On Tuesday afternoon, NDP leader Andrea Horwath introduced a private member’s bill that would establish an independent commission to perform a full public inquiry into the decisions and actions of the McGuinty government and the police during the G20 Summit.

There were more than 1,100 arrests that weekend, making it the largest mass arrest in Canadian history; extensive violations of civil liberties and charter rights; peaceful protesters silenced; and innocent bystanders detained.

Tens of thousands of Americans rallied for jobs and justice at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. Organizers say that 175,000 people turned out for the One Nation Working Together rally, which was organized by labor unions, the NAACP, and other progressive groups. In an interview with GritTV’s Laura Flanders, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, a leader of the One Nation coalition, summed up the agenda: “Jobs, jobs, and more jobs.”

America isn’t working

Who canned Rick Salutin? And why?

For heaven's sake, this mystery is already shrouded in almost as much speculation as the disappearance of Judge Crater!

On Friday, October 1, 2010, at the delegates at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) Annual General Meeting in Whistler, voted resoundingly in opposition to the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline and oil tanker traffic on the province's North Coast. In a press release, Leslie Johnson, a councillor with the Village of Queen Charlotte, stated, "I am overwhelmed and very grateful to the delegates of the UBCM for standing up for coastal communities on an issue that has provincial and national significance."

On Saturday evening, former British MP George Galloway arrives in Canada and gives a speech Sunday afternoon in front of what organizers predict will be a packed house at Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church in Toronto. That’s assuming he’s allowed into the country. When Galloway tried to enter Canada 18 months ago, he was turned back.

Who doesn't love a good movie?! We at rabble certainly do!  And there is no better time to catch up on some meaningful and moving flicks if you are in Vancouver or in Toronto. Two fantastic festivals are about to begin, and we have two great givewaways for both the Toronto Palestinian Film Festival, and the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Strike one from the Toronto mayoral hopefuls.

Sarah Thomson has run out of money and has barely inched the polls in her favour. She also wants to do her bit to stop the Ford locomotive. 

I'm sorry to see her go, not only because she was the sole female candidate for mayor, but because she may be a casualty of what is an ugly campaign.

In the lead up to Parliament's dramatic vote last week to keep Canada's national long-gun registry, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's political advisors clearly thought making Canadians register their rifles and shotguns was a classic "wedge issue."

Judging from their promises since they lost the razor-thin Sept. 22 vote that they will not rest until they can shut down the national registry, they still think so.

But what if this particular "wedge" cuts in two directions?

I grew up in a big Canadian city. There was no need for guns. Only the police had guns. There was even talk about adopting the approach used by London England's Bobbies (police), most of whom didn't carry guns. As a child and a teen, I never knew anyone who got shot, nor did I know anyone who went hunting or even owned a gun. I associated guns with gangsters, western movies and wars.

Like many of my generation, peace was viewed as a precondition to making this a better world and guns were seen as an obstacle. As an adult, events like the massacre at L'École Polytechnique and a couple of handgun shootings in which my son was acqainted with the victims did little to enamor me to guns.