The Blogging Tories have added a new feature - Forums
The Carnival of Liberty (link fixed!)
Turning coal into oil - a 60 year old technology whose time has come.
Yet another source for the blogosphere. Google is adding "the ability to search through more than 200 years of historical newspaper archives".
The NDP draft policy resolutions make the National Post this morning;
Canada's troops in Afghanistan have been "acting like terrorists, destroying communities, killing and maiming innocent people", according to a resolution that will be voted on by New Democrats at the party's convention in Quebec City this weekend.
Captain Capitalism and the Canadian Invasion.
Add your own in the comments.
If you have time log on to CHML and listen to Roy Green.
NDP are idiots for saying our Canadian Troops and terrorists.
Click on "Listen Live"
http://www.900chml.com/
Gee....my speeling is atrocious (sp?)
It should have read........"NDP saying our troops are Terrorists.
There is an extra ) in the link to 'The Carnival of Liberty'.
Log on to Lowell Green show from 8A.M. to 11 A.M. CST for a radio show host who has his head screwed on right. This is an Ottawa radio show.
http://www.cfra.com/headlines/index.asp
You forgot their renaming of the party to NMDP, New Muslim Dumocrat Party.
At what point does this count as treason?
I have a new name for the Dippers, "The Anti-Canadian Party".
A clip here is available of Gary Doer on CJOB and his support for our troops in Afghanistan.
http://www.cjob.com/news/index.aspx?src=loc&rem=46849
In it he says "Taliban don't sell cookies on the streets. They protected Al Quaeda and allowed them to train for the terrorist attacks in North America"
Only Taliban Jack would call our troops terrorists. This guy and his party of communists and terrorist supporters are treasonous filth posing as a political party. Good for the Post to expose them.
Gee, I wonder if those "INVASION ON" newspaper stories are dated June 7, 1944 or June 1, 1944? Including the NYT ones.
I posted on the NDP draft policy story too. Also a great editorial by Lorrie Goldstein in the Sun.
The NDP are a segment of Canadian society who are perennial adolescents. They want permanent support from 'someone' whom they vaguely define as 'authority, rich, boss, state, parent'; they have no idea how such support is derived; they reject knowledge, merit, and work - and are found, interestingly, permanently nestled within the niches of the state-supported bureaucracies.
Then, there is the mass of the brainwashed left, aka the Lilberal Party, a result of the Closure of the Canadian Mind by the Charter - which set up Canada as a mass unable to dialogue, dissent, analyze and change.
How did it do this? First, it removed political power from the majority, by means of bilingualism. Bilingualism is a fiction; 80% of Canadians are not bilingual and are thus removed from political and gov't economic power. Canada became an oligarchy, governed by a self-selecting and closed set of mandarins from the Ottawa-Montreal corridor.
Second, it removed the power of the individual as a critical agent, by privileging group identities, and supporting these groups financially, legally and politically. The diversity of belief and behaviour entrenched within 'group rights' muzzled the ability of the individual to evaluate such behaviour, and muzzled the ability of Canadians to collaborate and develop a shared modern identity.
Third, it set up one province as pivotal to election results. By guaranteeing Quebec 75 seats in the House, the only province with such a guarantee, by permitting Quebec to be unilingual, by entrenching bilingualism in federalism, Canada set up a disastrous political structure. Any gov't, to govern, must 'win' Quebec. The problem is, that Quebec is not a collaborative zone within the country, but a 'hidden or submerged, a 'kept and isolate zone'.
Its language is different, its laws are different, its loyalties are to francophone countries and it is hostile to anglophone countries. As an isolate zone, it has no interest in assisting any foreign country unless they are francophone. Furthermore, its economy is heavily subsidized by the rest of the country, and it is locked in such a framework. It insists on such support and thus, 'equalization' payments go to support a non-local lifestyle, which disables the rich provinces from future-oriented investment. Canada has to rely on foreign investors rather than make its own wealth.
Yet, Quebec is pivotal to election success, even though it shares none of the language, laws, vision, loyalties, agenda and goals of the rest of the country.
This, in my view, is the real structural problem that Canada has, as a democracy. These three areas: the disabling of the majority from key roles in government, the denigration of the individual; and the privileging of Quebec, along with equalization, doom Canada to being unable to participate in the world - economically and to safeguard the principles of democracy.
The Treason of the Intellectuals.
First Professor Stephane Dion; now Professor Michael Ignatieff.
Stealers of intellectual property; robbers, as much robbers, as those who steal a bicycle, an automobile; intellectual rustlers.
The Liberal Party of Canada, aka the Librano$, not only steal tax-payers' $$$$$; the Librano$ plagiarize, steal, rob others of their written works/ideas.
Left liberal/socialists: Intellectual rustlers, parasites, thieves of ideas. ...-
Michael Ignatieff: Plagiarizes a C.D. Howe report for his environmental plan ...-
http://www.stevejanke.com/archives/195534.php
Harper has botched Afghanistan: Hébert
Mission could lose him election
http://url123.com/nh856
ET> Well said,Your points are the precise reason there should be a national referendum held to decide if the rest of Canada wants quebec to remain in confederation, no gray areas just a simple YES or NO vote.
It is treason pure and simple.
Once they pass this resolution that our soldiers are 'terrorists' the RCMP should be outside with arrest warrants all ready to go to take each and everyone who voted to pass this trash as a resolution straight to jail. DO NOT PASS GO!
Right now, CPAC is carrying the Senate debate on limiting Senate terms to 8 years.
Yesterday they had the debate on the Federal Accountability Act, and it got pretty hot in there!
Hahaha, busted:
"WASHINGTON - The aggressive new campaign by the administration of President George W. Bush to depict U.S. foes in the Middle East as "fascists" and its domestic critics as "appeasers" owes a great deal to steadily intensifying efforts by the right-wing press over the past several months to draw the same comparison...Nexis, which also surveys the Canadian press, found that newspapers owned by CanWest Global Communications, a group that owns the country’s Global Television Network, as well as the National Post, the Ottawa Citizen, and the Montreal Gazette and several other regional newspapers, were also among the most consistent propagators of the “fascism” paradigm and ranked far ahead of other Canadian outlets in the frequency with which they used key words, such as “appeasement” and “fascist” in connection with Iraq and Iran."
www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0901-01.htm
"Ahmadinejad said that it is impossible for man to disregard God Almighty and urged the need to respect the Lord and pay attention to beauty, science and knowledge.
...
"Human success is rooted in his belief in his Creator and avoiding polytheism. But unfortunately in the world of today, many bullying powers think that they have replaced the God Almighty and make decisions in His stead.
"They intend to secure their own interests through force and debauchery, violating the rights of others. Similar to devil, they have the illusion that this will get them somewhere, but they are mistaken," he said. "Human salvation can only materialized through monotheism. Those replacing God Almighty with any power, are doomed to be ruined," he added.
www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-22/0609027746200746.htm
You read it here first: "Right To Play" is an anti-male anti-European champagne bolshevik scam, notice how all RTP programs MUST include a "women in development" component:
"Right To Play’s main programming principles across all projects are:
Inclusion: each project shall include children who may be marginalized for reasons of gender, religion, ability, ethnicity, disability or social background."
www.righttoplay.com/site/PageServer?pagename=ourprograms
Neo-Statist Harper Conservatives Invent, Fund Workplace Tolerance Police:
"CALGARY -- Ottawa will soon unleash a squad of tolerance officers to monitor discrimination in Canada's workplace, Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn said yesterday."
www.torontosun.com/News/Canada/2006/08/30/1786168-sun.html
Chantal Hebert's column is an example of the dysfunctional stranglehold Quebec has on Canada.
Quebec is notoriously indifferent to and non-collaborative with any peoples who are not francophone. Their decisions are made, in a tribal fashion, on 'who you are', rather than on basic humanitarian and moral principles. Therefore, you can be a people suffering by natural disaster or terrorist attacks, and no help will be forthcoming from Quebec, unless you are francophone. And even then, the help will be a vote to send federal, not provincial, funds.
Yet, our Charter has set up one population zone in Canada, a 'bloc' that makes its decisions by tribal affiliation (language) rather than by principles, and that has a long-term history of isolation and non-participation with the rest of the world - and our Charter has set up this sector of our country, as The Key Decisive Agent in, not provincial, but federal politics.
This inserts a major fault line into our federal political system, for authority or power, is only permitted by catering to a PowerBroker whose nature, goals and interests, are dysfunctional to Canada.
Bob, kindly provide us with facts not fiction:
"The nine officers will promote forums, group discussions and present successful strategies for countering discrimination on the job,
"Employment Equity Act legislating inclusion in the workplace was passed in 1986"
"The nine officers won't hold any penalizing powers, which remain vested in the federal and provincial human rights commissions"
These nine 'officers' are bureaucratic drones, meant to fly over various constituences, release their propaganda about 'employment equity of 1986' and fly on. OK?
And the Iranian Ahmadinejad's rants on 'god' and Will to Power, fit precisely in with the definition of fascism. What absolute crap - promoting a belief in god, and monotheism as 'necessary' and existential.
bob is one of the dippers that should be in front of a judge for treason against the crown.
Bob is a hardline social conservative whose family has been in Canada since before Canada was invented. Bob likes providing factually accurate commentary on blogs from time to time as deemed necessary. Bob looks forward to his Great New Conservative Generation usurping power from FREE and ET's crappy Trudeaupian/socialist generation :-) More links:
Delacourt's latest hatchet job on Harper, complete with fauxto of Harper giving a Nazi salute:
"Here are some other techniques from the Harper playbook, which may prove a useful guide to understanding his public strategies in the weeks and months ahead:"
www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1157406618623&call_pageid=970599119419
Iran's AIDS-Prevention Program Among World's Most Progressive:
"I told my colleagues in the United Arab Emirates, `You're not more rigid than us. We're the only country in the world where it's the law to wear a head scarf, where it's a pure Islamic government, where you can't drink,'" said Dr. Arash Alaei, one of Iran's most respected AIDS researchers. "`If we have a prevention program, why don't you?'"
www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0414-03.htm
A picture of maz2:
i76.photobucket.com/albums/j11/lolanik/BeatDeadHorse.gif
IF the OPP can sue a NHL goon for $10 million for breaking a cop's nose, how much will the class action suit brought by the citizens of Caledonia net?
tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=176591&hubname=
The proposition that Canadian soldiers are equated with "terrorists" is in the same vein as the ill fated Liberal advertisement suggesting 'soldiers with guns, in your cities, in Canada.'
This is scare mongering of the worst sort, and calls into question soldiers professionalism from the lowest private clear all the way to the Chief of Defence.
It is plain as the sun rises in the east, that Al Qaeda is a "take no prisoners type of outfit". They are not going to negotiate, save to affix one with an IED, and blow one to kingdom come.
Al Qaeda's ruthlessness, though not it's organization, is of the same calibre as the SS.
Observe, its use of civilians in aircraft to achieve terror, beheadings, IEDs in marketplaces, etc. and the ceaseless anti-Israel pronouncements.
It reminds me of one of my father's stories of the SS. One of his aquaintances was in the SS, and was required one day during WWII, to shoot an unarmed woman and her child. The man refused and was summarily posted to the SS penal battalion. In short, he was sent to a variety of suicide type missions to draw enemy fire on the russian front.
Having survived dozens of bouts of further institutionalized insanity on the russian front, he found himself in Czechslovakia near the end of the war. Knowing full well he was a dead man in his uniform, he killed some Americans in their jeep, donned their uniform and drove some 700 km home to Niedersachsen. Driving up to his home, he saluted his mother in the stolen American uniform, whereupon his mother promptly fainted; as she took him for lost on the front.
Returning to the Afghanistan theme we note the following:
After the liberation of Afghanistan, coalition forces searching through a terrorist safe house in that country found a copy of the al Qaeda charter. This charter states that "there will be continuing enmity until everyone believes in Allah. We will not meet [the enemy] halfway. There will be no room for dialogue with them." Another document was found in 2000 by British police during an anti-terrorist raid in London -- a grisly al Qaeda manual that includes chapters with titles such as "Guidelines for Beating and Killing Hostages." This manual declares that their vision of Islam "does not… make a truce with unbelief, but rather confronts it." The confrontation… calls for… the dialogue of bullets, the ideals of assassination, bombing, and destruction, and the diplomacy of the cannon and machine gun."
Still other captured documents show al Qaeda's strategy for infiltrating Muslim nations, establishing terrorist enclaves, overthrowing governments, and building their totalitarian empire. We see this strategy laid out in a captured al Qaeda document found during a recent raid in Iraq, which describes their plans to infiltrate and take over Iraq's western Anbar Province. The document lays out an elaborate al Qaeda governing structure for the region that includes an Education Department, a Social Services Department, a Justice Department, and an "Execution Unit" responsible for "Sorting out, Arrest, Murder, and Destruction."
If anybody believes that they are going to sit down with Al Qaeda/Taliban operatives to negotiate then they should be prepared to convert to radicalized Islamsist extremism.
Gee, now we have evidence of an "execution unit". Shouldn't this start to ring some alarm bells?
Now I'm pretty sure that the Canadian Armed Forces don't have an 'execution unit' to 'beat and kill hostages.' Maybe, should we have the temerity to ask, Chief of Defense Staff Gen. Hillier whether such a unit exists in the CAF?
I'm sure the answer would border on verbally explosive. The proposition that the CAF is equivallent to 'terrorists' in nature just reaches for the the heights of stupidity.
For morale busting invective, this surely tops the list.
This of course further underscores the ancient wisdom of Ecclesiastes 10:5
"There is an evil under the sun, the type of misjudgement to which rulers are prone: folly promoted to high dignities..."
The promoters of this NDP resolution would be well advised to give it a hasty and well deserved burial.
The implosion of a dysfunctional Liberal Party: Dion "screwed the pooch". Kyoto is the real name of Dion's pooch. Arf.
BTW, where is Willy Graham? Anyone seen/heard from Willy? After all, Willy is the interim-leader of the Liberal party.
Willy, wake up: Libs are saying there is "rot" in your party, the Liberal Party. What's new, Willy?
More, Willy: search for "spiderman". Try Google, or Dogpile. ...-
Excerpt:
At least one person supporting Dion has some sense regarding the communications disaster that has been the response from the campaign team. This is from Jeff Jedras:
"...from a communications perspective the Dion campaign, to use a family-friendly term, screwed the pooch on this one and came off looking like The Clampets, and their performance doesn't exactly fill me with confidence in their competence, to say the least."
• A very interesting and ominous email from a regular reader:
"There will be more disappointing news coming out in the next few days about the Liberal Party of Canada in BC. Stay tuned, it will be worth the wait. And to think, we will all have spiderman to thank for this! I have a question, if the Liberal Party of Canada could expel members in Quebec for their illegal actions, why hasn't the LPCBC expelled Erik Bornman from the party? After all, he has admitted to serious criminal offences. Could this have something to do with his friend Jamie Elmhirst who is currently the president? What about his friend and confidante Kim Haakstad who was the Executive Director of the party. I know she has vacated that role, but when the news breaks make sure you look back to the time Ms. Haakstad announced her plans to leave. Once you connect the dots you will see how deep the rot goes."
The writer is obviously referring to these looming dates.
Back with more later in the day. (Promise?)
TDH Strategies
"acting like terrorists"
That should be enough for every Canadian to literally turn their backs on NDP MPs when they come knocking.
Treasonous SsOBs and Bs.
For those, mainly on the left, who wave the racist card against those who are for the liberation of Afghanistan on the right remember this: Canadian soldiers fought in the former Yugoslavia in order to preserve Muslim lives and they fought against those who were nominally Christian. In Afghanistan Canadian Soldiers are fighting and dying to preserve Muslim lives. The Taliban is an imposed authority that does not have its roots in broad Afghanistan society and while in power it has slaughtered tens of thousands of Muslim civilians sometimes for something as normal as having their wedding picture found in their home. To those who oppose the war in Afghanistan look in the mirror and you will see evil racism incarnate.
Dave Rutherford (CHQR-77 in Calgary-Corus Radio Network) just announced he will be filling in for Mike Duffy on CTV for a couple of weeks. I missed the dates, so stay tuned.
Let's see if Craig Oliver is too busy washing his hair to join Dave on the panel!
"Air show pulls U.S. warplane from lineup"
When the going gets tough, the lefties blame the plane...
http://news.sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/TopStories/ContentPosting.aspx?feedname=CBC-TOPSTOIRES-V2&newsitemid=warthog-airshow&showbyline=True
I really feel I need to clear up some misconceptions about Quebec...
ET:
Regarding your first post (Quebec and all)...
99 times out of 100 I am totally on board with your views. And three years ago, I would have been responding to your post with "Right on, man."
But, today, I really have to speak out about our traditional conservative reaction to Quebec.
As I have said before, I am thirty-something and I have lived and worked in 5 provinces in my relatively short lifetime. For the past 2 and a half years, I have been living in Montreal. And, let me tell you, things seem a lot different when you actually live among the people and talk to them.
Now, first of all, I will agree that there is something terribly wrong with the political structure in Quebec...the highest taxes in North America, the lion's share of transfer payments from the "have" provinces, and it still has a crumbling infrastructure and massive debt. Most would attribute this to the enormous public service and the stranglehold the unions have on the political landscape. I've also lived in BC. I would say that Quebec unions are worse...but only because they, as a whole, are better organized. BC will have its day too if it ever elects another NDP government.
Now, some time ago here on SDA, someone told me that Saskatchewan was weird because the NDP keeps getting elected but, when you talk to people on the street, you get the impression that no one voted for them. It is much the same here with unions. The people understand the detrimental effect of unions. Heck, even cab-drivers can go on about how they destroy the economy. But, no one is brave enough to speak up about it. So, their power is not about popularity...it's about fear.
Quebecers are also far more pragmatic than people give them credit for. I mentioned the higher taxes. People here deal with it differently than electing conservatives (because there is no Conservative party in Quebec). If you go into a store in Montreal to buy a high-priced item - like diamond jewelry, you will (more often than not) get two prices quoted: the "official" quote price and the "cash" price. The "cash" price, of course, is the under-the-table, tax-evading price. And these aren't shady fly-by-night operations. They are repectable stores in malls. So, there is a bit of a tax revolt going on here that I have never seen in any other part of the country.
Quebec is also a land of paradoxes. Yes, they are very much socialistic...but Montreal is also the Mecca of private health care in Canada. I've gone to these private facilities a few times. It's great. There are no protests on the street. Alberta, the province that could actually afford to do this en masse, doesn't have the guts. But Quebecers don't mind that it is going on. They are oblivious to the arguments going on outside of Quebec. They don't understand the contention from English Canada that this is only happening because Ottawa won't mess with Quebec for fear of provoking separatist sentiment. That's not a belief that they are holding on to. If someone from Saskatchewan said that to a Quebecer, the response would be, "Try it. You'll see, Ottawa talks a lot but won't back it up."
The other things you mention - the guarantee of 75 seats and all. Well, ET, if you mention that to a Quebecer, they will simply yawn and say, "So what?" Now, I may have the numbers wrong here...so, I stand ready to be corrected. But, I believe that they guarantee is actually that Quebec gets 25% of the seats. But, every Quebecer knows that, if they were given seats by true population representation, they would have 23.75% as of the last census. The average Quebecer would be quick to point out that PEI has a much sweeter deal with its guaranteed 4 seats.
The last point I want to tackle is the whole bilingualism/separtism issue. This is one where I feel very confident in saying that people in English Canada just don't get it. And I used to be one of them.
Montreal and its surrounding area accounts for nearly half of the population of Quebec. It is an island in Quebec in both the literal and metaphoric sense. Quebecers both love Montreal for the money it generates and hate it for the pro-Canadian and pro-business slant that comes with being the economic engine of a province. Go to downtown Montreal and the default language is English - the language of international trade and commerce. Montreal is a world-class metropolis...so it has adapted nicely and is a fully bilingual city. Yes, the Language Police do exist. But, they really don't do anything unless some idiot starts talking loudly about how his company ignores the language laws. If you provoke them (by making it public) and make it a political issue, they will come around. But, it is only for show...to help assuage the separatists. No one...neither French nor English really cares about the language of work...only the extremists make it a problem. The reason of course, is that the businesses on Montreal are, in large part, American run or use Americans as their number one clients. They don't want to chase away American businesses. Also, there are three classifications of people in Montreal: Francophones, Anglophones, and Allophones. Allophones are immigrants from other countries who, almost certainly learned English as their "primary second-language." Quebecers don't want to chase them away either.
The real power base for separatists comes from the people who live in rural Quebec. The kind who have never left the family farm and have never mingled with people from other cultures. Just like any other fear-mongering group, the separatists feed on their ignorance for their power base. But, as most educated Quebecers know, PQ and BQ politicians all send their own children to English schools so that they will have better opportunities in life. People here are used to this idea. It angers people in English Canada...but, it is "ho-hum, politics as usual" here.
Which leads me to my final point: the misunderstanding between English and French Canadians. Having lived here through two federal elections, I have actually developed sympathy for why Quebecers roll their eyes at some of the prejudices and misconceptions English Canada has about Quebec. One of my favorites is how often you meet people on the streets of downtown Montreal who are from English Canada and who actually seem terrified and hesitant when they speak English. This has happened to me three times...and I don't know a single person who doesn't have similar stories. Last month, an older lady from Winnipeg approached me with a very timid expression and said, "I'm sorry, I don't speak french. Can you help me?" (she just needed directions). There is no need for this fear. Why do people have it? Well, it's the media in English Canada.
In 2004, the Bloc Quebecois took 54 seats in Quebec. I saw on the CBC and CTV where, over and over again, reporters and pundits were talking about the "huge victory for the separatists" and comparing it to Lucien Bouchard's 54 seat taking just before the 1995 referendum...as if one had anything to do with the other.
I promise you, that that's not how it was being portrayed in Quebec. Immediately following the 2004 vote, every TV channel, newspaper, and radio show in Quebec (including the separtist-friendly ones) were talking about how Gilles Duceppe was now in a whole lot of trouble. Here, everyone knew that the vote was not pro-separatist...it was anti-Liberal. Everyone knew that, with a refreshed and united Conservative party, Duceppe was doomed to lose much of those gains in the next election (and he did) because there was no way he could talk of separtism without losing his new found support. But, he also didn't want to alienate his separatist base. I can tell you that between the 2004 and 2006 elections, not one word about separatism was breathed by the Bloc here in Quebec. And they lost seats anyway.
Meanwhile, English Canadian TV and radio was talking about how Gomery had "breathed new life into Quebec separatism." No, it did not. Separatism is still dead. And so, another point of media-induced misunderstanding was created between Quebec and the rest of Canada...and Quebecers roll their eyes and say, "you guys just don't get it."
The anti-Conservative, anti-Liberal, and seemingly pro-separatist attitude of Quebecers in 1995 can be summed up this way. Trudeau (a Liberal) forced a Constitution on a nation without working out the problems of dissenters (both English and French alike). That's the anti-Liberal component. Mulroney promises to fix it...but allows Clyde Wells to screw him on it...and shows none of the resolve against Wells that Trudeau showed against Levesque (that's the anti-Conservative part of it). In 1995 there was no other place to go but the separtists. The alternatives were a fractured conservative movement and Chretien, who Quebecers largely saw as Trudeau: Part Deux. However, now that there are real alternatives, separatism is dead.
That was a long and babbling speech. But, I really hate to see these misunderstandings go too far. There has to be better interaction rather than blanket stereo-typing.
Muslim Islamist terrorists kill Mohamed Taha, a newspaper editor.
Att: Jack Layton. These terrorists are "brothers" to the Taliban, the Muslim Islamist terrorists of Afghanistan. ...-
Kidnapped Sudan editor found dead | September 6th, 2006
A Sudanese newspaper editor who was kidnapped by armed men has been found dead.
Mohamed Taha was arrested last year and his al-Wifaq paper closed for three months after it published a series of articles questioning the roots of the Prophet Mohammed, which were condemned by Sudan’s powerful Islamists.
An Interior Ministry official said on Wednesday: “His family filed a report saying he was kidnapped last night by unknown armed men.”
Local papers quoted his family as saying a group of men bundled Taha into a car outside his home in Khartoum north and sped off towards central Khartoum. ...-
jack's newswatch
Bob -Iran's AIDS-Prevention Program Among World's Most Progressive:
Their program is:
"They execute anyone with AIDS and all homosexuals, end of problem"
Bob calls himself a hardline social conservative,
In truth he means he is a hardline socialist pretending to be a conservative.
"Alan" and "FREE" are hardline anti-backbaconist spambots, similar to those reported here:
Pro-Israel lobby targets BBC online poll
'Megaphone' lobbyware mobilisation
BBC History Magazine was forced to remove an online poll after it was targeted by a project aimed at influencing internet opinion in Israel's favour.
The Give Israel Your United Support (GIYUS) website hosts a downloadable desktop tool called Megaphone. The program alerts users to opinion polls and "talkback" features on news sites so they can respond with pro-Israel views. In turn, users can alert GIYUS operators to any opinion polls they think should be targeted.
Three days after the launch of Megaphone, Amir Gissin, public affairs director of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote to pro-Israel or "Hasbara" organisations to urge them to back the new tactic.
Dear friends,
Many of us recognize the importance of the Internet as the new battleground for Israel's image. It's time to do it better, and coordinate our on-line efforts on behalf of Israel. An Israeli software company have developed a free, safe and useful tool for us - the Internet Megaphone.
Please go to www.giyus.org, download the Megaphone, and you will receive daily updates with instant links to important internet polls, problematic articles that require a talkback, etc.
We need 100,000 Megaphone users to make a difference. So, please distribute this mail to all Israel's supporters.
Do it now. For Israel.
Amir Gissin
Director Public Affairs (Hasbara) Department
GIYUS currently claims 24,000 Megaphone users.
www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/06/giyus_megaphone/
bryceman
If English is so welcome as a language in Quebec why do they pass all these laws restricting the use of it.
Quit trying to kid the troops.
You are not in tune with reality with Quebec or you are intentionally trying to mislead people.
If English is so welcome and represented by MP's from Quebec let me know when the first time it happens that a Bloc member speaks English in parliament.
Has anyone noticed how quiet the news from Iraq is over the past 2 weeeks? This is all the news available.
“Justice delayed is justice denied.” William E. Gladstone (British Statesman and Prime Minister (1868-1894. ...-
Iraq hangs 27 'terrorists'
AFP ^ | September 6 2006
Iraqi authorities hanged 27 convicted "terrorists" on Wednesday, the interior ministry announced. "Twenty-seven terrorists were hanged today in Baghdad. Most of them were Iraqis," interior ministry spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf told AFP. The authorities reinstated the death penalty which was abolished after the US-led invasion of March 2003. ...-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1696599/posts
The President Strikes Back (Don't misunderestimate this man!)
National Review Online ^ | 9/6/06 | Mario Loyola
The President just pulled one of the best maneuvers of his entire presidency. By transferring most major Al Qaeda terrorists to Guantanamo, and simultaneously sending Congress a bill to rescue the Military Commissions from the Supreme Court's ruling Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the President spectacularly ambushed the Democrats on terrain they fondly thought their own. Now Democrats who oppose (and who have vociferously opposed) the Military Commissions will in effect be opposing the prosecution of the terrorists who planned and launched the attacks of September 11 for war crimes. And if that were not enough, the President also frontally attacked the Hamdan ruling's potentially chilling effect on CIA extraordinary interrogation techniques, by arguing that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions is too vague, and asking Congress to define clearly the criminal law limiting the scope of permissible interrogation.
Taken as a whole, the President's maneuver today turned the political tables completely around. He stole the terms of debate from the Democrats, and rewrote them, all in a single speech. It will be delightful to watch in coming days and hours as bewildered Democrats try to understand what just hit them, and then sort through the rubble of their anti-Bush national security strategy to see what, if anything, remains. ...-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1696591/posts
i said this would happen...they did the same to my brother when he returned from somalia....u r a peace keeper when they need u..a baby murderer when they don't...do they not have any idea the mental anguish this will cause the troops??...all empty platitudes from the dippers....the ndp should be de-registered as a political party should this motion pass
Peter:
Despite your insinuations that I am "misleading" or "kidding" people or that I am not in tune with Quebec (have you ever lived here?), I will answer your questions honestly.
You asked, "If English is so welcome as a language in Quebec why do they pass all these laws restricting the use of it.
"
It has been a long time since I read something that made me laugh out loud...but, that did it for me...thanx. You see, your question is funny because you answer it by asking it.
English is so popular on the Island of Montreal, that the PQ feels that they must make laws to "promote" or "protect" French to appeal to their separatist base. That's crap. The PQ knows it's crap. And I can introduce you to two American businessmen who were part of special meetings during the 1995 referendum with Parrizeau and Bouchard who received promises that there would not be any real ramifications from their language laws. That's politics. You say that you support something. You make laws to look nice to the voters who support you. But, then you only enforce those laws when it serves a political purpose. Otherwise, the money and the people who bring it in are all that matters. This is pretty basic political theory.
The same goes for your comment about the Bloc members not speaking English in the HOC. News flash for you Peter: They're on camera. If they get caught speaking the same language that they practice at home with their children, they'll be branded as sell-outs (like successful blacks are portrayed when they acheive success in the "establishment" world). This is also politics.
In case it wasn't clear in my first post, I am not for a second trying to justify a single thing that the PQ or BQ do. They are hypocrites of the worst order and the separatist thing hasn't been a real threat since the Levesque time. It's all smoke and mirrors. I am trying to fight exactly the perception that they want you to have.
I've got a counter proposal for you Peter:
Try to find a non-government office in Montreal where the receptionist doesn't speak fluent English (ususally to the point of where you can't even tell that English wasn't their first language) and I will give you $10 for each one you find. Walk down St. Catherine's Street (the busiest street in Montreal) and count how many conversations you hear going on in English and how many in French. I have tried this for fun. It is pretty consistently 2-to-1 English over French. Then, approach the people having the French conversation and say something in English. 4 times out of 5, they will speak English very well. On occassion, you will meet someone who speaks next to zero English...but, even then, they will try their darndest to communicate in English. Even if your French is better than their English.
Your attitude in thinking that someone who tells you something different from your prejuedices is disturbing. Have I offended you or is it just your sensibilities that I have offended? You see, you are not much different from the rural-Francophones of places like Gaspesie...you believe the media that feeds you the BS telling you that the "other group" hates you.
I know that I am obviously far better travelled than you because if you actually travelled to places like this and sat down with the people and had a drink with them and just talked about perceptions, you would not insult me or accuse me of misleading people.
Politicians like those of the PQ and the BQ count on your ignorance. They count on you listening only to the media that's slanted towards your fears while rural Quebecers listen only to media that feeds their fears. They count on you and your friends sitting down to drink beer and come up with solutions like "let 'em separate" without first finding out if that's really what "'em" wants in the first place.
If you can't be bothered (or simply don't have the time) to go out and live these things yourself, then you should at least have the courtesy and respect to listen to those who have. They are wiser than you and they have a helluva lot less to gain by "misleading" you than your own media does.
Jack Layton is what he is, just a big turd and needs a good flushing.
bryceman, I am also from Montreal (West Island) and I have to say that you have explained the situation very well. Peter might also be surprised to learn of the large increase for the demand of English education in French public schools. Also, most of this demand is not from the Island, but from the regions like Quebec, the Saguenay and the Beauce. The PQ's language policies are suffocating the regions; a good portion of the population is realizing the limiting effects on its youth and their future.
And I gues you are going to tell us that the restrictions on being able to send children to an English school are also fairy tales.
I speak to many people in the federal civil service and I have a hard time understanding them and they have a hard time understanding me because they are far from fluent in the English language.
I guess the language police are also a myth and not out there measuring signs.
Maple
You are so right that "PQ's language policies are suffocating the regions" but the Liberal language policies are the same as the PQ's language policies - what have they changed.
There are all kinds and many people asking for English schools for sure but the government is denying them that opportunity and they must attend the french schools.
Peter:
First of all:
Your example of talking to some people in the federal civil service has nothing to do with the situation in Quebec (Montreal actually) and doesn't warrant a response. I have none. Do some feds have a hard time communicating? Sure. Working for the government often entails having a lot of intellectual handicaps...language is usually one of the minor ones. My post was about the people of Montreal...not about gubmint workers. So, you score no points there.
Second point:
If you read my first comment (which you first tried to take me to task on) thoroughly, you would see that I already addressed the issue of the language police. They exist...but you have to make some sort of dare...some sort of flaunting statement to get the government on the defensive before they do anything.
I'll tell you what. I'll go around Montreal and take pictures of signs. I'll show you examples of some that are written in French with the English 1/2 the size (as you want to soothe your prejudice disposition). Then, I'll show you ones where English and French are equal size. Then, I'll show you ones that are French and Russian, English and Italian, and even some Chinese only...just to prove my point that the Language Police issue is overblown in English Canada.
But, I will only do this if you agree that once I have shown you this, you will apologize and agree that you accused someone of trying to mislead people without knowing what you were talking about.
Deal?
Oh and Peter...Yes, I will tell you that the limitations on parents sending their children to school in English is a myth.
If you or your spouse are English (or can show that you were educated in English), there are no limitations. You can even choose which school system (English or French) your property taxes go to.
The restriction that you are alluding to (although you don't have any idea) is the restriction that says native French Quebecers and immigrants to Canada can't send their children to schools that are designated under the "English" school board. I'll admit that that's archaic and stupid. But, it has no real effect because there are English-immersion schools along the same line as French-immersion in other parts of Canada.
And there are no restrictions on learning English. In fact, even the PQ encourages children learning English (read the latest Quebec political manifesto from Bouchard and friends if you don't believe me).
So, yep, there are on-paper restrictions (to please the separatist base) - remember this is politics. But, there are so many ways around them and they have no teeth.
Since you have not put in the work to educate yourself on these issues, I will have to charge you to collect the evidence on these points.
But, that would involve me also expecting an apology on that too. And you don't seem to be the apologizing type. So, I'll assume that, overwhelmed by my experience and education, you'll do the right thing and just go silent on the topic.
Cheers.
Year of the Rooster vs The Censor .... In Mandarin it's : .... a-doodle don't. ...-
Chinese regulators put the kibosh on gag condom name
taipei times ^
A Chinese trademark application for a condom brand has been turned down because the name of the product sounded too much like China's state-run television company, state press said yesterday. An entrepreneur from Fujian Province caused a stir early last month when he applied to name his condom brand Zhongyang yitao, which sounds like "China Central Television (CCTV) channel one" but also means "central condom number one." The play on words has not been taken well by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce which oversees trademark registrations, ...-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1696862/posts
Cell phones? Inside job?
It's Weirday, Sept. 07.... One ringa-dingy, two r.. It's for you...-
Cell phones found inside four prisoners (El Salvador)
AP/Yahoo ^ | 9/6/06
Cell phones found inside four prisoners
1 hour, 40 minutes ago
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - Cellular telephones were found inside four prisoners in El Salvador's maximum-security prison, authorities said Wednesday. ...-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1696854/posts
Conrad Black’s media empire is in a shambles, his assets are being auctioned off by court-order. Yet he’s has not been convicted of a single crime... more»
"The media in particular has relished Conrad Black’s downfall. Canadian journalist Peter C. Newman, who has never met a man he would not betray, disclosed the finger-sniffing details of Black’s sex life."
http://www.paulding.net/bin/url.cgi/13398.13
POTUS G. Bush: "May God bless you all."
We're engaged in a global struggle -- and the entire civilized world has a stake in its outcome. America is a nation of law. And as I work with Congress to strengthen and clarify our laws here at home, I will continue to work with members of the international community who have been our partners in this struggle. I've spoken with leaders of foreign governments, and worked with them to address their concerns about Guantanamo and our detention policies. I'll continue to work with the international community to construct a common foundation to defend our nations and protect our freedoms.
Free nations have faced new enemies and adjusted to new threats before -- and we have prevailed. Like the struggles of the last century, today's war on terror is, above all, a struggle for freedom and liberty. The adversaries are different, but the stakes in this war are the same: We're fighting for our way of life, and our ability to live in freedom. We're fighting for the cause of humanity, against those who seek to impose the darkness of tyranny and terror upon the entire world. And we're fighting for a peaceful future for our children and our grandchildren.
May God bless you all. (Applause.) ...-
http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2006/09/no-secret-place.html
The Treason of the Intellectuals indeed!
It would be one thing for the NDP to oppose the deployment of Canadian troops to Afghanistan; agree with that or not, it's a legitimate political stance.
But to argue that Canadian troops were "acting like terrorists [and] killing and maiming innocent people" is quite beyond the pale. It says two things about the NDP:
1. That they are prepared to disseminate malicious disinformation about the soldiers of their own country.
2. That, if applying lethal force to the Taliban is "maiming and killing innocent people," then they actually consider those who would maim and kill our soldiers to be innocent.
These are treasonous statements, friends, made by a party that seems prepared to give aid and comfort to the enemies of Canada.
There you have it: the NDP is now the "Enemy Party" and, henceforth I intend to call it just that.
I encourage you to join me in doing so.
Jack "Taliban" Layton denies aiding/abetting the Taliban? Shall we find out? ...-
2164th said...
Just a few days ago the Iraqis captured one high level AQ leader. Within two days he had an epipheny and they rolled up two hundred plus. Now, how do you suppose that happened? Not with smelly undies on his head for sure. I am sure the scene was more like this:
-Prisoner sitting at table.
-Pleasant looking man enters room carrying a
propane torch and an indistrial set of bolt cutters.
-Pleasant looking man informs prisoner he is there
to ask some questions, lights torch and picks up
bolt cutters.
-Pleasant looking man tells prisoner that if he does
not feel like talkimg, he will give him a manicure
and use the torch to stop the bleeding.
The whole issue about torchure is absurd. The issue is war and whether you wish to win or lose. Force the issue and make the bastards vote up or down on winning or losing. ...-
belmont club
Bryceman
Simple fact and truth is that there are restrictions on use of the English language ( as you readily admit for political reasons which is what it is all about politics).
There are restrictions on parents in Quebec who want to send their children to English speaking schools ( which you admit is true and is "archaic and stupid" )
Of course nobody can stop anyone from learning English or any other language and governments may even say they encourage it - then they should simply let parents send their children to the school of their choice.
If English flourishes in Montreal let us see some English only signs as we see all across Canada where English does flourish ( even a lot of other languages are seen}