It's Time . . . .

We're fortunate here north of the 49th - Not the same on the south side, tho . . . .

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Gay Pride, Vancouver Edition . . . .

This is the fifth year we've been able to view the Pride Parade in Vancouver. It's also our second Pride Parade of this year, as on our trip to Portland in June we also enjoyed theirs. (More on Portland below.)

The parade included all the usuals:

Political/Civic Figures:
(with the notable exception of the BC LINOs (Liberal in Name Only)
- might have something to do with Premier gordo campbell's
sinking poll numbers due to the unpopular
H(arper)S(ales)T(ax) implementation)

Elizabeth May:

MP Hedy Frye:

BC Civil Liberties Chair David Eby:

Parks Board Chair Aaron Jasper:

Dancing Girls

Buxom Ladies:

Colourful Drag Queens:

Hunky (Yumm!) Hockey Players:

Tall People:

Corporate Sponsors:

And the stephen harper Tribute:

Now for more Gay and happy news: Federal Judge Vaughn R. Walker in California has issued his ruling on Proposition 8 there. He found that California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage violates the federal constitutional rights of gay people.

The case will be appealed to the Ninth Circuit of Appeals in Portland (See, I told you there would be more about Portland!) and then on to the Supreme Court. Just happened to snap a couple of pics of the courthouse, as these are typically "The Good Guys" in judicial circles.

Cross your fingers . . . .

Remembering Robert . . . .

The Braidwood Inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski resumes tomorrow.

Today's "24 Hours-Vancouver" had an interview with Robert's mother, Zofia Cisowski. Excerpts are below:

Who was Robert Dziekanski?
Polish immigrant killed at YVR remembered as a 'fantastic person'
By MATT KIELTYKA | September 21, 2009

A faint smile crept into Zofia Cisowski's face - but only for a moment.

It's a smile that has appeared far too rarely since her son, Robert Dziekanski, died on the floor of the Vancouver International Airport after being jolted by multiple Taser shots Oct. 14, 2007.

But as much as his death - and ensuing inquiry into the circumstances around it - has shredded Cisowski's life, she can't hide her maternal pride when thinking about her boy.

_______________


She raised Robert on her own in the town of Gliwice in southern Poland and worked long hours to support her lone child.

Late shifts were always risky propositions behind the Iron Curtain. She had to sneak around in the dead of night, taking shelter in the shadows of every building on her way home to avoid being caught breaking curfew.

At the age of 10, Robert may have been too young to understand his mom's stress and fear.

But he knew enough.

"He saw that I was over-worked," Cisowski reminisced, that smile beginning to show itself again. "That's when he made his first meal, crepes.

"He forgot to add eggs, but everything else was right. He added onions and pepper and everything," she said, eyes shimmering. "I was very thankful he would do something for me. That when I came back from work I would have something to eat. I will never forget that."

That was Robert, always willing to help.

"He would give people everything he had," Cisowski said. "He had a good heart."

Iwona Kosowska, a long-time neighbour of Robert, says that picture of Robert needs to endure.

She remembers him as a "fantastic person."

The two would spend hours in the garden together and Robert would play with her daughter.

"That's how he was and it won't change," she told 24 hours. "This is simply the truth."

Kosowska was livid when she was put on the hot seat at Braidwood Inquiry earlier this year as lawyers asked her about Robert's past, health and whether he had drinking and smoking problems.

To her, it was a thinly veiled smear campaign.

"Can we stop this line of questioning?" she pleaded during her testimony March 30. "You are trying to make a bad person out of him, which means that you can kill a bad person but you cannot kill a good person. I'm fed up. I'm not going to answer any more questions. How can you?

_______________


That's why the heart-broken mother speaks of the Robert she knew and loved.

"He had a very good heart, that's the most important thing," she maintains, as determined as ever. "He never did anyone any harm, he was a good person. But in this world, it's the good people that get taken away from us."

Robert, a good person who did no harm, dead for no good reason.

Gives one pause . . . .

Lest We Forget . . . .

MSEH, another same-sex emigrant to Canada from the US has posted an excellent reminder of our history to be chronicled in film next month.

Go.

Remember.

Never forget . . . .

Economically and "Morally" Saudi . . . .

Now that the Saudis are being so cooperative on the increased oil production thing, (raise your hand if you think that's gonna happen) perhaps we can get 'em to work on this:

Per The Globe and Mail:

Saudi Arabia arrests alleged gays in raid

Associated Press - June 21, 2008

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A Saudi newspaper says religious police have arrested 21 allegedly homosexual men and confiscated large amounts of alcohol.













Al-Medina daily says the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which employs the religious police, was told Friday of a large gathering of young men at a rest house in Qatif, in eastern Saudi Arabia.

The paper says scores of men were initially arrested but only 21 remain in detention.

Homosexuality is seen as a sin in Islam and prohibited in Saudi Arabia and most other Muslim nations. In the conservative kingdom, the offence can be punished by flogging or prison.

Of course western nations could pressure the House of Saud to amend some of their more archaic and punitive actions toward alternative lifestyles.

But then there's that oil thing, isn't there?

Guess that Moral Compass gets out of whack when oil supplies start dwindling . . . .

Dems Fold on FISA . . . .

Nicolle Belle, John Amato and the crew at Crooks and Liars have been warning about Hoyer's behind-the-scenes backstabbing on FISA.

Today the knife was twisted.


From Congressional Quarterly:

House Passes Overhaul of Electronic Surveillance Rules

The House Friday passed an overhaul of electronic surveillance rules stemming from a bipartisan compromise that left Democrats divided.

The legislation, which would almost certainly lead to the dismissal of lawsuits against telecommunications companies accused of aiding the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program, won the support of 105 Democrats and 188 Republicans to pass by a margin of 293-129.

Senators agreed to place the bill on the calendar for next week and could clear it as early as Monday, delivering to President Bush legislation that gives him much of what he wants but with some restrictions he hoped to avoid. He placed a priority on the lawsuits’ dismissal, and on getting executive branch authority to conduct warrantless surveillance of foreign targets, even when they are communicating with people in the United States.

House members who voted against the bill said its expansion of executive branch surveillance powers would gut Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

“This bill scares me to death,” said Rep. Barbara Lee , D-Calif.

Supporters, on the other hand, said it was an improvement over a Senate-passed, White House-backed bill, which contained less court and congressional oversight. Some conservative Democrats have been pressing House leaders to take up that legislation all year long, and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer , D-Md., said this week their support for that bill forced Democratic negotiators into a reluctant compromise.

“It’s not a happy occasion, but it’s the work we have to do,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif. She said the debate on the legislation was “valuable for making the bill better if not good enough but certainly preferable to the alternative we have.”

Republicans, including Bush himself, praised the legislation.

That last line sums it up pretty well.

Remind me again why someone should vote for a democrat vs. a reguglican ? ? ? ?

Justice, Although Delayed . . . .

bushco dealt another blow (and not the good kind). Compliments of McClatchy.

Supreme Court rules Guantanamo prisoners have right to sue in U.S. courts

Michael Doyle | McClatchy Newspapers - June 12, 2008 11:17:37 AM

WASHINGTON — A sharply divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled Guantanamo Bay detainees have the right to challenge their extended imprisonment in federal court, and struck down as inadequate an alternative review system set up by Congress.

Repudiating a key tenet of the Bush administration’s war-on-terror policy, the court’s 5-4 majority concluded the foreigners held in Guantanamo Bay retain the same habeas corpus rights as U.S. residents.

“Some of these petitioners have been in custody for the past six years with no definitive judicial determination as to the legality of their detention,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. “Their access to the writ is necessary to determine the lawfulness of their status, even if, in the end, they do not obtain the relief they seek.”

_______________


The court’s conservative wing, including Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, at times with sharp words of their own.

“The nation will live to regret what the court has done today,” Scalia wrote.

Big surprise on the dissenting judges. Who would've guessed that one?

How much longer 'til the bushco crowd is brought up on war crimes charges ? ? ? ?

ACLU's Blogging . . . .

As a card-carrying member of the ACLU I feel obligated and honored to spread the word about their new blog.


Check it out here and go back on a regular basis for info on the good works this group does . . . .

Damn ! ! ! !

From Reuters today:

U.S. rejects Canadian's "child soldier" defense
Fri May 2, 2008 3:44pm EDT - By Jane Sutton

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Canadian captured in Afghanistan at age 15 can be tried for murder in the Guantanamo war crimes court, a U.S. military judge ruled in rejecting claims that he was a child soldier who should be rehabilitated rather than prosecuted.

Canadian prisoner Omar Khadr, now 21, is charged in the Guantanamo court with throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier during a firefight at a suspected al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan in 2002.

His military lawyer, Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, had argued in February hearings at the Guantanamo naval base that Khadr was a child soldier illegally conscripted by his father, an al Qaeda financier. He urged the judge to drop the charges, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The judge, Army Col. Peter Brownback, issued a ruling on Wednesday agreeing with prosecutors' position that the law authorizing the Guantanamo trials contained no minimum age.

Brownback's ruling clears the way for Khadr to be tried in the special tribunals created by the Bush administration to try non-U.S. captives it considers "unlawful enemy combatants" outside the regular civilian and military courts.

Kuebler called the ruling "an embarrassment to the United States" and said Canada would share in the embarrassment if it allows its citizen to be tried at Guantanamo. He said Khadr would be the first child soldier tried for war crimes in modern history.

What is the chance that members of bushco will face war crimes charges?

Not as good as Khadr being found guilty in this kangaroo court is my bet . . . .

Darth Vader Meddling Again . . . .

From the Globe and Mail:

Khadr lawyers allege Cheney linked to video release

OMAR EL AKKAD - Globe and Mail Update - March 3, 2008

OTTAWA — Omar Khadr's defense lawyers will try to find out whether U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's office secretly leaked a video of the detained Canadian to an American media outlet – an allegation that, if proven, would be a clear violation of court orders and further proof that the process by which Mr. Khadr is being tried is a political, not legal one, his military lawyer says.

_______________


In an interview with The Globe and Mail Monday night, Lieutenant Commander Bill Kuebler said he is trying to find out how a highly secret video showing Mr. Khadr in Afghanistan was leaked to the U.S. news program 60 Minutes. The video appears to show Mr. Khadr building a bomb.

The news program aired the footage last November.

_______________


At the meeting, Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler asked the Colonel where he thought the leak may have come from. In response, Lt. Cmdr. Kuebler said, Col. Davis offered the opinion that the Vice-President's office may have been involved.

Col. Davis resigned as chief prosecutor in October of last year, saying political pressure was interfering with his job.

If the allegation that the Vice President's office was involved in the leak is proven to be true, it would be a violation of the protective orders imposed on evidence in the case, Lt. Cmdr. Kuebler said.

But he added that it would also show the length that the government is prepared to go to prejudice the public against the detained Canadian.

dickhead cheney just can't keep his nose out of anything, can he? It appears he is angling for a new title in bushco: "Leaker in Chief" sounds appropriate. Valerie Plame, WMD's, and now this.

Perhaps a qualified plumber should be retained to stem the leaks . . . .

A Contrast in Individual Rights . . . .

Compare this story in Canada, and in particular British Columbia,

Court limits police wiretaps
B.C. ruling makes emergency surveillance illegal without judge's approval

Neal Hall - Vancouver Sun - Tuesday, February 26, 2008

In a ruling that has national ramifications, a B.C. Supreme Court judge has struck down a section of the Criminal Code that allowed police to intercept private conversations without a judge's authorization.

The section applied to emergency situations when a person's life is in danger.

Justice Barry Davies ruled last Friday that Section 184.4 of the code is unconstitutional because it violates the "Section 8" rights of six people accused of kidnapping.

Section 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms covers the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

Since the ruling was made by a justice of a superior court, it applies across Canada. But it will not take effect immediately

.
with this story in the US:

House Defeats FISA Extension
Feb 13, 2008(The Politico)

House Democrats were unable to hold together their caucus on a key intelligence vote on Wednesday, as a coalition of Republicans, Blue Dog Democrats and liberals helped defeat a measure to extend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as the deadline approaches.

The measure, which failed 191 to 229, would have extended the bill an additional three weeks to work out differences with the Senate on the issue of granting immunity to telecom companies which aided the federal government in wiretapping.

The Democratic bill was undone by strong opposition from Republicans and 34 Democrats, including both members of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition who want to see a bill passed, and liberal members who oppose many other aspects of the wiretapping program.

Looks like our decision to move North of the 49th is looking better and better . . . .

Tough Dems ? ? ? ?

Let's see how tough the democrats are in standing up to bushco.

My money's on "Not Very."

The one hope for privacy advocates is Senator Chris Dodd's promise to filibuster any bill that included the telecom immunity provision. Note how the major presidential candidates have been silent on an issue that is of such importance. They're too busy sniping at each other in a "he said, she said" spat.

Go figure.


From Reuters today:

Committee head sees approval of phone immunity
Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:51pm EST - By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic-led U.S. Senate will approve President George W. Bush's demand that telephone companies that participated in his warrantless domestic spying program receive retroactive immunity from lawsuits, a top lawmaker predicted on Wednesday.

_______________


Yet it remained uncertain if the Senate could reach an agreement with the Democratic-led House of Representatives on such legislation before a surveillance law it would replace expires next week on February 1.

Vice President Dick Cheney joined the fray, saying, "We're reminding Congress that they must act now to modernize FISA," the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Speaking at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank, Cheney added, "Those who assist the government in tracking terrorists should not be punished with lawsuits."

Yeah, let's not punish the corporations and executives that were spying on US citizens.

That would be just wrong . . . .

'Ya Gotta Love the ACLU . . . .

From McClatchy Newspapers this evening:

ACLU comes to Craig's defense

Erika Bolstad | McClatchy Newspapers - September 17, 2007 06:51:26 PM

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a friend-of-the court brief on behalf of Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, saying Minneapolis airport police violated his Constitutional right of free speech in charging him with disorderly conduct after arresting him in an airport men's room.

The ACLU filed its brief in the same Minnesota court where Craig is hoping to withdraw a guilty plea in connection with soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in the men's room of the Minneapolis airport. The Idaho conservative, who rarely counts the civil liberties group as an ally, is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 26.

In its brief, the ACLU argues that the government can arrest people for soliciting public sex only if it can show beyond doubt that the sex was to occur in public. The ACLU argues that solicitation for sex in a private place is protected speech under the First Amendment, no matter where the solicitation occurs.

The sting operation used by Minneapolis airport police was unconstitutional and was so broad that innocent people could be caught up in it, said Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU.

"It is not a crime to solicit sex that would occur in private," Romero said. "It is a crime to solicit sex that would occur in a public place. What the state failed to show was that Senator Craig clearly expected to have sex in public."

On a related note from the Idaho Statesman:

Tourists flock to Minneapolis airport men's room

The site of Sen. Larry Craig's arrest has become a photo opportunity for travelers.

By Jeanne HUFF - Edition Date: 09/16/07

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — When you go to Minneapolis, you might put the Mall of America, the statue of Mary Tyler Moore or maybe even the zoo on your list of things to see.

Now tourists are asking about a new destination in the Twin Cities, says Karen Evans, information specialist at the information counter at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

A common request is, "Excuse me, can you please tell me where the Larry Craig bathroom is?"

Evans was just 15 minutes into her shift Friday afternoon and already had heard the request four times.

"It's become a tourist attraction," Evans said with a smile. "People are taking pictures."

And who would've thought there was actually one of these?!?

Life in these United States never ceases to amaze . . . .

Dream On, al . . . .

From AlterNet today:

How Gonzales Destroyed the American Dream
by Roberto Lovato, New America Media - Posted on September 4, 2007

Alberto Gonzales went down dreaming.

While announcing his resignation earlier this week, Alberto Gonzales deployed one of his most powerful and romantic rhetorical weapons. "I often remind our fellow citizens that we live in the greatest country in the world and that I have lived the American dream," he stated. "Even my worst days as attorney general have been better than my father's best days."

More than any public official in recent memory, the often smiley and sometimes smirking Gonzales -- and his supporters -- consistently framed his story as a brown embodiment of the American dream.

_________________


Viewed from the optic of elite political and corporate interests, who know better than anyone of the death of the American dream (they are, after all, the ones who created and killed it), Alberto Gonzales did his job.

He may have left too much evidence of state-sanctioned torture and lying and malfeasance and corruption (he may also still be put on trial for perjury in the attorney firing scandal).

But he did what he was supposed to. More than anyone, he was responsible for securing the legal systems necessary to better control a citizenry that was increasingly angry and frustrated at big government and big business for destroying the American dream. his saga provides an object lesson in how to hide elite interests behind a dreamy haze of real-life ethnic success stories.

While many of us were debating whether or not the son of migrant workers was or wasn't the embodiment of the dream, he worked loyally -- as fiercely as his farm worker parents -- to lay the legal foundation to make it easier to snoop on, arrest, prosecute and jail a population growing less and less patient with the status quo.

In the time it took most of the country to admit that it no longer believed in the dream -- a July poll by veteran pollster Celinda Lake found that only 18 percent of people in the country believe they are living the American dream -- Gonzales prepared for the fallout by helping fashion the Patriot Act. This made it easier for government to define as "domestic terrorists" those who choose to speak out against the Iraq war and other dream (and budget)-killing policies.

While Hollywood and Washington tried to keep the global dream machine working, Gonzales crafted the legal rationale for the global nightmare exemplified by Abu Ghraib. As more and more people joined the ranks of the uninsured -- 9 million since Bush was elected in 2000 -- Gonzales facilitated the government's ability to access intimate medical, financial and other personal records.

_______________


What the ultimate moral of the Gonzales story becomes depends on whether we are ready to not just to accept the death of the American dream, but to take part in dispelling whatever illusions of it are left.

_______________


Despite the tragedy and comedy of it all, Gonzales' scandalous story offers us an opportunity to dispel obsolete notions, like the dreamy idea that government is looking out for the little guy -- or that ethnic politics can only be played one way -- and other dangerous ideas rooted in the American dream he embodied.

Roberto Lovato former director of CARECEN, representing Central American immigrants and refugees, is a New York based writer and an associate editor at New America Media.

'Ya gotta wonder who the idiot-in-chief will nominate to protect his sorry ass now that "Smiley" is gone . . . .

Rats . . . .

From Congressional Quarterly today:

Appeals Court Dismisses Challenge to NSA Surveillance Program

A federal appeals court has vacated a lower court ruling against President Bush’s warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled 2-1 Friday that the plaintiffs in the case, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, lacked standing to bring the case.

“Because the plaintiffs cannot show that they have been or will be subjected to surveillance personally, they clearly cannot establish standing under the Fourth Amendment or FISA,” referring to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (PL 95-511), Judge Alice M. Batchelder wrote in the court’s opinion in the case American Civil Liberties Union v. National Security Agency.

A Michigan federal judge ruled in August 2006 that the program was unconstitutional, a decision the government appealed. The 6th Circuit had stayed the district court’s injunction while the appeal was pending.

“We are deeply disappointed by today’s decision that insulates the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance activities from judicial review and deprives Americans of any ability to challenge the illegal surveillance of their telephone calls and e-mails,” said ACLU Legal Director Steven R. Shapiro. He said an appeal to the Supreme Court was possible.

Now let's see. If it gets to the Supreme Court, just how do we think the Roberts Court will come down on this issue ? ? ? ?

"Gitmo" and Canuck . . . .

From Reuters this morning:

Guantanamo judge rejects charges for Canadian
Sat Jun 30, 2007 11:27AM EDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - A U.S. military judge for the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals has refused to reinstate the charges against a Canadian prisoner accused of killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan.

The ruling in the case of Canadian captive Omar Khadr was released late on Friday, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court said it would hear a challenge of the law that established the war crimes tribunals and stripped Guantanamo prisoners of their right to court review of their indefinite confinement.

Khadr, 21, is accused of killing one U.S. soldier with a grenade and wounding another during a firefight at a suspected al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan in 2002.

A tribunal judge, Army Col. Peter Brownback, dismissed the murder and conspiracy charges against Khadr on June 4. He said he lacked jurisdiction to try him because Khadr had not been designated an "unlawful enemy combatant," as required under the 2006 law that authorized military tribunals for foreign terrorism suspects.

So, I'm guessing this is because of peter and "condescending"'s tireless efforts on Khadr's behalf.

Right . . . .

Dump "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" . . . .

One Scoop or Two ? ? ? ?

From Frances Madeson over at AlterNet:

The FBI May Have the Inside Scoop on You

Think surveillance is for terrorists? Think again. Under the terms of the Patriot Act, a ton of your personal and financial information may already be in the FBI's database.


I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but worth bringing to the forefront of our psyches, nonetheless.

Somewhere I saw the aforementioned legislation referred to as the "pat-riot act".

Quite apropos, don't you think?