Briarpatch articles from September 2003

Briarpatch archives from September 2003

Star or star wars?(Openers)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... Dear Briarpatch, The only invaluable legacy left by Prime Minister Jean Chretien has been his refusal to allow Canada to participate in the illegitimate and illegal attack against Iraq. This pre-emptive action, following the one in...

Simply speaking.(Openers)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... Dear Briarpatch, The reason I'm buying these subscriptions is that these two young women have graduated from high school. Your magazine lays out the issues more clearly and simply without the ego-laden, round-about way of saying things...

Briar-news.(Openers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... See page 22 to see if you're a winner in our Annual Art Raffle. Briarpatch is a big winner thanks to all the help from our subscribers and artist friends. We wish to welcome new board members Catherine Verral, Justin Philander and Clare...

Church people or terrorists?(Openers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Lutheran World Federation met in Winnipeg at the end of July to discuss the theme: "For the healing of the world." Missing from the assembly were 51 delegates from the poorer regions of Africa and Asia. Their visas were denied, without...

What's the Big Idea?(Openers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The "Big Idea" is a deal that would see Canada giving the USA a strong North American security perimeter and greater access to our energy resources in return for supposedly secure access to the USA market. It threatens the space we need to...

Free ride in the city of smog.(Openers)(Humanize Toronto campaign)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... After a two-year campaign by Humanize Toronto (HTO), City Hall has adopted a motion that moves the city closer to free public transportation on all smog days. The HTO campaign calls for the city to make public transportation free on all...

Lord Black and the Christians face libel charges.(Openers)
September 1, 2003... During a visit last year, hundreds in Victoria BC gave George Galloway, the Scottish Member of Parliament from Glasgow, a standing ovation for his condemnation of American and British policies in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine, and for his...

ET can't call home.(Openers)(payphone access decreasing)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... According to an article by Pippa Lawson in NAPO News, the publication of the National Anti Poverty Organization, "The days of widely available public payphones may soon be over, if telephone companies have their way. With the increasing...

Pettigrew attempts to silence those voicing dissent against the WTO.(Pierre Pettigrew and the World Trade Organization protests)
September 1, 2003... We were peaceful. We were quiet. We were sitting, talking. Some were even sleeping. And we were arrested for participating in a riot--a charge later reduced to illegal assembly. However, this is not only about wrongful arrest. This is about...

Market basket poverty measure is a shocker.(Market Basket Measure )
September 1, 2003... Back in 1994, the right-wing Fraser Institute published Professor Sarlo's Poverty in Canada--1994, an aggressive attack on Statistics Canada's "official" poverty line as too generous, thus unnecessarily inflating the count of Canada's poor. A...

Stop the madness! Science supports farmer's theory that pesticides and trace metals are responsible for BSE outbreaks on non-organic farms.
September 1, 2003... Mark Purdey is organic farmer and a self-taught scientist. He has been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and co-authored papers with a number of scientists. His work has been pooh-poohed for decades, but now people are taking...

Dubya speak ... (before they put speaker in his ear.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." --Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 27, 2000 "I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer questions. I can't answer your question."...

Learning, Ltd.: looking beyond the "non-discrimination" threat to education, there are other related perils to contend with.
September 1, 2003... In early August student organizations from around the world came together for a conference at the Universite de Montreal to discuss globalization's negative effects on post-secondary education. As a result, organizers are calling for an...

Shrubgate: Saskatchewan NDP government panics.
September 1, 2003... The Calvert government is in a panic mode, bordering on hysteria. That is the only reasonable explanation for the forced resignation of a minor NDP caucus employee for calling Bush "President Shrub" in a leaked memorandum. Let's recall the...

Embedded in the struggle for justice: Justin Philander interviews Darren Ell about his photojournalism work.(Artist's Voice)(Interview)
September 1, 2003... Justin: I understand that you were a teacher before you pursued photography. At what point did you decide to leave your teaching job in Regina and pursue a career in photography in Montreal? Darren: I've been doing photojournalistic work...

Twins separated at birth?(Elwin Hermanson and Homer Simpson)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Elwin Hermanson Homer Simpson Both have an H and a SON in their names Both have the same hairline Both have three children Confused? ...

Art Raffle 2003.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Artist: Mendelson Joe (Emsdale, ON) Winner: Terry Toews (Swift Current, SK) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Artist: Ron Ewenin Wapemoose (Regina, SK) Winner: Sydney Craigen (Medicine Hat, AB) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Artist:...

Responding to ignorance: this letter was written by Rene Gonzalez, one of the Cuban Five political prisoners in American prison, in response to the Campaign for Peace and Democracy (CPD) statement that denounced Cuba for the trials of counter-revolutionaries, conducted in Cuba in March of 2003. Joanne Landy spearheaded this anti-Cuba campaign.(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... Dear Ms. Joanne Landy: Being a Cuban revolutionary all of my life, having fought in Angola against the South African invasion and being, at the present time, incarcerated in a USA federal prison for protecting the Cuban people from the...

Catholic nuns jailed ... for civil disobedience.
September 1, 2003... Setting a precedent that may be used against other peace activists, three nuns waited in jail for 10 months facing the possibility of being incarcerated for the remainder of their lives after they symbolically disarmed a Minuteman III nuclear...

High and Mighty: SUVs--the World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... by Keith Bradsher PublicAffairs, New York, 2002. This mighty book will threaten to knock the other books off your bedside table, but it should be there if you are considering buying an SUV. Keith Bradsher, Detroit bureau chief of The New...

Confessions of a Matriarchist: Rebuilding Society on Feminine Principles.(Book Review)
September 1, 2003... by Bill Longstaff Ballot Publishing, 2003. www.ballotpublishing.ca This is a book for anyone looking for ways to work towards changing a patriarchal society into one based on equality, compassion and respect for the environment. Bill...

The roadmap to nowhere.(My Opinion)(Palestinian peace plan)
September 1, 2003... Being a Palestinian, one is born into this struggle and you can't get out of it no matter what you do. It's a birth mark that I've experienced since I was three years old. I want to discuss the so-called roadmap to peace--the "roadmap to...