The Dominion - United States

Common Snapping Turtle

Cameron Fenton — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 05:22:01 +0000

Ograbme!

One of the largest freshwater turtles in North America, the common snapping turtle—a member of the Chelydridae family—can trace its roots to the Late Cretaceous period, over 70 million years ago.

Chelydra serpentina, named for its powerful jaws and the snake-like appearance of its neck and head, can be found all across central Canada, the United States and as far south as Ecuador. Typically living in shallow water, the common snapping turtle can be a prickly customer on land, with a reputation of being unfriendly to wayward fingers.

Snapping turtles’ snorkel-like nostrils lie on the very tip of their snouts, allowing them to remain in shallow water and mud for long periods of time.

Efficient aquatic scavengers, the omnivorous snapping turtle has a varied diet of plant and animal matter. Snappers are also known to hunt on occasion, eating small fish, rodents, reptiles and even unsuspecting birds.

Human interest in the snapping turtle has typically been for making soup, with hunting still practiced in most of North America. In Ontario, they have been labeled a species of special concern—a species with characteristics that make it sensitive to human activities and natural events.

Known in North American folklore as the “Ograbme” (embargo spelled backwards) the snapping turtle earned a place in the history of our southern neighbours, becoming a feature in political cartoons commenting on the 1807 Jeffersonian embargo act which banned trade between the United States and other nations.

Snapping Turtle

January In Review, Part II

Cameron Fenton — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:04:15 +0000

Haiti comes to Canada, the world loses two literary legends, and Bin Laden becomes a climate change activist

Delegates, including Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and representatives from the World Bank and IMF, met in Montreal to discuss a long-term reconstruction strategy for Haiti on January 25. Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned that reconstruction could take "at least 10 years of hard work." The meeting was met by demonstrations calling for "aid not guns" and drawing attention to Canada and the US's history of military and economic intervention in Haiti. Meanwhile a mass exodus of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince is underway, as some of the hundreds of thousands of homeless search for food, water and shelter elsewhere.

The IMF has given an interest-free loan of $100 million to Haiti with a long grace period. These emergency funds are a means to provide services and obtain essential imports needed by the country after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake.

The UK and France urged Taiwan and Venezuela to cancel their debt claims on Haiti. Last July, the Paris Club —a group of 19 creditor governments, including France and the UK—agreed to cancel $214 million. Haiti owed $167 million to Venezuela and $91 million to Taiwan. Venezuela President Hugo Chavez subsequently wrote off Haiti's debt, saying, "Haiti has no debt with Venezuela—on the contrary, it is Venezuela that has a historic debt with Haiti." Taiwan is still considering.

Members of the Toronto 18—a group of Muslim Toronto youth accused of ties to terrorist activities—faced sentencing hearings in mid January. Amin Mohamed Durrani, 23, pleaded guilty on January 20 to involvement with known terrorists. He was sentenced to 7 1/2 years and credited with time served. So-called "mastermind" Zakaria Amara was sentenced to life in prison on January 14. After sentencing he read an open letter to Canadians stating how "how regretful and sorry I feel."

A New York PETA activist is facing assault charges after shoving a tofu cream pie in the face of Fisheries Minister Gail Shea in protest of the federal government's support for the commercial seal hunt. Liberal MP Gerry Byrne told reporters that the incident, and PETA, "meet the test of a terrorist organization" and called for a federal investigation.

The Harper government quietly announced that after decades of support, Canada was ceasing aid to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The announcements were made by Victor Toews, the president of Canada's Treasury Board, as he was traveling in the Middle East.

The New Brunswick and Quebec governments have reached a new agreement that will sell the majority of NB Power's power generating assets to Hydro-Quebec. NB Power will remain a crown corporation and will retain control of its transmission system while granting Hydro-Quebec transmission rights, giving the Quebec utility company access to the US market.

Bolivian President Evo Morales was sworn in for his second term. In his inauguration speech, Morales promised to develop state-run paper, cement, dairy, and drug companies. Morales also called on foreign investors to help Boliva develop its iron and lithium industries.

Called to testify against Mohammed Harkat at a review hearing of his seven-year-old security certificate in Montreal, a Canadian intelligence official admitted he did not review classified documents about Harkat for fear of divulging information to the public.

Renowned historian and dissident Howard Zinn died of a heart attack at the age of 87. Best known for penning A People's History of the United States, Zinn will be remembered as a prominent intellectual and tireless advocate for global social justice.

Author J.D. Salinger, famous for writing The Catcher in the Rye, passed away the following day. He was 91.

Osama Bin Laden joined the climate debate, placing blame for global climate change on US and other industrialized economies.

Police on Jeju Island in South Korea were called in to break up a blockade protesting the construction of a United States Missile Defense Base. The police of have been accused of using excessive violence—placing a 70-year-old man in a coma—in the process of arresting and detaining over 50 activists. To date no charges have been laid and Koreans are calling for international solidarity in their struggle to keep US military installations off Korean soil.

Statistics Canada released economic data that display a slight increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last November. Economists claim the increase was driven by natural resource extraction and wholesale trade, and are cautious that economic recovery driven by these sectors could see GDP increase without substantial job creation.

Israel has been accused of fast-tracking the immigration of 7,000 members of a "Lost Jewish tribe" living in India, known as Bnei Menashe, in order to subvert a settlement freeze in the West Bank.

The Olympic Torch relay continues to be disrupted and confronted as it makes its way to Vancouver. One protester was arrested in Golden. The Native Youth Movement confronted the torch in Secwepemc Nation, with with the messages, "Secwepemc Say No Olympics," and "Olympic Torch Not Welcome in Secwepemc Nation."

In Uganda, a controversial piece of anti-homosexuality legislation has been returned to cabinet to be debated and amended. Despite domestic support, the bill has caused a flood of international condemnation, citing that it violates basic universal human rights. When questioned about Cabinet's position on clauses proposing the death penalty, Ethics Minister James Nsaba Buturo answered: "I can only speak in general that there are some clauses or provisions which can be modified."

Barak Obama delivered the State of the Union address in the US, where he announced a massize spending freeze and pushed, but did not openly call, for a repeal of the US military's "don't ask don't tell" policy toward homosexuality in the army.

In Burma, mining companies moved into a "sacrifice" zone and began round-the-clock operations to strip gold from the area soon to be flooded by the Irrawaddy Myistone dam project. "In effect, the company [Asia World] is trying to get as much as they possibly can from the region before they help to bury it," according to Intercontinental Cry. Flooding is expected to displace roughly 15,000 people from 60 villages, although many residents have openly refused to leave.

At least nine civilians were killed in Somalia when anti-government fighters clashed with African Union peacekeepers and government troops in southeastern Mogadishu.

BC coast First Nations have published a report entitled, "Staying the Course, Staying Alive Coastal First Nations Fundamental Truths: Biodiversity, Stewardship and Sustainability." The report is a response to the the United Nations call to action for 2010, International Year of Biodiversity.

Seven BC-based environmental groups have released a report calling for the protection of 50 per cent of BC forests. The report has come under criticism from other environmental and Indigenous activists for handing half of BC's forests to the forestry industry. Many of the same groups behind the report were also involved in negotiating the heavily criticized Great Bear Rainforest Deal and were presented with the BC Fossil of the Decade Award at the end of 2009.

A new study has found that Vancouver's housing market is the least affordable not only in Canada, but also the United States, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Haiti conference in Montreal

Howard Zinn

New York: Arrest of Haitian Immigrant Rights Leader Jean Montrevil Highlights Immigration Policies that Tear Families Apart

WadnerPierre — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 20:45:16 +0000

Jani with Jahsiah and supporters.jpg

By: Wadner Pierre - HaitiAnalysis

HAITI: Fanmi Lavalas Banned, Voter Apprehension Widespread

WadnerPierre — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:16:13 +0000

wadner pierre.JPG

By Jeb Sprague -IPS

NEW YORK, Apr 17 (IPS) - Weekend senatorial elections in Haiti are mired in controversy as Fanmi Lavalas (FL), the political party widely backed by the poor majority, has been disqualified.
Read the rest of this story on:

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46537

*Wadner Pierre in Miami contributed to this story.

(END/2009)

The Anti-Terrorist Battle Inside Canada's Borders

david parker — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:55:20 +0000

The anti-terrorist battle inside Canada's borders
by David Parker
July 17th, 2008.

HALIFAX - In Canada since 9/11, the domestic climate of rising national security fears, fanned by a sensationalist media trumpeting the “War on Terror”, has led the government to justify practices which undermine long-standing principles of human rights.

In December 2001, Canada passed the Anti-Terrorist Act (ATA) to deal with threats to national security. The ATA makes changes to the criminal code that “aim to disable and dismantle the activities of terrorist groups and those who support them”. It destroys civil liberties and gives police vast new powers, eroding due process and privacy. [1]

According to Gary Kinsman, professor at Laurentian University, the concept of ‘national security’ is doubly problematic. Nation refers here to groups who fit the image of the Canadian state - white heterosexual males, construed as ‘safe’, while racialized communities are excluded as ‘outsiders’ and enemies of the state. [2] Despite purported concern with security, state initiatives have only endangered non-citizens and criminalized legitimate social protest.

The arrest of 21 South Asian Muslim men for allegedly plotting to blow up a nuclear reactor in 2003 (known as Project Thread) garnered wide media attention. All were eventually deported on minor immigration charges, not one was charged with a terrorist offence [3]. They were detained up to 5 months, interrogated about their faith and threatened with deportation to Guantanamo Bay, infamous torture camp of the United States, where Omar Khadr, youngest detainee and Canadian citizen, remains after 6 years, subjected to torture methods detailed in leaked FBI files [4].