Democracy & Civics

Canada In Heated Debate over Global Warming Tax

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Environmentalists have long proposed taxing carbon emissions as a way of combating global warming — but if a new Canadian law is any indication, implementing such a tax won’t be easy in the United States. The carbon tax, which so far is levied only in British Columbia, had not even gone into effect yet last month when politicians from other provinces began saying it would fail, and drag the whole country down with it. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said the tax, which was put forward by Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion, will hurt Western Canada and “screw” the rest of the country too, according to Canwest News Service. Both parties are accusing the other of fanning the flames of controversy over the tax for political advantage. “This is the most cynical, bloody minded kind of regionally divisive politics imaginable that they’re playing,” Calgary legislator Jason Kenney told Canwest.

Democracy & Civics

China: A Million Mutinies Now

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After years of brutally suppressing dissent, China has in recent months faced violent public unrest in a number of different cities and over a wide range of issues, from the government’s handling of the Sichuan earthquake to calls for Tibetan independence to a government crackdown on an Internet health forum. With the world’s attention on the country for this summer’s Beijing Olympics, the anti-government violence tests the Communist Party’s leadership and ability in unprecedented ways. Thousands rioted in southwest China last week, setting fire to police stations, cars and government buildings, after the death of a teenage girl. According to news reports, authorities listed the death as a suicide, but the girl’s family accused police of raping and murdering her. Citing Reuters, the BBC quoted an unnamed official in Guizhou province as saying, “About 10,000 people rushed to the site and totally burned down the county party office building, and burned other offices in the county government.”

Democracy & Civics

Pumped up for Public Water

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The tide may be turning for water privatization. Water supplies have already fallen out of private hands in developing nations such as Mali, Uruguay and Bolivia — and now the French are following suit. Paris has pushed the trend forward by announcing that its water will go public for the first time in over a century, starting on Jan. 1, 2010. The move follows similar measures enacted in over 40 other French communities in the last decade.

Democracy & Civics

A Big Year for (Democratic) Drug Deals

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The pharmaceutical industry spent $168 million lobbying Congress in 2007 — a record sum that helped influence legislation and prevented new restrictions on drug advertisements, the Center for Public Integrity reports. Industry spending on lobbying has tripled since 1998, adding up to more than a $1 billion total in that time. CIR reports that 90 percent of the spending was by 40 companies and three industry groups, including Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and the Advanced Medical Technology Association. The big spending in 2007 may have been spurred in part by the Democratic takeover of Congress in November 2006, which saw industry critics, such as Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), ascend to leadership positions formerly occupied by Republicans. However, Ken Johnson, a spokesman for PhRMA, told CIR that a “difficult political environment” in Washington was not a result of partisanship.

Democracy & Civics

Philly Police Raid Raises Hackles

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After four residents of a North Philadelphia home passed out petitions criticizing surveillance cameras in the neighborhood, police raided their house and detained them without charges for 12 hours, the Philadelphia Daily News reported. After the police search last week, the house was reportedly inspected by several government agencies — including the Department of Homeland Security — and finally sealed off by the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections. “This leaves me homeless,” Daniel Moffat, a co-owner of the house, told the Daily News. Police told the press that the occupants had anti-government “propaganda” in the house. “They’re a hate group,” Police Captain Dennis Wilson told Philadelphia’s City Paper.

Democracy & Civics

Philippines: Activist Deaths Persist

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A human rights activist warned that the extrajudicial killing and disappearance of activists in the Philippines could spike again in 2008, following steep declines last year. Aurora Parong of Amnesty International said that poor witness protections, inadequate forensics and slow prosecution may threaten gains made against the killings, which claimed 33 lives last year, down from as many as 96 in 2006. Parong also said that extrajudicial killings should be a separate class of crime from murder, and that families of victims may not be aware of legal measures that could help their cases, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports. She called for federal officials to be more responsive to communities, and blamed the lack of prosecutions on incompetance or “unwillingness” to pursue the cases. Source:
“Lack of due diligence denies justice in extrajudicial cases”
Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 18, 2008

Democracy & Civics

When is 'Voter Fraud' a Fraud?

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Willie Ray, a Texas grandmother and Democrat, says had been helping elderly shut-ins to vote for years when she was singled out by the state Republican attorney general and charged with voter fraud. “All I did was mail ballots for folks who couldn’t get to a mailbox themselves,” she told her state’s Democratic Convention last week, according to the Dallas Morning News. “The attorney general admitted there was no fraud, that no ballot was altered,” she said. “But Attorney General Greg Abbott charged me with a crime.” Ray’s case was part of what Abbott had called “an epidemic” of voter fraud in Texas.

Democracy & Civics

Food Crisis Renews Biotech Farming Debate

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As global food prices climb, the debate over genetically modified agriculture is once again heating up. The Christian Science Monitor reports that resistance to the use of modified crops is declining in some regions, as farmers contemplate increased profits, and governments feel the economic pressure. After the cost of non-genetically modified corn more than doubled, for example, Japan and Korea have “quietly” begun allowing modified corn in snacks and drinks. In France, following a contentious debate, a bill to allow gene-altered crops passed in parliament by one vote — but can’t be enacted until the European Union lifts its ban. The Monitor reports that Europe’s farmers and agribusiness — such as Germany’s BASF corporation, which is pushing a genetically modified potato to market — are even pondering legal action to open up continental markets to their biotech food products.

Democracy & Civics

Less than Virginal, a French-Muslim Marriage Goes Awry

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France has been rocked in the past week by news that a court allowed a Muslim groom to annul his marriage because he found out on his wedding night that his bride was not a virgin. The wedding took place two years ago and the annulment was granted last month, but once the story was revealed in a legal journal it caught fire with the media. Many French politicians and activists have strongly condemned the state’s recognition of the annulment. The Socialist Party’s Segolene Royal called the decision by a high court in the northern city of Lille “a step backwards for the emancipation of women and the right that they won to dispose freely of their bodies,” according to the Times of London. Dounia Bouzar, an anthropologist and expert on Muslims in Europe, told the International Herald Tribune, “It’s a victory for fundamentalists and a victory for those who look at Islam as an archaic religion that treats women badly.”

Democracy & Civics

Local Music Thrills to New Community Radio

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A new, noncommercial FM radio station — one of the first to be approved nationwide in 15 years — is coming to Portland, Oregon. The Oregonian reports that MetroEast Community Media in Portland successfully petitioned the Federal Communications Commission for the license during an unusual weeklong application period last October. The licenses were only accepted if it could be proved that the new stations wouldn’t interfere with signals from existing broadcasters. The idea of a new, commercial-free FM radio station in a heavily commercialized market drew a broad variety of supporters, such as the local cable access service, and the local Musician’s Union chapter. Together, the coalition raised about $250,000 for building the new station — and local musicians are thrilled.