Libya: The French Factor

Contributor: "BeeSting"

Wow! I leave Canada for a few weeks and look what happens!

Re: Election... navigating between Charybdis and Scylla. Poor Canada.

Re: Libya... seems that one aspect of the French/US involvement has been neglected by our short-memory/attention-span/coalition-of-the willing media pundits.

See how Rick Rozoff connects some dots: Libyan War And Control Of The Mediterranean

... regarding the subsequent summit held for the purpose on July 13, 2008, "Sarkozy's big idea is to use imperial Rome's centre of the world as a unifying factor linking 44 countries that are home to 800 million people."

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, however, announced that his nation would boycott the gathering, denouncing the initiative as one aimed at dividing both Africa and the Arab world, and stating: "We shall have another Roman empire and imperialist design. There are imperialist maps and designs that we have already rolled up. We should not have them again."

... Less than three years later Sarkozy's Mirage and Rafale warplanes were bombing Libyan government targets ...

The Voltaire Network prefaces the same article with the following:

" Had Muammar Gaddafi become too pesky for the likes of Nicolas Sarkozy and his Atlanticist partners, by standing in the way of their agenda for the domination of the Mediterranean sea region? France’s direct role in nurturing the rebellion against the Libyan leader is no longer a secret. In this article, Rick Rozoff offers some additional pointers, and analyzes the Libyan war in the context of the advancing transformation of the Mediterranean into NATO’s mare nostrum."

Food for thought...

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Ed Note: Some updates on Libya:

Obama team encourages defections from Libya
(But wiley Koussa appears to have gone from the frying pan into the fire: Quote: Pamela Dix ... said if Libya was responsible for Lockerbie then Koussa was too, adding: “he should not be a free man in this country.”)

Libya rebels glad and wary of U.S. support, defection
(Gates is willing to rule out US "boots on the ground" but not CIA intervention.)

Related on YYC: Yo! Who's in charge of the new NATO leader?

REMINDER: There's a permanent STOP NATO link in the side panel. I've moved it up to the top for easy access to their updates on Libya.

Canada's "terrorists" an agricultural pun

Contributor: "YYC"

The Natural Compost is such a blatant example of the media supporting the work of the industrial/military power structure that to effectively counter its vicious mongering would take up too much of my life. I couldn't help, however, seeing the double meaning in this headline:

Canada grows its own terrorists

First you grow a war machine that feeds off the destruction of life forms in the name of "liberation", then you plant seeds of racism, general fear and hatred of the Other; then you water the seeds by glorifying the slaughter of abitrarily designated weeds abroad - lest they migrate here and infect our crops.

Next, you take the youngest plants, turn as many as you can into maneaters and export them abroad to destroy the so-called foreign weeds. You keep planting seeds of fear and hate at home lest the crop of maneaters dwindles, and to further justify the production of so many of them you display examples of weeds that have migrated into our very own pristine environment.

Weed! Weed! scream the minions of the machine, holding them up for everyone to see and be horrified by, pointing fingers, embellishing their exploits, then performing a ritual called "justice" before sacrificing them to the dogs of war.

Blood and destruction shall be so in use
And dreadful objects so familiar
That mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war ...

Too esoteric? Okay, let's look at a couple of the pithy comments below the NP article.

In the comments section d_yoush_begg 9:32 AM on March 31, 2011 says that the writer:

"forgot to mention all the young people Israel recruits for its blood-stained military who then go on to terrorize unarmed palestinian villagers and grab thier land, acre by acre. Canadians taking up arms for foreign cause is morally and ethically wrong and criminal to say the least."

Let's assume that includes NATO's "interventions" as well.

VancouverDave 8:46 AM on March 31, 2011 said:

"The only terrorists in Canada have offices on Parliament Hill."

RCMP's "Project SEVERE"-ly Questionable

Contributor: "YYC"

Is it a hoax on Canadians, or on the RCMP? Does it matter so long as we are always afraid and don't argue about the wars?

The Mounties have bagged themselves another terrorist "for attempting to participate in terrorist activity, and for providing counsel to a person to participate in terrorist activity".

Strange how just a few words can smell like entrapment. Who's the other "person", and how much did the RCMP pay her/him with our tax dollars?

Further suggestion there is a mole involved is contained here: "We will continue to work with partners to eliminate terrorist criminal activity in Canada and abroad".

Come on. Ask any OPP or city police officer (in private) if there's such a thing as working "with" the RCMP. And everybody knows of the CSIS/RCMP turf wars. Hey, there's war everywhere these days. With such fine role models, it's no wonder kids take weapons to school.

It's a sad, sad position the once proud and revered (and cute in their little red outfits) RCMP have found themselves in, having to struggle to take the lead in demonstrating there is, in fact, a bona fide "war on terror" (not to mention a "war on drugs") when in reality there's just plain old dirty wars for control of Muslim oil countries. No doubt they'd rather play jazz and be photographed on horses by starry-eyed tourists.

How does this sorry state of affairs come about? Well, first, the government "identifies" a Muslim terrorist group abroad, and then, at a time deemed auspicious, a young Muslim traveling there is assumed to be doing so in order to hitch up with that group. If words must be jammed into his mouth, sobeit. He can be kept in jail for a long, long time until he finally confesses just to be released on time served. Much can be justified in the interests of keeping up the appearance of "national security".

There seems to be a rule that there must be no significant time lapse between terrorist non-events, lest we plebes start wondering what the wars are really for. Now that the Toronto 18 has faded from media pages and public memory, it's time for reinforcement. So while Ignatieff and two million other Canadians can "step outside" Canada, just let a young Muslim go home for a visit and all hell breaks loose.

The potential perp is chosen at random on another assumption, that all young Muslims fantasize about revenge on the racists who destroy their ancestral countries. And this no doubt is true of a number of them. Young guys fantasize about all sorts of things they might do if their moral upbringing weren't in the way - Catholic confessionals are full of them. Hey, that's what mid-life crisis is all about - things you never did.

Makes me wonder how many of our combat soldiers are there because they fantasized offing a "raghead" for Canada. Not everybody gets official permission to carry out one's fantasies.

But gee, I hope this latest non-event isn't just another hoax played on a non-white person and the RCMP by a member of a white supremacist group (see forum posts #1 and then #5 where he proudly signs his name and reveals his location, and makes the Freudian slip: "I am not afraid to hide what I am"). He was supposed to have appeared in court on the 4th of March, but the media have generally kept mum about the whole affair. Maybe that's because it's embarrassing how the RCMP have spent so much time investigating hoaxes.

Or ... maybe they don't want to blow the cover that a hoax can provide? Hmmm ... could a white supremacist get a job with the RCMP as a mole? Are these the types of "partners" the RCMP are working with?

Image (problem) borrowed from here.

FOOTNOTE: Three months after 9/11, I was traveling to Europe and my seatmate to the left was a young Somalian woman with everything covered except her beautiful face. She was going home to check on her mother who, she said, would never leave her homeland no matter how dangerous things became.

She smiled as she refused the Bailey's that I and the German woman on my right poured into our coffee; not judgmental, but just living up to what she'd been taught. Because I was curious, she undid her headscarf and redid it to show me her secret of how she kept it from shifting off her head. She was a medical student, and had a very honest sense of humour. I asked her if she wanted to be a doctor to help her people, and she said, not really, it was because it was a highly paid job. I've heard male Canadian interns say the same thing.

That was at the height of the terror panic and this young woman was freely allowed to travel to her home country. And so she should have been. But you see, she was not a young male, and the big ruse at that time was "finding Bin Laden" in Afghanistan and his (male) accomplices abroad. It's all quite sophomoric the way the ruses keep changing, but the public seems to believe this stuff.

I, on the other hand, was subjected to an invasive search at Heathrow before boarding an Air Canada flight back home. I figured it was because they were desperately trying to show they weren't racially profiling. But they were, and they still are.

Iggy says "Git outa Dodge"

Contributor: "YYC"

But he's sayin' it t'us, not tuh the bad guys tryin' a run this here place, which makes you wonder, don't it, if'n he's one of 'em.

VIDEO: A Canada we can all be proud of

Actually, Iggy says "should" be proud. Yeah, it's all about what we should do, not him. We should be proud that two million Canadians have had to go outside their country to find meaningful employment; that Canada has made them no offer they couldn't refuse.

Iggy blandly says he's angry, and so far that's his reason we "should" vote for him. But his little "step outside of Canada" lasted 30 years during part of which time he publicly called the US his country, the country he loved. Everybody knows that and he shouldn't be wasting his precious campaign time denying it. He should own up to it, say he's sorry, and come up with some creative atonement.

Ah, but he's just a politician, up to no good, like all of them once they're elected and begin to feel the power they've been ahungerin' fer, just within their reach. Unlike many of them, however, Iggy is reasonably fit for other employment, and maybe he "should" get a nice job teaching at U. of T. You know, something to get him out of the House. Because the devil has use for idle hands.

Oh, I know what you're thinking, but if students don't know by now that education, like government, is little more than very expensive, politicized mind control, they "should" wise up. Why outlaws is aswarmin' all over this place 'thout they all knowin' it.

And if you're a Muslim student, so much the worse. The cowboys'll git ya for terrorism.

They all "should" listen to the Marshall, go home and do some serious thinkin': VIDEO clip from Gunsmoke (The final line is chilling)

ADDENDUM: I hate to say it, but the Libcons have come up with a well-crafted, well-defined, hard hitting video about Harper.

ALSO: just for fun, here's an inside look at the artificiality of the campaign trail, although maybe one should keep in mind that being fit to run and being legally allowed to run are two different things.

Yo! Who's in charge of the new NATO leader?

Contributor: "Yo Momma"

So like I've been musing over the fact that at just the moment the Canadian parliament is dissolved due to a non-confidence vote there is a Canadian general chosen to lead the NATO "humanitarian" mission in Libya (this after much discussion and disagreements apparently).

Just who is in charge of Canada right now? Harper has lost his ticket to the royal wedding because he's no longer head of state.

So is like the Gov-Gen in charge, who, like, represents the "Queen of Canada" - in the Queen's own words?

I can't help but wonder if a Canadian general was chosen because he is in fact acting on behalf of Britain and France (Canada's colonial "owners").

It looks like an independent Canada is spear-heading this action but with no head of state other than the Quink I have to wonder just who he answers to....

No wonder they call it the theatre of war.

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Ed Note: Maybe Bouchard is really an American actor costumed as a Canadian? His bio (pdf format) reveals him to be an Ignatieff in khaki; a Canadian who has spent a lot of time elsewhere - like Texas, like Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, like Harvard, and oh yes, receiving the US Legion of Merit in 2004.

Related from Digital Journal: Libya, confused, I am!

Harper's 2004 plan to steal Parliament

Contributor: "YYC"

Ex-Harper adviser says Tory minority was 2004 option

Harper negotiated with NDP leader Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe in September 2004 was seen by Conservatives at the time as a potential avenue to a Harper-led minority government — without seeking Canadians' approval in an election.

Harper's rationalization in light of his current scare tactics about coalition:

"You don't try and form a government if you lost the election. That is not legitimate," Harper said on Saturday, moments after meeting with Gov. Gen. David Johnston, while responding to reporters' questions at the entrance to Rideau Hall. "If Canadians elect the other party, even by a minority, you respect that judgment. It is illegitimate to attempt to overturn that. And if you want to overturn it, you go back to the people and get a mandate to do so."

First of all, his grammar is bad. You either try to do something or you do it. Hence one of my favourite expressions: "Don't try; just do it!"

Secondly, he's lying. It's perfectly legitimate to form a coalition when 60% did not vote for the "elected" party. The UK's current government is a coalition headed by David Cameron after Gordon Brown's party, as Harper's party has repeatedly, failed to win the confidence of the majority of voters.

The more Harper talks about "respect" the less he demonstrates it.

Mike Duffy has always been a comic figure - oops, I'd better be careful; he's a suer - but not more so than when he said:

"If you could put Stephen Harper... in 24 Sussex Drive, even for five or six months without an election, it would make the Conservative option much more palatable to Canadians because they'd see that they don't have horns and a tail."

You can see why this journalist - who couldn't see the difference between the Progressive Conservatives and the Reform Party in disguise - was eventually rewarded with an appointment to the Senate. You can also deduce why so many other members of the media have been similarly awarded with high and highly paid honorary positions if you understand that they support the going power structure, as do the police and the military.

Mikey didn't know or didn't want to say that Harper would have been campaigning - with horns and tail well hidden - all the way to the next election.

And, as Harper now attempts to raise the coalition bogeyman in reverse, he reveals himself as merely a rattling pot pronouncing a pan with eyebrows dirty.

Michael Ignatieff’s eyebrows: the perfect gift for any child

The media love them; that ought to tell you something about their relative mental acuity.

Harper Majority: End of Canada as we know it

Contributor: "Ron"

If Harper wins a majority, Quebec will separate

Although this should be obvious to everyone, our moronic mainsteam media are not discussing it and therefore it is worth detailing how it will unfold.

Quebec is the most anti-Harper province in Canada. Take away the bulwark of the Bloc Quebecois seats in Parliament and rump Canada is overwhelmingly Barry Goldwater-like Harper Land. Quebec society at every level overwhelmingly opposes Harper’s cultural, social and economic conservatism. Quebecers are in fact repulsed by Harper’s retrograde conservatism and antidemocratic authoritarianism.

If Harper were to win a majority in Parliament, Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe will likely not want to spend five years as a front row spectator to Harper’s unfettered destruction of Canadian democracy. To salvage democracy for Quebecers, Duceppe would quit federal politics to take over as leader of the provincial Parti Quebecois. Duceppe is the most popular political figure in Quebec, second only to Rene Levesque in historic popularity amongst current Quebecers.

Keep in mind that during the last referendum on separation in 1995, Canada was governed by the centre of the road Chretien Liberals. In that referendum, the vote for separation was almost 50-50 and the status quo Confederation stayed in place thanks only to a mere 100,000 vote difference. Under a Harper majority Government, Quebecers will witness the full brunt of Harper’s retrograde conservatism and antidemocratic authoritarianism. They would quickly realize that the only way to safeguard their democratic institutions, society and culture would be to separate. Duceppe would easily lead Quebec to separation in a third and final referendum.

Personally I support Separation. I support people’s right to self determination everywhere, including of course in my native Quebec. As a Quebecer, I see more hope for democracy inside a separate Quebec than I do inside a Harper Canada. We have already seen how a minority Harper Government has chipped away at Canadian democracy. With a majority government, Canada’s sociopathic and hateful Prime Minister Harper will lay waste to what remains of Canada’s democratic institutions.

Over time, states come and go. Under a majority Harper Government, the 144 year old experiment known as Canada is over. One can only feel sorry for those who will be left behind in Harper’s Rump State. It won’t be a good place.

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Ed Note:

1. Rabble: ...by the end of this year the Supreme Court of Canada, which Harper has accused of being "too left leaning," will see eight of its nine judges eligible for retirement, leaving a Harper majority free to replace them with the most conservative candidates it can find.
2. Rabble: Harper, who has worked so hard to make coalition a dirty word, will try very hard to keep it in the forefront every day. We can only hope the media won't be sucked into his grubby little game.

Atomic slavery

Contributor: "YYC"

Radiation minimal in North America

Radiation from Japan has been detected on this side of the Pacific but levels are still low.

It's even been found in Bay State rainwater

Massachusetts now joins scores of other states from the west to the east reporting higher than normal signs of contamination, all likely from Japan.

But it's a "low-level, low-level, low-level threat", like the Raging Grannies.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission says " ... very minute levels of isotopes in the radiation have been attributed to the release in Japan." There's that word "very" again; not what you'd call scientifically precise.

Health Canada's tables (pdf file) measure it in microsieverts per day (whatever happened to roentgens, or am I dating myself?) rather than by the hour as in the animations of the potentials, so it's a bit like trying to quickly compare supermarket goods that are labelled using grams and ounces.

Anyway, they assure us there's scarcely a blip of a diff in the average levels, and Natural Resources Canada says (pdf file) there is no health risk (at least not as of the 24th of March), and and wouldn't it be nice if we could believe what the guv tells us?

Not to change the subject, but if you like Japanese reggae, take a look: VIDEO. Yes, it does seem the Japanese have been waking up too.

"Kezai no dore" or "Economic Slave"
They stand in line so peacefully, the cops in front refuse to read the signs that say we are all human cant we get along, the rob us blind with the tax on the back and still they beat us down, and your their puppet fighters, you brought a gun to a peaceful march, a comic hero shield and a bullet proof vest, dont point that gun at me and terrorize, Oh cause Im a freeman

What's happening in Japan will be a different sort of disaster capitalism. Most countries have been "encouraged" to export their natural resources, technology and agricultural products, and then import their basic necessities at higher cost to the consumer. (What we get cheaply from China is not usually anything we need.) But who will trust Japan's exported products now? Yet they will have to import bigtime in order to survive. Is this how the global agenda plans to bring Japan into line with the "New World Order"?

In March 2010, some financial seers were predicting economic collapse for Japan because of its high debt load. But get this, its debt was to its own people - not to global bankers, not to the IMF - and with low interest rates. Will Japan now be forced to go the route that has impoverished the working classes of so many other countries?

March 2011: 14 Reasons Japan's Economic Collapse has begun

Gee, you'd almost think the earthquake and tsuanami were planned, wouldn't you?

Good, bad, unbelievable news

Contributor: "YYC"

A study using census data from nine countries shows that religion there is set for extinction, say researchers.

They wish.

Does the slide into heathenism begin like: "My pennance was 10 Hail Marys but I only said 5 - I feel so naughty"?

Don't you just love a "scientific" study with this kind of footnote:

"Obviously much more complicated things are going on with any one individual, but maybe a lot of that averages out."

Those researchers are true believers.

Did you know that the word believers contains rebel and vise? Sorry, my mind wandered.


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Good news! There is plenty of money to keep demented seniors "warehoused" in Manitoba. Doesn't it make you want to move there?

The first people through the door ought to be the 45% of Canadians who said in a Winnipeg Free Press poll that the recent contempt finding makes them more likely to vote for the Cons.

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Less good news: the radiation in Japan is not as bad as they thought. It's been downgraded from radically bad to horrificly bad.

VIDEO: Nuclear Nightmare

Nuclear Activist: "They do not have a crisis management approach; they have a news management approach."

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London demo clean-up will be tens of thousands

The Olympic Countdown Clock had paint and scratches on it, which its makers Omega described as "superficial damage".

Can't help wondering what that silly clock cost in the first place. And aren't "hundreds of streetcleaners" part of the regular municipal budget?

Also wonder how London can turn out 500,000 people to protest social program cuts and the only thing Canadians turn out in huge numbers for is the Toronto Pride parade.

Only an estimated 25k for the G20 protest, many of them bussed in, and the population of the GTA is 5.5 million.

The interesting thing about the London protest is that the masked guys who inflicted a bit of damage at the Ritz were not all wearing the same boots.

Canadian cops' history of agents provocateurs

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The Canadian government is rife with scandal and criminality, has cut social programs while budgeting for wars abroad and bigger prisons at home, yet ... well, you saw the Winnipeg Free Press poll above.

Which reminds me: there's supposed to be a World Truth Conference coming up this year. I signed up quite a while ago for newsletters,and so far the only email I've received from them has been about the clamp-down on natural health products.

You might be interested, however, in the video library on the TWTC website - they cover a wide range of topics that should be of concern to all North Americans.

Warning: they don't believe in global warming, and they do believe in UFOs, including The Disclosure Project headed by Steven Greer of whom I have long been suspicious.

Oh, and you might be interested in a CTV poll asking if people turned off their lights during earth hour.

You may have noticed, if you clicked the link above about the radiation "mistake", that CTV Winnipeg has a poll asking which party you will vote for in the upcoming election - with no "Other" category, only the four usual parties outside Quebec. Nor have they so far offered a preview of the results.

That's the "news" wearing blinkers and wanting you to do the same.

Registered political parties in Canada

OR

Vote Independent

New Words Day: "Ecopolitology" and "Infographic"

Contributor: "YYC"

Try saying that first word 5 times fast.

Anyway, I received an email form the folks who coined it:

With no end in sight of rising gas prices, and the fact that our reliance on fossil fuels has triggered the inevitable of running out, a look to alternative sources of energy is a hot topic. And to bring to light not only the benefits but also downfalls of alternative energy, we've compiled an infographic that highlights it all.

I don't know; these people might think I'm onboard with some things I'm not. But the "infographic" is worth a look.

I'm not sure we should be finding ways to continue driving our cars. Public transportation should be seriously upgraded and people should be encouraged to use it. Unfortunately, Greyhound has been busy shutting down some of it routes.

I'm also not so sure that it would take 11 acres to feed 7 people. And it's time to start encouraging people to eat seasonally. The luxuries of relative affluence can no longer be afforded.

That means, for example, canned Canadian tomatoes in winter instead of Mexican ones. I would like to see a much larger frozen food industry in Canada as well. Too many of our frozen fruits and vegetables are imported from the US - and red and yellow peppers from ISRAEL? What does it cost in fossil fuel for that?

VIDEO: Japanese radiation over Canada

Contributor "Ron"

Radiation from Japan coating Canadian Farmland & Water Sources

Related: Radioactivity rises in seawater near Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant

Ed Note: From "The Iceweaver" by American Margaret Lawrence: "Life is the print of the same hoof on different ground".

Harper, Ignatieff: Protesting too much

Contributor: "YYC"

Ignatieff swears off coalition
In a minority government situation, Canada's constitution allows for the leader of the Official Opposition to form a coalition with other opposition parties if the party with the most MPs loses the confidence of the House of Commons.

Harper kicks off campaign, warns of opposition coalitions
He dismissed a statement by Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff issued Saturday that said the Liberals would not form a coalition after the election, saying, “Nobody’s going to be fooled.”

... Indeed, he even accused Ignatieff of having a “hidden agenda.”

If any way can be found after the election to form a coalition, it will be done. Harper wants it; Ignatieff wants it; the North American Union wants it; the "New World Order" wants it - a two party system, like the US, neither one much different from the other, just enough to ooze the artificial perfume of democracy, like a pine scented plastic Christmas tree.

Throughout the States, whether federally or at the state level, it's either Republicans or Democrats, and strangely the people shift with the strongest wind, despite being burned time and again.

How darling that Harper and Laureen are being photo-opped holding hands, like George and Laura, because the sheeple vote for romantic idealized illusions, having been conditioned by the moobies, rather than educating themselves about the actual issues.

Hey, I laffed out loud at this:

Ignatieff: Has he lost his lustre?

He had some? Sure, the media seemed to play him up early on, but anybody who was alive when Trudeau was PM knows Iggy ain't no him. But the stage was thereby set to have him written off as an elitist.

Over and over we were told how "normal" and "ordinary" Steve and Laureen were in contrast to Iggy (whose own wife is rarely seen in the media - why? because she looks way more ordinary) - and maybe to offset anticipated and now widespread rumours.

Laureen is even bitchily branded a "hag fag" by the Queer community, who don't take kindly to closeted public figures of which there are quite a number - hence, perhaps, the reason Harper put gay marriage to a vote rather than committing himself on the issue of gaiety, which his professed religion decrees is one of the grossest of sins.

By the way, the rumours about George and Laura were not nearly so persistent and detailed as those about Steve and Laureen.

It must be faced: there ain't no lustre to be found among any of our politicos - except maybe for Justin Trudeau's teeth. You can dress 'em up (most of them), but ...

Japan: Another kind of fallout

Contributor: "YYC"

Canada steps up import controls for Japanese food, resists outright ban

China Bans Some Food Imports From Japan

This will spread to other countries. Only time will tell the massive price that Japan will be forced to pay for its nuclear facilities.

If you're interested in knowing the locations of nuclear reactors and areas of seismic activity in the United States, here are details and maps.

Earth Hour drop in bucket

Contributor: "YYC"

To avoid repeating myself, if you want to know more of what I think about Earth Hour, please read what I wrote in March 2010. Earth Hour is one of the less effective attempts at population/mind control.

On the positive side, the lack of interest may be a sign that people see it as an inadequate gesture and are taking more positive steps to reduce their footprints. Let's hope.

Regardless of scientific argument about CO2, it makes sense to consume only what we need, and recycle what we use. If global warming turns out to be a reality (so far it looks more like global cooling), then we should be preparing how best to survive it, and that won't be accomplished with Earth Hour or with carbon tax.

Pre-election Sideshow

Contributor: "YYC"

CPAC is sizzling today, with back and forth accusations between the Cons and the Opposition. The election campaigning has begun even before the no-con vote.

Every word is for the consumption of the media and the general public. Some of these MPs could get night work as callers outside a peep show - Step right up! Goils, goils, goils!

Sometimes I'm slow on the uptake. It only occurred to me while watching this that Harper lowered the GST by two pennies per dollar in a cynical move to get credit for his generosity because he knew that the HST was on its way - and the more money made by provinces, the less the feds feel called upon to share with them.

The Liberal member from the Maritimes reiterated what I said here - that the Cons don't care about Atlantic Canada and don't even think it belongs in Confederation.

"The Harper government must fall" is the battlecry. But if I'm right about why Ignatieff is here, the Liberal party will be decimated. What are they aiming for? A coalition of Bloc, NDP, Green and Libs that will create a two-party system?

Or am I paying too much attention to polls? I don't know; I think Harper wants this election, and this current rhetoric is not so much to argue against today's vote, but to convince Canadians his is the party of choice.

They're all reading from prepared scripts. Did someone write this as a stage play?

Ignatieff sounds hoarse; losing one's voice has more than one meaning.

Japan: Potential Nuclear Dispersion Images

Contributor: "Ron"

Animations: (click on the picture): Potential dispersion of the radioactive cloud after a nuclear accident in Fukushima

Radioactive Cesium-137 particles from Japan nuclear plant meltdown above Canada as we speak. The Canadian Government should be providing this information to the Canadian people.

I suggest you also click on the animation on the right titled "5000m" to see the spread of the radioactive particles. This shows the plume of radioctive Cesium-137 particles at a height of 5000m. The counter at the above right of this animation indicates the date, as the cloud of Cesium-137 spreads across the Pacific and over North America.

Big Mountie is Watching You

Contributor: "YYC"

RCMP watching separatists vowing to disrupt William and Kate's Canadian tour

... the force wants to speak directly with the group's leaders to learn their exact intentions....

Patrick Bourgeois, president of the RRQ, said Wednesday he has no intentions of co-operating with authorities....

"We have the right to demonstrate and that's what we'll do," Bourgeois said. "If the police doesn't thump us, there won't be a ruckus."

Bourgeois has previously said that the anti-monarchists are not looking for confrontation and that the "farthest we'll go is civil disobedience."

Now that's what I call activism. I hope they follow through, but if they do they may be in for a rough go of it. They should be supported by all anti-monarchists, whether they agree with the idea of Quebec secession or not. I certainly have not accepted Elizabeth as my personal sovereign, and I will not curtsey to any human.

Harper himself agrees with this; he just isn't saying that out loud at the moment, but he certainly hinted strongly at it in his 1997 speech to some American Christians when he said "Canada is not a bilingual country", and he revealed his lack of respect for the monarchy when he said, "... our executive is the Queen, who doesn't live here. Her representative is the Governor General, who is an appointed buddy of the Prime Minister."

He further equated the Atlantic provinces to "the United States border states" and, by gar, the secessionist map shows New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Maine blended like a smoothie.

His snide comments (he's really good at acid snide, don't you think?) reveal he's not averse at all to splitting the country up; in fact he suggests it's already split, but not in the right way. What the Reform party, from whence he emanated, opposes is the splitting of Canada "into two nations" because that's entirely too few.

I may have said this before, but I'm not so much a nationalist that I would be devastated if Canada were absorbed into a North American Union. I just don't like being lied to, and from the behaviour of some of the people in charge of the whole thing, and the military training the police are receiving, I think it will be brought about, not by democratic consensus, but by bloodshed, military rule, and many losses of freedom.

Netanyahu Sees Opportunity in Disaster

Contributor: "YYC"

UPDATE on yesterday's entry on the Jerusalem bombing.

They're calling it "the first major Palestinian militant attack in the city in several years" VIDEO. And that's before any real investigation is done.

Question: A small suitcase was not noticed by security - at a city bus stop?

Netanyahu vows to act firmly against recent attacks*

Prior to leaving for Russia, PM says gov't has established security policy where any attacks on Israeli citizens are met by "firm responses"; adds response will be responsible, wise.

If "wise" means "opportunistic" then he will expand on what he has done in response to the murder of the Itamar settler family:

The Israeli government responded by giving the green light to 400 new housing starts in the occupied West Bank, a move that was condemned in Europe and the US, as was the original murder of the settler family.

* The JPost, where the "wise" quote originated, has changed its wording to "prudently" (different translation, for what purpose?), so I linked to a copied version of their original article. It happens to be at Rapture Watch, because all of this stuff means Jesus is coming back soon, eh?

Hey, what if some nutter fundamentalist Christian pulled that stunt, like Paul Hill (and others) who murdered abortionists? Some of them seem so eager to get the job done of taking over "the Holy land" and getting Jesus back here so they can own him, that I wouldn't put it past them. They might not mind killing Jews; they're all going to hell anyway for rejecting Jesus, aren't they?

Jerusalem bombing weirdly like 7/7

Contributor: "YYC"

Explosion at central Jerusalem bus stop.

This is so weirdly like the London transit bombings (when both Netanyahu and Giuliani were coincidentally in the nearby vicinity).

Paramedic teams just happen to be on the spot, having a meeting.

"Several security drills" had recently been carried out at the bus station. The explosion was not on the bus, the way that alleged suicide bombers used to do, but at the bus stop - and this powerful bomb was not discovered by security personnel?

Next, we will likely hear that the bomb was a "sophisticated" one - suggesting it came from Iran (remember the boats Israel said carried weapons for Hamas) but also suggesting it came from Israel's military.

The Palestinian PM is correct in that this does indeed contradict the Palestinian people's plan to "achieve freedom in peaceful ways."

Somebody, not necessarily Palestinian, is working against that plan, and I hate to think where this is going to lead to.

Elizabeth Taylor: Beauty is as beauty does

Contributor: "YYC"

UPDATE: 8:30 pm: - Zsa Zsa Gabor hospitalized after becoming 'hysterical' over Elizabeth Taylor's death.

So I was wrong that Liz had no female friends. Zsa Zsa's friendship, however, extends to panicking that if Liz and Jane are gone, she must be next. At age 94, who but a raving (and superstitious) drama queen would not have come to terms with death?

-----

As you know, Elizabeth Taylor has died, and I am one of the very few not afraid to "speak ill" of the dead. "How could you not" be a fan, emotes the male journalist? It's easy when you don't fall in with everything you're told by the media.

Elizabeth Taylor has been a "star" all my life yet not a single one of her films ever charmed me, ever made me want to see it again, nor did I ever have an urge to emulate her appearance. No matter what role she took on, no matter how cleverly made-up she was, she still looked to me like the foul-mouthed shrew her many husbands quickly discovered she was.

Yet the media, over and over, told us she was the most beautiful woman in the world, and because of being fed such idealized images, most men are incapable of seeing the beauty in the women standing beside them.

I recall reading a story about a guy who ogled an airbrushed image on a sports magazine's swimsuit edition to the point that he made his girlfriend feel inferior. She somehow managed to get onto that same magazine's cover, and only then did the guy realize what he had, but that was her goodbye gift to him. This is a quirk in males I have often noticed; they have a hard time crediting anything that isn't approved by other males they look up to - the alphas in their lives.

Wives complain that their husbands don't hear them; the very advice they give is what he comes home enthusing over having been told it by a male he admires. Not that many women aren't equally gullible, but in general it's the alpha male that they too look up to. And the alpha is usually a complete fake. Only the woman closest to him - if he's managed to keep one for any length of time - knows the truth.

The thing about Taylor that annoyed me the most was when I heard her, at an advanced age, telling Barbara Walters or maybe it was Katie Couric (they're all the same to me - tools of the power system - regardless of what the entertainment media try to make them out to be) that she was abused by her father and it never did her any harm. I can go and sit on my daddy's knee like a little girl right now and feel perfectly safe, she said.

It was the most pathetic denial, in view of all her troubles, but it also set back the cause of abused women everywhere.

Taylor took out her rage at her father on her husbands, and on herself with her alcoholism and her many, many illnesses. Like most narcissists, she had no sympathy whatever for the problems of other women, yet she was expert at evoking sympathy in the people closest to her, and that's the nearest she's probably ever come to being loved.

For all her hugely publicized romances, Taylor couldn't abide heterosexual men, and yet they drooled over her on command, like Pavlov's dogs, mind controlled by the media. She preferred the company of skinny, helpless boy-men, like Montgomery Clift and Michael Jackson, and fake "he-men" like Rock Hudson who wouldn't want her sexually. The only good that appears to have come out of her deep neuroses was that she reportedly raised a lot of money for AIDS.

Have you ever heard of her women friends? I doubt she had any because she would be in competition with them, having been cast as an alpha woman.

And you know me, anybody who is rewarded by the elite cannot possibly have been all that good for humankind in general. "Dame Elizabeth" was a crazy dame, and no more beautiful than many women you see walking down the street.

She was just another hoax played on the sheeple. She and others like her in the entertainment industry were tools to keep males docile, and therefore less of a threat to adverse government agendas.

Time to watch this video again.

Another video: Joan Crawford says of Elizabeth Taylor: "We were both born at MGM". But Taylor was born after Crawford, the new MGM darling. Crawford had no choice but to say that Taylor was "one of the finest actors" and was quick to add that she was well "tutored". She says you can't manufacture stars, but she means today's actors, not the ones in her day. Yet anyone who knows the story of Crawford knows she was just another confused and narcissistic Hollywood creation. Note the heavy eyebrow and eye make-up that MGM foisted on her, exactly like Taylor's.

Budget Night in Canada

Contributor: "YYC"

Watch on CPAC starting at 4 PM ET, 1 PM PT.

Something to read in the meantime, and perhaps cause you to consider voting independent:

Unanimous support in the House for assault on Libya

"Currently our own aircraft are under Canadian command, but the system that has been set up has the Americans in the lead," MacKay told CTV's Canada AM, speculating that the UN-sanctioned mission could eventually come under NATO command.

"If there's agreement in Brussels and the member states can agree, the NATO mission will evolve. And that will also involve not just the aircraft in the no-fly zone, but we could also see ships that are currently under NATO command also enter into this mission."

Incidentally, the pilots of the downed plane that the Pentagon won't say for certain malfunctioned over Libya have landed in friendly territory, 25 miles from Benghazi, rebel land.

Don't believe the rumours?

NDP Leader Jack Layton won't say whether his party will support Tuesday's federal budget, despite leaks indicating he'll get some of his wishes.

Government in Contempt

A parliamentary committee has recommended the government be found in contempt for not providing enough documents on the costs of legislation.

The motion, passed by the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, now goes to the full House of Commons and could lead to a non-confidence motion.

Harper Conservatives: The perpetrators of Purple File politics

A 200-page Conservative playbook of how to obstruct parliament was leaked to the press by a National Post journalist in 2007, and online, polarized discussions currently rage about it and how much of an impact it has had these last few years.

Federal Conservatives fill B.C. nominations

Of the Nearly 20 per cent of incumbent MPs in B.C. have announced they will be giving up their seats.36 members in the province, five Conservatives, one Liberal and one New Democrat have announced they will not seek re-election.

Does it seem to you there's more to this than meets the eye? I can't quite forget the Alberta/B.C. secessionist thing. If they did secede, they would want their most seasoned politicians on board.

I'm starting to smell a majority for Stephen Harper.

Related on YYC: New Currency, New World?

Deadly Fallout

Contributor: "Bugman"

1. Libya

This no fly zone excuse, is becoming a deathly farce, since it seems to include bombing everything else in the country. It seems that the Nobel Peace Prize President has other ideas for the US empire.

So far AFRICACOM has had no takers on the African continent for the HQ location.

Is this a precursor for an involuntary volunteer country?

"Operation Odyssey Dawn" breaking for Washington

The French strikes against Libya are not a French operation, but a subcontracting component of Odyssey Dawn Operation under the authority of U.S. AfriCom. Their objective is not to rescue Libyan civilians, but to serve as a pretext to pave the way for the landing of U.S. forces on the Black continent ...

2. Radiation

Here is one of the better articles I found on this Radiation protection subject - well worth reading and saving somewhere:

Detoxify or Die: Natural Radiation Protection Therapies for Coping With the Fallout of the Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown

This article includes an overview of the publication Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment ...

Afghanistan, Palestine: What's in a photo?

Contributor: "YYC"

1.

'Trophy' pictures show US soldiers posing with corpses of Afghan civilians they are accused of killing for sport

The beloved American tradition of being photographed with the catch of the day, a fish, a deer, an Afghan.

The boy apprently lifted his shirt to show that he was not carrying explosives, but who removed his pants? Maybe this action wasn't as short as it's being described in the media? It seems bizarre that they covered his buttocks before taking the photos, considering what they were happy to reveal.

Where are the officers in charge when these things happen?

2.

Is it true that Palestinians "danced in the streets" of Gaza over the murder of the 5 settlers?

If you said that some Israelis danced in celebration of 9/11, you would be called an antisemite or at least a nutter.

The thing about all these photos of the alleged Palestinian celebration is that they were all of one guy, and we don't even know when the photos were taken. Maybe it was his birthday? Or maybe he was an infiltrator, and/or paid to pose in this manner? Why didn't they get his name? If he happily shows his face, why not give his name as well?

Here's a headline that says: "more photos"
There's one extra photo and it's the same guy (look at the jacket sleeves) - and does the woman look celebratory? No, she looks a little bemused. So where are all these celebrators?

Background on YYC.

Your civic doody

... pay your share of coporate taxes

Contributor: "YYC"

Here's an update from the folks at People for Corporate Tax Cuts, a new political advocate group covered earlier on YYC:

Stephen Harper needs us so we have launched a new website with new videos and other content to support the $6 billion Harper Government™ corporate tax cut. We think you'll enjoy "The Luck of the Irish", "Jobs. What jobs?" and other thoughts from Nuella Warkworth, our President, CEO, Chair and COO.

So, readers ... do your part, eh? Get yer membership card and share your creative ideas on how to come up with the $500 you'll be required to chip in to help the big corporations remain relatively tax free.

While you're at it, you could organize a campaign to make that saint, Nuella Warkworth, both President and Vice-President.

Harper's Cons and The Good Book

Contributor: "YYC"

Report finds Tories in contempt of Parliament
"It's nothing more than a political statement," said Tom Lukiwski, parliamentary secretary to the government house leader, John Baird.

First the Cons' dismissed charges of wrongdoing as an "administrative dispute:, then as a mere "distraction", then they whined that all the other kids are doing it, and now they are saying it's just a "political statement".

Looks as if, despite their "Christian" facade, the only book they're reading is a thesaurus.

More insight into the Cons: Call girls spice up political stories

Last year when the story broke about former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer ... everyone was talking about the "busty hookers" present at a business dinner and employees of an escort agency owned by the fiancé of a Jaffer business associate.

Last week it was Bruce Carson [See: Will the Harperoid Scandals Never Cease?] ... [whose] fiancée also happens to be a former high-priced escort. He is 66. She is 22.

And lest we forget former foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier, and his provocatively-dressed girlfriend with the shady background: Wiki: The couple had first met at a restaurant-dinner with business associates.

Libya "Revolution": Pro-Zionist pretext for anti-Muslim wars

Contributor: "Bangbang"

From AlQuds Alarabi:

About 50 Libyans in Egypt formed a protest in Midan Al Tahrir to prevent Ban Ki Moon from visiting the square where the Egyptian revolution that ousted the Mubarak regime was centered FORCING HIM TO RETREAT TO THE NEARBY BUILDING OF THE ARAB LEAGUE FROM WHICH HE HAD EMANATED.

This is the only news item that I care to pass on. I am smitten by the realization that some Arab media that seemed to be reporting in a responsible way and minding the Arab cause, while all others fostered the Zionist cause, lying and fabricating news non-stop, these supposedly enlightened, committed reporters are not that much different from their brainwashed, bigotted, Zionist retards.

I am talking of AlJazeera.net, Arabic version. After the Egyptian coverage which I thought was laudable (not heroic because their reporters were the Egyptian citizens and their mobiles, the AlJazeera office having been ransacked and closed, its reporters ousted), they turned arch helpers to the Libyan "revolution"' and its perpetrators, who are Zionist agents to the naked eye, bred and fed by the US via Saudi Arabia, and the impotent Zionist in the shape of Sarkozy, another Blair in disguise.

This while Saudi Arabia is sending its armies to squash the AlBahrain uprising; this while Yemenite protesters are shot in cold blood for all to see; this while the illegitimate criminal state of Israel has upped its attacks on Gaza civilians, with killings there every day, one sided; and we know of the massacres happening daily in Iraq and Afghanistan. AlJazeera was even criticized by other Arab citizens in revolt asking why they were being ignored...why this 24 hour coverage on Libya and Kadhafy?

Then the editor of the AlQuds AlArabi: Mr Abdel Bari Atwan - his views get skewed whenever he comes up with a personality he cannot understand. He went on and on against Saddam Hussein, and now calls him a martyr. He goes on and on about Kadhafy, then he bemoans the invasions we see perpetrated on a sovereign state by rabid Zionist forces, who are laughing so loud at how easy most Arab leaders made it for them that they might forget which skies they're blackening, and seek other skies around to blacken. The dead bodies on the ground are a moot point by now.

Then comes the retard of all retards: Amr Moussa, head of the Arab League, who plans to run for Egyptian President!!! Spare us, Dear God, this shithead who gave the OK for the Iraqi invasion turned occupation, was demanding feverishly a no-fly zone over Libya, and now is squeaking that a no-fly zone did not constitute an invasion. This guy is too much of a retard to be a traitor, but he wants to run for Egyptian President. Please, God, have pity on us.

Then Qatar, which has the AlJazeera headquarters on its grounds is sending war gear manned by its own people to help invade Libya. And the Emirates have joined just in case they should fall in Zionist eyes if they didn't. And of course, the Zionist wheels are turning towards the 'pearl': Syria. Ya. No "protesters" should go home with empty hands.

At least Ban Ki Moon, another piece of rot, was prevented from "visiting" the Midan Al-Tahrir, which has become very fashionable for people to visit who have absolutely no blood running in their veins but piss covered in make-up.

----------

Ed Note: BREAKING: One of Gadhafi's sons has died in hospital

Radiation scare?

Contributor: "YYC"

RADIATION / JET STREAM - MEGA STORM forms in the Pacific! March 17, 2011

This was posted on March 17, and was predicted to slam against Alaska and Northern Canada. I've seen nothing unusal in Ottawa except that everytime we get a sunny day they mess up the skies with chemtrails and the next day it's cloudy. Today's the first day of Spring, and yesterday in Ottawa it was sunny and bright, but overnight we had a bit of snow.

Here's the weather today in Prince Rupert on the B.C. coast: temp 2C, skies clear, winds 5 km/h, and the long term forecast is similar to Ottawa's.

Nome, Alaska had 40 km/h winds last night, and light snow. That's fairly high winds, but hardly what I'd call a mega storm, and the long term forecast is not much different from Ottawa's.

So, I don't know what this video is all about unless it was intended as a radiation scare.

Libya: What Canada has gotten into

Contributor: "Bugman"

A collage of headlines about our new venture in the Middle East.

No end to Harperoids' actions!

1.

A nine minute RT video with Chossudovsky about the war against Libya:
Chossudovsky: Libya no-fly zone means war

... western nations are interested in Libyan oil and other resources, not protecting the people and that is why they care more about the fight in Libya, than elsewhere in the Arab world.

2.

Obama Starts Another Illegal War, Rangel Calls For Draft

Nobel Peace prince Obama launched his liberation of the good people of Libya with his own shock-and-awe bombing campaign appropriately on the eighth anniversary of Bush's illegal invasion of Iraq. This tyrannical intervention is so naked, so brazen in its hubris that whatever shred of goodwill America had left is completely gone. America is officially the most murderous, anti-democratic, terrorist nation the world has ever known.

And get this, on the very same day of this unconstitutional act of war, ethically-challenged Charlie Rangel reintroduced his National Service "Draft" bill. Rangel pointed out in his announcement that the government lied us into the Iraq war that ultimately resulted in the deaths of over 4,400 servicemen with over 32,000 injured. He claims this is the reason we need a draft:

In any case, the game is now afoot. Barack Obama has drawn his first blood from Libya, which now becomes the sixth (at least) Muslim nation in which he has launched deadly military actions, joining Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. (Of course, the Administration has bragged that it is carrying out secret wars and covert operations in more than 70 countries, with several other Muslim nations certainly among that number.)

3.

Shock and Awe2: US, France and Britain Pound Libya

France fired the first shots in the new war with Libya, but the Obama Administration was close behind, with US warships firing upwards of 120 Tomahawk missiles at targets inside Libya. The strikes came largely overnight, and exactly what they hit is largely unknown. The reports however, suggest that at least some of the missiles hit civilian areas, and initial reports are that the attacks have killed at least 48 civilians and wounded 150 others. Obama termed the attacks a “limited military action” officially, but the massive series of strikes suggests the administration is already going far beyond the “no-fly zone” mandate and is well on its way to demanding Iraq-style regime change.

4.

Canada's role in the Libyan intervention: An ill wind that blows no good

One is tempted to ask, "When will we ever learn?" Except, of course, we already know the answer to that question: Never. We are deeply in the American orbit now.

By the way, CBC TV should get its facts straight. Last night they accused Gadhafi of bombing the disco in Berlin a while ago. That was the work of our friends in the Mossad, goading the US to bomb Gadhafi's palace.

----------

Ed Note: This may also be a signal to Americans that an armed insurrection in the US would be smashed by a UN decision to send in international forces.

We live in a House of Cards

Contributor: "YYC:

1.

Canadian Taxpayers Federation banned from Parliament Hill
You can smoke pot on Parliament Hill while the RCMP watches. You can even haul in a crane to hold up a giant TV for your rally. But don't you dare try to bring a small trailer showing the massive government debt onto the Hill.

So they parked on the street in front of the Hill. And they are touring Canada prior to the election. Here's their website.

The Cons are going to tell us that Canada survived the financial crunch better than most because of their sage management. Of course, what kept the banks reasonably stable is the result of safeguards put into place before the Harperoids got their mitts on our money.

They're bragging about how the average net worth of Canadians has gone up a tiny bit - but it seems to be mostly because the "value" of their homes has gone up. That means housing costs are higher. Is anyone going to be able to afford your house if you try to sell it? Maybe, maybe not. (I'm only a good money manager - out of necessity - not a hotshot financial guru.)

Financial Post: The Conservatives plan to limit annual spending growth to an average 1.1% per year until 2015 — or one of the most prolonged periods of fiscal restraint in decades ...

In the past several years, however, they inflated "annual program expenditures by 6%", so it's hardly a fix, and they are so far rather vague on how they're going to achieve even that. If they don't want to say, it can only mean Canadians won't be happy with the results.

2.

Netflix Entering Content Distribution (emphasis added) ... Currently, Netflix serves as a secondary content distributor, meaning that it's delivering content that has technically already been delivered in the past by some other distribution company. This is what Netflix is attempting to change with House of Cards. In 2012, Netflix will have exclusive rights to distribute the series, starring Kevin Spacey, and will make 26 episodes available to Netflix subscribers.

Ever heard of predictive programming? Where the media present fictional scenarios that later seem to happen in real life? At least one money guru has reported that Netflix itself is a House of Cards:

Net Caps vs Sexy Netflix?
"Once the last sucker is reeled in Netflix will Nova just like other story stocks before it."

I can't help wondering if Harper's advice to the CRTC to hold off on Net Caps and User Fees - despite loud groans from giants Rogers and Bell - who are already selling "plans" and don't like smaller ISPs having the right to offer virtually unlimited access - is in order to first get people hooked on Netflix. Maybe the Canada Pension Plan has invested in it? It's invested in war, why not online movies?

Rogers and Bell are also getting aggressive with their marketing, telling you that your ISP will soon be capping and they can give you a better deal - for a few months, if you read the fine print. Rogers keeps sending me letters saying they "miss" me, and Bell won't let up by mail and phone. I don't answer my door or the phone unless I'm expecting someone, and I don't know who reads their mail because the recycle bin in my building is chock full of them, unopened.

3.

Meanwhile, the New York Times has instituted digital subscription fees. They claim to have "long resisted" this move, but it's more like they've been trying to get up the nerve.

Who's going to pay to read news when in order to get anywhere near the full story one has to read multiple sources? Apparently no one:

CNEWS poll results: Will you pay to read news online?

Oda protecting the big boys

Contributor: "YYC:

MPs to return Monday on contempt debate

Excerpts:

Friday, Oda said she did not take direction from Prime Minister Stephen Harper or from Kenney when she decided her department should stop funding international aid group Kairos.

She said it wasn't discussed at any cabinet or sub-cabinet meetings.

Kenney told an audience in Jerusalem in December, 2009, the government stopped funding Kairos because the group is anti-semitic.

Clearly, there will be an election soon, and Harper and his boys must not be tainted by this scandal. That could cause another minority vote, and that would be worse than the ridiculous image of them hiding behind Oda's skirts.

Question: is Bev Oda intending to run again, or is this her glorious swan song? What could she possibly tell her constituents? She's already admitted to lying - and certainly seems to be lying again, or at least omitting certain truths - and she didn't observe proper document protocol. But she has shown herself to be an obedient martyr for the cause, so there must be some reward for her at the end of all this.

As for the Harperoids, they have plenty of kahunas in their hiding places, behind expendable soldiers and compliant caucus members.

See also on YYC: Bev Oda's middle name: "Patsy"?

Image borrowed from here.

Jane & Janet Doe & duplicitous AB government

Contributor "YYC"

I received an email from someone representing Jane and Janet Doe, a Metis mother and her daughter who have been running from an abusive domestic situation for years. They applied for an "Unpublished Secure Name Change" which, despite the urgency inherent in such a request, unaccountably took the Alberta government eight years to complete - during which time the pair could not receive public assistance because they were constantly on the run.

That same government recently, stupidly, published both their old and new names! And 19 months later it is still dragging its heels on the issue of compensation to mother and daughter for losses they are incurring, as a result of this gross negligence, with regard to their home and livelihood.

The email was too long for me to post here; fortunately, this article contains most of the same information.

Omitted from it is Janet Doe's description of the meeting she finally obtained after 7 months of waiting, with two government representatives: "Ms. Janet Skinner [assistant deputy minister of the Program Services Division, Alberta Health and Wellness] and Mr. Les Speakman [executive director of Land Titles/Surveys Personal Property Registry]."

Outstandingly typical of politicos: "Ms. Skinner looked me directly in the eyes and told me 'I will not do what everyone else has done.' In my mind, that meant she would make sure the issue was dealt with quickly and would not leave me or my mother hanging."

But it's been a year since then, and the Does are still waiting.

The Edmonton Sun reports that the government has sent the pair a letter of apology, acknowledging "a human error". I am reminded of Christie Logan's rejoinder in Margaret Laurence's "The Diviners": "Sorry is a useless christly awful word."

The letter goes on to say: “As an added measure, we have reviewed and modified our processes to ensure that all Change of Name applications with court orders for non-publication are screened and confirmed by two staff. It is truly unfortunate that such an error as this has occurred.”

So, one person is scapegoated yet remains anonymous. The message being that if you do something wrong within the government, your name is protected, but if you just want to live safely outside, protection of your name cannot be guaranteed.

Well, at least they didn't blame the error on a computer. But surely this acknowledgement constitutes an acceptance of culpability that requires some meaningful recompense.

The Nigel mentioned in the Sun article is the person who emailed me. His full name is Nigel Empett and he is a board member of the Wildrose Calgary West Constituency Association. The Wildrose Alliance is a political party that tabled this information in the Alberta Legislature on Feburary 23, 2011. I'm sorry to have to say this but, given the track records of most political parties, I hope his concern for media attention to this case has more to do with the plight of Jane and Janet Doe than with the furtherance of the party to which he belongs.

Both the B.C. and Alberta governments (the Bobbsey* provinces with strong secessionist tendencies) are more jointly paranoid than others in Canada in that even ordinary name changes require fingerprinting (CBC). But the over-caution in Alberta apparently doesn't extend to names that must not be published.

Here's an interesting tidbit from the CBC article: Karla Homolka changed her name to Karla Leanne Teale, a surname she chose from a movie about a serial killer! Somewhere along the line she must have seen how bizarre that was and tried to change her name again, but the Quebec government refused.

Quebec is careful not to reveal her whereabouts, however, and I bet she would sue the pants off them, and probably win, if they did. However, Alberta has effectively blown the cover of Jane and Janet Doe.

Best of luck to mother and daughter. The Alberta government owes them bigtime.

*Bobbsey Twins