[. . . . The] imposition of the death penalty is richly deserved in many cases where the issue of guilt is clear.

The case regarding the murder of Farah Khan, in the news today, is just such a situation. One cannot help but be affected by the antics of her killer -- a useless piece of fecal matter if I ever I have seen one. If ever there was a prime example that may be used for advancing the argument that the Death Penalty should be reinstated this is the one. At this time he has yet to be found guilty by a jury of his "peers" (somehow I doubt that anyone might be considered HIS peer) but he has clearly, out of his own mouth, convicted himself and so I feel it permissible to jump the gun a bit on this.

Let's see why I am so upset!

[. . . .] At one point, he even appeared to believe he could speak privately to Det.-Constable Bazmi, suggesting that surely, as reasonable men, they could work out a secret arrangement.

"Please, for God's sakes, have pity on me," he cried.

[Comment: Where in the world would he ever get the idea that he could bargain with the police? Silly question -- Pakistan of course!]

The larger problem, for his lawyers, is that in the process, Mr. Khan has showed himself to be a man who can lie through his teeth even as he swears on the Koran he is telling the truth and that he will use every trick in the Bollywood playbook -- from weeping to moaning to folding his hands prayerfully -- to save himself.

OTTAWA -- Stephen Harper is the first choice of Canadians if they could vote in the Conservative leadership race, according to a SES/Sun Media poll. When asked to rank the "profiles" of three candidates, based only on their political or private sector experience and ability to speak both official languages, 41% preferred Harper's resume. Former Ontario cabinet minister Tony Clement ranked second at 26%. Both Clement and Harper, the former Canadian Alliance leader, speak English and French. The unilingual, former auto parts executive Belinda Stronach placed third with 20%.

Of the 1,000 Canadians surveyed last week, 12% were undecided

[. . . .]Based on just their names, respondents ranked the candidates (see percentages). [. . . .]

1. STEPHEN HARPER: 27%

2. BELINDA STRONACH: 20%

3. TONY CLEMENT: 13%

The poll, conducted by Northstar Research Partners for the Belinda Stronach campaign, found that 41 percent of Canadians would vote for Belinda, 28 percent for Harper and 19 percent for Clement. Of those surveyed, 13 percent of Canadians say they are undecided.

Ms. Stronach has made it official, she has backed out of the leadership debate scheduled for Feb 11 on CBC's Newsworld. Formal invititations had been sent some time ago to all three candidates. Stephen Harper and Tony Clement will take part. CBC's Don Newman is the moderator. It is vital that party members and the public get to see and hear all the leadership hopefuls debating the issues.

The question is: "How much longer will Ms. Stronach keep running away?" If she is not prepared to debate today, how then can she possibly presume to lead this Party come March?

Patrick Lynch

Responding to France's ban on the Islamic veil, the new head of the Muslim Brotherhood asserted Islam ultimately will triumph over the United States and Europe.

"I have complete faith that Islam will invade Europe and America, because Islam has logic and a mission," said Muhammad Mahdi Othman 'Akef, who recently took over the Egyptian-based movement after the death of leader Mamoun Al-Hudhaybi.

In an interview with the website alwihdah.com, translated by (http://www.memri.org/) the Middle East Media Research Institute, 'Akef said he is convinced "the Europeans and the Americans will come into the bosom of Islam out of conviction."

"In 1993, I went to America and I published a book, 'Political Pluralism and the Woman,' that was distributed in the mosque," he said. "Thirty [American] women converted immediately to Islam as soon as they read it. These are people who become convinced of the right path – but who will guide them there?"

Founded in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood has been banned in Egypt since 1954, although it renounced violence in the 1970s. The movement, which has thousands of supporters and branches in other Arab nations, seeks to establish a strict Islamic state in Egypt.

[. . . .] A bill presented to France's National Assembly yesterday by Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin bars Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses from public classrooms.

'Akef said he asked Chirac to understand the hijab is a "divine commandment."

"I know that among the brothers in France, or the so-called Union of Islamic Organizations, there are smart people who can stand against this vile stream in the war on the hijab, represented by the stream of Turkey and Tunisia," he said. "With Allah's help, our brothers in France will be able to handle this matter however they see fit."

In an interview with the Egyptian weekly Al-Arabi, 'Akef called the U.S. a "Satan that abuses the region, lacking all morality and law."

'Akef criticized Washington's claims that the U.S. is acting to spread democracy in the Arab world.

"These are [futile] words and false propaganda," he said. "It is not logical that the U.S. – which destroyed Afghanistan, supports Israel's daily ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people and occupies Iraq and steals its treasures – is acting to spread democracy in the Arab world."

The Muslim leader said he expects the U.S. to collapse in the near future.

Five missionary nuns in Mozambique say they've been threatened with death since telling authorities about an organ-trafficking scheme that allegedly kidnaps and kills children and youths, reports Catholic news service Zenit.

Quoting the Spanish Catholic agency Veritas, Zenit reported the women have escaped four ambush attacks after revealing information about "kidnappings and multiple killings of persons, many times children, victims of an organ trafficking network."

The news agency says the story was corroborated by a missionary who asked to be identified only as "D.J."

The women – four from Spain and one from Brazil – have been missionaries in the southeastern African nation for 30 years.

According to the report, the women were able to collect the information because their convent is located between the property where the victims allegedly were taken and the airport where the organs were flown out at night.

The report said the victims are taken to the property of a "white couple," where their organs are removed. Since October 2002, dozens of area children and youth, especially street children, have disappeared mysteriously, Zenit reported.

The nuns said they have testimonies from people who escaped from the traffickers' property. One of them, a minor, fled and sought refuge in the convent. He then recounted what he had seen and what he was told would be done to him as well as to other children locked in a house on the property, reported the news service.

Janet Jackson did the country a favor. Her so-called "costume reveal" during Sunday's Super Bowl halftime show made America finally sit up and take note of just how sleazy our culture has become.

For those who hadn't noticed — and apparently that includes television executives and the Federal Communications Commission — television has become increasingly sexualized and raunchy in recent years as media executives push the limits of decency in search of fat profits.

Jackson's flash-seen-'round-the-world didn't happen during a Mickey Mouse Club number. The entire halftime show oozed raw sexuality, from singer Nelly's crotch-grabbing to Jackson's simulated intercourse on stage with Justin Timberlake.

[. . . .] Television has been heading in an ugly direction. Crude reality shows, sexualized commercials, bad language and general smut have seeped into cable channels and networks. Sometimes it takes crossing the line to see just how far the line has moved.

Corruption and /or incompetence in government contracting goes as far back as records are kept and if history tells us anything of these situations, it is that eternal vigilance is simply an integral part of the cost of purchasing goods and services.

The subject is modern armor for our troops – something that has been in short supply for a while now and has become increasingly valuable in tactical, political and financial terms. For decades, there has been an increasing trend in the military to provide protection to people on the pointy end of our spear via body armor and vehicle armor.

With the advent of a guerrilla-style campaign in Iraq and Afghanistan, our military purchasing planners once again have been overcome with an excess of reality as the number of people they envisioned having the tactical need for armor has undergone an exponential upward shift – kind of like today's pressing need for ammunition – as five years ago when today's ammo and armor acquisitions were laid out under Clinton's watch, the possibility of a war was simply not factored in. How silly, they thought – “We” don't “do” wars.

[. . . .] A number of years ago, we adopted an armored version of the HUMVEE, the M-1114 and thought to provide them to units we thought could make good use of them – mostly military police units. But, as happens in war, we found that some gear is far more useful due to the changes in enemy tactics we have adapted to. There is also the fact that the M-1114 is one very expensive item, having had to be redesigned, mechanically upgraded and strengthened almost from the ground up because its armor is so heavy.

Overloading a vehicle causes it to break down much more frequently, as well as diminish its combat usefulness, as less equipment and troops can be carried in each one. In a recent presentation on an internal analysis of vehicle and equipment morbidity in Iraq, the Army cites overall weight and environmental conditions as the significant factors in a widespread failure to maintain our vehicles in operational condition.

Homosexual-rights groups are mobilizing support for a landmark United Nations resolution that would classify abuse on the basis of sexual orientation as a human rights violation.

U.N. Human Rights Commission meeting

Last year, when the resolution first was introduced to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, the San Francisco-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, or IGLHRC, called it "a historic opportunity to advance [homosexual] issues in international human-rights law."

The IGLHRC said the U.N. Commission on Human Rights Resolution on Sexual Orientation and Human Rights is the "first one in the history of the United Nations that specifically, and unambiguously, spells out that abuses on the basis of sexual orientation are human rights violations."

The Human Rights Commission is scheduled to meet March 15 to April 25 in Geneva, Switzerland.

"This resolution would be the first United Nations Commission on Human Rights resolution to connect the full range of human rights to sexual orientation, and to condemn discrimination on its basis," said Paula Ettelbrick, IGLHRC's executive director said.

IGLHRC called last April's introduction of the resolution by Brazil "unexpected."

After prolonged debate, the 53-member commission, chaired by Libya, voted to postpone further discussion on the resolution to this year's session.

At the 2003 session, Pakistan distributed a memo to commission members on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference which stated the "resolution directly contradicts the tenets of Islam and other religions," and its approval would be "a direct insult to the 1.2 billion Muslims around the world."

Last year's resolution, according to the IGLHRC, had the support of Canada, New Zealand and several European Union countries.

This year, key countries the homosexual-rights groups are urged to lobby include South Africa, India, Costa Rica and the United States.

[. . . .] "In their quest to legitimize homosexuality, many of these countries have actually limited some of our most fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech," Loveless said.

In Canada, provincial human-rights commissions already have penalized people for discrimination based on sexual orientation. A court in Saskatchewan upheld a 2001 ruling that fined a man for submitting a newspaper ad containing citations of four Bible verses that address homosexuality. Three years ago, the Ontario Human Rights Commission penalized printer Scott Brockie $5,000 for refusing to print letterhead for a homosexual advocacy group. Brockie argued that his Christian beliefs compelled him to reject the group's request.

Prime Minister Paul Martin sowed the seeds of a potential confrontation with the Quebec government yesterday, announcing sweeping plans to spend federal money in several areas of provincial jurisdiction including health, municipalities and education.

While Martin sweetened the pill by saying repeatedly he will do it in co-operation with the provinces, he said jurisdiction shouldn't get in the way of improving the lives of Canadians.

"Jurisdiction must be respected. But Canadians do not go about their daily lives worried about which jurisdiction does this or that," Martin said.

"They expect, rightly, that their governments will co-operate in common purpose for the common good - each working from its strength. They expect them to just get on with the job."

Benoît Pelletier, Quebec's intergovernmental-affairs minister, called the speech "unacceptable" for Quebec.

[. . . .]Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson had barely finished delivering the 23-page Throne Speech when Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe went on the attack, accusing Martin of cutting funding to the provinces and taking advantage of it to invade Quebec's jurisdiction.

[. . . .]Other promises

Aboriginals: To resolve jurisdictional wrangling regarding urban aboriginals, which includes many Métis, by expanding the federal Urban Aboriginal Strategy and to work with other levels of government and Métis leadership "on the place of the Metis and its policies." The speech described current conditions in aboriginal communities as "shameful" and called for improvements in education, health and local economies.

Security: Public Security Minister Anne McLellan will spearhead an effort to outline Canada's first comprehensive security policy, a document that will state national objectives from counter-terrorism to food safety. The commitment will include consultations with such "domestic partners" as provincial governments, civil defence agencies and other federal departments.

The prospect of a terrorist, self-infected with a deadly disease at a stage before it shows its symptoms, boarding an aeroplane to infect tens or hundreds of other passengers is what risk experts call a "low likelihood, high impact" threat.

Despite sounding as unlikely as the plot of a trashy novel, the threat was considered real enough on Saturday for the American government to refuse security clearances for six flights to America.

It is deemed "low likelihood" because of the difficulty terrorists would face in obtaining or manufacturing a viable biological agent, yet "high impact" because of the ease with which disease would spread in the confined space of an airliner, eventually to infect millions.

[. . . .] Modern airliners use a 50-50 blend of fresh and old air simply because it is cheaper. Air conditioning units siphon power from the jet engines; less ventilation means lower fuel consumption.

With the increased carbon dioxide levels comes a greater circulation of particles, organisms and disease.

Potentially the biggest threat in these circumstances would be a terrorist infected with smallpox.

A single sneeze would be enough to put hundreds of thousands of saliva droplets carrying the variola virus into circulation, which would be fatal to three out of 10 people not vaccinated against the disease.

[. . . .]Experts believe smallpox, anthrax, botulism and plague are the most likely pathogens to be used.

HOUSTON - Three former immigration officers received sentences ranging from almost three years to more than six years in prison Monday for failing to provide timely medical care to an illegal immigrant during a 2001 raid.

Serafin Olvera-Carrera's neck was broken during the raid and he eventually died because of the injury.

U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal sentenced 37-year-old Richard Henry Gonzales to 78 months and a $12,500 fine Monday for willfully denying Olvera-Carrera medical care. Louis Rey Gomez, 37, was sentenced to 41 months in prison and 43-year-old Carlos Reyna to 33 months. Gomez and Reyna were also ordered to each pay a $7,500 fine.

[. . . .]The trio "would not listen, did not listen" to Olvera-Carrera's pleas for help, Rosenthal said. She said nothing was done to secure medical help as quickly as possible.

[. . . .]Mike McCrum, Gonzales' attorney, said he believes all three men were scapegoats and that other higher ranking individuals must share the blame.

"We disagree with the conclusion that Mr. Gonzales made the decisions out there at the scene," he said. "Mr. Gonzales has apprehended thousands of (illegal immigrants) and there was not one incident of abuse."

Gonzales said he "honestly believed" that Olvera-Carrera was faking paralysis after his injury in a March 25, 2001, raid at the Bryan home he shared with other illegal immigrants.

Do Liberals believe the filth that comes out of their own mouth, or are they actively aware of their own lies and their specious meanderings? Probably a little bit a both; the former being more prevalent in the public, rather than in the organized Liberal and left-wing organizations, in which case the latter is more likely true.

In Canada, the left-wing has utilized the wide-spread and superfluous attention to political correctness as a way of exaggerating false notions about the right-wing or conservative movements and organizations in this country. These notions go far, so far as to make average Canadian citizen view the ‘right’ in a very egregious and often extreme manner. These notions spread political and socioeconomic topics ranging from the belief that conservatives believe in the elimination of the public healthcare system to the suggestion that conservatives would be partial to a criminalization of non-heterosexual activities wholly or in part.

[. . . .]I highly encourage anybody who is interested in politics and carrying such preconceived notions of the conservative movement to in fact try to use real evidence, rather than liberal heresy to prove that ANY of the following statements are true:

1) Conservatives generally believe that homosexuality should be illegal.
2) Conservatives believe that all healthcare should be privatized.
3) Conservatives are all racist.
4) Conservatives are all extremely religious and wish to use politics as a vehicle in which to perpetuate their beliefs onto others.
5) Conservatives are generally rich.
6) Conservatives only purpose is to support “big business” and to line the pockets of rich people.

These are of course all very common perceptions of conservatives by liberals, and I contest that none of them are true. If you believe that they are true, and as a liberal you probably do, I highly challenge you to present me compelling evidence that they are.

However, there are some rules that apply when it comes to presenting a case which is not simply heresy and is empirical:

1) Evidence cannot be the opinion of another. (e.g. from the editorial section of a newspaper)
2) If you are using the statement or action of a specific individual, and wish to use this persons devices as a way of showing a pattern behavior which you would characterize as prevalent on the part of conservatives, you must provide additional evidence to;
2a) Prove that the perceived beliefs of the person or persons in question is in an observable and therefore provable way, prevalent on the part of the conservatives.
3) Assumption is usually a product of bias, and the use of it as a premise or prediction about belief or intention without sufficient observables, make such things irrelevant and circumstantial.

[. . . .] The global warming theory is usually trotted out by its media boosters during the hottest days of summer, when people are sweating, and so more sympathetic to the claims. But that's as unfair as the media trick of complaining about gasoline prices on their way up, without reporting when gas prices come right back down again.

Some people think the debate over global warming is over because the Kyoto Protocol is not in force, and likely never will be because of Russia's refusal to sign the treaty. But that ignores Paul Martin's repeated pledge to implement Kyoto-style energy rationing no matter what.

Martin was the Liberal environment critic in 1992, and he attended the Rio Earth Summit -- the prelude to Kyoto. He was ga-ga for anti-industrial laws even back then. Now he's prime minister -- and he has appointed Maurice Strong, the chairman of the Rio summit and the architect of the Kyoto Protocol, as his special policy advisor on the environment.

Strong is more than just a casual friend of Martin's. He gave Martin his first job during college. And he arranged the favourable sale of Canada Steamship Lines to Martin -- the source (along with nine-figure subsidies by unwitting taxpayers) of the Martin family fortune.

Strong isn't just a friend of Martin's. He's a godfather figure -- and a Rasputin-like policy guru, too.

If you want to know more about Strong, the best way to learn is to read his own autobiography, called Where on Earth Are We Going? In that book, Strong describes his radical environmental agenda and implies that the solution is to depopulate the Earth -- that mankind is the real environmental problem.

Poisoned Pill in Supreme Court Ruling -- Parents Should Know

While it was wonderful to see the Supreme Court uphold parent’s rights to discipline their children aged two to twelve, mothers and fathers must fear this ruling as they could go to jail and lose their children for spanking their child if he or she is under the age of two or over twelve years old.

Canada Family Action Coalition President, Dr. Charles McVety says "I applaud the effort to protect children however I do not want to see mothers go to jail for using a corrective, non-damaging tap on a 23 month old child who needs to learn to stay away from danger". The Court’s Citation gives "guidelines" to Canadian judges on how to rule in related cases. This Citation makes it very clear that the law has been changed and "immunity" from criminal prosecution will no longer be granted if a parent uses non-damaging physical corrective measures on a child under two years of age or over twelve or if an instrument is used at any age.

Suspiciously, none of these changes to the law were mentioned in the Supreme Court’s press release. Only after reading the lengthy full decision are Canadians realizing that parents are now in danger of criminal prosecution and having their children removed from their custody. These changes are as of January 30th, 2004 so parents must beware.

Dr. McVety says "This invasion of parenting is not only outrageous, it is also severely flawed". In the Court’s decision they make outlandish claims and quantum leaps of logic. Their stated basis for criminalizing spanking on children under two is their understanding that such children do not have the cognitive ability to learn from the corrective measure. Every parent knows that a 23-month-old child has incredible learning ability.

[. . . .] Canada Family Action Coalition is calling on all citizens to call Prime Minister Paul Martin and the local Member of Parliament requesting that they take their rightful place as exclusive federal legislators and use whatever measures possible to the un-elected members of the Court who have made laws that could send loving mothers and fathers to prison. Details will follow on www.commonsensevoters.com []

[. . . .]For further information contact: Dr. Charles McVety,

President, Canada Family Action Coalition email: charles@familyaction.org

President, Canada Christian College

50 Gervais Drive, Toronto, Ontario Tel 416.391.5000 or Cell Number 416.434.8261

Canada Family Action Coalition - You Can Make a Difference!
Visit our website at http://www.familyaction.org

Clergy from across the nation are deeply concerned that their religious freedom will be violated with the same "Edict" imposed upon the Marriage Commissioners of B.C. On behalf of Clergy nationwide Dr. Charles McVety, President of Canada Christian College and Canada Family Action Coalition calls for Prime Minister Paul Martin to fulfill his promise to protect the religious rights of those who perform marriages in Canada.

Dr. McVety has heard from Clergy across the country on this issue. "I have had numerous calls and visits from Pastors who are afraid they are next in line as the government invades the religious territory of marriage". The Director of the Evangelical Association seems to concur. Dr. Thomas stated "It is only a matter of time until the government decrees that others who perform marriages must Do them or quit".

Several Marriage Commissioners have expressed their dismay at the heavy-handed action of the B.C. Government. A private Marriage Commissioner who received this "Edict" states "I REFUSE to solemnize a relationship that counters my faith. I will have to resign because I can not afford to fight any battle."

Those who object have been stripped of their freedom of conscience and have lost their livelihood. Each Commissioner is paid $75 per marriage plus $.44 per km for travel expense. As of March 31st they will be forced to resign or in other words "fired" for their religious beliefs.

Dr. McVety believes that "the Government is sending the message to all those who perform marriages. If you do not abandon your religious convictions then you will not be permitted to solemnize marriages and in turn lose your position and livelihood".

Daddy, we hardly knew you

It concerns the case of a man who has been labelled a "deadbeat dad" and had his unemployment cheque garnished. Some Californian woman claimed that a "tall, black man named Anthony Pierce is the father of my child". Tony Pierce, who is only 5' 9" and so white-looking that he could pass for a caucasian was called on by a female police officer to advise him of the charge. What she did not tell him was that he had only 30 days to appeal the charge. . . . He was being garnished each month to pay for this unknown kid.

In case you think that is happening only in the "States", you should think again. Canada is one of the worst offenders in this regard, as the "ladies with a cause" continue to hijack common sense.

[. . . .] During Paul Martin's more upbeat elaboration yesterday, a story from the Post kept pushing into my mind. It was about how Ottawa's Ministry of Health had approved a bill for $153,064 submitted by the head of a Manitoba addiction centre. The bill was from a Caribbean jewellery store. An assistant deputy minister at the Ministry had allegedly been on the take from the same centre's head to the tune of some $200,000. All this without the apparent knowledge of those higher up in the department, including deputy minister David Dodge, now head of the Bank of Canada, and then health minister Alan Rock. Current Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew -- the man who presided over the HRDC scandal but dodged the bullet, which in fact never seemed to find any target -- had declared there would be no public inquiry.

If cinematic parodies, monstrous corruption and absence of bureaucratic oversight are alleged to be a biased version of Ottawa, then Paul Martin's agenda surely pushes the envelope much farther at the other end: straining credulity to the limit.

[. . . .] more meddling, more fiddling, more expenditure -- all hidden under the keyword "change."

[. . . .] "Action Plan for Democratic Reform" [. . . .]more free votes, more gabbing in committees, more "active" parliamentary secretaries -- will do nothing in terms of the reason why parliaments are there in the first place: to restrain the excesses of government. Parliament will remain a lap dog. The need for public inquiries -- as in the jewellery heist above -- will continue to guarantee that they won't happen.

[. . . .] "strengthen Canada's social foundations." That is, shore up the crumbling redistributionist state that criminalizes private medical care and encourages comprehensive dependency. After all, dependents vote.

[. . . .] In line with making a bigger splash on the world stage, drug companies' property will be expropriated in the name of poor AIDS sufferers, under the reintroduction of what will now be called "The Jean Chretien Pledge to Africa Act."

He pledged. Drug companies pay.

A $6-million steal-to-order ring operating out of Pearson airport used the internet and Toronto stores to fence big-ticket items spotted on manifests of incoming flights. Ring members stole millions of dollars yearly from arriving cargo, employed a dozen people from drivers to sales reps to move and sell the goods and posted the hot items for sale on eBay and three other Web sites, Peel police said yesterday.

Pallets of computers, cameras, jewelry, name- brand perfumes and clothing, mink coats and even dentures were regularly loaded on trucks with legitimate shipments even though security cameras were rolling, police said.

A North York man pleaded guilty Friday to heading what has been called one of the largest airport theft rings in Canadian history.

Police officers from Peel, York, the OPP and the RCMP seized $3.5 million in stolen goods, almost $1.3 million in Canadian and U.S. cash, four gold bricks and a $600,000 North York home when they smashed the ring in December, 2001.

[. . . .] The ringleader, Hoa Lam Ong, 48, also known as "Smiley," of Toronto, pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property over $5,000 and conspiracy to possess stolen property. He will be sentenced March 9.

Ong was among 12 people charged in December, 2001 when the ring was smashed by police in a four-year undercover operation called "Project Undertow." Charges were stayed by the Crown against 10 others.

Also convicted of theft offences was Tawnya Ward, 25, who police said was in charge of the group's on-line operations.

[. . . .] It took a four-year undercover probe and cops from Peel, York, OPP and RCMP to nab Hoa Lam Ong, 48, aka "Smiley," who headed a $6-million steal-to-order ring.

[. . . .] He said the airport smugglers, thieves and crooks can detect undercover cops, and police have to be creative.

[. . . .] Arrested last month was an Air Canada ramp worker who was charged with trying to smuggle 29 kilos of hash oil, worth about $1 million, into the country. Another employee was arrested last November after 10 kilos of cocaine, worth about $4 million, was found in a rental truck inside the airport's cargo area.

Two weeks ago, $1 million in cocaine, was found in a suitcase hidden above a luggage conveyer belt.

OTTAWA -- Forget the furor over Janet Jackson's breast-baring stunt during the Super Bowl telecast -- more Canadians were apparently upset by a beer commercial showing two women kissing. The federal broadcast regulator said yesterday that it had received three written complaints about Jackson's staged breast pop-out during a dance number, while 10 people wrote to complain about the Labatt beer commercial.

[. . . .] The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council is an independent, non-governmental organization created by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters to administer standards established by its members.

A Toronto pilot who is on a terrorist watchlist is being helped by Transport Canada and his union to clear his name so he doesn't face intense grilling when flying to the U.S. The man, who is a Canadian citizen with an Irish name, has been pulled aside for questioning three times in the past two weeks while trying to board his flights to the U.S.

"He is frustrated," said Art LaFlamme of the Air Line Pilots Association. "He has done nothing wrong and has no convictions."

[. . . .] "He is being singled out for reasons not known to him," he said. "This man has been flying for 17 years."

Toronto's blacks must act urgently to end the violence plaguing their community, a pastor said yesterday in a powerful address at a funeral for the city's latest murder victim. "Things have got to go in a different route or we're going to kill ourselves," Pastor Orim Meikle told mourners at the Odgen Funeral Home in Scarborough.

"We're committing genocide on our own culture. We need to stop sugar-coating things."

Meikle warned that funerals like the one yesterday for Omar Kente Hortley, 21, will be held every week for young black men until the community unites to end the wave of violence.

"Our children carry guns like we used to carry bubblegum," he said, turning his attention to dozens of Hortley's grieving friends.

"Let's make change. Come out of the gangs. Go home and throw away your guns. If you're carrying it, it's because you plan to use it. You're walking murder."

The Rhema Christian Ministries' preacher pulled no punches in his highly charged address, sayings blacks must stop denying there's a problem in their community.

"We need to show responsibility. We need to speak in plain language," he said. "We're in a place now that we can't keep blaming slavery for everything.

[. . . .] he told mourners the root of the problem is that parents and lawmakers have backed away from discipline, like spanking and curfews.

"We set crazy laws that teach us not to discipline our children yet we bury them once a week.

"Fathers, you need to step back in the home. Away with absentee fathers," he said. "We're breeding children as if they're racehorses. We need to do things differently in our community."

Meikle ended his fierce address by urging young men and women to return to school and "build" families.

[. . . .] "When are we going to learn the absence of discipline is death? Our children carry guns like we used to carry bubblegum. Our children are made to feel they need to be tough - especially in our black culture - that it creates manhood and virility within you. Most of our children spend half their lives in jail. It's the second home in our community

"Things have got to change ... or we're going to kill ourselves. We're committing genocide in our own culture. We're glorifying violence. Parents, you're not setting rules in your own home.

"We're not working as a community to eradicate violence ... (In the media, our youth) are made to feel as if they need to sell drugs to be significant, to be part of gangs, to be going places ...

[. . . .] Sometimes, one man's courage can just leave you speechless. This is one of those times.

[. . . .] All that has really happened is that the (Conservative) party membership has at long last taken control of the party, after the succession of bumblers, opportunists and Liberal wannabes that have led it over the years. Many conservatives were forced to spend several years in exile, as members of the Reform/Alliance parties. But now they have a Conservative party that actually represents them. That they have returned to the fold does not mean that the wheel has come full circle, or that the Reform experience was a 15 year waste of time -- another bit of conventional media wisdom, though curiously at odds with the first.

The Conservative party they left had grown irredeemably corrupt, intellectually and otherwise. The rediscovery of classical liberalism that swept across the western world in the 1970s and 1980s, though it found its followers among Canadian conservatives as elsewhere, failed to penetrate the Tory leadership. The party elites had in consequence grown completely out of touch with their members.

The Mulroney experience proved the party was unreformable: ill at ease with markets, impervious to demands for a more democratic politics, in thrall to Quebec nationalists.[. . . .] .

POSTSCRIPT: Anyone who wants to see just how far gone the party grandees had become has only to read Lowell Murray's lament in the Globe from last fall, denouncing the merger. What proud accomplishments does he list in defence of the old Tory party? In every case, they involve the party leadership's brave and courageous support of .... Liberal party policies: medicare, bilingualism, and so on. [. . . .]

Don't get me wrong. I'm a supporter of these policies, too. But you'd think a man trying to save his party from "extinction" could come up with some evidence of its own unique contribution to Canadian politics.

OTTAWA - Parents take note: It is now "reflection room" instead of detention, "text-to-text connections" in place of book comparisons, and "Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading" instead of, well, reading.

Jargon has long been a part of the lexicon of education bureaucrats, but "eduspeak" has only recently begun infiltrating classrooms across the country.

"They have a reflection time instead of a detention.[. . . .]"USSR" -- Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading. [That is not true. the term USSR was around and used in schools over 20 years ago -- which still does not make its use any better than calling it "silent reading period". NJC]

[. . . . ] New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service, which snagged its first contract in Canada to develop a standardized test in Ontario in 2002, refers to paragraphs as "constructed responses" and essays as "extended constructed responses."

[. . . .] University of Victoria education professor Thomas Fleming, a historian of schooling, says the arrival of "bafflegab" in the classroom has been a long time coming. [I would dispute this. Anyone with ambition to rise in the education bureaucracy long ago knew that it was good to learn and use the jargon. It intimidated other teachers, as well as parents. NJC]

[. . . .]"It's one thing for us to fool around with it, but imagine bringing that lack of clarity in your head as a teacher into the classroom, and now try to get students to understand what is pure, what is clear, what is right."

Former prime minister Jean Chretien has joined Calgary-based oil giant PetroKazakhstan Inc. as its special advisor for international relations.

Following the consulting path taken by many other former politicians, Mr. Chretien will help smooth PetroKazakhstan's relations with the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, where the company produces its oil, as well as with the countries to which it exports its products.

[. . . .]Since leaving politics late last year, he has become an international energy advisor at Bennett Jones, a prominent energy law firm in Calgary.

[. . . .]However, Wilf Gobert, a Peters & Co. analyst, said Mr. Chretien's personal views aren't necessarily the same as the policies he implemented as prime minister. [Now, that's interesting!]

"Kyoto was a political decision -- we all know that -- and what his personal interests or personal beliefs are is totally different," he said.

[. . . .]The former prime minister and PetroKazakhstan chief executive Bernard Isautier "go back many, many years," he added.

It's not uncommon for the two men to talk directly on the telephone to each other. Mr. Isautier is also experienced politically, having once acted as an advisor to the French energy and industry minister.

[. . . .] two of the sisters say, they were arrested by Iranian authorities on the suspicion of having boyfriends, locked in solitary confinement for 16 days, beaten with chains until they confessed to the "crime," and sentenced to 120 lashings.

The lawsuit claims if Ottawa did not bungle the sister's immigration applications they would have been out of Iran long before the torture occurred. "The plaintiffs' injuries were a reasonably foreseeable and proximate consequence of the defendant's negligence," reads the statement of claim, filed in the Federal Court of Canada.

Some observers worry the potential precedent from such a lawsuit could be dangerous, triggering a flood of dubious lawsuits from people eager to take advantage of Canada's generous immigration system.

"The fact is they are not Canadian citizens and we can't guarantee them all the whistles and bells," said Martin Collacott, a former Canadian ambassador. "We get hundreds and hundreds of thousands of applications and there is no way you can guarantee all of these will be processed precisely."

[. . . .]The sisters, who have remained silent on the issue since arriving in Canada two weeks ago, say they are speaking out in an attempt to save their brother, 36-year-old Mohsen Mofidi, who remains in an Iranian prison and is scheduled to be lashed next week.

[. . . .] Ms. Magd then applied for permanent resident status, naming as dependents her three daughters -- Mahfam, Mahdis and Nika Nahasati -- and her abusive husband.

That she sought to support the same man who beat her caught the attention of Canadian immigration officials, who immediately delayed her application. It was the beginning of a long line of alleged errors that the sisters say ultimately left them open to torture in their home country.

They said that their mother only included their father as a dependent so that he would approve their passports (a necessity under Iranian law). Ms. Magd, they say, had no intention of bringing her husband to Canada and as soon as the women had their passports, he was dropped as a dependent.

With the start of the annual Muslim festival of Eid al Adha on Sunday, drawing thousands of believers from around Washington state to Seattle for prayer, political activists saw an opportunity. A team of volunteers roamed the crowd, or manned booths, signing up those qualified to vote. A major push for Muslim voter registration drive was on at similar gatherings throughout the country.

Coming on the heels of the Hajj, the holiday draws out devout Muslims as well as more casual followers. "It's a perfect opportunity for people to exercise their responsibility and become more politically aware," says Hasan Mansouri, government affairs coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), one of the national groups running the registration drive. "And it comes at a perfect time, about a month before Super Tuesday."

Never before have the stakes seemed so high for Muslim Americans.

[. . . .]To the extent that the get-out-the-Muslim-vote effort succeeds, it will largely benefit the Democrats because it is energized by anger over the Bush administration's Patriot Act and what is perceived as an anti-Muslim bias behind the Iraq Iraq war and Israeli-Palestinian policy.

[. . . .] According to CAIR, 78 percent of Muslims voted Republican in 2000. It was a departure from previous elections, when this community tended to side with the health and education policies of Democrats. But conservative family values that Bush touted were attractive, as was his hints that he would seek to eliminate the 1996 Secret Evidence Act, which many Muslims believe targets members of their community.

[. . . .] Whether Muslims come out to vote, he says, will be influenced by two hard-to-measure factors: "If Democratic candidates involve and include Muslims in their campaigns, many will come out and vote," he says. "If (Attorney General John) Ashcroft, or the Bush team, creates a kind of fear complex in hearts of Muslims, or a fear of retribution, then they may not come. A lot of Muslims feel intimidated in light of the Patriot Act, and (use of) secret evidence, where anything could happen."

In Michigan, where the race could potentially be close, Arab Americans make up about 100,000 of the state's 4 million voters. Their vote could swing local races as well as the state's presidential vote, but they are also a well-established, and relatively well-to-do immigrant constituency that could influence the outcome in other ways. "The Arab vote is important and it is important to get them involved because they are willing to contribute financially and contribute workers for campaigns," says Ed Sarpolous, vice president EPIC-MRA, an independent polling firm in Lansing, Mich.

Democratic opportunity

The opportunity of garnering Muslim and Arab American votes has not been lost on the Democratic candidates.

Muslim and Arab American voter sites
• The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) run-down on policy positions of President George Bush and the Democratic candidates
• Muslim Electorates' Council of America (MECA) voter information site
• Arab American Institute (AAI) looks at positions held by Democratic candidates on issues of interest to the Arab American population

MONTREAL -- A Leger Marketing poll [. . . .] If Belinda Stronach, also known as B.S., is running neck-and-neck with Harper among ordinary Canadians, it must mean that they are not paying attention.

Herein lies the danger of the apathetic public. It is what allows a rookie candidate, who so far has shown no substance, to be considered leadership material. The less attention Canadians pay to politics, the better it is for those in the business of politics.
[. . . .] I should tell you folks that while the poll shows that 18% of Canadians favour B.S. and another 18% prefer Stephen Harper, Tony Clement is also on the list, pulling less than 10% support. It means the majority of those responding to the poll had no opinion or felt none of the candidates was qualified to lead.

My e-mail inbox is filled with letters from the so-called grassroots members of the new party. Most of them belonged to the Canadian Alliance. Very few of them plan to work or vote for the Conservative party of Canada if B.S. wins.

In business it is often said that Money Talks and Bull---- Walks. Right now you would be safe in concluding that if B.S. talks to the country as leader of the new party, many of those who are not voting for her will take a walk.

[. . . .] And no westerner believes that B.S. is electable for the simple reason that nobody in the country will take seriously the idea of B.S. being prime minister.

Western Canadian small-c conservatives pay lots of attention to American politics. They have noticed that the people of Iowa and New Hampshire have said it loudly and clearly. Electability counts.

[. . . .] What happens if B.S. wins the leadership by virtue of gerrymandering the vote by buying up memberships for nonexistent people in Quebec? (Yes, that's been done before. Names have been literally scribbled off tombstones in Quebec graveyards. It is not an urban myth. It is Conservative reality.)

"Why don't you learn why the German people were willing to follow Hitler in the early years? It's amazing what starvation and poverty will prompt in a human against those who brought about their starvation and poverty.

"I am sick of this idea that Germans did not have reason to hate the Jews,

[. . . .] "He who has the gold makes the rules. Who owns your bank Michael?"

[. . . .] Jewish politicians actually had some solutions to the political and financial malaise. They and their policies were rejected because, well, because they were Jewish - even though they had lived in Germany for hundreds of years.

[. . . .] I suppose all Jews are rich and powerful. Apart from the ones that aren't. Just like all Scots are cheap, apart from the ones that aren't. All Irish stupid, apart from the ones that aren't. All Canadians naive and boring, apart from the ones that aren't. Or all Germans racist bullies, apart from the ones that aren't.

God bless Germany and the Germans. God bless the Jews, God bless everybody. The good ones, the bad ones and the ones in between.