Author
amoshaun
these headlines are from mondays Voices for Democracy program. I hope that this helps. good luck.
On Saturday, President Bush reduced the ability of organized labor to effect the political climate in America. Bush issued orders that effectively reduce how much money unions can spend for political activities and open up government contracts to non-union bidding. Bush issued four executive orders which White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said were based on the principles of quote:``fair and open competition.'' Bobby L. Harnage, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the orders were a quote: "giant step backward.'' These moves represent a reversal of policy from the previous Democratic administration and a warning sign to organized labor. Conservative politicians have long sought to limit the influence of organized labor on political campaigns. The labor movement has been a prime source of get-out-the-vote drives for Democratic political campaigns, including that of Vice President Al Gore during the last election cycle. Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota said in a statement quote: ``It is meant to have a chilling effect on the ability of working men and women to organize and bargain collectively for decent wages and benefits, and basic job security. This is no way to set the tone for bipartisanship,'' One of the orders Bush signed reversed a Clinton policy that gave unionized construction companies priority on federal projects. Non-union companies will now be able to compete for bids on federal projects, restoring a policy of Bush's father. The final order issued by Bush ``immediately dissolved'' the National Partnership Council, which Clinton had set up as a way for government managers and unions of federal employees to try to settle their differences.
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This news from canada: Trinidad's efforts to extradite one of its nationals from Canada to have him tried for murder may have been stopped in its tracks by the country's top justices on Thursday. A decision handed down by the Canadian Supreme court, said capital punishment is quote: " unjust and should be stopped". The decision was unanimous in a separate case involving two Canadian citizens. The court ruled that the Canadians could not be sent back to the US state of Washington to face murder charges until authorities there guaranteed that they would not face the death penalty. Canada has outlawed the practice of capital punishment. The Supreme Court said that only under ''exceptional'' circumstances will these foreign assurances not be required, but did not say what such circumstances are.
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This news from Jordan: Hundreds of Jordanians demonstrated outside UN headquarters and the US embassy on Sunday, demanding an end to the US military presence in the Gulf and condemning the recent air attacks by the US and Britan on Iraq.
Turning to Africa, Health authorities are reporting that South Africa is now experiencing the worst cholera epidemic in more than 15 years. It has killed 111 people and sickened more than 50,000 others since August. The provincial health department in KwaZulu-Natal is estimating that more than 1,500 people were diagnosed with the disease over a 24-hour period from last Thursday to Friday alone, raising the number sickened in the epidemic to 50,614. The cholera epidemic is South Africa's worst since the early 1980s, when more than 105,400 people contracted the highly contagious waterborne disease over a four-year period. More than 340 people died in four consecutive epidemics. World Health Organization has said that only providing rural residents with clean drinking water and sanitation can control Cholera, which causes severe diarrhea. Recent studies show that 21 million South Africans lack access to sanitation, and at least 8 million do not have access to clean drinking water.
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Brazilian authorities are trying to negotiate the release of thousands of hostages captive in prisons across Sao Paulo after an unprecedented series of revolts swept across the Brazilian state
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As many as 7,000 people were taken hostage Sunday by inmates in some two dozen prisons, including family members who were paying visits to incarcerated relatives, as well as some prison officials.
About half of Brazil's entire prison population of about 200,000 is detained at jails in the state of Sao Paulo, according to figures provided by the Roman Catholic Church. All told, officials said that about a quarter of Sao Paulo's prison population took part in the riots.
Authorities said the 50 freed hostages were released from Carandiru prison, Latin America's biggest penal complex, which saw the most violent rioting Sunday.
The riots started during the visit hours Sunday morning in Carandiru prison, the largest in Latin America with nearly 7,000 inmates, in the northern part of Sao Paulo. The rioting inmates took hostage 45 prison guards and more than 1,200 prisoners' relatives who were on a visit. The riot then spread to other prisons in the state. The rioting prisoners were protesting last Friday's transfer of 10 prison leaders from Carandiru who belonged to a criminal group that deals drugs and arms in Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo public security secretary Marco Vinicio Petreluzzi said Sunday at a news conference. A large number of anti-riot police and government troops were soon sent to seal the troubled prison, where ammunition, knives and cell phones have been found in prison cells, Petreluzzi said. Negotiations are underway between the authorities and rebels for the release of hostages, said the official. But he stressed that the police will not return the 10 prisoner leaders and the local government will take resolute measures against crimes within prisons.
The riots were staged under instructions from the gang' s leaders, but has gained popular support by inmates protesting human rights conditions in the jails.
The Carandiru complex was the site in October 1992 of Brazil's bloodiest prison massacre, when police stormed the jail after a fight between prisoners, killing 111 inmates and injuring 100 others in the space of just 30 minutes.
Relatives and friends of jailed inmates gathered outside the complex, while anti-riot police prepared for a possible assault.
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Planned Parenthood Receives Massive Donations in Bush's Name 15,000 Messages Are Set For Delivery to White House Tomorrow WASHINGTON - February 15 -
Tens of thousands of Americans demonstrated their support of reproductive rights to commemorate the Presidents' Day holiday on Feb. 19, by making contributions to Planned Parenthood in the name of President George W. Bush. Planned Parenthood reported today that an estimated $500,000 has been raised and 15,000 individuals have made contributions to Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and its affiliates around the country in response to this campaign -- many are first-time supporters of the organization. Dozens of volunteers and Planned Parenthood staff in the organization's Washington office are preparing the mail bags stuffed with the personal messages. The mail bags will be hand-delivered by Planned Parenthood to the new Executive Office Building on 17th Street, in Washington, D.C., tomorrow afternoon.
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PRESS RELEASE PENOBSCOT NATION AND PASSAMAQUODDY TRIBE V.GEORGIA PACIFIC CORP. GREAT NORTHERN PAPER, AND CHAMPION INTERNATIONAL CORP TO: PRESS FR: FOREST ECOLOGY NETWORK, JONATHAN CARTER, DIR. FEN RE: SOLIDARITY IN SUPPORT OF MAINE'S NATIVE AMERICANS AGAINST THE PAPER CORPORATIONS WHERE: MAINE JUDICIAL COURT, CUMBERLAND COUNTY COURTHOUSE, PORTLAND WHEN: FEB 13, 10AM
On Tuesday, Feb. 13th, supporters of the Penobscots and Passamaquoddy tribe convened at the Cumberland County Courthouse to protst against the expansion of the pulp and paper industry on native lands. What activists call the "landlords" of Maine, the paper corporations, are flexing their corporate muscle in order to preclude the ability of the Penobscots and Passamaquoddy tribes to monitor and expose the tons of toxic chemicals the paper goliaths contaminate thier rivers with each year. These paper corporations would prefer state control over federal jurisdiction(EPA) since they have much more ownership and control of the state process. Jonathan Carter, Dir. of the Forest Ecology Network, says "we know too well, the power of the paper corporations and how much they are in bed with state government. These corporations will stop at nothing in order to be able to continue to strip the forests, pollute the air, and contaminate the waters of Maine. In the last six years they have spent millions thwarting reasonable forestry reform. Not only do they buy elections and pay off legislators, but they have even purchased the table in the Governor's cabinet conference room! The question in this case is whether or not they own the courts". Steve Swift, FEN organizer, stated " there is an irony here. These same paper corporations who refuse to release important data to the public on their cutting activities, now are trying to demand information from the Tribes' governmental offices. The heart of the sovereignty issue is who rules Maine - the paper corporations or the people".
For more information contact the Forest Ecology Network at 632-7140.
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State agriculture officials charge that Some Canadian maple syrup producers might be using an illegal chemical to prolong their tapping seasons and give them a competitive edge over Vermont producers.
Vermont Agriculture Commissioner Leon Graves has asked Canadian officials to investigate the use of the chemical paraformaldehyde, which delays the healing of tap holes cut into maple trees.
The use of paraformaldehyde in maple sugaring was banned in the United States in 1982 and in Canada in the early 1990s. The chemical can enable a producer to get 20 percent to 25 percent more sap from each tree.
If used over a long period of time, the chemical, which comes in white pellets, can damage the trees, said Tim Perkins, the director of the Proctor Maple Research Center.
Graves said a Vermont Agriculture Department official recently went to Canada and obtained the pellets from "a friend." Researchers in Vermont will now try to determine if the chemical can be detected in syrup.
Vermont produced about 5 million pounds of maple syrup last year. Vermont syrup sells for about $1.67 a pound. Canadian syrup sells for about $1 a pound.
Vermont regulators would consider syrup from trees treated with the chemical to be adulterated and could penalize producers.
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Yankee wants sale complete by 2002
February 16, 2001
By David Gram
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTPELIER -
Officials with Vermont Yankee said Thursday they want to work with state regulators to auction the nuclear power plant.
Vermont Yankee hopes to have completed an auction by summer, and to get regulatory approvals and close the sale by the end of the year.
That timetable would not allow much time for plant officials to do what the Public Service Board said this week was their duty: "consideration of various options including, but not limited to, retaining ownership, selling the facility or shutting down the plant."
The announcement from Vermont Yankee came a day after the board rejected an offer by AmerGen Energy Co. of Philadelphia to buy the plant for $93.7 million in cash and other considerations.
That rejection came after another national nuclear plant operator, Mississippi-based Entergy Nuclear Co., made a last-minute bid for Vermont Yankee that was more generous than an offer that AmerGen had improved in November. Two other companies also recently expressed interest in the plant.
Critics of the sale have said the two options other than selling - particularly a shutdown _ have not been studied thoroughly enough.
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LSC student says he's being punished for criticizing school in web site
February 16, 2001
Associated Press
LYNDON -
A Lyndon State College student says he's being punished for helping create a Web site that accuses officials of ignoring student concerns about hate crimes, and mentions alleged hate crimes that target homosexuals at LSC.
Jacob Fortes, 19, of Lowell, Mass., said college administrators retaliated against him because of his Web site, http://lyndonsucks.homestead.com.
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Fortes said his Web site cost him a work-study job in the office of college President Carol Moore and has jeopardized his post as a dormitory staffer.
As well, Fortes said the college now accuses him of trying to hack into the LSC computer network. He denies the charge, but he faces a discipline hearing Thursday.
Fortes invited The Caledonian-Record, a local paper to cover his hearing, but the college president said Tuesday that the hearing still is private, despite permission from Fortes.
Wednesday, the paper's lawyer, Phil White said he would seek an injunction to stop the college from holding the hearing behind closed doors. He said he would also seek a court order telling the college to let the press and public attend.
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three young people were arrested by two plainclothes officers of the Surete Municipale. On Rue St. Jean in Quebec City on Sunday for Handing out pamphlets denouncing threats to our freedom of speech and the unprecedented attack on civil liberties represented by the 5-kilometre security perimetre being set up for the Summit of the Americas this April. The Quebec police and Mayor Jean-Paul L'Allier hastened to apologize and explain away the "error" after the affair hit the city's newspapers. In no way, they said, did they intend to limit the three young activists' right to freedom of expression. The two officers simply misunderstood a municipal bylaw. You'll have to excuse my skepticism.
The incident is one small part of an escalating pattern of intimidation and harassment of activists planning to demonstrate opposition to the Free Trade Area of the Americas, which is to be the subject of closed-door negotiations at the Quebec City summit.
On Jan. 23, Quebec police officers confronted members of the coalition Operation Quebec Prin- temps 2001 while they were passing out the very same pamphlet in the city's Place d'Youville. In a bizarre bit of legal reasoning, the officers told the activists that any group of people numbering more than two would be subject to arrest for unlawful assembly.
Thus, last Sunday, about two dozen members of the group were staging street-theatre scenes in groups of three, each with their own homemade "security perimetres," and distributing the pamphlet. "It's very, very ironic," said Comittee spokesman Nicolas Lefebvre Legault. "The pamphlet talks about the right to demonstrate, freedom of expression and the freedom of movement. The fact that they were arrested for distributing this pamphlet tells us that we're not completely paranoid in talking about attacks on civil liberties."
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Bare-Breasted Forest Activist Goes to Court Logging Protests Continue Against MRC/GAP Contact: James Ficklin 707/925-0012, Environmentally Sound Promotions 707/923-4949. www.earthfilms.org for photos
Ten forest activists were charged with trespassing in Mendocino County, appeared at the Ten Mile Justice Court in Ft. Bragg, California last Tuesday. Dona Nieto, who has conducted several "strip tease for the trees" at active logging sites, is among the "Mendocino Ten" facing charges. The protests for which the activists were arrested took place in Kaisen Gulch, a redwood forest being logged by Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC), which is owned by the Fisher Family, owners of the GAP clothing chain. Activists have called for a boycott of GAP clothing stores for the last two years and protests are ongoing.
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17 February 2001
Canada must act to protect endangered rainforests
Hong Kong - For the second day in a row, Greenpeace activists protested to highlight their demand that Canada's Prime Minister take immediate action to protect his nation's endangered rainforests.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien is currently in Hong Kong promoting increasing trade between the two nations in fields such as forest products. This time, protestors brought along one of the victims of large-scale, industrial clearcut logging in Canada's rainforests - a Grizzly bear.
The massive inflatable Grizzly measuring 5 metres wide and 6 metres tall, was erected outside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre shortly before a media briefing given by the Canadian Prime Minister on his China-Hong Kong trade tour.
On Friday, Greenpeace activists piled four tonnes of lumber, clearcut by Canadian logging giant International Forest Products (Interfor), outside Hong Kong's Government House to draw public attention to the horrendous devastation of the world's remaining ancient forests. On that occasion, Mr Chretien was meeting with Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee Hwa inside the official venue.
"Canada must act to protect biodiversity - nationally and in the Great Bear Rainforest - the largest, intact, unprotected temperate rainforests on earth,"said Catherine Stewart of Greenpeace Canada." Despite ratifying the Convention on Biological Diversity nearly 10 years ago, Canada still does not have an Endangered Species Act - a fundamental requirement of all signatory nations."
"Mr. Chretien's current proposed legislation is woefully inadequate and will do almost nothing to assist species in crisis," said Stewart. More than 140 genetically-unique stocks of salmon in British Columbia and the Yukon have already been driven into extinction. A further 624 stocks are known to be at high risk. Habitat loss is a major factor in salmon decline.
The government of Canada continuously fails to enforce the federal Fisheries Act to prevent the destruction of salmon habitat in the Great Bear Rainforest and protect salmon stocks at risk from industrial clearcut logging. Grizzly bears in BC are also at risk. Their populations in coastal BC forests have declined by 40-80 per cent in the past few decades. The rare white "Spirit" or Kermode bear also lives in Canada's rainforest and is found nowhere else on earth. The existence of these bears is seriously under threat as their habitat is being clearcut.
"Canada must act to address the critical situation of these vulnerable and endangered species, act to protect wildlife and their habitat and act to halt the devastation of the most endangered forests on earth," stressed Stewart. "As Canada's third largest trading partner, the governments, businesses and consumers of China and Hong Kong have a responsibility to demand only wood products derived from ecologically-responsible logging practices and denounce destructive logging practices in Canada and everywhere in the world," said Leon Ko of Greenpeace China.
"Alternatives do exist. Chinese purchasers of Canadian forest products should check where the wood originates. If it comes from the Great Bear Rainforest they should demand harmful logging practices be stopped immediately. They should exercise their consumer power to influence suppliers to provide eco-friendly timber," added Ko. "Don't let China and Hong Kong's dollars fuel the chainsaws destroying this irreplaceable forest ecosystem."
The combined volume of Hong Kong and China's bilateral trade with Canada exceeded HK$65 billion in 1998. Hong Kong and China's demand for Canadian wood products ranked third in 1999, totalling HK$3.5 billion. Hong Kong's demand for newsprint from Canada increased by nearly 70 per cent from 1999 to 2000, amounting to some HK$540 million according to official trade figures.