January 27, 2005

Bud Talkinghorn: Auschwitz-Birkenau -- Nazi-Al Qaeda Similarities

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Ceremony

How appropriate that the dignitaries have to stand in the freezing snow outside the gates of the death camps. That was the fate of hundreds of thousands who froze in the cattle cars or during roll calls. The prisoners were not quite so well attired for the weather, of course. Still, it is a fitting way to try to live the horrors of that experience.



Hitler and his satanic Nazi party may be dead, but that spirit lives on in radical Islam

It is not too great a stretch to substitute Bin Laden for Hitler, his loyal inner circle for Goering, Goebels, and Himmler. The same lunatic reasoning underlines their aims. The Nazis wanted a pure 'Aryan' race, which meant that all 'non-Aryans' must be enslaved or exterminated. Al-Queda wants a pure Islamic world state -- one so pure that every branch of Islam except the Sunnis can be slaughtered. Al-Zwahiri in Iraq, a true Osama acolyte, has no compunction about blowing up Shi'ite worshippers as they attend prayers. Even Sunni childred receiving candy from Marines are worthy targets for suicide bombs. Consorting with the infidel in any manner is a potential death sentence. There is even a parallel between the suicidal dedication of the al-Queda and the German einsatzgruppen, who slowed their retreat from the Russians, so they could take the prisoners of the emptied camps with them. Their dream of destroying all Jewry was greater than their own survival.

It is this fanatical cult of death aspect that ties the Nazis and al-Queda together. The cost to the democracies and Russia to destroy the germ of Naziism was enormous--20 million dead Russians alone. Still, the human price had to be paid; so it will be again. When people complain of the billions spent, they should consider the alternative. Life under fundamentalist Islam is unthinkable. No economic price is too high to avoid a Talibanic government.

© Bud Talkinghorn

January 26, 2005

Bud Talkinghorn: Carson, Perfect Gift, Crime pays, Notwithstanding Martin's empty rhetoric

Heeeeeeeee. . . ar's Johnny!

Carson was great. Two of his zingers:

"The French cultural minister was quoted as saying, "Euro-Disney in Paris will only attract fat, lazy Americans." Yes", Carson said, "the same fat, lazy Americans who died liberating you in 1944."

"I know a man who gave up smoking, drinking, sex and rich foods. He was healthy, right up to the day he shot himself."

Bud Talkinghorn



Books and Something Instead of Gifts

Wasn't Johnny Carson simply delightful! And I concur on that second one; "Nine out of ten men dies a suicide." -- apologies if I have misquoted from memory--Benjamin Franklin. Oh, how I miss the great ones when they go! Theodore Dalrymple makes my day when I read his work in the Spectator and I remember him months later. I can't even explain exactly why; I just love his writing. If only I had such talent!

Speaking of great talent, do get Paul Theroux's Dark Star Safari; immerse yourself in one of the great chroniclers of his travel. Having worked in the Peace Corps in Africa, Theroux returned thirty-four years later and everything had grown worse, but he tells of his journey from the Mediterranean south across Africa so engagingly.

I would consider it a personal success if I could interest the young in reading instead of buying! Faint hope. Doesn't any child need what some of us want to share? Faint hope, indeed. I shall get a cat.


Before I do, I must add one piece of advice for the next gift-giving season. If you have a child, a favourite relative or someone to whom you give gifts, particularly expensive ones, instead, gift the beginning of a future revelation. Start putting gift money into a bank account for a world trip or various shorter trips for that special person -- perhaps years later. If the account is added to every time you normally would buy a gift, it will add up amazingly. Instead of buying junk, treat someone to money for a peek at the world as it is -- definitely not first class, but a journey as safe as can be reasonably assured. It is even better if the money covers living in a few places for a period of time, talking with the people while living as the local inhabitants live -- shopping in their markets, travelling as they do, and all the rest. First class insulates the traveller; people come gradually to understanding by actually living at the local level. The recipient will never look at the world in the same way again.

Highlights that I would mention?
There are so many. Perhaps I shall prepare a list after I think a bit. Off the top of my head, I would start with what is left of Pagan in Burma, Borobodur in Java near Djogjakarta, Macchu Picchu in Peru and the valley nearby, along with the ruins of Sacsahuaman and the city of Cuzco, a Saturday morning market in Otovalo--if I have that name correct--about an hour from Quito, Equador and the market in Chichicastenango Guatemala--the people in their vibrant costumes--the mountains--wonderful, the sub Sahara / sahel and the Sahara (if security allows) or the Australian outback, game parks such as Serengeti / Masai Mara. In India there are wonders to be seen--Khajuraho--Elephanta Caves--people to meet, and so much more. The recipient of such a gift will be so impressed by what human beings have accomplished.

Prepare the recipient with articles in the National Geographic and encourage reading books from good writers. There are beaches and cities that I have not even touched upon -- art galleries in Europe and in Asia such as the National Gallery in Taiwan, for a start. There is still more -- but what an education to start with some of these.

Certainly it beats buying the latest and most expensive fashions and what I call "general junk" -- variations on gifts of the type repeated ad nauseam -- and the young adult has nothing in the end. Travel opens the mind -- the gift that keeps on giving. Enough! I am salivating at the idea of what is truly worth receiving. NJC





Crime pays--especially if it is white collar

Doesn't it strike you as strange that white collar criminals, who bilk the public of huge amounts, get a mere slap on the wrist -- if that. There was a case of two band council members from a native reserve in New Brunswick who defrauded the band of over $2 million, but upon conviction, they were given an absolute discharge.

This week's revelation of a massive fraud at the Saskatchewan HRDC--around $1-million--involves a woman who had previously defrauded the CIBC in Newfoundland of $600,000. She was sentenced to only two years (in reality about 8 months real time) and she was pardoned afterwards.

To take this to the big leagues, we see politicians and government bureaucrats who scam away hundreds of millions; yet, nobody ever goes to jail. If Gagliano had been a mafia boss (there is even a suggestion that he was) doing the same thing, he would find himself in the Big House for a goodly number of years.

Two businessmen in BC were judged guilty of skimming hundreds of millions from investors. It will be interesting to see what lightweight sentences they receive. The judiciary is actively destroying the sense of equal justice for all.

© Bud Talkinghorn -- but of course, Bud, NJC



Notwithstanding Martin's empty rhetoric

The notwithstanding clause was inserted in The Charter for a perfectly good reason. It was to stop a biased, activist court from destroying the essence of Canada's social fabric. Even an old leftie like Trudeau could see how the courts could be subverted by crazed 'political correctness'. It was put there as a brake to Supreme decisions that over-ruled the commonsense of the majority. As a little aside here; isn't it interesting that the Liberals are so concerned with the rights of the 'minorities', yet feel absolutely free to ram through legislation, often with little or no parliamentary oversight, purely because they have a feeble majority? A classic case of 'do what I say, not as I do'.

Funny, I don't remember too much sputtering by Martin, when the PQ used the notwithstanding clause to keep their draconian anti-English language laws on the books. In fact, years later, Martin was happy to allow an equally draconian decree to pass. That one gave over all the top positions in the civil service to 'fluently bi-lingual' personnel--read French Canadians. And you thought that the government was over-represented by Quebecois in the past? Being well indoctrinated by the leftish universities and the liberal media, this travesty was given scant attention -- except in the West, where it drove another nail in the Liberals' coffin. However the Liberals realize that they can do without the Western vote, as long as the country's francophone voters feel appeased.

The situation is so dire now that I hope Harper will come out and say, "Yes, I plan to use the notwithstanding clause to defeat same-sex marriage." I suspect that even many borderline Lberals would vote for a man of substance and integrity. And maybe all those immigrant voters who love the ultra-lax Liberal immigration / refugee policies would see a reason to vote their conscience instead.

© Bud Talkinghorn


This is only one of the issues I hope Harper stands up for. All you would have to do is check this blog to see my picks for a leader -- one who is not cowed by the politically correct nor the Liberal / liberal / leftist media and their co-dependents--the reddest of the Red Tories.

By the way, where is Joe Clark today and what Liberal positions is he supporting? He and Scott Brison must be getting their heads together for the next election by now. NJC

January 25, 2005

Immigration-Problems-Terrorists, Cdn Diplomat Bolts Beijing, Islamist Hate-Crime Charges, Germany-Deport Islamists,Israeli Apartheid Week in Canada

List of Articles:

* Politicians milked the immigration system for all it was worth -- Canada's Immigration system needs overhaul: MP Andrew Telegdi -- Canada's new federal Immigration Minister Joe Volpe: 'Where do we go to handle this Gordian knot?'
* Canadian diplomat bolts from Beijing -- "Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade employee in China" -- "It looks like what happened in the 90s in Hong Kong is happening again in China"
* Canada Continues its Love Affair With Terrorists -- Canada's "crazy double standard"
* Hate-crime charges won't be laid against Muslim magazine -- "called the Holocaust a lie and accused Jews of being responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Great Depression, and both world wars. "
* Taking jihad seriously
* Germany to Deport Hundreds of Islamists -- one response? "Watch them all apply for refugee status in Canada......"
* Should the University of Toronto host "Israeli Apartheid Week"?
* Don't Miss "Tongue Tied"






Politicians milked the immigration system for all it was worth

Instead of making the system work for the benefit of Canada, they made it work for the immigration industry. There has been sparse screening of crooks and terrorists and, once in, the authorities could never get them out -- if they tried. Even criminals who eventually ended up being deported got back into the country.

How's Mohammed Issa Mohammad's case coming along?
Exhibit A of a broken, neglected immigration system long before pizzas and strippers -- which is just the tip of the iceberg. Too bad there wasn't an effective whistle blower law but then, there is a reason the government doesn't want to have one. Look at what happened to RCMP Cpl. Read and remember the corruption at the Hong Kong High Commission.

Related links: Leo Knight on the Robert Read Asian triads Affair , along with several other pertinent links -- e.g. Canadian diplomat bolts from Beijing . There is a wealth of information on this website; also, here or on News Junkie Canada today, there is a post entitled "For consideration: threats to Canada . . . " which concerns related criminal activity investigators feared coming out of Asia, activities ex-RCMP officers Robert Read and Brian McAdam were investigating. This post concerns China, the Asian Triads and Organized Crime which have come to Canada and the concern for future activity.

Whistleblowers aren't protected in Canada "Whistleblowers talked to PMO about Sgro: report", Jan. 20, 04

Check for yourself whether this "whistleblower legislation" is intended to protect those who should and could speak out for the good of the vast number of Canadians -- or whether it protects those who need protection in . . . . .




Canada's Immigration system needs overhaul: MP Andrew Telegdi -- Canada's new federal Immigration Minister Joe Volpe: 'Where do we go to handle this Gordian knot?'

Canada's Immigration system needs overhaul: MP Andrew Telegdi The Hill Times, January 24, 2005, Paco Francoli

[. . . . ] The number of ministerial permits are not reflected in the annual report of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, and only kept on file in the minister's office. Last week, new Immigration Minister Joe Volpe (Eglinton-Lawrence, Ont.) confirmed the 700 figure. [. . . . ]

Mr. Volpe is expected to face additional pressure because he is also the government's senior political minister for Ontario, a job that is highly partisan and often linked to doing favours for special interest groups.[. . . .] [Ed's emphasis]





Canadian diplomat bolts from Beijing -- "Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade employee in China" -- "It looks like what happened in the 90s in Hong Kong is happening again in China"

Canadians must "develop networks" in China; sometimes the lure of profit is overwhelming.

Canadian diplomat bolts from Beijing Sep 21, 2004

A high ranking Canadian diplomat based in China has left his post suddenly after he was suspected of accepting bribes to help Chinese nationals enter Canada illegally . . .

[. . . . Canadian student visas have been stolen from the embassy. Some have reportedly turned up in Korea.

[. . . . ] But sources told The Asian Pacific Post that the key suspect is a Canadian of Chinese origin who was originally posted to the Canadian Trade office in Shanghai in 1999 and later to the Immigration section of the Canadian embassy in Beijing in 2001.


[. . . . ] “He is thought to have made well over a million dollars before he bolted a few days before his posting expired,“ said a source.

Preliminary investigations into the suspect‘s connections have linked him to at least one school specializing in teaching English to foreign students in Vancouver.[. . . . ]

[. . . . China‘s most wanted man, Lai Changxing] who is alleged to have led a multi-billion dollar smuggling racket in Fujian, remains in Canada with his family fighting for refugee status. [What has happened with that case?]


Lengthy -- Search: Brian McAdam, "insiders with high level security access", squeeze, "bogus Chinese business delegations", bogus, "covert entry of spies", "China‘s Ministry of Trade and Economic Co-operation (MOFTEC)", Fujian (Remember the boats full of Chinese aliens from Fujian that dropped Chinese illegals on the BC coast a few years ago?).




Sgro denies she said Volpe wanted her job, attacks backstabbers -- 'This is one of the most ridiculous stories I've ever heard'

Sgro denies she said Volpe wanted her job, attacks backstabbers The Hill Times, January 24,, 2005, Angelo Persichilli

TORONTO, ONT.--Judy Sgro, the former federal minister of citizenship and immigration who was forced to resign her seat on Jan. 14, after a Brampton pizza shop owner claimed in a court affidavit that she had promised him asylum in Canada in return for supplying her campaign with pizzas and volunteers, last week flatly denied she ever accused Joe Volpe of masterminding her ultimate fall from Cabinet. Mr. Volpe was swiftly moved in from Human Resources and Skills Development to Citizenship and Immigration on Jan. 15, the day after the story hit the newsstands.

[. . . . ] Ms. Sgro said she remembers that one of her predecessors, "Elinor Caplan told me that one of her biggest fears was that someone coming out making those kind of false allegations. That's the reality of that portfolio. You are very vulnerable and there is no way that Joe Volpe wanted this portfolio."





Canada Continues its Love Affair With Terrorists -- Canada's "crazy double standard"

"[A] federal court approved the appeal of a Marxist guerrilla from Mexico for a new refugee hearing because his organization, the Popular Revolutionary Army, only attacked police and soldiers and not civilians, although this point is disputed."


Canada Continues its Love Affair With Terrorists Stephen Brown, FrontPageMag, May 30, 03

. . . . a recent decision by that country's Immigration and Refugee Board to reject a Lebanese man's application for refugee status because he had spied on Hezbollah for Israel in Lebanon.

[. . . . ] Only last week, for example, a federal court approved the appeal of a Marxist guerrilla from Mexico for a new refugee hearing because his organization, the Popular Revolutionary Army, only attacked police and soldiers and not civilians, although this point is disputed. [. . . . ]

But the Supreme Court's definition of what constitutes a terrorist did not somehow apply to Mahmoud Mohammed Issa Mohammad who once was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Along with another terrorist, Mohammad attacked an Israeli airliner with guns and grenades at the Athens airport in 1968, killing one person. Despite government efforts to deport him since 1988 (he lied about his background to get into Canada), he remains there, his case slowly winding its way through the Canadian courts.

Fauzi Ayub, a genuine Hezbollah terrorist. . . .came to Canada in the late 1980s with his family, but went to Israel in 2001 to foment terrorist attacks there. He now sits in an Israeli prison, accused of belonging to an elite Hezbollah unit. And when asked in an Israeli court why he didn't tell the Canadian authorities about his terrorist past in Romania, he honestly replied: "They didn't ask me."

. . . crazy double standard . . . . the wife and two sons of Abu Abbas, another P.F.L.P. terrorist. Abbas, whom American forces captured recently in Baghdad, was responsible for the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro, a ship on which 69-year-old, Leon Klinghoffer, an American Jew, was shot in his wheelchair and dumped overboard.

Abbas's wife. . . is now a lecturer and Palestinian activist at McGill University in Montreal. One son went to Iraq in 1995 and spent a year with his father there.

Americans also probably would be very surprised to discover that the family of Somali warlord Muhammad Farrah Aidid also lives safely in Canada not far from their border. Aidid's militia . . . American deaths. . . . Black Hawk Down, is based on this bloody fight.

Considering these cases, it is highly likely that the refusal to grant Israel's Lebanese friend refugee status has more to do with the internal politics of the Canada's governing Liberal party than any supposed wrongdoing.





Hate-crime charges won't be laid against Muslim magazine -- "called the Holocaust a lie and accused Jews of being responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Great Depression, and both world wars."

No surprise here -- but why?

Hate-crime charges won't be laid against Muslim magazine -- Why? Jan 23, 2005

SURREY (BC Newspaper Group) - Hate-crime charges will not be pursued against a North Delta weekly newspaper that serves the Muslim community.

An RCMP investigation was launched more than a year ago after the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) lodged a complaint with the RCMP Hate Crimes Unit over a Dec. 19, 2003 article in the Miracle.

The CJC issued a statement condemning the piece by American writer Edgar J. Steele as "virulently anti-Semitic," because the writer called the Holocaust a lie and accused Jews of being responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Great Depression, and both world wars. [. . . . ]


These are lies. Were they not published to promulgate hatred? For another eye-opener on what polls reveal about Canadians' ignorance of the Holocaust, see the results in the National Post, Jan. 23, 05 "Few Canadians realize extent of Holocaust". pages 1 and 7. The "list of those damned by indifference goes on": Cambodia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, Darfur. Hatred for Jews is rising in Europe and more evidence of rising Anti-Semitism can be seen in Canada.




Should the University of Toronto host "Israeli Apartheid Week"?

It is hard to believe. The above-mentioned poll has some interesting statistics on Canadians' attitudes. Check it out; then read this one.

Should the University of Toronto host "Israeli Apartheid Week"? Alastair Gordon

Wednesday, January 19, 2005, Toronto ON -- The Institute for Women s Studies and Gender Studies (IWSGS) at the University of Toronto recently announced on its email distribution service an Israeli Apartheid Week on campus starting January 31 [. . .]. Speakers will represent the Arab Students Collective, International Solidarity Movement, Political Prisoners Working Group, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, the Palestinian Right of Return Group, and others.

[. . . . ] The branding of Israel as an apartheid state is the latest attempt to de-legitimize Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. [. . . . ]





Taking jihad seriously

Taking jihad seriously Robert Spencer, Jan. 23, 05. Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and the author of "Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens America and the West."

During her Senate confirmation hearings, Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice was grilled about Iraq, weapons of mass destruction and how long the troops would be there. But no one asked her anything about the most important question of all: when, and how, American foreign policy will be adjusted to bring it into line with the goals of the war on terror.

Three years after September 11, this has not been done. It should have been the first task of the new conflict. Other nations take this as axiomatic — including those on the other side of the current alignments. Article 3 of the Iranian Constitution stipulates that Iran must base its foreign policy on "Islamic criteria, fraternal commitment to all Muslims, and unsparing support to the freedom fighters of the world."

It is reasonable for any state to base its foreign policy on its overall goals and interests. In fact, I recommend that the United States do the same thing. In regard to the global jihad, this would involve a serious re-evaluation of the American posture around the globe. [. . . . ]


See what he has to say about: aid, global alliances, "Islamic goals and responsibilities enunciated by the Pakistani Islamic leader Syed Abul Ala Maududi, who declared that non-Muslims . . . ", new energy sources, and "a totalitarian, supremacist, expansionist ideology". It makes sense to me.



Germany to Deport Hundreds of Islamists - Magazine -- one response? "Watch them all apply for refugee status in Canada......"

Germany to Deport Hundreds of Islamists - Magazine Posted by Naresh on 17:03:45 2005/01/22

BERLIN (Reuters) - German officials are drawing up lists of hundreds of Islamic militants to be deported from the country under a new law making expulsions easier, the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel said on Saturday.

Der Spiegel said authorities were already using their powers under an immigration law introduced this month in conducting an operation dubbed "Aktion Kehraus" ("Action Sweep Out").

[. . . . ] BERLIN (Reuters) - German officials are drawing up lists of hundreds of Islamic militants to be deported from the country under a new law making expulsions easier, the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel said on Saturday.

Der Spiegel said authorities were already using their powers under an immigration law introduced this month in conducting an operation dubbed "Aktion Kehraus" ("Action Sweep Out"). [. . . . ]


Joan O'Callaghan's response? "Watch them all apply for refugee status in Canada......" Check the site.



Don't Miss Tongue Tied -- just read a few

January 24, 2005

Marriage-Let the people decide! Pagan Earth Worship, Homeless, Trying to deep six Gomery? Taxes, Media, Politically Incorrect Research, Inuit-Dogs

List of Articles:

* MPs left out of spousal support overhaul -- New payment guidelines: Justice Department sees little point in 'broad public debate'
* Quebec Inuit seek apology, compensation for slaughter of sled dogs
* When will Martin live up to the Charter and protect majority rights?
* MARRIAGE -- Let the people decide!
* Floodgates open -- same sex marriage -- civil union
* On the same webpage, an excerpt from a letter: homeless
* Is Your Church Teaching Pagan Earth Worship In Sunday School?
* Mark Steyn: He's a worldbeater, all right
* Responses to LTC TIM RYAN's article on media coverage of Iraq
* Trying to deep six Gomery?
* Robbing the public blind and cutting services to boot -- taxes ....while the media slept
* Women in Science -- politically incorrect topics of research
* Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications -- important on media





MPs left out of spousal support overhaul -- New payment guidelines: Justice Department sees little point in 'broad public debate'

Leaving Parliament out of divorce support guidelines and native land deals? It has become habitual.


MPs left out of spousal support overhaul Cristin Schmitz, Jan. 24, 05, CanWest

OTTAWA - The federal government is moving to revolutionize how spousal support is set for separated and divorced couples, but some MPs say they -- and all Canadians -- are being intentionally left out of the process.

The Justice Department will propose new draft guidelines for determining spousal support this month. The goal is to take most of the guesswork and expense out of the most litigious and unpredictable area of divorce.

The Divorce Act currently gives judges wide latitude to set the amount and duration of support, based on the ex-spouses' roles during their marriage, their financial "needs and means" and other factors.

The result has been wildly unpredictable court awards. That makes it almost impossible for lawyers to properly advise their clients and to settle matters out of court, thus fueling more expensive litigation.

If the draft guidelines, containing a mathematical formula for support, are embraced by lawyers and judges, as is hoped, Canadians could soon find themselves with a radically different spousal support regime without Parliament having given its assent, said Liberal Roger Gallaway. [. . . . ]


This needs much consideration. I know men who have been treated very unfairly as the situation stands; yet, there are two sides. I don't even know what I would want if I were in that situation. Parliamentary committees are where the real work gets done, aren't they? Well . . . .




Quebec Inuit seek apology, compensation for slaughter of sled dogs

Quebec Inuit seek apology, compensation for slaughter of sled dogs Jan 20, 05, Ross Marowits

MONTREAL (CP) - Quebec's Inuit want a government apology and financial compensation for a mass slaughter of sled dogs that they claim plunged their remote communities into decades of dependency. [. . . . ]

More than 500 dogsled teams occupied 15 communities in northern Quebec when the population totalled 2,500 in 1965, said Lisa Koperqualuk, a spokeswoman for Makivik, which represents Inuit in Quebec.

About 10,000 Inuit now reside north of the 55th parallel in a vast territory known as Nunavik. [. . . . ]

The Canadian government apologized in 1988 for its actions against Japanese Canadians and awarded $21,000 for each survivor of the wartime detention. [. . . . ]





When will Martin live up to the Charter and protect majority rights?

When will Martin live up to the Charter and protect majority rights? January 17, 2005

Everyone assumes that the Charter of Rights is there just to protect people from the allegedly stupid prejudices of democratic majorities.

Not so.

The Charter also exists to protect the majority from the prejudices of judges and minorities. Most people have never been told this, but it's true.

When, as with same-sex marriage for example, judges expand or change personal or minority rights, the Charter of Rights allows the government, with the approval of Parliament, to set that ruling aside.

It's our collective legal right as Canadians to correct the judges through the people we elect.

This collective right, explicitly stated in section 33 of the Charter, is just as real, just as legitimate and just as constitutional as all the rights of individuals and minority groups contained in other sections.

When our politicians wrote and approved the Charter as an addition to the Constitution in 1982, they included section 33 (commonly called the "notwithstanding" or "opting out" clause) as a democratic safeguard--as Chretien once explained, in case the judges get it wrong.


This is one of the greatest differences between the Canadian and U.S. systems of government. In our tradition, before the Charter and since, the people we elect have the ultimate say over rights. In the U.S., that role falls to the courts. [. . . . ]

With the government so bent on giving away our democratic rights, the only solution is a loud nation-wide demand for a marriage referendum.

To send a message to this effect to Martin, along with other key parliamentarians and the Supreme Court, go to www.MarriageReferendum.ca and follow the prompts.





MARRIAGE -- Let the people decide!

MARRIAGE -- Let the people decide!

There are links to each of these subsections:

Same-sex marriage--a question of fundamental values
Two important facts
How the law works
The government's Bill won't change the situation
What a referendum would achieve
A fundamental constitutional change
Parliament has abdicated its responsibility

Marriage Referendum:




Michael Coren: Defending the tradition

Michael Coren: Defending the tradition January 22, 2005, January 22, 2005

See the site: Enshrinemarriage.ca

[. . . . ] "The fact that two people say they love each other does not, in itself, justify a right to the benefits conferred by the state on married couples. The only justification for a state interest in the privacy of love flows from the connection between the political fact that the state has a fundamental concern for its own survival and well-being, the biological fact that all human beings require someone of the opposite sex to create life, and the social fact that children have a natural claim to the love and support of their own mothers and fathers. [. . . . ]

"Any attempt by unelected officials of the courts or by any other branch of government to claim ownership of marriage, to alter it without the support of a significant majority of the people, or to diminish the father-mother-child relation in favour of the state-citizen relationship, usurps the natural rights and freedoms of the people and constitutes a serious breach of the public trust."






Floodgates open -- same sex marriage -- civil union

Floodgates open January 22, 05

Indeed, while Cotler may wave these fears aside, why then has his government just launched a study into the legal and social ramifications of polygamy?

Status of Women Canada insists "critical" research is needed surrounding the Liberal government's polygamy policy and says: "It is vital that researchers explore the impacts of polygamy on women and children and gender equality, as well as the challenges that polygamy presents to society."

Ah, if only the Liberals had used the term "civil union" rather than "marriage" this controversy might well be over.

Instead, it's just starting. [. . . . ]




On the same webpage, an excerpt from a letter: homeless

Rather than taking this opportunity to recognize and respond to all of the suffering that goes on in the world, we give money to the most urgent cause at hand at the expense of many other notable causes. Last night I walked home from work past the homeless. I was struck by the fact that although Canada has gone above and beyond to contribute to victims of the Tsunami disaster, we are "walking past" our domestic suffering every day on the streets of our cities.


In effect, we are choosing the homeless of the Far East over our own. . . .






Is Your Church Teaching Pagan Earth Worship In Sunday School? -- If you are a parent, you must go to this site and read it.

Is Your Church Teaching Pagan Earth Worship In Sunday School? Tom DeWeese, January 17, 2004

Many parents have sought to protect their children from the behavior-modification programs that have taken the place of academic education in public schools. To escape the assault of Outcome-Based Education (OBE), multi-culturalism, and workforce training programs, parents in ever-increasing numbers are placing their children in private schools or are home-schooling.

[. . . . ] Each of these examples are designed for group discussions in which the entire class takes on one child's personal problem. Personal family business is disclosed, parental authority is questioned and student "self-esteem" becomes the central concern.

This is Outcome-Based Education at work in the Sunday School class–led by a volunteer teacher (facilitator) with no qualifications to do so. Worse, all of it is done under the authority of the church.

[. . . . ] Are your children safe from pre-programmed, behavior-modification processes at your church? Will they gain the solid moral Christian values that you intend for them to receive from a Sunday School lesson? Not if Group is in your Sunday School.






Mark Steyn: He's a worldbeater, all right

He's a worldbeater, all right January 23, 2005, Mark Steyn, Chicago Sun Times

I picked up the Village Voice for the first time in years this week. Couldn't resist the cover story: ''The Eve Of Destruction: George W. Bush's Four-Year Plan To Wreck The World.''

Oh, dear. It's so easy to raise expectations at the beginning of a new presidential term. But at least he's got a four-year plan. Over on the Democratic bench, worldwise they don't seem to have given things much thought. The differences were especially stark in the last seven days: In the first half of the week, Senate Dems badgered the incoming secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice -- culminating in the decision of West Virginia porkmeister Robert C. Byrd to delay the incoming thereof. Don't ask me why. Byrd, the former Klu Klux Klan Kleagle, is taking a stand over states' rights, or his rights over State, or some such. Whatever the reason, the sight of an old Klansman blocking a little colored girl from Birmingham from getting into her office contributed to the general retro vibe that hangs around the Democratic Party these days. Even "Eve Of Destruction," one notes, is a 40-year-old hippie dirge.

The Democrats' big phrase is "exit strategy." Time and again, their senators demanded that Rice tell 'em what the "exit strategy" for Iraq was. The correct answer is: There isn't one, and there shouldn't be one, and it's a dumb expression.
[. . . . ]






Responses to LTC TIM RYAN's article on media coverage of Iraq

Letters Re: 'Media's coverage has distorted world's view of Iraqi reality' – BY LTC TIM RYAN



Forces' babies deprived

"This should concern every service family abroad. A child born on a Canadian Forces base, in a Forces hospital, under the Canadian flag, to Canadian citizens, should have all the rights of citizenship as if they were born anywhere in Canada."


Forces' babies deprived Peter Worthington, Jan. 23, 05, Toronto Sun

You are not going to believe this.

At first I didn't, but I do now: Are you aware that someone born in a hospital on a Canadian military base overseas to Canadian parents in the Armed Forces is not automatically a Canadian citizen?

This, despite having a Canadian birth certificate and social insurance number (SIN)? [. . . . ]






Trying to deep six Gomery?

Issues will have House in a twist Doug Fisher, Sun Ottawa Bureau, Jan. 23, 05

Three matters current in federal politics indicate messy parliamentary days ahead:

First, the same-sex marriage initiative, which Paul Martin has undertaken without creating too wicked a legacy of ill-feeling all round; second, how the coming federal budget will deal with the lengthy failure of progress in our living standards and productivity; and third, the wrestling ahead for all four parties with the effects from the Gomery inquiry.

[. . . . ]
As for the Gomery drama, it has become an historically unique, open revelation of Liberals exploiting federal spending of the highest urgency (on unity!) for the benefit of outside contractors who support the party.

The senior mandarins of the public service are very worried and are thinking of ways and means to suborn Gomery's ultimate Adscam report.


Remember, they achieved a somewhat comparable goal, convincing Sheila Fraser, the auditor general, to tone down her last report on bureaucratic inadequacies. Remember too, that so many of those who planned and managed such sinkholes as the gun registry, refugee claims, buying helicopters, or selling unity in Quebec had to have been either incompetent or cowards who blinked and turned away from ministerial wrongdoing in the highest of all federal offices! [. . . . ]






Robbing the public blind and cutting services to boot ....while the media slept -- taxes

Taxes draining us -- Bank official tells us what we already knew Jason Botchford, Jan. 23, 05, Toronto Sun

IF YOU COULD go back in time and give Ontario families the alarming report released last week-- showing the prosperity of Canadians has barely budged in 15 years -- some would have done something drastic. "I would have packed up our family in our car and headed south on the I-75," said Jacqueline Bynon, a Port Perry woman in her 50s who is running a small business and raising twin 14-year-old girls with her husband Ian.

"We would have moved to the United States, where a spade is a spade. Where if you can work hard, you either succeed or you fail.

"In Canada, where is the incentive to become successful? The government has made it disappear. For every step forward we take there are two steps back."

Don Drummond, chief economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, wrote the scathing report that shows Canadians, hamstrung by increasing taxes, have been restricted to economic baby steps during the past 15 years.

[. . . . ] Drummond, however, uses much more detailed methodology and shows that take-home pay hasn't come close to keeping pace with GDP growth, which rose a cumulative 26% in the past 15 years.
[. . . . ]





Women in Science

Women in Science Posted by Kevin Jaeger on January 22, 2005

[. . . . ] For any interested, there is actually a body of work studying innate difference between men, women and minorities but the topic is so politically incorrect it's practically illegal. I don't know who La Griffe du Lion is but he obviously feels his research can only be safely published anonymously on the web. Perhaps his work is incorrect, but that could only be demonstrated if the topic were debatable. The Summers affair is clearly demonstrating that no such debate will be tolerated on campus. [. . . . ]


Just look at this site and form your own conclusions about the verboten research subjects.





Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications

Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications -- Issue 2 - Evidence for November 23, 2004 November 23, 2004

The Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications met this day at 9:35 a.m. to examine the current state of Canadian media industries; emerging trends and developments in these industries; the media's role, rights and responsibilities in Canadian society; and current and appropriate future policies relating thereto.

Senator Joan Fraser (Chairman): Honourable senators, welcome to the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications, which is continuing its study of the Canadian news media and the appropriate role of public policy in helping to ensure that the Canadian news media remain healthy, independent and diverse in light of the tremendous changes that have occurred in recent years, notably, globalization, technological change, convergence and increased concentration of ownership.

[. . . . ] Mr. Chin: The paradox is that, while the access to international news and local news — all of that has grown so much in the last 15 years — the viewership does not seem to be as engaged.

[. . . . ] I do a lot of school outreach. During the war in Iraq, for instance, I would ask young people in high school, ``What is your primary source of news? Is it CBC Newsworld?'' A few hands would go up. I would then ask, ``Is it CTV Newsnet,'' and a few hands would go up. I would then ask, ``Is it CNN?'' Many more hands would go up. At several schools I said, ``Is it Al-jazeera,'' and the room full of kids raised their hands because it happened to be a neighbourhood with a concentration of kids from South Asia and the Middle East.

That shows it goes beyond what is available on cable because you can get satellite transmissions of news services that you prefer to watch. A lot of the parents are probably getting news services that reflect news from home more. That could be a challenge to the greater integration of society in terms of the kids watching what their parents watch and not turning to what we have traditionally turned to as mainstream news in Canada.


[. . . . ] Senator Tkachuk: All the news media is headquartered out of Toronto. Almost all the cable channels are in Toronto. All the cultural things that TV is to promote and carry are out of Toronto. Why do you think that is?

[. . . . ] Mr. Chin: . . . I do not think it is very good for the country that the centre determines what the cultural norms are in this country or that things get siphoned off from the regions back to Toronto and somehow get reinterpreted back to the regions. It could lead to a very myopic view of what this country is.

[. . . . ] Mr. Chin: That is right. If I showed up at the CRTC with a pocket full of money, anything is possible. It has now turned into a business for large companies that need to leverage their costs across many TV stations, and possibly across different media. [. . . . ]


Lengthy -- check it for yourself. This is very important to building a cohesive country. CBC should be part of this but it has been co-opted by the governing Liberals and spouts the mantra -- but not real debate. It has become a social engineering machine for the Liberals and that is not its mandate. It has been bought by the need to retain or increase funding and keep the rather good jobs they are used to. Apparently other mainstream media make do with much less in getting stories and photos / video coverage. CBC must be revitalized. This article addresses that and some of the problems in getting people to know what is going on.