A Colin Newell Post
Canada is set to roll-back some of the police powers the Canadian government and courts granted post 9/11.

The Canadian Liberal party, currently in partnership with the NDP and Conservatives in a minority government, have withdrawn support for the controversial laws set to expire at the end of next week.

The former Liberal majority government, under then prime minister Jean Chretien, rushed the sweeping changes in the stressful weeks following 9/11, arguing law-enforcement needed better tools for dealing with the palpable threat of terror.

In response to concerns the new laws would trample civil liberties, the government of the day placed a sunset clause on the far-reaching legislation. Well, the day is almost upon us.
The current Conservative government (in minority) have tabled a motion to extend the provisions of the law for three years. Lacking Liberal, NDP(Socialist) and Bloc(French) support the bill will die on the vine.

This shift of thinking from the Liberal left has shocked many in the security industry, not surprisngly.

This claw-back of police powers puts Canada on a substantially more moderate track than World security partners, the U.S., Britain and Australia.

Canada’s security laws function thusly: A preventive arrest clause allows police to arrest suspects without warrant and detain them for upwards of 48 hours or more, without charge — if they (the police) suspect that the subjects of interest may do something or are thinking of doing something unlawful.

In the 5 years since the act has come into force, it has never been used. Yes neighbor, we Canadian’s are that law abiding. Although I have to admit, there have been times where I have had unlawful thoughts. You know: Will I pass the car ahead of me over a double-solid line?

Anyway, I think we are on the right track – but I can only speak for Canadians… not meaning to set any examples for anyone else, begging your pardon and all eh.
From the great white tundra that is Canada, I am Colin Newell.

Condolences to those few directly affected by Anna Nicole Smith’s sudden demise.

Still, while CNN and FOX go into 24/7 wall-to-wall dead Playmate mode, here are a few other things they could be talking about today:

So you can see why Anna Nicole’s death is getting all the coverage. Slow news day.

Incidentally, you’re looking at a montage of the front pages of CBS News, ABC News, MSNBC, CNN, and FOX News, at 7 pm est. Every single goddam network.

To review: news shows are, yes, shows. They do not make money by providing us useful information. They make money by providing us… to the advertisers.

And according to the Google News "Most Popular" section, we care a great deal about dead Playmates, stalker astronauts in diapers, Ryan O’ Neal getting arrested, and Britney Spears not being a lesbian.

So that’s what we get.

When we can’t find Iran on a map but we’re willing to kill Iranians — and then we wonder why the world doesn’t exactly run the way we figured — it’s not CNN’s fault.

It’s ours.

Condolences to those few directly affected by Anna Nicole Smith’s sudden demise.

Still, while CNN and FOX go into 24/7 wall-to-wall dead Playmate mode, here are a few other things they could be talking about today:

So you can see why Anna Nicole’s death is getting all the coverage. Slow news day.

Incidentally, you’re looking at a montage of the front pages of CBS News, ABC News, MSNBC, CNN, and FOX News, at 7 pm est. Every single goddam network.

To review: news shows are, yes, shows. They do not make money by providing us useful information. They make money by providing us… to the advertisers.

And according to the Google News "Most Popular" section, we care a great deal about dead Playmates, stalker astronauts in diapers, Ryan O’ Neal getting arrested, and Britney Spears not being a lesbian.

So that’s what we get.

When we can’t find Iran on a map but we’re willing to kill Iranians — and then we wonder why the world doesn’t exactly run the way we figured — it’s not CNN’s fault.

It’s ours.

A Colin Newell Post
As Bob will tell you, Canada (next to Australia… and perhaps Trinidad & Tobago) is the greatest nation on the planet. We bristle with pride as we describe the free health-care and post-secondary education (Free education!? No, wait – that is Ireland!) On top of all of this, Canadians, Bob might muse, are overarchingly polite. We live in a land of press freedom, socialism-lite and an enduring love for all things Canadian and eschew garish behavior and any sudden movements that might draw more than a micro-second of unwanted attention to ourselves.

Reality check: We are a nation of people whose media is controlled by a small handful of families. Fact is, the media is way more open in the United States of America. North of 49, media families control all the newspapers (radio and TV) and a handful of galaxy sized telcos, which control telephone and the internet.

Between the U.S. and Canada, the internet, at least for the time being… is about equal in terms of its accessibility.  But for how long?

Our own Tory (your Republican) government (currently in a very shaky minority government) is entertaining the notion of allowing large Telcos to decide which parts of the internet info-pie are good for us.

"Documents obtained by The Canadian Press indicate that senior advisers to Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, who has previously declared a "consumer first" approach, are carefully heeding the arguments of large telecommunications companies like Videotron and Telus against so-called Net neutrality legislation." – link

In all fairness, this discussion is not so much about what you can access but when and how you can access it. The proverbial It being blogs, great and small, and all manner of corporate sites, e-commerce, governmental and non-governmental agencies…

In a worse case scenario (unlikely as this is Canada after all), the Internet (from a Canadian perspective) could be more like a really bad cable channel (as viewed from, say, North Bay, Ontario…)

Unlikely though. America had this discussion ages ago. And flushed it.

And so should we.

A Colin Newell Post
As Bob will tell you, Canada (next to Australia… and perhaps Trinidad & Tobago) is the greatest nation on the planet. We bristle with pride as we describe the free health-care and post-secondary education (Free education!? No, wait – that is Ireland!) On top of all of this, Canadians, Bob might muse, are overarchingly polite. We live in a land of press freedom, socialism-lite and an enduring love for all things Canadian and eschew garish behavior and any sudden movements that might draw more than a micro-second of unwanted attention to ourselves.

Reality check: We are a nation of people whose media is controlled by a small handful of families. Fact is, the media is way more open in the United States of America. North of 49, media families control all the newspapers (radio and TV) and a handful of galaxy sized telcos, which control telephone and the internet.

Between the U.S. and Canada, the internet, at least for the time being… is about equal in terms of its accessibility.  But for how long?

Our own Tory (your Republican) government (currently in a very shaky minority government) is entertaining the notion of allowing large Telcos to decide which parts of the internet info-pie are good for us.

"Documents obtained by The Canadian Press indicate that senior advisers to Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, who has previously declared a "consumer first" approach, are carefully heeding the arguments of large telecommunications companies like Videotron and Telus against so-called Net neutrality legislation." – link

In all fairness, this discussion is not so much about what you can access but when and how you can access it. The proverbial It being blogs, great and small, and all manner of corporate sites, e-commerce, governmental and non-governmental agencies…

In a worse case scenario (unlikely as this is Canada after all), the Internet (from a Canadian perspective) could be more like a really bad cable channel (as viewed from, say, North Bay, Ontario…)

Unlikely though. America had this discussion ages ago. And flushed it.

And so should we.