Oct. 25, 2006: Various

Under-reported story and details

Yesterday, I waited for it, but the CBC did not mention this and I listened to TV most of the afternoon. Have the rest of the MSM mentioned this story ... repeatedly ... as happens with the concern over: security certificate / anti-terror law , Momin Kawaja , Maher Arar, doggy-gate, same-sex marriage, emphasis upon US failure in Iraq? ... I heard anything but this story.

More sponsorship scandal charges possible , author contends in new book: Hubert Bauch, CanWest News Service, October 24, 2006

www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=382fb7ad-9f53-4336-9723-1ddd017dc322&k=75304

I mentioned this book previously, but this has more background for those who have forgotten ... and not been reminded by the mainstream media, particularly TV.

[....] The MaChouette in the title is the code name used by a well-connected source who fed Leblanc key information on the sponsorship program in the course of a journalistic investigation that first brought the scandal to light. Leblanc later learned her real name, but does not disclose it.

Leblanc quotes his source as saying numerous guilty parties have escaped prosecution or scrutiny, and that some are laughing up their sleeves with illicit millions lining their pockets.

... $250-million program ... Jean Chretien

... $100 million ... links to the federal Liberal party ... padded their bills or simply submitted fictitious invoices ...

... more than $1 million was kicked back to the Quebec wing of the federal Liberal party ...

[....] Leblanc reports that the RCMP had Morselli, a close associate of former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano, under investigation for an unrelated (and unspecified) matter even before the sponsorship investigation began, and that a wiretap on Morselli's phone at the time revealed he accepted a $100,000 offer from Brault to steer him a federal contract for his Groupaction ad firm.

... Morselli, ... his death ''disappointed a lot of people at the RCMP.''

... a paid informer, a former Groupaction employee identified only as X, ... $1,500 and $3,000 a month ... three years.

Panamanians vote to expand famous canal to spur growth, National Post, Oct. 23, 06

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=
2d99877a-168a-4d20-a2f2-c6544bd33486

This has implications and ramifications in various areas, I expect. What company is checking the cargo at either end of the ports? Li Ka-shing's company (Hutchison Whampoa or another of his companies) controls both ports but which company is tasked with checking what is shipped via the canal? What are the implications of that? Think of China's connections to Latin America for oil and to Hugo Chavez, in particular. What is being planned? Also, China is courting more Latin American leftists. Minerals? Influence? Check further into the implications of this vital canal controlled out of Asia. ... Or is it the Barbados? Is the Dubai-based company which bought out the P & O and which is charged with security checks at several ports also tasked with security for the Panama Canal Ports? What are the implications for flora and fauna in enlarging the canal? -- a mixing of Pacific Ocean and Caribbean waters. What are the related problems, if any? Who would make the decisions on any of this? ...



There has been great concern over decorum in the House, by CBC and from Layton and others, concern which did not surface a year ago in outraged comments for TV over the ridiculous answers given in Hansard and I don't remember such a furor over the yelling free for alls, catcalls, swearing (if any), etc. Yesterday on CBC there were audios repeated ... and repeated, of two insults both emanating from the right wing--naturally--of the political spectrum, one from a Reformer out of the West (Darryl Stinson?). It seems that NDP'ers and Liberals never act like barroom hooligans ... or never were caught so their words could be replayed ... or the tapes were lost or damaged ... or they never, ever said anything that would bring the decorum of Parliament into disrepute. Balderdash!

Related: Earl Mcrae-........Dissing knitters, Oct. 24, 06, via newsbeat1

www.ottawasun.com/News/Columnists/McRae_Earl
/2006/10/24/2114353-sun.html

Perfect example!

Exhibit A of why the public holds politicians in low esteem

For about $140,000/yr/MP this is the best they can do for the nation's business......

Campus Jihad , Anthony Glees, Oct. 23, 06. Page A15

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB116155302363600240-lMyQjAxMDE2NjIxMzUyNTMzWj.html

Mr. Glees is director for the Brunel Center for Intelligence and Security Studies.

LONDON -- U.K. intelligence officials have just provided a chilling assessment of the terrorist threat Britain faces. The country has become "al Qaeda target No. 1," security sources told me, confirming last week's press reports. Intelligence services now judge Britain's "home grown" terrorists to be organized, trained and controlled either directly from Pakistan or via Pakistani networks in Britain.

[....] MI5 has hugely upped its game, as recent arrests show. But MI5 also believes that the number of extremists is rising and not just because it now knows better where to look for them. MI5 keeps very close tabs on more than 1,000 extremists; 14,000 British Muslims are considered potential terrorist threats, security sources told me.

[....] Government minister Ruth Kelly two weeks ago urged universities to monitor their students more carefully and report signs of extremism to the security services. But many British universities are reluctant to step up security.

But British universities prefer burying their heads in the sand of political correctness. When the Foreign Office invited 100 academics to bid for £1.3 million of government funds to participate in a counter-radicalization program, the academics said no. [....]

The enemy of our enemy , National Post, Oct. 23, 06

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/editorialsletters
/story.html?id=2f2877dc-1faa-4c6b-ae25-a28763ec9fba

[....] Speaking on the anniversary of the revelation of the Koran to the Prophet Muhammad, Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak made various boilerplate comments about how the West had "wrong perceptions" about Islam, which he said was under "ferocious attack."

But then, Mr. Mubarak took things in another direction. "Don't we Muslims share part of the responsibility for the wrong perceptions about Islam?" he asked pointedly. "Have we done our duty in correcting the image of Islam and Muslims? ... Isn't it the time for a new religious discourse, which teaches people the correct things in their religion ... and promotes the values of tolerance against those of extremism and radicalism?" [....]

Search: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad .... "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" , Gaza , Lebanon , Hezbollah terrorists , Iraq's democratic government , Only in Afghanistan , "Ahmadinejads, Nasrallahs and bin Ladens"




Italian imam calls lawmaker 'an infidel' during televised debate -- An Italian politician will be put under police protection after a fundamentalist imam shouted at her during a televised debate on the Islamic veil, National Post, Oct. 23, 06

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=
a4ee1e06-076c-4821-a4f3-24ab7410f0d1

or
www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=
a70fbbe9-c322-4df4-b429-4d4d84c218c5

[....] The lawmaker said the veil was not required by the Koran, but she was strongly contradicted by Ali Abu Shwaima, imam of the Segrate Mosque near Milan, in a live broadcast on Friday on the private channel Sky. "It is not true. I will not allow the ignorant to talk about Islam," the imam said. "The veil is an obligation required by God. Those who do not believe that are not Muslims," he added before calling the deputy "an infidel," [....]

Search elsewhere for the book on the living conditions of Muslim women called Woman Denied by Daniela Santanche.



Howls over highball hijinks -- Banff questions happy hour culture after bar brawl turns into near-riot -- How a sense of community helped the police, Adrian Humphries, NatPost, Oct. 23, 06

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=
de85612d-dfde-4091-93cf-76f05a3781fb&p=2

[....] Ms. Boutilier Gerrie said the behaviour of the crowd was shocking but the response from her neighbours was not.

"I've lived here for 35 years and I can't begin to tell you what a wonderful sense of community we have. Most people would say they are your competitors. They're not. We are all part of the same community," she said.

By early Wednesday morning, the incident was over. Police had arrested six men and two women. All are from Quebec but for one, who is from France. They face 31 charges [....]

It was competitors and members of the community who helped the police. Good show!




Numbers don't lie, Lorne Gunter, National Post, Oct. 23, 06

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas
/story.html?id=9b059e9a-7f95-48bb-8017-9d9de5b2c4c1



No Islamic Law in Minnesota, for Now , by Daniel Pipes, FrontPageMagazine.com , October 16, 2006

A week ago, it appeared likely that Muslim taxi drivers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport would win special dispensation to avoid transporting alcohol-carrying passengers. The Metropolitan Airports Commission had proposed to give those Shar'i-minded drivers an off-colored light atop their cabs, allowing them to remain in queue while customers with bottles found other cabs.
[.... opposition, Australia and England , backlash , 400 e-mails and phone calls.]

[....] The Free Muslims Coalition announced it is "disgusted" by the Muslim drivers' behavior, on two grounds:

[....] For now, taxi drivers who refuse fares so as to avoid transporting alcohol will continue, as has been the case, to forfeit their place in the airport taxi queue and must return to the back of the line, in keeping with a MAC ordinance. But the Free Muslims Coalition correctly argues that this does not suffice. Cab drivers who discriminate against passengers with bottles of alcohol, it holds, "should be banned altogether from picking up passengers at the airport" and their hack permits should be cancelled.

Exactly. Islamists need to understand that the Constitution rules in the United States, not Shari'a, and Americans will vigorously ensure that it continues to do so. [....]

The making of a negative image
By tethering Stephen Harper too tightly to the political thinkers with whom he's studied or worked, pundits have projected simplistic -- and often incorrect -- analyses on his ideas, Robert Sibley argues , Robert Sibley, The Ottawa Citizen, February 05, 2006 (Part 1 of 4)

www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=
34caafb3-e86e-4838-a603-b9e3ed3937d4&p=1

Worth reading.



Known by the friends he keeps

For a seat on the U.N. Security Council, now Hugo Chavez is promoting Bolivia, run by Pres. Morales ... but check the rest of Chavez' friends.

Chavez claims victory of sorts at U.N. , By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Sun Oct 22, 9:48 PM ET -- posted by starboardside, Oct. 23, 06

www.forumsvibe.com/elwoodpdowd/view
topic.php?t=727&mforum=elwoodpdowd

President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Venezuela achieved its objective at the United Nations by preventing Washington's preferred candidate from winning a seat on the U.N. Security Council.

[....] Chavez — a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro — has promised to use a seat on the council as a platform to speak out against the U.S.

Chavez has claimed that the U.S. has tried to coerce nations into voting for Guatemala.

In recent months, Chavez collected pledges of support as he visited about a dozen countries including Russia, Belarus, Iran, Vietnam, Qatar, Mali, Benin, China, Malaysia and Syria. Top Guatemalan officials and U.S. diplomats also have been busy with their own international lobbying efforts.

Venezuelan opposition leaders accuse Chavez of squandering millions of dollars in an effort to garner international backing for Venezuela's bid, saying he has neglected domestic problems such as rampant crime and widespread poverty. [....]

Scroll down for this comment by WL Mackenzie REdux: Crisis in Re-Education -- comment, October 21st, 2006 at 9:25 am

www.dustmybroom.com/?p=4800

“The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education ”

More appropriately titled ” Turtle island lodge of revisionist fictionalization, indoctrination and re-education”… adorning its ramparts are the gold star on the blood red background ( depicting the institute’s founding mentors from the school of fabian shining path revelutionaries [sic])

The red star banner hangs over the institute’s sconcheon arch in which the Motto: “from each according to his ability to dupe to each according to his need to be blinded”

The opinions and ideologoes [sic] I can glean from my scan of this “institute” seem to be unrepentant and open about their intent to fill the 10 pillars of the communist manifesto… which provides the template for modern politically correct activism: [....]

Worth reading.



Diversion: Telemarketer's Nightmare! , via puntedposters. Comments indicate it is funny.



Mainstream Media Time and Blog Time, John Podhoretz, NY Times, Oct. 24, 06. via newsbeat1 / smalldeadanimals

www.nypost.com/seven/10242006/postopinion/opedcolumnists
/battling_predictions_opedcolumnists_john_podhoretz.htm?page=0

[....] If the bloggers get it right this time, this really will be yet another crisis point for Mainstream Media Time - a point at which their most loyal consumers will be compelled to wonder why they're bothering to pay attention to writers and editors whose sense of America is so completely out of whack. Especially if there is another force out there that ate the mainstream media's lunch.

If, however, the bloggers are getting it wrong, this will be the first major blow in their wildly successful rush this decade to dominate the way political news is made, reported and consumed. [....]