CHARLOTTETOWN — In an effort to control the message and access to elected MPs, the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday ordered journalists evicted from the hotel where the Conservative caucus is holding its annual summer retreat.
RCMP officers and hotel staff escorted journalists out of the lobby area of downtown Delta Prince Edward Hotel and directed them to a small third-floor media centre in a government building across the road. A hotel employee even followed two reporters out of a washroom to make sure they left the premises.
The United States is sending a troop of Reaper drones to Iraq.
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper can be controlled via satellite link thousands of miles away from operational areas. The planes are launched locally, in this case Iraq and Afghanistan, but can be controlled by a pilot and sensor operator sitting at computer consoles in a ground station, or they can be “handed off” via satellite signals to pilots and sensor operators in Nevada’s Creech Air Force Base or elsewhere.
The Preadator works “better” than a real pilot.
What’s not to like about the sneaky and efficient drone, a robotic aircraft controlled from afar that can put the hurt on enemies while assuring that none of us good guys die in the process? The radio-controlled warplanes have come a long way since those first Predator surveillance drones, and now the more-powerful Reaper hunter-killer is six times heavier and holds as many missiles and bombs as the mighty F-16 fighter.
The thing never has to pee, either, and can easily pull an all-nighter, loitering around a target for 24 hours until it’s time to pounce
At five tons gross weight, the Reaper is four times heavier than the Predator. Its size - 36 feet long, with a 66-foot wingspan - is comparable to the profile of the Air Force’s workhorse A-10 attack plane. It can fly twice as fast and twice as high - 25,000ft compared to 50,000ft - as the Predator.
According to the Air Force, the MQ-9 Reaper will employ sensors to find, fix, track and target critical emerging time sensitive targets. The Air Force is developing the ability to operate multiple aircraft from a single ground station, in effect, multiplying the overall combat effectiveness over the battlefield.
This thing has the firepower of an F-16, can stay up for 24 hours and can be controlled from the comfort and safety of a nice cozy airforce base, preferably close to home. All the pilots have to do is view a bunch of video images. All the lessons learned while playing video games can be usefully employed hunting the “enemy”.
But, what is going on during the pilots head while controlling the aircraft. There is no personal risk involved except losing an aircraft worth 69 million dollars (for a set of four, plus ground equipment). The rules of engagement would be just that - rules. Instead of seeing people, and families the pilot will see video images.
Amir Attan, a lawyer involved with human rights and development issues expressed his frustration on being denied his requests for information on Afghanistan detainees. His initial request opened the floodgates of inquiry into Canada’s policy regarding Afghanistan detainees.
At the time the story broke, Canada did not have an official clue of what was happening to detainees handed over to the Afghan security forces. Defense Minister Gordon O’Conner could not decide if Canada did or did not have the ability to montior the status of prisioners after hand over. As it turns out, allegations of torture were true.
Adding to the concern, 30 Afghan prisoners told the Globe and Mail earlier this month that they were beaten, whipped, frozen and starved once they were transferred from Canadian military custody to Afghan security forces.
Three more detainees taken to Afghan prisons alleged they were physically abused by Canadian soldiers. They were reported to have swollen eyes, cuts on their eyebrows, gashes to their forehead and slashes on their cheeks.
There seems to have been some bitterness towards Amir Attan for bringing this story to light. The thrust of the criticism is that by brining up these allegations, allegations , we are embarrassing the troops and not providing enough support.
Since when does examining the truth become embarrassing ? We are living in a democracy or that is the convenient lie that we tell ourselves. It is my business to know what the politicians and military are doing and saying on my behalf.
It was with disappointment that I read the latest antics of Rick Hillier.
The office of General Rick Hillier, Canada’s top soldier, has halted the release of any documents relating to detainees captured in Afghanistan under the federal Access to Information Act, claiming that disclosure of any such information could endanger Canadian troops.
In recent letters responding to requests filed on behalf of The Globe and Mail, Ms. Jansen has “exempted in its entirety” the disclosure of detainee transfer logs, medical records, witness statements and other processing forms. The department said the information could not be disclosed for national security reasons.
Even disclosure of the number of detainees captured by Canadian soldiers is now considered off limits, after the intervention of Gen. Hillier. In an e-mail dated March 23, 2007, Lieutenant-Colonel Dana Clarke of the Strategic Joint Staff told Ms. Jansen that Gen. Hillier “considers safeguarding the numbers of detainees” captured by Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan as “an operational security issue.”
Asked if there was any evidence that soldiers’ safety had been compromised because of earlier disclosure of detainee information, DND spokesman Marc Raider responded that “the information cannot be provided for operational security reasons.”
During the first part of May my wife and I took part in a ten day Vipsassana meditation retreat hosted by the Alberta Vipassana foundation.I sat for the same course last year. Meditating for 11 hours a day was not easy. Not talking was even harder. But, as one fellow student said “ This is the only time you will truly get to spend with yourself. So use it wisely.”
At the end of the ten days I had never felt so calm, peaceful and clearheaded . There was a great energy and happiness with the group. Even though you never actually talked to anyone, you went through meditation boot camp together. That sense of accomplishing something together fostered a great deal of positive energy, cooperation and gratitude for such an experience. But, as the year wore on and my practice was less than consistent, I let the demands of the world intrude into my mental space. I had hoped that by repeating the course I could regain some measure of peace and calmness.
This was not to be. A few days before the course started I received a call asking if I could serve on the course instead of participate as a student. I reluctantly agreed even though my stomach was churning. I was disappointed and a little bit nervous. What had I gotten myself into ? A server I talked to last year had said that there was a great deal of work to do and sometimes things got tense in the kitchen. A server would have between 3-5 hours of meditation a day. While this was more than I was doing, I hardly thought this was enough time to develop a deeper practice.
I write more deeply if I don’t focus on writing about a topic and instead concentrate on one idea and then the next. Scrivener helps me write as if I had ADD. With this Mac OS X program, I can write in a non-linear manner with an ease that is refreshing. Each snippet(text grouping) of writing can exist in one project. A snippet can be as small or as large as you want—from chapters to paragraphs. Collections of snippets can be further grouped in folders. By narrowing the focus to one idea rather than a whole blog or paper, a topic can be explored it great detail, one idea at a time. Stringing ideas together can come later, the most important part initially is getting them down in the first place no matter how they appear.
Last month we planted some carrots, potatoes, and onions in the vegetable garden. The garlic and onions from the year before had already sprouted because of early warm weather. I like this activity — it is full of promise and surprise. You do the planting and given enough rain and sun, fresh food will arrive, eventually. It is dirty, patient work, but a great deal more fulfilling than a trip to the supermarket.
Ultimately, this is what survival is all about. It is a matter of trust that with planting and care, food will be produced. All of human achievement and endeavor is built upon this biological covenant— the earth will provide. No matter how much money we can make, no matter how fast the computers, how spectacular the graphics, how powerful the engine it is all built on this tiny promise.
My wife often accuses me of solving my problems by buying more stuff. I have a tendency to think of new products to meet perceived needs rather than trying to think a little harder and develop a cheaper solution from the material at hand. Part of the problem is that I do not perceive myself as being very handy. But, today I thought outside of the store.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew we had a problem in the ocean with plastic. Plastic filling the stomachs of seabirds, huge nets drifting and killing fish and mammals indiscriminately. Plastic pollution to me was seeing grocery store bags blowing trapped against fences, straws not quite making into the garbage can. But, I thought, I try to put as much plastic as we can in the recycling bin. We reuse our plastic bags. What I did not know was the extent and insidiousness of the pollution. How could plastic pollution be as dangerous as global warming ?
We stayed in Puttaparthi for 4 weeks—two weeks before and two weeks after returning from Northern India. My wife’s mother, sister and Aunt live in Prashanti Nilayam, the main ashram of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Because of the ashram, the village of Puttaparthi has grow tremendously catering to the needs of disciples.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba has also built 2 hospitals, a significant water project, elementary schools and universities —with free admission, in the region.
The clip shows a few scenes from the village.
I watched Prime Minister Steven Harper “supporting” the troops on Red Friday at Petawawa.
“You deserve the applause not just for inventing Red Fridays but because of the incredible strength and support this community has displayed over the past 12 months (while your troops) have been deployed in Afghanistan. I know it hasn’t been easy. This community has had more losses than any other base in this country but you have stood firm in support of our troops because you are so proud of them and you should be,” he said.
“We can’t let anyone get away with tarnishing the reputation of the Canadian Forces as the most professional, dedicated, disciplined and effective soldiers on this planet,” Harper told the gathered in a Legion parking lot outside CFB Petawawa, the base that has suffered the most deaths in Canada’s five-year military engagement in Afghanistan.
Harper told the gathering of green-fatigued troops and red-clad civilian family members that nine soldiers were honored for their work in Afghanistan last month.
“Unfortunately these soldiers did not get the attention they deserved because their stories were eclipsed by arguments in the House of Commons over the allegations of Taliban prisoners. I sincerely hope their stories get told when the Governor General formally awards their decorations,” the prime minister told the crowd to boisterous applause.
Harper was doing more to degrade what should have been overt support for the troops into a deflection of this incompetent and incoherent understanding and handling of Canadian detainees in Afghanistan. He took the opportunity to attack the opposition for daring to criticize the bungling of defense Minister Gordon O’Connor.
