For Weekend Enjoyment

It's Saturday and the guys with whom I am not in "business" are hacking away . . . It must have been this week's post on hacking that bothered them (see menu). Don't they have girlfriends or jobs? Or is hacking their job? May they rot in . . . ah, better: may they be employed in the world's most ruthless government's sweat shops to which the biggest corporation on earth--$288-billion last year--is outsourcing North American jobs. Check Wal-Mart for locations. (Financial Post, June 4, 05, FP3 "Deep in the heart of Wal-Mart")


Newsbeat1: For some strange reason there almost seems to be a blackout in Canada on the oil for food scandal -- which gives enough to get a good idea of this story SACKED OIL-FOR-FOOD STAFFER: I'M A PATSY by Niles Latham, NY Post

Note the links, particularly this one to Claudia Rosett: Exposing the U.N. Oil-for-Food Scandal -- Do not miss all the links to articles on this from 2002 to 2005 -- scroll down June 3, 2005, The foundation for the Defense of Democracies, via Newsbeat1

One of the links is to this: Rose Among Thorns By Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review Online, June 2, 2005

Rosett, who is a journalist-in-residence at Cliff May's Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, is a seasoned journalist. She's served in various capacities as an editor and reporter for the Wall Street Journal — including being editorial-page editor of the Asian Wall Street Journal. She reported from the scene of the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising, exposed North Korean labor camps (again, on the scene), covered the Soviet Union (she was bureau chief of the WSJ's Moscow bureau), and most recently stood in the midst of Lebanon's Cedar Revolution, sending us what she saw.

Finally, some relief for our severely overtaxed health care system


Question Period- Hansard excerpts- June 3/05- Part I -- or here


Question Period- Hansard excerpts June 3/05 Part II -- or here but Newsbeat1 has the goodies.


Let it Bleed -- check out these Jun. 4, 05

On the Other Hand, Maybe This Is Why No One Reads the Paper Anymore

Let's Help Spread a Meme

Unbelievable -- "Federal ethics commissioner . . . "

The Ethical Politician?

Oh, That's What We're Mired In -- "Remember back in the day when Jack! was going to make "proportional representation" the quid for his quo?"

Probe launched into Grewal tapes amid new controversy, confusion -- Conservative deputy leader Peter MacKay has now added some distance to the affair. Sue Bailey, CP, Jun. 4, 05

The talk about clicks on the tapes as evidence of tampering is discussed in one of the above blogs and I have read that a good sound engineer--or six--should be able to straighten this out, but it is the Liberal spin and MSM is sticking to it. If only those Canucks would go to the lake and forget about all this. Anyway, why would anyone seeking preferment--a dubious one, at that--as the Liberals charge Grewal did, tape the conversations and then implicate himself in making them public . . . unless he were the one approached?


Did the Prime Minister's Office discuss police-work with the RCMP? Proud to be Canadian, June 02, 2005

In a CTV story about the fact that the Liberals claim the Grewal tapes have been “doctored”, this bit was added to the bottom of the article:

[...] On Wednesday, there was confusion over the exact nature of the RCMP probe.

“We are looking into the allegations of what happened and what everyone is talking about if, in fact, a criminal act happened,” RCMP Cpl. Nathalie Deschenes told CTV News.

Later, the Prime Minister’s Office asked CTV to call RCMP Chief Superintendent Bernie Corrigan, who contradicted Cpl. Deschenes’ statement. He said there was no criminal investigation at this point, but the Mounties are considering a formal request from the Bloc Quebecois for an inquiry.

“How did they know in the PMO, and can the prime minister tell us when his communications department became the official spokesperson for the RCMP?” MacKay asked on Thursday. [. . . . ]

The Bloc and the NDP were the ones who had asked the RCMP to investigate. Conservatives handed over the tapes. The RCMP are said to be looking the issue over. How did the Liberals—the Prime Minister’s Office at that—know that RCMP Chief Superintendent Bernie Corrigan would be able to contradict Cpl. Nathalie Deschenes, if they “never spoke to anyone from the RCMP”? [. . . . ]

Court orders names in secret warrants unsealed James Gordon, Jun. 4, 05

OTTAWA - Ontario's top court has ordered the government to release names contained in seven secret RCMP search warrants connected to a large, post-Sept. 11, 2001, anti-terrorism investigation in Ottawa.

[. . . . ] Syrian-born Canadian Maher Arar . . . . Abdullah Almalki.

Mr. Almalki -- who was held by the Syrians for two years -- and his wife, Khuzaimah Kalifah, are the only people who have been named in court documents as targets of the RCMP warrants, executed in January, 2002.

Canadians evenly split on more CSIS power "to fight terrorism" -- Sharp differences between citizens, recent immigrants Stewart Bell, Jun. 4, 05 -- Would this poll have been broken down by ethnic background? Or would that be racist?

John Thompson, executive director of the Mackenzie Institute, a Toronto-based security think-tank, wondered how many of the poll respondents had a realistic grasp of the terrorist threats facing Canada.

"I don't know about CSIS getting more powers," he said. "I'd like to have them with more resources so that they can actually take full advantage of the powers they already have."

Gideons outraged as U.K. hospitals opt to ban 'unsafe and insensitive' bibles

This is similar to what happened in a NB hospital in Fredericton this spring. Perhaps the Bibles could be replaced by the sacred book of the "peaceful" religion, which might be less "insensitive"?


Saskatchewan's aboriginal corrections population is too high -- Statistics Canada Simon Doyle, Jun. 4, 05

. . . . Although aboriginal adults represent only 10% of Saskatchewan's population, they comprise 57% of those in the provincial correctional services. Of the provinces, Saskatchewan has the highest number of aboriginal people. The study, which examined the province's correctional services between 1999 and 2004, also found high recidivism rates among aboriginals. The study tracked the release of 5,496 people from correctional services and found within four years, 58% of aboriginals had reoffended.

It would, as with the Jamaicans--the young men with guns--in Toronto, have nothing to do with committing more crime; it must be racism. Bad whitey . . . again.



Opposition pursues judge's comment on blocking separatists from bench Cristin Schmitz

Despite angry protests from Justice Minister Irwin Cotler that it is "unconstitutional" and "highly inappropriate" for the House of Commons to "vilify" a sitting judge, the opposition is poised to "denounce" recent inflammatory remarks by Quebec Chief Justice Michel Robert suggesting Quebec sovereigntists should be disqualified from federal judgeships. Bloc Quebecois justice critic Richard Marceau tabled the motion in the House of Commons yesterday . . . .

Does it ever cross anyone's mind that Quebec's sovereignists would just like to get away from federal corruption? Maybe they would like to control their own lives from Quebec city rather than be controlled from Ottawa?


Public Works Minister Scott Brison chastises senator holding a $99-million government lease -- Liberal Senator, Paul Massicotte, a major Liberal fundraiser -- Note when lease was signed. Jack Aubry, Jun. 4, 05

Does the timing remind anyone of how the Liberals operate . . . the "plausible deniability" type of timing?


Martin sons' company to be 'very big part' of ethics commissioner's report -- Canada Steamship Lines Glen McGregor, Jun. 4, 05

Search: Micheline Rondeau-Parent, a spokeswoman for Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro


Ottawa pays officials $32-million in bonuses -- Go to 91% of executives -- "Conservative MP John Williams . . . Search: 227 of 256 senior executives . . . Public Works Department . . . Justice . . . 'at risk' pay" Tim Naumetz, Jun. 4, 05.

How about the rest of Canadians who simply do their jobs day after day? Is there a Liberal government-funded program with lawyers which could take on the rest of Canadian foundations, agencies, departments, businesses, etc. for whom the rest of Canadians work . . . the ones who are "at risk" (read the definition) . . . the ones who simply do their jobs day after boring day?

Who rewards the self-employed for doing their job, by the way? I note that several small businessmen/women are at work 7 am to 9 pm. It seems to me they might be "at risk" of premature old age if not a heart seizure. But the great unwashed don't count, do they?


Tropical spores that encourage pneumonia and meningitis are spreading across B.C. -- "cryptococcal disease, caused by a tropical fungus usually found in Australia, New Zealand and Brazil" Doris Sun, Jun. 4, 05


My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy with a link to The Cotillion Ball -- For a chuckle, check them out.

Winds of Change


China E lobby links to articles

The following links are to a series of nine columns published by the editors of the Epoch Times. The columns, called the Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party, are the most detailed account of Communist misrule in China, and what the consequences have been for the Chinese people and lovers of liberty throughout the world.

Introduction

Part 1: What Is the Communist Party?

Part 2: The Beginnings of the Chinese Communist Party

Part 3: The Tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party

Part 4: The Chinese Communist Party Opposes Nature

Part 5: The Collusion of Jiang Zemin with the Chinese Communist Party to Persecute Falun Gong

Part 6: The Chinese Communist Party Destroyed Traditional Culture

Part 7: The Chinese Communist Party’s History of Killing

Part 8: How the Chinese Communist Party Is an Evil Cult

Part 9: The Chinese Communist Party, a Band of Scoundrels

The Washington Times via Instapundit: FREE SPEECH FOR BLOGGERS (and everyone else): June 02, 2005


There is more but the weather has just gone from freezing to roasting, so it is time to enjoy the finches, robins, baby squirrels, hummingbirds, rhubarb, fiddleheads, the whole panoply of what passes for the month or two of summer. Enjoy.

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