08/07/2008 TorontoChange.com News and In Focus
Events:
Hiroshima & Nagasaki Photo Exhibit
August 6 -11
THDC is honoured to announce that the City of Toronto has been selected to host the Hiroshima & Nagasaki Photo Exhibit to be held concurrently with 101 cities across the United States. THDC is also very pleased to present Setsuko Thurlow, Member of the Order of Canada and Hibakusha (Hiroshima survivor), who will introduce the exhibition.
Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba of Hiroshima will also offer a personal video greeting to the citizens of Toronto in mutual respect for the decades of work done by the citizens of Toronto and Hiroshima on global peacebuilding and the Mayors for Peace campaign pressing together in solidarity for the abolition of nuclear weapons. "Our goal is to create awareness of the destructive power of nuclear weapons," says Setsuko Thurlow, "and the 25,000 armed nuclear weapons of which are still threatening humanity today."
The Hiroshima & Nagasaki Photo Exhibit features pictures and educational facts about the devastation of nuclear war. The exhibit also displays dramatic drawings and paintings from dozens of Hibakusha survivors of their painful memories during the first moments on the ground after the 1945 atomic bombings in Japan with the urgent message "never again".
The exhibit runs from August 6th -11th, 2008 in conjunction with the "Paths to Hope" Peace Commemoration and Lantern Ceremony on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at the Toronto Peace Garden, Nathan Phillips Square beginning at 6:30 pm.
Infodrop Sunday At Dundas Square
(ain't gonna be no SPP, NAU, the war criminals are going to the clink. As for Bill C-51, well, they can use it for toilet paper. Time activists get over the paranoia foisted on them by the internet and ignorant lamestream media.)
Sunday Aug 10 1:00 - 6:00 PM
Come out in support of international Truth Action Day.
We are committed to making every Sunday at Dundas Square a place to meet and hand out information. We will be handing out fliers and DVDs to educate about
911 Truth / The Unjust Detainment of the Toronto 18 /The War Resister Support Campaign / The SPP and NAU / Bill C51 and Codex
We will be handing out dissent dollars and flyers around the downtown core. Join us and inform others about the coming North American Union agenda, 9/11, the coming police state and how it effects Canadians. We will also have several petitions to sign including the March On Ottawa Petition.
Fliers will be provided however it is recommended that you bring DVD copies of Truth Rising and The Nations’s Deathbed.
Meet at Dundas square at 1 PM this Sunday!
Come out in support of international Truth Action Day.
We are committed to making every Sunday at Dundas Square a place to meet and hand out information. We will be handing out fliers and DVDs to educate people about 9/11 Truth.
Fluoride Forums - Is it time to stop water fluoridation in Toronto?
Monday, Aug11 , 7:00 - 10:00 PM
The following two Fluoride Forums are free and open to the public. All presentations will be followed by questions from the public.
Based on new studies that indicate that fluoride can damage the brain and other tissues, a panel of international scientists, doctors and dentists will explore the following questions:
Is it time to stop water fluoridation in Toronto? Do the risks outweigh the benefits? Are there safer ways to protect children’s teeth?
An evening Fluoride Forum Monday, August 11, 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.25 Cecil Street at the United Steelworkers Union Hall (1 block south of College Street west and 3 blocks west of University Avenue) Walk, bike, take the TTC to Queen’s Park Station or drive. Free parking for first 50 cars.
The first major public presentation of new scientific evidence on:
FLUORIDE’S EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN
by Dr. Vyvyan Howard, MB CHB PhD FRCPath
Professor of Bioimaging, School of Biomedical Science, University of Ulster
President, International Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE)
Dr. C. Vyvyan Howard is a medically-qualified pathologist interested in infant and fetal toxicology and, more recently, in researching the toxicological properties of nanoparticles.
The evening forum will conclude with short presentations from a panel of distinguished international scientists and researchers including Dr. A. K. Susheela and Dr. Jennifer Luke onFLUORIDE'S OTHER HEALTH IMPACTS.
Fluoride Action Network: www.fluoridealert.org
Headlines:
Save the Internet
Net Neutrality in Canada is the principle that consumers should be in control of what content, services and applications they use on the public Internet.
It's a simple concept that has wide-ranging implications on how the Internet operates.
"When I invented the Web, I didn't have to ask anyone's permission. Now, hundreds of millions of people are using it freely. I am worried that that is going end" - Sir Tim Berners Lee.
It is our belief that the Internet is more than just the physical infrastructure over which it operates. It is a vibrant marketplace and an entirely new format for free expression, even a political landscape and a tool for free organization. Some ISPs in Canada however, are overstepping their role and cannot separate their participation in this network from their component ownership and commercial interests.
In order to protect the Internet from these increasingly invasive corporate interests, we are asking that the government define the rules for which ISPs may participate on the Internet and mandate the application and content neutrality of Internet access providers.
By protecting Net Neutrality, we guarantee that pro-union sites do not get blocked, that ISPs do not charge anti-competitive 'preference' fees and that independent media can compete based on content, not pocketbook, with the largest of publishers.It's time for the Canadian government to stand up and protect the future of the Canadian Internet.
Scientist Suicided as Anthrax Investigation Closes In
Bruce Ivins, a microbiologist at the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Maryland, reportedly committed suicide after ingesting prescription-strength Tylenol and codeine, as the FBI prepared to charge him in the anthrax attacks weeks after the 9/11 attack in 2001.
Ivins was part of the FBI team that investigated the anthrax sent in letters to the Senate's Democratic leadership.
In March of this year, Fox News reported: ""The FBI has narrowed its focus to 'about four' suspects in the 6 1/2-year investigation of the deadly anthrax attacks of 2001, and at least three of those suspects are linked to the Army'™s bio-weapons research facility at Fort Detrick in Maryland . . . Among the pool of suspects are three scientists '” a former deputy commander, a leading anthrax scientist and a microbiologist '” linked to the research facility, known as USAMRIID. The FBI has collected writing samples from the three scientists in an effort to match them to the writer of anthrax-laced letters that were mailed to two U.S. senators and at least two news outlets in the fall of 2001, a law enforcement source confirmed." It is now believed that the microbiologist in question was Ivins. The other suspects have not yet been identified. Although the FBI said the four Fort Detrick personnel were suspects, WMR previously reported that some Fort Detrick personnel were in a whistleblower status concerning knowledge of the perpetrators of the anthrax attacks.
(ps. Ivins did NOT do it!! He was framed and got tired of being harassed by the FBI.)
Forged Letters: More Evidence of False Ties Between Iraq and 911
Bestselling journalist Ron Suskind has revealed that the White House ordered the CIA to forge and backdate a document falsely linking Iraq with Muslim terrorists and 9/11 . . . and that the CIA complied with those instructions and in fact created the forgery, which was then used to justify war against Iraq.
Suskind also revealed that "Bush administration had information from a top Iraqi intelligence official 'that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq – intelligence they received in plenty of time to stop an invasion.' ”
This is a stunning revelation in its own right. But what does it say about the government's claims that 9/11 was an attack by Muslim extremists which the U.S. government could not have anticipated?
Well, if the White House ordered the CIA to forge documents falsely implicating the people against which they wanted to wage war (Iraqis), and falsely linking supposed Al Qaeda terrorists with someone they had no connection with (Saddam Hussein), is it possible that a similar thing occurred as to who carried out 9/11?
TORONTOCHANGE EXCLUSIVE: VIDEO PROTEST FOOTAGE, JULY 26 @ US CONSULATE TO BRING HOME OMAR KHADR
TORONTO — Omar Khadr's family joined a crowd of supporters willing to brave thunderstorms and blustering wind at a rally on Saturday to press for the youngest Guantanamo Bay detainee to be transferred to Canada.
Members of the Khadr family, including younger brother Karim, 19, and older sister Zaynab, 28, endured the inclement weather along with the more than 200 supporters outside the U.S. Consulate in Toronto.
The Toronto-born Omar Khadr, now 21, was arrested as a 15-year-old after a firefight with U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan in 2002. He is accused of throwing a grenade that killed a medic and has spent nearly six years in custody.
Khadr’s Lawyer: Dismiss Charges
A lawyer for Canada's only inmate at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay said Monday he has filed three motions to dismiss war crimes charges against his client on the grounds the U.S. government has illegally influenced the case.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler argues that "unlawful influence" exerted by the United States government has tainted the military commission charged with investigating Omar Khadr's case.
Khadr, a Canadian citizen, was only 15 when he was captured in a bloody firefight with U.S. troops in Afghanistan in July 2002. He was accused of throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. medic during the firefight. Now 21, Khadr is the only Western foreigner still being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and is awaiting trial before the commission, scheduled to begin in October.
A spokeswoman with the Pentagon on Monday refused to comment on the motions, saying it would be inappropriate to do so because the motions are pending before the court.
In an e-mail sent to reporters, Kuebler said he is accusing Pentagon attorneys of interfering in the commission's disclosure process, alleging the U.S. defence headquarters pressured interrogators at the American naval base in Cuba to destroy their handwritten notes in case they were asked to testify about the treatment of detainees there.
He said Khadr's defence team has also filed a motion to dismiss charges against their client based on allegations that U.S. Air Force Brig.-Gen. Thomas Hartmann, the legal adviser to the military commissions, has applied "excessive interference" in the prosecution of his cases.
In May, Hartmann was barred by a military judge from participating in the first Guantanamo war crimes trial because he aligned himself too closely with prosecutors. That case, against Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan, went to jury Monday.
Security in Doubt after Edmonton Tragedy
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, speaking in Quebec City, said the issue of safety on buses may need to be examined more closely once the legal process of this case is over.
"We're never closed to looking at how Canadians can be more safe and more secure," Day told reporters in Quebec Thursday. "This particular incident, as horrific as it is, is obviously extremely rare."
Witnesses described a nightmarish scene inside the bus.
In Focus
The Military Vs The Internet
Amazing revelations have emerged concerning already existing government plans to overhaul the way the internet functions in order to apply much greater restrictions and control over the web.
Lessig also revealed there is already in existence a cyber equivalent of the Patriot Act waiting for a cyber terrorism event in order to implement its provisions.
Lawrence Lessig, a respected Law Professor from Stanford University told an audience at this years Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference in Half Moon Bay, California, that “There’s going to be an i-9/11 event” which will act as a catalyst for a radical reworking of the law pertaining to the internet.
Lessig also revealed that he had learned, during a dinner with former government Counter Terrorism Czar Richard Clarke, that there is already in existence a cyber equivalent of the Patriot Act, an “i-Patriot Act” if you will, and that the Justice Department is waiting for a cyber terrorism event in order to implement its provisions.
During a group panel segment titled “2018: Life on the Net”, Lessig stated:
There’s going to be an i-9/11 event. Which doesn’t necessarily mean an Al Qaeda attack, it means an event where the instability or the insecurity of the internet becomes manifest during a malicious event which then inspires the government into a response. You’ve got to remember that after 9/11 the government drew up the Patriot Act within 20 days and it was passed.
The Patriot Act is huge and I remember someone asking a Justice Department official how did they write such a large statute so quickly, and of course the answer was that it has been sitting in the drawers of the Justice Department for the last 20 years waiting for the event where they would pull it out.
Of course, the Patriot Act is filled with all sorts of insanity about changing the way civil rights are protected, or not protected in this instance. So I was having dinner with Richard Clarke and I asked him if there is an equivalent, is there an i-Patriot Act just sitting waiting for some substantial event as an excuse to radically change the way the internet works. He said “of course there is”.
The Death of a Scientist and the Bio War Mystery
It is Saturday morning, and as the skies darken, and the rains threaten, I am reading about biowar investigator Bruce E. Ivins who is said to have taken his life with a fatal cocktail of codeine and other drugs just as he was about to be arrested and charged with five cases of murder in connection with the still fully unsolved anthrax attacks of 2001.
The naming of Mr. Ivins, born in Lebanon (Ohio), not the Middle East, and a veteran employee at the U.S. Government's massive US Army bio weapons lab at Ft. Detrick, MD at least suggests, as many have long contended, that this was a domestic crime, not a foreign terrorist act.
The story, broken by the LA Times Friday got the full card monte coverage treatment by the New York Times on Saturday with acres of print. Is there any reason to conclude that we now know all the facts, or that the case is closed or even that Ivins was the guilty party?
The last man accused by the FBI Dr Stephen Hatfill went to Court and won a $4.6 million settlement in his suit against the FBI for violating his rights. His law suit against the NY Times reporting on the issue failed when the Judge ruled he could not prove the newspaper knowingly published false information. Clearly, the information was false then. How credible is the reporting now?
Ivins' lawyer Paul Kemp insists that it was FBI harassment and humiliation that led to the suicide. He also contends that Ivins would have been exonerated if his case went to trial. Obviously he was facing a long and costly legal ordeal contributing to his anxieties. One report said he did not have the money to properly defend himself.
The Washington Post reports that other scientists at the lab are skeptical about suggestions that Ivins is the man described in the NY Post as "DR DOOM."
Yet, colleagues and friends of the vaccine specialist remained convinced that Ivins was innocent: They contended that he had neither the motive nor the means to create the fine, lethal powder that was sent by mail to news outlets and congressional offices in the late summer and fall of 2001. Mindful of previous FBI mistakes in fingering others in the case, many are deeply skeptical that the bureau has gotten it right this time.
"I really don't think he's the guy. I say to the FBI, 'Show me your evidence,' " said Jeffrey J. Adamovicz, former director of the bacteriology division at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases, or USAMRIID, on the grounds of the sprawling Army fort in Frederick. "A lot of the tactics they used were designed to isolate him from his support. The FBI just continued to push his buttons."
Investigators are so confident of Ivins's involvement that they have been debating since Friday whether and how to close the seven-year-old anthrax investigation. That would involve disbanding a grand jury in the District and unsealing scores of documents that form the basis of the government's case against Ivins.
Congressman Rush Holt does not trust the FBI either. In a statement buried at the end of the Times story on page A10, rather than in the lead on page l where it belonged, he said, "What we learn will not change the fact that this has been a poorly handled investigation that has lasted 6 years and already has resulted in a trail of embarrassment and personal tragedy."
According to another report, FBI investigators had conducted 9100 interviews, sent out 6000 grand jury subpoenas and conducted 67 searches. They also traveled to "many" unnamed countries. They would not disclose their case against the late Mr. Ivins. He saw himself as a fall guy or patsy. Was he? Who else and what else was behind this attack on news outlets, US Senators and the postal service employees who died.
Featured Films
The Fluoride Deception
In this video, Christopher Bryson, an award-winning journalist and former producer at the BBC, discusses the findings of his book The Fluoride Deception.
Iraq For Sale
Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers is the story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to war. Acclaimed director Robert Greenwald (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed and Uncovered) takes you inside the lives of soldiers, truck drivers, widows and children who have been changed forever as a result of profiteering in the reconstruction of Iraq. Iraq for Sale uncovers the connections between private corporations making a killing in Iraq and the decision makers who allow them to do so.
Terrorstorm
Alex Jones Documentary - Throughout history, criminal elements inside governments have carried out terror attacks against their own populations as a pretext to enslave them. TerrorStorm reveals how, in the last hundred years, Western leaders have repeatedly murdered their own citizens while posing as their saviors.
Endgame
Alex Jones Documentary - Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.
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