Our tax dollars at work. The head of an agency that provides services to First Nations children and families accuses the government of discrminating against that community. The agency head is then the subject of a spy campaign, as the Harper government monitors her Facebook page, digs up data on
Continue readingTag: civil liberties
wmtc: occupy toronto vigil for iraq veteran and peace activist scott olsen
If you missed the story: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/26/occupy-oakland-veteran-critical-condition.
Continue readingwmtc: a short film about ows human rights: "i am not moving"
Solidarity with Oakland: The Oscar Grant Plaza Gazette brought to you by the People’s Library at Occupy Wall Street.The whole world is watching.Scott Olson, 24-year-old Iraq War veteran, is in critical condition after his head was bashed in by Oakland …
Continue readingwmtc: fbi "mapping": racial and ethnic profiling at the highest levels of so-called law enforcement
I just received this from the ACLU. I will run it here verbatim, except for a few extraneous bits. This is racial and ethnic profiling at its most extreme. If the top law “enforcement” agency in the US does this, how can the police departments of New Y…
Continue readingwmtc: stop the insanity: oppose bill c-10
LeadNow.ca petition here.We know that Stephen Harper thinks the United States is the GNOTFOTE, but of all the things to emulate about the US, the prison-industrial complex is a particularly poor choice.* When conservatives in Texas tell you a prison st…
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Occupy Wall Street: The emerging global pro-democracy movement, where it stands, what it means, and where we go from here
The Occupy Wall Street movement, which has already become a global grassroots populist pro-democracy movement, if we have eyes to see, has clearly already won a broad and growing base of support. What is needed now, I believe, is to further clarify and…
Continue readingSHRIEEEK!
Look out!! He’s got a… …HAMMER!!!: Two men were apprehended by security officers around 4 p.m. at Commerce Court near King and Bay streets. One of them allegedly had a hammer concealed on him, said Const. Tony Vella with the Toronto Police. Vella said it is not clear if the two men were part of […]
Double-barreled irony
The future isn’t looking too bright for the controversial Long Gun Registry, currently whiling away its final weeks on Bad Legislation Death Row, smoking rollies and using the ashes to scratch “LOVE/HATE” tattoos into its knuckles as it waits for a CPC government Termination Technician to put it to sleep: The long gun registry is […]
Writings of J. Todd Ring: Occupy Wall St. – Letters to friends and family, and an overview of what is unfolding now
What is happening is momentus. It could go wrong, it could fizzle out, or it could be co-opted, but at present, by all I can see, it is hopeful: here are a few letters I sent to friends and family on the subject, that aimed to clarify and also to empow…
Continue readingwmtc: unlawful access: new openmedia video on harper govt’s internet spy plan
OpenMedia.ca has launched an important new video at The Mark: please watch and share.Wmtc: mandatory, warrantless internet spying coming to canada, unless we stop it.Petition: here.Email your MP: here.
Continue readingdickhead Comes to Vancouver . . . .
dickhead cheney came to The Vancouver Club tonight to promote his book.Of course I participated to see Vancouverites welcome him in style.To the best of my knowledge, he signed no autographs for the crowd outside the facility . . . .Recommend this Post…
Continue readingLaw is Cool: Review of Dennis Edney’s Lecture, “The Rule of Law in an Age of Terror”
“Human rights have a dysfunctional relationship with justice. The language is certainly beautiful, but it’s all dressed up with nowhere to go,” charged Dennis Edney in a scathing lecture at the Faculty of Law at UBC on September 15. Edney worked from 2004 to 2011 on Omar Khadr’s defence against charges stemming from the July […]
wmtc: mandatory, warrantless internet spying coming to canada, unless we stop it
If Stephen Harper has his way, mandatory, warrantless, universal internet surveillance will be the norm in Canada. Once upon a time, I would have thought that statement was hyperbole; now it is the simple truth. If you already know about this, please s…
Continue readingwmtc: 9.11.11: an anti-remembrance
Ten years on. Ten years of Islamophobia, endless war, the open rationalization of torture and massacre. Ten years of surveillance, insidiously creeping police state, witch hunts, shredding of personal freedoms. Nine years of torture, medical experiment…
Continue readingbastard.logic: Why I’m Not Jumping On Board The Google+ Bandwagon
by matttbastard Jillian C. York on why the current corporate backlash against online pseudonymity is misguided: There are myriad reasons why an individual may feel safer identifying under a name other than their birth name. Teenagers who identify as members … Continue reading →
wmtc: heroic white people, "i am not a racist," and other thoughts on some old news
I recently read a few unrelated items that dealt with racism, equality and civil rights in the US, which raised some thoughts I want to share. This time I’m purposely burying the lede, putting the easy stuff up front.In this essay and review, author an…
Continue readingwmtc: defend free speech: help the canadian arab federation beat jason kenney in court
From Defend Free Speech:Help CAF beat Jason Kenney in federal court!An urgent appeal for support. Please make a donation today.Over two years ago, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney unilaterally cut funding to the Canadian Arab Federa…
Continue reading#G20 anniversary: Queen & Spadina, one year later
Hundreds of citizens arrested on bullshit pretexts.Detained arbitrarily in conditions that were gross violations of human rights.Subjected to racist, sexist, misogynistic and homophobic slurs and harassment.Assaulted indiscriminately.Beaten, tear-gasse…
Continue readingwmtc: watching the watchers: ipsi research day today
The project I’ve been working on – my summer position as a research assistant – is in the spotlight today, as two of the IPSI research teams give a public progress report.IPSI Research Day – Proportionate Digital ID + Video SurveillanceSponsor: Identit…
Continue readingwmtc: bill ayers: "as public space contracts, the real victim becomes truth, honesty, integrity, curiosity, imagination, freedom"
A while back in my Intellectual Freedom and the Public Library course, I encountered an interesting shift of ideas. Larry Alexander, while arguing that freedom of expression is not a human right (I disagree!), points out that free speech is less about …
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