Montreal Community Magazine: 2 SOLITUDES : Revue de la Communaut� de Montr�al - Headlines / Actualit�s

Montreal spammer ordered to pay $873 million to Facebook!

no@spam.com (2 SOLITUDES) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST

WASHINGTON - Facebook welcomed on Monday a U.S. court ruling against a Montreal spammer ordered to pay 873 million dollars in damages for sending unwanted messages to users of the popular social network.

Max Kelly, Facebook's director of security, called the U.S. District Court ruling in San Jose, Calif., an "important victory for our users - and against spam and those who create it."

Judge Jeremy Fogel on Friday ordered Adam Guerbuez and his company Atlantis Blue Capital to pay 436.2 million dollars in statutory damages and another 436.2 million dollars in aggravated statutory damages for violations of the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM).

"Does Facebook expect to quickly collect 873 million dollars and share the proceeds in some way with our users?" asked Kelley in a posting on the Facebook blog. "Alas, no. It's unlikely that Guerbuez and Atlantis Blue Capital could ever honor the judgment rendered against them."

"But we are confident that this award represents a powerful deterrent to anyone and everyone who would seek to abuse Facebook and its users," he added.

"Everyone who participates constructively in Facebook should feel confident that we are fighting hard to protect you against spam and other online nuisances," Kelly said.

"We will continue to invest in this area by improving our technical safeguards and devoting significant resources to finding, exposing and prosecuting the sources of spam attacks."

Facebook began legal action against Guerbuez in August, claiming that he had managed to obtain the passwords of Facebook users and was bombarding them with millions of messages about sexual products and drugs.

Judge Fogel also permanently barred Guerbuez, who lives in Montreal, and Atlantis Blue Capital from any future contact with Facebook.

The judgment was the largest since a pair of accused spammers, Sanford Wallace and Walter Rines, were ordered in May by another California court to pay some 230 million dollars to MySpace, a social networking site.

CANADIANS: Uploading a file to a peer-to-peer network or YouTube could result in lawsuits of $20,000 per file!

no@spam.com (2 SOLITUDES) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

By Peter Nowak,
CBC News

The federal government has introduced a controversial bill it says balances the rights of copyright holders and consumers — but it opens millions of Canadians to huge lawsuits, prompting one critic to warn it will create a "police state."

"We are confident we have developed the proper framework at this point in time," Minister of Industry Jim Prentice told a press conference in Ottawa on Thursday. "This bill reflects a win-win approach."

Bill C-61 contains an anti-circumvention clause that will make it illegal to break digital locks on copyrighted material. That means TiVos and other personal video recorders (PVRs) will be made useless if television broadcasters choose to put technical locks on their shows so they can't be recorded.

People caught downloading music or video files illegally could also be sued for a maximum of $500, but uploading a file to a peer-to-peer network or YouTube could result in lawsuits of $20,000 per file.

Prentice deflected questions about potential lawsuits by saying the bill is necessary to modernize Canada's laws.

"You can get into hypothetical situations," he said, "but the purpose of the bill has been to expand the balance of protection between consumers and copyright holders."

Critics blasted the government for the legislation, with Liberal industry critic Scott Brison suggesting Prentice was proposing the creation of a "police state." He criticized the government for its lack of consultation with Canadian stakeholders and for not considering the implications of the bill if it passes.

"There's no excuse for why the government has not consulted broadly the diverse stakeholders," he said. "The government has not thought this through. It has not thought about how it will enforce these provisions."

"There's a fine line between protecting creators and a police state."

Downloading on the rise

According to the latest survey from Statistics Canada, one in five Canadians aged 16 and older said he or she had downloaded or watched TV or movies over the internet, an increase from 12 per cent in 2005.

The percentage of Canadians who downloaded music — either paid or for free — also increased from 37 per cent to 45 per cent in the two-year span. Part of that increase can be attributed to a change in methodology, as Statistics Canada for the first time included 16- and 17-year-olds in the study, a demographic more likely to download media than older groups.

Critics feared the bill will mirror the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which similarly brought in restrictive measures and opened the door for copyright owners to enact huge lawsuits against violators.

Prentice has said on several occasions that Canada's Copyright Act must be amended to bring the country into compliance with the World Intellectual Property Organization treaty it signed in 1996. The act was last overhauled in 1997.

The minister was forced to retreat on introducing the bill in December after being hit with major public opposition. More than 20,000 people joined a protest group started on social networking site Facebook by University of Ottawa internet and e-commerce Prof. Michael Geist, an outspoken critic of the bill.

The opposition to the legislation has only grown since then, with the Facebook group counting more than 40,000 members now.

Canadian artists, librarians and students, as well as a business coalition made up of some of Canada's biggest companies — including Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp., as well as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. — have expressed their opposition to any legislation that imposes harsh copyright restrictions.

Opposition widespread

The chorus of opposition was joined last week by a coalition of consumer groups — including Option consommateurs, Consumers Council of Canada, Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), and Online Rights Canada (OnlineRights.ca) — that wrote a letter to the two ministers. The consumer groups expressed dismay they had not been consulted on the legislation.

Prentice responded to questioning in the House of Commons last week by saying he would not introduce the bill until he and Heritage Minister Josée Verner were satisfied that it struck the right balance between consumers and copyright holders.

Geist has repeatedly attacked the government on his blog for its lack of consultation with the Canadian public on the issue. However, Prentice has met with U.S. trade representatives and entertainment industry lobbyists to discuss the legislation.

"Prentice should be honest about the core anti-circumvention rules that are likely to mirror the DMCA and run counter to the concerns of business, education and consumer groups," Geist wrote on his blog. "Those rules are quite clearly 'Born in the USA.'"

The government said a second reading of the legislation wouldn't occur until the next sitting of the house. With the government breaking soon for the summer, such a reading would not occur until the fall.

Tories kill Information registry used to hold government accountable

no@spam.com (2 SOLITUDES) — Sat, 03 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

The federal Conservatives have quietly killed an access to information registry used by journalists, experts and the public that users say helped hold the government accountable.

The Coordination of Access to Information Requests System, or CAIRS, is an electronic list of nearly every access to information request filed to federal departments and agencies.

Originally created in 1989, it was used as an internal tool to keep track of requests and co-ordinate the government's response between agencies to potentially sensitive information released.

Now, users mine the database to do statistical studies, fine tune phrasing on new requests and discover obscure documents — often using the information against the government.

"It was really a tool designed to make government more open," said CBC investigative journalist David McKie.

"Now that it appears as though this is no longer going to be available it is very disappointing indeed and people are really wondering what the real motivation is."

Last week, a notice to civil servants from Treasury Board stated that effective April 1, "the requirement to update CAIRS is no longer in effect."

A Treasury Board official confirmed to the Canadian Press on Friday that the system is being killed because "extensive" consultations showed it wasn't valued by government departments.

Instead, "valuable resources currently being used to maintain CAIRS would be better used in the collection and analysis of improved statistical reporting," said Robert Makichuk.

Since 2006, McKie has operated a website that publishes the monthly reports released through CAIRS on a publicly accessible website, www.onlinedemocracy.ca.

He took over from Alasdair Roberts, a political scientist at Syracuse University in New York, who built a version of the database by requesting CAIRS electronic records through access to information requests and then updated the site with the monthly reports.

The online database allows the public to quickly search thousands of requests from over the years by typing key words into a search engine.

The documents are not available online, only the wording of the original access to information request, date, department, file number and general information about whether the requester was with the media, business, academic or other.

But users can then make a written request for a copy of the already released documents by citing the file number.

Monthly paper lists have also been made available since the 1990s for public consultation at a central federal office in Ottawa.

Public Works, which operates the database, spent $166,000 improving it in 2001. Federal officials in 2003 had been working on a publicly accessible online version.

"To do this now after the CAIRS' usefulness has been proven over and over again is indicative of the extent to which government will go to stifle the access regime," said Michel Drapeau, a lawyer who frequently uses the system and is a co-author of a reference work on access law.

"This is terrible and I consider this to be yet one more step in making records less accessible," he told Canadian Press.

New Democrat MP Dawn Black also condemned the Tories for shutting down the system.

"It's another example of the Harper government's talk about accountability and transparency — they talk the talk but they don't walk the walk," said Black, who said her office often uses the database.

StatsCan: Gap between rich and poor is growing

no@spam.com (2 SOLITUDES) — Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Eric Beauchesne,
Canwest News Service

Income inequality in Canada has increased, creating a widening gap between the rich and the rest and one that is only partially offset by the tax system.

But overall, there's been little growth in the after-inflation earnings of Canadians over the past quarter century, Statistics Canada said Thursday in its latest report on its findings from the 2006 census.

And that's despite a period that witnessed strong economic growth as well as substantial increases in both the educational attainment and experience of the workforce, it added.

What earnings growth there has been has gone mostly to those at the top of the income ladder, dramatically widening the gap between them and the rest, a trend that has continued this decade and accelerated for those at the top and those at the bottom, the findings suggest.

"Earnings of full-time full-year earners rose for those at the top of the earnings distribution, stagnated for those in the middle and declined for those at the bottom," Statistics Canada said in its report Thursday on changes since 1980 in median earnings of individuals, the level at which as many are earning more as less.

"As was the case during the 1980s and the 1990s, earnings grew faster between 2000 and 2005 among workers in the upper segments of the earnings distribution than among those at the bottom," it said.

Ted Wannell, a senior Statistics Canada analyst, said the available international data suggest increasing earning inequality is not exclusive to Canada. The evidence suggests it's happening in other countries and to an even greater extent in the United States.

There's no satisfactory explanation yet of why it's happening, Wannell said in an interview, but factors could include stronger job growth in occupations that have enjoyed strong wage growth, especially in the resources sector, and in high skill occupations, such as auditors.

The report shows that the median earnings of full-time workers edged up just 0.1% in 25 years to $41,401 in 2005 from $41,348 1980, and actually fell in several provinces, led by an 11.3% plunge in British Columbia. All figures are based on earnings in the year prior to the census and are in inflation-adjusted 2005 dollars.

The stagnation in earnings was despite modest growth of 2.4% between 2000 and 2005.

Those in the top 20% of earners saw their earnings rise 16.4% over the quarter century, including a 6.2% gain since 2000, while those in the bottom 20% saw theirs shrink 20.6% since 1980, including a 3.1% drop this decade. Those in the middle 20% saw only a marginal 0.1% rise since 1980 despite a 2.4% gain since 2000.

The gap between what immigrants and native-born Canadians earn also widened, both over the 25 years and over the most recent five years.

In 2005, men who were recent immigrants earned only 63 cents for each dollar earned by native-born men down from 85 cents in 1980, while the earnings of recent immigrant women fell to 56 cents of what Canadian born women earned from 85 cents .

Meanwhile, the gender gap in earnings among younger workers aged 25 to 29, after narrowing steadily over the past two decades, remained unchanged through the first half of this decade with women earning 85% of what men did, the same as in 2000.

The tax system, however, has helped to reduce the widening gap in incomes, according to the report from the census, which for the first time includes after-tax incomes as well.

The tax system hasn't completely offset what has been a substantial widening in employment earnings but has come close to doing so, Wannell said, noting that when total incomes and not just earnings are included, the gap has barely widened over the past quarter century.

"So the tax and transfer system does do a lot to equalize the distribution of well-being in the country," he said.

"After-tax income depicts in a better fashion what families have available to spend," the report said, noting that the median after-tax income of all families, made up of two or more related individuals, was $57,178 in 2005, compared with a pre-tax income of $66,343.

The after-tax income gap between higher and lower income earners is also smaller as people with higher incomes generally pay more in tax, it said, citing as an example the impact of taxes on the gap between what tend to be the highest and lowest income families.

"For example, on an after-tax basis, lone-parent families headed by women had a median after-tax income that was 49.1% of that received by couples with children, compared with 44.3% based on pre-tax income," it noted.

It also noted that the proportion of income paid in taxes ranged from a high of 24.2% for the one-fifth of families with the highest incomes to just 2.8% for the fifth with the lowest incomes.

The collection of after-tax information allowed for what some argue is also a better measure of the proportion of low-income Canadians, which Statistics Canada define as those living in families that spend 20 percentage points or more of their after-tax income than the average family on the basics of food, shelter, and clothing.

On an after-tax basis, the proportion of Canadians living on low incomes in 2005 was 11.4%, rising to a high of 14.5% for children five and under who lived in low-income families, it said. Comparisons with previous years was not possible because it was the first census in which information on after-tax income was collected.

On a pre-tax basis, the proportion of Canadians living on low incomes in 2005 was 15.3%, down from 17.3% in 1980, and the proportion of young children 19.3%, down marginally from 20% a quarter century ago.

Meanwhile, the more rapid growth in earnings among higher-income Canadians has boosted the proportion earning high incomes of $100,000 or more a year to 6.5%, or more than one-half million, from just 3.4% in 1980 and 5.5% in 2000. The proportion earning $150,000 or more has also increased to 2.2% in 2005 from 1.0% in 1980 and 1.8% in 2000.

The increase in the proportion of those earning $100,000 or more was greatest in the Northwest Territories, where there were also the greatest proportion at 12.1%, and in Nunavut and Alberta. Among the provinces the proportion of those high earners ranged from a high of 9.4% in Alberta to 7.8% in Ontario and to a low of just 2.4% in Prince Edward Island.

Most high earners were also highly educated, the report said, noting that while university-educated people accounted for only about one-quarter of full-time workers they made up 57% of those earning $100,000 or more and 65.3% of those earning at least $150,000.

The growth in high earnings was also concentrated in a relatively few occupations, many related to management, finance, oil extraction, and health and law.

The growth in earnings this decade also reflected the growth in the economy with substantial increases in earnings in occupations related to the resource boom in Western Canada, and slower growth in blue-collar earnings in manufacturing, which has been hard hit by the rising costs for energy and for raw materials, as well as the strong dollar.

Provincially, median incomes grew by a strong 7.8% in Alberta to $43,964 and 6.4% in Saskatchewan to $35,948 but fell by 3.4% in British Columbia $42,230, and 0.3% in Quebec to $37,722.

The level of incomes in 2005 ranged from a high of $60,000 in the Northwest Territories, $58,088 in Nunavut, $49,787 in Yukon, and $44,748 in Ontario to a low of $34,140 in Prince Edward Island, and less than $40,000 in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Among families, the census found that couples with children continued to have the highest median incomes of all family types at $82,943 up a hefty 21.6% from 1980 and 5.4% from 2000, the increase being due in large part to the increase in dual-earner families.

The report notes, however, that couples with children, once the dominant type of family, now account for only 46.2% down from 56.3% a quarter of a century ago, while the proportion of couples with no children at home has increased to 37% from 30.3%.

The median income for couples without children at home was $59,834, up 14.6% from 1980, and 4.8% from 2000.

While the lion's share, or $78 of every $100 of family incomes still comes from employment earnings, that proportion has dropped over the quarter century from $83 in 2008. In 2005, the proportion of income from job earnings ranged from $86.60 of every $100 for the 20% with the highest income to $37.60 for the 20% with the lowest income who got more than half their income from government transfers, such as public pensions, old age security, employment insurance and child benefits.

The share of income coming from government transfers, however, has declined this decade to 9.9% from 10.3% in 2000 although it rose by 3.8% to an average of $8,149 per family.

Provincially, the share of income coming from government transfers ranged from a high of 19.1% in Newfoundland to a low of 6.4% in Alberta and less than 10% in British Columbia at 9.6%, and Ontario at 8.8%.

Upset Habs' Fans Give Riot Videos to Montreal Police

no@spam.com (2 SOLITUDES) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT

By BEN SHINGLER
The Canadian Press

Instead of flooding YouTube with riot videos glorifying vandalism, dozens of indignant Habs fans are handing the evidence over to police.While arsonists torched police cars and vandals smashed store windows after Montreal's NHL playoff victory on Monday, hundreds of young people milled about the riot zone shooting their own footage.

About 20 blurry videos were posted to YouTube by Tuesday afternoon while police said they'd received several dozen videos and were analyzing another 30 photos.

Investigators hope the clips will help identify rioters who burned cop cars and broke store windows.

Senior officers say they're surprised by the large number of citizen submissions. They're even setting up an Internet site to receive more.

"In the past we saw video (being used) against police, now we see these kinds of video (being used) against the criminals,'' said Montreal police chief Yvan Delorme.

"It's the first time that I've seen this done by the citizens of Montreal and I'm proud of it.''

Sixteen police cars and 10 buildings were damaged in the melee that went into early Tuesday morning. Sixteen people were arrested.

Samia Amro, 19, recorded a burning cop car on her cell phone but has no plans to send the video to YouTube or the police. She was just recording a slice of personal history.

'I did it because I couldn't believe it was happening,'' Amro said in an interview.

Amro was with five friends Monday night and three of them recorded the chaos on their phones.

"There were people everywhere recording stuff, especially the fires,'' Amro said.

"People were taking pictures in front of the fire.''

Many Montrealers are angry the post-game violence tainted the celebration of an important victory and made their city look bad.

A typical caller on a local radio show said she would remove the Canadiens flag from her car because she doesn't want to be associated with vandals.

Several others said the rioters were a small pocket of violent people who did not represent the majority of revellers.

Delorme said police saw a lot of people trying to discourage others from committing vandalism.

"We have to remember that 99.9 per cent of the people that were there last night were there to have fun,'' Delorme said.

"And they want to continue to have fun.''

One tongue-in-cheek Facebook page is dedicated to planning for a riot June 6 — a highly speculative date for a Canadiens Stanley Cup victory.

Another Facebook page created after the Monday riot rails against all the mayhem.

"All Montrealers, hockey fans or not, should unite against the rioters and take them down,'' wrote one member.

"The playoff season isn't even halfway through and already the stupids have come out.''

One radio-show caller who was downtown after the game said people were celebrating like they had won the Stanley Cup, and most people were happy and peaceful.

"It's unbelievable how people can go into this game looking for trouble,'' the man said, adding that some young people seem to have tremendous anger towards the police.

Montrealers seemed to share a sense of embarrassment that a first-round win could lead to such a mess.

"This event just shows that this city does not deserve to win the cup,'' wrote a member of a Habs fan page.

"All we did was make it through the first round against a team that we were suppose to beat.''

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Montreal Police Looking For Looters
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Canada Ranks Third Amongst Worlds Worst Polluters

no@spam.com (2 SOLITUDES) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT

by Mike De Souza,
Canwest News Service

Gas-guzzling vehicles are one of the key factors behind the notorious environmental record of Canadians who are among the highest per capita polluters in the world, according to figures released Tuesday by Statistics Canada.

Each Canadian produces an average of 23 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per year, trailing Americans, who create an average of 24.4 tonnes of emissions per year, and Australians, with an average of 27.7 tonnes of emissions per year, according to the federal statistical agency.

An average car produces about five tonnes of CO2 emissions in a year, according to the report, Human Activity and the Environment, released to coincide with Earth Day. It found that the production and the individual consumption of energy were the main sources of Canada's high per capita emissions.

Although some developing countries, such as India and China are among the biggest polluters overall, the per capita emissions of those countries are up to 20 times less than those in Canada. The report also noted that such developed countries as the United Kingdom, France and Germany have per capita emissions that are about half of those produced by Canadians, who are increasing their pollution faster than any other industrialized country.

"The largest source of this growth was the production of fossil fuels, including coal, crude oil and natural gas, for export," reads the Statistics Canada report. "In both 1990 and 2003, the production of these fuels for export resulted in more GHG emissions than the production of any other exported commodity Over the period, as worldwide demand for fuels surged, GHG emissions from the production of exported fuels jumped 146 per cent, and the contribution of this sector increased from 16.5 per cent to 26.6 per cent of all exports."

But the report said that the key source of Canadian pollution came from motorists in gas-guzzling vehicles who caused overall emissions to grow by more than 23 million tonnes since 1990. Overall, the transportation sector accounted for one-third of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions and 37 per cent of the growth in "energy-related emissions sources" since 1990.

"Of particular note was the 109 per cent increase in the emissions from light-duty gasoline trucks . . . reflecting the growing popularity of sport-utility vehicles, vans and light trucks," said the report. "These vehicles . . . emit, on average, 40 per cent more GHG emissions per kilometre than gasoline automobiles."

Environmentalists said the numbers demonstrate that new federal U.S. tailpipe pollution standards are not strong enough since they would not necessarily require reductions in emissions before 2020, as opposed to proposed regulations in California that require manufacturers to lower emissions from light trucks by an average of 25 per cent by 2015.

"This (report) clearly shows the need for government to put strict curbs on emissions from vehicles, particularly on light trucks," said Emilie Moorhouse, an atmosphere and energy campaigner at the Sierra Club of Canada. "It also highlights the industry's exploitation of loopholes in order to manufacture and market the most polluting, gas guzzling vehicles."

The federal government has said that it would use the U.S. standards as a baseline for its own proposed regulations.

The publication also said that Canada is feeling serious impacts of global warming on its territory, such as new insect infestations and melting glaciers.

"Climate change is predicted to affect all Canadians to a greater or lesser extent as a result of its impact on their environment, health and economy," said the report. "Climate changes are expected to vary regionally. While it is not possible to predict changes with certainty, there is a very high degree of agreement among scientists that changes are already occurring and that further changes will occur."

The federal statistical agency also noted that average temperatures in Canada rose by 1.4 degrees Celsius from 1948 to 2007.

"Canadians will face challenges in dealing with and adapting to the effects of climate change," said the report. "Regional droughts may result in water shortages; rising sea levels and heavy precipitation events may lead to greater flood damage; warmer temperatures will favour more frequent thunderstorms and tornadoes."

Celebrating Earth day, Environment Minister John Baird said that tackling climate change was among his top priorities along with protecting parks, wildlife and water.

"This government recognizes that the health of our environment is fundamentally linked to the health of our people," said Baird. "Canadians can look forward to a lasting legacy from this government on the environment, but must work together."

Brenda Martin found guilty!

no@spam.com (2 SOLITUDES) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT

by Charles Rusnell,
Canwest News Service

GUADALAJARA, Mexico - Canadian Brenda Martin has been found guilty by a Mexican judge of accepting funds from an Internet scam and sentenced to five years in prison.

In a brief ruling issued Tuesday afternoon, Judge Luis Nunez Sandoval said Martin is guilty of the charge of accepting illicit funds. She was also fined 35,850 pesos - about $3,400 Cdn.

But Sandoval issued a warning to the prosecution. He said that if they attempt to appeal Martin's sentence, "she may return in a casket to her home," according to a Canwest News Service/Global translator.

Martin's mother, Marjorie Bletcher, said she was horrified by the ruling.

"This is awful. This is probably going to kill her. I might not ever see her again," she said.

"I know she's not guilty and I guess it's all to save face. I just have to pray that she's going to be OK because I mean, this has got to be devastating for her. I mean, to know that you are innocent and to get this verdict . . . this is crazy. I guess Mexico's going to make her pay."

Outside the court, Martin's lawyer, Guillermo Cruz Rico of Toronto, said she was shocked by the judge's ruling.

He said he was with Martin when she received the news and she collapsed and began to scream.

Cruz said Martin has threatened to kill herself.

Bletcher expressed the fear that the ruling might worsen Martin's fragile mental state.

"She's in such a fragile state that I'm afraid this might just take her over the edge," she said. "Bring her back right away. She needs help.

"Brenda, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I know you're innocent. I guess if I'd had money . . . Or maybe we'd had a proper lawyer, this might not have happened. There is so much corruption in Mexico."

Deb Tieleman, Martin's childhood friend and advocate, immediately began to yell after the decision was read.

"This is incredible," she shouted. "There is no justice in this country.

"There was never any evidence against Brenda Martin."

Jeff Marder, a spokesman for the Canadian embassy in Mexico City, said the Canadian government would issue a statement about Martin very soon. It is believed Ottawa will announce that Martin will be transferred home to Canada as soon as possible, possibly under an agreement with Martin that would reduce her sentence based on time served.

Martin's legal nightmare began on Feb. 17, 2006. She had arranged to meet a potential client who wanted her to cater a birthday party for his mother.

They met on a Puerto Vallarta street near her apartment. The client turned out to be an undercover police officer. He grabbed her by the wrist and several other Mexican federal police officers suddenly appeared. She was placed in a waiting vehicle.

She was eventually charged with knowingly accepting illicit funds from a scam run by her former boss, Alyn Waage.

Waage, a former Edmonton resident, masterminded what's believed to be the largest Internet-based fraud scheme in history, bilking 15,000 investors in 59 countries out of about $60 million.

Martin worked as a chef for Waage for 10 months until he fired her in early 2001 for insulting his elderly mother. He paid her $26,000 in severance pay and, without his knowledge, she invested about $10,000 into what she believed was his legitimate investment business. After Waage's arrest in April 2001, she asked him to return her investment and he complied.

The bank-account evidence of the severance pay and the investment became the prosecution's principal piece of evidence against Martin. In fact, the prosecution conceded it had no direct evidence against Martin, but insisted it had enough circumstantial evidence to "infer" that she should have known the money she obtained from Waage came from the proceeds of his crime.

Martin always maintained she knew nothing of her employer's criminal scheme and Waage swore an affidavit in support.

A series of lawyers hired by friends and family, and a public defender provided by the Mexican government, all made promises to free Martin. But for nearly two years, none delivered.

Martin became increasingly frustrated and depressed because she could never understand what was happening with her case. And the judge in her case set repeated deadlines that were subsequently changed.

Tieleman, learned about Martin's plight in September 2007 and immediately started a public campaign to free her.

She hired Cruz Rico and publicly criticized the Canadian government's lack of effort on Martin's case.

Cruz reviewed Martin's file and concluded there was no evidence to support the charge against her. He learned she had not been provided with an interpreter, either by police or the courts - a breach of both Mexican and international law.

The file also revealed that no one from the Canadian consulate in Guadalajara had asked to review Martin's file until she had been imprisoned for nearly 18 months.

The revelations caused a media firestorm and Martin's story figured prominently in the news for weeks after.

A constitutional challenge based on the violation of Martin's rights failed and Martin, physically weak and mentally ill, was placed on a suicide watch.

Responding to public pressure, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier sent a diplomatic note to Mexico on March 11, raising concerns about Martin's rights.

Bernier also removed junior minister Helena Guergis from the file, replacing her with MP Jason Kenney.

After Martin's lawyer filed her defence earlier this month, the Mexican judge said he would try to issue a ruling by April 18. That deadline, however, was pushed back to Wednesday.

Bruce Springsteen (Rock & Roll Legend ) Throws His Supports Behind Barak Obama

no@spam.com (2 SOLITUDES) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Dear Friends and Fans:

Like most of you, I've been following the campaign and I have now seen and heard enough to know where I stand. Senator Obama, in my view, is head and shoulders above the rest.

He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next President. He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where "...nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone."

At the moment, critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships. While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man's life and vision, so well described in his excellent book, Dreams of My Father, often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our Constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment.

After the terrible damage done over the past eight years, a great American reclamation project needs to be undertaken. I believe that Senator Obama is the best candidate to lead that project and to lead us into the 21st Century with a renewed sense of moral purpose and of ourselves as Americans.

Over here on E Street, we're proud to support Obama for President.

Bruce Springsteen

Why Were the 9/11 Tapes Destroyed?

no@spam.com (2 SOLITUDES) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
Source: CounterPunch.org
..............................

Many Americans are content with the 9/11 Commission Report, but the two chairmen of the commission, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton are not.

Neither was commission member Max Cleland, a US Senator who resigned from the 9/11 Commission, telling the Boston Globe (November 13, 2003): "This investigation is now compromised."

Even former FBI director Louis Freeh wrote in the Wall Street Journal (Nov. 17, 2005) that there are inaccuracies in the commission's report and "questions that need answers."

Both Kean and Hamilton have twice stated publicly, once in their 2006 book, Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission, and again in the January 2, 2008, New York Times, that there are inaccuracies in their report and unanswered--or mis-answered--questions.

On the second day of this new year, Kean and Hamilton accused the CIA of obstructing their investigation: "What we do know is that government officials decided not to inform a lawfully constituted body, created by Congress and the President, to investigate one of the greatest tragedies to confront this country. We call that obstruction."

In their book, Kean and Hamilton wrote that they were unable to obtain "access to star witnesses in custody who were the only possible source for inside information about the 9/11 plot."

The only information the commission was permitted to have about what was learned from interrogations of alleged plot ringleaders, such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, came from "thirdhand" sources.

The commission was not permitted to question the alleged plotters in custody or even to meet with those who interrogated the alleged plotters.

Consequently, write Kean and Hamilton, "We had no way of evaluating the credibility of detainee information" that was fed to them by third party hands. "How could we tell if someone such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was telling us the truth?"

The fact that video tapes of the interrogations existed was kept secret from the 9/11 Commission.

The video tapes have since been destroyed. The destruction of the videos has become an issue because of White House involvement in the decision to destroy the tapes and because the videos are believed to have been destroyed because they reveal methods of torture that the Bush administration denies using.

According to President Bush, the US does not practice torture even though he and his Department of Justice (sic) assert the right to torture.

Is the torture issue a red herring?

The 9/11 Commission was not tasked with investigating interrogation methods or detainee treatment. The commission was tasked with investigating al Qaeda's participation in the 9/11 attack and determining the perpetrators of the terrorist event. There was no reason to withhold from the commission video evidence of confessions implicating al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

Was the video evidence withheld from the 9/11 Commission because the alleged participants in the plot did not confess, did not implicate al Qaeda, and did not implicate bin Laden?

There is no reason for the Bush administration to fear the torture issue. The Justice Department's memos have legalized the practice, and Congress has passed legislation, signed by President Bush, giving retroactive protection to US interrogators who tortured detainees. The Military Commissions Act passed in September 2006 and signed by Bush in October 2006 strips detainees of protections provided by the Geneva Conventions: "No alien unlawful enemy combatant subject to trial by military commission under this chapter may invoke the Geneva Conventions as a source of rights." Other provisions of the act strip detainees of speedy trials and of protection against torture and self-incrimination. The law has a provision that retroactively protects torturers against prosecution for war crimes.

Did the Bush administration cleverly take advantage of the torture claims in order to spin the destruction of the CIA video tapes as a "torture story." It is conceivable that the tapes were destroyed because they reveal the absence of confession to the plot. As Kean and Hamilton ask, without evidence how do we know the truth?

All we have is the word of the administration that told us Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that, while sitting on a NIE report that concluded that Iran had terminated its weapons program in 2003, told us that Iran had an ongoing nuclear weapons program and was close to having a nuclear weapon.

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Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com
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Hillary Clinton's Presidential Campaign Ties to the CFR and The Military Elite!

no@spam.com (2 SOLITUDES) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST

by Greg Bacon
Wake Up From Your Slumber

Hillary Clinton's campaign committee as of October 2007 from a Washington Post article, reads like a who's who of the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) and the military elite.

Most of these so-called "experts" have been floating in and out of Washington, DC for decades. When not actively involved in the federal government, they migrate to "think tanks" like the Brookings Institute and AEI.

Given that our country's affairs have been sold down the road to special interests and that we are looking at series of military fiascos overseas, that could lead to WW III and a financial Tsunami hitting America at home, isn't it time to jettison these alleged experts for some new blood?

After all, how in the hell could things get much worse?

Some of the distinguished members include:

Madeleine K. Albright, President Clinton’s secretary of state and now chairperson of the National Democratic Institute, foreign policy adviser

(One could give the nickname "Bloody Maddy" to Albright, due to her comments on a 1995 CBS "60 Minutes" segment, where she stated that "The price is worth it" when asked about the Iraqi sanctions, which to date, had been responsible for the deaths of close to 600,000 Iraqi children. CFR member.)

Samuel R. Berger, President Clinton’s national security adviser and now a principal at business consultancy Stonebridge, foreign policy adviser

(Sammy, in April 2005, pleaded guilty to stealing a total of five copies of classified documents from the Archives. Was Sammy's theft of documents in connection with his work on the 9/11 Commission or was Sammy doing a bit of housecleaning in preparation for Hillary's presidential run? We'll never know, since three of the documents were destroyed.)

Lt. Gen. Daniel William Christman, a former West Point superintendent and now senior vice president for international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, foreign policy adviser. - CFR Member

Gen. Wesley K. Clark, President Clinton’s Kosovo commander and now a Democratic fundraiser, endorsed Sen. Clinton Sept. 15.

(Folks in the Balkans know Clark better as the Commander of Operation Allied Force, the 78 day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. Ask them what their thoughts are... at least ask the ones that survived the 38,000 bombing missions.

From that murderous campaign came a new Orwellian term, "humanitarian bombing.")

John H. Dalton, President Clinton’s Navy secretary and now president of the Financial Services Roundtable’s Housing Policy Council, veterans and military retirees for Hillary

(Just what does the Financial Services Roundtable's Housing Policy Council do? Here's a quote from their web page: "The members of the Roundtable and of the Housing Policy Council are directly involved in providing mortgage credit to Americans seeking to achieve the dream of homeownership." Sounds like a prosperous way to engage the mortgage industry.)

Lee Feinstein, a deputy in President Clinton’s State Department, national security coordinator

(Council of Foreign Relations scholar. Co-wrote a paper that stated "... the biggest problem with the Bush preemption strategy may be that it does not go far enough." And that "... U.N. member states have a responsibility to protect the lives, liberty, and basic human rights of their citizens, and that if they fail or are unable to carry it out, the international community has a responsibility to step in.)

Like the way the U.S. bribed nations to become part of the "Coalition of the Willing" to invade and destroy Iraq?)

Leslie H. Gelb; president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, a former New York Times correspondent and a former State and Defense Department official, informal adviser

(President Emeritus of the CFR. In a May 2006 article in TIME, wrote a an article gushing with praise for Condi's talents???? )

Richard C. Holbrooke, President Clinton’s UN ambassador and broker of the Dayton Peace Accords (and now a Washington Post columnist), foreign policy adviser (CFR Member.)

Martin S. Indyk, President Clinton’s ambassador to Israel and now director of Brookings’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy, foreign policy adviser

(Director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy. Indyk, has stated that the United States should maintain our long-standing, IRONCLAD commitment to Israel.

Really? Got any relatives fighting for Israel in Iraq, there Marty babe?)

Gen. John M. ("Jack") Keane, a former Army vice chief of staff who co-crafted the Iraq "surge" and is now a military analyst (sometimes for ABC news), military issues advise

(CFR Member. When he's not out whooping it up for more wars in the Middle East, Keane serves on the board of one of the nation's largest defense contractors, General Dynamics. And he's also an adviser to the chairman and CEO of URS Corp, whose military contracts are a significant portion of its $4 billion in sales in 2005.

Edwin Starr asked in his excellent song, "War, what is it good for?" Mr. Keane seems to have found a very profitable answer to that question.)

Lt. Gen. Claudia J. Kennedy, former deputy chief of staff for intelligence, veterans and military retirees for Hillary

Lt. Gen. Donald L. Kerrick, President Clinton’s deputy national security adviser, organizes meetings of retired officers

(Vice-President of strategic development and international business at General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems.)

Col. Andrew F. Krepinevich, president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, briefed Hillary Clinton as well as Sen. John McCain and Gov. Bill Richardson (Member of CFR.)

Vali Nasr, Naval Postgraduate School professor, Middle East adviser (CFR Board Member)

Michael O'Hanlon, Brookings senior fellow and former Congressional Budget Office defense and foreign policy analyst, supporter.

(O'Hanlon hangs out at the pro-war Brookings Institute, home base of Martin Indyk. O' Hanlon, like fellow war cheerleader Kenneth Pollack, tried to fashion themselves as originally against the Iraq war, before they were for it. Except, as this excellent article by Glenn Greenwald shows:

"What is the most vivid and compelling evidence of how broken our political system is? It is that the exact same people who urged us into the war in Iraq, were wrong in everything they said, and issued one false assurance after the next as the war failed, continue to be the same people held up as our Serious Iraq Experts. The exact "experts" to whom we listened in 2002 and 2003 are the same establishment experts now.

Hence, today we have yet another Op-Ed declaring that We Really Are Winning in Iraq This Time -- this one in the NYT from "liberal" Brookings Institution "scholars" Ken Pollack and Mike O'Hanlon. They accuse war critics of being "unaware of the significant changes taking place," proclaim that "we are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms," and the piece is entitled "A War we Might Just Win."

The Op-Ed is an exercise in rank deceit from the start. To lavish themselves with credibility -- as though they are war skeptics whom you can trust -- they identify themselves at the beginning "as two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration's miserable handling of Iraq." In reality, they were not only among the biggest cheerleaders for the war, but repeatedly praised the Pentagon's strategy in Iraq and continuously assured Americans things were going well. They are among the primary authors and principal deceivers responsible for this disaster.

Rep. (and retired Vice Adm.) Joseph Sestak, veterans and military retirees for Hillary

(Sestak, was described by Military Corruption.com as being an arrogant and obnoxious "bully-boy" who delighted in being rude and unreasonable. Within 24 hours of the new Chief of Naval Ops, Admiral Mike Mullen taking control. Sestak was tossed overboard.

Rude and obnoxious? Sounds like a good fit for Hillary.)

Andrew Shapiro, Sen. Clinton’s Senate foreign policy staffer

(Shapiro worked for that United States Senator from Tel Aviv, Joe Lieberman's 2000 presidential campaign. Need more be said?)

Jeffrey H. Smith, former CIA general counsel and now a partner leading the public policy and government contracts group of law firm Arnold & Porter, national security adviser

Strobe Talbott, Brookings president, informal adviser

(Another CFR member and President of the Brookings Institute)

After reading the above, don't despair, since Hillary has been getting chummy with the evangelicals for the last 15 years.

She's a member of a secretive Capitol Hill religious group that seeks to bring Jesus back to D.C.

Now Hillary wouldn't seek to gain some political advantage from this, now would she?

For the complete list of the CFR board members, click here.