Ron's News

Click here to view the original article.
[Keeping inflation low is an express goal of the neoliberal economic ideology and of austerity policies - this indicates that these approaches are backfiring and smothering the economy. *RON*]
Rob Wile , Business Insider, Apr. 13, 2014

Back in March, the IMF raised the prospect that "lowflation" — not quite deflation, but pretty darn close — could mean Eurozone growth never gets back to healthy levels.

It's not just Europe anymore.

This weekend, St. Louis Fed economist Silvio Contessi posted a chart showing how lowflation is now a feature of the developed world. It shows how far core and headline inflation has deviated from targets set by central banks, including ones that are supposed to be immune from the Eurozone's histrionics, like Sweden, Switzerland and Denmark.

Click here to view the original article.
[Faulty information passed along by the RCMP was what led to the torture and false confessions of Maher Arar. This order from the Harper government directly contravenes the federal commission of inquiry into this matter, which was led by Justice Dennis O'Connor. *RON*]

By Jim Bronskill, CP / Huffington Post, 04/13/2014


OTTAWA - The Conservative government has secretly ordered the Canadian military to share information with allies even when there's a serious risk it could lead to torture.

The Defence Department was making good progress on developing a directive from the minister to put the policy into effect, a newly declassified memo shows.

The memo reveals Defence was slated to be the fifth and final federal agency to apply the Harper government's instruction to exchange information with a foreign agency when doing so may give rise to a "substantial risk" of torture.

The others are the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, th…

Click here to view the original article.

[The corporate sector will not be involved in helping to pay for maternal health initiatives, in case that's what you were foolishly thinking. They'll be at the receiving end, getting corporate welfare - er, I mean contracts - to provide services that will be 'rigorously evaluated.' And you if you believe that, I have a watch and a bridge that I'd like to sell you. *RON*]

By Mike Blanchfield, CP / Huffington Post, 04/13/2014

OTTAWA - Canada must have help from private-sector companies to meet its key development goal of reducing infant mortality and improving the health of young mothers in poor countries, says the country's aid minister.

Tying Canada's overseas development assistance to private-sector partnerships has been a controversial proposition for the Harper government, and one that Development Minister Christian Paradis makes no apologies for.

"By involving the private sector, they can find solutions that…

Click here to view original article.

[As the article title suggests, it appear that the Koch brothers are providing backing to a Nevada rancher who sounds like a violent, anti-government vigilante and more than a little bit of a kook. "We got a strong army here, we have to fight.... I abide by almost zero federal laws." This linking of corporatocracy with violent anti-federal vigilantism is, to put it mildly, ominous. *RON*]
By Oliver Willis, Media Matters, truth-out.org, 13 April 2014

Two affiliates of the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity are helping conservative media promote the cause of a Nevada rancher who has made violent threats against the federal government.

Cliven Bundy, a cattle rancher in Nevada, has refused to remove his animals from public property in violation of a federal court order.

In 1993, Bundy declined to pay government fees that are required in order to allow his cattle to graze on the public land. In 1998 a court order told Bundy to remove his ca…

Click here to view the original article.

[Fantastic news - thank you Kitimat! :-) Can Northern Gateway continue without social license? It will be informative to see how much traction this story gets in the mainstream BC media. UPDATE: Steve Darling on Global Morning News on April 14th said, "Of course, this is only one small step in a very lengthy process." See also: In Small Canadian Town Democracy Wins, Tar Sands Loses. *RON*]

Mychaylo Prystupa, Vancouver Observer, Apr 12th, 2014

With a hushed crowd of about one hundred, the unofficial result of the Kitimat plebiscite was read aloud Saturday evening. Instantly, those gathered at the downtown park erupted into screams of joy.

Enbridge has lost the vote.

YES 1,278 (41.6%)

NO 1,793 (58.4%)

Total 3,071

Click here to view the original story.

[Rob Anders, like controversial Toronto mayor Rob Ford, is one of a handful of Canadian politicians who have been publicly and repeatedly supported by Stephen Harper. See also Calgary candidate beats Rob Anders and says Jason Kenney "should mind his own business". *RON*]

By Bill Graveland, CP / Huffington Post, 04/13/2014


CALGARY - The self-proclaimed "poster boy" for blue Conservatives went down to defeat Saturday night at the hands of a former Alberta cabinet minister.

Ron Liepert defeated MP Rob Anders in the battle for the Conservative nomination in the rejigged riding of Calgary Signal Hill.

Liepert, who is 64 and a former member of the Alberta legislature, thought he had left public service in 2012 but found himself on the ground floor in January with a group seeking to remove Anders as MP.