Chalk Up Another One For Orwell

Or, to update the metaphor, computers being destroyed by the govenment:

The message is clear: citizens do not have the right to material that would allow them to decide for themselves whether the overarching and illegal domestic spying being carried out by western 'democracies' is justified.

Following revelations of the baseless detainment of Glenn Greenwald's partner at Heathrow Airport on Sunday for nine hours, along with the confiscation of his computer equipment, we are now learning that Britains's GCHQ raided the offices of The Guardian to destroy computers containing data leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian, said “shadowy Whitehall figures” had ordered the destruction after his paper refused to hand over files on American mass surveillance programmes sent to it by Mr Snowden.

Mr Rusbridger said the computers were turned into “mangled bits of metal” after the incident and warned that the “pointless” vandalism represented part of an increasingly “formidable” effort to curb freedom of the press.

Both the detention of Miranda and the destruction of the computers are clearly intimidation tactics, the message of which is clear: You are nothing, you are powerless before the state, you continue to exist only at our sufferance.

Hyperbole? An overreaction on my part? Would it were so.

Click here to read the reaction of Guardian Editor Alan Rusbridger to this bald flexing of state power.

As well, Glenn Greenwald's reaction to the state's mistreatment of his partner is one of defiance and contempt:

Even the Mafia had ethical rules against targeting the family members of people they felt threatened by. But the UK puppets and their owners in the US national security state obviously are unconstrained by even those minimal scruples.

If the UK and US governments believe that tactics like this are going to deter or intimidate us in any way from continuing to report aggressively on what these documents reveal, they are beyond deluded. If anything, it will have only the opposite effect: to embolden us even further. Beyond that, every time the US and UK governments show their true character to the world - when they prevent the Bolivian President's plane from flying safely home, when they threaten journalists with prosecution, when they engage in behavior like what they did today - all they do is helpfully underscore why it's so dangerous to allow them to exercise vast, unchecked spying power in the dark.

You can read Greenwald's entire piece here.

Not Again!

I just got back into town and heard the news. I have a simple message for our gutless 'Prime Minister':

We Now Pause For This Announcement

I'm out of town today, so let me offer you this inspirational graphic that I 'borrowed' from Richard at Cowichan Conversations.

Freedoms? What Freedoms?

For anyone still under the illusion that our rights and freedoms are sacred trusts protected by our democracies, you might want to read this little item, the beginning of what I suspect will be a very long period of payback for Glenn Greenwald's act of bringing Edward Snowden's inconvenient truths to the world's attention.

H/t Min Reyes

UPDATED: Some Sunday Recreation

Think I'll go out on my bicycle this morning. In the meantime, enjoy these letters on the Senate imbroglio found in yesterday's Star:

Machiavelli wrote: “Those who governed the state of Florence . . . used to say it was necessary to reconstitute the government every five years . . . otherwise it was difficult to maintain it.”

What brings down all holders of significant public office in the end is hubris. There is no escape, no way out, whether in an oligarchy or a democracy. Once they are sucked into the maelstrom embrace of the “government machine,” they are inevitably cut off from the real world with the result being hubris ending in a wretched fall from grace.

Monte McMurchy, Toronto

If I were to rob a bank and then get caught, I would be charged and sent to jail, even if I said I would give back the money. So why are politicians not treated the same way when they steal money from the taxpayers? Anyone caught using public funds for their own benefit should receive an automatic jail sentence and forfeit their pension. Implement this rule and anyone in public office would think twice before sliding their hand into our pocket.

Dave Watson, Pickering

Two things consistently strike me about this Senate scandal:
1. Is it not very telling that it is so difficult to specifically define “Senate business” for the purpose of making expense claims?
2. Is it also not very telling that the principal reason for retaining the Senate repeatedly given by many observers is the fact that it would be so difficult constitutionally to abolish it?

Hmmm. We can’t really say what we do, but it might be a pain to get rid of us, so we better keep going. Hardly a ringing endorsement.

Michael Farrell, Oakville

Senator Wallin seems to have the same syndrome as Conrad Black, Bill Clinton, Sheila Copps, Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau, Mac Harb and Martha Stewart, etc. She simply will not admit that she ever did anything wrong. Strength and self confidence based on noble principles is one thing, but stubborness. arrogance, and frothing and grunting at the public trough is something else.

Douglas Cornish. Ottawa

And the best for last:

Every time a peace tower bell rings Pamela Wallin gets her wings to fly anywhere at the public’s expense. Oh it’s a wonderful life!

Terry Toll, Campbell’s Bay, Que.

UPDATE: For those who can't get enough of the shenanigans transpiring in our chamber of sober second thought, Bruce Anderson offers an interesting perspective in The Globe.

A Saturday Night Special: On Friday Night News Dumps, Lamar Alexander's Shirts, And Other Weighty Matters

I love Rachel Maddow. Some of the reasons for my ardour are on display in the following video from her show. Enjoy.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

UPDATED: The Dishonourable Minister of Duplicity

Yesterday I write a brief post expressing my disdain for the fact that Peter MacKay and his family are on the cover of the 'celebrity' magazine Hello! Canada. That disdain springs not only from his incompetent and dishonest performance on more than one occasion as a long-standing cabinet minister in the Harper government, but also from the fact that were it not for MacKays patent lack of integrity, the Conservative Party of Canada would not exist today.

Serendipitously, I came upon a podcast hosted by Global Research marking the ten years that have elapsed since Peter MacKay's betrayal led to end of the Progressive Conservative Party and the birth of the Harper mutation known as the Conservative Party of Canada. The rest, as they say, is history, albeit a sad one for many of us who care about this country.

An introduction to the podcast, written by Marjaleena Repo and Michael Welch, reminds us of some of the sordid history behind the incarnation of today's party:

David Orchard contested the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party back in 2003. Orchard relied on the support of grass-roots people, myself among them, who were opposed to government policies on free trade, environmental neglect, and Canadian support for imperial wars abroad. [7]

It was through Orchard’s support that Peter Mackay became leader of the party. Mackay then betrayed the condition of Orchard’s support by orchestrating a merger with the right-wing US-Republican style Canadian Alliance Party, which was then led by Stephen Harper. [8]

This betrayal, in addition to some of the other shenanigans which played out in the months during the leadership campaign and leading up to the vote to merge the parties in December provides a critical context for assessing this party’s commitment to ethics, responsible conduct and fair play.

An example of the shenanigans?

“They would do all kinds of things…Organizing meetings that didn’t happen or people would go to a delegate selection meeting and the address was a pawn shop in Regina so people stood at the street corner waiting for something and nobody came…There was a kind of planned confusion…by people who really wanted us to stay out, and I think these people were people who wanted the party to be taken over.” Orchard campaign manager and political advisor Marjaleena Repo

While dirty politics is hardly something MacKay invented, I feel a special animus toward him due to the long-term effects of his dishonourable behaviour.

You can listen to or download the podcast here.

UPDATE: I see that MacKay, the new Minister of Justice, is continuing his duplicity. In reference to American justice trends during an interview, he insists that Canada is moving in a very progressive way, despite the evidence that proves otherwise, evidence that MacKay dismisses as “partisan rhetoric”:

“They’re [the U.S.]talking about moving away from very harsh sentences that were handed down for, in some cases, simple possession. That we’ve already done, [This bold lie ignores the fact that growing six pot plants now requires a minimum six month sentence under Harper reforms] but there will remain very severe penalties in the U.S., in fact more severe than in Canada, for trafficking in narcotics and that is an area in which our government feels very strongly.”

Despite cuts to prisoner work programs and new rules that make it harder for ex-convicts to obtain pardons, MacKay maintains Canada’s approach is “balanced” and “doesn’t lose sight of the need to rehabilitate.”

To read the full extent of Peter's prevarications, click here.