These should be mandatory viewing for all of us. Most of us don't even know what's happening right under our own noses.
You, Me & the SPP: Trading Democracy for Corporate Rule
Another interesting video:
Should We Erase the U.S. Border for the Purposes of Trade and Labour mobility?
Jim Stanford, Chief Economist, Canadian Auto Workers and Michael Hart, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University debate U.S. Deep Integration. From Canadian Business Magazine debate.
U.S And Canada Sign New Border Security Agreement Part 1 Of 2
U.S. and Canada Sign New Border Security Agreement - Part 2 of 2
Both aired May 27, 2009 on CPAC.
Integrate this: Challenging the Security & Prosperity Partnership
Council of Canadians
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Die SPP, Die
Sounds too good to be true to me, that the "three amigos" and those who wait in the Shadows will let the Security & Prosperity Partnership (SPP) dissolve like this, there is too much at stake and too much to gain for the Powers that Be to stop it. I think they're just taking it out of the public eye, way more behind the scenes.
*********
We recognize and embrace citizen participation as an integral part of our work together in North America. We welcome the contributions of businesses, both large and small, and those of civil society groups, non-governmental organizations, academics, experts, and others. We have asked our Ministers to engage in such consultations as they work to realize the goals we have set for ourselves here in Guadalajara.”- North American leaders’ statement, August 10, 2009, Guadalajara, Mexico
SPP deactivated while 'three amigos' promise public consultation on North American agenda
OTTAWA, Aug. 14 /CNW Telbec/ - Opponents of the Security and Prosperity
Partnership (SPP)are celebrating a preliminary victory in reaction to the
announcement on the official U.S. government SPP website that the pact "is no
longer an active initiative" says the Council of Canadians.
While the 'deactivation' of the SPP is a significant victory, the Council
of Canadians cautions that opponents of deep integration must remain vigilant,
given that many of the SPP's key priorities - energy integration, regulatory
convergence, security policy harmonization - cropped up in the final leaders'
declaration from the Guadalajara summit this week.
"Trade and the economy must serve people and communities. The SPP was an
attempt to turn that upside down so that people and communities would have to
serve the interests of large corporations," says Maude Barlow, National
Chairperson of the Council of Canadians."Widespread opposition to this
profoundly undemocratic model of globalization has brought the WTO to its
knees, killed the Free Trade Area of the Americas,and now halted the SPP. It's
time for our governments to abandon this agenda and not just try to rebrand it
again under a new name."
***************
YouTube - Stop SPP Protest - Union Leader stops provocateurs
Integrate This: Challenging the Security & Prosperity Partnership of North America
Council of Canadians
Founded in 1985, the Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest citizens’ organization,
with members and chapters across the country. We work to protect Canadian independence
by promoting progressive policies on fair trade, clean water, energy security, public
health care, and other issues of social and economic concern to Canadians.
SPP update
The North American leaders summit – where Canada, the United States and Mexico met to discuss progress on the Security and Prosperity Partnership – took place August 9 and 10 in Guadalajara, Mexico and Canadians knew almost nothing about it.
Watch videos of the protest and updated factsheets at www.IntegrateThis.ca.
Friday, July 17, 2009
CRACKdown in Vancouver: Life Under Olympic Rule
I sure have enjoyed all of those human and civil rights and freedoms I've have up to this point. They've been steadily eroded over the past decade. With the monolithic beast that is the Olympics upon us, we're seeing a fast tracking of the decrease and it's happening in the most insidious and creeping ways. And I don't like it.
It actually pisses me off that the Olympics is being used to introduce this level of security and militarization of BC. I have the utmost respect and awe of athletes who work their butts off to excel in Sport, they work hard and sacrifice to do their best for Canada. So it burns me to see the corporatization, security, surveillance and decline of our rights and freedoms being part of the Olympics the way its happening. Excellence in Sport and Achievement, National Pride, as well as a Bombastic Global Party have been hijacked and its doing our Fair Province a disservice, because its a gift that keeps on giving - kind of like Herpes.
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It actually pisses me off that the Olympics is being used to introduce this level of security and militarization of BC. I have the utmost respect and awe of athletes who work their butts off to excel in Sport, they work hard and sacrifice to do their best for Canada. So it burns me to see the corporatization, security, surveillance and decline of our rights and freedoms being part of the Olympics the way its happening. Excellence in Sport and Achievement, National Pride, as well as a Bombastic Global Party have been hijacked and its doing our Fair Province a disservice, because its a gift that keeps on giving - kind of like Herpes.
************************
VANCOUVER — Vancouver city is about to enact sweeping temporary changes to its bylaws to allow the gritty, pointy end of the 2010 Winter Olympics to take place.
Everything, from allowing 24-hour commercial deliveries to to relaxing garbage pick-up times to allowing certain streets to be closed for pedestrian or security purposes, is being considered in hefty 90-page report going to council on Tuesday.
... prevent people from bringing megaphones or amplification equipment on to city property, allow security screening at the two Live Sites, and banning rolling or non-Olympic advertising vehicles on city streets.The regulations would come into effect on Jan. 1 and end on March 31. But some of them, such as the prohibition on street-side advertising vehicles, could become permanent after the Games.
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You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists. - Abbie Hoffman
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Mass Vaccinations Coming? Fear-mongering or Fact?
Guess we get to wait and see how this will play out. We haven't heard the last of the H1N1 story. Is this bit about vaccinations part of the media fear-mongering and disinformation that have become such a pervasive part of our media world that we're scarcely even aware of how much absolute shite is passed off as fact and reality.
Canadian Doctor: H1N1 Vaccination a Eugenics Weapon for Mass Extermination
Kurt Nimmo
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Excerpt:
Video: Obama Administration to Implement Government Flu Shot Program
Canadian Doctor: H1N1 Vaccination a Eugenics Weapon for Mass Extermination
Kurt Nimmo
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Excerpt:
Canadian doctor Ghislaine Lanctôt, author of the Medical Mafia, has underscored the lawsuit recently filed by Austrian journalist Jane Bürgermeister against the WHO, the UN, and several high ranking government and corporate officials. Bürgermeister has documented how an international corporate criminal syndicate plans to unleash a deadly flu virus and institute a forced vaccination program.
“I am emerging from a long silence on the subject of vaccination, because I feel that, this time, the stakes involved are huge. The consequences may spread much further than anticipated,” writes Lanctôt, who believes the A(H1N1) virus will be used in a pandemic concocted and orchestrated by the WHO, an international organization that serves military, political and industrial interests.
During her trial in 1995, Lanctôt used an episode from the March 11th, 1979, 60 Minutes TV show covering the massive vaccination program foisted on the American public supposedly in response to the 1976 swine flu outbreak.More than 33 years later, according to Dr. Russell Blaylock, a board certified neurosurgeon, “we are hearing the same cries of alarm from a similar lineup of virology experts. The pharmaceutical companies are busy designing a vaccine for the swine flu in hope that this administration will make the vaccine mandatory before another vaccine-related disaster can ruin their party…. Like SARS and bird flu before it, this swine flu scare is a lot of nonsense. Just take your high dose vitamin D3 (5000 IU a day), eat a healthy diet and take a few immune boosting supplements (such as beta-1, 3/1, 6 glucan) and you will not have to worry about this flu.”
According to a source known to former NSA official Wayne Madsen, “A top scientist for the United Nations, who has examined the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa, as well as HIV/AIDS victims, concluded that H1N1 possesses certain transmission “vectors” that suggest that the new flu strain has been genetically-manufactured as a military biological warfare weapon.Video: Obama Administration to Implement Government Flu Shot Program
Monday, October 13, 2008
Silent Coup: America's Dying Breath - Part 1
While we here in Canada have been caught up in both our own economic crisis
and our federal election, things have been moving at a rapid pace globally.
On October 1st 2008, a silent coup happened, one that is rapidly bringing the end of America. Think I'm being melodramatic, or crazy in that "don't mind him, he's a conspiracy theorist" kind of way. It's probably tempting to bury our heads and laugh all of this off, but, it would be a mistake to do that. Why would that be, good question and I'll try to lead down a thorny path to some answers.
I'm a follower and armchair commentator of geopolitics, which I've rapidly picked up a small bit of knowledge about. I'm also a rabid opponent to the Security & Prosperity Partnership(SPP) (being re-branded as North American Standards & Regulatory Area, NASRA) and the North American Union (NAU), all of which are direct threats to Canada's sovereignty and ownership of Canadian natural resources, including ownership of business and our own systems, such as our public health care system.
I'm never going to make apologies for being a proud Canadian nationalist and I won't be shy in telling you that Canada should be protecting our resources and assets in this time of globalization. I remember back in the day, fervently marching with the other idealists against APEC, recognizing a bad thing even when I was so young and knew nothing about the world, or those who quite simply want to own all that is worth something.
There is no doubt that American hegemony and their long-forgotten goal of manifest destiny has been at the heart of the United States interactions and agreements with other nations forever. It's funny how for some reason I always remembered about manifest destiny (of all the things I've forgotten from Social Studies), I think it must have been the arrogant presumption of righteousness that offended me even in those tender years, who the hell did those people think they were, anyways?
Over the years I've gleaned many pieces of information and media on the ever-increasing pace of "harmonization" and "integration" of Canada with the US and Mexico, starting with the first Free Trade Agreement (FTA), then NAFTA under Brian Mulroney's (neo)Conservative government, continuing under Paul Martin's (neo)Liberal government and going full steam ahead under Stephen Harper's Conservative government with the SPP, and the NAU.
During this election, we've heard a new bit about Harper's Conservatives plans to "integrate" Canada into the European Union (EU). We only heard about it because it was leaked, Harper didn't bring it up and he isn't showing us the draft agreement. He also didn't tell us about his plans to meet leaders from the EU just three days after the Canadian Federal Election, to go over the agreement that could throw Canada into the garbage can of history as a sovereign nation. It's funny, I kind of think that is an important thing for Canadians to know about, but hey, I'm no Prime Minister, what do I know?
The American Coup: Setting the Stage
In a widely viewed lecture available on Youtube, Naomi Wolf, an American author, gave a talk about her book, The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. Now, for those of you who know her, Ms. Wolf, a bright, personable, popular writer on topics of interest, mostly to women, never resonated as a rabblerouser, a politico, or even as a major intellectual. That changed for me when I watched this lecture
and I began to see her as a visionary and someone we should all begin to listen to about what was happening in the United States of America. With this lecture, she was putting her neck on the chopping block in a very personal way.
In this lecture, she details very clearly the 10 steps, or the blueprint, for open society's that are being shut down in strategic moves toward creating dictatorships. For her book, she studied the rise of Mussolini, Hitler, Pinochet and other despots to see what patterns could be learned about how they assumed control and turned their countries into nations of people who carried out the unthinkable horrors of
their totalitarian leaders. See here for the 10 Steps to Turn an Open Society into a Dictatorship.
In her lecture, The End of America, Ms.Wolf describes these steps and what it looks like in a society slowly being turned into a dictatorship. We should ask ourselves, is this something we see happening in America and, more importantly, are we seeing some of these things happening in our backyard in Canada, especially under Stephen Harper's Conservative government? I think we are, it's just perhaps more subtle and less overt like it is in the US. Plus, the Canadian media has been in a process of being controlled and concentrated through corporate ownership in a way that has made it more difficult to connect the dots across our vast nation and see the incremental
steps toward this slippery slope.
These are the 10 Steps that Wolf identifies in her book:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create a gulag
3. Develop a thug caste
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens' groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
10. Suspend the rule of law
It's not too difficult to think of examples of most of these things:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy -
The "War on Terror" after 9/11, which was used in both the US & Canada to bring in unprecedented changes to civil rights, leaving it very easy for people to called "terrorists" and locked up, throwing out the usual legal rights of those accused, including the right to even have the opportunity to look at the "evidence" used to make the charges in the first place.
On October 26 2001, the USA Patriot Act was passed by a Congress, which introducted unprecented changes to the civil liberties and human rights of all Americans. Seems interesting how quickly the American government was able to just throw such a thing together in just over a month from September 11th 2001, but I guess they're speedy folks, or were they planning for something just like this to start revoking citizen rights under the American government and Constitution?
But it didn't just stop there. Once the information of citizens from other countries, such as Canada, was in the hands of US corporations, the US government could access this under the Patriot Act, without the parties ever knowing.
In BC, in 2006, Gordon Campbell's BC Liberal government passed amendments to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act in 2006 that allowed the disclosure of citizens' personal information outside Canada "to an individual who is a service provider of the public body... if the information is necessary for the performance of the duties of the individual in relation to the public body."
When combining this with the privatization of government services and information and technology contracts awarded by the Campbell Liberal government to American and transnational corporations(who often paid hefty lobbying fees and donations to the BC Liberal party), a great deal of personal and private information of Canadian citizens became easy to access by the US government.
In 2007, an audit by the U.S. Justice Department found that the American FBI committed "serious misuses of national security letter authorities" to access confidential records, and withheld information from Congress on how often businesses were forced to turn over customer data.
Here in Canada, fear was also used to motivate changes to our civil rights and an immediate re-organization of governmental departments into one monster Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Preparation (DPS), similar in scope and work to the American Department of Homeland Security (DHS). There is more on this below, as well as a timeline of the changes.
Security measures since 9/11
The changes wrought by the terror attacks of September 11 to Canada's laws and practices vis-à-vis refugees and immigrants are significant. Political pressure to tighten the Canadian border has resulted in the promotion of a vaguely defined 'security perimeter' that would encompass perhaps the whole of North America. As part of this project, the Canadian government has moved towards greater harmonization of immigration security policies and practices with the U.S., including cross-deputation of intelligence and policing agencies.
The Canadian government in this period also signed the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States, which enables the rejection of refugee claimants at the border and their return to the United States for processing, and passed the Anti-Terrorism Act, or Bill C-36. Bill C-36, passed mere months after 9/11, allows for the arrest of terror suspects without a warrant, compels individuals to give testimony at secret hearings, and enlarges the scope for state surveillance and ethnic profiling.
Dec. 18th, 2001 - The Anti-Terrorism Act became part of the Criminal Code. It was hustled through parliament by the Liberal government using their majority and procedure to shut down debate and stop amendments by the opposition.
The changes to the code are "aimed at disabling and dismantling the activities of terrorists groups and those who support them." It allowed citizens to be arrested and detained for up to 72 hours if they are suspected of planning a terrorist act.
The Three Primary Provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act (Bills C-36 and C-42)
* suppress existing terrorist groups
* provide police with new investigative tools
* strengthen prison sentences for terrorists
For a much deeper analysis, read this by Anil Hira and Douglas Ross of SFU:
Canada After 9/11: A Land of Deep Ambivalence
The Divergent Canadian Response to American Primacy and the 'War on Terror,' But Ever Deeper Continental Economic Integration
Canada's Military Budget
Under the Stephen Harper Conservative government, Canada's military budget has ballooned out of control and instead of sending our troops abroad on NATO and peacekeeping missions, Harper changed our Forces mandate, a proud Canadian heritage, and instead sent Canada into Afghanistan into an American war over oil, under the guise of ousting the Taliban.
It was only during this October 2008 Federal Election have Canadians learned that Harper's mission in Afghanistan has cost us $7.7 billion dollars over the past six years, and could reach $18.1 billion dollars by 2011. However, due to "a lack of government consistency and transparency" it is difficult to fully estimate
how much this American war will cost Canadians, both monetarily and in the lives of our Armed Forces serving there, for a false war.
2. Create a gulag - Guatanomo Bay. Let's quickly review how this relates to Canada. Stephen Harper, as Canada's Prime Minister, has allowed a Canadian child, Omar Khadr to be abused, tortured and imprisoned for YEARS in Gitmo. When all other nations had reclaimed their citizens from this gulag, Harper has left Omar there and his ignored the child's rights under United Nation conventions and treaties. Stephen Harper's heart is as black as his soul for that. And being a father himself, he is a sorry excuse for a human being to fail to stop the abuse and torture of this Canadian child, who has now spent a quarter of his life imprisoned and abused by the American government. Shame on Stephen Harper, Shame on the Conservatives and they've brought shame on Canada for their abandonment of this Canadian child.
Omar Khadr Project
In Canada, we have both federal and provincial jails. Thankfully, Harper hasn't branched out and started contracting out to build new prisons the way the Americans have in creating their prison industrial complex.
3. Develop a thug caste - Blackwater - A company that has reaped multi-million dollar (over $800 million in contracts) for mercenary work for the US in Iraq. The US government (the State Department ) has contracted out military operations. They operate outside of the law, they have been alleged to kill civilians and they are accountable to no-one.
Apparently they also have contracts to work inside the US too. And, a Blackwater-linked company is training Canadian troops. They are also involved in intelligence gathering. For whom they are doing that is a big question.
Blackwater mercenaries are operating inside the United States, as well as training Canadian troops down in Virgina, home of the FBI.
The Privatization of Fascism: 60 minutes piece on Blackwater
BlackWater-Lobby Canada Tory Government for Secret Funding?
http://www.freewebs.com/habeascorpuscanada/grounds.html
Blackwater training some Canadian troops
David Pugliese, CanWest News Service Published: Saturday, September 29, 2007
Select Canadian soldiers have been sent to Blackwater U.S.A. in North Carolina for specialized training in bodyguard and shooting skills. Other soldiers have taken counterterrorism evasive-driving courses with the private military company now at the centre of an investigation into the killings of Iraqi civilians and mounting
concerns about the aggressive tactics of its workers in the field.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=414820f7-998a-496f-b41d-c033e5d6d168
Blackwater-linked firm to train Canadian troops
Aug 27, 2008. Woods. Ottawa Bureau: The Star.
The military gave notice this week of its intention to award an $850,000 contract for advanced counterinsurgency training to the Terrorism Research Center, a Virginia-based firm that specializes in terrorism training for military and law enforcement officials. The contract is for one year with the option for a two-year extension.
The counterinsurgency school, which boasts close links to the U.S. government, is listed as a branch of Total Intelligence Solutions, a company that is run by former director of CIA counterterrorism Cofer Black and Erik Prince, a former U.S. Navy Seal.
Blackwater Shadow Army: Youtube videos on Blackwater's "work"
4. Set up an internal surveillance system - Some of us with suspicious minds can't help but wonder at the timing of the proliferation of the new social world many of us inhabit - MySpace, Facebook, Yahoo, Google, Microsoft.
It is now possible for any of us to have our most personal information gathering and surveilled by anyone with mad skills enough to hack our accounts.
Within one generation, millions of citizens around the world are putting vast quantities of personal and private information out onto the Internet through social networking sites and in other ways that are easy to trace and observe by those with the intention and skills.
The ability to track people's movement online and in the real world have become easy ways to keep track of what people are doing, with whom and when, what they are buying and where they live. Another example that comes to mind, many people aren't aware that the new I-Phones have a built-in GPS so you can track people's whereabouts.
An interesting story has circulated around the web about Microsoft Vista is that they've built a backdoor which, if activated, opens one's computer up like a vault for people to take a peak. They've also been busy little bees developing technology to help law enforcement and security personnel access information from people's computers. Aren't you feeling oh so safe as you surf around the web?
Microsoft Gives Vista Backdoor Keys To The Police
Microsoft device helps police pluck evidence from cyberscene of crime
By Benjamin J. Romano. Seattle Times technology reporter
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoft/2004379751_msftlaw29.html
Many of the websites I get information from that are "off the beaten track" are regularly hacked and have their servers taken down. Sometimes this happens in unison to several of them at once. Videos are often removed faster from the 'net than people can get to see them, especially ones put out by those trying to get the word out about our rapid erosion of freedom, democracy and civil rights.
There isn't a doubt in my mind that me and some of my other activist friends are on some sort of "list" and are being watched online. Hell, I've been videotaped by police department members going to political events (everyone entering was
videotaped). This is a democratic, legal, local party meeting, here in Canada and our local police are recording citizens participation in these meetings. If that doesn't scare you I don't know what will.
Video - Marketing the Police State in Canada: Technology to Scan License Plates
Intelligence & Surveillance: Canada's No Fly List
Even though we don't hear much about it anymore, let's not forget Canada still has a "No Fly list." And once you're on that, even if it is a mistake, you're never coming off of it. And if US Customs has your name, you are flagged and searched. I don't even try to go down there anymore.
Passenger Protect: Canada's No Fly List
The government of Canada has created its own no fly list as part of a program called Passenger Protect.[40]
The Canadian list incorporates data from domestic and foreign intelligence sources, including the U.S. No Fly List.[41]
It contains between 500 and 2,000 names (that we're aware of).
Two main components:
1. "Specified Persons List" which includes the name, birth date, and gender of individuals believed to pose a security threat;
2. "Identity Screening Regulations" requiring all passengers who appear to be 12 years of age or older to present valid
government-issued ID before they are allowed to board a flight.[1] The list itself contains 1250 +- 750 names.
American Terrorist Watch List
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also keeps a ACLU Terrorist Watch List Counter, which has well over 1 million Americans being "watched" by various US agencies, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Justice Department
"Among those caught up by the no-fly list are many infants and small children." Imagine for a second your child being identified and placed on a "terrorist list" by your own government.
There's no doubt in my mind that Canadian authorities have their own "intelligence" and surveillance watch lists, Harper & his minions taken virtually every page of Canada's strategies from the Bush administration.
5. Harass citizens' groups -
There has been widespread reports of the infiltration of community and activist groups and agent provacateur's being part of crowds during demonstrations on things such as the WTO, SPP and other anti-globalization meetings.
From Wolf's article:
There are reports in the US that anti-war, environmental and other groups have been infiltrated by agents: a secret Pentagon database includes more than four dozen peaceful anti-war meetings, rallies or marches by American citizens in its category of 1,500 "suspicious incidents". The equally secret Counterintelligence Field Activity (Cifa) agency of the Department of Defense has been gathering information about domestic organisations engaged in peaceful political activities: Cifa is supposed to track "potential terrorist threats" as it watches ordinary US citizen activists. A little-noticed new law has redefined activism such as animal rights protests as "terrorism". So the definition of "terrorist" slowly expands to include the opposition.
In Canada, we know so little about steps our own government has taken to infiltrate and harass citizen and community groups. I think most Canadians also know little about how our government has organized, or re-organized our external and internal defense, safety and emergency planning systems since 2001.
Department of National Defence (DND) and Canadian Forces
December 2003 - The Canadian government undertook a reorganization of the federal government, DND was in charge of emergency preparedness and response in Canada.
The Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness was created in 2003. Liberal MP Anne McLellan was the first Minister under Paul Martin, Liberal Prime Minister.
DPS's "responsibility is for protecting Canadians and helping to maintain a peaceful and safe society....The department is in many ways similar to the U. S. Department of Homeland Security, though it does not cover the protection of maritime
sovereignty." What this did was re-organize a number of Canadian agencies under one department, with one Minister.
Also in 2003, the following departments were placed under DPS's mandate and control:
* Canada Border Services Agency
* Royal Canadian Mounted Police
* Canadian Security Intelligence Service
* Correctional Service Canada
* National Parole Board
In March 2003 Day and Harper co-wrote a letter to The Wall Street Journal in which they condemned the Canadian government's unwillingness to participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Day later appeared as a speaker at a "Canadians for Bush" rally in the Niagara region, organized by controversial right-wing minister Tristan Emmanuel.
April 4, 2005 - The Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Act came into force.
Feb. 1, 2006 - Canada Command was formed, which is the Canadian Forces organization responsible for all routine and contingency Canadian Forces operations in Canada and continental North America. What operations are they undertaking in Canada & the US?
February 6, 2006 - Conservative Stockwell Day was appointed Minister of DPS by Stephen Harper. Things go from bad to much, much worse.
I think it is fair to ask on what grounds does Day have the experience, knowledge, or intelligence to be in charge of such an important department. This is a man whose highest level of education is high school. He was unable to finish
bible college (Vanguard), or university (Univerity of Victoria).
In his work, prior to using his daddy's political connections, he was an assistant pastor and school administrator in a fundamentalist Christian school, which came under fire for exposing students to anti-semitic teachings in the small community in Alberta. While sitting as a provincial MLA, the Government of Alberta had to pay out $792,064 in taxpayer funds to settle a defamation suit brought on by Day's words toward a lawyer. He also frighteningly was a believer of the Young Earth creationism, whose adherents often "believe that the scientific evidence supporting evolution, geological uniformitarianism, or other theories which are at odds with a literal interpretation of the Genesis creation account, is either flawed or misinterpreted."
February 14th 2008 - The Civil Assistance Plan (CAP) was signed between Canada (Stephen Harper) & the United States(George Bush), US Northern Command.
The purpose of the Canada-United States Civil Assistance Plan (CAP) is to provide a framework for the military of one nation to provide support to the military of the other nation in the performance of civil support operations.
Stephen Harper, Conservative Prime Minister signed this agreement secretly, without ever telling Canadian citizens about it. Canadians only found out when it was announced in the American media. Harper has now tied Canada to an agreement where American troops can come across our border at the call of the Canadian government and Canadian forces can cross the border to operate on American soil in case of a civil emergency.
There is no information available to the Canadian public whether American armed forces in Canada will be subject to Canadian laws, civil, or military. There is no information available about who American armed forces would be under the rule of, who they are accountable to, or what body Canadian citizens could make complaints about their conduct while they are operating in Canada.
It's fascinating to read a story like the one mentioned below when placing it into context that Canada has a fundamentalist Conservative Minister in charge of the RCMP. So, in spite of reliable, expert research, review and articles published by
world reknowned peer reviewed medical journals, we have our national police force contracting Conservatives to do research to refute the findings of real research efforts that support the continuation of a medical program that has scads
of real evidence to demonstrate Insite is working and in what ways.
RCMP Quietly Funded Study Critical of Insite Effort
Tory minister cited report in effort to close safe injection clinic.
By Monte Paulsen (Wednesday, October 8, 2008). Thetyee.ca
See Part 2 for More.
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
10. Suspend the rule of law
and our federal election, things have been moving at a rapid pace globally.
On October 1st 2008, a silent coup happened, one that is rapidly bringing the end of America. Think I'm being melodramatic, or crazy in that "don't mind him, he's a conspiracy theorist" kind of way. It's probably tempting to bury our heads and laugh all of this off, but, it would be a mistake to do that. Why would that be, good question and I'll try to lead down a thorny path to some answers.
I'm a follower and armchair commentator of geopolitics, which I've rapidly picked up a small bit of knowledge about. I'm also a rabid opponent to the Security & Prosperity Partnership(SPP) (being re-branded as North American Standards & Regulatory Area, NASRA) and the North American Union (NAU), all of which are direct threats to Canada's sovereignty and ownership of Canadian natural resources, including ownership of business and our own systems, such as our public health care system.
I'm never going to make apologies for being a proud Canadian nationalist and I won't be shy in telling you that Canada should be protecting our resources and assets in this time of globalization. I remember back in the day, fervently marching with the other idealists against APEC, recognizing a bad thing even when I was so young and knew nothing about the world, or those who quite simply want to own all that is worth something.
There is no doubt that American hegemony and their long-forgotten goal of manifest destiny has been at the heart of the United States interactions and agreements with other nations forever. It's funny how for some reason I always remembered about manifest destiny (of all the things I've forgotten from Social Studies), I think it must have been the arrogant presumption of righteousness that offended me even in those tender years, who the hell did those people think they were, anyways?
Over the years I've gleaned many pieces of information and media on the ever-increasing pace of "harmonization" and "integration" of Canada with the US and Mexico, starting with the first Free Trade Agreement (FTA), then NAFTA under Brian Mulroney's (neo)Conservative government, continuing under Paul Martin's (neo)Liberal government and going full steam ahead under Stephen Harper's Conservative government with the SPP, and the NAU.
During this election, we've heard a new bit about Harper's Conservatives plans to "integrate" Canada into the European Union (EU). We only heard about it because it was leaked, Harper didn't bring it up and he isn't showing us the draft agreement. He also didn't tell us about his plans to meet leaders from the EU just three days after the Canadian Federal Election, to go over the agreement that could throw Canada into the garbage can of history as a sovereign nation. It's funny, I kind of think that is an important thing for Canadians to know about, but hey, I'm no Prime Minister, what do I know?
The American Coup: Setting the Stage
In a widely viewed lecture available on Youtube, Naomi Wolf, an American author, gave a talk about her book, The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. Now, for those of you who know her, Ms. Wolf, a bright, personable, popular writer on topics of interest, mostly to women, never resonated as a rabblerouser, a politico, or even as a major intellectual. That changed for me when I watched this lecture
and I began to see her as a visionary and someone we should all begin to listen to about what was happening in the United States of America. With this lecture, she was putting her neck on the chopping block in a very personal way.
In this lecture, she details very clearly the 10 steps, or the blueprint, for open society's that are being shut down in strategic moves toward creating dictatorships. For her book, she studied the rise of Mussolini, Hitler, Pinochet and other despots to see what patterns could be learned about how they assumed control and turned their countries into nations of people who carried out the unthinkable horrors of
their totalitarian leaders. See here for the 10 Steps to Turn an Open Society into a Dictatorship.
In her lecture, The End of America, Ms.Wolf describes these steps and what it looks like in a society slowly being turned into a dictatorship. We should ask ourselves, is this something we see happening in America and, more importantly, are we seeing some of these things happening in our backyard in Canada, especially under Stephen Harper's Conservative government? I think we are, it's just perhaps more subtle and less overt like it is in the US. Plus, the Canadian media has been in a process of being controlled and concentrated through corporate ownership in a way that has made it more difficult to connect the dots across our vast nation and see the incremental
steps toward this slippery slope.
These are the 10 Steps that Wolf identifies in her book:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create a gulag
3. Develop a thug caste
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens' groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
10. Suspend the rule of law
It's not too difficult to think of examples of most of these things:
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy -
The "War on Terror" after 9/11, which was used in both the US & Canada to bring in unprecedented changes to civil rights, leaving it very easy for people to called "terrorists" and locked up, throwing out the usual legal rights of those accused, including the right to even have the opportunity to look at the "evidence" used to make the charges in the first place.
On October 26 2001, the USA Patriot Act was passed by a Congress, which introducted unprecented changes to the civil liberties and human rights of all Americans. Seems interesting how quickly the American government was able to just throw such a thing together in just over a month from September 11th 2001, but I guess they're speedy folks, or were they planning for something just like this to start revoking citizen rights under the American government and Constitution?
But it didn't just stop there. Once the information of citizens from other countries, such as Canada, was in the hands of US corporations, the US government could access this under the Patriot Act, without the parties ever knowing.
In BC, in 2006, Gordon Campbell's BC Liberal government passed amendments to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act in 2006 that allowed the disclosure of citizens' personal information outside Canada "to an individual who is a service provider of the public body... if the information is necessary for the performance of the duties of the individual in relation to the public body."
When combining this with the privatization of government services and information and technology contracts awarded by the Campbell Liberal government to American and transnational corporations(who often paid hefty lobbying fees and donations to the BC Liberal party), a great deal of personal and private information of Canadian citizens became easy to access by the US government.
In 2007, an audit by the U.S. Justice Department found that the American FBI committed "serious misuses of national security letter authorities" to access confidential records, and withheld information from Congress on how often businesses were forced to turn over customer data.
Here in Canada, fear was also used to motivate changes to our civil rights and an immediate re-organization of governmental departments into one monster Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Preparation (DPS), similar in scope and work to the American Department of Homeland Security (DHS). There is more on this below, as well as a timeline of the changes.
Security measures since 9/11
The changes wrought by the terror attacks of September 11 to Canada's laws and practices vis-à-vis refugees and immigrants are significant. Political pressure to tighten the Canadian border has resulted in the promotion of a vaguely defined 'security perimeter' that would encompass perhaps the whole of North America. As part of this project, the Canadian government has moved towards greater harmonization of immigration security policies and practices with the U.S., including cross-deputation of intelligence and policing agencies.
The Canadian government in this period also signed the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States, which enables the rejection of refugee claimants at the border and their return to the United States for processing, and passed the Anti-Terrorism Act, or Bill C-36. Bill C-36, passed mere months after 9/11, allows for the arrest of terror suspects without a warrant, compels individuals to give testimony at secret hearings, and enlarges the scope for state surveillance and ethnic profiling.
Dec. 18th, 2001 - The Anti-Terrorism Act became part of the Criminal Code. It was hustled through parliament by the Liberal government using their majority and procedure to shut down debate and stop amendments by the opposition.
The changes to the code are "aimed at disabling and dismantling the activities of terrorists groups and those who support them." It allowed citizens to be arrested and detained for up to 72 hours if they are suspected of planning a terrorist act.
The Three Primary Provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act (Bills C-36 and C-42)
* suppress existing terrorist groups
* provide police with new investigative tools
* strengthen prison sentences for terrorists
For a much deeper analysis, read this by Anil Hira and Douglas Ross of SFU:
Canada After 9/11: A Land of Deep Ambivalence
The Divergent Canadian Response to American Primacy and the 'War on Terror,' But Ever Deeper Continental Economic Integration
Canada's Military Budget
Under the Stephen Harper Conservative government, Canada's military budget has ballooned out of control and instead of sending our troops abroad on NATO and peacekeeping missions, Harper changed our Forces mandate, a proud Canadian heritage, and instead sent Canada into Afghanistan into an American war over oil, under the guise of ousting the Taliban.
It was only during this October 2008 Federal Election have Canadians learned that Harper's mission in Afghanistan has cost us $7.7 billion dollars over the past six years, and could reach $18.1 billion dollars by 2011. However, due to "a lack of government consistency and transparency" it is difficult to fully estimate
how much this American war will cost Canadians, both monetarily and in the lives of our Armed Forces serving there, for a false war.
2. Create a gulag - Guatanomo Bay. Let's quickly review how this relates to Canada. Stephen Harper, as Canada's Prime Minister, has allowed a Canadian child, Omar Khadr to be abused, tortured and imprisoned for YEARS in Gitmo. When all other nations had reclaimed their citizens from this gulag, Harper has left Omar there and his ignored the child's rights under United Nation conventions and treaties. Stephen Harper's heart is as black as his soul for that. And being a father himself, he is a sorry excuse for a human being to fail to stop the abuse and torture of this Canadian child, who has now spent a quarter of his life imprisoned and abused by the American government. Shame on Stephen Harper, Shame on the Conservatives and they've brought shame on Canada for their abandonment of this Canadian child.
Omar Khadr Project
In Canada, we have both federal and provincial jails. Thankfully, Harper hasn't branched out and started contracting out to build new prisons the way the Americans have in creating their prison industrial complex.
3. Develop a thug caste - Blackwater - A company that has reaped multi-million dollar (over $800 million in contracts) for mercenary work for the US in Iraq. The US government (the State Department ) has contracted out military operations. They operate outside of the law, they have been alleged to kill civilians and they are accountable to no-one.
Apparently they also have contracts to work inside the US too. And, a Blackwater-linked company is training Canadian troops. They are also involved in intelligence gathering. For whom they are doing that is a big question.
Blackwater mercenaries are operating inside the United States, as well as training Canadian troops down in Virgina, home of the FBI.
The Privatization of Fascism: 60 minutes piece on Blackwater
BlackWater-Lobby Canada Tory Government for Secret Funding?
http://www.freewebs.com/habeascorpuscanada/grounds.html
Blackwater training some Canadian troops
David Pugliese, CanWest News Service Published: Saturday, September 29, 2007
Select Canadian soldiers have been sent to Blackwater U.S.A. in North Carolina for specialized training in bodyguard and shooting skills. Other soldiers have taken counterterrorism evasive-driving courses with the private military company now at the centre of an investigation into the killings of Iraqi civilians and mounting
concerns about the aggressive tactics of its workers in the field.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=414820f7-998a-496f-b41d-c033e5d6d168
Blackwater-linked firm to train Canadian troops
Aug 27, 2008. Woods. Ottawa Bureau: The Star.
The military gave notice this week of its intention to award an $850,000 contract for advanced counterinsurgency training to the Terrorism Research Center, a Virginia-based firm that specializes in terrorism training for military and law enforcement officials. The contract is for one year with the option for a two-year extension.
The counterinsurgency school, which boasts close links to the U.S. government, is listed as a branch of Total Intelligence Solutions, a company that is run by former director of CIA counterterrorism Cofer Black and Erik Prince, a former U.S. Navy Seal.
Blackwater Shadow Army: Youtube videos on Blackwater's "work"
4. Set up an internal surveillance system - Some of us with suspicious minds can't help but wonder at the timing of the proliferation of the new social world many of us inhabit - MySpace, Facebook, Yahoo, Google, Microsoft.
It is now possible for any of us to have our most personal information gathering and surveilled by anyone with mad skills enough to hack our accounts.
Within one generation, millions of citizens around the world are putting vast quantities of personal and private information out onto the Internet through social networking sites and in other ways that are easy to trace and observe by those with the intention and skills.
The ability to track people's movement online and in the real world have become easy ways to keep track of what people are doing, with whom and when, what they are buying and where they live. Another example that comes to mind, many people aren't aware that the new I-Phones have a built-in GPS so you can track people's whereabouts.
An interesting story has circulated around the web about Microsoft Vista is that they've built a backdoor which, if activated, opens one's computer up like a vault for people to take a peak. They've also been busy little bees developing technology to help law enforcement and security personnel access information from people's computers. Aren't you feeling oh so safe as you surf around the web?
Microsoft Gives Vista Backdoor Keys To The Police
Microsoft device helps police pluck evidence from cyberscene of crime
By Benjamin J. Romano. Seattle Times technology reporter
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoft/2004379751_msftlaw29.html
Many of the websites I get information from that are "off the beaten track" are regularly hacked and have their servers taken down. Sometimes this happens in unison to several of them at once. Videos are often removed faster from the 'net than people can get to see them, especially ones put out by those trying to get the word out about our rapid erosion of freedom, democracy and civil rights.
There isn't a doubt in my mind that me and some of my other activist friends are on some sort of "list" and are being watched online. Hell, I've been videotaped by police department members going to political events (everyone entering was
videotaped). This is a democratic, legal, local party meeting, here in Canada and our local police are recording citizens participation in these meetings. If that doesn't scare you I don't know what will.
Video - Marketing the Police State in Canada: Technology to Scan License Plates
Intelligence & Surveillance: Canada's No Fly List
Even though we don't hear much about it anymore, let's not forget Canada still has a "No Fly list." And once you're on that, even if it is a mistake, you're never coming off of it. And if US Customs has your name, you are flagged and searched. I don't even try to go down there anymore.
Passenger Protect: Canada's No Fly List
The government of Canada has created its own no fly list as part of a program called Passenger Protect.[40]
The Canadian list incorporates data from domestic and foreign intelligence sources, including the U.S. No Fly List.[41]
It contains between 500 and 2,000 names (that we're aware of).
Two main components:
1. "Specified Persons List" which includes the name, birth date, and gender of individuals believed to pose a security threat;
2. "Identity Screening Regulations" requiring all passengers who appear to be 12 years of age or older to present valid
government-issued ID before they are allowed to board a flight.[1] The list itself contains 1250 +- 750 names.
American Terrorist Watch List
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also keeps a ACLU Terrorist Watch List Counter, which has well over 1 million Americans being "watched" by various US agencies, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Justice Department
"Among those caught up by the no-fly list are many infants and small children." Imagine for a second your child being identified and placed on a "terrorist list" by your own government.
There's no doubt in my mind that Canadian authorities have their own "intelligence" and surveillance watch lists, Harper & his minions taken virtually every page of Canada's strategies from the Bush administration.
5. Harass citizens' groups -
There has been widespread reports of the infiltration of community and activist groups and agent provacateur's being part of crowds during demonstrations on things such as the WTO, SPP and other anti-globalization meetings.
From Wolf's article:
There are reports in the US that anti-war, environmental and other groups have been infiltrated by agents: a secret Pentagon database includes more than four dozen peaceful anti-war meetings, rallies or marches by American citizens in its category of 1,500 "suspicious incidents". The equally secret Counterintelligence Field Activity (Cifa) agency of the Department of Defense has been gathering information about domestic organisations engaged in peaceful political activities: Cifa is supposed to track "potential terrorist threats" as it watches ordinary US citizen activists. A little-noticed new law has redefined activism such as animal rights protests as "terrorism". So the definition of "terrorist" slowly expands to include the opposition.
In Canada, we know so little about steps our own government has taken to infiltrate and harass citizen and community groups. I think most Canadians also know little about how our government has organized, or re-organized our external and internal defense, safety and emergency planning systems since 2001.
Department of National Defence (DND) and Canadian Forces
December 2003 - The Canadian government undertook a reorganization of the federal government, DND was in charge of emergency preparedness and response in Canada.
The Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness was created in 2003. Liberal MP Anne McLellan was the first Minister under Paul Martin, Liberal Prime Minister.
DPS's "responsibility is for protecting Canadians and helping to maintain a peaceful and safe society....The department is in many ways similar to the U. S. Department of Homeland Security, though it does not cover the protection of maritime
sovereignty." What this did was re-organize a number of Canadian agencies under one department, with one Minister.
Also in 2003, the following departments were placed under DPS's mandate and control:
* Canada Border Services Agency
* Royal Canadian Mounted Police
* Canadian Security Intelligence Service
* Correctional Service Canada
* National Parole Board
In March 2003 Day and Harper co-wrote a letter to The Wall Street Journal in which they condemned the Canadian government's unwillingness to participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Day later appeared as a speaker at a "Canadians for Bush" rally in the Niagara region, organized by controversial right-wing minister Tristan Emmanuel.
April 4, 2005 - The Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Act came into force.
Feb. 1, 2006 - Canada Command was formed, which is the Canadian Forces organization responsible for all routine and contingency Canadian Forces operations in Canada and continental North America. What operations are they undertaking in Canada & the US?
February 6, 2006 - Conservative Stockwell Day was appointed Minister of DPS by Stephen Harper. Things go from bad to much, much worse.
I think it is fair to ask on what grounds does Day have the experience, knowledge, or intelligence to be in charge of such an important department. This is a man whose highest level of education is high school. He was unable to finish
bible college (Vanguard), or university (Univerity of Victoria).
In his work, prior to using his daddy's political connections, he was an assistant pastor and school administrator in a fundamentalist Christian school, which came under fire for exposing students to anti-semitic teachings in the small community in Alberta. While sitting as a provincial MLA, the Government of Alberta had to pay out $792,064 in taxpayer funds to settle a defamation suit brought on by Day's words toward a lawyer. He also frighteningly was a believer of the Young Earth creationism, whose adherents often "believe that the scientific evidence supporting evolution, geological uniformitarianism, or other theories which are at odds with a literal interpretation of the Genesis creation account, is either flawed or misinterpreted."
February 14th 2008 - The Civil Assistance Plan (CAP) was signed between Canada (Stephen Harper) & the United States(George Bush), US Northern Command.
The purpose of the Canada-United States Civil Assistance Plan (CAP) is to provide a framework for the military of one nation to provide support to the military of the other nation in the performance of civil support operations.
Stephen Harper, Conservative Prime Minister signed this agreement secretly, without ever telling Canadian citizens about it. Canadians only found out when it was announced in the American media. Harper has now tied Canada to an agreement where American troops can come across our border at the call of the Canadian government and Canadian forces can cross the border to operate on American soil in case of a civil emergency.
There is no information available to the Canadian public whether American armed forces in Canada will be subject to Canadian laws, civil, or military. There is no information available about who American armed forces would be under the rule of, who they are accountable to, or what body Canadian citizens could make complaints about their conduct while they are operating in Canada.
It's fascinating to read a story like the one mentioned below when placing it into context that Canada has a fundamentalist Conservative Minister in charge of the RCMP. So, in spite of reliable, expert research, review and articles published by
world reknowned peer reviewed medical journals, we have our national police force contracting Conservatives to do research to refute the findings of real research efforts that support the continuation of a medical program that has scads
of real evidence to demonstrate Insite is working and in what ways.
RCMP Quietly Funded Study Critical of Insite Effort
Tory minister cited report in effort to close safe injection clinic.
By Monte Paulsen (Wednesday, October 8, 2008). Thetyee.ca
See Part 2 for More.
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
10. Suspend the rule of law
Monday, September 15, 2008
Surrey Leads Canada in Whistleblowing Policies to Improve Accountability
Surrey has a pretty bad, perhaps well-deserved rap, but that has changed significantly under the enlightened and progressive leadership of Dianne Watts, mayor and city council. Over the course of the executive leadership at Surrey City hall, they have introduced some excellent and very progressive policies and best practices that aim to reform and improve how the city and community do business together and how the city operates.
The first of these is the Whistleblower (Serious Complaints) Policy, introduced in June 2006:
The Whistleblower Policy is designed to provide a process for City employees to report any conduct that is not consistent with City policies and by-laws without fear of retaliation or penalization. This extensive policy applies to the City’s finances, Code of Conduct, accounting, government laws and rules and regulations.
The policy is the most broad-based and far-reaching of its kind in Canada, with only the City of Toronto having any kind of whistleblower policy whatsoever.
City of Surrey Leads The Way With Whistleblower Policy
June 13, 2006
In September 2008, the Surrey city council also introduced the Lobbyist Registration Policy:
The Policy requires lobbyists who intend to advocate on behalf of applicants for a rezoning, development permit, or an official community plan amendment to register with the City to ensure their activities are part of the public record. Lobbyists will be required to register with the registrar in the Clerk’s office and to update their file whenever they take on new clients.
“Through the Lobbyist Registration Policy we are ensuring the public is aware of those who are advocating when significant land use decisions are being considered by Council and who they represent,” said Mayor Dianne Watts. “We want to ensure the process is open and to send a strong message that this Council is firmly committed to transparent decision-making in government.”
Surrey’s New Lobbyist Registration Policy Increases Accountability and Transparency
September 9, 2008
Why Whistleblowing is Good for Vancouver
Excerpt:
Whistleblower protection, the name usually given to such protective measures, seems to be a no-brainer for the interests of municipal accountability.
As this week's Georgia Straight points out, in cases where employees have blown the whistle on organizational or governmental wrong-doing the perils of not having whistleblower protection have included harassment, intimidation, and loss of employment.
Whistleblower protection is far from a perfect solution but it does provide a modest baseline of security. This type of security is an important component of the system of checks and balances that are in place in our civic institutions. In fact, it's surprising this sort of protection isn't already part of the city's human resources practices.
***
CUPE, the City, and whistles
By Charlie Smith. The Georgia Straight.
Excerpt:
Former federal whistle blower Joanna Gualtieri told the Straight in a phone interview from Ottawa that whistle blowers need to be protected by statutes because policies can be ignored, and because unions sometimes won't pursue a whistle-blowing issue if they're trying to negotiate with governments on issues that could affect hundreds of thousands of employees. "They're not in a position to piss off the government," she said.
The B.C. Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act includes a clause protecting provincial-government whistle blowers who bring their concerns "in good faith" to the attention of the information and privacy commissioner.
Whistle-blower protection
30.3 An employer, whether or not a public body, must not dismiss, suspend, demote, discipline, harass or otherwise disadvantage an employee of the employer, or deny that employee a benefit, because
(a) the employee, acting in good faith and on the basis of reasonable belief, has notified the minister responsible for this Act under section 30.2,
(b) the employee, acting in good faith and on the basis of reasonable belief, has disclosed to the commissioner that the employer or any other person has contravened or is about to contravene this Act,
(c) the employee, acting in good faith and on the basis of reasonable belief, has done or stated an intention of doing anything that is required to be done in order to avoid having any person contravene this Act,
(d) the employee, acting in good faith and on the basis of reasonable belief, has refused to do or stated an intention of refusing to do anything that is in contravention of this Act, or
(e) the employer believes that an employee will do anything described in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d).
Seven common tactics for stymieing whistle blowers
> Make the whistle blower the issue, and take the focus off the message.
> Isolate the whistle blower, separating him or her from potential allies.
> Destabilize the whistle blower's support base.
> Blow the whistle first to set the agenda, defusing the impact of the whistle blower's action.
> Eliminate the whistle blower's job.
> Prosecute whistle blowers or threaten to take them to court.
> Bring in experts to discredit the disclosure.
Source: Confronting Moral Worlds: Understanding Business Ethics , by Mark N. Wexler (Prentice-Hall Canada, 2000).
Ferreira v. City of Richmond
In separate reasons for judgment, Saunders wrote: "It is not sufficient to say simply that a case concerns 'whistle blowing' to know the proper forum because that moniker may give rise to a plethora of issues, including freedom of speech, defamation, discipline, dismissal, harassment, and unsafe working environment. Thus while the context of this case may fit within the term 'whistle blowing', it is the essence of the case that must be examined to determine whether, at its heart, it is a matter of employment governed by the collective agreement."
Ferreira v. City of Richmond et al, 2004 BCSC 1600 (CanLII) — 2004-12-03
Ferreira v. Richmond (City), 2005 BCCA 66 (CanLII) — 2005-02-10
British Columbia — Court of Appeal
Ferreira v. Richmond (City), 2007 BCCA 131 (CanLII) — 2007-02-28
British Columbia — Court of Appeal
[58]What, then, should be made of the fact that these alleged tortious acts were taken in retaliation for whistleblowing? Whistleblowing is a matter of great public concern, which has been expressed recently by the Supreme Court of Canada: Merk v. International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers, Local 771, 2005 SCC 70 (CanLII), [2005] 3 S.C.R. 425, 2005 SCC 70; Vaughan, supra. These concerns have also been reflected by the common law's willingness to afford measures of protection for whistleblowers in appropriate circumstances: Initial Services Ltd. v. Putternil et al., [1967] 3 All E.R. 145; Fraser v. Public Service Staff Relations Board, 1985 CanLII 14 (S.C.C.), [1985] 2 S.C.R. 455; Read v. Canada (Attorney General), 2005 FC 798 (CanLII), [2005] F.C.J. No. 990, 2005 FC 798 (QL).
************
It's time for the courts to realize that they are falling down in recognizing the vast limitations for the civil and human rights of whistleblowers. Most collective agreements, if they even have "whistleblower" language, or organizations that have "policies" are woefully inadequate and considered open to interpretation and manipulation by employers. Patterns of outcomes and personal and professional consequences to whistleblowers, their families and within organizations are quite well-established and there is a great deal of research on these things.
Frankly, the time of arbitrators, unions and employers dealing with these types of issues that arise out of the employer-employee relationship must be ended. None of the parties involved simply have enough experience, education, or balls to deal with the issues and corruption has pervaded the process in many respects. As this Richmond case demonstrates and many others we know of, employers, and union representatives simply don't have a clue how to investigate and resolve these issues adequately and fairly.
Most of us don't believe police forces should investigate themselves, so why do we think that employers will be any better in matters they are quite likely motivated to keep covered up, especially if they concern public funds and management of public services. And, it is precisely the failure of unions to adequately represent whistleblowing employees and those who have been psychologically abused and harassed that lead to many union members feeling alienated and abandoned by their unions in their darkest days. Not that long ago in Beautiful BC we had a terrible example of the kind of tragedy that can occur when workplace issues of harassment aren't adequately and responsibily handled. How many more less violent, but no less damaging, workplace issues occur every day in diverse workplaces, with no corrections, no improvements, or lessons learned?
It is time for the courts to begin to demonstrate some serious leadership in whistleblower cases. As Madame Justice Saunders writes:
[81] It is not sufficient to say simply that a case concerns ‘whistle blowing’ to know the proper forum because that moniker may give rise to a plethora of issues, including freedom of speech, defamation, discipline, dismissal, harassment, and unsafe working environment.
It also isn't enough to have "whistleblower language" in collective agreements, or in policy. Until employers, unions and the courts recognize the personal, professional and organizational costs of corruption, illegal activities, bullying, psychological harassment, intimidation and misuse of managerial power in the workplace everyone will be impacted. There are those among us who believe in justice, in doing the right thing and in seeing an end to corruption and a commitment to improving workplace health, safety and practices. These courageous individuals should be applauded and thanked, not harassed to disability, death and fired, as is the standard modus operandi for most now. We look forward to the day that will be coming when all workers in BC will have the same rights and protections as those in Quebec, the right to work free of psychological harassment and harm, in safety and with dignity.
The first of these is the Whistleblower (Serious Complaints) Policy, introduced in June 2006:
The Whistleblower Policy is designed to provide a process for City employees to report any conduct that is not consistent with City policies and by-laws without fear of retaliation or penalization. This extensive policy applies to the City’s finances, Code of Conduct, accounting, government laws and rules and regulations.
The policy is the most broad-based and far-reaching of its kind in Canada, with only the City of Toronto having any kind of whistleblower policy whatsoever.
City of Surrey Leads The Way With Whistleblower Policy
June 13, 2006
In September 2008, the Surrey city council also introduced the Lobbyist Registration Policy:
The Policy requires lobbyists who intend to advocate on behalf of applicants for a rezoning, development permit, or an official community plan amendment to register with the City to ensure their activities are part of the public record. Lobbyists will be required to register with the registrar in the Clerk’s office and to update their file whenever they take on new clients.
“Through the Lobbyist Registration Policy we are ensuring the public is aware of those who are advocating when significant land use decisions are being considered by Council and who they represent,” said Mayor Dianne Watts. “We want to ensure the process is open and to send a strong message that this Council is firmly committed to transparent decision-making in government.”
Surrey’s New Lobbyist Registration Policy Increases Accountability and Transparency
September 9, 2008
Why Whistleblowing is Good for Vancouver
Excerpt:
Whistleblower protection, the name usually given to such protective measures, seems to be a no-brainer for the interests of municipal accountability.
As this week's Georgia Straight points out, in cases where employees have blown the whistle on organizational or governmental wrong-doing the perils of not having whistleblower protection have included harassment, intimidation, and loss of employment.
Whistleblower protection is far from a perfect solution but it does provide a modest baseline of security. This type of security is an important component of the system of checks and balances that are in place in our civic institutions. In fact, it's surprising this sort of protection isn't already part of the city's human resources practices.
***
CUPE, the City, and whistles
By Charlie Smith. The Georgia Straight.
Excerpt:
Former federal whistle blower Joanna Gualtieri told the Straight in a phone interview from Ottawa that whistle blowers need to be protected by statutes because policies can be ignored, and because unions sometimes won't pursue a whistle-blowing issue if they're trying to negotiate with governments on issues that could affect hundreds of thousands of employees. "They're not in a position to piss off the government," she said.
The B.C. Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act includes a clause protecting provincial-government whistle blowers who bring their concerns "in good faith" to the attention of the information and privacy commissioner.
Whistle-blower protection
30.3 An employer, whether or not a public body, must not dismiss, suspend, demote, discipline, harass or otherwise disadvantage an employee of the employer, or deny that employee a benefit, because
(a) the employee, acting in good faith and on the basis of reasonable belief, has notified the minister responsible for this Act under section 30.2,
(b) the employee, acting in good faith and on the basis of reasonable belief, has disclosed to the commissioner that the employer or any other person has contravened or is about to contravene this Act,
(c) the employee, acting in good faith and on the basis of reasonable belief, has done or stated an intention of doing anything that is required to be done in order to avoid having any person contravene this Act,
(d) the employee, acting in good faith and on the basis of reasonable belief, has refused to do or stated an intention of refusing to do anything that is in contravention of this Act, or
(e) the employer believes that an employee will do anything described in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d).
Seven common tactics for stymieing whistle blowers
> Make the whistle blower the issue, and take the focus off the message.
> Isolate the whistle blower, separating him or her from potential allies.
> Destabilize the whistle blower's support base.
> Blow the whistle first to set the agenda, defusing the impact of the whistle blower's action.
> Eliminate the whistle blower's job.
> Prosecute whistle blowers or threaten to take them to court.
> Bring in experts to discredit the disclosure.
Source: Confronting Moral Worlds: Understanding Business Ethics , by Mark N. Wexler (Prentice-Hall Canada, 2000).
Ferreira v. City of Richmond
In separate reasons for judgment, Saunders wrote: "It is not sufficient to say simply that a case concerns 'whistle blowing' to know the proper forum because that moniker may give rise to a plethora of issues, including freedom of speech, defamation, discipline, dismissal, harassment, and unsafe working environment. Thus while the context of this case may fit within the term 'whistle blowing', it is the essence of the case that must be examined to determine whether, at its heart, it is a matter of employment governed by the collective agreement."
Ferreira v. City of Richmond et al, 2004 BCSC 1600 (CanLII) — 2004-12-03
Ferreira v. Richmond (City), 2005 BCCA 66 (CanLII) — 2005-02-10
British Columbia — Court of Appeal
Ferreira v. Richmond (City), 2007 BCCA 131 (CanLII) — 2007-02-28
British Columbia — Court of Appeal
[58]What, then, should be made of the fact that these alleged tortious acts were taken in retaliation for whistleblowing? Whistleblowing is a matter of great public concern, which has been expressed recently by the Supreme Court of Canada: Merk v. International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers, Local 771, 2005 SCC 70 (CanLII), [2005] 3 S.C.R. 425, 2005 SCC 70; Vaughan, supra. These concerns have also been reflected by the common law's willingness to afford measures of protection for whistleblowers in appropriate circumstances: Initial Services Ltd. v. Putternil et al., [1967] 3 All E.R. 145; Fraser v. Public Service Staff Relations Board, 1985 CanLII 14 (S.C.C.), [1985] 2 S.C.R. 455; Read v. Canada (Attorney General), 2005 FC 798 (CanLII), [2005] F.C.J. No. 990, 2005 FC 798 (QL).
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It's time for the courts to realize that they are falling down in recognizing the vast limitations for the civil and human rights of whistleblowers. Most collective agreements, if they even have "whistleblower" language, or organizations that have "policies" are woefully inadequate and considered open to interpretation and manipulation by employers. Patterns of outcomes and personal and professional consequences to whistleblowers, their families and within organizations are quite well-established and there is a great deal of research on these things.
Frankly, the time of arbitrators, unions and employers dealing with these types of issues that arise out of the employer-employee relationship must be ended. None of the parties involved simply have enough experience, education, or balls to deal with the issues and corruption has pervaded the process in many respects. As this Richmond case demonstrates and many others we know of, employers, and union representatives simply don't have a clue how to investigate and resolve these issues adequately and fairly.
Most of us don't believe police forces should investigate themselves, so why do we think that employers will be any better in matters they are quite likely motivated to keep covered up, especially if they concern public funds and management of public services. And, it is precisely the failure of unions to adequately represent whistleblowing employees and those who have been psychologically abused and harassed that lead to many union members feeling alienated and abandoned by their unions in their darkest days. Not that long ago in Beautiful BC we had a terrible example of the kind of tragedy that can occur when workplace issues of harassment aren't adequately and responsibily handled. How many more less violent, but no less damaging, workplace issues occur every day in diverse workplaces, with no corrections, no improvements, or lessons learned?
It is time for the courts to begin to demonstrate some serious leadership in whistleblower cases. As Madame Justice Saunders writes:
[81] It is not sufficient to say simply that a case concerns ‘whistle blowing’ to know the proper forum because that moniker may give rise to a plethora of issues, including freedom of speech, defamation, discipline, dismissal, harassment, and unsafe working environment.
It also isn't enough to have "whistleblower language" in collective agreements, or in policy. Until employers, unions and the courts recognize the personal, professional and organizational costs of corruption, illegal activities, bullying, psychological harassment, intimidation and misuse of managerial power in the workplace everyone will be impacted. There are those among us who believe in justice, in doing the right thing and in seeing an end to corruption and a commitment to improving workplace health, safety and practices. These courageous individuals should be applauded and thanked, not harassed to disability, death and fired, as is the standard modus operandi for most now. We look forward to the day that will be coming when all workers in BC will have the same rights and protections as those in Quebec, the right to work free of psychological harassment and harm, in safety and with dignity.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The War Drums are Sounding
What’s that sound we’re hearing around our Global Village? Well, if my sources can be believed it’s the increasing beat of the War Drums. Under the cover of the Beijing Olympics, some might say the distraction of the Chinese, a number of war activities have been taking place around the world. The geopolitical maneuvering is ramping up for what will make for a very busy and perhaps frightening fall and winter.
First up, the propaganda machine is in overdrive about what really happened in Georgia. According to human rights reports, earlier in August, coincidentally as the Olympics were getting underway, heavy fighting broke out in South Ossetia between Georgian and South Ossetian forces. Russia became involved there and in the separate region of Abkhazia and other parts of Georgia in the following days. The violence was reported to have uprooted almost 160,000 people in recent weeks.
The Western media is playing this as Russia as aggressor, but there are some alternative views on that. This video clip of a 12 year old American girl caught in the fighting in Georgia was one. In this clip, she reports she was running from Georgian troops that were bombing the city and that it was the Russian troops who were helping and she thanked the Russians for coming to the rescue. Her aunt says it’s Mikheil Saakashvili, President of Georgia who began this offensive and was the aggressor. She stated the city was bombed by the Georgian government and the president must resign. The Fox “news” anchor cuts away from both who were reporting positive information about Russia’s involvement in the incident.
And, wouldn’t you know it, the word is that after a bloodless coup, in which Saakashvili was backed by the American government, he was elected in 2004. Interestingly, he has links to the United States State Department, which is the foreign-policy arm of the American government (apparently he had a fellowship there). He also attended Columbia Law School in New York City & George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC. Sounds like the perfect man to be at the helm of a break-away Russian province. Seeing the ways of democracy at last. And maybe the color green?
It’s interesting to read this official statement from the US State Department:
NATO Support for Georgia
Secretary Rice (Aug. 19): "...NATO intends to support the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Georgia, and to support its democratically elected government, its democracy, and to deny Russia the strategic objective of undermining that democracy, of making Georgia weaker or of threatening Georgia’s territorial integrity."
If you desire to be poor, oppressed, and eventually vaporized in a nuclear war, vote Republican. ~ Paul Craig Roberts
*******************************
This bit of news might have slipped past most of our radar. But, again, the US has been busy overseas. They’ve signed a Missile Defense Agreement with Poland, who is being lauded by Condie Rice as being “fully integrated into the transatlantic structures of the European Union and NATO.” This little deal enables the US to position 10 interceptor rockets in Poland.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - who signed the deal in Warsaw - said Moscow's earlier warning that the base on Polish soil could become a target for a nuclear attack bordered on the bizarre.
Last month, the US signed an agreement with the Czech Republic to base tracking radars there as part of the defence system.
Washington wants the sites to be in operation by about 2012.
Reports from inside Russia are saying that President Medvedev has issued a directive to deliver a 'crushing response' to those Western Nations (US and Israel) for positioning their missile shield in Poland, Apparently Russia has also notified Norway that Russia is now cutting all ties to NATO, and has warned the Western Military Alliance that it will not tolerate the rearming of Georgia.
********************************
Another big piece of news is the resignation of Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s beleaguered prime minister, who many believe was simply an American puppet. He resigned so he wouldn’t be impeached, as the Coalition was calling for. Word was he was trying to negotiate a deal that if he resigned he wouldn’t be tried as a war criminal. Here’s what the American State Department has to say about Musharraf:
Pakistani President Resigns
Secretary Rice (Aug. 18): "President Musharraf has been a friend to the United States and one of the world's most committed partners in the war against terrorism and extremism. ...We will continue to work with the Pakistani government and political leaders...to see Pakistan reach its goal of becoming a stable, prosperous, democratic, modern, Muslim nation."
**
Nigeria military chiefs dismissed
Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua has dismissed the country's chief of the defence staff together with the heads of the army and navy.
*****************************************
This article is an interesting one and sheds a light on the motivations of puppet leaders around the World. It’s kind of a no brainer that these “world leaders” have sold their nations and people out for the almighty buck, but I’m not sure if we understand the immensity of that fire sale. In a prescient way it brings us back to our domestic leadership. It’s been long known that Stephen Harper was simply an American hack and puppet, moving us closer to our demise as a sovereign nation and a complete erosion of our civil and human rights. I now suspect this is much further along than even those of us who’ve been long been aware of the steady increase in “deep integration.”
I think even at a provincial level maybe we need to link the fast track to political suicide Gordon Campbell has been on in the last while. Most of BC is just reeling from things like the carbon tax and the latest insane and unwarranted pay raises to well fed Deputy Ministers, ADM’s and senior bureaucrats.
Most people are expressing outrage and many of us are trying to wrap our brains around how he would do such a thing with an election only a scant 9 months away. But, I think it’s time we begin to situate Campbell and the BC Liberals conduct squarely as allies and underlings of the massive steamroller that is squashing all of us in the name of global domination. Campbell sure seems to be acting like a man who isn’t too worried about his future and His Majesty is acting benevolently toward his faithful insiders at all of our expense with impunity. I learned long ago, when things don’t make sense, there is something I just don’t know yet, but someone else does.
It’s wild if you begin to look at the common patterns. All of these “installed” leaders have sold out their own people, hook, line and sinker. Some are called War Criminals, or War mongers, committing war and treason against their own citizens. It is beyond my comprehension that people would engage in these kinds of things simply for greed.
So, the question becomes, are we going to survive this unceasing and greed for global domination? Because the most alarmist reports are saying we are rapidly heading toward World War III and it is starting to look that way to more than a few of us armchair observers. The sabers are rattling, against Russia, against Iran. Unwinnable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. China’s hands won’t be tied forever, the Olympics are almost over. I guess it was quite a clever bit of strategy to award these summer Olympics to keep them busy and occupied.
With groups like the National Endowment for Democracy, offering “grants” for the “strengthening of democratic institutions” around the world, is it any wonder that we are rapidly heading toward a showdown some of us might not live through? We’re already losing far too many courageous soldiers and others who deserve so much better. And a life.
I don’t know about you, but I’m rather fond of living and want a safe world for our children to grow up in. Another Cold War, or nuclear war is not even on my list of things to do. In the West, we still live in vaguely democratic nations, so I can only hope and encourage all of us to work together and fight the real enemies, not the shadows and illusions created to deflect from who we really need to get rid of.
We need to start getting out into the streets and raising our voices against this oppression. In BC and Canada, we have some elections coming up and we need to get involved. If the traditional left parties aren’t up to the job, as they seem to have been kneecapped by the neo-cons too, we need to back candidates who are there to fight for our rights and needs. This is no time for half-assed, or namby-pamby leaders. Our world and lives are going to be at stake very soon and we need to elect the best people to help us all. I don’t know about you, but someday, if the children I know ask me what I did to fight for the World, I want to be able to tell them what I did so they could have a future.
First up, the propaganda machine is in overdrive about what really happened in Georgia. According to human rights reports, earlier in August, coincidentally as the Olympics were getting underway, heavy fighting broke out in South Ossetia between Georgian and South Ossetian forces. Russia became involved there and in the separate region of Abkhazia and other parts of Georgia in the following days. The violence was reported to have uprooted almost 160,000 people in recent weeks.
The Western media is playing this as Russia as aggressor, but there are some alternative views on that. This video clip of a 12 year old American girl caught in the fighting in Georgia was one. In this clip, she reports she was running from Georgian troops that were bombing the city and that it was the Russian troops who were helping and she thanked the Russians for coming to the rescue. Her aunt says it’s Mikheil Saakashvili, President of Georgia who began this offensive and was the aggressor. She stated the city was bombed by the Georgian government and the president must resign. The Fox “news” anchor cuts away from both who were reporting positive information about Russia’s involvement in the incident.
And, wouldn’t you know it, the word is that after a bloodless coup, in which Saakashvili was backed by the American government, he was elected in 2004. Interestingly, he has links to the United States State Department, which is the foreign-policy arm of the American government (apparently he had a fellowship there). He also attended Columbia Law School in New York City & George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC. Sounds like the perfect man to be at the helm of a break-away Russian province. Seeing the ways of democracy at last. And maybe the color green?
It’s interesting to read this official statement from the US State Department:
NATO Support for Georgia
Secretary Rice (Aug. 19): "...NATO intends to support the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Georgia, and to support its democratically elected government, its democracy, and to deny Russia the strategic objective of undermining that democracy, of making Georgia weaker or of threatening Georgia’s territorial integrity."
If you desire to be poor, oppressed, and eventually vaporized in a nuclear war, vote Republican. ~ Paul Craig Roberts
*******************************
This bit of news might have slipped past most of our radar. But, again, the US has been busy overseas. They’ve signed a Missile Defense Agreement with Poland, who is being lauded by Condie Rice as being “fully integrated into the transatlantic structures of the European Union and NATO.” This little deal enables the US to position 10 interceptor rockets in Poland.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - who signed the deal in Warsaw - said Moscow's earlier warning that the base on Polish soil could become a target for a nuclear attack bordered on the bizarre.
Last month, the US signed an agreement with the Czech Republic to base tracking radars there as part of the defence system.
Washington wants the sites to be in operation by about 2012.
Reports from inside Russia are saying that President Medvedev has issued a directive to deliver a 'crushing response' to those Western Nations (US and Israel) for positioning their missile shield in Poland, Apparently Russia has also notified Norway that Russia is now cutting all ties to NATO, and has warned the Western Military Alliance that it will not tolerate the rearming of Georgia.
********************************
Another big piece of news is the resignation of Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s beleaguered prime minister, who many believe was simply an American puppet. He resigned so he wouldn’t be impeached, as the Coalition was calling for. Word was he was trying to negotiate a deal that if he resigned he wouldn’t be tried as a war criminal. Here’s what the American State Department has to say about Musharraf:
Pakistani President Resigns
Secretary Rice (Aug. 18): "President Musharraf has been a friend to the United States and one of the world's most committed partners in the war against terrorism and extremism. ...We will continue to work with the Pakistani government and political leaders...to see Pakistan reach its goal of becoming a stable, prosperous, democratic, modern, Muslim nation."
**
Nigeria military chiefs dismissed
Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua has dismissed the country's chief of the defence staff together with the heads of the army and navy.
*****************************************
This article is an interesting one and sheds a light on the motivations of puppet leaders around the World. It’s kind of a no brainer that these “world leaders” have sold their nations and people out for the almighty buck, but I’m not sure if we understand the immensity of that fire sale. In a prescient way it brings us back to our domestic leadership. It’s been long known that Stephen Harper was simply an American hack and puppet, moving us closer to our demise as a sovereign nation and a complete erosion of our civil and human rights. I now suspect this is much further along than even those of us who’ve been long been aware of the steady increase in “deep integration.”
I think even at a provincial level maybe we need to link the fast track to political suicide Gordon Campbell has been on in the last while. Most of BC is just reeling from things like the carbon tax and the latest insane and unwarranted pay raises to well fed Deputy Ministers, ADM’s and senior bureaucrats.
Most people are expressing outrage and many of us are trying to wrap our brains around how he would do such a thing with an election only a scant 9 months away. But, I think it’s time we begin to situate Campbell and the BC Liberals conduct squarely as allies and underlings of the massive steamroller that is squashing all of us in the name of global domination. Campbell sure seems to be acting like a man who isn’t too worried about his future and His Majesty is acting benevolently toward his faithful insiders at all of our expense with impunity. I learned long ago, when things don’t make sense, there is something I just don’t know yet, but someone else does.
It’s wild if you begin to look at the common patterns. All of these “installed” leaders have sold out their own people, hook, line and sinker. Some are called War Criminals, or War mongers, committing war and treason against their own citizens. It is beyond my comprehension that people would engage in these kinds of things simply for greed.
So, the question becomes, are we going to survive this unceasing and greed for global domination? Because the most alarmist reports are saying we are rapidly heading toward World War III and it is starting to look that way to more than a few of us armchair observers. The sabers are rattling, against Russia, against Iran. Unwinnable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. China’s hands won’t be tied forever, the Olympics are almost over. I guess it was quite a clever bit of strategy to award these summer Olympics to keep them busy and occupied.
With groups like the National Endowment for Democracy, offering “grants” for the “strengthening of democratic institutions” around the world, is it any wonder that we are rapidly heading toward a showdown some of us might not live through? We’re already losing far too many courageous soldiers and others who deserve so much better. And a life.
I don’t know about you, but I’m rather fond of living and want a safe world for our children to grow up in. Another Cold War, or nuclear war is not even on my list of things to do. In the West, we still live in vaguely democratic nations, so I can only hope and encourage all of us to work together and fight the real enemies, not the shadows and illusions created to deflect from who we really need to get rid of.
We need to start getting out into the streets and raising our voices against this oppression. In BC and Canada, we have some elections coming up and we need to get involved. If the traditional left parties aren’t up to the job, as they seem to have been kneecapped by the neo-cons too, we need to back candidates who are there to fight for our rights and needs. This is no time for half-assed, or namby-pamby leaders. Our world and lives are going to be at stake very soon and we need to elect the best people to help us all. I don’t know about you, but someday, if the children I know ask me what I did to fight for the World, I want to be able to tell them what I did so they could have a future.
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