Oct. 22, 2006: Various

Warning: "fox guarding the hen house"

Microsoft partners fume over Vista, Jordan Robertson, AP, Oct. 20, 06

cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/TechNews/BizTech/2006/10/20/2078565-ap.html

[....] As Vista’s planned release nears, the company is facing a backlash from such vendors as Symantec Corp. and McAfee Inc. [....]

Microsoft now competes directly with Cupertino-based Symantec and Santa Clara-based McAfee with its own product, called OneCare, posing a substantial threat to vendors who have been vital to protecting generations of Microsoft operating systems. [Do you really think, after various patches and upgrades necessary to fix security problems, you want to rely on MS only?]

European antitrust regulators have warned Microsoft ... $970 million over the current flavor of Windows.

... threatened antitrust lawsuits ...

Industry analysts said Microsoft’s new dual role could inadvertently make the operating system more vulnerable. [....]

Frankly, I don't want this power over my computer that Microsoft gains through its OS and the various embedded "necessities" or whatever the IE browser, the Messenger program, etc. are called........Time to think Linux.


MONTREAL (CP) - The federal Liberals' Quebec wing endorsed a resolution Saturday that the province is "a nation within Canada" - a concept the party has vigorously opposed for years., Oct. 22, 06

cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/10/21/2087591-cp.html

[....] Chief rivals Bob Rae and Stephane Dion opposed the motion, even though they said they have no problem considering Quebec a nation, sociologically speaking.

But they suggested that by endorsing the concept, and floating the idea of constitutional reform to enshrine it in law, Ignatieff is playing with fire. [....]

... Meech Lake accord ... "distinct society," ... .

There is mention of the past split in the Conservatives; however, the reasons are more complex than suggested. People are tired of the back-room lads making decisions, organizing support, and then, when the issue is presented, it becomes virtually a fait accompli, having had little input from the general membership / board. This may happen again if the Conservatives fail to rein in those who operate in such a manner.




We are biased, admit the stars of BBC News , Simon Walters, Oct. 21, 06, via newsbeat1

www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/
news.html?in_article_id=411846&in_page_id=1770

[....] It reveals that executives would let the Bible be thrown into a dustbin on a TV comedy show, but not the Koran, and that they would broadcast an interview with Osama Bin Laden if given the opportunity. Further, it discloses that the BBC's 'diversity tsar', wants Muslim women newsreaders to be allowed to wear veils when on air.

At the secret meeting in London last month, which was hosted by veteran broadcaster Sue Lawley, BBC executives admitted the corporation is dominated by homosexuals and people from ethnic minorities, deliberately promotes multiculturalism, is anti-American, anti-countryside and more sensitive to the feelings of Muslims than Christians. [....]

Does this shock you any more? By the way, has Mr. Rabinovitch sent the eagerly-awaited review of the CBC to the appropriate minister yet, or is it being kept under wraps still? Mr. Rabinovitch said he sent it ........ but it didn't arrive, it seems. Strange. Could it be Canada Post's fault ... and he didn't have a second copy? Is his printer broken? Does he not have email?


A Decima poll -- They didn't call me nor people I talk with., Jennifer Ditchburn, Oct. 20, 06

cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2006/10/20/2078775-cp.html

According to Decima, or is it a peculiar slant in the title (Female support for Tories dwindles), considering that this article is not just about women, women want what feminists want, apparently. That is not the case but news reporting using a title like this may be intended to push women in that direction ... to make it so. Maybe Decima was more popular with the former government and would like its return ... with lucrative contracts. Why don't they explain how they choose those who respond, where, the demographic they go after, et cetera. Maybe we would like to interpret for ourselves.

[....] A new poll suggests a chill has set in among some female voters toward the Conservative party, with the Liberals reaping the rewards. [....].

The Decima Research survey, released Friday to The Canadian Press [commissioned by? paid for by?], points to a decline in Tory support by women voters since mid-July. The Tories had led the Liberals among women since the January election, but that changed in late summer when the Liberals overtook them.

[....] The Decima Poll was conducted between October 12 and October 16. Results were based on a sample of 1,038 Canadians, with a margin of error of 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

'Lost boys' of polygamy tell their stories, Daphne Bramham, CanWest, Oct. 21, 06

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.ht
ml?id=e1b73a36-0eee-4669-b40a-63773dcb8f2d

VANCOUVER [....] It's usually older men who get second, third and sometimes more wives -- brides who are usually teenagers.

Left behind are angry, frustrated young men. Not only can they not choose their mates, they have been told that it's against Church rules to date or even socialize with girls their age.

A few lucky young men do get wives. But it can feel like entrapment. One day they wake up and are told they're marrying a stranger for "time and all eternity" in the words of the fundamentalist Mormon faith's marriage ceremony. [....]

STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION
October 20, 2006
Ottawa, Ontario


Prime Minister Stephen Harper today issued the following statement to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution:

"Fifty years ago, Hungarians rose up spontaneously against their communist government. Following the ensuing Soviet intervention, approximately 200,000 Hungarians fled the country. Canada responded quickly and welcomed almost 40,000 of those refugees.

"We must not take for granted the freedoms that so many Hungarians fought for then, and that so many people around the world have continued to fight for since. Today, we stand with all Hungarian-Canadians in remembering those who died and suffered in the revolution. Hopes may have been crushed in 1956, but they laid the groundwork for the final achievement of freedom three and a half decades later."



Star fails test on resignation story via newsbeat1, Oct. 21, 06

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=
thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=
1161381023837&call_pageid=970599109774&col=
Columnist1110798147005

[....] So when the publisher and editor of the Star resign, in an organized sequence of events, late in the afternoon of a dull Monday in October, that is not just news of coming and going. There has to be what journalists call "a back story" or a series of hidden events behind the public ones.

"As a long-time reader," wrote Della Golland, of Toronto, "why was there no editorial comment or even a letter to the editor, concerning your sudden change of publisher and editor-in-chief?

[....] This story was a test of the newspaper's ability to offer unbiased coverage. Trust will erode if readers think the paper treats itself more gently than everyone else.

In this instance, Della, I think the paper failed that test.

A brief exploration of how various newspapers handled, mishandled or avoided the obvious need for coverage of this change at a major news outlet ... which is one of the reasons the mainstream media are finding readers turning to other sources.




"Short-termism" , Russ Kuykendall, Burkean Canuck, September 23, 2006

burkeancanuck.blogspot.com/2006/09/short-termism.html

Jonathan Wellum delivered an address last week at Toronto's Royal York Hotel for his inaugural as a Senior Fellow of the Work Research Foundation entitled, "'Short-termism' and Some Significant Challenges to the Capital Markets." Mr. Wellum is Chief Investment Officer with AIC Limited, a mutual funds company. The abstract reads:

"Short-termism" in how we manage our money, our capital markets, and social policy holds long-term consequences for the viability of the Canadian economy and for the next generation of Canadians.

[....] In 1994, I came across some analysis from the federal Department of Finance cited in a report of the Auditor General of Canada that year that criticized "the disincentives to work" created by unemployment insurance, and by "welfare" programs funded, in part, by the Canada Assistance Plan. [....]

Worth reading.



Fallaci gifts pontifical school , the Anchoress, Captain's Quarters and The Anchoress Online.Oct. 21, 06

www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/008332.php

Forced to wear a chador while interviewing the Ayotollah Khomeini, Fallaci asked a more insolent question: “How do you swim in a chador?” Khomeini snapped, “Our customs are none of your business. If you do not like Islamic dress you are not obliged to wear it. Because Islamic dress is for good and proper young women.” Fallaci saw an opening, and charged in. “That’s very kind of you, Imam. And since you said so, I’m going to take off this stupid, medieval rag right now.” She yanked off her chador.

That the fierce, passionate and relentlessly cerebral Fallaci, a former resistance fighter against true fascists, is shunted aside and called a "fascist" by know-it-all collegiate bookstore clerks while feminist clowns rule the day is a sad reflection of our dumbed-down era and the devolution of genuine, "classically liberal" thought.

Links within:
www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060605fa_fact
theanchoressonline.com/2005/09/13/city-lights-redefines-fascism/
theanchoressonline.com/2006/09/15/oriana-and-rosie-two-women-of-the-left/



Oriana Fallaci -- "Atheist gifts pontifical school in will", Frances D'Emilio, AP, Oct 21, 06

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061021/ap_on_re_eu/
italy_atheist_pope;_ylt=Am8NwlEiSYNRSroK9Nw9DRhvaA8F

ROME - An Italian journalist and self-described atheist who died last month has left most of her books and notes to a pontifical university in Rome because of her admiration for Pope Benedict XVI, a school official said Saturday.

[....] In one of her final interviews, Fallaci told The Wall Street Journal: "I am an atheist, and if an atheist and a pope think the same things, there must be something true."

[....] After decades of conducting major interviews and covering wars as a correspondent for two of Italy's largest dailies, Fallaci concentrated her famous passion and energy in her last years on vehement attacks against a Muslim world she judged to be the enemy of Western civilization. [....]

Islamic Man Dons Burka to Flee London Anti-terror Police

www.forumsvibe.com/elwoodpdowd/view
topic.php?t=699&mforum=elwoodpdowd