statism watch

Flashback: French Government To Use Swine Flu Threat In Crack Down On Liberties | Manitoba launches $47M swine flu plan for mass vaccination centres | Swine flu unlikely to become superbug | UK: Half of all pregnant women will refuse swine flu jab, poll reveals | Flu vaccine plan will be too slow: CMAJ | Swine flu jab link to killer nerve disease: Leaked letter reveals concern of neurologists over 25 deaths in America | Canada to order 50.4 million H1N1 vaccine doses – with adjuvant additive | Genetically modified Swine Flu hybrid may provide vaccine yield solution | Greece To Enforce Mandatory Swine Flu Vaccinations | Flu scare a boon to body-bag sales | Washington Post: Swine Flu Vaccine Will Contain Mercury | UK Government Swine Flu Advisor On Vaccine Maker Payroll | Fast-tracked swine flu vaccine will be safe, officials insist | Swine flu: How scared should we be? | Top Epidemiologist Slams Swine Flu Fearmongering | Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers | Swine flu ‘related’ to 1918 pandemic virus – survivors exhibit resistance | Did leak from a laboratory cause swine flu pandemic? | Manitoba First Nations declare swine flu state of emergency | WHO declares swine flu pandemic, no change in Canada’s approach | Manitoba First Nations, health system straining under flu outbreak | Swine flu ‘getting closer’ to pandemic level, WHO official says |  France Considers Mandatory Flu Vaccinations | Children Who Get Flu Vaccine Have Three Times Risk Of Hospitalization For Flu, Study Suggests | Swine Flu May Be Human Error; WHO Investigates Claim | Researchers working on swine flu ‘vaccine corn’ | Lessons of 1976: swine flu, fear, mass vaccinations, wasted millions | Swine Flu: In Mexico, an outbreak of police-state opportunism | 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 | Researchers unlock secrets of 1918 flu pandemic

Maggie Fox, Reuters
September 16, 2009

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The death rate from the pandemic H1N1 swine flu is likely lower than earlier estimates, an expert in infectious diseases said on Wednesday.

New estimates suggest that the death rate compares to a moderate year of seasonal influenza, said Dr Marc Lipsitch of Harvard University.

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Neither the Federal nor the Provincial levels of government want us to know what they’re up to.

Flashback: Ont. Liberals block committee probe of eHealth chiefs | Premier cracks down on expenses | McGuinty had hand in hiring disgraced eHealth CEO | More untendered eHealth spending, Liberal connections emerge | Head of eHealth Ontario is fired amid contracts scandal, gets big package | Personal ties exposed in eHealth’s untendered contracts | Ontario eHealth approved 4.8 million in no-bid contracts | Electronic immunization records needed: Toronto health official

CBC News
September 16, 2009

Opposition renew attacks on Liberals over OLG affair

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty was evasive in his response to allegations that his government has interfered with access-to-information requests.

The allegations of interference by the premier’s office came from Kelly McDougald, the fired head of Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., in a notice of claim for her wrongful dismissal lawsuit.

McDougald said Finance Minister Dwight Duncan told her a freedom-of-information request for expense records at OLG had been “held back as long as possible.”

McDougald further claims one of the premier’s staffers met with her about how to manage the release of the expenses.

The government and political staff are not supposed to interfere in requests filed under the province’s access to information law, Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak said.

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So many of our most committed, idealistic young Canadians being cut down in their prime. The 130th Canadian tragedy of this utterly facile war. It’s very sad, and this is not the way they should be coming home.

Flashback: Afghan front lines take mental toll on military and RCMP | 3 new deaths in Afghanistan push Canadian toll to 101 | Post-traumatic stress disorder’s hidden scars

CBC News
September 16, 2009

The body of Pte. Patrick Lormand, the 130th Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan, returned to Canadian soil on Wednesday in an emotional ceremony at a Canadian military base.

Soldiers, family members and government officials were on hand at Canadian Forces Base Trenton in Ontario as a flag-draped coffin carrying Lormand was unloaded from a military plane.

Lormand, 21, of the 2nd Battalion, Royal 22nd Regiment based near Quebec City, was killed and four others were injured in a roadside blast from an improvised explosive device on Sunday afternoon.

The soldiers were patrolling in the volatile Panjwaii district, where two other soldiers were killed just a week ago.

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We already know that CENTCOM has a massive budget for domestic propaganda operations in the US. Completely unconstitutional, but, hey, they do what they want now.

Flashback: Canadian military to spam Afghan’s cell phones | Put NSA in Charge of Cyber Security, Or the Power Grid Gets It | Pentagon’s terror ‘recidivism’ claims blasted as ‘propaganda’ | Bad news bearers warned to zip it by Kremlin | American Intelligence Contractors Leak Canadian Toronto 18 ‘Terror Training’ Video to Web | Pentagon Front Groups Release Laughable Olympics “Terror” Video | Bombs explode, Washington-based Intelcenter releases yet another terror video, China cracks down on transport security | US Counterinsurgency Manual Leaked, Calls for False Flag Operations, Suspension of Human Rights | Massachusetts Police Get Black Uniforms to Instill Sense of ‘Fear’ | CBC Radio Broadcasts Expose of North American Police State

Lewis Page, The Register
September 16, 2009

The secretive US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has awarded arms globocorp General Dynamics a $10m contract to set up a network of psychological-warfare “influence websites” supporting the Global War On Terror. France and Britain are specifically included as “targeted regions”.

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What you are witnessing is the federalization and amalgamation of the US police forces into the DHS. These fusion centres are stacked with surveillance technology. The SS created the exact same sort of institution in 1939 through the amalgamation of various security forces. In German (Reichssicherheitshauptamt), it was called the Reich (Homeland) Security Main Office. Coincidence? Or not so much? Once these institutions are formed, like weapons of war, all they await is the intent to be used against the people. One could hardly ask for a better illustration of the militarization of civilian enforcement agencies. And spooks – StatismWatch sees you reading this stuff from Quantico, from Arlington, from mil.gov, from Fintrac, from the CSE (Canada’s NSA) and various letter agencies – we’re calling you out. You know this kind of centralization of power is wrong. It doesn’t matter if you work in the mail room – you can do something about this. Take a page from orgs like Oath Keepers.

Flashback: Ground broken on $3.4 billion Homeland Security complex | Military challenge: Make spy data more accessible

John Byrne, RawStory
September 16, 2009

In a move raising eyebrows among civil liberties advocates, the Department of Homeland Security announced Monday that it would give so-called local and state “fusion centers” access to classified military intelligence in Pentagon databases.

Fusion centers are hubs for local law enforcement, the private sector and the intelligence community, and were created in an effort to fight terrorism. There are more than seventy known centers across the United States.

The decision to give fusion centers access to classified intelligence appears to a shift in policy by Homeland Security. In July, Secretary Janet Napolitano “that fusion centers were not intended to have a military presence, and that she was not aware of ones that did,” according to the New York Times.

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Some draw our eyes by being great,
False pomp conceals mere wood within,
And legislators rang’d in state
Are oft but wisdom in machine.

-Johnathan Swift, The Puppet Show

Flashback: Afghan vote called ‘mockery’ | Accusations over Afghan vote rigging | Has Karzai overstayed his welcome? | Britain and US prepared to open talks with the Taliban | Afghan President Karzai registers for re-election, picks warlord as running mate | Afghanistan needs 4,000 extra soldiers for elections: NATO | Canadian troops could soon target Afghan drug trade: top soldier | Reports reveal concerns over drug use among Canadian military | Afghan government sacks Kandahar governor | US faces downward spiral in Afghan war, says leaked intelligence report | NATO to let troops fight Afghan drug lords | Karzai’s kin linked to heroin trafficking | Afghani Narco-state Continues to Blossom under Puppet President

Golnar Motevalli, Reuters
September 16, 2009

Election officials issue preliminary results giving him 54.6 per cent of vote, but EU says a third might be suspect due to fraud

The cover of the album ‘A Farewell to Kings‘ by Rush (Lyrics)

Afghan President Hamid Karzai won last month’s presidential election outright in the first round, election officials said today, but the European Union said more than a third of his votes might be suspect because of fraud.

Afghan election authorities issued complete preliminary results showing Mr. Karzai received 54.6 per cent of the vote. His main challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, got 27.8 per cent. The results are not final until approved by a separate election fraud watchdog, which has called for a recount of about 10 per cent of polling stations. But a campaign spokesman for Mr. Karzai said the result made it almost impossible that any probe could overturn the outcome. Only a “miracle” for his opponents could prevent Mr. Karzai winning, Waheed Omar said.

A spokesman for Mr. Abdullah had no immediate reaction.

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Well, you’re going to be unemployed for years, but the biggest banks are making record profits, so the economy is doing fine, just a little slow, or so we’re told.

Recent: US credit shrinks at Great Depression rate prompting fears of double-dip recession | Nassim Taleb on the economy: ‘We still have the same disease’ | Flaherty sees deficit, debt, and timetable to return to surplus all expanding | Investors dump money market funds | Scotiabank: Global economy set to recover, China and developing nations to lead | More US Bank Failures and The Coming Deposit Insurance Bailout | Underwhelming GDP growth fails to move stocks, loonie | A Stock Market Rally Engineered by Government | Central bank of Canada stands ready to inflate currency in response to strong loonie | Bank of Canada declares recession over | Second wave of economic crisis coming, international regulation necessary Brown warns | Budget officer ‘can’t tell’ if stimulus plan working

Iain Marlow, Toronto Star
September 16, 2009

Unemployment in Canada will continue to rise over the next year to almost 10 per cent, despite the federal government’s stimulus package and global signs that the great recession seems to be ending, the OECD said Wednesday.

Canada’s unemployment rate, which currently sits at 8.7 per cent, is predicted to rise to almost 10 per cent next year, the report said, bringing OECD unemployment to a record postwar high.

“There are growing signs that the worst may be over and that a recovery may be in sight,” the report noted. “But the short-term employment outlook is grim.”

For Canada, employment peaked in October 2008, but has since dropped off by more than 486,000 full-time jobs, many of them in Ontario’s hard-hit manufacturing sector.

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Buried way down in the middle of this article is the following single sentence. “After leaving the White House, Harper proceeded to a private round-table meeting with leaders of the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations.” This was a summons. The CFR is, effectively, the real government of the USA. They write much of the policy that the Congress then rubber-stamps without reading. Go pick up a copy of their magazine, Foreign Relations. In it you’ll find past and present heads of state debating how the country should be run. You basically have to be a member of the CFR or the Trilateral Commission to achieve high office in the USA. Hillary Clinton recently stated ‘the CFR tells the government what it should be doing’. You don’t say! Obama is surrounded by CFR and Brookings advisors. You’ve really got to read this article exposing the CFR as part of an international network of councils with its roots in the British Empire. You will be blown away. (It’s also worth noting Peter Van Loan was present as well, no doubt to find out how to best adapt onerous US security measures in Canada.) And don’t think that means this journal supports Ignatieff, an interventionist and a continental integrationist. calling Harper an ‘amateur’, and has been honoured by the CFR. This is like wrestling. It’s performance. Harper didn’t fly to Washington to talk about hockey. Are we really this stupid? And it’s not as though Canadian journalism will tell us this stuff so we’ll sit on the couch eating cheesies, thinking this summit was about hockey and the environment, and getting owned unless we wake up.

Flashback: Hillary Clinton: ‘CFR Tells Government What It Should Be Doing’ | John Manley to ‘bridge divide’ between business and government as new CCCE chief | Flaherty appoints business leaders to economic advisory council | CFR-Brookings to Dominate Obama Strategy | John Manley, committed globalist, to chair Munk Centre’s School of International Studies | Obama, like McCain, surrounds himself with elite CFR, Brookings powerbrokers | History: How the US Government Was Overthrown In Three Easy Steps | New Canadian think-tank to study foreign relations, modelled after CFR

Mitch Potter, Toronto Star
September 16, 2009

WASHINGTON – Prime Minister Stephen Harper won reassuring words on the trade front during his first visit to Barack Obama’s White House.

Acknowledging Canadian worries over Buy American-style protectionism, the U.S. President today declared the overall health of cross-border commerce “robust” and vowed to ensure it remains so.

“Canada continues to be a huge trading partner to the United States. There is no prospect of any budding trade wars between our two countries,” Obama told reporters on the heels of a 70-minute tête-à-tête with Harper in the Oval Office.

Obama hinted at possible solutions to the “irritants” of Buy American trade rules, saying the two countries have made progress in talks. “There appears to be ways to deal with this bilaterally but also, potentially, multilaterally,” Obama said, striking a positive pro-trade note that will likely be echoed next week when the two leaders meet again at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

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