statism watch

Flashback: Prentice tables bill to expand NWT park under UNESCO | American Stonehenge: Monumental Instructions for the Post-Apocalypse | Rich countries, corporations launch great land grab | Beijing peasants bullied, beaten off of family farms by state-developer blocs | 40,000 sq km to be signed over to UNESCO | Canada expanding parkland at ‘extraordinary’ pace | Ontario places vast boreal area under protection, 22% of province off limits to development | Manitoba’s boreal forest touted for UNESCO status | Get set – the future starts now | Today’s suburbs, tomorrow’s slums?

Tom Leonard, The Telegraph
June 12, 2009

Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic “shrink to survive” proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline.

The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature.

Local politicians believe the city must contract by as much as 40 per cent, concentrating the dwindling population and local services into a more viable area.

The radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint.

Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached by the US government and a group of charities who want him to apply what he has learnt to the rest of the country.

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Thank you, Jennifer Stoddardt. We need this and we need it now.

Flashback: Toronto police board challenges chief on CCTV deterrence, demands ‘phase-in’ | Ontario’s high-tech driver’s licences pose privacy risk: watchdog | Former privacy czar Radwanski acquitted of fraud charges | UK House of Lords warns over ’surveillance state’ | Radical change needed in privacy protection, Ont. watchdog says | Was Canada’s Privacy Commissioner targeted for opposition to intrusive security policies? | Hide IDs in court rulings, privacy chief says | Privacy breaches ‘epidemic,’ commissioner says | Ontario Privacy Czar Worried about High-Tech Licences | Privacy International responds to Ontario Privacy Commissioner ruling on CCTV | Ontario privacy chief gives green light to TTC surveillance plans | Security measures threaten privacy, Canadians fear

Jim Bronskill, Canadian Press
June 12, 2009

OTTAWA–A House of Commons committee says the federal privacy law should be expanded to cover new technologies such as live surveillance-camera feeds and DNA swabs collected from suspects.

Currently the Privacy Act deals only with information collected by the government in recorded form, such as papers, tapes and computer files.

In a report tabled Friday, the MPs also advocate giving Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart a clear public-education mandate and making government departments tell Parliament more about their privacy-related activities.

In addition, they endorse the idea of a new provision requiring agencies to protect personal information with proper security safeguards.

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Fine – charge them in a federal court. Clever attempt to block the report, though.

Flashback: Mounties want to bar Taser inquiry from finding misconduct | RCMP spokesman told to hold off correcting false details of Dziekanski incident, inquiry hears | RCMP supervising officer contradicts earlier testimony in Dziekanski inquiry | RCMP to face no charges in case of TASERed Polish immigrant: Report | Mountie involved in fatal crash was supervisor at time of airport Taser death | Perjury: Is it different for cops? | Mounties censor Taser report

CBC News
June 12, 2009

B.C. Supreme Court’s decision on officers’ challenge expected Monday

The commissioner of the public inquiry into Robert Dziekanski’s death has made criminal allegations against the four Mounties involved in the 2007 Taser incident, a lawyer for the officers charged Friday.

Lawyers for the four officers have launched a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court arguing that no provincial inquiry has jurisdiction to make findings of misconduct against federal police.

Ravi Hira, one of the lawyers, said in court Friday that the draft findings of the inquiry are out of bounds because they accuse the officers of serious criminal acts.

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Flashback: Canadian Courts don’t buy word of government | Court orders Ottawa to let Abdelrazik return to Canada | Committee calls on Cannon to let Abdelrazik appear in Ottawa | Canadians secretly interrogated Abdelrazik, papers show | Parade of excuses continues as Ottawa denies citizen’s repatriation | Supporters defy law, buy plane ticket for Montrealer stuck in Sudan | Ottawa balks at travel permit for man trapped in Sudan | CSIS faces review in Khadr case | Family of Canadian stranded by no-fly list to make public appeal

Joanna Smith, Toronto Star
June 12, 2009

Ottawa refuses to issue emergency passport despite being under court order to help bring Abousfian Abdelrazik to Canada

OTTAWA – A Montreal man stranded at the Canadian embassy in Sudan for more than a year did not board a flight home today that had been paid for by his supporters.

The Canadian government did not issue the emergency passport Abousfian Abdelrazik would have needed to catch his flight to Abu Dhabi for the first leg of a journey home to Montreal.

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The US Federal Reserve has a major impact on Canadian monetary policy, as well – so Canadians should be rooting for this initiative to hold them accountable for the huge sums they’ve disbursed without any requirement to account for them. We can only hope Congressman Ron Paul succeeds and blows this mafia case wide open.

Flashback: Geithner Said to Have Prevailed on the Bailout | Banks won’t say where U.S. bailout money going | Paulson, Bernanke defend change of plan: $700-billion now to be given directly to banks | Congress Accuses Federal Reserve Bagman Of Bailout “Bait and Switch” During Angry Hearing | U.S. government won’t use bailout fund to buy troubled assets | The Bush gang’s parting gift: a final, frantic looting of public wealth | Why Paulson’s Plan is a Fraud | Congressman Ron Paul: Bailout Will Destroy Dollar, World Economy | Congressman Ron Paul Schools Fed Chairman Bernanke on the Bailout Plan | Private Federal Reserve Makes Power Grab as Bush, McCain Urge Congress to Approve Plan

Steve Watson, Infowars.net
June 12, 2009

A great victory in the ongoing battle to wrestle back control of US monetary policy from privately owned special interests was won yesterday with the announcement that HR 1207, Ron Paul’s “audit the Fed” bill, will be debated by the full House of Representatives.

Months of activism on behalf of the Texas Congressman’s supporters finally paid off as Ohio Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich became the bill’s 218th co-sponsor, giving the bill the majority support it needed to move out of committee.

Though this is indeed cause for celebration, a much greater effort will be needed to ensure the bill is passed into law.

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Flashback: ‘New world order’ needs better economic grounding: Carney | Harper lays out stimulus spending in progress report | ‘Reduced pace of deterioration’ indicates economy on the mend: Flaherty | Federal deficit to top $50B

Derek DeCloet, The Globe and Mail
June 12, 2009

“We’re not in the pothole business in the government of Canada,” said the Finance Minister, just 19 months ago. Indeed not. Potholes are for the pikers in lower levels of public life. Our national government is preoccupied with more serious things.

Like the storm sewer business, for example. A new one is being installed along a street in St. Thomas, Ont. Back when Tories were Tories, that was known as “somebody else’s problem.” Now it’s part of Canada’s recovery plan, worthy of $1-million to $5-million in federal money. James Flaherty Stimulus Enterprises Corp. is also pleased to announce its expansion into roofing business, the bike lane business, the outdoor pool business, the rifle-range business (federal cash is going into a new one in Rossland, B.C.), the bridge business and the road repair business, including – among many similar projects – the repaving of a stretch of highway near Truro, N.S. (Are there any potholes along Route 212? Inquiring minds want to know.)

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