Posted: March 18, 2009

MILITARY CAN STILL COUNT ON WEST by Gillian Steward
  Stephen Harper supported Afghanistan mission even while in Opposition.
 
 

AQUACULTURE AWAITS ITS HEYDAY by Stephen Leahy
  The industry faces enormous challenges, not least of which is finding the feed for farmed fish.
 
 

HAMILTON STEEL MILLS SHUTTERED AFTER BEING FLIPPED FOR 700 PERCENT PROFIT by Ish Theilheimer
  Next move from US Steel will be rollback demands – union activist.

IRAN UNBLOCKS FACEBOOK by Golnaz Esfandiari
  Since access was allowed in February, Facebook has become Iran's 10th most popular website.
 
 

NAME THAT SCAM! As the economy sinks, fraud and scam artists are on the rise, especially on the Internet. Nigerian bankers – phony lottery "wins" – ultra cheap cars that need to be shipped – scammers are displaying new levels of mendacity. Post the most ingenious scam email you've seen in The Straight Goods Forum – as a warning to others – and we'll send a prize to the best.

Editorial
SPREAD OF WIND FARMS IS POSITIVE, BUT DEBATE IS REAL by Ish Theilheimer
  Public sector participation could help strike a balance between green energy and the concerns of rural people.
 

THROW THE BOOK AT BUSH by David Model
  Canada had a duty to detain George W Bush for crimes against humanity.
 
 

TICKET BOUGHT FOR ABDELRAZIK from the People's Commission on Security
  Canadian, jailed in Sudan at the recommendation of CSIS, to head home on April 3.

Science matters
OF TREES AND CARBON SINKS by David Suzuki, with Faisal Moola
  Forests are another piece of the global warming puzzle.
 

MeanToons
DESPERATELY SEEKING GOOD NEWS by John Meaney
  Everywhere you look, the forecast is the same.

www.meantoons.com

Canadian Politics


GOOD HARPER/BAD HARPER by Geoffrey Stevens
  PM's partisanship causes grief for himself, and everyone else.
 
 

TIME TO PROTECT FARM WORKERS by Scott Harris
  Alberta needs to include paid agriculture workers in the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS ABOUT RAILGATE by Bill Tieleman
  BC Rail paid Liberal party insider nearly $300k – for reasons that are not clear.
 

BARRIERS TO WOMEN IN POLITICS ALSO HURT DEMOCRACY by Elsie Hambrook
  Women were only 20 percent of provincial and 26 percent of municipal candidates in most recent New Brunswick elections.
 

Workplaces
OTTAWA MUST PROTECT HARD-EARNED PENSIONS OF CANADIANS by Ken Georgetti
  CLC calls for enhanced public pensions in order to reduce our reliance on speculative financial markets.
 

THE WORLD OF LABOR by Harry Kelber
  News from Russia, Holland, New Zealand, Israel and Iran.
 
 

Watershed Ways

EATING LOCALLY NO HARDSHIP, EVEN IN MARCH by Janet McNeill
  Learning to love squash and beets is easier than it sounds.
 

Consumers


SCAMMERS HIT SENIORS by Sherwood Ross
  Beware promises of "free" money or unexpected "good news".
 
 

TWO PAYCHEQUES FROM POVERTY from Metlife Insurers
  Half of all Americans say they could not pay their bills if they missed two paycheques.

Media files
STATE OF MEDIA REPORT BLEAKEST EVER from the Pew Center Project for Excellence in Journalism
  Pew Project finds audience migration and recession reduce time journalism has to sort out finances.

USA watch

NATIONALIZATION MIGHT BE THE ONLY FIX by David Moberg
  Ghosts of neoliberalism trouble Obama's response to the recession.
 

PICK OF THE WEEK

FREE ANDREW NIKIFORUK BOOK DOWNLOAD Greystone Books is giving away .pdf versions of Andrew Nikiforuk's hot new book, Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent, co-published with the Suzuki Foundation. Greystone describes the book as, "a critical exposé" of the world's largest energy project – the Alberta oil sands – that has made "Canada one of the worst environmental offenders on earth."   www.dmpibooks.com/pdf/tar-sands

Hot headlines
USA, RUSSIA, PRESSING THE RESET BUTTON by Gwynne Dyer
  New Obama administration means the tide has turned in US-Russia relations.
 

THE COMING EVANGELICAL COLLAPSE by Michael Spencer
  An anti-Christian chapter in Western history is about to begin.

Take action!
TELL HARPER – NO ADS ON CBC RADIO from Friends of Canadian Broadcasting
  Watch this video and consider the absurdity.

Feedback from our readers
ONDP MADE A GOOD CHOICE by Dodie
  Politics needs more young people, like Andrea Howarth.

Humour
A SOLUTION FOR THOSE WITHOUT THE MIDAS TOUCH from the Internet
  I predict a run on bronze.