November 29th, 2009 | 
Author: OK, enough’s enough:
- Vancouver police purchase a sound weapon, claiming that they only want to use it as a “loudspeaker”
- Assorted Vancouver-area municipalities pass by-laws allowing the cops to barge into private homes and remove protest signs from windows
- Now, Canada Customs is screening visitors to the country on their views of the Owelympics:
(CBC’s) As It Happens radio show covers the story of Amy Goodman’s recent’ border crossing into Canada. Goodman — host of the US public radio show Democracy Now! — was coming to Canada to give a speech at a library, and Canadian border guards questioned her intensely about the subject of her talk, even reading her notes for her speech. They were fishing for something, but Goodman couldn’t figure out what, until the guards asked her outright whether she was planning on talking about the upcoming Canadian Olympic Games. When she assured them that she hadn’t been, they eventually released her (it had been a 75 minute detention) but stamped a control-order in her passport giving her only 24 hours’ stay in Canada.
This is un-fucking-acceptable, people! Canadians have long prided ourselves on living in a free and open democracy. But now, the border guards have been tasked with keeping out those dangerous people that talk?
No. This cannot be permitted.
h/t to Boingboing.
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I thought you all were more enlightened than USA Inc.? What gives? I read too about how hard it is to get good porn up there too.
Our current governing party is a big fan of the Bush Republicans, Stucco. ’nuff said.
I’d heard about the sound weapon (horrific, and I thought the Kate Bush song ‘Experiment IV’ was sci-fi once upon a time) but WTF is up with the Olympics? What are they afraid she might say? I don’t understand. But that’s kind of my motto these days.
I had no idea we were living in a commonwealth of China.
Nancy & Maggie, the road that we’re travelling is horrific. Absolutely horrific. You wouldn’t believe the looks that people give me when I tell them that I don’t give a rat’s ass about the Olympics.
i’m saddened to hear about the political state in canada… i have to admit that my bubble has been burst, sounds like the bad ol’ usa to me.
UGH. There goes my fantasy of moving to Canada…
Jim, no matter what we like to claim, there hasn’t been an awful lot of difference for a long time. Free trade and NAFTA have guaranteed tha
You just missed being saddled with the 2016 Olympics, Susan. Lucky you.