Stephen Harper in India with two of our own armoured vehicles

Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister, shipped two armoured cars to India for the use of himself and his entourage, including an armoured Cadillac.

While visiting the city of Agra, Harper was driven around in a black Sport Utility Vehicle with Ontario licence plates. No doubt this would be a novelty in India! When he arrived in New Delhi, he was transferred to a black armoured Cadillac sedan.

When reporters asked about the reason for shipping these armoured vehicles to India for the visit, the Prime Minister's Office referred them to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Spokesperson, Cpl. Lucy Shorey responded with a statement:

"The deployment of RCMP resources are dictated by operational requirements, including public and officer safety considerations, and a threat assessment of the events/environments.For security reasons, details on the security plans will not be discussed."

The prime minister has also used his own vehicles in visits to Haiti and Afghanistan. However, in a recent trip to Kinshasa in the Congo he was seen being driven around in a Toyota Forerunner that did not seem to be from Canada. Ordinarily, on his Indian visit, he would be driven around in a Hindustan Motors Ambassador. Probably the government provided transportation would be free, but traveling in imported armoured cars no doubt will cost the Canadian taxpayer a pretty penny.

Perhaps Harper is trying to keep up with the U.S. president. Barack Obama flies in his own armoured vehicles when he goes on foreign trips. He used them even when he visited Canada back in 2009.

Andrew MacDougall, spokesperson for the prime minister, said that the total price for these security measures will be disclosed once it is known. He said:

"I don't have the costs in front of me. We won't know that for a while."

Security for Harper was tightened even during trick or treating . Children had to pass through metal detectors and leave their plastic swords etc. at the checkpoint at the end of the drive before getting their goodies at the Prime Minister's residence at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa.

While in India, Harper at a business round-table in New Delhi, touted 14 new trade and investment agreements which he claimed "demonstrate the increasing depth of the Canada-India relationship." International Trade Minister Ed Fast said that $2.5 billion in new business deals with India are planned although some are still in the form of memoranda of understanding. Harper has been trying to diversity Canadian exports so as to take advantage of developing Asian markets. He has also encouraged Asian capital to invest in Canada.

Man and wife banned from boarding plane because of T-shirt satirizing TSA

A man and his wife were not allowed to board a Delta Airlines flight from Buffalo-Niagara airport because their satirical T-shirts supposedly made crew and passengers very uncomfortable.

Arijit Guha 31 is a doctoral student at Arizona State University. He has advanced colon cancer and has undergone extensive surgery and chemotherapy which ended up costing $118,000 more than the $300,000 cap on his student health plan, expenses that his insurer Aetna would not cover.

Guha managed to draw the CEO of Aetna Mark T. Bertolini into a heated exchange on Twitter and as the video appended shows Guha won out in the end and even won a victory for the student health plan. The usually caustic and sarcastic Guha in the end had nothing but praise for Mr. Bertolini. Guha is no stranger to controversy and he seems to enjoy being provocative. He has no praise for the TSA(Transportation Security Agency)

Guha and his wife were about to board a plane at the Buffalo-Niagara airport. They passed through security with no problem. However, he was then approached by a Delta agent who told him that his T-shirt was making passengers nervous. The offending T-shirt has a TSA logo together with text that satirizes what Guha considers the agencies paranoid and overbearing security stance.

TSA agents questioned Guha about the significance of his T-shirt. He explained that it was mocking the manner in which the TSA approached security and over-reaction by them and the public to the threat of terrorism. Ironically what was happening to Guha and his wife was a perfect exemplification of his point!

Guha was then informed that if he took off the offending shirt and again had their belongings searched they could board the flight. Guha agreed. Just as they were about to board the plane he was pulled aside again by not only a Delta supervisor but three TSA agents and several Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority police as well. There was no SWAT team however.

He and his wife were questioned again. Their bags were searched anew, the offending shirt was photographed, and they were asked multiple questions. This was all to no avail as the pilot of the plane insisted that the presence of Guha and his wife would cause discomfort to other passengers. The T-shirt text was obviously not really a satire just the plain truth.

Guha and his wife were subject to even further interrogation. Some of the questions were quite inappropriate. There is much more detail on Guha's own blog. Guha and his wife had to find overnight accommodations at their own expense and flew out the next morning at 7 AM. The TSA was kind enough not to put them on the no-fly list. Yet!

Virginia tech versus Iraq

This is from Juan COle's blog.
Canadian TV has had almost non-stop coverage of the Virginia Tech incident. I am completely baffled as to why this should be. I feel the same about the huge amount of publicity given to the trial of a serial murderer here. If the Tech incident were in Iraq (or India say) it would merit just a brief mention and perhaps one brief photo clip. The media encourages the public appetite for sensationalism while ignoring other important events. There will be a parade of experts who will comment on the psychology of the gunman and no doubt lectures about gun control and the need for more security on campuses. There is a climate of fear being created that will enable government to further restrict freedoms in the name of security. Someone just tell me how more likely it is that I be run down and killed while crossing a city street as compared with being shot by a deranged gunman at a university?


Tuesday, April 17, 2007

7 US Troops Killed;
Iraq Has Two Virginia Techs Every Day;
Thousands Protest in Basra, Demand Governor's Resignation

I keep hearing from US politicians and the US mass media that the "situation is improving" in Iraq. The profound sorrow and alarm produced in the American public by the horrific shootings at Virginia Tech should give us a baseline for what the Iraqis are actually living through. They have two Virginia Tech-style attacks every single day. Virginia Tech will be gone from the headlines and the air waves by next week this time in the US, though the families of the victims will grieve for a lifetime. But next Tuesday I will come out here and report to you that 64 Iraqis have been killed in political violence. And those will mainly be the ones killed by bombs and mortars. They are only 13% of the total; most Iraqis killed violently, perhaps 500 a day throughout the country if you count criminal and tribal violence, are just shot down. Shot down, like the college students and professors at Blacksburg. We Americans can so easily, with a shudder, imagine the college student trying to barricade himself behind a door against the armed madman without. But can we put ourselves in the place of Iraqi students?

I wrote on February 26,


' A suicide bomber with a bomb belt got into the lobby of the School of Administration and Economy of Mustansiriya University in Baghdad and managed to set it off despite being spotted at the last minute by university security guards. The blast killed 41 and wounded a similar number according to late reports, with body parts everywhere and big pools of blood in the foyer as students were shredded by the high explosives. '

Discrimination in the name of Security

I guess this means that Al Qaeda will no longer be equal opportunity employers but will concentrate on those from counties not on the US proscribed lists!
This is a good example of extra-territoriality. The US manages to impose its own laws on other countries.


Montreal workers forced off contract over U.S. security concerns
Bell Helicopter sidelines 24 employees from other countries; prime minister says he's 'very concerned'
Last Updated: Thursday, January 11, 2007 11:36 PM ET
CBC News
Ottawa says it is worried about an American policy that has forced Bell Helicopter of Montreal to ban 24 employees from working on a U.S. military contract because of their nationalities.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters Thursday that Canada has raised the issue with the U.S government over the past several months.
'…People are eliminated simply because they were born in a given country. This is total nonsense.'-Montreal labour relations lawyer Gaston Nadeau
"We are very concerned about this policy," he said in French while in Toronto.
The contract calls for the assembly of up to 480 helicopters for the U.S. military, starting in the spring.
The workers were taken off the lucrative U.S. military project because they were born in countries that the Americans consider a security risk. Security measures outlined in the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations do not allow citizens from 25 countries to work on strategic military weapons.
"There are certain number of persons if they are born in one of 25 possible countries, then we are not to have these employees in contact [because of the] International Traffic in Arms Regulations," said Michel Legault, the director of business development for Bell Helicopter.


Many of the workers at the Mirabel plant hold dual citizenship. One technician has been with Bell Helicopter for almost two decades and some of the employees have lived in Canada for most of their lives. The countries they come from include China, North Korea, Haiti, Venezuela, Lebanon and Vietnam.
Bell Helicopter asked the U.S. government to waive the policy but the request was denied this week.
U.S. policy is discrimination, lawyer says
Although the employees have been told that Bell Helicopter would try to assign them to other projects, many are worried they will be laid off.
Montreal labour relations lawyer Gaston Nadeau said the exclusion of these workers is a clear case of discrimination.
"Nobody is against protecting yourself against terrorism," Nadeau said. "The problem here is that there is no factual basis whatsoever for the kind of action taken. And people are eliminated simply because they were born in a given country. This is total nonsense."
Nadeau said the workers can appeal to the human rights commission. But he pointed out the problem: Bell Helicopter won't get the contract without applying the U.S. rules.
The Canadian company is a division of Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., based in Fort Worth, Texas, the world's largest helicopter m