statism watch

Note the disturbing administrative link to a New Jersey facility accused of ‘wierd rituals’ which was subsequently sued for malpractice.

CBC News
February 13, 2009

Executive director calls them ‘liars,’ one former patient/counsellor denies abuses

A Calgary facility that is supposed to help teens overcome addictions is the subject of some abuse allegations, a CBC investigation has found.

More than a dozen former patients and staff of the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre allege the residential program manipulated people into treatment, held them against their will and administered abusive therapy.

Other allegations against the centre include one patient who was treated but claimed she was not an addict at all. One patient alleged she was sexually assaulted by a fellow patient, while another said she was attacked in a closet at the centre.

Patients alleged that when they reported abuse to the centre, they were either told they were liars or it was their own fault.

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Paul Moloney, Toronto Star
February 13, 2009

Revenue from fines falls far short of projections

Toronto is preparing to shelve plans to install more of its red-light cameras this year.

The problem is money. The program was supposed to pay for itself through fines. But it didn’t collect nearly as much as projected last year because fewer tickets were issued than expected, and people are fighting the charges rather than just handing over $180.

Original plans called for boosting the number of cameras to 98 this year from 77, but staff are now recommending holding off until at least 2010. The postponement, outlined in the proposed operating budget for 2009, goes up for approval by city council during budget debate on March 31 and April 1.

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What Radwanski did was not cool.. but probably no worse than any other MP or commissioner. Reading his work – an incredible expose and warning of privacy breaches planned by the state – it’s not that difficult to believe he was singled out for political reasons, as the CBC mentions in the middle of this article. Read the shocking report his office produced here.

Just one representative quote: “Police and security will be able to access records of every e-mail we send and every cellular phone call we make. Information on what we read on the Internet, every Web site and page we visit, will likewise be readily available to government authorities.”

Did the government not announce this just yesterday? Thanks for trying to warn us, George.

Flashback: Was Canada’s Privacy Commissioner targeted for opposition to intrusive security policies?

CBC News
February 13, 2009

Judge slams commissioner’s ‘negligent and cavalier’ approach of accounting for expenses

An Ontario judge acquitted former federal privacy commissioner George Radwanski on Friday of criminal fraud charges, but criticized his “negligent and cavalier” approach to accounting for controversial expenses he claimed while in office.

Ontario Court of Justice Paul Bélanger convicted Radwanski’s former chief of staff, Art Lamarche, of breach of trust.

Radwanski and Lamarche were charged with making fraudulent expense claims, including a travel advance and a $16,000 payment in lieu of vacation Radwanski received without first accruing the work time required to earn the holiday.

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It seems that Blackwater decided to take Wired magazine’s advice.

The Associated Press
February 13, 2009

Blackwater Worldwide renamed Xe as company tries to salvage its tarnished brand

Blackwater Worldwide is abandoning its tarnished brand name as it tries to shake a reputation battered by oft-criticised work in Iraq, renaming its family of two dozen businesses under the name Xe. The parent company’s new name is pronounced like the letter z.

Blackwater Lodge & Training Centre — the subsidiary that conducts much of the company’s overseas operations and domestic training — has been renamed US Training Centre Inc., the company said today.

The decision comes as part of an ongoing rebranding effort that grew more urgent following a September 2007 shooting in Iraq that left at least a dozen civilians dead. Blackwater president Gary Jackson said in a memo to employees the new name reflects the change in company focus away from the business of providing private security.

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Guess how many members of Congress read this massive pile of porkbarrel spending and bankster handouts prior to passing it. Ok, now try a lower figure. You’re getting warmer. What else do its 1,071 pages include? New gun ban laws and provisos for federalizing health care information in electronic databases are just two alarming add-ons that researchers have uncovered.

CBC News
February 13, 2009

Rep. Boehner signals an aide for a footstool in order to see over his copy of the ’stimulus bill’.

The U.S. Congress has voted in favour of President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package, putting it one step closer to being signed into law.

The Senate voted 60-38 in favour of the $787 billion US stimulus bill late Friday night. Earlier in the day, the House of Representatives passed the legislation in a 246-183 vote.

Republican opposition in the House was unanimous while three Republican moderates voted in favour of the bill in the Senate.

At least 60 votes are needed to pass legislation through the Senate quickly.

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Flashback: Military challenge: Make spy data more accessible

James Bamford, GlobalResearch.ca
February 13, 2009

The NSA Wants to Know How and WHAT You Think

The National Security Agency (NSA) is developing a tool that George Orwell’s Thought Police might have found useful: an artificial intelligence system designed to gain insight into what people are thinking.

With the entire Internet and thousands of databases for a brain, the device will be able to respond almost instantaneously to complex questions posed by intelligence analysts. As more and more data is collected—through phone calls, credit card receipts, social networks like Facebook and MySpace, GPS tracks, cell phone geolocation, Internet searches, Amazon book purchases, even E-Z Pass toll records—it may one day be possible to know not just where people are and what they are doing, but what and how they think.

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