statism watch

There are two stories here: the continuing, sordid enumeration of the church’s crimes against children – and the fact that Canadian border agents now feel they have the right to search your computers and media with impunity despite section 8 charter protections against unreasonable search and seizure. The wanton destruction of Canadian’s rights cannot be justified. The existence of criminals is no excuse to treat us all like criminals.

Update (2009/10/2): Further to the constitutional argument above, Lahey could have been apprehended decades ago if police hadn’t dropped the ball on (or been warned off, for all we know) testimony given at the time that fingered him for possession of child porn in the 1980s. The famous edict of Crimen Sollicitationis has revealed that cases of this sort have gone straight to the top of the Catholic church to be dealt with via a secret trial process since the 1960s:

Flashback: Pope ‘led cover-up of child abuse by priests’ | Abuse ‘endemic’ in Irish Roman Catholic schools: Report

CBC News
October 1, 2009

Bishop Raymond Lahey was released on $9,000 bail after turning himself in to Ottawa police on Thursday afternoon to face charges of possessing and importing child pornography.

The Roman Catholic cleric, who resigned his post in Nova Scotia on the weekend before news of the charges broke, has been ordered to stay away from parks and from children. He is not allowed to use the internet, and while he is free he is to stay in Rogersville, N.B. The town is the site of a Trappist monastery.

His next court date is Nov. 4 in Ottawa.

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Flashback: Federal court limits Afghan detainee torture probe | Watchdog rejects government bid to delay Afghan detainee inquiry | Ottawa moves to block Afghanistan detainee torture hearings again | Bid to Block Afghan Detainee Inquiry Slammed | What Ottawa doesn’t want you to know: Government was told detainees faced ‘extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture and detention without trial’

Murray Brewster, Canadian Press
October 1, 2009

OTTAWA–A public hearing into what the Canadian army may have known about the alleged torture of Taliban prisoners in Kandahar, has been postponed amid accusations of government obstruction.

The Military Police Complaints Commission has been overwhelmed with motions filed by federal government lawyers and has decided to delay the opening of the inquiry, slated for Monday, until Wednesday.

The delay came as the Conservative government faced more accusations that it’s trying to obstruct the investigation into allegations that Canada allowed the transfer of prisoners to Afghan jails, even though torture was considered commonplace.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay denied Thursday in the House of Commons that federal lawyers are trying to block the testimony of a key witness, diplomat Richard Colvin.

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Flashback: More defects, exclusions in key climate warming data are uncovered | Climate change complacency `global suicide pact,’ UN told | Washington Post Meteorologist: A Skeptical Take on Global Warming | Global warming is the new religion of First World urban elites | Warming oceans mean less cloud cover | Global Warming or Global Cooling? A New Trend in Climate Alarmism | Counterpoint: Climate skepticism for beginners | E-mails indicate EPA suppressed report skeptical of global warming | Polar bear expert barred from conference by global warming advocates | Global warming alarmists out in cold | Revealed: Antarctic ice growing, not shrinking | Scientists warn global warming accelerating | Top Japanese Scientists: Warming Is Not Caused By Human Activity | IPCC caught with false figures, doubt cast on accuracy of global temperature record

Terence Corcoran, National Post
October 1, 2009

The discovery of more data distortion further undermines the claim of recent temperature records. The IPCC is now on wobbly legs at all four corners

The official United Nation’s global warming agency, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is a four-legged stool that is fast losing its legs. To carry the message of man-made global warming theory to the world, the IPCC has depended on 1) computer models, 2) data collection, 3) long-range temperature forecasting and 4) communication. None of these efforts are sitting on firm ground.

Over the past month, one of the IPCC’s top climate scientists, Mojib Latif, attempted to explain that even if global temperatures were to cool over the next 10 to 20 years, that would not mean that man-made global warming is no longer catastrophic. It was a tough case to make, and it is not clear Mr. Latif succeeded. In a presentation to a world climate conference in early September, Mr. Latif rambled somewhat and veered off into inscrutable language that is now embedded in a million blog posts attempting to prove one thing or another.

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And why would the IPCC push fake data? To convince us we need an international global warming tax, a massive international trade in carbon credits, and micromanagement of global populations through carbon taxation and rationing. In other words, control on a global scale.

Flashback: Climate change complacency `global suicide pact,’ UN told | Washington Post Meteorologist: A Skeptical Take on Global Warming | Global warming is the new religion of First World urban elites | Warming oceans mean less cloud cover | Global Warming or Global Cooling? A New Trend in Climate Alarmism | Counterpoint: Climate skepticism for beginners | E-mails indicate EPA suppressed report skeptical of global warming | Polar bear expert barred from conference by global warming advocates | Global warming alarmists out in cold | Revealed: Antarctic ice growing, not shrinking | Scientists warn global warming accelerating | Top Japanese Scientists: Warming Is Not Caused By Human Activity | IPCC caught with false figures, doubt cast on accuracy of global temperature record

Ross McKitrick, Financial Post
October 1, 2009

Only by playing with data can scientists come up with the infamous ‘hockey stick’ graph of global warming

Beginning in 2003, I worked with Stephen McIntyre to replicate a famous result in paleoclimatology known as the Hockey Stick graph. Developed by a U.S. climatologist named Michael Mann, it was a statistical compilation of tree ring data supposedly proving that air temperatures had been stable for 900 years, then soared off the charts in the 20th century. Prior to the publication of the Hockey Stick, scientists had held that the medieval-era was warmer than the present, making the scale of 20th century global warming seem relatively unimportant. The dramatic revision to this view occasioned by the Hockey Stick’s publication made it the poster child of the global warming movement. It was featured prominently in a 2001 report of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as well as government websites and countless review reports.

Steve and I showed that the mathematics behind the Mann Hockey Stick were badly flawed, such that its shape was determined by suspect bristlecone tree ring data. Controversies quickly piled up: Two expert panels involving the U.S. National Academy of Sciences were asked to investigate, the U.S. Congress held a hearing, and the media followed the story around the world.

The expert reports upheld all of our criticisms of the Mann Hockey Stick, both of the mathematics and of its reliance on flawed bristlecone pine data. One of the panels, however, argued that while the Mann Hockey Stick itself was flawed, a series of other studies published since 1998 had similar shapes, thus providing support for the view that the late 20th century is unusually warm. The IPCC also made this argument in its 2007 report. But the second expert panel, led by statistician Edward Wegman, pointed out that the other studies are not independent. They are written by the same small circle of authors, only the names are in different orders, and they reuse the same few data climate proxy series over and over.

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There are two developing narratives on this story: One, Michael Hilton is essentially just a scam artist. Two, APF is one branch of a multinational paramilitary with roots in Eastern Europe and California security firms itching for the contract to hold GITMO prisoners in a new Supermax prison. Of course, there is no necessary dichotomy between these two stories, and the truth may be some combination of the two. Place your bets. One thing is for certain – the cancer of militarization is metastasising across the culture.

Update (2009/10/2): Infowars.com has reporters on the ground in Hardin, Montana, and broke the story on their radio show that there is an outstanding warrant in Wyoming for the arrest of APF’s spokesman Michael Hilton. Their latest online coverage of APF may be found here.

Update (2009/10/6): The Billings Gazette is now reporting that Hilton has been ordered to appear before a Californian court on October 29 over ‘an unpaid judgment in a fraud lawsuit’, with a stack of financial documentation in tow. Perhaps the public will learn at that point how he’s been paying for his trips to Hardin.

Flashback: Private Paramilitary ‘American Police Force’ Corporation Takes Over Small Town Police Force and Prisoner-Less Jail | Guantanamo January closing deadline may slip | Tory plans for U.S.-style prisons slammed in report | Maximum Alert: U.S. Troops Now Occupying America | More troops on the streets: U.S. terror alert expands to transit and stadiums | US Police to get access to classified military intelligence | Alabama County May Call In Troops To Perform Law Enforcement Duties | US Military To Work With FEMA During Swine Flu Pandemic | Government of Canada Participates in Major US Homeland Security Exercise | Pentagon-handpicked 9/11 families want Gitmo kept open | US FEMA emergency management, Israeli IDF team up for martial law exercises | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | British Army to Police Medicine Hat During Urban Warfare Drills | Obama administration: Guantanamo detainees have ‘no constitutional rights’ | Military may patrol bar zone in Barrie | Military readies reservists for threats to ‘domestic front’ | US Urban Warfare Drills Linked To Coming Economic Rage | Military and police practice integration during Olympic security exercises | Troops in the Streets: Army Brigades Standing By to Assist in Disasters, Help Quell Dissent | Canada, U.S. agree to use each other’s troops in civil emergencies

Matthew Brown, Associated Press
October 1, 2009

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana’s attorney general launched an investigation Thursday into a California company that wants to take over an empty jail in the rural city of Hardin, following revelations that the company’s lead figure is a convicted felon with a history of fraud.

Michael Hilton, who formed Santa Ana, Calif.-based American Police Force in March, came to Hardin last month promising to fill the city’s never-used jail and build a large military and law enforcement training center.

Hilton has a decades-long track record of fraudulent activities and spent several years in a California prison on grand theft charges. A native of Montenegro, he uses at least 17 aliases.

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Shudder. Yeah, put the warmonger in charge of the continent. Great idea!

Flashback: Advance polls open in Irish vote on Lisbon EU constitution | New Czech move to block ratification of EU constitution | Icelandic parliament rolls over, votes for EU membership | Ireland to hold second referendum on Lisbon Treaty | EU leaders reassure Irish in latest attempt to revive Lisbon treaty | Leaked 1955 Bilderberg Docs Outline Plan For Single European Currency | Iceland to be fast-tracked into the EU | Irish to vote on EU treaty again as experts warn Britain could be signed up within a year | You’re not doing it right: New Irish vote on EU integration ‘legal’ | Harper, Sarkozy vow to work toward Canada-EU deal | Irish ‘need new EU treaty vote’ | Lisbon treaty: Pressure on Ireland for second vote | EU tries to isolate Irish after treaty rejection | EU grapples with Irish ‘No’ vote, members consider ratification options | Defiant Ireland set to quash Europe-wide constitutional moves | Ireland Set To Vote On EU Dictatorship | Irish PM Accuses EU Constitution No Vote Coalition of ‘Sheer Inaccuracy and Absurdity’ | Ireland Only Country to Hold Referendum on Contentious EU Constitution | European Parliament Members Revolt Over Treaty of Lisbon

The Daily Mail
October 1, 2009

Tony Blair is set to become EU President within weeks if Ireland votes ‘Yes’ in its referendum on the Lisbon Treaty tomorrow.

The former prime minister’s candidacy for the new post will be rushed through as quickly as possible, according to government sources.

Mr Blair is among the favourites to become the first President of the European Union, a role that is chosen by the EU’s 27 leaders and not by voters.

Such an appointment would restore him to the world stage as well as boost his long-term income.

Mr Blair has refused to rule himself in or out of the running, but did say that ‘it is good to have fans’ for a possible candidacy.

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And yet there’s no charge for police ‘impersonating protestors’. Funny how that works.

Flashback: G20 police ‘used undercover men to incite crowds’ | Amateur video blasts G20 death coverup | G20 protests: Riot police, or rioting police? | UK: Police warn of ’summer of rage’ due to recession | Rioters Were Paid To Provoke the Police in Bulgaria | Greek Cops Caught on Video Posing as Anarchists | ACLU wants probe into police-staged DNC protest | Ex-Italian President: Provocateur Riots Then “Beat The Shit Out Of Protesters” | OPP officer posed as journalist during 2007 Mohawk protest | Police inspector posed as militant protester | Quebec police admit agents posed as protesters

Leah Borromeo, The Guardian
October 1, 2009

With 10 others, I have been charged with impersonating a police officer, punishable by six months’ jail, for a G20 protest. Why?

Despite the fact that photographs from the first day of the G20 protests in April 2009 show me astride an armoured personnel carrier in black bra and blue boiler suit with another woman straddling me in red stockings, lipstick and heels, the Crown Prosecution Service has charged me and 10 others with impersonating police officers. We’ve been charged with two counts under Section 90 of the Police Act 1996 – the greater of which carries with it six months in prison.

The vehicle, owned by anarchist pranksters the Space Hijackers, bore a number of fake CCTV cameras bolted onto its turret, a plastic pipe with holes in it for a gun and a bumper sticker that read “How Do You Like My Driving? 0800 F**K YOU”. It blared Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries from a sound system. If you can show me a police force that does all that, I can show you a police force on acid.

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Don’t panic! Unless there’s some major mutation of this virus – which scientists have said is unlikely – then you have more to fear from the ordinary seasonal flu than the dreaded ’swine flu’. It’s worth remembering that the exact same thing happened in 1976 – and the media blew it up into a crisis then, as well.

Flashback: Canadian taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | Seasonal flu shot may increase H1N1 risk | Swine flu death rate similar to seasonal flu: expert | 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 | 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? | Swine Flu May Be Human Error; WHO Investigates Claim | 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 | Researchers unlock secrets of 1918 flu pandemic

Theresa Boyle, Toronto Star
October 1, 2009

The much-anticipated second wave of the swine flu virus has arrived in Ontario, a senior provincial health official says.

“What we’ve seen in the last few days is a number of cases that have come to emerg departments…. It’s announcing probably the second wave of H1N1,” Dr. Don Low, head of the public health laboratories with the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, said late Wednesday.

The flu activity is concentrated primarily in Toronto, Hamilton and London, he said. There have been very few cases of H1N1 in Ontario over the last several weeks, he noted. But on Monday, six new cases were confirmed.

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Flashback: The Economy is a Lie, too | Unemployed to reach postwar high: OECD | 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

CBC News
October 1, 2009

Initial claims spike even as total number of people receiving benefits declines

Got you there, MacKay. Granted, if people were paying attention, they’d know this has been your position for some time:

Flashback: ‘Some’ Troops to stay in Afghanistan past 2011: McKay

CBC News
October 1, 2009

The Conservative government is being asked to clarify its position on whether Canada will remain at war in Afghanistan after Parliament’s deadline passes to pull out combat troops.

Questions arose after Defence Minister Peter MacKay said on Tuesday that the government was considering whether Canada’s 300 soldier reconstruction team, called PRT, could remain in Kandahar after 2011.

But he appeared to add to the confusion on Wednesday when he refused to rule out the possibility of the Canadian military training teams remaining in Kandahar.

“Well there’s been no decision taken on that,” he said.

In March 2008, the parliamentary motion agreed to by the Conservatives called on the government to “end its presence in Kandahar as of July, 2011.” It did not make concessions for leaving any troops behind.

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