verbena-19

Afghan MPs Predict 'Very Big War' / Progressives Shun Layton on Climate Change, more news

These a few of today's very interesting news items from rabble.ca. You will also find good articles by some of my favourite columnists, notably Linda McQuaig, Thomas Walkom, Murray Dobbin:

AFGHAN MPS PREDICT 'VERY BIG WAR'
Kabul — As a former senior Taliban commander and associate of Osama bin Laden, Mullah Abdul Salam Rocketi was a shining example of the warlords who seemed to be rejecting violence and embracing Afghanistan's new democracy. But the MP for the southern province of Zabul now typifies the anger and despair raging through this blood-soaked country.
> by Chris Sands
> http://www.rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?x=56118

PROGRESSIVES SHUN LAYTON ON CLIMATE CHANGE
How many times have I heard people castigating Jack Layton for not “allowing” an arrangement where the NDP and Greens cooperate to not run candidates against each other in certain ridings? I know of multiple cases where Layton has personally been questioned on this — and where long-time activists go away shaking their heads about how he has sold out environmentalists to further the narrow electoral fortunes of the NDP. Does anyone ask Elizabeth May if she favours such an arrangement?
> by Ken Summers
> http://www.rabble.ca/for_the_sake_of_argument.shtml?x=56081

DEMOCRACY: THE MISSING DION PILLAR
If you want pillars to hold something up, four will do the job better than three. In his leadership campaign, Stéphane Dion relied on just three: economic prosperity, environmental sustainability and social justice. The missing pillar is surely democracy.
> by Duncan Cameron
> http://www.rabble.ca/politics.shtml?x=56055

JUSTICE: NOT SERVED BUT DENIED
George Bush's New Year's present to the world was the death of Saddam Hussein by hanging in Iraq on December 30. Of course the argument will be made that it wasn't the U.S. that hanged Saddam, but the Iraqi people who tried and found him guilty of crimes against humanity in an Iraqi court. Yeah, and the moon is made of green cheese, too.
> by Jerry West
> http://www.rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?x=55999

WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? BAN CHRISTMAS
The crazed materialism that has hijacked the meaning of the holiday is getting worse. In the U.S., but notably in New York, the large retail stores have taken to giving their staff special training to deal with Christmas season abuse by customers, added plainclothes security to control fights among customers, including outbreaks of near rioting, and taken to not putting out the hottest items if the supply is limited, lest they turn out to be like scraps of meat before a pack of wild dogs.
> by Ralph Surette
> http://www.rabble.ca/everyones_a_critic.shtml?x=55968

VOTE NDP TO KEEP LIBERALS HONEST
Far too often the analysis of elections and politics in general focuses almost exclusively on who “wins” formal power — that is, the biggest number of seats and the right to form a government. This kind of limited assessment leads to putting all the analytical eggs in one basket by asking which leader is the best — the most progressive, the most trustworthy, the most charismatic, the most visionary. > by Murray Dobbin
> http://www.rabble.ca/politics.shtml?x=55959

---------------------------------------------------
COLUMNS
---------------------------------------------------

WATCHING SADDAM SWING
Count me as one of the ghouls who watched the 2½-minute video of Saddam Hussein's execution more than once. Why? “Such graphic violence plays to our most base instincts,” a media studies prof told the National Post. I don't agree.
> by Rick Salutin
> http://www.rabble.ca/columnists_full.shtml?x=56107

U.S. WON'T SOON FORGIVE THE UN
Last month, NATO got a new top military commander, the general who formerly ran the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay. So Canadian troops in Afghanistan, will ultimately be under the command of a U.S. general who ran a notorious political prison in defiance of international law. This underlines how far Canada has moved in recent years embracing a new role as a prop for the U.S. in its “war on terror.”
> by Linda McQuaig
> http://www.rabble.ca/columnists_full.shtml?x=56075

WHY IS IT WISHFUL THINKING TO HOPE FOR CHANGE?
The world is hardly a reasonable place these days. All sorts of lamentable, preventable catastrophes wreak havoc, at home and abroad: self-dealing, dishonest wars, tax loopholes, deaths from needless disease, a climate that's going bananas. But just one day a year, could we pretend that some sort of natural justice might prevail on the planet (or at least in its economic sphere)?
> by Jim Stanford
> http://www.rabble.ca/columnists_full.shtml?x=56041

THE COLUMNISTS
Linda McQuaig, Thomas Walkom, Duncan Cameron, Rick
Salutin, Murray Dobbin, Jerry West, Keith Gottschalk,
Tricia Hylton, Lisa Rundle and others.
> http://www.rabble.ca/columnists.shtml

************************************
Become a member of rabble.ca
Put your money where your mouse is!

http://www.rabble.ca/membership/winanipod.shtml?x=41753
************************************

---------------------------------------------------
RABBLE-ROUSERS
---------------------------------------------------

>> in cahoots <<

ACTIVISTS SCORE P3 HOSPITAL WIN
The coalition fighting to stop privatization and contracting out of services at Ontario’s hospitals has won a major victory.
> Canadian Union of Public Employees
> http://www.rabble.ca/in_cahoots.shtml?x=56099

IS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE A FEMINIST ISSUE?
How principles of feminism and same-sex marriage intersect.
> Association for Women's Rights in Development
> http://www.rabble.ca/in_cahoots.shtml?x=56069

FIVE CANADIAN WORKERS DIE PER DAY
Canadians are dying at a rate of five workers for each regular working day of the year as a result of accidents on the job and occupational diseases.
> National Union of Public and General Employees
> http://www.rabble.ca/in_cahoots.shtml?x=56067

posted by Annamarie at 8:09 PM