Yes this is the fault of Steven Harper and Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the network of influential folks who pass for the Canadian version of AIPAC.

Hopefully Canadians will come to their senses and boot the mother fucker out come the next election, from what I have seen so far they are already up to their necks in scandal around illegal campaign spending in the last election.

The last time the Cons were in power, Canadian got shafted by the FTA, Lyin' Brian Mulroney was at the helm then.

Remember him?
What is 13 inches long and hangs between Ronald Raygun's legs?
Lyin' Brian's tie!

The " list " is just rich, spoiled boy bush's s&m trip, straight out of satanic 80's anti-beatle arena rock. pre magna carta, kkk shit that the world needs to stop right now.
You don't scare me, boy, and you can't.

This is one of many ways OUR government is stiffling protests against the Iraq disgrace. No different than facist regimes.

And "one of our greatest neighbors to the North" seems in the mood to help stifle protest.

There is a ethical and moral distinction between a peace activist and a truly dangerous individual.
She and others like her will be vindicated as the events unfold but that does nothing to protect their freedom of speech now.
Fascism will only last a short while before it will swing back to a free society... we can only hope.

Another example of the slow, insidious creep of the fascist juggernaut. These are dangerous precedents being established.

This is also reminiscent of the good old USSR.

If you can't fly because you're on a no-fly list, and you can't walk or drive across a border, how exactly are you supposed to leave this country?

News flash: You can't! You are stuck just like any of the old Soviet dissidents.

The funny part is that the "war" in Iraq is really going well. I know this news will just piss off the libs but watch the news; it's actually getting boring for a ton of the troops because there is nothing to do over there in a vast majority of the country. I know; I just got back. Ouch huh? But I am concerned what the libs platform will be once everyone figures out that the only way the libs will get in power in 08 is if we lose over there…….so, libs….keep rooting for our enemies. :o)

Beforeitstoolate, isn't that what Iran, the 'next enemy' is for? :oP

This incident proves that our concerns re the FBI crime database being used as a tool to prevent freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and civil disobedience in general are being realized. Now what is it again that the exective branch is assuring us that they won't do to non-criminal U.S. citizens under the new FISA law?

U.S. peace activist refused entry for second time

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/270460

Alexa McDonough
http://www.alexahfx.ca/

My opinion is that the Conservatives are targeting Wright specifically. If so, they are going to wish they let her in the country!

The Canadian Greens are not like Greens in other countries, in fact, they are not really all that green (enviromentally) - and tend to be Libertarian on most other issues.

The Liberals have a tendency to talk like NDPers during elections and rule like Conservatives afterwards. Ok, not quite as bad as Harper - more like Mulroney.

Colleen, Harper is heading a Minority Government. The Liberals are not doing all that good so Harper wants his government defeated because he thinks that he can gain a few more seats in an election. However, he doesn't want the backlash that would go with calling the election himself.

In Canada, if more people vote against a Confidence motion than for it, Canada faces an election.

The Throne speech was a confidence motion.

For:
Harper's Conservatives: 126
Independents: 3

AGAINST
Layton's NDP: 30
Duceppe's Bloc: 49

ABSTAINED FROM VOTING:
Dion's Liberals: 96

EMPTY SEATS: 4

As a Canadian I am ashamed and very angry. Here's a copy of a letter I sent to everyone & his dog in the federal government:

Dear representatives,

I put this question to all of you: What is happening to my country?

Why are we detaining and refusing entry to a person of the calibre of Ann Wright? Because she got a ticket for trespassing? She was a career military person in the US and resigned from her position at the State Department in protest over the illegal invasion of Iraq. Since then she has been campaigning for peace.

Why are we refusing entry to Medea Benjamin, a woman who is protesting long and loudly, but non-violently, for peace?

Since when did wanting peace become subversive? Since when is non-violent protest against a war considered terrorist activity? It's OK to invade and destroy Iraq and kill hundredes of thou=sands of people and turn millions into refugees, but it's not OK to stand on the steps of a building and try to deliver a petition signed by over 100,000 people.

And all this current military action by the US and NATO is supposed to be to defend freedom. What a joke.

I'm ashamed of my country's public stance on many foreign policy issues right now. I always vote, and I will always be voting for peace, cooperation, respect for others and diplomacy. And I will be encouraging everyone I know to do the same.

I want to remind all of you that you are working for me. Without tax dollars there would be no government. And I want you to stop detaining and denying entry to peace activists who haven't harmed or even threatened to harm anyone.

Sincerely,

Yeah.....Iran is harmless. Nuclear technology when you have a sea of oil under you seems a little silly if not suspicious don't you think? lets give this just a little bit of thought….Iran get nuclear…they give it to a bad guy…..the bad guy brings it to the USA……they blow it up and liberal's and conservatives die…..every hear them say "death to America?"…wise up retards, we need to bomb them back into the Stone Age. NOW! That way you all are free (want to stay free?) to protest and bitch about the great USA! :o)

One counter is the old 'flood the jails' approach. If millions and tens of millions of Americans all got arrested with civil disobedience type offenses protesting the war, then we'd flood the ability to maintain this list and we'd cause massive headaches for the Canadian border patrol as they have to deny entry to millions and tens of millions of travelers.

Jake

Isn't this because Harper is the prime minister? With another prime minister it would be different?
I think there is a fear that Canada will withdraw its forces from Afghanistan and the conservatives don't want anyone stirring up the anti war feelings already in Canada?

Iran ...

One thing to remember is that Iran was one of the very first oil fields in the world. This was where the British originally set up shop to get the oil when they converted the British navy from oil to coal back before WWI.

And yes, oil fields do get depleted. They are not magically replenishing sources of oil that never run dry. That part is beyond dispute, no matter how much people try to argue against the thought that the same thing will happen on a world wide basis. If you doubt this, just think of Pennsylvania which was the original major oil field. PA doesn't produce all that much oil today. I'd rather suspect that Iran's oil fields are further along towards depletion than later fields like Saudi Arabia.

Also, one absolute given in the world today is that the demand for oil is rising rapidly. It seems very predictable that oil will be more expensive in the future as billions of Chinese and Indians move towards a more automobile and oil based society. And of course countries like the US insist on constantly increasing our demand for oil also.

So, it makes prefect sense to me for the Iranians to be looking for other energy sources besides oil. They are probably already seeing signs of depletion in their oil fields. And they most certainly look into the future and see that oil would be worth more then. Just on the latter point alone, it makes perfect sense to try to use some other means of energy today and save that non-renewable oil for some future day when it would be worth much more than its worth today.

Of course, that's trying to use reason with war-mongering fascists who want another oil and who throw out terms like 'sitting on a sea of oil' thinking that no one will think beyond the simple stereotypes and realize that they are spouting nonsense like they always spout nonsense when trying to con us to go for more death and destruction.

The person who wanted to "bomb Iran back to the stone age". I wonder if they have any knowledge about what happens if we nuke them. The fallout does not stay in Iran, it goes around the world into his lungs, skin, and body parts to slower rot his body away from cancer. THis is the "wise" decision he wants to make. What a foolish person.

again, i'll point out that this story is NOT making US MSM and most people don't have a clue we're being waltzed, silently, into a police state....

Most Americans can't leave the US because they have so much debt..in credit cards and on houses that are dropping in value.

Where could they go? and with a dollar that is devaluing even if they have some money.

Wow, beforitstoolate, you mean our Occupation is succeeding with the Americabastardization of Iraq, what a comforting thought, I guess all's right with the world we've re-created again. Disneyland rules.

Demetria,

It's sort of like seeing a fly on your respirator, so you set fire to it to destroy the fly and end up dead yourself. A desire to kill others while assuring one's own destruction is a symptom of a diseased mind.

Colleen,

I hope it's just Harper because as I said, I don't recognize my country anymore. Canada was the first country to cut aid to the Palestinians after Hamas won the election, and one of the first to support the Israeli attack on Lebanon last year. PM Harper called the Israeli response to the kidnapping of the soldiers "measured". Detroying the infrastructure of a country, littering the countryside with unexploded cluster bombs, and killing over a thousand people is a measured response to kidnapping two soldiers!?

I know how the Conservative party members feel about military action. They love it. And that's their right.

But they do not have a right to stifle dissent. Not yet anyway, but they're working on it. It's so very sad.

Wake up Congress and repeal the Patriot Act and Homeland Security and Military Commssions Act. Worthless waste of billions hiring millions of incompetents, just like the stupid Nazi SS bums that had the power of life or death over fellow German citizens. You ( Congress ) have given away our liberties. Are you so stupid to allow that bastard Bush to convince you to so vote? Wake up, before it's too late. History will not only condemn Bush as the worst president, it will also include Congress as co-conspirator in destroying the Constitution.

If it gets to the point that one would need to escape the U. S. you can wait until a good winter freeze, but due to Global Warming that may be impractical. My other suggestion would be to Kayak across the St. Lawrence or St. Marys River at the "Soo". Where is your sense of adventure.

Hey beforeitstoolage! Just got back huh? Where did you serve? What is/was your MOS (Military Occupational Speciality?) What unit did you serve with: grunts, arty, airwing, supply?
After ten years of military service, three of which was spent in Vietnam in the Marine Corps, you cheerleading for a war going so well, sounds hollow-like most wannabes sound.

Jake

But what about the liberals and the NDP and the greens? They actually represent the majority of Canadians and they do not support Bush's wars?

Why didn't the other political parties want a new election and they could have removed Harper? What keeps Harper in power? He seems like a mini Bush..but not as nasty as Bush. Harper is a very clever politician... a very sly man imo.

The Naderites want us to believe that Al Gore would have created a terrorist watch list that would have included Wright's and Benjamin's names. Remember that always and forever remind the Nader voters of their complicity with the Bush regime. The term "useful idiots" was invented specifically for those who helped put George Warmonger Bush into the White House.

A poster fails even to address the liberty he claims to defend for a fellow soldier's freedom of speech. The FBI's list. The land of the free are we? He says bomb them back to the stone age. That would kill a whole lot of people I expect and then what? He doesn't say. He says destroy on a massive scale death in huge measure and then what? He doesn't say. Nor does he mention that a war with Iran would likely see Pakistan fall to extremists. What happens then since they do have WMDS ... he doesn't say. He doesn't say much about a fellow soldier's freedoms nor what will happen after the mass destruction he advocates. What happens then ...he doesn't say. He just says destroy and kill and thinks no further. Maybe he figures we should just keep killing until we kill them all? Beforeitstoolate...it's too late for you...you are nuts.

We need to get congress moving on a bill to oversee this list. There are thousands of name on it that should not be there and it must be reviewed to prevent abuse.

Beforeitstoolate.....TROLL ALERT....IGNORE ! IGNORE!

beforeitstoolate ... you are the one who needs to think and maybe read the Constitution of the 'the great USA' because its not so great when that document is no longer respected or enforced. 'the great USA's' president and his entire administration are lunatic war criminals with no regard for the law or life.

As a Canadian, I find the actions of the Canadian authorities to be disgusting. Our present Conservative government, neocons are marching in sync with their rightist allies to the south. The fact that General, now Col. Wright, a woman who served her country well, is being treated the way she has been by the US government is bad enough, but to have the Canadian government going along with this affront to the rights to free speech is repugnant.

tarasa,

Can you help me understand why Harper is still in power? Why wasn't there an election? He is in a minority party...

Beforeitstoolate....Danger alert, dangert alert, Iran attacked a neighboring state as recently as... 250 years ago.

So Canada is supporting the Fuhrer,and not allowing our protesting citizens into their country. Bush will not last for ever, and we will take our country back. When we do, we will remember our neighbors to the north, and what they did to us.
I hope that this is reported in the world press. The world should be made aware that Canada is collaborating with scum.

Before it is too late - wake from your dreams, Rip Van Winkle.
It is already too late. Iraq is lost, Afghanisan is lost and in a little over 12 months time, your beloved Repugnants will be buried.
RIP

Have no illusions, Prime Minister Steven Harper is in the same pocket of the "North American Corporate Collective" as President Bush. And like Bush, he will follow his instructions, so it should not surprise anyone to observe the same war attitude in both countries.

These two entities view the protection of international corporate stash as a primary policy objective; regardless of the corporates country of origin.

As readers of Common Dreams know, the corporate has decided the Middle East oil and attached returns must be secured regardless of the human cost.

Ontario, Canada

She is a terrorist, eh? I imagine all of us who voice our concerns towards a progressive future are ALL terrorists!

Americans have almost zero understanding of how Canadian governmnet works imo.

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/266608 will give you a sample of how confusing it is.

Could someone who is Canadian ever hope to explain what a throne speech is? Its incredibly confusing to an American like me.

(I went to a local city council meeting in a small city in Canada and the councilors referred to the mayor as "your worship" and he is Jewish...which was charming in an amusing way.)

vaudree

Thank you for the attempt :)

Colleen, I haven't even tried to explain what a Throne Speech is - just why Harper was still in power.

A Throne Speech is basically like your Presidential Address to the Nation in that it gives an overview of government policy. There are a few differences, though, the Prime Minister doesn't actually read the Throne Speech, he gets the Governor General do do so for him. Like the American Address to the Nation, the Throne Speech reads like it is written on used toilet paper.

Governor General=official representative of the Queen.
MP=Congressperson

The Throne Speech and the Budget are automatically Confidence votes - meaning if more MPs vote against it than for it, Canada has another election. Other things are only Confidence vote if the Government or the Opposition make it one.

Harper is threatening to make every vote on legislation following the Throne Speech a Confidence vote because he sees it as a win-win situation. Either they let him get what he wants in legislation or the government falls and he gets the election he wants.

Normally, the opposition can defeat a legislation without there being an election.

Even if Harper turns every legislation into a Confidence vote, like he is threatening, the Opposition can still vote amendments to the legislation (ie change it) before they vote for the final legislation.

Would you have voted for the Throne Speech?

(transcript and video of Throne Speech)

Wonder what Wright thinks of the following from the recent Throne Speech:

The concern of Canadians in protecting our communities extends naturally to protecting our country against threats to our national security: those who would attack the peaceful pluralism of our society through acts of terrorism. Canada has experienced the tragedy of terrorism before. The report from the public inquiry into the Air India bombing will be an important contribution to safeguarding the lives of Canadians in the future.

Our government will address Canadians directly on the challenge of protecting our free and open society with a statement on national security. The government will introduce legislation to make sure that Canada has the tools it needs to stop those who would threaten our cities, communities and families, including measures to strengthen the Anti-Terrorism Act and to respond to the Supreme Court decision on security certificates.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And there is stuff on Afghanistan etc in there as well.

Oh, and Instead of a Secretary of State or a Secretary of Defense like you have in the US, we have a Minister of Defense.

In the US the Secretary of Defense is an unelected individual appointed by the President. In Canada the Minister of Defense is an MP from the ruling party that the PM has chosen to give a Cabinet position to.

The Opposition parties all form their own "shadow cabinets" where each of their MPs is assigned a critic portfolio. This way the work is divided up. For example, if the government has a Minister of Justice, the opposition parties each have a Justice Critic whose job it is to keep up on Justice related issues.

The names of both the Cabinet positions and the Critic portfolios are up to the discretion of the party leaders. Each tends to divide the work load up slightly differently.

Let Freedom Ring!

What a joke. The persons that should be detained are flying all over the world and Canada detains peace activists? How about starting detaining Bush, Powel, Rice, Rummy, Wolfowitz and the gang?

I've seen Ann Wright in action, and suggest that she would make a truly fine Secretary of State. An order of magnitude above any from this MalAdministration.

"Iran get nuclear…they give it to a bad guy"

the bad guy already has more nukes than anyone else, the bad guy is labeling peace activists as criminals, the bad guy locks up it's citizens, the bad guy kidnaps people around the globe, the bad guy is killing hundred of thousands of Iraqis, the bad guy is in financial debt, the bad guy is a moron, the bad guy is you.

I watched as our Fascist Dictator turned our airports into checkpoints under the guise of making us 'safer.' Obviously that 'safety' has crept across the borders. I had more respect for Canada.

I'm a Canadian.

I don't think Ann Wright should be detained, but let me ask you something about where the actual problem lies.

Right after 9/11, the US gov made a special case and got all of the bin Laden family out of the US. That was a special case made in the name of protecting friends of the administration with an eye to frustrating normal law enforcement protocols following a crime. In general, special cases like this make it possible to abuse the system by the powerful.

Now, most countries have a policy that they don't allow criminals to enter their country. For example, I have some friends who can't enter the US because they got busted with a joint; if they attempt to enter the US, they will be turned back at the border after US customs has disassembled their car. They do this based on access to our (Canada's) law enforcement database, which will tell them if someone entering the US has a record, and of what kind. Your authorities also have given my country access to their databases, and we reciprocate; after all, we feel as strongly about people who've committed gun crimes as your authorities feel about dope smokers, and we can all agree that murderers, rapists, and pedophiles are not wanted.

So, what's the problem? The problem is that the two women in question appear in that database. That's the database that helps us keep out people that we don't want in our country; people who are violent, people who victimize children, etc. The problem is not that we are turning criminals back; they are turning back Ms. Wright, but they'd also turn back the guy that held up a liquor store and shot the owner and was out on parole too. No, the problem is that she shouldn't be on that database.

We don't have ANY CONTROL WHATSOEVER about who ends up in that database, but it's pretty universally accepted that at the border it's better to stop some false positives than to allow in everybody. The real problem doesn't exist at our border points. The real problem exists in your Justice Department. We already know that the DoJ has been politicized, and that they have made decisions based on politics rather than law. This looks like such a case. However, it's pretty easy for people to Blame Canada instead of looking carefully at what's going on, which is the politicization of the serious criminals database by Bush's DoJ. In fact, by stopping those two women at the border, and detaining one of them who attempted to fly in, our border services (who serve at arm's length from the government) are doing the US and its citizenry a favour by showing how seriously impaired the US' efforts to enhance border security has been by the politicization of the normal means by which this is done. This should be news in the US, because it's really clear to people that think what's going on.

The questions you need to ask, and to ask of your representatives, are as follows:

Why is someone with a trespassing charge on a list of serious criminals?

What do you say to the prima facie case that this list has been politicized instead of used as it's supposed to be used?

This list is a reciprocity gesture used to get information from Canada so that it's easier for US border guards to keep undesirables in Canada from entering the US. What is the likely result for further cooperation with the neighbour with the longest undefended border in the world when it's becoming very clear to that neighbour that the list has been corrupted for political reasons, and is at best an unreliable guide to the people we wish to let in and the people we wish to keep out.

When will there be an investigation into the obvious politicization of this list, which is in the end bound and determined to impair the cooperation between our two countries in areas of common interest?

And a question for your newspapers, radio, and television media, both locally and nationally:

It's very clear that one of the primary mechanisms for keeping criminals out of the US (the sharing of law enforcement databases by both countries customs services) has been politicized, which in the long run can only impair its effectiveness. Why aren't you reporting on this?

Once again, I'd like to point out something. In Canada, the PM cannot directly order the border services to treat someone as persona non grata. There are procedures to have this done, and they are not trivial, and they are done in public; parts of the process may not be public, but parts of the process HAVE TO BE public. OTOH, the cooperation in terms of sharing lists of criminals has been a long term feature of our border cooperation, predating 9/11 by decades. The ONLY REASON that it's become problematic is because of actions undertaken by the USA government to politicize the list used by our border agents to aid determination of the entry status of people coming here.

Finally, and I said this in response to another article on CD earlier this week, a great protest by Col. Wright and Ms. Benjamin about this obvious abuse of law enforcement by the politicized DoJ would be applying for refugee status in Canada, pointing to their presence on this list as evidence that their fundamental mobility rights are being violated by their government; mobility rights are enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada.

If the two of them can scare up some dough for this so as to engage a Canadian refugee lawyer, they could create some seriously bad PR, because with the right presentation it would take a LONG TIME for the case to end up being decided... and the IRB operates at arm's length, meaning that overt political interference by the PM or cabinet would create a veritable shitstorm in the press up here at the same time that the mere fact that they're being considered for refugee status from the US would almost certainly create one in the press down there.

It's fun to rant, but it's also good to think about how to use clear political abuse of due process to create problems for the abusers.

jake 123 says: In Canada, the PM cannot directly order the border services to treat someone as persona non grata.

Jake, are you sure of that? I think that we will be finding out whether you are right or not.

I think that if there is a court challenge that this would be against the Charter, but didn't the Conservatives get rid of the funding for court challenges (while the Liberals were avoiding an election last year because they were leaderless)?

And then there is the SPP which met in Montebello. The difference between the SPP and NAFTA is that the SPP tries to word laws so that they are regulations (which don't have to go through parliament) rather than legislations. We don't know how many regulations they dreamed up that can operate in violation of the Charter - until they are discovered and challenged.

Does anyone know about what Col. Wright and Ms. Benjamin were going to speak about?

Does PM Harper have a pair of monogramed knee pads from Dubya?

Thank you, Canadians for supporting American war resisters.
Support them via http://www.soldiersayno.blogspot.com/

Col. Wright and Ms. Benjamin represent courage to defend real democracy, nonviolently and fearlessly, unlike the spineless wonders and corporate hacks inhabiting the major part of the US Congress.

Having met and being familiar with the words and deeds of both Wright and Benjamin, only tyrants and their stooges (no insult intended to Moe, Larry, Curly and the fill-ins)should fear or try to disuade their presence.

Can Congressmen get a cajones transplant under their medical coverage? They'd probably reject a healthy set anyway. Foreign tissue, foreign to their way of living, their M. O. A proper term to use with criminal behavior.

Maybe we need to try a new tact in the US. Court Martial George W. Bush. I favor the potential sentences for it.

I love it. While I'm editing this, vaudree from Canada remarks imply that Harper is either asswipe or a tuchas lecher. Of course, there's a third option: he's those plus a brown noser.

Ah, juvenile humor can still make me smile even now.

Oh, Canada!

Note to Canadian Border Security personnel- would I have to declare my rapier-like wit as a weapon at the border?

Wasn't August 2007 only a few short months ago? Seems that Ann Wright was having a bit of border trouble then too, but managed to get into Canada:

Ann Wright - NDP - Stop SPP forum Aug 20th

http://youtube.com/watch?v=G4KvAkcbqeA

Bill BRG, don't blame me, I voted for the people who invited Wright and Benjamin into Canada - both this time and in August.

Harper is the reason Bush doesn't need toilet paper when he visits.