Black: Long legal battle expected

GILLIAN LIVINGSTON
CANADIAN PRESS
Source

Forever fallen from his perch high atop his former newspaper empire, Conrad Black's future seems destined to include endless — and expensive — legal wrangling if U.S. authorities lay charges and try to extradite him from his home in London, legal experts say.

With a prison sentence possible if he's convicted of securities fraud in the United States, the former Hollinger group chief executive will likely fight and delay extradition and any charges with all the clout and cash he can muster, lawyers said today.

Allegations two years ago that he fraudulently diverted cash from one of his companies led to a spectacular fall from grace for Black, a jetsetter who once gloated about the strength of his Hollinger newspaper empire, owned houses all over the world and regularly socialized with prime ministers and corporate kingpins.

But yesterday's blockbuster news in Chicago that Black's longtime crony David Radler has been indicted on securities fraud charges — and plans to plead guilty and co-operate with authorities — suggests Black could soon be next in the line of fire of U.S. law enforcement authories eager to crack down on corporate crime.

But U.S. authorities need to move quickly to lay charges against Black to get a potentially lengthy case started, said Douglas McNabb, senior principal at McNabb Associates, a Houston law firm specializing in international extradition.

"The U.S. cannot seek Mr. Black's extradition until after he has been charged," said McNabb, adding he's heard rumours that U.S. authorities could announce charges within a week.

Charges would lead authorities to request Black's extradition and to put a notice of the U.S. arrest warrant on Interpol, the international police network.

Even if charged and facing extradition, Black has several legal and appeal options that alone could drag out the extradition case for a few years at least, McNabb said.

"He's not a terrorist, he's a white collar guy, and he's got money and he's prepared to fight it," McNabb said from Houston.

Black, who gave up his Canadian citizenship a few years ago in a dispute with former prime minister Jean Chrétien over a British peerage, could face years of prison time, "absolutely, without doubt if he's convicted," McNabb said.

That gives Black a good reason to take each legal battle as far as he can.

There's little reason to see why Britain would prevent Black's extradition, McNabb said, since in 2003 the country changed its own extradition laws allowing the U.S. to extradite people as long as they could prove charges were pending.

U.S. authorities are playing out a now-familiar strategy. They will use information from Black's longtime associate, Radler — who was charged along with another executive yesterday with fraudulently diverting $32 million from Hollinger International — to build their case against the former media mogul.

"This is now a well-oiled routine of U.S. prosecutors to go after people close to the top of the organization . . . and then throw the book at them" to get them to help take down their former boss, said Joe D'Cruz, a professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman business school.

Authorities will use Radler's information to make their case against Black strong, particularly to lay out the motivation behind each transaction, said John Coffee, a law professor at Columbia University in New York.

"It's often very difficult to make the case simply from the paper record," he said. "That's why a witness is critical.

"(Radler) can implicate Black with having the requisite intent," Coffee added.

Radler's decision to co-operate is similar to what happened at failed telecom giant WorldCom Inc., where chief financial officer Scott Sullivan testified against CEO Bernard Ebbers in return for a lighter sentence of five years, said Michael Miller, a U.S. securities lawyer based in New York.

Ebbers was eventually sentenced to 25 years in prison.

If Black is charged, it will be up to him to decide whether he faces the charges head-on or uses all legal means to avoid them, Miller said.

Miller suggested that Black's lawyers and the U.S. Justice Department are in discussions about what he does next.

"I would assume there will continue to be discussions behind the scenes about whether Conrad Black, at the end of the day, has criminal culpability and whether it is advantageous for him to resolve that criminal culpability now rather than waiting for some day a year or two down the road," Miller said in an interview with ROBTv, a specialty business cable channel based in Toronto.

The last few years have been turmoil for Black, who has faced unending controversy over financial dealings at his companies that resulted in him being unceremoniously tossed as chief executive of the Hollinger Group.

"He was, in many ways, Lord of all he surveyed, and now of course he's under siege," D'Cruz remarked.

If Black is charged, the 61-year-old businessman's entire way of life will be altered, McNabb said. Travel restrictions will mean he can no longer follow his cosmopolitan way of life — in Florida one day, London the next, and he'll be faced with a long and expensive legal battle.

MDs back parallel private health care

JULIA NECHEFF
CANADIAN PRESS

EDMONTON—The Canadian Medical Association threw its support behind a parallel, private health-care system yesterday.

In what was a historic vote for the influential organization, delegates decided by a two-to-one margin that patients should be able to go outside the public health-care plan and use private insurance if they can't get necessary medical care quickly enough.

It's a major change for the association, which until now has been unequivocal in its support for a strong public system. The last time the CMA voted on such a motion was in 1996 when it reaffirmed its support.

But times have changed, said those who supported the motion during the public-private debate, which was supposed to end Tuesday but was carried over to yesterday — something that has never been done before at a CMA convention.

Supporters of the motion said too-long waiting lists are an urgent problem, the system is faltering and it needs help from the private sector.

"Governments have had 40 years to get the monopoly system right and the casualties are piling up — one of them has been my wife," said Dr. John Slater of Comox, B.C.

"I have stopped believing ... the government will ever fix the monopoly system."

President-elect Dr. Ruth Collins-Nakai disputed that the medical association is endorsing private health care.

The primary concern of physicians of Canada is that patients have timely access to quality care based on need, not ability to pay, said Collins-Nakai, a pediatric cardiologist in Edmonton.

Every resolution passed reflected the frustration of physicians not being able to provide timely access to care that they so want for their patients, she said.

"Delegates have said clearly that they believe the best solution is to provide that type of access is through a public health-care system," she added.

CANADIAN PRESS

Source

CMA Backs Alberta private medicare plan {Letter to the editor}

Harmful to back private health care

---

CMA backs parallel private health care

---

thestar.com, Aug. 17.I thought the motto of doctors was "do no harm." By throwing its weight behind private health care, the Canadian Medical Association is doing immeasurable harm to the majority of Canadians of average means who won't be able to buy their way to the front of the line or to afford private health insurance (even assuming they'll qualify for it).It takes a peculiar kind of "let-them-eat-cake" doublethink to characterize private health care as freedom of choice. The CMA simply can't reconcile its support for a private system with the principle that access to care should be based on need, not wealth — not unless, like the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland, they can believe six impossible things before breakfast.

---

Lydia Dotto, Peterborough, Ont.
Source

Afghan mission could boost terror risk in Canada says expert

So why are we letting Bush put us in danger of being blown up in the subway because of a war that Canada has no interest in with the exception of being the United States continued bitchboy?

Afghan mission could boost terror risk: expert
CTV.ca News Staff

As Canadian soldiers departed for possible combat and casualties in
Afghanistan, a terrorism expert warned such a mission could increase the risk of
a terror attack in Canada.

"You cannot go into a war and expect you're not going to get shot at. It's
foolish and it's illusory to do so, so Canadians have to be prepared," Eric
Margolis told CTV.ca on Saturday.

"If they want to send troops to go and kill Afghans, Afghans are
going to come and kill Canadians."Not sending Canadian troops to Afghanistan
would have left Canada at the low end of risk for a terrorist attack here. This
current operation moves the risk estimation up to the mid-point, Margolis
said.

"The countries in which the West is militarily engaged have no military
forces to defend themselves, so what's happening is their people are taking over
what I call 'private enterprise violence.' They're fighting back through bombs
and other forms of terrorist violence. It's the way of the future."

U.S. President George W. Bush has often spoke of fighting the
terrorists in the Middle East and South Asia so the U.S. wouldn't have to fight
them at home.

British-born Muslim men, three of whom had Pakistani ancestry, carried out
the July 7 bombings in London. But a leaked British government report said that
Britain's involvement in Iraq could increase anger at home among British
Muslims.

A homeless guy with a sense of humour (or a pervert :D)

No Child Unrecruited

Sharon Shea-Keneally, principal of Mount Anthony Union High School in Bennington, Vermont, was shocked when she received a letter in May from military recruiters demanding a list of all her students, including names, addresses, and phone numbers. The school invites recruiters to participate in career days and job fairs, but like most school districts, it keeps student information strictly confidential. "We don't give out a list of names of our kids to anybody," says Shea-Keneally, "not to colleges, churches, employers -- nobody."

But when Shea-Keneally insisted on an explanation, she was in for an even bigger surprise: The recruiters cited the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush's sweeping new education law passed earlier this year. There, buried deep within the law's 670 pages, is a provision requiring public secondary schools to provide military recruiters not only with access to facilities, but also with contact information for every student -- or face a cutoff of all federal aid.

Source

Yep...

Japanese breaks pi memory record

A Japanese mental health counsellor has broken the world record
for reciting pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter,
from memory.
Akira Haraguchi, 59, managed to recite the number's first
83,431 decimal places, almost doubling the previous record held by another Japanese.

Souce: BBC

Sask conservative MLA reinstated after saying Premier should be shot

(After seeing this pic I'm wondering if he's stuck again)

Jason Dearborn has be reinstated to his critic portfolio by the Sask Party, the right wing conservative part for Saskatchewan.
I guess less than a 4 month suspension for saying somebody should be shot is considered proper punishment by conservatives. Reinstatement info from CBC Morning News Saturday edition . Backstory from CTV.ca

From March 10th:

SASKATOON — An Opposition member of the Saskatchewan legislature has been
stripped of his critic duties after suggesting to constituents that NDP Premier
Lorne Calvert be shot.
CTV.ca source

Is Stephen Harper a closet homosexual?

With the American xtian right trying to save us from yet another gay cartoon character, under the dictatorship of James Dobson, an American religious extremist who is sticking his holy nose into the Canadian same sex marriage issue, and the strong stance that Stephen Harper has taken against same sex marriage, one has to wonder if Stephen is not harbouring some deep unfulfilled sexual urges. Now I'm not saying that Stephen is gay, there is no evidence that he has even masturbated, but looking at the pictures below of the supposedly gay Spongebob Squarepants and Stephen Harper, the resemblance is striking. Now we all know that the man, James Dobson, who was so kind to warn parents about a gay sponge, would not lie, so I'm going to let the pictures speak for itself. IS STEPHEN HARPER AND SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS GAY??? You be the judge.

Source

The 7 hates of Stephen Harper

New Canadians - Harper believes that immigrants are not mainstream Canadians. He says they are marginal citizens who live in ghettos in big cities.

The Canadian Forces - Harper sees the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces as expendable pawns to be used to curry favour with the Americans. 1,200 American soldiers have died so far in Iraq, with 9,000 maimed and wounded. By proportion, if he had sent us to Iraq, Harper would have caused 51 dead Canadians and 386 maimed.

People who speak French - Sorry, Stephen Harper says, Canada is a not a bilingual country. Policies that ensure the rights of French-speaking Canadians across the country are a mark of "failure."

Atlantic Canada - Canadians of this region have a mental deficiency called "defeatism" according to Stephen Harper.

Women - Harper would allow free votes in Parliament on a woman's reproductive rights, interfering with what should be a matter between a woman and her doctor.

Gay Canadians - According to Stephen Harper, gay Canadians do not deserve the same rights as other people. Stephen Harper would override the Charter to take away their rights.

Native Canadians - The central document of Stephen Harper's relationship to aboriginal Canadians was written by his campaign manager. It calls First Nations savages and says Canada can ignore them and their shameful conditions.

If you vote for Stephen Harper in the next election, these will be your 7 hates.

Link to this article.

Source

Support for the Liberals up as election battle looms

5/18/2005 5:02:56 PM

On the eve of what could be a Spring election, a new Environics survey conducted for the CBC finds that Liberal support has increased from a post-election low point found just one month ago, giving them a slim lead of two points over the Conservatives.

Nationally, 33 percent of decided voters would support the Liberal Party if an election were held today; this is an increase of six points from an April survey conducted for the CBC by Environics. The Conservative Party now has the support of 31 percent, down two points. The New Democratic Party garners the support of 22 percent, down two points. Nationally, the Bloc Québécois stands at 10 percent (45% in Quebec, down six points). The Green Party stands at three percent, up one point. One percent would vote for other parties. More than one in ten Canadian voters (14%, unchanged)) remain undecided about which party might deserve their support.

The new survey was conducted between May 12 and 16, 2005 among 1,500 Canadians who are eligible to vote. The margin of error for a sample of this size is +/- 2.6 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

Liberal support, however, remains four points lower than its popular support in the June 2004 election. Support for the Conservative Party is similar to its share of the vote last year, while support for the New Democratic Party is six points higher than its popular vote. Nationally, the Bloc Québécois is down marginally from its popular vote in the June 2004 election.


( ) change from April 2005

In Ontario, the Liberals, with 40 percent of decided voter support, have an eight-point lead over the Conservatives, at 32 percent. The NDP receive support from 24 percent of decided voters.

In Quebec, the Bloc Québécois receives the support of 45 percent of decided voters; a substantial lead of 24 points over the Liberals, at 21 percent. The Conservatives and NDP each receive the support of 16 percent of decided voters.

In British Columbia, the Liberals, with 35 percent of decided voter support, are slightly ahead of both the Conservatives at 30 percent and the New Democrats at 29 percent.

In the Prairies, the Conservatives receive the support of 52 percent of decided voters, a huge lead of 25 points over the Liberals, at 27 percent. The New Democrats receive the support of 19 percent of decided voters.

In Atlantic Canada, the Liberals, at 43 percent of decided voter support, are 13 points ahead of the Conservatives, at 30 percent. The New Democrats receive the support of 25 percent of decided voters.

http://erg.environics.net/news/default.asp?aID=580

Harper = Loser

Avatar:

This Avatar has been pre-formatted to the proper size allowed for avatars for online messageboards. Just right click and save to your desktop and then use our UserCP on the messageboard you visit to upload it from your PC.

If you do use it all I ask is that you comment below to let me know you used it and provide a link to this post (http://mondonews.blogspot.com/2005/06/harper-loser.html)
to let people know where they can get it to speard the Harper=Loser message.

Full size:
http://img38.echo.cx/img38/4438/loser0xs.png

Stephen Harper says (a reminder for the upcoming election)

Regarding Harper:

On the single payer universal healthcare system:


"We also support the exploration of alternative ways to deliver health care. Moving toward alternatives, including those provided by the private sector, is a natural development of our health care system."

- Stephen Harper, Toronto Star, October 2002.


"It's past time the feds scrapped the Canada Health Act."

- Stephen Harper, then Vice-President of the National Citizens Coalition, 1997.



"What we clearly need is experimentation with market reforms and private delivery options [in health care]."

- Stephen Harper, then President of the NCC, 2001.


On minorities



"You have to remember that west of Winnipeg the ridings the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from Eastern Canada; people who live in ghettos and are not integrated into Western Canadian society."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, in Report Newsmagazine, 2001.


On abortion:


"While [Stephen] Harper has not promised to raise pro-life or pro-family legislation he has promised to allow such legislation to be introduced by others and to permit free votes..."

- Anti-abortion Web site LifeSite.net, March 22, 2004.


"I have always said that controversial issues of a moral or religious nature, such as abortion, should be settled by free votes of MPs, not by party policy."

- Stephen Harper.




On his oppisition to gay marriage:

"I think it's a typical hidden agenda of the Liberal party... They had the courts do it for them, they put the judges in they wanted, then they failed to appeal -- failed to fight the case in court... I think the federal government deliberately lost this case in court and got the change to the law done through the back door."

- Stephen Harper, attacking the Liberals on same-sex marriage by claiming a conspiracy, News Hound, September 7th 2003.

"The Liberals have allowed a handful of tenured judges to create a situation where churches, synagogues, mosques and temples could be compelled to perform marriages that violate their own moral codes."

- Stephen Harper attacking the Liberals on same-sex marriage, News Hound, September 7th 2003. The proposed law specifically precludes any church, synagogue or mosque from having to conduct any marriage which violates their belief system.

"Regarding sexual orientation or, more accurately, what we are really talking about, sexual behaviour, the argument has been made ... that this is analogous to race and ethnicity.... (For) anyone in the Liberal party to equate the traditional definition of marriage with segregation and apartheid is vile and disgusting."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, 2003.


On nation unity:

"Withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan... Collect our own revenue from personal income tax... Resume provincial responsibility for health-care policy. If Ottawa objects to provincial policy, fight in the courts... [E]ach province should raise its own revenue for health... It is imperative to take the initiative, to build firewalls around Alberta... "
- Stepehen Harper in an "Open letter to Ralph Klein," January 24th 2001.


"It is simply difficult – extremely difficult – for someone to become bilingual in a country that is not. And make no mistake. Canada is not a bilingual country. In fact it less bilingual today than it has ever been... So there you have it. As a religion, bilingualism is the god that failed. It has led to no fairness, produced no unity and cost Canadian taxpayers untold millions."

- Stephen Harper on bilingualism, Calgary Sun, May 6th 2001.

"Universality has been severely reduced: it is virtually dead as a concept in most areas of public policy... These achievements are due in part to the Reform Party..."

- Stepehen Harper, speech to the Colin Brown Memorial Dinner, National Citizens Coalition, 1994.


"We must aim to make [Canada] a lower tax jurisdiction than the United States."

- Stepehen Harper, Vancouver Province, April 6th 2004.

"A weak nation strategy..."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper describes Canada's historic foreign policy position of multilateralism.

"Whether Canada ends up with one national government or two governments or 10 governments, the Canadian people will require less government no matter what the constitutional status or arrangement of any future country may be."

- Stephen Harper in a 1994 National Citizens Coalition speech.

"A culture of defeat..."

- Stephen Harper, describing the Atlantic provinces, May 2001.


On their support of the Iraq War/Integeration with USA:

"This party will not take its position based on public opinion polls. We will not take a stand based on focus groups. We will not take a stand based on phone-in shows or householder surveys or any other vagaries of pubic opinion... In my judgment Canada will eventually join with the allied coalition if war on Iraq comes to pass. The government will join, notwithstanding its failure to prepare, its neglect in co-operating with its allies, or its inability to contribute. In the end it will join out of the necessity created by a pattern of uncertainty and indecision. It will not join as a leader but unnoticed at the back of the parade."

- Stepehen Harper indicating that, if elected, Canada will join the US occupation of Iraq, Hansard, January 29th 2003.


"It was probably not an appropriate term, but we support the war effort and believe we should be supporting our troops and our allies and be there with them doing everything necessary to win."

- Stepehen Harper supporting the US-lead war on Iraq, Montreal Gazette, April 2nd 2003. Harper also called then-Defence Minister John McCallum an "idiot."



"I don't know all the facts on Iraq, but I think we should work closely with the Americans."

- Stepehen Harper, Report Newsmagazine, March 25th 2002.


"Nay."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper voting against a motion urging the Canadian government not to participate in the US military intervention in Iraq, March 20, 2003.

"Thank you for saying to our friends in the United States of America, you are our ally, our neighbour, and our best friend in the whole wide world. And when your brave men and women give their lives for freedom and democracy we are not neutral. We do not stand on the sidelines; we're for the disarmament of Saddam and the liberation of the people of Iraq."

- Stephen Harper, Friends of America Rally, April 4, 2003.



"Mr. Speaker, the issue of war requires moral leadership. We believe the government should stand by our troops, our friends and our allies and do everything necessary to support them right through to victory."

- Stephen Harper, supporting the American invasion of Iraq, House of Commons, April 1, 2003.



"This government's only explanation for not standing behind our allies is that they couldn't get the approval of the Security Council at the United Nations - a body [on] which Canada doesn't even have a seat."

- Stephen Harper supporting the American invasion of Iraq, CTV's Question Period, March 30, 2003.



"It is inherently dangerous to allow a country such as Iraq to retain weapons of mass destruction, particularly in light of its past aggressive behaviour. If the world community fails to disarm Iraq, we fear that other rogue states will be encouraged to believe that they too can have these most deadly of weapons to systematically defy international resolutions and that the world will do nothing to stop them."

- Stephen Harper supporting the American invasion of Iraq, House of Commons, March 20, 2003.


"Continental economic and security integration" with the U.S. as well as a "continental energy strategy" that should be broadened "to a range of other natural resources."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper.



"Abrasively neutral."

- Conservative leader Stephen harper on Canada's position on Iraq.


"The time has come to recognize that the U.S. will continue to exercise unprecedented power in a world where international rules are still unreliable and where security and advancing of the free democratic order still depend significantly on the possession and use of military might."

- Stephen Harper, May, 2003, speech to the Institute for Research on Public Policy.


On supporting someone who makes completely wacked out statements:

"Rob is a true reformer and a true conservative. He has been a faithful supporter of mine and I am grateful for his work."

- Stephen Harper endorsing Calgary West Conservative MP Rob Anders, who in 2001 called Nelson Mandela "a Communist and terrorist."

"Daily Show" Clips

Nice clips of great shows like the Daily Show, Real Time with Bill Maher etc.

http://www.overspun.com/?cat=2

Source: asim99

Free DVD - Last Best Chance

http://actnow.saferworld.org/video/

Last Best Chance was produced with support from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, with additional funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Last Best Chance is a docudrama that shows the threat posed by vulnerable nuclear weapons and materials around the world and underscores what the stakes are.

In the movie, al Qaeda operatives organize three separate operations aimed at getting nuclear weapons. The material is then fabricated into three crude nuclear weapons by small groups of trained terrorists, who have recruited bomb-making experts to help them manufacture their weapons.

Governments around the world discover clues to the plot, but are unable to uncover the scheme before the weapons are en route to their destinations. The film clearly demonstrates that the hardest job for terrorists is gaining control of a nuclear weapon or material. Because the governments had failed to take sufficient action to secure or destroy the nuclear weapons material, they are helpless to prevent an attack.

The film stars Fred Thompson and features an epilogue moderated by Tom Brokaw.

“When people are moving too slowly to respond to a danger, one option is to make it more vivid. Seeing the danger is the first step to reducing the risk.”
—Ted Turner, co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative

Tell the Truth About Iraq

Last month the Times of London published a “smoking gun” memo on President Bush’s lies leading up to the Iraq war. Six months before the invasion the administration admitted to British officials that, contrary to what the American public was told, the White House was determined to go to war and was “fixing” intelligence on WMDs to justify the move.

Bush has refused to address the evidence in the "Downing Street Memo," but pressure is building from the people and the press. Representative John Conyers has launched a citizens petition to demand answers. When we reach 500,000 signers Rep. Conyers will personally deliver your comments to the gates of the White House. Help get out the truth – please sign today.

Click here for the full text of Rep. Conyers's letter.

http://www.moveonpac.org/tellthetruth/
Sign the petition here.

Morgentaler honoured. Only 300 protest.

Dispite predictions that "thousands" of anti abortionists from anti-abortion sites only 300 turned out to protest out of a country of almost 30 million and after an appeal to the United States with their population of almost 400 million. According to the news the protest had a religious and and elderly slant to it.

Quote:

Outside, the school's Alumni Hall, about 300 protesters waved placards carrying slogans such as “abortions kill children” and “protect the life of women and baby.” University vice-president Greg Moran, introducing Dr. Morgentaler, reminded those in the audience that debate is a key element in a liberal education and important to the formation of a strong society. Through much of his address, Dr. Morgentaler recounted his own 37-year battle to ensure that women have control over their own reproductive health, saying that – in the end – it has resulted in a safer, more just society. “The right to abortion on request is part of the struggle for the emancipation of women. Women cannot fully participate in society and assume their full potential unless protected against the vagaries of unwanted pregnancies. “Women cannot be fully equal unless they have control over their reproductive functions.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...Story/National/

Props to Roninvancouver @ RFD

Great stuff from "The Parking Lot is Full"

Officer runs over hit-and-run victim

GASTONIA, North Carolina (AP) -- A police officer responding to an emergency call of a man struck by a car accidentally ran over the victim with his cruiser Thursday, authorities said.

Investigators remained uncertain whether the victim was already dead when he was struck a second time by the police car, said Sheriff's Department Capt. Tony Robinson.

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol was investigating.

The 911 call was received early Thursday, police said. After reaching the scene, officer J.C. May was blinded by the high beams of a parked car and struck the victim.

The man was in the road and was pronounced dead at the scene. His name was not available, Robinson said.

May was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Source

Where does freedom of religion end?

Originally Posted by d_jedi

I don't pretend to know why the church does what it does. But if for some reason that's a part of their faith, then that should be respected.

Originally Posted by JAC
Part of my faith involves banging your wife and pissing on your lawn.
We meet Thursday nights. See you there

Gay advocates fight churches' charity status

Institutions fear losing tax breaks if they oppose same-sex unions; Rightly so, gay-rights group says

by Alex Hutchison

Ottawa Citizen
June 12, 2005

Churches that oppose same-sex marriage legislation have good reason to fear for their charitable status, a leading gay-rights advocate is warning.

"If you are at the public trough, if you are collecting taxpayers' money, you should be following taxpayers' laws. And that means adhering to the Charter," says Kevin Bourassa, who in 2001 married Joe Varnell in one of Canada's first gay weddings, and is behind www.equalmarriage.ca.

"We have no problem with the Catholic Church or any other faith group promoting bigotry," he said. "We have a problem with the Canadian government funding that bigotry."

Several Liberal backbenchers have been pressuring Prime Minister Paul Martin to amend the controversial gay-marriage bill, which is now before the House, to protect the tax status of churches that refuse to perform such marriages.

Under current rules, donations to religious groups are tax-privileged as long as the church refrains from partisan political activity.

"They can't connect their views with any political candidate," said Peter Broder, the director of regulatory affairs at Imagine Canada, an umbrella organization for charities and non-profit groups.

But the role of the Catholic Church in public debate is legitimate and legal, according to Bede Hubbard, the associate secretary general of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"Right from the very beginning, the representatives of the government have called on Canadians to express their opinions," he said. "And certainly, Canadian churches are among Canadian citizens."

Even if the churches are in compliance with tax laws --with or without an amendment to the marriage bill -- they could still be subject to a challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But this is unlikely to succeed, Mr. Broder said.

"It's hard to see how that would happen," he said. "For example, I'm not aware of any religious group having been challenged on their refusal to marry divorced people."

Churches rely heavily on their charitable status to encourage more frequent and more generous donations, according to Janet Epp Buckingham, the director of law and public policy for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.

"The loss the charitable tax status would really affect the ability of these ministries to carry out their functions," she said. "That includes a lot of things that are beneficial to society, like homeless ministries, outreach to the poor, and international development."

As a result, the Evangelical Fellowship favours an amendment to the bill guaranteeing that charitable status will not be challenged-- even though the group opposes the bill as a whole.

"If they're going to redefine marriage anyway, we would like to see these kinds of amendments in the bill," Ms. Buckingham said.

Bonnie Greene, a retired United Church official who specialized in tax issues, said the charitable status of churches is not under any immediate threat.

However, the regulations governing charities are greatly in need of updating, she said.

"In Canadian law, the definition of charitable activity is over 400 years old, based on a legal case in England," Ms. Greene said. "This is not good for democracy in Canada."

For Mr. Bourassa and Mr. Varnell, who run the website www.equalmarriage.ca, the distinction between advocacy and partisan politics is artificial.

"Our website is completely self-funded," Mr. Bourassa said.

"We are not a charity, because fighting for our Charter of Rights is considered by the government to be advocacy. What is the difference between fighting for equality and fighting against equality? There's none."

Currently, groups promoting human rights, the environment and peace are not considered charities. The rules should be changed to reflect the needs of civil society -- needs that were not present 400 years ago, Ms. Greene said.

Any new rules will need to keep faith and politics separate to satisfy Mr. Bourassa, who is a member of Metropolitan Community Church in Toronto.

"During the last election, my church removed all linkages to political non-charitable groups that were fighting for same-sex marriage from their website because of the political implications and the tax implications," Mr. Bourassa said.

And he intends to make other churches follow the same path.

"There are charitable activities that are legitimate within faith communities," he said.

"Political activities are not charitable activities."

The time has come for Democrats to fight back

Democrats, don't put muzzle on Dean

By DeWayne Wickham

Instead of muzzling Howard Dean, Democrats should give him a bullhorn. Rather than urging him to retreat from his attack on Republicans, party leaders ought to send him off to a political war college — preferably the one the late GOP strategist Lee Atwater attended.

As chairman of the Democratic Party, which is teetering between political renewal and functional extinction, Dean should be making war, not peace. But that's exactly what his critics within the party seemed to be suggesting last week when they admonished him for his tough talk about Republicans.

"The Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people. They're a pretty monolithic party. They all behave the same, and they all look the same," he said days earlier. He also said the GOP is "pretty much a white, Christian party" and Republicans "never made an honest living in their lives."

Understandably, Dean's verbal barrage drew a return salvo from Republicans, who accused him of hitting below the belt. Surprisingly, it also sparked friendly fire from some Democrats, who worried aloud that he was unnecessarily alienating Republicans.

While, in fact, what he said about the GOP stretches the truth, it also rallies the Democratic troops, something the party has had difficulty doing since Bill Clinton left the White House.

Lesson from GOP

Ironically, Dean's negative talk is something Atwater, who managed the 1988 presidential campaign of George H.W. Bush, turned into an art form. When the story broke that Willie Horton, a black convicted murderer, raped a white woman and assaulted her fiancé while on a weekend furlough from a Massachusetts prison, Atwater went on the attack. He vowed to link Horton so closely to Bush's opponent, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, that people would think the career criminal was the Democratic candidate's running mate.

Republican leaders, eager to extend their party's control of the White House beyond the eight years of Ronald Reagan's presidency, didn't chastise Atwater for playing to racial fears and stereotypes in linking Horton to Dukakis. Instead, they made him party chairman.

Not long after he assumed that post, Atwater put his crosshairs on then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton, a Democrat he correctly feared might keep Bush from winning re-election. Atwater plotted to use allegations of drug abuse and womanizing to derail Clinton's political career. "We may or may not win, but we'll bust him up so bad he won't be able to run again for years," Atwater said, according to The Hunting of the President: The Ten-Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton, a 2000 book by Joe Conason and Gene Lyons.

Liberal label

Despite expressing his regret for these actions shortly before his untimely death in 1991, Atwater's go-for-the-jugular brand of politics has become a lethal weapon in the Republicans' arsenal. It is what motivates GOP operatives to quickly label Democrats as liberal — and to treat liberalism as a dirty word.

To his credit, Dean has broken ranks with those Democrats who think the best defense is to seek cover and then throw themselves on the mercy of voters on Election Day. The time has come for Democrats to fight back. They should explain what it means to be a liberal, not allow Republicans to define them. They should answer hyperbolic attacks with exaggerated speech of their own, if that's what it takes to stave off political annihilation.

For much of this decade, right-wing Republicans have dominated the public square, shouting down some on their political left and drowning out others who have tried to counter their bombast with civil responses. The time has come for Democrats to give as good as they get.

Americans, for the most part, love politicians who fight for what they believe — and they abhor political wimps. Dean is a fighter, albeit one who needs to learn that in an ideological spat, a well-placed jab often can do more damage than a barrage of roundhouse punches.

But he can't learn that lesson if Democrats won't let him take the fight to the GOP.

DeWayne Wickham writes weekly for USA TODAY.

Source

Legalizing pot could bring B.C. big bucks

Gotta love that This National Post affilate paper will publish a dissenting view - but then toss in the most foolish looking picture that only partially ties to the article. Fuckers...

Letter

June 12, 2005

CREDIT: The Associated Press Holland's self-declared 'King of Cannabis' poses before pot plants in Oosterhout.

What were you people thinking to ask for more research into

marijuana before legalizing it?

Since the LaGuardia Commission report of 1946 that addressed and destroyed the myths around pot and its use, many other investigations on both sides of the border have backed up its findings.

It's not a gateway drug.

It's less addictive (if at all) than coffee or soap operas. It does not lead to insanity or a rapid

spiralling down into moral decay by individuals or society.

My generation and subsequent ones do not believe your distortions and misinformation.

And comparing it to tobacco, please. No one I've known has ever smoked the equivalent of one to two ounces of pot a day for 30 to 40 years. And thus no one has ever been known to die of cancer through smoking pot.

Talk about "reefer madness," what were you guys drinking?

Erik Kirkpatrick, Vancouver

Source

Stanley Kubrick Photos for Look magazine

More here

(I promise - more news and less photos for the next bit. I've just been on a bit of a visual fixation lol).

More here

Now here's a shirt worthy of wearing...

Order here

Source

The "new" drug war...

"H.R. 1528, Defending America's Most Vulnerable: Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act of 2005, is one of the worst drug war bills that Congress has ever considered."

Some of the "high"lights...

--Creates a new offense for persons who witness or learn about certain drug offenses that fail to report the drug offender to the police within 24 hours or fail to provide full assistance to the police in tracking and prosecuting the offender. Offenses that would get someone a 2-year minimum sentence, including failing to report a neighbor that is storing or selling drugs when that neighbor has kids, failing to report anyone that gives a joint to someone under the age of 21, and failing to report a college student that is selling marijuana on a college campus.

--Expands what is considered to be a “drug-free” school zone to include almost any place in an urban area, and increases penalties for selling or distributing drugs in that area. (The result will be enhanced penalties for people in inner cities, while people in rural and suburban areas get less time for the same offense).

--Makes it a federal crime to provide "drug paraphernalia" to anyone. While the goal is to make it a crime - punishable by up to three years in prison - to give someone a bong as a birthday present, it would also make it a federal crime to provide someone with sterile syringes (except where it is explicitly authorized by local or state law). If enacted, it would essentially criminalize many needle exchange programs.

Full details on further government opression here

Bush Sr. wants Jeb in the White House

Lovely...

The president's father would like to see another Bush in the White House someday, saying on Tuesday that he wants his son Jeb to run for president when the timing is right. Florida Governor Jeb Bush has repeatedly said he does not plan to run for president in 2008, trying to dampen speculation that another Bush could be the next Republican dumbass to corrupt all that's good.

In an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live," former President Bush said he wants Jeb to run for president "someday," but now was not the time. "The timing's wrong. The main thing is, he doesn't want to do it. Nobody believes that," Bush said. He added that he does not have a favorite candidate for the Republican nomination to succeed George Junior. Senior Bush is quite proud of his demonic spawn, as we can see.

Barbara Bush said she believed Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic nominee in the 2008 presidential race.
"I'm not going to vote for her, but I'm betting on her," she said.

Source: Yahoo

Judge's Offer: Church Or Jail

(AP) A judge has been offering some drug and alcohol offenders the option of attending worship services instead of going to jail or rehab -- a practice some say violates the separation of church and state.

District Judge Michael Caperton, 50, a devout Christian, said his goal is to "help people and their families."

"I don't think there's a church-state issue, because it's not mandatory and I say worship services instead of church," he said.

Alternative sentencing is popular across the country--ordering vandals to repaint a graffiti-covered wall, for example. But legal experts said they didn't know of any other judges who give the option of attending church.

Caperton has offered the option about 50 times to repeat drug and alcohol offenders. It is unclear what effect the sentence has had.

David Friedman, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, said the option raises "serious constitutional problems."

"The judge is saying that those willing to go to worship services can avoid jail in the same way that those who decline to go cannot," Friedman said. "That strays from government neutrality towards religion.

Source: CBS

Global Television is scum once again.

Wednesday June 8th, 2005

Global Television's "Moneywise" program featured a rep from the Canadian Federation of Small Business bashing performance bonuses for public servants. They seemed to have a especially good time laughing at the Governor General as well. Guess we now know what they think about when they're not complaining about the NDP/Liberal budget.

Needless to say they didn't have a rep for the other side and the "anchor" was smiling and nodding along.

Some of the advertisers from the broadcast for your possible boycott interests include:

Canadian Tire
Dell (including a special "bumper" spot with a voice over by a Global employee)
Body Break (what the hell do they sell anyways)

the things we complain about. we truly live in a decadent society.

From a messageboard posting. I'll leave it anon to be polite.

Wanted to buy a simple bag of chips.. and it became a baffling ordeal. Needed to pay with Interac, because I didn't have any change on me.

Go to one store - they accept Interac. Go to pay.. find out they are going to charge me an extra $0.15 (that's 15%!) for the "privilege" of paying for my item.
Go to ANOTHER store.. they accept interac.. same result
And another..
Finally, the fourth store doesn't gouge me with extra fees.

Guess which store I'll take my business to (with cash or debit) to in the future?

Reply by MrDisco: the things we complain about. we truly live in a decadent society.

Deep Throat Revealed!

Public Healthcare creates jobs in Canada

• The U.S. automakers are moving more production to Canada where a national health care program provides coverage for workers and their families for less than one-fifth of the cost of health benefits on the U.S. side of the border.
• Benefit costs account for 28.8 percent of compensation costs for private sector production workers in the U.S., compared with 17.0 percent in Japan, 16.6 percent in Canada and 17.6 percent in the United Kingdom. Three-fourths of the difference in benefit costs stems from the private health insurance system in the U.S.
• http://www.laborresearch.org/story2.php/380

• The United States has lost nearly 3 million manufacturing jobs since July 2001, with 43 consecutive months of manufacturing-employment decline, from about 17.3 million jobs to about 14.3 million in February 2004. During the same period, the manufacturing workforce in Canada has generally remained stable, at about 2 million jobs, even though the unemployment rate is higher there, at 7.4 percent, than in the United States, where it is 5.6 percent.
• And, although both nations lost auto manufacturing jobs in 2000 and 2003, the decline was only 4 percent in Canada, compared with 14 percent in the United States.
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A34899-2004Mar5?language=printer

• In contrast, the single payer system that Canada has used for the last 25 years has drastically simplified their administration costs. For instance, it takes more people to administer Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts that it does to administer the entire health care system of Canada. Before Canada implemented their national health program, their health costs were the same portion of their economy as in the U.S. After they implemented their program, their costs stabilized at 9% while U.S. costs have increased to 14%. They spend one tenth of what U.S. health care providers spend on overhead.
• According the Harris Poll of all industrial nations, Canadians are the most satisfied with their health care.
• http://bcn.boulder.co.us/health/healthwatch/canada.html

• “Nothing is more important to us. Nothing." Those were the words from General Motors chief finance executive John Devine to a packed crowd of auto industry insiders in a forum at Traverse City. The topic of question: healthcare. More to the point, the ever rising costs of healthcare and the possibility of it impeding on domestic carmakers and their ability to compete.
• Some in the industry are beginning to contemplate the idea of a nationalized system of healthcare. The Detroit Free Press reports that Larry Denton, CEO of auto supplier Dura Automotive Systems, Inc. thinks the time may have come for the government to step in. “I spent a lot of time in Canada, and I used to think their health-care plan was a bad idea. Now after being back here I'm not so sure. We're about the only modernized country not doing it and the companies here pay a 30-percent penalty because the rules are different.”
• http://www.automotivearticles.com/Rising_Cost_of_Healthcare_Pressures_Automakers_.shtml

And apprently Toyota feels the same way...

Naked Gord Presents: The Don Newman Quote

This isn't a pro-left wing post. Nor is it a anti-right wing.

I just found this funny as hell (those who know Don Newman can attest to the fact he has one of the sharpest tongues in Canadian news)

During this weeks round table with the Communication Directors of the major parties: Jamie Heath (NDP) , Scott Reid (Liberal), Jeff Norquay (Con) we were featured with this little gem when Jamie Heath confirmed he'll be seeking the NDP seat when Ed Broadbent retires shortly:

Don: Isn't that rather like a jockey wanting to be a horse

moments later:

Later: I want to inform everybody that I'm recording this conversation...and I'll be putting it on my website later on for all to hear.

and so he did:

http://www.cbc.ca/politics/

All shows are archived for the morning and evening broadcasts for the past week are archived in real video format. This clip was on the afternoon edition @ approx 40 mins.

For those interested there is also a very interesting interview with outgoing World Bank President James Wolfensohn.

p.s. - if anybody is interested in a general Politics W/ Don Newman roundtable discussion or something e-mail me.

Grundig Fr200 AM/FM/Shortwave Emergency Radio

Mondo News merges with Mondo Electronics for this post.

Be ready when Bush suspends freedom of speech, invades Canada and imposes martial law with this spiffy AM/FM/SW radio so you can get non-Bush controlled information from around the world and use the hand crank when, like Iraq, he liberates North America from 24 hour power.



From Taget.com:
The Grundig AM/FM/SW Emergency Radio will give you light and information when you need it most. Features a built-in hand crank to power the generator; emergency light; 4-band tuning (FM/AM and 2 international shortwave bands); 2" built-in speaker; DC and earphone jacks; rechargeable battery; fine-tuning controls; heavy-duty, bronze-color case and a black leather handle for easy carrying. Imported. 6-3/4Hx5-3/4Wx2-3/16D

Comes in a selection of colours as well.

Here's the Froogle link however you might want to buy this with cash off the grid for when the Bush storm troppers comes to everyone's doors to seize non-approved media sources and devices.

Repairing the Damage of the Harris Cons continues...

TORONTO (CP) - It was five years ago that a small-town disaster destroyed lives, tarnished personal and political reputations and shattered Canadian complacency about something long taken for granted - tap water.

The deadly May 2000 tainted-water tragedy in Walkerton, Ont., had such a profound impact on public attitudes towards drinking water that Jim Smith, Ontario's chief drinking water inspector, doesn't think it likely that it could ever happen again.


Source: Macleans

Dick Cheany: The Unauthorized Biography - this week on CBC/CBC Newsworld

American Vice-President Dick Cheney has walked the corridors of world power for three decades.

Cheney's remarkable life story involves the relentless accumulation of power in every form.
Elected for a second term, he continues to be one of the most powerful and well-connected men in the world.
The fifth estate will show how he accomplished this, what it involved in terms of costs for others and what history's judgement could be.

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/dickcheney/

Wednesday May 25, 2005 at 9pm on CBC-TV
Thursday May 26, 2005 at 10 pm on CBC Newsworld.

So true...

Source Asim99

Liberals 8-12 points ahead of Alliance Cons in Ontario

Unless Martin implodes I doubt Harper's Alliance Cons will get a minority gov't when the election finally happens....thankfully.

http://erg.environics.net/news/default.asp?aID=580
from a may 18 poll:



Source Asim99

There's something very dangerous going on with Freedom of Speech

For television addicts, it's a chilling thought.
Imagine no more "Sopranos," "Deadwood," or "The Shield." No place on cable for the Peabody-winning "The Daily Show." No more sassy Cartman on "South Park."
I don't mean doing away with these critically acclaimed, much-loved programs because they get canceled or because nobody's watching. I'm talking about doing away with them because the government steps in and says they are inappropriate for us to watch.
It sounds absurd that in today's world, someone could dictate what we can and cannot watch on television -- not on free TV, where regulation is understandable, but on cable where we pay for the privilege of hearing a feisty Al Swerengen use colorful Western vocabulary on "Deadwood."
But censorship of this type could become reality if some members of Congress and media watchdog groups such as the Parents Television Council (PTC) have their way. They want to regulate cable television the same way free over-the-air television is controlled.
For more than a year, the PTC has been yammering about indecency on cable and satellite television, and Congress has been listening.
Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, appeared at the recent National Association of Broadcasters annual conference and said they think government regulators should move in on cable and satellite

From The Salt Lake City Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/tv/ci_2720550

There is something very dangerous going on when they want to censor pay tv programs like The Sopranos.

Amazon.ca partners with The National Shame*

*My boycott begins.

Simply subscribe to National Post at a discounted rate of 14$/mth* and we'll send you a 50$ certificate for Amazon.ca

*National Post 6-day subscription exclusive promotional offer is for a minimum 1-year commitment. A one time, non-refundable payment of 168+txs must be made by credit card only. Offer applicable only where National post delivery is available. this offer is limited to readers who have not had home delivery in the past 45 days, and may not be combined with any other offer. This offer is subject to amazon.ca terms and conditions. Please see www.amazon.ca/promos for details. Offer expires August 31, 2005.

Subscribe today at http://www.fuckyouasper.com/you too amazon*

*link slightly modified

Good News: Global National viewers leaving Canada

Reported on todays episode (and I say episode because it's so fictional) of Global National they had a story on Canadians leaving the country because of the sponsorship scandal.

Apprently these were regular posters on the Global National website complaining about Canada's "Socialist Utopia" in this counrty. Well if the Sponsorship Scandal is causing Global National viewers anger about our "socialist country" then perhaps it's all been worth it :D

p.s.

Thank you Paul Martin (and George Bush for all the left wing Americans who are trying to move here) ;)

p.s.s.

There is no archive of last weeks topic where the posts I discuss occur however here's a link to the topic this week if you want to add a progressive voice:
Global National's homepage (click Sound off section)

Alliance Cons/Bloc damage our dollar with show vote

The Canadian dollar fell after Parliament passed a motion calling on Prime Minister Paul Martin's government to resign, ahead of a formal no-confidence vote later this month over a corruption scandal in Quebec.

The motion by the opposition Conservatives, instructing a parliamentary committee to recommend the Liberal Party-led government quit, passed in a 153-150 vote in the House of Commons in Ottawa. The motion sets the stage for the vote that could oust the minority government.

``It certainly intensifies political unrest in Canada,'' said Monica Fan, global head of foreign exchange strategy at RBC Capital Markets. ``This is very bearish for the Canadian dollar, particularly for investors who had been somewhat sanguine'' about the political situation. Fan, who is based in London, spoke from RBC's office in Sydney.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000082&sid=aAKS1nvJOTdo&refer=canada

“It’s not a Christian-Jew thing, it’s Evangelical Christian vs. everybody else,”

Sooo..... Evangelical Christianity in government. Now it's being pushed through the millitary. So much for a free country...

“It’s not a Christian-Jew thing, it’s Evangelical Christian vs. everybody else,” he stressed. “The viciousness is as bad against mainline Protestants as it is against Catholics as it is against Jews. … For the last 10 to 15 years, maybe more, [the academy] ignored this growing cancer of Evangelical intrusion."

A sign placed on every plate in the cadet dining hall and in posters throughout the academy announced a Christian-themed program pertaining to Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ” and stating it was an “officially sponsored USAFA event.”

An Air Force Academy chaplain, Maj. Warren “Chappy” Watties, led a Protestant worship service, then directed the cadets in attendance to proselytize those who did not attend. The penalty for those who failed to accept the proselytizing was to “burn in the fires of hell.”

Full article here: http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=10883