statism watch

Tracey Tyler
December 11, 2008

Right-to-information suit goes back to case of alleged mobster slain in Milton 25 years ago

A battle for a secret OPP report into a botched murder case reaches the Supreme Court of Canada today and the result will determine, perhaps forever, whether Canadians have a constitutional right to government-held information.

The case goes back to the murder of reputed Toronto mobster Domenic Racco, whose body was found 25 years ago yesterday on a Milton railway line.

The two men charged in the slaying, Graham Court and Denis Monaghan, walked free in 1997 after a judge found police and prosecutors engaged in massive abuses, including suppressing almost every piece of evidence helpful to the defence.

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Daniel Dale, Toronto Star
December 11, 2008

Young people interested in combat are attracted by high-profile mission and ‘fighting’ ads

Had Ryan Cass asked, the Canadian Forces’ recruiting office in Toronto could have told him about any number of the 100 types of jobs the centre seeks to fill. Lt.-Cmdr. Michael Wood could have extolled the bonuses the military offers tradespeople, the value of the education it pays for, the virtues of a career as, say, a naval electronics technician.

He is persuasive. But Cass, 18, isn’t interested in a pitch. He is interested in combat. So he walked into the North York office yesterday to sign up for one of the jobs for which Wood has the least trouble hiring: infantryman.

“Whatever I can do to help out,” Cass said nonchalantly. “I want to help out, and I want to travel, too.”

To Kandahar? “It doesn’t bother me,” he said. “I go where I go.”

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The target: All “illegal cross-border activity.” The justification: Terrorism, naturally.

Matthew Couts, National Post
December 11, 2008

Sitting on the tarmac at a North Dakota Air Force Base is the future of U. S. northern border security: an unmanned patrol airplane similar to ready-to-fire aircraft used in Afghanistan, identical to drones scouting above the U. S. border with Mexico and the first of its kind ready to fly along the Canadian border, in search of drug runners, illegal immigrants and terrorists heading south.

The Predator B Unmanned Aircraft System, a plane with a thin, cylindrical body, three wheels and no cockpit, was delivered to Grand Forks by U. S. Customs and Border Protection authorities last weekend and will be launched on patrol missions above the western Prairie landscape early next year. The US$10-million, remote-controlled craft is equipped with video equipment and heat sensors capable of spotting people crossing the border illegally by avoiding ports of entry.

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Rita Trichur, Ann Perry, Toronto Star
December 11, 2008

Facebook group urges consumers to speak up to lower borrowing costs

Patrick Novak says it is time for normally “apathetic” Canadians to speak out against a decision by the Big Six banks not to fully match a big interest rate cut by the Bank of Canada.

The 32-year-old homeowner started a Facebook group called “Pass on Rate Cuts Canadian Banks” Tuesday night hours after the chartered banks lowered their prime rates by 50 basis points. The central bank had earlier cut its trend-setting rate by 75 points.

As a bank shareholder, Novak stands to profit from the decision not to implement the full rate cut. But as a consumer with a five-year, variable rate mortgage, he worries it will stymie the central bank’s efforts to jump-start the economy.

“It seems that the system is failing in some respect,” he said in a phone interview from Vancouver.

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Helena Smith, Mark Tran, The Guardian
December 11, 2008

Anger remains high as policeman claims a shot he fired in self-defence ricocheted to kill Alexander Grigoropoulos

Students occupying an Athens university today clashed with police in a sixth day of unrest, with further demonstrations planned for next week.

The early morning violence during which students threw stones and fire bombs at police gave way to calm as Greeks returned to work after a 24-hour general strike yesterday against the conservative government’s economic policies.

But the beleaguered government faces more street demonstrations in Greece’s worst civil unrest since military rule ended in 1974. School and university students and teachers have called a rally in Athens tomorrow in protest at the police shooting of Alexander Grigoropoulos, a 15-year-old, last week.

Public anger at the shooting remains high as the 37-year-old policeman charged with murdering the teenager has not expressed remorse to investigators. The officer, who appeared in court yesterday, said he had fired warning shots in self-defence that ricocheted to kill the youth.

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In the wake of 9/11, America hastened the passage of anti-terror laws, stripping citizens of personal liberty and transforming the USA into a surveillance state. Congress was urged to pass these laws without the benefit of first being allowed to read them. The Department of Homeland Security was created in order to oversee the new security infrastructure that sprang up in its wake. Now, witness India being reintegrated into the Anglo-American intelligence apparatus. Another another free nation bends its knee.

CBC News
December 11, 2008

India’s top law enforcement official has announced sweeping changes to the country’s security and intelligence agencies, which have come under heavy criticism in the aftermath of a series of deadly attacks across Mumbai.

The measures, announced Thursday by Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, are the Indian government’s first comprehensive response to public criticism over security and intelligence shortcomings during the Nov. 26 attacks.

“Given the nature of the threat, we can’t go back to business as usual,” Chidambaram said in a speech to India’s Parliament, adding he would “take certain hard decisions to prepare the country and people to face the challenge of terrorism.”

The government plans to boost coastal security and training for local police, as well as create an FBI-style national investigative agency, Chidambaram said. It will also make efforts to strengthen anti-terror laws and increase intelligence sharing.

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