statism watch

CBC News
September 12, 2008

‘You like handcuffs?’ Harper asks This Hour has 22 Minutes cast member

Security officials weren’t laughing when CBC comedian Geri Hall stood up at a press conference in Halifax and began declaring her love for Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

“Mr. Harper. I’m so sorry. I’ll be so brief. I just represent the single female voter,” the cast member with This Hour has 22 Minutes said.

Officials immediately grabbed her arm and hauled her out of the room, while Hall yelled, “Girls love a guy with a sense of humour and we could just have a little fun!

“Stephen Harper, I love you! I want to love you!”

As security officials brought her down the hallway, Hall told them she was only trying to ask Harper a few questions for an upcoming segment.

“They were really going to take me to the station, because they maybe didn’t know who I was or maybe did know who I was, depends on how you want to believe it,” Hall laughed, describing the ordeal in a later interview with CBC.

But instead of a jail cell, Hall was surprised with a brief one-on-one chat with Harper.

“OK, that was a bumpy start to the second part of our relationship,” Hall joked, “but it was kind of sexy, too. Girl doesn’t get arrested by a blue-eyed man very often.”

To which Harper replied, “You like handcuffs?”

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Tonda MacCharles, Toronto Star
September 12, 2008

Hard-hitting review says force relied too heavily on manufacturer’s input

OTTAWA–The RCMP did not do “due diligence” when it approved the Taser stun gun for use as a less-than-lethal weapon by its officers, a hard-hitting independent review concludes.

The report was ordered by RCMP Commissioner Bill Elliott after the uproar following the death last October of a Polish immigrant shot with a Taser by RCMP at the Vancouver airport.

Submitted in June to Elliott but not made public, the review says the RCMP relied too much on the advice of the Taser’s American manufacturer in developing its policies and training, did not consult widely enough with medical and mental health experts about its impact on people, and did not treat the weapon as a “prohibited firearm” – its proper legal classification.

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CBC News
September 12, 2008

A prominent Quebec music producer who couldn’t get his name removed from a U.S. no-fly list is changing his last name to end the hassle.

Mario Labbé, Montreal-based president of the Analekta classical music label, has had major problems entering the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks because his name appears on a Homeland Security list.

Labbé said he has started applying for new identification with the surname “Francois,” hoping he can distance himself from the watch list.

Despite an admission from the U.S. department that his current name is on the list because of an identity theft case, Labbé can’t get the name removed.

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Simon Tisdall, The Guardian
September 12, 2008

A secret order issued by George Bush giving US special forces carte blanche to mount counter-terrorist operations inside Pakistani territory raised fears last night that escalating conflict was spreading from Afghanistan to Pakistan and could ignite a region-wide war.

The unprecedented executive order, signed by Bush in July after an intense internal administration debate, comes amid western concern that the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and its al-Qaida backers based in “safe havens” in western Pakistan’s tribal belt is being lost.

Following Bush’s decision, US navy Seals commandos, backed by attack helicopters, launched a ground raid into Pakistan last week which the US claimed killed about two dozen insurgents. Pakistani officials condemned the raid as illegal and said most of the dead were civilians. US and Nato commanders are anxious to halt infiltration across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border of insurgents and weapons blamed for casualties among coalition troops. The killing of a US soldier in eastern Afghanistan yesterday brought American losses in 2008 to 112, the deadliest year since the 2001 intervention. The move is regarded as unprecedented in terms of sending troops into a friendly, allied country.

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