Needs more kittehs to improve political image.
Sometimes I think it would have been better if we had actually passed our own Canadian Patriot Act. At least we would have a predictable baseline of oppression of every day Canadians not to mention a political target to take action on. Rather, we have the chaotically raging adolescent security boner the Harper government occasionally plays with and thus leaves me unsure of just when its going to go off and make a mess of things (looking at you bill C-51.)
This latest story of the PM’s own propaganda hacks exposing Canadian soldiers and their families to possible violent retaliation leaves me wondering how to categorize this particular brain-fart properly. Is it the usual arrogance of our PM, safely ensconced in his warm fuzzy blanket of narcissism or is it just the PMO drones slavishly making stupid mistakes?
“Another video showing the faces of Canadian military personnel has surfaced on the prime minister’s website, just days after his office was forced to remove two similar videos that potentially endangered soldiers’ lives.
This time, however, the video seems to have been posted with the approval of the military.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s staff took down two videos shot in Iraq and Kuwait because they risked identifying Canadian Forces members and exposing them and their families to possible attacks.”
You would think that our war loving PM would be a little more in touch with the concept of Operational Security. Opening up our soldiers to retribution because he needs to be seen on the battlefield isn’t exactly the best PR move in the book. This wasn’t rocket science the media that wasn’t a part of the PMO personal propaganda squad had very strict instructions.
“Media travelling to Iraq and Kuwait with Harper were required to sign a five-page agreement pledging to uphold operational security. Among other things, the agreement instructed reporters not to publish photographs that could identify any personnel “who are not designated spokespersons.”
“Publication or inadvertent dissemination has the potential to jeopardize operations and endanger lives,” the document warned.”
So I think we can reasonable rule out ignorance in this case. Hubris and stupidity are making a comeback as far as the reasons for this security breach are concerned.
“CBC News has confirmed the military never screened or approved the 24 Seven videos as initially claimed.
The Prime Minister’s Office admitted it had made a mistake. Rob Nicol, the prime minister’s director of communications, issued a statement expressing regret and promising to review PMO protocols for posting images online.
Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Tom Lawson also issued a statement, saying that after reviewing the two videos, the military determined they presented only a low risk. But he said they should not have been posted.”
Whoops. Stupidity confirmed. The necessity to provide hate-fap propaganda to the Harper faithful apparently out-weights the risks to the Canadian soldiers in said propaganda. It’s always refreshing to know where your government stands on the safety of Canadians.
“The opposition has been scathing in its criticism of the government throughout the whole affair. NDP defence critic Jack Harris Friday accused the government of being more concerned about “the prime minister’s propaganda” than the safety of Canadian troops.
“They had about four or five different stories,” Harris said, “and they never did acknowledge that they misled the Canadian people.”
I’m completely shocked that the PMO’s office would flagrantly abuse the security of Canadians for political gains. Do keep in mind the lovely juxtaposition of this same government bringing in legislation to spy on Canadians (bill C-51) ostensibly to tighten domestic security and enhance public safety.
Way to lead by example Steve! Keep up the good work, I’m feeling safer already!
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
9 comments
May 11, 2015 at 9:56 am
robert browning
The overriding threat to western capitalists’ military personnel is their governments’ aggressive acts. Bring ’em home. I don’t have much empathy for armies, even if they joined ” for a job” , there are other options.
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May 11, 2015 at 2:35 pm
anon
Off topic, but look at this:
http://blog.secularprolife.org/2015/05/what-amnesty-international-isnt-telling.html?m=1
Canada’s own BigBlueWave makes an appearance, all in favor of child rape and torture.
Sick fuck.
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May 11, 2015 at 6:12 pm
jasonjshaw
All Harper and company seem to care about is propaganda, and they can’t even do that well! What I don’t get is why the Liberals are snuggling up to the Cons these days.
Not that splitting the vote on the right would be a bad thing.
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May 12, 2015 at 2:22 pm
bleatmop
The real question is, now that C-51 is passed, does the flagrant disregard for our soldiers safety constitute a threat to Canada, thus enabling CSIS to take action against those responsible and detain them (an extraordinary power) until they see fit to release them.
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May 12, 2015 at 9:07 pm
The Arbourist
@Jason
I need one more Orange – Crush election, this time federally so we can finally get Canada off the neo-conservative track for good.
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May 12, 2015 at 9:08 pm
The Arbourist
@bleatmop
Depends really on the race and class of those who screwed things up.
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May 12, 2015 at 9:09 pm
The Arbourist
@Anon
Reason number #23423423242344 that dudes should not have any say on the rights of women.
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May 17, 2015 at 12:53 pm
Sedate Me
Bill C51 has NOTHING to do with security, military effectiveness, or military objectives. Everybody is forgetting the REAL purposes of C-51:
1) It’s a re-election ploy. Even though this will do absolutely nothing to make anyone any safer, introducing this unnecessary “get-tough-on” legislation still makes them look “strong”. They don’t care what people say. They’re boldly willing to strip you of your freedoms in order to keep you safe. Men like the “macho” and women like feeling “protected”. It’s a totally manipulative fantasy ripped out of a Mad Men script, but voters are idiots. They’ll buy into it.
2) Like the drone announcement, it’s meant to grow the Military-Industrial-Spy Complex. What was it, $300 million to CSIS? Social program departments were instructed to under-spend their budgets in order to help the Conservative’s create a bogus budget surplus. But an incompetent agency like CSIS (See: Air India) gets $300 million to keep us “safe” from guys riding around Middle Eastern deserts in pickup trucks. We’ll be lucky to get $1 of value out of that $300 million.
3) It’s meant to make it even easier for domestic spy agencies to engage in unrestricted spying on ordinary Canadians. The spies get more powerful, but there’s NO increase to oversight & accountability, which was non-existent to begin with. Sure, they’re kicking around the idea of FISA Courts, but those are a complete joke. They approve everything and no information on them ever surfaces to the public eye. But the point of suggesting it is to associate themselves with American methodology. It implies strength & big league credibility. Once again, that helps build both the “macho” appeal and the false sense of being “protected” that I mentioned in #1.
4) Subduing the population and silencing dissent. If I understand the “Information sharing” component, it will allow spooks to rifle through your tax returns, health records, dog licences, whatever any government agency has on you, so that they can assess your “threat level”. The Conservatives already got caught illegally doing this in order to discredit a veteran activist who was embarrassing them. Now it will be legal and done by pros. Even if they manage to be exposed, it won’t be a major scandal. It will just be “over-zealous, but perfectly legal activity intended to keep us safe”.
But who determines what constitutes a “threat”? (Spoiler Alert: Stevie Harper!) And that’s the long range purpose of this; to create a Canadian Stazi. The Secret Police will go through everyone’s shit, monitor every person who might pose a “threat” to the government of the day, make blogs (& bloggers) disappear at will. Basically, they will be able to intimidate/neutralize anyone they don’t like in secret. (Omar Khadr better not write a book!)
We’ll almost certainly return to the long forgotten Dirty Tricks days, where “enemies” were not just spied on, but criminally sabotaged and outright framed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_controversies_involving_the_Royal_Canadian_Mounted_Police#Inquiries The names of potential trouble makers were kept on file. And should “M-Day” ever come, they’d be rounded up and sent to detention camps. This is not paranoid hyperbole, but established, historical, fact….and future.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROFUNC
Uh, is that a drone I hear?
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July 16, 2015 at 5:50 am
RADAR? We Don’t Need No Stinking Radar! – Canadian Military ‘Procurement’ | Dead Wild Roses
[…] what policies it happens to be crafting. Canadians just have to brace themselves for whatever crap policy that magically appears on the horizon and hope for the […]
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