May 27, 2006: Bud Talkinghorn

These are being posted late. Sometimes life gets in the way and my best intentions are siderailed, or I lose the copy and don't find them until later. My apologies, Bud. NJC



The Auditor-General's report

Well, shiver me timbers. It appears that the absurd cost overruns of the gun registry are not the whole picture. Sheila Fraser has also found instances of Liberals misleading Parliament about these costs. On top of which, the very data from the registry is suspect, as numerous errors have never been corrected. There are thousands of peices of misinformation, as well as the vast number who didn't even bothering registering their rifles. Pity the poor cop who is answering a distress call on this shoddy information. Former Toronto Police Chief, Julian Fantino, stated flatly that "The registry never solved a single gun crime in my city."

The Auditor-General was also disgusted that the Liberals had done almost nothing to correct the fraudulent prescriptions--many for uppers/ downers and sideway drugs. This blind eye to drug abuse suggests that the Liberals were too terrified of being politically incorrect to intervene. Of course it is just taxpayers' money. It does make the federal government a major drug dealer--shades of Britain's war with China to keep the Chinese addicted to opium. Other egregious offenses occurred in other sections of the Indian Act.

But CBC is on the case--big time. Mixed among the 20 jokes on Canadian Air Farce about Harper and his various stances was a skit, suggesting that most criminals steal their guns from lawful Canadian gun owners. Sheer nonsense! The Vancouver police maintain that 80% of illegal guns are bought in the U.S.. On The National news CBC interviewed two women who had daughters killed by Marc Lepin, nee Gamil Gharbi--the son of a woman hating Algerian father. Gamil's background is always frozen in time. You see "Marc Lepin" can be used, by the radical feminists, as a shorthand for the "average" violent Canadian boy. Was the .22 rifle he used legal? That is a question that CBC never thinks of asking. Seeing as Gamil didn't have a previous criminal record, what would stop him from getting a gun licence and being registered? The entire registry was founded on the single act of this madman and the CBC doesn't even tell the truth about his background. There has never been a single incident of men gunning down masses of women since. That fact, too, is ignored. The gun registry was a classical Liberal appeal to mindless hysteria. The move won praises from the usual leftist suspects. A good step to ensnare Joe Canadian in myriad intrusive legislation. It is enough to make one turn extremely cynical. Let's see a true poll of the urbanites, to see if they really support this monumental boondoggle. Especially, after the arrests of The Jamestown Gang and their illegal weapons pipeline.

Check out the sagacious Rex Murphy's commentary on CBC National within the last couple of weeks. Nobody can skewer a nakedly political program such as the gun registry as Rex can.

In a CBC interview with the new young guy on "Canadian Air Farce", he revealed that the satirizing and lampooning of all things Conservative would be front and center. The interviewer didn't even blink at this revelation. Nor did he challenge the wisdom of CBC being so biased. Of course, silly me, it was not a revelation at all. Well, Rex, you da man, as far as I'm concerned. Your dismantling of the Kyoto Accord's shell game was equally brilliant.

May you remain a thorn in CBC's side for years to come.

© Bud Talkinghorn




The shameless partisanship of the Opposition

First, they reject Harper's selection for the new accountability directo;, then they threaten to defeat his Kyoto realignment. By cancelling Gwyn Morgan's appointment, the Opposition have shot themselves in the foot. Here was a top businessman, who offered his services for $1 a year. As well, he promised to enlist other top CEO's as volunteers to straighten out the nest of patronage and corruption that the Liberals left as their legacy. The specious arguments of the Opposition rang hollow. This is not going to sit well with the voters. The Liberals and NDP don't seem to have grasped the nettle that the electorate handed them. Meanwhile, the Liberals want to chastise the Conservatives for taking a different tack as regards pollution control. They, unfortunately, have this albatross around their neck. In the years of Liberal stewardship, they allowed Canada to exceed its commitment to Kyoto by 34%. This is an embarassing fact that can't be spun away with bluster and wistful thinking. Likewise, it was interesting to see how the vote on an extension to the Afganistan mission has played out. Didn't the Liberals initiate this mission? They had better get a new leader soon and get a coherent message out.

© Bud Talkinghorn



Academic standards

The ugly truth is that for the last three decades we have given up any academic standards, and have developed severe grade inflation. Wouldn't want to traumatize the little ones, you understand. Years ago, I told professors that the barbarians were at the gate. They all shook their grave heads and said, "No way". Well, they don't make that denial now. Rather, they create a tissue of lying rationales for why grade inflation is rampant. "Diversity and affirmative action" are favourites.

From an acquaintance, this information:

Last year I became friends with a Chinese-Canadian student. He wasa mature student and trying to get off his last courses for a degree. He kept telling me of the incredible lack of standards at the uni today. He showed an essay paper on communication where the student included an entire hard core porn dialogue -- and got a B+ on it. At another campus I have heard of, it is even worse. The former Student President there actually said--"You can always tell a *** grad. He always politely asks, "You want fries with that, sir?" Also grade 9 students were tested provincially. Less than 1% scored at a high performance level on the writing exam. The "success story" was that only 56% scored as low reading comprehension students.

We are breeding a nation of sub-literate morons. In our senile dotage we will be more literate and knowledgeable than most college graduates.

© Bud Talkinghorn


Is it my imagination or is TV becoming even more mindless?

The reality shows and the "contest" programs are unwatchable. How "Survivor" survives year after year remains a mystery. Real life survivors don't get a day's recuperation stay at a resort and spa. They simply get to live another day, but with a whole new perspective, eh? Actually, there is one good survival story on the History Channel called "The Real SAS". A bunch of real SAS show how you must survive after you have assassinated an enemy general and have to travel 40 miles through enemy territory to reach safety--especially, if you are pursued by the enemy's professional tracker/killer teams. Everyone is fascinated by it. And if you want something really different, rent the movie "Memento" (may be available only in VHS format). It is so complex that you can watch it over again, trying to figure out the ending. Even then, from my experience, you still are not sure, so will have to watch it yet again. Book: "Chew on this: Everything you didn't want to know about fast food." by Eric Schlosser. It's an expose of the fast food industry. "The success of McDonald's chicken nuggets has led to huge breasted, cannibalistic birds that routinely keel over from heart attacks. A single Burger King hamburger may come from over a hundred cows--thus spreading E coli. The red dye used to "colourize" beef products is made from ground-up bugs" You want fries with that?

© Bud Talkinghorn


The bias of the CBC

Lately, on the 6:30 national news [date?] was almost exclusively devoted to "the plight of the illegals in Canada". They ended the segment with some professional protestor holding a sign reading: "There are no illegals here." Man, the CBC TV crowd is the bell that tolls for Canada. The invasion is on in North America--big time. And our tax-paid public broadcaster is at the front leading it.

© Bud Talkinghorn

May 27, 2006: #2

Is there media bias? CNEWS and Globe and Mail Polls May 25, 06 captured at one moment in time. Check for the final results on their websites.

















What did Liberals say when Jean Chretien cancelled the Mulroney Conservatives' helicopter contract?

Hundreds of millions promised to provinces for climate change redirected Dennis Bueckert, May 25, 06

OTTAWA (CP) - The federal government appears set to walk away from Liberal agreements that would have given the provinces millions of dollars to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

A spokesman for Environment Minister Rona Ambrose indicated Thursday the Conservatives don't feel bound by the previous government's Kyoto-related undertakings.

[....] Former environment minister Stephane Dion said the Conservatives' decision to redirect the money is legal but morally wrong: "They are playing with the future of our children."

Promote democracy and prevent terrorism--but don't conflate the two. by Francis Fukuyama and Adam Garfinkle, Mar. 27, 06 posted by mmaxx Mar. 28, 06




Al-Qaeda's Hidden Arsenal and Sponsors: Interview with Hamid Mir By Ryan Mauro TDCAnalyst@aol.com Team, Thursday, May 25, 2006

[....] RM: How many nuclear weapons does Al-Qaeda possess?

HM: As far as I know, they smuggled three suitcase nukes from Russia to Europe. They smuggled many kilos of enriched uranium inside America for their dirty bomb projects. They said in 1999 that they must have material for more than six dirty bombs in America. They tested at least one dirty bomb in the Kunar province of Afghanistan in 2000.

They have planned an attack bigger than 9/11, even before 9/11 happened. Osama Bin Laden trained 42 fighters to destroy the American economy and military might. 19 were used on 9/11, 23 are still "sleeping" inside America waiting for a wake-up call from Bin Laden.

Search: Russia , Adnan el-Shukrijumah , Muhammed Sher Khan , nuclear and biological attacks using suicide bombers



PM's crime agenda includes meth labs -- Harper's platform for B.C. had several crime-related proposals Peter O'Neil, Vancouver Sun, May 25, 2006

[....] "Drivers, their passengers, and innocent victims have been killed. Since January alone, three men in Vancouver, one in Edmonton, and a Toronto taxi-cab driver have all allegedly been killed because of street racing."

In the Vancouver street-racing crash on Jan. 28, three young men, including two brothers, were killed when a 1992 BMW sedan carrying five men went off the road in a street race along Highway 1.

In another high-profile case, Bahadur Singh Bhalru, 26, was deported to India last September after being convicted in 2002 of criminal negligence causing death following a deadly street race in Vancouver. Bhalru was street racing with another young man -- Sukhvir Singh Khosa -- along Marine Drive in 2000 when Khosa's car struck and killed Irene Thorpe, a 51-year-old on her evening walk. The house-arrest sentences given to the two young Vancouver men sparked public outcry. [....]

PM Harper and Justice Min. Vic Toews are actually doing what Canadians want, not just talking about drugs such as crystal meth and street racing.



Gang trial in new court Antonello Artuso, May 25, 06

Ontario's first major crime court will open this fall to handle the high-risk gang trials currently underway in Toronto.

The announcement from Attorney General Michael Bryant follows the police takedowns of the Malvern Crew, Scarborough's Galloway Boys, the Ardwick Blood Crew and most recently, the Jamestown Crips. [....]

Conservative justice critic Bob Runciman, a former solicitor general, said the larger courtrooms may help in prosecutions but the initiative is little more than "fluff."

Runciman said Bryant needs to crack down on the practice of plea bargaining lower sentences for criminals.

"What does it matter, the size of the court room, if you're making plea bargains out in a small room at the back of the court?" [....]

RCMP mandate: Reviving the Islamic spirit January 2, 2004

Posted 2006/05/20 by Barbara H. whose comments follow:

If you thought the Department of Foreign Affairs was allowing one religion to enjoy and unique position of influence in Canada's foreign policy listen to what Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli of the RCMP had to say in January 2004 about the role Islam will play in our federal law enforcement agency. He apparently hasn't noticed that the very group he is promoting is the source of 99% of the world's terrorists. He may also not have noticed that it is an Islamic terror group that has specifically named Canada as a target.

It now appears that it is the job of the RCMP to "Revive the Islamic spirit", not to protect Canadians from Islamic terror. God help us all!!!

The following speech was delivered by Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli at the Reviving the Islamic Spirit Conference in Toronto, January 2, 2004. Several thousand Muslims from across Canada and around the world attended the conference.Those who single out Muslims for unfair treatment or unjust accusations seek to sow hatred and division. That is their objective. It must not be their achievement.

[....] I can tell you in no uncertain terms that the RCMP considers such incidents to be hate crimes. They are serious criminal acts and they will not be tolerated. Together with our local police partners, we will investigate them thoroughly and pursue them rigorously.

[....] Our role, as peace officers, and I didn’t say police officers, I said peace officers- and that is a great Canadian distinction-our role is to enforce the law equally and to treat all members of society with respect.

[....] We have a number of programs with Heritage Canada [....]

Memory Lane: Respect for Christianity vs Respect for Islam in Student Newspaper

Lost Budgie: re: U of Sask. "The Sheaf" includes photos.




Guite trial via newsbeat1

Tremblay [now deceased] came to the civil service late in his career, in 1999, from the office of Alfonso Gagliano, who was then public works minister.

Arcelor SA

Arcelor SA [Luxembourg], the second-biggest steelmaker, may sell a 33% stake to Russian steelmaker OAO Severstal to block a hostile bid from Mittal Steel Co., according to people with knowledge of the plan. The deal would be valued at almost 7.3-billion (US$9.3-billion), based on Arcelor's closing share price yesterday in Paris. Severstal is owned by Russian billionaire Alexei Mordashov. [....]

Ottawa sows field for deregulation -- Advice similar to panel's -- "market forces, not regulators, should determine the sector's competitive landscape" Paul Vieira, Financial Post, May 26, 2006

[....] Canada's big phone companies, most notably BCE Inc. and Telus Corp., have aggressively lobbied federal politicians and officials for a regulatory overhaul. They argue they are constrained in their efforts to compete against the cable companies and Web-based players, such as Vonage Inc., which are encroaching on their telephone business. [....]

The papers said Canada has failed to keep pace with other industrialized countries in liberalizing ownership rules. For telecom, foreigners can own no more than a 47% controlling stake.

The current rules "have helped create a market dominated by a few large players that operate only in the domestic market," the documents said. "Nearly all developed countries allow foreign ownership [in telecom] and are able to deal with security and privacy risks."

Canada finds its 'inner Conservative' George Koch and John Weissenberger, National Post, May 26, 2006

[....] On the environment, the Conservatives have moved beyond merely opposing Kyoto, shaping a populist policy focused on tackling actual air pollution.

No heroes in thin air

How could one climber leave another to die on a mountain? A better question is how could 40 climbers do so?

Another point of view in letter


$500,000 authorized for report 'on assumption', Guite trial told NatPost, May 26, 06

In an April, 2002, interview with the auditor-general's office once the sponsorship scandal erupted, Pierre Tremblay said he had received no briefing or training in these areas and "attempted to learn on the job," according to minutes from the meeting.

'Tooth and nail' not required -- Equalization revamp unlikely to cut into Alberta's natural riches John Ivison, NatPost, May 26, 06

[....] The federal government is looking at instituting what Prime Minister Stephen Harper has called a more "principled and defendable" formula that would ensure all provinces have comparable levels of services at comparable levels of taxation.

[....] Of course, equalization does not exist in isolation and the real objection of Mr. Klein and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is that their taxpayers will not see the benefit of any uptick in federal largesse, while what they view as the usual suspects in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces rake in more cash. [....]

Search: ABCs OF EQUALIZATION

Interesting information.



Graeme Hamilton: French radio too French, say Quebec broadcasters -- More Madonna wanted NatPost, May 26, 06

[....] At CRTC hearings last week in Gatineau, Que., Quebec's French-language commercial radio stations complained regulations force them to play too much French music.

Canadian broadcasting rules state that 65% of vocal music played on French stations has to be French. In such bilingual markets as Montreal and Gatineau, where listeners have access to English radio, the audience is switching the dial.

[....] The CRTC describes its 65% requirement as an effort "to support the francophone recording industry in Canada and to allow francophones to have access to music reflecting their culture."

Maybe they don't like coercion ... you know, you will learn to like this music whether you want to or not ... we have control.



Fighting fraud? How unCanadian Colby Cosh, NatPost, May 26, 2006

It's turning out just like they said it would: The Conservative federal government is threatening everything Canadians hold dear. Assuming, of course, that the things they hold most dear are closed government contracting, racial entitlements and growing expenditures. [....]

[Liberal Indian Affairs critic Anita] Neville's is that Canada's aboriginal people are best served by protecting the interests of one particular company (which happens to be based in her home province). [....]

Very interesting. Search: shell companies that have First Nations figureheads



Put this vendetta to rest NatPost, May 26, 06

That journalists would opt to boycott Canada's Prime Minister because they take issue with the protocols he follows at news conferences is a matter that should have been left to their employers to deal with. Instead, Mr. Harper opted to retaliate. On Wednesday, he told a London, Ont., TV station he will now ignore the Ottawa press corps entirely, and will instead take his message directly to local media.

I think it is a great idea. Note the negatives in choice of what is reported about the government. SSM and abortion will be featured ... and the implication will be that Conservatives are just holding back on all their scary agenda. Actually, viewpoints among Conservatives range as much as they do in the general populace.

So much needs to be explored and revealed about what went on under the Liberal governments. The media may give some facts as in the Guite trial articles but imagine what would have happened if Harper Conservatives had pulled off what the Liberals did. It would have allowed the mainstream media opportunity for daily muckraking. By the way, why is there so little in the media about the background of the Jamestown Crips and their connections, whether their guns were registered ... all those little things that might reflect negatively on what has gone before.



Schwarzenegger: 'No' to Gay Textbook Bill -- Schwarzenegger spokesman Adam Mendelsohn told the Bee: "The governor believes that school curriculum should include all important historical figures, regardless of orientation. However, he does not support the legislature micromanaging curriculum.” Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff, May 25, 2006

When will women and gays stop identifying themselves by the groups to which they belong? When will Canada end using group identification for special rights, quotas (though they are never identified as such) and /or social engineering? When they are no longer funded to act as activists for their causes.



Canfor hopes Chinese school will build wood market Gordon Hamilton, CanWest News Service, May 25, 2006

VANCOUVER - It's a small start --a school in China funded by Canadian forest company Canfor Corp. to teach wood-frame construction techniques to planners, designers and builders.

But it's part of a major focus on China by Canada's largest lumber company, which hopes to create a demand for two-by-four housing, a skilled workforce to deliver it, and even the sawmills to manufacture lumber made from timber harvested in the vast forests of Siberia.

[....] Ms. Embury-Williams recently returned from Shanghai, where the Canfor school completed its first week of classes. Eighty-five students from cities all over the country --including engineers, planners, designers and builders -- were introduced to North American construction methods by staff from the B.C. Institute of Technology.

[....] And as China partners with other businesses, such as big-box home centre stores, Canfor wants to be there as well, she said.

Microwaved water -- a must look website -- photos and thanks, R.

May 27, 2006: #1

Prime Minister Harper says budget will boost Canadian business
May 24, 2006
London, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said today that his government’s first budget will help unleash the potential of Canada’s business community through a combination of tax cuts and investment incentives.

In a speech to the London Chamber of Commerce, the Prime Minister stated that Budget 2006 included no less than 29 tax cuts for Canadian businesses and individuals. These reductions are worth $20 billion over the next two years – more than the last four federal budgets combined.

“We believe opportunity is created when hard work and innovation are rewarded,” the Prime Minister said. “We understand that business thrives when government embraces an environment that rewards achievement.”

Prime Minister Harper highlighted several key initiatives announced in the recent budget to benefit the business community, including:

Raising the amount of income eligible for the 12 percent small business income tax rate from $300,000 to $400,000 annually. The rate itself will be lowered to 11 percent by 2009;

Introducing a new tax credit of up to $2,000 for employers who hire apprentices;

Introducing a new tax credit for employees’ work-related expenses on tools and equipment;

Reducing the general corporate income tax rate from 21 percent to 19 percent by 2010; and

Eliminating both the federal capital tax and the corporate surtax.

On the spending side of the budget, the Prime Minister noted that expenditures were disciplined and focused on areas of federal jurisdiction, including improved border security, re-staffing the RCMP and rebuilding the Armed Forces. “No longer will money be wasted on ever-changing and ever-expanding priorities,” Prime Minister Harper said.

Harper says he'll avoid national media because they're biased against him -- Note: It was "Yves Malo, a reporter with the Quebec-based TVA network, who urged his colleagues to walk out of the Tuesday news conference."



Is this a necessary study ... or is there something about this study that might leave males wondering? ... Is there an agenda here?

Why do men die younger than women? -- "being competitive, physically dominating and daring" Amy Brown-Bowers, National Post, May 25, 2006 -- authors Daniel J. Kruger and Randolph M. Nesse

[....] A research paper recently published in the journal Human Nature [....]

-- being competitive, physically dominating and daring -- are also traits linked to shorter life spans.

[....] the high levels of testosterone responsible for more masculine features have been shown to have devastating effects on a man's immune system. [....]

Do we need a Mothers Against Males' CPDD program? Perhaps we need more feminized males? ... But don't we have enough already? There is something anti-male about this study. Isn't testosterone and its display natural?



And who is paying for this? Taxpayers? What about our right not to have him or his family here?

Deportation of delayed for accused Chinese fugitive -- Lai Changxing CTV.ca, May. 25 2006

One of China's most wanted fugitives will get at least one more court hearing in his battle to remain in Canada, immigration officials have confirmed.

Canada's Border Services Agency had planned to deport accused Chinese crime boss Lai Changxing on Friday, but that has now been delayed until at least next week.

[....] Lai's lawyer, David Matas, said he will challenge the Canadian government's ruling that Lai is not at risk of torture or death if forced back to China, where he is wanted on criminal charges.

Matas, a prominent Canadian human rights attorney, has also written to the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Switzerland, saying he may ask the UN to intervene if the Canadian courts refuse to put Lai's deportation on hold. [....]

And does Canada get to keep his wife and children too? "Lai, his wife Tsang Mingna and their three children arrived in Canada in August 1999 after fleeing China by way of Hong Kong." How much do you want to bet that one of the arguments will be undue hardship on his wife and children?

Concerning Matas and the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Switzerland, can you see where the UN and Global Governance would like to move? Also, where "rights" are moving -- when you consider the pronouncement from the UN that no-one is illegal.




Look at what children are exposed to in towns across Canada

Keswick Hells Angels sentenced after massive drugs and weapons raid

More than 190 marijuana plants, 16 kilograms of dried marijuana, six kilograms of cocaine, 441 grams of hashish, 2,350 tablets of Percodan, $205,000 in cash, handguns, and stolen property were seized, York Regional Police stated.

Five men arrested in drug bust off Vancouver Island detained -- Update also, on the "Canadian-registered Western Wind was carrying 2,500 kilograms of cocaine" Scott Sutherland, May 24, 06

[....] four Canadians and one Mexican ... MV Bakur ... Ucluelet ... 1200 kilograms of marijuana [....]

Nadeau said one of the men currently being detained was questioned in a massive cocaine seizure in 2001.

[Insp. Paul Nadeau] said Phillip Stirling was detained, but never charged, after a fishboat called the Western Wind was found to be loaded with more than two tonnes of cocaine.

"He was never charged. It was done in the United States. But he certainly has been arrested and charged in this case."

The Canadian-registered Western Wind was carrying 2,500 kilograms of cocaine, making it the largest seizure of cocaine in the Pacific Northwest at the time.

The drug shipment, packed into more than 100 bales, had an estimated street value of $200 million US at the time, police said.

[....] Police had been tracking the Bakur since it left Halifax in December, keeping an eye on it as it travelled down the East Coast, through the Panama Canal, then up the West Coast to Canada.

Good show!



Massive fraud sting leads to 400 Canadian charges Sarah Chapman, CanWest News Service; Calgary Herald, May 24, 2006

CALGARY - An international sting cracking down on illicit mass marketers targeting victims in the United States has led to almost 400 charges nationwide, police said Tuesday.

RCMP in Ottawa said Operation Global Con, which has been ongoing since Jan. 1 2005 and was conducted by law enforcement agencies across the globe, resulted in 372 charges and 96 arrests in Canada, where investigations were concentrated in and around Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Calgary. The investigations have so far netted 19 convictions including 13 guilty pleas.

Other arrests have been made in Costa Rica, the Netherlands, and Spain. [....]

Search: American Getaway Vacations Inc. and Credence Travel Processing Inc.



Court hears of unusual money flow to Guite's department -- Fraud trial. Underlings didn't ask questions: witness Les Perreaux, CP, May 25

When money was tight, millions would flow in highly irregular yearend transfers from other government departments, like Heritage or Health, said Huguette Tremblay, one of Guite's former deputies in Public Works.

[....] He produced several memos that showed top officials in Heritage Canada, Health Canada and sectors within Public Works approved unusual transfers to his department totalling more than $10 million in 1996 and 1997.

In a confidential 1996 Privy Council memo, it is revealed Guite's department spent $17 million without the Treasury Board approving the funds.

Search: wine for breakfast , Television series in China , David Dingwall , Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency , top-level politicians

Why were there "contracts that were supposed to study opposition to the gun registry"?



Activist dies in vicious beating -- Chan-Ung Park out for night walk near his home -- Died in hospital three days after being attacked Tracy Huffman, May 24, 06

Chan-Ung Park was a retired professor, author, civil rights activist and prominent member of the local Korean community.

On Saturday — after suffering a vicious beating three days earlier — the 79-year-old became the 23rd homicide victim for 2006. [....]

GLENN HARLAN REYNOLDS: The Parent Trap -- How safety fanatics help drive down birthrates. May 24, 2006

[....] Parenting was always hard work, of course. But aside from the economic payoffs, parents used to get a lot of social benefits, too. Yet in recent decades, a collection of parenting "experts" and safety-fascist types have extinguished some of the benefits while raising the costs, to the point where what's amazing isn't that people are having fewer kids, but that people are having kids at all. [....]

Search: decline in parental prestige


Of course, we don't call it eugenics ...

Yesterday, I read a New York Times Magazine (Mar. 12, 06) article entitled: A Wrongful Birth? by Elizabeth Weil which explores at length the ethical dimensions of pre-birth genetic or other screening and the counselling that attends it.

Mothers are suing over poor prenatal car, claiming if they'd known they were going to give birth to severely disabled children, they would have terminated their pregnancies ... Legally and morally, what does it mean to say that a child should not have existed?

Worth thinking about.




Toronto transit workers' union says Operators will no longer risk assaults by enforcing fare payments -- "Kinnear was accompanied by two male Operators who have been assaulted several times while trying to enforce fare
payments." CNW Telbec, h/t newsbeat(?)

TORONTO, May 24 /CNW/ - The union representing 8,500 members of the Toronto Transit Commission says it is advising its members to "no longer engage in fare disputes with customers" in order to reduce the risk of assaults, which are on the rise in both numbers and severity.

ATU Local 113 President Bob Kinnear told a press conference this morning that last Wednesday he raised the issue of assaults at a closed door session of the TTC and was met with silence.

"Not a single Commissioner, from the Chair on down, asked me a question about the problem of assaults. [....]

"On the brink of becoming a narco-state"

Judy Dempsey: General calls drugs biggest test for Afghans -- General James Jones, Nato's top military commander says: "drug cartels more dangerous for the country's future than a resurgent Taliban" -- "90 percent of Afghanistan's heroin ends up" in Europe International Herald Tribune, May 20, 06



Abstract: Information on Certain Illegal Aliens Arrested in the United States, GAO-05-646R, May 9, 2005 h/t newsbeat1, May 26, 06

[....] A more recent study estimated that there were about 10 million illegal aliens living in the United States as of March 2005. The study estimated that nearly 700,000 aliens entered the United States illegally or overstayed their authorized period of stay each year between 2000 and 2004 [....]

In our population study of 55,322 illegal aliens, we found that they were arrested at least a total of 459,614 times, averaging about 8 arrests per illegal alien. Nearly all had more than 1 arrest. Thirty-eight percent (about 21,000) had between 2 and 5 arrests, 32 percent (about 18,000) had between 6 and 10 arrests, and 26 percent (about 15,000) had 11 or more arrests. Most of the arrests occurred after 1990. [....]

What would the UN have to say about this? Of course, Canada must be better after years of Liberal social engineering and activism.



News of the Day (May 23) -- links on the site 2006

[....] Deputy Chief of Communist Navy caught embezzling $19 million: Wang Shouye, who stole the money when he was Vice Logistics Minister and Construction Minister for the Communist military, had reached the rank Deputy Chief of Staff of China's Navy before he was busted (Chengming Magazine via Epoch Times).

Three Gorges Dam completed: The BBC has two pieces on the Dam and the damage it has done.

Communists claim no geopolitical interest in Africa and Latin America: At least that's what they told U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon, Jr. Sadly, Shannon appears to have bought it (Washington Times). Meanwhile, the cadres offered Nigeria a $1 billion railroad-building loan (BBC). [....]

May 24, 2006: #1

Update: A quote from "May 20, 2006: #1 Updated -&- May 23, 06 East Coast Development Links"

"According to the reports, Jews were to wear yellow cloth strips, called zonnar, while Christians were to wear red and Zoroastrians blue."

AMIR TAHERI ADDRESSES QUERIES ABOUT DRESS CODE STORY by Amir Taheri, Benador Associates, May 22, 2006

As far as my article is concerned I stand by it.

The law has been passed by the Islamic Majlis and will now be submitted to the Council of Guardians. A committee has been appointed to work out the modalities of implementation.

Does the Black SUV intimidate lazy journalists who could be investigating where Canadians' tax money went under previous Liberal administrations, instead of delivering this kind of drive-by smear of PM Harper, likening him to Pres. Bush which is viewed by the left as negative? By Tim Naumetz, CanWest, Ottawa, May 22, 06. h/t smalldeadanimals

Journalists might want look inward also to see why Conservatives are ignoring mainstream media opinion passed off as news. We can get the facts from the Conservative website. We need journalists to investigate and do a balanced analysis, not just regurgitate left/Lib/NDP opinions and leftist activsts' (hardly unbiased) opinions passed off as news. Give us the political connections of these activists. Another example: We need analysis of the implications of a TD Bank gift to St. John delivered by Frank McKenna, instead of glee at the gesture. Was it to garner votes in the East for Frank/Liberals? ... No-one does something like this which includes a politician making the announcement without hope of advantage or some reward ... or has the advantage already been won? Readers need journalistic investigation, not the pap that passes for news in the East and, as Small Dead Animals termed it, the petulance of the above news item. There are some excellent comments on the media on Kate's site, www.smalldeadanimals.com Look Who's Being Petulant Now? May 23, 2006.
Comments: scroll for Lorraine.

Last week at the Liberal caucus meeting they had to ban blackberries and cell phones when one of the Liberals was caught blackberrying Bob Fife on speed dial DURING the meeting to give him a leak.

The Harper government have said they are trying to prevent leaks as it is not fair to all of the other media outlets and Canadians should all get the information at the same time. [. . . . ]

Unfortunately, the media/Lib culprits wouldn't recognize fairness if it kicked them in the keester.



Journalists doing whose bidding? Who is the one mentioned here with the power to order the others about?..."The press gallery president then turned to his colleagues and suggested they leave." -- "Journalists boycott Harper news conference" by Alexander Panetta

Are these ordered about journalists the sheep who are to analyze events for us?

[....] Harper was holding similarly expansive news conferences in Ottawa until the press gallery began setting up its own microphones at Harper events and lined up to ask questions.

Harper aides note that during election campaigns, former prime minister Paul Martin's staff also selected questioners from a list they controlled. [But that was a Liberal selection ...... and therein lies the difference.] [....]

Sheila Copps writes of Minister Rona Ambrose and Kyoto May 24, 06

Memory Lane: Copps and taxpayer money ... I have to ask whether the Liberals' lies about Kyoto and Copps' ridiculous statement below are what have diminished Canada's credibility. Under the Liberals Canada's record on greenhouse gas emissions became even worse. Liberals, as was their wont, lied (perhaps by omission and misstatements) about it. Copps writes: "By ignoring Kyoto, Harper diminishes Canadian credibility and makes our environmental record a target of ridicule." No, Sheila, the Liberals were and are the problem.

Recently, I talked with a good acquaintance who is a Liberal, about getting the decent friends in her circle involved in rebuilding the Liberal party and providing it with honourable and active members. We need incorruptible politicians and a sense of statesmanship in both major political parties in Canada, not more of what the past many years have brought from a dissolute Liberal party too long at the taxpayer trough.

Memory Lane for Sheila's credibility: link from News Junkie Canada, Sept. 19, 03 -- scroll to:

Charles Boyer, big spender, National Post, Sept. 19, 03. "Charles Boyer, a former aide to Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, expensed about $31,000 worth of restaurant tabs between 2001 and 2003"

And, while on that webpage, check ‘Circumpolar’ trek waste of $1-million : Diane Francis takes the GG to task over her extravagance. Financial Post, Sept. 19, 03 Was the concern for environment and the polar regions not a component of the purpose for that tour?



Immigration

Mark Helprin: The Unvarnished Immigration Debate May 21, 2006; Page B07. h/t smalldeadanimals.com

[....] Of the many millions of illegal crossings only a handful are made by people of even suspect origin, and therefore the borders should remain porous. Apart from the non sequitur, this takes no account of the fact that terrorists by the handful are effective; that if one border is open, traffic blocked at the others will flow to it; and that if a nation hasn't the will to control its frontiers, and thereby disestablishes them, its sovereignty will deflate.

[....] To what extent is economic advantage sufficient to justify the consequences of the evolving common-law marriage with the countries and cultures of Latin America? [....]

Note: Scroll down this post News Junkie Canada, Sept. 19, 03 for the following:

[Immigration] Why Does “fairness, openness and flexibility” Mean Lower Immigration Standards, Mr. Coderre?

Note: There are two articles in this section both concerning immigration. The second, below, concerns U.S. links Toronto group to bin Laden: Runs Islamic youth camps.

Federal government easing entry rules for immigrants, Sept. 19, 03, CP

OTTAWA (CP) - The federal government is easing the rules for immigrants to enter Canada, ending a long-standing grievance by thousands of applicants.

China finishes dam 13 years in the making -- Three Gorges is largest of its kind Peter Goodspeed, National Post, May 23, 2006

The $25-billion hydro-electric project ....

Environmentalists say the dam will disrupt the world's third- largest river; drown 32,000 hectares of precious farmland; destroy valuable fish stocks; threaten endangered animals; ruin hundreds of archaeological treasurers; and create an environmental time bomb by triggering catastrophic landslides and earthquakes.

When the Canadian feasibility study, which was conducted by a consortium of five Canadian companies, including B.C. Hydro and Hydro Quebec, gave the project an international stamp of approval, the Toronto-based environmental activist group Probe International described the CIDA study as "expert prostitution paid for by Canadian taxpayers." [. . . . ]

Worth reading. CIDA? (Maurice Strong started CIDA.) The problem for Canadians is that, with so much political pork involved when government gets involved in business--in just about everything--the poor taxpayers do not know where the truth lies. We need openness and accountability ...... Think of the sale of nuclear reactors to India and Pakistan (Remember Khan?) there is more.



See what I mean? Sue Montgomery: Guite jury hears of limitless funds CanWest, May 24, 2006

Montreal The federal Liberal government was pouring money into the sponsorship program well before the post-referendum plan to plaster the Canadian flag all over Quebec got underway, the fraud trial of former bureaucrat Charles Guite heard yesterday. "The sky's the limit," Huguette Tremblay, the woman in charge of the program budget, scribbled on a Sept. 14, 1995, preliminary list of events to be sponsored. "Heh, well, we're now floating in orbit." [....]

Ottawa may host Bilderberg -- "OTTAWA - The meetings of a secretive global think-tank would bring 100 of the world's most powerful and influential figures to Ottawa next ...." CanWest, May 24, 06



Canada's Commitment in Afghanistan -- The ex-Min. of National Defense, who is now Opposition critic for defense, Liberal Bill Graham supported the mission. Check how your own MP voted. Very interesting from the gang that sent the troops over.



Kathleen Harris: Former Quebec shock jock Andre Arthur says he's "impressed" with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and hinted he'd consider joining the Conservative benches



Prime Minister announces humanitarian aid and support for peace in Sudan
May 23, 2006
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced that Canada, following the recent signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement, will increase its financial support for both urgently needed humanitarian assistance and peace support.

The Prime Minister was joined by Minister of International Cooperation Josée Verner, and Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the announcement.

“Canada will act. And I am here today to announce how,” said the Prime Minister. “Our government will pursue a two-pronged approach, splitting our efforts between the provision of humanitarian aid and peace support assistance. Combined, these efforts will help to normalize and stabilize the region, the first step necessary if the peace process is to succeed.”

Canada is immediately increasing financial support for Sudan by $40 million. Of that amount, $20 million will be used for urgent humanitarian needs, such as the provision of food aid, water and sanitation, basic health care, the protection of, and assistance to, displaced populations in Sudan and in neighbouring countries. Partners will include key UN humanitarian agencies, the Red Cross Movement, as well as Canadian NGOs. [....]

May 23, 2006: NB, Frank McKenna, TD Bank, MRI $$$

I heard this while in another room so check further.

McKenna bearing TD gift to St. John

Frank McKenna was in Saint John, New Brunswick, today to announce a gift from the TD Bank / Toronto Dominion Bank of the money for an MRI for the local hospital in Saint John.

I searched using Google and could find nothing of interest on this, though there was information on a friendship between McKenna and a banker, also an article concerning bank mergers and "consolidation-hungry financial institutions" from ex-MP Roy Cullen's website: "Bank merger hearings off to tough start", Globe and Mail, Jan. 29, 2003.

http://
www.roycullen.com/archives/
media_2003_1_29_2002_11_01.htm#Bank%20merger

I would guess Frank will throw his hat in the Liberal leadership ring. Break a leg, Frank. I leave it to readers to decide how I mean that in politics -- whether literally or figuratively, as one might wish an actor.

May 23-06: UN, Rights, Activists Networks' $$$

United Nations & Rights, Activists, Funding, Networks: Here we go again

Do check out the connections and the funding. You will hear more about activists from the MSM / CBC-leftist Liberal Propaganda Organ.

UN committee delivers harsh appraisal of Canada's social services Alexander Robillard, May 23, 06

Canada's employment insurance program leaves too many Canadians in the lurch, says a United Nations report that is equally harsh about several other areas of the country's social policy.

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights says it is concerned by the low number of unemployed workers who qualify for EI benefits.

"The Committee notes with concern that in 2001, only 39 per cent of unemployed Canadians were eligible for benefits,

[....] low eligibility rates among youth and migrant workers, female part-time workers and in provinces such as Ontario.

Earlier this month, representatives from Ottawa and the provinces travelled to Geneva, presenting a report outlining the country's adherence to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, of which it is a member. [....]

Search: federal transfer payments , Pierre-Louis Fortin-Legris , Montreal-based human rights group Ligue des droits et libertes , tool for community groups

Are the sex-trade workers covered by this?


U.N.: No Such Thing as Illegal Immigration Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff, May 18, 06

The United Nations doesn't recognize the concept of illegal immigration - and refuses to use that term when referring to foreigners who flout U.S. immigration laws by crossing the border without documentation.

So says Eric Shawn, whose new book "The U.N. Exposed," blows the lid off the corrpution, double-dealing and anti-U.S. resentment that permeates the world body.

Activists, Kyoto, Tides Foundation & More

PM not trying to impress world but seeks solutions, says Rondi Adamson Rondi Adamson, May 21, 2006.

Ostensibly, the Kyoto Protocol is about the environment. In truth, it is about policy that would benefit certain countries (mostly European), over others (the United States). And joining appears to have no effect.

As a country that signed on to Kyoto, Canada's carbon dioxide emissions are now nearly 25 per cent greater than they were in 1990. [Do you suppose it happened since the Conservatives won the election Jan. 23, 06?]

We had agreed to reduce them to where they were 15 years ago.

The United States, on the other hand, has had a significantly smaller CO2 rate increase in the same time frame, without having signed on to Kyoto or been, to use another Suzuki quote, one of the "international good guys."

Whether the Liberals were misleading us about Kyoto, or just plain stupid, doesn't matter. They talked and accomplished nothing. The evidence suggests that Harper is being realistic. [. . . . ]

Environmentalists call on Ambrose to resign as chair of Kyoto talks -- Check the sources of funding for these environmental activists ... Note: the Tides Foundation, the UN's globalist (if they get to make the decisions) talking heads and Maurice Strong, etc. Dennis Bueckert, CP, May 10, 2006

Scroll down for more on John Bennett.

Canada has effectively abandoned the climate treaty and should not take part in the talks that open Monday in Bonn, said John Bennett of the Climate Action Network. "We are calling for Rona Ambrose to resign as president of the international negotiations," he told a news conference Wednesday. "It's the honourable thing to do.

[....] Under the UN system, the Canadian environment minister is chair of the talks .... to obtain commitments from developing countries, currently exempt from targets.

[....] Under Kyoto's terms, Canada is committed to a six per cent cut in greenhouse emissions from 1990 levels by 2012. Canada's emissions are now [25%? or] 30 per cent above 1990 levels. [which must have occurred in the last 100 days since Paul Martin told a different story]

[....] Matthew Bramley of the Pembina Institute .... through the purchase of international emissions credits. [Ah, Alberta should pay? ]

[....] Stephen Guilbeault of Greenpeace said the Conservatives are following the path of U.S. President George W. Bush, and isolating Canada from the rest of the world.

The crux of their trying to tie a Canadian PM to a US Republican President? Check whether there are ties that lead, eventually, to the US Democratic Party and leftists everywhere.



What do activists, leftists, Liberals and assorted hangers on stand to lose by a realistic look at climate change and what has occurred under successive Liberal governments? Control, power and monetary advantage? Power? What are the their political or other connections?

John Bennett: Presenter Biography pdf -- Why do the mainstream media not tell people of the "activist's" background? -- here

John Bennett - Senior Policy Advisor energy, Sierra Club of Canada and Executive Director, Climate Action Network of Canada (CANet)

Same source: other activists mentioned -- An Edmonton spokeswoman for the Sierra Club of Canada [ex-Liberal Min. Anne McLellan's bailiwick], Canadian Climate Action Network, Nashina Shariff of the Toxics Watch Society. Edmonton Journal, May 10, 06

Google search: "John Bennett, chair, Climate Action Network" -- Are these all the same group or network? Should media quoting these activists not make this clear? Particularly for those too busy earning a living to understand the connections? Instead, news reports treat them as though they were separate groups, which gives the idea that there are several different groups, not one network, after Rona Ambrose's head.

David Suzuki News April 12, 2006: Environmental groups urge Prime ...
David Coon, Chair Climate Action Network, 506 461-1023 ... John Bennett, Executive Director, Climate Action Network, 613 291-6888.
www.davidsuzuki.org/
Campaigns_and_Programs/Climate_Change/
News_Releases/newsclimatechange04120601

[SCC-issue-alerts] Climate Action Network: Letter to the Prime ...
Climate Action Network Tuesday, June 14, 2005 Dear Prime Minister Martin, The G8 meeting in Scotland is fast ... Sincerely, John Bennett Executive Director ...
www.sierraclub.ca/
pipermail/scc-issue-alerts/2005-June/000126.html

The Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development [Who decides what is "appropriate"?]Ottawa - Members of the Canadian Climate Action Network/R é seau Action Climat - Canada ... John Bennett, Executive Director, CAN-RAC, 613 291-6888 ...
www.pembina.org/
newsitem.asp?newsid=188§ion=

[PDF] Agenda Conference Notes Registration Form
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Gathering 2003, the OEN Caucus Chairs have organized a. series of outstanding speakers and sessions ... John Bennett (Climate Action Network) will lead a ...
www.oen.ca/
ecogathering2003/brochure-back.pdf

Memory Lane: Missing link(s) - Liberals' Technology Partnerships Canada

FHTR June 28, 2005: Hansard, TPC, Audit, Secrecy & the Missing Link, Other links to TPC & ZENON, Bombardier & More

... information that had been available on a government website had disappeared -- and this is not the first time this has happened.[....] Whoever controls the website and the documents determines the history.

What I found interesting--if you skim down--is that the usual company names pop up: ZENON ( Check Maurice Strong), RIM (Check NTP patent or copyright problem), Bombardier . . . even something to benefit CSL, and more.

Why are the taxpayers of Canada funding a company, ZENON, pursuing business in China?Or is this not significant? Is anything else being shared with China in other TPC agreements? Was any lobbyist paid to help get agreements?

[....] Background: Hansard and news articles

Hansard June 27, 2005: Technology Partnerships Canada [no link]

Mr. James Rajotte (Edmonton—Leduc, CPC): Mr. Speaker, last week I searched the Technology Partnerships Canada website for a list of current repayments of the more than $2.7 billion that has been loaned out. There was a link, but it did not work.

Today the link on the TPC website to the repayment schedule has been erased completely, as if it was never there in the first place. Why did Industry Canada remove the link to the list of TPC repayments? What is the minister trying to hide?

Hon. David Emerson (Minister of Industry, Lib.): . . . I am unaware of. . . .

Mr. James Rajotte (Edmonton—Leduc, CPC): Mr. Speaker, this vanishing link to repayments is a classic example of the mismanagement and secrecy that surrounds this whole program. They did the same thing when we asked about job creation figures. They removed that from the website. [.... Is it possible that Mr. Emerson chose to leave the Liberals for a good reason?]

[....]

The above led to a Google search for "Technology Partnerships Canada" -- first from that department's own website.

Technology Partnerships Canada [Created: 2005-06-23 Updated: 2005-06-27 ]
[ http://tpc.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/intpc-ptc.nsf/en/Home ]

[....] Government of Canada Invests in Clean Heavy Oil Recovery Technology
Calgary, Alberta April 1, 2005

This Technology Partnerships Canada (TPC) investment is part of a $44.7-million development and demonstration project being undertaken by Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd. of Calgary. The WHITESANDS pilot project will field demonstrate Petrobank’s patented THAI™ (Toe-to-Heel Air Injection) heavy oil recovery process in the Christina Lake area, south of Fort McMurray.

Search: Accounting News , audit , Petrobank , "aerial fumigation campaign" in Columbia , hydrogen economy , enables use in the harshest of environments , for use in the F-35 aircraft being produced by Lockheed Martin , fighter jets , ZENON to install its technology for Olympic Village -- China's Olympic Village for 2008 , air traffic management products

Canada–Finland Collaboration [Finland? See below a related post]

Remote Sensing Technology Geomatics

RADARSAT

Finland-related ... among other things: FHTR May 18, 2006: Memory Lane & Questions

No wonder the Kyoto and arts activists / networks and those who had a close relationship to Liberal government(s) are unhappy ...... Like the media, they don't have the close ties to the new Conservative government and some of them comment to the media, which should reveal these close relationships, where it is relevant.


Exceptional lineup of Canadians to accompany Governor General on State visits to Russia, Finland and Iceland September 10, 2003


QUEBEC CITY– Denys Arcand, Maurice Strong, Mary Simon, Peter Irniq, Roméo Dallaire, Yann Martel, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Arthur Erickson, Édouard Lock, Bob Rae, Jane Urquhart, Measha Brueggergosman, Michael Ondaatje ...These are just some of the prominent Canadians who will showcase Canada as a modern northern nation as they accompany Governor General Adrienne Clarkson and John Ralston Saul on State visits to the Russian Federation, the Republic of Finland and the Republic of Iceland from September 23 to October 15, 2003.

[....] The official delegation accompanying the Governor General will be led by Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion in Russia and [ex] Environment Minister David Anderson in Finland and Iceland, [....] Governor General and John Ralston Saul have invited leaders of northern communities and scientists, authors and architects, filmmakers and fishers, artists and academics, and musicians and environmentalists [....]

There is much more to read, with links.





Memory Lane: Activists, Leftists and Tides ... Tides Foundation's national organization

Teresa Heinz Kerry: Bag Lady for the Radical Left Ben Johnson, FrontPageMagazine.com, February 13, 2004

[....] Teresa Heinz Kerry has financed the secretive Tides Foundation to the tune of more than $4 million over the years. The Tides Foundation, a “charity” established in 1976 by antiwar leftist activist Drummond Pike, distributes millions of dollars in grants every year to political organizations advocating far-Left causes. The Tides Foundation and its closely allied Tides Center, which was spun off from the Foundation in 1996 but run by Drummond Pike, distributed nearly $66 million in grants in 2002 alone. In all, Tides has distributed more than $300 million for the Left. These funds went to rabid antiwar demonstrators, anti-trade demonstrators, domestic Islamist organizations, pro-terrorists legal groups, environmentalists, abortion partisans, extremist homosexual activists and open borders advocates.

[....] Since that time, the local branch has tirelessly pushed an anti-business agenda in the name of “preserving the environment.” However, it is the Tides Foundation’s national organization whose connections are most disconcerting.

Subheadings:

The Tides Foundation [national organization] is a major source of revenue for some of the most extreme groups on the Left. Tides allows donors to anonymously contribute money .... “Anonymity is very important to most of the people we work with.” That becomes understandable when one views the list of Tides grant recipients. And who are the beneficiaries of this money?

The Antiwar Movement

[....] MoveOn.org ... Indymedia ... “alternate media coverage.” ... bulletin board ... provided a vital link for radical activists often with violent agendas to coordinate their protests. [....]

The Institute for Global Communications [....]

The Islamist Front

... 9/11 Fund ... New York Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project to protect the rights of homosexual Arabs. The Foundation replaced the 9/11 Fund with the “Democratic Justice Fund,” which was established with the aid of George Soros’ Open Society Institute. .... seeks to ease restrictions on Muslim immigration to the United States, particularly from countries designated by the State Department as “terrorist nations.”

... Council for American Islamic Relations [CAIR] ... opposes and demonizes American efforts to fight terrorism .... defended terrorist “charities”

The Antiwar Movement

The Legal Matrix [e.g. Lynne Stewart , William Kunstler, defender of the Chicago 8, and Arthur Kinoy , Communist Party]

[....] And modern heroes, dare I mention? Ho and Mao and Lenin, Fidel and Nelson Mandela and John Brown, Che Guevara

[....] Tides’ Peace Strategies Fund ... Center for Constitutional Rights .... William Kunstler, defender of the Chicago 8, and Arthur Kinoy .... Communist Party USA

[...] Alliance for Justice, a group dedicated to stopping Bush judicial appointees .... Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and the Asian Law Caucus.

Environmental Extremism

[.... ] the Ruckus Society .... [A]dvocates for environmentalist measures that have helped put holes in the Rust Belt’s economy.

Tides money has also squashed free speech. Thanks to complaints generated by the Tides-funded Environmental Working Group, ABC cancelled a John Stossel piece exposing the misleading nature of environmental advocacy in public elementary schools.

Greenpeace is a well-known Tides grant recipient. Greenpeace is best known for its illegal actions, endangering humans in order to make a point about the environment. Tides gave Greenpeace a quarter of a million dollars over ten years.

[....] Earth Island Institute ....

[....] One never needs to search very far to find connections between a leftist foundation and extreme advocacy groups. Teresa Heinz Kerry, George Soros, Bill Moyers and the Ford Foundation fund the Tides Foundation/Center; Tides funds the National Lawyers Guild, CAIR, MoveOn.org and United for Peace and Justice; those organizations then unite in fluid coalitions to protest against their common political enemies (Republicans). Ultimately, their representatives end up on Bill Moyers' PBS programs or active within the Democratic campaigns of their fundraisers. [....]

They seem to have come to Canada.

May 23-06: Media Bias, Leftists, UN & Illegals

NewsBusters: Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias -- Is Google Purging Conservative News Sites? Posted by Noel Sheppard on May 22, 2006 - 09:37.

The above is a collaboration with writer and software developer Marc Sheppard that first appeared at The American Thinker.

Something frighteningly ominous has been happening on the Internet lately: Google, without any prior explanation or notice, has been terminating its News relationship with conservative e-zines and web journals.

[....S]uch behavior could give one relatively small technological corporation (when measured by the size of its workforce) a degree of political might that frankly dwarfs its current financial prowess.

It’s Not So Easy Being A Conservative E-Zine

As reported by NewsBusters, the most recent occurrence of this unexplained phenomenon was Friday, May 19, when Frank Salvato, proprietor of The New Media Journal, realized that his content that day hadn't been disseminated at Google News as it had been on a daily basis since he reached an agreement with the search engine in September 2005.

After sending the Google Help Desk a query concerning the matter, Salvato was informed that there had been complaints of "hate speech" at his website, and as a result, The New Media Journal would no longer be part of Google News. As evidence of his offense, the Google Team supplied Salvato with links to three recent op-eds published by his contributing writers, all coincidentally about radical Islam and its relation to terrorism.

[....] Two weeks after Jawa was cut from Google News, Jim Sesi’s MichNews.com was banished on April 12. In Sesi’s case, the three pieces provided as examples of “hate speech” were articles by conservative writer J. Grant Swank, Jr., all about – you guessed it – radical Islam and terrorism. [....]

Is Your Internet News Service Fair and Balanced?

[....] of the over $200,000 Google employees gave to federal candidates in 2004, “98% went to Democrats, the biggest share among top tech donors.”

[....] Potentially more telling, a May 15 “Washington Prowler” piece at The American Spectator disclosed a link between Google and the ultra-left wing MoveOn.org: .... Al Gore ....

Googling Past The Graveyard

[....] in this case, if the political leanings and proclivities of the world’s largest online information engine – as well as likely the number one disseminator of “new media” content – begin impacting its policies, America may be on the precipice of an even ghastlier problem than journalists, editors, and news producers allowing their political dogma to interfere with the impartiality of their reports.

[....] Gore’s cable channel, Current.

[....] poof ....

Sample comments below that article:

TheTruth Says:
May 22, 2006 - 11:27
When you are dealing with Progressive Intellectual Elites the simple truth if it disagrees with the lefty’s ideology is frequently considered ‘hate speech’ I have seen it many times you simply state the truth on some subject and provide the sources to back your position and the next thing know here comes a string of personal attacks having nothing to do with the subject being discussed. Liberalism can not survive in truth :-)

MSM: Arrogant intellectually dishonest LIBERALS teaching those stupid peasants how to vote by way of selective reporting, misinformation, propaganda, and out right lies.

Anonymous Says:
May 22, 2006 - 18:49
Serveral Points:
Some don't seem to understand that we're talking about Google's news services -- not search. Go to news.google.com for that portal page.

Summing up: Despite their "do-no-evil" policy, Google has acted for anti-democracy interests. Google supports "net neutrality," which is another word for their own monopoly (ie, regulation against letting others compete with them by providing certain services), they are allied with moveon.org (in support of that issue, and money has changed hands between the two), they support American liberals, they promote censorship in China, they called Taiwan a province of China, and it's been reported that they've turned over emails of Chinese democracy-supporters to that government. [....]

Do a little comparison: Try various search engines (google, yahoo, dogpile, etc.) and see which one may be practising political censorship. Try "Aga Khan" for starters; then try "Ismaili".

The link and excerpt that follows did not appear when I tried to find information a year ago at the time Canadians graciously gave $30-MILLION to the Aga Khan Centre for Peace in Ottawa. I was outraged since the Aga Khan lives in a castle or mansion in France, raises (breeds?) race horses, has been gifted with his weight in diamonds (250 lb I seem to remember) by his Ismaili followers who tithe. I believe he has connections to Switzerland, may have been born there, though the article suggests it could have been Paris, as well. At the time, mostly what I could find were excessive praise for him and his organization. Then, lately, I found the following.


A HISTORY OF THE AGAKHANI ISMAILIS, SECTION SEVEN The data compiled are from the third edition, published in 1985 in Toronto, Canada. 2. A Concise Text of History of Ismaili Imams (Gujrati). ... by author, Jazakum Allahu Khairan.

THE PRACTICE OF RECOVERING RELIGIOUS TAXES [....]

John Norman Hollister records in The Shi`a Of India (p. 359), that these followers of the Imam-Shahi faith "accepted for all practical purposes their Pir as an Imam, by their willingness to have him receive the dassondh." The term Dassondh means religious tax or tithe.

Khojah Momnas of Gujrat [....]

Like Imam-Shahi Pirs (who were also descendants of Pir Sadr-din), Mashayikh collected religious taxes from his followers and kept them for himself. He had no alliance with the Nizari Imams of Persia. Ismaili scholars say that the Pir was professing Sunnism as a taqiyya (dissimulation).

Pir Dadu of Sind [....]

Historical data are unavailable

Ismaili historians .... According to these claims, the practice of sending money to the Imams in Persia [Iran] through Rais (messengers), in leather bags called Jowlis, had been in operation since 1430. [....]

The recorded data do not match with the period during which the historical events associated with some of the recent ancestors did take place. [....]

some of the major controversies

Ismaili scholars discredit Ismaili historian [....]

Aga Khan's attempt to collect religious taxes [....]

Religious tax becomes obligatory

It is not known when the practice of collecting religious tax called Dassondh from the Ismaili families became obligatory, but it was so until the practice of maintaining records of the payments was discontinued in the 1940s. The minimum payment of religious tax is 12½ percent from the gross income of an individual. It is called Dassondh. Many Ismailis pay 25 percent from their gross income. It is called One-fourth. Dassondh is one of the six fundamental pillars of Ismailism and it replaces the Islamic pillar of Zakat. It is a religious duty of a murid (follower) to pay this amount diligently to one of the representatives of his Hazar Imam in cash in the Jama`at khana, every month. The majority of Ismailis pay their Dassondh on Chandrat (night of the new moon).

Ismailis quite often argue that this is not a compulsory religious tax, that it is a voluntary payment and that there are many followers of Karim Aga Khan who do not pay Dassondh. True, but there are Farmans that speak of calamities that will fall upon those who would keep back Imam's money, the Dassondh. [....]

I distinctly remember the marriage of my elder brother at Noor-baugh in Bombay. The expensive jewellery, new furniture, appliances, utensils, clothing, etc., received as dowry and gifts from relatives of both parties were physically inspected, evaluated, and taxed at 12½ percent by a salaried Kamadia Ibrahim Jaffar Rattansi of the Chief Jama`at khana, Bombay. [....]

Ismailis bury their dead in Muslim graveyards [....]

Religious taxes become optional

The practice of maintaining records of religious taxes was finally discontinued when Aga Khan's Estate Office in India developed a serious problem with the tax departments of the newly independent Indian Government. The wealth acquired by Aga Khan III from his followers and the funds donated became a taxable item in the books of the newly formed government. [....]

Since the Dassondh money was and is collected from across the world in cash, large sums are transferred from various parts of the world to Europe. There are instances in the past as well as present, where Aga Khan's Mukhis and agents have been caught and imprisoned for illegal money laundering.

"Money laundering" from Syria

"Money laundering" from the United States

More recently, in June 1989, United States Federal Agents arrested three groups of Agakhani Ismailis in Dallas, Seattle and New York, on charges of running an illegal money-laundering that stretched from United States to London and Switzerland, as well as from United States to Canada, London and Belgium. [....]

Alibhai had illegally taken more than $30 million in currency out of the United States between 1985 and 1987, reported Lee Hancock in the Dallas Morning News.

[....] "The three cases represent the largest money-laundering operation ever uncovered in North Texas and one of the largest nationally."

[....] the sect's members are required to give 12 percent to 25 percent of pre-tax income to the Aga Khan, a billionaire resident of Paris. Mr. Alibhai did not report the money to U.S. authorities only because his religion prohibited revealing how much he was carrying. "Traditionally, members of the community literally take the money in the form of cash to the Aga Khan, and traditionally there was secrecy involved."

GENEALOGICAL CHART OF THE ISMAILI IMAMS [....]

Names of Imams and their numbers vary [....]

Dr. Hollister writes in The Shi'a of India (pp. 331-32): [....]

I still want to know why Canadians' tax money has been given to the Aga Khan's Peace Centre in Ottawa.



UN: From that cauldron of perqs and "ethics" ... another socialist policy for leftists to tout .... onward to "No-one is Illegal" ... and "rights"

It may be too late to take action but you might want to look at this if you live in the US. For Canadians, it is coming here; just listen to the illegals' sob stories coming out of the leftists' Propaganda Organ / CBC.

Senate Gives Illegals Social Security Benefits -- url to go to if you wish to make contrary views known cfif.org / Center for Individual Freedom

Should ILLEGAL aliens be entitled to receive Social Security benefits? According to the United States Senate, the answer is "YES!"

"ILLEGALS GRANTED SOCIAL SECURITY"

That was a front-page headline in Friday's Washington Times. According to Times reporter Charlie Hurt, "The Senate voted yesterday to allow illegal aliens to collect Social Security benefits based on past illegal employment -- even if the job was obtained through forged or stolen documents."

This is what happened...

Further down the webpage is this:

What Are The Consequences!

In case you haven't looked carefully at the Senate bill, here are a few consequences of passing the Senate bill that you may not have heard about on ABC, CBS, NBC, or read about in The New York Times.

In a shocking new report by the Heritage Foundation, Robert Rector observes that the Senate's "immigration reform plan" would:

Grant immediate amnesty for 10 million illegal aliens, comprising 85 percent of all illegal immigrants currently in our borders

Create a "temporary guest worker program" that is anything but temporary, since most "guest workers" would be given an immediate path to citizenship

Provide additional permanent visas for family members of immigrants, including siblings, parents, and adult children

Open the door to nearly four times as many permanent worker visas as are now issued

Provide for the largest expansion of the welfare state ever and cost the American taxpayer $46 billion per year -- or as Rector says: "immigrants with low education levels are likely to be a fiscal drain on other taxpayers... This is important because half of all adult illegal immigrants in the U.S. have less than a high-school education. In addition, recent immigrants have high levels of out-of-wedlock childbearing, which increases welfare costs and poverty."

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Center for Individual Freedom

And if you think this has not affected and will not affect Canadians, think again. I have written before on a group "No-one is Illegal" whose spokeswoman was interviewed by CBC. No hard journalistic investigation ........ implications for the rest of Canadians ... missing.

May 23, 2006: #5

Paul Jackson: Right Direction -- Conservatives gain ground -- but it's no revolution Calgary Sun, May 23, 06

[....] It's harder to explain to an audience that a political party or government in a nation with a four-party system can't act in the same way as a party and government in a two-party system. OK, it's true the U.S. has some fringe third parties, but they rarely amount to much, except when on the right they syphon votes from the Republicans and on the left syphon votes from the Democrats.

Especially until he wins a majority -- and he will -- Harper has to juggle to get his legislation passed, making deals with the Liberals, New Democrats or Bloc Quebecois, in much the same way as when a president hasn't got a majority in the Senate or the House of Representatives, and has to try and pull any number of diverse senators and congressmen onside.

[....] The American Thinker (www.americanthinker.com) [....]

MP's Considering Their Future As MPs -- Is it possible that some Bloc MPs may be afraid a Conservative will take their seat next election and are considering crossing to the Conservatives? May 22, 06, via R.



Friends deserve respect NatPost, May 20, 06

[....] There are certain basic courtesies that members of Parliament should extend to visiting world leaders: When the prime minister of one of Canada's closest allies addresses a joint sitting of the Houses of Parliament, it should be a no-brainer for Canadian MPs of all political stripes that attendance is in order.

Yet when Mr. Howard spoke to Parliament -- the first time an Australian prime minister has done so since 1944 -- dozens of Opposition Liberal MPs did not trouble to show up. Even former prime minister Paul Martin, who used to pride himself on his diplomatic skills, gave the occasion a pass. The result was a disconcerting number of empty seats, leaving a distinct impression that Canada's Liberals were giving Mr. Howard the cold shoulder. [....]

Background: Liberals Snub Australian PM: 49 of 102 in the House -- Ex-PM Martin skipped it too Kathleen Harris, Ottawa Sun, May 20, 06



Andrew Coyne: Trashing Parliament National Post

[....] So Parliament spirals ever downward into irrelevance.

It started with the rejection of Gwyn Morgan as head of the new Public Appointments Commission by a six-member majority of the Commons Operations committee. I trust those exquisites given to fluttering about the dangers of "American-style" confirmation hearings will have the decency to shut up after this travesty: the Americans should rather be concerned about things degenerating to Canadian levels.

I'm not kidding. No Congressional committee would ever treat a nominee for public office, particularly one of Mr. Morgan's stature, with such reckless disregard for reputation as we saw this week. Through long experience, the Americans know an open confirmation process depends on all sides agreeing to stay within certain boundaries: the President's choices, unless clearly unsuited, are generally given the benefit of the doubt. Otherwise the whole thing descends into partisan score-settling. [....]

It descended into partisanship a long time ago ... maybe about the time we began to get career politicians for whom Parliament was an enriching experience ...

My assessment? The Liberals, particularly, have so much invested in plans ... and any clean-up of the system as it has been would decimate key players ...... Additionally, perhaps for any involved in corruption it should involve gaol, considering what taxpayers lost in Adscam and who-knows-what-else.

Onward and upward, Prime Minister!



What's up with Jane Taber? -- "It gets worse on TV. I mean, who opens up an interview with the question "Are you a bigot?" " -- to Mr. Morgan Daifallah, May 21, 2006

I have been meaning to touch on this for a few days now: Jane Taber's work lately has been beyond the pale. Her dislike for the Tories was always fairly evident, but for some reason it went into overdrive last week. I don't know whether it's that she's overworked from her double duty as a Globe scribe and a CTV talking head or that the Harper press shop is treating her badly, but what she is doing is not right.

My antennae first went up when I saw [. . . . ]

Comment: Morgan Denied by LIEberal/N'Dippers Porkers casper34, 5/22/2006

Remember when the CPC proposed questioning of the Supreme court candidates. The opposition cried that it would become a US style grilling and that the best candidates would no longer be interested.

Yet, they turn around and use exactly those tactics with this Gwyn Morgan fella. [....]

Equalization Down Under

Paul Stanway: A solution Down Under our noses May 21, 2006

In July 2000, the government of Aussie PM John Howard brought in a national goods and services tax, much the same as ours. But Howard used it to replace Australia's outdated version of equalization, with that country's state governments getting all the revenue from the GST.

Howard even managed to get Australia's premiers to nix a whole range of state taxes in return for the GST revenue, which resulted in an overall reduction of taxes by almost 14%. Everyone was a winner!

[. . . . ]



Desertion charges dropped against former JTF2 soldier -- The charge was dropped after Montgomery Paisley's lawyer presented evidence that the former Joint Task Force 2 soldier was suffering from a "major depressive disorder," ....Military prosecutors said it was in the "public interest" to drop the case against the former JTF2 sergeant.



Inuit protest teaching of evolution -- Quebec teacher [Alexandre April ] vows to continue Allison Lampert, CanWest, May 20, 06

Debate over the teaching of evolution in Salluit -- a village of 1,150 located at the corner of Ungava and Hudson Bay -- is pitting an increasingly religious Inuit population against a Quebec education system that is becoming more secular. Courses about the Catholic and Protestant religions will soon be removed from public schools. [....]

Legally, Inuit schools in Quebec's North must teach evolution. [....]