Naturally, from those who would plant the idea that this inquiry is too expensive, there is great concern about
"the cost to Ottawa of assembling millions of pages of documentary evidence, translation services, and legal fees for lawyers."
Why, something might be done to end the corruption by exposing it to the light of day -- and, even worse, the whole edifice could come crashing down. Why, some might lose their jobs -- even their perqs -- and we can't have that.
What has been the cost to Canadians of ALL the corruption? -- not just what is being brought to the surface of the pond in Gomery. The pond lilies have long, deep roots.
CSIS Downsized 700 Agents - Report Delays Are Result of Manpower & Funding Problem, Spinning Defeat of Bills to Split Foreign Affairs & Int. Trade
CSIS Downsized 700 Agents -- Report Delays Result of Manpower Funding Problem -- Fund Security Services -- Simple!
If our government hadn't downsized CSIS by about 700 agents then Deputy PM MacLellan might be getting reports faster.
CSIS Inspector General Eva Plunkett found that CSIS "exercises its duties and functions with a commendable degree of professionalism that serves Canadians well indeed."
THE FEDERAL watchdog over the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warns that her effectiveness could be hindered by the spy agency's delays in handing over crucial information.[. . . . ]
My first thought was whether this intended splitting had anything to do with the "business partnerships" trip. How silly of me to be so cynical; nevertheless . . . Apparently between the introduction of the bill and the vote, MP's learned more and Monte Solberg, MP, said:
[. . . . ] Then you get into committee, you discover things that you don't like about it and discover information they deny they initially have and I think at that point, it's completely justifiable to say, 'No, we realize now there are problems with it, we don't want to support it. That's my understanding of how it's all worked out."
Guess what the media spin will be? -- Would you believe the government trying to say it cannot 'trust' the Opposition? Wait for it.
Search:Liberal MP Don Boudria (Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, Ont.), Liberal MP Dan McTeague (Pickering-Scarborough East, Ont.), disrespecting Parliament, "unspeakable arrogance"
Bud Talkinghorn: Confederacy of Dunces, Tale Told by a Ditherer, Feminists' Horns of a Dilemma, PM-Gay 'Marriage', Question Period
A confederacy of dunces seems to be running Canada
You have Paul Martin telling the Quebec media that "Syria is in Lebanon to keep the peace." Not content with that gaffe, he tells the House of Commons that "The Syrians should get out of Syria. I've said that three times. Why can't the Opposition get it?" Well, Paul, because nobody can.
Former Ontario NDP Premier, Bob Rae, forgetting that he was drummed out of office by the electorate for general economic stupidity, has decided that he is now fit to pontificate on education policy and its economic benefits. At least he has narrowed his focus. Rae's newest brain child is that Ontario should double its numbers of university graduates. Forget that the universities and colleges are clogged with dim-witted students already. Rae wants the province to pony up an additional $1.3 billion to assist more mediocre entrants. One of the few incentives for academically poor students to forego college party time is the cost. They then find useful employment in the technical and industrial sector. That is where they prosper and Canada gets its necessary skilled labour. Professorial friends of mine report that large numbers in their classes cannot string together a coherent paragraph, let alone an essay. Some actually use computer shorthand, e.g. "4U", in what are supposed to be scholarly submissions. We won't even talk about their graammatical and punctuation deficiencies. Maybe if Rae were forced to wade through some of these essays, he would see the folly of his suggestion. I would even loan him my "Stupifying Rubblish" rubber stamp.
On to the judges. There are too many judicial stupidities to enumerate, so I will take only the latest one. A Montreal judge, Simon Noel, has released a terrorist suspect on bail and house arrest. Adil Charkaoui has been in detention since he was fingered by no fewer than two top al-Queda sources as a sleeper cell member. He has trained with al-Queda in Afganistan and is thought to belong to the Moroccan Islamic group that bombed the Madrid trains.
Still, the judge doesn't think Adil Charkaoui remains a threat after two years in detention, because he has lost contact with most of his fellow terrorists.
What part of "sleeper cell" does the judge not understand? "If there was an imminence of danger, then it is self-evident that it is neutralized," the judge stated. To me, it is "self-evident" that the judge's brain is what has been neutralized. For once, the Liberals did the right thing and fought his release; however, the courts were once again able to overrule Parliament's wishes. The judge also mentioned that Charkaoui had a devoted family to return to. What rot! I'm sure Paul Bernardo and Clifford Olsen had devoted families too.
More and more I think we should stop electing Parliamentarians, and simply elect the country's judges. They are the ones making all the major decisions these days.
The Ontario Medical Association is fearful that the provincial Ministry of Health is trying to ram through the entry of medically incompetent foreign doctors. Out of 600 international doctors who went through round one of clinical testing, only 200 were allowed to progress to phase two. But even in this group, one examiner wrote, "That of the 30 foreign doctors who passed through my testing station only two were fit to practice in a hospital. Some were so deficient that they could hardly be medical clerks. 50% couldn't even pass an easy diagnostic test.
Despite the extremely low calibre of the majority of the applicants, he fears that political correctness will triumph over public safety.
Even David Jensen, a ministry spokesman, admitted that he would accept foreign doctors, who were only at the level of fourth year Canadian medical students. This, despite the fact that most Canadian medical students have to pass two to six years of residency after graduation, before they are certified to practice their specialities. That old adage: "Go to the hospital to die", will definitely take on a literal meaning if these quasi-quacks are allowed to operate in Canada. When it comes to malpractice at the hands of foreign doctors I have had a few personal horror stories; one was a misdiagnosis that could have blinded me. Even with our rigorous standards, we have Canadian doctors who slip through the cracks and do enormous damage. We don't need to compound that problem by accepting inferior foreign doctors. If they can pass the same exams as our lads, then let them practice. Otherwise, hold the line against affirmative doctoring.
Today's National Post [Feb. 19, 05] has a letter from a U of T medical assessor of foreign-trained anesthetists. Of the ten tested over the past three years only one was deemed fit to practice. The other nine would need at least two more years of residency training. When your anesthetist says:
"I'm putting you under", you don't want it to mean six feet under.
Let us now consider the sacred cow of aboriginal affairs . The only other contender for top "cow" might be legislated bilingualism (gotta keep all those top civil service jobs reserved for francophones). While I don't ordinarily indulge in discussing the physical attributes of a key government player, I will make an exception in the case of the Minister responsible for natives, Andy Scott. His alarmingly expanding girth is a perfect symbol for the increasingly bloated, unaccoutable, native welfare system. Never under control, at least his predecessor, Robert Nault, tried to rein in the rampant corruption. Nault introduced The First Nations Governance Act, which would have demanded better fiscal accountability from the chiefs and band councillors. But Paul Martin backed off this important legislation after Phil Fontaine and the Council of Chiefs complained. Although they had not a shred of proof, the chiefs maintained they were better at keeping the books. The legislation died and the new Indian Affairs Minister, Scott, has made no attempt to revive it.
Worse, The National Post editorial (Feb. 19) has revealed that Scott has refused to do anything about the reported theft of $3 million from the Natuashish Innu reserve. Also a CBC investigative report claims that band councillors are involved in drug smuggling and other crimes. Scott maintains that his department cannot investigate these crimes, since they are under the jurisdiction of the RCMP. This does not explain why he couldn't launch an audit of their books, or why he has not pressured the RCMP to lay charges. These crimes are part and parcel of the pathologies that plague this newly constructed town. So far, taxpayers have spent $350 million on these 700 natives, all to little effect. Still, Natuashish is not alone in suffering from rotten governance. Recently, a judge handed two Big Cove officials an absolute discharge after they pleaded guilty to embezzling $2 million from their band coffers. All across this country there are similar cases of the government and courts turning a blind eye to crime and corruption on reserves. The National Post recommends that Scott's department start relocating natives from "these shiny new ethnic ghettoes in the wilderness" into mainstream areas of employment. Until that happens the reserves will amount to nothing more than "glorified post office boxes for welfare cheques." Such an attempt to convince natives to assimilate could take decades however. Meanwhile, Scott and Martin need to muster some courage, and at least demand more accountability for the tax dollars funnelled into them.
"It is a tale told by a dithering idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Apologies to William Shakespeare for adding the word "dithering" to his MacBeth soliloquy. It just came upon me in a flash of malice. The aforementioned tale refers to almost every initiative that Paul Martin puts forward. He has no backup plan to deal with the Kyoto Accord he so ardently backs. Because the Liberals have done nothing since signing on to it, we now have to reduce our gas emissions by 36% in the next six years. Even with a plan, we could not do that without Canadians retreating into the Dark Ages.
Then there is his vaunted child care program. How he is going to implement that one is a project for the Ministry of Seers and Sibyls. Where is he going to find all these highly-qualified child care workers? Besides the minimally-prepared private daycare staffs, the rest are relatives, neighbours, or unemployed husbands / boyfriends. On top of which, new buildings will be needed to replace the livingrooms now used by the casual daycare people. The "approved" curriculum for turning the little ones into budding geniuses should turn into a real donnybrook of competing ideologies, especially if the NDP are still kingmakers. Once having surmounted these formidable obstacles, the entire elementary system would have to be revamped. Kids who have had years of academic training are not going to sit still for Jack and Jill stuff. Changing grade one's curriculum means changing all up the line. More fun is in store for already beleagured administrations and teachers. I'm sure that Martin is spending his weekends working on all these 'challenges'.
PS: Bud has taken full responsibility for use of the word "idiot". NJC
The Feminist Movement: Caught on the horns of a dilemma
You don't hear much from the feminist movement any more. There is a good reason for that. First, the need is not there any more. There are females dominant in numbers across the university campuses. Affirmative hiring has swelled the ranks of administrators in businesses and the civil service. Every TV ad involving a male and a female presents the male being humiliated an/or literally pummelled. Then, secondly, there was the demise of The National Action Committee for Women. NAC decided somewhere that their pretense of representing all Canadian women should be abandoned. The ultra-leftist in NAC decided that "women of colour" were not only the victims of the patriarchy, but also victims of the smug elitist white women, who once controlled the rap. So poor June Callwood, a left-winger of long standing, was turfed out. In came a collection of nobodies to rule the roost--a New York Jewess, another American transplanted East-Indian, and a Caribbean black. Is there no CRTC equivalent to force some Canadian content here? Finally, in a rare nod to a native born Canadian, an aboriginal woman was elected head. Having totally alienated the majority of leftish white women, their contributions dried up. Now they are the squeegee kids of feminism. The Liberals still cough up a few small grants to them--just to keep their street creds. Politicaly though, they are seen as vote-attracting basket cases.
Trying to keep from being completely marginalized, NAC attaches itself to larger issues. Considering the 'white-flight' from their make-up, racism is the cause du jour. The problem with that is they must bend themselves into pretzel shape to accommodate cultures that would stone them to death for most of their beliefs. Despite clitorectomies, forced marriage to old goats back in Pakistan, the purdah system, they must up-hold the myth that all cultures, even extremist Islamic ones, are equal. Therefore the 'soul-crushing patriarchy' of white culture can still be attacked; however, only a quiet gnashing of teeth is allowed about the most virulent perveyors of this patriarchy system, the Third World. Despite living in a country, which is in the forefront of gender equity, they carp about our society's lack of opportunity for women. They have lost all but the most man-hating, lesbian and hard-core socialist elements. It is time for the government to cut off their grants entirely and let them wither into a total black hole of irrelevance. Government should fund the women's causes that are pertinent to the majority of Canadian women.
Small wonder that TV doesn't show more of Question Period
I used to think that it was solely a matter of getting the zippy sound bites, but it may be because Question Period is simply too embarassing to broadcast more completely. All the parties are guilty of appalling behaviour. The questions and answers are frequently drowned out by hooting, caterwauling, table-thumping and other rude interruptions. The Speaker of the House spends more time standing than sitting, as he tries unsuccessfully to get MP's to respect the debate. No kindergarten teacher would tolerate such chaos. For the few of us who watch CPAC's debates, those questions and answers are important. There is a litany of government waste exposed. The latest involves the "foundations", which hold $9 billion to supposedly dispense to research of some kind. In fact, the government has merely banked $7.7 of it to collect interest, and that without any auditoring by The Auditor-General. Therefore, the public has no idea how that money is being used or misused. Is this another scandal that will dwarf the sponsorship one? As well, we now discover that CIDA has lost control of how its grant money is being spent. They often give the money to corrupt states, even before the work is undertaken. Sometimes it never is. If the honourable members would pipe down, we might learn more about this squandering of our tax money. Members from all sides who cannot abide by civilized rules of discourse should be banished for a time. It is that simple. John Ivison, in The National Post (Feb. 17) got it right,
"...Question Period, which most closely resembles a frank exchange between two sets of soccer hooligans..."
Ivison contrasted this with the decorum of the same-sex debate, which was "an affirmation that our elected representatives are not all braying jackasses." We deserve better from our Parliamentarians. The respect shown during that debate should be the rule, not the exception.
Paul Martin's defense of same-sex marriage is totally illogical and puke-inducing
Here is a man who has the nerve to stand up in Parliament, wrap himself in the Charter, and talk about, quote:
"I cannot live in a Canada where the rights of the majority triumph the rights of the minority."
What nonsense! His puny, NDP propped-up 'majority' holds to itself dictatorial powers. The large minority that either smokes marijuana, or supports the rights of people to do so, are over-ridden by Liberal laws that don't just create hurt feelings, but create criminal records. This, despite the LeDain Commission and the Liberal-dominated Senate's recommendations to legalize it. In like mode, where are the rights of polygymists to openly practice their marriage vows? The list of trampled minority rights is endless. Martin has no compunction about enforcing his party's will on minority rights that he (and his loony-left NDPers) do not agree with. His hypocrisy shouts from the rooftops. If he simply stood and said:
"I want gays to have the right to marry. I will not be intellectually dishonest, as I fully know that this is opening a Pandora's Box of social activism that nobody can see the end of. I will accept that this might have unintended social consequences, but I have to appease my social activist supporters"
The gays are not having that right taken awayfrom them; rather the federal Parliament is granting that right. We are legislatively giving them that right, and the LIberals/NDP/BQ are hiding behind the small "l" federal court rulings--made by judges whom the Liberals have appointed, and who have caved in to the gay agenda.
If Prime Minister Martin could cut out his base sanctimonious references to the Charter, multiculturalism and the "evil" of the notwithstanding clause, then, I might not agree, but I could have some respect for his position.
P.S. My favourite Martin moment was his trotting out multiculturalism. He could not find a single immigrant group--outside of the Dutch and the Belgians--whose culture embraces homosexual marriage. In many countries that remain unmentioned, homosexual acts, forget marriage, would lead to a prison sentence or death.
Hockey cross-checked into the boards--one year bench penalty imposed
Unlike many hockey fans, who are no doubt frothing at the mouth, I have to go along with a reporter from Sports Illustrated, who called the cancellation, "The yawn of a new era." The idea that players can demand salaries that make tickets extremely expensive, and create huge losses for the team owners, is simply not on anymore. Add to that the lower calibre of play and players who spend more time on the bench than on the ice, and you have a potent mixture for fan disillusionment. Maybe that is why I prefer individual sports like golf. If Mike Weir either doesn't make the cut, or is sidelined by injury in the middle of his final round, that's just tough bananas. Nobody tells him to sit it out and he still collects part of the purse. The hockeyplayers had better spend their now abundant free time cracking some books on basic economics.
In Wesnesday's Question Period the Liberals could not give the Opposition any idea of what they have done or will do with the $4 billion they have set aside to meet the emission's target. At best, Paul Martin and Stephane Dion could only promise that "something significant" will be done, in some misty future -- although Martin was mighty proud that Montreal would host another climate summit. The Conservative environment critic reminded Martin that when he attended the last such meeting in Buenas Aires, Canada was labelled the worst pollution offender after America. This has all the earmarks of another billion dollar boondoggle. There are rumours of a split between Dion and the Liberal Industry Minister over how any real reduction of carbon dioxide levels will affect the economy. While the Liberal stance on same-sex marriage will lose them votes, it will pale in comparison with closed factories. The unemployed rarely look favourably on a government that caused their jobs to disappear.
Rape as Pillage, Theo Van Gogh Murder a Terrorist Attack, The 'Honour' of Women, Socialist Welfare Policies and Immigration
"The honor of our women has become cheap," said one man who fled his home 14 months ago. "Where is America, where are those who say they care?" -- Note: he did not ask where is the UN? Canada? France? Germany? Does that not say something important?
KALMA, Sudan (Reuters) - [. . . . ] "The rapes never stop, sometimes there are more, sometimes less," she said, accusing militiamen known as Janjaweed of the crime. "Now the Janjaweed babies are being born and the girls are throwing them down latrines," she said.
"Better the babies are lost this way than we carry the burden," she said, falling silent as she stared into her coffee cup.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Security Council on Wednesday to take immediate steps to stop the Darfur war, which has killed at least 70,000 people since March. [. . . . ]
Have any UN troops been sent in to actually stop the war?
I see some civilizations have not moved beyond rape as pillage and the women have not moved beyond infanticide. Do the leftist media outlets dwell on this as they did on Abu Ghraib? -- where no-one was raped, as far as I know, though the glass b**** guys were severely humiliated, preparatory to trying to extract information. I know, there is a fine line.
Back in November, I wrote on the murder of Theo Van Gogh and concluded that it was far more than the actions of a small group of misguided fanatics but was instead an act carried out by al-Qaeda as part of a far more sinister plot aimed at destabilizing the Netherlands. Now, courtesy of the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment, which are kind enough to publish their findings in English in marked contrast to some other countries I could name, we get a professional evaluation of the killing.[. . . . The report includes the following:]
Introduction Modus Operandi Profile of the Assassin and His Network Profile of Mohammed Bouyeri The Hofstad Network and International Contacts Motivational Factors Concluding Remarks [See what follows.]
The analysis above indicates that the slaying of Theo Van Gogh should be considered a terrorist attack, not by a lone fanatic, but by a member of an al-Qaida inspired Sunni Islamist ad-hoc terrorist network. For example, the modus operandi of the attack was typical of al-Qaida and its associated groups waging global jihad against the US and its allies around the world. The radical Islamist milieu the killer belonged to, the Hofstad Network, was involved in the same type of activities and "organized" itself in the same way as other al-Qaida associated or inspired terrorist networks that have been detected in Western Europe recent years. In addition, the social profiles of Bouyeri, and other members of the Hofstad Network, resemble those of incarcerated militant Islamists who have been planning attacks in European countries.
Contextual analysis of the operation in Amsterdam indicates potential motivations related to multiple contexts that could be considered relevant for Muslim immigrants to Holland, such as Dutch immigration policy and counter-terrorism efforts, the "global war on terrorism" and the invasion of Iraq, as well as increased conflict-levels in areas of political grievance and symbolic value to Islamists and Muslims in general, such as in Palestine, Chechnya and Kashmir. In addition the Van Gogh case suggests that statements by high-profile persons that are exposed in the media might be interpreted as insults against Islam", and thus serve as partial motivation for terrorism, or at least affect the target selection of the Islamist militants, who have chosen terrorism as a strategy in the battle against the US and its allies. The murder of the filmmaker also showed the effectiveness of an assassination of a public figure in spreading fear and escalating the levels of conflict between the Dutch and immigrants to Holland, adding to a growing xenophobia, which in turn might lead to increased problems of integration, and make alienated young Muslim immigrants receptive of al-Qaida’s vision of global jihad.
From a counter terrorism perspective, the concept of complex motivations, or multiple social, political and religious motivations (related to different contexts), implies that the police and intelligence services working to prevent terrorist attacks should pay careful attention to political developments beyond the geographical area they police, and be aware that Islamist terrorism might occur as a response by developments in other countries, or faraway areas of the world. There is an urgent need for systematically mapping motivational factors and "triggers", as well as mapping the various types of targets that might be attacked, the timing and the operational patterns of the terrorist cells, in order to develop effective early warning systems. In this respect one has to find out more about who the terrorists are, and the social contexts that "produce" potential terrorists. In addition it seems important, in the prosecution of terrorist suspects, to strike a balance between being firm, on the one hand, and being prudent and just on the other. This in order not to stir unnecessary anger among broader segments of the Diaspora communities and create new incentives for joining militant groups.83
On the political level, as much as possible should be done to reduce social and political grievances locally and internationally, that might motivate Islamist terrorists, and might be interpreted in terms of al-Qaida’s ideology that Islam is under a worldwide attack by the US and its allies.
83 Martin Wainwright, "Police Chief attacks terror labelling of Muslims," The Guardian 07 February 2005
82 Don Van Natta Jr. and Desmond Butler, "Calls to Jihad Are Said to Lure Hundreds of Militants Into Iraq" The New York Times 01 November 2003; Mark Huband, "Muslim radicals "head to Europe with Iraq skills"" Financial Times 17 November 2004.
[. . . . The footnotes were moved to the end -- Ed. ]
Note that you may download and read this whole .pdf file with an Adobe Reader.
I can agree with some, but not all, of this for I fear that, just from a woman's perspective, any criticism of Islam and particularly negative commentary on the treatment of women under Sharia law would be considered by Muslim men as an attack on Islam.
From what I have seen of Islam, for a woman, there are no positives. Islam is a religion Canadians would be wise to re-think importing. Individuals we know, perhaps female, tend to be exceptions whom we would allow in, but note that it is the women in most cultures who support and pass on the cultural practices which the book "Burned Alive" amply demonstrates. (Book: "Burned Alive"-An Honour Crime, CNN: "Reliable Sources", Correction: Talk Radio & Reading Material ) The overall thrust of the actions coming out of Islamic belief and cultures is negative for women, yet perpetuated by women, as well as by men.
In the context of having recommended "Burned Alive" on honour killings Feb. 20, would almost anything I write about women's place in Islam not be seen as inflaming passions against a religion and a practice that varies by class and location? I received this question from a friend -- and thanks JK.
I read the article on Muslim wife beating. I am somewhat baffled: would a university professor in Cairo beat his wife? Or the Iranian Muslims I know here? To what point up from the bottom in the Muslim social strata is it OK, and from there on not OK. Well, as long as their attitude toward women doesn't change, not much else will change.
I can reach my own conclusions only based upon my own experience with no first hand knowledge of life in the home, admittedly; nevertheless, a few experiences have taught me, as a woman, to be very wary of this religion. Some I have related on this site previously.
I have known a delightful--and lusting, her parents feared--young woman educated in Canada, shipped 'home' to be married off to a Muslim in Bangladesh. They returned; soon she was beaten. Fortunately, she was able to divorce him. Because she was educated here and holds a Canadian passport, he cannot keep it from her nor force her to go to Bangladesh to be 'straightened out'. Of course, he is here in Canada, brought in by our immigration system as her husband. His violence did not get him turfed. Other Muslim women I have known are torn between wanting to be free as are other young women they see and the pervasive cultural, family and religious pressures and control. They are taught that Western women are loose, shameless hussies undeserving of respect because of how we dress and act. In some cases, they have a point.
However, there is no compromise in Islam. That is what is scary. There is no accommodation nor acculturation. There is no gray area. The West has managed and evolved by resolving what are the gray areas of personal and public belief through goodwill and compromise. Islam does not compromise, except as a strategy, until it overwhelms, and that, from much of what I read, is the intention.
I think that Canadians should know what they are importing when large numbers of immigrants enter, particularly when members of alien cultures and alien religions are encouraged to come to Canada, under whatever pretext. Also, too many aliens are allowed entry after the destruction of passports and identity documents and the mouthing of the magic word 'refugee'. Allow the borders to be as porous as they apparently now are and Canadians really do not know the extent of the changes to come and the problems that may ensue -- problems that have already come to Europe. See below.
The Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is, in a word, professional. MEMRI links to Canada Free Press and it’s a source of pride that they sometimes pick up and post some of our stories.
That’s how I rate MEMRI on a professional basis. But it is in my personal life that the Institute, albeit unknowingly, shed light and understanding on something that has been plaguing me.
About a year ago, I discovered that someone close to me was being beaten by her husband. "Someone close to me" is the only way I can identify this young Muslim bride, because of my fear of bringing more trouble on her head. [. . . . ]
Link to Canada Free Press and read the whole thing. Look at the educational video. Ah, the wonders of modern technology.
Immigration and the welfare state -- Malmö, Sweden --"its generous welfare state and its status as what Social Democrats used to proudly call a 'moral superpower" -- the canary in the coal mine
"EVERYONE is welcome here," says Bejzat Becirov to a non-Muslim visitor. Becirov runs the Islamic Center of Malmö, on the outskirts of Sweden's third-largest city. When Becirov immigrated from his native Macedonia in 1962, Swedes used to say that kind of thing, too. But in the last two decades, Malmö has acquired a population that is almost 40 percent foreign. Most of the students in its public schools are of foreign parentage. Some immigrant neighborhoods in the city have (official) unemployment rates exceeding 50 percent. Malmö's mayor, Ilmar Reepalu, has pleaded for immigrants to be settled in other parts of Sweden. This has made Reepalu popular in Malmö, but not in those other parts of Sweden. Others uneasy about immigration are too impatient to work through official channels. Much of the Islamic Center was destroyed by a fire of suspicious origin in 2003.
[. . . . ] Modern Sweden has built its sense of identity on two pillars: its generous welfare state and its status as what Social Democrats used to proudly call a "moral superpower." (Non-Social Democrats still use the term, mockingly.) Indications are that the latter achievement is in the process of destroying the former.
This article ranges over the past--up to European Union membership--that led to this state and describes the current situation where "Crime is high. Drug use--curiously--is low.", , "the municipal government, with 20,000 employees, is the largest employer.", and there are proliferating "civilizational outrages".
Killing is okay, though, to save the family 'honour'; frankly, I'd rather they each smoked a joint or drowned their humiliation in a glass of good scotch -- if it would change this. On the scale of crimes, the pot cure would be the lesser crime, in my humble opinion.
The latter [outrages] include the dispiritingly steady stream of "honor-killings" that occur among the country's immigrants, most of them committed by Kurds. These have generally involved girls executed by their brothers or fathers for wearing short skirts or dating Swedish men. . . . safe houses . . . are now mostly inhabited by Muslim women fearing honor killings or domestic violence.
Only some of us have to learn the mantras on "diversity", "multiculturalism" and "tolerance", apparently.
[. . . . ] Denmark now restricts asylum admissions, welfare payments, and citizenship and residency permits for reasons of family unification. Danes under 25 who marry foreigners no longer have the right to bring their spouses into the country. Many such half-Danish couples now live in Malmö.
Denmark's crackdown has left Swedes wondering what is to stop everyone in the E.U. from coming to the most generous welfare state, even if such worries are couched in human-rights language.
[. . . . ] "The segregated part of the country is the Swedish part."
[. . . . ] high levels of unemployment in immigrant areas
[. . . . ] "No one is going to live here without working,"
[. . . . ] "He and I both see how diversity is affecting the welfare state,"
The economic historian Rojas begs to differ. "High levels of taxation require that the people taxed be a community," he says. "And this has for a long time been a tribal society. . . . A good tribe! Very peaceful and nice! But a tribe."
Canadians had been a tribe, a very good tribe, until the never satisfied needs of one group, one province and one group of power brokers within that tribe desirous of increasing their overall clout met an idea that would achieve this. This could be achieved if the majority tribal sub-group were fragmented; laws and immigration have served this purpose. There has been taxpayer money funnelled to having immigrants keep their own cultures, not to join the mainstream. The majority have had little say; by the time they realized the implications of what was being done, it was already too late. The whole system has been buttressed by the legal framework and appointed justices who could give the rationale. Listen to the ringing of the words "Charter", "diversity", "multiculturalism" and "rights", along with appeals to the moral superiority of the vision emanating from the UN.
Europe is our canary in the coal mine. What Europe is finding is that socialistic policies--welfare and the culture that insists it is a 'right'--combined with open immigration exacerbates the migration problem. So immigrants sit in enclaves of joblessness. There is little incentive for them to leave their own culture behind in order to join the mainstream culture when they have come without the skills needed and still, they are given some basic subsistence wage through welfare. These are breeding places for unrest and a sense of 'humiliation' -- and then . . . Canadians have had enough 'humiliation' from some groups--and their concomitant demands--to last a lifetime.
Please hold up a hand if you believe anyone will be doing jail time for stealing millions of Canadian taxpayer dollars in the Sponsorship Scandal which is currently the only topic of conversation on Ottawa’s cocktail party circuit.
[. . . . ] Sometimes humour is our only defense. The truth was laid bare in a cartoon in the Globe and Mail last week, titled Two Ships Passing in the Night. One ship is a luxury yacht with dancers on deck, the smokestack funnel logo a dollar sign, the upper deck signed Gun Registry Program, the lower deck signed Sponsorship Scandal. The other ship, headed slowly in the opposite direction on a zigzag course, is a decrepit little used submarine. On one people dine in luxury. On the other, people die.
Have you ever met anyone who has more money than they need? . . . .
Imelda Marcos . . . .
. . . Fulgencio Batista. . . .
. . . . the Hussein brothers. . . .
. . . the last two of our Prime Ministers. . . .
Auditor General Sheila Fraser, appears to be the only person on our political horizon who has any interest in which black hole Canadian taxpayers’ money has been sucked into.
AS PRIME-MINISTERIAL occasions go, being questioned for more than four hours at a judicial inquiry—broadcast on live television—hardly ranks among the most agreeable. Indeed no serving Canadian prime minister had suffered such an indignity for 130 years. In the event, Paul Martin acquitted himself rather well when he appeared as a witness before an inquiry into sleaze on February 11th. But 15 months after succeeding his fellow-Liberal, Jean Chrétien, Mr Martin, a successful finance minister for almost a decade until 2002, cannot quite shake off the impression that Canada's top job is too big for him. [. . . . ]
It is a job, apparently, only for one who knows who to pay off . . .
'For far longer — and to a greater degree — than we might care to acknowledge as a nation that prides itself on its internationalism, our foreign policy has been captive of domestic realities. Specifically, the imperative of national unity."
Rudyard Griffiths is the director of the Dominion Institute.
The defeat in the House of Commons of the government's plan to split the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in two capped off a dismal couple of weeks for the Prime Minister's foreign policy agenda. As a recent EKOS survey revealed, North American missile defence is now politically dead on arrival with voters and the Liberal caucus creating yet another bilateral headache with the Bush administration. [. . . . ]
What has happened to our ability to act in the world, to articulate a coherent foreign policy? [. . . . ]
Better read this one -- ranging over the history of "Quebec nationalism and foreign policy"
As with the shipborne helicopters, the final Cabinet decision on the new search and rescue helicopters was delayed amid speculation that the government wanted a wider distribution of whatever regional benefits the project would generate. On November 8, 1995, . . . proceed with the acquisition of new search and rescue helicopters. . . . Deliveries were expected to begin in 1998.
[. . . .] Solicitation of Interest. . . the Department wanted helicopters with. . . . The manufacturers were expected to respond by the end of February 1996.
...The government's decision to proceed with the purchase of the new rescue helicopters came at the same time as residual issues from the cancellation of the EH-101 project were being resolved. . . . Unisys GSG Canada, formerly known as Paramax and now known as Lockheed Martin Canada. . . . government paid the company $166 million as compensation for the work completed prior to the cancellation of the EH-101 contract.
When we add that to the $100 million for jets I am quite sure we could have bought some of these planes a long time ago.
[. . . . ] 1995, the Minister of Public Works and Government Services, David Dingwall, . . . an agreement . . . EH Industries, the Westland-Agusta Consortium. . . . the total spent on the EH project is about $478.6 million.
Half a billion dollars has been wasted while we have been looking for helicopters for 10 years. If we take that half billion dollars, add it to the $100 million for the jets that will fly the cabinet ministers around and add $174 million to the satellite dish sitting in a warehouse. . .
[. . . . ] While the manufacturers were preparing their proposals, the Department of National Defence announced that the Request for Proposals for new search and rescue helicopters would be delayed by six months. . . . there would be two Requests for Proposals, one for the helicopters and one for their maintenance. The latter is to be issued in 1998.
Meanwhile, the Sea Kings and Labradors . . . . three of Canada's fleet of Sea Kings were grounded for the inspection and repair of cracks found in the tail section of the airframes. Although cracks were also found in the rest of the fleet, in different areas of the airframe, flight operations continued, pending repair at a later date.
[. . . . ] official inquiry into the April 1994 crash of a Sea King. The inquiry had recommended patching a hole in the cabin ceiling to prevent the leakage of fuel into the cabin, and this had been done expeditiously--
Imagine patching a hole and it being done expeditiously.
--however, other recommendations were rejected by the military or have not been fully implemented. Meanwhile, there were news reports that the crews of Labrador helicopters had been instructed to carry out training flights over open fields rather than forested areas in case of an engine failure. [. . . . ]
In 1998, the Canadian government signed a $790-million deal to buy 15 CH-149 Cormorant helicopters from EH Industries, a British/Italian consortium. The Cormorants based on the company's EH-101 model, have slowly been replacing the aging Labradors since 2001.
While the Cormorants will be used for search and rescue, the government has decided to use a different helicopter for the military: the Sikorsky S-92. Twenty-eight of them will be purchased to replace the ancient Sea Kings.
Back in 1993, then-Prime Minister Jean Chrétien cancelled a program to buy the EH-101 helicopter to replace both the Sea Kings and the Labradors, because it was too expensive. It would take more than a decade before the military would be certain of getting new helicopters. Some in the military say it would have been more sensible to have the same model for its maritime fleet in order to train technicians, air crews and maintenance workers.
But the new Cormorants have had their problems. . . cracks . . . . the third time in 2004 the Cormorants had to be grounded.
The Cormorants have also required more maintenance than their manufacturer initially promised. [. . . . ]
Scary stuff! No wonder there are so many helicopter crashes. This image is of cracks found during routine inspections of the Canadian Sea King helicopter. Pilots and crew of these helicopters were seriously alarmed (and rightly so) when this information was released. They were especially concerned because the cracks weren't found in just one location - they were all over the craft. There was no real uniformity at all.
The advertisement: "for the job of Toronto police chief to replace Julian Fantino, who retires Feb. 28."
"An experienced law enforcement executive, you have the management skills to lead a large and complex organization . ... You invite dialogue and achieve consensus. ... Above all, you will lead by example to inspire excellence and accountability within the Police Service ..."
The devil is in the politics -- choosing between someone who would please the NDP and another who would please the Liberals.
Which will take precedence -- between the politics and the law enforcement? So Torontonians may live without fear of gun and other violence, is there any disagreement that Toronto needs a chief who will end the violence and the proliferation of criminality, root out the grow-ops, the drugs and all the rest? Isn't that elementary?
WINNIPEG (CP) - Federal Treasury Board President Reg Alcock is suing an Opposition Conservative MP over a letter-to-the-editor he wrote to an agricultural newspaper
[. . . . ] Lukiwski suggested the federal Liberals were engaged in corruption and cronyism, and mentioned Alcock by name. Alcock is the MP for Winnipeg South.
Lukiwski was complaining about the hiring of Avis Gray, Alcock's one-time campaign manager, by the Canadian Wheat Board, an agency for which Alcock is responsible. [. . . . ]
But of course, Mr. Alcock, Minister Alcock, had nothing to do with that. He reminds me of PM and JC.
Hear no evil, see no evil, know no evil
There definitely was corruption under the federal Liberals, as the Gomery enquiry is revealing -- though exactly who to blame has yet to be determined. Most of us could--would like to--make a stab at it. As for hiring Alcock's campaign manager for a lucrative position, isn't that cronyism? Or are Canadians now not supposed to notice?
It is a good idea to explore this inequality which starts in small ways though, in ads for example. If I see another advertisement treating men negatively -- in which women the font of all that is attractive and intelligent while their men are treated as dunces who are lucky to have them, I shall chunder. This approach is used to sell trucks, of all things.
It is time for a re-balancing of how the media treat men in sex crime stories and in other situations, as opposed to how the media treat women.
As with the 'graffiti theory', it might be a good idea to start with a list of the companies and products that demean men and refuse to buy what they advertise. then move from there to government funding of feminists who do NOT represent the best of feminism for most of us who want equality, not tilting the teeter totter our way to another inequality. It is time to fight back.
The world's foremost Nazi hunters want to place a bounty on Nazi war criminals hiding in Canada as part of a last-ditch plan to bring ageing Holocaust perpetrators to justice before they die.
. . . Operation: Last Chance, . . . Efraim Zuroff, blasted Ottawa's handling of war criminals.
He said the federal government's record of prosecuting those accused of committing atrocities during the Second World War and now living in Canada is dismal and distressing.
[. . . . ] "Canada is a safe haven for these guys. [. . . . ]
[. . . . ] In several countries, allegations have been made against people who are now residing in Canada, Mr. Zuroff said.
In 2001, the Simon Wiesenthal Center submitted the names of 97 suspected Lithuanian Nazi collaborators to that nation's chief prosecutor. Twelve of them escaped to Canada after the war. [. . . . ]
"For a country like China, the fundamental choice is whether it wishes to join the group of advanced economies whose relationships are governed by the 'rules of the road' of the international state system," he added."
WASHINGTON - China's future course in the world . . . . whose strategic choices will influence U.S. national security. The three other key issues the administration is assessing are the spread of weapons of mass destruction, "terrorist extremism" and the risks posed by failed or failing nation states, Feith said in a speech to members of the Council on Foreign Relations, a private think tank. [. . . . ]
Canadian home and auto insurers nearly doubled their annual profit to a record $4.2-billion last year, igniting a firestorm of outrage from consumers and politicians across the country who claim the industry is gouging its customers with high premiums.
Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers' Association of Canada, called the profits "obscene" and labelled the industry's recent insistence on the need for higher rates as a "big lie." [. . . . ]
I read that insurance companies are trying to get into the China market -- that some were on the "developing business partnership" trip to China lately? Well, for government control, especially if a little quid pro quo is involved . . .
I, too, find insurance rates high but I have read one item that caused me to re-think this, or at least to acknowledge that there may be more to the story.
I read somewhere that, for example, reckless drivers, perhaps young, who should have had their ability to get insurance removed, have been allowed to continue to buy insurance at comparatively low rates. Why? Because of the need to drive to work. The rest of the driving public bears the financial brunt. In other words, the insurance industry is not allowed to pursue what would be their normal course of business -- refusing to insure or raising the rates of those who are poor drivers far above the rest who then must pay higher rates to cover the poor drivers. I have no ready reference for this, but I vaguely remember that governments were active in persuading the insurance industry to keep these poor drivers on the road. Maybe it had something to do with lack of convenient affordable public transportation. Check further.
Striking back with jammers -- "fed up with the din of dumb conversations and rock-and-roll ringtones"
I love it -- must be an innate meanness -- or love of peace and quiet.
[. . . . ] Rempelia Prime links to an article in the Toronto Star regarding MP Stephen Harper's opening speech in the Same-Sex Marriage debate in the House of Commons and his "playing politics with the past". To counter MP Harper, Tonda MacCharles interviews several human rights experts.
What is not mentioned is that they are activist members of the left
[. . . . ] are not disinterested observers in this debate and in fact they have every reason to counter MP Harper's arguments. This activism and bias is never declared in the Toronto Star article.
This "hidden agenda" is a dishonest way of presenting an argument. [. . . . ]
Link for more and look at other entries. I love this site.
Media -- the Blogosphere -- CNN "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS"
This is lengthy; you might want to search: AmericaBlog.org, CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, "getting help from this group called the Media Bloggers Association", MediaBloggers.org, Ronald Coleman, Bob Cox of The National Debate, blog aggregators
[. . . . ] KURTZ: Paul Mirengoff of the PowerLineBlog, which helped exposed CBS's apparently bogus military records involving President Bush, is an attorney like his partners on the blog. And that affects their online style.
PAUL MIRENGOFF, POWELINEBLOG.COM: Because as a lawyer you have to know, you know, who's credible, what sounds fishy.
[. . . . ] KURTZ (on camera): There are no rules on the bloggers' highway, no ethics code, no editors, no lawyers, no fact checkers. So should we believe everything on their highly opinionated sites?
JARVIS: I found that blogs are a tremendous self-correcting mechanism. If I make a mistake, bloggers will pounce on me like white blood cells on a germ.
[. . . . ] KURTZ (voice-over): When bloggers pummel people in the media, whether it's Dan Rather, or, for that matter, discredited White House reporter Jeff Gannon, critics say they resemble an angry lynch mob.
MIRENGOFF: We don't have the power to lynch anybody. We put out our views and people take them for what they're worth.
[. . . . ] KURTZ: People have to be smart and figure out who they find to be credible, because bloggers don't have any editors or fact checker, and so they can be wrong, they can be reckless, they can be irresponsible. They can also be provocative and funny and cover things that the mainstream media miss.
And I disagree with Stu about it's just opinion. Some of these bloggers are pretty good diggers.
The people such as PowerLine, that helped uncover the apparently bogus CBS documents in that Dan Rather story on President Bush, they weren't just giving their opinions. They were proving that these documents had problems. And there are lot of other examples like that. [. . . . ]
