What’s in the news today? Translink cops use tasers on fare evaders, Vancouver Island Cocaine Sailor wants mercy and natives want to riot like Tibetans in case they don’t get enough money before the Olympics.

Is Translink Police, who’s the only armed transit police in Canada, electrocutes fare evaders? The force’s board of directors now has a majority of senior police officers on it, which has been adding to concerns about the force’s use of Tasers on SkyTrain passengers.

The Canadian Press reports that B.C Natives plan to use same strategy as Tibetans in the upcoming Winter Olympic games. Canada’s top native chief says the Vancouver Olympics are a potential target for First Nations protest much like Beijing has been a flashpoint for Tibet supporters.

Vancouver Island cocaine sailor asks for mercy - Court martial continues for former navy officer who used drug off-duty

Vancouver Sun reporter John Mackie says that Developer Marc Williams wants to restore the old Pantages Theatre at 144 East Hastings and this at the cost of $26 million. Up to 136 units of social housing may be built in a new building adjacent to the theatre.

The City of Vancouver OK’s automatic toilets after testing these for one year and 20,800 flushes later, the City’s self-cleaning toilet near the Main Street SkyTrain station has been judged a success worthy of further expansion.

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Next time someone tells you that “Canadians enjoy the highest level of free speech in the world” present him or her with this scenario :

On March 26th 2008, Maclean’s magazine reported that the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) investigators were trolling Canadian neighborhoods for unprotected wireless internet connections, to leech onto. Why do you think Canadian public servants would do such things? So they could post racist comments under assumed names on web sites and then charge the site’s owners with publishing hate speech.

That’s right, you’re not dreaming: the CHRC HACKS INTO CONTROVERSIAL BLOGS using what could be YOUR home wireless connection and YOUR home IP address to post racist comments on websites as if it was YOU posting them and then summons YOU to come in their kangaroo court to testify (to justify yourself) about these racist comment they assume YOU’VE made because your Internet Protocol Address corresponding to your home address was used. What do you think of that?

That’s how an innocent Canadian’s name and address got read aloud— in open court, as evidence in one of the CHRC’s most widely publicized cases. That is how CHRC actions could be a breach to your Privacy rights under the Federal Privacy Act. Ironically, this could be a matter of complaint to the Privacy Commissioner. I would like to see the Privacy Commisioner of Canada investigate the Canadian Human Rights Commision for alleged privacy breaches.

Can you imagine the face of your Kitsilano green activist and left-wing friend accused or suspected of being either a right wing extremist, a racist . All of that because a Human Rights Official stole his or her internet connection and IP address to post hate comments on some website with the goal to create evidences to prosecute that particular web site’s owner … and to make himself some work paid by our taxes.

On March 29th, 2008 Nigel Hannaford of the Calgary Herald wrote an article on the subject. Here is a snippet:

“[…]here the federal snivel servants were, logging onto Internet hate sites under assumed names, trying to conceal what they were up to by using the wireless Internet account belonging to a young woman who seems to be completely uninvolved in any of it and, according to Lemire, trying to entrap people who visited his site.

Only the unusual circumstance of these people being publicly cross-examined brought any of this to light.

Boy, did we ever not quite get it. We thought this was a high-minded disagreement over fundamental principles. Instead, we find the CHRC tolerates sleazy behaviours among its investigating officers that have no place in a free society.” [Calgary Herald]

Johnatan Kay of the National Post said in his column titled The CHRC’s entrapment chickens are coming home to roost (or has someone else already used that metaphor?), “Still, the fact that anyone takes that kind of idea seriously shows how thoroughly the CHRC has poisoned its own well with its over-the-top tactics in going after marginal Canadian hatemongers. This is one of the reasons why the recent Lemire hearings were such a disaster for the CHRC: From now on, every time anyone sees hate speech on the Internet — or some hysterical anti-racist claims to have found a Swastika scribbled on a bathroom wall — people are going to wonder who put it there: Was it a hatemonger, or was it someone whose livelihood is based on convincing others that hatemongers are rampant?” [National Post]

Read also Maclean’s Mark Steyn’s article titled Kangaroo Court in Session

… and more on the crushing of dissent in Canada, from Eric Scheie.

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I remember reading, last year, an article by Mitchell Anderson of the Georgia Straight condemning the Canadian medias for being objective and reporting the pros and the cons of global warming. Mitchell called their actions “journalistic malpractice” because they were publishing what he called “unorthodox views about Global Warming.”

This post shows you through an email exchange between a british global warming activist and the BBC, how Mitchell was wrong and how any global warming activist with no science background can manipulate the press. It also shows that when it comes to global warming the press does not give a damn about scientific facts concerning global cooling when reporting the news. (yes I said global cooling)

This email exchange is about a BBC journalist who reported that the World Meteorological Organization had said the world is going to get cooler this year. He was going to say that the temperatures are going to fall this year and there hasn’t been any change in temperature since 1998. An activist decided to write to him and here’s the exchange of e-mails. It is amazing to see how environmentalists easily manipulate the press.

The first email comes from the environmental activist named Jo Abbess. She writes :

“Challenge anything that seems like it is subject to skepticism. Challenge it. Here’s my goal for the day. BBC actually changed an article that I requested a correction for.”

Jo writes to Roger who is the author of the article on the BBC.

“Dear Roger, would you please correct a piece published today entitled global temperatures to decrease. One, a minority of scientists question whether this means global warming has peaked. That’s the quote from the article that she wants changed. A minority of scientists question whether this means global warming has peaked.”

Jo Abbess does not have any degree in climatology and does not have any scientific credentials giving her authority in climate change but yet she is able to do what a real Nazi like Joseph Goebbels never achieved - Persuade the BBC to change their story.

[Beginning of the full email exchange]

From Jo, April 4, 2008

Climate Changers,

Remember to challenge any piece of media that seems like it’s been subject to spin or scepticism.

Here’s my go for today. The BBC actually changed an article I requested a correction for, but I’m not really sure if the result is that much better.

Judge for yourselves…

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from Jo Abbess
to Roger Harrabin
date Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 10:12 AM
subject Correction Demanded : “Global temperatures ‘to decrease’”

Dear Roger,

Please can you correct your piece published today entitled “Global
temperatures ‘to decrease’” :-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7329799.stm

1. “A minority of scientists question whether this means global
warming has peaked”
This is incorrect. Several networks exist that question whether global
warming has peaked, but they contain very few actual scientists, and
the scientists that they do contain are not climate scientists so have
no expertise in this area.

2. “Global temperatures this year will be lower than in 2007″
You should not mislead people into thinking that the sum total of the
Earth system is going to be cooler in 2008 than 2007. For example, the
ocean systems of temperature do not change in yearly timescales, and
are massive heat sinks that have shown gradual and continual warming.
It is only near-surface air temperatures that will be affected by La
Nina, plus a bit of the lower atmosphere.

Thank you for applying your attention to all the facts and figures available,

jo.

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from Roger Harrabin
to Jo Abbess ,
date Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 10:23 AM
subject RE: Correction Demanded : “Global temperatures ‘to decrease’”

Dear Jo

No correction is needed

If the secy-gen of the WMO tells me that global temperatures will
decrease, that’s what we will report

There are scientists who question whether warming will continue as
projected by IPCC

Best wishes
RH

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from Jo Abbess
to Roger Harrabin ,
date Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 10:37 AM
subject Re: Correction Demanded : “Global temperatures ‘to decrease’”

Hi Roger,

I will forward your comments (unless you object) to some people who
may wish to add to your knowledge.

Would you be willing to publish information that expands on your
original position, and which would give a better, clearer picture of
what is going on ?

Personally, I think it is highly irresponsible to play into the hands
of the sceptics/skeptics who continually promote the idea that “global
warming finished in 1998″, when that is so patently not true.

I have to spend a lot of my time countering their various myths and
non-arguments, saying, no, go look at the Hadley Centre data. Global
Warming is not over. There have been what look like troughs and
plateaus/x before. It didn’t stop then. It’s not stopping now.

It is true that people are debating Climate Sensitivity, how much
exactly the Earth will respond to radiative forcing, but nobody is
seriously refuting that increasing Greenhouse Gases cause increased
global temperatures.

I think it’s counterproductive to even hint that the Earth is cooling
down again, when the sum total of the data tells you the opposite.
Glaringly.

As time goes by, the infant science of climatology improves. The Earth
has never experienced the kind of chemical adjustment in the
atmosphere we see now, so it is hard to tell exactly what will happen
based on historical science.

However, the broad sweep is : added GHG means added warming.

Please do not do a disservice to your readership by leaving the door
open to doubt about that.

jo.

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from Roger Harrabin
to Jo Abbess ,
date Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 10:57 AM
subject RE: Correction Demanded : “Global temperatures ‘to decrease’”

The article makes all these points quite clear

We can’t ignore the fact that sceptics have jumped on the lack of
increase since 1998. It is appearing reguarly now in general media

Best to tackle this - and explain it, which is what we have done

Or people feel like debate is being censored which makes them v
suspicious

Roger

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from Jo Abbess
to Roger Harrabin ,
date Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 11:12 AM
subject Re: Correction Demanded : “Global temperatures ‘to decrease’”

Hi Roger,

When you are on the Tube in London, I expect that occasionally you
glance a headline as sometime turns the page, and you thinkg “Really
?” or “Wow !”

You don’t read the whole article, you just get the headline.

A lot of people will read the first few paragraphs of what you say,
and not read the rest, and (a) Dismiss your writing as it seems you
have been manipulated by the sceptics or (b) Jump on it with glee and
e-mail their mates and say “See ! Global Warming has stopped !”

They only got the headline, which is why it is so utterly essentialy
to give the full picture, or as full as you can in the first few
paragraphs.

The near-Earth surface temperatures may be cooler in 2008 that they
were in 2007, but there is no way that Global Warming has stopped, or
has even gone into reverse. The oceans have been warming consistently,
for example, and we’re not seeing temperatures go into reverse, in
general, anywhere.

Your word “debate”. This is not an issue of “debate”. This is an issue
of emerging truth. I don’t think you should worry about whether people
feel they are countering some kind of conspiracy, or suspicious that
the full extent of the truth is being withheld from them.

Every day more information is added to the stack showing the desperate
plight of the planet.

It would be better if you did not quote the sceptics. Their voice is
heard everywhere, on every channel. They are deliberately obstructing
the emergence of the truth.

I would ask : please reserve the main BBC Online channel for emerging truth.

Otherwise, I would have to conclude that you are insufficiently
educated to be able to know when you have been psychologically
manipulated. And that would make you an unreliable reporter.

I am about to send your comments to others for their contribution,
unless you request I do not. They are likely to want to post your
comments on forums/fora, so please indicate if you do not want this to
happen. You may appear in an unfavourable light because it could be
said that you have had your head turned by the sceptics.

Respectfully,

jo.

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from Roger Harrabin
to Jo Abbess ,
date Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 11:28 AM
subject RE: Correction Demanded : “Global temperatures ‘to decrease’”

Have a look in 10 minutes and tell me you are happier

We have changed headline and more

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ORIGINAL
================

Page last updated at 00:42 GMT, Friday, 4 April 2008 01:42 UK
Global temperatures ‘to decrease’
By Roger Harrabin
BBC News environment analyst

Global temperatures this year will be lower than in 2007 due to the cooling effect of the La Nina current in the Pacific, UN meteorologists have said.

The World Meteorological Organization’s secretary-general, Michel Jarraud, told the BBC it was likely that La Nina would continue into the summer.

This would mean global temperatures have not risen since 1998, prompting some to question climate change theory.

But experts have also forecast a record high temperature within five years.

Rises ’stalled’

La Nina and El Nino are two great natural Pacific currents whose effects are so huge they resonate round the world.

El Nino warms the planet when it happens; La Nina cools it. This year, the Pacific is in the grip of a powerful La Nina.

It has contributed to torrential rains in Australia and to some of the coldest temperatures in memory in snow-bound parts of China.

Mr Jarraud told the BBC that the effect was likely to continue into the summer, depressing temperatures globally by a fraction of a degree.

This would mean that temperatures have not risen globally since 1998 when El Nino warmed the world.

Watching trends

A minority of scientists question whether this means global warming has peaked and argue the Earth has proved more resilient to greenhouse gases than predicted.

But Mr Jarraud insisted this was not the case and noted that 1998 temperatures would still be well above average for the century.

“When you look at climate change you should not look at any particular year,” he said. “You should look at trends over a pretty long period and the trend of temperature globally is still very much indicative of warming.

“La Nina is part of what we call ‘variability’. There has always been and there will always be cooler and warmer years, but what is important for climate change is that the trend is up; the climate on average is warming even if there is a temporary cooling because of La Nina.”

Adam Scaife, lead scientist for Modelling Climate Variability at the Hadley Centre in Exeter, UK, said their best estimate for 2008 was about 0.4C above the 1961-1990 average, and higher than this if you compared it with further back in the 20th Century.

Mr Scaife told the BBC: “What’s happened now is that La Nina has come along and depressed temperatures slightly but these changes are very small compared to the long-term climate change signal, and in a few years time we are confident that the current record temperature of 1998 will be beaten when the La Nina has ended.”

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UPDATED VERSION (note : the page date and time has not changed)
==============================================

Page last updated at 00:42 GMT, Friday, 4 April 2008 01:42 UK

Global temperatures ‘to decrease’
By Roger Harrabin
BBC News environment analyst

Global temperatures will drop slightly this year as a result of the cooling effect of the La Nina current in the Pacific, UN meteorologists have said.

The World Meteorological Organization’s secretary-general, Michel Jarraud, told the BBC it was likely that La Nina would continue into the summer.

This would mean global temperatures have not risen since 1998, prompting some to question climate change theory.

But experts say we are still clearly in a long-term warming trend - and they forecast a new record high temperature within five years.

The WMO points out that the decade from 1998 to 2007 was the warmest on record. Since the beginning of the 20th Century, the global average surface temperature has risen by 0.74C.

While Nasa, the US space agency, cites 2005 as the warmest year, the UK’s Hadley Centre lists it as second to 1998.

Researchers say the uncertainty in the observed value for any particular year is larger than these small temperature differences. What matters, they say, is the long-term upward trend.

Rises ’stalled’

La Nina and El Nino are two great natural Pacific currents whose effects are so huge they resonate round the world.

El Nino warms the planet when it happens; La Nina cools it. This year, the Pacific is in the grip of a powerful La Nina.

It has contributed to torrential rains in Australia and to some of the coldest temperatures in memory in snow-bound parts of China.

Mr Jarraud told the BBC that the effect was likely to continue into the summer, depressing temperatures globally by a fraction of a degree.

This would mean that temperatures have not risen globally since 1998 when El Nino warmed the world.

Watching trends

A minority of scientists question whether this means global warming has peaked and argue the Earth has proved more resilient to greenhouse gases than predicted.

Animation of El Nino and La Nina effects

But Mr Jarraud insisted this was not the case and noted that 2008 temperatures would still be well above average for the century.

“When you look at climate change you should not look at any particular year,” he said. “You should look at trends over a pretty long period and the trend of temperature globally is still very much indicative of warming.

“La Nina is part of what we call ‘variability’. There has always been and there will always be cooler and warmer years, but what is important for climate change is that the trend is up; the climate on average is warming even if there is a temporary cooling because of La Nina.”

China suffered from heavy snow in January

Adam Scaife, lead scientist for Modelling Climate Variability at the Hadley Centre in Exeter, UK, said their best estimate for 2008 was about 0.4C above the 1961-1990 average, and higher than this if you compared it with further back in the 20th Century.

Mr Scaife told the BBC: “What’s happened now is that La Nina has come along and depressed temperatures slightly but these changes are very small compared to the long-term climate change signal, and in a few years time we are confident that the current record temperature of 1998 will be beaten when the La Nina has ended.”

[End of email reporting on Jo’s activities]

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Here is an interesting post about the commission investigator that is in charge of the Steyn/Maclean’s case. It turns out she’s a disgraced cop. While being a cop, she was having sex with a serial criminal that was under investigation by the Police force she was working for. Now she’s investigating a major publication on a so called “human rights” issue.

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Posted by: Frederic Desjardins

Whether it is through the residents of a town who disagree with city officials or a group of citizens who feel abandoned by the traditional media or even the initiative of a Dutch elected official who wants to share his views, freedom of expression is a topic that resurfaces regularly on the mainstream media and the internet.

This is a fascinating question and, overall, a very interesting one for those who are involved in Civil Liberties on the internet. Because on the internet, international laws, national laws, good taste and censorship seem to coexist in harmony. However this harmony can be hard to achieve for those who want to promote a message that is outside the themes usually heard on mainstream media.

A Controversial initiative
One of the best examples these days, is the attempt of a right wing Member of the Dutch Parliament Geert Wilders to broadcast a 15 minute video. Wilders is known for his numerous anti-islam theses. The Dutch Government immediately dissociated itself from the Wilders initiative attempting to broadcast the video criticizing Islam and its sacred book the Koran.

After the Dutch National TV’s refusal to broadcast the documentary, Wilders decided to publish it on the internet. The problem is, in Holland, people are tolerant and are used to these types of discussions, but by promising to broadcast on the internet, Wilders exposes himself to the laws of all the countries and all interest groups in the world.

Of course his film will not be the first of this type to be broadcast on the net. We can already see numerous videos expressing anti-islam views on video portals. One of them is the video of Theo Van Gogh titled “Submission”, which covers violence made against muslim women. The movie abetted a muslim fanatic to murder Theo Van Gogh.

Afraid of being the victims of some islamic fatwa. Web Hosting providers such as Network Solutions, who first accepted to host the official video site Fitnathemovie.com, changed their minds and refused to host the Wilders video.

To explain its decision Network Solutions said that its terms of usage forbids hate propaganda and defamation. They also stated that the Web Hosting Service is commited to respect international and local legislations.

So even if the Dutch are a tolerant people and accept all online documents that serve the purpose of discussion, when another country or government finds the same document offensive, Network Solutions has the right, according to its terms of use, to remove the document and transfer all the legal costs to the web site editor who might have contravened some foreign national laws.

Network Solutions would probably not host websites or blogs describing what is happening in Tibet because it might be against Chinese laws or those criticizing Birmany to avoid displeasing the local administration.

That situation could convince web site editors to choose a local web host instead of Network Solutions. But the local Web Host could also take into account foreign laws, because the web sites of its clients would be accessible in other countries as well, where other laws could be in effect. This situation could be remedied if the web host used a controversial filtering service to prevent the viewers residing in those countries to access specific sites that might be offensive, by fear of lawsuits, just as Google has done in China.

Now, let’s see if the Wilders’ Documentary will be on the web next Sunday or Tuesday.

See also a related post about the muslims student who filed a complaint against Maclean’s Magazine

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Elizabeth Evans May, the current leader of the Green Party of Canada and also an advisor of the Greenpeace ship, Sea Shepherd, announced today, that she sent a letter to Captain Paul Watson of Greenpeace telling him that she resigns from her position as advisor of the Sea Shepherd ship due to his controversial comments about the seal hunters. Watson meant that their lives were not as important as those of seals. french language source [La Presse]

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People who know me and my views keep asking me why I did not more upset about the Muslims students who filed rights complaints 3 months ago, over a Maclean’s article published on October last year. I have to keep reminding them: It’s just an article. Getting mad about people getting mad about a magazine article is just as asinine as getting mad in the first place. You don’t need a PHD in political science or to be a historian to know that things have been bad between the Muslim world and the Western world for a long time. This was just a symptom.

I did enjoy the tasteful way on how Rex Murphy depicted the story on January 3, 2008 - like the Human Rights Commission officials were out of their minds.

Here is a snippet:

What I do not associate with this deep and noble concept is getting ticked off by something you read in a magazine - or for that matter hear on television - and then scampering off to a handful - well, three - of Canada’s proliferate human rights commissions - seeking to score off the magazine: this is what four Osgoode Hall law students and graduates — a very definition of the ‘marginalized’ — under the banner of the Canadian Islamic Congress have done after reading an excerpt from Mark Steyn’s America Alone in Maclean’s. The complainants read the article as “flagrantly islamophobic”. [CBC]

I guess I feel bad for the complainants, just because after a while they are going to feel so stupid. “Yes, I was one those who filed a (silly) complaint against MacLean’s Magazine in 2007″

The Arab “street” is like that. They’re always damn mad about something. Maybe they don’t need democracy. Maybe they need their own 20 minutes editorial on Sex TV (prime time). That way they could still moan and bitch about crap that doesn’t matter, but at least it would be broken up by previews of interviews with strung out porn stars and ads for phone sex giving me at least one reason to look at it. It would also be an excellent way to save taxpayers money that is currently used to investigate, frivolous complaints.

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If anyone knows that hiding vehicle accident records is an offence, it’s BC auto dealers. But the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act concerning this offence that applies to auto dealers does not apply to ICBC who is systematically hiding car accident records and selling them at auction to the public at their Burnaby “Research” Centre. The few cars in good condition are kept for staff and management who get the first bid at auction.

That’s right, ICBC employees and unethical managers were able to get their pick of rebuilt vehicles sold by the company by subverting the auction bidding process.

Acting B.C Solicitor General, John Van Dongen, who’s replacing is colleague, John Les, who had to resign suddenly when it was found out that he’s under a criminal investigation, admitted that the re-sale scandal has shaken public confidence in the Crown corporation.  Yeah! Mr. Van Dongen, your office too has shaken public confidence lately ….

ICBC is exempted from the requirement to be registered under the Motor Dealer Act,” said investigations manager Denis Savidan. “That’s in legislation.”
Although ICBC sells thousands of wrecks for scrap and rebuilds some wrecks for eventual sale to the public, the Crown corporation is not bound by the laws that govern car dealers in B.C.”
An ICBC employee would ensure that employees could place the final bid, spokesman Doug Henderson said.
“The employees were able to put in the final bid plus $100 on certain vehicles,” he explained.

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FORMULA One motor racing boss Max Mosley is exposed as a secret sado-masochist sex pervert.

“The multi-millionaire son of Sir Oswald, who was a pal of Adolf Hitler, plays a concentration camp commandant in a FIVE-HOUR torture chamber video.??Mosley—the most powerful man in motor-racing—barks orders in German as he WHIPS two hookers dressed in striped uniforms reminiscent of AUSCHWITZ garb while girls in Nazi uniforms look on.” [National Post]

Technorati Tags: scandal

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