized as being extremely close to the industry, routinely postponing requiring maintenance until crises develop, and even then usually delivering only a slap on the wrist. The agency puts up with violations, says critic David Lochbaum, because “Otherwise, nearly all the U.S. reactors would have to shut down.” NRC employees frequently leave to work for nuclear industry companies and lobbying organizations, then return to the commission. The problem is becoming particularly pressing as the country's nuclear infrastructure ages. No license renewal application has been turned down by the NRC since the first one was granted in 2000. That includes the Vermont Yankee plant, whose design is similar to that of the troubled Fukushima plant in Japan, and whose cooling tower collapsed in 2007. Last year, radioactive titrium was detected in the groundwater, ...

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"Hi! Whats new?" was the voice over the phone. "Whats new!" I responded. Uhmm what is new, raced through my mind. It just seemed like a long time that I was asked that wasn't rhetorical. "Yup. Trains been so broken-down that I been working up in Sarnia because FAA has threatened to pull transport license in the US if the railway doesn't improve the condition of its fleet," said the voice. "I racked up 68 hours of overtime in 8 days," went on the voice. Well there is a lot happening but it isn't so new. I went on to say that my break wall had washed away a few days ago when the southerly winds turned into gales and drove breakers up on shore for a day or so. I have been wrestling with my insurance to cough up a cheque they committed to pay for a conditioning trainer for 6 more months. A long lost buddy had called up to meet for coffee earlier this week. I am leaving for Winnipeg next week to visit my Dad who went into palliative car...

France shuts border to trains from Italy to stop north African migrants and political activists from entering the country. France has shut its border to trains from Italy in an attempt to stop north African migrants and political activists from entering the country. The action drew a formal protest on Sunday from Rome and accusations it was violating European principles. A group of French and Italian activists had planned to board what they had dubbed The Train of Dignity in the Italian border town of Ventimiglia in support of migrants trying to cross the border. About 60 mainly Tunisian migrants were at the station seeking passage to France, and were given sandwiches and drinks by support groups. Italian railway and border police said France was preventing all trains passing the Ventimiglia-Menton border. Franco Frattini, Italy's foreign minister, instructed the country's ambassador in Paris to express "the firm protest of the Italian government to the French authorities...

The operator of Japan's crippled nuclear plant laid out a blueprint Sunday for stopping radiation leaks and stabilizing damaged reactors within the next six to nine months as a first step toward allowing some of the tens of thousands of evacuees to return to the area. While the government said the timeframe was realistic, those forced to flee their homes, jobs and farms were frustrated that their exile is not going to end soon. And officials acknowledge that unforeseen complications, or even another natural disaster, could set that timetable back even further. “Well, this year is lost,” said Kenji Matsueda, 49, who is living in an evacuation centre in Fukushima after being forced from his home 20 kilometres from the plant. “I have no idea what I will do. Nine months is a long time. And it could be longer. I don't think they really know.” Pressure has been building on the government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. to resolve Japan's worst-ever nuclear power accid...

Desperate Japan dumps radioactive water in sea JAPANESE engineers were forced yesterday to release radioactive water into the sea while resorting to desperate measures such as using bath salts to try to find the source of leaks at a crippled nuclear power complex hit by a tsunami on March 11. Engineers also planned to build two giant "silt curtains" made of polyester in the sea to hinder the spread of more contamination from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, 240km north of Tokyo. The plant operator released low-level radioactive seawater that had been used to cool overheated fuel rods after it ran out of storage capacity for more highly contaminated water, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said. "We have instructed strict monitoring of the ocean to firmly grasp the impact on the environment," said Edano. Operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said it would release more than 10,000 tons of contaminated water that was about 100 times more radioactive than legal ...

Great Lakes nuclear shipments on hold - Canada - CBC News

This or that: Which would you choose? Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Has capitalism reached its limits? rabble.ca