Another Bad Day For Galloway

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I told you that British MP (and Saddam Hussein apologist) George Galloway was was in for a world of hurt. A more deserving chap I can’t think of, either.

The Iraqi dictator gave him vouchers so he could buy and profit from the oil, says the Senate probe. It also claims the former Labour MP, who has consistently denied the allegations, appeared to use a childrens’ leukaemia charity to conceal payments from oil transactions. The report says an Iraqi Ministry document indicates Galloway was allocated vouchers for millions of barrels. These could be sold on to oil firms for three to 30 cents commission each. That could have earned him between �300,000 and �3million.

Galloway’s name first popped up on what has become known as the al-Mada list – which was released last year by the Iraqi independent daily Al-Mada to wide skepticism.
update – “Daniel” is going to appear Norm Coleman’s “lions den”. Slurp.

Sask Wheat Pool: Outraged I Tell You!

Gopher News 1 Comment

“Take that back right now!”

The Canadian Wheat Board is demanding a retraction from Saskatchewan MP David Anderson for comments he made in the House of Commons.
Last Friday, Conservative MP David Anderson stood in the House of Commons and accused the Wheat Board of illegal and corrupt practices in respect to a sale by the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool into Iraq’s oil-for-food program.
“This directly affects Canadians because 30 per cent of the value of the contract disappeared through shipping delays and what are referred to as transfers to other buyers, whatever they are. That sounds like even more corruption,” Anderson said. “How did the Wheat Board and its exporters manage to lose $8 million out of a $23 million illegal deal with Iraq?”
Wheat Board spokeswoman Louise Waldman says there is no basis to the allegations, which Anderson has declined to repeat outside the House of Commons. By law, MPs cannot be sued for anything they say inside Parliament.
The Wheat Board has asked Anderson to retract the comments. Waldman says as a marketing agency, the board has two things going for it: its product and its reputation.
“We have an extremely high-quality product, and we also have an extremely good reputation,” she says. “We’re viewed as having a lot of integrity in the international grain business, and our salespeople are extremely well-respected. So we felt that Mr. Anderson’s comments threatened or damaged, could have damaged, this reputation.”
A spokesperson for Anderson says the MP has not seen the Wheat Board’s news release and will not be commenting on it. However, Waldman says Anderson is aware of the board’s concerns.
“Our CEO phoned him yesterday to speak to him personally on this and we will be following this up with a letter to him this week,” she says. Anderson has not indicated whether he will retract his comments. Waldman says if Anderson refuses to make a retraction, the Wheat Board will publish the letter it sent to him.

No mention of whether any letters have been sent to the US Congressional Committee investigating oil-for-food that flagged over $23 million in payments to the Wheat Pool channeled improperly through third parties or their banks.

Gomery Witness: Life Threatened

The Libranos 37 Comments
Coyne;

“I only caught the last part of the interview, so perhaps they’d been talking about it incessantly beforehand. But at no time after Lawand let slip this thunderbolt did I hear Hanomansing say, “What?” or “WHAT” or “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY?” It just seemed to pass without comment. Oh, of course “The former director-general of the Liberal Party of Canada in Quebec testified under oath that his life had been threatened.”
“Did I mishear? Am I crazy? Doesn’t anyone else think this is huge?”

Apparently not. If buring it deep in the article means anything, the Canadian Press considers physical violence to be just another day at the office for the Libranos.

Dezainde’s appearance at the inquiry also took a dramatic turn when he broke down in tears after mentioning an alleged threat by an associate of then-public works minister Alfonso Gagliano during a spat over underground party fundraising.
The witness lost his composure after explaining how the party finances at Montreal headquarters had been “taken hostage” by Gagliano associates, including aide Joe Morselli. Dezainde said Morselli blew a gasket in July 2001 after Dezainde refused to rehire a fundraiser fired days earlier for lobbying government departments, in writing, on party letterhead.
Dezainde said Morselli confronted him in the canteen of the Montreal office and pointed a finger centimetres from his face.
“He said, ‘From here on in, I declare war against you,”’ recalled Dezainde.
He said he immediately reported the incident to Gagliano, who blamed the incident on Morselli’s bad temper and promised to have words with his confidant.
Dezainde broke down as he recalled telling friends and family about the tense moment. Presiding judge John Gomery, just before ordering a break in the proceedings, asked him: “You considered this to be a threat of physical violence?”
Dezainde replied: “Yes.”

Now, go read this, too. Apparently, it is not permissible to mention that money was dropped off in Chretien’s riding, because it’s outside of Gomery’s mandate.
What was that kerfuffle, again, about we “tin-foil hatters” making too far too much out of Paragraph K?

All Hell Breaking Loose

Political Animal 7 Comments

Via Captain’s Quarters – “…the Tories have upped the ante by refusing to allow for an adjournment, and immediately moved a new no-confidence motion”:

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper moved what he deemed a no- confidence motion in the government, the second such move made by the Tories in two days. …
Mr. Harper said the government has “lost the moral authority and democratic legitimacy to govern this country. Madame Speaker, today is one of those more difficult days where it falls to the Leader of the Oppostion to tell the… government that they cannot carry on,” Mr. Harper said in a speech to the House Wednesday afternoon.
It appears to be part of an opposition tactic to continue to push for a confidence motion to be recognized in the House.
His motion came minutes after the Liberals tried to adjourn the House for the day but lost a vote on that motion.
The motion, “that the debate be now adjourned,” put forward by New Brunswick backbencher Dominic LeBlanc and Ontario MP Judi Longfield, was defeated 153 to 147.

Al-Zarqawi Dead?

Radioactive 3 Comments

Let’s hope this is true;

An Italian news site reports that Iraqi forces have claimed to have either killed or seriously wounded terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi during Operation Matador. While this is not the first time such a rumor has been floated, it would come as no surprise that Coalition forces hope to capture or kill the al-Qaeda leader.

The Power Of Blogs

Blogging 9 Comments

For a time last night, my post on Paul Martin’s “Rogue Government” at Outside The Beltway was the number one Google News hit for “Paul Martin”. This morning, it’s still holding at #3, right behind stories at CTV and the Washington Post.
Remember those days of writing a letter to the editor, in hopes your (edited) views might see publication?
They’re over, baby.

Where Have We Heard This Before?

The Libranos 5 Comments

David Warren has a column in the National Post today that sounds like.. well, like he’s been reading blogs.
Where else would you find questions on why the Canadian media isn’t covering the Martin connections to Oil-For-Food, a mention of his company Cordex Petroleum, that none of the Canadian tsunami aid has arrived in Sri Lanka, and a reminder that Adscam is only a tightly contained tip of a huge Liberal government corruption iceberg?
Good on him, though. It’s nice to see someone is big media is paying attention.
Via Neale.

I Wonder What Makes Them Think That?

Political Animal 7 Comments


When asked to name which of the leaders is the most dishonest:

  • 63 per cent of Canadians picked Martin;
  • 20 per cent chose Harper;
  • 5 per cent of respondents said NDP Leader Jack Layton; and
  • 3 per cent named Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe.
    The picture gets even bleaker for Martin: 61 per cent of Canadians say they believe he would lie if it would help him politically; 54 per cent call him hypocritical; while 47 percent say he’s indecisive.

    • Andrew Heard: The Confidence Convention

    Political Animal 9 Comments

    An opinion by Andrew Heard, Associate Professor Political Science Dept., Simon Fraser University;

    The wording of the motion, however, indicates that it should be considered a clear vote of confidence. What is important in this motion is that the House must collectively is express its view on whether the government should resign. One cannot vote for the motion without agreeing that the government should resign, which is the essence of a non-confidence vote. While the wording of the motion is convoluted, the essential content is a clear expression of non-confidence.
    It should not matter what procedural context a vote of confidence occurs in. The fundamental basis of a confidence vote is that the elected members of the legislature express their collective view of the government. If that view conveys a loss of confidence or states that the government should resign, then the government must either resign or call an election.
    The current motion is strikingly similar, in procedural terms, to that proposed by H.H Stevens on June 26, 1926. That motion also recommended that a committee report be amended and precipitated the whole King-Byng crisis, when the Governor General refused a dissolution to King on the grounds that he should not avoid a confidence motion then before the House but not voted on; this was the Stevens’ motion. For information on those motions, see: House of Commons Debates, 1926, Vol.V, p.4832 and p.4933.
    Where a motion is passed that appears to convey a loss of confidence but some ambiguity remains, the precedents indicate the proper constitutional course of action is for the government to introduce its own confidence motion within a few days. The wording of the May motion certainly conveys enough of the essence of confidence that the government should at a minimum respond to its passage with its own clearly-worded motion of confidence.
    In light of the past precedents, and especially the relevance of the 1926 motions on the Customs Affair, the current motion appears to be clearly a vote of confidence which would require the government to resign or call an election in the event it loses the vote.

    From Rogue Group To Rogue Government

    Political Animal 37 Comments

    (updated)
    153 – 150. The Prime Minister no longer enjoys the confidence of the House.
    Paul Martin’s “rogue group” is now a Rogue Government.
    Reaction
    Stephen Taylor liveblogged the vote and grades the media.
    Ed Morrissey is going to know more about Canadian parliamentary procedure than most Canadians do, by the time this whole fiasco is over.
    Rempelia Prime – “If the government cannot defeat a motion which explicity states, �the House no longer has confidence in this government,� then on what authority does it continue to govern?”
    Monte liveblogged via blackberry!

    Sgro “Ethics” Investigation?

    The Libranos 7 Comments

    Democracy Watch has background on who was hired to vindicate[1] Immigration Minister Judy Sgro;

    To conduct the investigation into Sgro’s and others’ actions, the Ethics Commissioner hired (without a contract bidding competition) law firm Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG).� BLG donated $165,000 to the federal Liberals between 2000 and 2003 (2004 donation figures are not yet publicly available); donated more than $25,000 to Paul Martin’s campaign for the Liberal Party leadership; has three partners representing Liberals before the Gomery Commission inquiry (David W. Scott and Peter K. Doody representing Jean Chr�tien, and Guy J. Pratte representing Jean Pelletier), and; in February 2005 hired Gar Knutson, former Cabinet colleague of Sgro.

    Curiously, the reports that Sgro has been cleared of wrongdoing are premature at best, as the Ethics Commissioner has not yet delivered his report. Most of the media is running on reports from Sgro’s staff.
    The National Post seems to have actually, eh, fact checked the report.

    Ethics commissioner Bernard Shapiro is refusing to confirm a report that former immigration minister Judy Sgro has been cleared of alleged conflict of interest.
    In fact, Shapiro says his report into the matter isn’t finished.
    He will only say he released a confidential letter to Sgro answering a question she asked him in November.
    He won’t discuss details of the question or his response.

    Hmmmm… damned faint “vindication”.
    Footnote:
    [1] – Perhaps I worded that clumsily. I suppose the technically accurate term is “investigate”. Hair splitting, really.

    Another Machete Attack

    Radioactive 12 Comments

    On the heels of a machete attack in Saskatoon last week, this disturbing story, via Nealenews;

    CBC: Cpl. Leonard Anderson survived seven months in Fallujah, Iraq, without a scratch – but after just three days on leave in The Pas, the U.S. marine is fighting for his life after a vicious attack.
    Anderson had returned home to visit friends and family, and he was booked to speak at several schools in the The Pas area to thank the children for sending cards and letters of support during his tour of duty with the U.S. Marine Corps.
    Instead, Anderson was flown to Winnipeg for medical treatment after what police believe was a gang-related fight outside a local bar. His lung was punctured and his kidney and liver were cut with what is believed to be a machete. “He’s in a lot of pain and he had to be really quiet, because they said the organs need time to heal,” says Anderson’s mother, Marlene Starr.
    Starr says her son was out to a local bar with some friends when a fight broke out. She says Anderson was watching the scuffle when he was hit from behind.
    “There was a commotion in the crowd and he was standing on his tiptoes to see what it was about and that’s when he was hit from behind with a machete,” says Starr. RCMP believe the fight was between alleged gang members and another patron of the bar. At least three other people were also injured in the melee.
    Starr expects her son to be in hospital for the next seven to 10 days, and away from the marines for the next three months. RCMP have charged a 26-year-old man from The Pas in the incident.

    Machetes are showing up in robberies, too. Despite a high number of homocides on the west side of Saskatoon, these crimes get precious little coverage, even locally. Just another casualty of the 8 or 9 Indian street gangs carving up turf – and each other.

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