The mantle of White Knight, for standing up for human rights issueis one Stephen Harper would love to claim, though in reality, his actions as Leader of the Alliance Part, as the Usurper of leadership over the Conservative Party and his prominence as Prime Minister of Canada, prevents him from taking that mantle. In other words, the man has done absolutely nothing to insure human rights exist, or are protected, even in his own political party, or in our own Country.

Once we led the world in promoting human rights, now we do nothing but cower in horror at even the idea of protecting the rights, of those who are not considered politically correct. The Omar Khadr case is certainly one instance, but it goes far beyond that. It goes to where Stephen Harper urges us to go to war in Iraq, as appeasement to George Bush, to wrongly accused citizens being forced to live in our embassy, because Harper would not give him back his passport. It goes to secret hearings, where he refuses to offer any evidence of wrongdoing, on claims of national security. It is where he supports administrative warrants for law enforcement, without any judicial oversight. It is where he supports mandatory sentencing, that has proven to not work, simply to appease the fears of ordinary people. Fears that he creates, when violent crime is actually on a decline. It is where he rushes to help Anglo Saxon people, while turning his back on citizens of ethnic origin, unless they are willing to provide cheap labor for his business backers.

This is the same Prime Minister who holds secret hearings into torture, that he tacitly approves of, by his inaction in PREVENTING IT.  He can state his stand all he wants to, but IT IS HIS ACTIONS THAT SPEAK LOUDER THAN ANY WORDS HE’S PLAGARIZED OR SPOKEN.

It said Harper was hoping to re-energize ties with China that have stagnated in part because of his criticism of its human rights record. But Harper told reporters his position hasn’t changed and Canadian values will not be checked at the door. ( source – CBC News )

Stephen Harper has never once, supported the rights of minorities. He has consistently blasted minorities, or tried to make them fear the other guy, than in protecting their rights. He has turned his back on those he objects to, instead of engaging them in dialogue, or in trying to find a middle ground. He has allowed hate to be normal, by his attempt to gut the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and now he dares say he is standing firm on human rights?

I GUESS IT IS TRUE,  IN THAT HE DOES INDEED STAND FIRM ON HUMAN RIGHTS, THE TRAMPLING OF THEM, THAT IS.

For those who aren’t old enough to have been around, when Elvis Presley became a singing sensation, the King of Rock N’ Roll, many groups decried his antics, saying it was provocative, disgusting, and would lead to the corruption of society. It was immoral and a whole host of other nasty things, were said. Heck, to appear on the Ed Sullivan show, they had to agree to only show him from the waist up, because of the uptight moral majority.

NOT LIKE MUCH HAS CHANGED TODAY.

We are still blaming everything and everyone else, for the way kids behave, for the way society has developed. From blaming Gay’s for subverting the cause of peace, by secretly serving in the Armed Forces, to Pornography making kids into sex maniacs, and husbands sex addicts. It has been this way for ages, and nothing has changed, except we now point to scientific studies to make us feel better, FOR IGNORING OUR OBLIGATIONS AS PARENTS.

Listening to sexually explicit or violent music lyrics can affect children’s schoolwork, social interactions, mood and behaviour, the American Academy of Pediatrics says.

The academy released an updated policy statement Monday on the impact of sexually charged and violent music and videos on the healthy development of children and teenagers. ( CBC News )

While this is being touted as something definitive, the truth of it is, that it is an opinion, based on a survey, and not like that is indicative of a result, linked to a cause. It does not take into account the social environment, the amount of parenting, or type of parenting, that goes into what makes a person.

Is the music violent? SURE, at times it is, and yes some of today’s lyrics are violent and disgusting, in some form or other. Many Black Rap Artistsfor example, use highly inflammatory language, that if a white person used would be cause to call them racists. In fact, Don Imus got fired for his remarks, that were pretty tame, compared to some of the rap music lyrics.

Seeing naked people, engaging in various sex acts, supposedly makes kids horny, and turns them into wild sex machines. Of course, the fact that their hormones are playing hell with their minds, has no bearing.  Like back in the day, how many kids snuck in to see Daddy’s stash of Playboy? Guess that we are all now IMMORAL SEX MACHINES as a result, but the truth is, we aren’t.

YES, some will indeed find a trigger in the music, in the porn, but also in the news, in the sermons on Sunday morning, as well. There are many who will be susceptible to outside influences, because that is simply who they are. Take away all that we abhor, and you will still have kids being horny, still have them turning to drugs, becoming gang members, and committing crimes. Of course, you will still have many getting straight A’s in school, graduating and finding cures for disease or inventing a new way to pick up your doggie’s poop.

We are electing Governments today that ignore our rights, that believe in Torture as a way to keep our society safe and free, and yet we blame Music & Porn for the crime rate, for the drop in literacy and everything else. We blame music & porn for making our kids aggressive, while our leaders get elected for their ATTACK ADS, NOT FOR THEIR POLICIES.

Here is a radical thought. Instead of looking at who or what to blame for the behaviour of our children, maybe we should get to know our kids, find out what makes them happy, unhappy. Find out what does interest them, excite them and share with them, the benefits of our experience, without judging them.  Maybe it is time to follow God’s example, and give our children our UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. 

OF COURSE THAT WOULD MEAN WE WOULD HAVE TO SPEND REAL TIME WITH THEM.

Not really much in the news over here about it, which is one more reason why outlets like the CBC are needed, and need to be properly funded. So we can get a picture of what is going on, everywhere in our Country. Just one of the reason why the Harper Government seems intent on denying additional funding to the CBC in these alleged trying times.

Alberta passed its Human Rights bill, and in it, it basically gutted the entire role of Education, in that province. It made so many loopholes in it, that one wonders if perhaps the entire Conservative Agenda is to keep people dumb, barefooted, and stuck out in the back forty digging ditches.

Alberta legislators passed legislation early Tuesday that will give parents the option of pulling their children out of class when lessons on sex, religion or sexual orientation are being taught. ( CBC News )

The role of Government is to PROTECT MINORITIES, from hate, from bias, from discremination. That is the supposed intent of Human Rights Legislation, and yet this so called Bill, does the exact opposite. It makes it easier for racism, for bias, to be not only go unchecked, but in essence, helps promote those views.

By allowing Parents this carte blanche at taking their offspring out of classes, when issues they disagree with are being discussed, they actively allow for the promotion of those very ideas. They allow parents to continue with their ignorances, and foist them unto the next generation.

The Kick a Ginger campaign tha caused many Albertan Kids to be picked on, is one prime example of racism, and how quickly it can spread. Now the means to help lessen that type of action, is taken away, under the guise of parental rights.

It as well, furthers the fear factor for educators, who will now back off, for fear of being prosecuted, of discussing and helping show that there are two sides to every issue. I am not saying you have to believe that things I believe in, are true or even right, but you should afford me the same courtesy I afford you, which is to listen.

By taking kids out of school, they re-enforce that somehow what is being discussed is wrong, is bad, and that helps promote the hate, the racism. Schools are meant to teach, not pass judgement. It is to expand one’s knowledge, and to provide means for young people to learn about other things, that they have no information on, or that is biased to one side, over the other.

The danger here, is the climate it creates, as well as how it denies children the right, to hear all sides of any contentious issue. It leads to ignorance, and when did that become a goal of Education? Simply put, because it may offend a parent, who should know better, they at least have years of experience to supposedly base their judgement on. A child will follow the parent, and don’t we want our kids to be able to make up their own minds?

And not just on the minor stuff, but the real important issues, like what is right, what is wrong? When we allow them to be taken out of classes, when those very issues come into play, we do them a disservice, and we add to the already dangerous mix of racism, and hate, that is in our society.

SCHOOLS ARE SUPPOSED TO TEACH, TO EDUCATE, TO INFORM, NOT TO SERVE THE BIGOTTED VIEWS OF ANY GROUP.

I remember being in Hawaii when the news broke about the Canadian Embassy hiding several US citizens, and smuggling them out of Iran, during the Iran Hostage Crisis, in the 1970’s. You know, when Jimmy Carter was President, and had the ‘Rose Garden’ strategy?  Yet, here was good old Canada, doing what it could, at peril to its own lives, to help save citizens of another country.

At that time, we also had supported the rights of US Citizens to flee the draft, and seek safe harbour in Canada, though today we routinely deport them back to the United States.

Back then, people showed their pleasure, or displeasure, by taking to the streets, and protesting what they perceived were errors in judgment by their elected officials. They held up placards, in front of the actual entrances to where the speakers were going in and out of. Today they are kept at a distance, out of the media spotlight, so as to avoid possible danger to the speakers, or so it is claimed.

When a ship refused to fly our flag, when in our territorial waters, our Government had the balls to say they would take a helicopter, and plant the flag on the stern of the ship, if need be. Today we promise a citizen, wrongly accused of terrorism, a passport then renege on it, because a foreign government has him on their no fly list.

A fifteen year old Canadian kid, is taken by his father, made into a soldier in a foreign land, though there is no proof of that, and we allow this Citizen to be held for years, in a secret prison, tortured, and denied proper legal council, all because a foreign government decreed him a murderer on the field of battle.

The argument that the Taliban don’t honor the Geneva Convention on the treatment of Combatants is true. They don’t, but then, neither did the Japanese during WWII. How many Japanese soldiers were taken prisoner on the field of battle, then charged with murder because they killed a soldier? Yet today, that is what we have done with not only foreign combatants, but with their children as well, as in the case of Omar Khadr.

None of us actually know exactly what happened there. That is why, as a democratic country, we rely on our judicial system. Yet that has been denied this Citizen of Canada, because we call him a terrorist, not a combatent. I don’t know, but the name game is wearing thin. It wasn’t the Taliban that attacked the Twin Towers in New York City. It was Osama ben Laden & his group who did, and yet it is the Taliban we are fighting.

Many of those who died attacking the towers, were Saudi National Citizens, but it is the Taliban who we blame, who we claim supported the actions, and who, as the ruling government, we attacked in response. WE INVADED AFGHANISTAN, AN ACT OF WAR UNDER SANCTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS.

I don’t know if Khadr threw the grenade or not, yet I do know that we are treating hm as a terrorist, though he was captured on the field of battle. I know that under our democratic principles, he should be charged, and tried, in a court that has jurisdiction over him. When did that become the United States?

Yes, we tried many Japanese Soldiers, and German Soldiers, for crimes they committed during WWII. However, that was an International Trial system, done in the open, by judges from the winning powers. The war was over, before we tried these people, not during the war.

Soldiers captured, either German, Italian, or Japanese, were held in prisoner camps, were allowed to be visited by the Red Cross & Swiss, and were not tortured. Not how it works today, is it?

I was proud to be a Canadian, back then, when it meant standing up for principles, when it meant being held accountable for our own words, deeds. When being a Canadian meant honoring the rule of law, the rights of human beings.

WHEN DID IT CHANGE, FROM HONOR TO DISHONOR?

Last week, I got a notice that my download speed will be increased at no additional cost to my current Internet Plan. Now that is nice, and then I read this article on how a large number of groups are petitioning the CRTC to deny ISP’s the ability to THROTTLE SELECTED ACCOUNTS.  And that has me rather pissed off, because I signed a contract ( or agreement if you will ) that gives me Internet Access, to whatever site I choose. Not to be limited to what sites I visit, or to what I choose to download from those sites.  Yet it appears, that is what some ISPs are deliberately doing.

In a submission filed Monday to the Canada Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in advance of a July probe into the issue of internet traffic management, the Open Internet Coalition said traffic shaping network management “discourages investment in broadband networks, diminishes consumer choice, interferes with users’ freedom of expression, and inhibits innovation.” ( source – CBC News )

The issue has arisen from the way Bell handles its Internet. It admits that at times, it throttles accounts, which limits the download speed from various P2P sites, which for now, are mostly file sharing sites. What is more scary is that in order to manage this system, the ISP uses technology that devulges the content of what you are sending/receiving, so it can effectively control your online speed.

While the idea of ‘deep packet’ technology is to help in fight spam, virus spreading, it is also used to determine just what YOU are downloading.  Now, that has me worried on several fronts, because it makes your private business, open to public disclosure. I have nothing to hide, however, it is not up to some nameless techie across the country, to determine what can be revealed and what shouldn’t be. It is not their right to determine whether I SHOULD ACCESS A SITE NOW OR LATER. And yet, that is exactly what this technology is allowing some ISP’s to do.

Let me also state, that I believe most of these file sharing sites, are simply promoting theft of intellectual properties. I believe they make it easy for people to steal things like videos, songs, books, and pass them onto others, for free. That is not right & is STEALING IN MY OPINION.

That being said, it is up to a Court to determine the matter, not up to some nameless ISP or Corporate Official. It is dangerous to give them that kind of power, because it does impact your use of a site. If access is made slower, if it is made inconvenient, people will move on, and that impacts the economics of a site, that has invested money into servers, personnel, etc. It should not be up to a nameless ISP to decide the fate of any single or group of, companies, irrespective of their business model.

WHAT DO THEY THROTTLE NEXT?

How about the proliferation of Hate Sites? Should access to them be throttled, and information collected on who goes there, who downloads promotional material from those sites? AFTER ALL, THEY ARE PROMOTING HATE, AREN’T THEY?

See, that is the danger of such tactics. It gives the power to CENSOR SITES, that are protected under Free Speech laws. It invades one’s privacy, another protected right, and yet it seems that our Government is okay with that. This isn’t a business decision, of having too much traffic going to one paticular site, but about poor management of infrastructure, about business not willing to invest in growing its network.

While hoarding their profits, by attempting to not invest in their own company, these ISPs are also invading our civil righs, and threatening our Democratic Rights. The truth is, this is a form of CENSORSHIP and not even from a Government Agency, but from a BUSINESS.  The ramifications of allowing this throttling to continue, under any circumstances is contrary to the very premise of the Internet.

The Internet has grown, because it is a TRUE VEHICLE FOR FREE SPEECH & SHARING OF IDEAS, OPINIONS, THOUGHTS, & LIFE. When you cut back access,you are cutting back on the ability of the average person to express themselves, to discuss issues and to give opinions, on anything. The free access to the Internet, helps PROMOTE FREEDOM BETTER THAN ANY INVASION CAN.

Throttling of accounts is wrong, it is a risk to our very freedoms.

Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart also weighed in on the issue, saying that since DPI technology is capable of allowing inspection of information content sent from end user to end user, it potentially allows third parties to draw inferences about users’ personal lives, interests and activities, whether or not that is the intent. ( source – CBC News )

We have no control over what big corporations do with the information they gather from us. Some retail outlets even sell their customer lists to others, for a quick buck. Tell me how ISPs are any different? I don’t want my personal online habits to be part of some study, or used to add to my junk mail. It is hard enough to control today, and now with this carte blanche, will be even harder.

The bottom line is this. When issues like this are before us, who do you want to make the decision?  Some nameless corporate officer, or your Member of Parliament? Do you want some giant conglomerate to decide who can view or be given access to your online activities, or do you want it regulated by the Government, where you have some say?

We vote in or out, our elected officials, while we have NO SAY in who runs a business like Bell. WHO DO YOU WANT IN CHARGE OF WHAT SITES YOU CAN ACCESS, OF WHAT INFORMATION CAN BE SHARED WITH OTHER PARTIES?