Briarpatch articles from June 2003

Briarpatch archives from June 2003

Openers.(Robson Walton, Greenpeace report)
June 1, 2003... Art Raffle Tickets are pouring in for our very popular Art Raffle fundraiser. Please help keep Briarpatch in the picture by selling your tickets and sending them if to us as soon as possible. This beautiful creation donated by...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2003... MISSING HEAD HONCHOS Dear Briarpatch, I enjoyed the May issue (and particularly got a chuckle out of the front page "collage" of previous editors). However, I think some folks were missed who should have at least got a mention....

Weapons of mass destruction. (Significant Trivia).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2003... The USA maintains an arsenal of 7,500 nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert with the firepower of 80,000 Hiroshima bombs. In each of the last six places where USA troops were sent into combat, they were fighting troops armed with American...

Policies of mass deception. (Significant Trivia).
June 1, 2003... Cost of 7.9 liters of oxygen: $29 Value of a 50-year-old red cedar's oxygen output per year: $3 million Value of a 50-year-old red cedar for timber: $2,700 Number of gallons of bottled water sold in the year 2000: 22.3 billion Tons of...

Native Homes for Native Children: July-August 1975. (Excerpt from Briarpatch Article from the '70s).(Excerpt)(Reprint)
June 1, 2003... The Metis Society, Native Women and several other community groups from Prince Albert had called on concerned citizens to come to a meeting on July 16, 1975 to deal with the effects of present adoption and foster care practices and legislation....

The chosen ones. (Current Situation in 2003).(Native Canadian adoptees)
June 1, 2003... I'm a Reginian, Nehiyewak, father, actor, teacher, writer, brother, uncle and sons. I want to emphasize "sons" because it is a concept that has spun me around since I hit the ground running. It has been an unpredictable whirlwind - a...

HaidaBucks vs Starbucks[R]: brew-haha in the Queen Charlotte Islands.
June 1, 2003... The corporate lawyers at Starbucks[R] seem to feel that the public is too stupid to be able to differentiate between the HaidaBucks cafe and their stores. Because they think you can't tell us apart, they sent us a threatening letter telling us...

Canadian involvement in rain forest destruction.(Encana Corp.)
June 1, 2003... A new phase of devastation has taken hold in the depths of the Amazon, as oil exploration increasingly reaches it's slimy hands into one of the world's richest biodiversity hot-spots. Despite strong local and international opposition, a new...

The crash of globalization: it's time to load a new and improved operating system into the world's control centres.
June 1, 2003... For everyone who protested against corporate globalization, there's good news: that version of globalization is dead - collateral damage to the attack on Iraq. The international laws necessary for the corporate globalization "house of cards" to...

An open letter to Prime Minister Jean Chretien expressing concerns about joining the American Star Wars Program.
June 1, 2003... Dear Mr. Prime Minister, I am writing to convey my concerns about the decision your government is contemplating about joining the USA Missile Defense Systems (USMDS) Program. Please consider the following points that seem to be missing...

Mistrial: archaic laws used to silence OCAP stymie the jury.(Ontario Coalition Against Poverty)
June 1, 2003... On May 11, the Judge declared a mistrial in the case of Stefan Pilipa, Gaetan Heroux and John Clarke. For four months, the three had been in a Toronto courtroom defending themselves on charges of "participating in a riot", "counselling to...

Raging Grannies reclaim sidewalk: one small determined step for Granny, one giant step for Democracy.
June 1, 2003... Where oh where has our public space gone? Gobbled up by malls, it seems. The Coruwall Centre in downtown Regina, unlike most malls, fronts a busy pedestrian sidewalk. Four times, before recent Peace Rallies, I stationed myself on the...

Feeling fine? The something's wrong.(pharmaceutical industry marketing)
June 1, 2003... If it hurts we'll find a drug to cure it. Hell, we'll find drugs to cure ailments you never even knew you had. We'll even invent diseases if that happens to open up a new market. Viagra for women, drugs for the "illness" of naturally decreasing...

Cuba foils American plot and faces renewed aggression.
June 1, 2003... Recent threats and actions from the White House indicate the USA may be laying the basis for a new confrontation with socialist Cuba. In the wake of the American invasion of Iraq and the Bush administration's promise of "endless war," there is...

Saskatchewan analysis.(Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)
June 1, 2003... Tired of the same old think tanks coming up with tired old policies about tax cuts, privatization, and trickle down economics? For analysis and ideas that challenge the status quo and support workers and communities, check out the Canadian...

Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising. .(Book Review)
June 1, 2003... by Starhawk New Society Publishers, 2002. Gabriola Island, BC Beginning with the anti-WTO protests in Seattle, this book follows the diverse global movement through the eyes of a Witch and ecofeminist-activist, Starhawk. She enlightens...

Evolve: Ani Difranco. (Music Review).(Sound Recording Review)
June 1, 2003... Righteous Babe Music, 2003. www.righteousbabe.com Ani Difranco's latest CD, Evolve, is a testament to her growth as a musician and producer, witnessed through her interpretation of difficult relationships and global pillage. In...

God's not on their side. (My Opinion).(homophobia and fundamentalism)
June 1, 2003... Like many people I've been closely following the war in Iraq. In the early days I listened as Bush tried desperately to justify his invasion of a sovereign country. Like so many unscrupulous leaders he was brazen enough to claim that God was on...