The secret sell-out . . .

STEVIE'S SECRET SELL-OUT: according to Sunny Freeman and Daniel Tencer at HUFFPOST BUSINESS, in an article “Trans-Pacific Partnership Chapter Released By WikiLeaks”, it's so secret it took WikiLeaks to get the details. And truly, the Devil is in the details.

A trade agreement Canada intends to sign will have “far-reaching implications for individual rights and civil liberties,” WikiLeaks says.

The group known around the world for publishing state secrets has released a draft chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal being negotiated under what it calls an “unprecedented level of secrecy.” Critics say the agreement favours corporate interests over consumers.

The leaked intellectual property chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement proposes sweeping reforms including to pharmaceuticals, publishers, patents, copyrights, trademarks, civil liberties and liability of internet service providers.

“If instituted, the TPP’s IP regime would trample over individual rights and free expression, as well as ride roughshod over the intellectual and creative commons,” WikiLeaks’ Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange, said in a press release.

There are 11 areas of concern. Click on the link to find out why you should get perturbed. Love liberty? Stop Stevie. It's that simple.

Right under Pookie's upturned nose

Jeez, Christy! Maybe you can tell us from your waitress days how a major hotel, just a few feet away from you totally unnecessary, high-end, downtown, taxpayer-funded office (that is neither in the capital of the province nor anywhere near your riding), can even think of getting away with this.

An ad seeking unpaid interns to bus tables at Vancouver's Fairmont Waterfront Hotel has sparked a debate about whether unpaid internships take advantage of students.

The corporate carpetbaggers who run the Fairmont chain, particularly in British Columbia, need to have a good read of this.

An “internship” is on-the-job training offered by an employer to provide a person with practical experience. Often internships are offered to persons who have completed a diploma or degree program and are seeking employment. Completing an internship does not itself result in an academic certificate or diploma. If the duties performed by interns fall within the definition of  “work” contained in the Act, the intern falls within the definition of “employee”, and the agency using the services of an intern falls within the definition of “employer”, internships will be considered “work” for the purposes of the Act.
An apprentice is being trained while working for an employer and as such is performing work and must be paid wages.

 I expect now we'll hear all about Christy's days as a waitress. I do not expect we'll hear her tell us that she accurately declared all her tips to Revenue Canada.

Ralphie nails it . . .

I've always thought Ralph Nader was somewhat wonky, but this observation of his is a rather incisive summation of the Gopper psychopathy, IMHO. Thanks to Reader Supported News, for giving him the space, with a posting worthy of your contemplation, "Love, Corporate-Style".

Mitt Romney famously said during his most recent bid for the presidency: "Corporations are people, my friend." Perhaps nothing else better surmises the state of our country -- even the state of our culture -- than a prominent politician running for the presidency openly advancing such a flawed opinion. It is no secret that corporations now wield immense power in our elections, in our economy, and even in how we spend time with our friends and families. Corporate entities, in their massive, billion dollar efforts to advertise and "brand" themselves, not only want consumers to think of them as people, but even as "friends." If a corporation could hit the campaign trail itself, one could imagine it uttering the phrase: "Corporations are friends, my people."

BUT MOST IMPORTANT, is Ralph's call to the digital dugouts in the web-war for people's hearts and minds:

So let's conduct an experiment. The goal is to send a message to some of these giant corporations who are so obsessed with establishing themselves as your "friends" while taking advantage of our health, our workers, our electoral system, our government, our justice system and our economy. Take to the social media ramparts. Send out a tweet directed at the corporations you feel are the worst perpetrators of this snake-oily style of branding and question their worst offenses. Use the hashtag #corporatelove.

Don't forget Facebook. Go visit Nestlé or Monsanto and say hell-o.

Corporate psychopaths . . .

MONSANTO CAN BE DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH. So contends GMO, a site devoted to "Raising awareness about the risks of genetically modified food (GMOs)", with an article, "Monsanto’s Dirty Dozen". Monsanto has been dangerous for a long, long time, since 1901. The company moved into the food area with the production of Saccharin for Coca-Cola, but Monsanto produced all sorts of toxic stuff, like Polystyrene, PCB's, Dioxin, DDT, Agent Orange and the scourge of today's farmers, RoundUp, as well as Bovine Growth Hormone, Aspertame and other toxics.

— Beneficiaries of Agent Orange —

And Monsanto has company. According to GMO:

Monsanto’s not alone. Other companies in the “Big Six” include Pioneer Hi-Bred International (a subsidiary of DuPont), Syngenta AG, Dow Agrosciences (a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, BASF (which is primarily a chemical company that is rapidly expanding their biotechnology division, and Bayer Cropscience (a subsidiary of Bayer).

A veritable smörgåsbord of corporate psychopaths, the folks who brought us Thalidomide are probably in there somewhere.

In the pile of poison is Aspertame. It can be really dangerous. That's the opinion of DORWAY, a site with the dedicated mission to "Get the Truth About Aspartame. The Whole Truth." The page "About Aspartame" has many links to many scary things — you really ought to stop guzzling. Pilots are very concerned; the FAA doesn't like the danger, but cannot ban it, because the FDA says it's OK, according to the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network's article, "Aspartame & Flying".

Aspartame was discovered as a drug in the 60s (first approved in 1974 then rescinded because of the brain tumor issue — then approved again, over the objections of many scientists, in 1981) and is composed of two synthetic amino acids, Phenylalanine, Aspartic Acid and Methanol (10% wood alcohol). At temperatures exceeding 85 degrees F (body temperature is 98.6) the substance breaks down further into Formaldehyde, Formic Acid, and Diketopiperazine (a brain tumor agent). Aspartame complaints make up 80% of all complaints volunteered to the FDA. Aspartame is often the unidentified environmental trigger for: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Alzheimers, Lyme Disease, Post Polio Syndrome, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Epilepsy, Anxiety/Phobia Disorders, Manic Depression, Graves’ Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Heart Disease, Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome and others. Many Doctors have reported drastic improvement or disappearance of symptoms after removing Aspartame from the patients’ diet. On rechallenge, the symptoms tend to return. Symptoms reported to the FDA include: headache, nausea, vertigo, insomnia, numbness, blurred vision, blindness, memory loss, suicidal depression, personality and behavior changes, hyperactivity, gastrointestinal disorders, seizures, skin lesions, muscle cramping and joint pain, fatigue, heart attack symptoms, hearing loss and tinnitus, pulmonary and cerebral edemas, shock and death.

Does everything but cause ingrown toe-nails and halitosis. I avoid the stuff, not necessary for de-blubberization. Taken two years, but I've gone from a 44+" to a 32" waist, like I had when I was twenty. No Aspartame required, just no wheat, wheat-starch, corn and corn-starch.

You can join in the fight. Visit March Against Monsanto, for details. It's world-wide.