Daily Digest July 18, 2008

The DAILY DIGEST: INFORMATION and OPINION from ST. JOHN'S to VICTORIA.
ARCHIVED at http://cdndailydigest.blogspot.com/

EDITORIALs

ST.JOHN'S TELEGRAM -
Setting standards
http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sc=80

CORNER BROOK WESTERN STAR -
Poaching activity must be stopped
http://www.thewesternstar.com/index.cfm?sid=153926&sc=30

CAPE BRETON POST -
Tax debate still sputtering
http://www.capebretonpost.com/index.cfm?sid=153897&sc=151

HALIFAX CHRONICLE HERALD -
Fair hearing for Khadr
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Editorial/1068091.html

AMHERST DAILY NEWS -
Limited access not enough
http://www.amherstdaily.com/index.cfm?sid=153904&sc=61

MONTREAL GAZETTE -
Tories' scurrilous attacks on election boss are ludicrous
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=c7df7987-316f-4ee4-bc72-2b60ca32f785

OTTAWA CITIZEN -
Many happy returns
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/editorials/story.html?id=55e3bbaf-1da1-40f1-b77f-3d4350fb0989

CORNWALL STANDARD FREEHOLDER-
Label loophole finally closed
http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1117636

Low-speed advances
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080718.wecars18/BNStory/specialComment/home

KINGSTON WHIG STANDARD-
DON'T LET KHADR RETURN TO CANADA
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1119461

TORONTO STAR -
PM should take premiers' advice
http://www.thestar.com/Opinion/article/462528

GLOBE & MAIL -
The comeback of Kelowna
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080718.ENATIVES18/TPStory/TPComment/Politics/

Marin's end run
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/462526

HAMILTON SPECTATOR -
Another brick in the wall
http://www.thespec.com/Opinions/article/404870

ST. CATHARINES STANDARD -
A welcomed crackdown on impaired driving;
http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1120058

Khadr should face Canadian justice
http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1120052

NIAGARA FALLS REVIEW -
Nicholson should take action in pedophile slip-up;
http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1119572

A soldier's death in combat isn't murder;
http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1119586

Omar Khadr is a Canadian and must face justice here;
http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1119576

K-W RECORD -
Perimeter Institute is a great magnet
http://news.therecord.com/Opinions/article/385227

SUDBURY STAR -
Ethanol's faux green credentials
http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1120083

SASKATOON STARPHOENIX -
Oilsands pose test of mettle for federation
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/forum/story.html?id=6ab3d0db-9ec4-488d-9018-117b4853ba90

CALGARY HERALD -
Ottawa should do the right thing and bring Khadr home
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=942de566-c4eb-4898-93ee-b2c9d752984f

Foreign takeovers test Tory's beliefs
When it comes to defence, shareholders must come second
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=708e3ffa-cca9-4018-9db0-7fcb46bdcae0

EDMONTON JOURNAL -
Clean up the election mess
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/opinion/story.html?id=622fc7d1-e1bd-4748-8689-a1f5ea8c7e63

LETHBRIDGE HERALD -
Evolution of gambling continues
http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/article_11413.php

VANCOUVER SUN -
Canada should uphold the rule of law, even in Khadr case
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=e2afbcb8-4806-460f-b598-9c8fec2ddebd

VANCOUVER PROVINCE -
Don't shoot the messenger
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/editorial/story.html?id=536ef24e-da5c-45e3-ad05-553a5d4a26e8

VICTORIA TIMES-COLONIST -
Campbell, Bell owe answers
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=a83af2ab-a5c5-45ba-9cf3-67a15ecb6a5b

NANAIMO DAILY NEWS -
Forestry deal gives lie to claims of openess
http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/opinion/section.html?section=Opinion


ISSUES

ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS -          
Time to build on goodwill generated by apology
I'm sure the federal Conservatives see the Kelowna Accord as annoying as a summer cold. You just can't seem to get rid of the damn thing no matter how hard you try. http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/forum/story.html?id=b93ab6e4-503e-495d-80fe-4b4c05680a06

First Nations urged to tax themselves
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=ad76eec9-0ff8-46e4-a582-6c5171efc3ab


AFGHANISTAN -
Japan drops plan to send troops to Afghanistan
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080718.wjapanafghan0718/BNStory/Afghanistan/home

Forgotten No Longer
Center for American Progress (07/18/2008)

Afghan police: US troops wound female suspect
The Associated Press (07/18/2008)

Americans' Faith in Afghan War Fades
ABC News (07/18/2008)

In Afghanistan, Getting to Know The Neighbors Is Half the Battle
The Wall Street Journal (07/18/2008)

Losers in the 'Great Game'
The First Post, UK (07/18/2008)

The Biggest Tragedy
Aftenposten Oslo, Norway (07/18/2008)

NATO force denies Afghan civilian casualty report
Reuters (07/18/2008)

ISAF rejects claims civilians killed in strike that killed two Taliban commanders
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/07/isaf_rejects_claims.php


CANADIAN FORCES
Locals in violent Afghan region praise Canadians
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/afghanistan/story.html?id=664592


CANUSA/USACAN
Khadr team girds for trial
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/462628


ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
New indicators back Bank of Canada's positive upbeat economic news
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080718/national/economy

Why there's no need to panic about the Canadian economy
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080718.wcomment0718/BNStory/specialComment/home

Insured deposits: Canadian comfort during wild times
Our banks are second only to Switzerland's in 'soundness'
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=3bc876b2-2ab5-4b97-a144-d2afac0d7631

Bids slow to trickle in Canada's spectrum auction
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/080718/canada/canada_wireless_col

No rate relief from Bank of Canada, provinces told
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/080718/canada/canada_bankofcanada_ontario_col


FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Russia's energy drive leaves US reeling
President Dmitry Medvedev is pursuing Russia's energy diplomacy with a vengeance. As a former head of Gazprom he is balancing the energy giant's oil export strategy between Europe and Asia-Pacific, and, significantly, has secured the right for Gazprom to handle the entire output of Libya's gas, oil and liquefied natural gas. Medvedev has also revived with Iran the idea of a "gas cartel". Ferocious rivalries over energy security will rock the foundations of overall United States-Russia relations.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JG19Ag01.html


HEALTH CARE RELATED
Scientists isolate ovulation gene
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080718.wovulate18/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home

Canada should follow the U.S. example on 'orphan' diseases
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080717.wlpicard17/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home


JUSTICE SYSTEM
'Unprecedented' sexual predator paroled eight years early
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=664840

Decision limits duty of employers to accommodate sick employees
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=aa73def3-2c09-416e-b915-2835e917e3e0                

Support for RCMP in airport tasering draws outcry
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080718.CBC18/TPStory/TPNational/Politics/

Court upholds solicitor-client privilege 
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=02c8e53f-c58f-4561-a01b-07a7ebb4ec0e

HIV-positive man in Winnipeg convicted of assault for not disclosing condition
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080718/national/crime_hiv_assaults


MIGRATION
Being Canadian-born yields most jobs
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080718.wimmig0718/BNStory/National/home


POLITICS IN THE PROVINCES
PREMIERS DAYDREAM HUGE ENERGY EFFICIENCY
20% increase in energy efficiency in 12 years, premiers pledge
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/07/18/premiers-energy.html

'Sense of urgency,' as premiers meet with central banker
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/07/18/premiers-economy.html

Audit slams ICBC for ignoring internal vehicle sales scam
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/07/17/bc-icbc-pwc-report.html

Campbell's Cabinet showing serious signs of rot
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=663891

B.C. Auditor-general slams province's finance records
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080718.BCFINANCE18/TPStory/TPNational/Politics/

Ontario to sign cap-and-trade climate plan
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=d7f4d1a6-3718-45d8-bbaa-7e401aa3fb99

Ontario to join Western Climate Initiative
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080718.wprems0718/BNStory/National/home

Not so fast on cap-and-trade, energy-rich provinces say
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080718.PREMIERSCLIMATE18/TPStory/TPNational/Politics/

Movement on mobility by premiers
http://www.thestar.com/Opinion/article/462536

Don't let climate-change deniers fool you -- the evidence is clear
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/editorial/story.html?id=f6231972-40b9-463c-8cb0-934ad77fdee8

Wall miming Harper untenable
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/forum/story.html?id=efbfcd64-c1ff-4df3-a4b8-4ae44b17a49b


PARTY POLITICS
Dion confident he can sell carbon tax to Canadians
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/news/article/358273

Justice minister defends Tories' tough-on-crime agenda
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=e00b283b-b1ff-42a6-b7c5-8d6d07a83b7c

Border monitoring failed beaten pair, Dosanjh says
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080718.wmilton18/BNStory/National/home


POLITICAL OPINION -
The case of the disappearing scandal
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/opinion/story.html?id=b92b618d-d777-4539-b553-c34b3a5b0376

Tories' spending is un-conservative
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/opinion/story.html?id=fc9ef152-f40b-472a-b011-ca550096b5f7


PROGRAMMES
Dahla dam project is potential target: military
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080717.wafghan-dam18/BNStory/Front/home

Focus on redevelopment in Afghanistan, MPs urge
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=634e7b44-9fd5-46f5-a21b-ea71820c1504

MP presses Tories on tax evasion scandal
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/07/17/tax-evasion.html

More tobacco loopholes need to close
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=c58edd85-4650-4a67-aba5-8f533d9fac87

Mulroney-Schreiber: Commissioner Oliphant Appoints Legal Counsel
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2008/18/c5870.html

Canada undermines criminal court: foreign policy thinkers 
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=6e18de4b-97df-4ac2-ac58-04703cc37e04


PRESSURE POINTS
EPA report lists risks of climate change
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=493fbb6c-6084-4d8c-b844-9032b402d284

A few awkward facts about climate-change science;
http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1120116

Gore wants all U.S. electricity renewable in 10 years
Moving first on the issue is in the national interest, former vice-president says
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=5d20d60c-77ab-4f79-8936-a8addbd7e22b

Gore's Entourage Lincoln Town Car Outside Global Warming Speech Idles w/ AC Cranking for 20 Minutes!
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/4006

Al Gore and his Little Green Friends
Let's Ban Al Gore http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/4012

Myth of Consensus Explodes: APS Opens Global Warming Debate
http://www.dailytech.com/Myth+of+Consensus+Explodes+APS+Opens+Global+Warming+Debate/article12403.htm

Spanish court overturns train bombing convictions 
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=f951b2b3-6b39-4266-b883-3be614950c62


OPINION AND INFORMATION
Fund broadband for rural Canada with sale proceeds
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/forum/story.html?id=3ce6b2e0-0273-4278-aed1-1f548a2b0872

DISPATCH: FIVE FOUNDATIONS OF MORALITY
Liberals can't force-feed Insite to Tories. So try a new recipe, one expert argues
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080718.BCDISPATCH18/TPStory/TPNational/Politics/

Khadr and the politics of fear
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080718.wcosalutin18/BNStory/specialComment/home

Recessions hit poor the hardest
http://www.thestar.com/Opinion/article/462529

Canada has an opportunity to remake world summitry
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/462534

Greenspan's ideological grip broken
http://www.thestar.com/World/Columnist/article/462535

The unfair perils of divorced fathers: For the sake of the children
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/07/17/barbara-kay-on-the-perils-of-divorced-fathers-for-the-sake-of-the-children.aspx

A sizzling first lady gives the French a guilty pleasure 
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=656d392f-121f-4656-8451-982c72f97f30

Add manufacturing jobs to endangered list
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/editorial/story.html?id=22fa2745-4359-424d-a926-9814a4a6c6df      

Dialogue of the deaf
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/opinion/story.html?id=7c93cc4d-decf-4c39-8939-e118d57b8696

The fly on the elephant
Since we spend all our time talking about the tiny speck that is harm reduction, maybe we should just get rid of it and move on to the enormous mess of drug policy in general http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/opinion/story.html?id=dbdebdf4-2a83-4ce5-9c35-0fa123e0559f

New Canadian Vessel Delivers Hope for Arctic
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2008/02/c9406.html

Why I Don't Flush
http://www.alternet.org/water/91647/?ses=81675588b811b84c07c1f7524fbea69a


INFOS 
Stéphane Dion parle de sa taxe sur le carbone dans une rencontre à Moncton
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080717/N071775AU.html

La Banque du Canada croit que l'économie se remet de son recul
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080717/N071785AU.html

Amnistie internationale critique le nouveau protocole sur les détenus canadiens
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080717/N0717185AU.html

Un diplomate présent à l'interrogatoire de Khadr se sent diabolisé
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080717/N0717113AU.html

La Cour suprême ouvre la voie à un recours collectif sur la vache folle
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080717/N0717134AU.html

Un rapport propose de modifier la surveillance environnementale des terres du Nord
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080717/N0717154AU.html

Les travailleurs verront leur diplôme reconnu à travers le pays
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/080717/N0717136AU.html

Diplôme ne signifie pas toujours emploi
http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/societe/2008/07/18/002-emploi-immigrants-canada.shtml

Des « subventions » à l'Afrique?
http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/International/2008/07/18/003-europe-afrique-aide.shtml

Qualifié d'un océan à l'autre
http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/07/18/198213.html

BARBIE FIRM WINS BRATZ COURT CASE
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7513087.stm

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In Quotes

An accolade and challenge to Jim Prentice.

For now, Canada's Conservative government appears to be on the right track. The challenge facing Prentice is to stay on it.
 
We're all for foreign investment and competition, subject of course to Canadian companies enjoying reciprocal arrangements. When it comes to defence, however, shareholder interests must take second place.
Not first.
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=708e3ffa-cca9-4018-9db0-7fcb46bdcae0&p=2


What has become our way of life

the politics of fear
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080718.wcosalutin18/BNStory/specialComment/home

I think you can call the fear irrational since, as Ottawa journalist Dan Gardner shows in his utterly reassuring book on fear, Risk, our chances of being a victim of terror before or since then are less than of dying in traffic or drowning. The threat of terror, such as it really is, should be effectively dealt with but not magnified and especially not manipulated for other political goals.

By that I mean the way Western leaders have played on excessive fears to pursue quite separate ends, such as eliminating Saddam Hussein or taking control of Mideast oil. The backlash to their policies has increased the dangers of terror, which augments the sense of fear and allows them to justify further policies. The politics of fear could be the caption for the new millennium.

It's worth a glance back at earlier phases in the politics of fear. The hysterical anti-communism of the 1950s was known as The Great Fear, when reds were under the beds. In the 1960s, the fear turned toward youth, and in Canada, toward Quebec separatists. The seventies saw efforts to terrify people about terrorism. The 1980s, under Ronald Reagan, meant a reprise of The Great Fear with the result, common to sequels, of farce. That ended with the sudden, unpredicted implosion of the hitherto horrifying Soviet empire - a force far more formidable in its time than "Islamic terror."

Or revert to another presidential moment: the 1933 inauguration: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," said Franklin Roosevelt from his wheelchair. How refreshing. What a different take on fear. He faced grave threats from fascist armies, the Soviet ideological challenge and a global depression -- all of which dwarf our problems (except perhaps our unique environmental threat). He added that he meant "nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror." The genuine threats can be handled.

People in a real fight seem calm, they haven't much time for fear. The trouble with those false and exaggerated fears is they drag your attention away from the real ones, including, as FDR said, fear itself.

Argumentum ad personam: Ad hominem abusive

Tories point finger at chief electoral officer

"For the government to attack an independent officer of the legislature is classless."
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/editorial/story.html?id=06d64dfe-8ece-4dc6-81a6-3236633cb787

There is a saying, used liberally in sports like hockey, that attack is the best form of defence. There is another, taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet, about protesting too much. http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/editorial/story.html?id=536ef24e-da5c-45e3-ad05-553a5d4a26e8

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From: "Anne Dickinson"
Regarding Omar Khadr-
 
Some people don't give a shit in this world and some people can't help themselves, they care too much, to a fault, sometimes to their own ruin.
 
One such person is Romeo Dollaire, our very own Cassandra who sees the horror to come  and cries out against it but can't stop it and can't make the people that pull the levers understand that what he foresees will happen or,if it does, that it matters.
 
He saw the horror to come in Rwanda  but was unable to persuade the powers that be that the people  who were hacked to death in  the streets counted for something. After all, the important thing was keeping the UN soldiers themselves safe from harm and getting those foreign nationals out of there in one piece
 
And after struggling with the demons that dogged him after that horror and speaking up for the child soldiers in Africa  he again had to be silenced for his outraged reaction to the indifference of the Canadian government  to the plight of  Omar Khadr, the child soldier who is the last citizen of a western nation still held in Guantanamo.
 
Because Dollaire said that if we fight terror by acting beyond the law we are no better than they, and have lost the battle already , he was accused of going too far. .No matter that Colin Powell and others, especially those who had served in the armed forces, were opposed to this little adventure in Gauntanamo... evidently we are so anxious  to be seen as trustworthy partners in this "war against terror" we don't care what freedoms and rights must be subverted along the way.
 
The whole Khadr fiasco is a black eye against the US and against Canada who are now held up for censure around the world.
 
Omar Khadr, it has been said, has been betrayed by everyone who should have been looking out for his welfare. The fist among those offenders are his family.His father, now dead,and his mother have used him shamefully. His mother and sister whose interview on national TV a few years ago goes a long way to explain the indifference many feel toward the plight of young Omar, have no place now on the news ringing their hands about his pitiable situation. The documentary of the Khadr family portrayed those two harpies very clearly;  their  playing of the system, their disdain for Canadian ways and embracing of  extremism and violence were disgusting.
 
His mothers enthusiasm for the idea of her children dying as fighters makes his lawyers present attempt to cast her as the grieving mother ring hollow. All of her sons have paid the price of her convictions. It is too late now to go on TV lamenting their fate when she herself put them in harms way.
 
 Omar has been betrayed by  his family first of all, but he has also been let down by his country.He is a Canadian citizen and should at least be given due process here. Guantanamo is a blot on the civilized world.By permitting a Canadian citizen and especially one who was a child at the time of his imprisonment to rot there,even playing along  by sending our own spies  to interview him in that hell hole ( can you help me stay in Cuba? yuck, yuck ) Canada alone among western nations has aligned itself with this disgraceful episode. Soon I am sure, the place will be closed down and all who were involved covered in shame in the pages of history. Those who were involved were of course the neo con adventurers in the Bush  government and, thanks to our acquiescence in the Khadr affair, alone among western nations, Canada. 

=====
Well and truly said.

        Joe

===================================
From: "Rebecca Gingrich"
Subject: Collateral Damage

Joe--'collateral damage'? What do we call it when our soldiers get killed?
We weep and moan and have highways named for returning bodies, but dead
Afghanis are just 'collateral damage'?

Someone sent me a 'joke' the other day, in essense proving that Iraq is
safer than Chicago. This because there were only X number of US military
killed in Iraq while in Chicago there were many more killed! This 'joke'
tells more than it meant to, I think. No where did it mention all the Iraqis
killed in the same area. Collateral damage indeed!

The real message here is that no one should fight back against the West. If
they want your land they should be given it. What right does anyone have to
disobey the elite? Sound familiar?

Were our soldiers bombed by the US just collateral damage too? Yes,
apparently!

If this 'collateral damage' continues we will be able to bring our soldiers
home. There will be no schools left standing and no children left to
attend. Our 'mission' will have been accomplished!

We are spoon fed words like 'collateral damage' and 'smart bombs' and have
no concept of what is really happening. We howl when we have long wait
lines for healthcare. These people have nothing, and then they get blown up
in their homes. But not to worry, they are only 'collateral damage'!. How
much more arrogant can we get?

We are so used to hearing government justifications for things they screw
up(to use Harper's favourite word) making it easier to swallow these spin
words. Will we ever mature enough to see reality for what it is?

Is the last sentence justification for killing so many innocent people--"we
are so busy protecting our asses against the people that don't want us in
their country that we find it essential to kill everyone that moves"?

Hey--if we were not there they would not be trying to kill us! And don't
give me the crap about 9/11 and the 'terrorists'. These people cannot ride
their donkeys across the ocean. They are the innocent. We are the
terrorists!

becky

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Subject: On the lighter side ...
From: "Efstratios Psarianos"

Recession-Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble To Invest In
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/recession_plagued_nation_demands


WASHINGTON-A panel of top business leaders testified before Congress about the worsening recession Monday, demanding the government provide Americans with a new irresponsible and largely illusory economic bubble in which to invest.

"What America needs right now is not more talk and long-term strategy, but a concrete way to create more imaginary wealth in the very immediate future," said Thomas Jenkins, CFO of the Boston-area Jenkins Financial Group, a bubble-based investment firm. "We are in a crisis, and that crisis demands an unviable short-term solution."

The current economic woes, brought on by the collapse of the so-called "housing bubble," are considered the worst to hit investors since the equally untenable dot-com bubble burst in 2001. According to investment experts, now that the option of making millions of dollars in a short time with imaginary profits from bad real-estate deals has disappeared, the need for another spontaneous make-believe source of wealth has never been more urgent.

"Perhaps the new bubble could have something to do with watching movies on cell phones," said investment banker Greg Carlisle of the New York firm Carlisle, Shaloe & Graves. "Or, say, medicine, or shipping. Or clouds. The manner of bubble isn't important-just as long as it creates a hugely overvalued market based on nothing more than whimsical fantasy and saddled with the potential for a long-term accrual of debts that will never be paid back, thereby unleashing a ripple effect that will take nearly a decade to correct."

"The U.S. economy cannot survive on sound investments alone," Carlisle added. . . . http://www.theonion.com/content/news/recession_plagued_nation_demands

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From: "Don Keir"
Subject: Info


Hi Joe:
 
I got the impression thst you may have thought I was exaggerating whem I sent in the reply to Becky Gingrich  about Khadr in the DD. You might like to read the following letter.
 
Don Keir
 
 Global Research, January 28, 2008
 
Operation Desert Slaughter
Thoughts on Holocaust Memorial Day.
By Felicity Arbuthnot
 
URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7920

 
It is seventeen years since America and Britain embarked on their 'Final Solution' for the population of Iraq.

The forty two day carpet bombing, enjoined by thirty two other countries, against a country of just twenty five million souls, with a youthful, conscript army, with broadly half the population under sixteen, and no air force, was just the beginning of a United Nations led, global siege of near mediaeval ferocity. Having, as James Baker boasted they would, reduced 'Iraq to a pre-industrial age', the country was denied all normality : trade, aid, telecommunications, power, sanitation, water repairs, seeds, foods, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment.

As I write, seventeen years ago, Iraq would be entering the second week of a barbaric, near twenty four hour a day, carpet bombing, which, then, as now (lest we forget - yet again) scrupulously ignored Protocol 1, Additional to the Geneva Convention of 1977:

'It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies such as irrigation works (denying them) to the civilian population or to the adverse Party ... for any motive.'

The blitzkrieg on Iraq deliberately targeted all 'indispensable to survival'.

Within twenty four hours, most was destroyed. The electricity went off within two hours, leaving patients on life support machines and vital equipment, babies in incubators, or those on oxygen to die. Refrigerators defrosted, all medicine needing refrigeration, blood banks and vital saline solutions for the injured were destroyed. Food rotted and between the bombing and the bank closures (latter for fear of looting) replacements were scarce to unbuyable.

In Najav, seventy dialysis patients, 'old friends', said the senior nurse in charge of the unit, died for want of electricity. The water supply was deliberately destroyed, parts denied subsequently by the pathetic, US-UK dominated Sanctions Committee - a Committee without a backbone between them - and remains lethal to this day.

This was the plan  by US Central Command, it seems, all along. The destruction of Iraq's water system has been described by Professor Nagy and Stephanie Miller as: 'a slow motion holocaust'. Few could have put it better.

(See: How the US deliberately destroyed Iraq's water. by Thomas J Nagy : http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/NAG108A.html ) . . . http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7920

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Another respectful illustration from the Conservaive Party web site. Liberal leader Stephane Dion against a bullet-riddled background. Is this threatening?

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