ADSCAM -- Canada's Corruption Scandal Breaks Wide Open

http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/003914.html

Another Sign Of Harper's Rising Fortunes

No longer a reptilian kitten eater!

Update: Steve Janke asks "Did Exclusive Advertising accept a paid ad that read "Stephen Harper Eats Babies"?

Posted by Kate at 05:34 PM | Comments (15) "If they keep it up, that's a good thing. Why? Because the more regular folk see how incredibly stupid and crazy the left really is, then they'll turn away in droves from any party which associates with the left, which certainly means the Liberal Party of Canada."

http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/003972.html

Hellway 368 "The Calvert Trail"

(Post timestamped to stay at the top of the page for the time being. Scroll down for new entries.)
Rita Bourgault is trying to get the attention of the Calvert government - always easier said than done when you live in rural Saskatchewan; The crux of the problem is the abominable condition of Highway # 368 (I use that term loosely), between St. Brieux and the town of Lake Lenore. This is the only highway into St. Brieux from the south.

These pictures do not do this highway justice, it is much, much worse than these pictures depict. I spent three weeks in Brazil two years ago. I travelled thousands of Kilometers throughout the state of Alagoas which is by far the poorest state in Brazil and not once did I encounter a road that was as bad as 368 is right now.

More Callers to John Gormley Live this morning included one resident who advised that there were 72 red warning flags along a 16 km stretch of this highway last year. Comments (35)

http://www.stevejanke.com/archives/176644.php

The gun registry and the sunk cost fallacy

Steve Janke at 11:04 PM

Related articles: Technorati Cosmos :: CanConv :: Blogging Tories

The Conservative government in Ottawa has the long-gun registry in its sights. What was supposed to cost a few million has cost over a billion, and for all that, it is not clear what contribution the registry has made in fighting crime (I'm being diplomatic in my wording here). If the registry had cost half the originally predicted amount, defenders would say Canadians were getting a well-managed bargain. Strangely, though, defenders of the registry say the vast cost overruns are also a reason to keep the registry: Cukier is pushing what is known as the sunk cost fallacy: The sunk cost fallacy, besides being incredibly poor reasoning, is almost a form of blackmail ("You'll be responsible for throwing all that money and effort away. You don't want that, do you?"), and I hate blackmail...Comments (1) :

Long-gun registry to be axed

Liberals cooked books on gun registry: auditor

Contentious gun registry spawned hate mail, distrust between East and West (Canada)

http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/003988.html

"Parliament Was Misinformed"

The first paragraph from the 2002 report should have left little surprise at what was coming... information was insufficient for a reason - the Liberals were cooking the books;...Report is here.

Posted by Kate at 03:02 PM | Comments (78) "Makes the Keystone Cops look like Einsteins? All this for a cool $2B...Theft of money is agreed upon by everyone, now there is more evidence of fraud - what happened to the rule of law?"

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/007039.php

The Tory Revolution

Stephen Harper has led perhaps the quietest revolution in Anglosphere poliitics. In just four short months, he has vaulted the Conservative Party -- only a couple of years past a difficult merger with Reform -- into a movement that now threatens to swamp even the Bloc Quebecois in the fractious province of Quebec. "The 'silent majority' is now being heard from. They've seen what can happen when they let the Left have its head and it weren't pretty. Now the adults are back in charge..."

ACTION ALERT: TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER
[ Goto page: 1, 2, 3 ]

Desecration Day

Ottawa Citizen;

A retired major snapped digital pictures of several people relieving themselves on the [ National War Memorial] around 11 p.m. on Saturday, as thousands poured into the streets following the fireworks.
Most cheered and laughed when they were photographed using the memorial as a toilet on the nation's birthday.

The Legion is again calling for a guard to be stationed at the memorial to prevent such occurances. That shouldn't be necessary.

There was a time when a public assault on the memory of war dead would have been quickly addressed by witnesses taking the offender into the street for a discussion with closed fists.

Today they take digital photos. Mark up another victory for the left.

Via Nealenews.

Posted by Kate at 10:54 AM | Comments (51)

The Urinators:

Jumping the Broom
Officially Screwed with Do You Know This Moron?

Posted in Canadiana, Lower than Pond Scum Feces 8 in the pocket

http://www.sweetness-light.com/

Canadians Photographed Urinating On War Monument

July 4th, 2006

From Canada.com:

Police seek ‘despicable’ men who urinated on war monument
PM adds his voice to outcry after retired major snaps photos
Shannon Proudfoot
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
OTTAWA - A police investigation has been launched and debate ignited about proper respect for veterans after the publication of photographs of young men urinating on the National War Memorial on Canada Day.
The incident, in which several young men were photographed relieving themselves on the monument around 11 p.m. on Saturday following a fireworks display and concert, was the top item on CBC’s national newscast yesterday and received banner coverage in local newspapers.
Ottawa police described the case as "a priority" and said they intend to charge the men if they are identified. They could be charged under the Criminal Code of Canada with mischief for preventing "the lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property," with consequences ranging from probation to a fine or possible jail time, depending upon past involvement with police.
The men could also be charged under the National Capital Commission Traffic and Property Regulations Act or under a city bylaw for urinating in public. According to the NCC, conservation officers would likely hand out a $125 fine for such a transgression.
As of yesterday, lead investigator Detective Mike Walker said Ottawa police had already received three tips about the identity of one of the men, who was pictured on the front page of the Ottawa Citizen, and were hoping for more.
"We have a few ideas on who it is," he said. "Someone who knows the guy will call in."
Sergeant Mike Laviolette, who was called in yesterday specifically to deal with "tons" of media inquiries about the case, said this Canada Day was quieter than most, with just 40 arrests throughout the city. Like the Peacekeeping Monument on Sussex Drive, the war memorial is always "a nuisance area" popular with skateboarders, he said, but NCC conservation officers usually deal with any problems.
"We work on a priority basis, and I’m not certain that sitting someone 24 hours a day in front of the war memorial is the best way to use our resources," Sgt. Laviolette said. He added that city police would begin working with the NCC and RCMP this morning to devise a reasonable way to protect the monument, including the possible use of private security guards.
The outcry reached to the upper echelons of government, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling an Ottawa radio station that spent much of yesterday discussing the story. Mr. Harper denounced the "thoughtless" actions of the young men, who were photographed by a retired major concerned about the treatment of the war memorial during the capital’s annual street party.
"Obviously, it’s a terrible thing to do," Mr. Harper said. "Certainly my impression is it doesn’t represent in any way the views of any segment of Canadian society."
David McGuinty, the MP for Ottawa South, did not mince words on the appropriate punishment for those caught urinating, whom he called "the worst of the worst that society has to offer."
"You want to grab them by the hair or by the ears and walk them through the War Museum, to understand just how despicable and disrespectful that kind of conduct is," he said, adding, "You cannot attribute this to drunkenness."
Mr. McGuinty was among the politicians that Dr. Michael Pilon, the retired major who shot the photos, e-mailed last month to ask for beefed-up security around the monument on Canada Day. The MP said no such e-mail had come to his attention, but he would speak to his staff about it today. Mr. McGuinty also vowed to take up the cause of protecting the monument, saying he wanted to bring together military agencies, the chief of police, the NCC and others to find a solution.
A National Defence spokesman denounced the "thoughtless and contemptible acts" perpetrated against the National War Memorial.
"Those few who would desecrate it only show their own ignorance and disrespect, and in no way diminish the vast debt of gratitude owed by Canadians to our veterans," said John Knoll.
"It’s absolutely disgusting — absolutely disgusting," said Bob Butt, the director of communications for the Royal Canadian Legion. "The tomb is a sacred place, the area surrounding it is consecrated as a graveyard. It’s the same as if you went in and urinated on someone’s grave."

I hope this doesn’t give Mother Sheehan any ideas.

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5 Comments »

Another thought about the urination

Steve Janke at 12:40 AM

Related articles: Technorati Cosmos :: CanConv :: Blogging Tories

Something occurs to me about the fellow urinating on the National War Memorial: Comments (6) :

Oil-For-Food Meets Canadian Atomic Energy Co.

From the Tongsun Park Oil-For-Food trial, we learn this about the good friend and business partner of Maurice Strong;

It's a small world.

From 1996 to 1998, Tongsun Park served as adviser and then the CEO of Canadian Atomic Energy Co.. American reporter Claudia Rosett continues to report on the Park trial, including testimony implicating Maurice Strong; Posted by Kate at 10:07 AM | Comments (4)

Interesting advertising connections in Caledonia

Steve Janke at 11:10 PM

Related articles: Technorati Cosmos :: CanConv :: Blogging Tories

Liberal Party.

Advertising contracts.

Anyone else getting nervous?

There's more... "Interesting advertising connections in Caledonia"

Comments (5) :: TrackBack (0)

"One for $30,000 to 'M. Strong'"

Claudia Rosett keeps the information coming on the most ignored Canadian story on the planet. (For example, a search of the CBC website shows the most recent reference to Tongsun Park to be over a year old);

The testimony about cash just keeps rolling in. It has now rolled as far as those checks to "M. Strong." Friday the prosecution called to the stand a Jordanian branch bank manager, a woman named Rima Elias Azzouni, who testified under oath that in September, 1997, Tongsun Park walked into her bank in the Jordanian capital of Amman, opened an account, and deposited into it $700,000 in U.S. $100 banknotes, much of it bundled in wrappers with markings of the Iraqi government's Al Rafidain Bank.
[...]
Under direct questioning, she then described in detail two sets of transactions that took place in 1997 (both apparently the same transactions discussed in far less detail in the Sept. 7, 2005 report by Paul Volcker's probe into Oil-for-Food).
The first, according to Azzouni's testimony, took place on July 30, 1997, when a man with an Iraqi passport, Hammam Rashid Humaym, came into her branch bank, opened an account in his own name and deposited into it "$991,000 American dollars." That same day, Humaym had issued from the account a check made out to "Mr. M. Strong." (This appears to have been the Jordanian bank check that Volcker alleges was delivered to Maurice Strong in New York the following week, who endorsed it over to a business associate Theodore Kheel — who deposited it on August 5, 1997. Strong told the Volcker committee he did not know that the funds might have come from Iraq, and said he regarded the check as payment for an investment Park wished to make in a Strong family company. Strong was working at the time with the rank of Under-Secretary-General as chief architect for Secretary-General Kofi Annan's 1997 reforms at the U.N.).
In opening the account, Humaym provided a phone number, 614191, testified Azzouni, which was the same phone number provided by Park, when less than two months later he walked into Azzouni's bank branch and opened an account under the name T.S. Park. The government showed the jury copies of bank documents with the matching phone numbers, and relevant names and signatures. Azzouni further testified that having deposited $700,000 in cash, on Sept. 14, 1997, Park returned to her bank office later that same day, and had four checks issued on his new account. The jury was shown bank documentation for all four checks...-

During this period of time, (1996 - 1999), Tongsun Park served as an advisor and then the CEO of Canadian Atomic Energy Company (AECL). Park's website

(Linkmeister Newsbeat1 is always a good first source to check for breaking developments on the trial, and a host of other news items.)

h/t Maz2 in the comments.

Posted by Kate at 11:20 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

Evacuees whine about conditions on ships. [ 1, 2, 3 ]

Harper's "Katrina"? Or CBC's "Rathergate"?

Reader "TomR" writes in the comments about something I've also noticed - the similarity of tone in Canadian media coverage of the evacuation from Lebanon with the (now largely discredited) reporting from New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina;

Canada's media has seized on to Harper's "Katrina" and isn't going to let it go. No matter what is done for Canadians in Lebanon, it will not be enough. Just think back to Katrina last year and you hear the same things coming from the ingrates that the MSM finds: relief wasn't fast enough, why weren't they prepared for this, it's so disorganized, there's not enough food & water, it's too hot, they're treating us like animals, etc. No-one to be found that is grateful for being rescued and few questions about how thousands of people came to be in the predicament to begin with.

Except, I don't think it's working. And that's not a perception coming from callers to talk radio - read some of the responses at Al-Jazeera North; (link fixed)

Who are these people? First, they complain that the government doesn't have a complete flotilla standing by on 24 hours notice to evacuate them from any place in the world. Then, when the flotilla does show up, they complain that it wasn`t first class.
Someone ought to tell them to stop the whining and the CBC ought to stop giving credence to this nonsense.

I do believe that the pursuit of this particular agenda by a tone-deaf Liberal media is about to result in no small degree of blowback. And consider that these are the comments that were allowed through the editorial filter of the CBC. I can't begin to imagine what was rejected.

Posted by Kate at 04:18 PM | Comments (68) "The culture of the Nanny-State lives on. It is the government's responsibility to rescue us wherever we are; no matter what we do. Canada is little more than a lifestyle state, "the greatest hotel on earth," as writer Yann Martel put it. Come stay a while and be entitled to an old age pension for as long as you live, wherever you live. "

Seasickness
On a boat
In the Mediteranean
We're not making this up

Convenient Canadians

Sudden Citizens

Free Dominion trashed in Ottawa Citizen op-ed

Attention all those who love Freedominion [ 1 ... 4, 5, 6 ]

The secret caller who exposed Adscam (for once 'investigative reporting' served the public good)--While I know this is an article without much mass appeal, I've largely posted it as a thank you to American FRiends like 'backhoe' who faithfully tracked the Adscam story and to whom this seemingly almost final piece of the puzzle wouldn't be otherwise available.

GMMAC

To: backhoe

You're welcome FRiend - here's another for your collection:

Chrétien friend bragged about 'a little scheme'
Gomery witness told ministers' aides sponsorship helped Liberals, book reveals

Toronto Globe and Mail
Saturday, October 21, 2006
TU THANH HA

MONTREAL -- Three years before the political kickback arrangement behind the sponsorship scandal would become public at the Gomery inquiry, a friend of Jean Chrétien was bragging to aides of two cabinet ministers that the federal program was being used to assist the Liberals in Quebec, a new book reveals.

The Chrétien friend, the controversial graphic designer Jacques Corriveau, is a pivotal figure in the scandal. He denied at the Gomery inquiry last year that he sought disguised donations for the Liberal Party from suppliers to the sponsorship program.

However, according to a book to be released next week by Globe and Mail political reporter Daniel Leblanc, Mr. Corriveau met aides for Don Boudria and Paul Cauchon and said he had "a little scheme" that made the program help the party.

Titled Nom de code: MaChouette and published by Quebecor Media's Libre Expression, the book also says:

A controversial figure in the scandal, the late Liberal fundraiser Giuseppe (Joseph) Morselli, was being wiretapped by police for an unrelated investigation.

The police heard Mr. Morselli, a friend of then public works minister Alfonso Gagliano, accepting an offer of $100,000 from ad executive Jean Brault to intervene in the attribution of a federal contract. "It was very explicit," one source says in the book.

This took place in 2001, a year before the RCMP was called to look at the sponsorship file.

The RCMP used a paid informant to investigate Mr. Brault, rewarding their source with thousands of dollars in cash.

A provincial police probe into the dealings of another key player in the scandal, ad executive Jean Lafleur, was referred this year to a Crown attorney, meaning that investigators deemed that some criminal charges could be filed.

During the sponsorship era, the well-connected Mr. Lafleur clinched more than $65-million in federal contracts and led a lavish lifestyle, wining, dining and entertaining high-ranking Liberals.

Designed to bolster the visibility of the federal government in Quebec after the 1995 referendum, the sponsorship program funnelled millions of dollars in contracts to a handful of Liberal-friendly advertising and media firms.

According to the new book, Mr. Corriveau met in 2002 with officials working for Mr. Boudria, then minister of public works, and Mr. Cauchon, then minister for Quebec.

"He told me that the program had helped the party. He didn't talk about cash in envelopes but he spoke about a little scheme," Alain Pilon, who was Mr. Boudria's chief of staff, is quoted as saying.

"Jacques Corriveau made a similar confession at Martin Cauchon's office and to other Liberals," the book adds.

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Boudria said he was never told about Mr. Corriveau's visit. Mr. Cauchon could not be reached for comment.

The revelation would corroborate the testimony at the Gomery inquiry of Daniel Dezainde, a former director-general of the Liberal Party's Quebec wing.

Mr. Dezainde, who took over the role in May of 2001, testified that Mr. Corriveau told him over lunch that he set up a system where he got kickbacks for the party from agencies that benefited from the sponsorship program.

Mr. Leblanc's book also mentions another well-connected businessman, Mr. Morselli. He died of heart problems last March, cutting short a police investigation into his activities, the book says.

"Morselli's death disappointed a lot of people at the RCMP," one anonymous source says in the book.

Mr. Morselli was a cagey, enigmatic man who was alleged at the Gomery inquiry to have received envelopes of cash from Mr. Brault to secure federal contracts.

Mr. Brault eventually pleaded guilty in Quebec Superior Court to five counts of fraud involving federal contracts awarded to his firm, Groupaction Marketing Inc.

The book says that, in addition to former Groupaction vice-president Jean Lambert, police investigation relied on a paid informant, a former Groupaction employee whose name has never been disclosed.

source - url may or may not work

7 posted on 10/21/2006 3:51:52 PM EDT by GMMAC

BREAKING:- New Adscam charges to be laid?

Love Boat?

By email;

I have it on good authority that the Safety Board inquiry into the Queen of the North sinking will find no mechanical or safety problems with the BC Ferries ship, but rather reveal that nobody was present on the bridge at the time as the two officers of the watch (a male and a female) were... exploring each other. Apparently there are regular gaps in the log entries over a period of time as this had become a pattern of behaviour.

The Victoria Times confirms a relationship existed between the two officers;

As questions continue to swirl around the Queen of the North sinking, the ferry union boss is dismissing as irrelevant a romantic relationship between two crew members on the bridge when the vessel crashed.
B.C. Ferries management said the relationship did not break its rules.
Since the ferry sank, stories have persisted of an affair between the helmswoman and junior (fourth) officer. But there is no evidence that the relationship had anything to do with the sinking, said Jackie Miller, president of the B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers' Union. No crew has said " 'we're concerned because these two people were having an affair," said Miller. "It has absolutely no bearing and if it had a bearing the TSB [Transportation Safety Board] certainly would have made comment about it by now."
[...]
B.C. Ferries stopped paying the second and fourth officers "months back" because they will not answer questions by the corporation about the last 14 minutes before crash, said [B.C. Ferries spokesman Mark] Stefanson.

Hmmmm......

Posted by Kate at 01:58 AM | Comments (2) |

Belindarella And The Fairytale Boardroom

D. Coulter, Aurora, letter to the editor (The Era-Banner - Newmarket-Aurora)

Newmarket-Aurora MP Belinda Stronach has been trying to win quick political points recently by criticizing the Conservatives for not having enough women in the cabinet. Its cabinet is about 25 per cent female.
To see if Ms Stronach puts her money where her mouth is, I reviewed the family company, Magna, of which she is a former CEO. I checked its annual report to see how many women are on the board of directors and how many women occupy senior executive positions.
As of the most recent Magna annual report, of 12 board members, there are no women. And of 25 senior executives, there [are] zero women.

h/t to reader "JM"

Posted by Kate at 11:19 AM | Comments (80)

http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=164978&p=1794658#p1794658

Beat to Quarters (FR mentioned)
-- Captain's Quarters has really stirred up the Canadian blogosphere by carrying details of court testimony on a governmental scandal that is banned from publication in the Great White North. The scandal is about the use of Canadian government money, laundered through a private ad agency, to hire Liberal Party hacks, and is so serious it may catapault the Canadian conservatives into power. This incident marks one more step by the blogosphere into the realm of news generation as opposed to mere commentary.

Another Sign Of Harper's Rising Fortunes

Hellway 368 "The Calvert Trail"

"Parliament Was Misinformed"

ACTION ALERT: TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER[ Goto page: 1, 2, 3 ]

Desecration Day

Canadians Photographed Urinating On War Monument

Harper's "Katrina"? Or CBC's "Rathergate"?

Love Boat?

Belindarella And The Fairytale Boardroom

ACTION ALERT: TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER
[ Goto page: 1, 2, 3 ]