statism watch

“I am a muslim soldier! I will kill children as required! We terrorists think killing muslims is bad!” And blurted in open court – that doesn’t sound scripted at all. A sensation in the press! Look, it’s already out in the open that Pakistani secret service, the ISI, essentially runs the Taliban. The London School of Economics just put a study out on it. And the CIA has a lot of influence over the ISI still, and runs bases in Pakistan, and has contractors running all over the country besides. The ‘Taliban’. There is no single ‘Taliban’, it’s a diverse system of tribes. And the particular outfit this guy ‘trained’ with is a confirmed CIA front. Everything’s outsourced these days! (It’s a good thing their bomb-training instructors appear to suffer from gross incompetence). If this guy isn’t an outright agent, he’s a complete moron on the order of Abdul Mutallab the crotch-bomber patsy, because the US is just itching to roll across the border and into Pakistan. We need to ‘pull out’ in 2011, after all. And for some odd reason the planned withdrawal route just happens to be through Pakistan, rather than existing airbases in the UAE. And we won’t stop until we’ve wiped out ad-hoc banking like the Hawala system and pacified the nomadic peoples. They’ve very difficult, never staying put. Not readily accepting of occupation, they were so useful against the Russians in the 80s, when we set up and financed ‘Al-Qaeda’. Now they’re in the way of certain strategic resources, so the pawns get pushed off the table in the great geopolitical game. Empires have always conducted themselves in this manner. What don’t people understand about this? The US uses proxy terrorism to accomplish political goals, there are countless documented examples. Noam Chomsky, for one, has devoted almost the entire latter half of his career to exposing this. It’s getting old. So could we please. Stop. Now.

Related: Suspect in failed Times Square bombing indicted | Options studied for a possible Pakistan strike by US | Taliban behind Times Square plot, says US AG Holder | CIA Drones No Longer Need a Name to Kill | Times Square Bomber Linked With CIA-Controlled Terror Group | Faisal Shahzad on Homeland Security List Since 1999 | Times Square Eyewitness: Bomb Scare Looked Like Drill | New York terror suspect received calls from Pakistan before buying SUV, charged with using ‘Weapon of Mass Destruction’ | Officials seize on Times Square incident to push precrime surveillance network expansion | Frenzied manhunt ends with airplane arrest of New York terror suspect | Potential suspect identified in Times Square bomb plot | Times Square bomb police focus on video of man watching smoking car | ‘Amateurish’ Explosive Found in Parked SUV in Times Square, Suspect Reportedly Recorded

Tom Hays, Associated Press
June 22, 2010

NEW YORK–Calling himself a “Muslim soldier,” a defiant Pakistan-born U.S. citizen pleaded guilty Monday to carrying out the failed Times Square car bombing, saying his attack was the answer to “the U.S. terrorizing . . . Muslim people.”

Wearing a white skull cap, Faisal Shahzad entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Manhattan just days after a federal grand jury indicted him on 10 terrorism and weapons counts, some of which carried mandatory life prison sentences. He pleaded guilty to them all.

“One has to understand where I’m coming from,” Shahzad calmly told U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum, who challenged him repeatedly with questions such as whether he worried about killing children in Times Square. “I consider myself . . . a Muslim soldier.”

The 30-year-old described his effort to set off a bomb in an SUV he parked in Times Square on May 1, saying he chose the warm Saturday night because it would be crowded with people who he could injure or kill.

He revealed that he actually packed his vehicle with three separate bombs, hoping to set off a fertilizer-fuelled bomb packed in a gun cabinet, a set of propane tanks and gas canisters rigged with fireworks to explode into a fireball.

Shahzad said he expected the bombs to begin going off after he lighted a fuse and waited between 2 ½ minutes and five minutes for them to erupt.

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This all sounds rather like healthcare rationing, don’t you think? Of course, we’ve been accustomed to thinking that no such thing exists in the glorious socialized Canadian healthcare system, where all your cares are provided for. Unless you have an autistic child. Unless you need expensive unlisted medication. Unless there’s a bureaucrat deciding who will live and who will die. Unless you need to get multiple opinions from harried doctors and fight tooth and nail for your loved ones. So what’s the solution? Clearly ‘private’ (eg; public-private) insurers can be equally arbitrary and corrupt, prevaricating and denying care. We’ve all heard the horror stories from the US, which also has a socialized medical system, contrary to perception. Can we at least allow that some of the corruption and systemic apathy in healthcare might be removed from the system if we removed politics from the picture, allowed doctors to work for themselves, and had a thriving truly private system, with open competition, where you kept those wages that are now going into the black hole of public health and were instead free to make your own choices where your health care dollar was spent? Perhaps some of the effort directed towards hand-wringing today might be more effectively channeled into prosecuting fraud in the pharmaceutical industry, such as the clear case of collusion between states and the manufacturers of H1N1 vaccines. There’s still no guarantee you’d be able to afford everything under the sun. But at least the choices would be your choices. And the market would naturally move money towards solutions for the diseases killing the most people, rather than political fads.

Related: Cato: Obamacare ‘death panels’ were an overblown claim — until now | Barack Obama’s healthcare bill passed by Congress | Obama unveils newest health-care plan | Barack Obama healthcare bill passes vital US Senate vote | The Case for Killing Granny | House of Representatives passes Obama healthcare legislation | UK: Sentenced to death by the National Health Service | Obama tries to save health-care overhaul on primetime broadcast | Canadian defends anti-medicare ad | UK: Man refused liver transplant by NHS dies | ABC Turns Programming Over To Government to Promote State Healthcare Agenda | Cut ties between Health Canada, drug companies, grieving MP urges | Useless seniors burdening the state have duty to die: British Baroness

Johanna Weidner, The Cambridge Record
June 21, 2010

Government ‘choosing who will live and who will die’

CAMBRIDGE – The medication is Elaine Young’s last hope.

Suffering with a debilitating colon disease that made her too sick to get out of bed many days, she believed a potent drug for inflammatory disorders would help her feel better and prevent severe complications.

“That’s my last recourse before surgery,” Young said.

The combination of medications the Cambridge woman has been taking barely helped with her ulcerative colitis, a disease that causes inflammation and sores in the lining of the colon and rectum.

Drug therapy is essential to battle the disease and even then hospitalization or surgery may be necessary when symptoms become severe.

Despite the dire prognosis, Young struggled to get help from the government to pay for the costly medication. The single mother is on disability support since being laid off from a factory accounting department a few years ago.

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Related: Pro-copyright bill group busted as recording industry astroturf campaign | Tories unveil tougher copyright bill, requires ISPs to keep user info | Copyright Act changes to be revealed today | India Gearing Up To Fight ACTA; Seeking Other, Like-Minded, Countries | Google attorney slams ACTA copyright treaty | Red Alert: New Canadian DMCA Bill Within Six Weeks | Official ACTA Draft Released, Only Very Slightly Less Awful Than Expected | The Economist On Why Copyright Needs To Return To Its Roots | Big Content’s dystopian wish-list for the US gov’t: spyware, censorship, physical searches and SWAT teams | Thousands condemn secrecy of New Zealand round of internet copyright talks | ACTA Draft: No Internet for Copyright Scofflaws | Entire Text of ACTA Treaty Leaks to Online Rights Website | Revealed: ACTA to cover seven categories of intellectual property | New ACTA Leaks Complete Picture of Oppressive Global Copyright Treaty | 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?

Mike Masnick, Techdirt.com
June 21, 2010

With ACTA finally being officially “released” back in April, the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, at American University’s Washington College of Law, brought together a ton of actual stakeholders and experts last week to discuss what the draft actually said — and found severe problems with it. Together, they put together a draft letter for signatures, which they plan on releasing on Wednesday of this week. The current draft reads as follows:

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Related: Toronto activists launch G20 alternative media centre | Ban G20 summit agents provocateurs: activist groups to PM | Oxfam astroturf march leads early G20 protest for bank tax | Activists plan walkout and tent city to protest G8/G20 summits | G20 centre for protesters set to open | Rights group files for injunction against G20 ‘sound cannon’ | G20 activists accuse CSIS of intimidation | Anarchists plan ‘militant’ protests at Toronto G20 | Toronto labour, native protesters ready for G20 demonstrations | Toronto G20 protest area moved to Queens Park | All Toronto G20 protests will be directed to Trinity Bellwoods Park | Protesters and police get ready to square off at G20 summit | Hundreds of Toronto G20 delegates granted diplomatic immunity | For more, see the G20 Coverage page feature

Jayme Poisson, Toronto Star
June 21, 2010

They were the first out of the gate, the first to occupy an Esso, and the first to disperse. Welcome to protesting G20-style.

About 100 protesters briefly occupied an Esso gas station and convenience store at Dundas and Church Sts. Monday afternoon in the first major protest of the G20 summit.

Some came with bandanas covering their faces. Others carried signs that read “Fake lake or human rights.” Most had a legal aid phone number scribbled across their forearms in case of arrest.

The main organizers, members of a Guelph-based anti-poverty group called Sense of Security, had vowed to “take a piece of property” in Toronto’s downtown core in an attempt to bring attention to lack of housing for the poor.

But their plans were stymied when a squad of about 50 police officers, many on bikes, redirected their march at Sherbourne and Dundas Sts.

While the Esso wasn’t their first choice, “we have to go with what we’ve got,” said Julian Ichim, of the on-the-fly venue change. He would not divulge what building the group had initially planned to occupy.

“Corporations like Esso have caused irreparable damage all over the world,” shouted Ichim, referring to Esso’s parent company, ExxonMobil. “There is a lack of housing. This is our housing now.”

But it wasn’t their house for long. The protesters congregated in the gas station’s convenience store for all of about 10 minutes, then began heading north along Yonge St.

“This is what democracy looks like,” they chanted. “That is what a police state looks like,” they added, pointing to a growing number of police officers surrounding them from all sides.

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Wardriving, for those who may not know, is the practice of going around storing Wifi network info for later exploitation – precisely what Google was doing. And the reason they give?

The company says it uses the location of Wi-Fi networks to enhance location-based services on smartphones.

It’s just to help track your cellphone for location-based services. Oh, well, that’s okay then.

Related: Google, NSA may team up to probe cyberattacks | Google Street View goes live in Canadian cities | Google PowerMeter to track home energy usage in Toronto test drive | Britons block Google Street View van | Google Street View comes to Canada | Google Street View could care less about your privacy

Diane Bartz, Reuters
June 21, 2010

WASHINGTON — Connecticut’s attorney general will lead a multi-state probe of whether Google Inc. broke laws when it siphoned personal data off wireless networks around the world, which the Internet search leader has said was inadvertent.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said on Monday more than 30 states participated in a recent conference call on the issue. He said consumers have a right to know what information was collected, and whether U.S. states need to alter procedures to guard against such leaks in future.

Shares in Google slid 1.4% to US$492.81 in a relatively flat market.

In May, Google said its cars photographing streets around the world have for years accidentally collected personal data – which a security expert said at the time could have included email messages and passwords – sent by consumers over wireless networks.

“My office will lead a multi-state investigation – expected to involve a significant number of states – into Google’s deeply disturbing invasion of personal privacy,” Mr. Blumenthal said in a statement.

“Consumers have a right and a need to know what personal information – which could include emails, Web browsing and passwords – Google may have collected, how and why.”

Mr. Blumenthal said Google has cooperated but “its response so far raises as many questions as it answers.”

“Our investigation will consider whether laws may have been broken and whether changes to state and federal statutes may be necessary,” he said.

The revelation marked the latest development in a privacy controversy surrounding Google. The company already faces an informal investigation over the matter by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, a variety of probes overseas, and class action lawsuits.

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Yes, that’s right – legal rights activism is now terror. Trying to get medical aid through to Palestine? Terror. ‘Giving aid and comfort to the enemy’ by questioning anything the state does? That comes next.

Terror terror terror terror terror terror everywhere, give up all your rights. Meanwhile as Professor Noam Chomsky points out in exhausting detail across his entire body of work, the US is the chief sponsor of international terror worldwide. And he’s not the only one by any means. Had enough yet? America is a one-party state. So wake up or practice your goosestep, choose one. Choose now.

Related: LSE Report: Pakistan ISI backs Taliban | U.S. officials say Pakistani spy agency released Afghan Taliban insurgents | Arrested Terrorist Leader Exposes Extensive CIA Connections | CIA admits Blackwater presence in Pakistan | Taliban: Blackwater to blame for Pakistan attacks | How the US Funds the Taliban | Taliban Chief Blames Blackwater, ISI for Peshawar Blast | Ex-CIA agent confirms US ties with Jundullah | Iranian commanders assassinated, Iran fingers Western intelligence | Madsen: CIA collusion with “Al Qaeda” financiers and attack planners | Whistleblower Who Linked “Taliban” Leader To US Intelligence Is Assassinated | Pakistani president Asif Zardari admits creating terrorist groups | Western Governments Funding Taliban & Al-Qaeda To Kill U.S. Troops, Destabilize Countries | The Main Result of the “War on Terror”: The Destabilization of Pakistan | Report: CIA runs secret bases in Pakistan | Delta Force Officer: We Weren’t Allowed to Kill Osama Bin Laden | Key Benazir Bhutto assassination witness shot dead | CIA, Pakistani ISI have long, complicated relationship | US scales up covert destabilization efforts in Iran, continues funding ‘al-Qaeda’ | Report: U.S. Gave Green Light For Taliban Prison Attack | Investigative Reporter Seymour Hersh: US Indirectly Funding Al-Qaeda Linked Sunni Groups in Move to Counter Iran | US Allowed Taliban, Al-Qaeda Airlift Evacuation

Chris McGreal, The Guardian
June 21, 2010

Decision means people could be prosecuted for offering assistance of any kind to terrorist organisations

The US supreme court has upheld a broad-ranging law that allows Americans who offer advice to banned organisations, including legal assistance and information on conflict resolution, to be prosecuted as terrorists.

The case arose out of human rights advice given by a California group to Kurdish and Tamil organisations that are listed as terrorist groups in the US.

The supreme court upheld the Obama administration’s argument that even advice intended to be used for peaceful purposes amounted to “material support” for terrorism.

That includes a lawyer submitting a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of a banned group or helping a proscribed organisation to petition international bodies to bring an end to a violent conflict.

“The supreme court has ruled that human rights advocates, providing training and assistance in the nonviolent resolution of disputes, can be prosecuted as terrorists,” said David Cole, a Georgetown university law professor who argued the case before the court.

“In the name of fighting terrorism, the court has said that the first amendment [on free speech] permits congress to make it a crime to work for peace and human rights. That is wrong.”

The ruling is likely to further complicate the work of activists in support of controversial causes that has already seen highly contentious prosecutions over other forms of support, such as fundraising.

Palestinian activists have been prosecuted and jailed for raising cash for social groups dealing with issues such as housing and welfare that have ties to Hamas, which governs Gaza.

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Related: Native residential school hearings open in Manitoba | Native residential school forgiveness granted | N.B. aboriginal group sues over ‘genocide’ | Truth and Reconciliation Commission seeks global forum on abuse of native peoples | Residential school survivors fear network end | 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
June 21, 2010

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is pleased with the outcome of its first national event in Winnipeg, despite receiving a smaller number of survivor statements than hoped.

“We are deeply grateful to those who came forward to share their experiences, and to those who opened themselves up to hear those stories and show those individuals that they no longer walk alone,” said Manitoba Justice Murray Sinclair, TRC chair.

“What we have started here is a national dialogue that sheds light on a terrible chapter in our history.

“It has been a painful experience for many, but an important first step in what will be a lengthy but vital healing process for our country.”

The national event, which ran June 16 to 19 in tents at The Forks national historic site in Winnipeg, was the first of seven national events that will take place across the country.

The events are intended to be an opportunity to educate the public about the residential school system that existed in Canada for more than 100 years, and give former students, staff and others whose lives have been affected by the experience a chance to talk about it publicly.

The goal was to help survivors heal and “close the divide between aboriginal people and the rest of Canadians,” Sinclair has said.

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Related: Iceland Unanimously Approves ‘Wikileaks Bill’ To Establish Free Speech Press Haven | Pentagon hunts WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in bid to gag website | Michigan Considers Law to License Journalists for ‘Moral Character’ | Obama Czar Wants Mandatory Government Propaganda On Political Websites | Media can’t shield sources all the time, court rules | Press For Truth Arrested While Reporting On The G20 Summit | Secret Document Calls Wikileaks ‘Threat’ to U.S. Army | North Korean worker executed for passing on news | The Toronto 18 Publication Ban: Silence affects the core of justice | Obama Information Czar Outlined Plan For Government To Infiltrate ‘Conspiracy Groups’ | Obama Information Czar Calls For Banning Free Speech | Canadian Supreme Court expands freedoms for media | Border guards are now Olympic thought police — Amy Goodman detained | Cuban blogger claims she was roughed up by state agents | Globe appeal to protect adscam sources before court | Obama: We Need To Bailout Newspapers To Stop New Media Taking Over | Canadian media watched closely in Afghanistan | It’s a great day for freedom of speech: ‘Hate Speech’ laws found to violate Charter Rights | Associated Press Tries To DRM The News | Murdoch CEO Labels Bloggers “Political Extremists” | Should linking be illegal? | Top court to hear ‘Adscam’ media gag order challenge | Top court reserves decision in reporter confidentiality case | Don’t let media shield ‘criminals’, hearing told | Supreme Court to rule on ‘tidal-wave’ of press freedom cases | Fredericton police arrest well-known N.B. blogger on legislature grounds | Barclays bank gags Guardian newspaper over tax avoidance leaks | Chinese Learn Limits of Online Freedom as the Filter Tightens | UK Terror Law To Make Photographing Police Illegal | Publication ban law too broad, top Ontario court rules | Public access vs. government secrecy the issue in Supreme Court of Canada case | UK MPs seek to censor the media | Italian Judge: Blogs are Illegal | RCMP lays no charges in Maher Arar ‘terrorist’ leaks, declares case closed | Human rights body to consider Internet speech regulation | Blogger arrests hit record high

Kate Milberry, Toronto Media Coop
June 21, 2010

Mainstream media flock to AMC to find out about “alternative” media

The Toronto Community Mobilization Network held a press conference this morning to launch a week of themed actions against the G8/G20, and to officially open the Alternative Media Centre.

Mainstream media gathered outside the Jersey Ave. Centre to hear TCMN representatives discuss the various issues around the G8/G20. Monday is a day of resistance organized around migrant justice, income inequity, community control over resources and end to war.

“There are 289 million people globally who are unemployed and more than half the world’s population lives on $2.5 a day as a direct result of the banking and corporate policies of the G8,” said Syed Hussan of the TCMN. “This is an outrage.”

The Group of 8 comprises the heads of state of the world’s most powerful governments. It holds annual summits to discuss macro-economic policy, heavily influenced by a neoliberal approach that favours reduction of social services, environmental protection and labour rights in favour of unfettered capitalism. The Group of 20– finance ministers and central bank governors from the 20 largest economies–was formed in 2007 as a response to global economic crisis.

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Related: Internet ‘kill switch’ proposed for US President | U.S. seeks international organization in battle against cyber terror | Homeland Security’s Cyber Bill Would Codify Executive Emergency Powers | Lieberman Bill Gives Feds ‘Emergency’ Powers to Secure Civilian Nets | Cyber Command: We Don’t Wanna Defend the Internet (We Just Might Have To) | Pentagon: Let us monitor your network or else | US appoints first cyber warfare general | NSA head confirmed as chief of US cyber command | Cybersecurity event seeks to spur international talks | Danger Room What’s Next in National Security Prospective U.S. Cyber Commander Talks Terms of Digital Warfare | Canadian researchers reveal another botnet in China, call for state cybersecurity | U.S. cybersecurity bill introduced in Senate | Cyberattacks push CSIS to reach out to business | United States weighs massive expansion of Internet monitoring | Cyberwar Hype Intended to Destroy the Open Internet | Google, NSA may team up to probe cyberattacks | UN agency calls for global cyberwarfare treaty, ‘driver’s license’ for Web users | Death Of The Internet: Censorship Bills In UK, Australia, U.S. Aim To Block “Undesirable” Websites | Australia introduces web filters | Obama Wants Computer Privacy Ruling Overturned | UK Internet surveillance plan to go ahead | Security boss calls for end to net anonymity | Case for Internet spying not closed | Planned Internet, wireless surveillance laws worry watchdogs | UK ISPs condemn Internet surveillance plans | UK to found new ‘cyber-security’ units attached to national eavesdropping centre | ISPs must help police snoop on internet under new bill | UK plans to integrate ‘cybersecurity’ centre with US, Canada | Cybersecurity Is Framework For Total Government Regulation & Control Of Our Lives | Obama Set to Create A Cybersecurity Czar With Broad Mandate | EU wants ‘Internet G12′ to govern cyberspace | UK Home Secretary has secret plan to surveil, ‘Master the Internet’ | Should Obama Control the Internet? | Cybersecurity law would give feds unprecedented net control | Munk Centre researchers discover botnet, call for international cyberspace ‘legal regime’ | NSA Dominance of Cybersecurity Would Lead to ‘Grave Peril’, Ex-Cyber Chief Tells Congress | Do We Need a New Internet? | Defense Contractors See $$$ in Cyber Security | RCMP to helm a Canadian “cyber-security strategy” | Sweden approves wiretapping law | Law Professor tells tech conference: plans to shut down Internet already on deck

Paul Joseph Watson, PrisonPlanet.com
June 21,2010

Attempting to reassure CNN viewers that the government isn’t trying to shut down free speech on web, Senator only stokes more alarm by citing country that censors all online dissent

Senator Joe Lieberman, co-author of a bill that would give President Obama a ‘kill switch’ to shut down parts of the Internet, attempted to reassure CNN viewers yesterday that concerns about the government regulating free speech on the web were overblown, but he only stoked more alarm by citing China, a country that censors all online dissent against the state, as the model to which American should compare itself.

During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley, Lieberman characterized concerns that his 197-page Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act (PDF) legislation represents an attempt to hand Obama “absolute power” over the Internet as “total misinformation,” adding that people were “intentionally peddling misinformation”.

Lieberman again invoked “cybersecurity” as the motivation behind the bill and tried to assuage the worries of critics. “So I say to my friends on the Internet, relax. Take a look at the bill. And this is something that we need to protect our country,” said the Senator.

However, Lieberman’s choice of comparison in justifying the necessity of the bill will only serve to heighten concerns that the government is going after free speech.

“Right now China, the government, can disconnect parts of its Internet in case of war and we need to have that here too,” said Lieberman.

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Related: Prepare for tough summer in Afghanistan, Canadian commander warns | Moscow opens Central Asian supply route for Afghan mission, NATO believes tide turning in Kandahar | Taliban support strong in Kandahar: poll | US special forces ‘tried to cover-up’ botched Khataba raid in Afghanistan | Afghan tension mounts as NATO offensive looms | WikiLeaks releases video of alleged U.S. helicopter attack on Reuters reporters | NATO prepares for major Kandahar offensive, refugee camps | British soldiers ‘tortured and murdered 20 Iraqis, then covered it up with firefight claim’ | Blackwater Guards facing Charges in Case of 17 Dead Iraqi Citizens | Afghan poll not as clear as it seems

The Associated Press
June 21, 2010

Locally hired staff, who make up 80 per cent of the UN’s 1,500 employees in Afghanistan, to stay

UN officials say are withdrawing some of their 300 international staff in Afghanistan because of increasing security threats.

UN associate spokesman Farhan Haq said Monday the plan is to move people who can do their work elsewhere – mainly clerical and administrative staff– to a more secure location.

Affected foreign staff will head to Kuwait in the next three months. There’s no plan to move any of the locally hired staff, who make up 80 per cent of the UN’s 1,500 employees in Afghanistan.

The move comes after Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released a report over the weekend that urged the relocations but foresaw no significant reduction in “substantive” foreign staff.

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