statism watch

Flashback: 9/11 tentative deal for rescue workers reached

David B. Caruso, Associated Press
March 19, 2010

A federal judge rejected a multimillion dollar settlement for people sickened by ash and dust from the World Trade Center, saying the deal to compensate 10,000 police officers, firefighters and other laborers didn’t contain enough money.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein on Friday rejected a legal settlement that would have given at least $575 million to the victims, saying the deal shortchanged ground zero workers whom he called heroes.

“In my judgment, this settlement is not enough,” said U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who delivered his pronouncement to a stunned gallery at a federal courthouse in Manhattan.

Rising from his chair, the 76-year-old jurist said he feared police officers, firefighters and other laborers who cleared rubble after the 9/11 terror attacks were being pushed into signing a deal few of them understood.

Under the terms of the settlement, workers had been given just 90 days to say yes or no to a deal that would have assigned them payments based on a point system that Hellerstein said was complicated enough to make a Talmudic scholar’s head spin.

“I will not preside over a settlement that is based on fear or ignorance,” he said.

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Related: EU Parliament votes down ACTA global copyright resolution by overwhelming margin | ACTA Internet Chapter Leaks: Renegotiates WIPO, Sets 3 Strikes as Model | ACTA Is Called An ‘Executive Agreement’ To Implement Restrictive Copyright With Less Hassle Than A Treaty | ACTA One Step Closer To Being Done; Concerns About Transparency Ignored | UK MPs frozen out of super-secret ACTA copyright talks | 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?

Michael Geist, MichaelGeist.ca
March 19, 2010

New ACTA leaks have emerged this week that fill in the blanks about the remainder of the still-secret treaty. While earlier leaks provided extensive detail on the Internet and civil enforcement chapters, these latest leaks shed new light into the criminal enforcement section, the chapter on ACTA institutional issues, and international cooperation.

Criminal Enforcement

As described by KEI, the European Union has proposed language to require criminal penalties for “inciting, aiding and abetting” certain offenses, including “at least in cases of willful trademark counterfeiting and copyright or related rights piracy on a commercial scale.” Willful copyright infringement includes instances that “have no direct or indirect motivation of financial gain.”

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Good luck with that, friends in China. Newbies will probably want to get their hands on some open source encryption, like GnuPG, if they’re organizing online. Oh, and we can’t afford to be complacent about this in the West, either, because our governments are implementing aspects of the Chinese model just as fast as they can get the legislation written and pushed into law.

Related: China insider sees revolution brewing | China launches interview requirement, licensing for personal websites | China tells web companies to obey controls | Google Considers Leaving China If China Will Not Allow Uncensored Search | Eyewitness Recounts Forced Organ Removal in China | Prominent Chinese reformer on trial for subversion | China Imposes New Internet Controls | China launches ’strike hard’ crackdown in Xinjiang | China executes Tibetan protesters | China’s crackdown for patriotism on 60th anniversary | Chinese pupils told to love nation | Chinese dissident saved by Canada details horror | Urumqi Massacre: The repressive reality behind China’s modern mask | Pro-rights ‘Charter 08′ Manifesto author could face prison in China | Police pounce on 20th Tiananmen anniversary | Tiananmen Square: briefly, anything seemed possible | China begins internet ‘blackout’ ahead of Tiananmen anniversary | Tibet’s best friend? China, of course | China executes two men, ‘guilty’ of killing 17 police before Olympics | Monks taken for ‘re-education’ before Tibet uprising anniversary | Chinese Learn Limits of Online Freedom as the Filter Tightens | Beijing strikes at Charter 08 dissidents | China restarts online crackdown | Psychiatric treatment used to ’silence’ Chinese critics | Beijing peasants bullied, beaten off of family farms by state-developer blocs | China names 8 alleged Olympic terrorists | Doubt Arises in Account of pre-Olympic ‘Uighur’ Attack in China | Rounded up into torture camps: the ‘undesirables’ China doesn’t want you to see | Pentagon Front Groups Release Laughable Olympics “Terror” Video | Long history of Tibet, China, and British interference means all sides guilty of abuses | Beijing Taxis Are Bugged ‘For Driver Safety’ | Journalists beaten for reporting on separatist attacks in China | Chinese citizens dutifully file protest applications in Beijing, suffer detention | Bombs explode, Washington-based Intelcenter releases yet another terror video, China cracks down on transport security | Mass Arrests as Beijing Prepares for Olympics | Chinese riot in Shenzen over rape, murder, subsequent police coverup | China creates mobile execution vans, organ theft suspected

Anita Chang, Associated Press
March 19, 2010

But while sites and services such as Twitter and Facebook help get the word out, users can face persecution for openly criticizing the government

Absolute screamingly unjust bullshit. There is no doubt that Peter Watts has just been given a judicial raping. The TSA thugs beat and pepper sprayed him when he got out of his car to ask a question, then charged him with assault. Perhaps you’d consider buying his books as one means of protesting this. You can also contribute to his legal defence fund at BAKKA-Phoenix bookstore, 697 Queen St W in Toronto. This could happen to anybody, now. as Cory Doctorow points out in another of his excellent articles, it’s about obedience. Even the jurors were indignant – they were essentially told that if Watts didn’t promptly obey the guards promptly in any way (including, apparently, asking questions) then they had to convict him. American justice is a joke. Now, here is Peter in his own words, and this is worth repeating.

“Along some other timeline, I did not get out of the car to ask what was going on. I did not repeat that question when refused an answer and told to get back into the vehicle. In that other timeline I was not punched in the face, pepper-sprayed, shit-kicked, handcuffed, thrown wet and half-naked into a holding cell for three fucking hours, thrown into an even colder jail cell overnight, arraigned, and charged with assaulting a federal officer, all without access to legal representation (although they did try to get me to waive my Miranda rights. Twice.). Nor was I finally dumped across the border in shirtsleeves: computer seized, flash drive confiscated, even my fucking paper notepad withheld until they could find someone among their number literate enough to distinguish between handwritten notes on story ideas and, I suppose, nefarious terrorist plots. I was not left without my jacket in the face of Ontario’s first winter storm, after all buses and intercity shuttles had shut down for the night. In some other universe I am warm and content and not looking at spending two years in jail for the crime of having been punched in the face.”

Update (2010/03/23): The AP story was incorrect. The assault charge was in fact dropped during the proceedings in favour of a ‘non-compliance’ charge. The consequences remain: Up to two years in jail.

Flashback: Dr Peter Watts, Canadian science fiction writer, beaten and arrested at US border | Border guards are now Olympic thought police — Amy Goodman detained | Privacy watchdog OKs ‘naked’ airport scanners | Laptops fair game for border searches | US Border Guards to Expand Use of X-Ray Body Scanners | Border guards resorting to force more often | Border agents handcuff, interrogate Winnipeg couple | Mohawk protesters block Ontario bridge over arming of border guards | Akwesasne natives protest armed border guards, border crossing closed in retaliation | New border rules create ‘invisible Berlin Wall’: mayor | New US border technology directed at insidious threat: Canadians | Clinton defends new border restrictions | Ontario’s high-tech driver’s licences pose privacy risk: watchdog | Moratorium sought on RFID driver’s licenses | ‘Say please’ at U. S. border nets pepper spray | Predator drones patrolling border irk Manitoba MLA | Surveillance on the Great Lakes: U.S. tightens security along border | RFID passport security defeated in minutes | U.S. border agents given power to seize travellers’ laptops, cellphones | American Border Officers Want to Fingerprint Canadians at SPP Bridge | U.S. to collect DNA at border | North American ID card in the works through SPP

Associated Press
March 19, 2010

A Toronto science fiction writer who authorities say refused to comply during an inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in December has been convicted in the case.

A St. Clair County jury in Port Huron on Friday found 52-year-old Peter Watts of Toronto guilty of assaulting, obstructing and resisting a police officer. He faces up to two years in prison when sentenced April 26.

A message was left for defense lawyer Douglas Mullkoff.

Watts was trying to cross into Canada Dec. 8 at the Blue Water Bridge when his vehicle was selected for inspection. Authorities say he was detained after becoming noncompliant. Watts testified that he was trying to comply.

According to police reports, he stepped out of his car during the inspection but was ordered to get back inside. Port Huron Police Captain Jim Jones said Mr. Watts refused and resisted when border officers tried to restrain him.

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It came out a couple of days ago that the Afghan police may still be torturing transferred prisoners. Paul Champ, counsel for Amnesty International Canada and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association told a special Commons committee investigating the Canadian mission in Afghanistan that “Our concern is that there still remains a risk of torture in Afghanistan with respect to detainees captured by Canadian forces and handed over to Afghan authorities. We have no reason to believe that the situation has improved in Afghan prisons. We have no evidence of that … it’s our view and our position based on the evidence available that there still remains a serious and substantial risk of torture for detainees in Canadian Forces custody handed over to Afghan authorities.” There’s more than a few Conservatives that should get thrown in the brig over this.

Related: NDP tables torture-prevention bill | Ottawa anticipated Afghan torture allegations: memo | CSIS secretly interrogated Afghan prisoners | Canada wanted Afghan prisoners tortured: lawyer | Harper grilled over prorogation, Afghan detainee torture documents | MP threatens motion on Afghan documents | PM Harper downplays detainee torture scandal, prorogation | Claims troops mistreated prisoners unfounded: military police | Peter MacKay, Red Cross discussed detainees in 2006 | Canada’s troops investigated for Afghan abuse | Colvin disputes witnesses’ detainee testimony | Tories sabotage Afghan committee meeting | Canada ‘defended’ torturer | Ottawa won’t release Afghan torture documents | Top general’s Afghan detainee reversal hikes pressure for public inquiry | Richard Colvin’s Afghan torture memos reveal government concealed prisoner access issues | Torture claims unreliable, officials say, despite having found evidence of torture | MPs vote public inquiry into Afghan detainees, Tories ignore majority motion | Torture claims weren’t probed, official testified | Harper government changes tune on Afghan prisoner issue | Colvin’s testimony true: former Afghan MP | David Mulroney testifies war confused issue of torture | Hillier says he saw no credible reports of torture | Afghan torture emails reached MacKay’s office | Opposition wants documentation prior to government torture rebuttal, PM cries foul | Canadian officials discussed torture in 2006 | Canada shamed on Afghan prisoner torture | Canada ignored torture warnings: Diplomat | Military lawyer stonewalls on Afghan torture claims | Ottawa was warned Afghan detainees might be tortured | Military commission suspends torture hearings, gags witness | Torture probe delayed; Tories deny gagging witness | 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’

Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press
March 19, 2010

OTTAWA–The opening volley was fired Thursday over what could become a protracted constitutional war over Parliament’s right to know versus the government’s right to keep secrets.

Fed up with months of government foot-dragging on their demand for uncensored documents related to the alleged torture of Afghan detainees, opposition MPs sought a formal ruling from the Speaker of the House of Commons that their parliamentary privileges have been breached.

Should Speaker Peter Milliken agree and the government continue to balk at releasing the documents, opposition MPs said they’re prepared to follow up with motions censuring the government – and three top cabinet ministers in particular – for being in contempt of Parliament.

That theoretically could result in the incarceration of the ministers for the remainder of the parliamentary session.

Liberal MP Derek Lee has drafted a motion that goes even further, ordering the Commons sergeant-at-arms to seize the documents. That could well result in the government challenging Parliament’s authority in court.

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Related: US-Israel relations: White House ‘will not shy away’ from pushing for talks | Canada ‘regrets’ Israeli settlements

Ewan Macaskill, The Guardian
March 19, 2010

Prime minister agrees to postpone building plans, some concessions made in private, say diplomats

The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, last night caved into US demands over the Middle East peace process, opening the way for a resumption of talks with the Palestinians.

It was a humiliating climbdown for Netanyahu after a week of pressure from the Barack Obama administration.

Netanyahu, in a telephone call to the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, who was in Moscow for Middle East talks, agreed to various demands she had set out last Friday.

In a statement from his office, he said he proposed, as Clinton had demanded, “confidence-building steps” that would make it easier for the Palestinians to join the talks. He did not specify what these would be but these could include easing Israeli roadblocks in the West Bank, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from more parts of the West Bank and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

He did not announce, as the US had demanded, a freeze on the construction of Jewish homes in Ramat Shlomo, in East Jerusalem, the key point at issue.

But diplomats in Washington, Moscow and Jerusalem said Netanyahu had given a private promise that there will be a temporary freeze on any new construction. The work, while not cancelled, is to be postponed for several years.

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Flashback: Residential school graves research a daunting task | For many aboriginals, the truth of residential schools is irreconcilable: commissioner | The future of the residential school commission — An interview with Judge Murray Sinclair | GG relaunches Truth and Reconciliation Commission | New members tapped for residential school commission: report | Chair to have final say as residential schools commission jobs rewritten | Remaining 2 members resign from residential schools commission | Commission to Probe Graves at Native ‘Residential School’ Sites | Government to hold talks over future of residential-schools commission | Chairman quits troubled residential-school commission | Truth commission tied too closely to government: aboriginal groups | Canada hears of native abuse pain | Location of Mass Graves of Residential School Children Revealed for the First Time; Independent Tribunal Established

CBC News
March 19, 2010

Survivors of abuse at residential schools are fearing the end of federal funding on March 31 for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, a nationwide network of community-based healing initiatives.

The federal government did not renew its funding for the foundation (AHF), which serves 134 community-based healing programs.

Instead, the government has committed $65.9 million over two years for mental health and emotional abuse support services for former residential school students and their families. The funding will support programs run by Health Canada.

That might not be enough for Ben Pratt, 52, who was sexually abused as a teenager when he attended the residential school on the George Gordon First Nation, about 100 kilometres northeast of Regina.

Pratt is preparing to testify in the summer before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a court-ordered commission. Its mandate is “to learn the truth about what happened in the residential schools and to inform all Canadians about what happened in the schools,” according to the commission’s website.

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