This is the Security State Steve Built

Yep, this is the society Stevie Harper wants for Canada. And for some weird reason lots of Don Cherry type neanderthals seem to want it too. Peacenik thinks people should stop spending all their time watching Dancing with the Stars, and start thinking about what is happening. Mr. Ignatieff. What do you have to say? Mr Ignatieff?

Why the Tories keep whipping up fear of terrorists, criminals and peaceful protestors.

Police apprehend G20 protestor Natalie Gray in Toronto. Photo: Natalie Gray.

For those considering issue triage -- picking five or six issues to focus on -- in the fight to rid the country of the current government, one area that is critical to the outcome is exposing the Harper government's construction of the national security state.

I am referring here to the commitment of the Harper government to implementing policies that increase the importance of a war-fighting military in Canadian society, its preoccupation with tough-on-crime legislation, its blank cheque to security operations like the one "protecting" the G20 summit, and its continued efforts to convince Canadians that they face the constant risk of terrorist attack.

The flip side of the coin: criminalizing dissent and trashing civil liberties so that opposition to this agenda can be kept to a minimum.

Read on...