Sunday Roundup Updated

Update to "Celebrities fly in for 'Big Fat Indian Wedding'" posted below. There are photographs from India: note that the Udaipur Lake Palace Hotel is one location for part of the wedding celebrations. Note also, the temples and palaces of Udaipur and Jaipur, utterly fascinating.

Udaipur Lake Palace, Rajasthan

See for more: Rajasthan in Photos

Kathakkali dancer and other photos and more here from Khajuraho's exotic and erotic temple sculptures, text and photos, and more on the Erotic Arts of India


Committed "in the name of the prophet Mohammed:"

Michelle Malkin: MUSLIMS KILL CHRISTIANS IN NIGERIA Feb. 19, 06

Judith Apter Klinghoffer writes: "If there is something worse than the killing of 15 innocent Nigerian Christians and the burning of their churches by their Muslim brethren for the sin of belonging to the same religion as the Danes, it is the refusal of reporters to tell the ugly truth."

Indeed. None of the news stories make clear just how widespread, brutal, and prolonged Muslim violence against Christians in Nigeria has been as sharia law spreads. Via Persecution.org, I've included a partial chronology below: [. . . . ]

An extensive list follows. The evidence is mounting that Islam, as practiced in most of the world, is intolerant. There are a few voices speaking out against this: Salim Mansur (See canadiancoalition.org in the forum for articles posted by Salim.) and a strong woman named ? Khan in the UK (See newsbeat1.com for that link and story). Much more is needed.


Hussein Tapes Reveal Effort to Conceal WMD Information From International Inspectors NTI, Feb. 16, via newsbeat1

[....] Hussein Kamel, a Hussein son-in-law in charge of Iraq’s WMD effort at the time, explained in taped conversations between Hussein and members of his Cabinet how Baghdad eluded inspectors.

[....] chemical weapons

[....] failed to disclose “the type of weapons … [and] the volume of the materials we imported,” [....]

[....] “Terrorism is coming. I told the Americans,” Hussein said.

“In the future, what would prevent a booby-trapped car causing a nuclear explosion in Washington or a germ or a chemical one?” he said. [....]

End of update




Ezra Levant: Irwin Cotler still picking our judges Feb. 18. 06

I have read that Min. Vic Toews was included in looking at the choices before the election; still, I wish he would choose anew. I trust none of Martin's team for good reason; they have packed two left-wing justices onto the SCOC already. Also, Min. Toews, pick the best person for the job, not from a select disadvantaged group just because it is time to have a member on the Supreme Court. Guess which group has been mentioned, folks? I mentioned this months ago.



Min. Day, the RCMP & the Useless Gun Registry: Surprises Coming

Captain's Quarters: Liberating The RCMP -- Captain Ed Feb. 17, 06

IMHO: He has put what has happened, in a nutshell

Why is that so significant? Americans may not relate to this, but in Canada's parliamentary system, the government only gets checked by the Commons and the RCMP, which has the power and resources to investigate government malfeasance -- under normal circumstances. However, the government exists because it controls either a majority of seats or the support of a coalition of parties that comprise a majority. Unless and until that majority decides that the government has acted so egregiously that MPs are willing to throw their own party or coalition out of power, the only political check comes at mandated election times.

The RCMP, as the national law-enforcement agency, can act independently to investigate corruption and malfeasance. However, it needs the time and resources to do that. A government that wanted to avoid having the RCMP looking into its actions -- say in Adscam or other hidden scandals -- could handicap the agency by burdening it with a populist but massive new program, selling it as a low-cost civic safety program, and then underfunding it so that it ate up all of the agency's resources. That would leave the agency with no time and no people for other efforts, including political investigations.

When Canadians calculate this massive bill that Day warns will upset the electorate, they should also consider these non-monetary costs as well. (Alphecca has more thoughts on the general uselessness of registration programs in general, via Instapundit.)

Gun Registry Re-application: "AT THIS POINT CRIMINAL POSSESSION HAS BEGUN"

Mark Bonokoski: Legitimate gun owners, the easiest targets of all ...

At a time when there is a need for a major investigation focusing on the burglaries of legitimate gun owners — some of these break-ins so well-cased that they have all the earmarks of an organized breach of the national gun registry — the OPP has put into motion a plan which focuses on the easiest targets of all.

They are easy targets because the OPP already know who they are, where they live, and what weapons they have.

But they are not criminals. [. . . . ]

(Blinkin' nuts! ) There is something about the mindset that makes me ask: did a small-minded bureaucratic type come up with that?



The Gun Registry & Miramichi MLA -- Stay tuned on this one

Speaking of the infamous gun registry, a Miramichi MLA with the NB provincial Conservative government of Bernard Lord, sensing blood for himself if he doesn't squawk I would guess, over the potential closure of the Mirimichi gun registry business (HQ?) set up there (To satisfy Frank McKenna or his political obligations? Frank used to practice law there.) has left the Conservatives to sit as an independent which, undoubtedly, will bring him to the attention of provincial Liberal head hunters. If the ex-Conservative MLA were to switch to the Liberal Party "as a matter of conscience", you understand, would he be in line for a Big Fish in Small and Insignificant Pond Ministerial Position should Lord lose the next election? CBC will not be asking? I suspect we will not learn much. Media will ignore the obvious, until it happens; then it will be greeted with glee since the Liberals have owned the Miramichi, with a few exceptions, for years. Will this be explored in the Irving Monopoly Press? Have there been approaches already? Stay tuned.




Another $100-Million Fraud Alleged

Feds take new look at fraud suspect's ex-biz Jorge Barrera, Feb. 18, 06, Ottawa Sun

A company once controlled by a man facing charges in connection with an alleged multi-million-dollar Defence Department fraud scheme is getting a second look from Public Works and Government Services Canada after landing tens of thousands of dollars in recent contracts.

Jefferson Holdings Inc., however, seems to have disappeared, [. . . . ]

The company, which also goes by the name NMSOpricing, was awarded [. . . . ]

Public Works .... ties with Peter Mellon, who is facing 10 criminal charges, including fraud, uttering forged documents and laundering the proceeds of crime. [. . . . ]

Search: Baxter Group , The firm still shares a Colonnade Rd. address with , raked in at least $496,659 in contracts for compute- related equipment and was in line for a $15-million standing offer.

I thought I remembered that another principal in the Compaq-HP-DND deal was Ignatius (Cholo) Manso so I searched Google.

Bureaucrat charged in $100-million fraud Glen McGregor, CanWest, Jan. 31, 2006

[....] Paul Champagne, a former DND contracts manager, faces charges on seven counts, including fraud, breach of trust by a public officer and money laundering. The RCMP accuse him of obtaining more than $105 million from the government under false pretences.

Peter Mellon is charged on 10 counts, including fraud, laundering proceeds of crime and uttering a forged document.

Ignatius (Cholo) Manso is charged with seven counts, including fraud.

RCMP describe Manso and Mellon as third-party vendors. [. . . . ]

At the time, Champagne's neighbours in the Ottawa suburb of Dunrobin marvelled at the former public servant's enormous mansion, which featured an indoor pool, a gym, tennis courts and a four-car garage.

He was also reported to have a home in Florida and a multimillion-dollar beachfront home in the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos.

But the RCMP didn't say which companies Mellon or Manso were involved with. [. . . . ]

No wonder some people would like to curtail the freedom of the internet and search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc.




Leo Knight: Move on please -- David Emerson, Paul Martin--ever hopeful the Party will call?--and Jack Layton, agitating for attention Feb. 16, 06, via newsbeat1



Also, it is no wonder the Liberals would like to spur another election before all is investigated.

Halifax newspapers are reporting that the total cost to make the HMCS Chicoutimi, notable for killing Lieut. Chris Saunders, seaworthy again will top $100 MILLION! bisbee, Feb. 18, 06

This money is in addition to the estimated $25 MILLION the Navy has already spent to assess previous damage and undertake partial removal of damaged materials. [. . . . ]

Thank you LIEberals for wasting over $400 MILLION of the monies of the Canadian taxpayer for four useless metal rustbuckets (aka submarines).

Drug trafficker 'Dr. Wu' gets 11 years in prison -- Defendant eluded officials for decades By Onell R. Soto, Feb. 18, 06

His legal name is now Baron Michael Angelo Suarez-Rothschild, but he was born Michael Grabarek 55 years ago, authorities said.

And despite 45 investigations spanning 25 years – including at least one arrest in which he beat the charges – it wasn't until agents caught up to him in Singapore in 2004 that the jig was finally up.

He was the centerpiece of “Operation Dr. Wu,” which led to the arrests of about 30 people on drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons charges in Southern California, Hawaii and elsewhere.

Prosecutors say he brokered deals involving potent British Columbia marijuana, Colombian cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico and the United States. [. . . . ]

Why was the charge over "a case involving methamphetamine trafficking" dropped or is plea bargaining just necessary in order to get anything done in a reasonable amount of time?



Brigitte Gabriel: Islam’s March Against the West (Excerpted from Brigitte Gabriel’s speech delivered at the Intelligence Summit in Washington DC, Saturday February 18, 2006.) -- from Israpundit and a "must read" article via CanadianCoalition.org

We gather here today to share information and knowledge. Intelligence is not merely cold hard data about numerical strength or armament or disposition of military forces. The most important element of intelligence has to be understanding the mindset and intention of the enemy. The west has been wallowing in a state of ignorance and denial for thirty years as Muslim extremist [sic] perpetrated evil against innocent victims in the name of Allah.

I was ten years old when my home exploded around me burying me under the rebel drinking my blood to survive as the perpetrators shouted Allah Akbar. My only crime was that I was a Christian living in a Christian town. I learned at 10 years old the meaning of the word “infidel.” I had a crash course in survival not in girl scouts, but in a bomb shelter where I lived for seven years in pitch darkness, freezing cold, drinking stale water and eating grass to live. At the age of thirteen I dressed in my burial clothes going to bed at night waiting to be slaughtered and by the age of 20 I had buried most of my friends who were killed by Muslims. We were not Americans living in New York, or Britons in London, we were Arab Christians living in Lebanon. [. . . . ]

If you want to understand the nature of the enemy we face, visualize a tapestry of snakes. They slither and they hiss, and they would eat each other alive, but they will unite in a hideous mass to achieve their common goal of imposing Islam on the world. This is the ugly face of the enemy we are fighting. [. . . . ]

I have talked with a Christian from Lebanon (Maronnite Christian) who knows what she went through. He lives in Montreal and he would concur.



A Dutch acquaintance of a friend who, despite receiving very good treatment in Holland for her physical problems, has moved from Holland to the US SouthWest provided him with an update on the situation she left.

[The] house she was occupying in Holland will now be given to a Muslim family - as, in the entire corner of subsidised housing, there are other Muslims and some Vietnamese. Looks like they all want to come to the West, live off the system but do not want to adapt to the host country's ways. I sense however that the West is beginning to see the picture and getting tired of it.

Is Mittal not the company which partnered with Tembec to take over the Nackawic Pulp and Paper Mill which had closed, shutting so many out of not just work, but their pensions?

Celebrities fly in for 'Big Fat Indian Wedding' Feb. 19, 06

The weekend wedding of Manhattan millionaire Vikram Chatwal and model Priya Sachdev has attracted guests from around the globe and the Indian news media has left no detail uncovered on the four-day extravaganza, the Times of India newspaper reported.

The groom is the son of Sant Singh Chatwal, an India-born U.S. citizen, whose family runs the Bombay Palace chain of restaurants in the United States and the Hampshire Hotels chain in New York City.

Spiritual guru Deepak Chopra, Rap star P. Diddy, Hollywood actor Harrison Ford and steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal are among the guests, along with Bollywood celebrities, industrialists and politicians.

A Hindu marriage ceremony Saturday - the bride is Hindu - was preceded by days of revelry, including spectacular theme parties at a 17th-century floating palace in a lake in Udaipur, in the northwestern Indian desert state Rajasthan. [. . . . ]

Search: Hindu marriage ceremony , traditional Sikh wedding , a major contributor to Clinton's Senate campaign.

I had heard of Lakshmi Mittal before so I searched Google: The billionaire steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, recently ranked the fifth richest man in Britain is expected to spend 54 Million US dollars for his daughter’s wedding.

I wonder if Wee Willie was able behave when confronted with such wealth and privilege, to say nothing of the beauty of the women assembled. Perhaps something in the way of loot bags, carefully chosen to suit the recipients, were provided for both Bill and Hillary. Is it considered politically incorrect to mention this?

THE DOUBLE STANDARD NEVER ENDS John Fund from the Journal's "Political Diary" posted on Chronicle of the Conspiracy, Don Luskin, Feb. 16, 06

Join us as we discover, document, expose and challenge the bad people, the bad institutions and the bad ideas that stand in the way of wealth creation -- and show you how to fight back!

The flap over Dick Cheney's shooting party ....Mr. Cheney has been pilloried in a way no previous vice president ever has, in no small part because he chose not to appear in public to express regret for the incident that injured his Texas friend.

Other major public figures have made the same mistake and not paid any political price at all. Take Hillary Clinton, who as a newly minted U.S. Senator couldn't have been bothered after a van carrying her to the Westchester County, N.Y. airport ran a police officer down and injured him. [.... ]

Victor Davis Hanson: Appeasement 101 via CanadianCoalition.org

It is easy to damn the 1930s appeasers of Hitler such as Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain in England and Edouard Daladier in France given what the Nazis ultimately did when unleashed. But history demands not merely recognizing the truth post facto, but also trying to reconstruct the rationale of something that now in hindsight seems inexplicable. [. . . . ]

More images of abuse at Abu GhraibAustralian TV airs new photos, videos from 2003 scandal Feb. 15, 06, CNN.com

[....] Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, said he thought the timing of the new report was "unnecessarily provocative" and "irresponsible." He said any photos from that time period "do not reflect what is happening at Abu Ghraib now." [....]

Also broadcast was video that appears to show a prisoner -- handcuffed to a metal door -- repeatedly slamming his head full force against the door. Though the guards appear to have videotaped the incident from several vantage points, no one is seen intervening to stop the prisoner.

The network said the man allegedly had mental problems and frequently covered himself in feces, but he was not given any psychiatric care. [....]

Search: a riot over living conditions

Does the military ordinarily provide psychiatric care?



Peter Svensson: Skype use may make eavesdropping passe AP Technology Writer, Feb. 17, 06

[....] Skype's 256-bit keys would take trillions of times longer to crack than 128-bit keys, which are themselves regarded as practically impossible to break by current means. [....]

Security experts are not completely convinced that Skype is as secure as it seems, because the company hasn't made its technology open to review. In the cryptographic community, opening software blueprints to outsiders who can point out errors is considered to be the safest way to go. Because of the complex mathematics involved, a properly designed cryptographic system can be unbreakable even if its method is known to outsiders.

[....] Kurt Sauer, Skype's chief security officer, said there are no "back doors" that could let a government bypass the encryption on a call. At the same time, he said Skype "cooperates fully with all lawful requests from relevant authorities." He would not give particulars on the type of support provided [....]

Greg Gazin: ReViewing Vonage & VTech VOIP Feb. 17, 06

VOIP, or Voice Over Internet Protocol, the ability to have your phone calls transmitted over the Internet instead of through a traditional phone system is gaining in popularity as the technology evolves and broadband or high-speed Internet access becomes so readily available. [. . . . ]

Every file you ever owned on 1 disc -- interesting

[. . . . ] Thomas predicted the need for mega storage systems in 1974, and he's still at it. In fact, as far as he's concerned, the need isn't diminishing - it's increasing.

The world needs storage capacity. Lots of capacity, he says - which not at all coincidentally also makes possible the development of hundreds of amazing systems.

And that's why he now runs a company called, appropriately, Colossal Storage. [http://colossalstorage.net/]

Imagine a computer with amazing processing power, a 3D display (literally, not figuratively) instant response, able to run every available OS and application at the same time, virtually no power consumption, zero moving parts and complete security - and whose physical component is about the size of a pack of playing cards. [. . . . ]

Advantage of Rewritable Atomic Holographic Optical Disk Drive Storage

Colossal Storage wants its 3D Volume Holographic Optical Storage to be an " ALL IN ONE " Storage Solution replacing Ram, Rom, DRAM, Ovonic, Flash, 2D Optical Drives, Tape Drives, and Hard Drives for " ALL IN ONE " complete system hardware storage requirements.