Been there, done that daughter, so go find your own teenage angst

I have the most surreal experience. The Last Amazon figured that I would be a soft touch and handed me a list of possible CD’s that she would like to have for her trip to the east coast as I was walking out the door. I didn’t take a look at the list until I arrived at work.

It was Déjà vu all over again, circa 1976 thru to the early 80's. The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Billy Idol, Iggy Pop, New York Dolls, Lou Reed, Blondie, The Clash, Boomtown Rats, Television, Richard Hell, Dead Kennedys, The Heartbreakers, Generation X, in fact, all she was missing was really Patti Smith and Ian Dury. I really loved that Easter album though it is probably a blessing that Patti Smith didn’t make the list as I can’t have her humming the opening to Gloria in her dreaded and loathed religion class at her very proper Catholic school. Nor do I need to hear her sing “Ssex, drugs and rock’n’roll are all my brain and body need” as she goes about her household chores.

I had been listening to Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Nico, the Velvet Underground and the New York Dolls in the mid-seventies as I was trying desperately to come of age. All that angst, decadance and anger appealed to my soul. Then came the Sex Pistols and it was like a revelation. No more area rock or heavy metal with orchestral arrangements. It was fresh, bold, and haughty. Music that was really the sound of my generation just like rock’n’roll was suppose to be. No more old guys trolling on stage singing the songs of a previous generation though it should be noted that the same old guys of then have still never gotten off the stage and I do note the irony of Sid Vicious singing “My Way”.

I am sure that the Last Amazon would be green with envy if I told I first saw the Ramones in a club called CBGB’s and so I had to go and see them again when they came to Toronto and played at the Old New Yorker theatre on Yonge Street or how I met Billy Idol when he was with a group called Generation X and he tried to chat me up and impress me backstage at the Masonic Temple. It was working until he tossed his cookies at my feet. Note to all young aspiring male musicians; you cannot pull women unless you can hold your liquor. Imagine my surprise when I saw the same cookie tossing poser on a TV screen in a bar in New York singing Rebel Yell. No doubt she would have a few choice words for my teenage judgment when I decided at the last minute to go to another club when a UK group came to town to play at one of my favourite haunts and missed hearing the Police play before the North American release of “Roxanne”.

The Last Amazon has been told how her parents met in the parking lot behind Yonge at Dundas on the way to an afterhours club but the truth was we actually met when he was the door man at a club called Nutz & Bolts where he used to let me in for free when I wore my red leather dress or my leopard skin & chains outfit. My poor mother never got over the strange males in threads, make-up and leathers that use to show up at the door to wisk me away from home periodically.

I have all the music on her list on the old computer and in a few boxes of albums hidden away in the storage closet but I am sure that she doesn’t have a clue as to what one does with a album, so I went out to HMV at lunch and took a stroll down memory lane with her list clutched in my hand. I came to two conclusions. I was a very angry teen and to purchase the same music for your teenage daughter that you purchased as a teen - is an act that borders of blasphemy. So instead, I decided to make her CD's of all my favourites from the mp3 files stored on my old computer. Thank the Lord that tonight she is going to see some group called the Killers that I have never heard of. No generation should have to take on the mantle of their mothers and each generation needs something to claim as their very own.

F-15 Eagle

I haven’t done a quiz in a while so when I saw this one at Curt’s I had to bite. “You are fast, agile, and loud, but reaching the end of your stardom” just about sums me up.

What military aircraft are you? F-15 Eagle You are an F-15. Your record in combat is spotless; you've never been defeated. You possess good looks, but are not flashy about it. You prefer to let your reputation do the talking. You are fast, agile, and loud, but reaching the end of your stardom.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

The Monarchist Rises the Red Ensign Standard

I am a day late and a few blogs short in posting that the Monarchist has raised the Red Ensign Standard Vol. XXll and hope that he accepts that family matters required my attention. I may be tardy but the Monarchist has not been. Go read what my fellow Red Ensign Bloggers have been reading and thinking.

The Countdown Begins

The countdown has formally begun in the family. 28 days to go before the Last Amazon and her youngest brother leave to visit Nana for the summer. The children are all terribly excited about going away for the summer including the son who is not leaving. Being the middle child, he figures it’s all good that the other two will be gone for two months.

I am not sure what to make of their leaving or their excitement. I have been spending as much time as I can with the other two before they go. As much as I want them to have fun and enjoy themselves, I also want them to want to come home at the end of the summer. I have been spending a great deal of time with the children and have big plans for the coming 28 days with them and the son who is staying behind to box through the summer. As such, the least of my priorities is reading or blogging, hence, no new posts today but a heads up to everyone to keep an eye on Darcey at Dust my Broom for the latest news and round-up on the Poundmaker Revolt.

Canada’s Other Official Language: Liberalsleaze

Now this is bizarre. According to this CBC report the Liberal Government of Canada has designated an Iranian opposition group as a terrorist organization. The People’s Mojahedin (as known as MEK) has waged a 20year campaign both politically and militarily to overthrow Rule by Mullah in Iran; and furthermore, two years ago the group publicly announced that they were laying down their arms.

Supporters of the People's Mojahedin, and some Conservative MPs, say the move appears to be intended to reassure Tehran of Canada's friendship, even as the government publicly condemns the Iranian regime over the death of Kazemi.

The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran has waged a 20-year armed campaign to overthrow the ayatollahs. Conservative Foreign Affairs critic Stockwell Day said the group, also known as MEK, has confined its attacks to military and regime targets and that Public Security Minister Anne McLellan has twisted the meaning of the word "terrorism."

"She's using harsher language against the MEK than the government has used against the rape, torture and murder of Zahra Kazemi. It's bizarre and it looks like appeasement of a repressive regime." Day says the timing of the announcement, just 48 hours after Iran told Canada to stop interfering in their investigation of the Kazemi case, will be interpreted by Tehran as a capitulation. He questioned why a group that has existed for 40 years should only become a terrorist now nearly two years after it announced it was laying down its arms.

This is jaw dropping territory and I concur with Stockwell Day. It is outrageous that an opposition group to the Rule by Mullah has been designated as a terrorist organization by the Liberal government when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has yet to do more than say “play nice” to the official government of Iran for sanctioning the torture, rape and bludgeoning-to-death of a Canadian citizen by its agents.

And just when you think this story couldn’t twist anymore; it does.

Conservative MP Paul Forseth says that if the government wants to criminalize support of the People's Mojahedin, it will have to start by arresting several members of Parliament, including Liberals. "In essence, they're calling their own members of Parliament terrorists, because [Liberal MP] Hedy Fry recently sponsored one of their meetings on Parliament Hill, just as I did the year before," Forseth said. A spokesman for Foreign Affairs said the People's Mojahedin had met the threshold for designation, but did not say why the ban is happening now. But he did say it is not related to the Kazemi case.

I am not big fan of MEK, but I would suggest that MEK and the Mullah’s both be put on the proscribed list of terrorist organizations. Then we can raze our embassy to the ground in Tehran. But this story has given me a pause, and I cannot help speculating that perhaps the Mullah's have learned how to push the Liberal envelope and we all know how the Liberals have a fondness for envelopes.

(tipped off by Neale News)

The Ransom of the Jews

Ynet Online carries a book review concerning a fascinating post-war story that I had absolutely no inkling of. The Ransom of the Jews was written by Radu Ioanid and tells the tale of how the post World War 2 communist regime of Caesescu sold Romanian Jews to the State of Israel.

Ransom of the Jews is the result of years of intensive research through thousands of documents and interviews with surviving participants, mainly Israeli Mossad intelligence agents and businessmen involved in the episode. Stories ranged from then-Romanian Foreign Minister Ana Parker, to the chief Rabbi of Romania Moses Rosen, and numerous other players.

Due to World War II, the extreme shortage of foreign currency (American dollars), and inefficient management, Romania’s economy during the late 1940s was devastated. According to Ioanid, the idea of selling Jews to Israel started in late 1949 and early 1950, with a ransom of between USD 50 to USD 100 per Jew. Between late 1949 and the end of 1989 (after dictator Ceausescu’s overthrow in Romania), close to 300,000 Romanian Jews were sold to raise American dollars for the cash-strapped country.

Romania had the greatest post-war population of Jews in Europe. Out of a population of almost 800,000 Jews before the war, 350,000 survived the Nazi inflagration. With the rise of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1965, the selling of Jews emerged as a priority. By 1978, writes Ioanid, payments reached between USD 2,000 to USD 50,000 per person. According to Ioanid, “It was in 1974, Dan and Yanai (members of Israel’s liaison in charge of this operation) brought suitcases of cash. One of these suitcases, containing USD 1 million, was lost in the Zurich airport, only to be found intact two days later!”

Ceausescu steadily raised the price of each Jewish emigrant. At times, the going rate ranged from USD 826 to USD 10,000 per person. For younger and better-educated Jews, the price went higher and higher. The sky was the limit, says Ioanid: “In special cases Romanian authorities asked for as much as USD 250,000 per person."

The Ransom of the Jews is an incredible story. This is a tale of one of the late twentieth century’s most tragic exchanges of humans for money, driven by sheer greed and disregard for human values. It was a cruel, deplorable and mischievous campaign, involving the selling of thousands of women, men, and children, old and young. Tellingly, Ioanid writes: “The Romanian government has, to this date not extended an apology to the government of Israel nor to the Romanian Jews (who were) oppressed and sold.” The book is a shattering document, a story superbly told, as well as an opportunity to learn about the vicious character of the anti-Semitic face of Romania’s Communist leaders.

How I wish that the concept of slavery was not so deep rooted in the human psyche though credit must go to the State of Israel for its unceasing and tireless efforts to be a safe haven for Jews worldwide. There is much Canada could learn from its example.

Whatever happened to not negotiating with terrorists?

Interesting report from Ynet Online that two Arab newspapers are reporting that senior Bush and Blair Administration officials have sent official letters to the senior leadership of both Hezbollah and Hamas offering to negotiate their organizations removal from the proscribed list of international terrorist organizations.

Senior Hamas and Hizbullah members both received official letters from the U.S administration and British government, two United Arab Emirates’ newspapers reported Saturday. According to the al-Bayan newspaper, the U.S. sent the Islamic terrorist groups a letter, expressing its respect for the organizations’ broad popular support – support that is expected to only grow with the upcoming elections in Lebanon and in the Palestinian Authority.

The newspaper also reported the administration has invited the Islamic organizations’ leaders to a meeting with senior U.S. officials at a still-undecided location. According to sources quoted in the newspaper, the Americans have even demonstrated their willingness to cooperate with the organizations, should they develop into political parties following the elections.

Furthermore, the al-Halij newspaper reported that Britain has considered changing its foreign policy regarding the Middle East and may agree to direct dialogue with Hamas and Hizbullah for the very first time. The newspaper reports that this move is based on the assumption the organizations will strengthen their political positions after elections next week in Lebanon and on July 17 in the PA.

A British Foreign Ministry spokesman refused to confirm the newspaper’s report but said that Britain’s current foreign policy is aimed at contact with Hamas field commanders “not connected to terror.” The spokesman said that the motive for such controversial contacts was to “strengthen the Palestinian Authority.” However, the spokesman said his government’s ties to Hizbullah were severed years ago, as its military wing has been included in the list of terror organizations since 2001.

All of which would go far to explain the odd statement made by White House Press Secretary Scott McClelland in an April 13, 2005 press briefing wherein he referred to Hamas elected municipal officials as "business professionals" though it should be noted that arms dealer is a recognized profession and hanging a Jew out to dry has a long a historical tradition in the West.

HBC: we don't take any pride in the bottom line

On March 3, 2005 it was announced that Hudson’s Bay Company had been selected by the Canadian Olympic Committee to be the Official Outfitter & Clothier of Choice for Canadian Olympic athletes. Apparently, it was able to disrobe and oust internationally renown Roots Canada, whose funky and functionally clothes made our athletic team uniforms the envy of the world, by underbidding the competition and by promising to donate a significant amount to the training of Canadian Olympic athletes. I knew it was a big mistake then, and at the time, could only envision HBC delivering with an inferior product in athletic wear. I hadn’t really conceived of a scenario where our Olympians turn up at the 2008 games wearing their birthday suits unless it was by choice to combat the itch of the HBC signature cloth. According to this report from today’s Globe and Mail, I may have to rethink what is in the realm of the possible.

Hudson's Bay Co.'s financial performance continues to deteriorate, with a $41-million quarterly loss reported yesterday that prompted some analysts to wonder whether the Canadian retailing institution will ever get its house in order.

The country's oldest merchant, which has been considered to be a potential takeover target, attributed its poor first-quarter results to a number of unusual factors, including a restructuring charge, the closing of some of its Zellers stores and a computer systems snag. The company also pointed to higher costs and tighter profit margins, although it said the costs should be offset in the rest of the year. The systems problems, tied to selling furniture and appliances, will mostly be ironed out in the second quarter and ultimately help boost the bottom line by the end of the year, it said.

"All in all, the quarter was kind of mixed," George Heller, president and chief executive officer at HBC, told analysts during a conference call. "We don't take any pride in the bottom line..”.

Or put it in plain speak - HBC practically doubled its first quarter loss.

What could possibly be more natural than teenagers with bombs?

At least that is the case in Israel. The tally since Sunday for Palestinian children arrested for carrying bombs is 2 according to this Jerusalem Post article. Not one of them was older that 15. The running tally since the beginning of the year has the IDF arresting 52 minors for carrying bombs. If the UN functioned in the real world there would be an outcry against terrorist groups exploiting children for their own nefarious ends. If Palestinian Authority Chairman was truly concerned with the welfare of ordinary Palestinians he would be actively hunting down groups that used children as a weapons delivery system. But instead, because it is the Palestinians and their foe is Israel, the silence is positively deafening.

Is this the natural result of a culture with too much E-Bay?

I certainly would not have put in a bid nor paid for this, and furthermore no well-dressed Amazon would be caught dead with this in their closet, which begs the question; is a piece of a burnt cross next?

When you don't have TiVo, what comes next?

Last December the family and I discovered the joys of watching television series on DVD instead of playing slave to the network schedules. I also give full marks to Television on Demand – another great innovation. My issue is that I tend to fall asleep early in the evening as a rule and rise at an incredibly unfashionably early hour. I struggled to fight my own biological time clock to stay awake to watch Deadwood last winter and in spite of my best efforts and desire usually woke around 4am having only memory of the first 15 minutes. This year I decided to save myself the hassle and futility of watching season two and will wait for it to come out on DVD.

A friend whose viewing habits mirror my own tastes somewhat suggested that I watch Stargate: Atlantis which I finally finished watching Friday night. Did that ever peeved me. The season ends in the midst of a Wraith attack and the city is going down in spite of the marines showing up at the last minute – talk about cheap improbable cheesy cliffhangers. Apparently, my friend's husband nearly broke the television for that one (22 years in the US Marine Corp) but I know how he feels. Now I have to wait for next year or so to see season two to see if the Marines are actually beaten and forced to evacuate the city to another planet.

Everyone who knows me knows I am a sucker for science fiction. Some women read trashy romance novels; I read Sci-Fi and have for years when I want escapist fiction. I was hooked to the original Star Trek in the seventies and between that and the Apollo missions I have remained hooked for life. I never really caught the fever for The Next Generation or Deep Space Six, in spite of the Klingon; the characters are too metrosexual for my taste. Imagine the future where PC speech, thought and dress rule – too much dry toast for me to watch though I did like the Ferengi.

It was from the original Star Trek that I was inspired to read Milton. Anyone remember the original Wrath of Khan episode when Captain Kirke asked Khan why he and his people would take exile to a hostile planet and Khan replies, “It is better to be the ruler of hell than a slave of heaven.” Thirty-five years later and I can still remember how that thought awed me; though I am more of a Heinlein, Bradbury, Donaldson, Goodkind and Frank Herbert kind of gal. I remember being outraged in the early 80’s when Frank Herbert had a heart attack at 60 and died; leaving me high and dry in the midst of an intergalactic war between the Reverend Mothers and the Honoured Madres without a resolution. I have had many internal dialogues with G-d for his atrocious timing for that one – and I remember thinking that Margaret Atwood would have been a better choice.

I never caught the Star Wars fever in the seventies and I still haven’t though the boys have made me watch all the episodes over and over again but I made my stand on The Attack of the Clones. I promised to draw first blood if I had to watch that one over and over again in the living room. Between the bad physics and engineering, horrendous dialogue, poor acting and a chick who changed her clothes every few minutes on the screen, I took a stand; go watch it in your room. I don’t understand the prohibition of having televisions in the bedrooms of children. All of them have their own and we all still spend the greater time of our television viewing in the living room arguing what we all will watch.

I didn’t go to see Revenge of the Sith and I won’t. No doubt I will watch it once to fulfill my parental obligation with the sons when it is released on dvd but The Sons went with a group of their friends and all converged afterwards at my house. I gather that they enjoyed it as the testosterone level got so high that The Last Amazon and I had were driven to seek sanctuary in our bedroom till the Jedi Masters were picked up by their respective mothers and it was safe to then lurk freely about the house again.

So here’s my question; is the original Stargate worth watching on dvd? I admit to being intrigued as there are 9 seasons available on dvd but should I bother? What about Firefly or Charlie Jade? Done Doctor Who and is the current season worth waiting for on dvd? Or should I go for something different and take a chance on Millennium?

The Huh Factor

Lots of things make me go ‘huh’ and I am forced to ask myself, why? Yesterday’s big international picture of the day seems to be Saddam in his gotchies doing his laundry in jail is just one of the things which rate a double huh in my mind. I understand that newspapers are in the business of selling papers but having Saddam Hussein in his underwear on the front cover just doesn’t motivate me to shell out the loose change to buy a copy. Though it does make me wish that I hadn’t seen it - which in turn leads me to speculate about the kind of people who are motivated to buy a copy to get the inside scope on Saddam’s gotchies.

I realize that a case can be made that Saddam Hussein is a worthy subject of ridicule and belittlement but somehow showing him in his underwear seems to undercut the very real pain and suffering that he inflicted on the Iraqi people that he has yet to answer for. According to this Times Online article (via Neale News) Saddam’s lawyers are going to sue The British Sun for publishing it and the requisite US authorities for allowing the pictures to be taken and smuggled out of the jail. Well, whatever.

I think that the editorial judgment in putting this picture on the front cover is the more important story and highlights where my thinking has been going in the last few days. Sitting in my jammies in front of my computer in Toronto I have wondered where all the real reporters in Canada have gone? I am not talking about the political column pundits for the major dailies but the rank and file reporters and editors. I started to read about the Oil-for-Food scandal over two years ago and even then it was obvious that there was a real Can-con factor but to date it still ranks as one of the most under reported scandals in Canadian papers.

If you didn’t read US papers, blogs or Canada Free Press online and you blinked; you could have easily missed it from reading Canadian dailies. I would even go so far to suggest that the Boo-linda perfidy has gotten more word play than the Can-con content for Oil-for-food. With the way things are going the whole alleged “sexist” issue will continue to get more word play in the coming weeks and months than the allegations put forth by MP Grewel against the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Tim Murphy’s (alleged) dalliance in vote buying despite Jack Layton’s recent calls for the RCMP to investigate.

The London Fog has probably the best example of where editorial direction is mired in this country from an online article from the Toronto Star:

Harper made Parliament's rafters ring denouncing the Liberals' tawdry wrongdoing. Yet the Tories continue to trail in the polls. Most voters remain unpersuaded that the Martin team is fatally tainted. Voters fault the Liberals on ethics, of course, and rightly so. But most feel Canada-U.S. relations, managing the economy and health care are higher priority matters. And they give the Liberals higher marks on these issues.
(…)
The time has come to cool the fury in Parliament, to ease the pressure on Martin to resort to seedy vote buying, and to let him deliver on his many promises, including ethical promises. Martin has vowed, for example, to bring in tough, transparent rules for advertising contracts. While important steps have been taken, Gomery suggested this week more must be done. Martin should follow up.

When maintaing bias is more important than ethnics or content; is it any wonder that the Editorial Board of the largest Canadian daily suggests that Liberal perfidy of the public trust is a small matter and that Official Opposition’s proper role is not to be pressuring the current government for a full accounting and that said pressure only exacerbates or causes the lack of ethics or integrity shown by the Liberals. I would have presumed that there would be reporters all of the country hitting their keyboards daily in a call for a clean sweep of the Liberal party from the top down but instead we read an editorial board calling on the Official Opposition to stop making noise and suggesting that only a liberal can clean the liberal muck.

I would have thought the any reporters worth their ink would be pounding the pavement to dig up the full breath and depth of corruption in Liberal management of government instead of arguing that managing the economy, Canada US Relations and healthcare are more important than ethics and can be managed competently without ethics. In my mind, its’ akin to putting a pedophile in charge of daily operation of a daycare and it is no wonder that Liberal ethics now reminds me of my favourite Oscar Wilde quote, “I can resist anything put temptation.” And that is the reason that I am extremely discriminating in where I spend my disposal dollars for media content.

Here’s a hint to any aspiring journalists and editors at the Toronto Star; think gun registry. But I won’t hold my breath as long as the editors and reporters of One Yonge Street insist on wearing their sunglasses inside the building and it is hardly surprising that they continue to give the Librano's a passing grade.

Liberals Survive, For Now.

Inspite of Liberal perfidy and whoremongering, the Liberal Party survived for now, a vote of non-confidence with special thanks going out to MP Chuck Chadman.

But ask yourself this; what has actually changed? There have been no jail house conversions or blinding lights on the road to Damascus for any Librano. The Canadian public continues to be ill served. The Librano’s will continue to face a non-confidence votes on every major piece of legislation in the house. The Librano’s will not be able to govern in the fullest sense of the word but their will get to continue to sign the cheques, hold the public purse, and have full access to the envelopes. Though there is one small consolation of sorts. The Canadian public purse is not replenished by an endless money tree growing in the backyard of the Parliament buildings that they can use to buy off everyone to maintain their tenuous grasp on power indefinitely.

Libranos still making offers that they hope you can’t refuse

Earlier in the week Prime Minister Dithers requested that the Tories return civility in the house. Pleb and blogger that I am, I am under no such requests, well even if I was, its’ my blog and I will blog what I want to. What I would like to see is a return to freedom, honourable small government and tax relief. From the Globe and Mail comes this report:

A Liberal cabinet minister denied Wednesday that he offered any position to a Conservative MP or his wife in return for support and said he's offended that the Tory MP kept coming back to ask for favours.

Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh was responding to a charge from Tory MP Gurmant Grewal that he and his wife Nina, also a Tory MP, were offered positions in return for ditching their votes against the Liberal budget on Thursday.Mr. Grewal had told media earlier Wednesday evening that the Liberals offered him a diplomatic post or a Senate seat for his wife in return for scratching their crucial budget vote. The MP from Surrey, B.C., alleged he made an audio recording of an offer from Mr. Dosanjh and Tim Murphy, Prime Minister Paul Martin's chief of staff.

Neale News is also carrying this report from CTV. The National Post story is here. The Toronto Star, at the time I posted this was not carrying the report in their online edition but they were carrying a stories concerning the new powers of legislation and taxation Toronto City Council has been granted and one story on how McGirlieman is not satisfied with deal he worked out with PM Dithers and is reported to have said “We talked about a $23 billion gap, (and) that agreement that we've reached is only a small step." No one asked who would pay for all the largess though I suppose its time that the documented taxpayers put their shoulders to the grindstone and we all get a second job to pay for the next tier of taxation for the ever expending public purse. Perhaps McGirlieman can legislate that.

Ben at The Tiger in Winter also has a link for CTV’s audio clip of the alleged bribery tape.

I really think that Harper should make a personal appeal to the Queen in light of the allegations of influence peddling/vote buying that is alleged to being going on by the current Librano government and ask that British SAS be sent in to liberate us because only Lord knows with the Librano’s gun control legislation, we the law abiding citizens, cannot. The Librano’s almost total hobbling of the armed forces in last decade means that they cannot do so, so who is left but SAS?

Ben called it rightly. Canada is now a Banana Dominion.

One Last Time

Before I close the blog on the whole Boo-linda the Robbing Peter to Pay Paul theme (apart from a fleeing reference now and then) I want to quote Christie Blatchford’s column from today’s Globe and Mail (subscription required):

Belinda Stronach had barely made her debut as a Liberal yesterday when like-minded callers were pre-emptively phoning Toronto radio stations to bemoan the sexist nature of anyone who might in the ensuing days dare to label the woman a political whore.

Oh, how very cute, and how very familiar: It is never enough for the Liberal Party of Canada, its henchmen or supporters, to let the people decide what they will make of a given situation. The good Liberal always attempts to dictate the very language of what will, and what won’t constitute the parameters of fair comment and reasonable discussion thereafter.

But let us, just this once, dispense with those niceties.

Ms. Stronach changed parties on the very eve of the most important vote of Paul Martin’s government, and slipped straight into the warm waters of cabinet—in the position, no less, as the minister in charge of democratic renewal and of implementing the recommendations of the Gomery inquiry.

As an aside, this is surely akin to putting the hen in charge of the fox house.

Ms. Stronach has zero experience in government; little in opposition; none in dealing with the mandarins of the civil service and the way that they can be leaned on and otherwise persuaded to fall into line with ignoble government aims; and isn’t even bilingual. Why, yes indeed, who better to ride herd over those well-practised, and in the main French-speaking, scoundrels from the Quebec wing of the party, Ottawa, and environs?

But true to Liberal form, Ms. Stronach apparently already believes she has somehow begun to clean things up, just by her presence. Listen to what she said yesterday: “Let me say I’m very proud to undertake this role, to bring greater ethics, because without ethics, that’s the foundation, that’s our moral fiber.” Huh? How has she done anything there but demonstrate her own feeble grasp of that other official language, English?

Blatchford goes on to ask what changed from last week to this week? Indeed, it certainly wasn’t the CPC, Stephen Harper, or Paul Martin and his Libranos.

And Judy Sgro, no one owes a brass tack or an apology either to the Liberal Party or to Canadian women for calling Boo-linda on her crass political whoremongering but as a Canadian citizen, and a documented taxpayer, I demand a refund and an apology from every Liberal that benefited in any way shape or form from the Liberal larceny that robbed the public purse in Adscam to further their own crass personal political whoremongering and regardless of their gender.

The unchanging nature of Leopards or Hamas

Nice to know that the IAF comprehends that leopards do not change their spots. Taken from the Jerusalem Post:

An IAF helicopter gunship on Wednesday fired a missile at a Hamas terror cell believed responsible for firing mortar shells at Gush Katif settlements from a cemetery in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis. Initial Palestinian reports claim one terrorist was seriously wounded and the other sustained light wounds.

The aerial raid, the first such attack since the begining of the year, came in response to the firing of at least four mortar shells at Gush Katif settlements earlier on Wednesday. Settlers said at least seven mortar shells were fired but the IDF said it was only able to confirm four landings and was still searching for others.

The mortar barrage was apparently a response to the death of a Hamas operative overnight near Rafah. The IDF said that Ahmed Barhoum was apparently killed when a bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely; the amry denied claims he had been killed by IDF gunfire. According to Southern Command officers, PA security officials informed them that Barhoum's body was full of shrapnel apparently caused by the bomb he was carrying. Israel had not responded to a barrage of recent mortar and rocket attacks aimed at the settlements in recent weeks, prompting strong criticism from the residents, who said the government was leaving them defenseless.

The mandate of the IDF Civil Administration is to manage civilian affairs for Palestinians living in Israeli controlled sections of the West Bank and Gaza and so I cannot help but wonder how this will affect the Civil Administration Department decision announced only yesterday that it will defy the Israeli government’s much touted policy of never cooperating with Hamas, and would actively seek new ways of building a working relationship with newly elected Hamas-run municipal council in West Bank town of Kalkilya.

Cry, my beloved country.

In the interest of rolling in the mire of free speech that is available in the blogsphere which some find far too heedy, I would like to direct your attention to this posting from Sean at Polspy. Sums up my feelings entirely.

For those who prefer a little MSM content here’s an excerpt fromDavid Warren’s latest column:

From the lips of the lovely Belinda Stronach, Canada received her Judas kiss yesterday. It allowed a bottomlessly corrupt government to escape an election; to continue in office with an agenda that will tear to pieces what remains of our social fabric; which will radically advance the cause of separatism in Quebec, and spread it irretrievably to Western Canada; which will put the country on the fiscal skids. This should not be understated: our country has been delivered into the hands of the wreckers.

I am writing this column now because I do not believe I could persuade my editor to run the space blank. That would most eloquently approximate to what I thought at precisely 11:11 a.m., yesterday, when the news reached me. In a single image, I took in the final betrayal of Canada -- those two smiling faces.

On Saturday, I wrote that last week had been the most disgraceful in our Parliamentary history: the first time a government had ever refused to acknowledge that it had lost the confidence of the House of Commons. Nor can I find a precedent, in Canadian political history, for the act which the ditzy Ms Stronach so glibly performed.

Over the weekend, Paul Martin suckered (the word is not too strong) Stephen Harper into a Parliamentary “truce”, while Ms Stronach unsheathed the knife for Mr. Harper’s back. She had only waited for the opportunity to be presented; to get the timing just right.

Yet the sight of Ms Stronach and Paul Martin smiling for the camera could not come as a complete surprise -- any more to me than it should have come to Ms Stronach’s recent lover, her fellow Conservative frontbencher, Peter MacKay. He has also been stabbed in her trip across the floor. In personal terms, Mr. MacKay learned too late what kind of woman she is.

David Warren ends his column with a quote that I find particularly apt given the circumstances:

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel,” as Doctor Johnson said, and we are reaping what true scoundrels have sown.

Alas, only too true.

Belinda Stronach: Nothing going on the stroll but the rent!

Belinda Stronach, failed CPC leadership candidate goes on the stroll and crosses the floor to 'work' for Prime Minister Dithers as Minister of Human Resources.

No one was more relieved than I when the Tories rejected her bid for leadership of the new Conservative Party of Canada. Every time I heard that woman speak I had to fight a strange compulsion to want to slap her with my handbag. Imagine how surprised her riding must feel thinking they elected a conservative and got a Fiberal instead. Personally, I would much prefer to know about Belinda Stronach’s fatal attraction to liberal malfeasance now -- rather than later.

Calling all Toronto-Centre Conservatives

Post Haste!

I received this notice on the fly, so I apologize for the short notice but I am posting this as soon as I received it. I can only hope that whoever wins the nomination tonight will address the issue of getting information out in a more timely fashion.

The Conservative Party of Canada is holding their nomination meeting tonight for the Toronto-Centre EDA at the Enoch Turner School House, 106 Trinity Street. Doors open at 6 p.m. for registration and the meeting will be called to order at 7 p.m.

Liberals go a fearmongering, again

According to MP Joe Volpe, Minister of Immigration, if the Liberal government falls 100,000 to 200,000 of 'undocumented workers' will lose the opportunity to become legal immigrants and thousands of potential employers will lose out on the skills these 'undocumented workers' offer reports the Toronto Star (registration required).

A plan to legalize thousands of undocumented workers in Canada's underground economy would be in jeopardy if the Liberal minority government falls as a result of a non-confidence vote on Thursday, says Immigration Minister Joe Volpe. The Toronto MP has already signed off on a final draft of the long-anticipated "regularization" plan, which is now "in the queue" for the cabinet's feedback and approval — provided there isn't an election call.

The issue leaves in limbo many of the 100,000 to 200,000 undocumented workers living under the radar in Canada, as well as employers facing shortages of the skills some of them bring. "Here we're now at the 11th hour because the opposition is trying its best to create a controversial environment, and we are faced with a situation where all this hard work may go asunder," Volpe told the Toronto Star from Ottawa. "We're bringing things closer to a point where some decisions could be made."

Juan Sierra, a construction-union outreach worker, said he has fielded calls from hundreds of undocumented construction workers since Conservative leader Stephen Harper vowed publicly to bring down the Liberal government in mid-April.
They're worried the plan to legalize their status in Canada will go down, too.
"They are really freaked out by the prospect," said Sierra, of the Labourers' International Union of North America. "Their hopes were so high because Volpe has promised that this is a priority for the government. If nothing happens, their hopes would be destroyed totally."

According to Vilma Filici, president of the Canadian Hispanic Congress, part of a community coalition that has been negotiating with the government, the two sides had a consensus on the basic plan. "We are very concerned that this (plan) won't happen if there is a vote of non-confidence by the opposition in the parliament," Filici said. "With a new government, we'd be back to the drawing board again and start from scratch."
Filici fears a Conservative government could dump the plan as, he says, the Tories tend to view undocumented workers more as security risks than as potentially valuable contributors to Canadian society.

I first heard the term 'undocumented worker' used on US news broadcasts rather than the more accurate and easily understood term 'illegal alien'. I had not thought this madness had infected mainstream Canadian society. My bad, I should have known that the Liberals would be the first to adopt this doublespeak and flog this term into the mainstream.

I will admit that the term 'undocumented worker' grates on my nerves and I possess very little sympathy towards the plight of illegal aliens. Nor do I view them as the kind of citizens that have much to contribute to Canadian society. Canadians have one of the most generous refugee systems in the world. There are sound reasons why the Department of Immigration has quotas or caps on who can legally immigrate and who cannot. There are many laws on the books in Canada that I fundamentally disagree with, and yet, I conduct my affairs within the parameters of those laws. I fail to see how one can be a desirable immigrant by flaunting the laws of the land when it is in one’s financial interest to do so though I can understand the appeal of this issue for a Liberal MP.

I am very pro-immigration providing that those seeking entrance into this country are willing to follow all the laws of this land in the same way I do so but I draw the line on those who cherry pick which rules they will follow and when. If the ability to cherry pick which laws one will chose to follow is a desirable trait in a potential immigrant; why draw the line on those who refuse to recognize the right of Canada to decide issues of sovereignty? Let’s make convicted drug traffickers or murderers eligible as well.

Read the rest of the Toronto Star article as it becomes more outrageous as one reads on. The Toronto Star profiles the plight of an illegal alien couple who clear approximately $6,000 cash a month and in their favour have to pay for medical care out of their own pocket. Of course, no one makes the case that because they do not pay those cripplingly income taxes the rest of us are subjected to which allows for the operation and very existence of those hospitals, roads, schools and municipal services that they should not benefit from those services in the first place.

Furthermore, I do not become more sympathic to their plight because their lack of status makes them ineligible for EI; the ability to collect EI should not be considered a selling point to have legal status granted on illegal aliens. However, it does makes this documented tax payer want to burn my passport and SIN card so I can go work as a "undocumented' chambermaid.