Hero: Traditionally the word was conceived as meaning one who performs heroic deeds, such as risking one's life to help or save another. Today it has become so debased in meaning as to refer to anyone who survives an ordeal. For example, a child, who fell down an open pit and was rescued by firefighters, was described as a "hero". Not the men who risked their lives in a possible cave-in, but the kid for not dying during the rescue. "Hero" can now be applied to a cancer victim, who struggles to stay alive, or a teacher who does not commit hari kari in front of a difficult class.
Affirmative action: Just who is being affirmed here is the key. Daddy giving his child a good position in his firm; even though the offspring is an unqualified lunkhead is called nepotism. Boo! This is a bad thing. However, if some race or gender is given a position in a firm or institution that the person is unqualified for, then this is affirmative action. Yeh! A good thing.
First Nations: Living as we do in a country where things of value are ranked from first to worst, we have to see where we are on the totem pole. If the Indians are the First Nation then they deserve to live the life of idleness that the $70,000 per family government allotment provides. The French, who got to Canada next, thus will be designated The Second Nation. Therefore, they obviously deserve more than their demographically determined share of government positions, subsides, grants / forgivable loans, and the like. The English tagging along behind in colonization must be The Third Nation. They along with the immigrants--Fourth to tenth Nations--get to be the hewers of wood and bearers of water for their betters. Thus it is written in stone in the equality kingdom of Canada.
ACTION NEWS!!! Well action turns out to be a rather subjective term on television. Generally, it is some reporter standing in front of a house/ car/ street/ park/ open field (Cop cars with revolving lights optional, but preferred). If you are lucky, you get to see a corpse wheeled out in a body bag. Amidst a gaggle of on-lookers, who have no more information than you, the reporter tries to pump some adrenalin into this story. About as close as they get (excluding their hyper-ventilating voices) is to ask a friend/relative of the victim: "How do you feel about this tragedy?" If they are lucky, said interviewee will break down in tears. "Over to you, Peter."
The Boob Tube's sense of decorum: You have to understand that NFL commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, is sorrily p***ed off about Janet Jackson's tit making a touchdown on the half-time show of the Superbowl. No siree! This is not what the Superbowl is all about. It is about presenting wholesome images. Such as, to quote Cam Cole of The National Post: "Except for breast-enhanced cheerleaders, steroid-bloated players knocking snot-bubbles out of each other for fun, and 2.25 million half minute television commercials featuring flatulent horses, crotch-biting dogs, and enough different kinds of pills to convince the viewer that if all America's erectile problems we laid end to end...no, never mind."
Linguistic equality: Pardon me, if I take a didactic route to this term. If, in a debate among four people, three people choose one solution, then the other dissenting view loses out. Some social dinosaurs still refer to this as democracy. However, when only a quarter of Canada's population speaks French (albeit, half them bilingual) there must be a civil service that is half, or more, at the top levels, filled with francophones. Even in some exclusively anglophone national park in Alberta, there has to be francophone ranger to cater to to the odd Quebecois tourist. "Linguistic equality" is a defunct term when it comes to Quebec of course.
The Palestinians should welcome the security fence being built -- because, if the mindless slaughter of civilians through suicide bombings continues, then, Shin Beth might turn a blind eye to similar retaliation. About a year ago, they averted what would have been a devastating massacre by Israelis of young and old Palestianians. Hours before the detonation of a huge truck filled with explosives blew away a girl's school and an old age home in the West Bank, Shin Beth stepped in and defused it. I am sure that the victims of the Palestinian atrocities had planned more such attacks. The difference between the Israeli and the Palestinian authorities is that one has a moral conscience and the other hasn't. Yes, civilian Palestinians have died, but that is usually because killers hide amongst innocent people. In the effort to eradicate these terrorists, there is collateral damage. They are not purposely targeted, unlike the targeting by Hamas and Al Asqa.
[Ordinarily Bud does not concern himself with hockey news. He much prefers golf, where the only violence is inflicted on inanimate objects like putters. However . . . he has this to say. NJC]
Ever since hockey began to resemble gladiator battles, rather than a game of speed and skill, I have tuned out. Come to think of it, many of the games are played in coleseums. Still, the hoopla over Don Cherry's xenophobic comment piqued my interest. The comment was irrational to say the least; however if the loudmouth was ever taken off Coach's Corner, the CBC would lose one of their few audience draws. Whatever the decisions taken by CBC, such as a seven second delay, it should not concern the politicians and the language commissioner. If they want a real issue, let them criticize the on-going persecution of the anglophones and their language rights in Quebec.
This blogger, Stupid Angry Canajun, can be hilarious. Do check Why You Pay Taxes February 06, 2004
The following arrived from a cousin.
There were two blonde guys working for the city. One would dig a hole, the other would follow behind him and fill the hole in. They worked furiously all day without rest, one guy digging a hole, the other guy filling it in again. An onlooker was amazed at their hard work, but couldn't understand What they were doing. So he asked the hole digger, "I appreciate the effort you are putting into your work, but what's the story? You dig a hole and your partner follows behind and fills it up again." The hole digger wiped his brow and sighed, "Well, normally we are a three-man team, but the guy who plants the trees is sick today."
Thanks, Susan. I needed a chuckle before reading the rest of this stuff.
In a scathing denunciation of the bank and its handling of Beaudoin's dismissal in 1999, Denis said Beaudoin suffered an "incalculable injustice." The judge advised the bank to "raise the white flag" rather than appeal his ruling.
Without saying he agrees with Beaudoin's sense of a vendetta against him, the judge said "the ferocity and maliciousness with which he has been treated certainly allow him to believe as he did."
Denis blasted the bank for attempting "to break and ruin his career. ... This whole affair leaves a profound impression of injustice."
[. . . .]He urged Prime Minister Paul Martin to "depoliticize a bank that is lending money. You don't mix politics and money. ... This is a recipe for failure."
OTTAWA—A legal death knell has begun to sound over the brand of politics played in Quebec during Jean Chrétien's time in office.
Auditor-General Sheila Fraser will issue her hard-hitting report next week on how the Chrétien government treated its friends in the former prime minister's home province. Yesterday, Quebec's Superior Court issued a strongly worded ruling about how Chrétien's inner circle treated a perceived foe.
[. . . .] Chrétien is travelling in China on business with his son-in-law, André Demarais of Power Corp., putting him out of reach of the media and cameras precisely when all the harsh condemnations are beginning to pour in.
[. . . .] Beaudoin argued that his main sin was in daring to cancel a loan to the Auberge Grand-Mere, an inn in Chrétien's home riding of Shawinigan. (Chrétien admitted in 2000 to phoning the bank to try to help secure the loan for the inn, but ethics counsellor Howard Wilson cleared him of any wrongdoing.) The inn, fatefully, suffered a fire earlier this week and arson is suspected.
Beaudoin also believes that he made himself an enemy of Carle when he opposed his appointment to the board of directors of Canadian Airlines. [Didn't Jean Carle go to work at something having to do with comedy or laughs in Montreal after the BDC scandal?]
[. . . .] Justice André Denis wrote in his judgment: "The court considers that Mr. Beaudoin suffered an unspeakable injustice as a result of this matter." Denis stopped short of describing Beaudoin's ordeal as a "vendetta," but did say: "... the ferocity and unkindness in which he was treated in this affair certainly allows him to feel as he does."
In an interview . . . Beaudoin talks about how the mix of politics and business turned toxic for him when he ran up against the wishes of Chrétien and Carle, and others. He describes how grudges and personal connections — the very staple of politics —don't work as well in a crown corporation, which supposedly operates at arm's length from government.
Some of these same conclusions are almost inevitably going to be issued when Fraser issues her report Tuesday on federal advertising and sponsorship scandals in Quebec. The issue there will not revolve around who was treated badly, but who was treated too well.
But the lessons will almost certainly be the same — business and politics don't work well together, at least the way things worked in Quebec during the Chrétien regime.
The judge expressed concerns about phone calls by Chretien in 1996 and 1997 in which he asked Beaudoin to reinstate a cancelled loan to the inn in the former prime minister's Shawinigan riding.
[. . . .] The judge, recalling testimony about the calls by the bank's vice-president, said "one is convinced the prime minister is the primary shareholder of the bank and that one can't refuse such a service to the shareholder."
Chretien, who works at a Montreal law firm, was out of the country and wasn't available for comment, a spokeswoman said Friday.
Chretien has been cleared of any impropriety by ethics counsellor Howard Wilson.
JC has gone to China on business -- very hush, hush and Harold Wilson has exonerated him in the above affair. Well, that makes everything all right, doesn't it. Our ethics counsellor, appointed by JC and answerable only to JC, cleared JC. How can he have the guts to face anyone? To collect his salary -- and eventually, undoubtedly, a pension? Surely Mr. Wilson is somewhat culpable, as well? What monetary repercussions will be felt by JC or Wilson? -- None? But, of course! NJC
REGINA (CP) - A Saskatchewan family maliciously prosecuted as sadistic child abusers more than a dozen years ago is receiving $1.5 million from the provincial government.
The money is being given out, not as a settlement, but as an assistance payment to help 12 members of the Klassen family while the province appeals a judge's decision that said they were unfairly charged. "It's been a long time," said Richard Klassen, the man who spearheaded the successful lawsuit against investigators and represented himself during the trial.
"It is an amount that we are accepting for some of the pain and suffering that has occurred and certainly legal fees."
Justice Minister Frank Quennell said the money was given to recognize the family members were innocent of the charges they once faced. He said it is not an admission of liability on the part of the defendants.
The money will not have to be refunded if the defendants are successful on appeal, he said.
[. . . .] The money is needed badly by the family.
Klassen said he and his wife have been trying to support their children on social assistance, but he has now informed the government he will no longer need the welfare cheques.
He is also looking forward to paying some people back. His farming in-laws almost went bankrupt to provide financial support while the case wound its way through the courts.
New Strategy: They won't have to bomb us to kingdom come; they'll sue us into economic oblivion.
1. Maher Arar demanded and is now getting an expensive inquiry. The fact that he was being watched by US and Canadian intelligence while he lived in Canada, before being picked up by the Americans, and seemed to have some very suspect friends or acquaintances strikes me as, shall I say, somewhat significant. He may be innocent but I would bet this is the first salvo in an investigation that will lead -- not only to his suing the US government, which he is doing now -- but to his suing Canadian taxpayers, as well. Will that payout be listed as a Multicultural Department grant or should it come under the Immigration and Refugee Department's budget? How much will PM budget for more of our refugees to get redress for all the wrongs we cause them? And they keep coming! Why?
2. Three Iranian sisters are suing Canadian taxpayers for not acting quickly enough in bringing them into Canada. They are trying to bring their brother here so a little official guilt on our part might help. You will notice, they are not suing the Iranian government because they were ill-treated when it was found they had boyfriends. That's their story and they're sticking to it, I suppose. Will there be taxpayer money found for this lawsuit which will undoubtedly be seen as setting a precedent? The court challenges program must have good taxpayers' money available for this. For more on their suit, see the previous post: Three Iranian sisters sue Ottawa for $4M over torture in Iran Feb. 5, 04.
3. Suing the Canadian government--that's Canadian taxpayers--to "clear their reputations" are the Pakistanis who were deported because of various suspicious activities, such as:
***These students knew each other, used a fraudulent school to get their visas knowingly, didn't study, but worked illegally.
***Thirty of thirty-one students charged were central Pakistanis--Sunni extremist territory.
***They lived in clusters, alarming neighbours with their behavior including a shotgun blast, had unexplained fires which could have come from "mixing chemicals for an explosive device" and generally behaved suspiciously.
***Two were apprehended in the middle of the night in a nuclear plant area and a stolen nuclear gauge figures into the story -- apprehended after being discovered innocently on the nuclear site at 4:15 am -- a walk to clear the mind and help one through a sleepless night, I suppose.
***not attending school after getting admitted to Canada under false pretenses to study -- on the basis of false documents provided by a fake business school, the now-defunct Ottawa Business College --
***Mohammad Khalid Jahangir applied to come to Canada from Mexico -- the sight-seeing student's route to study in Canada, I would guess.
My Commentary:
I believe it was V. S. Naipaul who wrote a book on Islam, in which he suggested a somewhat litigious bent -- a bit of an understatement, I would say. Note an earlier article on how an Iranian tried to stay in Canada using our misguided refugee policy and the helping groups who make their mark--and probably their money--supporting poor failed refugee claimants in their efforts to hoodwink Canadians. By the way, he claimed he would be harmed if returned to Tehran, Iran so the National Post hired an Iranian journalist to look into what happened to him. He was living safely--possibly even comfortably--at home in Tehran. He lied! Like so many of these bogus refugees. Give me a cotton pickin' break!
It is time to stop our importing of these troublesome characters / students /liars and assorted Muslim shysters until we find a way to separate the decent from the lying fraudsters / scam artists / terrorists and their ilk. Too extreme? Wait until they act as they did in New York on 9/11 and talk to me then. Of course, they may just sue us to death before they blow us to smithereens!
Read on for the latest and last -- one hopes; then link to the whole sorry tale. I assume Canadian human rights groups (funded by taxpayers) will soon be involved -- as they were in the Iranian deportee's lies, of course. But these Pakistani guys, they're sure to be telling the truth; anyone who has been to Pakistan would vouch for that. Why their top nuclear scientist just apologized for selling nuclear secrets--all that is necessary to be accepted into the Pakistani bosom again--and President Musharraf accepted it with alacrity. Now, everything is okay. I don't think he'll sue the West for mentioning his faux pas -- but . . . . NJC
LAHORE, Pakistan - [. . . .] The deportees have become minor celebrities in Pakistan since local human rights groups took on their case and began citing it as an example of what they portray as Western mistreatment of Muslims following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
Now they are claiming that as well as being wrongly deported, they were also physically, verbally and emotionally abused. Lawyers in Lahore and Toronto are currently translating their tale of woe into a lawsuit against the government of Canada.
[. . . .] The deportees consider their planned lawsuit against Canada their last hope. "What we are looking for is, there must be exoneration. They have to clear our names," Mr. Waheed said. He also wants an apology and he wants his computer back. [I suppose he needs his computer to jog his memory. NJC]
[. . . .] "They must be held accountable for that. Every one of us is feeling so injured and disgraced." He admits he worked under the table and that his student visa was a fraud, but he said the government's reaction was too severe. [Why would Canadians want him and the rest of the fraudsters back? Or pay them anything? ]
"It's like stealing chocolate from the market and you are accused of murder."[an interesting way of putting it, don't you think?]
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's military has released new details about Canadian citizen Ahmed Said Khadr, claiming he was close to Osama bin Laden's deputy and used money collected in Canada to finance a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.
A military official who spoke on condition on anonymity said Mr. Khadr was a member of the Egyptian Al Jihad, which is part of the al-Qaeda terror network. Mr. Khadr was particularly close to the Al Jihad leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the number two man in al-Qaeda, he said.
"He was a member of the Al Jihad organization, which was Egyptian-based, and he was also a member of bin Laden's inner circle, and he also had close relations with his [bin Laden's] deputy al-Zawahiri," the senior official told the National Post.
Money Mr. Khadr solicited in Canada for widows and orphans was diverted to underwrite terrorism, the official said.
"Khadr misused the money to fund a terrorist camp and assist al-Qaeda operatives." He later described the camp as a "terrorist training camp."
[. . . .] The military here has some of the most credible intelligence about al-Qaeda because of the close relationship that existed before 9/11 between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency and armed factions in Afghanistan, including the Taliban.
[. . . .] Now, an official familiar with Pakistan's military intelligence dossier on Mr. Khadr has provided more details, linking the Canadian to bin Laden's right-hand man, the physician who founded the Egyptian Al Jihad, al-Zawahiri -- also known as The Doctor.
[. . . .] But Canadian intelligence reports allege that Abdullah Khadr was the commander of an al-Qaeda training camp near Logar, in eastern Afghanistan, an al-Qaeda stronghold where many such camps were located. Ahmed Said Khadr claimed to run a school for orphans in Logar.
And Canadian government fools believed that Khadr was another one of those souls of probity, just like the innocent boys mentioned above, and allowed his organization charitable status; that's Canadian tax-free status for his funds. What pea-patch do these trusting government officials arise from? NJC
OTTAWA - [. . . .] "There's certainly no early exit strategies out of Afghanistan," Mr. Pratt said yesterday, after a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Munich. "I think we're committed to the war on terrorism. How quickly Afghanistan is going to be stabilized in anybody's guess. I don't think you can sort of say in three, four, five years Canada's going to be out."
Canada's one-year commitment of 2,000 soldiers to NATO's International Security Assistance Force ends in August, but Mr. Pratt said Canada has proposed deploying several hundred troops after August to provide extra security for proposed Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs.)
[. . . .] In Kabul, the departing Canadian commander went even further.
"How long is NATO willing to stay?" Major General Andrew Leslie, the deputy NATO commander, said at a press conference. "Somewhere between five to 10 years, or as long as it takes."
Maj.-Gen. Leslie also predicted ISAF would have to expand to 8,000 to 12,000 troops from its current 6,000 if the alliance is to be successful in extending its operations outside the capital of Kabul by deploying the reconstruction teams, a combined civilian-military force of specialists, such as engineers. The PRTs represent NATO's next step in extending its sphere of control beyond Kabul into the rest of Afghanistan, much of which is under the control of warlords.
Why did Paul Martin not just answer honestly the wife of the Canadian military fellow who was asking about future military commitments on the CBC Townhall this week? Instead he blathered on about our "military heroes" in the most blatantly "I want you to vote for me" way. NJC.
Chechen separatists were blamed yesterday for a bomb explosion that tore through a packed rush-hour carriage on Moscow's underground metro, killing at least 39 people.
Rescuers last night were still sifting through the carnage that blew bodies and limbs hundreds of yards down a tunnel when the 12lb bomb exploded within a minute of the train leaving Avtozavodskaya station.
[. . . . ] Policing on Moscow railway and underground stations has been noticeably heavier since the Dubrovka theatre siege of October 2002, when heavily armed Chechens took more than 800 people hostage, and posters have recently appeared warning passengers to be vigilant and report suspicious packages.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the head of the reactionary nationalist party the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, called for a crackdown on unregistered Chechens and other Caucasians living in Moscow.
A chief constable provoked outrage yesterday by suggesting that heroin should be sold on street corners or in pharmacies.
Richard Brunstrom, who is in charge of North Wales police, said he believed that the drug laws were doing "more harm than good." They left vulnerable people in danger, while enabling criminals to make massive profits.
"Heroin is very addictive, but it is not very, very dangerous," he told the Dragon's Eye programme on BBC Wales. "It is perfectly possible to lead a normal life for a full life span and hold down a job while being addicted to the drug.
"I don't advocate anybody abusing their bodies with drugs, but clearly some want to. What would be wrong with making heroin available on the state for people who want to abuse their bodies?"
[. . . .]Mr Brunstrom has recently been heavily criticised over his campaign against speeding motorists.
He first outlined his views on drugs three years ago, when he told his police authority that the battle against the suppliers could be won only if drugs were legalised.
Despite the outlay of billions of pounds and thousands of hours in police time, the number of addicts had multiplied at an alarming rate.
He likened the laws on drugs to those on alcohol prohibition in the United States during the 1920s. The latter, he pointed out, had been "an unmitigated disaster".
