It is rare to hear a Canadian politician speak about tax increases in non-apologetic tones, so it was refreshing to read federal NDP leadership candidate Brian Topp's policy paper Bringing Balance and Fairness to Canada's Tax System.  His proposal responds to many concerns expressed by the Occupy movement, with tax increases focussed on the 1%.

The specifics include:

OccupyNL's final Human Rights Week event was a great success! Lanterns for Housing, hosted by St. John's Citizen's for Affordable Housing, got people from across the community together at Scotia Square downtown to decorate lanterns and raise awareness about the affordable housing crisis in St. John's and the province.

On the Go’s Maggie Gillis spends some time down at the Occupy NL site in Harbourside Park.

What’s this Occupy business everyone has been on about? WiE gets to the bottom of it with two speakers, two poets, a musician, an artist painting live, and a healthy dose of discussion on Wednesday, December 14 at 8pm at Eastern Edge Gallery.  More info available here.

Enjoy a moment of catharsis reading Russell Wangersky cut up Margaret Wente for being an ignorant right wing hack and mouthpiece for the one percent.

The Essential Transit Association is planning a rally in support of sidewalk snow clearing today at Harbourside Park starting at 3:30.  More details available here.

One of the most insightful commentators on the Occupy movement is blogger Mike Konczal at Rortybomb.  He has a lot of great stuff that I encourage you to browse through.  Here are a couple of recent highlights.

Day of Action on Foreclosures:  On December 6th, the Occupy movement held a national day of action called Occupy Our Homes, in which people re-occupied vacant, bank-owned, foreclosed houses in cities across America.  As one activist put it "To occupy a house owned by Bank of America is to occupy Wall Street"(article in the Nation).  This post talks about Konczal's experience in Brooklyn, and discusses the damage the foreclosure crisis is doing to families and communities.

Check out this letter that appeared in the Telegram on November 25, 2011. The word is getting out.

A basic income is an income unconditionally granted to all citizens, without means testing or work requirements. Basic income programs have several advantages over alternative social security programs, such as providing greater security, requiring less administration, and presenting fewer perverse incentives. Advocates for basic income have included Martin Luther King, Bertrand Russell, Milton Friedman, George McGovern and John Kenneth Galbraith. In Canada, basic incomes have the support of the Green Party of Canada, Conservative Senator Hugh Segal, and was recommended by the Trudeau appointed MacDonald Commission.


Basic income guarantees often take the form of either a citizen's dividend or a negative income tax, which we now describe.

The third film of the 99% Film Fest is the award winning "Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the media". The film will be shown Wednesday December 7 at 6 pm in the MUN Arts & Admin building room A1046 (note the room change). Admission is FREE. A group discussion will follow.


Update:  Speaking of bias in the corporate media, check out this article analyzing media coverage of the Occupy movement in Canada.

This is the last in a series of articles about the obesity epidemic, the food industry, fat taxes and healthy living subsidies by guest poster Sharon Bala. Read the first article here, the second article here and the third article here.

Weight loss is simple (eat less, exercise more) but also difficult because laying in bed with a tub of ice cream is a lot easier than doing 50 push-ups. One solution to our country's obesity epidemic is also simple but our government is in bed with the food industry and doesn't seem to have the will power to get out. Does that mean government-implmented change is impossible? NO!