Posted: January 21, 2009

BUILD TRANSIT — DON'T BAIL OUT CARS by Albert Koehl
  The new road forward might well be on rails.
 
 

BASI-VIRK CASE RECAP by Bill Tieleman
  Five years after the arrests, the case is not even close to coming to trial.
 
 

SENIORS GET BAD RAP ON HEALTH by Gillian Steward
  Study shows today's seniors are much healthier than previous generations.
 
 

LESSONS FROM CHILE by Ricardo Acuña
  Cheap credit creates the illusion of a middle class.
 
 

NOW YOU CAN TALK BACK TO US! Straight Goods is pleased to announce our new, better-than-ever Reader's Forum. You will find an invitation to "Add Comment" at the bottom of every new article and, if you're logged in, you can join the discussions. Of course, readers are also welcome to send their comments as Letters to the Editor at any time. Another way to tell us what you think is to take a few minutes to complete the SG Readers Survey. You could be one of ten lucky respondents will win terrific SG swag!

Editorial
OPTIMISM IN US CONTRASTS WITH CANADA'S DOWNER MOOD by Ish Theilheimer
  Stephen Harper has one thing in common with Obama — no one's sure of his next move.
 

OBAMA BRINGS PEACE TO THE FAMILY by Penney Kome
  And his family includes everyone.
 
 

Science matters
ACCOUNTING FOR NATURE'S GOODS AND SERVICES by David Suzuki, with Faisal Moola
  A new global economy is emerging from this crisis, and it's a green economy.
 

MeanToons
A NEW KIND OF OATH by John Meaney
  Obama brings candour to the Oval Office.

www.meantoons.com

Canadian Politics

WASHINGTON CELEBRATES, OTTAWA BRACES by Geoffrey Stevens
  When Canadian and US governments reconvene this week, we will see the political importance of trust.
 

POWER STRUGGLE CREATES RIFT IN ALBERTA GREENS by Jeremy Klaszus
  Party focuses on growing rural membership.
 
 

OLYMPIC VILLAGE FIASCO by Bill Tieleman
  Non-Partisan Association playing the blame-game.

TOO MANY ABORIGINAL WOMEN ARE INCARCERATED by Elsie Hambrook
  Ninety percent of federally sentenced Aboriginal women have been physically abused, and 61 percent sexually abused.
 

Workplaces

UNIONS RESPOND TO ECONOMIC CRISIS by Harry Kelber
  Updates from UK, Brazil, Japan, Pakistan, Turkey and Australia.
 
 

EXPLOITING THE ECONOMIC CRISIS TO ATTACK UNIONS by Larry Brown
  Rescue plans include bailouts for banks but wage controls for public sector workers.
 

Consumers
TOP 10 SCAMS IN 2008 from the Better Business Bureau of Chicago and Northern Illinois
  Better Business Bureau reports on the most common ways to cheat people out of money.

Media files

TOP ONLINE NEWS SITES by Jennifer Saba
  Global news sites gained readership in 2008.
 
 

PICK OF THE WEEK

SCAN THE US NEWS ON ONE PAGE The Newseum is an interactive museum of news and journalism in that opened its doors in Washington, DC last April. You can see front pages from newspapers all across the US on one map, updated daily.   www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash

Hot headlines

BARACK OBAMA'S INAUGURAL SPEECH by Barack Obama
  New US President calls on Americans to rise above divisiveness and start to rebuild.
 

MEDIA'S LAZY FIXATIONS OBSCURE THE REAL MICHELLE by Sheila Gibbons
  High-powered lawyer depicted as mother and fashion model.
 
 

RICH GET POORER, POOR DISAPPEAR by Barbara Ehrenreich
  Inequality has all but disappeared from public discourse.
 
 

Take action!
VOTE FOR LABOUR WEBSITE OF THE YEAR from LabourStart
  LabourStart's short list includes global sites.

Feedback from our readers
CANADA NEEDS LEADERS AND HARPER IS NOT A LEADER by Chris
  38,000 jobs were lost in December while Parliament was prorogued.

Humour
GOODBYE BUSH from the Internet
  Welcome to the new millennium, finally.