Cynical about politics and terrorism? Me?

Yesterday, in "The friend of mine enemy is likewise mine enemy", I expressed shock -- shock, I tell you -- at the Canadian government's sudden discovery of an Islamic terrorist plot to blow up a VIA Rail train somewhere between Toronto and New York, and its sudden rush to push forward draconian anti-terrorism legislation that had been languishing on the order paper for a year.

Some have accused me of being cynical, for having suggested that it was more than a coincidence that this should have happened on the very day Canada's House of Commons was supposed to debate a motion which would have allowed MPs to speak more freely about the issues of the day.

OK, call me a cynic, but don't say I'm the only one who discerns a hidden agenda in the pronouncements and actions of "Call me Steve" Harper and his toady Toews. Check out  "Conservative anti-terror bill and arrests match up beautifully, don’t they", by Heather Mallick, in today's Toronto Star.

Ms Mallick calls the anti-terror bill shameful, and the arrests dubious. She states (as the fact is) that the tip from the alleged terrorists' imam, on which the Mounties acted, was a year old -- just like the legislation itself.

"How odd," she writes. "The week after the Boston bombings, the Conservative government had MPs suddenly debating an anti-terror bill that had long been hanging around with its hands in its pockets. The very same day, conveniently, the RCMP arrested two alleged terrorists."

Odd indeed. Enough to make even Walt cynical.

Canuck Tories shelve internet spy 'n' snoop bill

Just checking the overnight news before I head out the door, and am delighted to read the report in this morning's Globe and Mail that "Call me Steve" Harper's government has put on hold legislation that would grant new powers to authorities to police the Internet. Let's hope that -- like when you call the government's "help line" -- it gets put on hold forever!

Time is Walt's enemy today, so I can only refer you to the newspaper article and posts in this space last week. But I do have time to say congratulations to all the Canadians who weren't fooled by the Tories' law and order bullshit, especially the part about protecting the world from pornographers.

A big debt of thanks is owed to all who posted comments in the social media and the lamestream media, and especially to those who took the time to e-mail or call Old Vic Toews and Rob "the Boy Wonder" Nicholson.

More anon.

Canada's Tories backtracking on internet snooping bill

"Old Vic" Toews, Canada's Minister of Public Safety & Security & Law & Order & Correct Behaviour, was interviewed on CBC Radio's The House today. The subject was Bill C-30. That's the one which, if you don't support it, you're standing with the child pornographers, according to Vic.

Mr Toews's characterization of those who believe in freedom of expression and freedom of information as supporters of porn peddlers drew a lot of ire, not just from the usual "progressive forces" but from libertarians as well. The outcry from normally passive Canadians seems to have surprised the minister, and his puppet-master, "Call me Steve" Harpoon. To judge from the interview, they're now in damage control mode.

Hence the unusual move to refer Bill C-30 to a parliamentary committe for further study, following first reading rather than second reading as is the usual procedure. Toews also says the government will look at any and all amendments which the opposition or anyone else -- for instance the Privacy Commissioner -- might suggest. (Canada's Privacy Commissioner was also interviewed on the programme.)

So the ball ["bill", surely. Ed.] has been pretty well kicked into the long grass. But that doesn't mean Canadians concerned about the invasion of their privacy shouldn't make their voices heard... while dissent is still legal. Here are some useful links.

The Honourable (sic) Vic Toews can be reached (supposedly) at vic.toews@parl.gc.ca. And here's his office phone number: +1-613-992-3128. For those still living in the `80s, Vic has a fax number too: +1-613-995-1049.

To yank the chain of the Rob Nicholson -- the one standing with Toews in the picture, not with the pornographers -- e-mail rob.nicholson@parl.gc.ca. (Are you starting to see a pattern to these e-mail addresses?) His phone number is +1-613-995-1547, fax +1-613-992-7910.

If you want to contact another of the 308 MPs, go here to find his or her co-ordinates. If it's a senator you want -- like that great champion of free speech Mike Puffy -- here's a list of those who slumber in the Red Chamber.

One more tip. It's still the law, in Canada, that anyone can write to a Senator or Member of Parliament for free! (That means Canada Post has to pay the cost, which sounds only fair to Walt.) Here are the addresses:

Senators: Name of Senator / The Senate of Canada / Ottawa / Ontario K1A 0A4
MPs: Name of Member of Parliament / House of Commons / Ottawa / Ontario K1A 0A6

And don't forget... no-one ever said you could write only once! Go ahead! Knock yourself (and them) out!

Note from Ed.: I meant to take some pornographic pictures for these posts, but I forgot my pornograph.

Do you want these men to know what you're looking at on the Net?

You know these guys, right? They are the federal ministers in charge of protecting Canadians from indecency, immorality, and incorrectness in all its forms.

Rob Nicholson, on the right, is the Minister of Justice. Vic Toews (rhymes with "raves"), on his right -- and that's pretty far right, believe me! -- is the Minister of "Public Safety". Old Vic is the one who, earlier this week, said that anyone who doesn't stand with the Harpoon government in support of its internet snoop and spy legislation is "either...with us or with the child pornographers". Walt's not making this up. Neither is Toews. He really means it.

In yesterday's post, I got the name of the Conservative government's latest police state law wrong. As you can see from the picture, it's now being called the "Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act". So if you're not a paedophile -- like that dreaful Herbert on Family Guy -- you've got nothing to fear.

If you're not using electronic communications devices, like computers and smartphones, to lure kids into your web of iniquity, the police will have no reason to read your e-mails or track your movements through cellphone signals. Right? Mind you, they wouldn't need a warrant to do so, so if they feel like "just checking", there's nothing to stop them. So even if all you're into is a little light self-gratification, you can't be sure no-one knows.

If you're still not worried, you might want to have a look at "Online surveillance bill targets child porn", on CBC.ca, which is the website of the government-owned broacaster -- the same government that's pushing this bill (C-30) through Parliament. Once passed, this noble-sounding act will require telecommunications and Internet providers to hand over -- without getting a warrant or other court order -- your subscriber data, including name, address, mobile phone number and IP address.

But wait (as Vince Offer says)... there's more! The bill will also make the communications companies give police a “back door” for easy surveillance. [Ah yes... the old back passage. Ed.] Police can also get warrants to track any information sent online, so they'll know who sent it and from where. And they can get court orders forcing other parties to preserve electronic evidence. That means if you delete a file that someone sent you -- even by mistake -- you can be guilty of an offence.

And that's the one that really sucks. (Sorry, Herbert!) Here we are fretting about what Google and Yahoo! and Facebook do with the stuff we put online, without thinking about who's going to be looking at our profiles, our pictures, our searches and so on. These things can now be seen by any cop or other guardian of the law or "protector of public safety" who asks for it.

NDP Member of Parliament argues that the Act will give the police an unlimited "fishing licence", letting them trawl through any and all "private communications", that being the all-encompassing term used in the bill. Mr. Angus said cellphones would become "electronic prisoner’s bracelets".

Welcome to the Conservatives' Canada. Will you being staying long, or will you be looking for someplace where you can have a little privacy? Good luck with that!

Where's a good place for a refugee to land?

If you were a refugee from an island which is a pretty rotten place to live -- say Haiti or maybe Sri Lanka -- where would you go? You want to find someplace where life is better than it is at home. And it would be nice if they'd let you in.

The latter consideration pretty much lets out the U.S.A., which gets tougher on illegals by the day...especially if you try to enter via Arizona! But there are other countries, adjacent to the U.S.A., which are more welcoming.

One of them is the Bahamas, one of Walt's favourite vacation destinations. You can just about swim to the Bahamas from Haiti, so when the earthquake stuck, that's pretty much what a lot of Haitians did. Drinking heavily of the milk of human kindness, the Bahamian government temporarily halted roundups of "undocumented aliens" -- mostly Haitians -- following the big shake.

Seven months later, the Bahamas Immigration Department is warning any illegal migrants in the islands to go home or be subject to arrest and immediate deportation. The free ride is over.

And unlike another neighbour of the U.S. which has also received thousands of dispossessed Haitians -- that would be Canada -- illegals have no right to appeal, no taxpayer-funded lawyers to stretch out the process for years while the illegals disappear.

The Bahamian government said today that they are compelled to resume immigration enforcement, because the number of Haitians trying to enter illegally has actually been increasing over the last six months, this in spite of the millions of dollars in foreign aid pumped into Haiti to make it a little more fit to live in. (See WWW passim, ad nauseam.)

Canada has ignored the many Haitians who have crossed its porous border with the U.S.A. Right now they have a more pressing problem -- the arrival of hundreds of Tamil boat people, including suspected Tamil Tiger terrorists.

Flash back to October 2009 when the MV Ocean Lady arrived in British Columbia, disgorging 76 men who looked rustier than the ship. These Sri Lankans were arrested, but released when they hollered "Refugee! refugee!" Their claims are still "pending" and many of them have melted into the huge Tamil diaspora in Toronto.

At the time, the government of "Call me Steve" Harper, feeling the outrage of public opinion, said that kind of queue-jumping wasn't the Canadian way, dontcha know, and they would act immediately to make sure it didn't happen again. LMAO.

Apparently the Ocean Lady was kind of a test, for about three months ago the Thai-registered MV Sun Sea left Sri Lanka with a human cargo nearly seven times larger, most of whom had paid around $40,000 for passage to a sucker country.

They tried Australia, which told them they could put ashore at Christmas Island. Christmas Island has become Australia's holding camp for boat people. Conditions there are said to be so bad that those housed there wish they'd never left home.

Next the Sun Sea eyed the U.S.A., but realized that America actually has a navy and a coast guard which might...err...blow the boat out of the water. So of course they changed course for Canada.

The Canadian government had roughly two months' notice that they were coming. Vic Toews, Harper's public safety sheepdog [Which is it? ed.], said on Thursday, “While our government believes in offering protection to genuine refugees, it is imperative that we prevent supporters and members of a criminal or terrorist organization from abusing Canada’s refugee system.”

So what action was taken to keep the ship from entering Canadian waters? None. Was any effort made to keep the ship from docking? No. Were the 490 Tamils still alive arrested? Well...err...not exactly. They have been housed in "holding facilities", or sent to hospital, given food and of course legal aid, all at Canadian taxpayers' expense.

Welcome to Canada! Make yourselves at home! And congratulations on your cleverness in choosing to come to Canada by boat without bothering to ask if it was OK.

Now the Canadian government says it has intelligence [Really??!! ed.] that there are two more boatloads of refugees about to leave Sri Lanka, to follow their countrymen to the land of milk and honey [and chumps, surely. ed.]

Mr. Toews says the federal government of which he is a part will act immediately to prevent the ships from setting sail, because once they're on the high seas we have to take them, because of an obligation in international law. What action, exactly, is Canada going to take? Answer comes there none.