Wal-Mart Christmas or Children’s Sweatshop

Anyone who has seen the documentary, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, knows that this company is a social parasite and the horrible things it has done to communities and working people the world over.

In an effort to counter act the negative image that Wal-Mart has suffered in recent years, the company launched a new ad campaign with the slogan “Life is pricey. Wal-Mart isn’t.” These advertisements show likable characters, in comical situations searching for the perfect Christmas gift. Unfortunately this warm and fuzzy image of the holiday spirit only exists in the ad campaign and the conditions under which the workers in China produce goods for Wal-Mart are dehumanizing.

Recently, a group of Chinese labourors managed to sneak out video footage and images of young children working upwards of 15 hour days to produce the Christmas ornaments sold at Wal-Mart stores. These children are being paid only $0.26/hour which is significantly lower than the legal minimum wage (0.55/hour) for their efforts and MUST sign a so-called voluntary agreement to work 7 days a week. Workers daring to take Sunday off are docked 2 ½ day’s wages as punishment. And if you thought it couldn’t get worse, it does, most of these workers are routinely cheated out of 25% of their already sub par earnings.

Something to think about when choosing where to spend your money.

Reference:
1) A Wal-Mart Christmas – Brought to You by a Sweatshop in China (I apologize that this links to a slow loading site.)
2) No-one Makes You Shop at Wal-Mart

Re-Class Taser Guns, RCMP Watchdog says

A report by Head of Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, Paul Kennedy, on the use of taser guns by the force has noted that the use of the weapons has increased over the last six years to include situations where people were “clearly non-combative”. Kennedy states that “Use [of taser guns] has expanded to include subduing resistant subjects who do not pose a threat of grievous bodily harm or death and on whom the use of lethal force would not be an option”.

The report recommends that the taser guns be reclassified from “intermediate tool” to “impact weapon”, meaning the weapon should only be used by officers when there is a clear threat of death or moral injury to officers or the public. In addition to restricting the use of tasers the report also calls for more monitoring of the weapon’s use and further research into the effects of the stun gun on the human body and the risks of inducing the condition that Dziekanski is thought to have died from, called excited delirium.

Hopefully the government will act quickly on the recommendations of this report so that we can avoid further tragedy.

Link to Report:
The commission's Taser report to Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day

Reference:
RCMP must curb Taser use, watchdog says

John Baird is an Embarrassment in Bali

Baird is not the Minister of the Environment he is the Minister of kissing Bush’s butt! His performance in Bali and sheer ignorance on the issue of climate change is embarrassing to the country he represents. Baird only took the Environment portfolio because his riding is in Ottawa and the didn’t want to be heading the Treasury Board while the government was in collective bargaining with the public service’s largest union (not a good idea to tick off a large number of potential voters in a minority government). He doesn’t give two shakes about the environment and that attitude is coming out loud and clear at the Bali conference.

Only an idiot would put the economy (a man-made invention wholly unrelated to the survival of the species) ahead of the environment (essential to the survival of the species). Especially since leading economists in Britain say that being environmentally responsible is actually good for the economy.



Reference: Canada lumped with U.S. at climate change talks

Baird targeted at Bali over Canada's climate stance

Why Baird's Do-Nothing Plan is a Bad Idea

You could imagine my surprise when I received the following comment to Canada’s Environment Minister Would Rather Do Nothing about Climate Change:

A true legislative commitment to reducing green house emissions, to sustainable levels, would cause our continent's economy to tail spin to an extent that would make the storey "The Grapes of Wrath", look like a picnic gone bad.

I appreciate our leaders' caution. My childern's children will see a change in life style. Let's hope it won't be a catastophe, but a dignified submission of privledges and luxuries.

The following video highlights how this persons views are utter nonsense.

Canada’s Environment Minister Would Rather Do Nothing about Climate Change

Minister Baird has said that Canada will not sign any international treaties on climate change unless the U.S. signs as well. Very shrewd move. If you want to do nothing, but you don’t want to say that you want to do nothing, placing a condition like that on signing an accord is a pretty sure bet.

Too bad for Baird the Canadian public is smart enough to see through such a transparent move. Given the Bush administration’s position on climate change (i.e. they are nearly the only ones on this planet not sure if it is real) hell would be experiencing a climate change of its own before the United States signed on.

Reference: Canada signing climate treaty without U.S. like 'unilateral disarmament': Baird

Canada’s Climate Change Performance - Nearly Scraping Bottom

It seems that the Harper Conservatives in their unending effort to make us more like the U.S. have decided to join our American friends in the race to the bottom of the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI). Canada placed 53rd out of 56 countries several places below China (40th) and just above the United States and Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. which refuses to sign the Kyoto Accord and the Harper Conservatives which refuse to acknowledge that Canada has signed it, have joined forces to promote the most bizarre form of measuring CO2 emissions. The Bush Administration, in an attempt to look like it is doing something on climate change, has committed to reducing “greenhouse gas intensity of the American economy”. Greenhouse gas intensity refers to the relative amounts of CO2 produced per unit of economic activity (GDP). The problem with this political brainwave is that if targets are tied to economic growth then actual emissions can continue to rise right along side as long as the CO2/GDP ration gets smaller.

Newsflash – the climate doesn’t care how much money anyone is making. It is only by reducing real emission levels with there be any substantial effect on the environment.

Canada’s current Clean Air Act put in place by the Conservative government uses intensity based targets until 2020. (Too bad this government’s vision of our environment’s future isn’t.)

Reference: Canada 4th-worst in climate change performance

Canada Joins Bush's Nuclear Club

Hoping no one would notice amid the media circus surrounding Karlheinz Schreiber’s appearance at a parliamentary committee the government decided to announce that it is joining the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). GNEP is a group promoted by the Bush administration, which aims to reduce the amount of radioactive waste that is stored in the United States and promote nuclear energy. Canada is the world’s largest producer of uranium and may be required by the deal to take responsibility for disposing of the radioactive waste that is created from nuclear material sold to other countries. South Africa has already declined to join the GNEP because it fears becoming a dumping ground for radioactive waste created through its nuclear exports.

Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn told the commons, “We made it unequivocally clear that we will, under no circumstances, ever accept any nuclear spent fuel back from any other country.” The fact that Minister Lunn is also talking about the possibility of privatizing the Crown Corporation, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd causes some concerns as to whether or not the nuclear waste can be brought in through the back door by way of private industry. It also leads to speculation that a deregulation of the nuclear industry will soon follow.

Opposition parties are calling for a parliamentary debate and vote on the GNEP. Minister Lunn said that he would be willing to discuss the implications of joining the GNEP at parliamentary hearings but made no commitment to debate the issue in the House of Commons.

Reference: Canada softpedals into U.S. nuclear energy club
The Ottawa Citizen, Dec 1, 2007