statism watch

According to the newly minted Olympics security talking head (at least in the media sphere: Michael Zekulin’s first citation in Google News is Jan 27, 2010, but there are journal entries, speeches given at RMC, and other academic material all over the web), the military and police buildup around the Olympics is for the Canadian people. Upwards of a billion dollars has been spent on this military/police integration operation. Hey, Zekulin, Canadian protesters are not the enemy! Unless, of course, you count those wielding cream pies. Here’s another article about the guy’s views in the U of C newspaper.

Flashback: The War on Terrorism and the Countdown to the 2010 Olympics | Police State Canada 2010 and the Olympic Crackdown | Vancouver orders removal of anti-Olympic mural | Border guards are now Olympic thought police – Amy Goodman detained | Vancouver eases Olympic protest restrictions | Anti-Olympic activists decry ‘Orwellian’ treatment | Vancouver police get military sound cannon just in time for Olympics | Anti-Olympic signs could net 6 months’ jail: rights group | Olympic security follows protester’s friend | 2010 Olympic security plans include ‘free speech’ zones | Olympic security boss puts protesters on notice | Activists seen as potential threat to Vancouver Games | CSIS Spying on Natives, Olympic Dissidents

CBC News
February 2, 2010

A University of Calgary expert in modern terrorism says small disruptions by domestic groups are the most likely security threat to the upcoming 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, but organizational issues are also a critical concern.

Vancouver is set to capture the world’s attention for 16 days when the Olympic Winter Games begin later this month. But with that global spotlight comes some of the world’s biggest problems and a heightened risk of terrorist attacks, according to Michael Zekulin, a PhD candidate researching contemporary terrorism in the U of C’s political science department.

“In today’s world, the Olympic Games represent a very real target for terrorism. It provides groups with the potential for large casualties and immediate global attention,” said Zekulin.

“While the likelihood of a sophisticated, large-scale attack carried out by an international group like al-Qaeda is unlikely, disruption to the Games by domestic groups remains a possibility,” he said in a statement released on Tuesday morning.

Anti-Olympic protesters have already been a thorn in the side of Olympic torch relay organizers, and have promised to disrupt the Games when they open in Vancouver on Feb 12.

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“The event is meant to remind riders that Metro remains vigilant against terrorist activity”. That’s hard core, in your face conditioning of the public, thanks to DHS grants. Police in the US and Canada are being slowly centralized and federalized under the pretext of terror. If things keep going in this direction, it will be difficult to distinguish them from the regular army.

Flashback: UK: Paramilitary police placed on routine foot patrol for first time | More troops on the streets: U.S. terror alert expands to transit and stadiums | US Police to get access to classified military intelligence | Police training to forcibly take blood in Texas, Idaho | Ground broken on $3.4 billion Homeland Security complex | Border guards resorting to force more often | Illegal Victoria Transit bag searches reinstated under new policy for Canada Day | Toronto police ready to take over transit patrols | Military may patrol bar zone in Barrie | Military and police practice integration during Olympic security exercises | Drug-sniffing dog plan for BC SkyTrain unconstitutional: legal critics | Greyhound introduces security screening of passengers, bans fruit, carry-ons | American Rail Passengers Subject to Random Searches, Police Presence | Greyhound bus passengers now subject to arbitrary luggage searches | Citizens Witness Gunplay, Black Uniforms as ‘Flashpoint’ Shoots Drama in Heart of Toronto | Troops patrolling Italian cities alongside police | GPS game blamed for Ottawa bomb scare | Public conditioning continues: Ratings reach ‘Flashpoint’ for tactical assault squad drama | RCMP conducts random search and seizure on Canada Day | ‘Bombs’ in Ottawa this weekend are just for training | Machine Gun-Toting Officers To Patrol NYC Subway | Massachusetts Police Get Black Uniforms to Instill Sense of ‘Fear’ | TTC studies using Tasers | Privacy International responds to Ontario Privacy Commissioner ruling on CCTV | Canada, U.S. agree to use each other’s troops in civil emergencies | Art student released on bail after bomb hoax | T.T.C. Starts Camera Installation On Buses & Streetcars | Privacy issues surround planned TTC cameras | Photo surveillance on Toronto Transit System aims to snap every user | Military, Mounties teaming up to attract new recruits: Both forces aiming to beef up personnel | Harper pledges to boost military presence in cities | Ontario Police Chiefs travel to Israel to study police tactics

AFP
February 2, 2010

Dozens of police officers swarmed one of Washington DC’s busiest stations with dogs and bomb technicians during Tuesday’s morning rush hour, to demonstrate that the US capital city’s transit system can thwart possible terror attacks.

At around 7:30 am (1330 GMT), some 50 officers from various Metro police units — including its new anti-terror team, special response teams and criminal investigators — began their work at the Union Station subway stop near the US Capitol building that houses Congress.

“The event is meant to remind riders that Metro remains vigilant against terrorist activity,” Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority spokeswoman Cathy Asato said in a recorded statement.

“It is important to remember there is no current threat to the transit agency or any elevated threat level.”

Washington’s rapid transit system serves hundreds of thousands of passengers each day and is one of the largest in the United States.

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It appears that elements of the Tory party believe there is no legitimate criticism of Israel. And that’s official censorship. As is, incidentally, closing parliament until torture scandals blow over. How low can politics in this country stoop? For the curious, StatismWatch’s coverage to date of human rights abuses during Israel’s most recent assault on the Gaza Strip may be found here.

Flashback: Watchdogs describe coming ‘under attack’ by Conservative government | Fury grows over Tory anti-Semitism charge levelled against Canadian churches | Federal website changes undermine Iraq resisters: critics | UK Anti-war MP banned from Canada | Kenney’s comments prejudice hearings for war resisters, critics say | Canada losing moral standing over treatment of Omar Khadr: Dallaire

Bruce Cheadle, The Canadian Press
February 2, 2010

Former cabinet minister Warren Allmand also weighs in on Rights and Democracy furor, calling it ‘deliberate attempt to dampen and control public dissent’

Flashback: Harkat denies links to terrorism in court | Harkat challenge of security certificate goes to court | Almrei security certificate struck down | Government will review ‘anti-terror’ security certificates: Van Loan | Judge eases restrictions on Harkat | CSIS bungled second terror case | Canadian Courts don’t buy word of government | CSIS forced to ‘reveal’ info on secret source in Harkat case | Judge orders recall of CSIS witnesses in Harkat case for potential perjury, obstruction | Tories aim to bring back anti-terrorism provisions | Lawyers slam CSIS on phone recordings | If released, security detainee Almrei to be surveilled, wiretapped, and GPS-tracked | Feds ordered to share evidence with defence in Harkat security case | More secrecy added to already secret process | Charkaoui set to fight new security certificate law | The New Security Certificate: Rushing injustice through the Senate | New security certificates issued | Court puts security certificates in limbo

The Canadian Press
February 2, 2010

Terror suspect Mohamed Harkat denies knowing al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah and disputes a federal claim he was ready to carry out instructions on behalf of the high-profile extremist.

Harkat, 41, told Federal Court in Ottawa on Tuesday he had no recollection of a conversation in which he was supposedly advised that Zubaydah wanted him to pay the legal fees of a Saudi man arrested upon arriving in Canada.

According to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Harkat told an unidentified acquaintance he was ready to pay $1,000 to help Abu Messab Al Shehre if contacted by Zubaydah and told to do so.

Harkat allegedly said he didn’t fear being called at home by Zubaydah and that he knew him personally.

Harkat acknowledges visiting Al Shehre, who was deported to Saudi Arabia as a security risk in 1997, while he was being held at an Ottawa detention centre. But Harkat told the court there was no way he could have made the comments about legal fees “because I don’t know Abu Zubaydah.”

U.S. authorities captured Zubaydah in Pakistan. There has long been speculation he was tortured into giving up information, as well as debate about his role and stature in al-Qaeda.

CSIS alleges Harkat, who was arrested in December 2002, has ties to Zubaydah and other Islamic extremists. The former gas-station attendant and pizza delivery man, who lives in Ottawa with wife, denies any involvement with terrorism.

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Flashback: No need for OPP head to take leave whilst being investigated for criminal charges: McGuinty | Toronto drug officers face more corruption accusations | Police corruption case killed by delays | Toronto Police Union picks controversial new president Michael McCormack | Drug cop corruption case revived | Three Toronto cops to stand trial on corruption charges | Police corruption preliminary probe ends | Crown complained of lack of Toronto police support in drug squad case | CBC releases Toronto drug squad probe report

Update (2010/2/3): The crown has withdrawn the charges against Fantino, citing “no reasonable prospect of conviction” (Toronto Star) McHale vows to take the case to the Superior Court.

CBC News
February 2, 2010

OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino encouraged his officers to lay charges against a protester — before there was any evidence the man had committed a crime — during a clash between natives and residents of Caledonia, Ont., in late 2007, according to emails made public this week in a court case.

“At some point McHale has to go,” Fantino wrote Deputy Commissioner Chris Lewis, a half hour after a protest began on Dec. 1, 2007, referring to Gary McHale of Richmond Hill, Ont., who was leading a campaign to hold the OPP accountable for its policing decisions.

On Feb. 28, 2006, native protesters occupied disputed land in Caledonia, next to the Six Nations reserve. Ensuing clashes with Caledonia residents led to a standoff that has continued for almost four years.

When a native woman attacked McHale during the Dec. 1 protest, claiming that he had assaulted her, the police were almost giddy in their email exchanges that they finally had what they wanted.

“There is a hidden gem here,” officer Rick Barnum wrote to OPP Supt. Bob Goodall. “It appears on the ground the sentiment is that McHale may have pushed a female FN [First Nations] lady who was close to him.”

Another officer reported to Barnum: “Gary McHale viciously beaten by [native leader Clyde Powless]. He appears hurt.”

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It’s interesting in light of the response to Climategate (‘obvious fraud and manipulation doesn’t disprove AGW, natch’) that the media is now breathlessly reporting the retraction of this study as some sort of proof that any link between vaccines and autism has been disproven and is now worthy of dismissal. (Spin alert: Note that the study was withdrawn by the Lancet for Wakefield’s unethically ordering additional invasive tests on his sample of children and not specifically for any points of its content). While this journal has never played up the Wakefield study since online research indicated that it was something of a weak link, concerns remain about organic mercury’s destructive effects on brain tissue as well as auto-immune demyelinization of the brain stem. Court cases have been won on this latter point. But in the interest of maintaining an objective record, and given the huge impact of this story in the press, here it is – the (seemingly deserved) public flagellation of Andrew Wakefield. A quick Google search indicates that as of this posting, Mercola, Mike Adams, VRAN, and Robert Kennedy have yet to make any reply.

Flashback: One small needle, a world of trouble – Mom goes numb from H1N1 shot | Batch of H1N1 vaccine recalled for severe reactions | Elderly Quebec man dies after H1N1 shot | French Woman Gets Crippling Illness After H1N1 Vaccine | Teen Diagnosed With Guillain-Barre Syndrome After Swine Flu Shot | Washington Man Paralyzed After Routine Flu Vaccination | Deaths Associated With Swine Flu Vaccine Reported In Europe | HPV vaccine ‘As deadly as the cancer’: Cervarix designer | Public Health: Mystery tumour ‘likely’ killed British girl after HPV shot | British schoolgirl dies after HPV vaccination | Swine flu jab link to killer nerve disease: Leaked letter reveals concern of neurologists over 25 deaths in America | Washington Post: Swine Flu Vaccine Will Contain Mercury | Scottish parliamentarians seek answers as cervical cancer vaccine injuries mount | GAVI foundation’s malaria vaccine trial encounters opposition from wary Kenyans | UK: Call to make MMR jab compulsory | Lessons of 1976: swine flu, fear, mass vaccinations, wasted millions | Vioxx, Gardasil maker Merck and Co drew up doctor hit list | Students given suspension notices for not getting booster shots | ‘Accidental’ Contamination Of Vaccine With Live Avian Flu Virus Virtually Impossible | Officials investigate how bird flu contaminated vaccines in Europe | Vaccine Court: Autism Debate Continues | Vaccines ‘not to blame for autism’, U.S. court rules | Revealed: The serious health concerns about the cervical cancer jab | Study finds higher rate of reactions to HPV shot | Researchers Question Wide Use of HPV Vaccines | Vaccines Found to Cause Diabetes in Children | Pfizer to be called on carpet in Nigeria for experimenting on children | CDC reports almost 8,000 adverse reactions to “Gardasil” HPV vaccine in U.S. | Is HPV Vaccine to Blame for a Teen’s Paralysis? | Families will make case for vaccine link to autism | HPV vaccination program raises concerns in B.C. | Homeless people die after bird flu vaccine trial in Poland | Gardasil shots have earned a painful reputation | Bush To Veto Ban On Mercury In Vaccines | Vaccine-linked polio hits Nigeria | Political Intrigue in Merck’s Push for Mandatory HPV Vaccinations

Megan Ogilvie, The Toronto Star
February 2, 2010

The anti-vaccine movement lost steam Tuesday after the world’s leading medical journal officially retracted a controversial autism study that has caused millions of parents around the world to fear childhood vaccines.

The study, published in 1998 in the British journal the The Lancet was the first to report a purported link between a vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella and the onset of autism. That reported association, which has since been discredited, formed the crux for the argument that MMR vaccines can cause autism and many in the anti-vaccine movement used the paper as proof of their claims.

Experts say the rare move by the Lancet to pull a published paper should help to correct the public record, though many added that more work is needed to remove the publication’s harmful legacy.

“This sends a very strong signal this research is not to be believed,” said Paul Hebert, editor-in-chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal. “For something that is published, taking it out of the public record is effectively saying it never existed.”

The published research, led by Dr. Andrew Wakefield of London’s Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine, had far-reaching public health consequences after fearful parents questioned the safety of vaccines.

“That caused a drop in vaccination rates, which has caused harm to children who have got measles and mumps as a result,” said autism expert Dr. Peter Szatmari and Chedoke Health Chair in child psychiatry at McMaster University’s Offord Centre for Child Studies. “And it has caused enormous suffering and anxiety to parents of children with autism, particularly those who have a younger child and are wondering about whether to vaccinate them or not.”

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Obama has outdone himself. This is to be the largest deficit in the nation’s history.

Flashback: Obama Likely to Rebrand Climate Bill as Jobs Bill | ‘Green jobs’ are key to U.S., Canadian recovery: US Ambassador | US Bankers Get $4 Trillion Gift From Barney Frank | Taibbi: Obama’s sellout to Wall Street creates ‘permanent bailout’ | Cost Of US Bailout Hits A Whopping $24 Trillion Dollars | Financial Rescue Nears US GDP as Pledges Top $12.8 Trillion | Time to emulate Roosevelt’s New Deal and create green jobs | Next US bailout could top $1-trillion | Fed Hides Destination Of $2 Trillion In Bailout Money | US Bailout Cost Heads Towards $5 Trillion | Next Federal Reserve bank bailout round could cost taxpayers 1$ Trillion Dollars

Andrew Taylor, Associated Press
February 2, 2010

No ‘big ideas’ as Obama budget pushes U.S. into $1.56 trillion hole in war on recession

WASHINGTON–Spelling out painful priorities, U.S. President Barack Obama urged Congress on Monday to quickly approve a huge new shot of spending for recession relief and job creation, part of a record $3.8 trillion budget that would boost the deficit beyond any in the country’s history while only slowly beginning to put Americans back to work.

If Congress goes along with Obama’s plan, the U.S. would still end the year with unemployment pushing double digits at 9.8 per cent and this year’s pool of government red ink deepening to $1.56 trillion – by the administration’s accounting.

The spending blueprint for next year calls for tax cuts for workers and business and more aid for cash-starved state governments as well as the unemployed. The jobs initiative largely mirrors last year’s stimulus bill, but is about one-third its size. Obama is asking for nearly $300 billion for recession relief and job stimulus.

Obama is under pressure to convince investors like China he has a credible plan to control the U.S. deficit and debt over time.

His budget paints a remarkably dire picture of a federal government that will have to borrow one-third of what it spends next year as it runs a deficit that still would total some $1.3 trillion.

At the same time, Obama realizes persistent joblessness is the issue most likely to spell political trouble for Democrats in November’s midterm elections – and perhaps for his own re-election in 2012.

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Hitchens is mistaken only in believing that the North Korean regime is the first to produce a stunted sub-group of homo sapiens sapiens. Royalty has always dined on the high protein flesh of animals, while the slaves, the little people stunted in height and forced to turn all their energies to work – they get what they’re given.

Flashback: North Korea calls for peace treaty with US | State Of War Between Two Koreas After Armistice Ended | Swiss nuclear-smuggling suspect says CIA made him do it | How the USA Gave North Korea The Bomb

Christopher Hitchens, Slate.com
February 2, 2010

Visiting North Korea some years ago, I was lucky to have a fairly genial “minder” whom I’ll call Mr. Chae. He guided me patiently around the ruined and starving country, explaining things away by means of a sort of denial mechanism and never seeming to lose interest in the gargantuan monuments to the world’s most hysterical and operatic leader-cult.

One evening, as we tried to dine on some gristly bits of duck, he mentioned yet another reason why the day should not long be postponed when the whole peninsula was united under the beaming rule of the Dear Leader. The people of South Korea, he pointed out, were becoming mongrelized. They wedded foreigners — even black American soldiers, or so he’d heard to his evident disgust — and were losing their purity and distinction. Not for Mr. Chae the charm of the ethnic mosaic, but rather a rigid and unpolluted uniformity.

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Flashback: Protests against Putin sweep Russia as factories go broke | Thousands protest in Russia over financial crisis | Russian police beat auto tariff protesters

Luke Harding, the Guardian
February 2, 2010

Special envoy sent to Russia’s western exclave as thousands take to streets in biggest protest since Soviet Union fell

Dmitry Medvedev sent his special envoy to the western outpost of Kaliningrad ­today after thousands of Russians took to the streets in the largest rally since the fall of the Soviet Union.

The protest, staged at the weekend, saw between 10,000 and 12,000 people gather in Kaliningrad’s main square to demand the resignation of the governor and shout slogans against the ruling United Russia party.

Smaller opposition rallies were held in other towns, including Vladivostok – the scene of regular protests by car drivers over the past 18 months – as well as Moscow and St Petersburg. Riot police violently broke up a peaceful demonstration in Triumfalnaya Square, Moscow, on Sunday, arresting 100 ­people.

Although opposition rallies have taken place throughout the Vladimir Putin era, the scale of the Kaliningrad protest appeared to have caught the Kremlin off guard.

The region – the former German city of Königsberg, which was seized by Stalin during the second world war – is separated from the rest of Russia and bordered by EU member states Poland and Lithuania.

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Flashback: Olympic surveillance cameras causing concern | B.C. to get license-plate scanning system | Cops with cameras future of policing: Vancouver chief | Police State Canada 2010 and the Olympic Crackdown | Pre-Olympic transit ads encourage citizen surveillance | Tanks, Face-Scanning Cameras Part of ‘Discreet’ 2010 Games Security | Vancouver Olympics security cameras raise privacy concerns

Petti Fong, Toronto Star
February 2, 2010

In countdown to Games, Vancouver, Whistler are plastered with hundreds of security cameras

VANCOUVER–At 3:10 p.m. Monday, the camera at Vancouver’s Georgia and Beatty Sts. might have captured Chet Wisnieski picking up after his dog.

A little earlier, at 12:55 p.m., Jennifer Dick was eating her lunch under the surveillance of the camera on Homer St. and Pacific Ave. And at 3:30 p.m., the camera at Robson and Beatty Sts. looked down on two university students, lost, and wondering what bus to catch.

The activation of hundreds of video cameras around the city and at Whistler on Monday was the latest sign of Olympic preparation.

The RCMP’s Integrated Security Unit will have 900 cameras trained on athletes, fans and spectators, mainly at venue sites. And the city of Vancouver has installed nearly 100 cameras along the downtown core as it readies for large crowds.

“I live on the 33rd floor and I’m used to looking down and seeing everything that’s going on,” said Wisnieski, who lives downtown and was walking his dog in the grassy area across from Livesite, one of the entertainment areas. “Now the tables are turned and when I’m on the street, I will be the one being watched.”

From where he was standing, Wisnieski could spot at least one video camera. Behind him, at B.C. Place, where the opening ceremonies will take place Feb. 12, he figured there were likely more cameras.

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