Sept. 30, 2006: Various

`RCMP is his whole life' -- Commissioner Zaccardelli known as proud, ambitious officer , Francine Kopun, Sep. 29, 2006. 01:00 AM

www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=
thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=
971358637177&c=Article&cid=1159480211378

[....] "He is, I know from speaking to him, terribly sorry for the mistakes that were made and he's hurting because of the damage it is doing to the RCMP as an institution," says [Norman] Inkster.

Even if Zaccardelli is eventually forced to resign, it won't solve the problems within the RCMP, says Paul Palango, an investigative journalist and author of two books on the Mounties.

The problems with the force are historic and pervasive, and nothing less than a fundamental change in the way the organization is structured will change that.

He says the police force, charged with enforcing municipal, provincial and federal laws across Canada, in addition to counterterrorism and security work, is underfunded, understaffed and overly bureaucratic. [....]

Complimentary toward Commissioner Zaccardelli from several people.

Paul Palango: The Last Guardians: the Crisis in the Rcmp - and Canada, ISBN: 0771069065 , published 1998, Amazon.ca

www.amazon.ca/Last-Guardians-Crisis-Rcmp-Canada/dp/0771069065

Paul Palango also wrote: Above the Law , ISBN: 0771069294 - April 1 1994

www.amazon.ca/Above-Law-Paul-Palango/dp/
0771069294/sr=1-4/qid=1159623733/
ref=sr_1_4/702-7104309-2678447?ie=UTF8&s=books




International project to explore Arctic for new energy source -- $45M research aims to harvest gas hydrates , Margaret Munro, CanWest, September 30, 2006

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.ht
ml?id=a3b458e8-c613-45a5-a9c7-3fc2fc17e1c6

An international team plans to head to the Canadian Arctic this winter to tap into a tantalizing new source of energy thought to exceed all the oil, conventional gas and coal reserves in the world.

The $45-million project, funded largely by the Japanese, will explore ways to harvest the frozen fuel known as gas hydrates, which look like ice but burn with a flame when ignited. [....]

Search: Mallik , Mackenzie Delta



Stephen LeDrew

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/toronto/story.ht
ml?id=155eea04-23f7-46d2-a288-00f352202831

[....] past financial woes, which include the tardy payment of more than $300,000 in income tax.

... the closing of his law firm and eventual bankruptcy took.

Mr. LeDrew was emphatic he had not declared bankruptcy, but rather had been forced into it when his repayment terms were refused.

"I wear it as a badge of honour, I wasn't proud to be pushed into bankruptcy, I was proud for the positions I took," he said.

Some political observers wonder if Mr. LeDrew was unfairly hounded by the Canada Revenue Agency, since some business partners at the now-defunct Morris, Rose, Ledgett LLP were able to make arrangements for the repayment of their debts. [....]

Islamic militants in our midst -- The Jihad is alive and well in North American cities.... , Posted by Michael on 00:09:12 2006/09/30

canadiancoalition.com/forum/messages/19172.shtml

Jihadniks training in North America -- video

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjZ329oaF3U



China and the Middle East: A New Patron of Regional Instability , by Ji Hye Shin and John J. Tkacik, Jr. , Backgrounder #1974. Posted by The Heritage Foundation on 11:06:17 2006/09/29

canadiancoalition.com/forum/messages/19164.shtml

Ji Hye Shin is a Research Assistant and John J. Tkacik, Jr., is Senior Research Fellow in China, Taiwan, and Mongolia Policy in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation.

The People's Republic of China (PRC) is a relative newcomer to Middle East geopolitics and, as far as U.S. interests are concerned, not a very welcome one. Home to the world's largest oil and gas reserves and one of the world's most volatile areas of conflict, the Middle East presents the Chinese leadership with vast opportunities to fulfill its growing energy needs and to profit from massive weapons sales to oil-rich regimes, regardless of the effect on regional stability.

China's undiscriminating and opulent oil and gas transactions with Iran's radical leaders, for example, seem to include the fringe benefit of providing them with Beijing's diplomatic shield for their nuclear ambitions. China has also prevented the United Nations from seriously addressing Syria's refusal to cooperate with the U.N.'s investigations into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The PRC's empathy for state sponsors of terrorism and terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah and its cynical manipulation of Kurdish politics to leverage Turkey are just a few warning signs that Beijing's intentions in the region are not benign. The most troubling aspect of China's increas­ing presence in the Middle East is Beijing's continued endeavors to strengthen its diplomatic, economic, and military ties with Iran. Moreover, China's support for regional dictators could severely impede efforts by the U.S. and Europe to help their Arab partners with political, economic, and educational reforms and to encourage peace efforts. [....]

Search: "Rather than opposing Iran's nuclear program, China has instead actively assisted it."

This is lengthy and detailed -- worth reading.




Russia and Georgia trade threats as spying row spirals out of control -- Moscow is accused of sabre-rattling after it alerts troops on border and evacuates embassy, Tony Halpin, TimesOnline -- via starboardside, Forum, Sept. 30, 06

www.forumsvibe.com/elwoodpdowd/view
topic.php?t=437&mforum=elwoodpdowd

www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2381887,00.html

RUSSIA and Georgia accused each other of preparing for war last night as a spying row threatened a breakdown in relations between the two countries.

On a day of escalating tensions, Russia recalled its ambassador and sent aircraft to Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, to evacuate 84 diplomats and their families.

Georgia accused Moscow of sabre-rattling in response to the arrest of four Russian army officers for alleged espionage on Wednesday. A court in Tbilisi ordered the men to be detained for two months on spying charges last night, along with seven Georgians accused of treason.

Russia has called the accusations groundless and demanded their immediate release. Mikhail Saakashvili, the Georgian President, said Russia was reacting hysterically and described the airlift of diplomats as a propagandist gesture. [....]

Georgia has a troubled history with Russia. Subjugated for a century, it gained independence between the wars only to be subsumed into the Soviet Union

Its most famous son, Stalin, is still revered by many who flock to visit his birthplace, Gori [....]

I Did Not Have Sex With That Nomad, Osama Bin Laden , Ann Coulter, Sept. 27, 06

www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=17265

[...] Clinton shouted so many lies during his televised meltdown, only the World Wide Web can capture them all. These are just a few.

Clinton yelled at Wallace: "What did I do? What did I do? I worked hard to try to kill him. I authorized a finding for the CIA to kill him. We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody has gotten since."

This is so crazy it's worthy of an Air America caller. Clinton has consistently misrepresented the presidential directive about political assassinations. Clinton did not order bin Laden assassinated. He did not even lift the ban on intelligence agencies attempting to assassinate bin Laden.

What he did was lift the ban on political assassinations -- provided that assassinating bin Laden was not the purpose of the mission. So if U.S. forces were engaged in an operation to capture bin Laden, but accidentally killed him, they would not be court-martialed. [....]

Debunking the Homework Controversy, Greg Franke, Sept. 29, 06

www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=17283

Mr. Franke is a freelance writer in Portage, Ohio, a former military linguist in psychological operations, specializing in Russian, and is presently working on a book project detailing the Cold War-era hockey rivalry between Canada and the Soviet Union.

[....] Somewhere out there—perhaps in the education department of the University of La-La Land—this latest piece of inspiration was divined: Homework is bad.

In a top contender for the title of most muddleheaded gobbledygook ever committed to paper, someone named Alfie Kohn has written something called “The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing.”

In a recent Education Week article promoting this bilge (with the laughably ironic title of “The Truth About Homework”), [....]

Kohn casually dismisses the obvious non-academic benefits of homework such as developing good work habits, self-discipline, and positive character traits as merely an “urban myth”—even though fellow homework basher professor Harris Cooper of Duke University (grudgingly) acknowledged those benefits. [....]

... “whole language’ is a disaster that has produced an alarming number of functional illiterates. [....]

Iran & Stoning the victim

Save Malak Ghorbany from stoning

savemalak.googlepages.com/home

Watch Execution of a teenage girl

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHqnSe3EqpA

September 26: Malak Ghorbany denies that she was engaged in adultery, and says that she was instead raped. [....]

Once again, another Iranian woman has been sentenced to death by the barbaric practice of public stoning. On June 28, 2006, a court in the northwestern Iranian city of Urmia sentenced Malak Ghorbany to death for committing "adultery." Under Iran's Penal Code, the term "adultery" is used to describe any intimate or sexual act between a man and a girl/woman who are not married. The crime of adultery is also used in cases where a girl is deemed to have committed "acts incompatible with chastity," which includes instances of rape. The punishment for "adultery" is death.

On the day of her punishment, the woman's hands are tied behind her back as she becomes covered from head to toe in winding sheets and is placed seated in a pit. The pit is then filled up to her chest with dirt and the dirt is tamped down. At that point, members of the community are invited to murder her by hurling rocks at her. However, to ensure that the condemned woman/girl receives the absolute maximum amount of pain and torture, the Iranian government has even mandated the size of the stones that are to be used in this barbaric act of public execution. By law, the stones must not be too small as to prevent ultimate death, nor must they be too large that they could cause the girl's death "too soon."

The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights of Iranian Kurdistan has issued a statement to save the life of Malak Ghorbany, and I have initiated a petition, directed to members of the United Nations, Amnesty International, the ruling clerics in Iran, and various other organizations and entities around the world to oppose Malak's barbaric sentence. I need you to help me save Malak's life, as we did with the 17 year old Nazanin, by signing this petition and raising as much awareness as possible to her case. Without significant international pressure and expressions of outrage at the atrocities committed by the Isalmic regime, Iranians will continue to be subjected to medieval practices that violate the most basic rights of humans.

I thank you for your support, friendship, and kindness, and I look forward to a day when no woman is abused, tortured, or murdered simply because of her gender.
Fondly,

Lily Mazahery

The direct link to Saving Malak's Life is:

www.petitiononline.com/Malak/petition.html [....]

Say hello to new communication twists , May Wong, AP, Sept.25, 06

cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/TechNews/TechAtHome/
2006/09/25/1894304-ap.html

(AP) - Instant messages. Text messages. E-mail. Voicemail. Blogs. Online social networks. And the good ol’ cell phone. If you thought there were enough ways to communicate with others and express yourself, think again.

... DEMOfall 2006 conference in San Diego ...

[....] A new voice-messaging service to be introduced Monday by Pinger Inc. takes advantage of improved connections to zap voice messages between cell phones and PCs. ....

Instead, you could pick up a phone, talk and send the voice message to your friends’ e-mail or cell phone text-message inboxes. You could even post the audio message, or “pinger,” as a comment on their MySpace.com personal Web page.

Recipients then listen to your voice rather than read your words.

Shaking the foundations -- As they retire, Boomers are once again sending ripples through Canada's real estate landscape , Jacqueline Thorpe, Financial Post, September 30, 2006

www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.ht
ml?id=a6eb7f8f-3692-457c-9a66-24af1e91e7a7

[....] "The best evidence we have is that people buy their biggest and best houses at exactly the moment their housing needs appear to be declining," says Mr. Mirton at U of T. "The argument is a simple one: the demand for housing is primarily driven by wealth accumulation and not by space needs." [....]

Search: adult lifestyle communities , community for low-income seniors



Guarding the family jewel -- The exit of John Lederer -- re: Loblaws and the Westons , Theresa Tedesco, Financial Post, September 30, 2006

www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.ht
ml?id=3687703b-f206-4f7c-aa5f-dfdd199610f6

[....] According to sources familiar with events, the obsessively hard-working president stood firm. Although Mr. Lederer acknowledged that he'd made some significant mistakes, his strategy of taming Loblaw's high-cost structure and inefficient processes was the right one to prepare the giant food retailer to compete against Wal-Mart.

[....] On Sept. 20, Loblaw announced a major management shakeup that included the departure of Mr. Lederer as president and the board of directors by "mutual agreement." He was replaced by a trio, led by Mr. Weston Jr., who was appointed to the new position of executive chairman of Loblaw, responsible for retail operations, the President's Choice banking unit, real estate and labour relations. [....]

Search: WalMart , Allan Leighton , Asda Group PLC , "general merchandise, like patio furniture, barbecues and televisions, as well as produce, fruits and vegetables" , "Loblaw, Provigo, Fortino's, No Frills and Real Canadian Superstore"