When Stuff Sucks, and Stuff Like That.

How crazy is our world today? Three pieces show it in need of heavy anti-psychotic drugs if the media is any gauge. Canadian tax-payers shell out good money for the crap included below, which we feel should see the light of the Internet just so there's a clear record for our Muslim grandchildren. Well, if there were grandchildren to have a free country and an Internet they could use; and if we had grandchildren. "That sucks."

First, hippie idiots celebrate smashing property and fighting with the police in a Canadian backwater " and stuff like that." In another, Manitoba, a university professor goes on about airline security being a Canadian apeing of American paranoia, "and stuff like that. " And to go to a total backwater for the last piece of news, we dip into the Guardian. Yup, Sarkosky lost the election, " and stuff like that." The Guardian writer took time out from writing sports stories for a paper in Mexico City to cobble together this piece but he means well, " and stuff like that."

There's us and there's them. "That sucks."

We sit in the atrium of the Vancouver Public Library each Thursday evening from 7-9:00. We don't riot. Maybe we should. Taking it from an expert in social change, "If it was just a peaceful protest and nothing much happened, there wouldn't be that much coverage."

Well, anyway, we sit and have coffee and talk. So who you gonna call? Us or your public defender? "And stuff like that. "
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JEFFREY SIMPSON, "Police lay 70 charges 19 protesters to remain in jail until Monday following melee.

Several hundred people gathered at Victoria Park on Friday afternoon ... where a conference on Atlantica, a proposal to establish a freer trade zone between Eastern Canada and New England, was held last week. Police have laid 70 charges against 21 people who were arrested in Halifax on Friday during a protest against reducing trade restrictions between Eastern Canada and the United States.[One group] ignited some smoke bombs, threw paint-filled balloons and light bulbs at a police car and headed to Spring Garden Road, where they pelted a branch of TD Canada Trust with rocks and paint.

[H]alifax Regional Police... charged ... a group of about 60 black-clad protesters who donned disguises, broken away from a larger, peaceful demonstration and roamed the streets with their minds set on wreaking havoc. [B]ased on the equipment that they brought and [their] actions ...they had every intent of causing damage, committing criminal acts and forcing police to take action.... 12 men and nine women fac[e] charges includ[ing] ... resisting arrest, ... assault, assaulting police and weapons offences. [19] were being held until Monday over concerns that the violence could continue if they were released.... Ten of those being held were refusing to identify themselves....

David Bush, an organizer with the Anti-Atlantica Alliance, said he wasn't happy that protesters were arrested and charged.

"That sucks," Mr. Bush said in an interview. "They sort of cracked down on dissent. Instead of focusing on the issues, we now have to deal with court and stuff like that."

The police were heavy-handed in responding to protesters who threw paintballs at a TD Bank on Spring Garden Road, he said.

"It was not directed toward people, and the police went a bit wild and just cracked down on that group," he said. "I don't think anyone's particularly happy with the outcome."

Mr. Bush said he wasn't about to condemn the aggressive tactics of some of his fellow protesters.

"We can't do anything about that, nor should we," he said. "That's democracy, like it or lump it. We don't tell people how to dissent or protest."

But the violence in downtown Halifax was successful in bringing sought-after publicity to the protesters' cause, he said.

"Some people recognize that and so pursue those tactics," he said. "If it was just a peaceful protest and nothing much happened, there wouldn't be that much coverage."

Mr. Bush is worried Atlantica will threaten collective agreements between unions and their employers, as well as resulting in a lower minimum wage and hurting the environment.

Protesters were planning to gather Saturday at noon in Victoria Park but called it off due to bad weather. Some were possibly going to go to the lockup in Dartmouth where they believed some of those arrested Friday were being held for the weekend, Mr. Bush said.

Pierre Blais of the Anti-Capitalist Coalition said he was happy the protest effort attracted several hundred people and that they employed a variety of tactics, including bike rides, pickets and violence.

"We're pretty excited about what happened," he said. "It was a huge success."

Mr. Blais said he supported the protesters who were arrested.

"The rage that we saw on the streets (Friday) was definitely legitimate," he said. "It was definitely a legitimate answer to the everyday violence of poverty and environmental destruction.

"We do stand in solidarity with them."

Another protester, Kaley Kennedy, said such clashes with police will probably happen again.

"People are going to continue to voice their opinions like that until they're included in discussions," she said. "We should be really concentrating on what makes people so frustrated that they move to that kind of protesting."

That's when police started arresting people, using stun guns and pepper spray to restore order.

"We used a measured response," Ms. Brien said. "It was because the protesters began committing criminal acts that we had to step up or escalate our use of force.

"We respect everyone's right to protest peacefully and lawfully. But we have to address criminal activity when we see it happening so that it doesn't escalate."

Nobody was hurt seriously in the melee, Ms. Brien said. One police officer suffered a head injury while another had problems related to either a chemical irritant protesters used or the pepper spray of police.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/841945.html

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"Ottawa going 'overboard' with no-fly list, expert warns."

The federal government is going "overboard" with a program, launching Monday, that will check airline passengers' names against a Canadian "no-fly" list of those deemed to be potential threats, a transportation expert warns. Prentice said he sees the list as "simply as being an appeasement for the U.S. paranoia," adding the system "hasn't shown any particular efficacy there."

Barry Prentice, the director of the Transport Institute at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, said Transport Canada's Specified Persons list is "sort of a charade" to make people feel like they have greater security."Let's limit it to the size of a hockey team and let's kept [sic] it public," he said. "I just think this is overboard."

"I don't think it's going to help one bit," Prentice told CBC News on Sunday. "What terrorist is going to travel with their own name and passport? It's like a bank robber using his own card to have a heist.

On the other hand, he warned, some travellers could be wrongly identified as security risks under the Passenger Protect program — and wind up with all kinds of problems.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/06/17/nofly.html?ref=rss
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"Sarkozy's Party Suffers Shock Setback at Polls"

French voters last night delivered a setback to Nicolas Sarkozy's hopes of a complete domination of the political scene. The rightwing president won a smaller than expected majority in the French national assembly, but still has a clear mandate for his sweeping economic reforms.

A surprise surge by the Socialists stemmed the conservative "tidal wave" predicted to totally dominate parliament and dealt Mr Sarkozy a severe blow by knocking out one of his most important senior ministers, Alain Juppé.

The emergence of a strong leftwing parliamentary opposition marked the first political hiccup for the reformist president who swept to power last month and has been basking in record popularity.

In the biggest embarrassment, Mr Juppé, who had been considered the third most important man in Mr Sarkozy's cabinet, was beaten by Socialists in his former fiefdom of Bordeaux. The former prime minister had been invited into the cabinet following a break from politics after his conviction in a party financing scandal. Mr Sarkozy had appointed him to head an environmental super-ministry. Last night Mr Juppé said he would resign.

Another close aide of Mr Sarkozy's, the lawyer Arno Klarsfeld, was beaten by Socialists after he was parachuted into a constituency in eastern Paris.

Predictions last night showed Mr Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party losing seats, while the Socialists made gains. Partial official results showed the UMP with 47% and the Socialists with 41%.

By Guardian Unlimited © Copyright Guardian Newspapers 2006
Published: 6/17/2007
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I think it's hilarious. Like, poverty and environmental damage and stuff, it sucks. So, like, what's the problem? And, like... Free Pot, man. And ... you know... and stuff like that.