MEX/CAN: The Difference When Push gets Shovey

CBC News - Canada - Police beat journalist covering G20: report

CBC News - Canada - Police beat journalist covering G20: report

Freelance journalist Jesse Rosenfeld says police beat him Saturday night in Toronto as he covered a G20 demonstration.
A second journalist who witnessed the incident said it was "not a great night for democracy."
Steve Paikin, host of TVO's The Agenda public affairs show, was watching protesters on a downtown Toronto street, the Esplanade, on Saturday night.
In a message posted on Twitter, Paikin wrote that the demonstration was peaceful. "It was like an old sit-in. No one was aggressive, and yet riot squad officers moved in."
Police told him to leave, and "as I was escorted away from the demonstration, I saw two officers hold a journalist."
"The journalist identified himself as working for the Guardian," Paikin tweeted. "He talked too much and pissed the police off. Two officers held him. A third punched him in the stomach. Totally unnecessary. The man collapsed. Then the third officer drove his elbow into the man's back."
The man was Rosenfeld, 26, is a freelancer from Toronto who is now based in the Middle East. He writes for Now Magazine, The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, The Montreal Mirror and This Magazine.
"An officer came up to me, looked at my ID, my alternative media centre press pass and said: 'This isn't a legitimate press pass. Put him under arrest!'" Rosenfeld said.
"At which point I was immediately jumped and beaten. The officer grabbed my arm, ripped it behind my back. I was punched in the stomach to make me go down to the ground. I was being hit in the ribs.
"All the time I was saying 'I am not resisting arrest. I am a journalist. Why are you beating me?'"
According to Paikin, "this guy is about 5-foot-4, 140 pounds. I later spoke to his father and found out he's only got one kidney, and he's an asthmatic. Hard to see how he was a threat to anything."
"Not a great night for democracy in our city, the way I saw it."
Toronto police said Rosenfeld is welcome to file a complaint. He has hired a lawyer.
Rosenfeld was not the only person whose arrest perturbed Paikin.
On Sunday, he said he had heard from author and academic Valerie Zawilski. She had just been released from jail after being arrested for breaching peace during the Saturday night demonstration. "Gimme a break," Paikin tweeted.
And Paikin monitored the arrest of the son of Kate Holloway. Holloway is a journalist, activist and was a Liberal party candidate in the 2007 Ontario election.
Her son Sam and Sam's girlfriend were watching a demonstration Saturday night and were arrested.
They spent a night in jail and Sam's parents had no idea where they were.
With files from the CBC's Dave Seglins

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/06/28/g20-rosenfeld-police.html#ixzz0sG3Plclo

Worst Slum

Police provocateurs at Montebello Summit?

This is the kinda shit we do even here in Canada!

CBC and Digital Cable

Why not get this complaint off my chest now!?
The CBC, which is a public broadcaster in Canada for all of those who have never had the DISpleasure of having actually seen a CBC show, will be moving into the digital age as of 08/2011. This will not change much for the many Canadians switching to a digital box, other than add some additional budgetary expenses to our taxes. Which leads me to my point: "What if I don't want a digital box?" It's true, some people will actually NOT buy into the digital transfer when the time comes. Does this mean they will be granted special tax withholding powers? A power to not pay the FIFTY some odd dollars per year we each pay for the CBC? Of course not! They will be forced to pay $50 per year for something they will never receive...EVER.

Now some of you may say; "Well, people that don't have kids still must pay school taxes and such." To them I would point out that publicly funded schools benefit all of us, otherwise where would the kids you don't want around you go to all day? But, TV is not an essential service like health-care, which you will pay for no matter if you go to the hospital everyday or never at all. So the question is why the f*ck am I going to pay $50 more dollars to the government for an NON-essential service or good?

The answer is: I won't. And neither should you. Call your MPPs now as an election is just around the corner.

Calling Gov't Offices on a Cell Phone

When formulating an assault on reality it is best to have the most expensive cell phone plan available. As a habitual public servant harasser, I have noticed the ever growing wait time to speak to even the lowliest of the peasantry that do the public's bidding. Recently I called my local Member of Parliament to request more information on Canada's recently relaxed Atlantic coast, off-shore drilling regulations.

The call started off as all do, with a morning shot of gin and a contraband cigarette. I then pushed the appropriate digits on my cancer causing cell phone to connect to one of my many minions, tactically placed within all levels of our government. After a few moments I had a human on the line asking me the nature of my comment. And this is where the story begins.


This human question re-director after hearing that I wanted some clarification and back-ground info on this new, yet poorly timed bill. This bill would allow foreign corporations to use the minimum safety measures required, plus they would not need to have plans for a back-up well or any spill aftermath protocols. Now, I am no expert, but when a major natural disaster occurs near by (re. Gulf of Mexico), one would assume that the neighboring country's (us!) policies would take this negative factor into account and move forward more progressively.

Now, I would love to tell you I have gotten to the bottom of this issue by being a responsible supporter of the democratic process, through calls to my local elected officials and emails to those in a position to respond to my concern. Nope! Instead I waited on hold for over 56 minutes between two completely uninvolved Federal branches of government, only to find out that the first office I had called infact, misdirected me.

If I calculate the contact number research, the hold time plus the talk time, just to get some clarification pertaining to federal legislation it works out to an amazing 122 minutes! Thats over 2 hours of my life and a major chunk of my cell phone's monthly "Daytime" minutes. It seems to me that using a mobile phone to contact our employees, or politicians... is overly expensive and in general is doing a disservice to the democratic process in Canada. I can only imagine that this issue arises all over the world, and to which I say: "Free Calls To Gov't Jerks!"