NUKE NEWS: November 25, 2010
1. GEORGE GALLOWAY - 2010 pan-Canadian speaking tour
2. Electricity bills to double by 2030 under new plan
3. No Nukes News - Nov. 23, 2010
4. Matoush Uranium Project Should be Rejected
5. LETTER: HUGHES, E.: Familiar cavalier attitude towards uranium
6. Hypothesis to Explain Childhood Cancer near Nuclear Power Plants
7. U.S. Urged To Reveal Locations Of Depleted Uranium In Iraq
8. DOBBIN: Citizen Psychopaths
9. The Kabul kids aren't alright
10. Afghanistan: the pipeline factor
11. LETTER: REMPEL: . . . .troops in Afghanistan must wait for a miracle
12. LETTER: HUGHES, V.: STOP ALL TRAINING, STOP WARRING WITH THOSE WHO FEED OFF OF TRAGEDY!
13. North Korea fires at South Korean island
14. Drafting Nature's Constitution
15. Our Most Loved Resource? Water
16. Council of Canadians Update - November 23 & 24, 2010
17. Watchdog probes whether federal leak sent Taseko stock into tailspin
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1. GEORGE GALLOWAY - 2010 pan-Canadian speaking tour
http://www.defendfreespeech.ca/home.htm
Free Palestine. Free Afghanistan. Free Speech.
Former British MP George Galloway will appear in ten cities on a pan-Canadian speaking tour from November 16 to 27, 2010. Organized by local peace coalitions and Palestine solidarity campaigns across Canada, the tour is called “Free Palestine, Free Afghanistan, Free Speech”. Mr. Galloway will speak about the Canadian government’s attempts to ban him as well as the political situation in the Middle East and Central Asia. Please join us!
SCHEDULE:
http://www.defendfreespeech.ca/schedule.htm
Please forward widely.
Details of each event are listed below and online: http://www.defendfreespeech.ca/
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2. Electricity bills to double by 2030 under new plan
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/
895326--electricity-bills-to-double-by-2030-under-new-energy-plan
Rob Ferguson, John Spears and Robert Benzie Staff Reporters November 23, 2010
Homeowners can expect their electricity bills to double in the next 20 years under a new $87 billion long-term energy plan unveiled Tuesday.
The much-anticipated blueprint from Energy Minister Brad Duguid is almost 50 per cent more costly than a similar $60 billion plan sidelined three years ago.
The new effort predicts home energy bills will increase 3.5 per cent annually until 2030, taking into account a 10 per cent price break starting in January for five years.
Industrial power rates will rise 2.7 per cent a year until 2030 under the plan.
It envisions new nuclear plants and refurbished reactors to keep atomic power supplying half the province's electricity, while increasing conservation efforts substantially and increasing wind, solar and bioenergy to 13 per cent of supply within eight years, up from 3 per cent now.
The cost for that green power is estimated at $27 billion — almost one-third the cost of the entire effort, which will come with a mix of public and private investment.
MORE:
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/
895326--electricity-bills-to-double-by-2030-under-new-energy-plan
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3. No Nukes News - Nov. 23, 2010
http://www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca/nnn-nov2310.php
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No sale of federal nuclear company has critics calling for halt to new Darlington reactors
Published reports last week indicated only two companies had submitted bids to buy the reactor side of AECL, but that the bids were far below what the federal government feels it is worth. Beyond that, the reports indicated the bidders would not accept responsibility for funding completion of AECL's newest reactor, the Advanced Candu (known as the ACR), the type touted for new build at Darlington.
Bidders' apparent unwillingness to take on completion of the ARC is proof Candu is "at a dead end," he contended. "So, if Candu is a dead end, the question becomes, will the McGuinty government adjust course and invest in non-nuclear technologies or just kept driving towards the dead end?" Mr. Stensil asked in an e-mail, noting the declining cost of other technologies.
"While Candu is stagnating, green energy technologies are innovating and bringing their costs down," he said. Replacing energy produced by recently-mothballed reactors at Pickering could be "completely feasible and cost effective ... with non-nuclear clean-tech options without the lights going out."
http://newsdurhamregion.com/business/article/165952
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'This government should be sued'
Activist warns Port Hope that radioactive waste will leak into water and air 'for the rest of time'
Port Hope's air, drinking water, fish, beach, soil - virtually everything in the town of 16,000 poses a health risk from radioactivity, anti-nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott warned an overflow crowd Tuesday night.
http://www.thestar.com/article/
891709--sue-government-over-toxic-town-activist-tells-port-hope
Port Hope ponders legal action against local anti-nuke groups
After a week of provocative commentary from anti-nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott, the Municipality of Port Hope may take legal action. Deputy Mayor Lees estimates that Port Hope has lost millions of dollars in retail sales, real estate transactions, as a result of the actions of both groups, and certain other individuals whom he would not name.
Following her visit, Dr. Caldicott maintained that Port Hope is dangerous. In fact, she said with Cameco's uranium conversion facility operating on Lake Ontario, there is no other place on earth more dangerous to human health.
http://www.northumberlandnews.com/articlePrint/166184
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America's Eggshell Nukes
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made it clear that America's 104 licensed atomic power reactors are not accidents waiting to happen. They are accidents in progress.
And proposals to build a "new generation" of reactors are not mere scams. They comprise a predictable plan for permanent national bankruptcy.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/11/15-4
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The Code Killers
Why DNA and ionizing radiation are a dangerous mix; An expose of the nuclear industry
http://www.acehoffman.org/books/TheCodeKillers.pdf
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$1.7 Billion and Rising: Taxpayers' Gas Bill for Oil Sands
Extractors gobble natural gas, deducting the cost from their taxes. That already huge public subsidy, hidden from view, is due to balloon.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2010/11/09/GasBillForOilSands/
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Burning coal helps OPG raise profits
Output from OPG’s thermal plants, which mostly burn coal, rose by 250 per cent in the three months ended Sept. 30, raising OPG’s carbon dioxide emissions 45 per cent compared with last year.
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/
893670--burning-coal-helps-opg-raise-profits
Angela’s Note: Increasing OPG’s profits at the expense of the climate or our children’s health doesn’t make sense. [Finishing the coal phase out]
The good news is that Ontario’s coal-free generation capacity is now 17% greater than our peak day electricity demands. Therefore we can achieve a virtually complete coal phase-out today by simply putting our dirty coal plants on standby reserve, only operating them if they are absolutely needed to keep the lights on.
1 Minute Action: Please send an email to Energy Minister Duguid now and ask him to prevent up to 137,500 asthma attacks per year by putting all of our dirty coal boilers on standby reserve today.
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The Story of Coal
Coal still generates 50% of the electricity consumed in the United States and once people get the real picture of how dirty it is, they surely will think a bit harder about switching to a renewable source of power.
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/266/688/
Video:_The_Story_of_Coal.html
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Reducing Your Electrical Bill
By popular demand, we have gathered together our various energy conservation tips for reducing electrical power consumption. Recent hikes in electrical bills in Ontario have many consumers scrambling for ways to lower their electrical bill. Find out how to reduce them here:
http://www.econogics.com/en/poweroff.htm
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Pay now for power
There's no such thing as free hydro. The McGuinty government's decision to add $1 billion to the deficit to pay for lower electricity rates is cowardly, irresponsible and will ultimately end up costing the taxpayers of Ontario more.
Ultimately, the people of Ontario will have to pay for power, whether through taxes or on their bills. It's far preferable to pay now, and pay directly. It's more honest -- it allows Ontarians to see the relationship between the government's energy-policy decisions on the expenditure side and the cost on their bills. It's also more fair, because it allows those consumers who use less hydro to pay less. The shift to the tax base also reduces the financial incentive that might have convinced more people to find ways to save money, whether through timing their usage to coincide with lower rates at times of less demand, or by conserving altogether. Financial incentives are a great way to nudge people into new habits, habits that can reduce the overall burden on the energy grid. The market works.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology ... story.html
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Our fiscally prudent strategy to lower electricity bills
Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan announced this afternoon a $1.1 billion per year taxpayer-financed subsidy for the consumption of dirty coal-fired and high-cost nuclear power. But merely reducing electricity prices masks the true costs of producing electricity. Here is our sustainable and fiscally prudent strategy to lower electricity bills.
Put the pedal to the metal on improving energy efficiency: Ontario’s demand for electricity has fallen by 7% since 2006, but our electricity consumption per person is still 35% higher than New York State’s. We can do a lot more to save consumers money by reducing electricity waste.
End blank cheques for nuclear projects: No green or clean power producer gets to pass capital cost overruns onto consumers like the nuclear industry does. It’s time to end blank cheque spending on wildly expensive nuclear projects. We must refuse to let Ontario Power Generation (OPG) max out our collective credit card to pay for the inevitable multi-billion dollar cost overruns on its proposed Darlington Re-Build project.
Import more hydro power from Quebec: Under federal rules, Quebec must offer Ontario electricity for the same price it gets from its American customers. Last year that was 6.5 cents per kWh, less than a third the price of power from a rebuilt Darlington Station. Current transmission capacity is sufficient to import enough electricity from Quebec to provide power equal to more than three-quarters of Darlington’s output – with no radioactive waste.
Instead of applying costly band-aids to electricity bills, we need to implement the following real solutions to controlling electricity costs.
Please email Finance Minister Dwight Duncan and urge him to:
a) invest massively in energy efficiency and conservation programs,
b) tell OPG that it will not be allowed to pass its Darlington Re-Build cost overruns onto consumers and taxpayers, and
c) import more hydro electricity from Quebec.
Thank you for your help to usher in lower cost green electricity.
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Angela Bischoff, Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402, Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
www.cleanairalliance.org
Our Facebook Group
Sign Our Petition
No Nukes News
Health Power
Coal Must Go
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4. Matoush Uranium Project Should be Rejected
http://www.miningwatch.ca/en/
matoush-uranium-project-should-be-rejected-say-miningwatch-cree-nation-mistissini-and-others
MiningWatch, Cree Nation of Mistissini
Mistissini Cree Nation November 23, 2010
The message was clear -- reject Strateco Resources’ proposal for an advanced uranium exploration project at its Matoush site In the Otish Mountains.
The message came from Mistissini Chief Richard Shecapio, from MiningWatch Canada, from the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, from Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, and from individuals living in Mistissini and from southern Québec who traveled here for the first of two public hearings on the proposed project.
The first to present was Ramsey Hart of MiningWatch Canada. Mr. Hart highlighted a number of fundamental weaknesses in the proponents justification and impact assessment for the project giving examples of several assertions made by the company that were not backed up by evidence. Two of the most serious flaws, in Hart’s view, were the failure to address how the 2.4 km underground ramp would interact with groundwater and the failure to provide information about the mine Strateco hopes the advanced exploration project will lead to. He quoted information from an April 2010 document, not included in the environmental impact statement, that 2-million tones of tailings would be dumped into two nearby lakes. “These are the kinds of issues we should be discussing now” said Hart.
Gordon Edwards from the Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility reviewed aspects of the project documents for MiningWatch. He pointed to the companies failure to provide information on basic aspects of radiation and its hazards while identifying important errors in the calculation of the concentrations of radioactive materials in the rocks from the project site.
In his address, Chief Shecapio was critical of Strateco for their failure to provide adequate information, answer the community’s questions and to gain their trust. He expressed his community’s concern over the potential for lasting impacts to wildlife and about the proximity of the project to a newly formed national park. The lack of care taken in developing their impact statement made him question how careful the company would be in implementing the project. He also stated that the mining of uranium would go against fundamental values of the Cree.
Thomas Coon, a Cree elder made an eloquent and passionate speech comparing the feeling in the room to the feeling in the community when it was faced with the first massive hydro-electric developments in their territory. He described it as: “the feeling of fear, the feeling of threat, the feeling of uncertainty that something is going to happen to our land, the land that we love.”
Of the 10 presentations made to the panel tonight, none were supportive of the project. A second hearing is planned for the Town of Chibougamau on Thursday.
For Additional Information:
Ramsey Hart, Canada Program Coordinator,
MiningWatch Canada, ramsey@miningwatch.ca
613-614-9937
Ramsey Hart’s presentation to the panel:http://www.miningwatch.ca/en/Matoush+Nov+23
Gordon Edwards´presentation to the panelhttp://ccnr.org/GE_Critique_EIS.pdf
Canadian Environmental Assessment Matoush Project Website:http://www.ceaa.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=1ED9DF1A-1
(Archived audio and verbatim transcripts will be available on the same CEAA website soon.)
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5. LETTER: HUGHES, E.: Familiar cavalier attitude towards uranium
From: Elaine Hughes
To: letters@theaustralian.com.au
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 10:53 PM
Subject: Familiar cavalier attitude towards uranium
Dear Editor:
RE: Greens' uranium threat dismissed by Canadian miner
Kintyre's Environmental Manager Mr. Williamson's cavalier attitude towards the concerns Australians are voicing over the new uranium mine his company hopes to open to be so disgusting and reprehensible . . . but breathtakingly familiar!
It seems that Cameco and other Canadian uranium companies are afflicted with the same corporate psychopathic blindness and irresponsibility to the terrible harm this lethal substance, in all its forms, can cause!
And, all along, I thought it was in our Saskatchewan water! Now I see it's universal - must be the stench of all that lovely 'yellow' money!
Shamefully yours,
Elaine Hughes
Saskatchewan, CANADA
Saskatchewan! Premier Wall's 'Saudi Arabia' of uranium!
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Greens' uranium threat dismissed by Canadian miner
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/
greens-uranium-threat-dismissed-by-canadian-miner/story-e6frg8zx-1225958817664
Andrew Burrell From: The Australian November 23, 2010 12:00AM
CANADIAN uranium giant Cameco has hit back at threats by the Greens.
The Greens threatened to use their newfound influence in Canberra to try to stop approval of its Kintyre mine in Western Australia.
Touring the east Pilbara project, Kintyre environmental manager Simon Williamson dismissed concerns about political risk and said the Gillard and Barnett governments fully backed it.
Greens senator Scott Ludlam said the party would use its alliance with the Gillard government, and its balance of power in the Senate from July, to try to block the Kintyre project, which is 70 per cent owned by Canadian interests and 30 per cent by Japan's Mitsubishi.
Kintyre is competing with several projects, including BHP Billiton's Yeelirrie, to be the first uranium mine in WA since the Barnett government lifted a ban on the nuclear fuel in late 2008.
The project will require approval from federal Environment Minister Tony Burke.
In 43 degree heat at the Kintyre site yesterday, Mr Williamson said the Greens' claims that the uranium industry was dangerous for workers and communities were "scaremongering and not factual".
Some people in communities along the transport route proposed for Kintyre were concerned about radioactive exposure, but local communities were being fed incorrect information, he said. He expected the Greens would keep trying to "muddy the water".
Cameco plans to truck yellowcake to a transport hub near Kalgoorlie, and then use rail or road to take it to Port Adelaide for export.
The uranium would be packed in steel drums and stowed in steel containers, and would present "no significant hazard", he said.
It is expected to be exported to North America and China.
MORE:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/
greens-uranium-threat-dismissed-by-canadian-miner/story-e6frg8zx-1225958817664
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6. Hypothesis to Explain Childhood Cancer near Nuclear Power Plants
http://pdfserve.informaworld.com/924553__914006026.pdf
Author: Ian Fairlie
Abstract
In early 2008, the very large Kinderkrebs in der Umgebung von Kernkraftwerken [Childhood Cancer near Nuclear Power Plants] (KiKK) study in Germany reported increases in leukaemias and solid cancers among children living near all German nuclear power plants (NPPs). This study, previously described in Medicine, Conflict and Survival, has triggered debates in many countries as to the cause or causes of these increased cancers. An accompanying article reports on the recent developments on the KiKK study including the responses by German radiation agencies, and the results of recent epidemiological studies near United Kingdom and French nuclear installations. This article outlines a possible explanation for the increased cancers. In essence, doses from environmental NPP emissions to embryos/foetuses in pregnant women near NPPs may be larger than suspected, and haematopoietic tissues may be considerably more radiosensitive in embryos/foetuses than in newborn babies. The article concludes with recommendations for further research.
Keywords: cancer; carbon-14; congenital malformations; discharges; embryo; emissions; foetus; leukaemia; nuclear power stations; pregnancy outcomes; radiation; radioactivity; radionuclides; relative risk; tritium
View Full Text Article:
Download PDF (~821 KB)
http://pdfserve.informaworld.com/32114__914006026.pdf
View Article Online (HTML)
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/
section?content=a914006026&fulltext=713240928
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7. U.S. Urged To Reveal Locations Of Depleted Uranium In Iraq
http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=71968&s2=19
By Ljubica Vujadinovic November 18, 2010
Despite the reports on the soaring cancer in Iraq and ever rising concern it might have been caused by the contamination with depleted uranium (DU), the United States refuse to reveal the locations the DU containing weapons were used. During the two conflicts in 1991 and 2003 in Iraq, the US has used at least 400 tonnes of the DU, the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW) stated.
"Contaminated sites are quite difficult to identify in the field. Thus, it is important that location information is released so that civilians living nearby can be warned, soil water and air can be monitored and where necessary, sites can be decontaminated." the ICBUW Coordinator Doug Weir told Allvoices.
Last month, the US, along with France, Israel and the United Kingdom, were the only four states in the UN First Committee who opposed a resolution calling on users of DU weapons to release quantitative and geographical data to the governments of affected states. However, the UK has already released the information on where it had used the DU in invasion on Iraq in 2003. Why is Washington so reluctant doing the same?
"We think it is very unlikely that the US didn't keep records so the other explanation may be that they could find themselves liable for compensation or clean-up costs if they revealed where the weapons were used: it infers responsibility. The experience from the Balkans suggests that clean-up costs would be considerable."
In Serbia, the data from one of the most contaminated area during the NATO bombing in 1999 implies the DU is related with the increase of cancer rates and newborn with deformities. In case of Iraq, there are still no relevant statistics that would imply health hazards of the DU contamination.
"In large part it is because of a lack of transparency from the US - it's impossible to make links between exposure and health problems unless you know where the weapons have been used." Weir told Allvoices.
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8. DOBBIN: Citizen Psychopaths
http://murraydobbin.ca/2010/11/22/citizen-psychopaths/
Posted: 22 Nov 2010 09:54 AM PST
Boys’ Club…
You know they’re gonna kill us
It’s the Boys’ Club
- Parachute Club
National governments have been back in the news over the past two years because of the financial crisis and the havoc it wreaked on the global economy. Belying the ideology that nations were obsolete in the grand new order of transnational corporations, they are now front and centre trying to save the corporations that supposedly had replaced them. That is, saving them from themselves — from their greed, overreach, hubris and sheer incompetence.
Yet there is a disturbing silence about the role of corporations in the world as if these private institutions are somehow immutable — created by the heavens and something we have to live with, like the weather. We need to change our way of thinking because corporations are the Frankenstein monsters that will destroy the planet. No amount of so-called “good corporate citizenship” or investment in wind power or electric cars will change this fact — the most important fact that the planet will deal with (or not) in the next century. Imagine what you will regarding what “we” have to do to save the planet. Unless we dismantle this perverse institution and take away its power, the world will descend into another dark age.
MORE:
http://murraydobbin.ca/2010/11/22/citizen-psychopaths/
Related:
• In Search of the Humanitarian Corporation
http://thetyee.ca/Views/2005/01/10/Huma ... rporation/
Former exec Hugo Bonjean believes one can exist, if we change its charter.
• All About Psychopath, Inc.
http://thetyee.ca/Entertainment/2004/01 ... opath_Inc/
Makers of hot doc 'The Corporation' talk about soulless power, 'socially responsible' business, unions, and trying to know what's real anymore.
• What Happened on the BP Oil Rig?
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/06/18/WhatHappenedBP/
The facts, now out, are detailed here. The moral reckoning has yet to begin.
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9. The Kabul kids aren't alright
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/asia/2010/11 ... nt-alright
By Sue Turton November 23rd, 2010.
It's the kids that break your heart in Kabul.
Picking through rubbish dumps for something that might have a worth or scavenging for firewood to keep their family warm. There are ragged youths at every roundabout here tapping on the car window begging for Afghanis or proffering tin cans of burning charcoal that promise to rid your car of evil spirits.|
The daily violence does not discriminate between old and young and the numbers of children ripped apart by IEDs and suicide bombers gets ever higher.
If you're born in Afghanistan the odds are stacked against you from the day of your birth.
Mortality rates during child birth have improved but they're still amongst the highest in the world. One in every five don't make it to their fifth birthday.
If the conflict doesn't get you, the pneumonia, hypothermia, diarrhoea or tuberculosis just might. And that's just the physical side. One-quarter of all Afghan children are thought to have mental problems related to the trauma of war.
MORE:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/asia/2010/11 ... nt-alright
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10. Afghanistan: the pipeline factor
http://www.straightgoods.ca/2010/
ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=970&Cookies=yes
Multibillion dollar TAPI project would bring oil and gas from Turkmenistan.
Dateline: Tuesday, November 23, 2010
by John Foster, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA)
Of the many possible reasons for Canada to stay in Afghanistan — ending terrorism, liberating women, educating girls, spreading democracy, keeping NATO from failing — one dynamic is rarely discussed. The TAPI pipeline project has long been the elephant in the closet, quietly supported by Western powers. Countries expect to sign formal agreements in December, with construction to be completed by 2014 — a magic date for Ottawa too. The pipeline deserves attention, as it is likely to be a target for insurgents and a reason for ongoing military occupation.
The planned pipeline project
The long-planned pipeline, named TAPI after the initials of the four participating countries (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India), is the same pipeline the US company Unocal wanted to build in the 1990s. The TAPI countries have held eleven high-level planning meetings during the past eight years, the most recent in September 2010. The 1,680km pipeline would follow the ancient trading route from Central to South Asia, extending from a gas field in Turkmenistan along the highway through Herat, Helmand and Kandahar in Afghanistan, to Quetta and Multan in Pakistan, and on to Fazilka in India.
MAP - on website
Support for the pipeline project
The US is pushing hard for that pipeline. It's part of their geopolitical strategy in Central Asia. The pipeline was discussed in high-level donor meetings in 2006 and 2010 and is included in Afghanistan's 2008 National Development Strategy.
Western countries are supportive, though they avoid mentioning the pipeline publicly. G8 Foreign Ministers endorsed the project this year at Gatineau, Quebec. What they approved was a new initiative to facilitate joint infrastructure projects identified by Afghanistan and Pakistan. One of these projects is the TAPI pipeline.
MORE:
http://www.straightgoods.ca/2010/
ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=970&Cookies=yes
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11. LETTER: REMPEL: . . . .troops in Afghanistan must wait for a miracle
From: Jacob Rempel
To: Bob Rae MP ; Paul Dewar ; Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe ; Michael Ignatieff ; Jack Layton MP ; John McCallum ; Don Davies ; Joyce Murray MP ; Gerard Kennedy MP ; Rob Oliphant ; Libby Davies ; Peter Julian
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2010 11:07 PM
Subject: --- troops in Afghanistan must wait for a miracle
References :-- See links below my comments.
Dear Members of Parliament :--
For the British Empire and Russia in India and Afghanistan, it was the Great Game, Brzezinski places the present US same game on The Grand Chessboard. (Click on link)
In 1997, Brzezinski wrote: "For America, the geopolitical prize is Eurasia.... an enormous reserve of natural gas and oil." Brzezinski now advises Pres Obama.
PNAC, the Project For The New American Century
Project For The New American Century
Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century
http://www.newamericancentury.org/Rebui ... fenses.pdf
This is the US game plan, which defers to plans of no other country.
In this Grand Chess Game, the US, China, India and Russia are the Kings and Queens,. Canada, Netherlands, Britain, Germany, Poland, Spain are power pieces. The pawns, -- the disposable sacrificed pawns are millions of Afghans, Iraqis, Pakistanis, Yemenis, Somalis, Palestinians, et al. Surviving pawns will suffer for many generations.
If present Canadian policies and plans continue, then we Canadians will loyally serve the US regime with soldiers, diplomats, war machines, taxes, and corruption of Canadian values. Environmental deterioration will continue unabated.
Canada should separate from its alliance with the US regime.
Any good we can do for the suffering masses, we can do better as an independent nation working with like-minded nations in support of a re-oriented strengthened United Nations.
Jacob Rempel, Vancouver
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References :--
THE MYSTERIOUS AFGHANISTAN EXTENSION, by Gerald Caplan.
Bob Rae supports Harper sending troops to wait for miracle. http://www.straightgoods.ca/2010/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=968
AFGHANISTAN: THE PIPELINE FACTOR, by John Foster.
Multibillion dollar TAPI project would bring oil and gas from Turkmenistan.
http://www.straightgoods.ca/2010/ViewAr ... fm?Ref=970
EXCERPTS :--
"...they avoid mentioning the pipeline publicly. G8 Foreign Ministers endorsed the project this year at Gatineau, Quebec. ... they approved a new initiative to facilitate joint projects identified by Afghanistan and Pakistan. One project is the TAPI pipeline.
Peter MacKay and NATO officials have indicated they would consider a request to protect pipelines, if asked. Pipelines last 50 years or more.---
Brzezinski dubbed such geopolitical jockeying The Grand Chessboard.
In 1997, he wrote: "For America, the chief geopolitical prize is Eurasia...An enormous concentration of natural gas and oil reserves is located in the region." Brzezinski is currently an adviser to President Obama.
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12. LETTER: HUGHES, V.: STOP ALL TRAINING, STOP WARRING WITH THOSE WHO FEED OFF OF TRAGEDY!
From: val hughes
To: pm@pm.gc.ca ; layton.j@parl.gc.ca ; ignatieff.m@parl.gc.ca ; cannol@parl.gc.ca ; duceppe.g@parl.gc.ca
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2010 10:15 PM
Subject: STOP ALL TRAINING , STOP WARRING WITH THOSE WHO FEED OFF OF TRAGEDY!
With Honourable mention:
The announcement to stop the war but continue training is ludicrous! All for major corporations win their millions, meanwhile the world goes deeper and deeper in debt. Where and what is the reasoning besides what is inevitably going to repeat itself as it has with world war one and world war two? NO to training, NO to world debt, NO TO THE CORPORATIONS lined up to make a profit while families watch their loved ones die or live disabled for the enrichment of Corporate Money Mongers with NO morals. We know..............
Listen to Canadians, stand by your people and fight against this ridiculous choice of training men to kill even more without heart!
Thank you for your consideration in this desperate cry to keep what is left of Canadian people, for mankind!
Sincerely,
Val Hughes
Box 1882, Beaverlodge, Alberta T0H 0C0
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13. North Korea fires at South Korean island
http://www.ceasefire.ca/
?p=6379&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ceasefire%2FycPl+%28Ceasefire.ca%29
Posted: 23 Nov 2010 09:47 PM PST
North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire on Tuesday. The exchange was begun by North Korea, which fired at a South Korean island near their western border. South Korea returned the fire, and South Korean officials are accusing North Korea of violating the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War. The North Korean attack left [...]
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North Korea's unending war rages on
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/
896502--walkom-north-korea-s-unending-war-rages-on
Published On Thu Nov 25 2010
By Thomas Walkom National Affairs Columnist
To the West, North Korea's shelling of a South Korean island is an incomprehensible action by a dangerous, rogue regime.
To South Koreans, it is a brutal reminder of the Communist North's earlier attempt, 57 years ago, to bring the entire peninsula under its control.
But to the North, Tuesday's shelling of Yeonpyeong island is just another reminder of how much unfinished business remains from a war that began in 1950 but that, technically, has never ended.
- - - - SNIP - - -
But to Pyongyang, Washington's consistent refusal to negotiate a final treaty is both an affront and an indication of North Korea's precarious position.
The Americans, it feels, broke their 1945 promise to permit a united Korea. And then the same Americans (this time in their role as head of the UN Command) reneged on promises to begin formal peace talks within three months of the 1953 armistice.
The armistice talked of withdrawing of all foreign troops from the peninsula. Yet U.S. forces are still there.
North Korea's response has been two-track. On the one hand it has tried to bully its way to a treaty (the regime once tried to assassinate an entire South Korean cabinet it deemed overly obstructionist).
On the other it has been diligently legalistic, refusing to accept anything not specifically agreed to in the 1953 armistice — including South Korea's unilateral extension of its maritime boundaries into areas the North claims.
It's worth noting that both this week's shelling and the sinking last March of a South Korean naval vessel took place near this disputed maritime boundary.
To the world outside Pyongyang, such events are worrisome in that they threaten another Korean war. To the North, however, they are the logical results of an earlier war that, to its mind, never really ended.
Columnist Thomas Walkom is a former Asia correspondent.
=========================
14. Drafting Nature's Constitution
http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power ... nstitution
Simply regulating pollution will never really stop it. Mari Margil of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund discusses why we need a fundamental change in the way we use law to protect nature. Mar 02, 2010
The environmental movement, with its army of professional advocates, lawyers, grassroots campaigners, and dedicated funders, has been around for decades. Yet nearly every biological indicator shows a planet in crisis—and poised to unravel faster as climate change disrupts already-shaky ecosystem functions.
Mari Margil, associate director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) [ http://www.celdf.org/ ] believes it's time for different tactics. The nonprofit agency used to work within the body of existing environmental law—helping impacted residents file lawsuits or appeal corporate permits—to protect communities from environmental damage. But a series of blocked efforts, often made worse by the very agencies meant to protect the environment, convinced the group that more fundamental changes were necessary.
"Our system of environmental laws and regulations don't actually protect the environment," says CLEDF's Mari Margil. "At best, they merely slow the rate of its destruction ... We weren't helping anyone protect anything."
The organization has since changed its goals, working with citizens from all over North and South America to literally rewrite local laws in ways that allow people to speak up for their communities, watersheds, forests, and air.
According to Margil, anemic environmental laws spring from the fact that nature has no constitutional rights. CLEDF has taken a local approach to reversing this structural blind spot, drafting ordinances for townships from New England to Pennsylvania to Washington State that:
• Give communities legal authority to say "No" to unwanted corporate activities;
• Recognize the rights of nature;
• Strip corporations of their constitutional rights.
In one landmark victory, the town of Barnstead, New Hampshire, voted 135 to 1 to ban the privatization of their freshwater by encroaching corporate interests—the first community in the nation to do so. Other towns have followed, stripping corporations of the rights of personhood and recognizing the rights of communities to self-govern. In 2008, with legal advice from CELDF, Ecuador recognized the right of nature to exist and persist in its national constitution.
Part One - [comment: go to link above to see clips]
Part Two
Part Three - This video was produced by Bioneers, a nonprofit organization that provides a forum and hub for social and scientific innovators.
Interested?
Communities Take on Corporate Powerhttp://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/
stand-up-to-corporate-power/communities-take-power
People across the country are taking our founding documents at their word, declaring citizens' right and duty to protect nature and community.
YES! Magazine encourages you to make free use of this article by taking these easy steps.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/about/reprints
sgast. (2010, February 26). Drafting Nature\'s Constitution. Retrieved November 22, 2010, from YES! Magazine
http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/
drafting-naturesconstitution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License
==================
15. Our Most Loved Resource? Water
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/11/22/WaterLove/
British Columbians are keen to protect rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands, a new poll finds.
By Linda Nowlan, Today, TheTyee.ca
Water pricing is a hot issue in communities across the country. Yet it remains an
untapped option for conservation, and for preventing tragedies like Walkerton.
We love our water, so much that we want new rules to protect the elixir of life. Water is the most highly valued natural resource we have, according to a new poll from the McAllister polling group done for WWF Canada and the Vancouver Foundation, released today.
While it may be predictable that 98 per cent of British Columbians feel fresh water is crucial to the prosperity and quality of life in B.C., it's less obvious that 72 per cent say nature should be the priority for managing water use during times of water scarcity -- even if it slows economic growth. And 62 per cent of those polled said that current rules governing water use in B.C. were not strict enough to ensure the future sustainability of B.C.'s fresh water resources.
The citizens of the province are giving a strong go-ahead signal to the government to do
what it takes to protect and conserve our rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands.
So take note, beleaguered politicians from all parties: this is a good news story. Bold reforms to safeguard water laws are likely to attract public support. Just as the carbon tax turned out to be a popular move by the Liberals (and opposition to the tax was a disaster for the NDP), ensuring nature's needs for water are met promises to be popular.
Time to make four changes to Water Act
MORE:
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/11/22/WaterLove/
Linda Nowlan is an environmental lawyer in Vancouver who served on the Canadian Council of Academies' Expert Panel on Groundwater, the BC Independent Drinking Water Review Panel, and is the author of numerous reports on water and environmental law, including
Practising Shared Water Governance in Canada: A Primer and Buried Treasure: Groundwater Permitting and Pricing in Canada (co-authored with Dr. Karen Bakker)
http://www.watergovernance.ca/publications/
#practising-shared-water-governance-in-ca
Buried Treasure: Groundwater Permitting and Pricing in Canada.
http://www.buriedtreasurecanada.org/Buried-Treasure.ppt
Related:
• The High Cost of Cheap Water
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/05/18/CheapWater/
• Trickle Down
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2007/10/29/BarlowOnWater/
Maude Barlow on water as a right, free trade and Canada's 'shame.'
• The Myth of Canada's Water Abundance
http://thetyee.ca/Books/2007/11/22/NoWater/
And why Maude Barlow's 'solution' is really a dry hole.
====================
16. Council of Canadians Update - November 23 & 24, 2010
Council of Canadians Update: Nov. 24
NEWS: Climate change warming the world’s lakeshttp://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=5444
The Associated Press reports that, “A first-of-its-kind NASA study is finding nice cool lakes are heating up — even faster than air. Two NASA scientists used satellite data to look at 104 large inland lakes around the world. They found that on average they have warmed 2 degrees since 1985. That’s about two-and-a-half times the increase in global temperatures in the same time period. The study was published Wednesday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.”
NEWS: Constance Lake First Nation water crisishttp://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=5442
The Canadian Press reports that, “A northern Ontario reserve where the water is unsafe to drink is pleading with Ottawa to maintain its bottled water shipments. The community learned last week that Ottawa was cutting the number of bottles shipped in from 4.5 litres per person, per day, to 1.5 litres, Constance Lake First Nations Chief Arthur Moore said.”
NEWS: BP, Imperial rent Canadian coast guard ship to make case for Arctic oil drilling
http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=5438
The CBC reports this evening that, “Questions are being raised over the use of a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker by two oil companies for research that could help them make a case for drilling in the Arctic. CBC News has learned that for a minimum of $50,000 a day, BP and Imperial Oil paid to use CCGS Amundsen — Canada’s most advanced research ship which is dedicated to the study of climate change — for a total of six weeks over the past two years. The oil companies want to study the environmental impact of their exploratory oil drilling plans in the Beaufort Sea.”
NEWS: Council of Canadians in Mexico for climate summithttp://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=5446
Metro News reports that, “Council of Canadians spokespeople will participate in workshops and roundtables in Mexico beginning next week for the Cancun climate talks. Ottawa-based national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, Maude Barlow, will be speaking in Mexico to raise several of the themes she addressed in a recent speech on the environment she delivered in California. ‘The global water crisis is the greatest ecological and human threat humanity has ever faced,’ said Barlow in a recent speech. ‘Dirty water is the biggest killer of children; everyday, more children die of waterborne disease than HIV/AIDS, malaria and war together,’ she said.”
Fix Panama’s tax regime before signing FTA, trade committee hearshttp://www.canadians.org/tradeblog/?p=1204
Canada’s international trade committee is currently in Europe talking to politicians, business groups and others about the Canada-EU free trade negotiations. When the group returns to Ottawa next week, hearings will continue into the Canada-Panama free trade agreement. Last week, the committee heard from a U.S. trade expert about the threats a Panama FTA would pose to Canada’s prudential financial regime.
= = = = =
Council of Canadians Update – November 23, 2010
MEDIA ADVISORY:
Council of Canadians to demand climate justice at Cancun talks http://www.canadians.org/media/energy/2010/23-Nov-10-a.html
ACTION ALERT: Take Our Cities Out of CETAhttp://www.canadians.org/action/2010/CETA-BC-1010.html
NEWS: Carbon offsets a false solution to clean waterhttp://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=5434
Tina Rosenberg recently wrote in the New York Times that, “Nearly a billion people don’t have drinkable water. Lack of water - and the associated lack of toilets and proper hygiene - kills 3.3 million people a year, most of them children under five. Lack of access to clean water is one of the world’s biggest health problems. And it is one of the hardest to solve. Lots of different groups dig wells and lay pipes - but the biggest challenge comes after the hardware is in.”
NEWS: Canada, EU reach MOU on hormone-treated beefhttp://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=5431
Reuters reports that, “Canada has gained duty-free access to the European Union for a 20,000-tonne annual quota of beef, Canada’s agriculture and trade ministers said on Tuesday. The access is worth about C$10 million ($9.8 million) annually, the ministers said.”
NEWS: Paris court ruling on FLOW ‘a victory’http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=5429
The Vancouver Sun reports today that: Canadian activist Maude Barlow is calling it a victory for those who believe clean water is a human right, but a French court’s recent decision to reject a defamation lawsuit against the movie Flow could also be regarded as a sign of changing times.
NEWS: US Secretary of State in Ottawa, Dec. 13http://www.canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=5428
The Pembina Institute has learned that US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton will be visiting Ottawa on December 13.
International trade committee meets CETA skeptics in Londonhttp://www.canadians.org/tradeblog/?p=1197
The House of Commons international trade committee (CIIT) is in Europe (UK, Belgium, Italy, Hungary) this week meeting with various people and organizations working on, or with an interest in, the Canada-EU trade negotiations. Yesterday in London they met with an anti-poverty, human rights group critical of CETA for its potential to interfere with non-trade related public policy objectives, including public services and job creation. Those in Toronto earlier this year for the G20 and the Council’s Shout Out for Global Justice will remember John Hilary, executive director of War on Want, as one of the keynote speakers. He and War on Water trade campaigner Dave Tucker met with the Canadian trade committee delegation yesterday morning at the Canadian consulate to discuss the stresses that trade agreements put on public services, including health care, and the need to develop an alternative trade model to the one proposed by CETA.
================
17. Watchdog probes whether federal leak sent Taseko stock into tailspin
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on- ... stry-news/
energy-and-resources/watchdog-probes-whether-federal-leak-sent-taseko-stock-into-tailspin/article1812738/?service=mobile
CBC cites unnamed government sources who say possible leak of information led to Taseko Mine Ltd.’s 40-per-cent drop
ADRIAN MORROWGlobe and Mail Update Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010 10:01PM EST
Investigators are trying to determine whether a leak of sensitive information from within the federal government prompted a sharp drop in value of the shares of a British Columbia mining company, the CBC is reporting.
Citing unnamed government sources, the broadcaster said Wednesday night that the Investment Regulatory Organization of Canada is trying to determine why shares in Taseko Mines Ltd., fell nearly 40 per cent on Oct. 14, more than two weeks before the federal government announced that it was blocking the firm’s plans to develop the Prosperity Mine, a development 125 kilometres southwest of Prince George.
Federal officials fear that the steep drop in stock was caused by a leak of information that the development would be stopped, the broadcaster reported, adding that the decision was taken secretly, in hopes of preventing such stock market fluctuations.
MORE:
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on- ... stry-news/
energy-and-resources/watchdog-probes-whether-federal-leak-sent-taseko-stock-into-tailspin/article1812738/?service=mobile