CPP Funds Wal-Mart

The Green Party leader Jim Harris announced today that our Federal pension fund,the CPP, is a shareholder in union busting, child labour exploiting Wal-Mart. Congarts every Canadian is now a shareholder in exploitation. The Greens called for a Corporate Social Responsibility Act and for the end of CPP investments in Wal-Mart.

"Wal-Mart has a proven track record of insufficient sensitivities to the communities in which it operates, and a prime example of this corporate approach is the closing of their store in Jonquière last April, shortly after its workers unionized", said Harris.

As of the 31st of March 2005, the CPP held 322 000 shares in Wal-Mart valued at almost 20 million dollars. "If the CPP still owns these shares they have a responsibility to divest and send a strong message to all companies that our values as a community are more important than a single corporation's interests," said Harris.

Recently Radio Canada exposed the fact that Wal-Mart goods sold in Canada were being made by child labour in Bangladesh. In response to criciticsm of expoliting child labour Wal-Mart has refused to change its practices and has instead run away from its responsibilities.Bangladesh Wal-Mart criticised for cut and run policy - not taking responsibility for use of child labour

The use of the CPP,which all retired Canadians rely upon, as an investment vehicle has been a major source of controversy. Anti War Activists have pointed out the Military Weapons investments made by the CPP and recently David Dodge of the Bank of Canada suggested the CPP be used to invest in P3's.

When we think of ethical investments we would be forgiven for thinking that would be the prime investment vehicle of our publicly funded CPP. But it is not. The CPP is out to make money with no democratic control or transparency. Once again the Market Managers invest our pension money with no ethical parameters to restrict them.

Previous Pension Articles are Here and Here

You Like Us You Really Like Us

Canada 'not at its best at the moment': Economist

The Economist this week is Covers Canada literally. We are the Cover Story. They like us they really like us. Well they should we are the most successful capitalist economy in the G8, or the G9 or the G10, of the G11 or the.....And we Love NAFTA.....Ask Paul........We are fighting those nasty Yankee Protectionists to defend something that the Liberals once claimed was the fight of their life to oppose.....Yep the Economist says we're cool, and then the other shoe drops........
The magazine also points to Canada's peculiar flaws. "Canada has everything, except perhaps ambition." Ouch. And with tha erudite British aplomb they co on to give our little country their capitalist report card;

The latest edition says Canada is beset dysfunctional politics, grumpy anti-Americanism and three brewing political storms: one in the West, one in Quebec and one in its relations with the United States. The business-oriented publication is running a 14-page special report and a lead editorial on Canada.

It's upbeat about Canada's overall prospects: "Peaceful, diverse, tolerant (in June gay marriages became legal throughout the country) and with long-term riches to boot - if this isn't 'cool', what is?"

However, it points to building political turbulence.

Looking at the campaign for the Jan. 23 federal election, the survey describes the country's politics as "a fractured mess."

Prime Minister Paul Martin is "a fine finance minister, but as prime minister he has, on the whole, disappointed."

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is described as "an aloof, cerebral figure, disparaged well beyond Liberal circles as a neo-conservative importing dangerous ideas from the United States.

He is also "clueless with the media."

Yep that sort of hits on the head doesn't it.

The Logic of the Homophobic Right

Here is an example of the irrefutible logic of the anti-gay rightwhingnuts. It appears today on the Anti-Abortion Anti-Gay Anti-Feminist Lifesite (sic)- The rightwhingnutz of Lifesite claim that the Charter defends individual rights not rights to Same Sex Marriage.

However, as the Family Research Council (FRC) has pointed out, "while every individual person is free to get married, no person, whether heterosexual or homosexual, has ever had a legal right to marry simply any willing partner. Every person, whether heterosexual or homosexual, is subject to legal restrictions as to whom they may marry. To be specific, every person, regardless of sexual preference, is legally barred from marrying a child, a close blood relative, a person who is already married, or a person of the same sex. There is no discrimination here, nor does such a policy deny anyone the 'equal protection of the laws', since these restrictions apply equally to every individual." Aha now I get it Mr. or Ms. Individual regardless of sexual orientation may NOT engage in pedophilia, incest, bigamy or gay marriage. The first three are 'criminal acts' under the Criminal Code of Canada. So what Lifestyle is saying is that gay marriage is not a human right for Mr or Ms. Individual it is a Criminal Act apparently banned by the Criminal Code.

To further clarify this important point, in case you didn't get it Mr. or Ms. Individual, they say; "The fundamental 'right to marry' is a right that rests with individuals, not with couples. Homosexual individuals already have exactly the same 'right' to marry as anyone else. " As long as you marry Mr. or Ms. Individual of the opposite sex. FRC points out that "Many people who now identify themselves as homosexual have previously been in legal (opposite-sex) marriages. On the other hand, many people who previously had homosexual relationships have now renounced that behavior and married persons of the opposite sex." So Mr or Ms Individual can marry someone who is or was gay as long as they are of the opposite sex.

Yep see what I mean irrefutible logic. I am convinced. I will now go marry my dog cause it's not specifically banned by the Criminal Code. Its my individual right according to the logic of FRC.

Contradictions of the Security State

So explain this, Canada and the US are looking at imposing passport identification for cross border travel. US passport plan gives way to cross-border ID Meanwhile the government says Canadians are NOT entitled to passports. Hmmmm...... The Charter of Rights and Freedoms doesn't entitle any Canadian — including Abdurahman Khadr — to a passport, a government lawyer argued yesterday as the man with family ties to Al Qaeda fought for the right to have the travel document"There is no authority suggesting such a right (to a passport) exists in Canada," said Morris. "It doesn't guarantee you a right to travel and it's not necessary for it." Oh really, tell that to US and European Customs!

Better yet the current Toronto Centre Liberal Candidate Bill Graham bungled this case, and denied Khadr his passport.....Government lawyers admitted yesterday that former foreign affairs minister Bill Graham bungled the handling of Khadr's failed application. Court documents reveal that the passport office withheld information from Khadr and his lawyer related to the decision because the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service requested secrecy. Yep I smell another Liberal Scandal happening here, just in time for the Election.

Blame 50 Cents

Carrying guns has become trendy, Vancouver police fear
Vancouver police say they're worried about a new trend, as more young men with minimal gang or criminal connections are carrying handguns - that packing a gun appears to have become an "in" thing. Yep it's all that ultra violent motherf***** n****, yo ho, you bytch, Gangsta Hippty Hoppy music thay all listen to.....Gangsta Hip Hop is to Black Community Resistance as the Iraqi Resistance is to Freedom for Iraq. It's all about guns and money, and money and guns, and money for guns, and guns for money.......and I just realized that in Canada 50 cents is two bits...as in two bit punk...or two bit gangster...or two bit thug.....We waz ahead of our time.....

Election Comix

Harper will 'burn people out,' Martin camp says

Paul Martin's handlers believe there is a chance
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper will "burn people out"
with his daily doses of policy announcements.

Thats cause Martin has Nothing to say.......

Venezuela vote was fair

As I said here the other day, Chavez was elected by popular vote, once again. Three times now. And those that boycotted the elections did so under the misguided support of the United States,US Criticizes Venezuelan Vote ,and in doing so cut their noses off to spite their faces. As the song goes "When will they ever learn". America loves democracy, wants to spread democracy around the world, as long as its on America's terms, with American approved leadership, and friendly to America.
Observers say Venezuela vote was fair Jose Silva, head of the European Union team, said the vote was clean and praised the elections council."For us, there was transparency in the electoral process," said Silva, who oversaw about 160 observers

Purge

In the long standing tradition of Stalinism China is looking to blame local officials, Beijing vows to punish polluters, for the recent toxic spill and explosion at the gas plant that has now polluted two major cities. Toxic slick hits another major Chinese city But how do you punish capitalism? Since China's problems are all related to her growing market economy, that still relies on the party cornyism of Stalinism and its lack of regulation of the market. Ironic that. The Chinese state capitalists share something in common with the American Free Marketers. Like Bush they refuse to accept Kyoto or their responsibility for the environmental damage their rush towards industrialized Fordist production brings.

The vice-mayor of the Chinese city where a chemical blast polluted a major river last month has been found dead.

Three weeks on from the accident, China's leaders are finally scrambling to assign blame, says a BBC correspondent in Beijing, Louisa Lim.

The saga has already led to two resignations - the head of the environmental watchdog and the boss of the petrochemical company in charge of the plant which exploded.

The government has set up a team to find out who was responsible for the explosion. It warned that anyone who failed to co-operate would be punished.

Government leaders are increasingly stressing the need for local officials to be seen to be accountable, and more transparent.

But our correspondent says that the terms of the investigation refer only to the immediate explosion, not to any ensuing cover-up, and therefore might not be enough to assuage public anger.

25,000 and counting

Over 25,000 people have signed the online petition in Arabic and English, demanding freedom for the four members of Christian Peace-Keeper Teams, who were taken hostage in Iraq. The petition was begun Dec. 1 and it is now seven days later, and that is an amazing amount of signatures. And its still not too late to add your name.

Canadian Muslims have been out spoken in defense of the CPT. Muslims appeal for westerners' freedom As have Palistinians who know them and their selfless work well. A Canadian Iman is in Baghad attempting to negogiate with the gangsters that have kidnapped them.Montreal man in bid to free hostages

Today is the eve that these defenders of the defenseless may face their last day alive. Fear grows for hostages as deadline looms The fascist thugs who have kidnapped them threaten to kill them tommorow. Their demands are unrealistic, and a feint, it is these very CPT members who have done more to help the imprisioned and detained in Iraq than the creeps who have kidnapped them.

The current so called resistance movement in Iraq is not, it is a fascist movement, as are all those who support either Al Quaida, or the Sunni and Shite militias. The Americans and their puppet government in Iraq are directly to blame for the CPT plight. For having falsely imprisoned hundreds of innocent Iraqi's. For the abuse they have suffered at the hands of the American Empire and the Iraqi State. As new evidence has shown in the media the New Democratic State in Iraq has tortured, abused, killed and secretly detained Iraqis for poltical purposes.

This is the situation that these brave souls, two Canadians amongst them, stepped into to side with the oppressed, and the families of the detained. Those who kidnapped them are the lowest of the low, and in good company with the Bush Administration, and the Iraqi Government.

If anyone thinks this so called resistance movement and its civil war in Iraq is about bettering the conditions of the Iraqi people, this incident should dispell that illusion. Anyone who would do this to those who support the people and oppose war and imperialism are fascists.

The War For Chocolate

In an article about Chocolate and the continuing civil war in the Ivory Coast, there was a Canadian connection.....The cocoa industry is a sensitive subject here. Secrecy is such a priority that the government doesn't publish official production figures. French-Canadian journalist Guy-Andre Kieffer, who wrote articles about corruption in Ivory Coast — including its cocoa industry — disappeared in the country in 2004 and was believed murdered. The vast majority of the crop is grown in government-held territory, but the U.N. report said rebels use cocoa, along with gold, diamonds and timber, to fund "their military activities, as well as for personal profit." On the other side, the U.N. said, the government "is dependent on the cocoa crop to maintain solvency and succeed in paying its civil servants, including the military."

War in Africa is always about business, about the resources a region has. The right wing analysists will talk about tribalism, and try to project this as still the Dark Continent of primitive peoples warring amongst themselves. But such is not the case.

In the Congo and Rawanda the conflict is over gold, silver, and diamonds, still is. In Sierra Leone its over diamonds. In Ethiopia and Somolia its oil and heavy metals. In the Sudan, its not about Darfur, its about oil. Nigeria, Angola, oil.

And my favorite is Chad. You never hear of Chad except once a decade when one of its neighbours and their European allies decides to invade. Little Chad is one richest countries in heavy metals, uranium and precious ores. If nuclear power gains popularity again expect Chad to be in the news.

And chocolate, well that is a major commodity that while it melts in your mouth it's harvested and processed by child slaves in the Ivory Coast. Ironcially this was the point of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory that critics overlooked.

Children who are slaves are then dragooned into the internecine rivalries as child soldiers. Just as we have Child Armies in the Central African conflicts funded by the diamond trade, we have child armies in the Ivory Coast funded by Hershey. As the saying goes War is good for business, invest your son.