It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, April 24, 2006
Your Blog Is Being Traced
I am always amazed by who reads this blog, or at least drops by for a visit. Or perhaps, if I was a wee bit paranoid, who is monitoring me.
And you have to watch what you say on your blog because Big Brother is watching.
In this case corporate bosses are watching, and monitoring my articles on AFI the professional security company that protects scabs and promotes union busting. Such as they are doing at the BHP Diamond mine strike.
And the bosses at the Diamond Miner BHP are also scanning the internet on the coverage they are getting on the current strike at their mine in Nunavit. They popped by for a visit here yesterday via bg03.bhpbilliton.com (Sita-societe Internationale De Telecommunications Aeronautiques)
I guess I should be flattered they visited. Or just a tich paranoid.
In the case of AFI they have hired a professional company; Reputrace to monitor the web and the media for stories about them. And they popped by my blog for a visist.
Nice to see AFI supporting Canadian Software developers. The privatization of intelligence gathering can be a scary thing in the wrong hands though. As NARUS shows.
As for protecting AFI's reputation that's kinda hard to do when they specialize in union busting , intimitadition, harrassment and general ne'er do well activities for the bosses.
All of the CoreX search capabilities can be customized for your exclusive business interests.
Combine PressPanther™ with our Reputation Intelligence™ tools to thoroughly scope out the Web for all news pertaining to your business or industry that could pose a threat to your viability. Or search out specific competitors to keep tabs on news about them.
Should you suspect an unsatisfied customer is spreading malcontent about your company, use CoreX to zero in on Web-based discussion forums. You can even monitor developments within your workforce in the event you have difficulties with disgruntled employees or just want to ensure your personnel are generally happy at work.
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Internet, BHP, AFI, blog, software, monitoring, PR, union, unions, labour, blogging, security-monitoring-software, snooper-software
Canada Post Gets It
CUPW and Canada Post agree on something for once.
Canada Post lowers flags in Edmonton to honour military bomb ...
One of the fallen soldiers, Lieut. William Turner, was a part-time army reservist who worked in the city as a letter carrier. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers asked that the flags be lowered and Canada Post has agreed, said Ramon Antipan, president of the CUPW local.
"It is important because (Turner) was one of our members," Antipan said. "He truly believed in the mission. This is in recognition for what he was doing."
Antipan said the union has also received permission for staff to wear black ribbons or arm bands.
While the Harpocrite continues to avoid the body bags and the lowering of the flag in order to avoid responsibility for the deaths caused by his ChickenHawk policy of not cutting and running.
Now he says he won't do the decent thing and show up Canadian Forces Trenton to observe the return of the bodies of his fallen men, cause it might be a photo op for the Taliban. I knew the Harper had a low opinion of the media but they are not the Taliban. And I don't think the Taliban read the National Post. What a coward, cluck, cluck.
In a ceremony that has become all-too familiar at Kandahar airfield, the flag-draped casket of a Canadian soldier is carried into the open belly of a Hercules on Monday. (CP / Murray Brewster) Defence minister defends change in flag policy
Apparently the above picture will give succour to the Taliban. So sez Stephen Bush, err George Harper.
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Camnada, Post, CUPW, Willian, Turner, Afghanistan, Kandahar, Canadian-Forces, O'Conner, Harper
The Working Class Dies For Harper
No flags lowered, Harper won't show up when the body bags return to Canadian Forces Base Trenton. All this is still just a rich mans war.
No need to tell us how we are being protected from Osama bin Laden Inc., all we are doing is protecting the Caspian oil pipeline and its counterpart the Opium pipeline.
And our volunteer reserves, ordinary Joes and Janes working full time and being soldiers part time are being sacrificed on the altar of the Harpocrites political ego. His failure to show up for their funeral shows he is more chicken than hawk when it comes to facing his responsibilities of sending our military to war.
As the troops on both sides of the conflict in WWI learned, there is no honor in dying for the capitalists and their war machine. But I guess Harper never read Johnny Got His Gun in school.
There's nothing noble about dying. Not even if you die for honor. Not even if you die the greatest hero the world ever saw. Not even if you're so great your name will never be forgotten and who's that great? The most important thing is your life little guys. You're worth nothing dead except for speeches. Don't let them kid you any more. Pay no attention when they tap you on the shoulder and say come along we've got to fight for liberty or whatever their word is there's always a word.
Just say mister I'm sorry I got no time to die I'm too busy and then turn and run like hell. If they say coward why don't pay any attention because it's your job to live not to die. If they talk about dying for principles that are bigger than life you say mister you're a liar Nothing is bigger than life There's nothing noble in death. What s noble about lying in the ground and rotting. What's noble about never seeing the sunshine again? What's noble about having your legs and arms blown off? What's noble about being an idiot? What's noble about being blind and deaf and dumb? What's noble about being dead. Because when you're dead mister it's all over. It's the end. You're less than a dog less than a rat less than a bee or an ant less than a white maggot crawling around on a dungheap. You're dead mister and you died for nothing.
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Mnsell, Turner, Harper, O'Conner, Canada, Afghanistan, death, soldiers, Taliban, Kandahar, politics, military, defense
Mutualist Economics of SETI
In this case SETI . Which has no hope of ever being profitable.
But which can raise funding and labour by volunteers for scientific projects. In this case a project organized along mutualist economics and cooperativism that even Kropotkin would see as an example of anarchist science.
I contribute to the SETI project along with the climate change project.
It takes up so little effort and time and space on your computer, you should to.
So SETI needs YOU and if you sign up you will get a nice letter from Sir Arthur C.Clarke, yes the sci-fi author. Of course it is a begging letter. But this is a mutualist project.The project is one small example of SETI's slowly growing respectability as a scientific enterprise. Where scientists once had to beg for time on radio and optical telescopes to conduct the hunt, they now build instruments dedicated to it full time.
The SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., for example, plans to flip the switch on 10 of its 30 new radio- telescope dishes at the Allen Telescope Array in Hat Creek, Calif. later this month. By using off-the-shelf equipment to hold down costs, and developing some fancy processing techniques for incoming signals, the Allen Telescope Array team will be able to hunt for radio signals from ET at the same time astronomers use these antennas for more mainstream research.
Although scientists have given these efforts a broad nod through organizations such as the National Research Council, funding still comes largely from private donors. The Allen array is named for Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, who wrote the check for the observatory's initial installation. The money for Horowitz's telescope came from the Planetary Society in Pasadena, Calif., and a private foundation.
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agorism, counter-economics, left libertarian, new libertarian or Movement of the Libertarian Left.
This Blog Makes Newsweek
And the MSNBC website since they are owned by the same corporate media conglomerate. The article in particular is on Internet Censorship; The Limits of Freedom And it made it to the Blog Talk column at MSNBC/Newsweek. Aw Shucks, blush, I guess stuff I have to say is of some value after all.
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Sunday, April 23, 2006
Happy Birthday Mom
It's Earth Day be kind to your mother, no need to send her a card, just clean up your mess. Earth Day began after we saw our home from space and after we landed on the moon.
Thanks to the Space Race we came to a global conciousness of how small we are in the universe, and how important our planet is, hence the creation of Earth Day. It will be nice once we realize we are all Earthlings now. OPr to misquote JFK who launched the space race; Ich bin ein Erdenbürger.
The problem we face is two fold, capitalism and nationalism. Both the creation of the Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century. Today in order to clean up their mess we must become more than internationalists we must become as
The Internationale says; the human race. One Planet, One People.
As I have blogged here recently we need an Industrial Ecology for the planet somethng that capitalism cannot and will not develop. It is a contradiction to continual expansion and profit taking. Which of course leads to entropy called by Marx the falling rate of profit.James Lovelock and Gaia’s revenge
A successful greening economy, an industrial ecology of waste reduction and recycling, such as was done during War Rationing in WWII, with greening of end use, means a permanent fall in the rate of profit and an eventual steady state econonmic ecology; socialism by any other name.
Figure 3: Industrial Ecosystem at Kalundborg
Also See:
Petrocan's Arctic Sovereignty
The Truth About the Farm Crisis
Capitalism's Denial of Climate Catastrophe
After Montreal A View From the Past
Climate Change and Social Barbarism
Capitalism=Climate Change
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Harpers Flag
See previous post.
Image courtesy andrew currie. A tip o' the blog and thanx for the use.
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Harper, PM, Canada, Poltics, Flag, USA, Conservative, Government, Right-Wing
Lower The Flag
I oppose our war in Afghanistan, but not our men and women who have to fight and die there.
I object to their officers the war mongers and professional soldiers, and their political bosses.
And in this case I REALLY object to the failure of the Conservative Government to do the right thing and lower the flag each time our men and women are killed in battle. No more flag lowering for Canadian soldiers
The Flag is being used to hide behind by the coward that talks tough with others lives. The Harpocrite is taking his burying of anything Liberal too far.
The flag continued to fly yesterday on the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. The newly elected Conservative government has said it will no longer lower the flag to half-staff every time a Canadian soldier is killed, a break with tradition established by the Liberals. A terrible price
A challenge to the Blogging Tories and Progressives For War, you support this war, demand that Harper lower the flag. Let your Legion and Veterans associations know, get them to raise the hue and cry. Email your MP. Raise the call.
If you live in (R)Edmonton let the city council and the school boards as well as the legislature know you want the flags lowered. It's the least we can do.
Chickenhawk that the Harpocrite is he won't listen to you anymore than he listens to anyone else.
We lower the damn flag for Royalty and Pontiffs, lower it for those who fight your wars.
We Remember Them- Royal Canadian Legion
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Business As Usual
Prosecutors have been investigating Hyundai Motor over allegations that it embezzled money from affiliates. The money allegedly went into a slush fund that was used to bribe government officials. Over the past month, prosecutors have raided offices of Hyundai and its three affiliates, Kia Motors, logistics unit Glovis Co. and auto parts maker Hyundai Autonet, questioning key officials. Hyundai chairman to be questioned in S. Korean bribery scandal
Their real crime is their closing their plant in Canada to move south to non-union state's like Alabama and Georgia. And of course demanding tax breaks to move there.
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Pension Plunder
"The average Canadian pension plan has realized a robust 15.8 per cent annualized return over three years" with a return of 14.9 per cent over the past year, McDougall said.
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan has called for benefit cuts and a hike in member contributions. Pension funds continue to do well in first quarter
Could it because it has to pay this guys salary? Because Teachers has been making a profit, if it didn't then instead of giving him a $1 million dollar bonus, they should have shown him the door. But some peoples greed knows no bounds.
Teachers last month reported investment income of C$14.1 billion ($12.4 billion) for 2005. Its net assets were C$96.1 billion, making it a mammoth on the Canadian investing landscape.
On Friday, union negotiator Brock Suddaby took aim at compensation paid to Claude Lamoureux, the plan's chief executive.
According to Teachers' annual report, Lamoureux made C$5.54 million in total compensation for 2005, including salary, bonus, and payments under a long-term incentive plan, as well as other compensation. This was an increase of almost C$1 million from 2004.
"The CEO ... made more money last year than our members will make in their entire lifetimes," Suddaby said in a statement. "He made as much money in 2005 as 100 of our members. Yet he has the gall to demand a longer work week from our members. He has the gall to demand that a portion of staff pay be allotted to individuals hand-picked by management." Strike set at Ontario Teachers Pension Plan
Pensions, Canada, OTPF, Strike, Union, Lamoureux
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Tories Tinker with Taxes
The Harpocrites are in the backroom this weekend, avoiding Earth Day working on your taxes. Well actually working on their wonky budget. It seems some have them have seen the light, that their GST tax cut and their baby bonuse won't help the average Canadian working family. Slow learners.Flaherty vows big tax cuts in budget
Critics say that Canadians earning between $10,000 and $85,000 annually who don't have children under six years old would be better off under the Liberal income-tax breaks enacted last November than they would be under the one-percentage-point GST cut and targeted measures the Tories pledged in the recent election campaign.
That's because this group doesn't benefit from the annual $1,200-a-child daycare payment the Tories are giving to parents with children under 6.
The Conservatives are working this weekend in hopes of shortly finalizing the budget, expected to be delivered the week of May 2, and are still considering measures that might offer Canadians additional tax relief, sources say.
Fine but how about a couple of really radical ideas; like eliminating the GST completely. Or the deficit finance tax on gas. Or gasp Income Taxes on anyone earning $100,000 or less a year.
Yes you read that right. I have said it time and again. Something not even the Blogging Tories ,theCanadian Taxpayers Federation, Fraser Institute or the Conservatives have dared to say, ever. Period. From the left a more radical tax cut then anything the right has ever advocated. Oh right because its for workers not business. Damn pinko.
More On Harpers Tax Cuts
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Tory Piggies At The Trough
$14,000: EXPENSES Four civil servants flew here to brief Emerson; he says it was worth the cost
Senior federal civil servants spent thousands of dollars travelling to Vancouver to brief embattled International Trade Minister David Emerson, disclosure documents show.
Fonberg, and assistant deputy ministers Robert Dery, Michael Martin and Ken Sunquist were among the eight senior staffers who travelled to meet with Emerson between Feb. 19 and Feb. 23.
At the time, Emerson was weathering a political storm over his decision to join the Conservative cabinet as minister of international trade after having won election as a Liberal in Vancouver-Kingsway.
ADDING UP COST OF OFFICIALS' TRAVEL
Federal International Trade Minister David Emerson approved the travel of eight senior staff members to Vancouver to brief him on key files including:
- Robert Fonberg, deputy minister: Expenses, $3,506.08
- Robert Dery, acting assistant deputy minister and chief trade commissioner: Expenses, $3,172.04
- Michael Martin, assistant deputy minister: Expenses $3,381.58
- Ken Sunquist, assistant deputy minister: Expenses $3,862.53
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What Causes Inflation
Gas prices may stoke inflation, economists say
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Wisdom of the East
A comment from the Khaleej Times, which sounds like something I said here.
Oil prices and refineries
By Mohammed A. R. Galadari
So, it is not correct to say that oil prices go up because of shortage or war. The fact is that there is more production of oil today than was the case some 10 years ago. The production is going up, the consumption is going up, but refinery capacities are not increasing in a matching way.
More important is the fact that the industrialized world does not have enough refineries, even as they have access to oil. More shipments to the US, for example, alone will not help, as long as the country does not increase and upgrade its refining capacity. Increasing the refinery capacity is not easy, for the reason that it would have to be done in tandem with the environment standards set by the country. Pollution is a big issue for the developed world in particular, also the reason why those countries use mostly light crude in their refineries.
Dear readers, some are however tempted to see a coincidence between the oil price rise and the Bush presidency. If Bush won the elections with the backing and support of the Texas oil companies, it would also be that he created the necessary conditions for them to make extra gains during his presidency, is how the argument goes. Nothing can be ruled out in politics.
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Day of Reckoning
Dire IMF warning clouds gather over the US economy like buzzards in the Iraq desert. But is anyone in the Bush regime listening?
The US's enormous current account deficit, now worth almost 7 per cent of its GDP, will have to be unwound eventually: like anyone living beyond their means, it will have to have a day of reckoning. The IMF warned again last week that without co-ordinated action to bring the value of the dollar down smoothly, and boost growth in Europe and Asia to compensate for slower growth in the US, there is an increased chance that the imbalances unwind suddenly, leading to a devastating global downturn. Do we need an IMF? Yes, but not this one
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US, economy, debt, world-debt, world-economy, IMF, World-Bank
Old Boys Club
Mr. Harper said in his speech: "Let me be clear: governments should be able to appoint people who support their agenda -- that is not the issue.
Sure it is especially if the position is; Public Appointments Chair, it sets the tone. But wait is is the best person for the job, as in David Emerson, or party loyalty?
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Harper, Encana, Morgan, Calgary, Patronage, PM, PMO, Conservatives, Government,
Zero Sum Gain
Ford financial downshift
One day after the also-ailing General Motors Corp. won investor and analyst approval in posting a $323 million first-quarter loss, the nation's second-largest automaker reported a $1.2 billion loss Friday.
The decline, Ford's biggest since 2001, compared with a $1.2 billion profit a year earlier. And it has analysts questioning the turnaround program the company announced in January.
"We believe implementation has been slow, and it could be some time before benefits are realized," Merrill Lynch analyst John Murphy said.
Still, Chairman and Chief Executive Bill Ford Jr. plans to stick with the program, which includes closing 14 North American plants and cutting as many as 30,000 jobs by 2012. Ford expects to trim 13,000 of those this year.
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Profiting From Disaster
As result of its bottomline operations that led to those disasters, it has a record profit this quarter. Canadian National profit climbs 21%
Further it plans to continue expanding its computerized operations which led to the problems in the first place. CN plans to spend $1.5 billion to boost efficiency
But hey ever the good corporate citizen they intend on making a donation to a U.S. hospital. It's a tax write off. CN donates $1 Million to Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center
But for the folks in Wabamum, Smithers etc., well they get buckus.
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CN, CN-Rail, Rail, accidents, Wabamum
Emerson's First Act
The federal government may not be extending a container truck licence regime which mandated set rates and fuel surcharges paid to owner-operators, but it has tabled legislation that institutes a separate licensing rule for carriers working the ports in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver.Earlier this week David Emerson, federal Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway, said the Tory government would not approve an new order in council that would extend the interim licensing scheme which ended a bitter six-week strike last summer by 1,200 independent container haulers protesting rate-cutting, low wages, and the high cost of fuel.
Instead, new "Regulations Amending the Port Authorities Operations" published in the Canada Gazette Part 1 yesterday require the Vancouver Port Authority to administer licences to approved trucking companies entering the ports.
Note well this law was passed as an Order In Council, that is without debate in the house.
And as usual it is a typical Alberta regulation, it suggests but does not mandate, in fact it degerulates the market. The Harpocrite government will monitor the situation which of course means sitting on their hands till there is another strike.
In fact, the new government made it clear it wouldn’t be regulating rates – nor asking the VPA to do so -- but would closely monitor that contracts and bargaining agreements be honored.This week, the Vancouver Container Truck Association and the Canadian Auto workers, which represent many of the owner-ops, threatened to launch another wildcat strike if the previous licence system wasn’t continued. There’s a good chance they may still in fact do so.
That’s what the Retail Council of Canada is warning members across the country. The RCC’s Kevin Evans told Canadian Press the changes don't do anything to stop another major labour disruption at the ports. The association estimates Canadian businesses lost an estimated $500 million during last year’s strike.
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Another Privatization Myth Busted
Ah the joys of privatization, more efficient and cost effective than the public sector say the neo-cons until reality walks up and slaps them in the face. Toll highway operator 407 International posts $11-million loss in Q1
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The Ugly Truth About Migration
The Lost Children
Each year, an estimated 700,000 immigrants enter the United States illegally. Since 2000, nearly a million additional immigrants annually, on average, have arrived legally, or become legal residents. . . . In recent decades, the increase in divorce and family disintegration in Latin America has left many single mothers without the means to feed and raise their children." No one knows the exact number of mothers coming north without their children, but a University of Southern California study shows that 82 percent of nannies and one in four housecleaners are women with children left alone in their home countries. And now that these mothers have come north, their children are following. It is now common to find 15-year-old walkers caught in the border patrol nets. But this is a catch-and-release sport, and these fingerlings are tossed back into the bigger pond of Mexico to try their migration again.Why is this allowed to happen? The undocumented worker can be hired for wages far lower than the American worker; moreover, their presence tends to depress the minimum wage. They lower production costs, they serve as union busters, they save money in terms of benefits, and they are a pliant and compliant workforce. The paradigm has shifted from under-the-table cash payments to formalized employment. Any border patrol agent can explain to you how money withheld from the undocumented worker's paycheck pours into state and federal coffers. For example, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, illegal workers donate $6.4 billion annually to Social Security. But these illegal workers will never collect benefits from that program. On the other side of the tattered fence, the Mexican government appreciates the stunning $17 billion in remittance money -- money sent home from that maid who cleaned your house, that fast-food cook who salted your fries -- that arrives each year.
Why does the problem continue? Follow the money. Everybody wins -- except the abandoned children. Who can blame them for trying to save themselves the only way they've been shown? The U.S. government's slipshod attempts to bolster security at the borders have made the passage more deadly. In the madness of the harsher border, drug lords and gangsters rule the day. Any border patrol agent will tell you that criminal elements are on the rise -- as are violence and the terrible toll of deaths due to heat, cold, misadventure and homicide. The death train is running all night, and it makes stops in Tegucigalpa, Mexico City, Juarez, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City.
Lure of the north: 'I had to come'
COST OF ILLEGALIMMIGRATION MAY BE LESS THAN MEETS THE EYE
US Arrests Hundreds in Illegal Immigration Crackdown
Illegal Immigrants Expanding Footprint
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Friday, April 21, 2006
Petrocan's Arctic Sovereignty
The real reason for the Conservatives insistence on expanding Canadian Forces in the north is for military enforcement of our Northern Arctic sovereignty..... for Big Oil. In this case Petrocan.
Oh and here is the irony, it is global warming that is opening up these vast reserves to potential exploitaion, thus increasing global warming in the Arctic.
Catch 22.
FEATURE-Canada scrambles to assert sovereignty in Arctic
CORNWALLIS ISLAND, Nunavut, April 21 (Reuters) - After decades of virtually ignoring its remote, frozen Arctic lands, Canada is belatedly trying to assert its sovereignty over a gigantic region rich in mineral resources. Ottawa's problem is that it has little idea of what is going on in the North and far too few resources to patrol the area properly. And that could be bad news when climate change and the appetite for energy and commodities mean the world is suddenly paying more attention to an incredibly inhospitable place.
Scramble is on for Arctic oil
British and US scientists are at loggerheads over a plan to work with oil companies in hunting for the Arctic's fossil fuel reserves.The US Geological Survey (USGS) is lining up a project with BP and Statoil to find oil and gas in the Arctic Ocean, under the auspices of a flagship scientific initiative intended to tackle global warming. But the head of the British Antarctic Survey, which coordinates UK activity at the poles, has said he is "very uncomfortable" with the idea and has questioned its ethical and scientific justification.
Tackling climate change and working out how it will affect the Arctic and Antarctica is a central theme of International Polar Year (IPY) - a high-profile project to start early next year that involves thousands of scientists from 60 countries.
The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet and last September saw the lowest extent of sea ice cover for more than a century. Scientists say the temperature there could rise by a further 4C-7C by 2100, and the Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by 2060.
Documents on the IPY website show that BP and Statoil, a Norwegian company, are "significant consortium members" on a USGS proposal to assess "energy resources in the circumarctic area including oil, gas, coalbed methane and methane hydrates". Geologists estimate that a quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and gas reserves lie under the Arctic, and analysts have predicted a 21st-century goldrush to tap them as the Arctic Ocean's ice cover retreats.
Suzanne Weedman of the USGS said: "This is very much a part of what we do. Our responsibility is to assess the undiscovered oil and gas using geological information." She said the plan built on a project called the Arctic Energy Assessment, which is part of its World Energy Project - a global attempt to map untapped hydrocarbon fuel reserves. ExxonMobil, Amoco, Conoco, Texaco and PetroCanada are listed as members.
Global warming project criticized for affiliation with U.S. oil mapping
The polar year project, scheduled for 2007-2008, is aimed at increasing scientists' understanding of the environment at the North and South Poles. Rising temperatures are having a big impact on both regions, so climate change is an important aspect of the research.The project, which includes more than 200 studies, last year conditionally accepted the U.S. Geological Survey's mapping effort as part of its research program, said Chris Rapley, head of the British Antarctic Survey and a board member of the committee running the polar year. The committee is likely to give final approval for the U.S. survey's involvement soon, he said.
Rapley said the U.S. Arctic survey program - part of a long-term American effort to map untapped oil reserves around the world - would provide valuable scientific information that could help those trying to understand climate change and figure out how to combat and anticipate it.
Norway sets Arctic oil plan - boom or gloom?
Norway set rules for oil and gas exploration in the Barents Sea on Friday amid major uncertainty about whether the pristine Norwegian Arctic will mean boom or gloom for oil firms.The U.S. Geological Survey has suggested that 25 percent of the world's undiscovered petroleum resources could be in the Arctic. But some experts say oil may have leaked from the Barents, off the northern tip of Europe, millions of years ago.
Russia's Gazprom Enters Booming LNG Markets with Giant Arctic Gas Field
With gas reservoirs equivalent to Exxon's oil reserves, Shtokman poses an alluring but technically daunting challenge for the five firms shortlisted as possible partners: U.S. majors Chevron and ConocoPhillips, FranceÂ's Total and Norway's Statoil and Norsk Hydro. Gazprom wants help producing gas in the iceberg-strewn seas around Shtokman, pumping it 550 km to shore, liquefying it and shipping it to the United States for re-gasification and sale.
And it's not like this is NEWS either, as this article from 1999 shows, we have known about global warming in the Arctic for years it just that over the past two years we have seen an acceleration in that process. Arctic Meltdown
Alaska natives speak out against Arctic oil exploration
The $500-million Northstar project has been more than four years in development. It is the first offshore development in the Arctic Ocean April 16, 1999
Web posted at: 2:30 PM EDTAlaska natives spoke out Thursday against BP Amoco's Northstar project to explore for oil reserves in the Arctic Ocean. The natives say the oil exploration threatens their culture and livelihood in the region.
Three Alaska natives of the Yup'ik and Gwich'in people attended BP's annual general meeting to make their concerns known directly to company directors and shareholders. The three are campaigning with Greenpeace to end the project.
According to opponents of the project, climate change, caused by burning oil, coal and gas, is causing the western Arctic to warm three times faster than any other part of the globe. The survival of many species, such as polar bears, walrus and reindeer, is currently threatened by retreating ice and unseasonally warm weather.
Arctic scientists have found that the Arctic ice pack has been declining at a rate of 4.5 percent in the past decade.
"For countless generations the Gwich'in people, my people, have relied on the land to provide for our survival," said Allan Hayton, a Gwich'in Athabascan from Arctic Village, Alaska. "Already we are witnessing dramatic changes in our Alaskan climate from the burning of fossil fuels, and an oil spill on the North Slope would effectively destroy our abundant wildlife and our native cultures in the process. Sir John Browne, respectfully I ask you, will you cancel Northstar, and commit your company to not drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?"
The $500-million Northstar project has been more than four years in development. It is the first offshore development in the Arctic Ocean. BP became sole operator of the Northstar Unit in December 1995. The company projects its 'first oil' to come between 2000-2001.
The survival of many species, such as polar bears, walrus and reindeer, is currently threatened by retreating ice and unseasonally warm weather Proponents of the project say Alaskans and the federal treasury would both benefit economically from increased oil production and the environmental impact would be negligible. They argue that expanded oil production is badly needed in the area.
Opponents say the oil industry is only looking at the short-term benefits and not seeing the long-term threats.
"BP is undermining climate protection and threatening subsistence ways of life by pushing ahead with oil exploration," said Greenpeace Climate Campaigner Matthew Spencer.
Also at the meeting were 60 members of the BP shareholder splinter group, SANE BP, who encouraged shareholders to advocate a different direction for the company than that being pursued by current BP directors.
Copyright 1999, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved
Also See:
Capitalism's Denial of Climate Catastrophe
Water in your Scotch
Melt Down
Da' Bears Have It
2005 Record Heat Wave
More Thaw
Hot Air Over Climate Change--Business as Usual
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Petrocan, Canada, Arctic, Sovereignty, Global-Warming, Climate-Change, oil,Inuit,Alaska,Nunavit, Statoil, Russian, Norway, US, IPY, IGS, Exxon
Canadian Killed in Iraq
An Iraqi-born Canadian from Montreal was killed last month when he returned to his homeland to visit the children he hadn't seen in about 15 years, Foreign Affairs has confirmed.Department officials confirmed that the body of Sadeq Aldifai was found in a desert near the western border of Iraq.Iraqi-born Canadian killed after returning to homeland
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Contracting -out Broadcasting Corporation
Another indication that our glorious peoples network is rapidly become the Conservative Broadcasting Corporation is their latest move in cutting their noses to spite their face. In this case the layoff and dismantling of their production department. The production department for chris' sakes.
Seventy-nine CBC employees - including workers who build sets, style hair and apply makeup - received layoff notices Thursday, a move critics called "the end of a television era" at the public broadcaster. 79 employees to be laid off at CBC-TV Toronto, executives say
The cash-strapped CBC announced it is having to cut back its in-house production capabilities dramatically by eliminating 79 design positions, from set builders and costume makers to makeup artists and hairstylists, at the broadcaster's Toronto production centre.This is in addition to a number of voluntary layoffs, some terminated studio production jobs and positions left unfilled, bringing the total to around 106.
"We're sad about this. It is an end of an era. For 50 years, there has been in-house design at CBC, and now there is not going to be," said Fred Mattocks, executive director of regional programming and television production and resources. CBC drops axe on 79 design jobs
I thought that was why the CBC staff fought the lockout last year, to stop this kind of contracting out. A press release won't cut it folks, but a wildcat strike would. Of course that is illegal so I guess the best we can hope for is lobbying, email campaigns and maybe, just maybe an information picket or two. Sigh.
This is the begining of the end, what will be left of mothercorp is it becoming the NHL network. NHL is back so is the CBC
Also see:
Media Watch
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Alberta Needs a Living Wage
Find out by taking the Living Wage survey here.
Also See: We Need a Living Wage
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living-wage, minimum-wage, Alberta, labour, unions, work, pay,
Alberta Labour History Institute Web Launch
Alberta Labour History Institute Web Launch
The launch will mark the culmination of seven years of work to collect materials and stories, resource archives and repositories, and interview Alberta workers and trade union leaders. This work was expedited in the past year with a Centennial Labour History Project made possible by generous funding from Heritage Canada and Athabasca University, as well as a number of trade unions and other working class organizations. On Wednesday, April 12, 2006, the Website will become available at http://www.labourhistory.ca
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labour, Edmonton, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, labour-history, history, web, historyweb, labourweb
AUPE gets off its ass
I did it for them gratis for years cause they seemed to forget about this important source of labour news. Well I am happy to let the guy paid to do it, do it. Thanks Climenhaga. Took ya long enough.
Canada/North America AUPE and Calgary Health Region reach tentative agreement for 5,200 GSS workers [Alberta Union of Provincial Employees] For more info 20-Apr-2006 There are 4 more Canada stories today.
Wonder when Gil the former PR guy for the AFL and now their president will get off his ass and do the same thing for the AFL website.He is after all a hands on kinda guy. Probably when he corrects all the dead links on their website and updates it to include Mayweek and Public Interest Alberta.
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