Obfuscated Thoughtlessness Inversed

The Conservative Government and its backers in the Liberal Party should be ashamed of themselves. Canada's last government brought in an abandonment of basic civil liberties with the so called anti-terror act. Thankfully, after five long years two parts of the act are being allowed to sunset.

In the end, 12 Liberal MPs didn't show up for the vote, with some excused by the party whip for other parliamentary duties.

But at least four no-shows were known to oppose killing the powers: Keith Martin (Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca), Don Bell (North Vancouver), Derek Lee (Scarborough-Rouge River) and Roy Cullen (Etobicoke North).

Only one Liberal – Tom Wappel (Scarborough Southwest) – outright defied Dion, voting with the Conservative government to renew the powers.

Wappel was a member of the Commons subcommittee that last fall supported their extension.

Another Liberal – MP Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister – showed up, but abstained from voting because he supports renewal of the powers, but only if they are accompanied by a comprehensive review and reform of the act by Parliament.

Cotler (Mount Royal) said he expected no discipline for doing so, and Dion didn't indicate what if any consequences Wappel or the no-shows would face. - from The Star

With friends like Keith Martin and Irwin Cotler who needs enemies? If Dion hopes to be Prime Minister he had better show he can discipline his caucus now. Speaking of which why is Ignatieff sitting down during the standing ovation for Dion?

"The two measures, introduced by a previous Liberal government in 2001, have never been used." - from CBC

"Prescription drugs are 16,400% more deadly than terrorists" - via Rational Reasons

Dion should get his caucus together and vote to repeal the rest of the ridiculous Anti-Terrorism Act. In the end though - both the Liberals and the Conservatives are right about one thing - each other:

Leading up to Tuesday's vote, Conservatives ... accused [Liberals] of flip-flopping on a law they'd written themselves.

Liberals have responded that governments cannot be trusted with too free a hand over people's rights, especially the current Conservative government. - from CBC

At least we still live in a multi-party democracy even if the only two parties that have ever held the federal government don't act like it.

Labels: alternatives, anti-war, cons, day, democracy, leftist content creation, ndp, opinion, spy-watch, whale rights abuse, yay immigration

The NDP is being incredibly effective in the balance of power position. Movement is happening on NDP priorities without capitulation.

This all happened today:

Layton's announcement yesterday that there is a "Prosperity gap continue[ing] to grow for new Canadians" and that the NDP has a plan to help, saw headlines across the country, today. Montreal Gazette, The Star, Toronto Sun, The Globe and Mail, CTV and many more headlines headlines abounded.

It met with some incomprehensible, yet hilarious criticism from the likes of these guys. That's right weirdos, Layton wants to help immigrants use their skills ipso facto he is having an affair, has a love child and ... ... ... you guessed it: Thai food in Alberta. Everyone else seemed to like the ideas presented including these conservatives who claim it coincides nicely with the Ontario Conservatives plan.. whatever..

Then Catherine Bell, had the opportunity to introduce and speak to the importance of Bill M-262. Correspondingly, you have the opportunity to sign a petition supporting this excellent motion for electoral reform in Canada. Back in 2005 Ed Broadbent pushed a motion through that was adopted unanimously calling for electoral reform. Today's motion picks up where that motion left off. It's necessary because the other parties aren't moving on this critical priority at all.

A motion calling for a $10 minimum federal wage was also moved in the house today by the NDP:

Today one in six Canadians live in poverty and nearly 1.2 million of these are children. Many adults living in poverty work for rock-bottom wages. One quarter of poor families now have someone working full time and two million families are unable to find shelter they can afford. The federal minimum wage was abolished by the Liberal government in 1996.

And finally, as South of the border, folks come up with a surefire way to get argue for troops to come home from Iraq. North of the border superstar MP, Dawn Black, uncovers military plans that have not been approved by parliament despite what O'Connor's department says. Check out this magic exchange from Question Period:

Ms. Dawn Black (New Westminster—Coquitlam, NDP) : Mr. Speaker, the government needs to come clean on this. Will the Royal Canadian Regiment be returned in February 2010? Will the PPCLI be returning in August 2009 for their third or fourth rotation? And will the Van Doos return for their third rotation in August 2010 as General Hillier's planning documents indicate? It is hard to see where civilian oversight is taking place at DND. How can the military plan rotations that Parliament has not approved?

Hon. Gordon O'Connor (Minister of National Defence, CPC) : Mr. Speaker, the government has said that we are committed to the end of February 2009. No further decision has been made. The government, when it finds it appropriate, will make the decision on what happens if and when the events occur after 2009.

Has the NDP uncovered the military reporting to someone other than the executive? Maybe it is like that time, the RCMP deported Arar to be tortured in Syria because they gave information to US Authorities but not their own political leadership. Nope, no convenient fall guy (can you spell Z-a-c-c-a-r-d-e-l-l-i) will be available this time (H-i-l-l-i-e-r), Dawn Black received these documents through a Freedom of Information request.

Here's the entire exchange:

Ms. Dawn Black (New Westminster—Coquitlam, NDP) :
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence has refused the NDP request to set a time for debate and a vote on whether or not to extend the mission in Afghanistan beyond 2009. Documents I have obtained through access to information show that the Chief of the Defence Staff is already way ahead of the government. The CDS has detailed plans going until 2011 for deployments.

Will the minister tell the members of the Canadian Forces and their families what General Hillier has planned for them?

* * *

Hon. Gordon O'Connor (Minister of National Defence, CPC) :
Mr. Speaker, I have answered this question a number of times. The member is confusing the military internal plan which is based upon the Afghanistan compact and government direction. If she reads the plan in detail, she will notice that the military acknowledge that they are committed to the end of February 2009, however, they plan beyond those dates because the Afghan compact goes until 2011.

* * *

Ms. Dawn Black (New Westminster—Coquitlam, NDP) :
Mr. Speaker, the government needs to come clean on this. Will the Royal Canadian Regiment be returned in February 2010? Will the PPCLI be returning in August 2009 for their third or fourth rotation? And will the Van Doos return for their third rotation in August 2010 as General Hillier's planning documents indicate?

It is hard to see where civilian oversight is taking place at DND. How can the military plan rotations that Parliament has not approved?

* * *

Hon. Gordon O'Connor (Minister of National Defence, CPC) :
Mr. Speaker, the government has said that we are committed to the end of February 2009. No further decision has been made. The government, when it finds it appropriate, will make the decision on what happens if and when the events occur after 2009.

Labels: alternatives, blogosphere, leftist content creation, link, online campaign, opinion, personal story, spy-watch

"Since 2001, the new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act has exacerbated the systematic racism, discriminatory criteria and arbitrary decision-making of Immigration Canada, creating more obstacles for people to qualify as refugees and permanent residents. Additionally, the asylum procedure for refugees lacks an appeal process, and bureaucracy has created an enormous backlog. Yet, day by day, this growing underclass of exploited clandestine workers, deprived of all rights, fuels the Canadian economy." - The four demands of Solidarity Across Borders

The on-going genocidal and xenophobic practices of the Canadian government must change now.

"[Ahmad Jaballah] said he believes security certificates were issued - the first in 1999, from which [Mahmoud] Jaballah was released after seven months and then the second in 2001 - because his father had refused to work for Canada's spy agency.

"CSIS has their own agenda. I believe they're out there to get my dad," Ahmad Jaballah continued." - from Inside Toronto

The on-going hunger strike by security certificate detainees must be stopped by creating a positive resolution to the crisis it highlights. Mahmoud Jaballah is on day 78 of this courageous stand against the injustice of detention without trial and without the opportunity to see the evidence against him.

"Mr. Jaballah, Mr. Almrei, and Mr. Mahjoub have been detained for over five and six years without charge or conviction, under the provision of security certificates." Conservatives vote against Siksay’s motion seeking an end to Kingston hunger strike

Don't forget, if they can do this to "them" they can do this to you and I. Some slopes are much more slippery than others.

"dem come for de rasta and you say nothing
dem come from the muslims you say nothing
dem come for the anti-globalist you say nothing
dem even come for the liberals and you say nothing
dem come for you and will speak for you? who will speak for you, who ?"
- Asian dub foundaton

Labels: alternatives, anti-war, canada, day, green isn't just a colour it's an imperative, human rights abuse, ndp, online campaign, spy-watch, yay immigration

Last night I posted about how I received visits last month from the Canadian Military. Tonight, I have the dubious honour of posting about a visit to this blog from a US Military computer/human operator.

I was hoping they were reading about how to flee war and go to Canada. But after reading the log-file I realized they were simply reading about being Welcomed to Canada.

Meanwhile, the US Military announced by declassifying a document that they were engaged in electronic disruption against their enemies, apparently including blogs like this one.

To quote from a BBC report:

The operations described in the document include a surprising range of military activities: public affairs officers who brief journalists, psychological operations troops who try to manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of an enemy, computer network attack specialists who seek to destroy enemy networks.

The fact that the "Information Operations Roadmap" is approved by the Secretary of Defense suggests that these plans are taken very seriously indeed in the Pentagon.

Thanks to Blogging Change and Verbena 19 for the heads up.

Labels: anti-war, canada, green isn't just a colour it's an imperative, internal, leftist content creation, opinion, scary technology, spy-watch, tools

With the recent and long overdue apology to Maher Arar finally issued, it is time for arrest warrants to be issued against those responsible.

This style of warrant issued by prosecutor Christian Schmidt-Sommerfeld of Berlin, Germany has issued against 13 CIA agents is a spectacular step forward for democracy. Although, we may never see a trial or any kind of a conviction in this case.

In Canada we have had a public inquiry, we allocated blame, we apologized, we compensated and we simply cannot leave out the last steps on the stairs to justice. Those steps are charging and potentially convicting those who are criminally responsible. Mr. Arar and our entire country deserve to know that our government will prosecute those responsible to the fullest extent of the law. I suggest we start with US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who still will not clear Mr. Arar's name and have been involved in this illegal policy of rendition from the start.

It is likely we can not gain jurisdiction over the American agents who broke international law and deported Mr. Arar to be tortured. However, we can at least ensure these people understand they are being sought and will be arrested if they do happen into our country's jurisdiction. The Canadian's responsible should be charged as well.

At the very least we need to ask: Where's the contrition for rendition?

Labels: anti-war, copwatch, day, democracy, human rights abuse, rcmp, spy-watch

Google News has numerous effective uses that enhance a news watchers ability to keep up with what is going on in the world.

I have been using Google News for many years as my own personal clipping services, to track specific stories and to get an international perspective on stories that appear to have an excessively narrow view expressed in the source that brings the piece to my attention. This week, I realized that one of my close friends had never used Google News. This is despite having been given explicit instructions to use it a number of times in the past.

I am guessing it is possible you to have not used Google News or at least that you have not made use of it with the advanced features that make it the powerful tool it is. If you have never used Google News you should go there now, and come back to this article to read about the advanced features later.

If you have been a regular Google News reader spend a moment considering these uses.

Google News - Your own clipping service

Let's say you are working on an election campaign, planning on highlighting a specific issue in a community campaign or you are simply completely envious of that cool kid from junior high school and want to track her every move on her way to another dozen Junos. Google Alerts has for a long time been a part of Google News and has recently expanded to include all web content.

Let's go back to the cool kid from high school scenario. In this completely ridiculous scenario, I would add an alert for the search terms "Nelly Furtado", of the type Comprehensive (this includes blog content, news content and web content). Given that I really don't want to think about her more than once-a-week I would then choose that option as how often I would like to receive an alert by e-mail, summarizing new cool kid from high school content. By the way this alert is fictional and I do not receive weekly e-mails with updates of Nelly Furtado from Google News, but I could...



A more likely use? Let's say you are a not a Nelly Furtado stalker and were thinking of working on an election campaign in the City of Victoria in 2008. You could add Google Alerts for local city electables "Dean Fortin", "Pam Madoff", "Alan Lowe" and "Ben Isitt" with the setting as-it-happens. You would then immediately be notified if any of these folks made the news or were written up in a blog. The alert gives you a brief summary of the article and a link to the full article.

Really need to make it your own clipping service? Set up a 2 GB Gmail account to receive the alerts and keep them in a searchable form there.

Google News - Your own anti-censor

When reading an article that appears to show an extremely narrow point of view, choose a few key words, who, what, where, and type them into Google News.

You will instantly be given a screen of all the articles on that topic.

Today, was the fifth anniversary of the opening of the Guatanamo Bay Gulag - the US Government's illegal torture camp. Let's say you happened across a US Government News Release reproduced in a major news source on how Guatanamo Bay was doing wonderfully and almost complying with the law. Thinking to yourself, wow, this seems a remarkably one-sided story you can then do a search for the term Guatanamo-Bay in the Google News search bar. This gives a whole group of stories about illegal detainment, torture, and the protests against the open illegality of the US Administration's on-going breaches of the Geneva convention.

Additionally, let's say in protest against the on-going illegal detentions you decided to set-up a website supporting further protests. You could use Google News to generate an RSS/Atom feed of all stories with the keywords Guatanamo Bay and add that to your website.

Google News - A tool for democracy

As we change this world for the better, sites like Google News will be a powerful means by which to track an expanding dichotomy of debate and to increase your voices potential to be heard at the right time to impact the world.

A discussion like today's freak announcement that; the main strategy scientists had to keep nuclear waste with a 24,000 year half-life safe for 250,000 years, can actually only keep nuclear waste safe for 1400 years, can be tracked on a single website.

Watch the media for your favourite politicians, issues and writers. Post the RSS on a website where other people can read through the content.

But, most of all read the news, read the blogs and don't forget to read the wind!

Labels: alternatives, anti-war, democracy, leftist content creation, nuclear waste, online campaign, opinion, public power, spy-watch, tools

I highly doubt they are seriously going to combat spying, but I am encouraged by the latest quote from Blair (one of my least favourite fellow members of the Socialist International) on the Litvinenko poisoning. In this the Independent article Tony Blair was quoted as saying, "that there would be no diplomatic or political barrier" to the inquiry into Litvinenko's death.

This is of course akin to a nuclear first strike in diplomacy as it signal to at least the FSB and probably to the rest of the world's secret services that anything they have done may become public. The killing of a former spy is not something that normally is allowed to hit the front pages of the papers anywhere in the world. Exposing the activities of a foreign spy service leaves your own services open to public criticism. The uncomfortable side of espionage is usually dealt with secretly and through diplomatic back channels. I think the repercussions are already being seen in the public reporting of the arrest of Paul William Hampel.

Of course Bush has always been a fan of secrecy, however, I have to look back and applaud ole' K. Christian Rove for his public naming and shaming of Valerie Plame. Not that his reasons were even slightly laudible, but the shear act of opening to public criticism and allowing public debate about the actions of a Spy was worth it. Everyone needs to know that they are accountable for their actions. This includes the employees of the CIA, CSIS, the FSB and the military intelligence agencies they work with.

The spy services of the world have taken a significant leap in size over the last 5 years. I think it is definitely time that their activities start coming under increasing public scrutiny. There is no justification for hiding the activities World War II/Cold War era holdovers any longer. Of course this still needs to be handled very carefully as the world's spy organizations are domestically very powerful. I believe the secrecy they currently operate under is no longer justifiable and more likely to start wars than stop them. I think it is worth noting that Igor Gouzenko would never have been able to defect if Prime Minister King had not been defied by his own staff.

How many times have legitimate law authority organizations been forced to abandon long running and effective investigations because of the kind of diplomatic interests that Blair claims aren't going to impede the Litvinenko inquiry? How many times have legitimate political parties been suppressed because they accidentally received support from another countries spy service and then found themselves on the wrong side of their domestic agency?

How much safer would we all be if no one was allowed to get away with subverting a common set of laws?

Labels: opinion, spy-watch

Take that elected representatives. What you can't do with a job description that includes solving problems in the world, Michaelle Jean has done with a job description that reads do nothing. It certainly seems that Michaelle Jean has more siblings in Mali than the position she occupies in Canada has supporters.

What am I talking about? The rousing and internationally significant reception that Jean received in Mali, yesterday. Tens of thousands of Mali's people waited on both sides of the road from the airport to her hotel. Then she became only the second foreign leader in the history of Mali to address the country's parliament after Nelson Mandela.

The position of Governor-General is a largely redundant hold-over from past colonial times. Having said this, Jean's use of the position to come to grips with historical wrongs like slavery, forced deportation and the loss of your historical ties to the country of your ancestors birth is nothing but awesome.

After having posted earlier this week about support for a democratically elected Governor-General-like role, I have to say, the next step for Jean personally is to run for election in a role that does exist. Let's get her a constituency that would allow for a significant critique of the conditions that much of the world's poor live in.

I can't wait to see the documentary on this one.

Labels: democracy, opinion, spy-watch

It must be very hard for the democratically elected leader of our government Stephen Harper to be so overshadowed by such a gifted and eloquent Governor General. Yesterday, our commander-in-chief Michaëlle Jean landed on her first foreign visit in Algiers. She has only been gone for a day and already she has made me wish that we had sent her to the APEC meetings in Vietnam instead of Harper.

I am certain that she would not have had to posture, bristle and bumble about bringing human rights up with President Hu Jintao. Just reading the pre-meeting briefing note would be a far more powerful critique of China's record than any trade-interest-driven whine that Harper delivered. Even if Harper had stood and yelled for the entire 15 minute meeting just sending our GG would have had a deeper impact.

I'm just back from my own diplomatic fore shall we say.. (of course it was not of the magnitude that Harper and Jean are currently experiencing). I did, however, learn the hard way to tread lightly with Canadian norms. Many times I distinctly felt the temperature in Australian rooms drop to a chilly arctic freeze as I casually mentioned Canadian history and the political norms of my generation.

One of many places where Australia is well ahead of Canada is in support for a democratically elected head of state. The most recent referendum in 1999, on the issue, failed only because of a division between those who wanted an Australian Republic with a parliamentary appointed president and those who wanted an actual elected head of state.

I think it is time for Canada to have an elected Governor General, time for us to give a political mandate to the kind of work Jean and her predecessor Clarkson are able to do just by being themselves. It is probably seditious and maybe treasonous to demand that the current Queen's representative be elected to the role.. but sedition be damned. Queen Elizabeth II has nothing on our Michaëlle Jean.

There is a role for democracy in international relations and our country should join the 18th century and elect our top dog (and I don't mean to reference any empty chairs when I say that).

Let's start sending our head of state into international relations, properly mandated, as the voice of a democracy, not the representative of some other country's Queen.

Labels: human rights abuse, spy-watch

This just in. . . Terrorists have been caught red-handed counterfeiting clothing.

Well, that's the impression you would get from Sgt. Patrick Webb if he provided any evidence for this ridiculous assertion: "The funding for this is just like drug deals where the funding has to come from somebody with deep pockets, and that normally is organized crime and/or possibly terrorists."

Sgt. Webb has said some other zingers in the past like: "Whether this was a factor in this collision still needs to be determined but it probably was." In relation to the death of a British Soldier on Canadian soil. Rob Huck on the blog WesternStandard.ca has Sgt. Webb jumping to the conclusion that a group of teens randomly committed this assault.

Back when Sgt. Webb was only a Corporal he defended the $100 million dollars spent on the G8 summit's security in Kanaskis like this: "We have to communicate back and forth with our command centre. It's all part of our security requirement and we're not about to tell you why we're going to use it." [source]

I think it is worth wondering out-loud if the kind of logic that Sgt. Webb uses above, is the same logic they teach at RCMP school in Regina. That might be the reason why the RCMP purchased $28 million worth of equipment for the G8 Security during the Kananaskis summit in 2002. The outcome? A few charges against members of the RCMP for acting inappropriately during the summit.

Anyway let's have some fun stringing together some of these comments:

"The funding for this is just like drug deals where the funding has to come from somebody with deep pockets, and that normally is organized crime and/or possibly terrorists. Whether this was a factor in this .. still needs to be determined but it probably was. We have to communicate back and forth with our command centre. It's all part of our security requirement and we're not about to tell you why we're going to use it," Sgt. Patrick Webb as reported in the media with only one word left out.

Ok, seriously, I'm sure the guy is just doing his job.

However:

1. if you ever end up on a jury,
   
2. listening to wiretap evidence,
   
3. with your job to determine,
   
4. beyond a reasonable doubt,
   
5. just take a moment and wonder,
6. if a word might just have been left out.

Labels: anti-war, historical, leftist content creation, opinion, rcmp, spy-watch

With the sudden announcement of Bob Gates as the new secretary of defense and Bush's own family connections to the intelligence community (daddy Bush was the CIA director before becoming Vice-President and then President). Is it that improbable that Bill Gates might be a relative (likely distant) of Bill Gates of Microsoft Corp?

Is it possible that Microsoft's early financial dominance could be because of spying? Did someone slip their cousin some source code?

I'm sure there is someone out there that can rule out a family connection; that is if there isn't one. I know I don't have the research capacity.

But, I do love to wonder whether billionaires can keep themselves from influencing politics closely. More than that it will be interesting to know whether they had access to the corridors of power long before the money started to flow to them.

What we do know is Robert Gates's appointment is going to be rushed through congress in apparent defiance of the will of the American electorate. Defying the electorate probably isn't anything new for this veteran of the CIA, given his involvement with the Contra in Nicaragua. I wonder what the recently re-elected Ortega thinks of the Gates appointment?

It is worth noting that the departure of Rumsfeld (see prior post) from Ford's administration roughly coincided with daddy Bush's appointment as Director of Central Intelligence in the mid-1970's.

• Billy Gates
• Bobby Gates
• Daddy Bush
• José Daniel Ortega Saavedra

Labels: alternatives, anti-microsoft, spy-watch

As we say a political goodbye finally to Rummy, let's take a moment to remember something about Rumsfeld from his earlier positions.

1. As Nixon said in 1971 ".. at least Rummy is tough enough" and "He's a ruthless little bastard. You can be sure of that."^[5]

2. After Nixon resigned it was Rusmfeld's job to head the transition to Gerald Ford and he was the White House Chief of Staff thereafter from 1974-75.

3. Shortly thereafter one Frank Olson was allegedly dosed with LSD without his knowledge and committed suicide. It has been further alleged that Olson tried to resign from his position as a CIA doctor and this was his punishment. It was Rumsfeld's responsibility to cover this up. I wonder whether anyone will spike the cool aid at Rumsfeld's going away party?

4. Rumsfeld was heavily responsible for strategic support for Saddam Hussein during the Iran - Iraq war in 1983-1984.

He said it: "These events occurred on my watch as secretary of defense. I am accountable for them."

Let the war crimes tribunal begin.

Labels: anti-war, leftist content creation, opinion, spy-watch