statism watch

This has been planned for some time now. The fact that these measures were discussed under Bush II should be enough to demonstrate just how illusory 2 party ‘democracy’ really is.

Flashback: HR 1207: Battle To Audit The Fed Has Only Just Begun | Private Federal Reserve Makes Power Grab as Bush, McCain Urge Congress to Approve Plan | Treasury’s Plan Would Give Fed Wide New Power | Financial ’super cop’ role for Fed

Steve Watson, Infowars.net
June 16, 2009

Bankers get what they lobbied for, media reports total lack of transparency as “regulation”

The privately owned and run Federal Reserve is to be handed sweeping new powers under Obama administration proposals in a deal that will please bankers who lobbied for more Fed “oversight” of their activities.

The new rules would see the Fed given the authority to “regulate” any company whose activity it believes could threaten the economy and the markets.

“The final plan due to be released on Wednesday — which originally aimed to streamline and consolidate banking and securities regulation in one or two agencies — now is expected to sidestep most jurisdictional disputes and simply impose across the board standards to be applied by all financial regulators, according to administration and industry sources, ” reports the Washington Times.

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Flashback: China begins internet ‘blackout’ ahead of Tiananmen anniversary | Next up for France: police keyloggers and Web censorship | France passes ‘three strikes’ Internet surveillance law | EU wants ‘Internet G12′ to govern cyberspace | UK Home Secretary has secret plan to surveil, ‘Master the Internet’ | US Bill proposes ISPs, Wi-Fi keep logs for police | New law to give police access to online exchanges | China restarts online crackdown | Australia to Implement Mandatory Internet Censorship | Sweden approves wiretapping law

Von Markus, Netzpolitiks.org
June 16, 2009

Germany is on the verge of censoring its Internet: The government – a grand coalition between the German social democrats and conservative party – seems united in its decision: On Thursday the parliament is to vote on the erection of an internet censorship architecture.

The Minister for Family Affairs Ursula von der Leyen kicked off and lead the discussions within the German Federal Government to block Internet sites in order to fight child pornography. The general idea is to build a censorship architecture enabling the government to block content containing child pornography. [Ed. Note: A likely story.] The Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) is to administer the lists of sites to be blocked and the internet providers obliged to erect the secret censorship architecture for the government.

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Do they have an evil sheriff, too?

Flashback: New video shows officer shove, then taser 72-year-old great grandmother | Dziekanski’s ‘combative behaviour’ justified Taser jolt: Mountie | Cops Taser Drowned Dad’s Distraught Son | US Cops Tase 54 Year Old Woman For Sitting In Wrong Seat At Football Game | Family sues police claiming Taser raid on autistic son in own bedroom | Tasering of mom with baby ‘necessary’ in order to take child, police say | Mounties pinned me down in cell and tasered me, Manitoba girl says | RCMP Taser Confused, Hospitalized 82 Year Old

Haroon Siddique, The Guardian
June 16, 2009

IPCC inquiry over footage showing man shot twice with Taser in Nottingham city centre

The police watchdog is to carry out an independent inquiry after a man was shot twice with a Taser in Nottingham city centre in an incident filmed by a bystander and posted on the internet.

The mobile phone video, which had been viewed more than 35,000 times on YouTube by this afternoon, also shows the 40-year-old being punched in the head during the arrest in the early hours yesterday.

“Footage of this incident, which many people will now have seen, is of sufficient concern to merit a fully independent investigation,” said Amerdeep Somal from the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

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This is why media consolidation is such a threat to liberty, and why it’s so important to voluntarily support alternative media sources.

Flashback: Supreme Court to rule on ‘tidal-wave’ of press freedom cases | UK MPs seek to censor the media | Harper to create government-run media centre: report | Cheney Orders Media To Sell Attack On Iran | The Death of Canadian Journalism | Prepackaged News

Paul Joseph Watson, PrisonPlanet.com
June 16, 2009

Corporate news giant imitates Communist China, Soviet Union and North Korea, blocks dissenting voices to promote Obama health care agenda

Completely dispensing with any notion of independence or impartiality, ABC News is set to mimic the likes of Communist China and North Korea by completely turning its news coverage over to the government and excluding any dissenting opinions to promote President Obama’s health care agenda.

The night of Wednesday June 24th will officially herald the open commencement of state run news, imitating similar systems in historical dictatorships such as the Soviet Union, where Pravda was the official propaganda organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party from 1912 to 1991.

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According to this admittedly political document, the sky is falling. Surrender your freedoms! If Obama fails at getting this through, the international agenda to tax and control every aspect of your life will be dealt a severe setback – so watch as they pull out all the stops on this.

Flashback: Obama to stake reputation on fast-tracked climate bill | 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 16, 2009

Climate impacts report warns of flooding, heat waves, drought and loss of wildlife that will occur if Americans fail to act on global warming

The Obama administration unveiled the most authoritative report to date on the effects of global warming in America today in an effort to persuade the public of the need to act now to prevent the sweeping and life-altering consequences of global warming.

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RFID and biometric enabled cards are being introduced across the UK, Canada, the US, and other European jurisdictions as well. Mr. Steyn is correct – we are being conditioned to accept the idea of being called on to produce our papers in stages. In Canada, the rationale is border security. The real agenda is to introduce a de facto international identity tracking system, an important step down the road to a micromanaged world state. We’re being lied to, and this threat to our liberty and sovereignty has got to go.

Flashback: Ontario’s high-tech driver’s licences pose privacy risk: watchdog | Moratorium sought on RFID driver’s licenses | Smart licences now available for border-hopping Quebecers | UK Pilots threaten strike over ID card plan | UK Home Secretary: People ‘can’t wait’ for biometric ID cards | Saskatchewan adopting US-mandated ID card, to include RFID chip, facial recognition | North American ID card in the works through SPP

Johan Steyn, The Guardian
June 16, 2009

The Identity Cards Act was introduced during the period of global insecurity following 9/11 – and during what some would say was the paranoia of the era of President Bush and his vice-president Dick Cheney. The rule of law in the US was under constant threat, the Patriot Act and the Homelands Security Act spring to mind. But it is noteworthy that even in the darkest days of the threats to the rule of law no attempt was made to establish a national identity card system in the US. [Ed. Note: That's completely wrong. Google 'Real ID act' and 'WHTI'] The Anglo-American tradition of civil liberties remained strong. In our country New Labour, embracing the idea that the rules of law had changed, and, reinforced by a huge parliamentary majority, felt confident enough to introduce ID card legislation in 2006. But it soon became clear that on the most favourable view for the government the country was divided on the desirability of an ID card system. Prudence dictated, therefore, that the scheme should be introduced in a phased way to condition and soften up public opposition.

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Follow the latest on the #iranelection channel on Twitter or, alternatively, here. And here are a few simple things you can do to help protect these students as they blog their way towards Iran’s future: Cyberwar guide for Iran elections.

Flashback: Gunfire breaks out at massive Tehran protest | Iranian protesters trash Tehran | Blast at Iranian mosque raises tensions in run-up to presidential election | Netanyahu: We may be forced to attack Iran | Neo-cons still preparing for Iran attack | US scales up covert destabilization efforts in Iran, continues funding ‘al-Qaeda’ | Israelis ‘rehearse Iran attack’ | Bush ‘plans Iran air strike by August’ | U.S. Navy starts exercises in Gulf waters | U.S. National Intelligence Estimate: Iran stopped nuclear weapons work in 2003 | Cheney Orders Media To Sell Attack On Iran | Former CIA Officer – US Plans Nuclear Attack On Iran | U.S. sending third aircraft carrier to the Middle East | US aircraft carriers in Persian Gulf | Investigative Reporter Seymour Hersh: US Indirectly Funding Al-Qaeda Linked Sunni Groups in Move to Counter Iran

CBC News
June 16, 2009

Political dissent in Iran in the aftermath of the national election has spread not only to the streets of Tehran, but also online, where protesters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and observers of the election have battled to get news out of the country for three days.

Cellphone service was restored Sunday after it had been down since Saturday, but Iranians could still not send text messages from their mobile phones. Government filters have also cracked down on opposition party websites and social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as mobile text messaging services. Satellite internet connections have also been disrupted.

But that hasn’t prevented bloggers and activists reporting from Iran by using proxy servers to get around the censors in a game of cat and mouse.

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