And the Democrats let him get away.

“Most Democrats and Republicans, including President Bush and Sen. Kerry, agree that we must successfully finish what we have started in Iraq. Now is the time for all who share that goal to make our agreement publicly clear, to stress what unites us. Many argue that we can only rectify the wrongs done in the Iraqi prisons if Donald Rumsfeld resigns. I disagree. Unless there is clear evidence connecting him to the wrongdoing, it is neither sensible nor fair to force the resignation of the secretary of defense, who clearly retains the confidence of the commander in chief, in the midst of a war. I have yet to see such evidence. Secretary Rumsfeld’s removal would delight foreign and domestic opponents of America’s presence in Iraq.”

And this from John Kerry’s left-hand man;

Shamefully we now learn that Saddam’s torture chambers reopened under new management, U.S. management.”

How much less “polarized” and how much more secure would America (and arguably, Iraq) be today, had Joe Lieberman been the presumtive nominee? Americans would have had a sane and rational choice to make between two serious men, who understand that there is a fundamental difference between torture practiced as state policy and torture practiced as punishable criminal activity.
Ted Kennedy cannot tell the difference. And in not officially distancing himself from the elder senator and denouncing his statement, John Kerry is revealing that, at his core, he is still the man who came back from Vietnam to falsely accuse those he served with of committing criminal acts, before Congress, to serve his own political ends.

The Canada Health Act meets Indian Self Government.
Toronto Star editorial:

“In this latest attempt to do an end run on medicare rules, the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation plans to build the clinic on land it owns in Saskatoon. The band has teamed with European investors to build the clinic, which will offer magnetic resonance imaging to paying customers. The Saskatchewan government objects because it sees this scheme for what it is: An attempt to breach the Canada Health Act by introducing two-tier medicine in the province. But the province fears it is powerless to stop it. First Nations, such as the Muskeg Lake Cree, are exempt from provincial rules. Aboriginal-run medical facilities do not have to live by the health act, which forbids queue-jumping for those who can afford to pay for medical service. So, it’s over to Ottawa. Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew and the rest of the federal cabinet should put a stop to this immediately.”

Get the popcorn.

Mark Cameron neatly ties together the developments in Adscam today.

Chuck Guit� and Jean Brault, President of Groupaction, have been arrested on fraud charges related to $2 million worth of communications contracts for the firearms registry. Two grassy knoll-ish thoughts cross my mind. First, it’s interesting how the Liberal scandals seem to be coming together. You half expect it to come out in discovery that Guit� and Brault planned their fraud over a round of golf on Jean Chr�tien’s Shawinigan golf course followed by drinks at the Auberge Grand-M�re. Second, and more seriously, it’s interesting how the RCMP investigation seemed to proceed at exactly the speed necessary for Liberal election timing. This allows the government to quietly bury the Public Accounts Committee inquiry, say that arrests have been made and action is being taken, and refuse to answer further questions for fear of interfering in a police investigation.
If one had confidence that the RCMP were an entirely impartial, non-political police force, these kinds of unworthy thoughts would not cross our mind. But given the fact that Giuliano Zaccardelli has shown himself to be a political initimate of the current government, and that the RCMP itself has been implicated in Adscam, you can’t help but wonder whether the RCMP and the government colluded on timing (or if the RCMP just decided to speed things up as a pre-election gift for Martin). Remember that Liberal Quebec lieutenant asked for arrests to be made in advance of the election only a few weeks ago

Not an unworthy thought at all. News story here.

Mr. Kenney, who has in the past boasted of his virginity, said the only business Mr. Gagliano conducted on the trip to Italy was to rub shoulders with Ms. Lollobrigida, whom he called an “aging sex kitten.”
Mr. Kenney’s mispronunciation of the famous actress’s name led to cat calls from the Liberal bench. Human Resources Minister Joe Volpe, who was born in Italy, even called Mr. Kenney an “idiot.”
Through howls of laughter, Mr. Kenney later apologized if he offended anyone in “the aging sex kitten community.”

Sheila Copps could not be reached for comment. Then of course, nobody tried.

After witnessing the bizarre behavior of Bob Kerrey and Air America’s mentally challenged Janeanne Garafalo on the moonbat parade that the Daily Show with Jon Stewart has become (last night a mention of Noam Chomsky drew wild audience applause that surprised even Stewart) , I’m tempted to email and suggest he have John O’Neill on as a guest.
Does Stewart – who has taken to ridiculing military losses in Iraq, while guffawing Chomsky admirers affirm his wit – have the balls to bring someone on his show who both served with and has openly challenged the fitness of John F. Kerry to serve as Commander In Chief?
I suspect not.
But, I think this would be a worthy internet challenge to mount. Email the Daily Show here.
Update: – Oh, dear…..

Perhaps there’s another explanation for Bob Kerrey’s loose and expletive deleted performance on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.

When Bob Kerrey, one of the panel’s most outspoken members, left early for an appointment (as did commission vice chairman Lee Hamilton), Bush called out to him as he was leaving and told Kerrey, “Keep your spirits up.” Some thought Bush was alluding to Kerrey’s especially “spirited” recent appearance on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show…

“An aide says campaign surveys show Kerry remains unfamiliar; many voters don’t know he saw Vietnam combat.”

Pollster: “Were you aware presumptive Democratic nominee John F. Kerry served in Vietnam?”
Respondant: “No….. You don’t say?”
Pollster: “Were you aware presumptive Democratic nominee John F. Kerry served in Vietnam?”
Respondant: “No… I was under a rock for the past year.”
Pollster: “Were you aware presumptive Democratic nominee John F. Kerry served in Vietnam?”
Respondant: “Does a bear shit in the Vatican?”
…
Pollster: “Is that a no?”

John Ibbotson writes yesterday in the Globe And Mail;

With yesterday’s landmark speech, Paul Martin tacitly acknowledged what Canada’s foreign policy establishment has refused to accept for decades: that the United Nations is a failure, for which there is no solution.

[If this had been Stephen Harper, the press would have been falling all over themselves to condemn questioning the existance of the UN as “scary and extremist” ]

The Prime Minister’s proposed alternative is a new international body, the G-20 summit of world leaders, representative of North and South, developed and developing, rich and poor: a working group unfettered by the UN’s bureaucracy and its anachronistic Security Council.
It is a bold, though perhaps unworkable plan. But however it is ultimately greeted by the world community, Mr. Martin’s proposal at least recognizes and sets out to correct a fundamental flaw in Canadian foreign policy, one that has left us hostage to a dysfunctional world body whose interests are often irrelevant to Canada’s.

I think there may be another reason. With Adscam wearing down the Liberal fortunes, Martin may be worried about the looming UNSCAM investigation steamrolling into the media news cycle during a federal election, and is trying to distance himself from the multi-billion dollar financial scandal that parallels his own.

Inspired by a discussion at Tim Blair’s site, the Shotgun contributors are laying bare their souls and confessing to their leftist youth.
I didn’t have a leftist youth. Though, when I was 12, I had a friend who had to repeat grade 6, and I remember announcing that exams weren’t a good way to evaluate learning because failing made kids feel so badly and separated them from classmates.
Then I got distracted because school was out and I had an impatient .22 and 40 acres of gopher town whistling my name.

A great deal of hand wringing has gone on about the prospects of democracy in the Middle East, and how the current situation in Iraq is likely to shake out. We have lost a sense of scale, a recognition that there is no way to measure success or failure from the perspective of a month or a year – that such questions are answered through the efforts of decades. Having finished the war the UN would not allow his father to complete, today George Bush is taking on Jimmy Carter’s failure to confront Iran. Seeding concepts of freedom and democracy takes time, and often fails to stick on the first try – but ultimately, it is the only hope for long term stability in the region. If this war fails to achieve it, another will follow.
We also make the mistake of assuming that violent struggle is an impediment to the process of stabilization and democracy. Very few countries emerge as stable democracies without bloody, gut-wrenching political upheaval, or a struggle for their survival from threats without – it has a maturing effect on nations, transforming populations into peoples.
And over the past year or so, I’ve come to the conclusion that this is at the core of Canada’s problem in achieving a “national identity”.
We’ve yet to fight for our country in a life or death struggle. The US has been through two cataclysmic wars at home – the American Revolution and the Civil War – American patriotism springs from this history. Pearl Harbor and 911 occurred on American soil. The British Empire grew out of centuries of armed conflict and invasion. And while an empire no more, there is no national debate about British identity – “Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!”
A few days ago the anniversary of Vimy was noted – now nearly 90 years in the past, and the closest Canadians have come to a sense of common nation, common achievment – and yet, even that was from behind the safe distance of the Atlantic. Our troops fought for freedom and against the Axis in WWII – but not here. Canadian schoolchildren were not sent to the country to protect them from German bombs. Our parents suffered no mornings picking through rubble for loved ones. Today, we pride ourselves on “peacekeeping” – that is, staying out of the way until the hard fighting is done.
It’s sadly revealing – and to our discredit – that when asked, most Canadians cite a government entitlement (public health care) as the defining feature of Canadian identity. Most of the rest list differences between ourselves and “the Americans”, not understanding that identity is not something that one receives from “the government” or that exists “relative to”.
Today, unwilling to face fully the threat of Islamism – or to acknowledge and honour that those who do are spilling their blood to secure our way of life as much as theirs – I do wonder if this unusual gap in our history has been our undoing. Having skipped over the part where we expelled the barbarians, with no fundamental shared Canadian experience to cement us as a nation, I suspect our passivity is now terminal, and the beginning of an inevitable slide towards de-Confederation.
But no fear – it will be a negotiated settlement.

Andrew Coyne has the text of the Guit� testimony tapes available, and hilights a few passages.

Guit� [from his opening statement]: … I will decline today to answer any question that relate to discussions that I may have had with ministers. It will require ministerial authorization for me to disclose any discussions I’ve had with ministers prior to answer any questions that will deal with discussions with ministers…

And now – the “creative” use of pension money for unrelated matters… by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Corruption in the highest levels of government, with tentacles reaching into crown corporations, into the RCMP. Career beaurocrats ignoring the rules. Secret accounts. $100 million missing. Falsifying receipts. Shawinigate. Untendered aircraft purchases. TotalFinaElf-Desmarais-Chr�tien. Drug raids. Money laundering. At what point does government wrongdoing cross the line into organized crime?

Via Glenn Reynolds, who suggests that John Kerry (Kerry quotes form the foundation for the piece) should read it – today’s Lileks:

We stopped pretending we would ratify Kyoto. We only spent $15 billion on AIDS in Africa. We did not take dictation from Paris. If we had done these things, it would minimize the world’s anger.
Is the world angry at Russia, which spends nothing on AIDS and rebuffed Kyoto? Is the world angry at China, which got a pass on Kyoto and spends nothing on AIDS for other countries?
Is the world angry at North Korea for killings its people? Angry at Iran for smothering that vibrant nation with corrupt and thuggish mullocracy? Angry at Syria for occupying Lebanon? Angry at Saudi Arabia for its denial of women�s rights? Angry at Russia for corrupt elections? Is the world angry at China for threatening Taiwan, or angry at France for joining the Chinese in joint military exercises that threatened the island on the eve of an election? Is the world angry at Zimbabwe for stealing land and starving people? Is the world angry at Pakistan for selling nuclear secrets? Is the world angry at Libya for having an NBC program?
Is the world angry at the thugs of Fallujah?
Is the world angry at anyone besides America and Israel?
…
But even if you admit that the world is angry at America – so angry that the poorest of them can�t wait to come here and stake a claim � you have to stand in awe at the sheer political idiocy of Kerry�s conclusion. Boiled down:
“There are countless numbers of things that we could be do minimize the kind of anger and … almost recruitment that has taken place in terrorist organizations as a result of the way the administration has behaved.
By toppling the fascists in Baghdad without French seal of approval, we have encouraged recruitment in terrorist organizations. It�s not the invasion that ticked off the Man in the Arab Street, it�s the lack of a 17th UN resolution on Iraq. Right now in a caf� in Beirut an educated man, a chemist by trade, schooled in the ways of the West, is reading an article about how the US will only spent $15 billion on AIDS and probably won�t reduce its carbon emissions to 1817 levels, and he throws down the paper in disgust: bastards! I must join Al Qaeda, move to Iraq and kill the contractors who are upgrading their outmoded infrastructure!

Chr�tien sent our representatives to the Kyoto negotiations with a decree – not to protect the western based resource industries – not to fight for recognition that a thinly spread population in one of the most hostile environments in the world may just need to heat their homes – but to “beat the US by 1%”.
So today, tax dollars are funding home improvement projects to continue the charade that is still known as “meeting our obligations under Kyoto”, while the media ignores the fact that Kyoto is dead.
Kofi Annan visits Ottawa and Paul Martin cuts him a check. The bad guys in Iraq are the Americans, didn’t you know? Ipsos-Reid polls confirm that Canadians are convinced that “Bush lied” and the media outlets report it as fact. Polls tell us that Canadians believe the Iraq invasion a failure and the Canadian position not to back the US to be the right one. No surprise there. Public perception as reality, public opinion as a substitute for foreign policy – it’s the Canadian way. You won’t see the Fifth Estate visit the Saddam Hussein – TotalFinaElf – Power Corporation – Paul Desmarias – Jean Chr�tien connections. Not a peep about the Annan/UN Oil-For-Blood scandal. How can they? There hasn’t been a poll.
John Kerry receives much ridicule for being “French looking”. I can understand why the comparison is tempting – but I’m not sure it’s an entirely accurate.
Internationalist, UN-friendly, Kyoto defender, poll driven? That’s not France. The French aren’t “internationalists”, for one thing. There’s no such thing as French altruism – the UN is used to secure French interests, not world interests. Most importantly, the French don’t care if others are angry with France. Or if others like them.
No, John Kerry isn’t French.
The Liberal Party of Canada would fit him like a glove. He’d thrill in Montreal. Or Quebec City. My God – how he would love multi-cultural Toronto. And the Liberal Party of Canada. How proud he would be of a reputation for personal politeness and international peace-keeping. Of our health care system. Kyoto – why, Canada signed Kyoto, and meant it. Gay marriage would be much easier to understand in Canada, once the pollsters tell us we like the idea. One can almost picture him standing in the backbenches behind Carolyn Parrish and echoing her refrain about those “bastards” south of the border.
John Kerry is Canadian.
(Added to the Beltway Traffic Jam)

New York Times

In a move that might help muffle criticism of a Socialist pledge to pull troops out of Iraq, Spain’s incoming prime minister is considering increasing the number of Spanish soldiers guarding the fragile peace in Afghanistan, sources in his party said today.
Less than two weeks after the deadly train bombings in Madrid, the incoming prime minister, Jos� Luis Rodr�guez Zapatero, wants to signal his commitment to fight terrorism and show the United States that Spain remains a loyal ally, said one of the sources, a high- ranking party official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
He added that the new government wants “to send a message that the Socialists do not believe in appeasement.”
Since Mr. Zapatero’s election victory on March 14, he has faced two tasks: responding to overwhelming opposition to the American- led war in Iraq among his backers and staying on the good side of the United States administration as its seeks international cooperation in its war on terror.
Mr. Zapatero has confirmed a campaign pledge to pull Spain’s 1,300 troops out of Iraq unless the United Nations assumes greater control by June 30. Critics, notably in the United States, accused Mr. Zapatero of handing a victory to terrorists.

Well, to be fair, Zapatero had Spanish troop withdrawal on the table prior to the bombings – which cast his pledge in a new light, transforming a foreign policy position into a surrender. The decision was made by the Spanish electorate. Rock, hard place?
If there is palatable solution for the political dilemma, I suppose this is a defensible one. Though, the blustering rhetoric he indulged in after the election doesn’t incline one to think he realized a dilemma existed. Maybe it hadn’t quite sunk in.

The party official close to Mr. Zapatero said the war in Iraq might have made the world a less secure place.
“Our disagreements are not with the United States itself, but with a specific doctrine of preventative strike, which we believe creates more insecurity in the world,” he said.

I guess this means Spain won’t be having any 3-11 commission.

It didn’t take long for the national media to reboot their rhetoric about Stephen Harper. Elected overwhelmingly to the new Conservative party leadership, and winning the vote in every region of Canada, the sun hadn’t risen on his new leadership term and the Toronto Star is pulling out the hatchets : Harper = Alliance = Reform = Western = Alberta = RightWing = Extremist = Rednecks = Bigots = Run For The Safety Of Your Liberal Mamas! “
You get the idea.
Let It Bleed is all over the Toronto Star editorials today.

If it’s Sunday, it must be time for the Toronto Star to let out its stable of barking moonbats. This week’s theme is that conservatives are just too damn crazy to form a government in Canada. Strangely, Haroon Siddiqui and Antonia Zerbisias are missing in action this week, but never fear: to replace them the Star has drafted… wait for it… Senator Ted Kennedy. I kid you not.
…
Linda McQuaig proves incapable of coming up an original idea for her column, so she just parrots what her bosses say. Too radical. Too “mean-spirited”. Too, you know, non- Liberal. Now, to be fair, Linda does bare her soul and reveals something about herself which, probably, no one suspected. At least, I know I wasn’t prepared for it. Are you ready for it? Make sure you’re sitting down; make sure you’ve got a phone next to you, in case you need to call for medical help. Ready? Okay, here we go… don’t say I didn’t warn you:
“I’ll confess that conservatism has never been my cup of tea…”

Here’s something else that I know no one suspected – there are no true “right leaning conservative” political parties in Canada
None. Not a single party espouses dismantling universal health care. Not a single party is campaigning on a platform of adding property rights to the Constitution. None are suggesting that First Nation treaties be renegotiated to eliminate entitlements to individuals on the basis of racial pedigree. No party is advocating the elimination of our “affirmative action” like hiring programs in government. None of the parties are suggesting the CBC or Via Rail be sold.
The Canadian Conservative Party is ideologically positioned somewhat to the left of the US Democrats on the majority of fundamental issues. There are no parties of the “right of center” in Canadian politics.

In Geneva, The U.N.’s Successor May Be Testing Its Wings

Imagine a better Washington. Imagine a conservative Republican administration working hand in glove with liberal congressional Democrats on a foreign-policy initiative designed to strengthen the United Nations while simultaneously increasing America’s clout there. Imagine both parties and both branches bringing this initiative to fruition smoothly and unfussily, during an election year. Say, this year. Say, right now.

I know I live under a rock, but I’m surprised this hasn’t recieved a little more attention.

In 1945, when the U.N. was born, most of the world was non-democratic, and so a “league of democracies” would have been a rump group. Today, however, more than 60 percent of the world’s countries are electoral democracies. Today it is absurd for Burma to vote as the moral and legal equivalent of Belgium; more absurd for Cuba and Zimbabwe to be members in good standing of the U.N. Human Rights Commission; and more absurd still for Libya to chair that commission, as it did last year.
To add injury to insult, democracies at the U.N. are disproportionately weak. The U.N. is dominated by a cluster of regional and ideological caucuses. African countries, for example, are pressured to vote together, with undemocratic governments often calling the shots and democracies going along to get along. Tyrants thus routinely exempt themselves from human-rights resolutions, while log-rolling ensures that condemnations of Israel sail through.
In 1996, a private group called the United Nations Association of the United States of America floated the idea of a caucus solely for democracies. With 120 or so nations (out of 191 U.N. members), such a caucus could serve as a powerful counterweight to the traditional caucuses.

The concept is being floated at a meeting of the UN Commission For Human Rights that began Monday in Geneva.
hat tip – Jack’s Newswatch

Just in case anyone was still trying to guess to state the blatantly obvious.

Murray Wood hosts an afternoon phone in show on Saskatoon’s talk radio station, 650 CKOM (980 CJME in Regina). Today, he had a few choice words for some of our least favorite Liberals. I had been planning to dedicate a few words to Sheila Copps… saved me a lot of typing, Murray Wood did…
I emailed him to see if the piece was available online (it isn’t), but he sent me the raw text.
Heh. Nothing like a good rant to finish off a lazy Monday afternoon.

The Way I See It
If patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, then self-righteous outrage is surely the final sanctuary for Liberal hacks and flacks facing their oh-so-deserved comeuppance.
I love the headline “Copps Cries Foul!!!” After losing the Liberal nomination in her Hamilton riding, the queen of the undeclared expense account suddenly wants a full accounting of the vote… and demands to know why some of her supporters were challenged.
Hey Sheila – here’s how the math breaks down; two plus two equals zero when it comes to you. That’s the number of positives you bring to any political party.
From the days of painfully shrill screeching on the opposition benches to her less than stellar time in cabinet, (remember free flags for all?) and unanswered questions about expense accounts, Sheila Copps has been a noisy, empty suit. No substance and not much style. Just sharp political claws and elbows.
Too bad for she doesn’t have better political instincts. Like a paunchy fighter who doesn’t know when to retire, Copps should have grabbed the patronage plum offered to her and ran. Of course, she could always run for the NDP.and aren’t the other parties all hoping she does?

And he was just getting started…

Continue reading →

Inspired by Drudge.
I swear to God, I did not “photoshop” this.

Via Drudge Report, the first post-nomination poll is out showing Kerry and Bush in a virtual dead heat.
The speculation is that Nader is the spoiler, bleeding off Democrat supporters.

Bush and the four-term Massachusetts senator, who emerged as the nominee Tuesday after a string of primary race wins over several rivals, have been running close or Kerry has been ahead in most recent polls that did not include Nader.
Since Nader entered the race Feb. 22, campaign strategists and political analysts have been trying to assess the impact of another presidential bid by the consumer activist whom Democrats blame for Al Gore’s loss in 2000.

Well, maybe. But if this proves to be a genuine signal that the enthusiasm for Kerry is already waning, it suspect it’s due to Edwards supporters moving to Bush. No doubt Nader may have skimmed off a few from Kerry’s left, but more likely he’d motivate the type who would refuse to commit to either Bush or a Kerry, the previously “undecided” who needs a third option to even want to vote.
Admittedly, I haven’t seen much of either on TV, and none of the debates. But it’s been my impression that hawkish Democrats were more comfortable with Edwards than with Kerry, and with Edwards out of the race, they can’t bring themselves to wobble over in his direction.
disclaimer: I reserve the right to be full of shit.

A poll result obtained under access to information reveals that the feds really don’t like to have these types of polls made public;
Globe and Mail

Ottawa – The federal government was told Western alienation had reached disturbing levels just after Canada ratified the Kyoto protocol, with almost a quarter of one Prairie province saying it wouldn’t care if they joined the United States
…
Twenty-three per cent of Saskatchewan residents said they would not be too concerned if their province joined the United States, more than in either Alberta or Quebec, where 19 per cent expressed that view.
The poll may help explain why Prime Minister Paul Martin has made Western concerns a key priority while moving cautiously on the Kyoto file. Although he criticized his predecessor for lacking an implementation plan, Mr. Martin himself has not introduced one.

No suprise there. That’s the price of political expediency. Kyoto sells in the greater metropolitan Toronto area. When east-west interests are in conflict, the west is politically expendible. But things get trickier when energy and resources are on the table.
Unlike Quebec, if the western provinces did choose sovereignty, we exit with the bulk of Canada’s energy resources. Screw with our energy based economy at your peril – Peter Lougheed demonstrated that during the National Energy Program crisis of the early 1980’s.

The sense of belonging to Canada among Westerners has dropped sharply in the past decade, the Ekos study notes.

No shit, Sherlock. And in typical fed fashion, the Liberal government commissioned a poll. As if the the Reform-Alliance near sweep of the west in the past two federal elections weren’t a clue.