Le Premier ministre conservateur Stephen Harper a obtenu jeudi, avec la suspension du parlement, un sursis de quelques semaines dans la grave crise qui secoue le Canada, comptant sur le temps et la fragilité de la coalition des partis d'opposition po...

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/58623?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Canada+suspends+parliament+in+reprieve+for+under-fire+PMch=World+newsc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Canada+%28News%29%2CWorld+newsc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CNorth+America+Travelc6=Mark+Tranc7=2008_12_04c8=1129067c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Canadac13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FCanada" width="1" height="1" //divpThe Canadian government won a reprieve today when the governor general agreed to suspend parliament until late January, putting off a no-confidence vote that the prime minister was expected to lose./ppIn a controversial decision, Michaëlle Jean agreed to the suspension request from the prime minister, Stephen Harper, who is trying to cling to power less than two months after winning re-election./ppJean, the representative of the Queen as Canada's head of state, holds a mostly ceremonial position as governor general, but she has the power to accept or reject any request from Harper to suspend parliament. /ppBefore today's meeting between Harper and Jean, the opposition said a suspension of parliament would only delay what they saw as Harper's inevitable defeat. /ppIn a televised address yesterday, Harper condemned the opposition plan to gain power through a no-confidence vote as undemocratic and vowed to use "every legal means" to stop the attempt to unseat his minority Conservative government./ppA Canadian government has never been thrown out by a no-confidence vote to be replaced without an election. /ppHarper will now work on a budget that includes a stimulus package amid criticism from the opposition liberal leader, Stephane Dion, that the government has no plan to respond to the shocks from the global economic slowdown./ppThree opposition parties have banded together in an attempt to unseat the government. The coalition, which has promised to fast-track billions in dollars in spending as the country heads into recession, has the backing of Canada's beleaguered car and forestry sectors./ppCanadians are split on whom to support. According to an Angus Reid poll for Canadian TV, 64% do not support Dion becoming prime minister in a coalition government, but 53% oppose the Conservatives' current economic policy. Some 57% are concerned about the separatist Bloc Quebecois's role in the coalition. /ppAnalysts say Canada's political paralysis is unprecedented. A Canadian governor general has never before refused a request by the prime minister to temporarily suspend parliament, but such a move had never been requested to delay a no-confidence vote when it was clear the government lacked the confidence of a majority of MPs./pp"There is no precedent whatsoever in Canada and probably in the Commonwealth," said Ned Franks, a constitutional scholar and political scientist. "We are in uncharted territory."/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/canada"Canada/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/1-n6fWMUqwHAmQ6adBsfMCGAxYc/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/1-n6fWMUqwHAmQ6adBsfMCGAxYc/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/90555?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Canadian+PM+fights+to+stay+in+powerch=World+newsc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Canada+%28News%29%2CWorld+newsc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CNorth+America+Travelc6=Mark+Tranc7=2008_12_04c8=1128964c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Canadac13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FCanada" width="1" height="1" //divpThe Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, is expected to try to suspend parliament today in an attempt to hang on to power, less than two months after he won re-election./ppHarper will holds talks with the governor general to try to avoid an opposition no-confidence vote next week that the government would probably lose. /ppThe governor general, Michaelle Jean - the representative of the Queen as Canada's head of state - holds a mostly ceremonial position, but has the power to accept or reject any request Harper might make to suspend parliament. /ppIn a televised address yesterday, Harper, condemned the opposition plan to gain power as undemocratic. He vowed to use "every legal means" to stop the no-confidence vote to unseat his minority Conservative government and replace it with an opposition-led coalition./ppIf the coalition succeeds, it would be the first time a Canadian government has been thrown out by a no-confidence vote and replaced without an election./ppA cabinet minister has suggested that Harper would ask Jean to suspend parliament until next month, giving him time to present a budget that includes a stimulus package. /ppThe opposition liberal leader, Stephane Dion, has accused the government of having no plan to deal with recession and said that a suspension of parliament would only delay Harper's inevitable defeat. /ppCanada's political crisis stems from the government's response to the global economic crisis. Three opposition parties have united against the government's handling of the economy, accusing it of failing to come up with a suitable response to the crisis./ppCanada's beleaguered car and forestry sectors are backing the coalition, as it has promised to fast-track billions in dollars in spending as the country heads into a recession./ppCanadians are split on who to support. According to an Angus Reid poll for Canadian TV, 64% do not support Dion becoming prime minister in a coalition government, but 53% oppose the Conservatives' current economic policy./pp57% are also concerned about the separatist Bloc Quebecois's role in the coalition. Analysts say Canada's political paralysis is unprecedented./ppCanada's governor general has never refused a request by the prime minister to temporarily suspend parliament, but nor has one been asked to suspend parliament to delay a no confidence vote when it was clear the government lacked the confidence of a majority of MPs./pp"There is no precedent whatsoever in Canada and probably in the Commonwealth," said Ned Franks, a constitutional scholar and political scientist. "We are in uncharted territory."/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/canada"Canada/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/unvBe_owKcwhhk6rlqXnYQmbeBU/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/unvBe_owKcwhhk6rlqXnYQmbeBU/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

div class="rxbodyfield"p class="ArticleBody" page="1"Advocates of net neutrality rules in the U.S. have called on President-elect Barack Obama to act quickly to prevent broadband providers from blocking or impairing access to Internet content of customers#39; choice./pp align="right"a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/idg.us.info.rss/news;pos=imu;tile=6;sz=336x280;skey=patch_management;pkey=security;ord=123456789?" target="_blank" /img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/idg.us.info.rss/news;pos=imu;tile=6;sz=336x280;skey=patch_management;pkey=security;ord=123456789?" width="336" height="280" border="0" alt="" align="right"//a/pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"The Open Internet Coalition on Wednesday called on Obama to follow through with his promises during the presidential campaign to establish net neutrality rules. Members of the coalition also called on Obama to appoint a new chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission who would enforce net neutrality rules and champion broadband competition./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"strong[ For an in-depth look at the/strong strongbattle lines that have been drawn over net neutrality, check out InfoWorld#39;s#160;a href="http://www.infoworld.com/archives/t.jsp?N=samp;V=79894amp;source=fssr"special report/a. And for/strong strongthe latest in government IT news and issues: Subscribe to InfoWorld#39;s/strong a href="http://www.infoworld.com/newsletter/subscribe.html?source=fssr"strongGovernment IT newsletter/strong/a strong. ]/strong/pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"In addition, Obama should appoint leaders at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice who will promote an open Internet through antitrust and consumer-protection laws, and he should put key staff in place at the new office of U.S. chief technology officer and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to promote open Internet ideals both in the U.S. and overseas, the groups said in a href="http://www.openinternetcoalition.org/files/Letter%20to%20Transition%20Team_120308.pdf" target="_blank"their letter/a to the Obama transition team./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"quot;Net neutrality is certainly one key part of the platform, but it#39;s only one part,quot; said Art Brodsky, communications director for Public Knowledge, a digital rights advocacy group that#39;s part of the coalition. quot;We want to make certain that these institutions of government are prepared to implement an open Internet agenda and respond appropriately to threats.quot;/pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"Members of the group, asked if they believe Obama will act on net neutrality and broadband competition given priorities such as the U.S. economy, said they expect the new president to move ahead on tech issues. quot;Providing affordable, accessible, high-speed Internet to all Americans is part of the economic recovery,quot; said Markham Erickson, director of the coalition./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"Coalition members said they#39;re encouraged that Obama talked about keeping the Internet open in a a href="http://www.barackobama.com/issues/technology/" target="_blank"tech policy paper/a released more than a year ago. quot;When it comes to people lobbying, we#39;re always going to be behind,quot; Brodsky said. quot;The telephone companies are the biggest, wealthiest, and have the [largest] army of people out there. What we have now that we didn#39;t have before is backing of an administration.quot;/pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"Large broadband providers have questioned the need for new net neutrality laws, saying that the FCC has already acted against carriers that have unreasonably blocked or slowed Internet content. Strict net neutrality rules may discourage investment in broadband networks at a time when Obama is calling for more broadband, they have said./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"A representative of Comcast, the nation#39;s largest broadband provider, declined to comment on the coalition#39;s letter. Representatives of Verizon Communications and Hands Off the Internet, a group opposing net neutrality rules, weren#39;t immediately available for comment./p/divbr style=clear: both;/ a href=http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=8b1748f719fc92ce71232bfb37e5df02p=1img alt= style=border: 0; border=0 src=http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=8b1748f719fc92ce71232bfb37e5df02p=1//a img src=http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=8b1748f719fc92ce71232bfb37e5df02 style=display: none; border=0 height=1 width=1 alt=/

pFiled under: a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/hybrids/" rel="tag"Hybrids/Alternative/a, a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/green/" rel="tag"Green/a/pa href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/calcars-us-customers-could-prepay-for-plug-in-hybrids-at-10-00/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autobloggreen.com/media/2008/12/phev-comix.jpg" alt="" //abr /br /Here's an idea: a target="_blank" title="View CalCars: US customers could prepay for plug-in hybrids at $10,000 each on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/calcars-us-customers-could-prepay-for-plug-in-hybrids-at-10-00/"prepay /aa target="_blank" title="View CalCars: US customers could prepay for plug-in hybrids at $10,000 each on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/calcars-us-customers-could-prepay-for-plug-in-hybrids-at-10-00/"$10,000 /aa target="_blank" title="View CalCars: US customers could prepay for plug-in hybrids at $10,000 each on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/calcars-us-customers-could-prepay-for-plug-in-hybrids-at-10-00/"for a plug-in hybrid/a. When would you get it? By 2012, at the latest, and in the process you'd be saving Detroit. That's the idea from a target="_blank" title="View CalCars: US customers could prepay for plug-in hybrids at $10,000 each on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/calcars-us-customers-could-prepay-for-plug-in-hybrids-at-10-00/"CalCars/a anyway. Other news from the Electric Drive Transportation Association expo includes a proposal from the a target="_blank" title="View EDTA 2008: Medium Speed Vehicle Coalition makes the case for 35 mph electric cars on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/edta-2008-medium-speed-vehicle-coalition-makes-the-case-for-35/"Medium Speed Vehicle Coalition/a and the a target="_blank" title="View EDTA 2008: GM shows off EcoCar Saturn Vue on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/edta-2008-gm-shows-off-ecocar-saturn-vue/"EcoCar Saturn Vue/a. br /br / ul lia target="_blank" title="View CalCars: US customers could prepay for plug-in hybrids at $10,000 each on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/calcars-us-customers-could-prepay-for-plug-in-hybrids-at-10-00/"CalCars: US customers could prepay for plug-in hybrids at $10,000 each /a/li lia target="_blank" title="View EDTA 2008: The View from Congress on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/edta-2008-the-view-from-congress/"EDTA 2008: The View from Congress/a/li lia target="_blank" title="View EDTA 2008: GM shows off EcoCar Saturn Vue on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/edta-2008-gm-shows-off-ecocar-saturn-vue/"EDTA 2008: GM shows off EcoCar Saturn Vue /a/li lia target="_blank" title="View EDTA 2008: Medium Speed Vehicle Coalition makes the case for 35 mph electric cars on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/edta-2008-medium-speed-vehicle-coalition-makes-the-case-for-35/"EDTA 2008: Medium Speed Vehicle Coalition makes the case for 35 mph electric cars/a/li lia target="_blank" title="View Detroit Preview: Honda releases official pic of production Insight on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/detroit-preview-honda-releases-official-pic-of-production-insig/"Detroit Preview: Honda releases official pic of production Insight/a/li lia target="_blank" green="" autoblog="" on="" place="" better="" title="View Hawaii becomes a " href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/hawaii-becomes-a-better-place/"Hawaii becomes a "Better Place"/a/li lia target="_blank" title="View The Sun shines on the Renault Z.E. in first road test on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/the-sun-shines-on-the-renault-z-e-in-first-road-test/"The Sun shines on the Renault Z.E. in first road test/a/li lia target="_blank" title="View New Aptera website dishes fresh pics, more info on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/new-aptera-website-dishes-fresh-pics-more-info/"New Aptera website dishes fresh pics, more info /a/li lia target="_blank" title="View Tesla hires former Harley Davidson exec for sales/marketing post on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/tesla-hires-former-harley-davidson-exec-for-sales-marketing-post/"Tesla hires former Harley Davidson exec for sales/marketing post/a/li lia target="_blank" title="View Porsche donates Congestion Charge legal awards to charity on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/porsche-donates-congestion-charge-legal-awards-to-charity/"Porsche donates Congestion Charge legal awards to charity/a/li lia target="_blank" title="View Spyshots: Jaguar to power its XK sports car with a diesel on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/spyshots-jaguar-to-power-its-xk-sports-car-with-a-diesel/"Spyshots: Jaguar to power its XK sports car with a diesel/a/li lia target="_blank" title="View The state of the ethanol market depends on which hemisphere you're in on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/the-state-of-the-ethanol-market-depends-on-which-hemisphere-you/"The state of the ethanol market depends on which hemisphere you're in/a/li lia target="_blank" title="View GE Capital sends $5.7 million in rebates back to hybrid fleet customers on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/ge-capital-sends-5-7-million-in-rebates-back-to-hybrid-fleet-cu/"GE Capital sends $5.7 million in rebates back to hybrid fleet customers/a/li lia target="_blank" title="View Portugal pushing for more EVs in 2011 on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/portugal-pushing-for-more-evs-in-2011/"Portugal pushing for more EVs in 2011/a/li lia target="_blank" title="View SAIC starts joint venture for hybrids and EVs on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/saic-starts-joint-venture-for-hybrids-and-evs/"SAIC starts joint venture for hybrids and EVs/a/li lia target="_blank" title="View VIDEO: Dale Vince explains hydrogen conspiracy, baits Tesla in latest wind-car update on Autoblog Green" href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/video-dale-vince-explains-hydrogen-conspiracy-baits-tesla-in-l/"VIDEO: Dale Vince explains hydrogen conspiracy, baits Tesla in latest wind-car update /a/li /ul p id="title_1388743" class="post_title" /pp style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/04/autobloggreen-for-12-04-08/"AutoblogGreen for 12.04.08/a originally appeared on a href="http://www.autoblog.com"Autoblog/a on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:06:00 EST. Please see our a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/"terms for use of feeds/a./ph6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"/h6a href=http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/12/03/calcars-us-customers-could-prepay-for-plug-in-hybrids-at-10-00/Read/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/04/autobloggreen-for-12-04-08/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"Permalink/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/1390539/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"Email this/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/04/autobloggreen-for-12-04-08/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"Comments/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/oXBosswhuK6NqFe-6GfjOr88KXI/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/oXBosswhuK6NqFe-6GfjOr88KXI/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?a=1h2lCiC8"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?i=1h2lCiC8" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?a=WepHItIT"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/autoblog?i=WepHItIT" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weblogsinc/autoblog/~4/xU_iedoKj3M" height="1" width="1"/

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/33509?ns=guardianpageName=Education%3A+Faith+schools+urged+to+end+selection+on+basis+of+religionch=Educationc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Faith+schools%2CSecondary+schools%2CPrimary+schools%2CSchools%2CReligion+%28News%29%2CUK+newsc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CSchools+Educationc6=Donald+MacLeodc7=2008_12_04c8=1128668c9=articlec10=GUc11=Educationc12=Faith+schoolsc13=c14=h2=GU%2FEducation%2FFaith+schools" width="1" height="1" //divpFaith schools should stop selecting pupils on the basis of their religious background in order to promote social cohesion, the Runnymede Trust, a charity set up to promote a multi-ethnic Britan, said today. /ppA report, Right to Divide? Faith Schools and Community Cohesion, examines how faith schools operate and is based on consultations with more than 1,000 people over the last two years./ppThe trust's proposals, launched at a conference attended by the education minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry, will reopen the fierce arguments provoked by the government's failed attempts two years ago to impose quotas of pupils from other religions on faith schools. /ppAlan Johnson, then education secretary, was forced to back down after strong protests from the Catholic and Anglican churches in favour of a voluntary code. br / br /The Runnymede Trust has identified six key recommendations, which the report's authors say will clarify the role of faith schools within England's education system./ppIt argues that the schools should end selection on the basis of faith, as they should be "for the benefit of all in society rather than just some"./ppIt says: "If faith schools are convinced of their relevance for society, that should apply equally for all children./pp"With state funding comes an obligation to be relevant and open to all citizens."/ppThe report calls for pupils to be given a greater say in how they are educated, and claims there is little discussion about children's voices in the faith schools debate./ppIt says faith schools should address concerns that they educate a disproportionately small number of children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds./ppAnd it argues that faith schools should value all young people, regardless of religion, while religion should be more highly valued in non-denominational schools. /ppThe report also says religious education should be a part of the core national curriculum./ppIt concludes that faith schools "should remain a significant and important part of our education system, offering diversity in the schooling system as a means of improving standards, offering choice to parents, and developing effective responses to local, national and global challenges in education."/ppFigures put forward in the report show that there are more than 4,600 Church of England primary and secondary schools in England, over 2,000 Roman Catholic schools, 26 Methodist primary schools, 88 schools of other Christian denominations, 27 Jewish schools, seven Muslim schools, two Sikh schools, and two of other denominations./ppThere are more than 11,100 state primary schools of no religious character, and 2,756 secondary schools./ppThe Accord coalition, which argues faith schools should not be able to discriminate against pupils or staff on grounds of religion, welcomed the report./ppAccord chairman, Rabbi Jonathan Romain, said: "We are witnessing a major change in attitude towards faith schools: previously flavour of the month, they are now being seriously questioned - both in the way they operate and whether they serve the public good. /pp"It is a debate that is long overdue and may save much heartache later."/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/faithschools"Faith schools/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/secondaryschools"Secondary schools/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/primaryschools"Primary schools/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools"Schools/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/religion"Religion/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/nMcGeWus2yd03JNwzsSFvuYQ8As/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/nMcGeWus2yd03JNwzsSFvuYQ8As/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

Qui l'eût cru! En appuyant le gouvernement de coalition NPD-PLC, le Bloc québécois envoie un drôle de message à ses électeurs et à l'ensemble de la population québécoise. a href=http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/12/04/220783.htmlSuite/a

Ottawa -- Le chef du Parti libéral, Stéphane Dion, a demandé hier aux Canadiens -- et à la gouverneure générale -- de faire confiance à une éventuelle coalition de l'opposition pour relancer l'économie et diriger le pays avec un esprit de «collaboration» en ces temps difficiles. a href=http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/12/04/220779.htmlSuite/a

Depuis la menace de renversement du gouvernement Harper par une coalition PLC-NPD avec l'appui du Bloc québécois, tous les ministres conservateurs, y compris les représentants du Québec et le premier ministre, adoptent un discours très agressif à l'égard de ceux qu'on appelle les «séparatistes». Derrière ces attaques ressort au grand jour un mépris jusqu'ici retenu de l'ancien allianciste canadien à l'égard des aspirations légitimes et démocratiques des francophones québécois. a href=http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/12/04/220788.htmlSuite/a

Ottawa -- Les accusations de complicité séparatiste du gouvernement conservateur ont fait long feu hier quand le Bloc québécois a révélé que l'ancien chef de l'Alliance canadienne et aujourd'hui ministre du Commerce international, Stockwell Day, avait lui aussi voulu faire front commun avec le parti de Gilles Duceppe pour remplacer le gouvernement. a href=http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/12/04/220749.htmlSuite/a

La Coalition contre la Répression et les Abus Policiers (CRAP) dénonce le blanchiment lundi de l'agent Jean-Loup Lapointe qui a tué Fredy Villanueva le 9 août 2008 à Montréal-Nord - Amériques / répression

A l'issue du dialogue interactif sur la situation des droits de l'Homme au Burundi qui s'est tenu ce jour entre la délégation du Burundi et les Etats membres des Nations unies, la coalition des ONG se félicitent que nombre de leurs préoccupations aient

While Stephen Harper misrepresents the Liberal-NDP Coalition, we need to remember that it was Stephen Harper's own extreme partisanship and dangerous ambition that put Canada and The Conservative party in the dangerous position it's in today.

Author: popworks Keywords: Stephen Harper Coalition Canada Liberal NDP Added: December 4, 2008

San Francisco Catholic Archbishop George Niederauer has spoken out on his role in the passage of Proposition 8 in the aftermath of the ensuing protests, asking, "What is the way forward for all of us together? Even though we supporters of Proposition 8 did not intend to hurt or offend our opponents, still many of them, especially in the gay community, feel hurt and offended. What is to be done?"

Niederauer, who is credited with bringing in the Mormon church and the massive finances of its donors, urged people to tone down the rhetoric: "Tolerance, respect, and trust are always two-way streets, and tolerance respect and trust often do not include agreement, or even approval. We need to be able to disagree without being disagreeable. We need to stop talking as if we are experts on the real motives of people with whom we have never even spoken. We need to stop hurling names like 'bigot' and 'pervert' at each other. And we need to stop it now."

The SF Chronicle reports:

"During the campaign, Niederauer issued statements, sent flyers and gave a videotaped interview posted at www.marriagematterstokids.org. But Niederauer's most prominent action was drawing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members responded with intensive grassroots organizing and an estimated $20 million in campaign contributions from individuals that accounted for half of the Yes on 8 campaign's total. Niederauer noted that many other Christian denominations supported Prop. 8, including evangelical Protestant, Orthodox and historically African American churches. The Mormon church has said Niederauer, previously the bishop of Salt Lake City for 11 years, played a pivotal role in its joining the cause. 'We were invited to join the coalition,' Michael Otterson, managing director of public affairs for the church, told The Chronicle in an interview shortly after the election. 'We didn't unilaterally go into the battle.' Otterson said Niederauer's letter persuaded the Mormon church that they wouldn't be fighting this battle alone, a status that would have made them vulnerable."

Niederauer wants everyone to accept the procreation argument for the family and the "marriage" label, and wants gays to accept "a contract for the benefit of a relationship between adults" but not call it marriage.

He forgives "single parents, grandparents, foster parents and others" who "fail to realize" the ideal procreative one man-one woman model but doesn't deny them his permission to marry, because they are heterosexual.

Basically, Niederauer wants gays and lesbians (many of whom do procreate through surrogates, etc, I might add) to accept our status as second-class citizens and move on.

Read his full message, entitled "Moving Forward Together," AFTER THE JUMP...

S.F. archbishop defends role in Prop. 8 passage [sf chronicle]

***

SAN FRANCISCO CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP NIEDERAUER - "MOVING FORWARD TOGETHER"

“Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” In the weeks since the adoption of this amendment the media have carried many speculations about the role of the Catholic bishops in California, and about my role in particular, in the passage of this proposition. It is my wish to clarify here what was done and why it was done, and offer some thoughts about the way forward amid so many misunderstandings and hard feelings.

Five years before my appointment as Archbishop of San Francisco, in the year 2000, Proposition 22 was placed on the California ballot. This statute, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, passed with 61% of the vote. On May 15th of this year, the California State Supreme Court declared that statute unconstitutional and legalized same-sex marriage in California. Around the same time, Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment qualified for the ballot.

The Catholic bishops of California, organized as the California Catholic Conference, and speaking through their office of public policy in Sacramento, endorsed Proposition 8 and urged Catholics, and organizations of lay Catholics, to work for its passage, by means of grass roots activity and contributions from their resources. We bishops also endorsed Proposition 4, regarding parental notification of a minor child’s intended abortion (defeated at the polls) and we opposed Proposition 6, a “tough on crime” initiative inconsistent with the principles of restorative justice (defeated).

The Archdiocese of San Francisco did not donate or transfer any Archdiocesan funds to the campaign in favor of Proposition 8. As far as I know, that is also true of other Catholic dioceses in California. The Archdiocese did pay, and appropriately disclose, printing and distribution of flyers to parishes.

Last May the staff of the Conference office informed me that leaders and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) had given their support to the campaign for Proposition 22 in the year 2000, and were already considering an involvement in connection with Proposition 8. Accordingly, I was asked to contact leaders of the LDS Church whom I had come to know during my eleven years as Bishop of Salt Lake City, to ask them to cooperate again, in this election cycle. I did write to them and they urged the members of their Church, especially those in California, to become involved.

It is important to point out here that a wide range of churches became active in favor of Proposition 8: in addition to Catholics and LDS members, evangelical Protestant churches and churches with many African-American members joined the effort, and, among the Orthodox churches, the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of San Francisco and three other Orthodox bishops signed and published a joint statement in favor of Proposition 8.

That is what was done. Why was it done? Some voices in the wider community declare that there could be only one motive: hatred, prejudice and bigotry against gays, along with a determination to discriminate against them and deny them their civil rights. That is not so. The churches that worked in favor of Proposition 8 did so because of their belief that the traditional understanding and definition of marriage is in need of defense and support, and not in need of being re-designed or re-configured.

Some of our opponents respond with this question: Even if these churches saw the California State Supreme Court decision in May as damaging to the institution of marriage as they understood and valued it, shouldn’t they have kept quiet and stayed on the sidelines? Some would say that, in light of the separation of church and state, churches should remain silent about any political matter. However, religious leaders in America have the constitutional right to speak out on issues of public policy. Catholic bishops, specifically, also have a responsibility to teach the faith, and our beliefs about marriage and family are part of this faith.

Indeed, to insist that citizens be silent about their religious beliefs when they are participating in the public square is to go against the constant American political tradition. Such a gag order would have silenced many abolitionists in the nineteenth century and many civil rights advocates in the twentieth. Quite a number of important political issues regularly touch upon the ethical, moral, and religious convictions of citizens: immigration policy, the death penalty, torture of prisoners, abortion, euthanasia, and the right to health care are some such issues.

Members of churches who supported Proposition 8 sincerely believe that defining marriage as only between a man and a woman is one such issue. They see marriage and the family as the basic building blocks of human society, existing before government and not created by it. Marriage is for us the ideal relationship between a man and woman, in which, through their unique sexual complementarity, the spouses offer themselves to God as co-creators of new human persons, a father and mother giving them life and enabling them to thrive in the family setting.

Are there many instances in which this ideal fails to be realized? Of course there are. Single parents, grandparents, foster parents and others deserve praise and support for their courage, sacrifice and devotion in raising the children for whom they are responsible. Still, the proponents of Proposition 8 subscribe to a definition of marriage that recognizes and protects its potential to create and nurture new human life, not merely a contract for the benefit of a relationship between adults.

Whatever others may say, the proponents of Proposition 8 supported it as a defense of the traditional understanding and definition of marriage, not as an attack on any group, or as an attempt to deprive others of their civil rights. The fact remains that, under California law, after the passage of Proposition 8, same sex couples who register as domestic partners will continue to have “the same rights, protections and benefits” as married couples. Proposition 8 simply recognizes that there is a difference between traditional marriage and a same sex partnership.

What is the way forward for all of us together? Even though we supporters of Proposition 8 did not intend to hurt or offend our opponents, still many of them, especially in the gay community, feel hurt and offended. What is to be done?

Tolerance, respect, and trust are always two-way streets, and tolerance respect and trust often do not include agreement, or even approval. We need to be able to disagree without being disagreeable. We need to stop talking as if we are experts on the real motives of people with whom we have never even spoken. We need to stop hurling names like “bigot” and “pervert” at each other. And we need to stop it now.

For our part, we churchgoers need to speak and act out of the truth that all people are God’s children and are unconditionally loved by God. While we argue among ourselves, the people who need our help with hunger, unemployment, homelessness and other problems wait for us to turn together toward them. More particularly, we Catholics in the Archdiocese of San Francisco need to minister to the needs of all Catholics in this local Church. Whoever they are, and whatever their circumstances, their spiritual and pastoral rights should be respected, together with their membership in the Church. In that spirit, with God’s grace and much prayer, perhaps we can all move forward together.

***END OF STATEMENT***

img class=face src=http://planet.ubuntu.com/heads/bburger.png alt= pCanadian politics are frequently very, very dull - according to even most Canadians, never mind anyone else. No charismatic, exciting leaders. No mobs occupying airports and being threatened by the military. Nobody burning cars in the street./p pThankfully./p pWhat we've got instead, currently, is a control-freak Prime Minister desperately attempting to hold onto his minority government's power. a rel=external href=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/12/03/harper-address.htmlCBC quotes PM Harper/a as wanting to use every legal means at our disposal to protect our democracy, to protect our economy and to protect Canada, mdash; but what he mostly seems to want to protect is his own power./p pA huge number of Canadians (possibly including PM Harper) appear to have taken a basic Canadian PolSci course... Westminister-style democracies (this would include Canada...) do emnot, repeat not/em elect governments as Mr. Harper claims. We elect Parliaments, which then emform/em governments. When one party has a clear majority in Parliament (which hasn't happened in Canada for several Parliaments in a row now) that party forms the government. When you have a minority, generally the largest party gets to be the government mdash; but if a coalition of other parties can make a government work, that is emjust as legitimate and democratic/em as a simple minority single-party government./p pSeriously, this is very, very basic Canuckistani political science, folks. Why does it seem to be so broadly mis-understood?/p pFor the record, no, I don't like Mr. Harper. I don't like emany/em of the current four big-party leaders very much, though. Harper has been trying to run his minority government as if he had a majority, though, and he needs a good, sharp reminder of the emother/em options available under Canada's system. Which also have the side-effect of removing him from the Prime MInister's office, to his obvious distress.../p pThe CBC has a a rel=external href=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/12/02/f-governor-general.htmlgood overview article on the current state of the mess/a. Making Light has a thread on a rel=external href=http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/010835.htmlthe basic discussion/a and a spinoff, awesomely geeky thread a rel=external href=http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/010837.htmlattempting to express Westminister-style democracy in pseudo-code/a. Planet Ubuntu readers - go check that last one out, it really is a hoot./p pIn the meantime, no, we aren't having a coup up here in the Frozen North. No great anti-democratic seizure of power, really, despite Mr. Harper's ranting and much confusion at many levels. More people need to take first-year university Political Science courses.../p

Le Premier ministre Stephen Harper a fini par réagirnbsp;à la coalition de partis d'opposition qui tente de le renverser, en annonçantnbsp;solennellement à la télévision mercredinbsp;soirnbsp;qu'il utiliserait « emtous les moyens légaux/em » pour rester en place et « emprotéger la démocratie /em».nbsp;Il pourrait demander la suspension temporaire du Parlement.

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/73455?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Flights+resume+out+of+Bangkok+as+protesters+lift+airport+siegech=World+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=Thailand+%28News%29%2CWorld+newsc5=Not+commercially+usefulc6=Ian+MacKinnonc7=2008_12_04c8=1128358c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Thailandc13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FThailand" width="1" height="1" //divpHopes for the hundreds of thousands of foreign travellers stranded in Thailand were raised yesterday when the first international passenger flights left Bangkok's main airport after anti-government protesters ended their eight-day siege./ppWithin hours of the lifting of the blockade the first passenger service in a week arrived from the resort island of Phuket, and a Thai Airways flight left for Sydney./ppThe end of the standoff - which left travellers frustrated and Thailand's tourist industry hamstrung - resembled a victory parade peppered with hugs and handshakes as the protesters declared they had won./ppThousands of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) demonstrators left Suvarnabhumi international airport yesterday morning, a day after a court disbanded the governing party and barred the prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, from office for electoral fraud. /ppBut as services resumed, the Thai airports' authority said the arrival of the first three international flights would not happen until tomorrow - although the hope was that normal services could resume soon after to take home the estimated 230,000 trapped tourists. As PAD supporters, dressed in yellow as a mark of respect for the king, packed up their tents and bedrolls, government MPs met to choose an interim leader. The rump of the six-party coalition - led by the People Power party - plans to meet on Monday to select a new prime minister. It will be Thailand's third prime minister in three months and may spark fresh tensions./ppAlthough the end of the standoff has defused the immediate crisis, demonstrators warned they would return if need be, raising the spectre of further violence in the bitterly divided country. "We will come back when the nation needs us," said Somkiat Pongpaibul, a key PAD member, an alliance of Bangkok's urban monarchist elite pitting itself against the rural poor who voted mainly for the government./ppThere was a carnival mood yesterday as the remaining demonstrators sang and danced to a band on the makeshift stage outside the airport's departure areas. Queues formed before a table set up for PAD's co-founders, Chamlong Srimuang and Sondhi Limthongkul, who signed autographs./ppThe international airport's manager, Serirat Prasutanond, predicted a speedy return to normality after inspecting the terminal. As he spoke, 700 soldiers and specialist bomb squads moved into the airport complex with sniffer dogs to search for explosive devices, while cleaners cleared the rubbish and IT technicians started rebooting systems shut down a week ago./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/thailand"Thailand/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/T9tFPrByi-NVbKKVuPyU7_rQCfM/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/T9tFPrByi-NVbKKVuPyU7_rQCfM/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

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