Catch-up Posts

Note: Posts will be sporadic for a while. I have other commitments.



When they play with other people's money, they don't care about accountability.

Kyoto's getting hotter Mar. 21, 05

[. . . . ] When former prime minister Jean Chretien announced Canada would ratify the controversial greenhouse gas treaty a few years ago, his bureaucrats were flummoxed.

It was obvious they didn't have a clue how Canada - one of the largest and coldest nations on Earth - could so drastically reduce its output of greenhouse gas emissions to meet the terms of the agreement.

Last month, when the protocol came into effect, it was clear from Environment Minister Stephane Dion's embarrassed mumbling that Canada still didn't have a clue.

[. . . . ] Canadians should also be deeply alarmed at the new $10 billion cost figure, double the last estimate. [. . . . ]

Chirac allies in corruption trial Mar. 21, 05

A major corruption trial has begun in France involving allies of President Jacques Chirac from his time as Paris mayor in the 1980s and 1990s.

Among the 47 accused are former Sports Minister Guy Drut, who is currently on Paris' Olympic bid committee.

The trial centres on a system alleged to have been initiated by President Chirac's Rally for the Republic (RPR).

Companies are accused of paying major political parties to win contracts to renovate schools around Paris. [. . . . ]

Search: Spotlight on Olympic bid?




Services down, taxes and fees up -- virtual smoke and mirrors

This Martin budget is fiction March 20, 2005, John Crosbie, Toronto Sun

The recent federal budget is another episode in the fiscal fecklessness of the former finance minister, now prime minister, and a piece of fiction to boot.

To Paul Martin as dithering, add devious and dissembling in order to understand his budget.

[. . . . ] It is an accounting of the previous year's activities as forecasted and as they actually turned out, with forecasts for the year ahead.

In recent years, Liberal budgets have become works of fiction, political puffery for the current year and fanciful forecasts for the following five. [. . . . ]

Do read this one.

Search: up 82% from 1998, fiscal fibbers, A new tooth fairy, $30 billion, ethnic groups, Fiscal flatulence, back-loaded bull




The fine art of buck passing

If the system works so well, why are there are four murdered RCMP officers? Lawyers defend criminals; the government is supposed to make sure the public is safe. Threats to witnesses don't show up in the crime statistics.

Roszko remedy Mar. 20, 05, Shane Holladay, Edmonton Sun

John Roszko says a more accountable justice system would not have let his brother - who killed four Mounties - back on the street when he ran afoul of the law a decade ago. So now, he's going to research what went wrong and lobby to have the Criminal Code changed in the hope that another such tragedy can be avoided in the future, he says.

"I want to revert this system back to a judicial system," Roszko said yesterday. "I want to see some justice."

On March 3, Roszko's younger brother James, 46, ambushed and killed four RCMP officers before killing himself on his farm near Mayerthorpe, about 130 km north of Edmonton.

He said James faced several criminal charges back in the early 1990s. But when his brother was released on bail, he tracked down his accusers and intimidated them into dropping the charges. [. . . . ]

"The major change I want to see is the judge and lawyer held accountable for their actions." [. . . . ]

Tut tutting for years while the "justice"system falls apart

There's more than one terrorist or crook who is very happy that the politicians have handcuffed the police instead of them.

Rick Anderson says convictions were expected after lengthy probe Mar. 20, 2005

Rick Anderson served as campaign director for the Reform party.

The idea that Canada's justice system is working properly in the case of the Air India bombing recalls the old saw about the operation being a success, despite the patient dying. The bottom line: 20 years after Canada's worst mass murder, our worst terrorist attack, those guilty still walk free.

[. . . . ] Canada's tut-tut class always tut-tuts when anyone suggests our justice system is too lax, too soft on criminals. The tutting grows to a howl at any suggestion that billions wasted on gun registry bureaucracy could be better invested in more practical law enforcement. And the tut-meter redlines when anyone dares ask whether immigration screening might be more attentive to blocking the importation of extremists and criminals to our soil disguised as refugees or seeking family unification. [. . . . ]

Tara Singh Hayer's son expects charges to be laid

[. . . . ] "Not just on the assassination attempt on my dad in '88. We expect the people responsible for ordering the hit, and ordering the assassination of my dad in '98 as well as the people who raised the money . . . all those people will be charged."

David's father, Tara Singh Hayer, would likely have been one of the key witnesses testifying in the Air India trial had he not been gunned down in the driveway of his Surrey, B.C. home in1988.

After the explosion of Air India Flight 182 on June 23, 1985, Hayer linked Kamloops sawmill worker Agraib Singh Bagri to the attack in his newspaper, The Indo-Canadian Times.

[. . . . ] "Maybe our politicians will stand up and make some more strength for the witness protection program. Because currently . . . (there) doesn't seem to be much protection for the witnesses because they can be intimidated if they stand up," says Hayer.

Related -- on the website:

* Air India inquiry not yet ruled out: Dosanjh
* Air India families vow to find answers
* Charges stayed in 2nd case against Air India accused
* Judge won't ban testimony of Air India witness Crown lawyers grill own
* Air India bomb witness
* CSIS denies cover-up in Air India bombing -- See below.
* Malik, Bagri not guilty in Air India bombings


CSIS denies cover-up in Air India bombing CTV.ca News Staff, June 3, 03

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is under fire for suggestions it could have prevented the Air India bombing that claimed the lives of 329 people. Critics are pointing to thousands of pages of documents released by the court.

The RCMP accuse CSIS of knowing about the plot in court documents and failing to stop it. The documents go on to say CSIS blocked the RCMP investigation and ordered the destruction of wiretaps to conceal the existence of a mole inside a suspected terrorist group.

The Alliance and NDP justice critics are demanding an inquiry into accusations that CSIS blocked the RCMP probe into the Air India bombing. Some of the cover-up allegations stem from interrogation sessions involving two men who were charged in connection with the bombing.

In newly-released tapes, RCMP officers are heard telling the suspects that a CSIS spy withdrew from the investigation just days before the 1985 downing of the airliner because the agency feared it would face a backlash from the public.

CSIS has vehemently denied that it could have prevented the Air India bombing. [. . . . ]

Why are CSIS and the RCMP separate entities?





If it walks like money laundering, if it talks like money laundering and looks like money laundering, then there's a pretty good chance it's money laundering

Liberals set the mark for corruption -- Gomery Inquiry shows this government even worse than Divine's in Saskatchewan Mar. 20, 05, Lorne Gunter

I used to think the Saskatchewan government of Grant Devine was the most corrupt in modern Canadian history. Now I'm not so sure.

Since moving to Montreal last month, the judicial inquiry into the Liberals' sponsorship program, headed by Justice John Gomery, has uncovered a networkof corruption so vast it tainted nearly every aspect of Ottawa's operations in Quebec in the 1990s. [. . . . ]

Search: Business Development Bank of Canada, Grand-Mere, double-billing, over-billing, fake billing, Bombardier, patronage orgy, appointments, awarding, subsidizing, HRDC scandal, Quebec in 1996-97




Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF) -- Putting an end to Syria's crimes against Lebanon, is the Free world countries' obligation

The CLHRF denounce the crime that was committed today against innocent and peaceful Lebanese citizens in one of Beirut's residential suburbs (New Jdiedie -North Meten), where a car bomb exploded wounding at least six people and causing extensive damages to the area.

"This is a very clear message from the Syrian Baathists and the pro-Syrian Lebanese regime and its armed militias", said Mr. Elias Bejjani, CLHRF, spokesman and LCCC Media Chairman. "There is no doubt that this vicious crime follows numerous explicit threats by the Lebanese Syrian-installed President Gen. Emile Lahoud, his General Security Director Gen. Jamil Sayyed, as well as by many Syrian officials who declared openly that the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon will lead to security deterioration, instability and civil war. We call on the UN and the Free World countries to increase their pressure on the Syrian regime and its collaborator Lebanese officials to immediately and unconditionally implement UN Resolution 1559 and to secure an environment conducive to free elections." [. . . . ]

Students For Democracy CA.pdf Note the map on page 10.




Lorrie Goldstein: No 'smoking gun'? It's a cannon! March 20, 2005, Toronto Sun

Surely any reasonable person has concluded by now from the testimony before Judge John Gomery that Jean Chretien presided over a politically corrupt government.

And that this politically corrupt regime used our tax dollars not to further the interests of Canada in Quebec, as Chretien claims, but rather to further the interests of the Liberal party.

How? In part by rewarding loyal, Liberal-friendly ad firms with huge contracts for work of little or no value. [. . . . ]

Search: Created false paper trail




"Waste, mismanagement and corruption are not Canadian values," Stephen Harper

They didn't mud-wrestle March 20, 2005, Bob MacDonald

Much to the chagrin of the Liberal, BQ and NDP parties -- and especially Canada's lib-left media -- Stephen Harper and his Conservatives emerged united yesterday from their first policy convention.

It puts them in an increasingly strong position to wage a winning campaign in the next federal election. And that could come sooner than later as Canada's dragged-out winter ends.

As one pro-Liberal newspaper's front-page headline had hopefully predicted yesterday: "Conservative Rift Widens."

Well, it didn't. Not only did the more than 2,000 delegates give Harper's party leadership an 84% endorsement, but they publicly debated and dealt with several "hot button" issues. [. . . . ]

Search: surprise resolution, wide-open public slugfests, huge endorsement




Kelowna RCMP plan to seize shopping carts from homeless Mar. 19, 05, CBC News

KELOWNA, B.C. - Street people in the B.C. Interior city of Kelowna have been told by the RCMP they have until April 1 to surrender their shopping carts – or have them seized.

The police said the carts, worth up to $350 each, are stolen property. They said they're simply enforcing the law after complaints by the city and the business community.

But homeless people, who can often be seen trundling around Kelowna's downtown core with everything they own on the carts, said they're crucial for their survival.
"These are really these people's homes. They carry their homes in their shopping carts," said Bob, who is homeless.

"Then they get it taken away. Their sleeping bag is gone. Their clothes are gone. And they call us bums, right, because they took our stuff." [. . . . ]

Experts rap private hiring of Ontario police officers Mar. 19, 05, CBC News

OTTAWA - Legal experts criticized the increasing private use of police services in Ontario, after interest groups paid officers to set up roadside checkpoints for drunk drivers.

Five Ontario Provincial Police officers were hired by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers Thursday to crack down on impaired drivers on St. Patrick's Day in Ottawa.

MADD and other groups have done the same thing on other occasions in Toronto, where the police force charges $2,000 to set up a Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) spot check at a location requested by the contributor. [. . . . ]

Search: Peter Biro, Bruce Simpson

Why is this being done when there is $20-#30-billion in criminal activity going on in Canada? There is something very wrong here when what would be the ordinary duty of the police is being contracted by organizations. This is an indication of how low funding is when private organizations pay for policing.

In future, will we find that organized criminal gangs have hired off-duty police to protect their "businesses"? Do read this article.





WOLFOWITZ'S RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS AN ODD FIT FOR WORLD BANK Mar. 18, 05, Georgie Anne Geyer

[. . . . ] It was Wolfowitz, as enchanted as a 16-year-old girl in love, who pushed the Iraqi charlatan Ahmed Chalabi to be the "savior" of Iraq -- and paid him millions of taxpayer dollars. It was Wolfowitz, testifying repeatedly in Congress, who claimed the ridiculousness of parts of the military wanting more troops on the ground, and Wolfowitz who pushed the unworkable scheme of immediately privatizing big Iraqi state enterprises.

Indeed, measured alongside the same four concepts that he stressed this week -- dealing with "corruption, accountability, transparency, and advancing the economic development agenda" -- his policies in Iraq can only be said to have failed miserably.

What does that tell us about the thinking he will bring to this far more expansive role? [. . . . ]

Police gun hunt illegal: Judge March 19, 2005, Sarah Green, Toronto Sun

ONTARIO'S COURT of Appeal tossed out weapons convictions against two men yesterday, saying the police roadblock that led to the discovery of the handguns was "unlawful." Wendell Clayton and Troy Farmer were convicted in 2001 of possessing two loaded semi-automatic handguns after police stopped their black Jaguar at a Sept. 24, 1999 roadblock at a Brampton strip club.

At the time, police were investigating a "gun call" after a 911 caller reported a group of 10 black men -- four of them holding handguns -- outside the strip club. [. . . . ]

Search: potentially demeaning and frightening




WORD GAME HIDES SHAM PEACE

March 18, 2005 -- JERUSALEM — To understand the Arabs, the Israelis have had to closely follow the vocabulary of the Palestinian leadership.

They learned jihad (holy war) from Yasser Arafat.

Then came hudna (cease-fire) from his successor, Mahmoud Abbas, who has been promising for months to arrange a truce between Palestinians and Israelis.

So when Egyptian officials hailed the agreement reached in Cairo by 13 terrorist groups as a "historic breakthrough," the Israelis wanted to check the fine print. [. . . . ]

Web to have 'terror watch' team Mar. 18, 05

Five European governments are setting up a hi-tech team to monitor how terrorists and criminals use the net.

The group will make recommendations on shutting down websites that break terrorism laws.

The plans for the initiative came out of a meeting of the G5 interior ministers in Spain that discussed ways to tackle these threats.

The five countries also agreed to make it easier to swap data about terror suspects and thefts of explosives.

The interior ministers of Spain, Britain, France, Germany and Italy - the G5 - met in Granada this week for an anti-terrorism summit. [. . . . ]

Which of these countries voted against removing Saddam Hussein because of illegal oil contracts under the UN oil-for-food program? I would be wary of dealing with them on exchanging information on terrorist sites online.




Steyn: Nuts and Bolton

If you’re going to play the oldest established permanent floating transnational crap game for laughs, you might as well pick an act with plenty of material. What I love about John Bolton, America’s new ambassador to the UN, is the sheer volume of ‘damaging’ material. Usually, the Democrats and media have to riffle through decades of dreary platitudes to come up with one potentially exploitable infelicitous soundbite. But with Bolton the damaging quotes are hanging off the trees and dropping straight into your bucket. Five minutes’ casual mooching through the back catalogue and your cup runneth over:

The UN?

‘There is no such thing as the United Nations.’ [. . . . ]

Search: International Criminal Court? American media, Sending John Bolton to be UN ambassador, America and Old Europe, Bill Clinton and Eason Jordan, Lester B. Pearson, transnational pabulum, UN booster, Australian foreign minister, only one example

I heard that one person at the Conservative convention met someone in the building who works for the UN. That person claimed no knowledge of the UN oil-for-fraud/food scam. Once you get in on the goodies, you have to protect that job with all those perks. No truth will be spilled. In fact, apparently, the defence of the UN and multilateralism was spirited. I suppose the same would ensue from those who have been able to get CIDA and other taxpayer funded good jobs.




Weblog -- Exclude Islamists from Quebec? March 11, 2005

Exclude Islamists from Quebec? That is what Quebec's international relations minister (and former immigration minister), Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, told a conference yesterday, reports Mike de Souza in the Montreal Gazette.

I think all political parties in Quebec must say loud and clear that not only do we not want it in Quebec, we don't want it in Ontario and we don't want it in Canada. … We must rework the social contract [for immigrants] so that the people – Muslims who want to come to Quebec and who do not respect women's rights or who do not respect whatever rights may be in our Civil Code – stay in their country and not come to Quebec, because that's unacceptable. On the other hand, if people want to come to Quebec and accept our way of doing things and our rights, in that instance they will be welcome and we will help them integrate.

A fellow Liberal Party member of the national assembly, Fatima Houda-Pepin, amplified on these comments by arguing that applying the Shari‘a in Canada would infringe on women's rights and open the door to polygamy. [. . . . ]

There is much more.




Check the Sidebar call for volunteer marchers -- The world says: end the war! 18 March 2005, Peace

I wonder how much it cost (the Liberals?) for the pink ski masked protestors for the Conservative convention in Montreal. It's a cinch that creating this kind of mini demonstration is the one thing all the media will be sure to note -- not the serious efforts of those attending the convention. I should mention that the emphasis in the media, even the National Post which CBC calls conservative, was upon the negative instead of the positive sight of so many with divergent views working to come together in compromise. I was disappointed by the media coverage but it just emphasizes the need for a conservative media to be developed. Again, I suggest checking the Western Standard, the Canada Free Press, and the Canadian Coalition for Democracies -- the Forum.



Terrorists thrive north of our border Deroy Murcock, Mar. 17, 05, Scripps Howard News Service

NEW YORK (SH) - [. . . . ] Kamel was convicted in France of distributing bogus passports and conspiring to blow up Paris Metro stations. He was sentenced April 6, 2001, to eight years in prison.

But after fewer than four years, France sprang Kamel for "good behavior." Kamel flew home to Canada Jan. 29.

"When Kamel arrived in Montreal, the (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) was not even at the airport to greet him," Stewart Bell reported March 4 in Canada's National Post. "As far as they're concerned, he is an ex-convict who has done his time and has committed no crimes in Canada."

Kamel now freely strolls Canada's streets. That's fine, if he limits his violence to moose hunting. But what if he has humans - Americans, even - in his crosshairs?

[. . . . ]

The warm U.S.-Canadian relationship, illustrated by our 3,145-mile unprotected boundary, cooled somewhat when Ottawa recently refused to help Washington develop defenses against incoming nuclear-tipped missiles. But that modest dispute will pale beside the northward-flowing rancor that will erupt if a terrorist attack kills innocent Americans, and U.S. officials discover that the butchers slipped past complacent Canadians.

Can you believe this?




Where the government is more concerned about perception than actual justice

We're wimps March 18, 2005, Peter Worthington, Toronto Sun

WHAT A WIMPY country Canada has become -- and that's putting it gently.

When Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Israel sent Mossad to track down and eliminate the assassins.

It wasn't "law," but it sure was "justice." Rough justice. [. . . . ]

After the bomb on Air India flight 182 killed some 320 Canadians in 1985, Canada waited 20 years -- then found the accused "Not Guilty."

This is not to say that Canada should have emulated Mossad and gone after the perpetrators, but a 20-year hiatus resulting in a "not-guilty" verdict is an obscenity of another sort.

Platitudes about "law" being more important than "justice" don't wash in this case. [. . . . ]

Search: Feuding between CSIS and the RCMP, bilingual, boot camp training, mole

Is there a point where the law is an *** and extra-legal measures are in order? Or is the idea of following the rule of law--including errors--is more important than any one case, no matter how large and important?

In the case of the bombing of Air India, I believe that even more people were threatened with death to themselves and/or their families with predictable results. Does anyone else have an opinion?




Taxpayers' dollars at work -- just your ordinary money laundering scheme except using the taxpayers' money

Groupaction masked payments to Liberals, Gomery told 18 Mar 2005, CBC

MONTREAL - A former Groupaction executive funnelled five cheques to Liberal Party organizers through an employee's consulting company, the Gomery inquiry heard Thursday.

Bernard Thiboutot worked for former Groupaction advertising executive Jean Brault, who made millions from the sponsorship program.

Thiboutot, who had his own consulting company, told the inquiry that Brault asked him to send five cheques worth $57,000 to five people. Brault then paid Thiboutot $57,000.

The inquiry hasn't yet heard what type of work the five did, but Radio-Canada says Michel Monette, Jacques Roy, Guy Bisson, Franco Iacono and Louis Pichette were all Liberal Party organizers. [. . . . ]

Victor Davis Hanson: “Little Eichmanns” and “Digital Brownshirts” -- Deconstructing the Hitlerian slur. March 18, 2005,

Victor Davis Hanson is a military historian and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

The effort to remove fascists in the Middle East and jump-start democracy, for all its ups and downs, has been opposed not just by principled critics who bristled at tactics and strategy, but also by peculiarly vehement cynics here and abroad — whose disgust was so often in direct proportion to their relative political impotence.

One of their most hackneyed charges, begun almost at the beginning of this war, has been the Bush/America as Hitler/Nazi Germany comparison. True, fast-changing events in the Middle East recently have left many of these hypercritics either embarrassed, discredited — or desperately reinventing themselves into the “I told you so” crowd. But we should not forget these slurs — nor expect them to disappear entirely inasmuch as they reflect a deep sort of self-loathing among Western elites. [. . . . ]

Search: the ignorance of the icons of our popular culture, Ignorance and arrogance, George Soros, extremism of the times, Garrison Keilor, Al Gore, architect of genocide, Checkpoint, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali




Syria, Iran aiding Iraq insurgents Bill Gertz, Washington Times, Mar. 18, 05

CIA Director Porter J. Goss told Congress yesterday that the governments of Syria and Iran are helping insurgents in Iraq, despite U.S. efforts to end the cooperation.

"Despite a lot of very well-intentioned and persistent efforts to try and get more cooperation from the Syrian regime, we have not had the success I wish I could report," Mr. Goss said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

On Iran, Mr. Goss said intelligence analysts understand that Tehran "has been meddling in the affairs of Iraq, in the interests of Iran." [. . . . ]

Next for terrorists: Seaborne attacks -- 2 of most dangerous al-Qaida-linked groups join forces to train militants in scuba diving March 18, 2005

Recently captured terrorists say two al-Qaida-linked groups are training members in scuba diving in preparation for seaborne attacks, according to a Philippine military report.

The report, obtained by the Associated Press, also points to increasing collaboration among the Muslim terrorists in other areas, including financing and explosives [. . . . ]

Related on the wnd website:

New al-Qaida threat: 15-ship mystery navy

Terror threat swells at sea


Al-Qaida plans high-sea terror




Chinese play a different game -- The United states should pay close attention to the way its challenger in the East deals with foes James P. Pinkerton, Beijing,

The cliche about the Chinese is that they are patient.

Conscious of avoiding shallow "Orientalist" stereotypes, I have traveled through China looking for evidence of the opposite. And while I have seen plenty of hustle and bustle in streets and factories, I see more evidence that the Chinese are, indeed, a subtle and patient people. And that's something for Americans to think about as the great empires stare at each other across the Pacific.

Everywhere I go here, I see Go. "Go" is the name by which most Americans identify the board game that the Chinese call wei-ch'i. It's played on a flat grid of 361 intersections. The two opponents play with pieces, called stones, white vs. black. Unlike chess, black moves first. Also unlike chess, the stones are all the same, and once they are put down, they can never be moved. But they can be removed - if the opposing player succeeds in surrounding them. And that's the object of the game, to wipe out the foe by surrounding his forces, thus gaining control of the board. Since the Han Dynasty of more than 2,000 years ago - long before chess was invented - wei-ch'i has been the favorite game of Chinese intellectuals, including generals and politicians. [. . . . ]

So if the Chinese know wei-ch'i and its political- military applications, then we must study it, too.

Chiefs visit to Israel

Lessons in combating terrorism -- Mission to Israel overshadowed by Alberta tragedy John Hanan, Mar. 17, 05

[. . . . ] The group of Ontario police leaders had a busy schedule, discussing anti-terror strategies with a bomb disposal unit and meeting with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, border police and internationally renowned experts on counter-terrorism.

While the group was in Jerusalem, they laid a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. Later they traveled to the Golan Heights, where a fellow Canadian, Lt. Col. Shawn Myers, commander of the United Nations forces in the area, briefed them on the peacekeeping mission. LaBarge noted there is a very strong connection between the two countries, and people there asked him to tell Canadians that Israel is a safe country to visit.

Asked if there is any other message he would bring back to York region, he said it's that police cannot effectively combat terrorism if not supported by the other branches of security. "It helped give me greater insight into how the military, police and border patrols in Israel all work together, in combination with private security and community security...they don't approach safety as solely a police responsibility."

Diane Francis: Canada-U.S. relations reach tipping point -- We are being increasingly regarded as not pulling our weight March 17, 2005, Financial Post

[. . . . ] But such bonhomie has ended due to the growing influence of anti-Americanism from France on Canadian public policy as a result of the dominance of francophones in the Liberal party and federal bureaucracy.

The result is Canada has behaved like a playboy toward a wealthy father: incorrectly assuming that he will always be loved no matter how he behaves, no matter how much money he costs or how disrespectfully he treats his sugar daddy. [. . . . ]

Search: refusal to participate, Canadian beef, G8 or the upcoming continental summit, the following criticisms, Canada's immigration and refugee policies

Canadians should read this and heed the warning.

"I find it troubling when people elevate the status of a terrorist, especially at a time when the Palestinian people have put him behind them. There's no yearning for the good old days. People are still angry about the corruption and the raping of the country in terms of economic exploitation. You can go without laying a wreath," Mr. Hoenlein said.

Annan's Bow at Arafat's Grave Sparks Outrage in City Meghan Clyne, Mar. 17, 05

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's decision to lay a wreath at the grave of Yasser Arafat while on his way to the dedication of a Holocaust museum in Israel is infuriating New York politicians and Jewish leaders, some of whom are labeling Mr. Annan's gesture "outrageous," "grotesque," and an example of "mindless incompetence."

The secretary-general joined world leaders in Israel on Tuesday to commemorate the opening of a new Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. His visit Monday to Mr. Arafat's grave rankled some representatives of the United Nations' host city, who said Mr. Annan had damaged the world body's already poor public image and may have further imperiled U.N. plans to expand into neighboring parts of Turtle Bay. [. . . . ]

Search: another perfect example of mindless incompetence, United Nations Development Corporation, on the installment plan




Minister McLellan diverting attention again

Here's a novel idea for Justice and Public Security . . . . . . put the crooks and terrorists behind bars instead of cutting down the trees to be used for reports, the likes of which are already sky high. The first duty of a government is to protect its citizens; it is not to prepare voluminous reports for years on end that eventually get stored in some dark warehouse. The crooks are doing $25 billion in business and the government is interested in more reports?

Police said to be cool to racial-profiling report -- RCMP, border-security officials want federal paper rewritten, source says John Ibbitson, Mar. 17, 05

. . . . offers numerous options for politicians to consider, from launching an education campaign to introducing anti-racial profiling legislation. [. . . . ]

Search: no original research, assumptions on which the Justice Department report was based

CBC TV just had an item on racism; it seems that CBC and the government co-ordinate on what news must be emphasized.

Read this article; the government and its appointed justices seems to want to tie the hands of police. Note that in the news items reporting on this case, the police did find illegal guns in the Jaguar. Police are not supposed to use their hard-won common sense? The results might be construed as "racism". Gimme a break!




"These agents that bring the girls, they exploit them, it's slavery," she says.

Naked Truth Mar. 5, 05, CTV.ca News Staff

After former Immigration Minister Judy Sgro got caught up in what was dubbed "Strippergate", the government announced that a federal visa program that allowed foreign strippers into Canada had been cancelled. But is the program really gone for good?

A W-FIVE special investigation found it's business as usual for strip club owners and the women they bring into Canada. Even more disturbing are the working conditions these women continue to face.

[. . . . ] But two months later, strip club owners are meeting to discuss plans on how to continue to bring in foreign women to strip in Canadian clubs. Volpe himself explained to W-FIVE that the new rules provide entrance visas for women who have met security and medical criteria to fill a job that a Canadian hasn't filled. [. . . . ]

Search: Meet Ana, her passport, nothing innocent about a lap dance, Ask the cleaners, Organized crime, RCMP Combined Special Forces, outlaw motorcycle gangs, Tim Lambrinos, Immigration officials knew, Joe Bissett, The government's role