Mercenaries Now Subject To US Military Law

Do not be misled by the headline, this is about Mercenaries; private armies, not about Haliburton and Bechtel. And now that the damage is done the military finally applies the Military Code of Justice to these creeps. And the media still calls them contractors, deliberately confusing the public about the fact that these guys are privatized military and security forces made up of ex military and CIA personnel. Iraq is the model of the new market state, complete with privatized armies.

"A state that privatizes most of its functions will inevitably defend itself by employing its own people as mercenaries-with equally profound strategic consequences. " Phillip Bobbit

Accountability for Military Contractors Since the start of the Iraq war, military contractors have operated in Iraq without legal status or accountability. However, according to Brookings scholar Peter W. Singer, this may all change with a tiny section in recently passed legislation. "With the addition of just five words in the law...contractors' 'get out of jail free' cards may have been torn to shreds."

The UCMJ Change and its Applicability to Private Military Contractors

Over the last few years, tales of private military contractors run amuck in Iraq — from the CACI interrogators at Abu Ghraib to the Aegis company's Elvis-themed internet "trophy video" — have continually popped up in the headlines.

Unfortunately, when it came to actually doing something about these episodes of Outsourcing Gone Wild, Hollywood took more action than Washington. The TV series Law and Order punished fictional contractor crimes, while our courts ignored the actual ones. Leonardo Dicaprio acted in a movie featuring the private military industry, while our government enacted no actual policy on it. But those carefree days of military contractors romping across the hills and dales of the Iraqi countryside, without legal status or accountability, may be over.

Getting tattled on to the boss is certainly fine for some incidents. But, clearly, it's not how one deals with suspected crimes. And it's nowhere near the proper response to the amazing, awful stories that have made the headlines (the most recent being the contractors who sprung a former Iraqi government minister, imprisoned on corruption charges, from a Green Zone jail).

See:

Iraq

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Clear Eyed View of the Quebec New Right

An excellent piece From the Mind of a Netjin on the new right in Quebec and it's links to Von Mises liberal-tarianism.

Of course we have seen this movie before. The Harpocrites, including the Harper himself and Ambrose, Solberg, Kenney, Anders, etc. et. al, ad nauseum, claim to be libertarians.

And how quickly they abandon that pretext once in power. As the new right in Quebec will abandon their libertarian pretext, to set about slashing social programs paid for by the working class, and becoming the new business state.

Quebec's "Clear-Eyeds" Hit The Big Screen

Centred around Mario Dumont, Lucien Bouchard, the Action Democratique du Quebec, the Manifesto for a Clear-eyed Vision of Quebec and Quebec City shock radio CHOI FM and its slogan "Liberty, I shout your name", Quebec's young and dynamic right is attempting to kick start a new Quiet Revolution, but this time they want a libertarian one. This still minority but rapidly growing movement doesn't rally around independence from Canada, they rally around independence from the state. More precisely, the social democratic state as it exists in Quebec, the Quebec model as it is termed.

The reason I'm mentioning this is because the left in Canada often considers Quebec the progressive bastion, but this could change. In the future, we might not hear "Vive le Quebec libre !" so much, but more "Vive le Quebec libertaire !"

I too have blogged on this move to the right by ADM and Bouchard et. al, declaring the Quebec working class lazy and unproductive, which is just another way of saying we are going to tighten our belts around your necks.

As for the left considering Quebec the bastion of social democracy, and that it is secure, this is a valid criticism, though misguided. If the Left in Quebec views the right as unimportant it is because of their relative political positions. Dumont's Reform Party in Quebec Drag appeals to certain classes of people, whose power base in Quebec while 'respectable' is overwhelmend by the left state they live in. And like the right in Quebec their origins were in the Social Credit Party.

However the Left's preoccupation with pushing the PQ, BQ and nationalists to the left, does mean they ignore the new right at their peril.

For instances the longest most continous and successful assault on unionization, the right to work (sic) movement is strongest in Quebec and linked to that provinces faux libertarian movement.

And then there is the so called 'libertarian' radio host who is now an independent Quebec MP in the house of commons; André Arthur, and true to form he is ignoring the state while collecting his Parliamentary salary. Arthur told reporters Monday night that he has no intention of muting his style in Ottawa. Ha, ha, oh please stop it.

His silence in the house since his election last year has been deafening. But as I said once these faux libertarians get into power they drop all pretences and become the same old right wing mouthpieces for their special interests.

Mr. Arthur is a federalist and leans to the right in his views. Since taking the job, he has supported the government's budget, its approach to the Kyoto Accord and its decision to renew Canada's commitment to the war in Afghanistan for two more years. "I must say that I'm quite impressed with the kind of government they've given Canada for the last months," he told the Hill Times. "Here's a guy, Harper, who does what he says and says what he does. That's a long time in Canada since we've seen that. It's marvellously refreshing. It gives confidence to voters."

You would be forgiven forgetting that there are actually two independent MP's in the house, since it appears there is only one real outspoken libertarian MP and that is Garth Turner.

See:

Duh Oh

Quebec BQ vs Conservatives

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CIBC Says Opp's

Do you think the CIBC will lower service charges for having screwed up, of fire anyone? Nah....

For the second time in three years, the ability of the CIBC (TSX:CM) to protect confidential data has come under scrutiny after a computer file containing information on up to 470,000 Talvest Mutual Funds clients was lost in transit between offices. In 2004, it was disclosed that the bank had for three years been inadvertently sending faxes containing confidential information to scrap yards in West Virginia and suburban Montreal.

And CIBC is not the only one who has breeched your right to privacy.

As for the credit card information at HomeSense and Winners, senior representatives from the Canadian banks held a conference call with major Canadian card issuers, VISA and Mastercard, to discuss damage control Thursday.

A senior banking executive confirmed information has already been used for fraudulent activity and the banks had received thousands of calls about the compromised credit card information.

TJX Co. Inc., based in Framingham, Mass., said they became aware in mid-December of a security breach during which the credit and sales transaction information of "significantly less than millions of holders" was removed from company databases.

The company said computers that handle customer interactions and store information, including credit card numbers, were illegally accessed at several store locations in December. Stores belonging to the TJX chain also accept American Express and Discover credit cards.

The compromised information was from transactions that took place in 2003 and during the period between mid-May and December 2006.

The problem is of course that privacy laws in Canada are a paper tiger.

Regardless of any potential amendments which may be made to PIPEDA in the near future, businesses should, in order to avoid privacy liability under PIPEDA: obtain legal advice in the event that they suffer security breaches (or "involuntary disclosures" of personal information under their control) prior to deciding whether or not they should be notifying the individuals whose information is at stake, credit agencies and other entities such as relevant government agencies or banks of the security breach;

And you can be in charge when a criminal breech of privacy occurs and just go on your merry way complete with payout package....

CRA commissioner resigns in wake of reports of privacy breaches

The head of the Canada Revenue Agency has told his staff he intends to resign his post in April.

"I have come to a stage in my personal and professional life where it is wise to reflect on what I have accomplished," agency commissioner Michel Dorais writes in an internal e-mail dated Jan. 12.

"It has become clear that the time is now ripe for me and my family to take on a new direction, outside of the federal government."

Dorais's resignation follows several media reports that detailed privacy abuses at the agency, including the leak of Liberal MP Ken Dryden's personal tax information and confidential tax information mistakenly mailed out to the wrong recipients.

CRA employees who are found guilty of disclosing confidential tax information - a violation of the Income Tax Act - face fines of up to $5,000 or jail time of up to 12 months. Under the Criminal Code of Canada, breach of trust by a public officer is punishable by a maximum prison sentence of five years.

See:

Nice Job If You Can Get It

Criminal Capitalism

CEO's

CIBC

Banks

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Little Mosque Bombs

As I predicted once you lost the audience outside of GTA....

the ratings for Little Mosque on the Prairie have dropped from 2.1 million viewers for the first episosde down to 1.2 million for episode 2.

And CBC has six more shows in the can...it can only decline further, it just is not funny.

It now has the same amount of viewers as Corner Gas, which is also about Saskatchewan and actually made in Saskatchewan, unlike LMOTP, which is made in a Toronto back lot.

The producers continue to show a lack of prairie understanding, for instance making goat curry jokes when everyone out here knows that we favour lamb curry, being that lamb is plentiful out West. Including the hallal lamb that I get from my local butchershop.

And last time I checked the Prairies included Alberta.

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TV

CBC


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A Sad Story

This is a sad story....in more ways than one....a dumb idea for an attack blog ends up struck dumb by lack of support.....

Courtesy Big Blue Wave....

Friday, January 12, 2007

New Blog: Stop the Greens!

In my search for blogs to add to Opinions Canada, I happened upon this one, Stop the Greens!, a blog devoted to trashing the Green Party of Canada.

I'm not really for or against the Greens. I figure they will split the vote on the left anyway. I'm just bemused by the concept of a blog devoted exclusively to making another party look bad.

I just thought I'd offer that up to the blogging community. Maybe someone will find it useful or interesting.

UPDATE: Looks like Alex is giving up. He says he's not getting enough support.

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Blogs




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TANSTAAFL Except in Alberta

There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

-TANSTAAFL - except in Alberta....

The King has left the building.....

Here is a lesson in Ralphonomics, gone but not forgotten. Business as usual in the Kingdom of Alberta.

Alberta government departments spent nearly $1 million on catering and coffee service in the year ending March, 2006, according to the “blue book” which records grants, supplies and services.

Betting is big business in Alberta, it funds the province and is in turn funded by taxpayers. In last springs budget Horse-racing in Alberta got a $45 million horse racing subsidy

It is after all the sport of Kings and Ralph considered it one of his favorite sports, being the gambler he was.

The heads of Horse Racing Alberta make more money than the premier - and they're being paid with taxpayer's dollars, claim the Alberta Liberals.

And this is really rich....literally....now imagine if the Federal Liberals or Conservatives did this, why the outrage in Ottawa. Oh yeah, there they have an opposition that can bring down the government, here we have a One Party State.

20-year oversight
Alberta Grits demand action after finding Tories haven't filed financial reports since '87
Alberta Grits are demanding an overhaul of the province's election finances disclosure law after Elections Alberta revealed the Tories haven't filed required financial reports for nearly two decades.

The situation involves a secret "foundation fund" the party was allowed to keep after the financial disclosure law was passed in 1978, provided it filed annual reports on transfers from it.

Deputy Electoral Officer Bill Sage told the Sun he failed to notice that the statements stopped coming.

"I was responsible for it. I was the director of financial operations at the time. It was something that escaped me and I didn't realize it until just recently."

Yeah it was supposed to happen twenty years ago....I wonder whose son this guy is that he can blythely say he was responsbile for the oversight , after he was told by the reporter looking into this, and forget to tender his resignation.....wait sorry this is Alberta not Ottawa.

Finally the ultimate lobbyist gets the ultimate lobbyist job, move over Rod Love here comes Ralph.....

Ralph hooks up with 'straight-talkers'
Less than a week after leaving provincial politics, former Alberta premier Ralph Klein has joined a top law firm to advise clients on business opportunities in the booming province.

Too late though comes this announcement after the horse has left the barn....

Stelmach promises registry for lobbyists





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Alberta

PC

Klein

Stelmach



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Blowing in the Wind

So is there a need for more federal corporate welfare for utility companies to go green, I think not.

TransAlta gets 25-year wind power purchase deal
Canada's top publicly-traded electricity generator, said on Friday it has been awarded a 25-year power purchase agreement to provide 75-megawatts of wind power to New Brunswick Power Distribution and Customer Service Corp. With the addition of Kent Hills, TransAlta will operate approximately 260 megawatts of wind-generated power in Canada. TransAlta said it has tripled its wind business since acquiring Vision Quest Windelectric in 2002.

No need for folks to pity poor Jim Dinning for not getting coronated as CEO of Alberta he still has TransAlta to play with.

See

Environment

Hydro



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Free Speech Works

See no need for the Israel Lobby to throw a hissy fit, free speech and debate should not be opposed with threats and name calling, because it is about a controversial issue.

Anti-Israel motion defeated by Ontario teachers union local
CBC Toronto

Union rejects boycott of Israel Globe and Mail

However do notice the influence of the Lobby on the CBC headline versus the Globe and Mail headline which actually says what the motion was about.

See:

Israel

Zionism


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Corporate America Greener Than Harper

The whole focus of the Harpocrites attack on Kyoto, even under the new Environment Minister, has been on how useless carbon credit trading is......

Ten major US corporations, including industry giants General Electric, DuPont and Alcoa, have joined forces with leading environmental groups to call for a slash in carbon-dioxide emissions of 10-to-30 per cent over the next 15 years. The New York Times says introduction of the group is aimed at bolstering the recent impetus for Congressional action on emissions controls and creation of a market “in which allowances to emit carbon dioxide could be traded in a way that achieves the greatest reduction at the lowest cost.”

See

Environment

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Star Wars The Next Installment

This will provoke another round of debate on the need for Ballistic Missle Defense and Canada's involvement with the infamous and ineffectual US Missle Defense System. Of course the Chinese took a page from North Korea when they saw how effective the U.S. was in countering it's nuclear tests.

Chinese missile destroys satellite
Telegraph.co.uk - 11 hours ago
By Toby Harnden and Alex Massie in Washington. The prospect of "Star Wars" between China and the West loomed last night after Beijing used a ballistic missile to destroy a satellite in space.

The U.S. has a policy of weaponizing space, and now China is obviously joining the club. We need to end the weaponization of space, period.

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BMD

North Korea

China


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