statism watch

David Gutierrez, Natural News
December 2, 2008

For the first time, the FDA has issued a warning that the mercury contained in silver dental fillings may pose neurological risks to children and pregnant women.

“Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses,” reads a statement that has been added to the agency’s Web site. “Pregnant women and persons who may have a health condition that makes them more sensitive to mercury exposure, including individuals with existing high levels of mercury bioburden, should not avoid seeking dental care, but should discuss options with their health practitioner.”

The warning was one of the conditions that the FDA agreed to in settling a lawsuit filed by several consumer health groups.

“Gone, gone, gone are all of FDA’s claims that no science exists that amalgam is unsafe,” said Charles Brown, a lawyer for Consumers for Dental Choice, one of the plaintiffs.

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CBC News
December 2, 2008

Fred Doucet, former chief of staff for Brian Mulroney, chats with colleagues before his testimony to the Commons ethics committee on Feb. 12, 2008. (Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)

A 1993 fax from Air Canada’s manager of investor relations to Fred Doucet, a close friend of former prime minister Brian Mulroney, calls into question Doucet’s sworn testimony before the House of Commons ethics committee in February of this year.

“I want to say I have no knowledge at all about anything involving Airbus,” Doucet told the committee under oath on Feb. 12, 2008.

However, a CBC News investigation has learned that on the same day Mulroney received his first envelope of cash from German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber at a hotel in Mirabel airport, Doucet, who had arranged the meeting between the two men, received a fax from Air Canada outlining the delivery schedule of Airbus airplanes to Air Canada.

The Aug. 27, 1993, fax from Air Canada’s manager of investor relations, Denis Biro, itemized the delivery of 34 Airbus planes between 1990 and 1993.

That was important to Doucet because he was interested in determining how much money was left in the secret 1988 deal between Airbus Industrie and a Liechtenstein shell company, International Aircraft Leasing, or IAL.

The fax and other documents that Schreiber has provided to CBC News and the upcoming Oliphant Commission looking into the financial dealings between Schreiber and Mulroney appear to contradict Doucet’s testimony before the ethics committee.

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No carry on luggage? No fruit? This, after putting the StatismWatch editorial board through that comprehensive fruit attack self-defence course? Well, we hope that whatever security agency pointed those two mental patients in the direction of the passengers are real happy with themselves. Our land transit ‘security’ provisions are being rapidly harmonized with those of the US. Now, papers, please, and be on your way.

CBC News
December 2, 2008

New measures added following 2-year security study

As the holiday travel season ramps up, Greyhound Canada announced it’s begun screening passengers at major terminals with hand-held security wands.

The company implemented new security measures Tuesday at its Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg terminals, with other locations to follow starting on Dec. 15.

All luggage must now also be stored under the bus, with exceptions made for essential travel items such as medications, baby formula and wallets, said Abby Wambaugh, a Greyhound spokeswoman from Dallas, Texas.

“This is something that has been at drivers’ discretion and now it’s mandatory that all luggage be stowed underneath the coach,” she told CBC News.

Either security guards or drivers will do the screening with the metal detector wands, she added.

Greyhound is not publicly releasing other security details that are in place.

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Steve Watson, Infowars.net
December 2, 2008

Musicians and performers in London will soon be required by law to complete and hand over to police an eight page form detailing all their personal information and the ethnic background of their audience if they want to perform.

The information will be collected by venue owners and managers throughout the city, who will have to adhere to the process should they wish to promote live music.

Failure to comply with the information demanded on Form 696 could mean the loss of a licence or even a fine and imprisonment, reports the London Independent.

Police quietly introduced the legislation in 2006, and have recently defended it, saying they need the details in order to ensure safety and “identify troublemakers”.

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Well, if you have attacks on EU offices in Kosovo, well, then you need an international police force on the ground… right? Never mind that the attacks were false flag events, staged by German intelligence agents.

BBC News, Peter Laurence
December 2, 2008

The EU’s police and justice mission will start deploying throughout Kosovo on 9 December, including to Serb-controlled areas, EU officials say.

Under the plan, approved by the UN Security Council, nearly 2,000 EU police, justice and customs officials will take over UN duties in Kosovo.

But the UN mission – called Unmik – will retain a political role.

The EU’s “Eulex” mission was supposed to start earlier. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February.

Several thousand Kosovo Albanians demonstrated in the capital Pristina against the Eulex deployment on Tuesday – the day it was originally scheduled to start.

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Valur Gunnarsson, Associated Press
December 2, 2008

REYKJAVIK, Iceland: Thousands of Icelanders marked the 90th anniversary of their nation’s sovereignty with angry protest Monday, and several hundred stormed the central bank to demand the ouster of bankers they blame for the country’s spectacular economic meltdown.
Tiny Iceland has seen its banks and currency collapse in just a few weeks while prices and unemployment soar – leaving a country regarded as a model of Scandinavian prosperity in a state of shock.

“The government played roulette and the whole nation has lost,” writer Einar Mar Gudmundsson told a noisy but peaceful anti-government rally of several thousand people in downtown Reykjavik.

After the rally, hundreds of protesters stormed the headquarters of Sedlabanki, Iceland’s central bank, demanding the sacking of its chief, David Oddsson.

The demonstrators staged an hour-long standoff with shield-wielding riot police inside the bank’s lobby, singing songs and chanting “Out with David” and “Power to the People.” The protest ended peacefully when both police and demonstrators agreed to withdraw.

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Bruce Campion-Smith, Tonda MacCharles, Richard J. Brennan and Les Whittington, Toronto Star
December 2, 2008

Parties aim to form coalition, topple Conservatives and install Dion as PM

OTTAWA-Governor General Michaelle Jean is cutting short a European tour and returning to Canada, where she could be called on to decide the fate of the embattled Conservative government.

Jean will be back in Ottawa tomorrow afternoon, Sheila-Marie Cook, the secretary to the Governor General, said this morning.

Jean had been on a state visit to four countries in central Europe since Nov. 24, and wasn’t due back until the weekend. However, she decided to return “in light of the current political situation in Canada.”

Jean could be forced to decide the fate of the minority Parliament in the coming days. Prime Minister Stephen Harper could seek her permission to discontinue the current session of parliament, thus avoiding defeat at the hands of an NDP-Liberal coalition.

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Deborah Summers, Hélène Mulholland, The Guardian
December 2, 2008

British Transport police chief constable to report to acting Met chief in seven days over arrest of Tory frontbencher

MPs today welcomed a decision to appoint a top police officer to review the arrest of Conservative frontbencher Damian Green.

Sir Paul Stephenson, the acting Metropolitan police commissioner, has asked Ian Johnston, a chief constable in the British Transport police, to report to him within seven days to review the handling of the police inquiry into Home Office leaks.

Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, praised Johnston’s appointment and revealed that she sought assurances from Stephenson yesterday that the inquiry was being carried out in a “proportionate” manner.

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Ian MacKinnon, The Guardian
December 2, 2008

Protesters to end airport demonstration after Somchai Wongsawat is banned from office for five years

The political crisis that has paralysed Thailand and stranded as many as 300,000 international travellers took a dramatic turn today when a court disbanded the ruling party and banned the prime minister from office.

Judges from the constitutional court found the People Power party (PPP) and two senior coalition partners guilty of electoral fraud for vote-buying in last December’s general election and barred the prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, from office for five years.

The People’s Alliance for Democracy, whose supporters have occupied Bangkok’s two main airports as part of weeks of anti-government demonstrations, greeted the verdict with celebrations and said they would cease their protest tomorrow.

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Joseph Gerth, Courier-Journal
December 2, 2008

To fight corruption, you have to understand its root causes.

That’s the thesis of Michael Johnston, a political science professor at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., and the 2009 winner of the University of Louisville’s Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order.

Johnston was cited for his 2005 book, “Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power and Democracy,” and will receive a $200,000 prize.

He said in an interview that the idea behind the book grew out of data that examined corruption and how it related to economic development — showing that corruption proved to be “sand in the gears rather than grease on the wheels.”

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