Seabus bomb scare

RCMP detonated a fishing rod in a tube mistakenly left behind at the Seabus Terminal in North Vancouver yesterday, so that's one less Olympic terrorist incident to worry about.

The suspicious package was discovered at 2:30pm and detonated at 5pm after city blocks were evacuated and buses, all CNR trains on the waterfront area and the SeaBus harbour ferry connecting North Vancouver to downtown Vancouver were halted for three hours while RCMP helicopter Air One circled overhead and dog and explosive disposal units and a bomb-diffusing robot combed the area.

The Province : "RCMP spokesman Const. Michael McLauchlin said there is no longer a threat to anyone."

Matt Taibbi : The Big Takeover

How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution

"It's over — we're officially, royally fucked.

In the final three months of last year, the company [AIG] lost more than $27 million every hour. That's $465,000 a minute, a yearly income for a median American household every six seconds, roughly $7,750 a second. And all this happened at the end of eight straight years that America devoted to frantically chasing the shadow of a terrorist threat to no avail, eight years spent stopping every citizen at every airport to search every purse, bag, crotch and briefcase for juice boxes and explosive tubes of toothpaste. Yet in the end, our government had no mechanism for searching the balance sheets of companies that held life-or-death power over our society and was unable to spot holes in the national economy the size of Libya (whose entire GDP last year was smaller than AIG's 2008 losses)."

No-fly list nonsense continues

In Terry Gilliam's apocalyptic 1985 movie, Brazil, which he would have preferred to call 1984 1/2, a hapless bureaucrat investigates a mistake in a ridiculously counterproductive terrorist tracking system that has confused an innocent Mr. Buttle with a terrorist named Tuttle. Buttle is arrested and killed. It was a typing error.

Glenda Hutton, a 66 year old retired elementary BC school secretary, never arrested, has joined the ranks of 5 year olds and US senators whose names have mysteriously appeared on some international security no-fly list or other, preventing her from fulfilling her lifelong retirement dream of world travel with her husband.
Apparently her name resembles that of someone else on a list, although she cannot find out which one.

As Julie Morand of Passport Canada explained to her, "In fact … you should always be questioned since a name similar to yours appears to be on an American list."

Excuse me? A similar name on an American list?

An Ottawa Citizen article, no longer available, from Sept 2006 reported that :
"Air Transport Association of Canada uses the US Homeland Security no-fly selectee list to screen passengers even on domestic flights from one point in Canada to another. They do this despite Transport Canada's statement that there is no requirement for them to do so. There are reportedly 70,000 people on that list."

And that was two years ago.
Thirteen months after Glenda Hutton was stopped while boarding a domestic Air Canada flight from Comox to Calgary, Transport Canada, the Dept of Foreign Affairs, the Dept of Public Safety, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have all for their various reasons been unable to help her.

Note to actual terrorists choosing a name to buy an airline ticket : Don't use Glenda Hutton. Or Glenda Button. Tutton is probably out...

Cross-posted at Creekside

More Sea Smurfs

Remember the Sea Smurfs?

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Sea Smurfs was the mercifully shorter nickname given to NorthCom's 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, the Consequence Management Response Force, which, as reported in Army Times, is a military unit to be deployed within the US to deal with "homeland scenarios" where among other duties they "may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control".

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Yeah, yeah, I know, the Posse Comitatus Act and all that, but since Bush attached a little note to the repeal of its repeal last year, if you can follow that, to say he does not feel bound by it, we are not greatly reassured.

More smurfs : Reporting on a National Homeland Defense and Security Symposium in Colorado last week, the Colorado Independent newspaper tells us the Sea Smurfs are about to grow by at least two more military units over the next two years, bringing their number to an estimated total of 4,700.
A worried ACLU is busy filing FOI's, while the commander of NorthCommand makes suitably soothing noises: "These are medical personnel, they’re chemical decontamination teams, they’re engineering teams, they’re logistics folks."

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Ok, but they've got tanks and guns too , although a public-affairs officer for Northern Command has stated that "any decision to use weapons would be made at a higher level, perhaps at the secretary-of-defense level".

Army Times previously reported that they'll be using "a non-lethal crowd control package" and "military tactics, including some tested in Iraq" within U.S. borders but has since retracted those statements. Did I mention that these smurfs previously hailed from 15 months in Iraq?

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As we discovered back in February : "Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each other's borders during an emergency".

The definition of just what would constitute "an emergency" along the 100 mile deep "Constitution-Free Zone" on the U.S.-Canada border continues to worry me.

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Good little vid on one man's reaction to the Sea Smurfs from ACR.
Cross-posted at Creekside

Push polling for deep integration

A mere four days after foisting John Ibbitson's paeon to deep integration on us, the Globe and Mail is at it again, this time reporting on a poll which purports to show that :
"Canadians want Prime Minister Stephen Harper to work more closely with a new U.S. administration" and
"Canadians expect their government to work closely with the U.S. on international problems".
According to the poll, 62% of Canadians would even "adopt American regulatory standards if it would ease restrictions at the border".

As Ibbitson also proclaimed, the reason why this will all be ok is : "Canadians are excited about the prospect of a Barack Obama presidency".
Obama, a fine orator whose speeches move me to tears but whose voting record is thus far still hovering around that of Stephen Harper, is apparently the new deep integration selling point to Canadians.

The G&M refers to the institute which commissioned the poll, the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, merely as a "Calgary-based institute".
Rather more useful would have been the information that CDFAI is a lobby group funded by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and "defence contractor" General Dynamics, beneficiary of millions of dollars in arms contracts due to Canadian participation in the U.S war on terra.

The article also quotes "Colin Robertson, senior fellow with the institute", but fails to mention "he was a member of the team that negotiated the Free Trade Agreement with the United States", information freely available on his CDFAI bio, or that currently Mr. Robertson has been seconded by DFAIT to Carleton University to direct the Canada-US Project, along with fellow continentalist Derek Burney :

Blueprint for Canada-US Engagement under a New Administration
Purpose: To develop a blueprint for a joint Canada-US agenda focused on bilateral and global prosperity and security issues.

Included among its listed "themes" are :

• Canada-US defense cooperation (with US spelling of defence)
• The North American energy-environment nexus
• Cross-border regulatory cooperation
• Scope and issue areas for greater bilateral cooperation in the Americas

Unsurprisingly, these are the same issues addressed in the CDFAI poll, happily reported in the G&M as Canadians, despite their "healthy skepticism of the Americans", nonetheless enthusiastically supporting greater ties.

Thanks, G&M. As CDFAI is holding a one-day conference in Ottawa today - What Does it Mean to Be Good Neighbours? - including Robert Pastor, Vice Chair of the 2005 Task Force on the Future of North America and author of Toward a North American Community, I expect we'll be hearing more of the same from you again quite soon.

Cross-posted at Creekside

Stephen Harper's Big Thingey

John Ibbitson at the G&M has a new big idea :

"This could be Stephen Harper's Big Thing."
"a revolutionary new agreement that would transform both Canada and the U.S., truly launching the continent into the 21st century."
"This is the perfect time to do something big. This is the time for a North American environmental, security and economic accord."

Well, bully for you for finally coming out, John.
After years of pissing about, defending the very jelly bean-ness of the Security and Prosperity Partnership - It's not about deep integration; it's just about efficiency! It's not scary! Oh noes, it's dying because of those whiny nationalists and conspiracy theorists! - you finally get down to it.
And what a great name you have chosen for it - The Big Idea.

Coincidentally, "The Big Idea" was also the name coined by the C.D. Howe Institute in 2002 for their Shaping the Future of the North American Economic Space: A Framework for Action, but I'm sure they'll be happy to hear you want to revive it. Their report, which later resurfaced as "The Task Force on the Future of North America", suggested that Canada could successfully woo the US into deeper integration with us if only we would just join their war on terra and offer them free access to our water and oil.

What? You say your Big Idea proposes that too? :

"Canada should propose a harmonized, universal, continental market, coupled with massive joint investment aimed at reducing the environmental impact of the oil sands, in exchange for guarantees that the U.S. gets all the oil."

All the oil?
Why it seems only yesterday, John, you were complaining that conspiracy theorists were killing the SPP with crazy ideas like that:

"While on the Canadian side, Ms. Barlow maintains that "deep integration," as she likes to call it, is "quite literally about eliminating Canada's ability to determine independent regulatory standards, environmental protections, energy security, foreign, military, immigration and other policies."

And now here you are - recommending those very same ideas yourself as the best way for Steve to consolidate his legacy. And you've got more:

"Let's not stop there. Let's propose a joint security agreement to prescreen goods and people coming into the continent. Let's set a joint tariff.
Let's remove national protections on cultural and financial services."

Because I ask you - what could be better timing for Canada right now than to hitch our wagon to US security agreements and finances?

Congratulations, John. As the only journalist invited to the last SPP leaders' meet-up, you have finally proven your worth to them.
And a big idea shout-out to the G&M too, for having the guts to go public with this. We always knew you had it in you.

Cross-posted at Creekside

One million served

In March a CNN report advised that seven years after 9/11, less than 1% of U.S. daily flights carry armed federal air marshals.

The Transportation Security Administration denied the report and began an investigation into who leaked the info to CNN, calling it a national security leak.

Then it placed the CNN reporter on the no-fly list.

And in this way the US terrorist watch list eventually reached one million names, according to the ACLU, who call it a waste of time and resources.

Paul Craig Roberts : "It's worse than that. What the “watch list” or “no-fly list” is doing is training Americans to submit to warrantless searches, to abandon their constitutional rights, and to submit to humiliation by thugs and bullies."

Yes. They are being acclimatized to what they know is merely bureaucratic bullying. Are we paying attention?

The world is officially nuts - Part 2

You'll recall, of course, the illumination of BC Ferries security pamphlet, which is a verbatim adoption of the US Homeland Security policy of spying on your neighbour and turning her/him in for engaging in typical tourist behaviour.

Before I go on, and believe me we're going to go beyond BC Ferries, let me point out that BC Ferries is not a "cross the river" operation. It is a provincially-owned corporation (no matter what Gordon Campbell may think) that operates some of the largest ships in the Canadian merchant fleet. With ships exceeding 21,000 tons and an annual passenger complement of over 21.6 million passengers, BC Ferries is a mammoth Canadian shipping company.

What you need to know, whether you hail from British Columbia or not, is that your Nickle is helping to pay the way for BC Ferries. The British Columbia ferry system is a part of the Trans-Canada Highway and it receives federal funding to maintain that link to Vancouver Island. And that security pamphlet they published? Yeah. They got federal money for that too. You may be from Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes or the Prairies, but you helped pay for that pamphlet.

I digress.

Things could be worse. In fact, they could be much worse. A different Canadian company has attracted the attention of the US Department of Homeland Security and not what most would consider to be in a good way.

This is from the Washington Times: (Yes, it's a Bush administration cheerleader. Which should tell you something.) Emphasis mine.

A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal, Inc. website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers (video also shown below).

This bracelet would:

• Take the place of an airline boarding pass

• Contain personal information about the traveler

• Be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage

• Shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several minutes

The Electronic ID Bracelet, as it’s referred to, would be worn by every traveler “until they disembark the flight at their destination.” Yes, you read that correctly. Every airline passenger would be tracked by a government-funded GPS, containing personal, private and confidential information, and would shock the customer worse than an electronic dog collar if the passenger got out of line.

Clearly the Electronic ID Bracelet is a euphemism for the EMD Safety Bracelet, or at least it has a nefarious hidden ability (thus the term ID Bracelet is ambiguous at best). EMD stands for Electro-Musclar Disruption. Again, according to the promotional video, the bracelet can completely immobilize the wearer for several minutes.

What some clown from Sarnia Ontario is proposing, and some donkey in the US government thinks is really cool, is that you, an airline passenger, will agree to wear a bracelet that has the complete details of your travel and personal history, can geographically locate you anywhere and can do to you what a police-fired electroshock weapon does. In short, take you down, inject muscular disruption and, (even though it doesn't exist), give you a case of Excited Delirium. If you die, that's what you died from. If you live, it was for the good of all.

The terrorists lose and, so, by the way, do you.

If this gets past the few sane heads left in government, what somebody is proposing is that every airline passenger, having given up everything about their life including the lifespan of the vibrator batteries, is going to voluntarily wear the probes of a fucking electroshock weapon on their arms.

The Last Man in Europe (Orwell's 1984), didn't go that far. Even Star Trek didn't venture there beyond the fact that it might have happened on an alien world.

And if you think this is going, you know, nowhere, take a look at this.

These goofballs are serious! They really believe that your freedom is worth absolutely nothing. Security is everything.

This little reassurance means zip.

The bracelets remain inactive until a hijacking situation has been identified. At such time a designated crew member will activate the bracelets making them capable of delivering the punitive measure - but only to those that need to be restrained. We believe that all passengers will welcome deliverance from a hijacking, as will the families, carriers, insurance providers etc. The F-16 on the wing-tip is not to reassure the passengers during a hijacking, but rather to shoot them down. Besides activation using the grid screen, the steward / stewardess will have a laser activator that can activate any bracelet as needed by simply pointing the laser at the bracelet - that laser dot only needs to be within 10 inches of the bracelet to activate it.

I have a hot flash for you sweetheart. In about six minutes some 12-year old will break into the software you've developed and "drive stun" every passenger on an airplane halfway between Vancouver and New York. Won't that be a fucking laugh?!

You know what's scary? Brother Stockwell, dinosaur walker extraordinare, is unable to resist this kind of shit.

Let's face it. If you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear.... right?

Those willing to give up a little liberty for a little security deserve neither security nor liberty.

Benjamin Franklin

Hat tip reader Cat.

The world is officially nuts - part 1

This is from a pamphlet I picked up over the weekend as I headed off for yet another of my unscheduled trips.

Getting Involved

Everyone can assist by reporting suspicious activities to any (company) employee. Such activities include:

Unusual recording or monitoring activities, including the use of cameras, note taking, drawing diagrams, annotating on maps or using binoculars or other vision-enhancing devices; Unusual or heightened interest in restricted or prohibited areas; ....

So, you probably think I found that in some US location, right?

Wrong.

Try BC Ferries.

It is right out of the brochure rack on the Queen of Oak Bay, (where they proudly serve coffee roasted by an American company), and is a BC Ferries produced handout describing company security procedures.

Can you imagine reporting someone on a BC Ferry for using a camera? Ohhh Nooees! That tourist is taking a picture of the Pacific Biological Station! And there are all kinds of people at the computer work stations using their laptops. One person is NOT playing a game! He's drawing (Oh save us from the terraists!) a graph!!! And oh yes, Mr. Chief Mate, you know that chart of the various ferry routes that you have up in the passenger area? Well, brace yourself. I actually saw somebody looking at it! And there are a bunch of people on the upper deck speaking a foreign language using binoculars!! (They were watching a pair of terraist eagles).

And you know the announcement telling people to familiarize themselves with the location of lifesaving equipment? Well, I actually saw two people who adhered to that request and were studying the Lifesaving Equipment Plan. We all know what they're up to, don't we? Un huh! They're planning their escape after they blow us all up.

Unfortunately I can't give you a link to this particular brochure since there is nary a word of it anywhere on BC Ferries website. I can tell you where to get one though: Any BC Ferry or BC Ferries terminal.

If you think it stops there, wait until you read the second part of this later today.