Reader Tips

Net international migration continues to be the main engine of population growth in Canada, accounting for about two-thirds of the annual increase in 2005/2006.

Between July 1, 2005 and July 1, 2006, Canada's population increased by 324,000 to an estimated 32,623,500.

During this period, the nation took in 254,400 immigrants, 9,800 more than in the previous year. It was the highest level since 2001/2002 when 256,300 nternational migrants arrived in Canada.

International migration's role in Canada's population growth far exceeds its impact in the United States. In 2004/2005, net international migration accounted for two-thirds of Canada's population growth, compared to 38% south of the border. For its population gains, the United States counts on a fertility which is higher than in Canada.

Canada's population growth slightly higher than in the United States

Between July 1, 2005 and July 1, 2006, Canada's population increased at the rate of 10.0 people for every 1,000 in the population. This rate was near the average of 10.2 per 1,000 seen since the beginning of the millennium.

Recently, Canada's growth rate has been slightly higher than in the United States. In 2004/2005, the last year for which statistics were available, the United States increased at a rate of 9.3 per 1,000, compared to 9.6 in Canada.

Canada's rate of natural increase (the excess of births over deaths) estimated at 3.3 per 1,000 in 2005/2006, is similar to the previous year. Natural increase has been in a long-term decline since the beginning of the 1990s, although it has stabilized since 2000.

On the other hand, international migration gained in importance and has accounted for more than 60% of Canada's population growth since 2001. Comparatively, it represented 46.2% of the country's demographic growth from 1990 to 1995.

http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060927/d060927a.htm

Among G8 countries, only the U.S. at 5.0 per cent approaches Canada’s growth rate. France grew 3.1 per cent, Britain 1.9 per cent, Japan near zero and Russia shrank 2.4 per cent over the same five-year period.
...
Canada’s net migration, per capita, is among the highest in the world. According to the OECD, Canada’s net migration of 6.5 migrants per 1,000 population between 2000-2004 put it at the head of the international pack. Australia, another immigration juggernaut, accepted 6.2 migrants per 1,000 population during the same period.

Canada’s influx offsets a flacid national birthrate of about 1.5 kids per woman, well below the replacement rate of 2.1 and just below the OECD average.

The United States, by way of example, accepts only 4.4 immigrants per thousand but has a fertility rate 25 per cent higher than Canada.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/03/13/3742894.html

What's your point, Andrew?

After all, not all countries can or should be 'immigration countries'. Should China and India accept immigrants? Does the UK require massive immigration? And note that the illegal immigrant ratio isn't counted in your statistics.

Instant Capitalism, Sort of...
http://unclemeat.wordpress.com/2007/06/03/instant-capitalism-sort-of/

While I generally support the new eco-car makers, there are bound to be scams in this area as well.

Looks like ZAP [Zero Air Pollution] motors is one of the scam variety.

**Last year this company issued $4.1 million in stock-based compensation to employees and $4.7 million in stock to *consultants,* including family members.

Quite a lot of equity activity for a company that lost $11.9 million on sales of $11 million (most of which came from a one-year operation that has been shut down).

Still, it's an improvement over 2005, when the company booked $15.9 million in stock for *consultants* during the year while recording only $3.6 million in sales and a loss of $23.5 million.

In January of this year Zap repriced 22 million warrants issued to employees and extended their expiration five years. The warrants, once priced between $1 and $8, are now priced between $1 and $1.20. That cost the company an earnings charge of $12 million in the first quarter--ten times revenue. And it set a not exactly ambitious goal for executives, to boost the share price 8 cents from a recent $1.12, over five years.

*As a public company, stock is our currency,* explains the company's chief, Steven Schneider, who took the top job when Zap, which stands for *zero air pollution,* bought Schneider's auto repossession business in 2002.

Schneider owns 16 million Zap shares, 32% of the company. But that isn't the only way he and his family benefit.

He leases real estate back to the company; two of his cousins receive stock for things like consulting services and Web site design; a cousin had a $56,000 loan forgiven by the company last year; and his brother runs one of the company's distribution units.

Public since 1996, the company has had just one quarter of profits, and that came from unwinding a liability that had been booked for another big-promise idea that went nowhere.

Zap had tried to become the distributor of DaimlerChrysler (nyse: DCX - news - people )'s tiny Smart Cars, going so far as to announce that it had $1 billion in orders for them.

When Zap announced sales plans of 15,000 cars per year in November of 2004, its share price doubled. But Zap had no relationship with DaimlerChrysler and ended up delivering a total of 342 Smart Cars before the project disintegrated in lawsuits.

http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2007/0618/050.html
=============== Forbs.com

Not a rave review.. I*ll pass on this one. = TG

And a joke of the day:

Q. How do you get a one-armed baby boomer out of a tree?

A. Post factually accurate immigration data at a conservative blog site; but watch out! He'll be so pissed that you exposed his multicult stupidity that he'll slug you with his one good arm!

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/06/03/4230569-sun.html

Explosion rocks Esso refinery

Witnesses see thick, black smoke as fire takes hold of Esso refinery

By AJAY BHARDWAJ, SUN MEDIA

(Jason Franson/Sun Media)

An explosion, flames and a plume of thick, black smoke rose from the horizon on the eastern outskirts of the city yesterday after a blaze at the Esso refinery.

"We saw a black plume of smoke," said Chad Fisher, who was headed to Sherwood Park along Baseline Road near 34 Street after attending his granddaughter's high school graduation at the AgriCom. "It started cracking and banging and we heard the explosions," he continued. "There were a lot of oohs and ahhs.

"You never expect something like that in Edmonton."

Edmonton emergency response department dispatched eight units to the scene, which is on Baseline Road in Strathcona County, said Capt. Darrell Payne.

"We had so many calls on it," said Payne. "It was a large fire but it had all the potential in the world to be a larger fire." City firefighters were first to arrive following the 10 p.m. blaze, where a crude oil line in a pump station was on fire, Payne said.

From early reports, no one seemed to be injured.

City firefighters were about to stand down and let their Strathcona County counterparts handle the blaze but decided to battle the fire because of the potentially explosive situation, Payne said.

Police blocked off Baseline Road at 34 Street as the conflagration was being fought.

Dave Armstrong was taking part in the Northern Alberta Canine Association dog show when he and other competitors noticed thick, black smoke coming from the Esso refinery starting around 8 p.m. Thankfully, he added, the wind carried the smoke south and away from exhibitors and their 2,000 dogs, who were situated west of the refinery.

"That smoke was pretty thick," said Armstrong, 42, who works in the oilpatch. "I just seen lots of black smoke, it was pretty bad. I wasn't really scared."

Once firefighters got the blaze under control, they turned it over to Strathcona County and Esso counterparts, Payne said. Firefighters were waiting for excess oil to be burned off before putting out the blaze around 11:30 p.m., said Payne.

Alberta Environment was monitoring the air quality following the blaze.

Join the CBC's Great Canadian Facebook contest.

Suggest and vote on what you wish for Canada. Winning wish gets covered by the CBC on Canada Day.

You have to Register with facebook. A first name and initial is sufficient.

The you must go to the Great Canadian Wish List group. Click on "Join this Group" to the Right.

Abolish Abortion is ahead right now (click on "Add support" on the right).

Some other good ones are:

Restore Traditonal Marriage

Privatize the CBC

I wish for more people

Justice to Criminals.

Speculation? Book selling? Interesting? = Yes!

3. Al-Qaida Planning 'Hiroshima' Attack in Britain

Senior al-Qaida members have been in contact with operatives in Britain to plan an attack *on par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki,* according to a leaked British intelligence report.

The report by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Center cites a plot being planned through al-Qaida's Kurdish network in Iraq.

Some counterterrorism experts doubt that al-Qaida has a nuclear capability, but a plot involving a dirty bomb *is more plausible,* according to the Transnational Threats Project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

The report also mentions a possible plot timed to coincide with Tony Blair stepping down as prime minister on June 27. And it reveals that as many as 150 Britons have traveled to Iraq to receive military training and fight in the insurgency. Some are suspected of returning to Europe to form sleeper cells.

In the new book, *The Day of Islam: The Annihilation of America and the Western World,* author Paul L. Williams discloses that al-Qaida is also planning new attacks in the U.S.

They seeks to detonate nuclear weapons in seven American cities simultaneously - New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, Boston, and Las Vegas.
http://w3.newsmax.com/a/dayofislam/?s=al&promo_code=34DB-1
=================NewsMax.com

A book sales pitch to be sure, yet..= TG

DRUNK KILLS 9, HURTS 17

MANILA -- A man armed with a half-metre-long knife killed nine people, including six children, and wounded 17 others in a drunken rampage early yesterday in the central Philippine province of Samar, police said.

The man first attacked and wounded five members of his cousin's family, then barged into a neighbour's house and hacked to death a pregnant woman and five of her kids.

Good thing he didn't use a gun or we'd never hear the end of it.

sheesh, andrew - you need to get out more; take a walk; enjoy the spring.

Because you have posted a 'factually accurate' set of data doesn't mean anything. Description without analysis is without meaning; that's so basic it's found, for example, in Aristotle's 'Posterior Analytics' Bk I; Ch 30. No, I'm not providing a link.

I could post a list of comparative bird sizes - and so what?

That's why I asked you - what's your point? Drawing conclusions has nothing to do with a 'conservative site' or a 'liberal site'. It's the final step in an argument.

Oh - and your ad hominem against me isn't factually accurate. Never mind - fallacious tactics are also irrelevant.

Yeah Argus...the whole east side of Edmonton disappered in a *HUGE* fireball. Get a life. Or go join Andrew outside on the patio. What a coupla of losers.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=8ac258f5-04e2-4e6e-8452-b8ac1bfdc5d6

File this one under humor: Dion tells Calgary crowd that Alberta will be better off with him in the PM's office, rather than Harper.

http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSPEK7447920070601

Wal-Mart "realistic" toy guns trigger raid

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese quality watchdogs have seized 46 toy guns from a Wal-Mart store in Shanghai because they looked "too realistic," state media reported on Thursday.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

The real story here is not the expected reaction of communist authorities to civilian owned toys that even resemble gun...no somehow you expect this....the real story here is that this happens routinely in Canada and in Toronto in particular.

GTA cops have been busting toy vendors like "Toys R' Us" and the dollar stores for the past 10 years for "realistic" toy squirt guns and video controllers...bet you never thought Canadian soviets were as paranoid as Chinese soviets over a toy gun didja?

CBC has this "I Wish" Canada thing on Facebook. It's a group where you can post a wish and readers come in and add their support for it.

First, I would encourage everyone to go in there and vote for Tory causes, I have a small list of them on my blog.

But also, I'd encourage you to look at wishes you don't like. All the supporters' pictures are there, click on their names and you can learn a lot about them.

For example, if you click on 'Let's Not Support Israel', you see that one of the supporters is Alec Forbes, who works for the CBC and was the personell director for the union's "Unlocked" tv station. Look at the centre of the page and there's another CBC worker, this one works in post production (according to IMDB). This is what she had to say:

"How can you support one side over the other on this? They both point guns at children, so neither have my respect or sympathy. Zionists selfishness has exacerbated a colonial situation that may otherwise have been integrated without too much bloodshed."

"Explosion rocks Esso refinery

Witnesses see thick, black smoke as fire takes hold of Esso refinery"

Uh oh...look out Albertans I see the local retailers are going to use any real or imagined production gap in that refinery to excuse the summer gouge at the pumps (like their pals in Ontario...why is it always Esso that pulls this stunt)....and Hapless Eddie will sit back and smile at the increased revenues as will his partern in price fixing crime PMSH.

Their total disinterest in pump price policy is so very telling...either you're part of the new fuel-based kleptocracy or you're a victim of it.

Taliban Jack Layton-NDP's caucus has lost 60 members. Glug, glug, glug, ...
...-

Dozens of Taliban drowned crossing river

Coalition forces in Afghanistan say around 60 Taliban militiamen drowned while attempting to cross the Helmand river, one of the country's biggest. They were fleeing military forces in the Kajaki district and had constructed a makeshift raft of tyre tubes and wooden planks....-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1844070/posts

*
Another thoughtful, considered response from
The People's Republic of "I don't give a shit."

*

"SPIEGEL: And what is your view of the prognoses that global warming will cause up to 30 percent of all animal species to become extinct?

Reichholf: It's nothing but fear-mongering, for which there is no concrete evidence. On the contrary, there is much to be said for the argument that warming temperatures promote biodiversity. There is a clear relationship between biodiversity and temperature. The number of species increases exponentially from the regions near the poles across the moderate latitudes and to the equator. To put it succinctly, the warmer a region is, the more diverse are its species."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,481707,00.html

MayDion will "fix" Esso. Will Esso be a victim? Will MayDion be the slayer of kleptocrats?

MayDion brings "hope" to Alberta.
...-

Dion says he's 'better for Alberta' than Harper

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion brought a message of hope to party members in Calgary on Saturday evening. (national newswatch)

It truly amazes me that Liberals like Dion, out of power now, still continue to make ridiculous statements, thinking they can spin their way out with help from their Ottawa/Toronto media friends.

The latest are two whoppers. First Dionsky says a PM from Quebec is good for Alberta. Second, he goes on about how Harper trying to turn government into Bush-Republican model.

Could we have some further details please? None forthcoming, because Dionsky, as usual, is making emotional statements because he hasn't the intellectual parts to actually work with advisors and formulate policy ("It's not easy to set priorities.")

This man is not a leader, never was, never will be. He has gaffed continually, doesn't listen to his advisors, and has made extremely questionable decisions, such as not running Liberal in Central Nova.

The only reason Libs aren't at the same level as their leader's ratings is a disengaged public, and the constant cheerleading from the media; BTW, so what.

Conservatives have nothing to fear from this man or this B-team of Liberals. I have no doubt that Harper will obtain majority after next federal election. That's why Dionsky and Grits bluffing and blustering; if they actually thought they could win, don't you think we'd be in a election campaign right now?

I agree with most of what you say here Shamrock. The only thing I might question is the sure majority thing. I belief Harper has earned the confidence of Canadians to aquire a majority from a rational body of people. What I have learned over the years is that the Liberal brand is deaf.dumb, and blind.

Micky Mouse guarantee 26-32% of the vote pending the poll turnout. If it's 26 , and we beat up a bit on the Mr.15-18% Jack the Quack taliban party , then we stand a slim chance for a majority. If their are major gaffes in the opposition camp during the campaign , a majority may widen , but I never underestimate the deaf,dumb,and blind Liberal brand.This brand of voter only see one name on a ballot.

The exchange of ideas, common sense, and establishing sound and unwavering policy has never been a stronghold for Liberals as long as I can remember. It's all about how it looks and sounds to a Liberal , and never about what is actually being accomplished. I worry about what the institutions of this country are feeding our youth. By the time they graduate , everyone feels just as entitled as a Liberal Senator , and then take that mentality to the polls. And guess who thaey vote for????

Timothy Coderre

I agree with Shamrock but more so, with Timothy Coderre.
I don't think we should underestimate the generation-long propaganda, brainwashing of Canadians.

This has all been 'Liberal Left'; it includes everything from the travesty of the Charter, which divided the country into two 'equal' political parts by language; and then further divided the population into closed sectarian groups - each vying for political power, privileges and power.

It includes the results of a cocooned economy, embedded within that of the US, which meant that we didn't have to compete in the world markets in order to live a stable, safe, middle class life.

It includes the results of a cocooned security, embedded within the defense of the US. It includes the results of a cocooned research and development, for we rely on the US to fund and risk the long term development of new technology and products.

So, Canada has slipped into a political mode that required almost no hard decisions; it moved into a one-party mode for without the requirement for decisions, debate and critique are unnecessary.
Canadians then defined themselves as 'non-conrontative' - which meant - no need for debate.

The Liberal Party, which ruled Canada over this period, set up an enormous unelected political infrastructure to enable its rule to continue.

This included the Senate - and we now see the results, where the Liberal dominated Senate is assuming a dominant role, rejecting the House.

This includes the courts, which have become activist rather than following the law; as such, this further demeans the elected House and reduces the power of the electorate.

It includes the MSM, which function as the unofficial propaganda machine of the Liberals - paid in large part by the taxpayer. We see the results of this, in the relentless attacks on Harper and the constant misinformation and factual lies by the MSM.

It includes the civil service - and we see the results of this in the leaks by that service to the Liberals and the MSM.

It includes are educational systems, funded by the gov't - for we haven't allowed Canada to develop its own investor class; that means no private foundations; that means that academics are bound to the government for research funds - and the gov't sets the research themes. Our educational system has slipped into a dominance of leftist sophistry.

So, for a population to fight against this massive infrastructure of power, developed by the Liberals over one full generation - that's not easy.

Islam: a death cult of death, death, and more death. Mohammed says, Allah has an insatiable blood-thirst.
...-

Fighting at second Lebanon camp

Fighting has broken out between soldiers and Islamist militants at a second Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, security officials say. The violence in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, near the southern city of Sidon, is said to involve Jund al-Sham militants.

Two people - a soldier and a civilian - were injured when suspected militants fired a grenade at an army checkpoint.

It is not clear if the violence is linked to the fighting at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in the north.

Army troops at the Ain al-Hilweh camp responded to the rocket propelled grenade attack with gunfire, witnesses said.

The BBC's Kim Ghattas in Beirut says the Jund al-Sham militants are similar to those fighting Lebanese army troops in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. ...-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1844154/posts

Termites?

This comment came in on another thread but it needs it’s own space:

Here’s some interesting info which flies in the face of
the Co2 Kyoto Kultists…
[...]
On the average Termites expel gas composed of about 59% nitrogen, 21% hydrogen, 9% carbon dioxide, 7% methane, and 4% oxygen.

It is thought “There are 2,600 different species of termites,and that they emit two and four percent of the global carbon dioxide and methane budget.

One termite species annually emits 600,000 metric tons of formic acid into the atmosphere, an amount equal to the combined contributions of automobiles, refuse combustion and vegetation.

Science magazine reports that termites annually generate more than twice as much carbon dioxide as mankind does burning fossil fuels.

…………………………………………

I’ll add this…
Humans produce .5% of all Co2 emissions..
Termites produce 2% of all Co2 emissions..
Canada produces 2% of that .5%
don’t believe me …look it up yourselves.

No-one likes to be proven a ..SUCKER..
but that is exactly what you Kyoto Kool-aid drinkers are.
…….SUCKERS……..!
LoL

PS…Ask any child ..what warms the earth?
They all know..it’s that yellow ball in the sky
….the sun….!
http://www.jacksnewswatch.info/

I hear that Stephen Harper is not appealing to the women in this country. Please, ladies, answer this question -- if Harper, Dion and Layton were standing at your bedroom door which would you invite in? If you are alive and your eyes are functioning, that hunk Stephie would get the nod!!

Hilarious story about old hippies complaining about young hippies wrecking their neighborhood:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-haight29may29,1,1016688.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage&track=crosspromo

best quotation:

"I used to be a hippie. I wore beads and grew my hair long," he said. "But my generation had something these kids do not: a standard of civilized behavior."

via Michelle Malkin:
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/007651.htm

God help us in Saskatchewan

Pat Atkinson is our new Finance Minister. What have the citizens of Sask. done to deserve this. Will the readers of this please say a prayer for the taxpayers of Sask, as I fear we are doomed.

Buckley Belanger is the new Minister of Highways. If he runs this department anything like his last post then the Highways will be in real bad shape.

Newsflash-the highways are already in bad shape. Way to go Buckley

I just watched the video of the kindergarden class in Gaza. If this is the future of Islam, what possible chance has the world of survival?
While we have to listen to layton and dion these folks are planning on the end game.
What the hell is wrong with people in this country?

oh, relapsed catholic already had it up. oops, sorry!

MayDion has rescued "hope" and brought "hope" to Alberta [see post at June 3, 2007 12:47 PM].

Just in time, too, as the Joos are "destroying hope of Palestinians". ...-

Amnesty International: Israel destroying hope of Palestinians [TOXIC BARF LEVEL 5]

New report on West Bank charges Israel with 'destruction of hope' of Palestinians with checkpoints and security fence;...-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1844243/posts

"We all laughed then." Islam: a death cult of insane laughter.
...-

The Protocols of the Daily Kos: Hanging with Hamas

Eileen Fleming, the Daily Kos diarist who also contributes to antisemitic hate sites, has a new post today, an excerpt from her book about “spirituality based on love, justice, peace, nonviolence, liberation and reconciliation for the different national and faith communities.”

And Hamas.

Daily Kos: Sabeel: The Way and Christian Zionism: The Way NOT!

My Sabeel group also met with four newly elected Hamas members, but we never got to meet any terrorists.

Two had been elected to the Palestinian Parliament/PLC and two to the Municipality/local government. PLC Representative, Anwer M. Zboun, lives in the Abiet refugee camp and has a Masters Degree in Physics.

Thirty-three year old Mahmoud Alkhatib lives in Aida refugee camp and has obtained a Masters Degree in Islamic Studies. Khaled Saada and Salah Shuka were elected to the Municipality/local government. Our translator was George Rishmawi, whom I first met in June 2005 when he worked for Holy Land Trust. George is currently the Coordinator for the Greek Catholic Church Center for Holy Land Studies and he was my ‘shepherd’ when I went to Beit Jala, to meet little George the little boy on the top right of the WAWA Banner for the first time.

Mr. Zboun greeted us in English with a broad smile on his face and stated, “We welcome you to our home and the Holy City of Bethlehem. We are suppose to be terrorists, are you afraid?”

We all laughed then.. ...-

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/

CBCpravda , "All Khadr All the Time"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/khadr/omar-khadr.html

Canada to back US view that any climate deal requires China, India
(google news)
...-

Mao Stlong in China says, Busharper can go to Gaia and repent.

"This includes the courts, which have become activist rather than following the law; as such, this further demeans the elected House and reduces the power of the electorate." ET

[Mulroney said "competent and independent'' judges, chosen with as little political interference as possible, are vital to shield Canadians from rogue police or corrupt government.]

//www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070603/mulroney_judges_070603/20070603?hub=QPeriod

"chosen with as little political interference as possible." A tall order, I would think.

Truly amazing, how ordinary citizen ET, is more realistic than a former two term PM.

MSM hack handcuffed; will he spill the beans/spin?

Beyond that, your worst fears about the MSM are confirmed! The MSM operates/has a "spin room" where the MSM weaves the warp/woof of its leftist/lying broadcloth.

Who knew but the MSM spinners themselves? The "spin room" where the thug leftist journo spun his "book", Why Presidents Lie.

Notice CNN calls the hack: "columnist/author".
...-

Columnist/author arrested in spin room(Eric Alterman of The Nation)

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN ) – Columnist and author Eric Alterman was arrested Sunday night inside the debate spin room and charged with criminal trespass after police say he refused repeated orders to leave.

Goffstown, N.H. police say Alterman was in the spin room as a guest of the Creative Coalition and went to an area reserved for a private reception for WMUR-TV. Police say he was asked by an executive at the party if he was invited to the private area and was asked to leave. A police officer was called after a verbal altercation ensued. He was asked by police seven times to leave, and police say he became increasingly loud as he refused. After ignoring a final request, police say he was handcuffed and taken from the building. He is charged with criminal trespass, and a bail commissioner will determine if he will be released.

Alterman writes a column for “The Nation” and writes the “Altercation” blog for Media Matters. He also has authored several books, including “Why Presidents Lie.” ...-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1844281/posts

The first paragraph is a revealing expose of the corruption of the UN. Oil dollars from Iraq are funding the UN: Oil-for-Food scam continues in another guise. The criminal UN is the mother of all parasites.

The UN has a vested interest in not - not- finding/proving the existence of the late Saddam's WMD.
...-

U.N. still on WMDs hunt [In Iraq]

UNITED NATIONS – More than four years after the fall of Baghdad, the United Nations is spending millions of dollars in Iraqi oil money to continue the hunt for Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.

Every weekday, at a secure commercial office building on Manhattan’s East Side, a team of 20 U.N. experts on chemical and biological weapons pores over satellite images of former Iraqi weapons sites. They scour the international news media for stories on Saddam’s deadly arsenal. They consult foreign intelligence agencies on the status of Iraqi weapons. And they maintain a cadre of about 300 weapons experts from 50 countries and prepare them for inspections in Iraq – inspections they will almost certainly never conduct, in search of weapons that few believe exist.

The inspectors acknowledge that their chief task – disarming Iraq – was largely fulfilled long ago. But, they say, their masters at the U.N. Security Council have been unable to agree to either shut down their effort or revise their mandate to make their work more relevant.

Russia insists that Iraq’s disarmament must be formally confirmed, while the United States vehemently opposes a U.N. role in Iraq, saying coalition inspectors have already done the job.

Perricos insists that the U.N. inspectors’ work remains relevant and that some of Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons could be reconstituted by insurgents, terrorists or even a future Iraqi government.

“Look, Iraq is not Denmark,” he said. “They’ve made botulin, anthrax, VX, sarin; they’ve made the whole spectrum of horrifying items, and they’ve used them. We don’t know how things are going to develop in the region, and we want to be sure there are some controls.” ...-
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1844278/posts

Suddenly, I have (excuse the pun) 'this urge'n to become a Muslim...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,277449,00.html

Iran's hard-line interior minister is encouraging temporary marriages as a way to avoid extramarital sex, a stance many in this conservative country fear would instead encourage prostitution.

"hard-line" eh...and here I thought I was the only one using groaner puns.

I've been out of it the past couple days, so my excuses if you already covered this, but did you know that the CBC (!) played a global warming expose?
part one here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr5O1HsTVgA

via Kim du Toit:
http://www.theothersideofkim.com/index.php/tos/single/10644/

Anthrax, bombs and al-Qaeda
Macleans ^ | May 29, 2007 | Sean M. Maloney

Anthrax, bombs and al-Qaeda The terrorist network has been pursuing WMDs for years, but Canadians in Afghanistan have helped foil its plans SEAN M. MALONEY | May 28, 2007 |

Outside of Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan is a complex of compounds and ranges known as Tarnak Farms. Site of the notorious 2002 "friendly fire" deaths of four Canadian soldiers, Tarnak Farms was one of several sites in the country where al-Qaeda pursued research into acquiring weapons of mass destruction. My friend, whom I will call Muhammad, showed me around the now-bulldozed area in 2006. "It was back in 2001. We had 12 American special forces soldiers with us," he said. "Two helicopters came in at night and brought another 65 men. Our men surrounded the place. We also did this at a mosque in Kandahar city. We spent several days protecting the teams as they searched." When I asked Muhammad what they were looking for, he told me that al-Qaeda was making a chemical weapon that he called "stinky gas" -- and that they may have tested it: "They used it once, against people on the road to Herat. These people had blood coming from their noses and openings."

Indeed, back in 2002, personnel from Lt.-Col. Pat Stogran's 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, assisted in "SSEs," or sensitive site exploitation -- missions associated with the hunt for what al-Qaeda was up to in the weapons of mass destruction field during that time. In the wake of 9/11, anything was possible, especially when anthrax-filled letters arrived in the United States in the fall of 2001. ...-

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1844383/posts

"Iran's hard-line interior minister is encouraging temporary marriages as a way to avoid extramarital sex..." I'm sure the sheep are relieved to hear this.

"I'm sure the sheep are relieved to hear this."

...dat's a BAAaaaad one.