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Thomas Paine

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

1 July - O O Canada

 Headline from office of stupid ideas. Does Canada Day need a new name ? Since 'Dominion Day' is obsolete maybe we should take a note from the anthem : "Uh,Oh,Canada !"


With World Watching, Wikileaks Falls Into Disrepair
Wikileaks’ submission process, which had been degraded for months, completely collapsed more than two weeks ago and remains offline, in a little-noted breakdown at the world’s most prominent secret-spilling website.  
See Also:



Too Scary to Fly, Not Scary Enough to Arrest
The government has not offered any explanation for plaintiffs’ “apparent placement” on the no-fly list or any other watch list.
See Also:
ACLU Study Highlights U.S. Surveillance Society
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/aclu-surveillance
( An odd layout requires you scroll down to read the article )
Welcome to the surveillance society.

That’s what the American Civil Liberties Union concluded Tuesday with a report chronicling government spying and the detention of groups and individuals “for doing little more than peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights.”

The report, Policing Free Speech: Police Surveillance and Obstruction of First Amendment-Protected Activity (.pdf), surveys news accounts and studies of questionable snooping and arrests in 33 states and the District of Columbia over the past decade.

The survey provides an outline of, and links to, dozens of examples of Cold War-era snooping in the modern age.
See Also:
Canada pins Afghan legacy hopes on Dahla Dam
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100701/national/afghan_cda_mission_development
For the first time in decades, the Dahla Dam is channelling badly needed water into the Arghandab district's once-parched fields. During a recent flyover of the dam and its surrounding environs, lush green orchards resembling those in the Okanagan Valley could be seen for miles.
Some Kandahar locals have complained about the fact the province still doesn't have a reliable source of electricity, but Canada simply couldn't tackle every challenge, Rowswell said.

"We focused on a certain number of sectors, and that involves some tough choices."

William Crosbie, Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan, said he is often asked by Afghan journalists about what happened to all the international money that's been pumped into the country.

His answer is the people of Afghanistan themselves, who are getting vastly improved education and health care.

( Infrastructure allows leisure for education...from the pressing business of starvation and sickness. Water and power are both basic needs for any realistic modernization to take place. Otherwise...the dam becomes a time bomb for flooding. Repairs may delay that problem. )

The annual Atlanticade Motorcycle Festival is debuting in the southwestern New Brunswick community over the next four days.

The event was predicted to bring between 3,000 and 5,000 bikes but organizers now say the seaside resort town could host 10,000 motorcycles if the forecast for sunny skies holds for the next few days.
( St. Andrews-by-the-Sea boasts the large and historic Algonquin Hotel and a world-class golf course - seemingly plonked down in a scenic area beside the Bay of Fundy both somewhat secluded and accessible.
 
It's been many years since I rode in from nearby St. Stephen to meet the locals for a spin down the road...or zipped across an international border at Calais, Maine that was more a travellers' convenience than an excuse for harassment {mostly complaints about my noisy ring-ding} . Those were the days when goods were tied up in Customs...not people.  
The Arms Race  seemed to be less of a danger than this ridiculous proposition that paupers most of the way around the world are our largest Existential Threat. "We're goin' to Die!!!"  Does the word 'Hyperbole' not cause any shame of overreaction ? 
Back then Global Nuclear Overkill and Mutual Assured Destruction were a way of life. It sure shows up the desperate need for 'somebody to blame' when lack of credible opposition to corporations overrunning the planet changes the theme from 'Risk to civilians within our borders' to 'Risk of foreign civilians shooting back at murdering Trespassers.'  xE what I'm getting at ? 
It's just a continuation of the 'Indian Wars' : and actually near the source of the name. But it's not as though we will learn anything from that...just because it is a traditional stomping ground of Empire. 
151 Canadians are dead in our part of the Afghan Folly. That might sound low compared to 300 Brits and 1000 Yanks. The idea that there are 2 Brits and 9.5 Yanks to every Canadian might change your perspective on that. )

The G20: A Charter-free zone

By Alison@Creekside
The G8 Free Speech Farm — only a short, leisurely eight kilometer hike from the G8 site..
Meanwhile at the G20 downtown, the government of Ontario has designated the sidewalks and public spaces five meters from the security fence a Charter-free zone.

http://backofthebook.ca/2010/06/25/the-g20-a-charter-free-zone/3386/
A guard or peace officer,(b) may search, without warrant, any person entering or attempting to enter a public work or a vehicle in the charge or under the control of any such person or which has recently been or is suspected of having been in the charge or under the control of any such person or in which any such person is a passenger
 
If you’re a passenger in a car more than five meters from a “Public Work” fence but the driver is suspected of having previously driven inside that five meter perimeter, you have a choice of two months in jail or being searched by a “guard” for the crime of being in a public place. Is that right?
 
( Puts a whole new face on 'We Stand on Guard for Thee' )
 


 
( Perhaps being a 'Good Canadian' should include background knowledge on what that has entailed. )

Between 1902 and 1913, the Canadian government deported almost 870 people on the grounds that they were insane. Another 6,900 were ordered out of the country for criminality and some 2,850 were forced to leave for fear that they were about to become criminals. Since detailed crime statistics weren't kept, historians think this could be anything from a would-be pickpocket to someone who was a political protester.
mmigration Act, 1919
After the war, the federal government enacted new measures to keep out immigrants who were deemed unsuitable for life in Canada. The Immigration Act, 1919, included a new rule, Section 38, which allowed the government to limit or prohibit the entry of undesirable races and nationalities.
Section 38 formed the basis of an order-in-council paper later in 1919 that prohibited the entry of Austrians, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Turks, and others who fought against Canada in World War I.
This section was also used to prohibit the entry of Doukhobers, Hutterites and Mennonites because of their particular religious customs and habits. (The government repealed both of these prohibitions, however, in 1922-23.)
Section 41 of the act gave the government increased powers to deport activists who were against government policy or big business interests. This was particularly important to the government with the rise of communism and socialism in Canada following the 1917 Russian Revolution and Winnipeg General Strike in 1919.

Image
  Immigration Act, 1919
Loi modifiant la loi de l'immigration, 1919 		READ the summary
Posted by opit at 1:36 PM
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