Ezra Klein did a piece yesterday offering the conventional deficit dove position on deficits and debt. Here’s a commentary on it.

China’s aggression in September after Japan seized a Chinese fisherman near the East China Sea islands claimed by both countries confirmed China as a burly international tyrant. The caution for countries attempting to negotiate with China is to avoid Japan’s mistake, which was single-handedly contesting the giant. For America, that means seeking an end to China’s currency manipulation by simultaneously pursuing every option the United States has, including formally naming China a currency manipulator, imposing tariffs on imports from countries that undervalue currency and creating a community of allies to campaign together to combat the illegal trade practice.

Advice and information about legally immigrating to Canada from the United States via the student visa program.

Canada Post stopped delivery of mail to Gaza, because Israeli Post said it would not deliver it.

from CBC.

The full text of Omar Khadr’s letter to his attorney from Guantanamo, with commentary. “Dennis you always say that I have an obligation to show the world what is going on down here and it seems that we’ve done every thing but the world doesn’t get it….”

There is nothing about torture that is good or positive. The act itself is on of the most brutal and heinous that humans have ever committed. The affect on a society that condones torture is one of rising fear and brutality. The information (if it can be called that) gained under torture is so suspect as to be worthless. Perhaps the worst aspect is that torture, once accepted is used not only on enemies or bad people, but innocent victims as well.

On Monday the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of one such innocent victim of torture, Mr. Maher Arar, a Syrian born Canadian citizen. In 2002 he was returning to Canada from a trip abroad. At a stop over at JFK Airport he was detained by the US Government and held in solitary confinement for two weeks without access to an attorney. Mr. Arar was then deported, not to his nation of citizenship, Canada but, to Syria and put in the hands of the Syrian intelligence services, who are well known for their torture activities.

"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"

As the US campaign in Helmand and Kandahar expands, blame has increasingly shifted toward allies like NATO, Karzai, and Pakistan. The US wants them to “do more.” But they are doing more. The problem is not our allies, but the war itself.

Today The Globe and Mail declared a return to the public tenets of journalism in which it would cease to “regurgitate corporate copy” or “pander to the elite.” Instead, the press release stated, the newspaper would “reflect the diversity of the public it serves” and would make real, concerted efforts to “report on environmental issues, local stories, and focus on social justice rather than stories dealing with celebrity fluff, corporate greenwashing and uncritical, unrestrained economic progress.” Readers across Canada have reacted by actually buying the paper instead of searching for news with real diverse perspectives online and elsewhere.

Oil has hit shore in Louisiana, and despite BP’s best efforts to keep the media away, reporters can now touch the greasy stuff with their hands and feet. The onrush of oil into the Gulf has continued for over a month now, and while BP is still trying to staunch both the spill and media spin, the company is losing control over the information that’s reaching the public.

Between new immigration legislation and education laws, anti-immigrant sentiment is overtaking Arizona, while we suffer collective amnesia about our own role in anti-immigrant policies.

Written by Aziza Ahmed for RHRealityCheck.org – News, commentary and community for reproductive health and justice.