joe posts

Imagine languishing in legal limbo for years and years, held by a nation that purports to represent all that is good and free in this world. From alternet.org:

One of the detainees being considered for release was Murat Kurnaz, a German-born Turkish citizen who had been pulled off a bus in Pakistan the year before and turned over to U.S. forces. Since then, American security agencies hadn’t turned up any evidence that he belonged to a terrorist group or posed a threat to the United States. But before clearing his release, the CIA wanted the Germans to interrogate him and offer their stamp of approval.

After they arrived, the agents were led out to a trailer near the dusty sprawl of cell blocks known as Camp Delta. Inside, the air conditioner was on full blast, and Kurnaz, a stocky young man with blunt features and a thick red beard, was seated on one side of a long table, his hands and feet shackled to a ring in the floor. The men took turns questioning him–about the nightclubs he frequented in his wilder years, about his reasons for embracing Islam, about his journey to Pakistan and the heavy boots he bought before leaving–while a hidden camera rolled in the background.

All told, they spent 12 hours with him over two days, concluding by the end that he simply found himself “in the wrong place at the wrong time” and “had nothing to do with terrorism and al-Qaida,” according to German intelligence reports.

They discussed their findings with CIA and Pentagon officials, then boarded a plane back to Germany. During a stopover in Washington, D.C., one of the agents visited the local branch of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, and reported back to headquarters via a secure phone line, saying: “USA considers Murat Kurnaz’s innocence to be proven. He should be released in approximately six to eight weeks.” A few days later, a Pentagon release form for the detainee was printed and awaiting signature.

“At that point, the picture was clear,” says Lothar Jachmann, a retired spy who headed the intelligence-gathering operation on Kurnaz for Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, and was briefed on the Guantánamo visit by one of the agents. “We had nothing on him, and we had gotten feedback that the Americans had nothing on him either. The plan was to let him go.”

But Kurnaz was not set free. Instead, he spent another four years languishing at Guantánamo, where he was repeatedly designated an “enemy combatant,” despite evidence showing he had no known links to terrorist groups. – Alternet

Here in Canada we’re a bit nicer. We just stick our non-terrorist Muslims in solitary confinement for over a year before setting them free:

Nearly two years ago, when police busted an alleged homegrown terror cell, Qayyum Abdul Jamal was portrayed as the firebrand ringleader seeking recruits for jihad.

Today, he says, he hopes to piece together a reputation left in tatters after being accused of belonging to the so-called Toronto 18, a group of men and teens who allegedly plotted to bomb sites around Toronto.

And he hopes to repair a life changed forever when he spent 17 months in jail, 13 of them in solitary confinement.

That’s why the Crown’s surprise move yesterday to stay terrorism-related charges against Jamal and three of his co-accused is somewhat bittersweet for the 45-year-old.

“If I didn’t have my faith while I was in jail, I would’ve been suicidal,” said Jamal, who says he was beaten, pushed and kicked by jail guards.

“I am innocent,” he told reporters yesterday outside a Brampton courthouse as his wife and sons looked on. “I have nothing to do with this terrorism thing.” – Toronto Star

There’s really enough internet stuff on the upcoming American election (is it here yet?!??!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!!??!!) so I haven’t been interested in writing about it.. I can barely bring myself to read about it. Thank god for The Daily Show.

But this was funny.. Barack Obama made a ‘private comment’ at a fundraiser, saying that many American voters are so disenchanted with Washington that they don’t believe politicians can actually help them – so instead they decide their votes based on single issues like gun control or gay marriage or illegal immigration. I was surprised to hear actual intellectual commentary coming out of a presidential candidates face. Which means he made a mistake – now he’s an “elitist” who “looks down” on voters! LOL. Uh huh.

I wouldn’t call that elitist, personally. I’d call it the Republican Campaign Strategy. “We can’t actually help ya, but we’ll punish those liberal fag mexicans if it’ll make you feel better.” Boom! – Votes roll in; wars are launched, taxes are cut for the rich, social services are gutted, New Orleans drowns. But oh no, Barack Obama’s the elitist – not the ones who have fucked over the poor time and time and time again.

Too bad he couldn’t be completely honest, but I guess a “Obama says ‘American voters are pussified suckers!’” headline wouldn’t play well on right-wing pussified sucker radio. Limbaugh would have a hissy fit and break a nail – necessitating an oxycondone binge… for the pain, of course…

The Nation: Obama is Right. People are Angry.

Vote Nader!

Vote for the corpse of Bill Hicks!

EDIT: All sarcasm aside (Hearn was talking about the animal rights activists lol), the Daily Mail has an enlightening article about this year’s seal slaughter. Seems it’s pretty hard to even get a permit to observe the butchers:

I spent almost a week on the east coast of Canada trying to observe the cull but at every step the local authorities did their best to stop me.

They consistently refused to issue the media and animal welfare campaigners with the necessary permits to observe the cull.

On Saturday afternoon, though, I finally managed to get hold of one (which has since been withdrawn).

They were lucky to be able to any get pictures at all. A recent CBC report explains why it’s so darn difficult to see this “hunt.” Officials wait until the afternoon to issue the permits so that they can first determine the “exact level of sealing” Hmmm. Hearn, of course, makes it sound like just about anybody and their vegan friends can just hop in a boat and say hello to the “hunters.”

“We have had numerous requests for observer permits, people who’ve been … on the ice within 30 feet of our sealers and I believe we have processed every application we had.” – Hearn

Tories wouldn’t lie, would they? I thought they wuz accountable. It must be that these reporters are just lying to endear themselves to wealthy soft-hearted philanthropists. Activism is SO profitable these days…

——–

I was surprised to see Canada’s Fisheries Minster go up against Canada’s all-powerful seal killing/fur trading lobby!

“They are a bunch of money-sucking manipulators,” said Mr. Hearn, “and their sole aim is to try to suck as much money out of the pockets of people who really don’t know what’s going on.” – National Post

Exactly! That’s why they try so hard to restrict ‘outsiders’ from viewing what the hunters do. Fortunately some brave souls (such as those pictured below) are willing to risk their lives to get pictures. If only the fur industry were so honest. Instead they hide behind government rules and depend on the coast guard to keep them from drowni.. oh wait..

http://www.seashepherd.org

I was sad to hear of all the recent changes at the CBC. They’ve changed CBC Radio2 into more of an adult-contemporary radio channel, relegating ‘classical music’ to the mid-day hours when everyone is at work. Then they went and closed the last CBC radio orchestra, saving a grand total of $1 million dollars a year, which should pay for part of a reality TV series, or for the wardrobe for that Don Cherry movie.

What a waste of Canadian talent. There aren’t many venues for skilled musicians left in Canada. But hey, if they want to compete with Avril Lavigne, they shouldn’t have wasted their lives perfecting their musical abilities and just stick with plunking an electric guitar and coming up with a chorus.. then a verse.. then a chorus… None of this crazy “wordless music,” or worse, music that’s not even in English!

CBC’s reasoning is simple – not everybody likes ‘classical music’ so by minimizing it they think they’ll get a bigger audience share and not have to put up with all the stupid people who constantly complain that their tax dollars go to entertainment that they don’t understand or consume. So, instead, our tax dollars will finance styles of entertainment that are already available through commercial channels.

What bugs me about this – I wasn’t a huge CBC Radio 2 listener, though I enjoy classical music – is that these cuts seem to be part of a broader trend in this country. There are similar issues with Bill C-10, a bizarre piece of legislation introduced by Canada’s New Government™ to block tax credits for Canadian films that make some random government staffer uncomfortable. Amazingly, Hollywood and foreign movie producers will not be affected. They can stuff as much sex and violence into their movies as they want and will still receive help from the government. Not knowing how much money a movie will cost because the taxes are subject to change if the material doesn’t meet government standards won’t help Canada’s film industry, which tends to specialize in movies that are, um, a bit on the dark side.

I just wonder what’s next. If we’re getting rid of funding for classical music because people prefer pop, why not get rid of funding for theatre because people prefer movies? And if the government wants to subtly discourage Canadians from producing controversial films, why not just make it efficient, honest and transparent and establish a censorship office to protect our virgin eyes and ears? While we’re at it, let’s replace the National Art Gallery with Bob’s Poster Emporium – all that fruity (sometimes nude!!!) art that my tax dollars are wasted on could be replaced with some nice, safe, popular Hillary Duff posters.

People who can afford it will always have access to quality art and music. The rest of us depended on our meagre arts funding programs to hear or see something not produced by a big corporation for pure profit. Talented Canadian musicians who didn’t play simple pop tunes had a chance at a finding an audience thanks to non-commercial ventures like CBC. But that will be harder now. Now we’re funding content that mimics mainstream culture so that the CBC can compete with commercial television networks that offer the same thing without costing taxpayers. Does that make sense?

Related Links:

CBC’s Talking Points (from the CBC blog)

‘Stephen Harper’ on Bill C-10

No classical? Then kill Radio 2 and get it over with

Polley attacks Bill C-10

In a previous blog entry, Ontario Liberals to Ignore Hospital Crunch, I quoted a Toronto Star story in which Ontario’s health minister, George Smitherman, denied that hospitals would be forced to cut back on staff and services as a result of the budgetary requirements laid out by the Ontario government. “What is a cut?” he asked. He explained that he didn’t believe there could be any service degradation as a result of the budget: “Let’s just say that in every year, there are these dire predictions made about hospitals being in deficit circumstances and usually, that storyline doesn’t carry through the year.” At the time I thought it sounded like he was willing to play games with people’s health and people’s careers. And it looks like the game has begun:

Up to 220 jobs will be eliminated to staunch a sea of red ink at Ajax and Pickering hospital and Scarborough’s Centenary but it could be just the beginning as Ontario hospitals struggle to balance their books.

The cuts at the hospitals, both part of the Rouge Valley Health System, include 72 registered nursing positions and 36 beds as part of a deficit elimination plan expected to save about $25 million over the next three years.

“They are going to make us work harder and faster,” said Ontario Nurses’ Association president Linda Haslam-Stroud, noting Rouge Valley plans to maintain its two emergency departments, key services and patient volume. – Toronto Star

If George Smitherman was looking for a game of chicken, he certainly found it.  Are we seriously going to start cutting nursing staff in Ontario? Maybe I was smarter than I thought to give up on that particular career! I have a hard time believing that any Ontario hospital could lose 72 RNs and carry on like nothing had happened. Blech. Scary thing is that most hospitals aren’t as transparent as the Rouge Valley hospitals here.

Another good article from rabble.ca:

Will Capitalism Survive Climate Change?

by Walden Bello

excerpt:

Psychologically and politically, it is doubtful that the North at this point has what it takes to meet the problem head-on. The prevailing assumption is that the affluent societies can take on commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions but still grow and enjoy their high standards of living if they shift to non-fossil fuel energy sources. Moreover, how the mandatory cuts agreed multilaterally by governments get implemented within the country must be market-based, that is, on the trading of emission permits. The subtext is: techno-fixes and the carbon market will make the transition relatively painless and – why not? – profitable, too.

There is, however, a growing realization that many of these technologies are decades away from viable use and that, in the short and medium term, relying on a shift in energy dependence to non-fossil fuel alternatives will not be able to support current rates of economic growth. Also, it is increasingly evident that the trade-off for more cropland being devoted to biofuel production is less land to grow food and greater food insecurity globally.

It is rapidly becoming clear that the dominant paradigm of economic growth is one of the most significant obstacles to a serious global effort to deal with climate change. But this destabilizing, fundamentalist growth-consumption paradigm is itself more effect rather than cause.

The central problem, it is becoming increasingly clear, is a mode of production whose main dynamic is the transformation of living nature into dead commodities, creating tremendous waste in the process. The driver of this process is consumption – or more appropriately over-consumption – and the motivation is profit or capital accumulation: capitalism, in short.

 continue reading …

Here’s a story for you.

Kevin Gibbons, a Canadian who lived and worked in the United States for over a decade headed up to BC for a quick visit with relatives. That visit ended up costing him his home in the United States and his career. And $100,000. It’s all thanks to our newfangled anti-terrorism security systems.

You see, the border guards determined that he had been arrested for a very serious offense – marijuana possession – 30 years ago. Can’t have ex-potheads running around down there, I guess, unless they’re running for president.

After extending their vacation to get a second waiver for the three decade old “crime” (he had applied for and received a waiver years before), Gibbons and his family decided to try to get back to their home in Utah again.

Denied!

Why? Because the guards decided he suddenly needed a degree to do the job he’s been doing since the mid-1990s. Say wha?

After a couple more crossing attempts he was informed that if he tried to enter the United States again he’d end up in prison. They let him go back to Utah only to sell his house (and it’s the perfect time to sell houses, I hear) and quit his job.

It’s really an amazing story, and it’s not the first time (or likely the last) that border guards have taken extreme measures to ensure purity in their homeland. That’s globalization for you.

Read the story at cbc.ca:

U.S. border guards bar skilled Canadian from his job