December 16, 2006

Dec. 16, 2006: AIM - Memory Lane

Update to mention of the Alternative Investment Market or AIM exchange in this post: Dec. 11, 2006: Propinquity

Related: Nov. 25, 2006: 1
Canadian miners top dogs on London's AIM exchange -- London market mining financing stronger than tech -- London's Alternative Investment Market
and there is more.

[The] London exchange can be favoured by companies keen to avoid Canadian stock exchange requirements or U.S. regulations.


frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2006/11/nov-25-2006-1.html

Dec. 16, 2006: Awards

December 11 2006, via Backspin: link to the year's best and worst media, read, listen and view photos -- 2006 Dishonest Reporter of the Year Award

backspin.typepad.com/backspin/2006
/12/2006_dishonest_.html

2006 Dishonest Reporter of the Year Award

www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques
/2006_Dishonest_Reporter_of_the_Year_Award.asp

Dec. 16, 2006: Truth is no excuse ...

Caveat: This is too lengthy, but I have tried to explore what happens to cause a good police officer to become so furious with the system as it is, that he blows up in court. He knows how the system kicks in to protect ... after an error ... goes into stall and obfuscate when ordinary citizens want redress ... but systems set up to help good people such as Legal Aid, are used and abused by criminals and their criminal organizations.

Update added later below.


Cop gets benched for telling the truth , by Leo Knight, December 14, 2006

leoknight.blogspot.com/2006/12/
cop-gets-benched-for-telling-truth.html


... Calgary Police Service Constable Shaun Horne ... suspended ....

Horne [had] called the decision by JP Kristine Robideaux a mockery and a joke, which of course it was. [see below ....]

Robideaux, as an aside, is a lawyer by profession and also doubles as a board member for the Legal Aid Society.
[see below ....]

....tried to subpoena ... [JP Kristine Robideaux], but that was quashed by somebody higher up in the administration of the provincial courts. [No ability] to mount a mitigating defense ...

... Inspector Paul Manuel ... duty officer ... search warrant [....]

Apparently Constable Horne, while right in his assessment of the justice system, didn't have the friends in high places needed to ensure he paid no penalty for the transgression of telling the truth.
[....]



Comment:


the viable question is what drove a 26 year officer with a spotless record to snap? Clearly it would be the culmination of a failing system both in CPS [Calgary Police Service] and in the justice system as a whole. .... he has been punished based on political agenda.

[....] He proved himself to be honourable right to the bitter end when he didn't go on bended knee to take the pro-offered deal or the easy way out. He stood on principle at cost to himself.

... Manuel ... tried to shake his hand and wish him well in his retirement?! Good on Horne for turning his back ...


Comment:

I want to praise Const. Horne, for standing up to the Courts, for what he truly believes in.

[....] Offenders in this country enjoy all the rights and privileges our Charter of rights entails, but suffer no consequences for their actions. The victims of crime deserve the same rights, privileges and freedoms that are so often used by the predators that perpetrate crime. [....]


See related information on legal aid and who gets it, a perversion of the intent of legal aid money from taxpayers.


Update: an overview with the essential details -- "Insp. Paul Manuel, representing the police brass, sounds off like a paragon of virtue." and in high dudgeon about bringing "discredit on the reputation of the service" and the court. How did justices ever become such protected blossoms? Never hit reality in law school? The upshot for police? "No matter what injustice you see, keep your mouth shut," says Koenig.

Rick Bell: What happens when a city cop tells the truth about our justice system? Dec. 14, 2006, Calgary Sun.

calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/
Bell_Rick/2006/12/14/2788192-sun.html


When cop blows over "catch and release" justice

There are good police officers who want the system scrubbed. I suspect that, often, they don't rise to the top.

Outspoken officer remains defiant , Sarah Kennedy, Calgary Sun, Dec. 14, 06

calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2006
/12/14/2788065-sun.html



[....] Horne was facing three counts of discreditable conduct after he swore at a suspect in a court proceeding last December and called justice of the peace Kristine Robidoux's decision to release a man, who has a record of 65 criminal convictions, a mockery and a joke. [swore - called him a piece of sh** after Brazill, not detained, smirked at Home who saw red--the revolving door in operation]

The suspect, Albert Walter Brazill ....
... released on conditions ... never showed up for his next court appearance.

After two days of testimony on Dec. 5 and 6, Insp. Blake McWilliam, who was presiding ... found Horne guilty of all three counts of discreditable conduct and suspended him without pay for 40 hours.

[....] "I'm still frustrated ... our whole justice system is catch and release," he said. "What I said I shouldn't have said but there was extenuating circumstances that brought it to that point ... I'd do it again in a heartbeat." [....]



Time to go for Chief under fire , By Leo Knight. (Prime Time Crime exclusive Oct. 13, 2004), posted by AngryGWN

angrygwn.blogspot.com/2005/04/
problems-at-calgary-police-service.html



In April I told you of the Staff Sergeant in the Calgary Police Service who had a number of civil suits filed against him by fellow cops who claim he defrauded them of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Calgary Chief, Jack Beaton had decided not to suspend the senior officer, Kirk McCallum, while internal investigations were continuing.

[....] After referring the CPS investigation to the RCMP, criminal charges of fraud have now been laid against McCallum and Beaton has finally acted.

.... other allegations ....

Last week a newly retired officer, Tim Goodwin, wrote a letter to the Solicitor General asking for an investigation into the “lack of responsibility and accountability” present in the Calgary Police Service.


Examples of protection cited:



Goodwin referred to ... Staff Sergeant ... Carl Desantis ... with booze on his breath while operating a police car. According to Goodwin, the investigators at the scene contacted the duty inspector who in turn contacted a Deputy Chief Constable who directed no action be taken.

The backlash .... Deputy Chief Rick Hanson ... saying he had never received such a call from a Duty Inspector and consequently had never issued a “make it go away” order.

[....] Taufiq Shah ... complaint of racism and harassment .... named ... Kirk McCallum. [....]

... alleges [Darwin] Pearce ... engaged in a weapons drawn “show down” ...

One of the officers ... a junior constable ... found guilty and suspended. But hey, what about Pearce or his boss, Kirk McCallum?



Why good guys blow up at the system

Stench from apparent police cover-up won't go away , Leo Knight, June 28, 2006

leoknight.blogspot.com/2006/06/
stench-from-apparent-police-cover-up.html



[....] The piece written by staffer Suzanne Wilton, details a memo written by then Inspector, now Deputy Chief Jim Hornby of the Calgary Police Service to then Deputy Chief Rick Hanson.

[....] “As per our conversation, I have a situation where I believe an officer’s notebook has been modified improperly that may bring the Service into disrepute. This surrounds an application for a search warrant and the grounds required to obtain it.” [....]

The memo, a “smoking gun” that clearly demonstrates the Calgary Police knew they screwed up badly, was written by Hornby in December of 2000, three months after the events and still the management of the police department are dodging and obfuscating refusing to admit they were wrong.

Cst. Ian Vernon .... Vernon, Hornby and Vernon’s supervisor, Sgt. Carl DeSantis, who counseled Vernon in how to put together his first ITO [Information to Obtain]



Comments on this , July 3, 2006

leoknight.blogspot.com/2006/06/
stench-from-apparent-police-cover-up.ht
ml#comment-115197965288400547



[....] where a Deputy Chief stuck a knife in your back 2 miles deep, in order to protect his good buddy Carl Desantis? [....]

Carl Desantis has his fingerprints all over this. He was Ian Vernon's sergeant at the time. I don't think that Ian even wrote the whole ITO. [....]

Its known throughout CPS that Jim Hornby 'protects' Carl. ... over 5 years ... stalling and stalling and stalling ..... 'moneying-em-to-death.' Remember the drunk-driving allegations involving Carl in 2004 that just seemed to fade away? [Why? Was he protected?....]

... only chance Ian has of saving his career is to roll on his old boss and tell everyone what really happened with that ITO.


Search: Al Koenig , Kirk McCallum's little Ponzi scam



It's not for anybody to re-tool either to retrofit to an agenda, self preservation or otherwise. Isn't there a clear obligation to release this information to the defence [....]

... the process is designed to put up as many walls as is possible draining the will and economics of the complainant .... time and taxpayer money




Legal aid system is flawed , by Leo Knight. Published in the North Shore News, June 2, 2004

www.primetimecrime.com/columns
/Columns%202004/20040602.htm

Fixing Legal Aid and why it was / is necessary in other provinces.



LAST week Manitoba Justice Minister Gordon Mackintosh ... legal aid ....
... amendments to the Legal Aid Act .... section 12(3) makes members of a criminal organization ineligible. [....]

... Tory justice critic Gerald Hawranik.... it has been proven that the Hells Angels are a well-known criminal organization that are making millions of dollars on things like prostitution and the drug trade. ... ensure legal aid funding is available for those that it was intended to assist, not criminal organizations.

... a special investigation into the assets of the bikers. [....]

... merely maintaining membership in such a criminal organization was enough to deny legal aid.

... the test for legal aid eligibility was a simple declaration of assets and last year's T-4. [scope for business fronts, lying, etc. ....]

The system devoid of common sense says to step right up and get the taxpayer to pay for your defence on conspiracy to import millions of dollars of cocaine Mr. Biker, for apparently you cannot afford your own defence.

[....] millionaire accused Ripudaman Singh Malik. [.... Legal aid had been paying for two members of his family as part of his defense team, as I recall. ]

The problem with all of this is that when the gangsters are sucking up millions in taxpayer-funded legal aid, the people who really need it can't get it. ... Legal Aid Manitoba announced it had to scale back its services for divorces, guardianship and child support, services typically used by single mothers trying to fight a custody battle against a wealthier ex-spouse.

[....] ... Kaneez Fatima and Mohammad Arsal Khan .... murder of their daughter....

... seven defence lawyers and an extraordinary series of tactics and manipulations. .... cost?

... Christie Blatchford tried to find out. She couldn't. ... privacy [....]

December 15, 2006

Dec. 15, 2006: Hatchet

There is no incentive large enough to entice me to take on this thankless job of MP or Minister, whatever the salary and perqs, especially when the media are so negative. I have heard almost nothing positive about Min. Ambrose or Min. MacKay. Surely, there must be some positives. Is the reality so unrelentingly negative concerning this government? Or is that they are attempting to change the culture of entitlement, of corruption, of MSM complicity ... that served the last government so well ... while moving forward. It is an onerous job.

Don Martin's predictions on who are likely to fall prey to cabinet shuffle , Dec. 15, 2006, NatPost

www.canada.com/nationalpost/columnists/story.ht
ml?id=70cc8602-1796-4194-b28e-c6c6acc75a6a

[....Ambrose] unable [to] meet expectations she'd be a political rock star rising in the West.


Whose expectations? I don't want a 'star'. Reports from some who would know are that she can be very impressive in action. However, the networks and activists have been put in place to bury her. Remember the international conference Min. Ambrose attended on Kyoto and the rudeness toward her? Look into the businesses just waiting to get rid of her and her government ... to bring back the ones who keep them ... in whatever it is they would like to be doing.

... uneven performance ... intensely meddlesome Prime Minister's Office, which imposed strict mind control against the pragmatic ideas Ms. Ambrose has often discussed with me during casual conversation.


Would it not be a journalistic coup to report the ideas, then, since others don't?

.... If the media continues its campaign to have Rona Ambrose fired, the Prime Minister will do precisely the opposite. Mr. Harper would rather stick with a ministerial liability than bow to the collective wisdom of despised pundits.


Negative re: PM Harper. I have heard that he is very good, that he knows what he is doing. Is this negativity news or creativity? Which disgruntled people do journalists talk with? Some who want to return to ... the way it was, I hear.

[....] There are other weak links in Mr. Harper's chain of command, ministers who have proven themselves shuffle-worthy after 10 months on the job. They are:

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay: [....]

ideally suited to Intergovernmental Affairs [....]

Cold and crusty Mr. O'Connor [....] the real fight is to win over public opinion back home.


Who cares about his personality if he does the job and if journalists would interview, investigate and report in a balanced way what the military is doing--and it is worth finding out--instead of telling readers that the minister is a negative.

International Development Minister Josee Verner ... [to] promote the reconstruction effort .... a major lightweight.

Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn [....]


First, journalists could be honest about their part in the proliferation of negative news about any of the ministers. Think about whether they contribute to the silly reporting (doggygate, for example) instead of adding to Canadians' knowledge of the important events or analyses of what departments are trying to accomplish.

Journalists should investigate why Min. Verner might move cautiously; the International Development department has to be certain it is on the right track now. Remember the CIDA/Afghanistan story? CIDA wasn't revealing too much ... another fifth column put in place previously to obfuscate and refuse to reveal. Start digging. There is plenty to learn.

If so many journalists hadn't been so used to getting their Pravda Propaganda talking points, point of view, news bites/bytes via friends in the former PMO ... There must be another side to the story. Martin's header? "Bets are in that Ambrose is on way out".

I wouldn't talk to most of these journalists, nor explain, if this is how they write about members of my team ... or have I missed all the analytical items written? I would let the people decide.

Dec. 15, 2006: Bahrain & Outsourcing Offshore

Brokerage, Banking, Insurance, Investment Banking and Venture Capital

www.investmentbankingcentral.com/
2006/12/investments_of_.html

One example: Investments of insurance firm set to reach $1 billion, December 13, 2006

www.typepad.com/t/trackback/7149475


Bahrain-based Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) International will soon become a billion dollar company, it was revealed yesterday. The company has been granted licence by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) to sell life insurance products to citizens and other residents of Bahrain, said LIC of India managing director D K Mehrotra.

[....] at the Ritz Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa.

[....] "The growth in the volume of sales in the current year is at present 33 per cent and is expected to accelerate further in the coming months." [....]


www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=
164320&Sn=BUSI&IssueID=29268

There is also a free book available listed on that website, A Guide to Blogging and RSS.

www.thewebmarketingblog.com/
a_book_on_blogging_and_rss/index.html

www.investmentbank
ingcentral.com/index.rdf

Note favourite blogs-menu: the first one caught my notice, but there are others.
Offshore Outsourcing World Blog News and Events

www.offshoreoutsourcingworld.com

China partners Singapore in outsourcing push



Chinese software services provider TifoSoft Software Services has established operations in the island-state to jointly promote offshore outsourcing capabilities of Chengdu and Singapore to Europe and the United States. [....]


It's time to play in the big boys' pond, isn't it? Global -- it's the only way to go. Of course, if you lack access to OPM to test the waters, well, keep schmoozing ... and join, network ... civil society? a political party? NGO? a business council? an agency? foundation? ... so much to choose from ... Think hard and you'll succeed.


As for bloggers: 5 IT Predictions by Gartner

www.offshoreoutsourcingworld.com/blog
/_archives/2006/12/15/2574679.html



[....] there are already more than 200 million ex-bloggers

[....] Plummer says the threat environment is changing--financially motivated, targeted attacks are increasing, and automated malware-generation kits allow simple creation of thousands of variants quickly. Worst yet, security processes and technologies haven't kept up.

Last, Plummer sees Vista being the last major release of Microsoft Windows. [....]

Dec. 15, 2006: Russia - Havana

Cuba, Russia sign diplomatic agreement, Dec. 14, 2006, Tehran Times, via Punted Posters

www.forumsvibe.com/elwoodpdowd/view
topic.php?t=1354&mforum=elwoodpdowd

www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=
12/14/2006&Cat=4&Num=12

HAVANA (Xinhua) -- [....] Russian Vice Foreign Minister Sergei Ivanovich Kisliak and his Cuban counterpart Eumelio Caballero.

According to an official text circulated in Havana, the new agreement is an expression of the unity of both governments' will to enhance cooperation and bilateral ties. It demonstrates a sustained inter-government exchange enhanced by a visit to Cuba by Russian Prime Minister Mijail Fradkov this year.

[....] similar points of view on international issues as well as the United Nations role in the peaceful solution to conflicts. [....]


The UN will be so surprised ... as will their network of Canadian friends.

Dec. 15, 2006: Iran

Election to watch

Battle of the Crocodile and the Shark in Iran , via Punted Posters

www.timesonline.co.uk/article
/0,,251-2505511,00.html

... elections for a clerical assembly empowered to appoint the next supreme leader of Iran.

[....] In the assembly elections, Iran’s traditionalist old guard is backing Hojatoleslam Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, 72, a pragmatic former president who favoured accommodation with the West. .... Kooseh, the Farsi for shark, ....

His main rival is Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah- Yazdi, also 72, a radical fundamentalist who regularly rails against the West and is known by his detractors as “Ayatollah Crocodile”. ....

[....] has often spoken against democracy, arguing that ultimate authority to rule in Iran is based on God’s will, not the public’s. [....]

Dec. 15, 2006: Phony ID

Need phony ID? Get the real thing — for a price, Dec. 15, 2006, Twin Cities Pioneer Press

www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/16243076.htm

Prosecutors say a Worthington man offered illegal immigrants authentic papers from Puerto Rico.

A phone call and $1,000.
In Worthington, Minn., that's all it took for immigrants without documents to get a genuine birth certificate and Social Security card — papers that could land them jobs at the slaughterhouse. [....]


Does this ring any more bells? Think of contamination ...

Dec. 15, 2006: Kofi Annan's Legacy

Using orange font is intended as a time saver for readers. At least, read that.

Kofi Annan's legacy

newsbeat1.com/2006/12/kofis-leg
acy-useless-in-rwanda-and.html


How does one delicately say it? CYA?

The real legacy? Saving the UN ... but note the published details ... not readily available through Canada's mainstream media, as far as I can see ... though they prattle on endlessly about the UN, Stephen Lewis' words, Africa, business, and AIDS ... victims. The reasons behind the UN's part in creating genocide victims await the MSM's journalistic exploration. For those who don't wish to wait, read on.

An illustrious career -- Canadian peacekeeper ordered not to intervene in 1994 when bloodbath appeared imminent -- "in the interest of the organization", May 4, 1998, Twin Cities Pioneer Press / AP via newsbeat1

www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/4621/rwanda1.html

www.pioneerplanet.com/




Kofi Annan knew about the Rwandan government's plans to exterminate minority Tutsis and his office ordered U.N. peacekeepers not to intervene, the New Yorker magazine reported today.
While the world body has admitted that mistakes were made, U.N. officials have blocked attempts to determine who was directly involved in the decision not to act.
A copy of a fax from U.N. Headquarters, obtained by the New Yorker, showed that order not to intervene was from Annan
[....] killed 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
French, Belgian and U.S. officials have denied they had any warning of a government-orchestrated massacre.
[....] Annan was the head of U.N. peacekeeping operations on Jan. 11, 1994, when the commander of U.N. forces in Rwanda, Maj. Gen. Romeo Dallaire, warned the world body that the Kigali government was planning to slaughter Tutsis and said he was making plans to confiscate weapons.
Dallaire, a Canadian, was in charge of 450 U.N. peacekeepers in the Rwandan capital.
In the fax sent to U.N. Headquarters ... ordered to register all Tutsis ... ``their extermination.''
Annan's office ordered Dallaire to neither protect the informant nor confiscate the arms.
Annan was aware of the order, said his aide, Iqbal Riza, who signed the response.

``I was responsible,'' Riza, who is still Annan's deputy, told the New Yorker when shown a copy of the order. ``This is not to say that Mr. Annan was oblivious of what was going on. No. Part of my responsibility was to keep him informed.''
Annan has blocked probes to determine who saw the fax that ordered the Canadian commander to abandon his plan to intervene.
In a letter to the Belgian government last year, Annan refused to let Dallaire testify before a Belgian panel investigating the events in Rwanda because he did not believe it was ``in the interest of the organization.''
[....]

Dec. 15, 2006: Arar Commission

This is important so read the post on newsbeat1. I have included the extras as an indication only.

Arar Commission-A New Review Mechanism for the RCMP’s National Security activities

newsbeat1.com/2006/12/arar-commission-new-review-mechanism.html

2.3.4
Transnational Criminal Activity

Note the links to more information in that post:

Some observations ...

Canadian GDP is about $1 trillion

More background here

All are links on newsbeat1.

Dec. 15, 2006: Bullet proof vest

What police are facing daily, on everyone's behalf

The police pay a physical price and a psychological price, as do their families, as the mainstream media nitpick at them all the time. Meanwhile, the police must investigate grow-ops and drug manufacturing, gangs and organized criminal networks ... The enablers make the real money ... There is billions in drugs and money laundering. It supports terrorism globally. Along with the police, the common people pay the price in every way and in increased taxation. Ministers Day and Toews are on the right track, which may be reason enough, says the tabby cat, for the constant MSM criticism of the current government.

A police officer shot by a fellow cop during a raid in a Vancouver suburb Thursday was saved by his bullet proof vest. CTV.ca, Dec. 15, 06

news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/TopStories/ContentPost
ing.aspx?newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20061214%2f
shot_police_061215&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V2&showbyline=True

The raid, in New Westminster, B.C., was being conducted on a crack house when the officer was shot in the abdomen.

New Westminster police Staff Sergeant Casey Dehaas ....

.... "You must understand that even though somebody gets shot and the vest stops it there's a tremendous impact and there will be bruising and who knows what other kind of injuries."

... hit full force with a huge baseball bat.

[....] Last week, three Winnipeg police officers and a suspect were shot and wounded in another drug raid.

Dec. 15, 2006: Triumvirate, RCMP, Security

Abdullah Almalki accuses Ottawa of aiding Syrian officials , Dec. 13, 06, via www.nationalnewswatch.com

www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/12/13/almalki-inquiry.html




Abdullah Almalki accused Canadian officials Tuesday of having a larger hand in his imprisonment and alleged torture in Syria than they did in the Maher Arar affair. [....]


Why, they're all good, peaceful lads; all pray at ...........


Triumvirate

Memory Lane: Frost Hits the Rhubarb Aug. 8, 2005

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2005_08_07_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html

Abdullah Almalki, a Syrian-born Canadian who toiled in the Ottawa high-tech industry and spent time in Afghanistan, Toronto truck driver Ahmad Abou El-Maati, and Maher Arar -- All claimed to have been tortured. Jim Bronskill, CNEWS, Aug. 9, 05




[. . . . ] El-Maati drew RCMP attention after customs officials who searched his truck discovered a map of Ottawa featuring government and nuclear research facilities.

He left for Syria in 2001 and was promptly jailed. He too has since returned to Canada. [....]


Arar report missed the mark - re: Arar and RCMP , via nationalnewswatch.com , Dec. 13, 06

www.torontosun.com/Comment/Commentary
/2006/12/13/2770449-sun.html

Note: there is more on newsbeat1. More later.


Also, RCMP - related
Memory Lane: Aug. 7 - Aug. 13, 2005
Frost Hits the Rhubarb: Aug. 2005 - Aug. 13, 2005
Governance and the Guardians: The RCMP -- excerpts


Check both Aug. 10, 2005 and Aug. 11, 2005
The Common Thread in the Politicization of the National Police Force?
[August 10, 05] Governance and the Guardians: The RCMP

While you're at it, check:

August 8, 2005
CP Ships, China Shipping, CMA-CGA of France, Montreal Gateway Terminals, Navitrak, NA: Visa-free Labour Mobility

August 13, 2005
Updated & PM does NOT choose the obvious candidate to chair security panel [re: Paul Martin, ex-PM]

Caveat: This is intended to expose the appointee process and it is not intended as casting aspersions on the appointee, Senator Kolber, whose name I found on digging further. (I had left it out of my original post in 2005.)

An excerpt from that Aug. 13, 2005 post:


Ex-senator has 'no experience' to lead new security panel -- Paul Martin should have given the job to Colin Kenny, head of the Senate's national security and defence committee who has been warning this government about the perilous state of national security for a long time, not some "top Liberal fundraiser" whose knowledge may be inadequate on national security . . . or is that the intent? We wouldn't want someone who actually KNOWS what should be done. Deputy PM and responsible for Canada's security Anne McLellan KNOWS that as chairman of this security panel, Canadians need a LIKEABLE, confidence inspiring LIBERAL FUNDRAISER and ex-Senator who was "chairman of the standing committee on banking, trade and commerce."!


www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.ht
ml?id=aaa864d8-0d8c-4ea5-8b3f-722621c9cb94

This is no longer online. It was an article by Nicholas Kohler, National Post, Aug. 13, 05

That gets my dander up, considering how important security is, to say nothing of the citizenry's confidence in ... well, whatever has gone wrong ... so I searched.
-- Search: liberal fundraiser ex senator chairman of the standing committee on banking trade and commerce



McLellan appoints team of experts to advise on national security -- "Mr. Kolber sat in the Senate from 1983 to 2004, serving as chairman of the standing committee on banking, trade and commerce. He also sat on a number of corporate boards, and ran a trust company established by late business mogul Sam Bronfman for 30 years.", posted by Ytzhak

bc.indymedia.org/newswire/index.php?limit_start=3810

A copy: University of Toronto, Aug. 13, 2005 -- or here


Ex-senator has 'no experience' to lead new security panel
www.canada.com/search/story.html?id=
aaa864d8-0d8c-4ea5-8b3f-722621c9cb94




Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan has appointed a collection of academics, security administrators and business professionals to advise her on national security matters.
While most are acknowledged experts on air, marine and border security and trade, the choice for chairman raised at least one eyebrow yesterday.
Colin Kenny ... chuckled ... Ms. [Minister of Security, Anne] McLellan's new advisory council on national security would be led by ex-senator and top Liberal party fundraiser Leo Kolber.
...but Leo has no experience in this area at all," Sen. Kenny said in an interview.
Mr. Kolber sat in the Senate from 1983 to 2004, serving as chairman of the standing committee on banking, trade and commerce.
He also sat on a number of corporate boards, and for 30 years ran a trust company established by late business mogul Sam Bronfman.
[Background to advise the Deputy PM McLellan on national security matters? It may make eminent good sense, but it boggles the mind of the layman, that one who puts the 'common' in commonweal.]
[....] that Mr. Kolber's business dealings south of the border [....]
The 12 council members, including ex-RCMP Commissioner Norman Inkster, former Canadian Air Transport Security Authority chief Brian Flemming and University of Toronto national security professor Wesley Wark, will work on a volunteer basis.
... "reflect a diversity of relevant expertise and experience, also also taking into account regional representation."
... appointed to two-year terms, but can be re-appointed. They will be expected to handle sensitive information "appropriately," [....]
Sen. Kenny expressed concern that, with so few meetings scheduled, the council may end up being an "honorific showpiece."



Sic transit common sense.

Just an added thought, is it any wonder those who would gain/regain control so desire an alternate internet, something run by the UN and/or their network, that would eliminate a useful search for information? Think about the implications. Already, much of the mainstream media must be onside, for survival, if nothing else. What happens if the private citizen has no way of finding information, considering that entering certain private network(s) requires a tracking ID, which, presumably would allow those who control to prevent further searches. Give me that old time paper ... religion ... and a good librarian, in addition to the internet.

Bless the librarians and hard copies. Never let them go.

Dec. 15, 2006: Tax

Global Guru:How To Profit From The Flat Tax Revolution -- or here, 12/08/06

www.theglobalguru.com/article.php?id=80&offer=GURU001

[....] Steve Forbes is probably the most public advocate of flat tax regimes around. In his book Flat Tax Revolution, Forbes discusses how simple flat tax regimes cut taxes, spur economic growth, and put a stop to a culture of tax loopholes. Forbes recently discussed his ideas at the London Junto -- a monthly gathering of leading London investment professionals that [he sponsors] [....]


But a flat tax would send so many advisors, accountants, global sophisticates who know their way around, and sundry others to the pogey lineup. Couldn't have that, could we? Think of how many edifices would fall. Why, it might affect global civil society.

I'm beginning to think that, if the MSM do not report on, or at least explore, a topic, it may be worth exploring. My personal guide to the media at this juncture.

Dec. 15, 2006: Vote

Vote in this week's online poll. Click on www.victoews.com to enter your vote.

Question...

Will the passing of the Federal Accountability Act that puts in place a five year lobbying ban, eliminates corporate and union donations and protects whistleblowers help restore Canadians trust in government?

Find more information at: www.VicToews.com

Dec. 15, 2006: CAIR & lawsuits

CAIR: The Other Fifth Column, By Jim Kouri, December 14, 2006, CanadaFreePress.com

www.canadafreepress.com/2006/kouri121406.htm

About the author: Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police. He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country.

His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com, Booksamillion.com, and can be ordered at local bookstores.



The Islamic terrorists Fifth Column in the US -- no, not the news media, the other Fifth Column -- the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is once again at the forefront of mischief-making in their goal of undermining US efforts in combating terrorism.

CAIR is encouraging Muslims to file civil rights complaints and lawsuits if they "feel" they are being discriminated against [....]


Search: alleging airport profiling , Ibrahim Hooper , M. Zuhdi Jasser , American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD), , ideological fight against radical and political Islam , six imams removed from a US Airways flight , exhibited suspicious behavior , "PC probe" , "put up job" , Debra Burlingame , a ploy to extort , Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland , The Council on American-Islamic Relations , the Islamic Association for Palestine , the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development , the Global Relief Foundation , advance the Hamas agenda , propagate radical Islam , Dr. Daniel Pipes , Randall Royer a/k/a “Ismail” Royer , Bassem Kafagi , visa and bank fraud , Egypt , employed by CAIR , Ghassan Elashi , Holy Land Foundation , working at CAIR , Imam Siraj Wahaj , World Trade Center , unless it accepts Islam , intentionally or unintentionally provides CAIR with cover , Rep. John Conyers , terrorist and Marxist sympathizer , chairman of the House Judiciary Committee

Dec. 15, 2006: Myriam Bedard

Does this have further ramifications?

See below for background items.

Bedard's father worried about her disappearance -- "alleged parental abduction", Dec. 14, 06, MSN / CTV.ca / CP

news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/TopStories/Content
Posting.aspx?newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20061213%2fmy
riam_bedard_061213&feedname=CTV-TOP
STORIES_V2&showbyline=True

The father of former Olympic biathlon champion Myriam Bedard, who is wanted by police for alleged parental abduction, says he is worried about his daughter.

[....] The warrant for Bedard's arrest was issued Dec. 8 after a complaint filed by her former partner Jean Paquet, ....

... refused to give Paquet any access to their 11-year-old daughter [....]

"I have a whole government machine against me,'' she said in an interview. [....]


Search: current husband Nima Mazhari , Olympic gold medallist , International Olympic Committee , Kofi Annan , David Wilkins , accusations that Mazhari , Iran , Canadian justice system , testimony into the sponsorship scandal , former prime minister Jean Chretien , Mazhari's advice , Chretien's former chief of staff, Jean Pelletier , overturned the dismissal



Canada: Olympian, spouse probed in art-theft case (Bédard, Mazhari deny involvement in loss of 20 works by painter Caiserman-Roth) -- anonymous letter , [CPProt.net] selected reports June 18, 2004

cpprot.te.verweg.com/2004-June/000424.html

Originally published in the Globe and Mail, June 18, 2004
www.theglobeandmail.com/


[....] The affidavit says the SQ was asked to investigate after Ms. Caiserman-Roth's daughter received an anonymous letter claiming that Ms. Bédard's spouse, Nima Mazhari, tried to sell the author 19 paintings by Ms. Caiserman-Roth.


The affidavit also says that Mr. Bédard told investigators that his daughter asked him to keep some Caiserman-Roth paintings, telling him that the elderly artist had become "crazy."

Ms. Bédard and Mr. Mazhari spoke to police and denied the allegations.

[....] The police officers investigating the case include Detective-Sergeant Alain Lacoursière, a specialist in art fraud. [....]



Myriam Bedard's boyfriend arrested for theft of paintings valued at $100, 000 , July 7, 2005

cpprot.te.verweg.com/2005-July/001355.html

canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/
article?AID=/20050706/CPN/39478026


[....] She made headlines in 2004 when she said she was forced from her job at Via Rail for asking questions about the federal sponsorship program. Bedard also credited Mazhari for persuading then-prime minister Jean Chretien for keeping Canada out of the U.S.-led Iraq war in 2003. [....]

Related:

Frost Hits the Rhubarb: Aug. 7 - Aug. 13, 2005


frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2005_08_07_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html

Search: Bedard , Bédard [Note the accent]


August 11, 2005
Updated Again: Has Myriam Bedard Joined a Very Select Group?
, re: whistleblowers

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2005/08/
updated-again-has-myriam-bedard-joined.html


Frost Hits the Rhubarb: Apr. 3 - Apr. 7, 2005

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2005_04_03_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html

Header: Gomery Inquiry & A Trip down Memory Lane & Liberal "Victims" -- Kazemi, SCOC-Language, Lou Dobbs-Border Woes, Health Care

Search: Bedard , Bédard [Note the accent], Pelletier

Dec. 15, 2006: Contracts, Divorce, Religion

Church and state collide in top court
Bitter divorce case: When do religious rites become legally binding?
, Janice Tibbetts, CanWest, December 04, 2006

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.ht
ml?id=7345195f-a32a-4fd9-ba37-f6a29ff0e06c


[....] A get is a Jewish bill of divorce that a husband must grant to his wife in front of rabbinical authorities. Under Jewish law, a woman may be divorced, but without a get, she is commonly referred to as an aguhmah, meaning that she is bound to a dead marriage and cannot remarry in the Jewish faith.

Ms. Bruker and Jessel Marcovitz, who is also Jewish, married in 1969 and divorced in 1980. In their divorce agreement, along with arrangements over child support, custody, and dividing their property, Mr. Marcovitz also agreed to give permission for a get. [....]


This appears to be opening a can of worms on marriage as a contract, on the legal implications of a Jewish get, on whether a contract is binding forever, on the obligations of one partner or the other after a divorce. The term "binding" does imply forever, though the courts are changing that, in divorce cases, anyway. There's nothing like a feminist, activist court.

Something tells me it may be wiser to remain single, not to even attempt a marriage today. Furthermore, living together, even without a marriage contract, is fraught with peril if you own anything of value such as property and wish to keep it. In a very short time, that property may half belong to the live-in lover. Maybe a less expensive alternative will be re-discovered.

I prefer an older way where, for the best people, their word was their bond and their reputation, built on that, meant that those people went out of their way to keep their word, even if it would be advantageous not to. Breaking a promise just wasn't done ... not by the best people. It was a contract. Tempus fugit and with it, honour; in its place, we have legality (or is that legal contracts?) and a Supreme Court. We've come a long way, baby.



Sic transit tolerance

A Toronto judge has ordered a Christmas tree out of a provincial courthouse lobby, saying it's not an appropriate symbol to non-Christians. , Dec. 14, 06, With a report from CTV's Janice Golding and files from The Canadian Press

news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/TopStories/ContentPost
ing.aspx?newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20061214%2fxm
as_tree_removed_061214&feedname=CTV-TOP
STORIES_V2&showbyline=True

The move by Justice Marion Cohen has upset staff, some of whom have called the decision stupid and insulting.

Cohen says she understands the tree has stood in the lobby at 311 Jarvis St. for years during the Christmas season, but in a letter to employees says non-Christians are "confronted" with the artificial decoration, which makes them feel "they are not part of this institution.'' [....]

The attorney general's office says there is no court or ministry policy that addresses this particular situation. [....]


Touchy appointee? Or has she drunk from the poisoned cup of political correctness too long? Ah, maybe just a natural-born grinch.

Dec. 15, 2006: Russia

Russia accused of intimidating British interests. , by Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor, and Tony Halpin in Moscow, The Times December 09, 2006 -- posted by starboardside who wrote "In Russia, the more things change, the more they remain the same."

www.forumsvibe.com/elwoodpdowd/view
topic.php?t=1292&mforum=elwoodpdowd

Ambassador suffers months of harassment and BBC service in Moscow mysteriously goes off the air after the Litvinenko murder

The Yukos connections

In Russia, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

[.... Tony Brenton, the British Ambassador in Moscow] ... target of intimidation for the past four months by Nashi, a right-wing youth movement connected to the Kremlin.

A member of the Russian Service said that staff suspected that the broadcasts were taken off air to stop Muscovites hearing allegations that Russian security services were linked to the Litvinenko killing. [....]


Search: accused four British diplomats , a secret transmitter disguised as a stone in a Moscow park , the British Council in St Petersburg , find a link between the killing and Russian agents , Andrei Lugovoy had been due to answer questions , radiation contamination , Dmitri Kovtun , seriously ill with radiation poisoning , radioactive nuclides , Russian businessman, Vyacheslav Sokolenko , seen Litvinenko’s symptoms among people in Chechnya


Related: Dec. 12, 2006: Russia Updated

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/
12/dec-12-2006-russia-updated.html

Dec. 15, 2006: Generational war

General foresees 'generational war' against terrorism , Bill Gertz , WashTimes , Dec. 13, 2006

www.washingtontimes.com/national
/20061213-010657-5560r.htm

The American people need to prepare for a long-duration war against radical Muslims who are set to fight for 50 to 100 years to create an Islamist state in the region, a top Pentagon strategist in the war on terror says.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Mark O. Schissler ... military and ideological components ... 40-year Cold War against communism.

"We're in a generational war .... fight the enemy where they are and where they're attacking you, or prevent them and defend ... deputy director for the war on terrorism within the strategic plans office of the Pentagon's Joint Staff.

"But that's not enough to stop it. We've got to break the chain, and that's ... the ideology. We really need to show the errors in Islamist extremist thinking." [....]

December 12, 2006

Dec. 12, 2006: Various

Tis the season to give

MADD's `exorbitant costs' anger charity's volunteers -- "MADD head office has taken a national tragedy and turned it into a fundraising machine" , Kevin Donovan, Dec. 9, 06

People who donate to Mothers Against Drunk Driving are told by the charity that most of the $12 million it raises annually is spent on good works — stopping drunk driving and helping families traumatized by fatal crashes.

[....] MADD Canada founder John Bates, ....

"... has become a money machine working on fear and scare tactics," said Bates .... "There are wonderful people doing great volunteer work in MADD chapters across Canada but MADD head office has taken a national tragedy and turned it into a fundraising machine."


[....] By the late 1990s the organization started becoming more corporate. More staff were hired, salaries were increased, nicer offices rented and contracts signed with companies to run telemarketing campaigns, knock on doors, send out mail and issue tax receipts.

The MADD story highlights an issue that national opinion polls have shown concerns donors: charities that hire professional fundraisers to do all, or almost all, their fundraising. Fundraisers typically take 70-90 cents of each dollar. That's what is happening at MADD, with the money turned over to the charity then being eaten up by administrative expenses and head office salaries. [....]

... 76 per cent ($4.1 million) was kept by the telemarketer. Part of the remaining 24 per cent ($1.3 million) was eaten up by other charity expenses such as administration, leaving little for good works.

[....] The CEO [MADD chief executive officer Andrew Murie] would not reveal his salary or that of other staff, saying it is personal information. Volunteers have been seeking an accounting of the $2 million-plus salary and administrative expenses at the charity's Oakville head office. [....]




Ambrose calls for auditor general's review of all federal climate programs , Dennis Bueckert, Canadian Press, December 12, 2006

www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.ht
ml?id=75453637-225d-4eb8-bca0-a02d6c6c79a2&k=62616

[....] "On the trust of Canadians, the previous government spent and spent liberally but delivered precious little in return. In fact, the sole outcomes were soaring greenhouse gases . . . and a divisive, politicized debate." But Ambrose ran into trouble when asked whether Canada has paid $1.5 million pledged last year in support of the Clean Development Mechanism, a key feature of the Kyoto Protocol. [....]



Ratification likely to be painful and difficult for divided first nations, Vaughn Palmer, Vancouver Sun, December 12, 2006

www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.ht
ml?id=22862a6c-c7bc-4c42-88a3-3cef6335f86d

[....] Ratification is a difficult process for first nations. Band politics, conflicting visions, holdout attitudes and a mistrust born of history -- all contribute to a reluctance to be the first to approve a modern-day treaty.

The process is likely to be especially wrenching for the Maa-nulth first nations, because their grouping arose from a split in a larger native community. [....]

"The theory is that Nuu-chah-nulth people will be better off concluding a deal with an NDP government than with the B.C. Liberals, who are poised to take power," wrote Wawmeesh (George Hamilton), a university student and member of one of the Nuu-chah-nulth bands. [....]




Conservative MP John Cummins blasts minister over Tsawwassen treaty
MP says native affairs minister has 'broken faith' with B.C. voters -- "$119-million Tsawwassen First Nation treaty ... "
, Peter O'Neil, Vancouver Sun, December 12, 2006

www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=
aa14f321-0bd0-42ae-ab2e-e19dd4200398

[....] Prentice announced in B.C. Friday a controversial $119-million deal that gives the Tsawwassen First Nation a guaranteed share of the Fraser River commercial salmon fishery and more than 200 hectares of prime farmland that can be used for industrial purposes. [....]


Search: Roberts Bank Superport, linked to the Asia-Pacific Gateway , outside the normal environmental constraints



FinCEN Assessment Notes Mortgage Fraud on the RisE, Sue Burt, Senior Attorney - Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, November 2006, via newsbeat1

www.complianceheadquarters.com/Res__Real_Es
tate/RRE_Articles/11_13_06.html

FinCEN is continuing in its efforts to keep the financial services industry abreast of new trends and twists in the area of money laundering and other fraudulent activity. Recently, it released a mortgage loan fraud assessment that highlights some of the issues surrounding the growing problem of mortgage fraud. This article will highlight some of the information provided in FinCEN’s assessment. [....]




RCMP claim they can't investigate most criminal groups , Eric Beauchesne, CanWest News Service, December 09, 2006

www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=
e033fc09-5ea3-4d29-96ca-eca5a1ec5e2c&k=7966


[....] ``What we heard ... quite disturbing,'' committee chair Senator Jerry Grafstein said. ``... resource constraints, the RCMP is only able to investigate less than 19 per cent of these criminal organizations after conducting their threat analysis.''

[....] ``We are aware that there are 800 criminal organizations in Canada and we have a capacity to investigate perhaps 150 of them,'' Raf Souccar, the RCMP's assistant commissioner of federal and international operations told the committee.

``That's the criminal side,'' he said, adding that the police force's ability to investigate potential terrorist activity is also hampered by a lack of resources.

``It would be great to have a complete team of money laundering or terrorist financing (personnel) with every investigation, totally dedicated.''

[....] A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day expressed surprise at the complaint of a lack of resources noting in the last budget the government gave the RCMP $161 million over two years for policing activities alone, plus $37 million over two years for the RCMP training academy. [....]




Hydro One CEO Tom Parkinson resignation -- gets $3 million umbrella for his rainy day, "Grits kill $1.6B surplus", Christina Blizzard, TorSunm Dec. 12, 06

www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/
Blizzard_Christina/2006/12/12/2752973.html

What leaves us all aghast, after the resignation last week of Hydro One CEO Tom Parkinson, isn’t so much his $1.6 million salary.

... his perks .... $45,000 ... $11,000 trip to his homeland, Australia.....

[....] Parkinson gets $3 million to go away.

Remember his predecessor, Eleanor Clitheroe? She of yachts and limo fame was just as caught up in her own pay and perks as Parkinson. What is it about energy-sector executives that they are so out of touch with reality? You have to wonder why it took an outside auditor and media outrage to force out Parkinson. Energy Minister Dwight Duncan said [....]






How much money are they losing if they don't get back into power and get back to the usual ... trough? We’re right, they’re evil -- It was a typical week for Canada’s Liberal party. On Thursday, former acting Liberal leader Bill Graham compared the Conservatives to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. , Sun, December 10, 2006

www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Goldstein_Lorrie
/2006/12/10/2719775.html



The topic and commentary are a hoot. Andrew Coyne Hypocrisy 101: Toronto Star demonstrates the correct method for calling a woman a bitch, via smalldeadanimals.com

andrewcoyne.com/2006/11/hypocrisy-101.php

Follow this link: ‘So Foul a Sky Clears Not Without a Storm'

www.nysun.com/article/42515


Our cultural catechism: to have nubile availability for women old enough to be grannies via face-lifts, liposuction, implants, labiaplasty... more -- or via Arts and Letters Daily PROUD FLESH
The cult of cosmetic surgery.
, by Rebecca Mead, Nov. 11-13, 06 -- Posted by: maz2, Nov. 7, 06

3w.newyorker.com/critics/books/articles/061113crbo_books

www.newyorker.com/critics/books/articles/061113crbo_books

[....] Restoration and repair do not much characterize the surgery with which Kuczynski is most concerned: she makes a distinction between plastic surgery, a term that may refer to the repair of a cleft lip or a face disfigured by an accident, and cosmetic surgery, which refers to an elective procedure that is medically unnecessary. Kuczynski’s interest lies in this more recent development. If Tagliacozzi’s purpose was to restore a semblance of normality to a face ravaged by disease or by swordplay (one of his patients had lost his nose in a duel), so that its bearer might go through the world somewhat less stigmatized, what is the purpose and meaning of cosmetic surgery today? [....]

Kuczynski has an eye for the telling detail—liposuction needles called the Mercedes, the Tiger Tip, and the PickleFork, each with “a name that sounds as if it belongs to some sort of vibrator or sex toy”—and an ear for the marketplace’s euphemisms: “Scars aren’t healed, they are managed. Pain isn’t stopped, halted, alleviated; it, too, is managed.” But “Beauty Junkies” is an anomalous literary phenomenon: a muckraking book that comes out, on balance, in favor of muck. [....]

Dec. 12, 2006: Just to clarify ...

The link is for the background only.

The best laid plans of mice and men ...


Perhaps Mr. Ryan should have read a little more before using a header like this one: It's all Harper's fault , Sid Ryan, Fri, December 1, 2006

www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/
Ryan_Sid/2006/12/01/2576129.html

Mr. Ryan, have you read anything about the UN / UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and do you understand the implications and their ramifications?

Below, Mr. Ryan's article, are a few salient points fromthe UN Protocol. At least check those, or that whole post, or the original webpages or documents, though webpages disapear at the press of a mouse ... sic transit gloria ... and history. The UNESCO Protocol encompasses much more than "doing good" for the natives.

But first, to Mr. Ryan's lament:


While the Harper government was busy in the House of Commons rushing through recognition of Quebecers as a nation, its representatives at the United Nations in New York were busy voting against the extension of human rights to indigenous peoples in Canada and around the world.

[....] The declaration is aimed at improving the standard of living of indigenous people and recognizing their right to self-determination, giving them the right to live within their own customs and culture and to preserve it through education delivered in their own languages. It would also recognize the rights of indigenous peoples to land claims and resources and allow them to oppose military use of and incursions upon traditional lands.


There are over sixty native languages in Canada. Think about the implications for the languages industry and for finding jobs in each of them. Note how much would be given away. Think about who want to get into the North for minerals, oil, LNG ... anything there.


[....] how far we have fallen ...

... defending human rights," said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chairperson for the UN permanent forum on indigenous issues.

... reneged on the Kelowna Accord, [....]


Background: worth knowing about

FHTR Jan. 29 0 Feb. 3, 2006:
Implications - intended and included: UN / UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions


frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2006_01_29_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html

Scroll down to get some idea here. These are headers, phrases, quotes to indicate what is included. Obviously, in much of this, No ... means just the opposite.


Feb. 3, 06
No Indoctrination 1, No Element of Coercion, No Global Aspirations
[....]
The Digital Solidarity Fund
CFP: The Digital Solidarity Fund: An Internet tax in disguise

Joseph A. Klein, a Harvard Law graduate who has worked as a global technology attorney for more than 30 years, is the author of Global Deception: The UN's Stealth Assault on America's Freedom. [and Canada's freedom, as well] January 30, 2006

[. . . . ] The truth is that the financing mechanism for this Fund relies in large part on mandatory surcharges imposed on high tech companies as a condition to having their contract bids accepted by ......

No Indoctrination 2: No Outside Influences?

It intends to provide a legal framework

[....] diversity in dialogue [controlled by whom?]


Diversity of dialogue is the exact opposite of what this UNESCO convention is, which is to give CONTROL to those countries which wish to keep their populace from freedom and democracy through open access to knowledge via the internet. See the efforts to wrest control of the net away from what has been free via the US, to give it to the UN whose member states would exercise regulatory, tollgating, etc. controls so that only the rich and government-approved would have access to the tools for freedom. Note that the telcos--quebectel--are very very interested in this. (More on this later.) It is more about protecting industries and getting a firm foothold in controlling what may come in future, for those who instigated this.

[....] to fund a Digital Solidarity Fund to combat unequal access to the net.

No Indoctrination 3: No Coercion, Helping the Poor of Africa & the World

[....] Search: UNESCO, cultural, diversity Webpage of Culture et Communications Quebec, Newsletter: Vol. 5, no. 37, December 19, 2005 -- published after Paul Martin signed the UNESCO protocol Nov. 23, 05.

[....] The section will feature regulatory measures aimed at protecting and promoting the diversity of cultural expressions, including those that provide opportunities for creation, production, dissemination, and distribution to domestic cultural industries; that provide public financial assistance; that support public institutions, as appropriate; that support artists and others involved in the creation of cultural expressions; and that enhance diversity of the media. [ except for any pro-Conservative media? ]

Promote discussion among cultural managers, public policy developers, teachers, and researchers with a special interest in policies and measures aimed at protecting and promoting the diversity of cultural expressions, by providing access to research, publications, and lectures on cultural policies, practices, and measures.

[....] voluntary contributions [....]

“We must work for the implementation of the Convention and to find concrete ways to make it effective as a political and development tool – Dakar Declaration
[....]
INCD delegates are urging Culture Ministers to work with trade ministers to ensure they understand the wide scope of cultural policy tools that are at risk. This extends beyond the audiovisual, publishing, and music industries to include telecommunications, electronic commerce, retail and distribution services, the media, and many other sectors.

[....] to create preferential opportunities for artists and cultural productions from the South and to provide the necessary resources to develop cultural capacity and creative industries [....]

[....] For this reason, Canadian Coalition for Cultural Diversity co-chair Pierre Curzi stressed that “We must start broadening the debate and transfering knowledge to developing countries right now

[....] audio-visual services
[....]
But the threat to culture is not only in the audio-visual sector, but also from similar demands that involve telecommunications, advertising, retail, publishing, theme parks, events management, and more.
[....]
Professor Jane Kelsey from the Law School at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. [. . . . ] the ongoing negotiations on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) aim to extend the right of foreign firms to run a country’s services, ranging from health, education, and pensions to railways, postal services, and broadcasting, and prevent their governments from giving preference to local providers of such services. [. . . . ]

But the threat to culture is not only in the audio-visual sector, but also from similar demands that involve telecommunications, advertising, retail, publishing, theme parks, events management, and more. [....]

Note: "giving preference to local providers" and I'll bet they're not concerned about Saskatoon nor Calgary. Did you think they were?
[....]
“In Doha, we promised developing countries we would correct the distortions in the world trade system to their advantage

No Indoctrination 4: Francophone Countries Gain

UNESCO Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and the services trade negotiations in Hong Kong
www.mcc.gouv.qc.ca/international/diversite-culturelle/eng/#nouvelle13

[....] francophone countries gained considerably from the recent adoption of this Convention

* [....] Might service negotiations undermine the universal obligations of governments with regard to public services, as well as their ability to regulate, and do they compromise cultural diversity? Mr. Sauvé stressed that the right of states to regulate their service activities is crucial .... This includes public service and universality obligations. Public services—education, healthcare, postal services—are excluded from GATS jurisdiction when they are provided on a non-commercial basis and do not compete directly with private providers of equivalent services. [ie. There are private businesses involved and there is money to be made, IMHO.]

No Indoctrination 5: Summit's Outcome Important for Islamic Countries

No Indoctrination 6: Control & the CRTC, Protection, Language, Industries & the CRTC [added Feb. 5, 06 -- scroll down past #5 for it.]

February 1, 2006
CRTC & Lib. Big Brother

There is much more if you link.

Dec. 12, 2006: Russia Updated

Bumped up - Scroll down for Updates:

Russian regime is accused of intimidating British interests -- Ambassador suffers months of harassment and BBC service in Moscow mysteriously goes off the air after the Litvinenko murder, Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor, and Tony Halpin in Moscow, Dec. 9, 06

www.forumsvibe.com/elwoodpdowd/view
topic.php?t=1292&mforum=elwoodpdowd

Is that connected in any way to the Yukos affair?




Echoes of Stalin mean that Russia is still a gamble, James Harding, Business Editor's Commentary

business.timesonline.co.uk/
article/0,,630-2499996,00.html


[....] President Vladimir Putin, too, is in the business of nation-building. While Russia has abandoned the failed communist model, there are signs that President Putin appreciates the Soviet policy of self-reliance. Russia’s treatment of Royal Dutch Shell suggests that Mr Putin operates an updated version of Stalin’s Russia First policy: it could be dubbed Capitalism in one Country.

Free market isolationism is a nonsensical hybrid. Shell’s decision to bow to pressure from the Kremlin and cede control of the Sakhalin-2 project is a landmark, but backward step in the development of the Russian economy. [....]


Search: Putinization , Muscovite capitalism , 2008 , chairman’s office at Gazprom


Updates: Radiation find in British embassy -- Small traces of a radioactive substance have been found at the British embassy in Moscow following a precautionary check, the UK Foreign Office has said.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6215168.stm


The radioactive substance used to kill former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko has been traced back to the British embassy in Moscow. The "security" services MI5 and MI6 use the diplomatic service as a front, taking advantage of diplomatic immunity and "diplomatic bags" which can be entire aircraft and other vehicles. The news media is also routinely used as a front, with spies and agents posing as journalists to disseminate propaganda, and using press passes to travel and gain privileged access. [....]

When asked what kind of people would be targeting him, he said: "People linked with some clandestine organisations, not directly under control of Russian establishment but from Russia." [....]




Russian regime is accused of intimidating British interests
Ambassador suffers months of harassment and BBC service in Moscow mysteriously goes off the air after the Litvinenko murder
, Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor, and Tony Halpin in Moscow. The Times December 09, 2006. Posted on 12/08/2006 3:49:35 PM PST by MadIvan


www.timesonline.co.uk/global

http://www.freerepublic.com/
focus/f-news/1750701/posts?page=11


The Russian authorities yesterday stood accused of orchestrating a campaign of intimidation against British interests in Moscow, where the ambassador has been harassed and the BBC Russian Service mysteriously taken off air.

... police inquiry into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko ... other serious diplomatic disputes.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) ... the treatment of Tony Brenton, the British Ambassador in Moscow.

... target of intimidation ... Nashi, a right-wing youth movement connected to the Kremlin. [....]

A former FSB director said he was certain that Litvinenko had been murdered by people determined to damage Mr Putin. Sergei Stepashin, now chairman of Russia’s Audit Chamber, said: “Those who wanted to tarnish the current Russian authorities, and primarily the President, killed Litvinenko.”

Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the FSB, dismissed as “complete nonsense” allegations that Russian forces had used polonium-210 against separatist fighters in Chechnya. Akhmed Zakayev, the Chechen envoy in London, claimed that he had seen Litvinenko’s symptoms among people in Chechnya. [....]



Comments below that article:

Very subtle change here...it's not the Russian government, but the Russian "regime".
5 posted on 12/08/2006 4:19:12 PM PST by Luis Gonzalez

www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1750701/posts?page=5#5


The word "regime" (occasionally spelled "régime", particularly in older texts) refers to any system of control, or more specifically a system of government. It is frequently used to describe a government headed by a specific person ("the Saddam regime", or "the Salazar regime") or based on a particular ideology ("a communist" regime", "a fascist regime", or "a military regime"). ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regime


A member of the Russian Service said that staff suspected that the broadcasts were taken off air to stop Muscovites hearing allegations that Russian security services were linked to the Litvinenko killing. The staff member added that the 40 Russian journalists working for the BBC in Moscow were fearful for their safety if the Litvinenko story continued to dominate the headlines.

What would happen if Russian government media established in London were broadcasting allegations that British security services were responsible for bombings in Russia?

24 posted on 12/09/2006 6:16:03 AM PST by A. Pole ("Truth at first is ridiculed, then it is violently opposed and then it is accepted as self evident.")

www.freerepublic.com/focus/
f-news/1750701/posts?page=24#24

Dec. 12, 2006: America Alone

Western culture: Is it death by fertility rate? , Peter Worthington, Dec. 10, 06

www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/
Worthington_Peter/2006/12/10/2719777.html

[....Mark Steyn's] America Alone is not a polemic against Muslims in the way that the late Oriana Fallaci’s The Force of Reason or Melanie Phillips’ Londonistan are.

[....] For a stable population ... a fertility rate of at least 2.1 live births per woman .... Canada’s fertility rate is 1.48 while Europe as a whole is even lower at 1.38. Japan’s is 1.32, Russia’s 1.14, and so on .... there is no “population bomb” ....

But Muslim countries have a live birth rate ranging from five to seven per woman

How many have over 12 children? I saw on TV a "poor" man in the Palestinian territory who had 17. He never made the connection between over-breeding and poverty ... As Allah wills it, I suppose, the better to spare a few kids for the daily hate and the jihad duty: shooting, maiming, gutting, beheading, carrying live "dead" bodies through the streets in "coffins"... and bombing. Or consider the fish seller with two wives and nine children ... no connection between that and poverty? It boggles the mind.

... in the media .... don’t want trouble ... to appear insensitive or intolerant .... not incite vengeance or reprisals on Muslims.

[....] Often, cowardice is camouflaged as principle. It’s also a rule of nature, that if you can be intimidated, you will be intimidated.

Dec. 12, 2006: Dollar

More than once over the last few months, I have read about other countries switching from the dollar, perhaps to Euros. Note this is from May, but I read it somewhere just lately also, so check further.

Venezuela 'may swap oil currency'
Venezuela to abandon US dollar and trade oil in Euros instead
, BBC News, 17 May 2006.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4990302.stm

Venezuela has hinted it could price its oil exports in euros rather than US dollars, further weakening its links to the US.

President Hugo Chavez said he was considering taking the step following a similar declaration by Iran.

[....] Central banks, especially in Asia, who hold large amounts of the US dollar, could find the value of their foreign currency reserves substantially reduced. [....]

Dec. 12, 2006: RCMP, drugs, meth, whistleblowers

Memory Lane Re: RCMP , drugs , crystal meth , a few whistleblowers

Search: Frost Hits the Rhubarb Oct. 2, 2005 - Oct. 8, 2005

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2005_10_02_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html


Then search for each of the following or use each link below.

Whistleblower Legislation Amended, Still Flawed -&- Prominent Whistleblowers

For a list and a bit about each, search: Prominent Whistleblowers

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2005
/10/whistleblower-legislation-amended.html

Search: Crystal Meth, Our Children, Liberal & Court Laxity -&- MP Vic Toews on Crystal Meth

Then, search: Hansard Oct. 3, 05 Crystal Meth (1450) -- (1455)
A Generation in Danger

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2005/10
/crystal-meth-our-children-liberal.html