Fascist C-51: Feet on the Street Time

I started collecting links on C51, aka the Jihadi Terrorists Under Every Bed Bill, a while back, but I was too appalled/depressed to blog about it.

The terrifying Angus Reid poll showing 80% approval of it.

There’s rarely been a bill before Parliament that was more popular. The public Conservatives’ new anti-terror legislation is filling a public demand for tough new measures aimed at a terrorism threat that Canadians believe is serious, and close to home, according to a new poll.

More than four in five Canadians – 82 per cent – back the new legislation to expand the powers of intelligence agencies and police, according to the survey of 1,509 Canadians conducted by the Angus Reid Institute. Far from seeing it as too sweeping, they tend to want more: 36 per cent say it does not go far enough.

And somewhat reassuringly, Press Progress's critique of the poll.

Now, a few of the myriad dissections of the bill and why it is VERY VERY BAD.

First, Legal scholars Forcese and Roach.

Three lengthy background papers by Forcese and Roach: one, two, and three.

Here is their essential website dedicated to the proposed act, where you'll find tons of useful information including an explainer video.

Unsigned Globe and Mail editorial.

Intimidation is the modus operandi. Well-documented are the smear campaigns and the undercover operations against opponents run out of the highest political office in the land.

If you think it’s bad now, be prepared for worse, as with the anti-terror legislation. The danger with ideological leaders of any stripe is that in the name of security, they can ramp up state authority without the usual degree of public challenge. It’s why we see Mr. Harper hyping the terror threats Canada faces, as opposed to allaying the public’s fears.

More fear means more power. He knows it well, and so should the opposition leaders. If they can’t build a strong case against this new kind of Canada, they should find another line of work.

The Star.

Read this by former CSIS officer Francois Lavigne and tremble (note bold).

Former CSIS officer Francois Lavigne is alarmed by the Conservative government’s new anti-terror bill.

He believes the measures proposed in C-51 are unnecessary, a threat to the rights of Canadians and that the prime minister is using fascist techniques to push the bill.

Mr. Lavigne started his career with the RCMP security service in 1983, before the CSIS was established.

“I was hired by the barn burners,” he said in an interview last week. “I went to work for the FIU unit, the foreign interference unit. And that was where the barn burners came from.”

The barn burners were the off-the-leash Mounties whose law-breaking ways led to the McDonald Commission, which led to the establishment of Canadian Security Intelligence Service in 1984.

Press Progress again on how the RCMP identify terrorist targets. (Spoiler: SUN columnists are key.)

Various luminaries of the Canadian political scene, including four former PMs, calling for greater oversight. (Yeah, right.)

Michael Geist.

And from today, Alison with lots more excellent links.

I'm not even getting into the Liberals' absolutely despicable position on it.

Because here's the point: We ordinary Canadians must get our butts out in frigid fucking February (or March) to declare THIS SHALL NOT PASS.

Who's gonna organize it?

Lead Now?

The NDP?

The Communist Party?

I don't care.

Organize it and I'll come out. And I'll bring every person I know with me.

Will you?


Image source: The anti-prorogue protest in Victoria.


ADDED: Reddit users and Anonymous and I are like this.

Meanwhile, back in the US ...

religious rightwing nutjobs make these demands:

To Obama & all the immoral, ungodly heathen progressive Demoncrats.

To the Party That Says Stay Out of Our Womb*

We say stay out of our pants.

Stay out of our homes.

Stay out of our cars.

Stay out of our refrigerators.

Stay out of our medicine cabinets.

Stay out of our TV's and radio's.

Stay out of our Church's.

Stay out of our kids schools.

Stay out of our Military.

Stay out of our doctor's office.

Stay out of our bank account.

It appears this group's name is "God Bless America 1776" and all the spelling and grammatical errors are their own. This blog pops up when those terms are googled.

Is it Boston? One interesting observation: the crowd control cops wear helmets tagged with what appears to be their badge numbers, in the photos posted here.

*womb, not the evul uterus word. I'm surprised it didn't say "our baby-making lady part".

Egypt in Wisconsin?

Some Merkins seem to be clueing in to the deep deep ugliness that is Teabagging, and in particular, its loathing for unionized workers. Well, except for firefighters.

Wisconsin is leading the way.

In all, Republicans now hold five of seven governorships in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. Last year, they held two.

The story is the same for legislatures in those seven states. Republicans now hold power in six of the seven lower chambers of the legislature (called the House in some states and the Assembly in others) – up from one last year. They also hold five of the seven state Senates. Only Illinois has bucked the trend, with Democrats controlling the General Assembly and the Senate and Democrat Pat Quinn the governor.

Walker [Wisconsin's governer] was the first of the Midwest’s four new Republican governors to push for weakening collective bargaining. But Ohio and Michigan already have bills targeting unions in the works, too.

. . .

In a time when large and tense demonstrations have become increasingly rare in America, the Wisconsin protests could provide an Egypt-like moment, says Norman Ornstein, a fellow at the nonpartisan American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

"If there's a big tea party demonstration in Madison, we may see a direct clash, just as we had in the streets of Cairo," he says.

One protester's sign at the capitol said, "Impeach Scott Mubarak" – a direct reference to protests that led Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to resign last week.

As it gains momentum, the union protest movement is likely to draw in young social-justice activists, Obama supporters, and even religious groups who fight for the dispossessed, says Bruno.

Last night, in Madison, the state capital, there was a huge demonstration. The place went nuts when off-duty firefighters marched in support -- complete with bagpipes! Note that firefighters, along with police and state patrol, were specifically exempted from the legislation.

Solidarity!



For another innovative ploy, the state's Democratic senators have fled the state to deny the legislature the necessary quorum to pass the bill. Creative.

Egypt!

MASSIVE protest. Cops seem to be restraining themselves. All over Egypt.

Hashtag #Cairo is trending worldwide. I'm following #jan25.

ADDED: Guardian live-blog.

UPDATE: Al Jazeera finally starts reporting.

Agents Provocateurs, 3

Anybody got a photo of an undamaged 3-digit Toronto cop car?

Are they working some kinda insurance scam? Just askin'.

From here.

Altogether now! (with update)

1, 2, 3, 4, can I see a little more?

Nooooo!

Oxfam’s Big Heads arrived earlier Thursday, bearing surprises and calling on G8 world leaders to keep their promises. To illustrate the importance of maternal health care for third world countries, the leader lookalikes wore faux nude pregnancy suits adorned with maple leaves in the appropriate spots. [...] “There are a thousand women around the world who die every day in pregnancy and child birth. Most are living in abject poverty as it is already,” said Victoria Harnett, the G8/G20 coordinator for Oxfam Canada.

The low-key protest was one of a few planned for Thursday as leaders from Canada, the U.S., Japan, Britain, Italy, France, Italy and Russia prepare to gather here. “The message we want to get across today is that it is absolutely essential that G8 leaders start keeping their promises,” said Harnett, noting that many of the promises made at the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland are nearing deadline.

She said among the broken promises is a $50-billion pledge to help the world’s poor by 2010, “and by Oxfam’s calculations they are falling short by $20 billion of that.”

From here. And. Also. The other protest event was staged by 12 members of the Council of Canadians in four canoes, headed for Peninsula Lake inside the G-8 security perimeter.

Minutes after the canoes set out, a helicopter began circling overhead and they were surrounded by an armada of police boats—including two menacing black RCMP Zodiacs—not to mention three other boats carrying media. [...] “We tried to deliver a ‘Scrap the summits’ message to the G8 leaders. We believe the G8 is an undemocratic, illegitimate body and that it is much better to have a meeting like this at the United Nations,” Brent Patterson of the Council of Canadians [...] said since the G8 is sealed up like a drum and protected by thousands of police and soldiers, the water route seemed a good way to make their statement.

“The point of today’s exercise was to try to tell a much broader audience … that a club of eight of the richest countries in the world should not be making decisions that impact the whole world. So that’s our concern and that’s the message we wanted to deliver,” he said.

To echo the sentiment expressed in fern hill's post, I predict that there's going to be a short trip up S**t Creek without a paddle in Stevie Spiteful's future.

UPDATE: Oxfam Canada's blogposts regarding the Big Heads' presence at the G-8, with more photos.

To Protest or Not to Protest?

Fake lake, billion dollar boondoggle, unbelievable security measures -- I'm terminally pissed off, but also just so weary.

But, I've been turning my butt out for these things for going on 40 years.

The planned Canadian Labour Congress rally and march is supposedly family friendly. Big negotiations with the cops, yadayada. Good. I'm waaay to old to get water-cannonaded or pepper-sprayed.

I should go. I don't wanna.

But, but, but. Look at the sneaky way those soshialists are guilt-tripping us.

Women Take the Lead

Women will gather at the Sir John A MacDonald statue on the south part of the Queens Park lawn, to give voice to the impact of G8 and G20 decisions on women. Take the lead for maternal health with full reproductive rights, for an end to women's poverty, for women's equality at home and globally!

Join thousands of people on Saturday, June 26th, at Queen's Park in Toronto to let the leaders of the G20 nations know their Summit must be about working people.

So. What do you think? Do I go? Are you going?

Westboro Baptist Church says it will protest at Richardson's funeral.

From here:

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) based in Topeka, Kansas, regularly stages protests, often several times a week, against institutions and individuals they think support homosexuality or otherwise subvert what they believe is God's law. Targets include schools the group deems to be accepting of homosexuality; Catholic, Lutheran, and other Christian denominations that the WBC feels are heretical; and funerals for people murdered or killed in accidents .... WBC also protests at funerals for American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, a tactic the group started in 2005.

Why would Natasha Richardson be a target for fundamentalist fanatics who may suffer from religious zealotry disorder? Because she lent support to charitable organizations, in memory of her father Tony Richardson.

They say they're picketing because Richardson supported research for a cure for AIDS. The small Kansas church has protested schools, colleges, churches, and other funerals.

Richardson became a speaker and activist in the fight against AIDS after her father producer/director Tony Richardson died from the disease in 1991. The actress also served on the board of trustees for the American Foundation of AIDS Research.

Last August, WBC members attempted to enter Canada to hold a protest at Tim McLean's funeral.