July 12, 2006: Potpourri

These are items I did not have time to post earlier.

Which would work with the "Dear Leader" ...

Diplomacy or a display of strength? Would the latter goad him? Would the former soothe him or convince him that he could get away with anything his ... demented little pea brain could devise?

White House Blasts Clinton N.Korea Policy

[....] White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters that Bill Richardson, who served as United Nations ambassador and Energy Secretary under Clinton, "went with flowers and chocolates, and he went with light-water nuclear reactors ... and a basketball signed by Michael Jordan and many other inducements for the 'dear leader' to try to agree not to develop nuclear weapons, and it failed."

Snow added, "We've learned from that mistake."

Jay Carson, a spokesman for the Clinton Foundation in New York City, responded, "This is a serious issue for global security, and it's unfortunate that the Bush administration's TV spinmaster is manufacturing excuses for North Korea's transgressions instead of looking at the last six years of inaction and the abandonment of diplomacy." [....]

Firms violated federal loan rules: audit
www.canada.com/cityguides/toronto/story.ht
ml?id=7f1ecbbf-084b-4768-b7d1-14a988c28242&k=70255

A government-commissioned audit released Monday indicates more than a third of the companies granted loans by the much-maligned Technology Partnerships Canada scheme violated the terms of the financing.

Arthur Dagenais, "Dad of RCMP shooting suspect", Curtis Alfred Dagenais, charged with obstruction


Military: Cpl. Boneca
cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/07/11/1679330-cp.html

Boneca died in a fierce battle with Taliban forces outside Kandahar City earlier this week. His family has criticized the nilitary [sic] saying it misled Boneca on the nature of his second tour of duty in the war-torn country. [....]

Slain soldier's commander speaks out -- Maj. Todd Strickland -- "all soldiers in battle become disillusioned at one time or another"
cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/07/11/1679369-cp.html



Gambling habit, I've heard ...

Halton Police arrested an ex-CIBC employee [Niraj Mathur of Burlington] this morning and charged him with theft of more than $100,000 from customer bank accounts. [....]

Suspect worked at bank in West Island
www.canada.com/montrealgazette/story.html?id=90
07f164-ed5a-40f7-8bc7-0eaef3ca4290&k=50506

A Concordia graduate suspected of planning a terrorist attack against the United States worked briefly for the National Bank in 2002 but was fired after he failed to provide a proper work permit, a bank official said yesterday. [....]

Mahmoud: RCMP released suspect in New York tunnel plot -- The RCMP questioned a suspect for a full day in the plot to bomb commuter tunnels between New York City and New Jersey, the Canadian Press reported Monday.
www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.ht
ml?id=8f9ce24f-32fb-4f9b-ba30-c39ce5b600d1&k=41949


Dozens killed as at least 7 explosions rock commuter trains in Mumbai
www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=c
45a38d5-6fcf-4251-95f4-5d15286a2c39&k=54172

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor had some harsh words and little sympathy on Monday following revelations the latest Canadian casualty in Afghanistan felt ''misled'' and wanted out of the mission.
www.canada.com/cityguides/toronto/story.ht
ml?id=2ccbf06c-1d4e-4001-af2b-baf7b878359e&k=71847

May he rest in peace and may his loved ones get over this without blackening the mission further. Did the young man think he was not going to a war zone? Many young people have been using the military either just as a job that appeared safe or to get a university education; they didn't seem to realize what a military actually does when called upon ... after years of Liberal bilge about peacekeeping only, not actual fighting. ... IMHO, military underfunding meant there was inadequate equipment so missions were fewer in number and scope than they might have been. The media parrotted the military as peacekeepers line and some people believed it.


Tories to give developers 15 days to compete for RCMP site -- Minto offer to move force into JDS building slipping off table Kathryn May, The Ottawa Citizen, July 10, 2006
www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.ht
ml?id=4f65225f-3035-4397-98cc-7ac22ce5ae52

The Harper government is expected as early as this week to ask developers if they can match a controversial offer from Minto Developments to house the RCMP.

After shelving Minto's offer to move the RCMP into the old JDS Uniphase headquarters last month, the government is planning to post the offer on its electronic bidding system for 15 business days to determine if anyone can "demonstrably" match or better it. [....]

Worth reading.



Smuggling trial may come to an abrupt end for lack of evidence Michael Kiefer, The Arizona Republic, Jul. 11, 2006, via newsbeat1
www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/
articles/0711conspiracy11.html

[....] Prosecutors and defense attorneys traded arguments Monday in the trial of a Mexican national accused of being a "coyote," or human smuggler, and two others accused of conspiring with him to enter the state illegally from Mexico.

The trial tests Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas' contention that the people being smuggled can be charged with conspiracy to commit human smuggling under Arizona's unique "coyote" law. [....]

Both alleged conspirators made incriminating statements to Border Patrol agents and Maricopa County sheriff's deputies at the scene of their arrests March 2.

But under court rules, for those statements to be admitted as evidence, there must be a body of evidence independent of the statements to show that a crime took place. [....]