Open Thread

66 Replies to “Open Thread”

1. Stop competing, CBC is told.
   Nealsnews, National Post.
   -snip-
   The CBC should stop broadcasting professional sports and eventually cut all advertising so it no longer competes with private networks, a Senate committee recommended yesterday.
   “We have to come to the conclusion that CBC-TV, in particular, is in danger of losing its way. It is trying to be all things to all people,” said Senator Joan Fraser, a member of the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications and a former editor of Montreal’s Gazette.
   How ’bout “lost it’s way” and “trying to appease terroristic ideology” either by stupidity or design.
   … and love this part, The committee also wants all news media outlets to be required to state regularly the identity of controlling shareholders in their publications or their broadcast programming.

2. The government either stops funding the CBC or they wont be the government for much longer.

3. Where are all the stories on the food police’s latest target. Remember how smokers, fast food patrons, wal-mart shoppers etc were vilified in the media. Now the food police have gone after Starbucks and their very high fat content in their products. They are being sued, along with KFC and others. Guess all those latte drinkers should have let us smokers have our patios. Another thing that bothers me is the rights wackos attack us for being intolerant for being against SSM, smokeing, etc, yet when they get their rights they are more intolerant than we ever were. Some day all those who have won gay rights will discover that the only reason they are accepted is because of the greed of capitalists. They want your money and laugh at you when they get it.

4. Tommy Douglas is on the front cover of the Western Standard.
   The CBC’s whitewash of Canada’s Greatest Eugenicsist is in serious trouble.

5. Sheik Nassar Al-Omar, on behalf of the overwhelming success of Islam (the 21st century is Islam’s apparently) sez that 25,000 are converting to Islam every year!
   Oddly he doesn’t mention that 100,000 are converting to Christianity every year. And that’s just in Africa.
   Muslims are so full of crap it’s unbelievable. Well, actually, given the Koran, it is believable.

6. Re: the LPC leadership race.(that’s right folks,there is indeed one)
   You have to forgive the libs,they have held coronations for so long that a democratic race must seem alien to them.This is mainly why I am enjoying watching the antics.
   Already this party has managed to reinforce it’s tolerance of sleaze and utter lack of vision.They are once again proving they define themselves by who they are NOT as opposed to who they ARE(leaves far greater waffle room).
   The LPC has engaged in the lowest of lows during the last few federal elections.With engrained tactics such as pitting one region against another,hate and fear-mongering,nasty slander of your opponents and that contemptable habit of always trying to say only what a certain group of people want to hear(thus the need for maximum wiggle room!).I am curious to see how much they will try to soften these tactics when they are feeding on their own,I personally think it will get ugly.
   Until at least one of them recognizes their responsibility to face Canadians and acknowledge the LPC’s corruption,mean-spiritedness and dithering before they move forward,only hardcore lefties will trust them!Much of their grassroots walked away in disgust years ago,and the average Canadian is now witnessing how NOT scary Harper is and what effective government looks like.
   Members of the LPC,welcome to the political hinterland,last door on the left! !

7. In the long run, the CBC television network is going to have to thrown in it’s chips or get off the pot. They hide behind the magic “public broadcaster” defense, but show the same American commercial fare, and run the same commercials as any other network.
   A couple of years ago they even outbid other networks for the rights for the Canadian television premiere of “Pretty Woman”. If a public broadcaster such as PBS was presenting “Pretty Woman” or “Die Hard III” or that kind of fare, it’s doubtful that they would be able to make the case that their viewers’ “continued support” was important.
   Sidenote: The Globe and Mail, in refering to CBC’s recent decision to bump back The National refered to it as a “venerable but cash-straped newscast.” Yes, venerable.
   From Webster’s Third: Veneration: a feeling of respect, mingled with awe, excited by the dignity, wisdom or superiority of a person.

8. I was watching Stuffy Duffy last night, and there was some speculation, on his part, that we may be seeing the death of the Liberal Party. The NDP seem to think that they can re-create what happened in the UK where the Labour Party marginalized the Liberals.
   I was intrigued.

9. “We have to come to the conclusion that CBC-TV, in particular, is in danger of losing its way. It is trying to be all things to all people,” said Senator Joan Fraser…
   Sounds like a liberal institution to me!
   Is it just me or is there justification in being suspicious of a liberal packed senate who seem to be focussed on protecting the “Canadian values” of their main news based propaganda machine?…What am I thinking,these ARE predominantly liberal hacks,OF COURSE we should be suspicious!!!

10. Has anyone seen Godless for sale in bookstores in Canada?
    My town sells lots of books but I cannot find Godless in any of the stores.
    The libs are desparate to shut her out but she has the internet where she can make her arguments without constant interruptions and her fan base just keeps growing.
    She has a new column out where she kicks liberal butt, again, and it is available online.
    Anne is so mean spirited. /add sarcasm and LOL
    She is exposing the Dems strategy and they really hate her for it.
    I have to say Thank you Anne and watch your back.
    Winning means everything to liberals now and Anne has them cornered.

11. Re: the Kavkaz Center post
    Written by Numb Chimpsky and/or Mike-Whale Al’Moor himself:
    “Do not believe the American reports. According to America it had around 2000 casualties, but in fact, the casualties number 40,000 or more.”
    Time for the left to go join the Terrorists in Iraq/Iran/Syria/Gaza and do what you’ve all been dying to: fight America and Israel to the death.
    ADMIT IT FOR ONCE YOU COWARDS.
    Then please take a camcorder along WHEN THE MARINES BLOW YOUR LILY-LIVERED PANSY ASS TO HELL. So we can enjoy a good laugh when western-Christian civilization wins in the end.
    And besides, who exactly is that loon with the picnic table spread on his head?

12. Interesting about Chuck Guite. My version of reality is that Chretien is the Don, he’s the ultimate mastermind of the whole sponsorship scenario. Wouldn’t Guite spill the beans on Chretien? After all, during his trial, he was clearly saying that there were political higher-ups involved. So, do you think that the 3 and 1/2 year sentence really ‘bought his silence’? Why?

13. Warren goes hog-wild; spreading sly falsehoods around about Martin and his thugs.Is this a reference to AdScam Martin?
    Warren: “Martinite thugs”.
    Warren says the Hug-thug-Martinites are still running the Librano$ gang, aka the LPC.
    Warren is loyal to AdScam Chretien; semper fidelis is Warren’s motto.
    Warren does not damn Martin and the Martinite thugs with faint praise.
    Will there be a payback by the Martinite thugs? When? How? Where? …-
    * The Martin period was an aberration – but, ultimately, seasonal and arguably necessary. Like cicadas, Liberals turn every twenty years or so to political disasters (eg. Turner, Martin), get reminded why out-of-touch, out-of-work business executives make lousy leaders, and then get back to finding real Liberals. It’ll happen in another twenty years, just you watch. In the interim, they’ll be okay.
    So do all of these nice words mean I’m involved with the federal Liberals again? Pardon my French, but: fuck no. As a Chrétien guy, I was one of Team Martin’s chew toys for a while, there, and it wasn’t a whole lot of fun. I’m not going anywhere near the LPC until the Martinite thugs are exiled to Serbia or, ideally, Mars. It’s a purely personal decision, not a strategic one. (Besides, it’s fun being an ink-stained wretch again.)
    And that, at the end, is why Stephen Harper is probably most optimistic: the Martinite elements in the Liberal Party, whose names are interchangeable with “losing,” are still around. They haven’t learned their lesson, yet. …
    kinsella.com

14. It has to make you smile when someone goes totally off, ranting about what idiots and criminals the LPC are. What is there to be so afraid of? Why not just forget about them?

15. ET: Guite may actually fear for his life. And, he will serve what… 6 months… 8 months?
    He apparantly a Mofia “made man” so he knows that the price of talking can be high… he also no that silence can give one great rewards.
    How many hardcore thugs have languished in jails in America, died there, and never spilled the beans.
    Anyway, that’s my conspiracy theory for the day.

16. And here I thought “nooky” was a Japanese term.

17. Our look at how the departure of Dab Rather was explained by the usual suspects, plus the Winnipeg Free Press has an unusual correction practice – tell readers online one version that explains the misyake and readers of the print version another version that explains nothing.
    blackrod.blogspot.com

18. Grasshopper has a point re memory loss. OTOH, the Ignatieff cabal is now/will be in the months ahead preparing a battle-plan to resurrect P. Trudeau, albeit in the form of Michael Ignatieff.
    Politics is forgettable, only at your peril. There are people/groups/gangs plotting to grab power. One of the best summaries of the rising to the top of society by thugs/criminals, such as the Librano$, is by Friedrich Hayek in his “The Road to Serfdom”.
    As for war, here is: (Substitute politics for war):
    “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” Attributed to Leon Trotsky/The Red Terrorist. …-

19. “CBC…Under Fire.” I read the headline quickly and thought it was “CBC…on fire”…darn.
    There’s got to be a Mafia connection in the Adscam scenario, and to ET’s question as to why would Chuck Guite remain silent and go to jail for three and a half years, Debris Trail’s “conspiracy theory” answer seems to fit.
    Who was the guy involved in Adscam who was afraid he might be involved in a hunting accident in his living room? I’ll bet Chuck Guite is afaid of a similar ‘accident.’
    I’m not sure I “get” being a Martin wo/man or a Chretien wo/man: Cretin thug or Martinite thug, it’s all the same to the ordinary Canadian. Life was lousy under both their leaderships (sic).
    PMSH and the CPC are a breath of fresh air. “Thug” doesn’t by a mile describe either him or any of the members of his party.

20. I don’t see that it’s Martin who is involved with Adscam; it was Chretien. Chretien is an intense narcissist; there is only one God/Don and that’s himself. He genuinely believes that there is no-one better than him; he constantly talks about himself and what he’s done, inventing a fictional life in which he is completely embedded.
    My view is that Chretien and His Gang were very worried they would lose the 1995 election in Quebec, and laundered the money to pay for work for the Liberals in Quebec. The sponsorships were the cover for the money going to pay for Libeal election work.
    The Liberals have only One Policy. Power. Their own. They have no policies or agenda for Canada or Canadians.
    That’s why, without power, they have collapsed so quickly into dust. They don’t have any policies. I find it interesting how they are now trying to fix the term ‘progressive’ to themselves. Remember when the Conservatives were the Progressive Conservative party? And, of coursre, the term itself is meaningless. It merely denotes ‘movement towards’. But the key term is ‘what’. Movement towards WHAT? The Liberals leave that word out. That means, they have no policies. No end-point to move towards.
    I admit to being puzzled as to why Kinsella was and is a Chretien devotee. I compare him to Gilles Paquet, a very wise man – and Paquet starts to froth at the very mention of the name of Chretien, whom he considers has ‘no principles whatsoever’.
    So, I don’t know why Guite is silent. Debris Trail’s alignment of the Liberals with the Mafia is interesting …a la Gagliano. Possible. Certainly, in my view, Chretien is part of the Cabal of Desmarais, PowerCorp, Magna, which is Canada’s version of A Gang.
    But, why protect Chretien??

21. Very interesting discussions out there in the “liberal” blogs.
    Its almost like those documents the coalition forces found with the Zaqawi remains.
    “all is lost, all is lost”
    http://blevkog.blogspot.com/2006/06/rona-to-king-4.html
    “The situation is even worse for the leadership candidates – they would be forced to fight an election campaign looking as leaderly as possible, win their own seat in the House, and run a leadership campaign at the same time. (All this without mixing up the leadership campaign money and the election campaign financing – good luck with getting out of that without a bandage or two!)”
    Its official, Harper can push through any legislation he wants with the mentioning of two words.
    “confidence vote”

22. I caught Mansbridge tuesday night at the end of the National making reference to the pending report. He solemly intoned how important it would be for the government to provide an additional 400 million/yr. to maintain a commercial free CBC.
    Fat chance Peter!!!
    Rather than the National being bumped by some pop idol pap, I envision Peter sandwiched between continuous loops of Wind at My Back and Anne of Green Gables, begging for donations ala Red Green.
    Get the suspenders and lots of duct tape Peter, you’re gonna need them to hold that bloated bag of crap together.
    All this and Joe Volpe!! Kharma is fun to watch!!
    Syncro

23. Yes, Gimbol – I won’t be at all surprised if Harper introduces items more and more unpalatable to the LPC, with a confidence vote attached where it loks necessary, just to see how far he can go with it (until the LPC regains its balance). But my knowledge on this is limited – can someone tell me whether he is able to do that legally with any piece of legislation that they’re looking at? How about politically? Is there a point beyond which most Canadians will start to get a pretty bad taste in their mouths over such antics?

24. The following Globe audio story is being circulated by some local Canadian troops. The liberal ilk types might want to listen in. Same for those Canadian Muslims that are opposed to our mission.
    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/special/audio/smith4.html

25. ET says, “I don’t see that it’s Martin who is involved with Adscam; it was Chretien.”
    Technically, you’re probably right, ET, but how could Martin not know what was going on as Minister of Finance? And if he didn’t know, then he was either completely thick or totally incompetent or both.
    As far as Canadians were/are concerned both Chretien and Martin, being part of the Liberal Party, one PM and the other Finance Minister, have to take responsibility for the obscene corruption in their party.
    Even if it is Chretien who is responsible for Adscam (with Martin simply looking on from the sidelines), the fact remains that the Canadian public was bilked out of multi-millions of dollars of their own money and it’s instructive that neither Chretien nor Martin has taken responsibility for this fraud.
    Enron execs have gone to jail, but no Canadian politician with direct connections to this scandal has been tried or convicted. ‘Nice country we live in: “open minded,” “tolerant,” and “just” taken to new levels of absurdity.
    I wonder if this is what PET had in mind when he talked about his “Just Society.”

26. ET,
    I’ve been saying this all along. Chretien is the architect of all Liebranos activities. I can only hope that PMSH finds a way to prosecute this anal pore. How’s that coming from a diehard Liberal!
    His daughter married a Desmaris in a pompous wedding years ago and the 2 families have been in bed ever since.

27. As to why Chretien is being protected, I suspect it has something to do with some very shady dealings that some very powerful people do not want to come to light.
    I suspect that Chuck Guite knows exaclty what these shady dealings are and that he values his own neck. There’s something very nasty and thuggish about Chretien and the whole way the Sponsorship Scandal was conducted. Gagliano isn’t the only “family” connection in Quebec.
    I sure wouldn’t want to be testifying against Chretien. His grabbing the guy by the neck, when he didn’t like his comment, is called “the Chretien handshake.”

28. LGF posts are great stuff. This post drips with sarcasm.
    Kos coins a new word: wingnutosphere. Don’t tell blagh who will pervert it to: rightwhingersosphere.
    Look for Kos naming Lieberman, Democrat, as the left liberals’ “I Hate That/Those Jew/Jews”.
    Kos rants/raves; Kos has become the Lyndon H. Larouche of the liberal left. …-
    Kos: Betrayed by the New Republic
    Stand back! He’s gonna sue! Daily Kos: TNR’s defection to the Right is now complete.
    People talk about the need for the left to work together and have a unified message in the face of a unified conservative noise machine. So a google group was created called “Townhouse”, and it included many bloggers and other representatives of the netroots as well as a large number of partisan journalists and grassroots groups. It allowed us to discuss policy, issues, tactics and coordinate as much as you can ever get a bunch of liberals to coordinate.
    There was one big rule for this list, an important cog in the growing Vast Left Wing Conspiracy — everything discussed was off the record.
    That was obviously violated today as the New Republic betrayed, once again, that it seeks to destroy the new people-powered movement for the sake of its Lieberman-worshipping neocon owners; that it stands with the National Review and wingnutoshpere [sic] in their opposition to grassroots Democrats.

29. gimbol and grasshopper:
    Thanks for the Link.
    It asserts that Rona Ambrose is a ‘disaster’ as environment minister, asserts that all the gov’t Ministers are just mouthpieces for Harper, and so on. These are only opinions. No evidence is provided.
    I happen to think that Ambrose is doing an excellent job as Environment Minister. This is based on her rejection of Kyoto, which has nothing to do with the environment and is merely a money-laundering transference of money from developed to undeveloped countries, not as loans to be repaid, but as ‘sin money’ by the developed country, for being developed. I prefer the Asian alliance, which she supports, which is indeed focused on the env’t and pollution control.
    I agree with the link that the Liberals are in deep trouble, with their ‘we mean everything to everyone’ leadership race, the dementia of Bill Graham, and the fact that they are not acting, ‘de facto’ as the opposition.
    The problem with the Liberals is that their only policy over the past decade, has been Power. That was all that mattered; all actions were based around maintaining power. Therefore, programs were geared to only one result. Votes. They had and have no policies, no ideology, no idea of ‘what is Canada’.
    Now that they are out of power, this lack of policies is out in the open. They can’t act as opposition because they have no policies on any proposal. Their previous perspective was only geared as to whether or not it would get them votes. The content, the principle of the policy was irrelevant to them.
    I think that Harper is forced to set up motions as ‘confidence motions’ because of the vacuous response of the Liberals, the Official Opposition. They simply have no stance, no opinion on the issue. So, they would not appear, they would delay, they would do nothing because they have no thoughts on the matter. In order to get them to react, he has to force them!
    Remember the budget, the Liberals pompously asserted they were ‘opposed’, only because they knew they could get away with this stance because the Bloc had already said it would support it. But, as to why they were opposed, the Liberals weren’t sure. And, they didn’t even show up for the final reading of the bill, so that it was passed, for the first time in our history, without a vote.

30. new kid – I see your point about Chretien and Martin. And Guite. As you say, not a single politician has been convicted. And that says something about Canada, something not very nice about Canada.
    Yes, in my view, Chretien is a thug. Our very own Castro, frankly. He’s made himself very wealthy out of his connections; he’s paid off friends very well; he’s always looked after his minions (Radzwanski is bankrupt and the next day is appointed to a major gov’t position where he can wine and dine all he wants; Gagliano gets shipped to Denmark and so on. They are all, ‘entitled to their entitlements’).
    He’s completely and totally corrupt and ran our gov’t as his private business enterprise, while running Canada into the ground. Harper is gradually returning Canada to Canadians.

31. The Electric Car due long before Hydrogen, by far.
    Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2003 1:33 am
    By: CougTek of Montreal Quebec
    storageforum DOT net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=24932#24932
    The best idea I ever saw for powering a car was the electric motor-wheel developed by Hydro-Québec some 8 years ago. But something screwed up during the development and although it worked perfectly fine (only two wheels could pushed a big Chrysler Intrepid from 0-60mph in 8 sec, imagine four), they apparently dropped the project.
    Many people are still revolted that Hydro-Québec decided to cancel the motor-wheel, since it was the only electric-based motorization that was powerful enough to bring decent performances for average-sized cars.
    I’m pretty sure some big oil company put pressure on Hydro-Québec in a way or another, (wouldn’t be surprised if it was Esso, bunch of bastards), to put the motor-wheel in the grave.
    The principle of the motor-wheel was, at large, to make the wheel spinning by injecting an electrical current in coils placed inside the wheel. They were able to apply 3 times more pressure on the wheel with their prototype than a Ferrari of the mid nineties.
    Hydro-Québec still owns the patent for a few years, but nothing good will come out of it. It would have been so great. I have no words to describe the idiocy of the manager who decided to cancel the project.
    Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2003 2:04 am
    By: jtr1962 of Flushing New York
    I’m guessing it was pressure from some oil company to drop the project since it would have greatly decreased demand for fossil fuels. The idiot that dropped it should be made to suck on an exhaust pipe until he croaks.
    I too have often wondered why we don’t just do away with the mechanical transmission in road vehicles and power cars via electric motors in the wheels powered by either a battery, an engine powered generator, or solar cells (or some combination of all three). The battery will provide stored power upon demand for quick bursts of acceleration, the gas engine power for steady cruising (and to recharge the battery), and solar panels will supplement the output of the gas engine.
    I’d guess that you could run the car at moderate cruising speeds entirely on solar power on bright days, and at highway speeds you would still get perhaps a third of your power via the sun. Other times the engine will supply the power, but it can be a much smaller engine, and since it will run at it’s most efficient RPM rather than constantly speeding up/slowing down, it will be smaller as well as run more efficiently.
    100 mpg is not unrealistic from such a setup, and perhaps 150 to 200 mpg once ultra-efficient solar cells are available. Small wonder the oil companies likely killed it as it eventually would bring the demand for gas to 10 to 15% of what it is now.
    Electric motors are the best way to power vehicles. Some commuter trains I used to take had a 250 HP electric motor on each axle(1000 HP per car). These were able to accelerate a train of cars of 61 tons (plus passenger load) each up to 80 mph from a dead stop in under a minute(0 to 60 took about 35 seconds).
    Now imagine what 100 HP of electric motors on a 1 ton car can do. My best estimate is 0 to 60 mph in about 6 seconds. Electric motors can also be overloaded at twice or more of their rated capacity for a few minutes so you can easily cut that figure in half if you can hit the battery for the extra juice. I don’t think you can do better than about 3 seconds due to the limits of tire-road adhesion. For the same reasons it is difficult to get a train up to 60 mph in much less than about 25 seconds, even if power is unlimited (which it never is).
    =================
    ww Dot techspot dot com/vb/showthread.php?p=295610#post295610
    These observations are 3 ½ years old….
    Where is our electric car? TG

32. ET :
    That’s why, without power, they have collapsed so quickly into dust. They don’t have any policies. I find it interesting how they are now trying to fix the term ‘progressive’ to themselves. Remember when the Conservatives were the Progressive Conservative party? And, of coursre, the term itself is meaningless. It merely denotes ‘movement towards’. But the key term is ‘what’. Movement towards WHAT? The Liberals leave that word out. That means, they have no policies. No end-point to move towards.
    Some very salient questions ET: Indeed where are they going? I do disagree with you in one particular of your excellent post.
    I do think some of them do have a plan. You are correct. No policies but they have a goal. Absolute power with no restraint.

33. There is a photo of the Cobalt22 at my site.
    TonyGuitar.Blogspot dot Com

34. I read about Guite’s stoic response in the face of his sentencing.
    I agree with some others on this thread. He’s the fall guy.
    I figure he either knows he has to suck it up and wait for a big payday after he gets out of prison, or he understands that he cannot rat out the principals and expect to live. This is particularly the case in prison. Da boys could easily reach out to a confederate and Guite would never make it out of the exercise yard.
    On the other hand, because of his high connection with important organized crime figures, if he keeps his mouth shut, he will be treated as an aristocrat.
    At the risk of rehashing old news, I want to remind everyone that Gagliano was appointed and that the people who appointed him were fully aware of his organized crime connections.
    It’s important to remember that we have now established that Gagliano and Don Vito Rizzuto were both made members of the Bonanno organized crime family. We know that Don Rizzuto (is he still waiting for extradition for that Bonanno family hit on Sonny Red and Sonny Black… ?) was a capo, and I very much imagine that Gagliano is a capo as well, though I have yet to see anything definitive about whether he is a capo or a soldier. Some soldiers amass great position and wealth because of the actvities of their crews.
    So the point is that the godfather of Canada and Gagliano are both made members of the Bonanno organized crime family. The people that appointed of Gagliano were fully aware of his connection to the godfather of Canada when they appointed him. There’s just no way of getting around this.
    When you have important organized crime figures at this level of parnership with a legitimate government, it means that public revelations are always just the tip of the iceberg.
    There is simply no way of knowing how many public officials in Canada are either juiced in or complicit because someone holds markers on their gambling debts or some other vice. Martin may not have set it up, but he certainly knew about it.
    We could know a lot more about this, except to the best of my knowledge there have been no public disclosures in respect to who attended the big Bonanno family sitdown that we found out about when the FBI flipped Frank Lino (a capo in the Bonanno family).
    The suggestion is that if we knew who was in that room and who they were connected to, we would know an enormous amount about who’s who in a significant portion of organized crime in Canada and what their connection was to innumerable politicians, financiers, and other people who are agents of cooperation in their network.
    The fact that that information was not forthcoming, at least in terms of public disclosure, is utterly astounding to me.
    A lot of people in Canada know how to keep their mouths shut.

35. Such highminded gaols(sic) the UN has for you. The UN and its cadres want “to curb”;
    just a little curb will do it.
    It’s just a “push”: donna be skeptical of the UN.
    The UN is our last best hope, dummies.
    Of course, the only one opposing the gunsmiths is the US of A. No one else opposes the “plan”. Aunty-American says so.
    It’s the old “salami” approach to tyranny by the UN and its cadres.
    One-slice-at-a-time: salami communism. …-
    UN Push for Global Gun Control Viewed as Insult to USA
    Posted by EnigmaticAnomaly
    On 06/22/2006 1:01:51 PM PDT · 21 replies · 416+ views
    CNSNews ^
    CNSNews.com) – A push for global gun control gets under way next week in New York City, when the United Nations opens a conference intended to curb the international arms trade. Amnesty International, Oxfam International and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) are pushing for a treaty to “protect civilians from armed violence.” Those three groups — which have formed a coalition called the Control Arms Campaign — say their goal is to reduce arms proliferation and misuse — “and to convince governments to introduce global principles to regulate the transfers of weapons.” They are urging the United…
    freerepublic

36. It’s not just that the Liberals have no policies to oppose with – they can’t shake the corruption definition, have no leadership and can ill afford a confidence vote. It’s hilarious watching these buffoons support the Conservatives and then be accused of being an inept opposition party by both NDP and Conservatives. They’re seething underneath. It’s like watching the Conservatives and the NDP playing ping pong and the Liberals are the ball. To make matters worse, their grass root supporters are threatening to abandon them, not just because of the current situation, but for being treated like serfs in the past election – which is par for the course.
    Maybe, just maybe these are the death throws of a party that’s become irrelevant. Or is that just wishful thinking?

37. Take a look at what passes for a press release from the Liberal party these days:
    
    Liberal MP Calls for an End to NDP MPs Posing as Conservatives
    
    June 21, 2006
    OTTAWA – Opposition MPs are calling for an urgent amendment to the so-called Accountability Act to prevent MPs representing one political party from posing as MPs from another party.
    Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc singled out NDP MP Pat Martin for his bang on Rich Little-like impersonation of an MP from the Conservative caucus.
    “If it walks like a Conservative and talks like a Conservative then it must be a Conservative,” said the MP who represents the Beauséjour riding in New Brunswick.
    “I don’t understand why Pat Martin hasn’t officially joined his new playmates in the Conservative caucus. He routinely fawns over his Tory idols during Question Period, almost begging to have opposition questions tossed his way.”
    …
    LeBlanc said the accountability legislation needs to be amended immediately in light of Mr. Martin’s siding with his Conservative cousins to kill a Liberal amendment that would have prevented MPs from crossing the floor to join another political party.
    “It’s now clear why Mr. Martin killed this amendment,” said LeBlanc.
    “He’s still weighing the perks of joining the Conservative caucus such as free rides with his new best friends aboard government Challenger jets to attend Stanley Cup games on the taxpayer dime.”
    http://www.liberal.ca/news_e.aspx?site=news&id=11700

38. Notice that Jack Layton and his NDP are moving rapidly into the vacuum left by the Liberals. Layton has an agenda of becoming, not merely the Official Opposition, but, dream on, the actual government.

39. Personally, I think the death of the LPC would be a good thing for Canada. The NDP can take over the political left. It’ll create effectively a two-party system outside of Quebec. The NDP will be forced to grow up wrt their economic agenda (vis Bob Rae) and they can present Canadians with a clear option respecting social policy. At least then Canadians will have the chance to try out the Full Monty of “progressive social policy” and as long as the country survives it, cure a generation of Canadians of their left wing delusions.

40. Be careful what you wish for. A properly weakened liberal party is preferred to no LPC at all because the National Dipstick Party vote must be kept diluted.
    Ideally it would be great if the Green Party made advances as they have in Europe. Then we could relax about the misfortunes of the LPC. TG

41. Go read all about the Librano$’$ self-destruction, aka political suicide. Smell/admire the foul. Go, Librano$…-
    Liberal troops in a foul mood
    Grumbling at the grassroots has some party vets worried about the next vote
    Linda Diebel Staff Reporter TO Red Star
    Excerpt:
    Martha Hall Findlay, a Toronto lawyer and candidate for the Liberal leadership, witnessed grassroots alienation first-hand recently when she criss-crossed the country in a campaign bus. From Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley to Blind River in northern Ontario to Alberta’s Peace River, “the one thing that was most surprising was how angry Liberals are,” she said. “The level of anger is palpable.”
    In a meeting with the Star’s editorial board this week, she described anger over the recent sponsorship mess in which a $332 million fund to boost federalism in Quebec abused tax dollars. (Throw in a couple of rough federal elections and a civil war between supporters of the last two leaders.) She travelled “where nobody in the (national) party has been in a long time” and talked to campaign volunteers who were appalled to be called “crooks” on the doorstep.
    “Frankly, most Liberals across this country have felt let down, have felt ignored, haven’t even been thanked, let alone have had anyone stand up to say, `sorry’ to them,” said Hall Findlay.
    One could discount her view. She is among only three candidates for the leadership who doesn’t sit in the Commons. With a scant party history, it’s easy for her to say: “We really need to get people excited about us again.” …-
    via nealenews archive Wed., 21, June, 2006

42. It’s interesting. I don’t know what will happen. Both the Liberals and the NDP are ‘utopian’ parties.
    The Liberals have, for years, operated without any policies; their only agenda has been power and their govt motions were geared to attain that goal. But, their rhetoric was utopian, eg, Canada is ‘da best country in da world’; Canadians are All, tolerant, peaceloving, blah blah; we have The Best Fill-in-the-Blank..health care, weather, cities, blah blah.
    None of it true, but utopian fictions never are.
    The NDP are firmly utopian, with utopia defined as Somewhere In the Future When We Are In Power.
    Both the Libs and NDP are centralist, big gov’t, big bureaucracies, top down governance, authoritarian, social engineers. The govt and the bureaucrats know ‘what’s best for you, dear’.
    The Bloc, which should not be allowed in the House of Commons because it is not a federal party, is as socialist and utopian as the Libs and NDP. It too is focused on ‘When ‘It’ Will Happen and We Are Free of the Rest of Canada Supporting Us’.
    Only the Conservatives are different, focused on small govt, decentralized, non-utopian, no social engineering, decisions made by local interests, etc.
    So, once the Libs get a leader, and dependeing on who that leader is –
    But, I can even see Layton wanting an election in the fall. He’s going to spend the summer electioneering; he’d like an election in the fall, to take up the vacuum from the Liberals.

43. This cannot work, no way.This is a throwback to another political era in Canada; an anachronism. A picnic will never work. It’s too bourgeois.
    It’s too “Dejeuner sur l’herbe”,aka French picnic lunch. Too Manet…-
    Saturday, June 24th – ST-JOSEPH DE BEAUCE
    Note the Prime Minister will attend a community Pique-Nique
    Municipal Park
    57 rue Martel
    11:30 am – The Prime Minister addresses audience.
    11:40 am – The Prime Minister takes part in various activities on grounds.
    • Photo-op only

44. Chuck Guite….plays the role of Sammy “Da Bull” Gravano……Chretien is “The Teflon Don” and will eventually fall to the forces of justice.
    ommag

45. “the big guy” from Shawinigan: So, a cubble millions $$$$ were stole. So what?
    TDH, aka Aunty-American, agree$$$$$$.
    And, PMH is not “petulent”, TDH says, contrary to recent Lib/MSM reports which said PMH was:
    petulant (cranky, irritable).
    And, Giggles gets into the script, too. Which MSM hackess was nicknamed “Giggles”, or was it Gidgit?
    June 22, 2006 – I remember a small reception with Jean Chretien that I attended in the summer of 2002, where upon being asked how he felt about not being invited down to George W. Bush’s Crawford ranch, the big guy replied “But for me, I am not trying to be the Americans’ best friend.” Well put then, and just as applicable now.
    So, Stephen Harper’s low-key approach to his upcoming visit to Washington (whether by design or necessity) strikes the right balance between the push at home and the pull from down south.
    Honestly, who the hell cares about a 21 gun salute, or a quality-time, bonding opportunity bike ride with a man who gets uncontrollable giggles every time he hears the name of North Korea’s new missile – the Taepodong (pronounced Ty-po-Dong)? Harper is keeping it strictly business, seemingly content to let other world leaders line up like petulent children and agonize over who’s going to get invited to George’s birthday party, and what is going to be in the loot bags. …-
    tdh

46. Time for world leaders to assemble at U.N. Security Council facing Aminajad and discuss his letter to West. Event to be televised worldwide. Close scrutiny of letter reveals several points of common agreement.
    Here’s where PM Harper, Peter McKay can lead negotiations into common ground territory. Let Arab countries state their position on Israel’s sovereignty in televised world forum. Past, present grievances vented by all parties. Mistakes of past freely admitted in reciprocity. Cease fire deals signed possibly?
    Hundreds of billions spent thus far, Canada committing $15 billion as initial outlay? Here’s for the U.N. Security Council to wrap its collective head around….discuss return to the agricultural economy worldwide as only viable environmental option left. Short term calculations of war economy profits going absolutely nowhere. Sad fact.

47. Guite the don? Not even close. Anybody know what happened to Alfonso Gagliano after his stint as head of Public Works? G&M reported he was working on Italian election campaign now concluded. Maybe he’s recovering from being recalled by Chretien as Canada’s ambassador to Denmark and then having his ambassadorship to Vatican City withdrawn? Life is indeed tough.
    But say, orgy house expansion across country, needs staffing. There’s no business like illicit business openings. Yes, where’s Waldo or, er, Alfonso?
    Good question. Needs an answer.

48. Forgot to add
    BOYCOTTS WORK…in fact, it’s the only phenomenon that really gets results.

49. The Capitalist Road is ruining China, again. …-
    Conditions of the Working Classes in China
    by Robert Weil
    Introduction
    This article is based primarily on a series of meetings with workers, peasants, organizers, and leftist activists that I participated in during the summer of 2004, together with Alex Day and another student of Chinese affairs. It is part of a longer paper that is being published as a special report by the Oakland Institute. The meetings took place mainly in and around Beijing, as well as in Jilin province in the northeast, and in the cities of Zhengzhou and Kaifeng in the central province of Henan. What we heard reveals in stark fashion the effects of the massive transformations that have occurred in the three decades following the death of Mao Zedong, with the dismantling of the revolutionary socialist policies carried out under his leadership, and a return to the “capitalist road,” leaving the working classes in an increasingly precarious position. A rapidly widening polarization—in a society that was among the most egalitarian—is occurring between extremes of wealth at the top and growing ranks of workers and peasants at the bottom whose conditions of life are daily worsening. Exemplifying this, the 2006 Fortune list of global billionaires includes seven in mainland China and one in Hong Kong. Though their holdings are small compared to those in the United States and elsewhere, they represent the emergence of a full-blown Chinese capitalism. Rampant corruption unites party and state authorities and enterprise managers with the new private entrepreneurs in a web of alliances that are enriching a burgeoning capitalist class, while the working classes are exploited in ways that have not been seen for over half a century.
    The workers with whom we talked were some of the tens of millions who have been thrown out of their former jobs in the state-owned enterprises, once the pillars of the economy, with the loss of virtually all of the related forms of social security that were part of their work units: housing, education, health care, and pensions, among others. As these state-owned enterprises have been converted into profit-driven corporations, whether by being sold outright to private investors or semi-privatized by managers and state and party authorities, corruption has been common.
    The peasants we met with were struggling to deal with the long-term effects of the enforced dissolution of the rural communes and the introduction of the family responsibility system, in which each household contracts with the village for a portion of land to farm. With the throwing open of the country to the global marketplace, the sale of lands by local officials to developers without adequate compensation to the villagers, and rampant environmental devastation of the rural areas, this policy has left hundreds of millions struggling to find a viable way to earn a living, while stripping them of the collective social supports that they had previously enjoyed. Over 100 million of them have become part of the massive migration to the cities, seeking work in construction, the new export oriented factories, or the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs, where they lack even the most basic rights. For many migrants, conditions are deteriorating rapidly as they settle semi-permanently in the urban communities and as they age and health problems mount.
    The Chinese working classes have not been passive in the face of their deteriorating conditions and the loss of rights won over decades through struggle and sacrifice in the socialist revolution. Class conflict and social turmoil have surged to levels not seen for decades. …-
    monthlyreview.org

50. Canadiana
    Some on both sides want too kill all of the otherside.
    I think some should watch this short film about life in the occupied territories.
    The guy started the project years after his trip through Cambodia with a family of refugees. The father died shortly after they got to America and this gave him nightmares so he went back to university and did part timework.
    People of the land talks with both sides and they all give their own version of what’s wrong in the M.E.
    He goes on to tell how everyone wanted him to scrap the project in America’s high places and the death threats he and his family received.
    All information coming out of Israel is censored, films destroyed, it’s quite the tale and he has the film to prove it. Thx soccer.
    Just TYPE IN People of the Land, by Tom Hayes
    Funding for the filming came from ohio state U and produced by PBS.
    Why would the Israeli Army come to a funeral to take the body of a dead child? They killed another 13 year old boy while getting his body from the OPEN GRAVE.
    Awards for People and the Land
    Silver Screen Award, U.S. International Film Festival
    Chris Award, Columbus International Film Festival