Quick Tour: Hackers, Fanaticism, Gems, Judicial Appointments, UK, Port Crisis, Attitudes Toward Western Society

Homegrown terror -- Oops -- Ottawa has suddenly realized we may have a problem Charlie Gillis and Jonathon Gatehouse, July 19, 05, via Newsbeat1

Search: Momin Khawaja , Rudwan Khalil Abubaker , Ahmed Said Khadr , 4,500 terrorist websites , "They don't meet in training camps anymore. They live in a virtual world." , al-Qaeda groom recruits by focusing on the civilian Muslim . . . , a different class of would-be "martyrs" in the West , pressing questions for an ever-expanding circle of target countries , "Wesley Wark, a security and intelligence expert at the University of Toronto's Munk Centre" , David Charters, a terrorism specialist with the University of New Brunswick's Centre for Conflict Studies , University of Calgary political scientist Barry Cooper , "Wajid Khan, the Liberal member of Parliament for Ontario's Mississauga-Streetsville"

Related: Former Kuwaiti Education Minister: All of Al-Qaida's Terrorism Started from the Ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood




Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi Criticizes Iran's Regime -- excerpts from the interview

[. . . . ] "Why is the situation of women in the Muslim world so deplorable? The answer is because the dominant culture in Islamic countries is patriarchal. This culture interprets religion according to its own interests. I will give you an example. In Iran, there is a law stipulating that the financial compensation, or diya, for accidentally killing a woman is half that for killing a man...

"Does this make sense? Is this based on Islam? Of course not, it is an erroneous interpretation of Islam based on a patriarchal culture. An Iranian scholar, Ayatollah Sanei, has disputed this law, saying that 'the diya for both women and men is the same in Islam, and anyone who claims otherwise is mistaken'."

"We Need an Interpretation Suiting the Needs of Our Time and Place; 600-Year-Old Interpretations are No Longer Satisfactory" [. . . . ]

China's new rich hunger for gems -- De Beers predicts 12% rise in sale of diamonds Drew Hasselback, Financial Post, July 26, 05

[. . . . ] Canada has two operating mines, both about 300 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife. BHP Billiton PLC's 80% owned Ekati mine started production in 1998.

[. . . . ] De Beers yesterday announced plans to step up efforts in Canada, unveiling a $38.5-million exploration and development budget for its Gahcho Kue project in the Northwest Territories.

[. . . . ] Gahcho Kue is a joint venture between De Beers Canada, Mountain Province Diamonds Inc., and Camphor Ventures Inc. [. . . . ]

Objection! Lawyers angry over judge-selection snub -- No role for solicitors and barristers in new advisory panel Cristin Schmitz, CanWest, July 26, 05

[. . . . ] The new ad hoc advisory committee will comprise one retired judge chosen by the Canadian Judicial Council, a representative of the relevant provincial attorney-general, two "eminent" non-lawyers chosen by the federal government, one representative of the provincial law society, and one MP from each federal party represented in the House of Commons.

The committee will be expected to review the qualifications of up to eight or 10 candidates proposed in confidence by the Martin government. The committee members will consult widely and then create an unranked, confidential short list of three candidates, accompanied by reasons and comments on the candidates' strengths and weaknesses. Mr. Martin, who initiated the appointment reforms as part of his "democratic renewal" initiative, has committed to making appointments only from the committee's short list, barring "extraordinary circumstances." [. . . . ]

law societies were included instead of the bar association because legal regulators' sole mandate, by law, is to govern lawyers in the public interest. The bar association advocates for its members' interests, as well as the public interest.

Gomery's tax consequences -- Even cash in brown bags is taxable Vern Krishna, July 20, 05

Justice Gomery is toiling away at his farm sifting through the mountain of evidence gathered concerning financial kickbacks, facilitation payments, agency fees, rebate fees, fake invoices, dummy payrolls, and cash payments in brown envelopes.

[. . . . ]




Police Follow Foreign Links to London Attacks -- As the inquiry focus turns to the bombers' suspected Al Qaeda connections, Britain readies new legislation to fight terrorism. Carol J. Williams, LATimes / Chicago Tribune, July 18, 2005

[. . . . Mohamed Sidique] Khan's name came to the attention of Britain's MI5 intelligence agency last year when police thwarted a suspected plot to pack a truck full of explosives and bomb a Soho nightclub, London's Sunday Times reported. The primary school counselor, who had a wife and a child, was deemed to pose little threat and wasn't placed under surveillance, the newspaper reported.

The Sunday Times and the Independent on Sunday reported that a Pakistani American jailed in the United States had identified a picture of Khan as someone he had met in Pakistan. Mohammed Junaid Babar, 29, was arrested upon return to the United States from a "terror summit" in the Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan in March 2004. He pleaded guilty to a slate of charges three months later, including involvement in the suspected nightclub bombing plot, and reportedly has been providing information to interrogators on other terrorism cases.

News agencies in Islamabad quoted unidentified intelligence sources as saying that Tanweer and Khan had arrived at Karachi airport together in November and returned to Britain in early February. [. . . . ]

Port crisis grows: Businesses threatened -- Coalition urges Ottawa to act over truckers' strike

A month-long Vancouver port truck strike is threatening the livelihood of nearly 155,000 small and medium-sized businesses across the country, the Retail Council of Canada said yesterday.

[. . . . ] Retailers are caught in the middle of the dispute between the roughly 1,000 container-truck drivers and the broker companies that employ them at Canada's largest port.

The drivers claim escalating costs have them earning as little as $50 for a 10-hour workday. [. . . . ]

The dispute took a nasty turn this past weekend, as gunshots were fired at the trucks of a company that continues to transport containers.

With trucking salaries as low as is mentioned, is it any wonder that truckers have been reported to be under pressure to transport drugs? Or to close their eyes to what is shipped?



Re: SHANGHAI-GLOBAL-NET

Re: inetnum: 61.152.156.0 - 61.152.159.255
netname: SHANGHAI-GLOBAL-NET

Name: nesoxochi1
Date: July 17, 2005 [. . . ]

Network Security Guide for Everybody
http://www.nsa.gov/snac/support/sixty_minutes.pdf
[. . . ]
Name: Ian (by suspect52732)
Date: July 19, 2005 . . .

Here is a link that will give you all the information you will ever need to know about smurf and fraggle DoS [denial of service] attacks. I found it an informative reference:

http://www.pentics.net/denial-of-service/white-papers/smurf.cgi [. . . . ]

These may require a degree of understanding the average computer user does not have.




Memo: Teach limitations on freedom of speech

What I Saw at al-Arian's Trial FrontPageMag.com, July 26, 05

For the last two decades, Tampa Bay, Florida has been host to Sami al-Arian, the leader of one of the world’s most notorious terror organizations, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The city served as al-Arian’s base of operations, as he allegedly assisted in the murders of numberless innocents. Today, Tampa is the site of al-Arian’s federal trial: he faces a 53-count indictment by the U.S. government, which identifies the former professor as a leading terrorist fundraiser. [. . . . ]
Again I asked, "Do you agree with the things that the people said in the video?" Still looking at me, he replied with a well traveled Constitutional excuse, "I agree with the fact that the people in the video have Freedom of Speech. This is still America."

It was a telling reply. In addition to refusing to answer the question, it is clear that Sami al-Arian’s eldest son does not comprehend America’s laws. What he and his ilk refer to as "Freedom of Speech" is, in fact, illegal: American laws prohibit from raising funds for an entity deemed by the United States government to be a terrorist organization. Yet that was precisely the intent of the Cleveland event so vividly captured on video. [. . . . ]

Search: members of the local Muslim community were afraid to show their faces at the trial, the Islamic Academy of Florida , American Youth Academy , "Islamic Concern Project, a.k.a. the Islamic Committee for Palestine" , Al-Qassam , the Tampa office of CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) , "The video in question was of a 1991 Cleveland fundraiser for Palestinian Islamic Jihad." , cleric Fawaz Mohammed "Abu" Damra , donate funds for jihad activities and for the families of martyrs




What the Terrorists Want Daniel Pipes, FrontPageMag.com, July 26, 05

[. . . . ] In nearly all cases, the jihadi terrorists have a patently self-evident ambition: to establish a world dominated by Muslims, Islam, and the Shari’a (Islamic law). Or, again to cite the Daily Telegraph, their “real project is the extension of the Islamic territory across the globe, and the establishment of a worldwide ‘caliphate’ founded on Shari’a law.”

Terrorists openly declare this goal. [. . . . ]

British Opinion Surveys from an Islamist Hell

[. . . . ] The YouGov survey contains many other statistics that should interest, if not shock, Britons and other Westerners. [. . . . ]

* Agree that "Western society is decadent and immoral and that Muslims should seek to bring it to an end": 32 percent willing to use non-violent means and (as noted above) 1 percent willing to use violence "if necessary." Just 56 percent of Muslims agree with the statement that "Western society may not be perfect but Muslims should live with it and not seek to bring it to an end." [. . . . ]

If there are 1.3 million Muslims in Britain, do the math. All it takes . . . Then look at the loyalty factor:

* Would not inform on a Muslim religious leader "trying to ‘radicalise' young Muslims by preaching hatred against the West": 10 percent.

* Do not think people have a duty to go to the police if they "see something in the community that makes them feel suspicious": 14 percent.

* Believe other Muslims would be reluctant to go to the police "about anything they see that makes them suspicious": 41 percent. [. . . . ]

Another opinion poll, this one commissioned by Sky News and carried out by Communicate Research (which interviewed 462 UK-based Muslims by telephone) found similar results: [. . . . ]

David Frum also reported (National Post, July 26, 05) on a poll for the Telegraph:

* 1 in 4 Muslims express sympathy for the subway bombers

* 1 in 3 thinks Western society is decadent

What multiculturalism has wrought!

Immigrants used to become citizens, acculturated, and over time, loyal. In Canada, is it the government's policy of funding differences that impedes the growth of loyalty, is it the religion, or is it a combination of both which has resulted in divided loyalties which may be severe enough to pose a danger to our society?

By the way, where is Paul Martin? What is he doing about security? Is his not saying anything about joining the world in fighting against terrorism after the latest London bombers not significant?