Oct. 5, 2006: Various

Update added to this post: Oct. 3, 2006: Let's look at the Law Commission's Experts, entitled "JUDGES PARTY WITH HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVISTS".

newsjunkiecanada.blogspot.com
/2003_09_14_newsjunkiecanada_archive.html

The correct link (Gremlins, again):
www.realwomenca.com/newsletter
/2003_july_aug/article_4.html




Rex Murphy's Review of Heart Matters by Adrienne Clarkson

Simply a delight to read

Adrienne Clarkson: the personal and the political , by Rex Murphy, Globe and Mail, Sept. 23, 06, Page D12 -- or here

www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.2006
0923.BKADRI23/TPStory/Entertainment/Books

www.anticorruption.ca/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=4162

Heart Matters
By Adrienne Clarkson
Viking Canada, 257 pages, $38

[....] In the old days of luxuriant titles, this section of Heart Matters might have carried the scroll: An Apology for the Office of the Governor-General of Canada and My Contributions to It, Together with Some Observations on the Worth of Politicians, the Male of the Species, the Conduct of Some Others in Lesser Office, and a Return of Fire to the Last Prime Minister But One, Mr. Paul Martin. for His Imperfect Treatment of the G-G.

Clarkson thinks very highly of the office of governor-general, an opinion that any reading of Heart Matters will confirm is not entirely unhinged from the fact that she held it.

[....] Does not discretion adhere to the office so late venerated and vacated? [....]

But Her Excellency? Why such haste to ventilate?

We now know how highly she thinks of Jean Chretien and his wife Aline, and begrudge her none of that obliging warmth. But the gratitude describes a self-serving loop. Chretien appointed her, and it would be a rude doyenne of Rideau Hall who did not see the wisdom of the man who set her there. I wonder, now that an ex-governor-general has set the illustrious example, how long we shall have to wait for the aides, valets, caterers and assorted functionaries of Rideau Hall to oil up their laptops and give us the view from below the stairs of the Clarkson-Ralston Saul era. [....]

We await the downstairs maid's tell-all book ... for historical accuracy.



Neil Reynolds' review of Eddie Goldenberg's book: The Way It Works: Inside Ottawa

Chrétien's Machiavelli -- "Brutus was successful in stabbing Caesar, but remember that it badly hurt his reputation for the next 2,000 years."

www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.2006
0930.BKOTTA30/TPStory/Business/columnists

The Way It Works: Inside Ottawa
By Eddie Goldenberg
McClelland & Stewart,
402 pages. $36.99

Neil Reynolds is national affairs columnist for The Globe and Mail's Report on Business. He is the former editor of The Ottawa Citizen and The Vancouver Sun.

[....] Alas, Goldenberg mostly limits his revelations to process, as the title candidly confesses. Here is a splendid manual on the art of politics and the art of government from a very discreet Machiavellian manager. For an understanding of Chrétien, though, you probably can't do better than this self-portrait from Chrétien himself: "The art of politics is walking with your back to the wall, your elbows high, a smile on your face. It's a survival game played under the glare of lights. If you don't learn that, you're finished."

Goldenberg does write viscerally on Paul Martin, Chrétien's implacable antagonist and, during his prime ministerial years, his indispensable partner.

[....] Goldenberg appears to take another ethical shortcut with the private foundations that Chrétien and Martin established to help spend the huge budget surpluses that began to emerge in 1997. Goldenberg was deeply involved in the design of these foundations; indeed, he managed the process, from the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation through the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and the Canada Health Infoway -- 15 of them in all, none of them accountable either to the government or to Parliament. In her 2005 report, Fraser found that these foundations held, sitting unspent in their bank accounts, more than $7.7-billion. [....]

Vandals target native lobster traps, Wednesday, October 4, 2006 CBC News

www.forumsvibe.com/elwoodpdowd/view
topic.php?t=471&mforum=elwoodpdowd

Native fishermen in Cape Breton suspect they've become the target of disgruntled non-native fishermen after hundreds of their lobster traps were damaged. Fishermen with the Chapel Island First Nation set out last week to haul their traps as part of the community's food fishery, which is a treaty right.

But when they got to the dock in St. Peters, they discovered 300 lobster traps were broken, slashed and cut. [....]

Laundry firm hit with claims of dirty tricks -- Allegations of financial wrongdoings stain linen company co-owned by 22 hospitals -- "allegations of kickbacks and financial mismanagement", Paul Waldie, Globe and Mail, Oct. 2, 06

www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.2006
1002.wxhospitals02/BNStory/National/home

[....] The controversy centres on Booth Centennial Healthcare Linen Services, a non-profit business that is co-owned by 22 hospitals [....]

What was once expected to be a $10-million project has cost at least $33-million and Booth officials are still adding up the full expense. Even more seriously, allegations have surfaced recently in court that some costs were inflated by as much as 20 per cent to pay for kickbacks to the company's long-time chief executive, Jean-Pierre Viau, who died in 2004. There are also allegations that hospitals were billed more than $4-million last year for linen they didn't need and that Booth was in such poor financial shape this year that the CEO recommended it be sold. On top of all that, four senior executives have quit or been fired in the past year. [....]

Mr. Kleine says he warned Booth's board of directors in 2004 that the mega-plant was not viable. "I said, 'This financially doesn't make any sense and this is taxpayers' money.' "[....]

The Philosopher and the Fatwa, By Robert Spencer, FrontPageMagazine.com October 2, 2006

www.forumsvibe.com/elwoodpdowd/view
topic.php?t=455&mforum=elwoodpdowd

www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=24692

It has happened again. On the heels of global Muslim rage against Pope Benedict XVI – which led to riots and three killings of Christians – a teacher in France has gone into hiding after receiving death threats. His offense? He published a column in the French newspaper Le Figaro in which he characterized the Muslim prophet Muhammad as “a merciless war chief, plunderer, slaughterer of Jews and a polygamist.”

Redeker said that one of the threats he received stated: “You will never feel secure on this earth. One billion, three hundred thousand Muslims are ready to kill you.” As the death threats poured in, everyone abandoned Redeker. The teacher himself noted that France’s education ministry “has not even contacted me, has not deigned to get in touch to see if I need any help.” The senior editor of Le Figaro, Pierre Rousselin, declared on Al-Jazeera that he had been mistaken to publish Redeker’s article, and hastened to assure the Islamic world that the article did not reflect the opinion of the paper.

It was unclear what exactly those who are threatening Redeker are upset about. Were they contending that he had lied about Muhammad? If so, they must contend with the fact that many Muslims around the world seem to agree, unapologetically, that Muhammad was “a merciless war chief, plunderer, slaughterer of Jews and a polygamist.” As I explain in my forthcoming book The Truth About Muhammad, mujahedin throughout the world see the Prophet of Islam as the personification of the qualities they are trying to embody. They have provided abundant evidence of this in recent years: [....]

The threats to Redeker, following so closely on the global outrage at the Pope, are yet another example of the jihadist attempt to frighten and intimidate the West into chastened silence.

That makes it all the more crucial, in these perilous times, for free people to speak out.

Detailed and worth reading.



Tres bien, SteveHarper goes against the Francophonie flow, By Ezra Levant, posted by Rosemarie, Oct. 2, 06

www.forumsvibe.com/elwoodpdowd/view
topic.php?t=457&mforum=elwoodpdowd

[....] Created in 1970 as a counterweight to the British Commonwealth of Nations, the Francophonie has 53 members -- France, its former colonies, and other jurisdictions where French is spoken. So of course Francophonie "summits" were a favourite junket of prime ministers Jean Chretien and Paul Martin. Unlike at the UN, the U.S. has no veto over resolutions passed at the Francophonie (they are not a member).

The Francophonie is a Liberal's dream -- a France-centric attempt at world government. It was a favourite of politicians ranging from Pierre Pettigrew to Saddam Hussein. It accomplished very little, but in French.

Last week, Stephen Harper attended his first Francophonie summit, held in Romania (official language: Romanian; secondary languages: Hungarian and German). .... (It is a precious conceit of Quebec and New Brunswick premiers to attend Francophonie summits as participants. How else would the likes of Bernard Lord and Charest ever get to fly to Romania on the taxpayers' dime?) [....]

Who killed 80,000 Muslims ... , Sept. 26, 06

Who killed 80,000 Muslims recently, imprisoned thousand more and brutally occupied and de-facto annexed their country? Israel? no. USA? Try again. Remarkably, no UN debate ensued. [....]

The country is [....]

Worth reading.



Who makes terrorists hate us?, David Limbaugh, September 30, 2006

www.washingtontimes.com/commentary
/20060929-083614-1162r.htm

What other nation in history has obsessively investigated itself during time of war? When will we quit beating ourselves up and move down the road?

[....] When will these tone-deaf people get it through their heads that Islamic extremists have hated us since before the Flood (figuratively, of course)? When will they comprehend that Osama attacked us before we attacked Iraq?

Besides, who would expect our attack on Iraq would endear us to the enemy? It's not like we sent them a love letter. But if Iraq were not a terrorist-supporting state, why would the terrorists care? Why have they invested so many of their resources to disrupt the Iraqi freedom experiment? Why are they trying to foment a civil war there if Iraq has nothing to do with the global jihad?

More important, why does the left keep dredging this stuff up? The answer is they have no alternative plan for Iraq and figure the only way they can make headway on the national security issue is to continue to paint President Bush as a liar. That brings me to the main point. [....]

Spying on the spies, Sept. 30, 06

www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed
/20060930-094522-9598r.htm

"The September 11 attacks are rightly regarded as a reflection of staggering U.S. intelligence failures in the years leading up to the terrorist strikes," Bill Gertz, defense and national security reporter for The Washington Times, observes in his latest book, "Enemies: How America's Foes Steal Our Vital Secrets -- And How We Let It Happen." Perhaps even more disturbing is the principal conclusion: "What's most frightening about America's counterintelligence failures is that they have become even more pronounced in the years after [emphasis in original] 9/11. In the five years since September 11," Mr. Gertz says, "government agencies have actually made counterintelligence less of a priority, when it should be at the core of our efforts to protect U.S. national security." [....]

Mr. Gertz describes counterintelligence as "the practice of identifying and exploiting the activities of foreign spies"; "the vital technique that represents the best way to discover our adversaries' true intentions and, if necessary, to thwart dangerous plans before they are executed"; and "the art and science of identifying and thwarting enemy spies." [....]

Search: defeating one's enemy without firing a shot , China has been extremely successful , businesswoman Katrina Leung , the "Red Flower" case , a Los Angeles spy ring



An injury to human rights -- Counterpoint, Phil Fontaine, National Post, October 03, 2006

Phil Fontaine is the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

It is astonishing that anyone would be proud to argue against respecting human rights. Yet that is the position taken on Friday by the National Post in its editorial "Hard-headed on the native file," which supports the government of Canada and the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs in their fight against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. [....]

I have mentioned before the import, the ramifications, of the UN / UNESCO protocol signed by Paul Martin in November 2005 (23?) before he was defeated. It is the wedge that France and Franco-Canadian elites, the UN/UNESCO, assorted networked organizations (e.g. aboriginals, No One Is Illegal, etc.) and countries (many of them Muslim) around the globe are driving into Canada on the road to satisfying several different groups ... splitting Canada into factions / linguistic groups so that one Canada does not exist ... on the road to global governance ... which may amount to control by those pulling the strings.




An old sin and a bad new law , Terence Corcoran, Financial Post, Oct. 3, 06

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.ht
ml?id=101747ec-8d41-42f5-9209-1236e3ced739

[....] Technically, Internet gambling is illegal in the United States -- and in Canada. Gambling can only be enjoyed through government-regulated operations and, in many cases, government-owned operations. While tens of thousands of Canadians gamble through Internet facilities, it is illegal and contrary to the Criminal Code. That would change, of course, if the provinces or Ottawa were to set up their own government-run Internet gaming operations.

So far, Ottawa apparently has no plans to crack down on Internet gaming operators. Since Internet gaming firms all appear to be based in Europe or elsewhere, Canadian and U.S. law-enforcement agencies have no way to enforce their national laws abroad. The alternative would be to try to hunt down the actual gamblers. That would mean, absurdly, police raids on college dorms and home computer rooms where people are actually playing online poker. [....]

Would this bill run afoul of World Trade Organization rules? Trade officials have said the U.S. government's attempt to stop Internet gambling from offshore firms is a form of trade protectionism. [....]

Trade protectionism: see the UN protocol on protecting cultural diversity, part of that protocol to which Phil Fontaine (above) would turn for backing.



U.S. anti-gaming law to hit Canadian firms -- Restructurings likely , Peter Nowak, Financial Post, October 03, 2006

www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.ht
ml?id=a1b3a734-7ab1-4099-a72d-2fdf1d9f28af

[....] Toronto-based CryptoLogic Inc. and Oakville, Ont.-based Parlay Entertainment Inc. are particularly vulnerable to the surprise legislation, passed at the weekend, that bans credit card companies from taking payments for online gambling sites. Calgary-based Chartwell Technologies Inc. is also exposed, to a lesser extent.

All three companies supply the software such sites run on, with CryptoLogic and Parlay having big exposure to U.S. gamblers -- about 30% and 60% of respective revenue rely on bets placed in the United States. Chartwell garners only about 5% of its revenue from U.S. bets.

Paradigm Capital analyst Gabriel Leung called the move, expected to be signed into law by President George W. Bush this week, a "scorched earth" scenario -- one in which U.S. revenue for these firms completely vanishes.

[....] Shares in the three companies plummeted on the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday, with CryptoLogic falling 19% to $19.87, Parlay sliding 29% to $1.06 and Chartwell sinking 16% to $1.80. [....]

Bricklin expects deal with Chery despite Chrysler , Reuters, October 03, 2006

DETROIT - Entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin Monday said he expected to close a delayed deal with Chery Automobile even as the Chinese automaker finalizes the terms of a partnership with auto giant DaimlerChrysler AG.

DaimlerChrysler has also acknowledged discussions with Chery, in a move toward a tie-up analysts said could jump-start the Chinese automaker's efforts to crack the U.S. market and boost its credibility.

[....] But Mr. Bricklin said a DaimlerChrysler deal with Chery would not prevent the Chinese automaker from negotiating a separate joint-venture with Bricklin's Visionary Vehicles to sell cars in the United States. [....]