May 24, 2006: #1

Update: A quote from "May 20, 2006: #1 Updated -&- May 23, 06 East Coast Development Links"

"According to the reports, Jews were to wear yellow cloth strips, called zonnar, while Christians were to wear red and Zoroastrians blue."

AMIR TAHERI ADDRESSES QUERIES ABOUT DRESS CODE STORY by Amir Taheri, Benador Associates, May 22, 2006

As far as my article is concerned I stand by it.

The law has been passed by the Islamic Majlis and will now be submitted to the Council of Guardians. A committee has been appointed to work out the modalities of implementation.

Does the Black SUV intimidate lazy journalists who could be investigating where Canadians' tax money went under previous Liberal administrations, instead of delivering this kind of drive-by smear of PM Harper, likening him to Pres. Bush which is viewed by the left as negative? By Tim Naumetz, CanWest, Ottawa, May 22, 06. h/t smalldeadanimals

Journalists might want look inward also to see why Conservatives are ignoring mainstream media opinion passed off as news. We can get the facts from the Conservative website. We need journalists to investigate and do a balanced analysis, not just regurgitate left/Lib/NDP opinions and leftist activsts' (hardly unbiased) opinions passed off as news. Give us the political connections of these activists. Another example: We need analysis of the implications of a TD Bank gift to St. John delivered by Frank McKenna, instead of glee at the gesture. Was it to garner votes in the East for Frank/Liberals? ... No-one does something like this which includes a politician making the announcement without hope of advantage or some reward ... or has the advantage already been won? Readers need journalistic investigation, not the pap that passes for news in the East and, as Small Dead Animals termed it, the petulance of the above news item. There are some excellent comments on the media on Kate's site, www.smalldeadanimals.com Look Who's Being Petulant Now? May 23, 2006.
Comments: scroll for Lorraine.

Last week at the Liberal caucus meeting they had to ban blackberries and cell phones when one of the Liberals was caught blackberrying Bob Fife on speed dial DURING the meeting to give him a leak.

The Harper government have said they are trying to prevent leaks as it is not fair to all of the other media outlets and Canadians should all get the information at the same time. [. . . . ]

Unfortunately, the media/Lib culprits wouldn't recognize fairness if it kicked them in the keester.



Journalists doing whose bidding? Who is the one mentioned here with the power to order the others about?..."The press gallery president then turned to his colleagues and suggested they leave." -- "Journalists boycott Harper news conference" by Alexander Panetta

Are these ordered about journalists the sheep who are to analyze events for us?

[....] Harper was holding similarly expansive news conferences in Ottawa until the press gallery began setting up its own microphones at Harper events and lined up to ask questions.

Harper aides note that during election campaigns, former prime minister Paul Martin's staff also selected questioners from a list they controlled. [But that was a Liberal selection ...... and therein lies the difference.] [....]

Sheila Copps writes of Minister Rona Ambrose and Kyoto May 24, 06

Memory Lane: Copps and taxpayer money ... I have to ask whether the Liberals' lies about Kyoto and Copps' ridiculous statement below are what have diminished Canada's credibility. Under the Liberals Canada's record on greenhouse gas emissions became even worse. Liberals, as was their wont, lied (perhaps by omission and misstatements) about it. Copps writes: "By ignoring Kyoto, Harper diminishes Canadian credibility and makes our environmental record a target of ridicule." No, Sheila, the Liberals were and are the problem.

Recently, I talked with a good acquaintance who is a Liberal, about getting the decent friends in her circle involved in rebuilding the Liberal party and providing it with honourable and active members. We need incorruptible politicians and a sense of statesmanship in both major political parties in Canada, not more of what the past many years have brought from a dissolute Liberal party too long at the taxpayer trough.

Memory Lane for Sheila's credibility: link from News Junkie Canada, Sept. 19, 03 -- scroll to:

Charles Boyer, big spender, National Post, Sept. 19, 03. "Charles Boyer, a former aide to Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, expensed about $31,000 worth of restaurant tabs between 2001 and 2003"

And, while on that webpage, check ‘Circumpolar’ trek waste of $1-million : Diane Francis takes the GG to task over her extravagance. Financial Post, Sept. 19, 03 Was the concern for environment and the polar regions not a component of the purpose for that tour?



Immigration

Mark Helprin: The Unvarnished Immigration Debate May 21, 2006; Page B07. h/t smalldeadanimals.com

[....] Of the many millions of illegal crossings only a handful are made by people of even suspect origin, and therefore the borders should remain porous. Apart from the non sequitur, this takes no account of the fact that terrorists by the handful are effective; that if one border is open, traffic blocked at the others will flow to it; and that if a nation hasn't the will to control its frontiers, and thereby disestablishes them, its sovereignty will deflate.

[....] To what extent is economic advantage sufficient to justify the consequences of the evolving common-law marriage with the countries and cultures of Latin America? [....]

Note: Scroll down this post News Junkie Canada, Sept. 19, 03 for the following:

[Immigration] Why Does “fairness, openness and flexibility” Mean Lower Immigration Standards, Mr. Coderre?

Note: There are two articles in this section both concerning immigration. The second, below, concerns U.S. links Toronto group to bin Laden: Runs Islamic youth camps.

Federal government easing entry rules for immigrants, Sept. 19, 03, CP

OTTAWA (CP) - The federal government is easing the rules for immigrants to enter Canada, ending a long-standing grievance by thousands of applicants.

China finishes dam 13 years in the making -- Three Gorges is largest of its kind Peter Goodspeed, National Post, May 23, 2006

The $25-billion hydro-electric project ....

Environmentalists say the dam will disrupt the world's third- largest river; drown 32,000 hectares of precious farmland; destroy valuable fish stocks; threaten endangered animals; ruin hundreds of archaeological treasurers; and create an environmental time bomb by triggering catastrophic landslides and earthquakes.

When the Canadian feasibility study, which was conducted by a consortium of five Canadian companies, including B.C. Hydro and Hydro Quebec, gave the project an international stamp of approval, the Toronto-based environmental activist group Probe International described the CIDA study as "expert prostitution paid for by Canadian taxpayers." [. . . . ]

Worth reading. CIDA? (Maurice Strong started CIDA.) The problem for Canadians is that, with so much political pork involved when government gets involved in business--in just about everything--the poor taxpayers do not know where the truth lies. We need openness and accountability ...... Think of the sale of nuclear reactors to India and Pakistan (Remember Khan?) there is more.



See what I mean? Sue Montgomery: Guite jury hears of limitless funds CanWest, May 24, 2006

Montreal The federal Liberal government was pouring money into the sponsorship program well before the post-referendum plan to plaster the Canadian flag all over Quebec got underway, the fraud trial of former bureaucrat Charles Guite heard yesterday. "The sky's the limit," Huguette Tremblay, the woman in charge of the program budget, scribbled on a Sept. 14, 1995, preliminary list of events to be sponsored. "Heh, well, we're now floating in orbit." [....]

Ottawa may host Bilderberg -- "OTTAWA - The meetings of a secretive global think-tank would bring 100 of the world's most powerful and influential figures to Ottawa next ...." CanWest, May 24, 06



Canada's Commitment in Afghanistan -- The ex-Min. of National Defense, who is now Opposition critic for defense, Liberal Bill Graham supported the mission. Check how your own MP voted. Very interesting from the gang that sent the troops over.



Kathleen Harris: Former Quebec shock jock Andre Arthur says he's "impressed" with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and hinted he'd consider joining the Conservative benches



Prime Minister announces humanitarian aid and support for peace in Sudan
May 23, 2006
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced that Canada, following the recent signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement, will increase its financial support for both urgently needed humanitarian assistance and peace support.

The Prime Minister was joined by Minister of International Cooperation Josée Verner, and Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the announcement.

“Canada will act. And I am here today to announce how,” said the Prime Minister. “Our government will pursue a two-pronged approach, splitting our efforts between the provision of humanitarian aid and peace support assistance. Combined, these efforts will help to normalize and stabilize the region, the first step necessary if the peace process is to succeed.”

Canada is immediately increasing financial support for Sudan by $40 million. Of that amount, $20 million will be used for urgent humanitarian needs, such as the provision of food aid, water and sanitation, basic health care, the protection of, and assistance to, displaced populations in Sudan and in neighbouring countries. Partners will include key UN humanitarian agencies, the Red Cross Movement, as well as Canadian NGOs. [....]