DILBIT does the Nebbies

The National Energy Board has sided with Kinder Morgan in refusing the Province of BC's request for more details on how KM would handle an oil spill from KM's proposed $5.4-billion Edmonton-to-Burnaby Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. 
None of our business apparently. Kinder Morgan cited "commercial, security, and privacy reasons" for their redactions.

The NEB is also rather coy when it comes to identifying the former energy industry links among the members that make up their own ranks.  NEB bios are full of expressions like "contributed to the creation and development of major energy projects" without getting into exactly which projects and companies they represent. So to augment that lack of info - here's the Nebbies...

Not to pick on "Bob" in the toon specifically here but rather than the NEB stating that Mr. Bob Vergette was once "Vice President, Operations with a major North American liquids pipeline company", it would seem rather more to the point given NEB's current Trans Mountain review to include the info that company he was VP of was Trans Mountain Pipelines - even if it was a decade ago.

NEB Chair and CEO Peter Watson - formerly Deputy Minister of the Alberta Executive Council til last June - is at least straight up about NEB priorities. Last November he explained that "the board's main job is to ensure proper construction of the pipeline" while he saw environmental concerns as more "the job of the provinces and pipeline company".

NEB Vice Chair Lyne Mercier : 29 years with Gaz Metro.

Roland George : according to NEB "worked primarily in the private energy sector for over three decades", is also a Gaz Metro alumni, and held senior positions with the Canadian Energy Research Institute, or CERI, a not-for-profit tarsands booster. 

Philip Davies : Vice-President, Law and General Counsel of SaskPower ; VP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Encana Gas Storage

Shane Parrish : Manager of Business Development for Canadian Petroleum Engineering

Ron Wallace : From NEB : "At AGRA, he was involved in major oil and gas operations throughout the former Soviet Union and Russia where he managed major project assignments in conjunction with the World Bank."
Also "senior management positions with Petro-Canada and CanStar Oil Sands Ltd."

Kenneth Bateman : "VP of Legal Affairs for Enmax, a large energy distribution, supply and service company"

Alison Scott : Deputy Energy Minister of Nova Scotia and offshore oil promoter

James Ballem : former Conservative MLA and PEI Minister of Environment and Energy.

Mike Richmond : energy lawyer and Co-Chair of the Energy and Power Group at McMillan LLP; and on the board of the Ontario Energy Association.

Jacques Gauthier : one time personal envoy to Harper in 2010 for the Vancouver Olympics, served on the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee on the Public Service, and was "senior VP and CEO of Kruger Energy Inc., where he headed up a new division dedicated to the development of renewable energy" . 
NEB bio : "Mr. Gauthier has contributed to the creation and development of major energy projects in Canada, the United States and Europe."

The only NEB member who doesn't seem to fit comfortably into the oil and gas sector insider mold is David Hamilton - Chief Electoral Officer and Deputy Minister and Clerk of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories. 

Could be it's possible to be just a bit too much inside : 
NEB : Onshore Pipeline Regulation Incidents 2000 to 2012 :

"A truly captured regulator " said Marc Eliesen, a senior energy executive who once served as CEO of BC Hydro, when he quit his role as a NEB intervenor in the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain tarsands-to-tankers expansion project.

This post an update to Norm Farrell's from 2013 as more players have been added since.

Collected DILBITs
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Brownbag Jesus - Mulroney, Del Mastro, and Dykstra

Jason Kenney's parliamentary secretary Rick Dykstra and Steve's former parliamentary secretary Dean Del Mastro yuck it up here at a Del Mastro legal fees fundraiser headlined by brownbagging Muldoon and subsidized by you as political contributions.

"These were funds that were raised separately and essentially moved through the EDA. They were put into the EDA and moved straight back out again " 

explained Alan Wilson, head of the Peterborough Conservative electoral district association, without once using the phrase in-and-out scheme to describe the apparently legal tax receipts they issued to the $600-a-plate donors after funneling them through the EDA in May 2013. Del Mastro's brother Doug sits on the board. 

Del Mastro, found guilty on three counts of violating the Canada Elections Act including faking documents to cover it up, will be sentenced along with his accountant to fuck all this Friday. He resigned his seat in the House of Commons two weeks ago in a move that allows him to retain his pension of some $44,000+ per year starting in the year 2025. 

Why, Mr. Speaker. Why?

In 1997, Brian Mulroney, PM of Canada from 1984 to 1993, received a $2.1-million defamation settlement from the taxpayers of Canada for unproven RCMP allegations that Mulroney had accepted bribes in the Airbus affair concerning government contracts. Mulroney testified under oath that he "never had any dealings" with arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber, knew him only "peripherally" and they had a cup of coffee "once or twice." 

Ten years later, Mulroney admitted to having received three secret payments of $1000 dollar bills in brown paper bags from his business partner Schreiber. Totalling $225,000 to $300,000 and beginning when he was still a member of parliament, this represents a much smaller haul than he received from us for not having disclosed this information under oath ten years earlier .

Jason Kenney attended the above funder but not shown in photo.

Update : Peterborough Examiner takes a closer look at the numbers :

"The Examiner reported shortly after the dinner in 2013 that roughly 120 tickets had been sold.
Yet the financial returns for the riding association for 2013 show 53 people bought tickets. Of those, 23 people - including Brian Mulroney - bought two tickets, while the rest were single ticket-buyers.
It all adds up to 75 tickets sold. [Note : 76, actually]
It's unclear why the initial reports of 120 tickets sold do not agree with the riding association's financial return, and Wilson wouldn't comment."

Are 44 tickets missing payment and if so, were tax receipts issued for them?
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DILBIT : The smartest guys in the room

Burnaby To Appeal NEB's Kinder Morgan Access Decision 

Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Advertising Blitz During Election Doesn't Count as Elections Advertising: Elections BC Ruling

Kinder Morgan slaps Burnaby residents with multi-million-dollar lawsuit

Kinder Morgan questions how much B.C. First Nation still eats fish

Gay serum rumour riles Burnaby politics

Ok, I don't think we can pin that last one on the smartest guys in the room, but meantime ...

Energy Executive Blasts Kinder Morgan NEB Review As “Fraudulent,” Quits

Former BC Hydro CEO Marc Eliesen referred to the NEB as "industry-captured" and their Trans Mountain hearings as "a fraudulent process" and "a public farce" in his letter of resignation from the hearings. 

After the cross-examination phase of the review was inexplicably shelved, intervenors were instead invited to submit their questions in writing. Trans Mountain refused to answer them "or referred back to the inadequate information in the original application that gave rise to the question in the first place."

"Out of the approximately 2000 questions not answered by Trans Mountain that Intervenors called on the [National Energy] Board to compel answers, only 5 per cent were allowed by the Board and 95 per cent were rejected."

"The Board has sided with Trans Mountain dismissing the Province of BC’s need for answers in pursuit of its duty to British Columbians. The Province should cancel the Equivalency Agreement with the NEB on this project and undertake its own environmental assessment as the only meaningful way in which it will be able to effectively obtain the answers it seeks."

BC, you will recall, gave up its right to do its own environmental assessments so as not to unnecessarily duplicate the work of the National Energy Board; in 2010 BC signed an Equivalency Agreement promising to accept the NEB's decisions.   Ha. 

Economist Robyn Allen :  The National Energy Board Guaranteed Kinder Morgan a Fund to Push Pipeline Expansion Through Regulatory Review

"In a precedent setting NEB decision in 2011, the Board granted Kinder Morgan the right to pre-fund future expansion applications from five firm shipping customer contracts to its Westridge terminal. Two of the five companies funding Kinder Morgan’s pre-development costs are Chinese National Oil Companies PetroChina and Nexen, while the remaining three are US Oil, Astra and Cenovus. These companies pay an average premium of $1.45 per barrel to guaranteed $28.6 million per year is allocated to the special account.

Over a ten year period, Kinder Morgan will amass $286 million to push its expansion plans through regulatory review. Pre-funding through shipper charges means that the Canadian public and the Canadian economy bear the risk and the cost of Kinder Morgan’s pre-development process, rather than the risk and cost being borne by Kinder Morgan’s US based shareholders.

Kinder Morgan has confirmed that $136.3 million of its special fund has been allocated to finance the current NEB public review process."

Texas-based Kinder Morgan is the third largest energy company in North America, valued at $120 Billion. 

Update : Crowdfunding campaign raises thousands to support legal defence of Kinder Morgan protesters

Donate towards the legal costs to challenge Kinder Morgan in the courts.

Boris in comments : "Meanwhile, the price of oil and therefore the lucrativity of pipelines keeps falling as US production ramps up due to fracking and renewables reach cost parity with fossil fuels. The pipeline mayn't even be built but we'll be left with a fracked process to be abused for the next big thing."

More DILBIT

ETA : Eliesen's descriptive quotes re NEB hearings
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Hornets and guns

I used to argue that however unattractive their other attributes, and some of these other attributes are exceedingly unattractive, the conservative libertarian right has an important sentry watchdog role to play in our society that benefits the rest of us - their eyes constantly scanning the distant horizon for any sign of the slightest infringement on what it pleases them to call their rights. 
Lately I've come to realize that to many of them, those precious rights are just gun rights. They really really like their guns. Guns in a good way, guns in a bad way - doesn't much matter - they get really excited about guns either way. 
Liberty minus the guns - not so much. Guns instead of liberty is pretty much ok with them as long as the people taking it away have even bigger guns and don't touch their guns. It's a fetish.

One afternoon on my deck in the sunshine, some neighbours were having a beer and the conversation turned to security vs freedom because we were about to get our first police detachment on the island.
"We don't need police," said one young guy, "if something goes wrong we handle it ourselves. Whoever is best suited to deal with it at the time deals with it."
I nodded.
"Okay," responded another to my nod. "Supposing a really big guy with a really big gun walks into your house and says 'I live here now'  - what are you going to do about it?"
"I'll run out into the street and yell a really big guy has taken over my house," I said.

This is where we are now. Harper walked into our House in the winter of 2005/6 and, with the added twist of assistance from our national police in the middle of an election, he has taken it over. He lives there now and we don't. Somehow we don't run out into the street much over it.

This is also the position the Mideast found itself in after WWI when western powers divided up the Arab world into nation states and installed tyrants beholden to their interests to run them. When people ran out into the streets three decades later to protest it, we crushed them.  We're still doing it and now we're dealing with the blowback..

On Monday, a fucked up Canadian with mental health issues waited around for two hours for his chance to run over two Canadian soldiers with a car, killing Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent.
On Tuesday Canada sent six C-18 Hornets to bomb Iraq.
Yesterday another fucked up Canadian with mental health issues and a long gun shot and killed a Canadian soldier, Corporal Nathan Cirillo, at the war memorial in Ottawa before somehow breaching House security and being shot in turn himself by the sergeant-at-arms. One guy with a gun shot another guy with a gun. 
Are these three events in any way related? We don't know yet but ...

Minus the CBC, whose coverage was mostly admirable, a lot of the media predictably played along with ramping up the terror meme to laughable extremes.   [h/t CC for following media shots]

They're happy now because they will be in charge of managing a magical news cycle combining their love of gun stories with assuring Canadians of the absolute necessity of the further clawing back of our civil liberties. Now is never the time ...

Steve is already talking about cracking down on terror threats and a new act with increased police surveillance powers - powers that will undoubtedly be used on Canadians with :

“grievances – real or perceived – revolving around the promotion of various causes such as animal rights, white supremacy, environmentalism and anti-capitalism.”

Or as the RCMP put it in 2010 when they included First Nations in that grouping :

"grievances based upon notions/expectations regarding the environment, animal rights, First nations' resource-based grievances, gender/racial equality, and distribution of wealth etc."

Harper says Canada will not be intimidated by the actions of this week. Neither should we stand for being intimidated by the actions of the guy who took over our House.

Trapped in a Whirlpool : Now is not the time ...

Disaffected Lib : It's what fascists do.

Politics and its Discontents : Something we should all keep in mind.

Linda McQuaig : Is it too early to ask for a sane conversation about terrorism?
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"Cutting the grass" in Gaza

Updated : Total number of declared civilian casualties via United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of Aug 10, 2014 

With one quarter of the total population of Gaza now *displaced*, Harper, Mulcair, and Trudeau continue to "Stand with Israel", insisting on the right of Israel to defend itself against the people they are illegally occupying.

Great letter via Kev :

Dear NDP : Stop apologizing for war crimes and breaches of human rights
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Harper's Stand With Israel Fundraiser

www.conservative.ca - Donate Now 
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RoboCon Robocalls Bingo!

As lawyers in the RoboCon CREEP showtrial of Michael Sona wrapped up their final summations today - -with both sides agreeing more than one person was behind the Guelph robocall scam and that the testimony of the Crown's *star witness* Conservative Christian Andrew Prescott against his old friend Michael Sona should, according to the prosecution, likely be approached with caution” - - Prescott posted a "Bingo Card" of the type used as a campaign prop. 

So here's mine in response ...

Your Bingo mileage may vary.


Sona didn’t work alone in Guelph robocalls scheme, Crown alleges

CBC - Robocalls: What we learned from Michael Sona's trial

Maher : More than one person involved in robocalls, trial told
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RoboCon Poilievre

"Thank you for your co-operation. Goodnight."

Monster in the Red Chamber

The monster Fair Elections Act, with its "sharper teeth, longer reach, and freer hands", is being fast-tracked to the Senate even before it passes in the House of Commons because Steve is in a huge rush to ram it - and its accompanying muzzling of Elections Canada's investigation into Con election fraud in the last election - through all the hoops in time for the next one in 2015.

If the senators here look fairly relaxed about having a monster in their midst, it's because they already know how this particular story ends. This is the same bunch, after all, who just three months ago voted 51- 30 against having Deloitte partner Michael Runia testify about a phone call he received from his contact Senator Irving Gerstein amid PMO interference in Deloitte's audit into Senator Mike Duffy.

Senator Claude Carignan, Con leader of the Red Chamber of sober second pre-thought, thinks it's "a very good bill" : 

“I don’t think the comments from the experts are appropriate,” he said. 

Some of the urgent changes "have to be adopted at the end of June if we want to have [them] in application for the next election.”

Yesterday Pierre Poilievre, addressed the Conservative senators in a private caucus meeting. CBC reported what the Con senators told them about it afterwards in what they termed an "Exclusive!" :

"Conservative sources in the Senate tell the CBC's Hannah Thibedeau and Rosemary Barton that Pierre Poilievre, minister of state for democratic reform, is open to changing the section of Bill C-23 that would eliminate the practice of vouching at polling stations."

Even if this second hand info is true - Big whoop.

Con Negotiating 101 : 

1. Stick way more than you expect to get passed in a real stinker of a reactionary bill that, in addition to killing off vouching, includes 

• gagging the head of Elections Canada; 
• refusing him the power to compel testimony from suspected fraudsters; 
• stopping EC projects to encourage voting; 
• moving the investigator's office under Peter MacKay; 
• giving national and local party winners of the previous election the right to nominate the returning officers and poll clerks for the next election
• not including fundraising to previous supporters as a campaign expense; and 
• raising campaign donation limits from $1000 to $5000 and $25,000. 

2. Be totally intractable about considering any changes at all - very important step.

3. When all the experts - including your own, international press, and even the editorial board of the Globe and Mail, which has endorsed Harper in every election, thinks the bill should be outright scrapped -

G&M : The Fair Elections Act: Kill this bill and If evidence voted, this bill would die -

it's time to simulate some good faith by giving way on one point to stem the outcry, thereby looking like you have caved a bit to opposition while still getting most of your boatload of backward bs past them.

Thursday Update : Hill Times : 

Mr. Poilievre indicated on Wednesday that reports might have been incorrect to indicate he was open to amendments—at least to replace vouching with a new system for electors without sufficient ID rather than offering no special measures at all.“I’ll let you know in a month when the committee actually reviews its amendments,” Mr. Poilievre told reporters. “And I think the bill’s terrific the way it is ...".

Toon monster in the Senate based on Ghostbusters character.

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Jason Kenney's math mojo

Employment Minister Jason Kenney explained that "none of us know exactly what is going on in the labour market of today" because ... math!!!  
The quest was made even more difficult by ignoring StatsCan's official statistics showing a declining job vacancy rate in favour of using data based on hiring "an outside software program that searches for online job ads" and adds them up.

This data showed the "job vacancy rate has been increasing steadily since 2009" - which, as it happens, turns out to be spectacularly useful for bolstering the Cons' corporate-friendly argument in favour of importing temporary foreign workers.

But why did the wonky Kijiji-based data falsely show an increase in labour shortage in Canada?

Chris Harris, Kijiji’s head of Jobs and Housing, provides a clue. 
He explained : "the job postings on the site are rising in part because the site itself has had major growth in terms of popularity."

Awesome. 
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Update : Good read from Susan Delacourt: Trolling the web for job data, Conservative-style

Shorter : The problem wasn’t fake ID in the 2011 election; the problem was fake phone calls. The same Cons who were outraged at the supposed intrusiveness of the gun registry and long form census have spent the last decade scooping up info on Canadians for their CIMS political database -- yet were strangely unfussed about the data breach of CIMS in the last election.
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Stephen Harper - tilting at windmills

No stats supporting a rise in crime? It's invisible crime! Steve will slay invisible crime for us. Ha!

No stats supporting a rise in anti-Semitism in Canada?  Never mind. Steve set up a special parliamentary committee to slay the invisible rise of anti-Semitism in Canada and give it a whole new definition that might include you.

No stats supporting public outcry against long form census? No problemo. It was an invisible public outcry. Long form census slayed, and bonus! -  cripple StatsCan's budget.

No stats supporting examples of voter fraud? Must be invisible voter fraud then, the kind only Steve and his minions can see. Best cripple Elections Canada investigations just to be on the safe side.

Are you starting to see a pattern here? Tilting at windmills and slaying invisible monsters seems to provide excellent cover for attacking whoever Steve as Donkey Otay perceives as opponents.

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CSEC : Get Your Plouffe On!

CBC : CSEC exoneration a 'mockery of public accountability'

"The CSEC watchdog, headed on a part-time basis by a semi-retired judge, Jean-Pierre Plouffe, concluded:  “No CSEC activity was directed at Canadians or persons in Canada…that would be illegal.” 

Plouffe’s office says its investigation exonerating CSEC consisted almost entirely of talking to CSEC."

Lux ex Umbra : Q: Why did CSEC spy on Canadian wi-fi?  A: It's all good!
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Steve & Bibi : Book burning and honorary degrees

You didn't really think he was going to stop at muzzling scientists and librarians and historians, eliminating their jobs, burning books, and closing down Fisheries research libraries, did you?

CBC :Health Canada library changes leave scientists scrambling

Main Health Canada research library closed, access outsourced to retrieval company

Health Canada scientists are so concerned about losing access to their research library that they're finding workarounds, with one squirrelling away journals and books in his basement for colleagues to consult.

"One group moved its 250 feet of published materials to an employee's basement. When you need a book, you email 'Fred,' and 'Fred' brings the book in with him the next day."

James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers : "Scientifically, we are going to be a third-rate country."

 Tomorrow Stephen Harper will receive an honorary degree from Tel Aviv University :

"Mr. Stephen Harper will receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy for his exemplary conduct as a prominent world leader who promotes freedom, human rights and the rule of law; for his efforts to advance higher education; for his open and fundamental support of the State of Israel both as a private individual and as Prime Minister of Canada, and for his active and brave participation in the struggle against anti-Semitism and other forms of extremism.

“Mr. Harper has served as Prime Minister of Canada since 2006. Since Mr. Harper entered office, his government has promoted strict laws relating to public accountability; reduced personal and company taxation to the lowest level for forty years; introduced reforms in the criminal justice system; and strengthened Canada’s international reputation as a reliable ally in the defense of freedom, democracy and human rights."

Steve, Doctor of Book Burning, will join the company of previous Tel Aviv University honorary doctorate recipients Margaret Thatcher, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Angela Merkel, and Brian Mulroney. 
They give out about a dozen a year.

Wednesday update : Steve's acceptance speech :

"I am extremely flattered by the degree and the reasons for which it was awarded. Let me just say this - that I want to accept it not just on behalf of Laureen and myself but the entire Jewish Canadian community who have in our country - and really for both of our countries - merited this award a million times over."

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DILBIT : NEBBY's Fish 'n Chips!

Northwest Coast Energy News: DFO hands over fisheries protection along pipelines to the NEB.

"The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has handed responsibility for fish and fish habitat along pipeline routes over to the Alberta-based, energy friendly National Energy Board. The same agreement also gives the National Energy Board responsibility for dealing with First Nations fisheries if a pipeline or power line crosses their traditional territory.

As of December 16, 2013,  Enbridge no longer has to apply to DFO for permits to alter fish habitat along the Northern Gateway route." 

From the NEB MOU : 

"... the NEB application assessment process will be relied upon by DFO to the extent possible, to ensure Aboriginal groups are consulted as required, and where appropriate accommodated."

Yesterday the DFO issued a clarification :.

"Fisheries and Oceans Canada has established a collaborative agreement with the National Energy Board that will help eliminate overlap and duplication during regulatory reviews while maintaining a strong regime to manage threats to fish and fish habitat.

The National Energy Board is best placed to deliver regulatory review responsibilities under the Fisheries Act for activities relating to federally regulated energy infrastructure (such as pipelines)." 

This is the same NEB that worked with the RCMP and CSIS to "monitor the risk posed by environmental groups and First Nations" prior to public hearings into Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline project, which the NEB then dutifully approved in December :

"In the unlikely event of a large oil spill ... we found that the adverse effects would not be permanent and widespread."

No mention as yet of Nebby's Fish'nChips shops opening up along the proposed pipeline route.

Previous DILBIT toons
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Toss another book on the fire

Yeah, it's an old toon recycled for Steve's Libricide :

CBC Fifth Estate : Silence of the Labs





I see Steve has also recycled Dimitri Soudas back into play.

I like how Dimitri's new rug really ties the room together.

Ford Family Circus Show

SunNews VP Kory Teneycke explained he canned FordNation after the very first episode because the talking points repeated numerous times throughout the 40 odd minute show that finally made it on air took 5 hours to record and "a day and a half" to edit.

I'm guessing the 4 hours of outtakes were indistinguishable from the good stuff.

But in case you missed it : social elite gravy train ... only human not perfect creating jobs subways ...  saving Toronto billions of dollars ... largest number of votes in Canadian history ...  lowest tax increases in North America ... can't change the past ... best attendance record on council ...moving forward ... subways ...  can't change the past ... average guy fighting for the little guy.

Pretty much a repeat of the same guff Mayors Rob/Doug gave Mansbridge on Monday as well ...

William Wolfe-Wylie at PostMedia : 

Rob Ford lies three times in first minutes of Peter Mansbridge interview

It's time for media to call out lying liars when they hear them lie

"In the first two-and-a-half minutes of his lengthy CBC interview Monday, Rob Ford told three lies. They were uncontested by Peter Mansbridge, and it went downhill from there.

The first lie: “The people elected me with the largest mandate in Canada’s history.”

The second lie: “Having the lowest tax increase of any major city in North America.”

The third lie: “I’ve showed up every day to work for the last 13 years.”

He refutes each of those lies and then goes on to ask the hard questions. 

Does the mayor know Anthony Smith? What was in the packages Lisi dropped into his car so secretively? Does the mayor still have connections with drug dealers? Did he pay the utility bills for a crack house? Did Lisi act on his orders or suggestions when he allegedly sought out the crack video? Do the mayor’s homophobic and racist remarks while under the influence reflect his true opinions?

Rob Ford was not stripped of his powers because of recreational drug use. It was because the mayor has consorted with criminal elements, lied about it, and then refused to speak to police about it on the advice of his lawyer. He was stripped of his power because council realized they can no longer trust him, that they no longer know what influences him and that he refuses to answer questions that desperately need answers.

The whole column is excellent. Thank you, Mr. Wolfe-Wylie.
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"Ford family circus" coined by Cathie from Canada.
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Get Your NSA On, Romulans!

Techdirt: NSA Chief Begs His Public To Help Agency 'Get The Facts Out'

Apparently sitting in the captain's chair on the bridge of the USS Surveillance* has lost its thrill.  

Keith Alexander, the director of the National Security Agency, called Wednesday on the public to help defend his agency's powers as Congress mulls restrictions aimed at protecting privacy. 

He warned that if Congress hampers the NSA's ability to gather information, it could allow for terrorist attacks in the United States similar to last week's massacre in a mall in Nairobi, Kenya. 

"If you take those [surveillance powers] away, think about the last week and what will happen in the future," he said. "If you think it's bad now, wait until you get some of those things that happened in Nairobi." 

Yeah, just you wait. 'Some of those things' like the Boston Marathon bombing or the Navy Yard shooting - things like that. 

Meanwhile here at home, it has now been two weeks since Canadian media declined to make any mention whatsoever of an NSA agreement purporting to share raw data with Israel  - data which 

"includes, but is not limited to, unevaluated and unminimized transcripts, gists, facsimiles, telex, voice and Digital Network Intelligence metadata and content."

So - likely emails and phone calls as well then.

Not to worry though. 

The Israelis were required to “destroy upon recognition” any communication “that is either to or from an official of the US government“. Such communications included those of “officials of the executive branch (including the White House, cabinet departments, and independent agencies), the US House of Representatives and Senate (member and staff) and the US federal court system (including, but not limited to, the supreme court)”.

So that's the important USians taken care of. What about the rest of us?

The doc specifies that US citizens are not to be targeted and that the NSA has agreements with its Five Eyes partners - Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK - to protect information on their citizens and that Israel should respect those privacy agreements when looking through the data.

That must be why our media wasn't fussed enough to mention it.

Get Your NSA On, Star Trek Fantasy Spy Centre

Get Your NSA On, Zombies

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