statism watch

This brings to mind a question asked by Joe Strummer: When they kick in your front door, how you gonna come? This is pretty clearly a case of political intimidation… someone higher up doesn’t like the black eye this case has given CSIS.

Flashback: CSIS forced to ‘reveal’ info on secret source in Harkat case | Judge orders recall of CSIS witnesses in Harkat case for potential perjury, obstruction | Jordanian woman alleges beating by interrogator at Toronto airport | 3 B.C. men allege abuse by RCMP in 2008 raid | Family furious after police raid East Vancouver home | Family sues police claiming Taser raid on autistic son in own bedroom | Rapper Belly slams police raid on his home | Toronto artist seeks explanation for police raid | RCMP conducts random search and seizure on Canada Day | Youth Worker Subjected to Warrantless Raid on Secret Evidence

CBC News
June 2, 2009

Federal officials conducted an unlawful fishing expedition last month when they raided the home of Mohammed Harkat, an Algerian refugee whom the Canadian spy agency accuses of having ties to terrorist organizations, his lawyers said Tuesday.

“If you want to get into a seizure like that, as far as I’m concerned, you’ve got to go get a warrant,” said Matt Webber, co-counsel for Harkat.

“And they didn’t have that kind of authorization.”

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It appears the gloves are coming off. “So – we can’t convince you? We’ll just go ahead and use coercion then. Oh, but it’s for your own good.” Educate yourself and make your own decisions.

Flashback: France Considers Mandatory Flu Vaccinations | Children Who Get Flu Vaccine Have Three Times Risk Of Hospitalization For Flu, Study Suggests | Lessons of 1976: swine flu, fear, mass vaccinations, wasted millions | ‘Accidental’ Contamination Of Vaccine With Live Avian Flu Virus Virtually Impossible | Officials investigate how bird flu contaminated vaccines in Europe | Vaccine Court: Autism Debate Continues | Revealed: The serious health concerns about the cervical cancer jab | Vaccines Found to Cause Diabetes in Children | Homeless people die after bird flu vaccine trial in Poland | Vaccine-linked polio hits Nigeria

Graham Satchell, BBC News
June 2, 2009

A former chairman of the British Medical Association is calling for the MMR jab to be made compulsory.

Public health expert Sir Sandy Macara believes children should not be able to go to school unless they have first been vaccinated.

Sir Sandy has submitted a motion for debate at the annual BMA conference later this month.

Uptake of the MMR vaccine fell sharply after controversial research wrongly linked it to a raised risk of autism.

One in four children under five in England and Wales has not had both MMR injections, which are needed to give full protection against measles, mumps and rubella.

As a result there have been measles outbreaks across the country, and experts at the Health Protection Agency now fear a measles epidemic is likely.

Sir Sandy said: “Our attempts to persuade people have failed.

Watch the video.

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People actually use MSNSpaces in China? Anyways – if you don’t know what this Tiananmen thing is, look it up – it’s an object lesson in how authoritarian states treat their citizens. Many of the student activists pressing for democracy that night, so long ago, are still in jail. And note how readily the state has seized control of the Internet in China. We have to stop that from happening here under the guise of ‘cybersecurity’ at all costs.

Flashback: Cybersecurity Is Framework For Total Government Regulation & Control Of Our Lives | Next up for France: police keyloggers and Web censorship | EU wants ‘Internet G12′ to govern cyberspace | UK Home Secretary has secret plan to surveil, ‘Master the Internet’ | Put NSA in Charge of Cyber Security, Or the Power Grid Gets It | Australian web censorship plan to begin trial despite house opposition | Chinese Learn Limits of Online Freedom as the Filter Tightens | CRTC Internet regulation proposals take shape | CRTC to consider Internet regulation, invites public comment | RCMP to helm a Canadian “cyber-security strategy” | Italian Judge: Blogs are Illegal | Berners-Lee W3C Consortium to ‘Authorize’ Website Content? | Law Professor tells tech conference: plans to shut down Internet already on deck

Peter Foster, The Telegraph
June 2, 2009

China has begun imposing an information blackout ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, blocking access to popular networking websites such as Twitter and BBC television reports inside China.

The measures came as the authorities tried to close all avenues of dissent ahead of Thursday’s anniversary, placing prominent critics under house arrest and banning newspaper from making any mention of the pro-democracy protests.

The co-ordinated internet “takedown” occurred at 5pm local time (10am GMT) on Tuesday as a broad range of websites suddenly became unavailable to Chinese internet users.

Among the blocked sites was the blogging portal MSNSpaces, the Hotmail email service, Yahoo’s photo-sharing site Flickr.com and Microsoft’s new search engine Bing.com.

However, in a sign of how it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Chinese to control the internet, Twitter users found alternative outlets in rival providers to evade the censors.

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All grades? Kindergarten? Naturally, this is being trialed in the UK, and handed down to us. If any change is implemented, why not suggest something that could potentially make sense, like bringing in sex ed at the low range of when these teen’s sexual activity begins? You know, to some degree this probably is the parent’s fault – but, again, this solution will just exacerbate this problem as we abdicate our responsibilities further, expecting the experts to look after every aspect of our lives. Freedom is a use it or lose it proposition. Get it together, people. Talk to your kids.

Flashback: Alberta allows parents to pull kids from controversial classes

CBC News
June 2, 2009

Teens are being sexually active but are not getting the information or services they need to be properly educated about sex, according to a report on sexual health released Tuesday.

Planned Parenthood Toronto, York University, the University of Toronto, Wilfrid Laurier University and Toronto Public Health produced the survey.

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Is the WHO seriously still flogging this dead horse (pig?) In the past two days, there have been as many stories following the pattern of ‘Swine Flu Death (Possibly)’ in Toronto alone, and in both cases you read the article and it says they don’t actually know if it was swine flu or not, given the victim was already at death’s door. So give the power grab a rest, WHO, we’ve our own national health agencies, and we know that seasonal flu kills just as many if not more people, thank you very much. And as for the next pandemic you’ve assured us is coming – we can read your cards from here.

Flashback: France Considers Mandatory Flu Vaccinations | Children Who Get Flu Vaccine Have Three Times Risk Of Hospitalization For Flu, Study Suggests | Researchers working on swine flu ‘vaccine corn’ | Lessons of 1976: swine flu, fear, mass vaccinations, wasted millions | Illinois-based Baxter working on vaccine to stop swine flu outbreak in Mexico | ‘Accidental’ Contamination Of Vaccine With Live Avian Flu Virus Virtually Impossible | Officials investigate how bird flu contaminated vaccines in Europe

CBC News
June 2, 2009

The spread of swine flu in Australia, Europe and Asia has nudged the World Health Organization closer to considering declaring a pandemic.

As the flu season gets under way in the southern hemisphere, the H1N1 strain has caused more infections than seasonal flu in Chile, Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s acting assistant director-general, said Tuesday.

The disease has reached 64 countries and infected 18,965 people, causing 117 deaths, WHO said.

“We still are waiting for evidence of really widespread community activity in these countries, and so it’s fair to say that they are in transition and are not quite there yet, which is why we are not in Phase 6 yet,” Fukuda told reporters.

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While this looks like a good start, it is entirely the wrong approach – it’s certainly not something that needs legislation to give you permission to raise your own child. Neither the state, nor the state’s schools, have any kind of ultimate claim on your child. Even if you feel that socialized education is a net benefit, once you feel your child is being indoctrinated for any reason, it is your right as a parent to take charge of your children’s future. And it’s not that parents are perfect or will always make the best decisions for their children – the problem is that the cure is worse than the disease, and historically states cannot be trusted to erode this fundamental right of parents – youth corps, political indoctrination, eugenics, and residential schools are just some of the chilling outcomes.

Flashback: Lunchtime lockdown to promote healthier eating: T.O. school plan | Schools seek more police as crime drops | Police presence in high schools makes the grade | Has your child been CAFed? How the Government plans to record intimate information on every child in Britain | Parents, children to be fingerprinted at initial 250+ nursery schools in UK | Frequent school lockdowns raise questions | CCTV cameras spying on hundreds of classrooms | Armed Police to Roam Toronto High Schools | School removes CCTV cameras from children’s toilets after furious protest from parents

Irv Thomas, Canadian Press
June 2, 2009

Members of the legislature pass the bill at about 1:30 a.m. following marathon debate

Following a marathon debate, the Alberta legislature has passed human rights legislation letting parents pull their children out of lessons on sex, religion or sexual orientation.

Members of the legislature adopted the bill at about 1:30 a.m. MT Tuesday after hearing objections from teachers, school boards and human rights groups saying it should be scrapped.

They wanted the issue dealt with under the Schools Act rather than being enshrined as a human right.

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Flashback: Ontario unveils cap-and-trade legislation | NRTEE Carbon Market Panel is ‘Round Table on Socialist Planning’ | Climate panel presses for federal cap-and-trade system | U.N. ‘Climate Change’ Plan Would Likely Shift Trillions to Form New World Economy | U.N. Environment Head Wants Global Warming Tax | Ontario joins continental WCI cap-and-trade scheme | B.C. carbon tax kicks in on Canada Day | They call it cap and trade, but it’s just another fuel tax | Quebec, Ontario sign historic climate pact | Every adult in Britain should be forced to carry ‘carbon ration cards’, say MPs | CEOs call for ‘aggressive’ action on climate change

Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian
June 2, 2009

Congressional leaders working against a six-month deadline to pass a sweeping package of environmental legislation before global climate change talks begin in Copenhagen in December

Barack Obama is prepared to stake his own political prestige on getting climate change legislation through Congress, and would be willing to intervene directly to ensure passage of America’s first law to reduce the carbon emissions that cause global warming.

Nancy Sutley, who is pivotal in setting Obama’s green agenda as the chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, told the Guardian that the president is ready to use his considerable personal popularity to rally Congress behind a sweeping climate change bill.

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Flashback: ‘New GM’ to emerge from bankruptcy | Auto bailout costs soar, contribute to $50B deficit

Rob Ferguson, Tony Van Alphen, Toronto Star
June 2, 2009

Will taxpayers get their money back from ‘Government Motors’? ‘We are not counting on that,’ PM says. But Ontarians will get a record $18.5 billion deficit

Ontario’s $3.5 billion share of the rescue package for General Motors has helped push the provincial deficit to at least $18.5 billion, a record amount that is almost one-third higher than the McGuinty government’s projection made in March.

Provincial taxpayers now own 3.8 per cent of the iconic automaker, being dubbed Government Motors. The federal government gets another 7.9 per cent for a total Canadian stake in the firm of 11.7 per cent.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed yesterday Ottawa is kicking in $7.1 billion, meaning the two levels of government are providing $10.6 billion to help GM restructure as a smaller company designed to “break even” with production of just 10 million vehicles annually in North America.

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