statism watch

Flashback: ACTA Threatens Made-in-Canada Copyright Policy | More ACTA Details Leak: It’s An Entertainment Industry Wishlist | Six Days Left: Canadian Net Users Caught As Copyright Consultation Nears Conclusion | MP Charlie Angus on copyright: industry lobby pulling for ‘dead business model’ | Ottawa denies altering public’s ECopyright Consultation submissions | Security guards stop MPs, students from distributing fair use flyers at Toronto copyright townhall | Can The Public Be Heard On Copyright Issues? | Copyright Consultation Launches: Time For Canadians To Speak Out | Third stab at copyright law ‘reform’ to kick off with consultations | Time to slay Canadian file-sharing myths | Canadian copyright lobbyists leaned on “independent” researchers to change report on file-sharing | Think tank plagiarizes, pulls report on Canadian piracy | Obama Administration Claims Copyright Treaty Involves State Secrets | Latest Round of Closed-Door ACTA Copyright Negotiations Wrap Up | Digital rights groups sue for access to secret ACTA treaty | Critics waging a cyber offensive to fight copyright changes | Canadian Industry Minister lies about Canadian DMCA on national radio, then hangs up | The Canadian DMCA: Check the Fine Print | Government ready to drop copyright bomb | Transparency needed on ACTA | Revamped copyright law targets electronic devices | New Attempt to Align Canada’s Copyright Act with USA Coming Soon | Canadian DMCA To Be Introduced Tomorrow Morning?

David Kravets, Wired.com
November 20, 2009

If you don’t back a copyright treaty being negotiated in secret, you must want to destroy Hollywood, its blockbuster movies and all the jobs they create.

At least that’s the message from the Motion Picture Association of America.

It’s spelled out in a Thursday memo to the Senate Judiciary Committee, urging lawmakers to support the Obama administration’s efforts toward negotiating an intellectual property agreement with more than a dozen countries.

Dan Glickman, the MPAA’s chairman, informs lawmakers that millions of film-related jobs are in peril because of internet piracy. Simply put, those who don’t back the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting and Trade Agreement don’t support intellectual property rights, he wrote.

“Opponents of ACTA are either indifferent to this situation, or actively hostile toward efforts to improve copyright enforcement worldwide,” Glickman wrote.

That’s an insultingly black-and-white viewpoint. It’s also not an accurate description of the treaty’s critics.

The reason many groups distrust the accord is simple: It’s being negotiated in secret, the Obama administration has declared it a “national security” issue and the chief executive has filled his administration with at least five former intellectual property attorneys from the Recording Industry Association of America.

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The Wired coverage of this amazing expose is here reposted since it also contains the rebuttals from CRU scientists to the ‘blogsphere’, which has heated up in recent days with accusations of fudged data and collusion at this top institution to drum dissenting scientists from the fold. The rebuttals are amazing short masterpieces of doublethink, which you will find highlighted, and mocked, in the text below. And as you read through the excerpts from the hacked EMails of professional climatologists, think of who stands to gain – from research grants, from carbon trading credits, from a global carbon tax? The Copenhagen meeting, which could very well introduce a global carbon tax payable to a new UN fund, is in December. In light of the derision and manipulation clearly exposed in these documents, the time to push back is now.

Update (2009/11/22): Comments on code for data analysis routines found in hacked files also suggest efforts at massaging data to obtain desired results. It’s amazing how often ‘corrections’ have to be introduced into graphs when it comes to climate data.
Update (2009/11/23): The British climate establishment is in full spin and damage control mode now, with the Guardian smearing skeptics as ‘deniers’ and calls for reviews of the email theft. As might be expected, very little in the way of self reflection has emerged as the establishment circles its wagons. In a joint statement from the Met Office, Royal Society and the Natural Environment Research Council said: “The scientific evidence which underpins calls for action at Copenhagen is very strong. Without co-ordinated international action on greenhouse gas emissions, the impacts on climate and civilisation could be severe.”

Flashback: Leaked G20 Documents Shed Light on Global Carbon Tax | Everyone in Britain could be given a personal ‘carbon allowance’ | Friends of the Earth attacks carbon trading as banker scam | Oil Companies Support Global Warming Alarmists, Not Skeptics | Copenhagen, carbon, and the global corporate agenda | Climate Cops To Fine “Wasteful” Homeowners & Businesses | The great carbon credit con: Why are we paying the Third World to poison its environment? | 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 | Time to emulate Roosevelt’s New Deal and create green jobs | Mobile phones to track carbon footprint using GPS | 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

Kim Zetter, Wired.com
November 20, 2009

An online debate over global warming science has broken out after an unknown hacker broke into the e-mail server at a prominent, British climate-research center, stole more than a thousand e-mails about global warming research and posted them online.

Global warming skeptics are seizing on portions of the messages as evidence that scientists are colluding and warping data to fit the theory of global warming, but researchers say the e-mails are being taken out of context and just show scientists engaged in frank discussion.

The Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia is one of the United Kingdom’s leading climate research centers and has been a strong proponent of the position that global warming is real and has human causes. The center confirmed the hack occurred in an e-mail statement to Threat Level.

“We are aware that information from a server in one area of the university has been made available on public websites,” the statement read. “We are extremely concerned that personal information about individuals may have been compromised. Because of the volume of this information we cannot currently confirm what proportion of this material is genuine.”

The stolen cache includes more than 1,000 e-mails and more than 3,000 documents, some containing code. They were posted anonymously to an FTP server in Russia. The hacker then posted a link to the 61-MB file of data on the blog Air Vent.

The hacker’s message that accompanied the link read: “We feel that climate science is, in the current situation, too important to be kept under wraps. We hereby release a random selection of correspondence, code and documents.”

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This is something to celebrate, at least for anyone that cares about the kind of government corruption that recently crashed global markets. Even if Ron Paul and Alan Grayson’s herculean (and bipartisan) efforts to get this amendment to audit the Federal Reserve are blocked in a US Congressional vote, the fact that it has just cleared committee, and the fact that the issue mobilized a sufficient number of phone calls to badger it through the process shows that people are beginning to ask: “Yeah, why can’t we audit the Fed? Who’s the Federal Reserve think they are anyways? For some reason they act like they run the place, and that can’t be right.” A summary of the Paul-Grayson amendment to audit the Fed may be read here.

Flashback: Americans Deserve a Transparent Federal Reserve | Federal Reserve Appeals Order to Disclose Emergency Bank Loans | Judge Orders Federal Reserve To Disclose Who Received Bailout Trillions | Former NY governor Spitzer: Federal Reserve is ‘a Ponzi scheme, an inside job’ | Hands off the Fed, Bernanke warns Congress | US Senate Blocks Bill To Audit The Fed As Government Prepares For Second Round Of Looting | Congressman Ron Paul Slams Federal Reserve’s New Dictatorial Powers | Federal Reserve To Be Given Sweeping New Powers | HR 1207: Battle To Audit The Fed Has Only Just Begun | 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

Steve Watson, Infowars.net
November 20, 2009

Establishment efforts to kill move toward Fed transparency are crushed

The Federal Reserve attack dogs are out in full force today following Congressman Ron Paul’s decisive victory in the battle to bring transparency to the privately owned central bank.

The House Financial Services Committee passed the amendment to increase Federal Reserve transparency in an overwhelming and bipartisan vote of 43 to 26.

The amendment, sponsored by Ron Paul and Democratic Representative Alan Grayson, mandates a genuine and full probing audit of the Fed.

The Committee rejected the parallel amendment introduced by Congressman Mel Watt (D-NC) which would have severely limited the audit, “gutting” Ron Paul’s H.R. 1207 bill as the Congressman put it, and paving the way for further Fed secrecy.

Key Committee Democrats such as Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) who had previously expressed support for an audit, had moved behind the Watt amendment at the behest of banking industry and Fed officials, as well as the Democratic leadership.

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Unless there’s some massive breaking swine flu story, Dr. Schabas really deserves the final word on this. It should be clear to everyone that the only pandemic we’ve been facing is one of fear, carefully cultivated through the tireless efforts of our public health official’s speaking tours, a deliberate restriction of vaccine supply, and obvious media collusion. Come on! International pharma has to answer for this. They’ve made a killing.

Flashback: Batch of H1N1 vaccine recalled for severe reactions | Push is on to inoculate everyone against H1N1, Ontarians stay away in droves | UK Doctors say most Britons reject swine flu vaccine | Elderly Quebec man dies after H1N1 shot | French Woman Gets Crippling Illness After H1N1 Vaccine | Swine flu cases drop in England | Teen Diagnosed With Guillain-Barre Syndrome After Swine Flu Shot | H1N1 overplayed by media, public health: MDs | Ask military to help with H1N1: Ottawa councillor | Special H1N1 vaccine for pregnant women now here | Elite Council Recording Suggests Creating False Scarcity To Drive Up Demand For H1N1 Vaccine | WHO pandemic definition too broad, doctor contends | Vaccine scarcity claims don’t add up | ‘No reason’ to delay seasonal flu shots, global health panel says | Flu Season Has Already Peaked in US, Little Benefit to H1N1 Jab: Study | Flu vaccine shortage expected to last a week | Washington Man Paralyzed After Routine Flu Vaccination | Mass Rejection Of Swine Flu Vaccine Continues Throughout Europe | GlaxoSmithKline profit rises on flu drug | Swine Flu Scam Reaches New Heights With Obama’s Emergency Declaration | Deaths Associated With Swine Flu Vaccine Reported In Europe | US Government Hijacks Kids TV To Propagandize For Swine Flu Shots | Swine flu vaccine approved in Canada | German Government to get special swine flu vaccine | Woman Says Seasonal Flu Shot Triggered Seizures, Rare Disorder | Harper’s hedge on H1N1 shot sparks confusion | Higher instance of severe H1N1 cases in natives, women | UK: National Health Service frontline staff shun H1N1 vaccine | US: Hospitals fear ‘Flumist’ H1N1 nasal vaccine could spread swine flu | New swine-flu wave hits GTA: Provincial Health Official | 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

Joseph Hall, Toronto Star
November 20, 2009

Months of dire swine flu warnings were a dangerous, disruptive cry of “wolf” for an ailment Canadian health officials knew would be a mild, manageable beast.

That’s the pointedly caustic judgement of Dr. Richard Schabas, a one-time provincial health officer who says flu experts knew in July that H1N1 would hold little threat for Canadians this fall.

Schabas, now Medical Officer of Health for Hastings and Prince Edward Counties, says many of his colleagues fed a credulous media with worst-case warnings while downplaying the flu strain’s relative weakness.

“I think the media has to get its head around just how massive an overplay this was. I am quite sure that there has been more high-level coverage of this than all other health stories combined.”

By the time this second H1N1 wave peters out in December, it will have killed between 200 and 300 Canadians — making it one-tenth as lethal as the seasonal flus that strike the country annually.

What’s more, Schabas says, evidence from the southern hemisphere, where the flu is a spring and summer scourge, conclusively anticipated this comparatively low death toll.

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At least it’s only one batch. Nothing to see here. Sorry Manitoba – short end of the stick again. But it’s just a little collateral damage for the good of the nation in the fight against the dread swine flu. And it’s a good thing that GSK planned ahead and is safely immune to any lawsuits that may arise. It would be terrible if they had to come to account in a court of law – to be judged by all those grubby jurors! And think of the time and expense that would be better allocated to ensuring that their product ‘consistently meets quality and safety standards.’ (It seems like they could use it.)

Flashback: Push is on to inoculate everyone against H1N1, Ontarians stay away in droves | UK Doctors say most Britons reject swine flu vaccine | Elderly Quebec man dies after H1N1 shot | French Woman Gets Crippling Illness After H1N1 Vaccine | Swine flu cases drop in England | Teen Diagnosed With Guillain-Barre Syndrome After Swine Flu Shot | H1N1 overplayed by media, public health: MDs | Ask military to help with H1N1: Ottawa councillor | Special H1N1 vaccine for pregnant women now here | Elite Council Recording Suggests Creating False Scarcity To Drive Up Demand For H1N1 Vaccine | WHO pandemic definition too broad, doctor contends | Vaccine scarcity claims don’t add up | ‘No reason’ to delay seasonal flu shots, global health panel says | Flu Season Has Already Peaked in US, Little Benefit to H1N1 Jab: Study | Flu vaccine shortage expected to last a week | Washington Man Paralyzed After Routine Flu Vaccination | Mass Rejection Of Swine Flu Vaccine Continues Throughout Europe | GlaxoSmithKline profit rises on flu drug | Swine Flu Scam Reaches New Heights With Obama’s Emergency Declaration | Deaths Associated With Swine Flu Vaccine Reported In Europe | US Government Hijacks Kids TV To Propagandize For Swine Flu Shots | Swine flu vaccine approved in Canada | German Government to get special swine flu vaccine | Woman Says Seasonal Flu Shot Triggered Seizures, Rare Disorder | Harper’s hedge on H1N1 shot sparks confusion | Higher instance of severe H1N1 cases in natives, women | UK: National Health Service frontline staff shun H1N1 vaccine | US: Hospitals fear ‘Flumist’ H1N1 nasal vaccine could spread swine flu | New swine-flu wave hits GTA: Provincial Health Official | 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

Joanna Smith, Toronto Star
November 20, 2009

OTTAWA — A batch of swine flu vaccine is being pulled back for investigation after it appeared to cause higher rates of severe allergic reactions than other lots.

GlaxoSmithKline Inc., which is producing the Canadian order of H1N1 influenza vaccine at its plant in Ste-Foy, Que., said it asked provincial and territorial health authorities Wednesday to stop using doses from a specific lot shipment distributed late last month.

“(GlaxoSmithKline) is taking this cautionary action because (the Public Health Agency of Canada) has received a higher than expected number of reports of anaphylaxis in this lot number compared to other lots,” company spokeswoman Megan Spoore said in a statement. “On an ongoing basis (GlaxoSmithKline) is working with Health Canada to ensure that each vaccine lot released to the provinces and territories consistently meets quality and safety standards.”

The batch under investigation by the federal government and GlaxoSmithKline bears the lot number A80CA007A brand name Arepanrix, which is the version that contains adjuvant, a chemical additive that stretches supply and boosts immunity.

Manitoba health officials say they have noticed severe allergic reactions from the batch in question at a rate of one in 20,000, which is much higher than the normal rate of one in 100,000.

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This is what economic commentators like Bob Chapman or Paul Craig Roberts, those outside of the pacifying mainstream of economic news, have been saying for a while – look out for consumer credit and commercial real estate in the US to tank next. For what it’s worth, the great depression followed a similar pattern – after an initial crash, the media assured everyone that things were fine, and the Federal Reserve knew what it was doing – until the second crash came. The only reason that a ‘double dip’ has been staved off so long this time around is because Western governments have been furiously printing money. Which all but ensures that the second and subsequent crashes will be more painful than they might have been if allowed to ‘correct’ the market naturally.

Flashback: Personal bankruptcies still soaring | Credit card debt balloons | US credit shrinks at Great Depression rate prompting fears of double-dip recession | Canada’s $1-trillion debt baby | Credit delinquencies up 24% in June | Bank of Canada declares recession over | Budget officer ‘can’t tell’ if stimulus plan working | More Canadians in arrears on credit payments | Canadian households $1.3-trillion in debt | Credit card changes benefit families, Flaherty says | Credit companies seek to avoid regulation, create global debit system | Canadian credit card delinquencies rising | All maxed out? Budget measures would improve credit access | Now the consumer crunch: falling credit limits, rising interest rates | Bank of Canada adds $8B to credit markets | $25B credit backstop for banks ‘not a bailout’: Harper

CBC News
November 20, 2009

While this case started prior to the launch of this journal, the background information may be found elsewhere on the web here: “Sears Tower Arrests: US Government Creates Another Al-Qaeda Cell” . It was reported at the time that “Attorney General Gonzales said that ‘the individual they thought was a member of al-Qaida was present at their meetings and in actuality he was working with the South Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force.’” It’s worth reviewing this case since it adheres so closely to the standard script for a government run and operated ‘terror cell’. Notice the presence of an informant, although discussion leader or provocateur may be a more accurate description. Note the status of a group of impoverished, impressionable kids, and the lack of a substantive plan apart from big angry talk – all being carefully recorded for posterity to help create the illusion of a burgeoning terror cell for the ignorant public. Of course, now that the patsies have served their purpose the note of their dubious conviction serves as back page filler, their stories locked away, all but forgotten. Is there anyone who would justify this still? Are we expected to believe that the state preemptively creates terror cells in order to keep us safe? Or are there other reasons, half a world away?

Flashback: Despite provocation taint, absence of plan, five men convicted of ‘terror plot’ in Australia’s longest trial | ‘Toronto 18′ leader pleads guilty | 3 U.K. men convicted in airline bomb plot | Links to ‘Al-Qaeda’, Pakistani training camps linger after ‘Toronto 18′ member imprisoned | Australian Army Base Terrorism Case ‘Exaggerated’ | Evasive Australian police quizzed whether covert operative was planted among terror suspects | Toronto 18 ‘terror’ accused signs confession, media retreads tales of planned chaos | How MI5 blackmails British Muslims | New York “Terror Plot” Another Government Provocateured Set-Up | Toronto 18 Terror case: RCMP agent Shaikh was instigator who broke law: defence | Five muslims face life for Fort Dix ‘terror plot’ orchestrated by FBI | American Intelligence Contractors Leak Canadian Toronto 18 ‘Terror Training’ Video to Web | Third Mole Surfacing in Toronto Terror Trial? | RCMP informant says accused in militant plot was naive | Paid CSIS Informant Says Public Not Upset Enough about Toronto ‘Terror’ Plot | Latest Toronto 18 ‘Terror’ Wiretaps Confirm Youths Goaded by Reservist, Paid Police Informant | Toronto ‘Terrorists’ Agree on Decapitation Plot, Fail to Open Tuna Tin | Many Question if Toronto “Terrorists” Were Led by Informants as Case Weakens | Crown presents evidence in Toronto terror suspect trial | Australian ‘Terror Plot’ Case Bears Remarkable Similarities to ‘Toronto 18′ | Terror case begins to emit ripe aroma | Canada’s anti-terror law unconstitutional, defence says | Toronto’s Terrorism Case: For the Families, Fear and Bewilderment | CSIS informant admits cocaine, marijuana use during investigation | Terror trial proceedings troubling | Alleged Toronto terror plot included two police agents | Toronto Terrorist Ringleader Has Military Connections | Canadian ‘Terror Plot’ Begins To Unravel | Police arrest terrorist suspects in Toronto

CBC News
November 20, 2009

The ringleader of a group of men convicted of plotting to destroy Chicago’s Sears Tower and bomb FBI offices has been sentenced to 13½ years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard issued the sentence Friday in Miami against Narseal Batiste, 35. Prosecutors had sought the maximum 70-year sentence.

Four other men convicted along with Batiste of terror-related charges in May were sent to prison but got less time than prosecutors had sought.

The men were arrested in 2006 and accused of plotting attacks with a Federal Bureau of Investigation informant posing as an al-Qaeda operative. The conspiracy never progressed beyond talk.

Two other men were acquitted of similar charges.

Batiste testified that he played along with plot in hopes of scamming $50,000 US from the informant.

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Police coroners are still exhuming the old ‘excited delirium‘ line. It’s sad to see, given that the idea has been so thoroughly discredited. As though anyone believes any more that these unfortunates would have simply keeled over were they not electrocuted as well. What’s the proximate cause, cops? You can’t just say he shouldn’t have been so worked up when we TASERed him. The authorities pushing this device as part of the control grid must know they’re burning their credibility with the Canadian public. That’s not a good sign.

Flashback: Mounties discussed Tasing Dziekanski prior to altercation | RCMP didn’t tell pathologist Dziekanski suffered multiple TASER stuns, inquiry hears | RCMP destroyed evidence, charges dismissed in second torture case for officers | U.S. study raises more questions about TASER safety | Red Deer man shot by Taser had pre-existing heart condition: doctor | RCMP didn’t study Taser use enough: Report | Police delay report on Taser until 2009

CBC News
November 20, 2009

The death of a man who was stunned with a Taser several times during his arrest two year ago in Chilliwack was not the fault of police actions, a coroner’s inquest has determined.

In his report, coroner Vincent Stancato concludes that Robert Knipstrom, 36, died from acute ecstasy intoxication and excited delirium.

A coroner’s inquest into Knipstrom’s death began Monday and the conclusions were released Thursday night.

The jury has recommended police and paramedics change how they handle cases where individuals show symptoms of excited delirium, which can include paranoia, agitation, aggression and extraordinary strength. It was also recommended that police request an advanced life support team when dealing with such patients.

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Flashback: Credit card debt balloons | US credit shrinks at Great Depression rate prompting fears of double-dip recession | Canada’s $1-trillion debt baby | Credit delinquencies up 24% in June | Bank of Canada declares recession over | Budget officer ‘can’t tell’ if stimulus plan working | More Canadians in arrears on credit payments | Canadian households $1.3-trillion in debt | Credit card changes benefit families, Flaherty says | Credit companies seek to avoid regulation, create global debit system | Canadian credit card delinquencies rising | All maxed out? Budget measures would improve credit access | Now the consumer crunch: falling credit limits, rising interest rates | Bank of Canada adds $8B to credit markets | $25B credit backstop for banks ‘not a bailout’: Harper

Allan Robinson, Globe and Mail
November 20, 2009

Number of Canadians filing for bankruptcy increased 44.8 per cent in September from a year earlier

The number of bankruptcies rose 44.8 per cent in September from a year earlier, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada, an agency of Industry Canada.

During the latest month for which data are available, the number of bankruptcies increased 29.1 per cent from the prior month.

The volume of consumer bankruptcies rose 47.4 per cent from a year earlier, while increasing 29 per cent from September over August.

Businesses have fared well, with the volume of bankruptcies falling 0.4 per cent during the past 12 months, although on a month-over-month basis they rose 31.6 per cent.

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This is a big development, a change to our nation’s implicit philosophy – those unexamined values that inform our choices. Mourning our war dead is one thing, but cultural militarization and the twisting of the national psyche to think like we’re all on one big sports team is another thing entirely. This isn’t a game. Psychological shifts in the mood of a nation can lead to odd turns of fortune, and cultural militarization has always had profound and far reaching consequences.

Flashback: Canada’s military peers into future, sees drone patrols, draft, insurgency | Military chopper lands in Kenora for burgers | G20 Police & Military Savagely Attack Peaceful Protesters In Pittsburgh Park | Maximum Alert: U.S. Troops Now Occupying America | CF-18s join B.C. Olympic security drill | Military helicopters over downtown Montreal for exercise | 50 Toronto high schools to have armed police presence | ‘AmeriCorps’ Domestic Paramilitary Propaganda Ad | Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More | British Army to Police Medicine Hat During Urban Warfare Drills | Urban warfare drills coming to Medicine Hat | UK Home Secretary unveils civilian anti-terrorism security force | Military readies reservists for threats to ‘domestic front’ | Military may patrol bar zone in Barrie | British Secret Service, Army Alert on Bank Riots | US Urban Warfare Drills Linked To Coming Economic Rage | Predator drones patrolling border irk Manitoba MLA | Military and police practice integration during Olympic security exercises | Canadian military getting 1,300 new heavily armoured trucks for ‘domestic use’ | Army ‘Strategic Shock’ Report Says Troops May Be Needed To Quell U.S. Civil Unrest | 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 | Revolution, flashmobs, and brain chips. A grim vision of the future | Harper pledges to boost military presence in cities

Michael Valpy, The Globe and Mail
November 20, 2009

Why our national mythology has moved beyond the idea of peacekeeping and embraced the culture of the warrior

Sir John A. Macdonald was contemptuous of full-time soldiers. So were most Canadians in the late-19th and early-20th centuries.

The first prime minister believed “that regulars . . . had taken up soldiering because they were good at nothing else [and] were useful only for hunting, drinking and chasing women,” Queen’s University military historian Allan English wrote in his 2004 book Understanding Military Culture: A Canadian Perspective.

What the passage of years demonstrates is that cultures aren’t set in concrete. They change.

Not much more than a decade ago, Canada’s armed forces were all but invisible, out of sight in remote bases and discreetly dressed in civilian clothes in the cities.

Now, they march around Ottawa’s streets in combat gear. They have become the heroes of middle Canada, celebrated at sporting events, remythologized as the new icons of nationalism and lionized by people such as Don Cherry, Rick Mercer and Wayne Rostad (both Mr. Mercer and Mr. Rostad have been appointed honorary colonels, along with former journalist and now senator Pamela Wallin and a clutch of some of the country’s wealthiest business tycoons).

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