statism watch

Note that he’s not out of the system – he’s going to be tracked everywhere he goes with a GPS anklet. So just remember, kids – GPS anklets are cool, they’re perfectly normal, Paris Hilton had one, and you shouldn’t be alarmed as uses for this technology and similar ones expand throughout the physical world, stifling privacy, and indexing the real world in surveillance and inventory databases. What should be a good news story is tainted as it ends up helping to normalize this concept. And that does real violence to our culture.

Michelle Shephard, National Security Reporter
January 2, 2009

The last remaining terrorism suspect who has been held for seven years under a “national security certificate” has been ordered released from detention.

Federal court Justice Richard Mosley ruled Friday that there is no evidence that Syrian Hassan Almrei “poses a threat to the safety of any individual” and should be released under strict conditions.

“I am satisfied that any risk that he might pose to national security or of absconding can be neutralized by conditions,” Mosley wrote in his 100-page ruling.

Conditions for his release will likely include 24-hour monitoring by agents with the Canada Border Services Agency, wearing a GPS monitoring bracelet and a ban on any use of cellphones or computers.
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Threatened with suspension – when an opt out process exists (!) – which is covered in the fourth-last paragraph of this article. You wouldn’t know it from the headline, though. Perhaps the question journalists should be asking is – how much funding does the school board get for dispensing each shot? In any case, the bottom line for your rights is – the state does not own your children, and it has no right to impose coercive medication on them. Vaccinate your kids if you’re comfortable with the risk level (see links below). Keep your hands off of everyone else’s.

Kristin Rushowy, The Toronto Star
January 2, 2009

Students lacking required vaccinations may be kept out of school

They haven’t done anything violent, illegal or even behaved badly.

But thousands of students across the province are suspended – or threatened with suspension – for not keeping up to date with vaccinations.

It’s a necessary step to keep diseases from spreading, and to do that, high compliance rates are needed, says Dr. Vinita Dubey, Toronto’s associate medical officer of health. Toronto Public Health oversees vaccination compliance for the city’s school boards and private schools.

Under Ontario’s Immunization of School Pupils Act, students can be suspended for a period of 20 school days if they don’t have the required vaccinations for diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps and rubella (German measles). Shots for illnesses like whooping cough or the flu are simply recommended.

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How can anyone deny that this isn’t a global initiative now? US. Britain. Canada. We’re already under world government, and they’re working on new ways to tax you blind. Resist.

James Chapman, The Daily Mail
January 2, 2009

Ministers are pressing ahead with a £10million trial of ‘spy-in-the-sky’ road-pricing technology despite widespread public opposition.

Test runs will start soon in seven locations for the scheme which could result in charges of up to £1.30 a mile on the most congested roads.

Volunteer drivers will have units fitted to their cars, which will be tracked by satellite and will automatically deduct payments from a test account.

The trials are proceeding despite previous statements from the Government suggesting that it had abandoned the idea of national road pricing.

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Rick Salutin, The Globe and Mail
January 2, 2009

A letter I received last year rebuked me for calling George Bush’s explanation of 9/11 – They hate us for our freedoms – “doltish.” Its writer said leaders must speak concisely and simply. “What would you say?” he challenged. I’ve chewed on this and chosen: “They hate us for our bombs.” It came to me during the bombing of Gaza this week. I use “hate” to parallel the Bush usage. “Consider us their enemies,” would be better.

This is so in Kandahar, where Canadians keep dying, and “they,” or some of them, don’t hate us for our good intentions, but for the bombs that land on wedding parties. It’s so in Gaza, where people often show bomb remnants marked “Made in U.S.A.” That’s why they see “us” as enemies, like Israel. That, plus “our” support for Israel’s bombing. George Bush said it was fine with him. “No comment,” said Barack Obama, squandering some of the goodwill toward him. “First and foremost, those rocket attacks must stop,” said Canada’s Foreign Minister. It’s the “first and foremost” that invited rage. Most people, including Palestinians, know that rocketing others is bad – but so is being bombed. This is about understanding how people think, not debating it.

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