Mounties always get their man

The title words for this post have taken on a stark new meaning in recent times in Canada. I’ve been trying to write about the Robert Dziekanski incident from Vancouver International Airport in October for a week or so now, and haven’t been able to find the right words. I’m still not sure I’ve found them, but I’ve decided to soldier on anyway.

When comedy goes too far …

Everybody loves a joke … well, except when they don’t. In all honesty, its hard to believe that the people who came up with this idea truly didn’t see the potential for chaos and problems. In today’s world, its very hard to imagine anyone thinking that security personnel guarding a major international conference will have ANY sense of humour at all regarding potential security breaches, but that seems to be the excuse given by members of Australia’s ABC TV program, The Chaser.

A call to violence

I stumbled across an interesting article this morning over at the War Room at Salon, that highlights the differences between the left wing and right wing elements in the US right now as far as rhetoric is concerned. Tim Grieve found a clip from a recent Ted Nugent show that is very interesting. As most people probably know, Ted is a fairly vocal supporter of the Republican party, and Bush’s policy in the War on Terror and Iraq/Afghanistan, and during a recent show he attacked both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, which wouldn’t be too unusual, if not for the content of the attacks.

agents provocateurs – Updated below …

The Youtube video posted recently of a protest rally in Montebello, Que raises some pretty big questions about the role of SQ and/or RCMP officers in violent protest. Coming late onto this story, my first exposure to it is through the Youtube video (well, in truth, I found the Youtube link 3 lines into a news story on the event, but I watched the raw video before finishing the article, so as to know what ACTUALLY happened first), and it certainly raises some interesting questions.

We don’t know Dick …

Jon Stewart is one of those guys that falls into the trap of excellence. The Daily Show is comedy and satire at such a high level so consistently, that it takes something truly great to grab attention and provoke comment. On the August 15th segment of “You don’t know Dick” he really knocked one out of the park.

Activism abroad

This week has seen 3 Canadian activists arrested, then later released, in China for activist related activities. As is often true in cases like this, the immediate media attention around the arrests focussed on the message of the protest for which the activists were arrested, and on ways to free them. What’s interesting in cases like these is that there is little effort to look at the incidents from a law and order perspective.

Detention without trial is unconstitutional … and other obvious truisms …

When we talk about labeling people “enemies of the state” and arresting and holding them indefinitely and without trial based on that label, we tend to think we are talking about history, from some nasty totalitarian regime like the former Soviet Union or East Germany. But the fact is, Canada’s Security Certificate procedures, in place since 9/11, amount to essentially the same thing. Through a finding that someone (a foreign national or resident … citizens are not covered by Security Certificates) is a threat to national security, its been possible to hold that person without trial and essentially indefinitely. Even more egregious, in most cases, the evidence for why and how the finding of “threat to national security” is arrived at is kept wholly secret from the accused, violating one of the most basic rights in a democracy, the right to face our accusers and the evidence against us in open court.

Another way to blame Hollywood?

As is probably apparent, one of my favorite sections of Salon.com is the War Room. The little bits of minutia that they manage to find for that section, coupled with the wit and writing skills of Tim Grieve, make it a truly fascinating read every day. In today’s War Room is a wonderful little piece about how it is actually the show “24,” as opposed to any official policy, that encourages “U.S. soldiers to think that torture is acceptable.”

Canada says “Oops” to Maher Arar

PM Stephen Harper announced this morning that the Canadian government has agreed upon an official compensation package, as well as an official apology, delivered by the PM himself on Newsworld this morning. While many of the details remain confidential, reports say the $ amount is over $10 million, which may seem like a lot to the average person, until one tries to imagine the 10 months of horror Arar must have experienced in that Syrian prison when it becomes quickly clear that there is no monetary amount that would truly ‘compensate’ someone for being sent into such a situation.

The Taunting of Saddam

I’ve written recently about the irony around the execution of Saddam Hussein, but the grainy, unauthorized cellphone video that has emerged of the proceedings is a chilling reminder of the power of new media, to inflame, to inform.  I won’t link to the video here … no doubt its easy enough to find on the video services out there, and i don’t deal in snuff film here … but there are several elements that are highly disturbing, and it contradicts the “official story” that the government sources (both Iraqi and American) tried to tell.