May 3, 06: #1

Budget:

Among the reasons I liked this budget were that:

* It appealed to the ordinary middle class Canadian, for it contained items that would affect their lives

* It was delivered in plain language so the average Canadian could understand it; oh, what a relief

This morning, the first thing I saw in a list of Microsoft news was something about "appease", and I realized that the item was probably editorializing so I skipped it. Just now, I heard CBC, someone saying "same old trip but a different *** ?" from someone speaking for ACTRA who feels culture doesn't get enough money. Balderdash! Much money doled out in the past was used to pacify and to gain votes. There were other negative noises so I turned it off.

You may choose to listen to the mainstream media rip the budget to shreds or you may read it for yourself and form your own opinion. I choose to read it for myself. (More later)

You must remember this, CBC is no longer a credible news source. Listen or read online for the propaganda spin. Then think for yourself ... about the budget and much else.


CBC: Budget highlights

Last night, I noted that on CBC television, the one program I listened to where someone was interviewing (selected?) people to get their impressions on the budget, the responses were uniformly negative, so I listened to CBC no more. Maybe there was a positive spin somewhere but frankly, it is not worth my time to find what would be a needle in a haystack. CBC suffers from a lack of journalistic integrity ... too long in bed with the leftists, I suppose.


Check the Finance Ministry site:

"All HTML versions of Budget documents and associated graphics are also available on the Finance Canada FTP site as a single self-extracting archive (budget06.exe)."

CBC: Budget 2006 Focusing on Priorities




Typical: CBC “ball waxing” entertainment show The Nerve ordered to give up tapes -- Judge tears a strip off Tony Burman for lack of preparedness in his defence of "ball waxing" show Joel Johannsen, Feb 26, 2006, CBC Watch

[. . . . ] The Nerve is described in an April 2005 review of its own show as being "a dramatic change in the way we entertain young audiences." Joel Johannsen recently discovered about the show's content is clearly not news. It shares more in common with MTV’s Jackass than it does with actual news.

So why was Tony Burman in court to testify about "news" trust issues when a racy CBC teen entertainment show's footage was in question? [. . . . ]

Why is CBC News pretending The Nerve is a news program? [. . . . ]

Search: a "veneer of trust" , teen targeted show




A Messy Triumph for Democracy -- Despite all the odds, a new leader emerges in Norway House. h/t small dead animals

In Brief:

* Norway House Cree Nation’s election campaign for a new Chief was a dirty contest.

* The established leadership tried buying votes and intimidation in a desperate bid to hold on to power.

* Despite the corruption, dissident band councillor Marcel Balfour carried the vote.

* His long campaign for transparency and accountability has a chance to succeed. [. . . . ]

Search: “Band members have been coming out of the office all day with money!”

There is a detailed account here of the struggle.



Gangs claim their turf in Iraq Frank Main, file:iraq2, May 1, 2006, Chicago Sun Times

The Gangster Disciples, Latin Kings and Vice Lords were born decades ago in Chicago's most violent neighborhoods. Now, their gang graffiti is showing up 6,400 miles away in one of the world's most dangerous neighborhoods -- Iraq.

Armored vehicles, concrete barricades and bathroom walls all have served as canvasses for their spray-painted gang art. At Camp Cedar II, about 185 miles southeast of Baghdad, a guard shack was recently defaced with "GDN" for Gangster Disciple Nation, along with the gang's six-pointed star and the word "Chitown," a soldier who photographed it said.

The graffiti, captured on film by an Army Reservist and provided to the Chicago Sun-Times, highlights increasing gang activity in the Army in the United States and overseas, some experts say. [...]

This is scary. It is another reason Canada needs to upgrade its security and policing.



Helene van Dijk: wildlife photos

There are many more -- so pacific.
waterfowl-1
waterfowl-2
waterfowl-3



Column One: The fateful hour has arrived -- Link leads to this Apr. 13, 06

This week Iran presented the US with the ultimate challenge and Washington must now make a decision. Is it fighting to win?

[....] Iraq's arsenal of weapons of mass destruction was not captured by US forces who heroically brought down Saddam Hussein's regime three years ago this week. It vanished before they arrived.

Israeli intelligence reported before the US-led invasion that starting in late summer 2002 Saddam's WMD arsenal was shipped by truck convoy to Syria. Recently, documents seized from Iraq after the fall of the regime were released to the public. Those documents revealed that under the direct command of former Russian prime minister and KGB boss Yevgeny Primakov, Russian Spetnaz forces oversaw the transfer of Iraq's WMD to Syria ahead of the US-led invasion. These reports have been corroborated by Saddam's Air Vice Marshall General Georges Sada.

So rather than being destroyed or secured, Saddam's WMD arsenal was simply moved from one rogue regime with intimate ties to terror organizations to another rogue regime with intimate ties to terror organizations. [. . . . ]

America cannot, and it will not accomplish any of these goals if it continues to abide by strategies and frameworks that serve only to strengthen its enemies and permit its "allies" to behave perfidiously. It cannot and will not defend the world from evil, demonic regimes like Iran's if it continues to allow the likes of the EU, Russia, Egypt and China to undercut its will at every turn. [. . . . ]

Why? -- Veterans -- Burma Star

Worthington: Burma campaign ignored May 1, 06

[....] Burma vets -- mostly RCAF -- have always been forgotten, not only by the public, but by the media, Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), and now by the new Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. [....]

Adams says a "real shocker" was VAC's packet of brochures sent to all high schools, declaring "May 8, 1945, to be the end of the Second World War." [I would bet this will change during the mandate of this new conservative government.]

Says Adams: "No atomic bomb, no war with Japan and, of course, no mention of the Burma vets." [....]

Why? Would it be cynical to suggest ... business interests ... in Asia ... yes, of course, too cynical.




Comment after "Osama bin kodak" -- a Memory Lane moment with Paul Martin meeting Moammar Gaddafi in Tripoli -- "Martin, Gaddafi meet" posted by maz2, based on this which leads to this Dec. 20, 2004

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said he "put the cards on the table" about such issues as respecting human rights during two meetings Sunday with Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafi in Tripoli.

[....] Mr. Martin described the dictator as a man with a profound sense of history, "who understands that with the changing world, abuse of human rights cannot continue.'

While Col. Gaddafi made an extreme about-face a year ago by renouncing support for terrorism and abandoning his program for weapons of mass destruction, outward signs of the old regime remain.

[....] Mr. McTeague said privacy concerns kept Canadian officials from identifying which specific cases were raised Col. Gaddafi and Libyan officials, but it's thought that about a half-dozen cases interest Mr. Martin.

[....] The Prime Minister also lobbied for increased Canadian business dealings with Libya. He defended the move, saying trade generally opens doors to greater respect for human rights.

Mr. Martin, who cut short his visit by one day so he can attend Monday's funeral for Liberal MP Lawrence O'Brien in Goose Bay, Labrador, also attended a ceremony at which SNC Lavalin signed a $1-billion memorandum of understanding on further work for the Great Man Made River project.

The reason for the visit? Human rights or SNC Lavalin and $1-billion business? ... Obviously human rights.

Where is Paul Martin? Is he in the House? He is the MP for a Montreal riding.