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Says Harper is standing with mining companies, against human rights.

from the Council of Canadians

Stephen Harper’s executive decision that Canada should try to join the Pacific Alliance political and trading bloc should be as controversial as his taking a trip to Peru and Colombia to dodge questions about overspending and lack of accountability in the Senate, says the Council of Canadians.

“It’s highly symbolic that the first people Harper met when he got off the plane were mining company executives,” says Council of Canadians national chairperson Maude Barlow. “The Pacific Alliance, like Canada’s existing trade and investment deals in Latin America, puts the profits of those companies above anything else. The deals, like the Alliance, have nothing to say about the environmental and human rights impact of mining in the region, which is more and more controversial, with growing resistance to Canadian mines in particular.”

The Pacific Alliance is a political grouping of right-wing, market fundamentalist governments in Peru, Chile, Colombia and Mexico that is widely regarded as a counterweight to more positive regional integration efforts on the continent. As Harper seeks to enhance “rights” for mining companies through closer ties with Pacific Alliance countries, for example, other countries, including Ecuador and Bolivia, are cancelling investment treaties and looking to set up new regional trade and investment rules that give equal space to the protection of human rights, water and the environment.

“As starkly set out in a leaked 2012 confidential government document, trade and economic opportunities for corporations have become the driving forces behind Stephen Harper’s foreign policy,” says Council of Canadians trade campaigner Stuart Trew. “Harper is using foreign policy to promote corporate interests and help his board room friends undermine movements in Latin America against Canadian mining and toward a more fair and balanced trade and investment system.”

Canada has had observer status with the Pacific Alliance since November 2012.
 

Bill would subject journalists to a $10,000 fine and up to six months in jail for publishing the names of concealed carry permit holders.

from MotherJones

"On Tuesday, the Louisiana Senate passed a bill that would imprison and fine journalists who intentionally publish information about the state's concealed-carry handgun permit holders. Reporters who violate the law would face penalties of up to $10,000, six months in jail, or both; public safety officials and police officers who leak permit information to the press would face penalties of up to $500, six months in jail, or both. Journalists in Louisiana say the bill is clearly unconstitutional, but that won't stop it from becoming law: After the Senate vote, it headed to Gov. Bobby Jindal's desk for his signature.

"Pamela Mitchell, executive director of the Louisiana Press Association, the state's official newspaper trade organization, says the bill is a clear example of prior restraint—the preemptive censorship of free speech. "That's patently unconstitutional," she says—"think Pentagon Papers," referring to the landmark case New York Times Co. v. United States. …"

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Broadcaster shunned documentary "Citizen Koch" for fear of offendfing David Koch, a generous donor.

from truthout

"'Citizen Koch,' a documentary about money in politics focused on the Wisconsin uprising, was shunned by PBS for fear of offending billionaire industrialist David Koch, who has given $23 million to public television, according to Jane Mayer of the New Yorker. The dispute highlights the increasing role of private money in "public" television and raises even further concerns about the Kochs potentially purchasing eight major daily newspapers.

"The film from Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin documents how the US Supreme Court's Citizens United decision helped pave the way for secret political spending by players like the Kochs, who contributed directly and indirectly to the election of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in 2010 and came to his aid again when the battle broke out over his effort to limit collective bargaining. …"

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Senior Guantanamo physician dismisses ethical concerns about force-feeding prisoners, and defends the ongoing practice.

from Al Jazeera

"A military physician who oversees a team of nurses force-feeding hunger-striking prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility has dismissed ethical concerns raised by human rights groups and medical organisations about the procedure, saying the medical community was motivated to speak out about the practice for political reasons.

"In an interview with Al Jazeera at the prison's detention hospital last week, the physician, who, for security reasons, could only be identified as a senior medical officer of the Joint Medical Group, was defensive when pressed about questions regarding medical ethics and force-feeding.

"'It's very easy for folks outside of this place to make policies and decisions they think they would implement,' the senior medical officer said. 'This is kind of a tough mission and this is kind of an ugly place sometimes, alright? The reality is when faced with people who are hunger striking, potentially to the point of needing medical intervention to protect their life and to keep them from harming themselves, suddenly it's not a very abstract decision. Hunger strikes are tough and a big use of time. I realize there's a lot of controversy. But it's a political thing.'"

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Forecast global temperature rise of 4C a calamity for large swaths of planet even if predicted extremes are not reached.

from The Guardian

"Some of the most extreme predictions of global warming are unlikely to materialise, new scientific research has suggested, but the world is still likely to be in for a temperature rise of double that regarded as safe.

"The researchers said warming was most likely to reach about 4C above pre-industrial levels if the past decade's readings were taken into account.

"That would still lead to catastrophe across large swaths of the Earth, causing droughts, storms, floods and heatwaves, and drastic effects on agricultural productivity leading to secondary effects such as mass migration. …"

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