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Maher Arar and David Milgaard
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The fault of the system (State), be it Saskatchewan,
United States or elsewhere:
disregard of individual rights in a further privatized
system (State)
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Prince Albert - Thursday - March 17, 2005 - by: Mario
deSantis |
"Even in nations with strong democratic traditions these
positive loops [the revolving door between industry and government] can overwhelm
the check and balances designed to ensure government of, by, and for the people.”
John Sterman, professor at MIT [1]
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"They [lobbyists] roam the halls of Congress like a pack
of ravenous wolves, licking their chops and turning the Democratic process into a
mockery, a sham where thieves rule and any hope of good government lies trampled
in a mass of bloody, unrecognizable pulp.”
Doug Thompson, publisher of Capital Hill Blue [2]
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In justifying the keeping in jail of wrongly convicted
David Milgaard, Saskatchewan Prosecutor Serge Kujawa stated back in
1991 “The whole judicial system is at issue -- it's worth
more than one person” [3] Now, this kind of
thinking is wrong. Personally, I find natural the understanding that justice cannot
be above the individual rights of innocent people, however, this natural understanding
seems to be bypassed by the experts of Saskatchewan Justice.[4]
The judicial Milgaard inquiry is proceeding after 35 years since his wrongful
conviction. I find it regrettable that the inquiry has been paying so much attention
to the loony behaviour of young Milgaard at the time of the murder of nurse
Gail Miller, while the critical sloppy investigative work of the Saskatoon
police is not prioritized.[5]
By the way, the Saskatoon police is in the news recently as the hearings for
the discreditable conduct of Saskatoon police deputy chief Dan Wiks begin.[6] The
Saskatoon police service is again in the news as the U.S. State Department's
annual report on human rights abuses cites the corrupt behavior of the Saskatoon
police in connection with the death of aboriginal teenager Neil Stonechild.[7]
We live in a complex hypocritical world. We must realize that Bush's justice
system is worse than Saskatchewan's. In fact, in Bush's America, in
an effort to save taxpayers money, they outsource abroad justice and torture as
they did for Canadian Maher Arar.[8] [9]
This brings me to highlight that Bush's justice system is embedded with its military
industrial complex where the revolving door between industry and government materializes
- with the revolving door of war for business and business
for war,[10] and
- with Bush's advancement of his Ownership Society,[11]
that is further privatization.
Bush's 2006 budget of 2.57 trillion dollars includes
approximately 840 billion dollars for military-related outlays, a third of the total
budget! [12] Further privatization (M&A ie mergers and acquisitions)
is undermining employee pension benefits in many corporations,[13] in many states,
and we can only speculate of the disastrous consequences of the possible privatization
of Social Security.
The social perils caused by the military industrial complex can be understood by
analyzing the business operations of The Carlyle Group, an equity private
investment firm associated with the Bush family and powerful politicians around
the world.[14] The Carlyle Group returned $5.3 billion to investors last year,[15]
the best year ever, and has averaged a return on investment of 34% per year
for many years.[16] The California public employees retirement fund CALPERS
owns 5.5% of Carlyle and therefore this fund is making money out of
crony capitalism and war.[17] CALPERS' predicament is doubly disruptive since Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger is contemplating legislation to begin breaking up CALPERS
into private personalized accounts.[18] So, no matter what happens to CALPERS, the military
industrial complex is here to stay as a winner either as it wages perpetual wars
or as it advances privatization.
We live in a complex social system. We will have a sense of justice only when the
individual rights of innocent people are going to be above the power of the system
(State); but how can you cope against the corruptive power of money and the killing
power of guns of the system (State )? Let us begin thinking for ourselves!
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Mario deSantis
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References: |
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1.
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Sterman, John D. Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World
The Rule of the Game, page 380, Irwin McGraw-Hill, 2000
http://www.mhhe.com/business/opsci/sterman/ |
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2.
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Thompson, Doug Plague of the fatcat lobbyists March 1, 2005 Capital Hill Blue
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_6323.shtml
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3.
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deSantis, Mario Milgaard's $10 million compensation:
covering up the personal assets of our policing Saskatchewan Government June
25, 1999 Ensign |
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4.
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Steele, Sheila in the unhappy event you are charged with an offence in Saskatchewan,
handle your own defence!
http://www.injusticebusters.com/index.htm/court%20advice.htm
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5.
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Steele, Sheila 2005: Year of the David Milgaard Inquiry: 35 years in the making
http://www.injusticebusters.com/05Milgaard/Milgaard4.shtml |
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6.
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CBC News Chief says deputy knew officers were suspects March 1, 2005
http://sask.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=sabo-wiks050301 |
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7.
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U.S. Department of State Canada Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004
February 28, 2005
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41752.htm
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8.
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Herbert, Bob It's
Called Torture February 28, 2005 The New York Times
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=2903 |
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9.
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Mayer, Jane Outsourcing
Torture: The secret history of America’s “extraordinary rendition” program Issue
of 2005-02-14, The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?050214fa_fact6
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10.
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Preston, Bruce How the Bush Administration
steals from the US people (and the world) October 2004
http://www.e-book.com.au/got2.htm |
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11.
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Sklar, Holly Is this your
ownership society? February 25, 2005 Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service,
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0225-28.htm
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12.
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Higgs, Robert Bush’s
New Defense Budget February 14, 2005 The Independent Institute
http://independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1464
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13.
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Petillo, Paul RESHAPING
THE FUTURE OF OWNERSHIP March 2, 2005 American Reporter
http://www.american-reporter.com/2,594/29.html
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14.
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CARLYLEGROUP.NET
http://www.carlylegroup.net/ |
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15.
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Carlyle News Carlyle
Issues Summary of 2004 Investment Activity: $5.3 Billion Returned to Investors; $2.7
Billion Invested; $7.8 Billion Raised February 14, 2005
http://www.thecarlylegroup.com/eng/news/l5-news3018.html
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16.
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Burkeman, Oliver and Julian Borger The
Ex-Presidents' Club October 31, 2001 The Guardian,
http://www.carlylegroup.net/theexpresidentsclub.htm |
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17.
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Lazarus, David CalPERS, Carlyle
profit from Afghan war December 2, 2001 San Francisco Chronicles
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/12/02/BU172807.DTL |
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18.
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Chorney, Tom Schwarzenegger
to Hold Special Election: Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to Hold Election on Cutting
Spending, Overhauling Pensions March 1, 2005 ABC New
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=543059 |
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Photo credit: Maher Arar picture by Jonathan Hayward of Reuters |
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News
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This page is a story posted on Ensign and/or Saskatchewan
News, both of which are daily web sites offering a variety of material from scenic
images, political commentary, information and news. These publications are the work
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Editor : Timothy W. Shire
Faster Than Light Communication
Box 1776, Tisdale, Saskatchewan, Canada, S0E 1T0
306 873 2004
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