statism watch

CBC News
December 5, 2008

The Canadian subsidiaries of the Detroit Big Three automakers have asked the federal and Ontario governments for financial aid that could total as much as $6 billion.

GM Canada, Ford of Canada and Chrysler Canada made their requests Friday as they provided Ontario and the federal government with financial information and details of their restructuring plans that the governments asked for in return for considering a potential aid package.

Ontario Economic Development Minister Michael Bryant said GM is seeking an immediate $800 million bridge loan as part of a package of repayable loans that would ultimately total $2.4 billion.

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CBC News
December 5, 2008

Three Canadian soldiers were killed and two were wounded in separate incidents in Afghanistan on Friday, raising to more than 100 the number of Canadians who have died while serving in the war-torn country.

Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson, commander of Canadian troops, identified two of the latest casualties as Cpl. Mark Robert McLaren and Pte. Demetrios (Dip) Diplaros, both based in Petawawa, Ont. They died after the armoured vehicle they were in struck an improvised explosive device (IED).

The name of the third soldier who died was being temporarily withheld at the request of the family, Thompson said.

The blast occurred at about 9 a.m. local time, said the CBC’s David Common, reporting from Kandahar.

“We can presume it was a very large device because, of course, this was an armoured vehicle,” said Common.

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Seriously: Don’t these guys read the news? Or know anything about history?

Edmund Conway, The Telegraph
December 5, 2008

The Bank of England is working on radical plans to inject cash directly into the economy – the nuclear option to be used only when interest rates approach zero.

In what would be a major departure for British monetary policy, the Bank is considering pressing the button on printing presses by engaging in a so-called policy of quantitative easing. It emerged after the Monetary Policy Committee cut borrowing costs by 1pc to just 2pc – the lowest level since 1951.

In the statement published alongside its decision, the Bank warned that “it was unlikely that a normal volume of [bank] lending would be restored without further measures.”

The measures under consideration include direct purchases of assets, such as government debt or commercial investments, by the Bank or the Treasury, as well as expanding the Bank’s balance sheet, a means of pumping extra cash into the banking sector.

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Courtney Yager, CNN Europe
December 5, 2008

Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, Slobodan Milosevic. They are household names, infamous for masterminding genocide. But who were the foot soldiers who did the dirty work?

In many cases they were equally notorious in their communities because they were the friends, neighbors and co-workers of those they raped, slaughtered and buried alive.

Nusreta Sivac watched ordinary people become killers while imprisoned in a concentration camp in Bosnia.

She saw prisoners beaten beyond recognition and watched camp guards force a Muslim prisoner to rape a Muslim woman in front of everyone.

She was shocked to see people she knew running the camp. “They acted as if they had never seen me before,” she said. “It was difficult for me to understand how people could turn into beasts overnight.”

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Paul Joseph Watson, Prisonplanet.com
December 5, 2008

Police prevented sons from attempting to rescue father

California cops tasered a distraught son whose father was drowning after he and his brother complained that police were not doing enough to rescue their dad, while authorities prevented the two sons from making any kind of rescue effort themselves.

The latest example of police brutality unfolded in Mendocino Country California. A San Francisco family was visiting Portuguese Beach when the father accidentally fell into the water and was washed away from the shore.

Police arrived with rescue crews but made no effort to save the drowning man, named as 54-year-old Maurizio Biasini, and prevented his two 18-year-old sons, Dario and Andriano Biasini, from helping their dad as they insisted on waiting for the Coast Guard and a Sheriff’s boat.

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CBC News
December 5, 2008

Human rights group Amnesty International is renewing its call for a moratorium on Taser use after recent tests commissioned by CBC News and Radio-Canada found some of the Human rights group Amnesty International is renewing its call for a moratorium on Taser use after recent tests commissioned by CBC News and Radio-Canada found some of the stun guns deliver a higher level of electricity than the manufacturer promises.

The tests, conducted by the U.S.-based lab National Technical Systems, used 41 X26 model Tasers from seven police departments in that country. Each weapon was fired six times.

Of the 41 Tasers tested, four delivered significantly more current than Taser International says is possible. In those cases, the current was up to 50 per cent stronger than specified on the devices.

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