More Harper Lies

DAMMIT JANET! should have been doing this on a weekly, if not daily basis since Harper took power.

Since 2006, his regime has perfected the art of ideological spin to an artistic apex that surely has Goebbels clapping wildly in his grave.  Here's one wrap-up of obfuscations deployed by his thousands of communications flunkeys.

Remember Vic Toews' _line in the sand_ ...?

Boy, that sure was some hugely volatile speaking point, charged with insinuations that had previously worked momentarily for Harper in the 2005 election campaign.

Only it backfired again, this time with a MASSIVE pushback.

Here's the reality with regard to the Cons' disingenuous, desperate tactic.  It turns out that Harper's government isn't really all that committed to providing the RCMP with adequate resources to investigate, gather evidence, charge child pornographers and bring them to trial.

In fact, Harper and the RCMP dropped the ball as soon as it was evident that their regime could pursue other avenues for spying upon, harassing and destroying organizations and the lives of people who didn't agree with them, or openly opposed their policies as is allowed in a democratic country.

The CRA has been directed by Harper to audit specific organizations. The RCMP has been told to focus on First Nations, Métis and Indigenous resistance movement and its leaders, as well as environmentalists.  CSIS will be empowered to disregard constitutional rights as it spies on those identified as *terrorists* by Harper and MacKay.

And now, it appears that Harper/Kenney monstrosity, the _Monument to Victims of Communism_ might allow Nazis and Third Reich officials to be remembered, since the figures cited include these people.

[...]memory squares will be embedded in a series of ascending folded concrete rows, rising 14.5 metres at their highest point. Visitors will be able to walk among the rows and touch the memory squares to “viscerally experience the overwhelming scale of the Communist atrocities,” says the winning team’s statement of design intent.
At Thursday’s announcement, Kapusta referenced Josef Stalin’s infamous statement that “one death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic.”

As our friend Jay Watts III notes:

He also raises these valid points.

For the modest sum of $1000, folks who admire the work of Wilhelm Kube could have his name inscribed on one of the Memory Squares.  He is one of those "victim of Communism"... included in the statistics deployed by the Harper Cons.

The Contempt of Harper Conservative Reformists: enabling child pornographers, glorifying fascists and eventually jailing Canadians who disagree with them.

If things continue his way, Harper will be remembered for human rights abuses as egregious as those of Joseph Stalin or Robert Mugabe.

Bonjour la pôlisse! ... et Matricule 728

For years, community activists, political and social critics, humourists and citizens have demanded that the actions of the Service de protection de la ville de Montréal be scrutinized, independently investigated and that those responsible for systemic brutality and corruption be held accountable.

Recent events, precipitated by over one hundred nights of demonstrations in support of the Grève générale illimitée, have thrust into the spotlight the case of Matricule 728.  But as journalist Josée Legault demonstrated in her excellent reflection here and here, the behaviour of one Stéfanie Trudeau embodies the convergence of police powers and political ideology, in the context of a bigger and quite disturbing picture.

Marc-André Cyr elaborates further on this theme, in Voir.  I have loosely translated parts of his piece to post here. 

It was in 1838 that the first modern police service was created in North America, in Montreal for the purpose of preventing crime, and to monitor the political activities of insurgents and rebels.
The first provincial police was established in 1869 with the objective to intervene during riots - many at the time - and to ensure compliance with new federal and provincial laws.
Four years later, it was the turn of the North-West Mounted Police to see the day. Its mission is clear: Western Canada must become "white, English and Protestant", to monitor the Métis and ensure French Canadians do not overpopulate the west. Faithful to its noble mission, the organization was involved in the crushing of many indigenous revolts and workers throughout the second half of the 19th century.
The Mounted Police became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in 1919, following the Winnipeg General Strike. If the fear of communism is still in its infancy, it is nonetheless intensified by the growing influence of trade unionism. Some agents, such as John Leopold, aka Jack Esseilwein, spying upon the Communist Party for many years, became as a result of their governments work "national heroes".
[...] In 1984 CSIS was designated the official national political police. It watches the Left, and especially after 2001, Islamists groups. As well, Aboriginals, Métis, communists, feminists, artists, homosexuals, unions, immigrants are still prime targets for "observation".  Thus the actions of Matricule 728 are anything but strange.  That part of the population is perceived as "rats", "guitar scratchers", "goddamned red squares" and "shit-eaters" by the police.
That view is in fact necessary to justify beating, pepper-spraying, gassing, blinding, causing concussions and imprisoning defenseless people considered as representatives of "evil".
This hatred and violence are traditionally necessary to law, order and security. It is not at all an "exception" to the rule and the norm: it is the rule and standard. 

It was on October 2 that the infamous *incident* which made headlines in Québec and in the rest of Canada was recorded on a cell phone, the evidence that allowed Radio Canada and other media to pursue their own investigative reporting into the history of the abusive actions of Matricule 728. 

Trudeau's colleagues thought that they had confiscated all the cell phones of witnesses to their violent disruptions, including that of Karen Molina.

She was handcuffed, arrested by the police that evening and charged, allegedly for "obstructing" police work.  The charges against her still stand.  She was the fourth person charged that evening; the other three are the original individuals apprehended by Trudeau during her rampage.  

Here is Molina's recounting of what she did that evening, how she called the SPVM to report what she observed to be inappropriate and incorrect police conduct.  Her cell phone was taken by the police; it's still being held.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that her phone was "unfortunately" damaged and the recording made on October 2 cannot be retrieved - though hopefully her 911 call was not "accidentally" deleted.  In news accounts on Radio Canada, one reporter thought that Molina was a landed immigrant and that she feared that the charges against her, though visibly unfounded, could be used to disrupt her application for citizenship.

Remember police actions in Toronto during the G20?

The first video clip is part of an ongoing series from québecois humourists Rock et Belles Oreilles - RBO -  which gently and savagely at times, lampooned police forces. 

UPDATE: Charges against the original three targets of Matricule 728's abusive actions appear to be on hold for the moment.

Man-love for Stevie

and unbridled admiration for Harper's bullies.

That neatly sums up the observations Jim Judd, director of the CSIS, shares with his fellow spooks in the US - now available here, thanks to the latest Wikileaks.

Judd expresses derision and contempt for ordinary Canadians who have shown empathy for Omar Khadr. As well he complains about the legal challenges becoming a "distraction" that could have a major "chill effect" on the work his intelligence officials do.

Judd credited Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government for "taking it on the chin and pressing ahead" with common sense measures despite court challenges and political knocks from the opposition and interest groups.

Why Jim, we didn't know how deeply you cared.

Idiots Saboteur or Provocateur?

Early Tuesday morning an act of calculated civil disruption and arson, now claimed by a purported anarchist group, took place in Ottawa.

A very short video, taken by an accomplice of the perpetrators of the incendiary device shows two individuals leaving the ATM area of the RBC branch in the Glebe, a quiet residential area within a few kilometers of Parliament. The video footage was posted online, followed by a written statement scrolling up the screen and read aloud by a computerized voice.

Various media are spinning the story, on the basis of limited information released by the group claiming to be responsible for this criminal action and what the police are disclosing about their investigations.

As well, Radio Canada is reporting that the posting is linked to a community-based centre that provides unsupervised access to its computers and the internet. The centre is located in Montebello Quebec where demonstrations and confrontations happened when Harper met the elected leaders of the US and Mexico to discuss border securityand free trade. Presumably anarchist groups as well as the RCMP and CSIS would have scouted out such facilities, back in 2007.

It would be irresponsible not to speculate, in view of headlines such as these:

Anti-terror laws could apply

Firebombing of Ottawa bank is escalation of fringe extremist tactics

Bank blast could be taste of G-8, G-20 troubles

In one report, witnesses say they saw a group of men fleeing the scene and taking off in an SUV. While the exploitation of SUVs and sophisticated technology is not limited to those who support the established "world order", I find it quite interesting that these self-proclaimed anarchists - an obscure group that has conveniently emerged as a champion of First Nations rights, among other hot button causes - chose a neighbourhood known for its residents' progressive leanings rather than a Royal Bank branch located at a strip mall in a Conservative suburban stronghold.