statism watch

Flashback: MPs vote to give asylum to U.S. deserters, Tories say no

Mike Ferner, Online Journal
April 3, 2009

Two days ago, for the second time in 10 months, Canada’s House of Commons told Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative government, including Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney, to stop deporting U.S. soldiers resisting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The vote united the three opposition parties, the Liberals, the Bloc Quebecois and the New Democratic Party in a close 129-125 vote.

Last week, the War Resisters Support Campaign rallied for former Army soldier, Kimberly Rivera, the first female U.S. soldier to go to Canada. Nearly 100 people filled the chairs and lined the aisles at the Steelworkers hall in Toronto for Rivera, her husband and three children, the youngest born in Canada six months ago.

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Flashback: Khadr, interred in rubble, couldn’t have thrown grenade in firefight: Evidence | Stop ignoring Omar Khadr case: Opposition MPs to PM

Michelle Shepherd, Toronto Star
April 3, 2009

He had become the most vocal opponent of the trial of Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr, taking on a position more akin to politician than lawyer and launching a two-year public and media campaign that landed him on the front pages of newspapers and inside glossy magazines.

But U.S. Navy lawyer William Kuebler’s role as the Pentagon-appointed defender of 22-year-old Khadr came to an end today when he was fired from the case.

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CBC News
April 3, 2009

The unemployment rate in the United States rose to 8.5 per cent in March — a level not seen since late 1983 — as 663,000 jobs were lost.

The U.S. Department of Labour said Friday that since the recession began in December 2007, 5.1 million jobs have been lost, with 3.3 million of those losses occurring in the last five months. The number of people out of work in the U.S. last month climbed to 13.2 million.

Economists had been expecting job losses last month to be around 650,000.

“It’s an ugly report and April is going to be equally as bad,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com.

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Too little too late for England, and the context is slyly mocking, but it does demonstrate that direct action can be effective, and that people are finally beginning to alert on issues of privacy and surveillance. Now, is Street View a legit target for protest? The jury’s still out on that one. As the article points out, the information Street View acquires is no more, and in some cases less, than could be seen by walking down a public street. What do you think?

Flashback: Google Street View comes to Canada | Google Street View could care less about your privacy

Jill Lawless, The Associated Press
April 3, 2009

LONDON — You’re never far from a camera in Britain, a country that has accepted the presence of millions of surveillance cameras in its streets, shopping centres and public spaces.

But for the villagers of Broughton in southern England, the roving eye of Google was one camera too far.

A gaggle of residents in the affluent hamlet formed a human chain to turn away a car shooting images for Google Street View, the popular service that allows Internet users to see high-quality photos of houses and streets around the world.

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