30 USW 7-669 Honeywell Metropolis, Illinois nuclear process plant workers have been locked out by multi-national corporation Honeywell since June 28, 2010. USW 7-669 locked out members Stephen Lech and James Childers discuss the conspiracy by the company to destroy the union and threaten not only the workers but the health and safety of the community. They also discuss the use of communication media and technology on how they are fighting back. This presentation took place at the 2010 LaborTech conference in San Francisco on December 1, 2010. To get more information on the locked out workers go to www.usw7-669.com. LaborTech is at www.labortech.net
US trade unionists have revealed that an explosion has rocked a Honeywell nuclear plant in Illinois which is being staffed by strikebreakers: here.
Trade unionists who have been locked out of the US’s only uranium conversion facility in Metropolis, Illinois, for almost a year used their proxy shares to confront senior managers at a Honeywell shareholders meeting on Tuesday: here.
Representatives of 16 million workers are calling on the boss of US transnational Honeywell to immediately end the 11-month-long lockout of 228 workers at it’s uranium processing plant in Metropolis, Illinois: here.
The US nuclear industry and the Obama administration are pressing the Indian government to amend or circumvent the controversial Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage law that was passed by India’s parliament in late August: here.
Over the objections of Obama administration lawyers, a court has struck down a Clinton-era law upholding discrimination against gays and lesbians, claiming that it weakens the military: here.
Republicans block vote on repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell”: here.
Lesbian flight nurse launches legal action over military gay ban: here.
A US lawyer urged a federal judge on Wednesday to reinstate a decorated flight nurse discharged from the Air Force Reserve for being a lesbian: here.
Increase in Women and Minorities Discharged Due to “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”: here.
Paging fiscal conservatives: military has wasted $1.3 Billion banning gays since 1980: here.
No. 2 Naval officer behind a string of vulgar, homophobic videos: here.
Republican Debate Audience Boos Gay Soldier Stephen Hill After DADT Repeal Question (VIDEO): here.
Gays Remain Minority Most Targeted by Hate Crimes: here.
Added: Friday, September 10, 2010, 13:35
Updated: Friday, September 10, 2010, 16:30
Many victims of abuse within the Roman Catholic Church in Belgium were not older than four years. In some cases, they were even toddlers aged two. This is the conclusion of the research team led by child psychiatrist Adriaenssens who investigated the abuse on behalf of the church.
Adriaenssens collected about three hundred cases of child abuse. According to him, there was hardly any diocese or [Roman Catholic] boarding school in Belgium where no abuse occurred. Especially in the nineteen sixties it happened very often.
The research team could not finish their work, because the Belgian police ten weeks ago in a raid took all the files, for fear that the church wanted to create a cover-up. This week the judge ruled that the raid was unlawful.
Suicide
According to Adriaenssens, victims could hardly count on help. “They knew that the perpetrators were powerful and that they themselves would not be believed,” he says.
A girl who reported abuse to a bishop, was told: “Just ignore him, then it will stop.”
At least thirteen abuse victims later committed suicide. Six others attempted suicide.
…
Less abuse happened in the nineteen eighties because there were fewer priests then and they had to do less with education.
Half of all suspects are already deceased. In many other cases the abuse is barred.
Pope faces protests and apathy on visit to Britain: here.
Senior Catholic rules out ordaining women as priests ahead of pope’s UK visit: here.
NZ top defence scientist accused of telling “big hairy lies” – September 10, 2010
New Zealand’s defence establishment has been rocked, not by the massive earthquake that recently hit the country, but by accusations that its chief scientist is not, as he had claimed, an Olympic bobsledder, a special forces soldier, or an ex-British spook.
Hey, all my life I have been so naive that I believed that, to qualify as a “chief scientist” one must be a scientist. Never mind bobsledding. Never mind killing Afghans or other people a long way from Britain in the special forces. Never mind spying.
However, it seems that in the killing industry … err… in “defence” a scientist does not have to be a scientist.
For five years, British-born Steven Wilce ran the country’s Defence Technology Agency, which advised the government on weapon’s systems and new technologies. His job also made him the top scientific official in the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), and had high-level security clearances.
Wilce made himself sound like the man for the job. He claimed to be a reservist in the British Special forces and to have worked for MI-5 and MI-6. He told colleagues he had helped design the inertial guidance system for Britain’s Polaris submarine-launched nuclear missile (though that would have made him pretty old, given it was designed in the 1950s).
He was also quite the athlete, claiming to have competed on the British Olympic bobsled team in the 1980s, against the famous Jamaican “cool runnings” team. In New Zealand, Wilce has held a number of executive management roles, though he never seemed to hold a job for long.
An investigation by New Zealand’s 60 minutes reveals why: Almost everything Wilce claimed about life before New Zealand wasn’t true, including his bobsledding prowess. According to many former Kiwi colleagues, he mismanaged many of the companies he was hired to run. “I found this fellow was telling me massive porkies,” business consultant Steve Saunders told the programme.
The NZDF has now opened an investigation into how Wilce got the job. The former top scientist has meanwhile resigned from his post, according to reports.
A crowd, estimated at 10,000 by a spokesman for the Badakhshan province governor, had earlier poured into the streets after special Eid prayers. Some later hurled stones at a NATO base run by Germans and a protester was shot when troops inside opened fire, spokesman Amin Sohail said.
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul said ISAF was aware of protests in Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan, and were investigating.
(Reporting by Ahmad Elham and Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Paul Tait and Nick Macfie)
In corporate media, you hear a lot about free speech for the “Reverend” Terry Jones and other anti-Muslim bigots. You hear a lot less about free speech for Afghan and other Muslims. I am not aware of NATO killing any anti-Muslim bigot anywhere. It seems that Afghan lives are a lot cheaper to NATO.
Quran burning plan fuels protests: Thousands stage demonstrations across Afghanistan, as US pastor announces Quran: here.
Thousands of Afghan citizens have rallied across Afghanistan to demand the withdrawal of all occupation troops and condemn an US church’s plan to burn the Koran: here. And here.
Why Peaceniks Should Care About the Afghanistan Study Group Report: here.
The corporate-controlled US media has maintained a virtual blackout on Pentagon documents released Wednesday that reveal grisly atrocities by American soldiers in Afghanistan, including murdering civilians and cutting off their fingers as trophies: here.
Afghanistan election problems will take years to fix, says watchdog: here.
Occupying powers should split up Afghanistan along ethnic lines and leave the south to the Taliban, a former US national security adviser has declared: here.
The Afghan government rejected on Monday Nato assertions that an air strike on a convoy in Takhar province killed a “top insurgent,” saying that the victims included a candidate in next weekend’s parliament elections and his civilian aides: here.
It was 1am and 64-year old Mohammed Akram was playing chess with a family friend when 30 soldiers came crashing through the door of his Kabul apartment: here.
The US Department of Defense is seeking to buy and destroy all 10,000 copies of a book written by a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer about his experiences in Afghanistan: here.
A 9/11 New Yorker reflects: The only people who can desecrate Ground Zero–& America–are the Islamophobes: here.
The far Right in the USA: here. And here. And here.
Tea Party: These are People Who Were Wearing Sheets Over their Heads 25 Years Ago: here.
Over at the Huffington Post, a new survey from the Democratic-affiliated firm Public Policy Polling is featured, which found that more Republicans support constructing a strip club than a mosque near Ground Zero: here.
Blog post from Mehdi Hasan: “Crazy Republicans prefer strip clubs to mosques”: here.
More than 100 homes damaged after a “gas transmission line” ruptures in a southern suburb of San Francisco.
Last Modified: 10 Sep 2010 08:05 GMT
An evening gas-line explosion in a neighbourhood south of San Francisco has set fire to hundreds of homes, leaving one person dead and at least 25 injured.
Firefighters battled the wind-fed flames on Thursday night as they spread across a swath of San Bruno, a suburb just south of San Francisco and west of the busy San Francisco International Airport.
The fire began when a “gas transmission line” running underneath the neighbourhood ruptured at around 6pm, according to a statement released by the Pacific Gas & Electric company (PG&E), which provides power to the majority of California residents and owns the line.
The main fire, fed by the gas line, raged into the night before fading. Authorities cut power to the neighbourhood as emergency crews worked to extinguish the secondary fires.
PG&E said it would “take accountability” if it is determined that the company is responsible for the ruptured line.
The company earned total revenues of around $14.6 billion in 2008 and has been involved in numerous environmental and safety controversies in California, most notably the case of groundwater contamination near the town of Hinkley, which led to a legal case dramatised in the film “Erin Brockovich“.
Calif. fire update: San Bruno fire chief says six people are dead – L.A. Times: here. And here.
Four people were killed, 52 injured, and dozens of homes were destroyed when a gas line exploded in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno Thursday evening: here.
As the death toll mounts from Thursday’s gas explosion in San Bruno, California, evidence is beginning to emerge pointing to infrastructure decay and neglect: here.
San Bruno blast sheds light on utility companies’ lax self-monitoring of vital gas lines: here.
This video is called GENIUS WITHIN: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Trailer).
Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould by Canadian documentarians Michéle Hozer and Peter Raymont is a compilation of previously unseen footage of Gould, as well as hundreds of photographs and excerpts of private home and studio recordings: here.
This video is also about the 2010 German Love Parade tragedy.
The state government and city council, together with the commercial sponsors, subordinated the safety and lives of those attending the Love Parade in Germany to economic interests: here.
Canada’s “Northern Strategy” and the militarization of the Arctic
10 September 2010
Since assuming power in 2006, the Conservative government of Stephen Harper has made the assertion of Canadian capitalist interests in the Arctic region a priority. Harper has made five visits to the Arctic since taking office, including a five-day tour late last month.
Canada’s Far North comprises a full 40 percent of the country’s landmass. It is the site of immense energy resources, which have become increasingly accessible as the Arctic sea ice melts. The region is thought to have the equivalent of 90 billion barrels of oil and as much as a quarter of the world’s yet to be discovered oil and natural gas.
Melting of the permanent ice is also opening up a new intercontinental maritime route, the famed Northwest Passage, which by shortening the distance to be travelled between Europe and the Asian Pacific, will allow shipping companies to save substantial transportation costs. For the country that controls the Passage, this would be a highly valuable asset.
Harper’s Arctic visit was the occasion for his government to seek a rapprochement with the US, in order to promote Canadian interests in the Arctic in opposition to Russian claims in the area. …
But the policy is fraught with contradictions. Despite the policy paper’s claim that “Canada does not anticipate any military challenges in the Arctic,” the immensity of the natural resources coming into play is inevitably pushing both medium and great powers—including the United States, Russia, Canada, Denmark and Norway—to develop their military presence in this region.
Russia and Norway have signed an accord which agreed their border in the energy-rich Barents Sea: here.
This is a Dutch TV video on the Norwegian-Russian agreement.
The foreign ministers of Russia and Canada are shaping up for a battle over their respective countries’ rival claims to Arctic resources: here.
NATO Arctic Security And Canadian Sovereignty In The Far North: here.
This video from Alaska is called Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 50th Anniversary Video Trailer – Caption Version.
Beautiful footage of Arctic glaciers – disappearing due to warming waters VIDEO: here.
Spring Cleaning in the Arctic: Putin’s Environmental Action Plan for the Far North: here.
New blog post from the Arctic: There are only two tree species in this tundra “forest”: here.
David B. Williams, Climate Story Tellers: “Something strange happened in the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1950s. During a period when both countries were focused intently on space, nuclear weapons, and post-war development, two environmental issues made national headlines. Even stranger, the places that attracted attention were thousands of miles from either of the political centers in Moscow or Washington, D.C., in some of the most isolated parts of each country. Against these odds, however, Lake Baikal and what later became known as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge transcended politics and geography to emerge as powerful environmental symbols”: here.
Check out these amazing photos of creatures under the Arctic sea ice of the White Sea: here.
WikiLeaks+Greenpeace+BBC documentary on Arctic carveup released: here.
Denmark plans to lay claim to the North Pole and other areas in the Arctic, where melting ice is uncovering new shipping routes, fishing grounds and drilling opportunities for oil and gas, according to a government document leaked on Tuesday: here.
Is the scramble over the North Pole back on? Here.
The Florida pastor who threatened to burn copies of the Qur’an suspended the plan last night in the face of condemnation by Barack Obama, the Pentagon, the state department and international outrage.
Although he had initially announced that the bookburning was cancelled, he later said the plan was only “suspended” because he was “lied to” over a deal to call off the event in exchange for a promise to move a planned Islamic centre away from New York’s Ground Zero.
Terry Jones, who heads the Dove World Outreach Centre church in Gainesville, Florida, claimed he was not bowing to the pressure from the White House and abroad but had taken the decision because of the agreement. However, it emerged last night that Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, had phoned Jones and asked him not carry out his threat.
Jones also claimed he was planning to fly to New York to discuss the proposed cultural centre’s new location with the New York imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.
But the imam, in a statement issued last night, said he had not spoken to Jones.
“I am glad that Pastor Jones has decided not to burn any Qur’ans. However, I have not spoken to Pastor Jones,” he said. “I am surprised by their announcement. We are not going to toy with our religion or any other. Nor are we going to barter.”
There was a collective sigh of relief worldwide as Jones announced at a press conference that he was dropping his plan to set fire to 20 copies of the Qur’an. The burning had been planned to coincide with the ninth anniversary tomorrow of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Interpol, the Pentagon and others warned that such an act would provoke violent acts around the world by outraged Muslims. There were protests in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other Muslim countries yesterday at the proposed burning.
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