from Al Jazeera
Gang rape of woman on bus triggers nationwide outrage as three of four accused confess to the crime in court…
Dec 202012
News blog
Dec 202012
from Al Jazeera
Israel violated international laws by targeting media in Gaza during the November 2012 conflict, US-based non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch has said.
The four attacks on journalists and media facilities by Israel in Gaza "was unlawful as violated the laws of war by targeting civilians and civilian objects that were making no apparent contribution to Palestinian military operations," the rights organisation said in a statement on Thursday…
Dec 192012
from Al Jazeera
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Police clash with protesters in New Delhi as gang rape of a woman on a bus triggers nationwide outrage…
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Dec 192012
from Democracy Now
AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to the Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore, who won that award for his 2002 documentary, Bowling for Columbine, about gun violence in the United States. On Friday night, Michael Moore appeared at the Bring Leonard Peltier Home 2012 event at the Beacon Theatre here in New York City, speaking just hours after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
MICHAEL MOORE: Earlier today, a crazy man went to an elementary school and attacked 22 children in China. A few hours before Connecticut, an elementary school was attacked in China by an insane man, and 22 children were his victims. But all he had was a knife. Total number of dead in the Chinese elementary school? Zero…
Dec 182012
OTTAWA, December 18, 2012 (Marketwire) — The President of the Canadian Labour Congress says he is deeply disappointed that the country's Finance Ministers have once again failed to move forward on improving the Canadian Pension Plan, but he says most provinces want CPP reform and he vows to continue working with them.
"I blame Ottawa for this," says CLC President Ken Georgetti. "Most provinces want to use the CPP to improve retirement pensions for Canadians but the federal government keeps stalling. This government is letting down millions of Canadians who are not able to save enough for a comfortable retirement."
Georgetti was responding to a meeting of Finance Ministers near Ottawa on December 16-17. At the conclusion, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said there was no consensus among provinces and there will be no immediate action on the CPP. He added that federal and provincial officials have been asked to do more study about what would constitute a "modest" increase in the CPP and to advise on the best timing for any increase.
"Mr. Flaherty said pretty well the same thing a year ago," Georgetti says. "Government officials did produce a study for this meeting that provided several workable options for enhancing the CPP. This is the time for action, not obstruction."
Georgetti says that Canadians are already facing a pensions crisis and that it will get worse. Sixty per cent of workers have no workplace pension, while one-third of Canadians between the ages of 24 and 64 have no personal retirement savings. "We have to do something about pensions and soon. If we don't act now, taxpayers in the future will have to spend billions of dollars more than they do today to support retirees living in poverty."
Ottawa also claims that the economy is too fragile to allow for any increased CPP contributions from workers and employers. Georgetti says, "The research provided by government officials for this meeting shows that the economic effect of increased contributions would be minimal, and also that Canada would still have a lower rate of payroll contributions that the U.S. and other OECD countries."
Georgetti vows that the CLC will continue to advocate for on behalf of all Canadians. "We believe that there is already enough support among the provinces to move forward on the CPP and we are going to be pushing hard for this to happen at the next Finance Ministers' meeting in June."
The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour movement, represents 3.3 million Canadian workers. The CLC brings together Canada's national and international unions along with the provincial and territorial federations of labour and 130 district labour councils.
Dec 182012
from Mother Jones
In the wake of the unthinkable massacre in Connecticut, pro-gun ideologues are once again calling for ordinary citizens to arm themselves as a solution to mass shootings. If only the principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School had possessed a M-4 assault rifle she could've stopped the killer, they say. This latest twist on a long-running argument isn't just absurd on its face; there is no evidence to support it…
Dec 172012
from AlterNet
We’ve heard a lot about the union-busting bill that passed in Michigan earlier this week, and for good reason: it was a surprise to almost everyone that the odious bill came up in the lame-duck state legislative session, and a great turnout by protesters ensured that news cameras were watching…
Dec 172012
from truthout
Meaningful action on gun control in the US has been thwarted, largely because of the power and wealth of the National Rifle Association (NRA). One of the key avenues it has used to exert its influence is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). For decades, the NRA has helped bankroll ALEC operations and even co-chaired ALEC's "Public Safety and Elections Task Force," where it secretly voted on bills alongside elected representatives. At ALEC's annual meeting this summer, the NRA had the biggest booth at the convention in Salt Lake City and also underwrote a shooting event along with one of the largest sellers of assault weapons in the world…
Dec 172012
Would private sector revenue producing workers have put their lives on the line this way?
by Dave Lindorff
I’ll be brief here. Let’s just note that the heroic teachers who died while courageously trying to protect their kids at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, and the others who survived but stayed to protect the kids, were all part of a school system where the employees are members of the American Federation of Teachers.
Dec 152012
from Boston's The Phoenix
Naomi Klein, black-clad and sharp-tongued mistress of the global anti-corporate left, friend to Occupiers and scourge of oil barons, stood outside a dressing room backstage at Boston's Orpheum Theatre one night last month, a clear-eyed baby boy on her hip.
"I'm really trying not to play the Earth Mother card," Klein told me over the phone the week before, as she talked about bringing Toma, her first child, into the world. But she didn't need to worry.