Newsbeat1: Media, Gomery: Kroll Lindquist Avey, "Creative Integrity"

Update: I had misplaced a section of the Tu Thanh Ha and Daniel LeBlanc article, "Forensic study backs allegations from Brault", below; I have fixed it. Sorry. NJC



Illegal? Unethical? Or just politics? Lorrie Goldstein, May 25, 05

Wait a minute. When it comes to allegations of vote-buying, isn't the case of ex-Tory MP Belinda Stronach and Prime Minister Paul Martin far more damning than that of Tory MP Germant Grewal and Tim Murphy, Martin's chief of staff?

Search: Grewel , Murphy, Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh



EDITORIAL: Grits have Stars in their eyes via Newsbeat1 -- This is simply delightful, and so is this:

And now, for the rest of the story.... May 24, 2005, Michael Yon, Mosul, Northern Iraq

The media is an industry; but their business is not to report news. The industry needs a captive audience to beat the bottom line. The product is advertisement.

This is not a right or wrong. It's just a business concept for . . . . Only a reclusive holy man might argue otherwise, but most holy men also expect alms.

There are probably many reasons why violent acts get more attention than do acts of kindness. All of these reasons fit somewhere under the heading of human nature. . . .

"In the long run, Harper will prove by far the best choice -- a guy who learns and will win the next election."

Bob MacDonald: Ruthless pursuit of power -- "beneath contempt" May 22, 05

[. . . . ] Power, baby. It's the only thing.

[. . . . ] It comes after months of sworn evidence at the Gomery inquiry . . . ripping off federal taxpayers' money

[. . . . ] This is organized crime at a low level -- down in the swamps -- because the culprits were given a public trust by the voters. And this is Canada, the often self-righteous country that likes to point its prissy finger at corruption in other nations. [. . . . ]

Search: a gourmet dinner at 24 Sussex drive [delightfully written NJC] , his assurance , democratic renewal , can depend on the word of , a whopping $4.6-billion extra , higher taxes , NDP kept Liberal PM Pierre Trudeau , "bribe, cajole, lure" , a half-dozen Tories were

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Gomery: Kroll Lindquist Avey

A Year of Review: Annual Report on the Government of Canada's Advertising 2002-2003 -- scroll down for the graph



Forensic sleuths bolster Breault's credibility Christie Blatchford, May 25, 05 -- insider edition only

MONTREAL -- When just before the lunch break here yesterday, Judge John Gomery allowed that the evidence coming from the Kroll Lindquist Avey trio was just a shade dry, Robert Macdonald, one of the threesome from the firm who were assembled in the witness box, smiled and said, "I thought it was very exciting." . . . .

Forensic study backs allegations from Brault

Testimony at the Gomery Commission yesterday: Aide now in PMO says he was once paid by Corriveau Tu Thanh Ha and Daniel LeBlanc, May 26, 05

MONTREAL, OTTAWA -- A key report released at the Gomery inquiry yesterday bolsters the allegations of advertising executive Jean Brault that he made illicit donations to Liberal organizers.

The report, by the forensic accounting firm Kroll Lindquist Avey, says that the owners of nine well-connected agencies who benefited from the federal sponsorship program, paid themselves during that period more than $51-million in salaries and bonuses.

[. . . . ] Gaetano Manganiello testified that he was one of at least three party workers in the Quebec wing's Montreal offices in the late 1990s who were paid by Mr. Corriveau even though they did not work for his firm. Mr. Corriveau, a close friend of Mr. Chrétien and a key broker in the sponsorship affair, earned $8-million in sponsorship subcontracts, according to evidence presented at the inquiry. [. . . . ]

Search: Who got the contracts , The skunk , The Mustang , The schooner , The hockey teams

Does it offend anyone that someone else chooses how to spend your money? Do you give a hoot in **** about hockey teams? If you have to pay for visibility in one area of Canada, is the game over anyway? Canada used to be a good country in which to live. I think it insults Quebeckers when the feds throw money at adsvertising to tell them what they already know -- things which mere living will tell them anyway . . . or not. Does anyone else ignore advertising as I do? Quebeckers must be FURIOUS. I am.





Also, check Transcript of Kroll Lindquist Avey Testimony at Gomery Commission via Newsbeat1 -- See pages 32 to 192 which may have been updated with translation by now.




Ethics chief must tell all on Sgro stripper affair May 26, 05, James Travers

Written by Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro and tabled in Parliament May 10, the letter is identical to a confidential version originally sent to Sgro eight days earlier — except it omits information needed to fully understand the case. Shapiro's office first dismissed questions from the Star that there were two letters but later confirmed the original had been edited to protect privacy and that MPs were not told of the changes. [. . . . ]

Very interesting; do link.

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Canada: Is it time for "creative integrity"?

Is anyone "prepared to take that risk to career to do that which . . .was right"? -- to practise "creative integrity"?

This is a most inspiring website, particularly in light of Canadian news for the last two weeks.

HIRAM BINGHAM IV - WWII Diplomatic Hero - DESERVES U.S. POSTAGE STAMP -- "prepared to take that risk to career to do that which he knew was right"

"SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL (who granted a posthumous award to Harry's children): "This proud tradition of service has deep roots in American history and in the Foreign Service. Later in today's ceremony, we'll be honoring the memory of Harry Bingham, IV, a US Vice Consul in Marseilles who risked his life and his career, put it on the line, to help over 2,500 Jews and others who were on Nazi death lists to leave France for America in 1940 and 1941. I am especially, especially honored and pleased to welcome here today in the audience two people who owe their lives to Harry Bingham's "visas of freedom," two people who got out because Harry was prepared to take that risk to career to do that which he knew was right. . . . Powell called Bingham a diplomat 'who risked his life and his career' to do the right thing. Thomas Pickering, a seven-time ambassador who received an award yesterday for contributions to U.S. diplomacy, also paid homage to Bingham's 'creative integrity.'" [. . . . ]

Vad Yashem -- do not miss the inspired, evocative ending What does it feel like, as you look out?

It was while looking upVad Yashem, that I noted the following.



What has been done in Darfur -- UN? Canada?

Or have Khartoum and oil interests scuttled humanitarian activity? Remember, oil has been discovered in Darfur. Search for a post on this lately.

Vad Yashem (Jerusalem) and Genocide in Darfur July 21, 2004

"It is imperative that we learn the lesson from past failures
to respond in time to evolving, genocidal evil.” (Yad Vashem [Jerusalem], July 18, 2004, urging “immediate, concerted” international action in Darfur)

[. . . . ] ". . . it is impossible to distribute food in each of the hundreds of villages from which the Internally Displaced Persons have fled.” (UN Integrated Regional Information Networks, July 20, 2004)

However deliberately destructive this policy may be, it has another sinister purpose, as Amnesty International suggests in a press release today (July 21, 2004), viz. to “ease the international scrutiny of [the Khartoum government’s] actions in Darfur and to give an excuse for removing the numerous humanitarian organizations at present working in the Darfur camps” (Amnesty International press release [London], July 21, 2004).

In furtherance of such a policy, the regime has also brazenly shut down (for “resurfacing”) the critical runway at al-Geneina, capital of West Darfur---and in the process is denying all humanitarian flights the ability to land. So far this extraordinarily consequential shutdown has been greeted with silence on the part of the international community. This in turn works to assure Khartoum that there will be no real pressure to grant unfettered humanitarian access.

Such dramatic interference with humanitarian transport occurs even as security threats to humanitarian personnel and humanitarian convoys are on the rise, with the clear prospect of a forced withdrawal by many organizations in the event of fatal attacks on professional expatriate personnel. Such withdrawal would cripple the entire humanitarian operation in Darfur. This is the real meaning of UN Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland’s recently declared fear:

"'my worst scenario [is that] that the security will deteriorate, that we will step back at a moment we have to actually step up [emergency relief]'" (BBC, July 14, 2004).

Attacks on humanitarian workers, drivers, and convoys have been definitively associated with Khartoum’s Janjaweed militia, and Khartoum may deliberately orchestrate a fatal Janjaweed attack on expatriate humanitarian professionals as a means of sabotaging operations.

UN FAILURES TO PLAN EFFECTIVELY FOR THE DARFUR CRISIS [. . . . ]

THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS HAS BEEN DELIBERATELY PRECIPITATED [. . . . ]
Eric Reeves
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063

ereeves@smith.edu
413-585-3326

How ironic that just yesterday, there was an Amnesty International spokesperson on CBC television, a Ms. Khan (No link. Search) and guess what country was deemed most dangerous, damaging or some such negative? . . . Right! The US.




France Calls for EU Ban on Hezbollah's al-Manar Television -- Coalition Against Terrorist Media Praises Move, Reiterates Goal of Removing al-Manar Worldwide

[. . . . al-Manar Television is] the official mouthpiece of Hezbollah, the Lebanon–based terrorist organization French Minister of Culture and Telecommunications Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres raised al-Manar's role in fostering terrorism at a May 23-24 meeting of European Ministers for Education Youth, and Culture in Brussels.

[. . . . ] Hezbollah uses al-Manar to recruit suicide bombers and promote hatred and violence. According to one al-Manar official, the station is meant to “help people on the way to committing what you call in the West a suicide mission.” Its broadcasts include programming that glorifies terrorism to children, spreads viciously anti-Semitic propaganda, and calls for attacks against U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

[. . . . ] The Coalition Against Terrorist Media , which was organized by the the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

[. . . . ] The Coalition Against Terrorist Media ( www.StopTerroristMedia.org ) is comprised of American Muslim, Christian, Jewish and secular organizations urging action against terrorist owned and operated media outlets, in particular Hezbollah's al-Manar television station. [. . . . ]

Are there any comparable activities or websites in Canada? Or is everyone now too afraid of retaliation by . . . well, those with the power to do so. Figure it out for yourself.

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