RCMP-Satellite Pirates, Gitmo Khadr, Europeanized Canada, Weston on Gomery, Crime's Down? Military Equipjment, Terror Database

RCMP's action against satellite piracy lauded

RCMP's action against satellite piracy lauded Feb. 11, 05

OTTAWA (CP) - A coalition representing the country's broadcasters, producers and carriers is applauding the RCMP's latest raids against suspected dealers of unauthorized satellite TV equipment.

The raids were conducted Thursday at seven locations in Montreal and Toronto under a police operation known as Project Capituler, says the RCMP C division in Montreal.

The searches resulted in the seizure of software, access cards and other equipment designed to steal satellite TV signals, police said. Also scooped up was a luxury vehicle and the uncovering of more than $300,000 worth of offshore transactions, they said. Four people were arrested under the Criminal Code and the Radiocommunication Act.

Police say further arrests are possible. [. . . . ]

Crime's Down -- "T.O.'s deadly 24 hours" -- 2 dead, 6 injured, as cops search for 4 gunmen

T.O.'s deadly 24 hours February 13, 2005, Jonathan Jenkins and Jonathan Kingston, Toronto Sun

BURSTS OF gunfire across the city that left 2 people dead and 6 injured in less than 24 hours have police hunting for at least four different gunmen in unrelated attacks. The body count would almost certainly have been higher, cops say, if one would-be killer had any idea how to handle his .45-calibre pistol. [. . . . ]

West-end man killed in fistfight

Shotgun surprise




Oh Canada!

Oh Canada! Fox News (www.foxnews.com), February 11, 2005

On Friday, an editorial in The Toronto Star a newspaper headlined, "Try Khadr or Release Him."

The paper is demanding that 18-year-old named Omar Khadr (search) either get a trial for his alleged crimes, or be given his release from Guantanamo Bay (search), where he is being held indefinitely as a terrorist picked up on the field of battle. There is no doubt that a terrorist is precisely what he is.

[. . . . ] There is no doubt the younger Khadr being held by the Americans at Gitmo is terrorist through and through. We would have been perfectly entitled to put a bullet in his head on the field of battle, but American troops saved his life instead and he now is served three squares in Gitmo.

[. . . . ] This is another instance where we're going to have to tell Canada to forget it.

The younger Khadr is the worst of the worst. He belongs right where he is and he deserves to stay there as long as we want.

That's My Word.

Canada can't save you -- a view of Canada from the US

Canada can't save you John Leo, Feb.2, 05, USNews.com

Some 10,000 to 20,000 Americans, unable to come to terms with the re-election of President Bush, are believed poised to leave the United States and become Canadians. [. . . . ]

Will they achieve peace of mind north of the border? No, they won't. Instead they will find the following:

[. . . . ] More Canadian music than you can imagine. Radio stations must play Canadian music at least 35 percent of the time. Strict rules determine what music is Canadian enough to fill the quota. [. . . . ]

Except for murder, a rate of violent crime as disgraceful as that of the United States. Many U.S. newspapers salute Canada for its low crime rate. But according to the International Crime Victimization Survey, the rate of certain "contact" crimes (robbery, sexual assault, and assault with force) is over 1.5 times higher in Canada than in the United States.

[. . . . ] Perplexing food decisions. [. . . . ]

The customary problems of socialized medicine. [. . . . ] Keep coming down here for healthcare, Canadians.

A national infatuation with censorship. . . . value niceness. . . . strong tendency to suppress speech [. . . . ] Speech is illegal if it "promotes hatred" or spreads "false news." Advertising "directed at children" can be ruled illegal. If the recorded message on your answering machine is deemed discriminatory, you can be prosecuted for it. In Saskatchewan, a newspaper ad listing four biblical citations against homosexuality (just the listing, no text), accompanied by two hand-holding male stick figures with a line drawn across them, was ruled a human-rights offense, and the man who placed the ad was directed to pay $1,800 each to three gay men who were offended by the ad. "Canadians put up with an insane amount of crap that Americans might not," said David Sutherland, former director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.

Canada's trying to be European. Canada has been aping trends in Europe, from the obsession with multiculturalism to the rising contempt for religion, greater censorship, and even a declining birthrate. [. . . . ] Though the Canadian and American press consistently give the impression that gay marriage is overwhelmingly favored in Canada, a February 2 National Post /Global National poll found that two thirds of Canadians oppose gay marriage and would most likely vote against it in a national plebiscite. The polls suggest that Canadians are close to Americans on this issue. It's elite opinion and judges that make Canada look different.

I wish the word "elite" were not so often misused; the ones so labelled simply have Liberal / government / liberal / media / and often money connections. Many are in the media or are in academe but that does not necessarily mean they have the best minds in the country. There are others in Canada who do more than talk, analyze using too narrow a band of 'acceptable within their circle' research or consulting too little solid research, write the current politically correct mantras and so on. Check out some others who actually read the studies and what is revealed by the research; they read competing views along with the supporting data -- for example: on global warming studies; on proportional representation vs first past the post; on global governance, the implications for Canadians and the political connections and implications; on what actually works in the battle between personal responsibility and government control -- oh, on any number of issues. They find studies which do not make it into most mainstream media and won't any time soon; there are a few exceptions.

Spare me the inbred, politically correct and connected chattering classes as the final authority on anything.





Gomery Inquiry: Juicy stuff yet to come -- Greg Weston

Juicy stuff yet to come February 13, 2005

SOMETIME OVER the next month, the Gomery commission of inquiry will hear the testimony of an extraordinary witness -- a Montreal ad man whose key role in the sponsorship scandal arguably deserves a national standing ovation. He is the whistleblower of AdScam, one of the honest few on the inside of the sponsorship fiasco who saw wrongdoing and did something to stop it.

Over a period of almost five years, he has secretly [. . . . ]

[. . . . ] To be precise, the "juicy stuff" begins Feb. 28.

That's the day the commission hearings move to Montreal to begin the second and decidedly more intriguing phase of the inquiry. [. . . . ]

Greg Weston knows more than we do. Link.




Terror database is secret weapon -- Breaking the Al-Qaeda code

Terror database is secret weapon Christina Lamb, Charleston, Sunday Times , Feb. 13, 05

SLEEPY Charleston, the South Carolina hometown of Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind, seems an unlikely place to be on the front line of the global war on terror.

Yet on the third floor of a glass office building overlooking the Cooper river is a locked room that is straight out of a futuristic thriller.

Inside, a series of control panels with flashing lights and whirring hard drives comprise the master computer of the world’s largest free-standing database of intelligence on Islamic terrorism. It could hold the key to dismantling Al-Qaeda.
“It’s the best database on Islamic terrorism in the world,” said a senior counter-terrorism official at the FBI.

The database is the pivotal tool in what those involved say will be the biggest class action in history: a $1 trillion lawsuit on behalf of the families of 1,431 of the people killed on 9/11 and 1,325 of the injured. [. . . . ]

A must read. To all involved, good show!




Military: "Grits a study in dithering" -- It's always much cheaper to report or study something than actually do anything

ARMED FORCES EQUIPMENT IS OLDER THAN THE PEOPLE USING IT, BOB MACDONALD LAMENTS Feb. 13, 05

CANADA'S DEFENCE policy under the Liberals is clear-cut: When pressure builds to spend more money to modernize our sadly neglected armed forces, announce yet another government study. That way, Prime Minister Paul Martin and his defence minister -- "Fighting Bill" Graham from Toronto's plush Rosedale riding -- can back off from doing anything meaningful. [. . . . ]

Why does Bill Graham strike me as someone who dons a frown, juts his chin, and shrieks but doesn't really understand his portfolio nor the military and what Canada needs for our security, not 'peacekeeping', whatever that is supposed to mean when there is no 'peace' to keep. He reminds me of a public school boy who . . . . . couldn't fight his way out of a . . . . . . . ?