I first heard of Alex Hundert on the Sunday Edition. Normally focused on pompous middle class issues and politics, Michael Enright devoted his weekly essay to Mr. Hundert and his Kafkaesque situation. This was an unlikely start of a journey into the ongoing erosion of civil liberties in Canada.
Alex Hundert along with hundreds of other 'activists' was arrested in advance of the G8/G20 summits in Toronto in June. Thinking that 'activists' have dear leaders like themselves, the cops assumed that if they dragged away some of the more vocal 'activists' that the protests might fall apart. No such luck there. But the world had a great view of the new Canada: fake lakes, security fences and mass arrests.
But back to Mr. Hundert. He is facing three conspiracy charges. He was released on $100,000 bail and subjected to house arrest with some conditions around non-association with other arrested 'activists' and a ban on participating in political demonstrations.
Given his experience he was invited to take part in a panel discussion on the police response to the G8/G20 protests in September. A panel discussion apparently is a political demonstration. So he was rearrested and subsequently released with new bail conditions which according to the Toronto Star: "They include a clarification of the no-demonstration rule, to include a restriction on planning, participating in, or attending any public event that expresses views on a political issue".
That last point deserves to be written a second time: "any public event that expresses views on a political issue". This is typically Canadian, being nebulous in statements that could be read quite radically. Arguably eating is a political act. And what's a public event?
This is quite shocking behaviour and many different organizations and individuals, many of whom may never have given a damn about Mr. Hundert are now taking notice. What if this could happen to you? Imagine being forced to be apolitical?
I just had a thought, perhaps his conditions could have forced him to spend 8 or more hours a day at a mall windowshopping? Or maybe they could have forced him to watch Entertainment Tonight with a quiz that if he failed he would have to return to jail.
What surprises me the most is that they are not getting on with his trial and the trials of numerous other 'activists'. Obviously this man and his compadres are evil and should be jailed along with other evildoers. Why allow them to continue to be free to read Chomsky and plot the downfall of the state? Get them into jail and destroy their spirits. The case against them must be rock solid to allow for such stringent bail conditions.
They tried and convicted Colonel Russell Williams pretty quickly and he was one of our prescribed heroes. So when are these trials going to happen? Or can we just assume that Mr. Hundert and his fellows will merely be on permnent house arrest since they are such a nuissance to the state?
Friday, October 22, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Priorities
I'm looking for a winter job. One place that I check, reluctantly of course, is the government's job bank. Today on my visit I looked at the features section in the lower right hand side. Now presumably the Government of Canada doesn't charge for people to post jobs on this site. However the jobs listed in the features section speak volumes about the state's priorities.
RCMP recruiting, Canadian Forces--both military and civilian jobs, and of course workers for the 'oil sands'. Kind of speaks volumes doesn't it? Especially that last one, which is clearly out of place given that the 'oil sands' arguably have no connection to the federal government. The feds actually own pieces of GM and Chrysler but you don't see ads for those jobs.
Let's come up with a new slogan for the job bank: "Cooking the planet while happily quashing dissent at home and abroad".
RCMP recruiting, Canadian Forces--both military and civilian jobs, and of course workers for the 'oil sands'. Kind of speaks volumes doesn't it? Especially that last one, which is clearly out of place given that the 'oil sands' arguably have no connection to the federal government. The feds actually own pieces of GM and Chrysler but you don't see ads for those jobs.
Let's come up with a new slogan for the job bank: "Cooking the planet while happily quashing dissent at home and abroad".
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Up, Up and Away
I just got what I thought was my credit card statement in the mail. Happily I rarely use it but I'm glad to have it in my back pocket. So I was ready to make my usual payment of a hundred dollars, usually the purchase of some gasoline to travel to Halifax or something like that. But when I opened the letter it seems that they are offering to raise my credit limit once again.
I had to laugh out loud. I can't remember exactly but about 6-8 months ago I was offered another raise of about $2,000. The funny thing is that I don't have a regular income to speak of but I guess I'm a reliable customer because I always pay my bills immediately. But I guess they're hoping that I'll start spending like a madman, and maybe I'll pay them some interest and get into debt. They don't know me very well.
(Incidentally I just got a call from a company hoping to restructure my mortgage. Good luck.)
Desperation abounds it seems. Lacking imagination these companies keep trying their old tricks, but it's over. The chickens, I hope and pray, are coming home to roost.
We must all avoid debt at all costs. I can't shake the feeling that soon, as the economy collapses due to a lack of abundant, cheap energy, debt will logically become the basis of the reincarnation of the pre-oil economy: the slave economy. So if you have debt obligations from the six cars you own, or the three houses or the new 3D television you bought on a payment plan, then you and your family will be sold into slavery. Ideally for the powerful, debt will be transferred to the next generation and interest accrued so that a long-term slave supply is assured. Instead of tractors and pesticides, you'll have slaves and hand weeding (and if you've ever hand weeded carrots get ready for purgatory).
Incidentally check out news that debtors prisons are growing in the US. Is this the start of the future? Debtors prisons are supposed to be illegal but not in this climate. The silly thing is that it costs so much to incarcerate someone so how do these prisons break even? Well I guess that's why we have private prisons to manage the slave, uh I mean prison population.
Things are happening so fast it's certainly hard to keep up and it just makes me incredulous. And still there is no revolution?
But for now I'll take the offer. Or maybe I should do something unexpected and decline it? Nah, maybe I'll buy an ivory backscratcher someday. On credit of course.
I had to laugh out loud. I can't remember exactly but about 6-8 months ago I was offered another raise of about $2,000. The funny thing is that I don't have a regular income to speak of but I guess I'm a reliable customer because I always pay my bills immediately. But I guess they're hoping that I'll start spending like a madman, and maybe I'll pay them some interest and get into debt. They don't know me very well.
(Incidentally I just got a call from a company hoping to restructure my mortgage. Good luck.)
Desperation abounds it seems. Lacking imagination these companies keep trying their old tricks, but it's over. The chickens, I hope and pray, are coming home to roost.
We must all avoid debt at all costs. I can't shake the feeling that soon, as the economy collapses due to a lack of abundant, cheap energy, debt will logically become the basis of the reincarnation of the pre-oil economy: the slave economy. So if you have debt obligations from the six cars you own, or the three houses or the new 3D television you bought on a payment plan, then you and your family will be sold into slavery. Ideally for the powerful, debt will be transferred to the next generation and interest accrued so that a long-term slave supply is assured. Instead of tractors and pesticides, you'll have slaves and hand weeding (and if you've ever hand weeded carrots get ready for purgatory).
Incidentally check out news that debtors prisons are growing in the US. Is this the start of the future? Debtors prisons are supposed to be illegal but not in this climate. The silly thing is that it costs so much to incarcerate someone so how do these prisons break even? Well I guess that's why we have private prisons to manage the slave, uh I mean prison population.
Things are happening so fast it's certainly hard to keep up and it just makes me incredulous. And still there is no revolution?
But for now I'll take the offer. Or maybe I should do something unexpected and decline it? Nah, maybe I'll buy an ivory backscratcher someday. On credit of course.
I'm feeling a bit left out. I think that I'm losing touch with people, even people who don't live that far away, because of facebook. Or more accurately my decision not to join the website and share all my information online.
My friend chastised me yesterday for not being on facebook. He was partly joking but partly serious. He lives not too far away but I hadn't been able to reach him by phone for weeks. Finally we met up yesterday. But I had missed
And then there's a good friend who I haven't heard from in probably more than a year. I write emails to him probably every month or two but get no reply. I hear second hand about his life from friends. The funny thing is that we have a lot in common and are theoretically following parallel paths in life, albeit on the other sides of the world to each other. I assume of course that he is upset with me but won't communicate anything to me. So I'm in a void. And I fear that it's all because of facebook.
There's this subtle push to join facebook, spread by each and every user. Even those people who hate facebook but still remain members. The funny thing is that I don't think I've ever been congratulated for holding out. But if I was online, think of all the news I would be privy too. But how hard is it to write an email, or letter for that matter, or to pick up the phone?
Pretty hard obviously.
As I write this I'm reminded of an episode of Star Trek the Next Generation. Bear with me. I used to watch this show as an impressionable teenager. In the episode in question, an officer returns from a vacation to the ship and proceeds to spread a game that he was introduced to. The game it turns out gives extreme pleasure and brainwashes the crew to the whims of an alien species. It was totally Invasion of the Body Snatchers in space. At the time, and obviously I'm still thinking of it, it really left an impression on me. So naturally I'm not going to give in.
I have this feeling that I wrote a similar blog entry once upon a time. Well it remains a feature of all our lives.
My friend chastised me yesterday for not being on facebook. He was partly joking but partly serious. He lives not too far away but I hadn't been able to reach him by phone for weeks. Finally we met up yesterday. But I had missed
And then there's a good friend who I haven't heard from in probably more than a year. I write emails to him probably every month or two but get no reply. I hear second hand about his life from friends. The funny thing is that we have a lot in common and are theoretically following parallel paths in life, albeit on the other sides of the world to each other. I assume of course that he is upset with me but won't communicate anything to me. So I'm in a void. And I fear that it's all because of facebook.
There's this subtle push to join facebook, spread by each and every user. Even those people who hate facebook but still remain members. The funny thing is that I don't think I've ever been congratulated for holding out. But if I was online, think of all the news I would be privy too. But how hard is it to write an email, or letter for that matter, or to pick up the phone?
Pretty hard obviously.
As I write this I'm reminded of an episode of Star Trek the Next Generation. Bear with me. I used to watch this show as an impressionable teenager. In the episode in question, an officer returns from a vacation to the ship and proceeds to spread a game that he was introduced to. The game it turns out gives extreme pleasure and brainwashes the crew to the whims of an alien species. It was totally Invasion of the Body Snatchers in space. At the time, and obviously I'm still thinking of it, it really left an impression on me. So naturally I'm not going to give in.
I have this feeling that I wrote a similar blog entry once upon a time. Well it remains a feature of all our lives.
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