statism watch

Flashback: Obama talking tough with banks | EU urged to adopt bank supertax | Obama ponders bank transaction levy to recoup bailout shortfalls | Explosive Leaked Emails Expose Treasury Secretary Geithner’s Deception in ‘Backdoor Bailout’ | Final Copenhagen Text Includes Global Transaction Tax | EU calls for tax on bank transactions | UK: Brown takes campaign for Tobin tax to Commonwealth | UK: Brown proposes global fund to kick-start Copenhagen climate change process | Flaherty, USA say no to global financial tax, yes to continued ’stimulus’ at G20 | Bernanke continues pressing for sweeping new powers for Fed | IMF chief wants global bank tax | G20 nations meet as protests flare on issue of international banking regulation | IMF approves $13bn gold sale to boost lending fund | China Set to Buy $50 Billion in IMF Notes | China calls anew for super-sovereign currency | No one talking about dumping dollar: China minister | China explores buying $50bn in IMF bonds | Chinese economists deem huge holding of US bonds “risky” as Geithner visits | A Bigger, Bolder Role Is Imagined For the IMF | UK PM reveals G20 plan to boost IMF by $1 trillion, hails new world order (again) | UN & IMF Back Agenda For Global Financial Dictatorship | IMF poised to print billions of dollars in ‘global quantitative easing’ | Gordon Brown seeks sweeping reforms to give IMF global ’surveillance role’ | IMF may need to “print money”, act as “world’s central bank” as crisis spreads | Globalists Exploit Financial Meltdown In Move Towards One World Currency | World needs new Bretton Woods, says Brown | IMF prescribes state regulation of ‘global financial order’ | Bilderberg Seeks Bank Centralization Agenda | Banks face “new world order,” consolidation: report

Daniel Tencer, RawStory.com
January 21, 2010

‘If these folks want a fight, it’s a fight I’m ready to have’: Obama

On the same day that President Barack Obama announced an ambitious plan to reform the US financial system, bankers at the largest Wall Street institutions indicated that they are already finding ways around the proposed changes.

Sources at three Wall Street banks told BusinessInsider’s John Carney that “they are already finding ways to own, invest in and sponsor hedge funds and private equity funds” despite the proposed restrictions on those activities. One unnamed operative at a major bank said his firm expects the reforms to affect no more than one percent of its business.

President Obama announced two major reforms of the financial system on Thursday. The first would see the US in effect return to the separation of commercial and investment banking that was mandated by law until 1999, when that rule in the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act was abandoned.

Many economists say allowing banks to be both lenders to the public and investors in large hedge funds and other securities contributed to the economic collapse of 2008.

The other rule would limit the size of banks, ostensibly to ensure that no banks are “too big to fail” and require taxpayer bailouts to keep the economy from collapsing.

But Wall Street bankers are pointing to a phrase in the proposed reforms — that banks will be barred “from proprietary trading operations unrelated to serving customers” — as an easy loophole to get around. John Carney reports:

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Parliaments are rapidly becoming vestigial institutions in the 21st century as unelected international bureaucrats and lobbyists take power in governing councils.

Flashback: Reading Between The Still Secret Lines Of The ACTA Negotiations | Beyond ACTA: Proposed EU — Canada Trade Agreement Intellectual Property Chapter Leaks | New Leaks of Secret ACTA Copyright Law Reveal Oppressive ‘Global DMCA’ | MPAA Says Critics of Secret Copyright Treaty Hate Hollywood | 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?

Chris Williams, The Register
January 21, 2010

Preferences of foreign governments take precedence

The government has refused to give MPs access to papers on international negotiations about copyright enforcement on the internet and at national borders.

Junior business minister David Lammy said he could not put documents about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in the House of Commons Library, because other countries wanted to maintain secrecy.

Lammy said he was “sympathetic” to calls for more transparency and had told his officials to press the point at the talks, but added: “Disclosure of any documents without the agreement of all our ACTA negotiating partners would damage the United Kingdom’s international relations.

“This would harm our ability to protect, promote and secure an outcome in the UK’s interest, and the premature release of documents that are not agreed and not fully developed may also have a negative effect on the government’s reputation.”

The secrecy surrounding ACTA has prompted speculation the agreement will be favourable to the music and film industries, whose lobbyists are party to the discussions.

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Diplomacy by CIA: It’s okay, Pakistan, you can go ahead and hold off on killing the Pashtuns for a few months. Robert Gates is a top spook, having previously served in the upper echelons of the USA’s shadow government: a National Security Council member and director of the CIA under George HW Bush.

Flashback: U.S. prods Pakistan to expand offensive | Pakistan anti-Taliban offensive in South Waziristan ‘over’ | Refugee flood reveals human cost of South Waziristan’s invisible war | ‘Taliban’ resist Pakistan onslaught | Pakistani troops assault ‘Taliban’ stronghold | Militants attack Pakistani cities | Pakistan launches air strikes before offensive

Anne Gearan, Associated Press
January 21, 2010

U.S. eases pressure on crucial ally in Afghanistan

They meant to beat the guy next door instead, you see. Sorry, no hard feelings? Below are just a few of the volumes of police attacks in the StatismWatch archives – narrowed specifically to include only attacks and raids in or around private residences.

Flashback: Regina police probe RCMP torture claims | Video shows violent B.C. police takedown | Business as usual: SWAT team breaks down mayor’s door, shoots dogs, ransacks home, refuses to apologize | Family furious after police raid East Vancouver home | SWAT Teams raiding Amish, Food Co-ops in Rural US | Family sues police claiming Taser raid on autistic son in own bedroom | Rapper Belly slams police raid on his home | Nephew of slain native chief slain in turn by police — tribal leaders call for inquiry | Toronto artist seeks explanation for police raid | Youth Worker Subjected to Warrantless Raid on Secret Evidence

Update (2010/01/22): The Vancouver police have retracted their (reflexive) statement that Mr. Wu attacked them first, that he “resisted by striking out at police”, thus providing a pretext for the beating. It’s a good sign, although the officers involved are presently on paid holiday. Now, what have we learned here? Those officers need to be fired – that would be ‘tough on crime’.

Update (2010/01/23): Mr. Wu is not accepting VPD’s apology, but is hesitant to file suit, believing this would bring further retaliation down on him and his family from the VPD.

CBC News
January 21, 2010

The Vancouver Police Department has issued an apology after a man said he was beaten by officers who knocked on the wrong door while investigating a report of a violent domestic dispute.

Plainclothes officers arrived at the right house at 2 a.m. PT Wednesday near Knight and 49th Street in East Vancouver, but they were at the wrong suite, police admitted in a news release Thursday.

Speaking through a translator, Yao Wei Wu told CBC News that as soon as he opened the door the officers pulled him out of the house and beat him.

He was hit multiple times on the back, head and face, said Yao, 44.

He said he did not resist because the men had guns.

It was only after they handcuffed him and asked his name that they appeared to realize they had the wrong man, Yao said.

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Do you recall hearing about the bidding process for this? No, didn’t think so. This is a glaring example of corporatism, of the you-scratch-my-back-I’ll scratch-yours corruption that leads to an extremely dangerous thickening of the connection between industry and state, two focal points of power that should not be joined at the hip. It’s neither capitalism, nor socialism, but a continuation of the sort of centralization of the bureaucratic and industrial complexes that has led many state down the path to their authoritarian end. Granted, this one deal is not the end of the world and Ontario has been on this road for some time – tax breaks are often granted as adducements, taxpayer funded bribes to large companies to move their operations to one place or another. Nuclear energy, too, was built on the backs of the taxpayer: all moves that severely distort natural market conditions. But rarely have we seen a swindle where taxpayers have the pleasure of being ripped off twice – first, to fund the operation and construction of infrastucture and second, to buy it’s product (energy) at inflated prices. The 407 comes to mind as another example. Can you think of any more? Comment below.

Flashback: ‘Green jobs’ are key to U.S., Canadian recovery: US Ambassador | Jim Prentice: Implement A ‘North American Climate Change Regime’ | Climate Cops To Fine “Wasteful” Homeowners & Businesses | Obama targets US public with call for climate action | 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 | US Congress passes mandatory national service bill | Time to emulate Roosevelt’s New Deal and create green jobs | Terence Corcoran: Ontario’s green energy plan sneaks in feed-in taxes | New World Order Crony Gary Hart Calls for “Civic Duty” | US Democrats Introduce Public National Service Bills | Justin Trudeau introduces National Voluntary Service motion | 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

Robert Benzie, Taylor Hamilton, Toronto Star
January 21, 2010

Controversial agreement gives South Korean consortium access to energy market with promise of thousands of jobs for Ontario

This represents something like the separation of commercial and investment banking (the ‘Glass-Steagall Act’) that was in place until 1999. It’s difficult to tell what hand Obama is playing here – he rode to power on Wall Street donations, so though this looks like he’s actually doing something to appease the public and place restrictions on large banks that take customer deposits (and does Goldman Sachs even fall under this category?) this journal remains skeptical. It could simply prove to be a restriction on new challengers to state-tied central banking firms, a way to entrench the power of the largest hedge funds and commercial investment houses. But let’s be fair -  maybe his poll numbers have truly forced his hand, and the banks are willing to take this hit to keep their guy in power a while longer. Stay tuned. We’re all learning as we go here, but wouldn’t a better solution be to enforce laws against fraudulent activities such as securities rating scams, over-leveraged investments, derivatives, and fractional reserve lending? Note that’s never been on the table.

Flashback: EU urged to adopt bank supertax | Obama ponders bank transaction levy to recoup bailout shortfalls | Explosive Leaked Emails Expose Treasury Secretary Geithner’s Deception in ‘Backdoor Bailout’ | Final Copenhagen Text Includes Global Transaction Tax | EU calls for tax on bank transactions | UK: Brown takes campaign for Tobin tax to Commonwealth | UK: Brown proposes global fund to kick-start Copenhagen climate change process | Flaherty, USA say no to global financial tax, yes to continued ’stimulus’ at G20 | Bernanke continues pressing for sweeping new powers for Fed | IMF chief wants global bank tax | G20 nations meet as protests flare on issue of international banking regulation | IMF approves $13bn gold sale to boost lending fund | China Set to Buy $50 Billion in IMF Notes | China calls anew for super-sovereign currency | No one talking about dumping dollar: China minister | China explores buying $50bn in IMF bonds | Chinese economists deem huge holding of US bonds “risky” as Geithner visits | A Bigger, Bolder Role Is Imagined For the IMF | UK PM reveals G20 plan to boost IMF by $1 trillion, hails new world order (again) | UN & IMF Back Agenda For Global Financial Dictatorship | IMF poised to print billions of dollars in ‘global quantitative easing’ | Gordon Brown seeks sweeping reforms to give IMF global ’surveillance role’ | IMF may need to “print money”, act as “world’s central bank” as crisis spreads | Globalists Exploit Financial Meltdown In Move Towards One World Currency | World needs new Bretton Woods, says Brown | IMF prescribes state regulation of ‘global financial order’ | Bilderberg Seeks Bank Centralization Agenda | Banks face “new world order,” consolidation: report

Reuters
January 21, 2010

WASHINGTON–U.S. President Barack Obama threatened to fight Wall Street banks on Thursday with a new proposal to limit financial risk taking, sending stocks and the dollar tumbling.

Obama, a Democrat who is struggling to advance his agenda after a key election loss this week, laid out rules to restrict some banks’ most lucrative operations, which he blames for helping to cause the financial crisis.

“We should no longer allow banks to stray too far from their central mission of serving their customers,” Obama told reporters, flanked by his top economic advisers and lawmakers.

“If these folks want a fight, it’s a fight I’m ready to have,” he said.

After a mixed first year as president, Obama’s move showed a tougher, populist-tinged stance aimed at revving up his political base by exploiting anger over Wall Street excess.

The proposals, which require congressional approval, would prevent banks or financial institutions that own banks from investing in, owning or sponsoring a hedge fund or private equity fund.

Obama also called for a new cap on banks’ size in relation to the overall financial sector that would take into account deposits–which are already capped–as well as liabilities and other non-deposit funding sources.

The rules would also bar institutions from proprietary trading operations, unrelated to serving customers, for their own profit.

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You know, setting aside the immunity from prosecution granted by the police and spy agencies, then by the standards of proof employed in this case the moles should rightly be tried as well. Mens rea, or ‘guilty mind’ intent is no longer required, that fundamental protection having been destroyed by the Anti-terror act. And membership in a terrorist organization (whether one realizes it or not), a primary requirement to be charged under the act, is incontestable for everyone involved. But most damning, these guys – Shaher Elsohemy, Mubin Shaikh, ‘Talib’ and Qari Kifayatullah – all pushed and encouraged and possibly cajoled the others up to the verge of … well, nothing, since there was never any chance of their aquiring truckloads of fertilizer. The plot was manufactured from thin air as it were, and the moles are perhaps as culpable as the rest. Shouldn’t entrapment itself be criminal? Should heads not be rolling at the RCMP and CSIS for engaging in blatant political manipulation?

Flashback: The Toronto 18 Publication Ban: Silence affects the core of justice | Toronto 18 ‘mastermind’ gets life sentence | Walkom: Mole crucial to terror trial | Toronto 18 ringleader says he’s sorry | ‘Toronto 18′ suspect wanted to profit from bombings: witness | ‘Toronto 18′leader pleads guilty | Crown appeals Toronto bomb plotter’s sentence | The making of a homegrown terrorist | Links to ‘Al-Qaeda’, Pakistani training camps linger after ‘Toronto 18′ member imprisoned | ‘Toronto 18′ member handed 14-year sentence | 2-year term sought in Toronto ‘terror plot’ | Toronto 18 ‘terror’ accused signs confession, media retreads tales of planned chaos | Toronto 18 member pleads in bomb plot | 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
January 21, 2010

Defence alleges entrapment

Toronto 18 member Shareef Abdelhaleem has been found guilty of participating in a bomb plot, but his lawyer will try to stay the proceedings by alleging the Crown acted improperly in its investigation.

The defence elected to call no evidence Thursday at Abdelhaleem’s trial on charges he participated in a terrorist group and intended to detonate bombs, a spokesman for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.

The court found the Crown established Abdelhaleem’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, Dan Brien said. Abdelhaleem had initially pleaded not guilty on both counts.

However, a conviction wasn’t entered against Abdelhaleem, 34, and the defence is seeking to have the case stayed on the basis of entrapment. Arguments on the entrapment motion are expected Monday.

“It may be that a stay of prosecution could be entered, and that is the equivalent of being acquitted,” William Naylor, Abdelhaleem’s lawyer, told CBC News.

Bill Gillespie, the security correspondent for CBC News, described the defence move as a complicated two-step process.

The defence is expected to argue that if it hadn’t been for RCMP informant Shaher Elsohemy, Abdelhaleem would never have gone as far as he did with the plot. The entrapment argument can only be made in the case of a guilty verdict, Gillespie said.

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Flashback: Canada’s rate hikes will be tied to the Fed | Russia to add loonie to reserves: report | The time has come for North American monetary union | Loonie continues race toward parity with U.S. dollar | Ottawa plans U.S. dollar bond | Central bank of Canada stands ready to inflate currency in response to strong loonie | Soaring loonie adds to anxiety over economy | How realistic is a North American currency? | Loonie leaps, then reverses course | Consider a continental currency: Jarislowsky | Globalization makes national currencies obsolete | Vicente Fox Admits Plan For Single NAFTA Currency | Fraser Institute: The Case for the Amero

Les Whittington, Toronto Star
January 21, 2010

OTTAWA–The higher-valued Canadian dollar and the possibility the global recession will linger longer than expected are raising questions about the strength of Canada’s recovery, the Bank of Canada said today.

In its quarterly economic outlook, the central bank said the global economic recovery has begun and Canada is no longer technically in a recession, which is defined as six months of consecutive negative economic output.

But Bank governor Mark Carney is cautious about the strength of the economic rebound in this country.

“There is a risk that persistent strength of the Canadian dollar could act as a significant further drag on growth,” the Bank said in its quarterly Monetary Policy Report, released this morning.

“Another important downside risk is that the global recovery could be even more protracted than projected,” the Bank adds.

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Very nice. Now perhaps we can be rid of the ridiculous law as well. This journal would hazard a guess more people died from choking on chicken bones than the evil raw milk back in the day.

Flashback: Raw milk farmer vows to fight on | Milk trial defence: Raw milk is safe and food choice a right | Milk trial prosecution: Cow share contracts ‘a preferred customer list’ | Farmer turns to Constitution as defence at raw-milk trial | Raw milk crusader returns to court to fight charges | Raw milk producer fined $55,000 | Raw milk fans rally at court for dairy farmer | You can’t stop the raw milk, activist says | Farmer Surveilled, Raided for Natural Milk Operation has Trial Delayed

Megan Ogilvie, Toronto Star
January 21, 2010

The cows will still give their milk and their owners will still savour frothy mouthfuls straight from the farm. But now, the infamous cow-share program of Durham, ON, is legal in the eyes of the law.

In a surprise move, a Newmarket court ruled Thursday that dairy farmer Michael Schmidt is allowed to continue his raw milk co-operative and that his venture does not break laws against selling unpasteurized milk.

Government officials had little to say about the decision Thursday afternoon. But dairy experts say the ruling will spur more cow-share programs to form and encourage the underground co-ops already operating in Ontario to surface. And, they say, it will likely force the government to change its laws to allow the sale and distribution of raw milk in the province.

Food activists, chefs, proponents of the local and slow food movements and those who scorn excessive government regulations see the ruling as a victory for their causes. But few were more thrilled than Schmidt’s dedicated contingent of some 200 cow-share members.

“This is beyond our wildest hopes,” said Judith McGill, who has been a cow-share member at Schmidt’s Glencolton Farms for four years. “We are now out and we will build.”

Toronto chef and restaurateur Jamie Kennedy was one of the more than 100 people waiting outside the courthouse who greeted news of the ruling with cheers, hugs and happy hand shakes.

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Flashback: Milk trial defence: Raw milk is safe and food choice a right | Milk trial prosecution: Cow share contracts ‘a preferred customer list’ | Farmer turns to Constitution as defence at raw-milk trial | Raw milk crusader returns to court to fight charges | Raw milk producer fined $55,000 | Raw milk fans rally at court for dairy farmer | You can’t stop the raw milk, activist says | Farmer Surveilled, Raided for Natural Milk Operation has Trial Delayed

Megan Ogilvie, Toronto Star
January 21, 2010

DURHAM, Ont.—As dusk falls on his farm, Michael Schmidt pulls on a cap and walks down to the barn.

It’s milking time, and the farmer, dressed in khaki work shirt and black, frontier-style vest, moves easily through his herd of Canadienne cows. The dark brown animals, tied to stalls and knee-deep in hay, have long, curved horns and old-fashioned ladies’ names like Lourdes, Viola and Zaide. They stand patiently for Schmidt to unhook their collars.

When Schmidt calls out — a melodious “oh-aye, oh-aye, oh-aye” — eight cows leave their line and file along a concrete corridor to the milking parlour. They turn their backsides toward the milking equipment and wait, ears twitching, for Schmidt. Within minutes, their teats are hooked up to pumps and frothy white milk spurts into glass canisters.

Every morning and evening, without fail, Schmidt milks his cows. And, after more than three years fighting the law, it’s clear that nothing, not the government and not the courts, will stop him.

He will find out Thursday whether he is permitted to continue his raw milk cooperative venture.

It has been one year since Schmidt defended himself against 20 charges for dispensing milk straight from the cow. In Canada, it is illegal to sell or distribute unpasteurized milk, which health officials consider a health hazard.

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