October 29, 2005

Electronic Passports, Equalization, Conservative Town Hall, Preston Manning

Toronto -- Conservative Town Hall Event -- Nov. 2, 05 from 7-9 pm at the Lithuanian Hall at 1573 Bloor Street West. -- to be chaired by MPP and federal candidate for Whitby, Jim Flaherty



Check what could be stored without your knowledge.

Your secret identifiers -- Plans for a new electronic passport have raised concerns about what information the document will contain--and where it will end up Andrea Mrozak, Oct. 17, 05



Question Period: Preston Manning -- How can Canadian conservatives imitate the success of the Republican party in the US? Andrea Mrozak, Oct. 31, 05 (magazine publication date) -- readable online if you sign up--free



Are we stuck with equalization? -- A program that guarantees all Canadians equal access to services is required by the Constitution. But no one says it has to be this program Kevin Steele, Oct. 3, 05



"Things fall apart" -- Links: Additions, Corrections

Yesterday, the Feb. 24, 05 post--multiculturalism, drugs, organized crime, international links, "ASIAN ORGANIZED CRIME AND TERRORIST ACTIVITY IN CANADA, 1999-2002", sources for more information--was brought to my attention. There was more than one link that didn't work properly. Fortunately, I had in my files a copy of my original from Feb. 24, 2005 so I have copied the particular post below without the emphasis that was in the original and I put the correct links in red . Also, I have added links for others, just in case, and I have added links from Google -- at the bottom.


February 24, 2005 [one section only]
http://frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2005_02_20_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html

MULTICULTURAL MADNESS -- How Western Civilization has been turned upside down in one generation

MULTICULTURAL MADNESS -- How Western Civilization has been turned upside down in one generation
http://www.wnd.com/news
/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42774

[. . . . ] "MULTICULTURAL MADNESS" documents how multiculturalism, which started on college campuses during the "cultural revolution" of the '60s, has succeeded in making America so confused, "politically correct" and "minority-sensitive" that it has all but forgotten its original, core, Judeo-Christian values. Because of rampant multiculturalism:



* American heroes from Christopher Columbus to the Pilgrims are now likened to genocidal racists and maniacal bigots. [In Canada, we could substitute white explorers, legislators attempting in Canada to give native children the skills to join in the economy -- Now, we have 11,000 lawsuits still unsettled covering not just sexual abuse, but loss of language and culture. ]



[. . . . ] * "Whiteness studies" – the latest incarnation of multiculturalism on America's college campuses – teaches that "whiteness" is the underlying cause of practically every conceivable social ill and that white people are almost inherently evil. [Think of the advertisement excluding white males -- CSC -- Search: "No whites need apply". ]



* Devil-worship and witchcraft are now afforded the same respect as worship of God. [Think the UN, Maurice Strong and earth worship/environmentalism, if my memory serves. ] [. . . . ]



Search: "expose of what multiculturalism is really all about"





How "Li Qing Mai, and her husband, Zhi Wen Tang, of Mission, B.C." got away with running a grow op -- a lesson for all

Is anyone else out there considering planting a little pin money crop.

Seriously, this ruling gives enough time to the criminal element to flush the cocaine or methamphetamines away, provided there aren't too many. Like location, timing is everything.

B.C. Supreme Court says police gave too little warning at grow op bust Greg Joyce, CP, Feb. 23, 05
http://www.canada.com/news/
national/story.html?id=0d309e75-
92fa-47e7-b971-4a9ef40c07f3
[Place all on one line]

VANCOUVER (CP) - A husband and wife have been acquitted of growing marijuana after an investigating RCMP officer failed to give them enough time to answer their door before he smashed it down with a battering ram.

"This judgment reinforces the fact that the police should knock and announce and give the homeowner an opportunity of getting to the door," the accused's lawyer, David Tarnow, said Tuesday after the B.C. Supreme Court ruling.

Simply unbelievable! While the police wait politely at the door, drugs can be flushed down, burned or . . .





Lawyer guilty of money-laundering -- Police say conviction in 2002 sting shows growing sophistication of organized crime Paul Waldie, February 23, 2005
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet
/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/
20050223/ROSENFELD23/National/Idx
[Place all on one line]


A Toronto lawyer was found guilty of money laundering yesterday in a case the RCMP say demonstrates the growing sophistication of organized crime.

Simon Rosenfeld was one of about 55 Canadian and U.S. citizens arrested in 2002 as part of a sweeping RCMP-FBI sting called Bermuda Short, which exposed a raft of stock-market manipulation and money-laundering scams. [. . . . ]


Search: Colombian cocaine cartel, organized crime, false affidavit, merits and benefits, white-collar, penny stock scam



Refugees, Immigrants and the IRB

Former lover cross-examined Shannon Kari, CanWest, Feb. 23, 05 http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost
/news/story.html?id=737e83e2
-3846-4707-8bbf-80600f4de664

TORONTO - An explicit and lengthy dirty laundry list of allegations between an Immigration Canada investigator and his former mistress was aired in public yesterday during a bitter Ontario Superior Court trial. [. . . . ]


Search: facing a deportation order



The Real Refugee Scandal -- It's a matter of life and death, not sex Claudia Rosett, February 23, 2005. Wall Street Journal.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/
cRosett/?id=110006328

Ms. Rosett is a journalist-in-residence with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Her column appears [in the Opinion Journal] and in The Wall Street Journal Europe on alternate Wednesdays.

So prolific in scandal has the United Nations become that it's getting hard to keep tabs. You can surf the channels, from rape by peacekeepers in the Congo, to theft at the World Meteorological Organization, to a Human Rights Commission crammed with despots; from inadequate auditing to botched management to wasted money to running the biggest heist in the history of humanitarian work--the Oil for Food program in Saddam's Iraq. [. . . . ]



Search: "This report was submitted months ago to Mr. Annan, who ignored the findings", UNHCR, well-mannered nuances, North Koreans, China, executed some 60, The convention promised . . .


Canada to welcome Vietnamese boat people with family here -- Keeping it in the family

By the way, I read that our government is going to permit "family class" immigration of boat people originally from Vietnam who are living in the Philippines presently -- something about needing a relative here in order to get that magical passage to Canada.

Canada to welcome Vietnamese boat people with family here Feb. 23, 05, Elizabeth Thompson, CanWest
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost
/news/story.html?id=7e96bc3c-
df6c-4933-950e-5a172ce5153f

[. . . . ] Under a decision taken yesterday by Citizenship and Immigration Minister Joe Volpe and to be announced tomorrow, those who fled Vietnam to the Philippines in 1988 will be allowed to come to Canada provided they can prove family ties to people already here. [. . . . ]


I hate to be cynical about this but, as soon as I read of this, something twigged in my mind. Let's see, now, some of the worst and most violent drug gangs--or should I call them business operatives--in Canada are part of the Vietnamese Canadian community. Do you suppose any of them have a relative in the Philippine "refugee" contingent? What kind of checking is or can be done by an overworked border/port patrol when the IRB is stocked with government appointees and "stakeholers"? Give me a break!

I must declare a personal interest of a sort; I have noticed a new interest out of the Philippines in my blog. I believe I have mentioned before the hacks from the drug areas of the world--very specific locations can be traced. I doubt that the local Philippine populace is interested in my political views. What is this Philippine interest? Make a guess.

ASIAN ORGANIZED CRIME AND TERRORIST ACTIVITY IN CANADA, 1999-2002
A Report Prepared by the Federal Research Division, Library of Congress under an Interagency Agreement with the United States Government
July 2003
Researcher: Neil S. Helfand
Project Manager: David L. Osborne
Federal Research Division
Library of Congress
Washington, D.C. 20540 −4840
. . . .Homepage: http://loc.gov/rr/frd/

Note that the source of this report is the US Library of Congress. Canadian report links are in footnotes below and others are from the bibliography.
PREFACE

This study is based on open source research into the scope of Asian organized crime and terrorist activity in Canada during the period 1999 to 2002, and the extent of cooperation and possible overlap between criminal and terrorist activities in that country. The analyst examined those Asian organized crime syndicates that direct their criminal activities at the United States via Canada, namely crime groups trafficking heroin from Southeast Asia, groups engaging in the trafficking of women, and groups committing financial crimes against U.S. interests. The terrorist organizations examined were those that are viewed as potentially planning attacks on U.S. interests.

[. . . . ] Vietnamese criminal groups range from street gangs engaged in drug trafficking to highly sophisticated groups. The groups are known to be very violent, and some members are reported to have been trained in the use of weapons and explosives. The groups are expanding in the area of high technology crimes and have engaged in the theft of computer parts, which they sell on the black market to third world countries. Vietnamese groups also are believed to be involved in the trafficking of women.

Vietnamese groups, especially the street gangs, are generally less formal in structure than many other organized crime groups. This lack of organization often has meant that they are extremely mobile and able to cooperate with other organizations. Quite often, Vietnamese groups lack ties to any one community and, therefore, may travel to various cities to set up temporary operations. These networking activities have led to fear that they eventually will organize into more formal and structured groups.108

Vietnamese organized crime groups also are known to work with the Hells Angels, mainly in British Columbia, for the large-scale cultivation and exportation of marijuana. These activities have been expanding eastward across Canada to Ontario. It is estimated that there are approximately 15,000 to 20,000 marijuana-growing operations in the Lower Mainland with an estimated sale value of CDN$6 billion.109

[. . . . ] According to a CISC report, Vietnamese groups control approximately 80 to 85 percent of the heroin trade in the Kamloops area of British Columbia. Vancouver also is used as a transshipment center for trafficking heroin into the United States, and is reported to have approximately 10,000 marijuana growing operations. Vietnamese gangs are reputed to be controlling much of this activity.116 Vietnamese crime groups import heroin directly from the Golden Triangle region, almost always through Vietnam or China. Typically, couriers bring in body packs that contain less than five kilograms per person per trip.117

[. . . . ] 109 Criminal Intelligence Service Canada. Annual Report on Organized Crime Canada ( Ottawa: 2002).
http://www.cics.gc.ca


[. . . . ] 117 “Government Reports on Vietnamese, Chinese Crime Gangs,” Paris AFP (North European Service) in English, August 20, 1999 (FBIS Document FTS19990820001434).

[. . . . ] 120 Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Report 2000/04. International Terrorism: The Threat to Canada, May 3, 2000.
http://www.csis-scrs.gc.ca/eng/miscdocs/
200004_e.html


It might be useful to look at the Bibliography, page 44, where I found these:

“Canadian Police: Huge Heroin Deals Funded From Hong Kong,” Hong Kong South ChinaSunday Morning Post in English [Honk Kong], June 27, 1999 (FBIS Document
CPP19990628000046).

“Canadian Report Says Some of $20 Million Hashish Imports Financed Terrorism,” The Globeand Mail [Toronto], July 15, 2002 (FBIS Document FTS20020715000129).

Canadian Security Intelligence Service. International Terrorism: The Threat to Canada. Report No. 2000/04, May 3, 2000.
http://www.csisscrs.gc.ca/eng/miscdocs
/200004_e.html


Criminal Intelligence Service Canada. Annual Report on Organized Crime Canada. Ottawa: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002.
http://www.cics.gc.ca





CISC Report 2004 -- "Across the country, Vietnamese-based groups remain extensively involved in multiple residential marihuana grow operations with distribution within Canada and to the U.S."

[. . . . ] Across the country, Vietnamese-based groups remain extensively involved in multiple residential marihuana grow operations with distribution within Canada and to the U.S. These operations are widespread throughout the B.C. Lower Mainland, Alberta and southern Ontario and will continue to increase in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. Profits from marihuana cultivation are often reinvested in other criminal activities, such as in the importation of ecstasy and cocaine. Marihuana cultivation continues to affect Canadians’ health and safety, often resulting in toxic moulds, condemned grow houses, fire hazards and chemical vapours from pesticides. Additionally, individuals involved in marihuana cultivation often experience violence through home invasions, assaults and booby-trap related injuries.

[. . . . ] The border area between B.C. and Washington state is exploited by organized crime groups, such as Vietnamese-based and Eastern European-based groups. In Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, organized crime also exploits the land border to move contraband, particularly illicit drugs. The southwestern Ontario border with the U.S. is the focal point of the largest flow of international legitimate commercial and personal traffic. In some instances, illicit drugs have been concealed within commercial shipments facilitated by a small element within the trucking industry that has been corrupted by organized crime.

[. . . . ] The unique geographical locations of some Aboriginal reserves, particularly those near the Canada/U.S. border, have been exploited by Aboriginal-based smuggling groups to smuggle drugs, firearms, tobacco and people between Canada and the U.S. In many instances this illegal movement is conducted on contract for other organized crime groups based in Ontario and Quebec. [. . . . ]


Search: Asian-based networks.

Download an Adobe Acrobat .pdf copy of the whole report (Vol64_no3_e-RCMP-BikerGangs.pdf)

Note the connections between Ooutlaw Motorcycle Gangs and Asian-based crime networks.
Adobe Acrobat .pdf copy of the whole report (Vol64_no3_e-RCMP-BikerGangs.pdf)
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca



National Strategy to Combat Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs

Gazette, Vol. 64, No. 3, 2002, "Canada's Crackdown on Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs"
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca




Bikers and Asian-based Organized Crime

Sgt. Woods explains that the majority of urban grow houses they take down are controlled by Asian organized crime groups, along with “transfer” houses where the drugs are bagged and weighed, but that distribution networks are the territory of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs). “There’s no doubt they control distribution,” he says. “But there are so many layers between them and us that they’re untouchable.” While bikers used to control marijuana cultivation in Canada in the mid 1990s, Asian-based organized crime has moved into major centres in B.C., Ontario, and Quebec, and is making inroads in other provinces, says Daniel Lacroix, an intelligence analyst with the RCMP’s Criminal Intelligence Directorate. Mr. Lacroix adds that bikers still have a stronghold in Quebec, but have lost their monopoly in some Canadian cities, expanding operations into outlying areas, like suburbs and rural townships. “In some cities [in Quebec], the Asians are playing a greater role but bikers control most of it,” he says. “Asian groups are operating in Laval today, and that would have been unheard of 10 years ago.” One hundred kilometres east of Laval, residents call with tips on local grow operations almost every day, says Corporal Roger Caron, head of Granby Detachment in Quebec, just 50 kilometres north of the Vermont border. But keeping up with day-to-day calls while targeting the drug networks that sustain marijuana cultivation and other drugs is impossible, admits Cpl. Caron. “It’s totally out of control,” he says. “And what worries me most is that this problem is not going to get any better.”





Ex-cop has the dirt on bad money -- COLLEGE WORKSHOPS A GLOBAL HIT Alan Cairns, Toronto Sun, February 23, 2005 [Place the following link on one line.]
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand
/TorontoSun/News/2005/02/23/
939655-sun.html



DIRTY MONEY loves Canada for the same reasons clean money likes it here, says an expert on international money laundering. "Bad guys work hard for their money and they want somewhere safe to put it," says former RCMP undercover cop Chris Mathers. [. . . . ]


Search: first-choice haven, shadowy game, anti-money laundering course, Centennial, OPP, RCMP, bank compliance officers





Since files may be deleted or moved --particularly those with "sensitive" information, I searched to see what I could find through Google. In what may turn out to be an election year, items may disappear, inadvertently. Links that were good a year ago may no longer be valid. The following might be of use to anyone looking for more or related information.


Google Search: Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs and Asian-based crime networks
Links good as of Oct. 29, 2005


Highlights of the 2004 Annual Report on
Organized Crime in Canada

http://www.cisc.gc.ca/annual_reports
/annual_report2004/outlaw_2004_e.htm
Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs


Criminal Intelligence Service Canada Highlights of the 2004 Annual ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
OUTLAW MOTORCYCLE GANGS (OMGs). OMGs derive significant income from ...
as Asian-based networks. The OUTLAWS and BANDIDOS have been maintaining a low ...
www.cisc.gc.ca/Media2004/reporthighlights_e.pdf


Nathanson Centre for the study of organized crime and corruption -- Organized Crime Web Links
http://www.yorku.ca/
nathanson/Links/links.htm

This has many excellent links to information.



Google Search: Canadian Police, Huge Heroin Deals funded From Hong Kong
Organized Crime and Terrorist Activity in Canada

http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/
pdf-files/AsianOrgCrime_Canada.pdf

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
“Canadian Police: Huge Heroin Deals funded From Hong Kong,” Hong Kong South China Sunday Morning Post. in English, June 27, 1999 (FBIS Document ...
www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/AsianOrgCrime_Canada.pdf

Select "View as HTML" -- .pdf not readily available
http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/
pdf-files/AsianOrgCrime_Canada.pdf+South
+China+Sunday+Morning+Post,+Huge+heroin
+deals+funded+from+Hong+Kong&hl=en
[Place all on one line.]

This is the html version of the file
http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files
/AsianOrgCrime_Canada.pdf.

G o o g l e automatically generates html versions of documents as we crawl the web.
To link to or bookmark this page, use the following url: http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:X0amT4-D1dsJ:
www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/
AsianOrgCrime_Canada.pdf+South+China
+Sunday+Morning+Post,+Huge+heroin+deals
+funded+from+Hong+Kong&hl=en
[Place the above on one line.]


Note, I have had problems with this link freezing but eventually, I was able to see the file.


The crime that pays

DATABASE: Library of Congress Online Catalog
YOU SEARCHED: Subject Browse = Organized crime, Canada

The result as a text file:

The crime that pays : drug trafficking and organized crime in Canada / Frederick J. Desroches

LC Control Number: 2005412203

Type of Material: Text (Book, Microform, Electronic, etc.)

Personal Name: Desroches, Frederick J. (Frederick John)

Main Title: The crime that pays : drug trafficking and organized crime
in Canada / Frederick J. Desroches.

Published/Created: Toronto : Canadian Scholars' Press, 2005.

Description: xii, 238 p. ; 25 cm.

ISBN: 1551302314

Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-231) and
index.

Subjects: Drug traffic--Canada.
Organized crime--Canada.

LC Classification: HV5840.C3 D47 2005

Nat'l Bib. Agency No.:
20049061496

Other System No.: (OCoLC)ocm56873785

Geog. Area Code: n-cn---

Quality Code: lccopycat

______________________________

CALL NUMBER: HV5840.C3 D47 2005
Copy 1

-- Request in: Jefferson or Adams Bldg General or Area Studies Reading
Rms
-- Status: c.1 In Process 05-19-2005


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ONLINE CATALOG
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20540
EMAIL: lconline@loc.gov



October 28, 2005

Shotgun: Perpetual Squeaky Wheel & Daycare, Abotech, Indian Affairs, Jasper -&- More

Correction: The title of this post should have read "Perpetual", not "Pepetual". Apologies for my sometimes crummy typing. NJC



Link error in this post, Multiculturalism, IRB, Vietnamese Immigration via Philippines, Vietnamese Asian & Other Criminal Gangs in Canada -- FHTR February 24, 2005

Adobe Acrobat .pdf copy of the whole report (Vol64_no3_e-RCMP-BikerGangs.pdf)
http://frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2005/02/www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca
Obviously, that is wrong. Again, I find links changed -- particularly when I post on certain subjects.


The correct links for all these reports follow:

CISC Annual Reports
http://www.cisc.gc.ca/webpage/index_b_e.htm

2005 Annual Report
http://www.cisc.gc.ca/annual_reports
/annualreport2005/coverpage_2005_e.htm

2004 Annual Report
http://www.cisc.gc.ca/annual_reports
/annual_report2004/coverpage_2004_e.htm

2003 Annual Report
http://www.cisc.gc.ca/annual_reports
/annual_report2003/coverpage_2003_e.htm





The Perpetual Squeaky Wheel, by Wonder Woman of North American Patriot, the Shotgun, Oct. 28, 05

http://www.northamericanpatriot.com/

Her response was to "Quebec to get special deal -- "Ottawa is preparing to sign a special child-care deal with Quebec that would give that province more autonomy over how it spends its share of the early-learning pie than has been granted to other provinces., G&M, By GLORIA GALLOWAY AND RHÉAL SÉGUIN, Friday, October 28, 2005

[. . . . ]no demands that the money is to go specifically toward child care. It could, instead, be used for "related objectives for the well-being of families."

That could mean education, child-assistance programs and programs to help families better balance the home and the workplace, said a source in the Quebec government, which had demanded the more flexible wording.


Conservative Premier Lord of NB wanted the daycare money to be able to go, as well, to families where one parent would stay at home. He was refused by the federal Liberals.

To rub in to TROC how it fits into asymmetrical federalism compared with Quebec, we have Lapierre:

[. . . . ] Transport Minister Jean Lapierre, Mr. Martin's Quebec lieutenant, was even more direct.

"Obviously Quebec is a model for the whole country and you don't ask Quebec to start up a new system when they're already spending $1.2-billion a year," . . . .


PM and team will pay any amount of your money, be as unfair as is needed--as usual--for enough votes to stay in power . . . and Canadians will vote them in again, I suppose. Why?

Doesn't this stick in anyone's craw enough to make Canadians re-think returning the Liberals to power again?




Related: Best Blog Article -- A Must Read

I Am Also Canadian via CNEWS Forum gl1800 10/26/2005 22:35:34




"Christian", David Smith, and Maniwaki AngryGWN, October 27, 2005

Don't miss this one and the other articles below it -- much investigating done -- revealing.

As you recall, my theory is that Abotech is a shell company created by faux-aboriginal David Smith, Liberal MP for the riding of Pontiac. Abotech, with the help of now-suspended bureaucrat (and cousin of David Smith) Frank Brazeau, lands contracts from the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business program, run by the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, under the leadership of the Honourable Andy Scott, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians. The work is then handed off to one of David Smith's former firms to do the actual work, after David Smith takes his cut. Jaguar Solutions was one of those firms. It has done work for aboriginal contracts in the past. [. . . . ]


Search: Curiously, Abotech and Jaguar



Awaiting a third referendum -- on unfinished business with Quebec -- that the question must be settled once and for all



Rabinovitch faces wrath of politicians

I heard a bit on TV; an impassioned Denis Coderre--I think, though the names are not up all the time so if you tune in late, too bad--anyway, Coderre was waxing loquacious about Quebec's concerns, needs and demands. Frankly, I would like to hear about something besides Quebec all the time. There is 75%-80% of this country which is not Quebec and yet we hear so much about that one province. D*** it! Do TROC or conservatives have anyone speaking for us . . . or did I miss it?

Mr. Rabinovich and Peter Stursburg were being grilled. There must be someone new the PM/PMO want to put in to make sure the Liberal Propaganda Organ is ready to spew the Liberal spin for the election.


CBC actually had Andrew Coyne and an individual from the Fraser Institute on with Chantal Hebert last night. Wonder of wonders. The discussion was not stacked with three lefties and one Red Tory. Of course, PM needs to court the West for the next election, the cynic in me observes.




I saw in the National Post this week that Bombardier is going to build something in Mexico and Montreal will lose jobs (300? Check this one.) When Canadian tax dollars go into a company, how is it that it can outsource or send jobs out of Canada without repaying all the money Canadians have given for its development over the years? Is that question too naive to be asked?



Group of 17 Alberta oil workers win record $54.3-million Lotto 6-49 prize

How delightful for them! How wonderful to see what seems like the average working men have their dreams fulfilled by becoming millionaires. It still doesn't entice me to buy a ticket, though I found myself grinning with happiness for them. It looks as though the gods tipped the scales in the right direction this time. May their lives be better for it.







Coastal 'spies' may help make canada safer NP, Oct. 28, 05


Memory Lane

A "Liberal policy hangover that never seems to go away."

Don Martin: The NEP, 25 years later

[. . . . ] On the evening of Oct. 28, 1980, finance minister Allan MacEachern rose in the House of Commons to announce a new energy policy for Canada. "Time is running out," he warned. "The federal government feels compelled to put Canada's energy house in order."

An exodus of Alberta oil rigs, foreign investment, tax revenue and workers was born that night. [. . . . ]





Victor Davis Hanson: Modern lessons from an ancient war

Listen to what the talking heads are saying, and it's easy to believe that we have entered an entirely new era of armed conflict.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, [. . . . ]

[. . . . ] But to the ears of a military historian -- and here, I offer my own perspective -- such arguments seem superficial. War is like water. Its fundamental character, like the nature of the humans who fight it, has remained unchanged over the centuries.

Over 2,400 years ago [. . . . ]

And as Thucydides reminds us, more damaging than the democratic empire's military blunders or the prowess of its enemies was its society's infighting and internal discord.

Successful societies face their enemies squarely, and with one voice. They undermine their leaders and generals at their peril.





Delphi plan cuts wages, retirees’ health benefits BY JOHN LIPPERT AND JEFF BENNETT BLOOMBERG NEWS
Posted on Thursday, October 27, 2005

Auto-parts maker Delphi Corp. wants to cut workers ’ wages by as much as two-thirds, begin monthly charges for health care and eliminate health benefits for retirees as part of a plan to exit bankruptcy, according to a letter to the United Auto Workers union. [. . . . ]


Would this have anything to do with automotive jobs moving out of the country?




Is Dr. Elmasry About To Get His Due?
[. . . . ]



In Reply to: Iranian President Calling for Annihilation of Israel -- Ottawa Stockwell Day, Official Opposition Foreign Affairs Critic, pressed the Federal Government today to begin to take meaningful steps against the Islamic regime in Iran.

"Canada must lead an initiative at the United Nations seeking sanctions against the Iranian regime."




MEDIA MATTERS: USA Today gives Condi 'demon eyes,' pulls photo Paper admits it gave secretary of state 'unnatural appearance' in Web edition Unbelievable! -- photo of Condoleeza Rice" WND, Oct. 26, 05, via gordholio CNEWS Forum: "How the Press Manipulates Us




Several articles drawing attention to what PM does . . . er, superbly?

Paul Martin Time posted by gl1800, 10/26/2005 23:04:36

December 14, 2003: Lies, Damned Lies and Finance Ministers
December 21, 2004: Martin in Libya, Helping out Arms Dealers
June 05, 2004: Talking to Canadians: Paul Martin vs. Flames Fans -- video
May 31, 2004: Paul Martin is Amazing
May 28, 2004: CBC Sensationalizes Layton's Attack While Misrepresenting Martin's Record
May 21, 2004: 61% OF CANADIANS AGREE: PAUL MARTIN'S LIBERALS ARE CORRUPT!
May 20, 2004: Paul Martin’s Dirty Coke Habit

Check the archive here for several more articles.
http://paulmartintime.ca/archive/


This poem keeps coming to mind: The Road Not Taken Robert Frost



Leg: Conditional Sentencing, Mandatory Min., Libs Fudging Data

Justice Critic MP Vic Toews: www.VicToews.com

OTTAWA: Official Opposition Justice Critic Vic Toews today said the government's legislation dealing with conditional sentencing will not prevent violent and repeat offenders, drug dealers, and sex offenders from receiving house arrest sentences for their crimes.

Justice Minister Irwin Cotler has done nothing but restate the current sentencing principles in different legal language. The end result is exactly the same violent and repeat offenders will still have the opportunity to serve their jail sentences at home, said Toews.

Toews said while the bill's provisions attempt to limit the discretion of judges to impose house arrest, past laws with similar provisions have failed to keep violent criminals and repeat offenders behind bars.

"Despite mandatory periods of incarceration for convicted murderers, the "faint hope" clause in the Criminal Code provides a discretionary escape hatch for murderers which, according to the Canadian Profession Police Association, results in 80 per cent of convicted murderers becoming eligible for early parole," Toews said. "Recently we also learned that similar legal presumptions resulted in only 50 per cent of those who committed the most serious violent offences are being included in the DNA databank."

Toews pointed out that despite the drug trade being a major factor in the increase in firearms violence, serious drug trafficking offences are not even specified in this legislation.

"Parliament should be sending a strong message to the courts that house arrest should never be available for violent or repeat offenders, for drug dealers, and gunmen who are destroying our communities," Toews said. "Instead the Minister fails to stand up for the rights of victims."

Toews also noted the Minister used selective statistics to justify his opposition to mandatory minimum prison sentences, so he could justify the benefits of house arrest.

"Despite the Minister's statistical shell game, the rate of violent crime continues to climb. Inventing new means of recording offences doesn't mean the crimes didn't happen. The Liberals are simply fudging the data in a social experiment in order to get the answers they want," Toews continued. "The Conservative party will continue to stand up for law enforcement officers, victims of crime, and concerned Canadians who want real reform of our criminal justice system."



A Defence

of Desmarais and Power Corp

I missed this until yesterday. Since I have posted links to several articles on the same topic--see Canada Free Press for several articles by Judi McLeod and ? Hawkins--I think it is important to post this one in defence.

The truth about power -- The Desmarais connection to the oil-for-food scandal is mostly fiction -- "Which brings us to the recent rumblings about a so-called "Canadian connection" to the United Nations oil-for-food scandal." May 24, 2005, STEVE MAICH


Libin's response to Maich's article.

Rest easy, Martha, Macleans checked it out Kevin Libin, June 3, 05 --

A must read if you haven't already.


Related and background:

The scandal spills north -- How Montreal's Power Corp. found itself caught up in the biggest fiasco in UN history, Kevin Steel, Mar. 14, 05



Friends in high places -- Former politicians on Magna's board of directors have boosted Belinda Stronach's political career. But for sheer depth, you can't beat Power Corp. April 13, 2005, Steve Maich


October 27, 2005

Updated: Do we want more of the same? -&- A few other items

Think about the grouping of the following first few articles. Is it not time to discuss just what we want Canada to be and to become, based on what we have seen from the last several years of the Chretien / Martin teams and their approach to federalism--asymmetrical federalism, immigration, refugees, crime, drugs, criminal gangs, guns (Blaming another country doesn't cut it, Paul.) border concerns, terrorism, lax courts--appointed justices . . . the whole nine yards? It is time we spoke out before Paul Martin and his team render our country impervious to being fixed. NJC



Update 1:

Note: This is based on this link I had posted earlier today. NJC

Memory Lane -- in case you had forgotten the arrogance of Jean Chretien and the common sense of Mike Harris, The man who stopped Meech III NP, Oct. 27, 05



Bud Talkinghorn: Chretien's plot to sell out Canada

Unbeknownst to me and I suspect to the majority of Canadians, after the 1995 national referendum, Jean Chretien tried to pass an amendment to give Quebec distinct society status and a veto over the national constitution.

Even while he had been assuring Canadians that the "No" vote would carry easily, the "Yes" side was surging in support. It was only after a last ditch effort, utilizing tens of thousands of citizens, that the "No" side squeaked out a victory. The Prime Minister then compounded his miserable referendum leadership with his attempt to offer Quebec a Meech Lake 111 deal, whereby Quebec could veto any constitution amendment they didn't think helped them. Guy Giorno, a columnist for The National Post (Thursday, Oct. 27--A-19) explains how this secretive, dictatorial idea was derailed.

Enter Mike Harris, the then Premier of Ontario who informed Chretien that what he was proposing was illegal, as well as blatant paternalism at its worst. What the Prime Minister was trying to push through by fiat negated the law, which stipulated that such amendments needed the approval of Parliament and seven provinces--representing 50% of the Canadian population. It was a sham amendment worthy of a Mugabe. Harris flatly told Chretien that he would never allow such an amendment to pass without a referendum on it.

In classic autocrat style, PM Chretien said he had to carry through with his "distinct society" offer because he had already promised it during a speech. Harris had to remind Chretien that "the constitution was not a plaything of the politicians, but rather it belonged to the Canadian people as a whole". In the end, the Prime Minister had to back down and the amendment was shelved.

If Mike Harris is remembered for nothing other than this principled stand, it would be enough to eulogize him. Poor Chretien just can't keep from muddying his already tattered legacy. Unfortunately, Paul Martin is following in his footsteps. His pledge to end the "democratic deficit" has proven to be sheer rhetoric. Martin is again knee-deep in Senate patronage appointments, while Justice Minister Irwin Cotler proposes appointing an aboriginal to the (already mistrusted) Supreme Court--for diversity's sake. Both men exemplify that maxim: "Power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Maybe reports like Guy Giorno's expose will awaken Canadians to this relentless drift towards anti-democratic government.

© Bud Talkinghorn


End of Update 1



Why does the above and what follows not fill many Canadians with enthusiasm?

Liberals set to boost immigrant numbers -- Move designed to address skills shortage and win next election Anne Dawson, Oct. 27, 05

OTTAWA - Immigration Minister Joe Volpe is expected as early as next week to present a proposal to Cabinet to substantially boost the number of immigrants and refugees to Canada by 100,000 over the next five years at a cost of up to $2-billion, sources told CanWest News Service. [. . . . ]

Canada accepted 221,352 immigrants and refugees as permanent residents in 2003 and is on track to meet its target for recruiting between 220,000 and 245,000 in 2004.


Search:

undocumented workers in Canada

government does not want to address the "embarrassment" of

backlog of 767,600

legislation or regulation changes

Prime Minister Paul Martin laid the groundwork

a 40% hike in these numbers


More government by regulation? What is the implication of this? Why, it can be done outside of Parliamentary scrutiny, I believe. Comment, if I am wrong.



It's the imported to Canada part that bothers many of us.

We don't hear of this drug gang related mindless mayhem and murder coming out of Canadians from Trinidad, to my knowledge, nor out of India to Canada. Why, then, not do something to stem this? Or do the drug and gun thugs vote Liberal?

Jamaica's 'born fi dead' culture -- "Jamaica is increasingly exporting its violent crime -- and that means New York, London and Toronto." . Bruce Garvey, NP, Oct. 27, 05

[. . . . ] What nobody is talking about, however, is where those involved in violent crimes are predominantly coming from. While we know that the vast majority of Toronto's killers and victims are black, our multicultural hyper-sensitivity forbids any further racial or national breakdown. But even with a lack of statistics to prove it on paper, it is widely -- if quietly -- acknowledged that a disproportionate number of criminals and victims hail from Jamaica. [. . . . ]




Memory Lane

RCMP Lay 278 Charges: Immigration and Refugee Board -- Cash Scam Mar. 18, 03



Canada set to deport Harkat, lawyer reveals -- Algeria has assured federal officials it won't torture suspected Ottawa terrorist, memo says Neco Cockburn, The Ottawa Citizen, Oct. 26, 05

Canada is moving closer to deporting terror suspect Mohamed Harkat [. . . . ] they started attempts in Federal Court to have him released on bail pending a constitutional appeal that is likely headed to the Supreme Court. [. . . . ]


Don't hold your breath.



Senator feels heat over meth -- A rookie Liberal Senator [Larry Campbell, I think] is under fire for downplaying the deadly impact of crystal meth. Ottawa Sun, Oct. 26, 05, via Jack's Newswatch

Senator Campbell, what would be the impact of all the following?

Police break up international ecstasy ring -- 170 people arrested CTV.ca News Staff, April 1, 04

[. . . . ] At its height, the ring distributed 1 million ecstasy tablets per month, making it the biggest ecstasy operation ever broken up by either U.S. or Canadian authorities.

Proceeds from the sale of the drugs were sent back to Toronto and Ottawa, where they were laundered and sent to Vietnam.

"The laundering wing of this organization was able to move $5 million in cash a month," U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Comey said.

Hand guns were seized in the various raids, along with an estimated $6 million US and an additional $3 million Cdn in cash.

More than 375,000 pills were seized along with 120 kilograms of powdered ecstasy worth an estimated $33 million. The RCMP put the retail price of each pill at $25; Tandy put it at $15 US to $20 US.

Besides ecstasy, there were as many as six marijuana grow operations raided in Ottawa. [. . . . ]


And this is only the tip of the iceberg, Senator.



Backlog of fingerprint background checks forces RCMP to go on hiring spree



Tania Fiss: A better life for Indians

Something to consider instead of searching for someone to blame. There are too many ways tax money can be shunted aside as it goes from the taxpayers to the feds to the band councils to . . . Then there are the consultants, federally- or is it band council-awarded contracts and contractors for reserve work which may range from administering to building. Years could be spent digging for and apportioning blame and still, nothing would change.

[. . . . ] In the past, native leaders and activists have responded to similar CTF recommendations with the argument that any effort to promote accountability on reserves will water down native rights, and thus contribute to "cultural genocide."

This is nonsense. Our goal is simply to free natives from the paternalistic policy that has long been embedded in the Indian Act and the Department of Indian Affairs. When natives are enabled to succeed in the same way as other Canadians, they will be no less Cree, Mohawk or Ojibwas. But they will be more prosperous and self-sufficient.



Related: A dose of fresh thinking on natives -- "reserve-resident aboriginals . . . are not allowed to own their own land" -- Certificates of Possession

Isn't it time aboriginals were given a reality check, emphasizing full Canadian citizenship with all the rights and responsibilities which that entails? This would include getting rid of band councils who have proven to be less than transparent and democratic in their governance, particularly in the dispensing of other Canadians' dollars. It might mean aboriginals moving to where there is work or facing the consequences, home ownership that entails work as well as pride. Scrap the whole Indian Affairs department, along with the means for pork to be sliced off along the way to . . . wherever it goes.

In the reserve system, Canada has created a monster. Canada has dependent people who look to others for money and services, who are in thrall to layers of government both aboriginal and non-aboriginal. Let's give each native directly what is paid out through layers of dispensing agencies and let them use it to help themselves.

Even better, scrap the whole thing -- to heck with all the neverending talk about native treaties and oral history. The present situation is a mess and it is natives who suffer. There has to be a better way.

Any teenager just itches to get away from home . . . to be independent. It is time for natives to feel that liberation from the way things are. Then they might become citizens who live better and who are proud to be Canadian.

Or is our federal government so desperate for the way things have always been--keeping a lid on a cesspool, maintaining all the jobs that go into preserving the present failed system, keeping the reserve votes that band councils deliver to the party that maintains their perqs--that it will do nothing else?

Given the fact that the government does not let anything like tradition, Parliament, lawmaking or anything else stop them when they really want to do something, don't give us the old story about law, constitution, treaties for not doing anything . . . the whole panoply of reasons for maintaining a broken system and doing nothing radical to fix it.

Remember Min. Scott's treaty this spring that was done by regulation, not through Parliament?

Why do you think Min. Stronach, relatively inexperienced, was courted and appointed a Minister? Do you really think it was her ability or that she would vote to keep a desperate PM in power?
NJC




Feds mull pipeline stake -- Ottawa proposes to buy 20% of Mackenzie project Claudia Cattaneo, NP, Oct. 27, 05

[. . . . ] The proposal was poorly received by Mackenzie pipeline backers.

"I can't comment on the specifics of what is being discussed," said Imperial spokes-man Pius Rolheiser. "Government equity participation in this was never part of the scenario."

Still, Ottawa remains keen. "[The federal government is] clutching at straws to try to provide something for the producers to go with this Mackenzie line," one Ottawa source said. "They are desperate to get the Mackenzie thing cranked because they see the Alaska line picking up. [. . . . ]


Search:

a two-year delay in building the Mackenzie and Alaska pipelines, as well new liquefied natural gas terminals, could cost Canadians

asked for tax and royalty concessions of

"If this thing really drops out on them and dies . . . "




Sponsorship Scandal Similarities -- Canada-France: Who learned from whom?

43 guilty in French political corruption trial


An intellectual who knows no bounds -- Charles Krauthammer -- a good candidate for public intellectual



The last best piece of waterfront -- Koetter & Kim vs Diamond and Schmitt Robert Ouellette, NP, Oct. 27, 05

Robert Ouellette is the publisher and editor of www.readingtoronto.com, an online community dedicated to the design, culture and politics that shape our city. He received a City of Toronto Urban Design Award for the John Street Media Corridor project.

This morning, the board of directors of the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation receives two different plans for the same waterfront property. [. . . . ]

With Koetter & Kim working on the master plan, the TWRC -- and David Miller -- were ending 150 years of waterfront neglect. Except the Toronto Economic Development Corporation (TEDCO), owners of the property, then hired Diamond and Schmitt as advisors and design consultants. Following the direction of TEDCO, Diamond produced an alternative plan for the site. [. . . . ]


Broadly, the article covers how the plans differ.



French tourist 'catches bird flu in Thailand' Times Online, Oct. 26, 05

[. . . . ] He has, however, been quarantined, to reduce the risk of a possible mutation between the bird flu virus and a common human flu virus - which scientists fear could prompt a global pandemic.

The doctor speculated that the man might have only a "benign form" of bird flu. But 19 other people who went on the same trip to Thailand have been questioned about their health, two of whom have shown "flu-type symptoms" and are undergoing tests. Reunion Island is located east of Madagascar, off the African coast.

News of the possible infection came as Margaret Beckett told MPs today that a second dead parrot found in a private Essex quarantine facility had contracted the H5N1 bird flu strain. [. . . . ]




Atlantic & East Coast Report -- The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel By Myles Higgins, Tuesday, October 25, 2005

[. . . . ] Telling lies to discredit the opposition, playing the morality card and calling for patriotism are indeed the "havens" of scoundrels and politicians alike. They can and have been called on to save the day when all else has failed, to hell with the truth.

We are seeing it more and more in our politics over the past couple of years. It's effects every facet of our lives from politics to business and even to some special interest protest groups. It's fact of life that isn't going to change, but at least an informed public is an armed public. [. . . . ]


Web Talk - Newfoundland and Labrador



Deleting a Dictator Posted by Wall Street Journal - James Taranto on 20:29:56 2005/10/24, from Best of the Web Today - October 24, 2005, www.opinionjournal.com, By JAMES TARANTO

[. . . . ] The United Nations withheld some of the most damaging allegations against Syria in its report on the murder of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister, it emerged [Friday].
The names of the brother of Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria, and other members of his inner circle, were dropped from the report that was sent to the Security Council.

The confidential changes were revealed by an extraordinary computer gaffe because an electronic version distributed by UN officials on Thursday night allowed recipients to track editing changes. [. . . . ]




Bud Talkinghorn: Mark Steyn, Islamophobia -&- CBC's New Da Vinci

Mark Steynisms

I have lamented the passing of Steyn's National Post columns. They were refreshingly free of cant or bombast. He wore his feelings on his sleeve. He was in fact an unregenerated consevative straight talker, who scourged the left and their rhetoric which passes for wisdom in Canada. He kept alive certain facts, which both the right and the left had buried deep in their memories. Truths like the fact that the Saudis are master perpetrators of anti-Western thought. Billions have been spent setting up Wahhabi schools which openly preach hatred for the West and Israel. The Taliban has sprung from these schools. More actively, they finance numerous terrorist groups. Bin Laden is their boy. Steyn reminds us that our "ally", Saudi Arabia, is implacably undermining democracy. The truth is that Saudi Arabia should have been invaded, not Iraq. Still, we do like driving those gas-guzzling SUVs don't we. A very short-sighted trade-off we'll find out soon.

Another ideological hobby horse that Steyn puts the whip to relentlessly is multiculturalism. He writes: "Multiculuralism is really a suicide cult conceived by the Western elites; not to celebrate all cultures, but to deny their own. And that is particularly unworthy of the British, whose language, culture and law have been the single greatest force for good in the world." That idea has been lodged in my mind, but he nailed it. Various cultures have entered Canada that have been detrimental to law and order, as well as our democratic ideals. The political correctness that Steyn detests has outlawed any mention of this immigration scandal. The left and the Muslim leagues such as the Canadian Islamic Congress (Elmasry's self-created "congress") are driven into a fury everytime Steyn barbecues their sacred cows. It is his brilliant wit that stings the most--and of course that he points out the self-absorption and illogic of their premises.

Steyn still writes for The Spectator, The Western Standard and The Daily Telegraph, to name a few. So I suggest that you look him up. He will delight the conservative reader and infuriate the liberal. A final Steynism: "Canada has a private health care system; it is called 'America' ".

© Bud Talkinghorn



Islamophobia--The new front which twists its real meaning

Two recent developments have transpired since I questioned the need for Islamophobia. Unfortunately, both are sadly deficient in tackling the perception of the Islamic terrorist threat.

The first was an article in The National Post, authored by Terek Fatah and Munir Pervais. They are board members of The Muslim Canadian Congress. They castigate Mohamed Elmasry, the head of the Canadian Islamic Congress for his views. Elmasry is calling the Canadian Muslims who argued against allowing sharia law in Canada poor Muslims at best and total apostates at worst. The penalty for being a Muslim apostate is heavy. Some Christian sects and orthodoxs Jews still practice complete shunning as punishment for leaving the faith. However, in certain Islamic countries it is a death sentence or may result in severe beatings. For Elmasry to accuse moderate Muslims, who maybe came here to escape the fanaticism of their faith-based societies, of being bad Muslims betrays some strange agenda. Did he come here solely as an economic immigrant or as one who seeks a tolerance so lacking in his own country of origin?

Secondly, the eminent Islamic scholar Daniel Pipes reports that there is a blitzkreig of word twisting going on amongst the Islamic terrorism apologists. Pipes is in the front lines of this assault. Because he reports the truth of what is happening on a wide-scale in the world of terrorism or paranoid ravings, he is regularily called an "Islamophobe." I am sure that I fit into that category as well. If trying to counter the threat of radical Islam to this country then Pipes and I are blood brothers.

"Islamophobia" has come to represent any condemnation of active terrorism, along with any apprenhension about the lack of the larger Islamic community's response to the fanatics amongst them. Islamic websites are now publishing absolute rubbish about the "plot against Islam" in the West. According to one author, there are over a thousand books out abusing the good name of Allah. There is no evidence of this happening. If these were kook reports from the lunatic fringe, I could ignore them; however, many come from supposed mainstream sources. Of course the "mainstream" press in the Middle East still hold to the Sept.11th attack as the work of Mossad--maybe with the help of The Great Satan itself. This merging of hatred for the terrorists and the average citizen does a disservice to the Islamic community. They must understand that it is their religion that underpins waging terrorism across the entire world. It is their religion that allows Sudan's Arab Muslims to slaughter and rape black Muslims in Darfur. Where are the foreign jihadis to combat this evil? When any attempt comes up in the U.N. to act on this genocide, the Arab League votes it down. That sends a bad message. And where are the Islamic blogs condemning the vast, wanton massacre of innocent Muslims by al-Zarkawi in Iraq. I guess that the Shi'ites are just another apostate group to be eliminated. The Canadian-Muslim community has a serious PR problem. Until they repudiate the extremists like Elmasry in their midst, they will continue to have one.

© Bud Talkinghorn




The new DaVinci, but the same old lefty biases--only worse this time

Roll the cameras as I run through what comes up in just the introductory program in the series:

Gay murder--never mentioned again

"Recovered" junkie--murdered by gun-happy police -- implied

Native sixth graders pimped--Whitey? Probably. Perpetrators never indentified

Homeless threatened by Gestapo Vancouver police

Native boys--may be male prostitutes, but...Whitey implicated in murder

Corrupt city councillors--DaVinci investigates

Right-wing nut, who hunts with night goggles and AK assault gun--witness for police version of "recovered" junkie victim. Probably an Albertan? On-going investigation, but obviously guilty of being a gun owner. . . . Two billion gun registry worth every penny.


Are there any more loony-left buttons to push? DaVinci has moved up from his humble coroner's job as moral seer to mayor. Now he is a god--at least to the NDP and CBC. Last year I started to get very ho hum about this series. Junkies / whores / aboriginals good--police and whitey, in general, bad. After CBC's long strike hiatus from anything except reruns, I foolishly hoped they would appeal to a broader audience. Alas, it was not to be. Their social engineering program continues apace. Their later CBC National News profiled yet more black gangland murders. But their film reportage split the image between white kids and black kids, while mumbling about, ahew, well, The Jane-Finch corridor being the center of this gun violence. DaVinci couldn't have fudged it better. Welcome to the NEW season of CBC. The fact that it kicked off with a hagiography of Trudeau should have given Canadians fair warning of what's to come.

Next week, I anticipate: a Ukranian victim of the 1917 internment policy is beaten senseless by the Vancouver Gestapo, because he was advocating for another red light district in his area. Aided by a ravishingly dusky, 28 year old gal named Forsythe, who has successfully conguered her burr, DaVinci swings into action, while considering renouncing his race. Good old cop, Donnelly Rhodes, who injected some common sense into the show has been deep-sixed. Now under investigation by the Human Rights Commission. Also too many complaints from The Friends of the CBC. Aren't you glad that we have CBC back?

I'm waiting too, for more preaching on "This is Wonderland" . . .

© Bud Talkinghorn


October 26, 2005

Quick Tour Oct. 26, 05

Stephen Harper & Income Trusts

Questioning income trusts puts seniors at risk Stephen Harper, NP, Oct. 26, 05

On September 19, the Prime Minister acted recklessly when he ordered his Finance Minister, Ralph Goodale, to wade into the income-trust market like a proverbial bull in a china shop. On that day, investors were put on notice that their popular income trusts were going to be targeted by a Liberal government seeking higher tax revenues from companies and investors. [. . . . ]




Canada-China "strategic partnership" -- Canada to bypass Uncle Sam for China in crude oil sales? CFP, By Judi McLeod, Tuesday, October 25, 2005

[. . . . ] Was it only coincidence that the Hu visit came on the heels of U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow’s survey of Alberta’s oil production?

“Beijing has been working to transfer control of Husky Oil from its favourite Hong Kong billionaire, Li Ka Shing, to one of its government oil companies. And last year, China announced it was willing to invest heavily in oil sand reserves, which makes Canada, now the world’s No, 7 producer, potentially one of the world’s largest and most stable energy sources.” (East-Asia-Intel.com, Oct. 19, 2005). [. . . . ]


Search:

Paul Martin mentor Maurice Strong

Canadian Steamship Lines International

China International Trust and Investment Group Corp, (CITIC)

divert U.S. oil imports






Avian madness Peter Foster, NP, Oct. 26, 05

[. . . . ] The alleged danger is that the virus might mutate into a form that could be spread between humans, and might then run out of control. That's two "mights." As it stands, the only way to contract H5N1 is apparently to do what the guy in the CBC ad is doing: getting down and dirty with a bird. The human infection comes via contact with excrement on feathers. Those who have caught the disease so far have been chicken pluckers, cock-fight organizers, children with pet ducks and others who are around when the feathers fly. Indeed, since many millions of birds are thought to have been infected and the number of human cases is so low, the World Health Organization has pointed out the "species barrier" to acquisition of the virus is "substantial." That, however, is not the impression that is being given. It's all pandemic, all the time.

The award for Bureaucratic Alarmism-By-Extension has to go to Canada's Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, which has produced a report suggesting the avian flu might be used by Osama bin Laden in his campaign of global terror. Watch out for swarthy young men in nightshirts plucking chickens on the subway.


He should check the next article.

[. . . . ] The most worrying, although predictable, suggestion to have emerged in Ottawa this week is that pharmaceutical patent rights might have to be overturned to deal with the "crisis." After all, people have to come before Big Pharma profits.


Where do we draw the line between allowing/encouraging business and showing humanitarian concern, i.e. without showing it by using other people's money . . . the time-honoured government way.


Al-Qaeda could spread avian flu, report warns A8, NP Oct. 25, 05

This is not far-fetched at all. There was an instance of a person importing a bird or birds to Belgium, hidden birds which had avian flu. Check this article.



Runaway nuclear: No Candu refurbishment has ever been delivered on budget -- Ontario is setting hydro customers up for a financial meltdown

Without public review, let alone a consideration of competitive alternatives, the Ontario government has just entered into a 31-year contract for electric power with an odd consortium that includes TransCanada Pipelines, an investment wing of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and two electricity unions. The deal involves refurbishing the four oldest Candu nuclear reactors of the eight built at the province's Bruce nuclear complex. It also involves risk-sharing provisions likely to lead to very costly power. [. . . . ]




Opportunity in oil: Talent search in Alberta gets desperate as lucrative oil and gas job vacancies pile up Jon Harding, FP, Oct. 26, 05

CALGARY - Alberta's roaring energy sector is so hungry for top-level managers it is feeding on itself. The talent-short industry is also trying to gobble up just about every upward-moving accountant, engineer and geologist in the country. [. . . . ]


Does that mean potential employees would have to relocate to Alberta? Luckily, PM is dispensing pre-election EI pork to certain ridings.



Surprise

The greatest Canadian that ever lived -- Don't miss the last few paragraphs. CFP, Arthur Weinreb, Associate Editor, Monday, October 24, 2005




Government Failure in Canada, 2005 Report: A Review of the Auditor General's Reports, 1992-2005 Review of Auditor General’s reports predicts more problems like the sponsorship scandal -- news release October 17, 2005 -- Get the full publication here.



Is nothing too monstrous for the "understanding", "empathetic" crowd?

Antisemitic Poem in UK School Book

[. . . . ] The entry by the 14-year-old Gideon Taylor is apparently written from the viewpoint of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

It includes the lines “Jews are here, Jews are there, Jews are almost everywhere, filling up the darkest places, evil looks upon their faces.”

Another part reads: “Make them take many paces for being one of the worst races, on their way to a gas chamber, where they will sleep in their manger? I’ll be happy Jews have died.”


[. . . . ] Young Writers editor Steve Twelvetree, who also edited the book, said the poem was included as it illustrated how the writer was able to empathise with the infamous Nazi Fuehrer. [. . . . ]


Coming to a school near you?




Reactions to the Mehlis Report -- UN Being American in T.O.

Oct. 24 - I wish I could report on official Canadian reaction to the Mehlis Report but thus far there hasn't been any. The rest of the world isn't waiting for Canada, though, and Detlev Mehlis, who was commissioned by the U.N. to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, will be addressing the United Nations Security Council tomorrow.

[. . . . ] Imperative No. 1 at the CBC is to suppress any news that makes the U.N. look bad or, failing that, downplay it. (Imperative No. 2 is to hype news that makes the U.S.A. look bad; note the lead picture on their Indepth Lebanon page!) That's part of the reason why some of us are somewhat cynical when CBC reporters are named to the Senate or appointed Governor-General. When your job as a reporter includes tainting the news or even failing to report the news, The News Canadians Trust isn't very trustworthy and neither are its reporters.[. . . . ]


Indeed.



Syria: Murder & mayhem, but who cares? CFP, J. Grant Swank, Jr., Monday, October 24, 2005


October 25, 2005

Updated: Ridley Terminals "Privatization"--Taxpayers Lose, Oilsands, EI Rules Relaxed: Asymmetrical Federalism, Hansard & More

There are strange things done
Neath the midnight sun
By the men who moil for . . . coal? oil?

(With apologies to Robert Service)

But the strangest thing is what happens to my links when I touch on certain topics (e.g. China and what appears to be government chicanery or gerrymandering, especially as related to oil, oilsands, LNG, ports, China, business "deals" . . . Well, you get the idea. ).

Perhaps there is something that someone doesn't want people to read.


Update 1 to the post below -- and what I found:

Related: Updated: Kitimat, Prince Rupert, Deal "before too many questions", Libs & China, & Background Oct. 14, 05

This is odd; I searched Google on Frost Hits the Rhubarb and the link given is as follows.

http://frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2005/10/kitimat-prince-rupert-deal-before-too.html

Who added the extra words which rendered the link useless?

This is the correct link in case the gremlins go to work again.

http://frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2005/10/updated-kitimat-prince-rupert-deal.html


Place the complete link on one line.



How interesting -- worth reading

B.C.'s Ridley Terminals may sell for $20M -- Taxpayers paid $250M to build coal port Peter O'Neill, Financial Post, Oct. 24, 05


[. . . . ] The offer, from Ontario companies Fortune Minerals Ltd. and Federal White Cement Ltd., was obtained by Conservative MP John Cummins and provided to CanWest News Service. [. . . . ]

Mr. Lapierre said last week he will go ahead with his plan to obtain cabinet approval to begin negotiating with the Fortune group, despite complaints from industry and opposition MPs.


Search:

privatization of Ridley Terminals
Ridley Shippers Coalition, a group of Western Canadian mining firms
bid was inferior to
Western Canadian Coal of Vancouver
Cline Mining of Toronto
The Fortune offer was based on Ridley being
Robin Goad, president of Fortune
a confidentiality clause
former transport minister David Collenette
Northern Energy Mining Inc.
run the terminal as a co-operative
Fortune group intends to
hurt the ability of Canadian
never supposed to be a privately run




Still bigger projects planned for the oilsands -- 'Long-term vision' Scott Hoggett, Financial Post, Oct. 24, 05


FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. - The ground has barely been broken on Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.'s $10.8-billion Horizon oilsands project and it won't be finished until 2012 -- and still bigger ideas are already hatching for Horizon.

Vision isn't in short supply in the massive oilsands region surrounding Fort McMurray. Massive projects, such as the oilsands mines run by Syncrude Canada Ltd., Shell Canada Ltd. and Suncor Energy Inc., are poised to get larger still, with price tags matching the scale of the operations.




Al-Qaeda could spread avian flu, report warns National Post, Oct. 25, 05



EI rules relaxed -- Would that be in crucial ridings, Mr. Martin?

More Assymetrical Federalism -- "Liberals beef up EI support in potentially crucial ridings" Elizabeth Thompson, Gazette, Oct. 25, 05 casper34, 10/25/2005 10:15:56


Imagine - Right before an election [. . . . ]

Under three pilot projects, EI rules will be relaxed a bit for unemployed Canadians in the regions chosen

[. . . . ] Eligibility in Quebec

The areas of Quebec where claimants are eligible for the pilot projects are central Quebec, Chicoutimi-Jonquiere, Gaspesie-Iles de la Madeleine, Lower St. Lawrence and North Shore, northwestern Quebec and Trois Rivieres.
[. . . . ]


And if you look, others are not amused.



International Cancer Control Congress

Infections eyed as cancer cause -- Viruses and bacteria are linked to many common cancers, a virologist tells a Vancouver conference Pamela Fayerman, Vancouver Sun, October 25, 2005


[Dr. Harald zur Hausen] noted that the list of viruses and bacterial infections currently linked with cancer include hepatitis B and C (liver cancer,) papillomavirus (cervical,) Epstein-Barr virus or EBV (lymphomas, Hodgkin's disease,) herpesviruses type 8 (Kaposi's sarcoma,) bacterial infections with helicobacter pylori (gastric cancer) and parasites (bladder and rectal cancer.) [. . . . ]




Hansard excerpts- Question Period- Oct.24,2005 -- Health, Justice, Government Contracts, Canada Post & Andre Ouellet, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Middle East Newsbeat1, Oct. 25, 05 -- Hansard, Oct. 24, 05



Islamist School Wins DOE Excellence Award LGF, Oct. 25, 05.

School for Shar’ia : Islamist School Wins Dept of Education Blue Ribbon for Excellence Award. (Hat tip: Dhimmi Watch.)

October 20, 20005 - Philadelphia, PA - PipeLineNews.org - Jihad through Da’wa [conversion of non-Muslims] in the form of domestic Islamic education has gotten a boost from an unlikely source, the U.S. government.

The administration has just presented the New Horizons Islamic School in Pasadena, California the United States Department of Education’s “Blue Ribbon for Excellence” award.

[. . . . ] The BIAE, based in Los Angeles - which plans the curriculum of the New Horizons School together with the Islamic Center of Southern California even offers an Islamized version of the Pledge of Allegiance on their website. It begins with the phrase - “As an American Muslim I pledge allegiance to ALLAH and his Prophet.”
[. . . . ]



U.S. and Canadian Telemarketers Pay $415,000 to Settle FTC Charges -- Defendants Charged with Selling Nonexistent Credit Cards


[. . . . ] The defendants, who ran their operation from Palm Beach, Florida, and Montreal, Canada, are three Florida corporations (Sun Spectrum Communications Organization, Inc.; North American Communications Organization, Inc.; and WWCI2002, Inc.) and their principals, William H. Martell and Tracey A. Bascove, and one Canadian corporation (9106-7843 Quebec, Inc.) and its principals, Mitchel Kastner, Ronald Corber, and Jason Kastner. When calling consumers, the defendants used fictitious business names, including “Royal Credit Solutions,” “Imperial Consumer Services,” and “Beneficial Client Care.” [. . . . ]

The FTC points to this case as another example of effective cooperation and coordination among U.S. federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and Canadian authorities. [. . . . ]

NOTE: This stipulated final order is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission by the defendant of a law violation. A stipulated final order has the force of law when signed by the judge.


How much do you want to bet they're back in business shortly? Perhaps under a new name . . . or number.



Whistleblower Legislation, Whistleblowers, Qui Tam & Related

Whistleblower legislation is supposed to be passed in the House this session. It is time to look at what is proposed, some whistleblowers and what happened to them, what they said in giving evidence before the House Standing Committee, and background which might be of interest or of use.


Evidence: Whistleblower Legislation -- "Bill C-11, An Act to establish a procedure for the disclosure of wrongdoings in the public sector, including the protection of persons who disclose the wrongdoings."



38th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION -- Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates -- EVIDENCE from ex-RCMP Corporal Robert Read, ex-Foreign Service Officer Brian Adams, Joanna Gualtieri, Canada's expert on whistle-blowing, civil servant Allan Cutler, and Selwyn Pieters
Feb. 3, 05


Related:

Frost Hits the Rhubarb Feb. 13 - Feb. 19, 2005 Scroll down to February 15, 2005 -- Robert Read ex-RCMP: "Triads had infested Canada's immigration system" -- "a political silver bullet" -- NATIONAL SECURITY


Frost Hits the Rhubarb, May 15, 2005

Search:

* If only the Liberals could keep Canadians from knowing the truth -- Whistleblowers and More

* Jon Grant: Canada Lands

* Francois Beaudoin: Business Development Bank

* Allan Cutler: Public Works

* Cpl. Robert Read: RCMP -- "Evidence of ex-RCMP Corporal Robert Read before a Parliamentary Committee"

* Staff SGt Stenhouse: RCMP

* Selwyn Pieters: IRB

* Brian McAdam: Foreign Service




Diane Francis -- on Francois Beaudoin who lost his job with the Business Development Bank. . . for doing his job -- Search: "The Common Thread in the Politicization of the National Police Force?"



Operation Sidewinder: In Canada spies are us by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com , January 26, 2005 by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com




News Junkie Canada, March 28, 2004
Do Not Miss This Link! Corruption and Cover Up

Background for Global Sunday Program [security, borders, terrorism]

News Junkie Canada, March 23, 2004 -- Whistleblower Legislation and Qui Tam

* Whistleblower Protection

* Whistleblowers, Check out Qui Tam

* Update: Does the Slush Fund Government Really Want Effective Whistleblower Legislation?

* Does the Slush Fund Government Really Want Effective Whistleblower Legislation?




CTV Videos, McCallum-China-Trade Mission-Vancouver, Bird Flu & More

CTV videos on Question Period and a panel on decriminalizing prostitution



Canada must strengthen ties with China: McCallum

Canada's Natural Resources Minister says he got an enthusiastic response from China on his trip promoting the sale of Canadian oil and gas.


On the CTV webpage, Oct. 24, 05 is a link to CTV Question Period: John McCallum in China

What did you expect Mr. McCallum to say?

Related:
China's economic powerhouses launch trade mission to B.C. -- A delegation of 600 business and government officials arrives to talk trade Joanne Lee-Young, Vancouver Sun, Oct. 24, 05

More than six hundred business people and government representatives from Hong Kong and Guangdong province, China's economic powerhouse, are descending on the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre today to promote trade opportunities.

Their combined pitch to a B.C. business community eager to figure China out is simple: a world-class financial centre plus the factory of the world. [. . . . ]



Search:

hosted by high-level dignitaries
Canadian executives who have tales to tell on investing in Hong Kong and Guangdong
Mike Rowse, director general of Invest Hong Kong, a government-backed promotion agency
an official trade agreement between Hong Kong and China, called the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA)
signing of official contracts
projects ranging from large-scale




CTV webpage -- a link to Question Period: Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh

Canada well prepared for bird flu: Dosanjh

If a strain of bird flu ever mutated into a form able to spread easily among humans, there is a strong possibility it would reach Canada, Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said, but officials are well prepared. [. . . . ]



There are other items: Peter MacKay, etc.

The Press Gallery dinner's rubber chicken Burkean Canuck, Oct. 24, 05



Who runs this joint, anyway? "British banks are banning piggy banks because they may offend some Muslims." LGF via Western Standard Shotgun, Oct. 24, 05, posted by Wonder Woman Oct. 24, 05


October 24, 2005

Gunter: Mao, Gun Registry, Technoscam: Bombardier, Lobbyists, Crossing the floor, etc.

Would someone please mail Lorne Gunter's article to our leftist, socialist brethren -- the ones who want to micromanage Canada "for our own good", "for the good of the people", for the good of . . . . . . . whoever and whatever.

The real Mao by Lorne Gunter, Oct. 24, 05

A new biography of Mao Tse-Tung is forcing the Chinese to re-examine their views of the Great Helmsman. The book appears to be causing at least as much ideological dyspepsia among Mao's Western admirers, of whom there are still many.

Mao: The Unknown Story, by the wife-and-husband team of Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, demonstrates convincingly that the founding dictator of communist China was a thug, not a secular saint. He was always as willing to kill his rivals and supporters as his opponents, always bourgeois, arrogant and self-absorbed, and never cared much for the peasants he pretended to champion. Peasants, to Mao, were nothing but convenient political tools who helped sustain the cult of personality that brought him to power, and foot soldiers he could send to their deaths to advance his massive re-engineering schemes or consolidate his hold on authority.

According to communist myth, Mao [. . . . ]




Is "gun control working? hmmm", posted by rosemarie59, 10/23/2005 20:21:18 who got it from Lorne Gunter's blog -- Posted by Lorne Gunter on October 18, 2005 11:12 PM MDT [ See Lorne Gunter's Blog for several articles ]

Tuesday the FBI released its annual homicide report, and while the raw numbers are staggering -- 16,137 murders in 2004 -- that works out to a rate of 5.5 per 100,000 people, only slightly more than double our own.

That rate is also almost as low as 1965's, which was 5.1.

We have far less to be smug about in this country than we thought, [. . . . ]

Ottawa estimates that there are seven million guns in this country. This is a delusion Ottawa perpetuates to convince itself that its vaunted gun registry knows the whereabouts of 90% or more of the guns in Canada.

A truer estimate would be 10 to 14 million.
[. . . . ]


video: guns etc.



Technoscam

Bombardier defers C-Series Jet October 23, 2005

Who has the answers?

(Video)

TPC - Ken Rubin Hill Times Article

Industry Canada corporate funding branch to attract lobbyists has not been fixed, despite the spin cycle






The Hill's most popular partier -- serious about "bill on MPs crossing the floor"

OTTAWA - Peter Stoffer, the colourful NDP MP, has been in the news lately for his bill on MPs crossing the floor. He wants his colleagues to face a byelection unless they sit as an Independent until another election rolls around, arguing that voters should get the party they voted for (Belinda Stronach and Scott Brison are among the highest-profile MPs to switch allegiance, both jumping from the Conservatives to the Liberals and landing in Cabinet). [. . . . ]




Stacking the deck?

Lobbying for dummies -- "Appearances are not helped by the fact that federal law allows the Industry department to handpick the lobbyists' registrar." Guy Giorno, National Post, Oct. 24, 05

[. . . . ] Parliament passed a Lobbyists Registration Act in 1988, and since then five provinces have followed suit. Without commenting on the specifics of any particular case, I can address three common misconceptions about the reach of the federal law. [. . . . ]

Interestingly, responsibility for enforcing the act lies with a government employee in the Industry department [. . . . ]




Levant makes an excellent case for Dr. Walker, " 'public intellectual' -- which we define as a thinker who has shown distinction in his or her own field and can communicate ideas and influence debate outside of it." {National Post definition}

Dr. Michael Walker profiled by Ezra Levant -- who produces "evidence-based measurement" , Oct. 24, 05

[. . . . ] Dr. Walker took the myths and spin of the Canadian welfare state and put them to objective tests. Instead of countering leftist slogans with more slogans, he replied with numbers. [. . . . ]


Search: scientifically measuring medicare's waiting lists , Tax Freedom Day , Fraser Institute



Money laundering big business in Canada -- Former cop puts expertise at work with consulting firm By Frank Armstrong - Business Edge, Published: 04/28/2005 - Vol. 5, No. 17

Canada is a good place for money laundering [. . . ]

Criminals want a politically stable country, a stable economy, close proximity to the U.S. market and top-quality banking and electronic communications systems, says Chris Mathers, an ex-RCMP officer who now has his own crime and risk consulting firm. "We're a good place to do business, whether you are a bad guy or a good guy."

Mathers also says the penalties for illegal actions are inadequate. "Nobody goes to jail for anything in Canada, so there's no deterrent," says Mathers, author of national best-selling book Crime School: Money Laundering. He was president of KPMG's corporate intelligence division before going solo with his own consulting company. . . .

[Simon] Rosenfeld was one of 55 Canadian and U.S. citizens arrested in 2002 during an RCMP-FBI sting operation that exposed numerous money-laundering scams and stock-market manipulation.[. . . . ]





Grits feel we're entitled . . . to pay

[. . . . ] The Liberals believe they are entitled to their entitlements.

And the rest of us, of course, are entitled to pay for them.


This culture of entitlement, this belief that they have the right to our money, found its ultimate expression in AdScam. And Dingwall was the one who, as Jean Chretien's minister of public works -- the department which dispenses political patronage and pork -- selected Chuck Guite to manage all Liberal government advertising programs

[. . . . ] Of course, the fact that this audit will show that Dingwall followed the rules suggests the whole problem. That is, that the rules themselves reflect the culture of entitlement to which the Liberals have become so accustomed.

Because, trust us, Dingwall isn't the only one who feels entitled to his entitlements. It's the Liberal way.





Unofficial --Canadian Army -- Scroll for "Kabul health concern"



Excellent Advice

"Just don't turn an Ontario high school diploma into a lie." Moira MacDonald, Oct. 17, 05

An alternative diploma must not be an easy exit for a school system that has few excuses for giving every student a minimum level of skill.

A long-anticipated report, released Friday, from Queen's University researcher Alan King said high school remediation must start in Grade 9. But the dropout problem doesn't start in Grade 9. It starts in Grade 1. By Grade 2, you'll find the kids most likely to drop out of high school -- the ones who can't read. [. . . . ]

Meanwhile, little attention has been given to immigrant students who come into high school midstream with limited English and delayed academic training. They also shouldn't get a diploma until they meet the standards.

If that means fewer students get diplomas, so be it. If that means some will have to take longer to get their skills up to scratch, so be it. If that's what it takes to make the system face up to its own failings, so be it. Just don't turn an Ontario high school diploma into a lie.




Canada's Peacekeeping Missions

Canada has fifty years of experience in peacekeeping and has participated in most of the missions mandated by the UN security council. This ability to count on Canada to help has established an international reputation. The term peacekeeping did not enter popular use until 1965. Since that time there have been over fifty UN peacekeeping missions. Canada has participated in more missions than any other country. [. . . . ]





Europe is figuring out a better future. Canada belongs there, too. By Peter MacLeod, TheTyee.ca , October 2, 2005

[. . . . ] I read a new book by British foreign policy expert, Mark Leonard. Why Europe Will Run the Twenty-First Century [which] is a hopeful and compelling book that explains why, in Leonard's view, a new kind of European spirit is stirring - one that could come to have as great an impact on the twenty-first century as America did in the twentieth.




Business 'will help' on climate change By Andrew Ellson, Oct. 5, 05

Business leaders have signalled their willingness to make a "significant" contribution to tackling climate change, but they have warned against extra regulations and called for more international co-operation.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said that government and business must work together to develop practical policies to cut carbon emissions by the agreed target of 60 per cent by 2050.

But the CBI insists that carbon targets must be "achievable" and set in a realistic timescale. John Sunderland, the president of the business lobby group, also warned that EU and UK policies should not increase the regulatory burden on industry. [. . . . ]




Doing the java jive Paul Stanway, Oct. 23, 05

Cenaiko apparently got the idea of a caffeine ban during a visit to Arizona, where he met with the legendary Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County. So what does Sheriff Joe think?

"Politics," he says. "The best thing about my job is that I don't answer to any politician. Just the 3.5 million people of Maricopa County." [Don't miss reading the details of Sheriff Joe's approach; taxpayers will love his methods.]


[. . . . ] that the minister had something to do with a deal in which a Fort McMurray developer essentially got $1-million worth of land for nothing. [. . . . ]


Search: had everything dyed pink , the new government Smart car



Ethical storm may blow Grits away Greg Weston, Oct. 23, 05

[. . . . ] In an attempt to cling to power as long as possible, PM Paul Martin promised last spring that he would call an election within 30 days of the final Gomery report, due out next February.

In the meantime, the Liberals recently rigged the Commons legislative calendar to deny the opposition parties a chance to vote the government out of office before Nov. 14. [. . . . ]





Excellent

Lax laws to blame Lorrie Goldstein, Oct. 23, 05

[. . . . ] Part of this strategy is to guilt-trip people into thinking you can't solve the issue of the hard-core homeless until you solve the issue of affordable housing to the left's satisfaction, which is (a) absurd and (b) will never happen.

Avoiding the problem

Similarly, when the left talks about spending more on social programs to combat gun crime (how much more, what programs, who pays?) it's to avoid addressing how our lax justice system contributes to that crime. [. . . . ]





How Google is changing the media universe -- Dollars are moving from TV, radio, print to new media like the Internet Jerry Cobb, Oct. 21, 2005

Like a giant magnet, Google is pulling more and more advertising dollars on to the Internet and away from traditional media like print, radio and television.
It's not just because the search giant attracts 80 million unique visitors a month. It's also because Google's technology allows advertisers to target those visitors in ways traditional media can't. [. . . . ]





"Imagine You're a Woman" MEMRI Oct. 24, 05

Saudi author Badriyya Al-Bishr, a lecturer in social sciences at King Saud University, recently published an article titled "Imagine You're a Woman" in the London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.

[. . . . ] "Imagine you're a woman, and you are subject to assault, beatings, or murder. When the press publishes your photo [together with] the photo of the criminals and [descriptions] of their brutality, there are people who ask: 'Was the victim covered [by a veil] or not?' If she was covered up, [the question arises:] 'Who let her go out of the house at such an hour?' In the event that your husband is the one who broke your ribs, [people will say] that no doubt there was good reason for it. [. . . . ]





US Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Saudi Arabia: Friend or Foe in the War on Terror to commence October 25, 2005

DATE: October 25, 2005
TIME: 09:30 AM
ROOM: 226 Dirksen
OFFICIAL HEARING NOTICE / WITNESS LIST:
[. . . ]

Yigal Carmon
Middle East Media Research Institute
Washington, DC
[Presentation on Saudi Television]

PANEL I
Daniel Glaser
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes
United States Department of the Treasury
Washington, DC

Alan Misenheimer
Director of Arabian Peninsula and Iran Affairs
United States Department of State
Washington, DC

PANEL II

James Woolsey
Vice President of Booz Allen
Former Director
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, DC

Nina Shea
Director
Center for Religious Freedom
Washington, DC

Steve Emerson
Terrorism Expert and Executive Director
Investigative Project on Terrorism
Washington, DC

Gulam Bakali
Islamic Association of North Texas
Board of Trustees
Richardson, TX

Kamal Nawash
President
Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism
Washington, DC




When Iraqis went to the polls, the best news was what didn't happen. by Michael Yon, 10/31/2005, Volume 011, Issue 07

The post title is "All Quiet on the Baghdad Front" but with the bombing today in Baghdad, the Palestinian Hotel, I heard, maybe that title will have to wait. The bombings may be the toward the end gasp--we hope--of men who see control moving to people who want democracy.

WAS IN BAQUBA during Iraq's January elections, having hitched a ride with the U.S. Army to a polling site. There were bombs exploding, mortars falling, and hot machine guns. The fact that the voting was going great despite the violence was something few people expected. Until that day, I'd been skeptical about Iraq. Not fashionably cynical, merely skeptical. We could all hear what President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, and other elected leaders were saying, but they are politicians. We also could hear the end-of-the-Iraqi-world predictions by so many others. But nobody really knew what the Iraqi people had in mind, and the Iraqis were the people who counted most.

The millions who voted sent a message: Serpentine lines of ebullient Iraqis risked their lives--dozens died--to have a say in their futures. [. . . . ]