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Our formal fighting presence is over as of 2011, despite the braying of the addled Liberal party of Canada. I’m glad that Harper runs his government like an uncaring majority, at least on this one issue. The radicalization of dissent in Canada has taken yet another turn as police have arrested a fourth suspect in the Ottawa bomb plot.
“But a police source told CBC News the individual arrested, who was identified as a man, is not likely to be charged. The source told CBC News there does not appear to be enough evidence for a charge and police are unlikely to hold the individual under anti-terrorism legislation.”
It sounds like the forth individual might have only been lightly colluding with the three other suspects in custody. The other three men have been formally charged:
“Authorities have arrested and charged three Ontario men in what the RCMP is calling a conspiracy to commit “a violent terrorism attack.” Earlier Friday, Khurram Sher, 28, of London, Ont., was remanded in custody until Sept. 1 after a brief court appearance. He was charged Thursday with conspiracy to knowingly facilitate a terrorist activity. Two Ottawa men, Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, and Hiva Alizadeh, 30, were arrested on Wednesday. They appeared in an Ottawa courtroom on Thursday facing the same charge.”
Like the 9/11 bombers, these people are mostly all upper middle class well educated citizens. Educated does not necessarily mean smart though.
“During their investigation, Therriault said, police seized more than 50 electronic circuit boards they say were designed specifically to remotely detonate improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.
CBC News has learned that the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team knew about the circuit boards some time ago — for perhaps months or at least many weeks.
The team obtained a warrant to enter Alizadeh’s apartment and surreptitiously removed the boards, replacing them with look-alikes that were duds. Therefore any attack would likely have failed.
Therriault said they also seized a vast quantity of terrorist literature, videos and manuals.”
Full marks for the RCMP and CSIS for actually getting a job done right for once. I’m pretty sure this was because there was no tasering involved with the situation.
“Their profiles are likely to raise concerns about homegrown radicalism, said security expert Eric Margolis, who said the roots of the radicalism are likely triggered by anger over the involvement of Western governments in countries such as Afghanistan.”
Sad, but unsurprising.The damage we wrought in Afghanistan is coming back to bite us. The families we destroyed, intentionally or not, are crying for revenge and retribution by any means necessary. Unfortunately, that usually means when the gun is pointed at us, instead of comfortably at someone else, a terrorist attack. Canada got lucky with these individuals, they were stupid and relied on unencrypted email to plot their actions.
It is a lesson for Canada and the RCMP, but also a lesson for others who will learn from this groups mistakes.
The CBC reports about the systematic injustice being perpetrated on Omar Khadr:
“Threats of gang rape did not prompt Omar Khadr to make any self-incriminating statements and no evidence exists that the Canadian citizen was tortured, the military judge in his Guantanamo Bay war-crimes trial said in a decision released Friday.
In his nine-page written ruling, Col. Patrick Parrish states Khadr’s confessions to his interrogators are reliable and were made voluntarily.”
Shorter: We decided that we did not torture you nor did we coerce you in any way. We are impartial and just because we say so.
“Among other things, Khadr’s lawyers cited evidence from one interrogator, who told the badly wounded 15-year-old about the gang-raping to death of an unco-operative inmate.
“There is no evidence that story caused the accused to make any incriminating statements then or in the future,” Parrish said.”
Nah, threats of being gang-raped to death will certainly not have any effect on a 15 year old. He is after all a hardened terrorist that needs to be dealt with as severely as possible. Perhaps we should add “threat of gang-rape” to all of our security forces manual of how to interrogate prisoners.
“On the contrary, the judge found, there was “credible evidence” that Khadr began giving statements after American soldiers discovered a seemingly damning digital video.
The video was discovered in the rubble of the compound where American forces captured Khadr, who had been shot twice and blinded by shrapnel, in July 2002.
Among other things, the video shown at his trial last week appears to show Khadr making and planting improvised explosive devices.
“While the accused was 15 years old at the time he was captured, he was not immature for his age,” Parrish said. “The accused had sufficient training, education and experience to understand the circumstances in which he found himself.”
Yes, he was in a War Zone and he was fighting invaders that were occupying his his father’s homeland, and through the teachings of his father (however misguided they were) he went out to defend his country. We do not allow 15 year olds to smoke, drink, vote or even quit school. Yet the judge in question has decided that at 15 Mr.Khadr was fully responsible for his actions in the theatre of war. We kill innocents all the time with no repercussions and little reparations, but for Mr.Khadr the full weight of Military Justice is called for.
“One of Khadr’s Canadian lawyers, Nate Whitling, took a jaundiced view of Parrish’s findings.
“Apparently he was listening to different evidence than the rest of us,” Whitling told The Canadian Press on Friday.”
Evidence? Like it has any bearing in this sham of a trial. Prosecuting child soldiers as full fledged combatants is ludicrous and should have been a non starter. Apparently not. That standards we set for our young people do not apply once you are an official enemy.
There are certain things you do not see coming. The Spanish Inquisition, rogue asteroids, Sarah Palin and other unfortunate occurrences that interfere with humanity in significant ways. But this, this ladies and gentlemen, this is something that eclipses the awesome of finding a hidden tub of caramel mocha ice-cream in your freezer.
We have this!
Mr.Laraque, once responsible for chasing a rubber disk, but mostly in beating other people into goo, is now one of two deputy leaders of Canada’s Green Party. The CBC intones:
“The federal Green Party is hoping a former NHL tough guy will help beef up the party’s presence in Quebec.
Green Leader Elizabeth May on Saturday named Georges Laraque as a deputy leader of the Green Party of Canada.”
Wow.
Mr.Laraque will certainly have his hands full, although I have no doubt Georges will rise to the occasion. He is a very social individual, even hosting a radio show here in Edmonton while he played for the Edmonton Oilers. I think he probably has the charisma to do well in politics. I’m curious as to see how other politicians react when they debate Mr.Laraque as I am sure they know that in his former occupation he role was to apply his fists to other peoples noses.
Mr.Laraque has no skeletons that might haunt him, unlike NDP candidates of past that have said bad things on the intertoobz, but Mr.Laraque has engaged in at least what I would term questionable product sponsorship.
Carboned Water Beer Replacement Beverage? Blech.
It could be worse. Good Luck Green Party!
Sometimes it is nice to see a news story unfolding. This is not one of those times. On our way back from British Columbia we the crash site and wrecked cars as we were heading home. The CBC reports:
Very hard to make it on time after this.
“Three people have died and two others are in hospital in critical condition after a crash on the Trans-Canada Highway in southeastern B.C.”
Impatient people most likely. Hard to save time when you are dead.
“RCMP Cpl. Rod Wiebe said the collision, which involved a car and an SUV, happened on Friday afternoon about 50 kilometres east of Revelstoke. Wiebe said a preliminary investigation suggests the car crossed the centre line and clipped an eastbound pickup truck. The truck managed to gain control and safely stop but the car crashed head-on with the SUV.”
I was driving on that stretch of road. It is a curvy highway with poor sight lines and not many opportunities to pass. Driving conservatively brought me home safely, and I recommend it as a driving rule in general. Plus it is usually less stressful and if you have budgeted your time properly, a much more pleasant way to drive.
Prescriptively speaking, one needs to exercise extreme patience and caution when using that particular stretch of road. And as always, let the conditions dictate the speed and style of your driving. Wet roads, not overdriving your headlights, time of day etc. are all factors that should be inputed into your safe driving equation.
Bringing white hot death to an official enemy hopefully far away from you.
Our Federal Government is really the bomb-shit. I mean they stopped the Liberal nationalized daycare program in its tracks when they assisted Paul Martin and the Libs self destruct in 2006.
“The Liberals were in the midst of delivering on a $5-billion national child-care program before they were thrown out of power in the 2006 election. When Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives came to office, that program was abandoned, in favour of the $100-a-month cheques to Canadian parents known as the Universal Child Care Benefit.”
The Universal Child Care Benefit is laughably ineffective, as reasonable day care costs are well above $100 dollars per month. Hats off to conservative thinking and the choice that the 100 dollars per month provides (none). Way to go, nanny state kept in check.
The fiscal restraint though goes *poof* when we are talking about shiny new fighter jets! The new F-35 is so new and amazing you do not even see the 9 billion dollar price tag through all of this incredible awesomeness!
“The Canadian government said Friday it plans to spend $9 billion to purchase a new generation of fighter jets, the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.
The contract, one of the biggest military equipment purchases in Canadian history, is worth $9 billion, but the full cost could rise to as much $18 billion once the government signs a maintenance contract.”
I’m amused that we need the best and the brightest new technology for our Air Force. What exactly are we going to do with these new jets other than spend a horrendous amount to train to fly and maintain them. Put quite simply, Canada does not need these jets. The F-35 is purely an offensive weapon that has no place in a Canada that is once was dedicated to peacekeeping and resolving issues without the slaughter of war.
For the fiscally conservatives who also occasionally read DWR here is another little interesting snippet.
“The new jets would replace an aging fleet of CF-18s that recently underwent a $2.6-billion upgrade”
Huh, we are retrofitting old jets, AND buying new ones. The money for the military seems to be connected to a high pressure fire hose. Consider that 2.6 billion is already one half of the necessary money for universal childcare in Canada. Oh yah, but we need defence! The terrorists are at our door just waiting for our Jet Technology to become obsolete.
I’m thinking we need to up the *facepalm* ante here just for the inept twerpitude of our military planning/spending.
9 billion for *shiny* jets? Can I get a 'Hell Ya'!
Here is what the Official opposition is saying:
“But the government is fending off criticism that it is making one of the biggest military purchases in Canadian history without a single competing bid. The Liberals say the massive purchase of 65 jets should have been subjected to competitive bids.
I think Canadians are amazed that the largest procurement deal in the history of the country is a single-sourced — so, it’s not a competitive — deal,” Ignatieff told reporters.”
You know what I am amazed at Iggy? Your enormous capacity to miss the blatantly obvious point. We should not be making this purchase in the first place. You want to show Canadians you have a platform and spine of your own? Then make a stand against this vacuous prestidigitation, try for once to make a principled stand you might like it.
The planes we are purchasing are used to rain death down on people who do not have planes of their own to shoot back with. Has the mighty Harper decided that Canada needs its own imperial air-force to lay the smack down on some poor schmo(s) on the ground armed with an AK-47 and faith on the brain? The ludicrous stupid burns nova hot on this one. You would think as the principled opposition of Canada you might point out that we do not frakking need
Childrens Welfare vs. Bombing other children? Wow, unpopular position if I ever heard of one.
any more fighter planes for the defense of our country and maybe the money could be used elsewhere to benefit the children and families of Canada.
Do you know why according to Military Analysts that we need these pricey Edsel?
“Military analyst Mercedes Stephenson told CBC News that the purchase is “absolutely necessary.”She added: “We have to have fighter jets. Canada is a massive country, and when you think purely about response times, there is nothing else that can get across the country as fast as a fighter jet.”Also, when you are dealing with the Arctic, there is very little that has the kind of survivability of a fighter jet in the air under those kinds of harsh conditions. She added that the purchase is also important for Canada to meet obligations to its international allies.”
Shorter: We need fast planes because Canada is big and cold! Oh, and sometimes our friends need us to bomb people.
Are you kidding? Are we that stupid?
What really fries my biscut is what the NDP has to say about this:
“But the NDP argues even if Canada needs fighter jets, it’s not clear it needs these particular ones.
“The issue for the Canadian defence department is, is the F-35 what we want?” said NDP MP Malcolm Allen.”
Holy Plastic-Jebus on a pogo-stick! Is this the best we can do for spirited opposition? It is okay to say that this is waste of Canadian money, and that this is a particularly bad idea coming from Stephen I wanna be a Neo-Con Harper’s private circle-jerk cabinet. This deal needs to be scrapped immediately, put the money toward combating child poverty and do some good for once.
What I fear is that no one from any of the opposition benches has the spine to take a stand against this fiscally and morally boneheaded move on behalf of the Canadian Government.
Another monument to Socialism for the Rich!
The people of Edmonton do not need to fund a new arena. We have an arena that seems to do just fine for watching overpaid athletes chase a rubber disk around while on ice-skates.
This whole hoopla has started because of the Edmonton Oilers owner, Daryl Katz decided that he wants his overpriced jock-shack downtown as opposed to the current site. Katz would contribute to building the surrounding infrastructure as well.
I’m just not sold on the idea. I am leery of having my tax dollars going toward funding sports teams that show little or no loyalty to the town and could possibly leave at any time (that pesky market you know). I do like the idea of adding a ticket surcharge to hockey tickets, because then those who want this monstrosity will be the ones paying for it. It seems to be a more fair solution to recouping the costs for the proposed downtown arena.
As far as reasonable entertainment is concerned lets compare a season with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra:
A B C D E
| Encore & Applause Adult (12 concerts) | $684 | $552 | $432 | $372 | $252 | ||||||
| Encore & Applause Stu/Sen (12 concerts) | $684 | $516 | $408 | $360 | $240 | ||||||
| Encore OR Applause Adult (6 concerts) | $348 | $282 | $240 | $204 | $126 | ||||||
| Encore OR Applause Stu/Sen (6 concerts) | $348 | $264 | $216 | $192 | $120 | ||||||
| Single Ticket Price | $71 | $61 | $52 | $38 | $28 | $20 | |||||
| Ticket fees apply to single ticket purchases | |||||||||||
Or the Opera…
The Edmonton Opera 2010-11 Season
And then of course, the beloved Oilers…
Wow, $1250 dollars for the the worst seats in the house, and that is before transportation and food. What a deal.
Keep in mind that this is for some 40 odd home games of hockey, however it is still overpriced.
Comparatively speaking, you could go 12 symphonies and 4 operas at the highest tier and still come out ahead financially, not to mention a better more cultured person.
Marginalized Native Canadians protesting for radical reforms; like School!
I’m not sure where Al Jezeera was going with this piece but I do find it interesting to get a non-official look at how we treat our Native Canadians.
“In 2007, the Mohawk community at Tyendinaga, 200 kilometres east of Toronto, blocked the trans-continental rail line and Canada’s largest highway in protest at the government’s failure to address land rights and basic issues of survival within First Nations – including safe drinking water, which the community lacked.
That episode was a hint of the leverage indigenous peoples in Canada possess, as hundreds of millions of dollars in cargo was stalled by simple barricades placed across a rural stretch of the Canadian National railway’s mainline between Toronto and Montreal.
They are referring to the standoff at Oka, I did not realize that it qualified Canada to become home of insurgents.
“In recent years in particular, Canada’s indigenous communities have shown the will and potential to grind the country’s economic lifelines to a halt through strategically placed blockades on the major highways and rail lines that run through native reserves well outside of Canada’s urban landscape.”
You tend to forget about things that are not happening directly to you. I was stirred by the power of Shawn Brant’s words:
“The message resounded,” said Shawn Brant, a high profile Mohawk activist involved in the 2007 blockades.
“We are not going to live in abject poverty, to have our children die, to have our women abducted, raped and murdered without any investigations. We are not going to live with the basic indignities that occur to us daily. We would bring them to an end.”
Yah, good ole’ Canada. We keep our Native Canadians in a deep dark memory hole, we bring them out to apologize once and awhile, but once we are done with them; back to the hole.
Oh and while you are in the hole, we will forget about nasty little statistics like these:
“These root causes, these abysmal conditions for some of the aboriginal people are serious.”
There are more than 800 outstanding native land claims held against the Canadian government. And in many First Nations communities there is deep crisis, with poverty, unemployment and overcrowding the norm.
According to figures from the Assembly of First Nations, more than 118 First Nations lack safe drinking water and some 5,500 houses do not have sewage systems.
Almost one half of homes on native reserves are in need of “major repairs”, compared with 7 per cent of non-native homes.
Natives suffer a violent crime rate that is more than 300 times higher than Canada’s non-native population, while natives represent 18.5 per cent of the male prison population and one-quarter of the female population, although natives only constitute 4 per cent of the total population.”
If my people were being systematically mistreated like this, I would be mighty annoyed as well. The sad thing is that I’m betting most Canadians have little idea what life is like for many Native Canadians. The lack of information or curiosity is a hallmark of imperial populations who are fed only the happy news about their great empire and how amazingly benevolent they are.
Hurrah for privilege! Hurrah for the subtle racism that continues to marginalize our Native Canadian populations!
Hurrah for the invidious status-quo indeed.
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