Yes, why don't we say the Pledge of Allegiance in Canadian schools?

"First we lost saying the Lord's Prayer in school, then the Pledge of Allegiance, and now the singing of O Canada..."
So complained the aunt of a student at the centre of the New Brunswick controversy over a primary school principal reducing the daily O Canada ritual to once a month and special occasions. I watched her say it on CBC National tonight.

Good grief, lady, what the fuck country do you think you're living in?
Canadian students don't stand up every morning and put their hands over their hearts and think up new and amusing ways to riff off "My friends are leeches ... in a bag ... "
New Brunswick is still in Canada, isn't it?

CBC National didn't tag the pledge gaffe in their otherwise sympathetic report into the savaging of Erik Millett, the school principal who tried to balance the conflicting demands of three sets of parents. He decided to change the playing of "O Canada" to once a month during assembly instead of piping it into every classroom every morning, rather than single out the students whose parents objected to the anthem by pulling them out of class. Instead he had the student of the pro-anthem parents lead the school in singing it at assembly once a month.
That was back in 2007 and that should have been the end of it.

Instead Millett has been recently pilloried in the media for "banning the national anthem in school", a number of ill-informed Con MPs denounced him in the House of Commons, and he received death threats from local parents who took sides. Death threats.
After being inundated by emails criticizing the principal's decision, the local school superintendent ordered that the anthem be placed back in daily rotation.

Tonight on CBC Millett tearfully recounted how this McCarthyist witch hunt all began when the Con federal minister he ran against as a Green in the election slagged him about his anthem dilemma in a newspaper article.

Millett's in therapy now and doubts he will return to teaching.

Read that quote at the top again.
Then go and help Liberal Arts and Minds figure out how to stop this kind of dangerous right wing jingoistic nonsense in Canada.
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Afghanistan : Winning hearts, minds, and stomachs

Including stomachs sounds more in line with what Rory Stewart has been arguing for.

The Independent :

"The Obama administration today outlined a new campaign strategy for the war in Afghanistan, scaling back the ambitions of George Bush in a shift which senior officials and diplomats described as a "new realism".

Richard Holbrooke, Barack Obama's new envoy for Afghanistan, General James Jones, the new White House national security adviser, and General David Petraeus, the new commander of the Afghan campaign, all stressed that the US president's policy on the Taliban and al-Qaida would be governed by "attainable goals" matched by "adequate resources".

In the first major foreign policy speech from the new administration, the vice-president, Joe Biden, told a security conference in Munich that the strategic review on Afghanistan under way in Washington would "make sure that our goals are clear and achievable".

Notable by its absence in any of the speeches from the American team was any mention of building democracy in Afghanistan. Instead, the emphasis was on creating sustainable security to try to prevent the Taliban from extending their grip on the country."

Good. I'm resigned to a continuation of US colonialism in Afghanistan with or without a NATO gloss. They can't unshit the bed but if it's not too late they can help change the sheets.

Whose stomachs are involved though?
DFAIT is pleased to boost Canadian companies to get in on the corporate action :

"Canadian companies that had to struggle to get a piece of the U.S. reconstruction of Iraq have been given a chance to avoid that problem in Afghanistan.

The federal public works department has issued a call for construction companies that might be interested in bidding on up to $100 million in upgrades to NATO's main air base in southern Afghanistan.
The United States is footing the bill ...
The work at Kandahar Airfield would involve "improvements to aircraft parking areas, the taxiway and the construction of an ammunition storage depot..."

You telling me there aren't any Afghan construction companies who could benefit from a contract to improve a parking lot?

And will KBR Canada , "with offices in Edmonton and Calgary" qualify?

KBR, formerly Kellogg Brown & Root and owned by Halliburton Co. , has just been awarded a $35 million Pentagon contract despite a $559 million fine for bribery in Nigeria, electrocuting US soldiers due to poor workmanship standards in Iraq, and running shell offices out of Cayman Islands box numbers to avoid paying taxes. Plus the alleged gang rapes and cover-ups among employees.

And reconstruction marches on. Strong stomachs will be required.
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Paul Manly : "You, Me and the SPP"

Paul Manly is probably best known to most of us as the guy who shot the video of CEP union President Dave Coles exposing the 3 rock-toting Quebec police provocateurs at the Montebello protest against the SPP back in Aug. 2007.

His latest film is You, Me and the SPP : Trading Democracy for Corporate Rule.

Cribbing from his own description here :

"a feature length documentary which exposes the corporatist agenda that is currently undermining the democratic authority of the citizens of North America.
Two processes, the Security Prosperity Partnership (SPP) and the Trade Investment Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) are rapidly eroding and eliminating standards, civil liberties, regulatory systems and institutions put in place over generations through the democratic process."

A kick ass preview : The Top Ten Reasons to Oppose the SPP, ten minutes of interviews with Maude Barlow, Dave Coles, Michael Byers, Erin Weir, Gordon Laxer, Connie Fogel, Peter Julian, Ken Georgetti, and more. Clear, concise - an excellent overview.

You, Me and the SPP will be shown at Langara in Vancouver on February 14th and in other cities across Canada as part of the traveling World Community Film Festival [itinerary here].

Or you could buy the CD, or encourage your local library to do so, at his website, Manly Media.

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Film Etiquette : "Giving the finger" now officially less obnoxious than urinating on bystanders

The Ontario Film Review Board has added "giving the finger", seen here being demonstrated in the Canadian House of Commons, to its list of infractions that contribute to a film being reclassified "from a General (G) designation into the Parental Guidance (PG) category".

But wait! Here's the best part. According to the guidelines in the 32-page manual, "the gesture ... is rated the equivalent of an animal humping someone's leg - more obnoxious than "a little bit of farting, belching", but "less obnoxious than a teenager vomiting and his friend urinating onto bystanders".

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Unfortunately I don't have a HoC photo to illustrate that.

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Friday night news dump : ConservaLiberals drop Cadman case

"Prime Minister Stephen Harper yesterday abandoned his $3.5-million libel lawsuit against the Liberal Party over allegations that he knew of Conservative efforts to bribe a dying MP in 2005.
The move was in direct contradiction with Mr. Harper's past vows to take the matter to a total victory in front of a judge.

"The truth is that this will prove to be in court the biggest mistake the leader of the Liberal Party has ever made," Mr. Harper said last March, speaking about Stéphane Dion.

The matter was settled, without an apology or a trial, and with all sides refusing to comment."

~ Globe and Mail, Feb 7, 2009


"Stéphane Dion and Stephen Harper are effectively functioning as leaders of the same political party, under the cover of apparent faked displays of "disagreements" in front of colluding affiliate corporate media organizations. These public displays, are designed to lull rank and file party members, and dupe Canadians into believing otherwise.

This strategy includes the defamation claim media spectacle about Chuck Cadman that was launched by Stephen Harper against Stéphane Dion.
Learned legal experts agree that this litigation claim will never see the light of day in a Canadian courtroom."

~ Yvette Lafleur, Global Research, April 2, 2008.


Well, you certainly called it, Yvette


In September Harper had the case postponed till after the October election.

In October the Cons' own former FBI expert testified the Zytaruk tape was not doctored as Harper had alleged under cross-examination.

In November the lead Conservative lawyer quit the case.

In a joint statement yesterday, the Liberal Party and the Conservatives said the matter was dropped and that no other comments would be made.

Now which of you is going to be the first to apologize to Tom Zytaruk?
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Over 75% of infrastructure funds went to Con ridings last year

"The Opposition party's analysis of the $1 billion dispensed from the Building Canada fund found 21 of 26 projects receiving money are in ridings that elected Consevative MPs, Liberal infrastructure critic Gerard Kennedy said.
Kennedy told the House of Commons during Thursday's question period that it leaves the majority of Canadians living in opposition ridings "massively shortchanged."

Shorter Harper : I don't remember you Libs bringing this up when you helped pass our federal budget by a 211-91 vote two days ago.

Iggy : "I can't help but find I'm an impotent man," Ignatieff told the House. "Can the prime minister assure us that his infrastructure spending will benefit all Canadians, no matter where they live or who they vote for?"

Correction : Actually Iggy said "I'm an impatient man". My bad.
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Update : 14-year-old girl zapped in cell for picking at paint on the wall

continued from here.

Ban stun gun use on young people, Ontario child advocate urges

Ontario Child Advocate Irwin Elman :

"When I saw the tape, we had a young person who was peeling paint off the wall of a police holding cell with her fingernail and she was quiet and on a cot," he said. "And our estimation, the use of a Taser was not proportional to the need to protect, I guess, the paint on the wall."

"We're asking for a moratorium on the use of Tasers on children and youth, certainly in our province, until there's established, full research about their use on children and youth," he said.

Ontario rejects call for banning taser use on minors

Community Safety Minister Rick Bartolucci :

"... police officers should be able to use all the tools in their arsenal when dealing with a dangerous situation.
And he says age should not be a factor in deciding how to deal with an individual.
"That police officer should have all the tools necessary to ensure that he or she chooses a course of action that protects the individual, protects the public and protects the police officer — regardless of age," Mr. Bartolucci said.

Well that's just crap.
The "dangerous situation" is a 14-year-old girl lying on a cot in a police cell.
You're protecting paint here, Rick.
Paint, and the right to use a TASER™ on children for pain compliance.
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Privatizing Hydro-Québec

Hydro-Québec is a crown corporation and the largest producer of hydro-electric power in the world. Worth $130B, its revenue in 2007 was over $12B, of which $2B went as a dividend to Quebec City. It provides Québec with the world's cheapest hydro rates.

The Montreal Economic Institute is a neoliberal think tank devoted to disbanding the wheat board and privatizing water, healthcare, and now apparently Hydro-Québec.


Yesterday the MEI released its report plumping for the privatization of Hydro-Québec.
Author Claude Garcia explained that while privatization would mean higher rates for Quebec consumers, they would gain the advantage of choosing their service provider and could be given shares in the new company. And why not sell power at 9.6 cents per kilowatt-hour to energy-thirsty consumers in Boston or New York, rather than at the current rate of 3 cents charged to Quebec's aluminum smelters?

Here's how that report was dutifully replayed in the media yesterday :

G&M : Report calls for sale of Hydro- Québec
"Hydro-Québec is racked by wretched inefficiency and would be better off to Quebec being privatized according to a new study commissioned by the Montreal Economic Institute."

CTV : Hydro-Quebec would be more effective if privatized, study finds
"A new study suggests Hydro-Quebec is racked by inefficiency and would be more valuable to the province if it were privatized."

CJAD : Sell off Hydro-Quebec, make an extra 10 billion a year. .
Bloomberg : Quebec Should Sell Hydro-Quebec, Globe Says, Citing Study .
Trading Markets : Privatizing Hydro-Québec would give $10 billion more a year to Quebecers .
Montreal Gazette : Our cheap power comes at a price .

OK, help me out here. If selling excess energy to the US is the goal, why not do it while retaining Hydro-Québec as a crown corporation for the longterm benefit of Quebec?
Could someone please explain that to me?
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14-year-old girl zapped in cell for peeling paint off the wall

The father of a 14-year-old mentally challenged girl who was TASER™ed in her jail cell for peeling paint off the wall is suing the Ontario Provincial Police on her behalf.

"Ontario's provincial advocate for children and youth, Irwin Elman, who has reviewed a videotape of the incident and the OPP's internal investigation, said he can't understand why police needed to stun the girl, who was lying on a cot when the two officers entered her cell and allegedly zapped her.

"I can tell you from what I saw there was no harm to herself or to any other person. It's not proportional to use a Taser... . It's a 14-year-old child in a cell, not harming herself or anybody else," said Elman, Ontario's independent children's advocate.

"The lawsuit, filed Jan. 23 at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Kenora, says the officers entered the cell without warning, "violently" pulled the girl to the ground and applied the Taser to her right upper thigh for three to five seconds."

"A doctor who examined the girl in the hours after the incident reportedly observed twin burn marks on her thigh."

"OPP spokesman Insp. Dave Ross said yesterday the force was not contesting that the girl had been Tasered, but that the OPP's professional standards bureau completed an investigation in December 2008 and cleared officers of any wrongdoing.

You're shocked and surprised at the results of the OPP professional standards bureau investigation I'm sure. Did I mention she is First Nations?
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Rory Stewart on Afghanistan

Photo : Women university students in Kabul, 1995

Then : Prior to the CIA-backed civil war in Afghanistan and the Taliban rule beginning in 1996, 50% of the students and 60% of the teachers at Kabul University were women, and 70% of school teachers, 50% of civilian government workers, and 40% of doctors in Kabul were women.

Now : "While the Bush administration boasts that millions of Afghan girls are now going to schools, what US media outlets won't tell you is that schools are still scarce in rural areas, and most schools that do function teach a curriculum limited to Islamic studies, similar to boys' schools during the Taliban era." ~Afghan Women's Mission

A couple of nights ago I watched Afghanistan expert Rory Stewart, the British diplomat to Iraq who walked across Afghanistan immediately following its invasion by the US, on tv on CPAC. He painted a pretty bleak picture.

No link but I took notes. Here is the stat that blew me away :

85% of aid money to Afghanistan goes straight to overhead and profits for private foreign contractors.

Holy shit. 85%. Cue Major General Smedley D. Butler.

Now that the fantasy of turning Afghanistan into a "shining, white city on the hill" has been shattered, he said, the international community would be better off focusing on the few things it does well and then getting the hell out. More troops just reinforces the Afghan sense of being occupied which only adds to Taliban numbers.

Stewart also stressed alarm at what he called Obama's "unrealistic picture of what can be achieved" : " 'We're going to win in Afghanistan.' I don't even know what he means. I don't know what he imagines victory would look like. You can no more win in Afghanistan than you can in the Congo, Chad, Nepal."

"What about women's rights", asked someone from the floor.

"This is what I meant by unrealistic expectations" he answered, warning that Afghanistan is not going to conform to western standards or return to pre-Taliban conditions any time soon - not women's rights, not democratic rights. Such unrealistic targets only lead to disillusionment and more troops, a longer stay.

Nonetheless he does support long term economic aid to projects with practical economic results - roads, electricity, hospitals, schools - and singled out CIDA as providing some of the better examples of reconstruction projects that work.
Stewart's own NGO to hire local Afghans to produce and market traditional handmade goods, Turquoise Mountain, is a CIDA beneficiary.
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