Unbelievers w/The New Enemy, Old School Politics, Counterpunch - Bovine Sex Club - Aug. 20th

Police have been granted more powers to search, detain and arrest people in and around Toronto's downtown G20 security zone, a move the Canadian Civil Liberties Association calls "dire".

Most of these powers contradict constitutional safeguards, the rights group says.

Under the Ontario Public Works Protection Act, the area inside and within five metres of the security perimeter has been designated as a “public work” for the duration of the G20 summit.

The regulation, which was published online June 16, took effect June 21 and will be revoked June 28, the day after the summit ends.

Its existence became known only after the detention of several climate activists at a march today. Protesters were toldthat the security squad policing the area near the fence has special powers that overrule the rights to freedom of expression and assembly that they thought they had.

The Ontario Movement Defence Committee, an organization that provides legal support to Toronto activists, released a statement shortly after 5 p.m., saying the regulation gives police officers:

“… the power to require anyone entering or attempting to enter or approaching the public work ‘to furnish his or her name and address, to identify himself or herself and to state the purpose for which he or she desires to enter the public work, in writing or otherwise’.

“The police may also ‘search, without warrant, any person entering or attempting to enter a public work’. The police can also search ‘a vehicle in the charge or under the control of any such person or which has recently been or is suspected of having been in the charge or under the control of any such person or in which any such person is a passenger’.

“Finally, the police ‘may refuse permission to any person to enter a public work and use such force as is necessary to prevent any such person from so entering’.

“Police may arrest, without warrant ‘any person who neglects or refuses to comply with a request or direction of a guard or peace officer, or who is found upon or attempting to enter a public work without lawful authority.’

“Neglecting or refusing ‘to comply with a request or direction made under this Act by a guard or peace officer’ or if you are a person found upon a public work or any approach thereto without lawful authority means you could be found guilty of an offence and be liable to a fine of not more than $500 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than two months, or to both.”

This evening the Canadian Civil Liberties Association reacted with alarm, saying in a statement it “is obviously extremely concerned about the implications of this measure and will seek to challenge them.”

It warned: “The new designation changes dramatically the advice that lawyers may have been providing to protesters or the general public if they find themselves [in] the proximity of the fenced area.”

In an interview, the association’s general counsel criticized the secretive manner in which the regulation was brought into play.

“The process for this designation was not transparent,” Nathalie Des Rosiers said. “It seemed to have been designed so that nobody knew about it.”

The application for the regulation was filed June 2. The regulation will not be printed in The Ontario Gazette, the publication that records the province’s legal notices, until July 3 — after it has expired.

Des Rosiers could not name any previous occasion when these unusual powers had been given to police.

“As of now, we don’t know of any time when this power [has been] exercised under this act.”

OPP Const. Tim Garland, a spokesman for the Integrated Security Unit, said the new rules are in the interests of “security”.

“If you’re walking down the street in your neighbourhood, there is no requirement for you to identify yourself to police. There’s no obligation to cooperate,” he said. “This gives police special authority to ask for ID.

“If we don’t have search authority, how are we to do our job?”

The allowance of searches and arrests without warrants doesn’t contradict the spirit of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, he said.

“Within the Charter of Rights, there are certain balancing provisions. If [someone] can prove that it’s for the greater good, then the violation of charter rights are upheld in the courts.”

Garland said public works regulations are sometimes used to control access to government institutions, courthouses  and construction sites. He said he didn’t know whether this type of regulation is generally enacted as a temporary or permanent measure.

“We’re not the ones passing these statutes. These statutes are passed by a democratically elected government. Governments are elected by the people; the people have given us the right to do this.

“We don’t make the law, we’re the ones enforcing it.

“If it’s serving the public good, yeah, it’s a violation of the Charter, but it’s a necessary violation. That’s the beauty of the charter, it’s a living document.”

Taken from: OpenFile

Significant Findings:
Refused are fucking dead. Or are they? That seems to be a buzz question as of late, with a rumoured Epitaph deluxe reissue of the band’s genre-defining last will and testament, “The Shape Of Punk To Come.” Rumoured reunion or not, at least the Swedish new wave hipsters managed to influence a lesser known but nevertheless critically-praised crossover hardcore punk band from Toronto, The New Enemy, whose sophomore EP “Shakedown” boasts rumbling basslines and start-stop passages have Refused written all over them. Their love affair with the 90’s doesn’t stop there, though. The New Enemy’s guitarist and clean vocalist Luke Muldoon reportedly has a not-so-secret fetish for Fat Wreck melodic punk of decades gone by, and he incorporates that signature melodic twist in just enough of the EP’s six tracks for it to be a cornerstone of their sound.

Besides the occasional breakdown or riff slowed down to halftime, one of The New Enemy’s decidedly masculizing forces is its roughneck frontman, Clint McLean. For a man barely out of his twenties, his glass-eating, smoke-shredded vocal chords emit a howl that falls somewhere between Tom Waits, Chuck Ragan, Dax Riggs, Tim Armstrong, The Clash, and Johnny Cash.
Now if only The New Enemy had taken the easy route and fallen in line with the played-out indie trend sweeping the underground in recent years, they’d have instantly become choice favorites at local hardcore and punk shows without issue, and their fans would all have grown pseudo sailor beards to show off to their favorite band during sing-a-longs. It just so happens that in refusing to conform to the nostalgia du jour, and proudly remaining the unique crossover act they set out to be, they’ve found themselves balancing firmly yet uncomfortably on a tightrope between two buildings; as is the plight of most great D.I.Y. hybrids during their lifespan.

Crucial old-school hardcore religiously belted out by white collar teenagers an authentic hardcore band does not make. Taking risks by dangerously fusing danceable punk, moshpit hardcore, and flashes of Sabbath, and surviving on the fringes of an elitist, self-conscious underground that picks and chooses who is hardcore and who is not, now that’s what can be considered having thick skin. Having been hardened by exclusion, alienation, and rejection in one’s life tends to encompass the reason most ended up in the underground in the first place. The popularity contest that they soon discover exists however ends up chasing many away, and those who stick behind either end up running the show, or remain staunch critics of that very scene. Amidst all this dissention, and the bands, people, and messageboards that choose sides in the matter or not, are bands like The New Enemy who turn a blind eye to the petty silliness around them, preferring instead to belt out blue-collar, sincere punk hardcore, with a penchant for being politically outspoken whenever the opportunity arises be it a video interview, or simply via the band’s Facebook page.

Here is the link to the original review of The New Enemy’s “Shakedown”.

We are happy to be included in this year’s Riot Rock Festival, presented by: Stereo Dynamite Recordings

Since 2000, the Toronto Riot Rock Festival has been a night of insanity inside some of Toronto’s smallest and most rockin’ clubs. A chance to bring together a lot of larger local bands from various different scenes who might normally never play together on any shows. Give each band a short 25 minute set – and let the sparks fly!

Bands who have previously played the Toronto Riot Rock Festival include: Cancer Bats, I Hate Sally, Black Lungs, Damn 13, The Video Dead, Bad Blood, PDH, Fever Out!, Hell Yeah Fuck Yeah, Puddy, Twinfold, Neva, and Jaww.

The Riot Rock Festival is a chance for bands from different scenes to meet each other, make connections and have a great time.

RIOT ROCK FESTIVAL 2K10 LINE-UP FEATURES:
BASTARD CHILD DEATH CULT
THE von DRATS
FOG OF LEPROSY
THE HARD PARTY
TREBLE WARRIORS (members of KEEPIN’ 6 / x-illScarlett)
CRUX OF AUX (x-SHALLOW ND)
THE NEW ENEMY
TEENAGE X
EAT ME (SUCK CITY) (Featuring KYLE BISHOP x-GRADE)
REHAB FOR QUITTERS
VILIPEND
JAKE DISMAN
THE VICTIM PARTY (x-HOSTAGE LIFE / BOMBS OVER PROVIDENCE)
REALITY TERROR
METROPOLIS
CLOROFORMS
THE LOWER END
OL’ TIME MOONSHINE
OMEGA 3 FATTY ASSES
SAVANNAH (from Vancouver)

+More bands TBA

America is not at war

This sign was found at a US military facility in Ramadi, Iraq, written by a member of the Marines. It reads:

“America is not at war.
The Marine Corps is at war;
America is at the mall.”

In anticipation of a slew of new features that will be launching at f8, today Facebook announced that it was once again making changes to its privacy policy (you can see our post outlining these changes here). One of the biggest changes that Facebook is making involves applications and third-party websites. We’ve been hearing whispers from multiple sources about these changes, and the announcement all but confirms what Facebook is planning to do. In short, it sounds like Facebook is going to be automatically opting users into a reduced form of Facebook Connect on certain third party sites — a bold change that may well unnerve users, at least at first. Here’s how Facebook is describing the change in its blog post:

Today, when you use applications such as games on Facebook.com or choose to connect to Facebook on sites across the web, you are able to find and interact with your friends. These applications require a small set of basic information about you in order to provide a relevant experience. After feedback from many of you, we announced in August that we were moving toward a model that gives you clearer controls over what data is shared with applications and websites when you choose to use them.

In the proposed privacy policy, we’ve also explained the possibility of working with some partner websites that we pre-approve to offer a more personalized experience at the moment you visit the site. In such instances, we would only introduce this feature with a small, select group of partners and we would also offer new controls.

So what does that mean? We’ve heard that select Facebook partners will now be able to look for your existing Facebook cookie to identify you, even if you never opted into Facebook Connect on the site you’re visiting. Using that, the third party site will be able to display your friends and other key information. It’s possible that these sites will also be able to display any data you’ve shared with ‘everyone‘, which is of course now the default option on Facebook.

Facebook’s draft privacy policy states that you’ll be able to opt-out of these sites, and you’ll also be able to opt-out of these ‘pre-approved’ experiences entirely. But by default, you’re all in. How convenient.

Here’s the langauge from the draft privacy policy itself. Note that the ‘About Platform’ page does not yet include a list of approved partners:

Pre-Approved Third-Party Websites and Applications. In order to provide you with useful social experiences off of Facebook, we occasionally need to provide General Information about you to pre-approved third party websites and applications that use Platform at the time you visit them (if you are still logged in to Facebook). Similarly, when one of your friends visits a pre-approved website or application, it will receive General Information about you so you and your friend can be connected on that website as well (if you also have an account with that website). In these cases we require these websites and applications to go through an approval process, and to enter into separate agreements designed to protect your privacy. For example, these agreements include provisions relating to the access and deletion of your General Information, along with your ability to opt-out of the experience being offered. You can also remove any pre-approved website or application you have visited here [add link], or block all pre-approved websites and applications from getting your General Information when you visit them here [add link]. In addition, if you log out of Facebook before visiting a pre-approved application or website, it will not be able to access your information. You can see a complete list of pre-approved websites on our About Platform page.

Here’s how Facebook defines the term ‘General Information’:

The term General Information includes your and your friends’ names, profile pictures, gender, connections, and any content shared using the Everyone privacy setting. We may also make information about the location of your computer or access device and your age available to applications and websites in order to help them implement appropriate security measures and control the distribution of age-appropriate content.

Do it yourself vol. 3

We couldn’t be more proud to announce our 3rd installment for the DO IT YOURSELF Compilation series.  Available free for digital download from our friends at Juicebox Recording Co.

Support these artists and download this today.

DO IT YOURSELF VOL. 3

1. Sunday Warfare “Fight War”
2. Detroit “Spiritual Autopsy”
3. Beyond The Black “Taker”
4. Hormoans “Hormoans”
5. Permanent Bastards “White Tree”
6. The Rotten “Human Disaster”
7. Lion Ride “Lock Me In”
8. Vilipend “Plague Bearer”
9. The Decay “My Friends Carry Me Home”
10. Shared Arms “Dan The Man 69″
11. Hands Of The Few “Hold No Faith”
12. The Daily Times “Us Vs. Them”
13. The New Enemy “Tim Horton Hears A Who”
14. Broadcast Zero “Just Like Me”
15. The Brat Attack “Prison Slave Labour”
16. Streetcore “Lets Call It Even”

For a free digital download please visit www.juiceboxdotcom.com/

We walked in to the street front studios and handed him a copy of our EP and he played us 3-4 hours later. They continued to support us and play our music as one of the very few unsigned bands on air each week, as well as bring us in for an interview and playing tracks off our new EP just a few months ago.

Again, an unsigned and relatively new band would never have the opportunity to do something like without the help of Punkorama who govern music by its merit rather than by what the music and program director THINK people like.

Thank you Barry Taylor and JD for your support of The New Enemy over the last couple of years.

That was huge for us.

Read the 5 star review here.

A good blog post on the NME about this.

Rage Against The Machine’s Chart Triumph Is A Victory For Good Music Over Bad
By Luke Lewis
Posted on 20/12/09 at 05:23:50 pm

OK, I was wrong. Two weeks ago I said it could never happen. No internet campaign, no matter how potent, could hope to break the festive stranglehold of the Simon Cowell/X Factor hit factory. The #RATM4Xmas movement was doomed to failure.

Now look. ‘Killing In The Name’ is Number One after all, after selling 50,000 copies more than Joe McElderry’s ballad ‘The Climb’. The Rage campaign has mobilised almost a million members: an astonishing figure. Along the way, over £60,000 has been raised for Shelter – and I’ve been called an ‘assclown’ more times than I care to mention.

What can I say? The campaign turned into something bigger, and more noble, than I initially gave it credit for. What started out as a pushy Facebook viral has become a heartwarming Christmas story that none of us will ever forget (as much as you can call a song ‘heartwarming’ when it’s about the Ku Klux Klan and features 16 ‘Fuck’s in a row).

Such was the campaign’s unstoppable momentum, figures as high-profile as David Cameron (pro-Joe) and Sir Paul McCartney (pro-RATM) waded into the debate. It has brought the country together – even as it polarised it.

I guarantee almost everyone reading this will be discussing Rage Against The Machine with their families over Christmas dinner – a surreal state of affairs, but clearly one to savour.

More than anything, this thrilling battle for the Christmas Number One has proved that the music industry is not ‘dead’ after all. People still pay for music. They still feel unbelievably passionate about it.

Say what you like about the billions of pounds raked in by the video game industry – no-one will ever care about ‘Medal Of Honor’ the way they care about Rage Against The Machine. And that’s something worth celebrating.

The triumph of ‘Killing In The Name’ is also a victory, on the most obvious level, for good music over bad. The fact Simon Cowell chose ‘The Climb’ as the X Factor winner’s song – a tune that was already a hit for Miley Cyrus earlier this year – demonstrates his contempt for his audience. He assumes they’ll buy any old shit if they’ve seen it on TV. Now, just maybe, he’ll think differently.

Yes, it would be nice for us NME types if the anti-Cowell movement could have rallied round a modern band, a fresh-faced act, rather than one who had their biggest hit seventeen years ago. But since so few politically committed, ferocious artists exist right now, Rage was as good a choice as any.

Was this a corruption of the song’s original intent? Maybe. But if only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of people who joined this campaign were radicalised by it, and will now be inspired to get behind causes that really matter, that can only be a good thing.

Tom Morello – a committed socialist, albeit a fantastically wealthy one – seemed to realise this in the final hours of the chart battle, quoting Winston Chrurchill (“We will fight them on the beaches”) and his band’s own song ‘Guerrilla Radio’ (“ALL HELL CAN’T STOP US NOW!”) via Twitter, and generally taking on the role of hectoring Field Marshal.

For those of us who were inspired as teenagers by Morello’s combination of fierce intelligence, eloquence and musical skill, this was exhilarating stuff indeed.

And yes, I’ll admit, I’ve learnt a personal lesson. Rage Against The Machine’s 2009 chart triumph is a victory for collective action and positivity over cynicism. And that seems as worthy a Christmas message as any. Mutha-fuck-eerz!

Shakedown EP

The New Enemy’s second EP picks up right where their first release, Outsourced EP, left off. This is six tracks of aggressive and in-your-face punk rock that hits hard and often. Not surprisingly, The New Enemy sticks with their socially conscious sound. The opening lyrics, “Desperate measures for hopeless times/Society’s soldiers committing crimes,” set up the tone for the entire EP. The message found in the lyrics holds true musically as well, right from the explosive drumming of “Tim Horton Hears a Who” to the raging guitar work of “Shelf Life.” “Pony Collector” explores the softer side of The New Enemy but fret not, that exploration lasts mere seconds before kicking into the band’s now patented skull-crushing style. The best part of The New Enemy’s second EP is that they’re never afraid to let loose; the spirit of the tunes are chaotic and wild. Luke Muldoon’s angry guitar work begs to have your stereo up loud enough to make your ears bleed, while Clint McLean’s savage vocals drag a cheese grater across your face (this is the same dude who, as rumour has it, prepares for a show by chewing glass and eating sand paper). Needless to say, Shakedown EP is not for the faint of heart or any little mall punks looking for whiny tunes about heart break. Crank this one up to eleven and while you’re at it, keep your eyes peeled for The New Enemy as they tour frequently.

In the short period of time the New Enemy have existed, the band have strived for only the best, whether sharing the stage with punk heavyweight SNFU and Agnostic Front or working with big name engineers like Nick Zampiello (Against Me, Converge). With a progressive style of hardcore, the Toronto, ON natives have a sound reminiscent of Strung Out meet Poison Idea, using their technical chops alongside storming drums and ferocious vocals. The New Enemy have a keen awareness of political and social issues, incorporating them effectively into their lyrics, most notably in cleverly titled opener “Tim Horton Hears a Who,” the folk punk-tinged “The Pony Collector” and the chugging onslaught of “Thin Skull Rule.” Shakedown successfully experiments with hardcore while still keeping it as fierce and relevant as possible. (Independent)

Original review of Shakedown EP

The New Enemy is relatively new to Toronto’s punk scene but they’ve made themselves known by playing lots of shows around town and getting some Canada/U.S. tours under their belts. Throw a pair of EPs and a crap-load of talent into the mix and you’ve got the making for a band on the move. But be forewarned, this is some seriously raw punk rock that won’t be found in the malls.

The New Enemy is the real deal — fast, furious, furious, and aggressive. The Outsourced EP is straight ahead thrashing that makes Rancid sound like dinner music. The EP features five originals, including the blazing “3 Sheets” and the anthem-esque “Black & Blue (Collars).” As a little bonus, there’s also a cover of Kid Dynamite’s “Decontrol.” But the real story of the band’s CD debut is Clint McLean’s voice. With vocal chords stripped bare, McLean spits blood with every word. Don’t get too close to your stereo or you’re liable to get some on yourself. This is raw and passionate; it’s hard-hitting punk, and it’s for fans of the genre or for anybody who just wants to scream.

Swine Flu

This is another reason to read the facts about the common cold Swine Flu.

“This flu has a lower mortality rate than the common flu.”

Teresa Forcades is a nun at the monastery of Sant-Benet, in Monserra-Barcelona. She is a physician specializing in internal medicine, PHD in public health at Barcelona’s university, specializing in the USA at the State University of New York. She gives verifiable scientific data and the disturbing irregularities related to this subject. This is relevant to all countries, all people.