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Government Passes Anti-Constitutional Surveillance Law During Ottawa Shooting
A terrible tragedy befell the nation’s capital yesterday, when a shooter opened fire at government sites in Ottawa. A full investigation must begin to assemble the details, as the flames of hysteria are fanned in the public consciousness. The words “terror” and “terrorism” have been tossed around so casually, that nowadays any hardened criminal would classify as a terrorist according to the Harper Government and mainstream news sources. For that matter, political activists who take issue with the government’s policies at home and abroad are referenced in the same manner.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, social media is rife with suspicion that this horrendous event may represent a false flag operation, to assist the government’s dismantling of civil liberty and human rights in the name of war, profit, political posturing and public control.
That’s not to say this wasn’t an act of terrorism. Maybe it was, but surely it’s too early to reach a conclusion when the names of suspects hadn’t been released to hypothesize a motive. Or had they?
At 10:13am EDT, The Globe and Mail‘s Josh Wingrove reported that tactical officers were pointing guns at every parliamentary journalist on site. (Via Twitter)
At 12:11pm EDT, The CBC’s Kady O’Malley reported her group was ordered to leave a local rooftop by police, as they continued to search for a culprit and attempted to secure the area.
By 1:14pm EDT, Ms. O’Malley reported a continuing lockdown that blanketed Ottawa. She was unclear if the event was over, as no further information was available.
While Canadian news personalities were at police gunpoint, American outlets like CBS News and the Associated Press had a full story to sell, complete with the dead shooter’s name.
Before the scene was secure at 10:54am EDT, a joint release was published to identify the culprit. It stated,
“The gunmen has been identified by U.S. officials to CBS News as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a Canadian national born in 1982.”
By 4:58pm EDT, the story was edited to remove the shooter’s name, or any mention of the U.S. government’s knowledge.
The only problem is that no one could update the Google database quick enough with these changes, so the original information still appeared with search results.
This story was altered again in the evening, when the Canadian government allowed the name of a shooter to be released and American media added law enforcement to their list of official sources. They also added a middle name, Abdul, to emphasize the suspect’s Islamic ties with an accusation of terrorism.
As members of parliament begin to piece this tragedy together, they’re advised to inquire how American intelligence knew the name of a ‘possible terrorist’ as the mayhem was still unfolding. How did Americans know when Canadians didn’t, and how was the information so widespread that foreign media and Google had access to distribute, but domestic reporters on the scene did not.
Canadian parliamentary bureau chiefs didn’t posses the same information as their U.S. counterparts and they faced the barrel of police guns as a narrative was provided on their behalf by another country. If this is dubbed an act of terrorism that American sources had knowledge to pre-report, then why weren’t steps taken to prevent the violence?
Many have questioned how a gunman could enter parliament with a rifle unnoticed, despite the massive security and busy lineups. Some are calling for greater state police control and warmed to relinquishing their Charter rights, in an effort to fight the new war on domestic terrorism. Something has to justify police militarization since the War on Drugs has been transformed into a lucrative product of capitalism.
All Canadians who pay attention to the news are acutely aware of a creeping police state and the loss of privacy rights in the tradeoff. In fact, one Liberal MP, Joyce Murray, proposed Bill C-622 to gain oversight of CSIS and CSEC, so law enforcement can’t overstep its bounds to the degree that’s been revealed through Snowden leaks.
This shooting event also occurs at a time when the Mayor of Ottawa is seeking re-election, with a history of accommodating CSEC as a business partner.
The journalist who brought these Snowden leaks to light is in town to promote his new book about the overreaching powers of a surveillance state. Glenn Greenwald will be speaking just a few blocks from Parliament Hill, in the same neighbourhood that’s under lockdown. It’s purely coincidental that he wrote a scathing piece about the Canadian government and co-dependent media’s abuse of the word “terrorism” a day earlier.
Meanwhile, the NDP noticed a different terrorism anomaly regarding the violence in Quebec on the day before as well. The Prime Minister’s Office was accused of planting a foreboding comment in Question Period, that preempted police reports of a “possible terror attack against soldiers”.
Public Safety Minster Steve Blaney reported the Monday event was “clearly linked to terrorist ideology”, but the Toronto Star reported multiple witnesses saw the suspect with his hands in the air, when at least one police officer opened fire. They also say a knife was “lodged into the ground near where the incident occurred”.
Well, that’s what the original story by Allan Woods, Bruce Campion-Smith, Joanna Smith, Tonda MacCharles and Les Whittington stated. A syndicated copy had to be located at the Cambridge Times, because a newer, edited version at the Toronto Star appeared dramatically altered by Tuesday.
Forsaking journalism ethics, the Toronto Star surprised industry watchers by editing this story without providing a notice to reflect the consequential changes. Now the article claims the suspect was an Islamic radical, who emerged from the vehicle with a knife in his hands. There is no mention of any witnesses who saw his hands in the air and the knife was no longer lodged in the ground. All information from witnesses was removed without explanation, or apology for reporting incorrectly at the onset, if indeed the witnesses were mistaken. The French press at TVA still values the eye witness accounts, but no English speaking media reflects these reports from the scene.
This TorStar article was more than edited and qualifies as being replaced entirely, having lost its tone, facts and spirit from the original published version. It was radically changed to support the government’s narrative and censored independent sources that previously appeared, replacing them with quotes from the Harper administration that focus on the suspect’s motive for Islamic terrorism.
If it wasn’t for smaller newspapers syndicating the Toronto Star‘s original content, there would be no proof of the first comprehensive version. Professional journalists don’t normally condone editors changing the spirit of their work without a caveat, especially when five reporters collaborated to produce the same entry. The history created by print newspapers also couldn’t be erased with the click of a button, before the press migrated to internet-based reporting that appears to lack mechanisms of accountability.
These two examples oppose each other due to the disparity between facts and there is no footnote to reflect this glaring incongruency. The Toronto Star has been a leader in journalism ethics and wouldn’t alter published pieces to discredit their own reporting without a reason being provided. That is, until they and a bevy of established journalists who remained silent, had a taste of the politics of fear.
Any reasonable person should be afraid when gunshots are flying from hostile individuals, but will fear be allowed to dictate a terrorism narrative in place of the facts? The Opposition’s privacy and ethics critic, MP Charlie Angus, also describes gunshots around 10am EDT, while American media had solved the event by 10:54am EDT and members of parliament were being detained without access to the same information.
If the U.S government could assess a terrorist attack on Canadian soil before the Canadian government was aware, then why was it not prevented? On the same token, if the Canadian government was in the middle of mayhem, then how did Americans obtain information that wasn’t available to affected bureaucrats, from their own intelligence and law enforcement agencies? What powers does America have over Canada that Canada doesn’t have itself? If a shooting on government property can be solved before it’s even finished, then why wasn’t CSIS, CSEC, DHS and the NSA capable of early intervention? After all, the Wednesday shooter was already placed on the government’s watch-list.
The timing is incredible and may very well be motivated by the war against ISIS/ISIL. Canada shed its peacekeeping status for more aggressive combat that generates profits for the Canada Pension Plan, with the potential to invite ideological backlash. This is not disputed. An unbiased investigation is required, but the public should be patient for confirmed, judicial facts; bearing in mind political motives, various narratives and the race to sell fear.
On the very day terrorism was alleged in Quebec, the Harper Government passed Bill C-13 without much notice from the peanut gallery. Until Monday, Bill C-13 was one of the most controversial pieces of legislation that was presented under the guise of cyber-bullying, but even the mother of Amanda Todd spoke against the exploitation of her daughter’s death as a tool to create a warrantless surveillance state in this vein.
Due to terrorism accusations made by the Harper Government that took up most of the day, no mainstream news reported the bill’s passage later in the same day. CBC was the only major outlet to mention the bill on Monday, but they neglected to note the House of Commons vote or passage of this legislation at any point in the story. They presented the information as incremental progress while failing to report its successful, parliamentary completion.
This too presents a problem with ethical journalism, but CBC has seen its fair share of challenges since the Harper Government appointed ten Conservative donors to the board of directors, with influence over the public broadcaster’s direction.
Regardless, the only mention of Bill C-13 passing arises from a Saanich News editorial. The smaller publication urges everyone to be vigilant as this legislation completes the last step of approval (ascent) with senate, that is dominated by a Conservative majority.
Surprisingly, the senate passed a first reading of Bill C-13 the very next day. It accomplished that hurdle expediently on Tuesday, but this wasn’t reported by any source whatsoever. Senators then scheduled a second reading in two days’ time, on Thursday, October 23, 2014. The only lapse in this process was the Wednesday parliamentary shooting.
By today Bill C-13 may see the quickest passage through any bureaucracy in the democratic world, without the public or media noticing and while legislators are reeling from the ominous smell of gun smoke. Neither the parliamentary reporters who stared down the barrel of a police gun on Tuesday, nor the members of parliament who were barricaded, would be rested very well.
Plus there’s an RCMP press conference about the Wednesday shooting that will surely distract attention from the new law. In the days ahead, it’s likely they’ll tout Bill C-13 as a way to catch terrorists, also under the guise of cyberbulling and even though being watch-listed with preexisting surveillance powers didn’t prevent Michael Zehaf-Bibeau from taking action.
This brings us to what’s at stake. The taboo that nobody wants to evaluate. The decision senators will have to make while recovering from a psychologically traumatic breach of personal security.
We’re talking about public data surveillance, or what closely resembles stalking.
There are plenty of ambiguous words used to describe big data monitoring, but few understand what it means or how deeply it’s abused behind the sealed doors at CSEC. Warrantless internet surveillance has the potential to track a target’s GPS movements with updating by the minute. It can penetrate the entire chain of communication between an individual and their contacts, including strangers who make reference to the target by any degree of separation across the world wide web. The technology has predictive behaviour capabilities. Every citizen caught in this widespread dragnet is psychologically assessed through language semantics and assigned a persuasion, to determine if any of them presents a public relations issue, or if the original target has too much influence to garner support for their business, political and/or social beliefs.
Five Eyes governments have established media surveillance programs specifically. They surveil news topics and journalists, to monitor the reporter’s effect on public perception. When anyone posts a news link on any form of social media, all comments are collected and ranked for government and law enforcement dissemination. Canada spent $20 million and hired 3,300 staff to spy on journalists and political opponents since 2012. The European Commission and United States does the same, in this vacuum of nonexistent legislation to protect the public’s privacy in the modern age. Instead of updating constitutional rights to reflect modern technology, they’ve crafted legislation like Bill C-13 that revokes those rights entirely.
This goes beyond the confines of metadata and only the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario has taken up the cause, likely to the chagrin of political parties that have begun to use similar technology against their opponents during elections. Whatever good this intrusive spying could accomplish is outweighed by the bad. Michael Sona only possessed a list of phone numbers and intentions, let alone mapping of the entire public’s thoughts and updates on the location of political foes by the minute.
If anyone physically tailed a political candidate, volunteer or supporter every minute of the day and night, or attempted to record every one of their exchanges, it would be considered criminal harassment. If that person also tailed every contact who spoke about their target and psychologically assessed them to create charts, it would surpass Hollywood’s fascination with the complex plotting of serial offenders.
But this isn’t fiction and warrantless internet surveillance can be used to harm a civilian, based on their political beliefs. In the United States it’s already used to surveil judges, adding a difficult challenge to the essence and appearance of democracy. The dialogue is strictly controlled to conceal these uses and they’re couched in the terrorist argument, to discourage the public from searching deeper.
Residents have been told if they don’t break the law, there is nothing to fear. This subverts any purpose of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and replaces that document with a Trust Me clause from the government. It replaces the core legal relationship between citizens and law enforcement, with unrestrained power and no oversight to justify its use. It imperils evidentiary laws that are designed to protect the innocent.
Beyond the dry language of legislation, this is how the words of Bill C-13 can be utilized by an aggressive government and the Five Eyes intelligence community. Suggested reading provides the history and development of technology and related policies in Canada, the United States and Europe. It was becoming law in Canada when the airwaves were filled with terrorism accusations and the government expected no one would notice. It also relates to media surveillance that could explain a few altered stories, deleted posts and political misunderstanding.
Edit, November 22, 2014: Liberal Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette published a diary of events during the Ottawa shooting, while barricaded in an office with numerous colleagues. Her honest and forthright account also challenges the Harper government and American explanations. The timed entries conflict with media reports, as documented above. She further includes mention of a second shooter.
Unedited: An Intimate Interview With Harry Fear About Palestine & Israel
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/amy-macpherson/harry-fear-israel-palestine_b_2433043.html
Harry Fear Has a Message for Canadians
He graced our television sets with live reports from the most recent conflict between Palestine and Israel. Now that a ceasefire has been reached, British filmmaker and human rights advocate, Harry Fear, has embarked on a world talking tour to share his knowledge about the social, political and economic ramifications from a firsthand perspective.
He arrived in Toronto Monday, amid much ado from Canada Customs the moment he stepped off the plane. That curious greeting will leave a lasting impression; complete with grilling about his political perspective, examination of his website, a list of domestic associates and questions regarding which side he supported. It used to be that a British passport could get you into Canada, but now not so much. Now it depends on where you stand and if your freedom of speech is acceptable to the Harper government.
Thankfully Fear passed the interview and wasn’t turned away like British diplomats before him, due to peaceful and sympathetic views that include the Palestinian people (see MP George Galloway). Sometimes we’re luckier than we know to receive communication from the outside world and in this rare glimpse; Harry provides extensive interview to help us understand what our handlers already had the benefit of gleaning from his experience.
Fear’s lectures, Aggression in Gaza – A Talking Tour, are scheduled for numerous venues across the country. Tonight, he speaks at University of Toronto, followed by engagements at respective universities in Hamilton, London, Windsor and Calgary. Due to the overwhelming response, more dates and locations in various provinces are still being determined and you can keep an eye on the itinerary here.
(photo credit: SPHR McMaster University)
For those who can’t make it, he was kind enough to provide us with two hours of intimate answers to our deepest questions, unedited. Via Skype video recording, Harry Fear compels us to think harder about what we’ve been told. He points to concerns about our current leadership’s role in perpetuating the conflict by taking a hard stance that may not be conducive to a peaceful resolution. In fairness, Fear identifies a North American mindset that falls short of grasping the repercussions or why it is so important for us to sit up and take notice.
These topics do not shy away from what amounts to controversy in the western world. We do, however, stand alone in our foreign affairs policy toward the situation, as seen by the United Nations vote for Palestine’s observer status and our lonely opinion against them. One hundred and thirty eight countries gave their nod of approval and Canada was amongst the nine to object. We’re also in the minority to label Hamas a terrorist sect, but Harry does a thorough job of explaining international law and how our opinions translate on the streets of Gaza.
Not only was Fear present for the onslaught of bombing in Operation Pillar of Cloud (aka Pillar of Defence), he is also a scholar from Oxford in the discipline of political science. In our personal exchange he goes on to explain the reason for that name change, in that Pillar of Cloud is a religious reference to a children’s playground. It might not have been good optics in a public relations war, that sees them dying and sometimes burnt to the bone by white phosphorus.
From the bombing of kindergarten humanitarian schools on International Children’s Day to the demoralization of depending on foreign aid for food, Harry Fear is not too timid to express in real terms what their day to day reality is like. He is passionate about this suffering and urges us to understand the majority of civilians in Gaza are children. He says the violence and occupation punishes them as if they were responsible for the adults and world politics.
Fear also paints a picture of arbitrary detention, in a system where kids are imprisoned and even tortured for throwing stones. He describes some as having to defend themselves in a foreign court, in a foreign language, all alone. Moreover he amends the terminology of PTSD to say the children are coping with “continuing stress disorder”. This presents with symptoms of bed-wetting, separation anxiety and consistent shell shock that does not have a chance to heal.
The dialogue isn’t nearly confined to children though and broaches topics such as apartheid, “with a small ‘a'”. This involves road systems that Palestinians aren’t allowed to use in their own territory and colour-coded licence plates to alleviate racial profiling by identifying their vehicles for interrogation. In other strange measures, Palestinian males can be guilty of a crime for failing to announce their ethnicity to a prospective sexual partner.
Nearly every aspect of the Israel-Palestine conflict is touched upon in this account, underlining unemployment, education, Hamas and perceived terrorism, as well the dangers to Israeli citizens. But where the West has been led to believe the Jewish people strictly oppose Palestinians, he challenges us with information about their protests in support. Fear outlines the difference between a Zionist, an Israeli and those who practice Judaism, explaining many Jews decry the occupation and complain their religion was hijacked by politics. Contrary to North American beliefs, the truth of the situation is that Rabbis for Human Rights are some of the most active Israelis campaigning against the illegal settlements in search of peace for all (in English and the original in Hebrew).
Fear offers a balanced and honest assessment from both perspectives, right down to the pros and cons of Palestine obtaining observer status. He breaks down the structure of their government, so Canadians are able to understand the nature of each territory, the reasons for disjointed leadership from the West Bank to Gaza Strip and where they’ve been able to work together.
He discusses the different tactics of oppression in each of the areas. In Gaza it’s predominantly violence related and an open air prison, surrounded by the Israeli Defence Forces. In the West Bank it’s entirely occupied and they rely on humiliation, complete with constant control of Palestinian movement.
He brought this message to Canada and the U.S. to draw attention to superpowers that are aiding and abetting the occupation. One example through my research is the Canada Pension Plan. Our citizens are retiring based on our government’s investment in the very companies that supply arms and build the illegal wall (more here, including photographs).
Harry mentions the G4S company, that provides armed security for illegal settlers also contrary to international law. A number of significant entities have already divested to clear themselves of supporting that violation as well as the maltreatment of child prisoners. And yet here is G4S Canada, thriving without an ounce of recognition in the Canadian consciousness.
Our collective CPP investments (domestic companies list and foreign companies list — PDF) include Elbit; responsible for drone smart cars and the newest patrol of Palestinians with the ability to kill by remote control. Whether it’s on the ground or in the air, drones are being used to target citizens 365 days a year regardless of any ceasefire. Our retirement is doubly invested in CAE, which has partnered with Elbit to provide similar technology on Canadian soil.
The University of Alberta partnered with the government in Alma, Quebec, to develop and test Israeli drones for greater human impact and profit. This was accomplished through an Israeli economic mission to Canada last spring, unbeknownst to most Canadians. So not only is our retirement tied to keeping the conflict going, but we’re also developing the unmanned machines to kill Palestinians in our own backyard.
The Canada Pension Plan is heavily invested in construction of the illegal wall. That too was reprimanded by United Nations, but we’re paying for it through Elbit, CHR and Caterpillar. As Fear says, this places blood on all Canadian hands and we are morally compelled to guide our leaders in an ethical direction. For a running list of companies in the divestment campaign, please see Stop the Wall. (PDF)
Finally Fear addresses the Canadian government, asking the Harper Conservatives and federal Liberals to rethink their stance in support of Israeli violence without question. He notes the NDP may have represented our country better under Jack Layton and was surprised to learn even they haven’t condemned the occupation or spoken of divestment under new leadership.
In the video he encourages everyone to visit IfAmericansKnew.org to get a real handle on the numbers and to visually grasp the disparity between them. Fear describes the Israel-Palestine conflict as a case of David and Goliath and asks us to take one minute out of each day to learn more, write a letter or anything we can to make a difference. A solution must be found and 60 years of suffering hasn’t improved by us ignoring it. The rest of the world doesn’t perceive Canada as the good guys anymore and it’s high time we restore our reputation for the benefit of these many children.
Without further explanation, here is the answer to every burning question you’ve ever had about Palestinians and what Fear was able to see for himself. If you would like more information, please visit HarryFear.co.uk or GazaReport.com. You can also follow Fear on Twitter via @HarryFear.
Part 6/8 – Mitt Romney & Corporate Mormonism – Church Business
As an executive of the Mormon Church who was called to the Twelve and still royal heir to the throne, Mitt Romney presents conflict of interest issues that should force America to sit up straight and take notice. If elected President of the United States, Mormon lobbyists will have an easier time doing business between matters of food and coal power to overtaking the banking world. On one hand they’re a private charity and on the other they could bring the country to a halt. The Church has been encouraging apostles to seek the highest public office since its inception, to pave the way according to the financial Book of Mormon sections that have often conflicted with legal issues of anti-trust.
Whereas some faiths might hold safer products like mutual funds for the benefit of community work, the Latter Day Saints are in a league of their own. They’re worth more than Mitt and their extreme wealth has nothing to do with paying tithes. In 2001, Time magazine attempted to assess their value and came up with the ballpark of $30 billion. Earlier this year even Bloomberg tried their hand and all experts agree the true answer is impossible to know. These values don’t begin to scratch the surface and perhaps it’s so hard to decipher because the LDS (Latter Day Saints) executive keeps their business private from everyone including non-prophetic Mormons. Under the US Constitution they maintain that right as a matter of protected religion and I dare say with a little more digging that a single church company is worth more than the total projected.
It all began with Brigham Young and subsequently George W. Romney’s vision of competitive-cooperative capitalism. Just as their religion is written to reflect a theocratic political movement, it is also founded on the dogma of economics. The early settlers felt they were entitled to a real kingdom on earth and therefore profiteering was as much about faith as praying to Nephi, Adam or Moroni. Mormonism is the religion of government and financial markets that predominantly relates to socialism for CEOs. Moreover and since the early days in Utah, LDS has been training their prophets to become experts in constitutional law to keep it so.
We’ll begin with ZCMI (Zions Cooperative Mercantile Institution), the inaugural company created in Utah under Brigham Young, Grandpa Parley and Uncle Orson’s direction. It was also the first American shopping mall that eventually transformed into Macy’s. The original storefront remained ecclesiastic and although Macy’s is a major brand, their signage still honoured the Mormon roots that gave birth to any profitable tenants thereafter.
Upon assuming the prominent location from Saintly businesses that moved on, the department store inherited the grand chandelier, specially made for Mormons from Austrian crystal imported from Venice, Italy. CEOs for Macy’s paid homage to the Saints once more, by donating 1,500 of the dangling pieces from that prestigious lighting fixture although they didn’t part with all of them. Each little bauble was so exquisite that it warranted a black tie event for the charities who received them. No value is offered for the chandelier in full, but it certainly crossed a few million dollars as one of the most expensive lampshades in the country the Church could afford to abandon.
Despite parting with the storefront it was only a short lived transition, in which they demolished the shopping mall to make way for a newer City Creek Centre. LDS continues to own the property no matter which high end boutique decides to take up residence. It cost more than $1 billion for Mormons to build and they vow the only money for construction came from corporate profits as opposed to tithes.
Managing such a portfolio would prove to be too much for Mormons alone, so they partnered with Taubman Centers to run the day to day operations of the new mall. This particular corporation was founded by Alfred Taubman, who had just finished ten months in prison for convictions related to price fixing and anti-trust. It would seem Mr. Taubman was practicing the Mormon’s competitive-cooperative capitalism, which was repeated by George Romney through his NRA initiative of the same nature. Both examples were held guilty of breaching federal law and yet the Mormons continue to marry themselves to this business philosophy. Taubman’s company is further headquartered in Bloomfield, Michigan; in Mitt’s Romney’s old stomping grounds.
The LDS Church is one of the largest real estate proprietors in America. Zion Securities changed its name to Utah Property Management, but is owned by Saints just the same. They formed Suburban Land Reserve Inc. to handle their industrial buildings as well. However, these are only two of many subsidiaries within the Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that holds everything from apartment buildings to banks and business towers.
On the list of very important buildings is Eagle Gate Plaza that remained Church owned when it was transformed into the World Trade Center of Utah. It’s part of the New York family of WTC businesses that are home to government and international trade authorities. Lew Cramer of Mormon hierarchy was then named CEO of the center to solidify their stronghold, far beyond the capacity of a landlord (see PDFor non PDF).
Mr. Cramer enjoys trade missions to China on behalf of church-family members while giving devotional speeches and legal decoding from the Book of Mormon at his alma mater, Brigham Young University (see Oct. 2, 2012). Adding to his list of accomplishments with the Church, he began an LDS law society to unite Mormon attorneys in helping others see their light (additional interview transcript PDF or non PDF). He was in charge of recruiting Mormon volunteers for the Utah Olympics to help reduce costs and appoint Mitt Romney to the prestigious top job. Lew also headed Republican finances for the current presidential election.
The LDS property group further heads a lobbying entity to ensure the interests of Mormons are protected, including many issues such as prohibiting restaurants from serving alcohol within their structures. The Mormon president from this real estate council finds his office in the Triad Center, also owned by the Church. Triad arrives with a phenomenal explanation and another curious partnership with the likes of Adnan Khashoggi. The Saudi prince and arms dealer is better known by his scandalous actions at the heart of the Iran-Contra Affair, which facilitated the illegal sale of arms to Iran and other confirmed terrorists. He was further implicated in the Lockheed bribery scandals that caused heads to roll from the US to West Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Japan. That time it involved war planes instead of just the missiles.
When not transporting weapons of destruction to jihadists and contras, Khashoggi was kept busy pursuing business with the Mormons. The Triad Center was a joint effort, where LDS provided the land and became the predominant tenant (see half way down). It is here they set up another company Bonneville International, to house their radio and television stations. These aren’t your run of the mill Christian programs and include the Washington Post Radio as well as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Pertaining to television it’s hard to ascertain the full scope of LDS holdings, but they do include an NBC affiliate and the Church has been making moves to acquire a stake in Disney. Also located within the Triad Center is a Brigham Young University campus.
(Adnan Khashoggi discussing business plans with Mormon executive-apostle, photo credit: Deseret News clipping)
Bonneville International serves as a parent company to numerous subsidiaries. They include the Bonneville Washington News Bureau, Bonneville Media Communications, the Bonneville Broadcasting System, Bonneville Satellite Corporation, Bonneville Entertainment Company and Bonneville Telecommunications (provided futures and commodity quotes). Every one is a profit machine owned by the Mormon Church and the FCC has been called upon to regulate their control of media.
The way they manage their affairs is demonstrated through the Washington Post partner. Amid transitioning from newspaper to radio, the Saints put an end to a popular rock music station. They handed the 35 workers from Z-104 their walking papers and replaced them with 25 Mormon-friendly staff of their own (see both pages).
To confuse matters more, Bonneville International is a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation. Under this banner they’ve managed to scoop up part of ESPN. In regard to Bonneville Satellite most access to their web domains is prohibited, but they do offer services in the US, UK, Thailand, Pakistan, India, select areas of the Middle East and the home country of Khashoggi, in Turkey.
Under the wing of Deseret Management, we find other companies like Deseret News, Deseret Book, Deseret Digital Media, Temple Square Hospitality and Beneficial Life Insurance, which handles $20.3 billion in policies (stakeholders PDF or non PDF). Mormons also concocted Mstar.net to apply ecclesiastic censoring to the internet for their faithful followers; in addition to their own LDSYellowPages and a doorway to Hollywood through Excel Entertainment.
From a finance perspective, Ensign Peak Advisors manages Mormon stocks and bonds including those of the Deseret Trust Company. Next is Deseret Mutual, as a provider of financial products and employer health benefits. These services are exclusive to Church owned businesses, but their workforce is considerable and lists many LDS participants. The Church conglomerate continues to hold an extensive stock portfolio including $2 million in Burger King and $1 million in Dominos Pizza. These assets were transferred to the Saints tax free by Mitt Romney. General Authorities of the Church receive income from these investments, so in a roundabout way it benefited him personally and all his business associates (more on this in Part 7: Insider Trading).
They continue to hold considerable interest in banks, which goes hand in hand with various footholds they maintain in the economic sector. We’ll start with Zion Bancorp, the early brainchild of the Twelve Apostles. Zion began in Utah with the Church retaining full ownership, but in 1960 fellow Mormon Roy W. Simmons, purchased a controlling share. The financial institution carried on in partnership with LDS and promoted five apostles to its board of directors. They continue to facilitate all Mormon Church business and at least one congregation member felt he was cheated out of $700,000 through their advice that only benefited the institution.
Today Roy’s son Harris Simmons inherited the Chairman, President and CEO positions. (see officers and directors). He’s a loyal Mormon at the heart of the financial empire who happens to hold more than a million shares since the company went public. Moreover Harris is Chairman of the underlying Zions Bank (Utah and Idaho) and heads all the parent-acquired subsidiaries such as Amegy Bank of Texas,California Bank and Trust, National Bank of Arizona, Nevada State Bank, The Commerce Bank of Oregon, The Commerce Bank of Washington, Vectra Bank Colorado, Zions Management Services Company, Amegy Insurance Agency, Amegy Investments, Amegy Mortgage Company, Contango Capital Advisors, Net Deposit, Wellman Holdings, Wellman Services, Western National Trust, Zions Credit Corp, Zions Direct and Zions Insurance Agency. Total assets of Zion Bancorp in 2010 were $51.6 billion.
Church president and primary apostle Thomas S. Monson was on hand to dedicate the newest Zion Financial Center in the name of Mormon. Additionally the building is owned by the Church under real estate holdings and the job of running local matters was given to A. Scott Anderson – another royal descendant of an original apostle like Mitt.
The wisdom of prophets didn’t save the banking empire from brushes with the law though; common to most Mormon enterprises. First they received two $8 million fines for trespasses against the Bank Secrecy Act and USA Patriot Act related to inter-country money laundering. Then they were hit with two more for $50,000 and $225,000 for operating without a proper licence, misleading representation and making false statements. During the recent financial market meltdown, Zion Bank received $1.4 billion in relief from government (a Fannie Mae repeat) and they’ve only repaid $700 million since this September. Earlier in 1999 they also faced tough opposition to the goal of merging Zion with the other Mormon bank, First Security. Due to anti-trust concerns and major publicity the marriage was called off, as the move would have resulted in a banking monopoly.
Switching gears, the Church is at the center of America’s food system. These holdings begin withAgReserves Inc in the United States, described as running investment farms and ranches. In the United Kingdom the name changes to AgReserves Ltd where apostles received $15.9 million worth of taxpayer subsidy to benefit their operations in a single year. They’ve replicated in Mexico under AgroReservas and regrettably AgroReservas do Brazil was removed from the internet when the Landless Workers’ Movement targeted the Mormon sprawl in protest. Now no information is available beyond the words of those affected and displaced. AgReserves Australia Ltd is yet another LDS company with hundreds of thousands of acres.
Those are just the larger holdings. In California they produce almonds. In Utah it’s dairy and cattle. In Oklahoma they raise more cattle and Florida produces cows along with citrus fruit. Stretches of Wyoming and Washington were bought for the sole purpose of historical value, to own the pieces of America that Mormon pioneers may have traversed. All the farms double as camps and getaways to profit from tourism as well. This is not to mention the individual ranches spread across the US, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Argentina because they’re indeed too many to list.
These operations are located under the Farm Management Company, which in turn is overseen by Deseret Land and Livestock. The latter not only farms but also offers paid hunting expeditions and “high quality fly fishing experiences” for profit. In a complex web to keep anyone from grasping their true worth, both corporations are controlled by another Mormon investment structure going by the name of Farmland Reserve Inc.
According to the church’s own newspaper the faithful are not meant to know LDS business, but they’re aware of millions of acres in the US and reverence as the largest private land owner in Florida along with others. In an unguarded moment, a Mormon executive praised the Church for being “the largest cow-calf operator in the nation” whilst angling to overtake Ted Turner in the business.
These acquisitions have been patient at times and purchased piece by piece until LDS assumes an entire area. In the Third World the vulnerable are begging for enough land to survive and the story is beginning to repeat in America. Even contracted farmers in Idaho of the Mormon faith are condemning the Church’s practices. They’re threatening to revoke the community’s paid participation by operating farms directly through their administration. In this way they keep labour costs to a minimum by having worshippers volunteer in the fields – as a tenet of doing Mormon business since the beginning. Furthermore the farmers are angry that LDS produces for the commercial market and this spawns an unfair business advantage that could put an end to their livelihoods altogether.
Although there is scant information available about the Mormons’ Property Reserve Inc., it too is a real estate venture of some sort. It’s involved in a Supreme Court lawsuit that extends to Hawaii, so it can’t be conducting business confined to Utah as their registration suggests. The public can only guess if these dealings are related to a shooting that took place at a Mormon temple on Christmas Day; sparked by an LDS real estate Ponzi ring that was investigated by the FBI in 2010.
Pertaining to Hawaii, the Church owns the most lucrative part of that state. When Mitt’s ancestors went on mission in 1865 they purchased more than 7,000 acres in the name of Mormon – in an effort totransform Polynesian Indians from Lamanites into the descendants of Israel. Hawaii Reserves Inc. was established to take control of Laie and one of their most renowned beaches. They operate water, sewer treatment and roads with the intent of building more neighbourhoods. It’s a sensitive area with sacred burial grounds, so Mormons employed a representative to lobby for their development interests (PDF). These services were likely necessary to build the Brigham Young University Hawaii campus, along with the Polynesian Cultural Center to serve as one of the world’s most popular vacation destinations and gainful theme attractions.
We must now address the topic of sugar and how the Church positioned itself to become an oligarch of this industry. Sugar is needed to cook nearly everything we eat and warrants our acute attention. This enterprise began with Brigham Young and the Apostles, to help found their theocratic and competitive-cooperative capitalist dream for Zion-Utah. Soon after they were investigated and convicted of anti-trust violations for the Sugar Trust, in keeping with their business theory and its successive outcomes.
In an effort to save their monopoly Saints then partnered with the Bankers Trust, who in turn found themselves the target of racketeering charges that led to the present market meltdown and the government’s intervention to regulate derivatives. In the early days this Trust helped the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company merge and grow to take full market share, under the name of Amalgamated Sugar with Mormon prophet David Eccles as the technical founder and Utah’s first made millionaire. From the riches of LDS sugar, he became Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the Washington, DC building was named in his honour.
During his years in power he is noted to provide the Mormon Church with interest free loans to assist in building their kingdom. Coincidentally, David’s son George Eccles founded the smaller Mormon bank First Security, that attempted to merge with Zion before regulators took notice and trust circumstances intervened. A fellowship was established in his name to promote Mormon studies and Lew Cramer from the World Trade Center Utah is one of the prominent LDS steering executives. In the Saints’ family, every power player is connected for the purpose of furthering the Church’s vision.
Still on the issue of sugar, Amalgamated is said to have merged with the Snake River Sugar Company. No information is publicly available about either company, but the latter currently shares the same business address as the original manufacturer. The Amalgamated Sugar company website redirects to Snake River as well. It appears the newer entity may have been established as a lobby for widespread adoption of genetically modified seeds to obtain the sugar (see technology at bottom).
Last in this installment is mention of the Mormon’s relationship with coal power and copper. Ernest L. Wilkinson was president of Brigham Young University as well as a Washington lawyer and defeated Republican candidate for senate. In his time he was the topic of scandal that related to the university. Wilkinson headed a spy ring within the institution, to ensnare professors who displayed anything less than a Tea Party attitude. Upon conviction they’d be fired and removed from the Mormon hierarchy. More importantly, he worked for the Department of the Interior and drafted the Indian Claims Commission legislation (see pgs. 34-35 PDF).
His partner in matters of energy was fellow LDS attorney and Bishop, John Sterling Boyden. He was the legal representation for Peabody Energy Corporation while at the same time representing Hopi, Ute and Navajo Indians. In addition to his practice, Boyden presided over these indigenous converts as their prophetic leader. (His son inherited this church standing, see second entry.)
Peabody Energy is the largest private producer of coal in the world. In 1968 it was purchased byKennecott Copper Corporation, although due to anti-trust issues the acquisition was struck down and sold eight years later for $1 billion. For the record it is now owned by Rio Tinto, but during the time of Kennecott the Mormons were immediately involved.
H. David Burton was an executive with Kennecott, in addition to holding apostleship in the highest office of the Church. During tenure of these three Mormon figures they usurped the Black Mesa area from Natives, to strip mine their land for coal energy development that benefitted their respective companies.
Acting as the Indians’ bishop, John Boyden convinced the bands to sign a contract with Peabody. The Hopi’s didn’t have government of any sort to ratify a deal, so he ordained a tribal council from those he was able to convert to Mormonism. The tribe continues to assert these individuals had no authority to make legal decisions on behalf of all their people. In concert with Wilkinson at Church headquarters, they devised a plan to move forward regardless. Both attorneys fetched millions in legal fees from the government and tribes, to perform their services while playing for both teams.
It was deemed the Black Mesa Peabody Coal Controversy and environmental protection organizationsare bitterly studying the effects of this case at present. There were numerous repercussions from duping Indians into an agreement that would only pay them $0.30 per ton when market value was $1.50, to overusing water at a billion gallons per year to process the coal slurry. The aquifers Natives depended on for survival have been bled dry and now they’re forced to walk many miles with buckets to find water. A poignant article with photographs and their testimony about the Mormon relationship can be found here (or via PDF here).
More troubling is the Church’s explanation. They believe that since these Indians didn’t appreciate money in their culture, their reward was receiving the Mormon gospel. LDS called them “backwards people” and convinced themselves it was their duty to build the indigenous up from Lamanites into their version of civility. It was their calling to obtain this coal power for the sake of constructing the kingdom in places like Las Vegas, Los Angeles and so forth.
In the meantime Sylvan Wittwer was the Mormon bishop and president of Lansing Michigan Stake and he took up lobbying on behalf of coal energy to protect the Church’s interests. He hails from the neighbouring region to Mitt Romney and wrote many books suggesting carbon dioxide is good for the earth. As an executive member of the Greening Earth Society with direct relation to Peabody Energy, he argued against the science and perils of global warming. He replicated those efforts with the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, with further ties to Exxon Mobil.
This advice was obviously taken to heart by the Mormon Church, as they completed a land swap with Kennecott in 2011 to assume ownership of an old mining area. The company faced orders from the EPA to clean up a sensitive tailings pond, but it is now becoming an LDS neighbourhood complete with a scenic lake that no one is allowed to use.
Should Mitt Romney become the President of America all these friends will be knocking at his door. In Part 7: Insider Trading, we’ll see how closely they’re connected and who exactly owes whom.
