PM, Flags, Promises to Keep to Nfld., Sponsorship / ADSCAM, Beaudoin, ADSCAM 'Dry Cleaning'

Paul Martin should blush -- If anyone has scorned the Maple Leaf, it's PM and his band of Liberals -- "In short, the Liberals used the Maple Leaf flag "as a lever" to steal money for themselves."

Paul Martin should blush -- If anyone has scorned the Maple Leaf, it's PM and his band of Liberals January 9, 2005, Licia Corbella, Calgary Sun

[. . . . ] For what is a higher calling -- using the flag to better the lot of an entire province or using the flag to better the bottom line of the [PM] family bank account?

Martin himself has lowered Canada's flag and has defended doing so even though he did it only for crass profiteering at the expense of the country he supposedly leads and loves and to the benefit only of himself and his fabulously wealthy family. [. . . . ]

Essentially, Newfoundland wants to keep 47% of the revenues and Ottawa would keep 53%. Surely that's not asking too much? Martin, who feared that his lifelong dream of being PM was slipping away, agreed to Williams' plan during the election campaign and reneged afterwards. It is the Martin and Liberal way.

[. . . . ] His party has been using the Maple Leaf in a shameless way for years to steal from Canadians and fill up -- if not their personal coffers (though don't rule that out) -- then certainly the bank accounts of friends and party supporters.

[. . . . ] According to information contained in federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser's report on this, it appears that the Liberals used our flag to launder money.

Tell Prime Minister Paul Martin to Keep his Promise

Last summer Prime Minister Paul Martin promised the people of Newfoundland and Labrador a fair deal--a deal that would finally let the province keep one hundred percent of provincial revenues under the Atlantic Accord.

Since then, Prime Minister Martin has failed to keep his promise. Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams has made a firm stand against Ottawa, and now it's time to support his efforts. Too much is at stake: Newfoundlanders and Labradorians need a fair deal, and all Canadians need a Prime Minister who will keep his promises.

If you believe that Newfoundland and Labrador deserves a fair deal, complete the form below to send the letter on the right to Prime Minister Martin and Finance Minister Ralph Goodale.

Click here to tell friends

"I have worked and will continue to work hard to ensure that Newfoundland and Labrador receives 100 per cent of its oil and gas revenues under the Atlantic Accord with no clawbacks because I want to see - and my government wants to see - the people of this province succeed and prosper." -- Prime Minister Paul Martin, Canadian Press, January 8, 2005

"Currently, Canada's most easterly province only gets to keep 14% of the revenues from its resources and the feds take a whopping 86% even though the Atlantic Accord signed back in the '80s with the Mulroney government promised the province a much larger share." -- Licia Corbella, Calgary Sun

Liberals to return sponsorship donations -- Of course, they did nothing wrong. . . . . .

Liberals to return sponsorship donations CP

Longueuil, Quebec — The federal Liberals will reimburse all donations received from groups involved in the sponsorship program, Jean Lapierre said Thursday.

Paul Martin's Quebec lieutenant originally made the pledge during last summer's election campaign. But the party later said in September that it would only reimburse donations from companies whose directors were convicted of crimes.

[. . . . ] The Liberal party said last fall that two of its own audits concluded the party received $1.5-million in donations from companies named in the auditor general's report on sponsorship and advertising abuses. [. . . . ]

Former federal bank chief Beaudoin denies sponsorship wrongdoing, blames others -- "In the end, Beaudoin was vindicated in a bitter lawsuit, winning restoration of the pension benefits the bank had tried to deny him."


Former federal bank chief denies sponsorship wrongdoing, blames others Jim Brown, CP, January 14, 2005

OTTAWA (CP) - Francois Beaudoin, the former president of the Business Development Bank of Canada, firmly denied any personal responsibility Thursday for questionable business dealings related to the federal sponsorship program.

Instead he pointed the finger at his subordinates - including Jean Carle, who came to the bank as a vice-president after serving as a top aide to then-prime minister Jean Chretien. Testifying at the public inquiry into the sponsorship scandal, Beaudoin painted a picture of Carle as a close friend of Jean Lafleur, whose ad agency Lafleur Communication did more than $1.7 million worth of business with the federally-owned BDC.

Beaudoin maintained, among other things, that Lafleur and Carle proposed in 1999 to rent a corporate box for Canadiens hockey games at the Molson Centre in Montreal - but to cover up the fact that BDC was footing the bill by using Lafleur Communication as a front for the deal.

"'We can do the dry-cleaning'," Beaudoin quoted Lafleur as saying, with Carle's apparent approval.

[. . . . ] BDC contributed $250,000 to the TV series [Scully] and later concluded, in an internal review, that it got value for its money.

But the bank also served as a conduit to transfer another $125,000 to Scully from the Public Works Department.

Lafleur Communication and another Montreal ad agency, Media IDA Vision, acted as middlemen in that complex transaction and collected combined commissions of $18,000 - apparently for doing little work.

Beaudoin insisted Thursday he had no knowledge of that part of the deal.

[. . . . ] In the end, Beaudoin was vindicated in a bitter lawsuit, winning restoration of the pension benefits the bank had tried to deny him.

The presiding judge roundly criticized the BDC and Vennat, who was subsequently fired by Prime Minister Paul Martin.

There is mention of Beaudoin and his crossing Jean Chretien in this post: The Common Thread in the Politicization of the National Police Force?





ADSCAM 'Dry cleaning' -- Chretien wingmen suggest scheme, exec says

ADSCAM 'Dry cleaning' Stephanie Rubec, January 14, 2005

FRANCOIS BEAUDOIN, the bank executive at the centre of the Shawinigate controversy, tied a former senior PMO official to a scheme to "dry clean" federal funds. The former head of the Business Development Bank yesterday told the commission probing the sponsorship scandal that Jean Carle, former PM Jean Chretien's chief of operations, twice attempted to pressure him to buy a box at Montreal's Molson Centre.

Beaudoin said Carle teamed up with advertising exec Jean Lafleur during a February 1999 dinner at a Montreal restaurant to suggest he mask the purchase with a fictitious invoice to avoid public scrutiny.

"I believe that it was Lafleur who suggested we could do dry cleaning," Beaudoin told Justice John Gomery, adding the duo erupted in laughter over his ignorance of the term. [. . . . ]

Tamils-Tamil Tigers-PM-Karygiannis, Immigration and Refugees-Sgro, Tsunami-Diplomats-Minister

Rebels recruit tsunami kids -- Paul Martin avoided Tamil Tiger area in Sri Lanka; Karygiannis went in his stead -- Tamils are a large voting bloc

Rebels recruit tsunami kids -- Paul Martin avoided Tamil Tiger area in Sri Lanka January 14, 2005, AP

SRI LANKA'S Tamil Tiger rebels recruited three tsunami-affected girls to their ranks but later released two of them, UNICEF officials said yesterday in Colombo. The girls, ages 11 and 12, were reunited with their parents, and UNICEF was working to secure the release of the third, who is 15 years old, agency spokesman Geoffrey Keel said.

The three were from eastern Batticaloa and Ampara, among the areas that were worst hit by the Dec. 26 tsunami.

The rebels are known to recruit children to bolster their ranks in their fight for a separate Tamil homeland.

[. . . . ] Children accounted for a staggering 40%, or 12,000, of Sri Lanka's tsunami death toll of nearly 31,000. Another 800,000 people have been left homeless.

Tamil Tigers -- Don't play with Tigers

Don't play with Tigers National Post, January 14, 2005

[. . . . ] Mr. Karygiannis showed up at a Toronto party celebrating the Tamil Tigers' recent campaigns and proudly hoisted the Canadian flag alongside the Tigers' flag. So as he tours northern Sri Lanka meeting with leaders of the Tigers' political wing, Canadians have ample reason to be concerned.

Representing the riding of Scarborough-Agincourt, Mr. Karygiannis likely has more Tamils in his constituency than any other Canadian MP [. . . . ]

While they do not tend to get as much ink as Hamas, al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, and while their fundraising efforts within Canada have inexplicably not been outlawed, the Tamil Tigers are responsible for a staggering amount of carnage. The world's most prolific suicide bombers, they have exacted a death toll of more than 60,000 over the past two decades. Known for targeting civilians, the Tamil Tigers routinely stage attacks on villages in which they ruthlessly slay women and children. [. . . . ]

MP: Bring kids home -- "home"? A Tamil Tiger/Tamil vote getter

MP: Bring kids home January 14, 2005, Tom Godfrey, Toronto Sun

DOZENS OF orphans -- including many young girls -- are homeless and in dire straits in Sri Lanka and should be given protection in Canada, says a Liberal MP on the ground there. Jim Karygiannis said from Jaffna a priority is to reunite sisters Dushishi, 16, and Prashalini, 13, with their Scarborough mom Shantha Baheswaran, 40, who is sponsoring them to Canada.

[. . . . ] Baheswaran arrived in Canada four years ago as a refugee claimant. She is now a landed immigrant and holds two jobs to save money to bring her teens here.

[. . . . ] Karygiannis said he's been trying unsuccessfully to contact Canadian immigration officials about the case. He plans to take the teens to the Canadian high commission in Colombo for their visas.

Shantha Baheswaran left her daughters to their fate in Sri Lanka, but saved herself by claiming "refugee" status in Canada? Does this sound logical of a mother?

Aside from that, if the Tamils have the largest terrorist organization in Canada and it has been named a terrorist organization and outlawed in the US, what group in Canada will influence the direction in which these kids are indoctrinated? Already the Tamil community in Canada is forced to donate to the Tigers out of fear. Who wants to bring in and bring up these children?

Mass movements of people out of emotion and with too little consideration of the consequences are not wise.

Nor is the idea of bringing to Canada a large number of Muslims from Indonesia -- from an area where passions are high and Islamists are successfully recruiting. Until the Muslims in Canada act to disown the extremist Muslims and to modernize Islam and the position of women in their community, I think it would be prudent to slow down or stop all Muslim immigration. There are a few questions Muslims should answer about the Koran and jihad before Canada is exposed to more extremism. I have linked to the questions from this site previously. Where do they stand on church/mosque and state separation, particularly as to violence in the service of Allah and the question of loyalty--to Allah/Islam or to Canada.




Immigration Minister Judy Sgro has quit -- intending to clear her name over the allegations

Immigration minister to quit: report -- Update: has quit
Jan. 14, 05, CBC

TORONTO - [. . . . ] over allegations that she promised to help a pizza shop owner avoid deportation in return for help on her re-election campaign last spring.

The Toronto Star says Sgro decided to step down after the newspaper obtained a copy of an affidavit from Harjit Singh, who owns a pizza shop in Brampton, Ont.

The Star quotes "federal sources" as saying Sgro denies Singh's allegations but will leave her job while she seeks to have her name cleared.

In the sworn affidavit, which was filed in Federal Court Thursday, Singh says Sgro pressed him for free pizza and garlic bread and asked him to supply "15 or 16" volunteers for her campaign office. [. . . . ]

Read the details in Jan. 15, 05, National Post on how Sikh Harjit Singh managed to stay here for years. A typical departmental tale -- from an identifiable voting bloc.



Ottawa orders Hungarian heroine to leave -- Revealed herself to police: Lawyer says client can stay to testify in sex predator case

Perhaps she could scream "racism" or "hardship because she is an illegal" and get some politically identifiable ethnic voting bloc to back her? Would it work for a white European? It's rather like being a red-blooded male today; they can be attacked or discounted with impunity. Just don't step on one of the government-courted ethnic voting blocs.

Ottawa orders Hungarian heroine to leave Siri Agrell, National Post, January 14, 2005

[. . . . ] "We are exploring all options," he said yesterday. "The young lady has no fear, at this stage at least, of being removed from Canada. She is needed as a witness in this criminal trial. She has a number of options and I think ultimately we would hope she would have a happy ending."

Ms. Gal came to Toronto four years ago to visit friends and lived in the country illegally for four years before she came to the attention of immigration officials after calling police to report an attack. [. . . . ]

Vacationing in the face of disaster

Vacationing in the face of disaster Greg Weston, Sun Ottawa Bureau, January 13, 2005

On a scale of political disasters, Paul Martin and his ministers managed to turn this one into a good 9.0, if only by their absence.

Much of the credit for this achievement must go to Aileen Carroll, the minister for International Co-operation responsible for Canadian foreign aid.

At the moment the massive earthquake turned the Indian Ocean into a sea of carnage, Carroll was at home in Barrie, less than an hour north of Toronto.

That was Christmas night.

According to published reports of the minister's best recollections, the first she heard of the disaster was a call from her Ottawa office the next day, Dec. 26.

Late that night, a full 24 hours after the tsunamis had begun their watery massacre, Canada's minister of foreign aid drove to the Toronto airport, got on a plane and flew off on vacation to South America. [. . . . ]

Diplomats in Thailand unhelpful, man says -- Canadian officials lax in search for missing, Vancouver teacher complains

Diplomats in Thailand unhelpful, man says -- Canadian officials lax in search for missing, Vancouver teacher complains Geoffrey York, Jan. 10, 05

PHUKET, THAILAND -- From the earliest days of his search for his missing girlfriend, Michael Lang says he has been getting a clear message from Canadian diplomats in Thailand: Give up his efforts, go home and accept that her remains will be unidentifiable.

He rejected the advice, but his experiences over the past two weeks convinced him that the federal government failed to search properly for the Canadian victims of the tsunamis disaster.

Mr. Lang, a 28-year-old teacher from Vancouver, is in a good position to judge the effort. He is one of the few Canadians who witnessed the tsunamis and their aftermath from the first moment. The experiences leave him embittered and angry at Ottawa and its representatives.

There are nearly 150 Canadians still missing in Thailand. Yet officials have been oddly passive and willing to allow Thailand to handle most aspects of the search, Mr. Lang said.

"They only wanted to put me on a plane and get me out of the country," he said in an interview yesterday. "They've located very few of the missing people. There's no sign of them aggressively searching. They did nothing with all of the information I gave them, which is shocking."[. . . . ]

Counter Terrorism International Conference, Saudi Arabia, Iran Yes-Israel No -- Suicide Attacks OK Where?

Counter Terrorism International Conference Kingdom of Saudi Arabia -- Iran was invited; Israel wasn't.

The Saudis don't want the terrorists using suicide on them but it's OK on the Israelis and Americans -- “there is nothing wrong with suicide attacks if they cause great damage to the enemy.”

Counter Terrorism International Conference Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to be held in Riaydh, Feb. 5-8, 05, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

This conference is state sponsored and participants must be nominated and invited by their respected governments and not open for academic research.

[. . . . ]




Saudi Arabia's Terror Conference: Part I

Saudi Arabia's Terror Conference: Part I Steve Stalinsky, Jan. 6, 05, FrontPageMagazine.com. Steven Stalinsky is Executive Director of The Middle East Media Research Institute.

Since 9/11, the Saudi royal family has spent millions of dollars to improve its image worldwide. This includes a recent ad campaign in The New Republic, which are “Sponsored by the People of Saudi Arabia – Allies Against Terrorism.” Another full-page ad appeared in USA Today, stating, “For far too long, rumors have been accepted as truth…The 9/11 Commission Report finally reveal[ed] the facts.” However, despite the Saudi PR efforts, which claim that the report completely vindicates Saudi Arabia, it in fact states that Saudi Arabia is "a problematic ally in combating Islamic extremism" and that "significant problems remained" regarding its role in the war against terror.

Another attempt by the Saudis to improve their image is the convening of an international conference against terrorism to be held in Riyadh on February 5-8. According to Saudi government sources, 43 countries, and several leading NGOs will attend. Prince Turki Ibn Muhammad Bin Saud Al-Kabir, an assistant undersecretary at the Foreign Ministry said, “We have invited all countries that have suffered from terrorism…and all have agreed to take part.”

The conference was initially announced at the UN General Assembly in September by Saudi Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Mizar Midani. When asked why Israel was not invited, he accused the Jewish state of “being responsible for extremism in the region.”

Meanwhile, the Iranian Republic News Agency reported that Iranian President Muhammad Khatami will be attending. Prince Al-Kabir, who is the chairman of the conference, told the Saudi Gazette on November 3 that a large contingent from the U.S. will also attend. [. . . . ]

In the coming weeks, this column will expose Saudi Arabia’s continual embrace of jihad, as well as its support of a culture of hatred against the West, Christians, and of course Jews.

Unless the Saudi terror conference addresses these issues, the upcoming columns will explain why the U.S. should not take part in the Saudi Arabia's February conference on terrorism.

The People's Forest-Logging Practices, Environmentalism-Foreign Aid, Aborting Gays, Language

Documentary: "Forbidden Forest" -- an exploration of forestry in NB -- clear cutting companies' short term gain vs the woodsmen--selective cutters wanting to preserve/conserve for the future -- Note that this concerns the people's land, crown land!

Forbidden Forest The Nature of Things -- Directed by Kevin Matthews, Produced by Kent Martin (NFB) Lloyd Salomone (Timber Colony Inc)

Jean Guy Comeau and Francis Wishart walk through ravaged landscapes: good wood left rotting on the ground, stagnant pools of water, uprooted trees blown over. Trenches more than 2 metres deep have been gouged into the ground by heavy machinery. Red plastic flagging tape reading "No harvest" flutters limply over the felled remains of a stand of trees.

This is clear-cutting in New Brunswick's Acadian forest. And what most people don't realize is that it's being done on public (or Crown) lands - lands that are supposed to be managed by the government on behalf of the people.Six multinational corporations control cutting on New Brunswick's millions of acres of Crown land. In Forbidden Forest, we meet two very different men united by a passion to save the forest and to bring some of the province's public forest under community control.

[. . . . ] And the two go head-to-head with the New Brunswick government in an effort to secure a new, community-based forestry policy - one that is environmentally sustainable and that produces more jobs than the highly capital-intensive, mechanized techniques used today.

[. . . . The] two go head-to-head with the New Brunswick government in an effort to secure a new, community-based forestry policy - one that is environmentally sustainable and that produces more jobs than the highly capital-intensive, mechanized techniques used today.

View a clip

I loved this. Well worth watching for adults and especially for schools. It is wonderful to see what a forest can be, teaming with diverse life -- and also, that there is a solution to the devastation wrought by clear-cutting -- some system similar to the community forestry practiced in Germany.

Is anyone else tired of short-sighted approach on the part of politicians, businessmen and those who work in forestry -- who concern themselves only with dollar signs, not with the biodiversity, the future health of a region -- of a country?

Federally, think of Canada's PM off to encourage more "investment" dollars -- so Canada's resources and industries may be sold to or controlled by the highest bidder. Provincially, the forestry is a local version of this lack of statesmanship -- afflicting both Liberals and Conservatives who go after votes for short term gain, pleasing the "big boys" who rape the land of its best features, the old growth undergrowth with the plants and animals that thrive in a controlled cutting environment.

What this film presents is a solution for the long term -- for the loggers and for the province's woodlands. Do get it / watch it.




Bjrn's fatal conceit -- The Skeptical Environmentalist

Bjrn's fatal conceit Peter Foster, Financial Post, January 12, 2005

Danish academic Bjrn Lomborg became famous four years ago after writing The Skeptical Environmentalist. Based on meticulous research, the book debunked virtually every alleged ecological "crisis" -- from cancer scares through species extinction to man-made global warming -- as either grossly exaggerated or entirely falsified.

Mr. Lomborg's effort was both valuable and brave. He was subsequently subjected to a torrent of abuse from professional environmentalists. The claims of his book were utterly misrepresented. He was compared to a Holocaust denier. He received death threats.

Now Mr. Lomborg has put himself front and centre of another big policy issue, one that has leapt to prominence because of the Asian tsunami: that of effective foreign aid.

Ostensibly, Mr. Lomborg's new venture -- which he outlined on this page yesterday -- might seem eminently reasonable. If we want to save lives in the developing countries, doesn't it make sense to subject initiatives to a rigid cost-benefit analysis and prioritize them?

But who is this "we?" [. . . . ]

A "must read" -- particularly now that our PM and friends both within Canada and the UN are getting on the bandwagon. There is so much bureaucracy associated with "the environment", "foreign aid", and the dispensing of $$$, to say nothing of the coming of "environmentally friendly" vehicles / enviro-cars (Check out Maurice Strong and a Chinese car company) that will necessitate legislation concerning the fuel they burn -- so many -- so much that would be disturbed should Mr. Lomberg's ideas take wing. Must stop him.




Aborting gays -- A "must read"

Aborting gays

[. . . . ] Steve Sailer challenges these assumptions by pointing out what is likely to happen if a gay gene is indeed discovered: [. . . . ]

A seldom-discussed paradox is that if male homosexuality is proven to originate in a particular "gay gene," then it's likely that the continued existence of gay men in future generations in America will primarily be due to . . . .

A bitter irony for gays that would be -- those who believe in the sanctity of life -- Christians -- right wingers -- the sanctity of marriage and the foetus crowd -- you know, the recipients of so much negative press from our media and the gay lobby.





Our French revolution -- Rockland's sign law sparks a new language rights war.: Residents got along, whatever the language. While some say the new law just makes sense, others argue the city is attempting to curb Ottawa's English influence.

Our French revolution Daniel Tencer and Aron Heller, The Ottawa Citizen, January 14, 2005

[. . . . ] If a business owner objects on principle to having a bilingual business sign, "that person is going to have to conform," he said.

Councillor Jean-Pierre Chartrand explained it was also an issue of optics: Clarence-Rockland's elected officials wanted to make sure the municipality's appearance continued to reflect its population's make-up. "We really didn't want to end up with a Rockland that looks all English," he said.

But others suggest that there are other forces at work. The bylaw -- believed to be the first of its kind in Ontario -- is an attempt to protect the traditional francophone community from an influx of Ottawa anglophones, some residents say. Or a sly move to ensure that Clarence-Rockland's rapid economic growth happens in both English and French, others suggest.

"We're in the middle of an economic boom," said Mr. Chartrand. The new big-name retailers opening up along Highway 174, such as Canadian Tire, had given rise to concerns among the French majority in the area that they may not be able to find French service in stores that put up English-only signs.

Here Ontario goes -- as did Quebec. Have you talked to anyone to compare the language spoken in the West Island of Montreal stores today with what they heard years ago? It used to be an English speaking area. Guess what has happened. There will have to be complaints made to the Language Commissioner for other Ontario communities. . . . . . Money will have to be spent; laws/regulations will have to be changed. There is a long-term objective for anyone not too imbued with "right speak / correct speak" to figure it out. Check the heads of the important government departments, the embassies, et cetera. Watch CBC as ministerial and military representatives speak. Detect an accent? Mais oui!

The municipality has a population of about 22,000, about two-thirds francophone and one-third anglophone. Clarence-Rockland is about as bilingual as Ontario municipalities get. According to University of Ottawa chief archivist Michel Prevost, the county of Prescott-Russell, where Clarence Rockland is located, is the only French-majority county in Ontario.

But, Mr. Prevost says, that unique status is being chiseled away as Ottawa grows and an increasing number of Ottawans turn Eastern Ontario's rural municipalities into extensions of the capital.

[. . . . ] Last month controversy erupted in the heavily Asian Vancouver suburb of Richmond, B.C., when a city council advisory committee suggested enacting a bylaw to force businesses to display signs in English, after complaints from American tourists that many businesses in the city displayed signs only in Chinese.

Drug Psych Tests for Police and the Reality of Crime in Toronto

Drug, psych tests for cops -- Move slammed for 'high-risk jobs'

Drug, psych tests for cops -- Move slammed for 'high-risk jobs' January 14, 2005, Kim Bradley, Toronto Sun

AS TORONTO'S top cop, Julian Fantino, prepares to leave his post in March, certain members within the service will start getting tested for drugs, psychological problems and undergo financial background checks. The controversial move, announced yesterday, was slammed by the Senior Officer's Organization and the Toronto Police Association.

[. . . . ] They are fundamentally unacceptable to our members and will be challenged by our association at entry level."

[. . . . ] A committee of the Police Services Board, Senior Officer's Organization and the Toronto Police Association was formed after Fantino asked Justice George Ferguson three years ago to review the service's practices in the wake of several police scandals.

In January 2003, Ferguson came back with a report containing 32 recommendations, which he agreed to help implement at Fantino's request last April.

The drug and psychological testing and financial background checks were a result of the report and committee talks held since April. [. . . . ]

There is so much money in the drug trade and in chasing the druggies, drug czars, and assorted other criminals. Police are forced to deal with a segment of society that I never want to know; still, the temptation must strong, especially as police see the courts in action after they have worked so hard. Nevertheless, there have been problems in the police department as I have mentioned in posts before; something must be done if the system is not to become seen as corrupt.




How would you like to do this job? These are items from one Toronto news service on one day

Shot cop stared at death Friday, Jan 14, 2005

WOUNDED IN both legs and helpless, Const. Noel De Guzman could only watch as the man who shot him walked up and fired a bullet so close to his head, fragments tore a piece off his ear, court heard yesterday. What he didn't know was that the man had a jammed gun.[. . . . ]

Onlookers ignored beating?

THE DAUGHTER of an Oshawa grandmother and taxi driver who was beaten and robbed in broad daylight is "very angry at the community" for not intervening in the attack. "I understand people don't want to get involved but if we keep running away from things like this, then our city is going to be overflowing with people who commit these kinds of crimes," said the victim's irate daughter, 32, adding, Oshawa's downtown is overrun with druggies and criminals. [. . . . ]

Cops shadowing 3 more: Lawyer

POLICE HAVE three more suspects in an East York student's stabbing death, said the lawyer for a 17-year-old facing a charge of first-degree murder. The teen, represented by lawyer Dan Brodsky, made a second appearance in Jarvis St. youth court yesterday. He is charged in connection with the swarming and stabbing death of Andrew "Drew" Stewart on Dec. 3. [. . . . ]

News Junkie Canada -- Link to New Post

PM Courting Chinese, China's Canadian Hunt, BC Offshore Exploration, Korea-China-LNG Tankers, Native Land Claims, Tar Sands, Outsourcing Study

Terrorist Instructions, Al-Jazeera and Saddam Hussein, CBS, UNSCAM-U.N. Compensation Commission

Terrorist Instructions . . . "It is coming to a town near you. Be safe, stay vigilant."

Terrorists Instructions on Stinger Missiles on the Internet

12 January 2005: Most recent research of terrorist websites found that the terrorists have republished instructions on using shoulder fired missile systems on the Internet. The Northeast Intelligence Network has furnished the applicable documentation to US militarty and intelligence officials regarding these messages. Although the postings appear to be centered on the Iraq therater of operation, it is important to note, especially with the increase in incidents involving lasers in the US and elsewhere, that the FBI issued a warning about missiles in the US early in 2002:

"...given al Qaeda's demonstrated objective to target the U.S. airline industry, its access to U.S. and Russian-made MANPAD systems, and recent apparent targeting of U.S.-led military forces in Saudi Arabia, law enforcement agencies in the United States should remain alert to potential use of MANPADs against U.S. aircraft." [. . . . ]

I personally, as well as other analysts and researchers of Northeast Intelligence Network receive an enormous number of emails from idiots worldwide with their conspiracy theories and accusations on how the US really isn’t a target for terrorists and how the Bush administration simply uses the terrorist threat to further their agenda overseas as well as domestically.

[. . . .] There are also a number of incidents that have happened inside the United States that the general public really doesn’t know about, or all the facts concerning such incidents were not relayed to the public in a manner that would indicate the true motive of terrorism behind the incident. Research into the facts beyond the mainstream media reports often leaves no doubt whatsoever what the true nature and intent of the incident was. [. . . .]

Check this site for much more.




Al-Jazeera and Saddam Hussein

New Footage Links Al-Jazeera, Media Figures to Saddam's Regime Jan. 5, 05

New footage aired by Alhurra on Thursday shows that Saddam Hussein's corruption extended to the Arabic satellite network Al-Jazeera and certain Arab media figures. [. . . . ]

"This new footage is explosive,” says Phares. “It pulls back the curtain on the hidden relationship between the Saddam regime and its media beneficiaries and collaborators. The same media that opposed Iraq's liberation and continues to broadcast malicious reports about the situation there was, in fact, in Saddam's back pocket for years.”

The footage shows Saddam Hussein's son and designated successor Udai meeting in Baghdad with Al-Jazeera's former news director, Mohammed Jassim al Ali. Udai praises Al-Jazeera for several appointments to its editorial staff, including Ahmad Mansour, a prominent reporter who has since been criticized for providing greatly exaggerated reports of civilian deaths during U.S. counterinsurgency operations in Fallujah. Ali in return thanks Udai: "Without our collaboration with you personally, we wouldn't have succeeded." [. . . . ]

UNSCAM -- Another Trail to Follow; Did Saddam Hussein Loot a Fund to Compensate Victims of the 1990 Invasion? -- The deeper they dig . . . .

UNSCAM: Some of the funds were channeled to end-users via governments, including those of such terrorist-sponsoring states as Syria and Iran, as well as Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

Another Trail to Follow; Did Saddam Hussein Loot a Fund to Compensate Victims of the 1990 Invasion? Claudia Rosett, Wall Street Journal (Opinion Journal and European Edition), January 12, 2005. Ms. Rosett is a journalist-in-residence with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

Let's be honest. Along with United Nations secrecy, Saddam Hussein's perfidy, and the general coyness of the bribed, one of the big obstacles to getting to the bottom of the Oil for Food scandal is the sheer horror of actually having to read the reams of U.N. documents tied to the program--on the occasions when documents do turn up. It's a step forward that on Sunday Paul Volcker's U.N.-approved inquiry finally released the program's 55 secret internal audits, which Congress and others had been requesting for months.

[. . . . ] Beyond the highlights already reported, including waste, abuse and maladministration costing hundreds of millions, maybe billions, in money that belonged to the people of Iraq, it may take a while before the ramifications have been fully explored.

Let us pluck from the stack, however, one item that deserves especially urgent attention, because it involves an $18.8 billion flow consisting largely of Oil for Food funding, which until now, in all its opaque complexity, has too much escaped notice. Among the audits just released by Mr. Volcker are 19 that shed some light on yet another troubling trail in the labyrinth that was the Oil for Food program.

That trail belongs to the U.N. Compensation Commission. [. . . . ]

The rotating panels of commissioners who awarded the $18.8 billion were chosen via in-house evaluation of their credentials by the U.N. Secretariat, nominated by the UNCC and approved by Mr. Annan; but little detail about them or their decisions was disclosed to the public. The records made publicly available by the UNCC do not in some cases disclose who the end-recipients were. Some of the funds were channeled to end-users via governments, including those of such terrorist-sponsoring states as Syria and Iran, as well as Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. [. . . . ]

Black eye at black rock -- CBS -- "independent panel"

Damage control at Black Rock Tony Blankley

Let's start with the title of the CBS Panel: "Report of the Independent Review Panel Dick Thornburgh and Lewis D. Boccardi; Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP, Counsel to the Independent Review Panel." My first question is from whom is the review panel and its hired lawyers independent? Who paid the law firm for its hundreds, probably thousands of hours of research? I assume CBS paid them.

Keep in mind, it was the law firm which did the actual investigation. I have already communicated with one person who was contacted by a lawyer for the firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart who was told that they were carrying out the investigation's research. And, of course, Mr. Thornburgh is a senior member of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP.

So the lawyers hired to independently investigate CBS have a lawyer/client relationship with CBS. Presumably, as a senior member of that firm, Independent Review Panel Member Richard Thornburgh also has CBS as a fiduciary client. Thus, unlike similarly named government independent investigations — this one is paid for by, and carried out on behalf of, the target of the investigation. [. . . . ]

Con's Medical Bills, Instant Grits, Adil Charkaoui-CSIS, Ottawa Failed to Deport Accused Killer Twice, Chretien-Gomery

Cons' doctor bills climbing -- Drug costs drive prison medical tab up 26% in five years

Cons' doctor bills climbing -- Drug costs drive prison medical tab up 26% in five years Kathleen Harris, Parliamentary Bureau, Jan. 12, 05

Federal inmates are getting "deluxe" medical treatment behind bars, with costs per prisoner roughly double that of the average Canadian on the outside.

Taxpayers spent $81.5 million to keep 12,500 offenders healthy last year, providing free access to prescription drugs, medical treatments and a controversial methadone program for heroin addicts.

Figures obtained by the Sun under Access to Information show the tab jumped 26% from $64.8 million in just five years, driven up by soaring pharmaceutical and opiate-addiction drug costs. [. . . . ]

Read the details. It sounds like another instance of people choosing hard lives, drugs, et cetera; then the system has to fix them and the taxpayers who were their victims have to pay. To the inmates, I am tempted to say, as a young teen I knew used to drawl, "Suffah, dog" -- but of course, that would not be kind nor all-inclusive of those who have "made mistakes", parhaps been "victims" themselves--of being born poor or differently coloured or in poverty elsewhere or . . . . .




No more instant Grits

No more instant Grits National Post, Jan. 12, 05

[. . . . ] So if the Liberals are serious about insisting that recruits pay for themselves, they will require all future payments to be made by credit card or personal cheque.

There are other ways, too, in which the Liberals could usefully tighten their membership rules. Notably, they could cut down on the recruitment of people who are otherwise politically disengaged by limiting membership to Canadian citizens. And they could stop letting minors vote in leadership races and nominations -- a sensible change, given that Canadians must be at least 18 years old to vote in general elections. [. . . . ]

Lawyers for alleged terrorist want case dropped

Lawyers for alleged terrorist want case dropped Brian Daly, CanWest, Jan. 12, 05

MONTREAL (CP) - Lawyers for alleged terrorist Adil Charkaoui moved Tuesday to have the case against him dropped, saying Canada's spy agency tainted the evidence by destroying notes from two interviews with him.

Defence lawyer Dominique Larochelle said she'll ask a Federal Court judge to quash a security certificate that has kept Charkaoui behind bars since May 2003. [. . . . ]

CSIS has destroyed evidence in case against man accused of links to al-Qaeda, court told

CSIS has destroyed evidence in case against man accused of links to al-Qaeda, court told

[. . . . ] Dominique Larochelle said the destruction of notes and transcripts of interviews the Canadian Security Intelligence Service conducted with Mr. Charkaoui in 2002 is a violation that may prejudice her client. She said there is no way of knowing whether the information was obtained in a way that respected his rights. Mr. Charkaoui has been held without charge since May, 2003 on suspicion of having al-Qaeda ties. [. . . . ]

Ottawa failed twice to deport accused killer -- Sister-in-law slain

Ottawa failed twice to deport accused killer -- Sister-in-law slain Andrew Duffy, CanWest News Service, Jan. 11, 05

OTTAWA - An Ottawa man accused of murdering his sister-in-law last week avoided two federal-government attempts to deport him to Iran in 2000 and 2001, in part due to support from the woman he allegedly killed.

Court documents show immigration officials declared Allen Tehrankari a danger in December, 2000, three months later a Federal Court judge quashed their first danger opinion. The court ordered a new hearing due to a faulty assessment of the risk posed to Mr. Tehrankari by his deportation to Iran.

The second attempt to deport Mr. Tehrankari failed in October, 2001, when a judge again rejected the government's argument that he was a menace to Canadian society.

Federal immigration officials abandoned their attempts to deport Mr. Tehrankari after the second decision.

Mr. Tehrankari, 36, faces a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of his sister-in-law, Barbara Galway, 46, of Almonte, Ont. Ms. Galway's charred body was found on Thursday near a popular nature trail in Ottawa's Mer Bleue Conservation Area.

[. . . . ] Mr. Tehrankari was released from prison in October, 2000, after serving two-thirds of his 12-year sentence for bank robbery, kidnapping and firearms offences.

I suppose if returned to Iran, he might "face torture"? Has his his "privacy" been protected? Does he have a child born in Canada who would miss Daddy? As for the rest of us . . . . .




Chretien's lawyer bids to oust Gomery -- "OTTAWA - The moonlighting farmer from Montreal now faces the prospect of being dethroned from what he describes as the crowning achievement of a blemish-free career on the bench."

The whole Liberal machine will keep--protect?--Jean Chretien from justice, whether for himself or for Canadians.

Chretien's lawyer bids to oust Gomery Don Martin, CanWest, Jan. 12, 05

[. . . . ] His ouster would be a huge loss for Canadians hoping someone will plumb the muddy bottom of this dirty mess. An inquiry now moving into its fifth month of testimony would have to restart from scratch, giving some shadowy witnesses another opportunity to change their stories or fudge their facts. Time would tick backwards, likely delaying the inquiry's conclusion until after the next election. And there'd be no finding a commission chairman of Gomery's feisty stature -- legally bulletproof, fluently bilingual, keenly driven and at the point of a distinguished career where being a 72-year-old grandfather means there's nothing personal to gain or lose by whacking the Liberal party elite.

[. . . . ] Of course, Gomery's not totally impartial on the scandal and should be forgiven some bias. No brain-equipped commissioner could listen to such a loud parade of fibbers and professional butt protectors operating such a charade of public accountability without being unfavourably swayed by the horror of it all.

If anything, his disgust at the program offers proof there's a sound legal mind in charge of the proceedings. His only wrongdoing was saying to a journalist what any severely normal person already believes to be true.

And so, Gomery should be allowed to continue his work. He insists his mind is still open to witness testimony yet to be heard, and I believe him

More details:

Chretien lawyer questions judge Jim Brown, Jan. 11, 05, CNEWS

Chretien's lawyer bids to oust Gomery -- Judge's remarks assailed Kathryn May, CanWest News Service

Tutor-Nurses-French, Immigration-Unemployment, Cornwall-Pot, RCMP-Funeral Costs

Tutor to help Montreal nurses who flunked French test and lost hospital jobs

Tutor to help Montreal nurses who flunked French test and lost hospital jobs Cheryl Cornacchia, CanWest, Jan. 12, 05

Alliance Quebec has arranged for tutoring for two nurses who lost their jobs at a Montreal hospital after failing a French-language test, and it says other health professionals face the same predicament. [. . . . ]

Language before health services, of course. Have the language police no sense of perspective on what is really important?




US: Immigrant Population at Record High in 2004 -- Total Up Four Million Since 2000 -- Half of Growth from Illegal Aliens -- "being unemployed in America is still sometimes better than staying in one’s home country"

CIS -- Immigrant Population at Record High in 2004

WASHINGTON (November 23, 2004) — An analysis of data not yet published by the Census Bureau shows that the nation’s immigrant population (legal and illegal) reached a new record of more than 34 million in March of 2004, an increase of over 4 million just since 2000. The fact that immigration has remained so high indicates that immigration does not rise and fall in close step with the economy, as some have imagined. . . .

The 34.24 million immigrants (legal and illegal) now living in the country is the highest number ever recorded in American history and a 4.3-million increase since 2000.

* Of the 4.3 million growth, almost half, or 2 million, is estimated to be from illegal immigration.[. . . .]

The pace of immigration is so surprising because unemployment among immigrants increased from 4.4 to 6.1 percent, and the number of unemployed immigrants grew by 43 percent.

* States with the largest increase in their immigrant population were Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, Arizona, and Pennsylvania.

“The idea that immigration is a self regulating process that rises and falls in close step with the economy is simply wrong,” said Steven Camarota, the report’s author and the Center’s Director of Research. “Today, the primary sending countries are so much poorer than the United States, even being unemployed in America is still sometimes better than staying in one’s home country.” [. . . . ]

Think what the benefit is for a woman, in addition to this.




Cops harvest $2.6M in pot from ditched van -- Just $17 billion to go

Cops harvest $2.6M in pot from ditched van
Laura Czekaj, Ottawa Sun, Jan. 12, 05

Duffle and hockey bags full of marijuana with an estimated street value of $2.6 million were seized by police from an abandoned van found in a parking lot near Cornwall a week ago. The seizure is one of the largest in that area in the past year and netted police 290 lbs. of marijuana. [. . . . ]

Later that day, people associated with the truck and boat were stopped and questioned, but were released, said Henry.

[. . . . ] Police can't confirm if the drugs were going to be smuggled into the U.S., but the incident was close to a border crossing.

Is that the border crossing through the Akwasasne Reserve near Cornwall?




RCMP Reimburses Widows for Funeral Costs -- finally did the right thing

RCMP Reimburses Widows for Funeral Costs Josh Pringle, Jan. 11, 05

[. . . . ] The Mounties were criticized last year after the widows were all left with bills of up to 21-thousand dollars after their husbands were killed in the line of duty.[. . . . ]

Tsunami Aid, Newfoundland, McKenna, Anti-scab Laws

A global challenge

A global challenge The Gazette, Jan. 9, 05

Unimaginable and incomprehensible have become commonplace to describe the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami. They're not bad words for an event that has laid waste to coastal settlements, devastated local economies and, most significantly, claimed more than 150,000 lives.

But prodigious as the tragedy certainly is, it was neither unpredictable nor unprecedented. Now that the urgent business of immediate relief is under way - fuelled by more than $3 billion in Eastern and Western giving - it is time to ask how the destruction will be integrated into global thinking and how that thinking might change.

[. . . . ] In fact, the lesson of history is rather that massive aid combined with a sustained foreign presence is often rewarded by the hatred of the recipients. Few European intellectuals these days have fond words for the nation - the United States - that rebuilt the continent after the Second World War through the Marshall Plan. Nor is it clear that American infrastructure work in Iraq is appreciated by Iraqis.

All the same, there is an opportunity here to redefine international relations, by supplying the help that is needed and wanted and withholding the help that is not. [. . . . ]

Mark Steyn: Coalition of the giving

Mark Steyn: Coalition of the giving Mark Steyn, The Australian, Jan. 10, 05

WE have Agence France Presse to thank for both the most striking headline and photograph of the tsunami devastation. The headline was "Tsunami Devastates DiCaprio"

[. . . . ] In fairness to the Saudis, they've just upped their pledge to $US30 million. But for purposes of one final comparison, consider this: a single Saudi telethon in 2002 managed to raise $US56 million. That was for widows and orphans of Palestinian suicide bombers, those deceased as well as those yet to blow. It seems nothing gets the wealthy elite of Riyadh and Jeddah adding the zeroes to the cheques like self-detonating on an Israeli bus.[. . . . ]

There are comparisons of amounts from Kuwait, Iran, and more.




Free Newfoundland: A detailed account of the glorious day -- June 3, 2008 -- when Newfoundland finally achieved its long-sought freedom

Free Newfoundland Lawrence Solomon, Financial Post, Jan. 8, 05

[. . . . ] It is no coincidence that today's stunning anti-Confederate vote comes 60 years to the day after a previous referendum on Confederation, not the one that saw Newfoundland join Canada, but the referendum seven weeks earlier, June 3, 1948, in which a plurality of Newfoundlanders voted against Canadian Confederation and for economic union with the United States.

[. . . . ] Chesley Crosbie, a pillar of Newfoundland society (and the father of John Crosbie, a future Canadian finance minister), had formed the Party for Economic Union with the United States in arguing against Confederation. But although he was well liked and respectable, he was inarticulate and his organization disorganized -- no match for the fiery rhetoric of Joey Smallwood and his well-oiled organization, its treasure chest flush with $2-million from the Canadian Liberal party.

[. . . . ] Few Newfoundlanders today doubt that, had Canada not gained control over Newfoundland's resources, Newfoundland would not only have protected its cod fisheries, it would have better protected its other resources as well. Newfoundland's price to abandon its referendum and stay in Confederation: Full control of its offshore resources and free trade within Canada, to allow Newfoundland to ship its hydroelectric power through Quebec and to the United States, without Quebec keeping the lion's share of the profits.

If Newfoundland doesn't get its price, the province will follow through on its referendum mandate and secede from Canada. After all, Newfoundlanders are convinced that mainland Canada has for 60 years been plundering their fisheries, forests, and other resources. As Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams put the injustice once the referendum results became official: "With the province's oil wealth for the first time making Newfoundland a 'have' province, we'll be damned if we're now also going to subsidize Canada's poor provinces through equalization payments." [. . . . ]

McKenna -- "still has partisan politics coursing through his veins"

The Shotgun -- Chantal Hebert on Frank McKenna's appointment as ambassador to the US

[. . . . ] Though Chantal Hebert discounts the possibility, it seems that Martin is not hesitant in sending potential leadership rivals to foreign postings, so as to get them out of his hair and keep them off-balance in planning to fulfil their aspirations

[. . . . ] Hebert, in commenting, noted,

A detour through Washington would not so much amount to a definitive decision on [McKenna's] part to put his ambitions to rest as to a signal that, despite the unrest in some Liberal quarters, the leadership of Canada's ruling party is not expected to open up for a few more years.

Perhaps that last contention about the leadership not being open for a while to come is true. But is McKenna's appointment a symptom or the cause?

Workers pay for anti-scab laws

Workers pay for anti-scab laws Norma Kozhaya and Guy Lemay, Financial Post, Jan.8, 05

Quebec, since 1977, and British Columbia since 1993, are the only Canadian provinces still burdened with anti-scab measures whose effects are far from positive, whether for the workers they were intended to protect or for the economy as a whole. In essence, and with minor exceptions, employers there can replace striking workers only with management personnel working in strike-bound establishments who were hired before the start of negotiations.

[. . . . ] By modifying the balance of power in relations between employers and unionized workers, anti-scab provisions lead to perverse effects, in particular for small -and medium-sized businesses. A multinational company hit by a strike can, for example, transfer production temporarily to another plant located elsewhere in the country or even abroad. These alternatives give it some counterweight to the economic pressure it faces because of the strike, although large companies may still be less likely to set up shop where anti-scab laws are in force.

The situation is more critical for smaller companies. They generally operate from only a single production facility, making it much more difficult for them to resist the economic pressure they face because of a strike. The result is that a smaller company will give in more easily to demands so as to avoid a strike it knows it cannot withstand. If a smaller company is nonetheless hit by a strike, it will tend to seek a quick settlement rather than a settlement that would enable it to stay competitive and survive, and to maintain the jobs it has created. [. . . . ]

Bud Talkinghorn: Political Correctness & Feminists & Academic Freedom, Aboriginals, Muslim Conspiracy Theories

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder--unless you are the PC police of St. Mary's University

The National Post (Tues. 11 A-2) had a most amusing article on the lengths that the politically correct movement will go to in order to crush freedom. The story concerns one Paul Pedersen, a third year student taking an entrepeneurial course at St. Mary's University in Halifax. The assignment was to take $10 and try to parlay it into some profitable business. Pedersen brilliantly decided to create a calendar called "The Girls of St. Mary's". He approached businesses to sponsor different months. His attempts to recruit models was thwarted by the ususal puritannical left, who kept tearing down his advertisements. Being a Donald Trump sort of guy, he started approaching pretty students directly. In no time he had his models. The finished calendar was so popular that it made $10,000 in off campus sales alone. The feminists were incensed and tried to block his right to sell. Finally, the stuffy, repressed members of the student body and their professor allies stopped the sales, even though it was enormously popular with both female and male students. One of his most vocal opponents was Sally Whitman, the co-ordinator of the university Women's Studies Center--no surprise there, of course. She was quoted as saying, "My problem comes down to the fact that it's promoting a narrow view of what women are supposed to look like to be sexy and beautiful." Gee, if you don't include the obese, homely, and those with string warts, then you shouldn't be allowed to make a calendar. I guess poor Mary must be forced to boycott all portrayals of women on television and in the movies, as they also present a "flawed" concept of beauty.

Mary and those of her ilk are the bad news; that Paul and his cuties are still making a mint doing promotionals at Halifax bars and selling the calendar on-line is the good news. Let us just cross our fingers that Mary Whitman doesn't graduate and become Nova Scotia's next Human Rights Commissioner.

© Bud Talkinghorn


Do you suppose the politically correct will be able to outlaw sexual attractiveness? This sounds like the kind of activity for the jealous unattractive--or other-gendered. I looked at the pix of two of the calendar girls and thought they were delightful samples of young womanhood who might as well enjoy their beauty while they have it -- but I am only a woman. NJC


Academic freedom is under attack -- "campus political correctness generates a frosty anti-intellectual climate hostile to academic freedom." -- excellent!

Academic freedom is under attack Barbara Kay, National Post, Jan. 12, 05

Canadian students in the arts and social science departments of our universities are being recruited to the hyperorthodoxies of multiculturalism, feminism, Marxism, postmodernism and bio-politics. Proponents of these ideologies prefer social engineering and the subversion of Western values to the advancement of learning and respect for Western achievements. Furthermore, today's welfare campus fosters a culture of comfort/grievance for women, aboriginals, other visibly distinct races and all sexual orientations: for everyone, that is, except Americans, Israel-sympathizers and heterosexual men of European descent. [. . . . ]

© Bud Talkinghorn

Bud was on this one in a flash. I'm sure the beauty in the calendar had nothing to do with it.




Universities are becoming a swamp of political correctness

Barbara Kay's column in The National Post (Wed. 12) highlights the total absurdity of much of the liberal arts programs. I have harped on this theme before, but must share some of her findings. These were gleaned from 100 interviews she conducted with college students across Canada. Many thought that parrotting anything but the prescribed leftist mantra was a sure way to a lowered mark. However it is the most egreious examples of this mantra that are shocking. It is not only the individual statements made, but that the university as a whole condones them. Here are four that Kay collected from students:

1) Political Science professors who wouldn't allow the Economist magasine to be used, as it was too right-wing. In another case it was The Fraser Institute's findings that wouldn't past the socialist sniff test.

2) A Political Science class taught by a feminist, who wouldn't allow statistics to be used because (steel yourselves for this one) "mathematics is a male construct for a male-dominated world".

3) A feminist nursing professor demanded that all male students join in the Montreal Massacre Commemoration. When one refused to take part because he didn't see how he was responsible for the act of a crazed Muslim fanatic anymore than holding her responsible for Karla Homolka's actions, he was forced to take "corrective counselling". That, to me, has the ring of the Vietnamese commies' "educational rehabilitation" programs. Or maybe Big Brother's "true think" is a more appropriate analogy.

4) I have saved the best for last. One female student told Kay that a brilliant PhD lecturer who was teaching "Canadian-American relations since 1939" was the best she had witnessed. However, he was replaced in the next semester by "a more qualified teacher", who said, "All Canadian-American relations since 1939 should be viewed "through a gay/lesbian/transsexual lens" and that they would devote part of their course to "lesbians who are claiming refugee status in Canada after Bush's re-election."

On first reading, I thought that Kay would end with the acknowledgement that these examples were a parody of the loony-left academics; however, she presented them as the students' true witness of academic freedom being trampled by a bunch of social engineers. To add a chilling coda to her examples she quotes Abraham Lincoln, who stated, "The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of governance in the next".

© Bud Talkinghorn

I have had occasion to talk with a student who described one university instructor's assignments as similar to what Barbara Kay writes of; the way to an A is to go along--to give the expected responses and essay perspective. I have read one of the ones that garnered an extraordinarily high mark. It would have been tossed out with an F years ago--off topic, including amazingly prurient content, and offering of opinion--not research with reasoned conclusions. Not today! Despicable! I hear that many instructors are failing to show up for classes and meetings scheduled with students. Why? How are they getting away with it?

By way of comparison, one instructor (whose classes I have attended) comes every day, is experienced, logically and well-prepared, works the whole time instead of wasting time, is available for students' questions and help and is simply an excellent teacher, in my opinion. ("Fun" is not part of the class time.) This instructor marks what is written honestly, as far as I can tell. To read student assessments though . . . . I see students who do not work very hard getting passed year after year, rewarded when they do not work very hard--but they get to assess good instructors, perhaps ruining their careers. This is not good. What is the solution? NJC




A few words of tough love for Grand Chief, Phil Fontaine

Mr. Fontaine maintains that only aboriginals should define who is an Indian. Theoretically, he believes that anybody who has a drop of Indian blood should be able to enjoy the monetary benefits of status. It is time for him to realize that the Canadians who support his people are getting ***** fed-up with the waste of their tax dollars. Besides the billion(s) directly spent on them, the government has other pipelines that send money their way. To compound this problem, we have Paul Martin trying to bring the Metis into the pipeline. Add to these pay-outs the billions that the government hands over to various tribes, based on 'oral histories" of treaties--treaties that have not a shred of legal evidence backing them up. Using the criteria that Fontaine employs, I could go back to my anestral homes in Scotland and France and claim land and welfare. After all, my ancestors were forced out of both countries because of religion and ethnicity. Instead of endlessly cloaking ourselves in victimhood, these ancestors got with the program, emigrated and then integrated into Canadian society. This is the path that all successful peoples have taken. The Chinese-Canadians I know don't sit around bemoaning the 'head tax' that their ancestors had to pay. Rather, they see the huge advantages that joining the productive economy have given them.

Finally, the day that the Grand Chief tells his people to buck up and join the collective workforce, hence becoming tax payers rather than tax recipients, I will support his right to call anybody he chooses a First Nations' citizen. Until that time, he should accept the status quo.

© Bud Talkinghorn




The Muslim conspiracy theories know no logical bounds.

The National Post collected a number of speeches and articles from Gaza, Egypt and Saudi Arabia that suggest that the tsunami was Allah's punishment on those fornicating Christian tourists and Buddhist Thais. Just in case those infidel Hindus might escape censure, there is the accusation that Indian nuclear testing might be the cause. All blatant nonsense, of course. If it was Allah's punishment on the wicked infidels, than why did the greatest damage occur in Banda Aceh province, which is not only exclusively Muslim, but a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism? Then there are all those Muslims that perished in India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Maybe these people should consider that Allah might be getting tired of having these Cult of Death terrorists and their apologists misusing his name and message.

As for the Egyptian journalist's nuclear theory, it is a tad ironic considering that, besides Pakistan conducting its own tests, there is Iran--and possibly Egypt--trying to join the nuclear club. These paranoid fantasies would be humourous, if they didn't have such an impact on their gullible co-religionists.

© Bud Talkinghorn

Justice-Injustice? Tsunami Aid-Sponsorship X 2? UN-Sex from Abused Girls, Corruption Cover Up, Links to Info of Interest and Import

Former Canadiens general manager sentenced to 23 months for taking bribe -- With sentences like these, there is no deterrence. -- Canada is s a safe haven for crooks and terrorists

Former Canadiens general manager sentenced to 23 months for taking bribe Ross Marowits, CP, Jan. 11, 05

MONTREAL (CP) - Former Montreal Canadiens general manager Irving Grundman apologized Monday after being sentenced to 23 months to be served in the community for accepting a bribe to change a zoning bylaw.

Grundman, who was Canadiens manager between 1978 and 1983, must also pay a fine of $50,000, Quebec court Judge Jean-Pierre Bonin ruled. "I am very sorry," the former city councillor said as he left the courtroom. "I hope that people will remember the good things that I've done."

[. . . . ] Fellow former city councillor Rene Dussault also was sentenced to 23 months to be served in the community for his part in accepting the $75,000 bribe with Grundman. He was fined $25,000.

Grundman, 76, and Dussault, 68, will be under house arrest for six months, except for six hours on Tuesdays and Fridays and for medical appointments.

The former politicians had pleaded guilty to one charge each of municipal corruption last September, the same day they resigned their seats for St-Laurent borough on Montreal city council.

[. . . . ] Meanwhile, two contractors who offered bribes to win zoning for a community centre received conditional discharges and were put on probation for two years.

Jose Sardano and Luis Vitorino, both of nearby Laval, were each also fined $25,000.

Martin hikes aid to $425M -- Ottawa matches $150M in private donations; sixth Canadian confirmed dead -- Sponsorship X 2? Who's doing the bookeeping?

Do you trust this government to handle such sums any more? I don't. Now, what firm in Quebec will be able to siphon off money? That's Canadian taxpayers' money! What was the impetus for the great rise in aid relief? It makes one wonder.

Martin hikes aid to $425M -- Ottawa matches $150M in private donations; sixth Canadian confirmed dead Mike Blanchfield, Sutton Eaves And Chris Wattie, Jan. 11, 05, National Post.

OTTAWA; SRI LANKA and THAILAND - The federal government will increase its tsunami aid fund to $425-million over five years, in part because it agreed to match the generosity of Canadians who privately raised $150-million.

That figure -- up from the $80-million Ottawa pledged last week -- includes $265-million in emergency aid, as well as $160-million in additional long-term assistance for the Canadian International Development Agency toward rebuilding battered South Asia, Paul Martin announced yesterday.

"This is a new and important commitment of previously unallocated funds for foreign aid," the Prime Minister said of the $160-million that will be doled out to CIDA starting this year, until 2009. "As the relief effort becomes more organized, the short term needs are effectively addressed, it is crucial that the world turns its attention to assisting in long-term reconstruction." [. . . . ]

Ah, note that it will go through CIDA. Does that ring any bells?




Troops buy sex from abused girls with scraps of food -- Somebody better keep a close track of the charitable money.

Somebody better keep a close track of the charitable money David Blair, Jan. 11, 05

Peacekeeping troops guarding refugee camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo sexually abused girls as young as 13, giving out scraps of food or money in return for favours, the United Nations admitted yesterday.

A bar of chocolate or two eggs was the accepted payment for sex with young girls.
Many were orphans from a war that has claimed more lives than any since 1945.

Soldiers continued abusing children even after the onset of an internal UN inquiry.

Investigators found "freshly used condoms" littering guard posts and command centres around Bunia, where peacekeepers from Pakistan, Morocco, Nepal and Bangladesh are based. "We are shocked, we are outraged, we are sickened," said William Lacy Swing, who heads the UN mission in Congo. [. . . . ]

Utterly sick. Perhaps I am wrong -- but does the attitude toward women in some of these countries have anything to do with this? Don't any of these men have children of their own?

I wish I could take a child and try to heal what has been done. Some of us are sick over this and we want to help -- but we do not trust our government nor the UN.




Corruption and cover up -- Hong Kong, Triads, RCMP, et cetera -- a warning

Corruption and cover up -- Hong Kong, Triads, RCMP, et cetera CTV.ca News Staff, Mar. 27, 04

One could question what Prime Minister Martin and the rest are getting by pushing China's investment in Canada, particularly in major resources and resource industries. I just read this weekend that for $22,000 you can sit at a "platinum table" with access too even bigger big wigs than the $5000 table mentioned in posts.

McAdam was puzzled as to how known criminals were able to get into Canada, but a little bit of digging turned up connections between the Triad members and officials working inside the Canadian embassy. In fact, according to McAdam, High Commission staff was on the receiving end of expensive gifts, cocktail parties, yacht trips and visits to the casinos in Macau.

According to Garry Clement, who worked at the time as an RCMP officer stationed at the High Commission, the freebies even included cash for betting on the horses at Hong Kong’s Happy Valley racetrack. But he was suspicious that those perks would come with a price.

“At what point do you draw the line? And you’ve got to ask yourself who are the people that are giving, and what do you owe in return? It was a Chinese gentleman that I had met … (who) told me very early on nobody in Chinese culture does anything for nothing.

Mr. Martin might be wise to heed his words.




Links to Info of Interest and Import

Related and other links -- some related to Canada's security:

January 8, 2005

Updates: Globalization - Business - Steel, Gas, Shipbuilding, the North

Man of the Year Arar -- Security -- IAEA ElBaradei's Warnings & the Reality, Nuclear Dangers -- Torture
January 7, 2005

Globalization, PM-CSL-Jolly Roger, China, Oil, Pipeline, Sinopec-Husky, Rigzone News, Outsourcing

Al Jazeera's Whodunit, Aid Tsunami-The West-The Gulf States, Charity Racket, Body Snatchers

Bud: Sharia, CAIR_CAN Sued, Mosul Massacre-Saudis-Terror, US-Secret Islamic Terror Network, Left Supports Terrorists

Updates & Terrorists, 'Big Surprise' for US, Theft-Vancouver Airport, Security, Borders, Immigration Enforcement, Drugs, A Failed European Policy

January 4, 2005 [four compilations]

* Updates & China Conference-Vancouver Port, Maurice Strong-China Car Salesman, China's Bricklin & Strong, China-Copied Chevy Design? -- There are now four compilations today and a new post on Frost Hits the Rhubarb

* Business: The China Connection, Canada China Business Council--Founding Sponsors, the Networks, Connections & Other Information

* Link within this section:

Compilation 2 -- The China Connection: Oil, Textiles, PM Martin, Sudan, Alberta Tar Sands, Cuba, South America and search for "Canada's global connections" or go to Judi McLeod's original for this reference to Premier Bob Rae’s brother John who shut down this investigation, it seems.

* Diamonds Fund Terrorism, Osama-Heroin Pusher, China-Russia, Racial Profiling, Border-Security-US-Canada-DART

* Bud Talkinghorn-A requiem for Ao Patong & Resolutions, Geologist's Alert, US Generosity, UN Sex Scandals-Funding "Peacekeeping"

Terrorism, Youth Criminal Justice Act Injustice, Libs-Gomery-MPs Committee, Osama-Saudis, 'Battery-less' Power, Bombardier, UN-"Moral authority"

Osama Bin Laden and the Saudis -- Terror's Royal Allies

Terror's Royal Allies Stephen Schwartz, Tech Central Station, Jan. 10, 05

Of all the media myths about Islamist extremism prevalent in the West, none is hardier than the claim that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida seek to overthrow the Saudi monarchy. This cliché is repeated time after time by network and cable television anchors, newspaper reporters, columnists and other pundits, and government experts on all sides. It is, of course, also assiduously purveyed by the Saudis themselves through their diplomatic representatives and spin experts, who never tire of telling Americans they are targets of the same enemy, and on the same side as America, in the war on terror.

Yet the history of al-Qaeda inside Saudi Arabia is filled with unanswered questions and bizarre ambiguities. [. . . . ]

New law 'too soft' on violent youth -- 'Some walking out of court laughing' -- "The judge trying Mr. Saleh's 15-year-old killer, however, meted out just a day of jail time for the crime"

Is the problem with the judge or the Youth Criminal Justice Act? I have heard that the justices are hamstrung by it -- though this sentence sounds as though some want to be hamstrung. This is NOT JUSTICE. Yes, I shouted -- impolite but it is time for Canadians to shout over this travesty of justice.

New law 'too soft' on violent youth -- 'Some walking out of court laughing' Tom Blackwell, National Post, Jan. 10, 05

Chya Saleh's street brawl with Winnipeg teenagers was over in a single blow. The ''eight ball'' -- a billiard ball stuffed inside a sock -- struck the side of his head only once, but the 22-year-old Iraqi refugee was dead within hours.
The judge trying Mr. Saleh's 15-year-old killer, however, meted out just a day of jail time for the crime, citing a new federal law that has quietly turned such young offender sentencings upside down.

It was a dramatic case, but hardly unique under the new Youth Criminal Justice Act. Since the law took effect 18 months ago, the number of young offenders going to jail has plummeted by as much as half, forcing prison units to close, eliminating corrections jobs and generating controversy across Canada.

Provincial figures gathered by the National Post show incarceration rates have fallen dramatically since the law was implemented in April, 2003, introducing a non-punitive approach that steers young offenders away from the courts and custody at every step. [. . . . ]

Blind mice -- Probing scandal is a job for MPs too

Probing scandal is a job for MPs too National Post, January 10, 2005

Last week, Justice John Gomery, the head of the judicial inquiry into the federal sponsorship program, continued casting a broad net of subpoenas. [. . . . ]
Commons committees have most of the same investigative powers; it's just that the government of the day nearly always uses its majority to prevent opposition MPs from calling witnesses and subpoenaing documents that would embarrass ministers and government supporters.

Committee rules must be amended to permit opposition members to retain their own legal counsel and researchers and to reduce government members' ability to block testimony and investigation. [. . . . ]

The Commons' public accounts committee held nearly three months of hearings on Adscam last spring, but thanks to Liberal intransigence, learned only a fraction of what Judge Gomery has already discovered with his unhindered investigative powers.

[. . . . ] why must Canadians hope a government has enough integrity to call a judicial inquiry -- or faces enough political and media pressure? Committees of MPs already have enough power on paper to conduct such investigations. They simply need to be freed from the shackles of rigid party discipline and permitted to use it.

There are many details in this of what Justice Gomery has been allowed to find out.





U of T prof invents 'battery-less' power -- Physicist's invention five times better than solar cells

Now what "partnerships" are planned -- along with "transfers of technology" in future? Or am I too cynical?

U of T prof invents 'battery-less' power -- Physicist's invention five times better than solar cells Sarah Staples, CanWest, Jan. 10, 05

A University of Toronto physicist has discovered a "battery-less" way of powering electronic devices that could soon lead to self-charging iPods and cellphones and may one day even provide a clean, low-cost energy source to power the whole planet.

The material, a paintable plastic able to coat everything from PDAs to cars, contains the first solar cells able to harness the sun's invisible, infrared rays.

That innovation means it could deliver up to five times the power of today's most advanced solar cell materials. [. . . . ]

Worries over Bombardier -- Canaccord has a few

Worries over Bombardier -- Canaccord has a few Drew Hasselback, Financial Post, Jan. 10, 05

Canaccord Capital Corp. has had a "sell" on Bombardier Inc. for quite a while. To read the report it issued on Friday, it's no surprise why.

Arguably, the most interesting material in the report comes from a look at the size of the Bombardier family's stake in the firm. Through multiple voting shares, analyst Bob Fay says, the Bombardier clan owns about 17.4% of equity -- but controls 59.6% of the votes. More on that later.

Another concern is the Bombardier dividend. Over the past nine years, the Canaccord analysts estimate that Bombardier paid out $1.4-billion in dividends. They calculate that the Bombardier family received $279-million, or 19.5% of that amount. Bombardier cut its dividend in half last year, but Mr. Fay suggests the company eliminate it altogether and conserve $157-million in cash each year.

Why all this focus on the Bombardier family? The company will next month decide whether to launch a new line of passenger jets called the C series. Bombardier figures it would cost US$2-billion to develop the C series, and the Canaccord analysts figure at least some of that money would have to come from capital markets. [. . . . ]

Just how much will come/has come from Canadian taxpayers? Check it out.




This disaster exposes the myth of the UN's moral authority

This disaster exposes the myth of the UN's moral authority By David Frum, Jan. 9, 05, Telegraph

[. . . . ] If the UN keeps failing, the answer is not to ignore its faults, but to reform or replace it. There is growing interest in some American quarters in the idea of a new international association, open only to countries that elect their leaders democratically. At a minimum, Americans expect transparency, accountability, and some greater approach to even-handedness in the Middle East. But the real challenge to all of us, in all the democracies, is this: to be guided by realities, not fantasies - and especially not such uniquely unconvincing fantasies as the allegedly unique moral authority of the United Nations. [. . . . ]

Note that Paul Martin is desperately trying to bring China, Russia, India, Brazil and a few others into some new forum. Scroll through the archives of News Junkie Canada for this and related articles. Is he trying to get something going before the Americans? George Bush wants something new also to replace the UN which appears beyond ethical and useful repair.




Newfoundland -- Flag gesture implicitly separatist

Flag gesture implicitly separatist Jan. 9, 05, Ted Byfield, Calgary Sun

[. . . . The ] Globe and Mail ran a column by Margaret Wente, headlined across the top of its front page: "Newfoundlanders need to stop biting the hand that feeds them."

There followed a cocky reminder to Newfoundlanders of all the wonderful things that Canada keeps giving them -- such as pogey and experimental industrial projects that don't work -- and how hard the people of Toronto sweat and slave to bestow this upon them. "Oh Danny Boy, pipe down," writes Margaret.

She made no mention, of course, of the fishing rights bestowed by Ottawa on foreign fishermen in exchange for advantages to Ontario and Quebec industry, or how Ottawa made sure that Quebec became the chief beneficiary of the huge Churchill Falls power project.

Most notable, however, is the fact that everything Margaret writes about Newfoundland applies equally to Quebec.

Funny thing is that she's never written this about Quebec. Perhaps that's because she knows she'd be fired the next day if she did. For in the New Canada, we all know that Quebec is special and Newfoundland isn't. [. . . . ]

Debit Card Fraud -- Excellent Warning -- CTV

Debit Card Fraud -- See the CTV website for the text. CTV.ca News Staff

I watched this and it was excellent.

Canadians use debit cards more than anybody else in the world. They've changed the way we shop and how we bank. But what most debit card users don't know is that along with the convenience comes a very real risk.

[. . . . ] W-FIVE recently picked up the trail of the biggest debit card scam in Canada's history in Toronto.

There, a gang of Eastern Europeans mostly from Romania was installing false fronts on bank ATMs - complete with miniature cameras and false card readers. Treating it like big business, these crooks were hitting dozens of machines at the same time and making a fortune. At one point it's estimated the thieves had pocketed $4 million. [. . . . ]

Find out what the banks are doing to protect your security. It turns out that they are not very up-to-date -- and denying any problem. If you use a banking machine . . .




Workers deserve a fighting chance

Workers deserve a fighting chance Thomas S. Axworthy, National Post, Jan. 10, 05. Thomas S. Axworthy is chairman of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queen's University.

[. . . . ] The Department of Finance has been much criticized for low-balling projected surpluses and then using the windfall to pay down Canada's debt. But the record of unemployment insurance is even worse: They have applied an exorbitant rate on a regressive basis through a policy of stealth.

Both on the grounds of parliamentary accountability and social justice, the subcommittee recommended the $46-billion overpayment be returned to the Employment Insurance fund. This policy would also make economic sense: Putting aside a reserve of $15-billion would still allow Mr. Goodale to dedicate, for three years, his annual surplus of $9- to $10-billion to the fund, which in turn, would allow rates to be cut in half. A three year halving of unemployment insurance rates would reduce the fixed costs of business, compensate for the rise in the dollar, give every Canadian more disposable income and restore the executive's accountability to Parliament. Most good ideas start with minorities because majorities are satisfied with the status quo. So it has proved with our new minority Parliament. [. . . . ]

Small Dead Animals

The Mecca Card? January 7, 2005 -- from here

This is so wacky, I can only hope that it is true....

Has U.S. threatened to. . . . [. . . . ]

Kate -- always worth checking.