Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Daily Digest October 18, 2011


The DAILY DIGEST: INFORMATION and OPINION from ST. JOHN'S to VICTORIA.
ARCHIVED at http://cdndailydigest.blogspot.com/


OPINION AND INFORMATION
_____CANADA
In redrawing the House, Harper plays to Quebec
Fast-growing suburbs in Ontario and British Columbia are losing some of their promised new voices in Ottawa
as the Harper government adjusts the plan to alter the regional balance of seats in the Commons.
M OR E...

Related
Analysis shows Tories would benefit most from rebalancing plan
Tories may reconsider seat distribution formula to add a couple of spots for Quebec
Ontario to get fewer new seats in redrawn House
Tories pare back increases in Commons seats for Ontario, B.C.


_____FOREIGN AFFAIRS

BELOW(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)

Wheat board bill will pass by year's end, Ritz vows
 http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/10/18/pol-wheat-board-law.html

Read this article and share your views supporting or opposing Ritz vow.

«¤»¥«¤»«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»

From: "Derek Skinner"
Subject: Fw: Census Lockheed Martin Trial:  BACK IN COURT  TOMORROW  Wednesday, Oct 19,  Appeal Hearing.

Sandra deserves unlimited support. Her refusal to comply with StatsCan's use of a census programme developed by the Lockheed Martin war machine which also wrote the programme for the American census has landed her in court.
She has defended herself admirably on behalf of us all but the legal costs must be horrendous. Any help to sustain her courage and commitment to what is right would be a solace to her in her time of need.
She has my admiration and support.
Derek

(Should you agree with Derek and myself, let Sandra know .....Joe)

----- Original Message -----
From: Sandra Finley
To: Sandra Finley
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 2:52 PM
Subject: Census Lockheed Martin Trial: BACK IN COURT TOMORROW Wednesday, Oct 19, Appeal Hearing.

This email is posted on-line at  http://sandrafinley.ca/?p=3388  

I ended up in Court because, starting in 2003,  I joined others to stop the out-sourcing of Canadian census work to Lockheed Martin Corporation (the American military). 

Tomorrow morning (Oct 19), the Court (Queen's Bench, Saskatoon) will hear the appeal of the "guilty" decision in   R vs Sandra Finley.   

The trial has been on-going since April 2008.  In January 2011,  I was found guilty. 

Sentencing was an absolute discharge – no punishment imposed – BUT! the "guilty" decision still stands. 

I will have done more harm than good if the Judge's "guilty" decision is allowed to stand. 

The  "guilty" decision means:

-         our Charter protection against the Government, a basic Right in modern democracies, the Charter Right to Privacy of personal information - -  is lost.   

The Charter Right says that the Government cannot force citizens to hand over "a biographical core of personal information".    StatsCan continues to use the threat of prosecution to force citizens to give up their Charter Right.   

If you have any doubt about the role of census data bases in a police state, read  "IBM and the Holocaust".   

If you have any doubts about Lockheed Martin Corporation,  watch the video, an interview with William Hartung, author of "Prophets of War, Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military Industrial Complex", book launched in January 2011.

It was the foresight and wisdom of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau that gave us the Charter Right.  It falls to us to defend it, or lose it.

I see this as part of the OCCUPY movement that will bring an end to Governments/Universities that serve the corporate interest.   The interests of the military-industrial complex in Government and in the Universities, with tax-payers footing the bill, needs to be stopped.   (All of this is explained in various postings accessible at Lockheed Martin, Census, Trial, War Economy.)

Persons in our network have collaboratively created a comprehensive file that shows the extent of the increasing militarization in Canada.  It (and Lockheed Martin in particular) is a serious threat to democracy and to security.   

NEWCOMERS:   For background info,  click on Lockheed Martin, Census, Trial, War Economy

Topics such as:

-        integration of American and Canadian military / police / border services

-        drones deployed along the Canada-U.S. border

-        the Troop Exchange Agreement with the U.S.

-        armoured vehicles being rolled out by police forces across Canada

-        the plans of the American "Security" forces, working with quislings in Canadian Government, to put the records on ALL Canadians (not just the trouble-makers) at the disposal of the American Government

-        Lockheed Martin heavily involved in the new Aviation Centre at the Saskatoon Airport which will likely be training young people in drone technology.  Tax-payers are still the major funders / enablers.  

-        etc. etc. 

(In preface to the following re OCCUPY:  Nancy Hopkins is on the Board of the Saskatoon Airport Authority (Lockheed Martin is a funder of the new Aviation Centre there), she is on the Cameco Board, and chairs the University Board of Governors (reference recent postings).  Dave Sutherland is on the University Board of Governors, works with Nancy, and is also on the SPP Initiative and Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) along with Suncor, Monsanto, etc.  The "President of the Americas" for Lockheed Martin is a key player in the SPP, North American Union, "harmonization", "integration", anti-democracy, greed, corrupting, consuming, destructive, Big Corporate agenda.    (It is, of course, not ALL corporations – but a significant enough number of them.)

The links between the University, the Governments (transferring tax-payer money), and the Nuke/Tar Sands industries (Brad Wall the "co-spearhead of the largest on the planet Canada-U.S. Western Energy Corridor" which is all about Nuke and Tar Sands, (and related to water scarcity, resource depletion in the U.S.)) is at  http://ussword.blogspot.com/p/infographic.html   (The Radioactive Trinity). )

FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT,  The OCCUPY MOVEMENT. 

Two weeks ago  I continued to worry a lot about the looming dark day of descent - - rising levels of propaganda, injustice, inequality, abuse of power, corruption, failing institutions (education for example, Wall Street, etc.), and so on into the hands of the American "security" forces / Lockheed Martin surveillance and police state.

My World-view has changed!   The OCCUPY MOVEMENT  is real and stunning.   I almost have an email ready to send;  but what is current one day is out-of-date the next, the events are tumbling into a cascade I have no hope of keeping up with.

OCCUPY  (of which I and many of you are part)  will see how their work and this is aligned.   Booting Lockheed Martin Corporation out of the Canadian Government and Canada opens up the space for us to re-OCCUPY what is ours.  

REQUEST:    Please help spread the word!  

WEDNESDAY, Oct 19

10:00am 
Court of Queen's Bench
Saskatoon 

ISSUE: 

The Government (Statistics Canada and Public Works) out-sourced work on the Canadian census to Lockheed Martin Corporation (the American military).

I refuse to be complicit.

===================================
From: John Duddy.
To: "Prime Minister/Premier ministre" <pm@pm.gc.ca>
Cc: "Joe Hueglin" <joe.hueglin@bellnet.ca>,
Subject: Fw: LAW letter to RCMP re: G.W. Bush visit

Dear Prime Minister,
 
See this attached email from my friend in Calgary.
 
Urgent.  You need to put Canada on the right side of history.  People in USA are on the streets, angry because of the economic situation; their economy wrecked by wars on behalf of rogue interests.  They are open to looking at Bush war crimes and the Bush administration's use of torture.  Not to mention the lies which sent young people off to kill and die for a trumped up crusade.  If you had been PM you would have sent Canadian troops to Iraq; we would have had many more troops killed.  Now the people are waking up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMPN0L5qpFU&feature=player_embedded
The revolution has started and is growing daily.
As leader of Canada, and as Prime Minister of a country most respected for peace keeping, please show leadership by stopping this war criminal and admitted torturer from entering Canada.
If you fail to enforce Canadian law in this case you will be tainted.  You will appear as a supporter of this criminal; as the revolution spreads you will seen as an enemy of the common people.
 
John Duddy.  Calgary Centre.
 
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 7:04 PM
Subject: FW: LAW letter to RCMP re: G.W. Bush visit

Hello, I think it is important for people to email the 2 RCMP officers whose emails are on the first page of the attachment, and then also email the politicians on page 5 of the attachment (it is not all the MPs emails addresses so it will be easier than emailing all the MPs), that George Bush is scheduled to be in Surrey, B.C. on Oct. 20th and it is Canadian Law to prevent Bush from entering Canada and if Bush enters Canada he should be arrested and prosecuted for torture, war crimes, and crimes against humanity; or he should be extradited to a country that will prosecute him for torture, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. I think it is also important to forward them the attachment and write that you support the letter by Lawyers Against the War (LAW).
Nikki

===================================
From: Ray Strachan
Subject: Years ago during Palestinian Intifada.

DD
 
I watched the beginning of the Palestinian intifada years ago.
 
The Israelis were firing rubber bullets at the Palestinian kids who were throwing stones.
 
There were Israelis interviewed by people connected to the press.
 
On more than one occasion Israeli citizens made the comment to the effect that "The end of a Jewish fingernail was worth more than a whole Palestinian.
 
I don't know what to make of their attitude now.     I have watched our media go over the release of ONE Israeli soldier many,many,many times in the past few days, (big world news of course) by The Palestinians in exchange for whatever figure you choose, from 500 to 1000 Palestinian prisoners.
 
Seems that behind the hoopla, not all Israelis are that happy about the exchange.
 
What could be wrong with it?   They got a Whole Israeli soldier back ,for what amounts to a sack fingernail ends.
 
Ray Strachan

===================================
From: Rene Moreau

To Joe;
From R
    Does Lockheed Martin have security clearance? Why? Corporations have no citizenship. They can't be charged with treason. They have all the rights and privileges of human beings but no responsibilities, unless mandated and governments have been giving away the power to apply rules, by letting corporations put their own people into government ranks, as Deputy Ministers and Assistant Deputy Ministers and Chiefs of staff, etc
   Has Lockheed-Martin sold to both sides in a conflict? Yes.
   Does L-M have the information needed to take control of the citizens of the U.K., the U.S. and Canada? How? By doing all three censuses, and they know how to get all those taxpayers to pay for their costs.
   Is that what they used to call magic?

Rene Moreau (416-489-8347)

===================================
From: Lorimer Rutty
Subject: a conversation with the 'occupiers'

Joe
A 5 point conversation at the 'occupation'


1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity, by
    legislating the wealth out of prosperity.
2. What  one person receives without working for,
    another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody, anything that
    the government does not first  take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not
    have to work because the other half is going to take care
    of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does
    no good to work, because somebody else is going  to get
    what 'they' work for, that is the beginning of the end of any
    nation.

Lorimer

===================================
From: Robert Ede
Subject: 50 yrs on Hill - still knows almost squat!
To: smaher@postmedia.com, dininc@sen.parl.gc.ca
Cc: news@postmedia.com, letters@postmedia.com,
        Edmonton Sun <mailbag@edmsun.com>

Stephen & Eds
 
Thank you for
50 years on the Hill leave senator seeking change
It seems Mr Murray spent all that time & effort without ever understanding the provisions in the 1867 BNA Act re the Senate  (ss 23 & 31)
1) the Upper House is superior to the Lower House ... nothing passes without Senate Consent
2) the Senate as a property ownership qualification/disqualification standard
3) the Senate has a net worth qualification/disqualification standard
4) the Senate has a special Oath - re those qualifications -Fifth Schedule
 
Money Bills must come from the Lower House - that's the only "difference" that pundits and politicos seem to study.
 
Q. to all WHY do Senator members need a property/ownership & net-worth qualification?
A. Because they represent the Propertied Class (no nobility here)
 
Q. If the $4000 standard of property/ownership & net-worth qualification was afjusted for inflation ... would anything be different in public perception?
 
YES. the party hacks would be turfed and the "purpose" of the Senate as double-check on election promises ("a bulwark against the clamour and caprice of the {self-serving servants of the} mob" Sir James Lougheed {amended for times without honour} )
 
An elected senate or abolition is not the decision - just restore the as-written provisions!!
 
Yours,
 
Robert Ede
 
PS
 
Once accomplished ... restore the Privy Council to the Executive! It's only been usurped into the Legislative Power's hands recently (1940) and only by a wartime, emergency Order in Council.

===================================
From: Larry Kazdan
_______
Subject: Letter to Editor re: Imagine if NDP was in charge, Sunday, October 16, 2011

Re:  Imagine if NDP was in charge, Sunday, October 16, 2011
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/10/14/imagine-if-ndp-was-in-charge
If the NDP were in charge, they wouldn't threaten the economy with austerity programs, blow billions of dollars on Cold War era fighter jets, ignore climate change, or export present and future jobs along with energy resources and raw materials.  And we likely wouldn't have a growing movement of people in the streets, protesting corporate domination of politics and media, and the continued rise of economic inequality where only the minority prospers.
_______
Subject: Letter to Editor re: What the Occupy protests tell us about the limits of democracy, Anne Applebaum, October 17

Re:  What the Occupy protests tell us about the limits of democracy, Anne Applebaum, October 17
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-the-occupy-protests-tell-us-about-the-limits-of-democracy/2011/10/17/gIQAay5YsL_story.html?mid=507
Democratic institutions evolve over time.  By 1787, thirteen colonies had federated to become the United States of America with a constitution that is now revered.  After the destruction of World War II, European countries created a union currently overseen by a parliament that in 2009 had 375 million eligible voters.  Today, a Campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly ( www.unpacampaign.org) strives to give citizens, not just countries, a direct voice at the UN.  Let us hope we can devise new forms of accountable democratic global community because the alternative is world dominance by hedge funds.
_______
Subject: Letter to Editor re: Editorial ­ Presidents  and protest,  Editorial - Langley Time s, Oct. 17

Re: Editorial ­ Presidents and protest,  Editorial - Langley Times, Oct. 17
http://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/132020923.html
Organizers of the Surrey Economic Forum maintain that letting George W. Bush speak is a matter of freedom of speech.  But the real issue is whether visitors to our country are subject to Canadian laws.  We are a signatory to international conventions and have national laws which are triggered when an individual arrives on our soil who is credibly accused of authorizing torture.  In the case of George W. Bush, who has admitted signing off on waterboarding, such evidence is overwhelming.  If there is any doubt that he was engaged in torture and other systematic human rights violations such as extraordinary renditions and prolonged and secret detention, then let the courts decide.  But after WWII, Japanese soldiers were executed by the U.S. for torturing American prisoners with techniques that included waterboarding.
_______
Subject: Letter to Editor re: Surrey Greens take offense to former U.S. presidents at economic summit,  Elaine O'Connor,  October 18, 2011

Re:  Surrey Greens take offense to former U.S. presidents at economic summit,  Elaine O'Connor,  October 18, 2011
http://www.theprovince.com/news/Surrey+Greens+take+offense+former+presidents+economic+summit/5569534/story.html
The real issue at the Surrey Economic Forum is not freedom of speech but whether Canadian and international law applies to visitors. There is overwhelming evidence that George W. Bush was responsible for waterboarding, extraordinary renditions and prolonged and secret detentions. So why is the Surrey RCMP conducting sweeps and road closures but not enforcing the Convention against Torture which demands that Bush be either investigated and prosecuted for indictable offences, or extradited to another country willing and able to do so?

===================================
From: Rebecca Gingrich
_______
Subject:  Is there anything the banksters can't do?  Now they own our money and we can not touch it or we get arrested?

Big Banks Refuse to Let People Close Accounts
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/10/big-banks-refuse-to-let-people-close-accounts.html
_______
Subject: Want real change? Hit the ballot box instead of the streets   DD  

And vote for whom???  The way things are now the vote is the least of our problems.  We can vote but that is where our input ends.  We cannot change anything with a vote.  No matter who the government they are there to obey their corporate masters and the USI.  Our votes are a useless bunch of paper that costs us millions to take part in.  They are as void of any meaning as is the word democracy in our country.  If we had any guts at all we would all be on the streets protesting.  Now that would be a real vote.
becky
_______
Subject: CBC elbowed out as state broadcaster

Why does no one ask why Canada needs a 'state broadcaster'?  Remember the angst when the Russian government controlled a media outlet?  That was bad but CBC and the latest upstart Sun News is good?  I watch neither one so really can't comment on the 'news' that they report.  If Rob Anders is the spokesperson for them then we know that Sun News is  a propaganda machine.  Not one tax dollar should go to any broadcaster.  Government should have no input into what is being reported by anyone.  That then becomes propaganda and is free advertising for the government and pap for the 'voter' who is expected to pay the freight.
Democracy, you gotta love it?
Becky
_______
Subject: America has their finger on the gun that controls the world.  We are all in their sights

America's Secret Empire of Drone Bases

Run by the military, the Central Intelligence Agency, and their proxies, these bases — some little more than desolate airstrips, others sophisticated command and control centers filled with computer screens and high-tech electronic equipment — are the backbone of a new American robotic way of war. They are also the latest development in a long-evolving saga of American power projection abroad — in this case, remote-controlled strikes anywhere on the planet with a minimal foreign "footprint" and little accountability.
Using military documents, press accounts, and other open source information, an in-depth analysis by TomDispatch has identified at least 60 bases integral to U.S. military and CIA drone operations. There may, however, be more, since a cloak of secrecy about drone warfare leaves the full size and scope of these bases distinctly in the shadows....(emphasis added)
 http://www.theamericanconservative.com/blog/americas-secret-empire-of-drone-bases/
_______
Subject: The Crusades all over again--and for the same purpose--conquest and greed

The Legend of Sirte
In Sirte a handful of men have set an example of bravery in the face of impossible odds that will eventually find its place in Arab history.  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29437.htm
_______
Subject: Wasn't it the USI that killed an American in Yemen?  I guess that was ok.  Isn't it the USI that is killing millions of people around the world--but they don't count??

U.S. Hawks Behind Iraq War Rally for Strikes Against Iran

"It is time for President Obama to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors and stand up to tyrants who kill Americans and threaten our interests,"  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29440.htm

===================================
Posted by at