He was followed by Officer George Bruch who went on to explain all of the dirty tricks he uses (unapologetically) to encourage people to talk when they, by rights, need not. Although watching both of these videos will take about 45 minutes of your life, I guarantee that, as a horror film, it is well paced and engaging.

Since known police co-operator Ian Wallace (photo and info here) was also mentioned in the indictment but not charged, it seems likely that this is the source of the government’s case against the alleged saboteurs. Also of note is that prisoner Daniel McGowan was called to a grand jury while imprisoned already and, upon refusing to testify, has been thrown in jail while in prison. Confusing, yes? It sounds like he has been taken from prison and thrown into jail where he will be held for contempt of court, all the while his prison sentence clock is no longer ticking. We highly recommend financial, emotional, and political support continue for Daniel.

Confirmation of Rivera’s arrest comes from FBI Special Agent Robbie Burroughs (photo). Burroughs was in the news last year defending paranoid anti-terror tactics such as harassing arab-americans who “behaved oddly” on a washington ferry.

Unfortunately, someone was later arrested for possible involvement in the incident.

In their press release, the greenwash guerrillas have challenged Thomas Friedman to a debate. The guerrillas have staged such theatre performances in the past, taking a stance against “Carbon Trading” as an effective or just solution to the issues of global warming.

Now, the US Government is building a fence to keep people out. But fearing the impediment of due process of law, Congress has given the Department of Homeland Security permission to waive the standard paperwork procedures that allow the public to participate in environmental decisions made by the government. On April 2nd, 2008, the DHS announced another two uses of their waiver, for almost 500 miles of fence.

These fences gravely threaten the ecosystems they run through, cutting off wildlife migration. By bypassing the environmental impact system, they have effectively removed the ability of legal, above-ground environmental groups to work to halt or mitigate the negative effects of this fence.

The fence will lead, at the very least, to the closing of two nature preserves.

The secretary of the DHS, Michael Chertoff (pictured), defends the waiving of over 30 environmental laws by pointing out that crime doesn’t wait for time it takes to go through checks and balances. It is likely that he said this without grasping the irony of the statement.
Far too often, people are too quick to demonize only the president and his administration for all of this destruction, but it is important to remember that it was congress that granted the waiver to the DHS in the first place.

The issue is Bear Mountain, a diverse and wild eco-system that holds particular spiritual importance for the First Nations peoples who still live in the area. The forces of development would like to see it cut, stripped and paved for the sake of condos and golf-courses.

On one side are the town’s mayor, Stew Young, the RCMP [the Mounties] and LGB9 Development Corp. Stew Young, famous for bending over backwards to pave the way for big-box stores and condos to invade his town, has resorted to such tactics as threatening to sue protestors for the cost of their own violent eviction. He has also coordinated the direct suspension of free speech, by fining a local resident for posting protest signs on their own property.

On the other side are a diverse collection of Earth First!ers, First Nations peoples, hippies and concerned regular folk. They’ve operated a protest camp, erected a treesit in the path of the highway development and held numerous rallies. One protester even purchased the sub-surface mining rights to the development area—the legal ramifications of that are still in debate.

On April 10th, protestors occupied the area where blasting was to happen, costing the development project thousands of dollars despite only delaying the blasting for an hour and a half. One protestor was arrested and was released immediately without charges.

Full information (including addresses and phone numbers) of some of the offending companies and individuals can be found at the boycott site.

In other news, there is a remarkably unbalanced bit in the Langford, British Columbia wikipedia entry: “Stuart Young, very friendly, accountable mayor who transformed the dog-patch into the shining example of pro-development big-box paradise unparalleled on Vancouver Island. The man who really pushed for the great Bear Mountain development to be allowed all permits possible.”