April Reign

Speak your mind even if your voice shakes

activism

Stop the sale of CANADARM & RADARSAT

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Radarsat-2 was developed through a partnership between MDA and the Canadian Space Agency, with Canadian taxpayers paying $445 million or about 85 per cent of the total cost. In return for its investment, the Canadian government was promised large amounts of imagery as well as “priority access” to Radarsat-2 in emergencies. These might include floods, forest fires, oil spills — or a suspect vessel entering Canada’s North.

Once Radarsat-2 is sold to Alliant Techsystems, the United States will likely replace Canada as the country with licensing authority over it. I have sought to confirm this with several officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs, including in the minister’s office. All of them claim not to know what will happen to the license.

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Sign the Petition

Say NO to Violence against Women

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Here is an action to help deter violence without perpetrating another violent act.

Your signature brings $1 to help end violence against women:
The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women will receive $100,000
from the United Nations Foundation for 100,000 signatures

65361 people have already signed up

Meet the challenge!

http://www.saynotoviolence.org/

Reject Bill C-484

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Many others have already shown that this bill has less to do with crime prevention than it has to do with creating criminals out of women who exercise their choice.

There are those who would like to see these kinds of stories become commonplace in Canada:

Mother-of-two Alicja Tysiac was refused an abortion in Poland’s public health system in 2000 despite three doctors’ opinions that she risked loss of her eyesight as a result of the pregnancy.

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Bojorge was awaiting her second child when she and her 5-month-old fetus died this month in a public hospital in Managua. Bojorge’s family says they took her to a hospital when she complained of limb pains and weakness. When her condition worsened, doctors say they determined her fetus was dead, but Bojorge went into shock before they could save her.

and

Ana Isela Vega, who was three months pregnant when she suffered a miscarriage this month, was refused the necessary procedure to evacuate her uterus in a public hospital in the city of León, said Marta María Blandón, Central America director of Ipas. According to Blandón, the doctors worried they could not operate for legal reasons. Under pressure from women’s groups who explained that the law did not forbid removing an already-deceased fetus, the doctors finally operated.

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There are few dystopias more frightening than one in which a woman is held captive to the product of her uterus. Women continue to die in countries where doctors are afraid to even provide life saving surgery for such things as ectopic pregnancy because of the threat of prison.

Don’t let this happen here. Phone, fax, write or email your MP and send this letter to Liberal leader Dion.

[email_link]

Corporate courts

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Guest post by Croghan27

Back story;

The bands involved, Shabot Obaadjiwan and Ardoch Algonquin First Nations had taken considerable trouble in trying to achieve a political/negotiated settlement appealing repeatedly to the Premier and ‘Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Michael Bryant for some negotiations about this incursion into their territory. They were not deemed worthy of a response by either of the honourable gentlemen.

Said their lawyer, Chris Reid:

….. Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Bryant never responded to the Ardoch Algonquin proposals.

“They instructed their lawyers to sit in court this week and say nothing while the lawyers for the mining company asked for six-month jail terms and punitive fines. The fact that Mr. Lovelace is in jail today is one hundred per cent the fault of Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Bryant.

Has nothing been leaned from the Dudley George incident at Ipperwash? (I suspect that the OPP’s reluctance to get involved in another shit storm such as ensued from that had more to do with people not getting hurt than any actions by McGuinty & Co.)

When established authorities, political and corporate, begin to use the courts and criminal system as a method to impose their will rather than those pesky and messy negotiations – it serves no one well: not (in this case) the band members, not the government leaders and certainly not the people of Canada.
[Read more…] about Corporate courts

One Body. One Person. One Count.

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There is currently before the House a private members bill that “would amend the Criminal Code to allow separate homicide charges to be laid in the death of a foetus when a pregnant woman is attacked.”

This in effect suggests that a foetus be defined as a separate “person” from the mother. This definition of ‘personhood’ would immediately open the door to criminalizing abortion and those having/performing them.

This bill is being brought forward by a special interest group.

Ken Epp is a member of the Campaign Life Coalition.

As Raymond Gravel, a Bloc MP and a priest said;

the member putting it forward is part of a pro-life group, the Campaign Life Coalition, which in my view is a rather extreme fanatical group, when it comes to life.”

I for one do not wish extreme fanatics dictating my choices. Such action leads to fascism.

For more information on this bill and to take action please visit Birth Pangs.

Elizabeth May on NetRoots

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NetRoots

As some of you may be aware, NetRoots is an aggregator for politicians and political hopefuls to bring their blogs, their ideas and their concerns to the voting public.

The public in turn can post and with luck the politicians involved will answer questions.

Today NetRoots is pleased to announce that Elizabeth May has guest blogged.

You can read, and if you choose respond, here http://netroots.ca/