Daily Digest November 4, 2008

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

EDITORIAL PAGEs

ST.JOHN'S TELEGRAM -
Will that be cash or cheque?

CHARLOTTETOWN GUARDIAN -
A health hint for Island women
There's simply no good reason for Island women to pass on the availability of Pap screening.

CAPE BRETON POST -
Younger voting back on table
http://www.capebretonpost.com/index.cfm?sid=186383&sc=151

HALIFAX CHRONICLE HERALD -
DOWNTURN BUDGETING

AMHERST DAILY NEWS -
Food inspection should be priority

MONTREAL GAZETTE -
We wish our neighbours well - and a clear result 

Cut federal program spending before even thinking of a deficit  

OTTAWA SUN -
Welcome to the land of the have-nots

KINGSTON WHIG STANDARD-
OBAMA AND AFGHANISTAN

BELLEVILLE INTELLIGENCER -
Christian Church lives by God's word, even on homosexuality

Now is the time to give blood

TORONTO STAR -
Ontario faces challenges

GLOBE & MAIL -
No stigma in have-not statusComment18
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081103.weequalization04/BNStory/specialComment/home

Toward a real alternative
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081103.weSouthafrica04/BNStory/specialComment/home

Salmon and whales
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081103.weWhales04/BNStory/specialComment/home

TORONTO SUN -

Time to pass the hat for Ontario

HAMILTON SPECTATOR -
Obama is best for U.S., world

SUDBURY STAR -
Today's vote is about hope

WINNIPEG SUN -
Going after the 'skippers'

CALGARY HERALD -
Time to stun Taser use

Premier needs to deliver plan that will restore hope

Atheism is a belief system too -- should it be protected?

CALGARY SUN -
Dig a little deeper for a poppy

EDMONTON JOURNAL -
Paper ballots the cutting edge?

Art gallery feud restarts war with feds

Comparisons to the Great Depression are meaningless

EDMONTON SUN -
Burdens facing new president are immense
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Commentary/2008/11/04/7295496.html
 

ISSUES

AFGHANISTAN -
Royal Marines strike at Taliban stronghold
http://www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk/news/Royal-Marines-strike-Taliban-stronghold/article-447157-detail/article.html

Nato denies Afghan election claim
BBC (11/04/2008)

Afghan tales: Conflict and chaos
Reuters (11/04/2008)

Taliban Two-Step: Can't Sit Down Yet
Newsweek (11/03/2008)

U.S. war aims in Afghanistan grow doubtful
Reuters (11/03/2008)

Taliban to US: There is nothing to talk about
Asian Age (11/03/2008)

Afghan govt not capable of delivering: Obama
Pajhwok (11/03/2008)

Trying to reach the Taliban
Globe and Mail (11/03/2008)

Afghanistan negotiations 'very difficult': British PM
AFP (11/03/2008)

Increasing kidnapping cases worsen Afghanistan's already chaotic situation
Xinhua (11/03/2008)

Push to delay next year's presidential election
FT.com (11/03/2008)


CANADIAN FORCES
Cross-continent vigil revives stories of fallen soldiers

DND puts up cash to study brain damage
National Defence is grappling to better understand the phenomenon of "blast injuries" suffered by soldiers in Afghanistan. 

Canadians finally return to Afghan base after heavy fighting in nearby province
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/081104/national/afghan_cda_battle

Fiscal crisis raises spectre of defence cuts

NATYNCZYK SAYS 2011 PULLOUT DATE HAS NO IMPACT ON THE TROOPS
http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/defencewatch/archive/2008/11/04/natynczyk-says-2011-pullout-date-has-no-impact-on-the-troops.aspx


CANUSA/USACAN
Plenty of pressing matters await next president

An American litmus test for Canada Travers:  MORE...

What U. S. election outcome implies Francis: .. MORE...

The 'better angels' of the American character Jeffery Simpson:  MORE...

Obama knows where the money is Cohn:  MORE...

Obama's leading, but never count out McCain Worthington: . MORE...

Military sees Obama as key to victory in Afghanistan Saunders: . MORE...

Proud to be American once again Wente: MORE...

Completing the American Project J. Kay: . MORE...

Obama backs unfair labelling law Waugh: O MORE...

Regardless of the outcome of today's vote, the U.S. is a changed country

Observers unsure of poll accuracy in U.S. race

Hope for Accountability in an Obama Administration


ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
Manufacturers ask government to guarantee loans

Industry groups call for economic rescue plan

Industry pleads for help to ease 'crisis'


FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Middle East awaits next American president
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/westview/story/4245446p-4888507c.html

Pakistan's dress-rehearsal should scare the US
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/bronwen_maddox/article5076442.ece


HEALTH CARE RELATED
Health care as 'religion' must end: CMA chief

Fake IDs used to defraud health system

Delay food inspection deregulation, union urges

Listeria recall costs Maple Leaf Foods millions

Listeria recall expanded in Atlantic Canada

Quebec-made roast beef is recalled over listeria concerns

Impossible to eliminate listeria in meat plants, maple leaf CEO says

Chinese-made chocolate coins recalled

Food agency orders review of listeria tests

Chinese cookies recalled in Canada over melamine fears

POLITICS IN THE PROVINCES
Ontario got here all by itself Ivison: MORE...

Welcome to the land of the have-nots Goldstein:  . MORE...

Have-not Ontario faces challenges

Ontario wants auto aid

Ottawa 'clued out' on Ontario's challenges: Duncan

Ont.'s have-not status sees critics blast province which, in turn, targets Ottawa

Ontario becomes a pauper in a broken system Campbell: MORE...

Panic time for NDP Brodbeck:  MORE...

Quebec economic update sets stage for election

Newfoundland wary after rout of local Tory MPs


PARTY POLITICS



POLITICAL OPINION -
Whither Peter Milliken?

Manley won't run for Liberal leadership

Committees set for shakeup

Speakers move to handcuff budget officer

MacKay to Williams: Put lid on it

Equalization – Ottawa will transfer less to Quebec next year

Ontario's now 'have-not,' but for how long?

Election victors, vanquished cope with government transition

Lauzon chosen as caucus chairman

Everyone pointing fingers in battle over who should pay cost overruns

Lost document more sensitive than Baird indicated, expert says


PRESSURE POINTS
Canada near bottom of environmental standings


OPINION AND INFORMATION
History clear about 'savages'

A time bomb for the next president

A dangerous profession of faith

Media beware, the offended just might yell back

The Death of the Anbar Militia Strategy in Afghanistan
http://easterncampaign.wordpress.com/2008/11/03/the-death-of-the-anbar-militia-strategy-in-afghanistan/


INFOS 
Manley ne sera pas candidat
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/dossiers/succession-de-dion/200811/04/01-36072-manley-ne-sera-pas-candidat.php

Le chef libéral annonce des nominations parlementaires
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/081103/N110340AU.html

L'Ontario recevra des paiements de péréquation de 347 millions $ en 2009
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/081103/N1103168AU.html

Péréquation - Ottawa versera moins au Québec l'an prochain
http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/11/04/214066.html

Une privatisation dénoncée
http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/National/2008/11/03/002-dereglementation-aliments.shtml

Michael Wilson optimiste
http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/atlantique/2008/11/03/003-NE-ambassadeur_n.shtml

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http://www.commondreams.org/

From: "Craig Brown, CommonDreams.org" <commondreams@mail.democracyinaction.org>
Subject: Election Returns: The Whole World Is Watching

 

November 4, 2008

Dear Friend of Common Dreams.org

The whole world is watching.



You are cordially invited to join us tonight at CommonDreams.org to watch with us as the election results come in.

We have partnered with DemocracyNow! to provide a special, 5-hour live broadcast as this historic night unfolds. Amy Goodman and Jeremy Scahill will host the broadcast from 7pm ET until 12 midnight ET.

We will also provide a map with state-by-state live results. And we've compiled links to every states official results so that you can track local races, referendums and national results at the local level.

Please join us for the best progressive election coverage of this important night.

In hope,

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From: "Rebecca Gingrich"
Subject: Is this a warning Canada should take seriously?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21150.htm

                      The End of International Law?

By Robert Dreyfuss

November 04, 2008 - -"The Nation" -- -10/28/2008 -- A parallel new Bush
doctrine is emerging, in the last days of the soon-to-be-ancien regime, and
it needs to be strangled in its crib. Like the original Bush doctrine -- the
one that Sarah Palin couldn't name, which called for preventive military
action against emerging threats -- this one also casts international law
aside by insisting that the United States has an inherent right to cross
international borders in "hot pursuit" of anyone it doesn't like.

They're already applying it to Pakistan, and this week Syria was the target.
Is Iran next?

Let's take Pakistan first. Though a nominal ally, Pakistan has been the
subject of at least nineteen aerial attacks by CIA-controlled drone
aircraft, killing scores of Pakistanis and some Afghans in tribal areas
controlled by pro-Taliban forces. The New York Times listed, and mapped, all
nineteen such attacks in a recent piece describing Predator attacks across
the Afghan border, all since August. The Times notes that inside the
government, the U.S.Special Operations command and other advocates are
pushing for a more aggressive use of such units, including efforts to kidnap
and interrogate suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders. Though President
Bush signed an order in July allowing U.S. commando teams to move into
Pakistan itself, with or without Islamabad's permission, such raids have
occurred only once, on September 3.

The U.S. raid into Syria on October 26 similarly trampled on Syria's
sovereignty without so much as a fare-thee-well. Though the Pentagon
initially denied that the raid involved helicopters and on-the-ground
commando presence, that's exactly what happened. The attack reportedly
killed Badran Turki Hishan al-Mazidih, an Iraqi facilitator who smuggled
foreign fighters into Iraq through Syria. The Washington Post was ecstatic,
writing in an editorial:

"If Sunday's raid, which targeted a senior al-Qaeda operative, serves
only to put Mr. Assad on notice that the United States, too, is no longer
prepared to respect the sovereignty of a criminal regime, it will have been
worthwhile."

Is it really that easy? To say: We declare your regime criminal, and so we
will attack you anytime we care to? In its news report of the attack into
Syria, the Post suggests, in a report by Ann Scott Tyson and Ellen
Knickmeyer, that the attack is raising cross-border hot pursuit to the level
of a doctrine:

"The military's argument is that 'you can only claim sovereignty if you
enforce it,' said Anthony Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies. 'When you are dealing with states that
do not maintain their sovereignty and become a de facto sanctuary, the only
way you have to deal with them is this kind of operation,' he said."

The Times broadens the possible targets from Pakistan and Syria to Iran,
writing (in a page one story by Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker):

"Administration officials declined to say whether the emerging
application of self-defense could lead to strikes against camps inside Iran
that have been used to train Shiite 'special groups' that have fought with
the American military and Iraqi security forces."

That, of course, has been a live option, especially since the start of the
surge in January, 2007, when President Bush promised to strike at Iranian
supply lines in Iraq and other U.S. officials, including Vice President
Cheney, pressed hard to attack sites within Iran, regardless of the
consequences.

On October 24, I went to hear Mike Vickers, the assistant secretary of
defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, speaking at the
Washington Institiute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a pro-Israeli thinktank
in Washington. He spoke with pride about the vast and growing presence of
these commando forces within the U.S. military, noting that their budget has
doubled under the Bush administration and that, by the end of the decade,
their will more than 60,000 U.S. forces in this shadowy effort. Here are
some excerpts of Vickers' remarks:

"If you look at the operational core of our Special Operations Forces,
and focus on the ground operators, there are some 15,000 or so of those --
give or take how you count them -- these range from our Army Special Forces
or our Green Berets, our Rangers, our Seals, some classified units we have,
and we recently added a Marine Corps Special Operations Command to this
arsenal as well. In addition to adding the Marine component, each of these
elements since 2006 and out to about 2012 or 2013 has been increasing their
capacity as well as their capabilities, but their capacity by a third. This
is the largest growth in Special Operations Force history. By the time we're
done with that, there will be some things, some gaps we need to fix
undoubtedly, but we will have the elements in place for what we believe is
the Special Operations component of the global war on terrorism.

"Special Operations Forces, I think through this decade and into the
next one, have been and will remain a decisive strategic instrument. ...

"There's been a very significant -- about a 40 or 50 percent increase in
operational tempo and of course more intense in terms of the action since
the 9/11 attacks. On any given day that we wake up, our Special Operations
Forces are in some sixty countries around the world. But more than 80
percent or so of those right now are concentrated in the greater Middle East
or the United States Central Command area of responsibility -- the bulk of
those of course in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Notice what he said: operating in 60 countries.

Of course, the very invasion of Iraq was illegal in 2003, and it flouted
international law. So some may say, these cross-border raids are small
potatoes. But they're not. This is a big deal. If it becomes a standard part
of U.S. military doctrine that any country can be declared "criminal" and
thus lose its sovereignty, then there is no such thing as international law
anymore.

When Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked about this, here's what he
said, as quoted in the Post article cited earlier:

"'We will do what is necessary to protect our troops,' Defense Secretary
Robert M. Gates said in Senate testimony last month, when asked about the
cross-border operations. Under questioning, Gates said that he was not an
expert in international law but that he assumed the State Department had
consulted such laws before the U.S. military was granted authority to make
such strikes."

Not an expert in international law? He'll leave it to the State Department?
And this is the guy that Barack Obama's advisers say ought to stay on at the
Pentagon under an Obama administration?

===================================
From: "Robert Ede"
To: torstar <lettertoed@thestar.ca>, Rae.B@parl.gc.ca, Raeb1@parl.gc.ca, Harper.S@parl.gc.ca
Subject: Bob Rae into All-the-Talents Cabinet (failing that the Lib. Leadership)

Dear Ed, 
re: Ontario gets equalization payments.
 
Surely no one other than Bob Rae has more experience in dealing with Ontario during a rocky economic/fiscal/monetary time.
 
No doubt, he has spent innumerable hours pondering what he'd do differently if he could 'do over' 1990-1995.
 
I'd say, our twice-minority-in-spite-of no-real-opposition PM could do with some help in this critical period since he has not demonstrated a resonance with or from Ontario.
 
Canadians could benefit from a government formed with ALL the Talents in the assemblies (not just some) and perhaps this broader  perspective would help spur the engine of Canada back from have-not status.
 
Tough times have bred similar solutions - the name comes from Grenville's 1806 English cabinet, Churchill had a WWII coalition and we've had the Grand Coalition (headed by MacDonald-Tache) leading to Confederation and a pre-war 1917 Union government with Laurier-Borden in 1917).
 
Failing Mr Harper's offer, the Liberals should give him a go as Leader, provided he runs as the Champion of 1) Canada's 3 biggest cities, 2) once-industrial central Canada (southern ON & PQ) and 3) taxpaying, resident citizens (all three or nothing) irrespective of where they reside.
--
Robert (Rob) Ede,
Thornhill, ON

===================================

Daily Digest November 3, 2008

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        As you are aware I follow the Afghan War far beyond the Canadian media.
        
        With the American election a decision was made to update our NATIONAL MEDIA.

        The result follows.

        This undertaking took time away from my usual activity of properly preparing the Daily Digest so there is a
        paucity of articles and no structuring.

        Sometimes just not enough hours in a day.

                 Joe      

_________________________________________
To: NATIONAL MEDIA <joe.hueglin@bellnet.ca>
Subject: F.Y.I.: The wars inherited by the President elect.


The Canadian and American elections and the economic meltdown have been the focus of media attention in recent weeks.

What follows is timely: a wide ranging in terms of opinion articles on the interlocking wars the President-elect will inherit, though not
immediately for the Bush Presidency lasts for several months more.

It is my expectation that should you choose to read what follows you will have added somewhat to your knowledge on the topic.

        Joe Hueglin
         905-356-3901

_____________________________________
The wars inherited by the President elect.

The President-elect will inherit this power:

"That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons." Borders Are For Sissies http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21144.htm

Based on this authorization the sovereign territory of both Syria and Pakistan have experienced attacks.

While only one has at this point been launched into Syrian it's consequences may be those of unsettling the fragile relative peace that has come about in Iraq from which the attack was launched. 

"The "Awakening" movement, in which tens of thousands of Sunni Arabs who had been fighting the American occupation went on the U. S. government payroll in order to fight the takeover of their community by al- Qaeda extremists, is at a crossroads. Starting this month, the "Awakening" fighters are being paid by the Iraqi government, not by the Americans, and it has announced that only 20 per cent of them will be absorbed into the Iraqi army.

The other 60-odd thousand fighters of the "Awakening" will only be paid until they find civilian jobs -- but there are almost no well-paying jobs available in Iraq apart from government work, which usually requires a recommendation from one of the big Shia parties. So what do the rest of the Sunni fighters do? Go back to fighting the Americans? It's not unimaginable." Expect current calm in Iraq could collapse into more unrest http://www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1256028

The attack on Syria by Americans from Iraq adds to the already existing tensions among the Sunni of the AiR - the Awakening in Iraq: "What makes the Syrian-Iraqi link more sensitive is the overlap of powerful tribes between both countries, both of which are strongly opposed to a US strike on Syria.

These tribes once formed the backbone of the anti-American movement in Iraq and many of them have joined in the Awakening Councils, created in 2007 to combat al-Qaeda in Iraq. They were persuaded to change sides through political support, money and arms, dished out generously by the Americans. If they get angry with the Americans and decide to abandon the Awakening Councils, this could spell disaster for the US in Iraq " US's Syrian raid sets Iraq on fire http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JK01Ak05.html

A bumpy ride for the US over Syria http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JK01Ak04.html 's opinion on the attack is "Bush's illogical policy towards Syria. . .actually offers the next US president clear guidelines on what not to do in the Middle East."

[A thorough consideration of the Iraqi situation is this  Is Iraq about to blow up again? <<< PREVIOUS 1 2 3 4 5 6 NEXT >>> ]


Trendings in Iraq are of consequence to Canadians in that American directions in Afghanistan are in the process of being influenced
by what is viewed as the successes of General David Petraeus who on 31 October took over U.S. Central Command:

"Centcom oversees the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and handles America's military relations with a score of countries including Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Arab Gulf States, Egypt, Syria and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. These are countries at the heart of the world crisis, where the United States urgently needs to rebuild its shattered reputation." The Afghan Challenge Awaiting General Petraeus http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=28605 .

A surge in American troops is planned but acting alone they will be inadequate to the task so militias among Pashtun tribes in Afghanistan and Pakistan against the Taliban, a replication of the Sunni  Awakening, are underway to provide armed support;

General Petraeus as well "has called for negotiations with "reconcilable" members of the insurgency in Afghanistan and a major diplomatic initiative to address the concerns, and gain the support of, the country's neighbours, including Pakistan, India and Iran."
Trying to reach the Taliban http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081031.wcoessay1101/BNStory/specialComment/home

The initiatives success are all in question.

The number of American forces will always be inadequate to the task.  There will have to be continuation of their policy of calling in air power to redress the balance in combat operations, with concomitant "collateral damage" of  civilian deaths and the alienation of their communities.

Canadian Maj.-Gen. Marc Lessard has stated concerning militias, "There could be some short-term gain but I really think it's long-term pain. We already have some militias that have not disbanded in the (south) ... creating some problems. I'm not saying no, but I would be very, very leery at arming tribes." West urged to work with Afghan tribes http://www.thestar.com/SpecialSections/article/529042

Negotiations with "reconcilable" members of the insurgency of necessity is primarily in the hands of the Karzai government which has little support due to rampant corruption and is increasingly under siege in Kabul and its surrounding provinces. Reversal of fortune leaves Kabul under Taliban's thumb http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081014.afghan-kabul131/BNStory/specialComment

The primary neighbour of Afghanistan whose support must be maintained is Pakistan. This is so for the great portion of material to sustain the American and allied troops flow from Karachi up through the Kyber Pass.

" All change in the US's Afghan mission" http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JI20Df01.html writes that "the US incursions have unprecedented unity between local tribesmen, the Taliban and the rank-and-file Pakistani security forces deployed on the border regions. Tribal sources tell Asia Times Online that the next time American ground forces venture into Pakistan they will meet stiff opposition from these now-combined forces. At the tribal level hoped for allies are becoming antagonists.

As for the Pakistani Government "Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari says continued US missile strikes on targets in Pakistan are counterproductive and detrimental to the war on terror. Pakistan's Government is warning of outrage and anti-US sentiment if the raids continue."

The American response: "But the US says the raids are necessary to protect its forces in neighbouring Afghanistan." Petraeus warned to end US-led strikes on Pakistan http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/04/2409355.htm?section=world

The President-elect will inherit in both Iraq and Afghanistan wars that have been sapping the resources of the United States of America and which the policy of attacking across borders into neighbouring countries is not assisting in arriving at a settlement but making such an eventuality more difficult.

A closing observation. In 1951 General Douglas Mac Arthur was removed from his commands on the basis that "1951    "military commanders must be governed by the policies and directives issued to them in the manner provided by our laws and Constitution." Truman, MacArthur, and the Korean War

President Truman forbid attacks into Chinese territory even though Chinese troops had come across the border into Korea.  To-day,
clearly, the President whose replacement will be elected tomorrow has a differing view of international relationships.  One fraught with danger should it become an accepted norm.

_____________
Related articles:

The Battle for Afghanistan: U.S. mapping new strategy in response to dire assessments of war
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65497&archive=true

 Exclusive Dispatch: Pakistan's Hidden War
http://freethoughtmanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/11/pakistans-hidden-war.html

Election could 'tear Afghanistan apart'

Obama, Petraeus, McCain Agree: Taliban Talks OK

U.S. Strikes Strain Pakistan

Pentagon chief: Afghan war strategy lacking

Shall we stand up to the Taleban?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7655422.stm

Violence in Afghanistan worse than ever, top UN official says
http://www.thestar.com/SpecialSections/article/517414

Analysis: America decides to fight and win in Afghanistan
  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/3363119/Analysis-America-decides-to-fight-and-win-in-Afghanistan.html

US defense secretary expands pre-emptive war doctrine to include nuclear strikes
http://www.defence.pk/forums/wmd-missiles/15746-us-defense-secretary-expands-pre-emptive-war-doctrine-include-nuclear-strikes.html

The killing fields
http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2008/10/afghanistan-british-taliban

Commanders say getting more troops into Afghanistan is crucial
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?article=58401

US training Pakistani forces to fight Taliban
http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/international-31/1224868456169660.xml&storylist=international

Pakistan to arm anti-Taliban militias

Thought of Taleban deal alarms jihadists
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7687539.stm

Canada willing to fund job retraining for former Taliban
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/War_Terror/2008/10/21/7157731-cp.html

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From: "Robert Ede"
Subject: Fwd: Obama '08, Rae '90 (and Hoover)

Nov 3/08

 
Dear Globe Editor,
 
Gallup's verdict: It's all but over for McCain
 
Ontario to receive Equalization Pymnts
 
Perhaps American voters are just as disenchanted with their electoral choices as were Ontarians when they voted our own party of Social Democrats into Ontario in 1990.
 
Mr Peterson called an early election and disgruntled Ontarians voted with impossibly-perfect precision to place Mr Rae as titular supervisor over (& earnest intervenor into) one of the worst economic/monetary eras in memory (& exacerbated in Ontari-ari-o by the AFT).
 
If successful, the powers behind Barry Obama (and ACORN et al) are IMHO, to be granted a similar opportunity.
 
With great hope, I pray that the ObamaNation's leaders do not similarly apply ideologically-correct, textbook-based 'solutions' as did Ontario's Rae and America's Hoover.
 
Robert Ede,
 
http://robertede.blogspot.com

===================================
From: Coleman Tokei

Dear Joe,
 
I just wanted to, via reply email, give you one right-wing, anti-Communist, ethnic Hungarian's view of tomorrow's upcoming US Presidential Election.....
 
To this 55 year old, this is the second-most important US Presidential Election in my lifetime.  In my view, 1980, where tough, anti-Communist, wealth-creating, inflation defeating, Freedom Defending Ronald Wilson Reagan beat out the weak and dithering Jimmy MalaiseForever Carter......THAT was the most important election of my lifetime!!  Why???  Because back in 1980, with a further weakened and confused America, the Western Alliance could still have lost the Cold War to the Communists. 
 
This 2008 farcical "democatic exercise" has been hijacked by the lefty mainstream US media and their Hollywood mind-bending allies, as they have invented this Obama guy, packaged him, left his faults unreported........and when not ignoring the McCain Campaign altogether, have gone after a sitting Governor of the largest State in the Union like a bunch of blood-thirsty jackals!!!  If Obama does win.........his margin of victory will be a bunch of uninformed MTV generation 20-somethings "who don't know their arse from page four"!!!
 
I fret for the welfare of my two teenage daughters and their kids (my future grandkids) as the election of this liberal, Club of Rome, World Gov't backing, peacenik socialist idiot (did I leave anything out???) Barry Hussein Obama accelerates the decline of, what I call, the postwar Pax Americanus (the longest sustained period of International prosperity in modern history).  I have said since 1988, the visceral hatred between the left and the right in America will eventually weaken US resolve and focus........and lead to the loss in American fortunes, both at home and abroad.  A house divided cannot stand!!!  Also, isn't it grand how our lefty media are going gah-gah with a bad case of Obamamania Fever, even though this pretender has told voters in rustbelt battleground States how he intends to "renegotiate NAFTA" because Canada and Mexico stole their jobs!!!!  It is a testimony to Stephen Harper's shrewd skill in dealing with the Canadian media (and the total ineptitude of the Liberals for selecting a Leader that looks like the little old bald guy on the old Benny Hill Show) that we were even able to elect two successive Conservative Gov'ts in this country........albeit minorities!!!  Small wonder I refer to the CBC as the Communist Broadcasting Corporation and call CTV's Lisa Laflamme.......Lefty La Flame!!!!  It's absolutely maddening IMO!!!!!!!!!
 
Thank you for including me in your daily review of Canadian news items and editorials.  Your selections are always topical and timely.  I appreciate very much the long manhours you dedicate to this great service for guys like me who still have hope for the Western Democratic System......and moreover the goodwill and common sense of the electorate.  Notice I said "hope for" and not "faith in"...........sad isn't it???
 
A Sincere Thank You and Warmest Regards,
 
Coleman Tokei
RMC/Canadian Navy 1972-79
Former President of Richmond (BC) Riding Association (Canadian Alliance) 2002-03
 

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

CANUSA/USACAN
Obama, Harper and Afghanistan
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081102.WBSpector20081102130740/WBStory/WBSpector

Alignment of stars doesn't favour Rae
Hebert: Time has not stood still since the 2006 Liberal leadership convention and its passage has been kinder to Michael Ignatieff than to Bob Rae. In 2006, Ignatieff was an untested political quantity. He had been elected to Parliament for the first.. MORE...

With McKenna out, make room for John Manley
Lawrence Martin: On Frank McKenna's record, it won't look good that once again he approached the starting line of a Liberal leadership race and once again he shrunk away from the challenge. But this time, his fadeout might serve the party.. MORE...

Beware: Federal budget knives are coming out
Leger: ONE OF the most galling aspects of the current economic mess is that we never know whom to believe. And it's not because there aren't lots of educated opinions about what happened and why. It's because every one of those opinions.. MORE...

Federal-provincial peace breaks out
Coyle: It would be a bit rash, alas, to take for peace what might merely be the brief absence of war. As finance ministers from across Canada gather today in Toronto to put heads together on the economy, hostilities have certainly eased, so far as.. MORE...

Courting Ontario/Shafting Quebec?
Spector: This morning, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will be meeting his provincial and territorial counterparts in Toronto, and he will not be bearing good news. MORE...

In these economic hard times, divided we fall
Maxwell: Stephen Harper and his Conservatives can once again call themselves "Canada's new government." But to govern in hard times, they will need to adopt a different style from what we have seen in their first term in office. MORE...

Thankfully, it's December for May
Wooodcock: Green Party leader Elizabeth May, so recently an ubiquitous presence on our television screens, fawned over by adoring media, seems to have vanished -- possibly into history, but more likely, into hiding from her candidates. MORE...

In an election campaign, perception is key
Spector: Some weeks, and I'm betting last week was one of them, Premier Gordon Campbell must be kicking himself in the backside for having come up with the idea of legislating the date of the next provincial election. I refer, of course, to a week in which his Liberals lost two by-elections in Vancouver. MORE...

Charest's election scenario eerily mimics Harper's last campaign
Gagnon: The posters from last month's federal election are still hanging on the poles, but Quebeckers are heading for another election. Premier Jean Charest, surfing on a wave of unprecedented popular support, is set to try to regain.. MORE...

Charest rolling election dice
Toronto Star: In Quebec, the opposition parties are braying that Liberal Premier Jean Charest should tend to the province's sagging economy instead of calling a snap pre-Christmas election in the next few days, as he is expected to do. MORE...

Obama will find reality bites
Berton: The big news this week will occur only if Barack Obama loses the U.S. presidential election. If that happens, it's difficult to even imagine the reaction and the repercussions, domestically and internationally. MORE...

Pundits, polls rarely wrong
Worthington:  If pollsters and pundits are right (they usually are), by bedtime tomorrow Barack Obama should be the first black guy elected president of the U.S. Republican contender John McCain disagrees, but that's probably because he has to. MORE...

The 'Obama effect' and Canada
Arif: Tomorrow's election in the United States promises to be an interesting one, and one that will likely foster cross-border envy in Canada. A recent poll put Barack Obama's popularity in Canada at 67 per cent, and an earlier poll showed that the.. MORE...

The audacity of Obama: Only in America
MacGREGOR: Try this one on for size. If Canadians only could vote in tomorrow's U.S. election, Barack Obama might take upward of 90 per cent of the vote. Yet if Obama were a Canadian and running for office in this country, voters might well.. MORE...

Black in history
Greenspan: A nation knows it's ready when the person is qualified for the job.  Can a black man become president of the United States? We will find out tomorrow night. Recent polls consistently suggest that Barack Obama is.. MORE...

Change should be more than a campaign slogan
Alexander Cockburn: The disadvantages to the McCain-Palin ticket don't need much explication. McCain has never risen to the challenge of the world financial crisis and this failure has shrivelled his chances to near invisibility. MORE...

Bush's legacy: Slaying apathy with ineptitude
MarcCraig Kielburger: President George W. Bush, saviour of democracy. The current economic meltdown, a fumbled response to Hurricane Katrina and a banner reading "Mission Accomplished" are but a few of the things that will.. MORE...
Canada needs a single securities regulator

Gazette: Finance Minister Jim Flaherty flies to Brazil today for financial-crisis talks with his opposite numbers from other countries in the Group of 20 most-industrialized states. MORE...

Ontario to collect $347-million payout
.
First time in history: Ontario officially a 'have not'

First time in history: Newfoundland and Labrador officially a 'have' province

Diplomats worried over Bush leak

Rudd under pressure over George W Bush 'leaked phonecall'

Bush did not reveal ignorance, says Rudd

Parliamentary budget officer under fire from Commons, Senate speakers

U.S. auto sales plummet

U.S. rejects GM's aid request

Auto sales take a beating in the U.S., picture brighter in Canada

Calgary man dies after Taser used during arrest

Using Taser on handcuffed man 'not unreasonable,' says police watchdog

Lauzon chosen as caucus chairman

Dion dumps Hervieux-Payette

Canada not good enough for top scotch whisky

Goodbye to cellphone system access fees?

Michael Wilson says economy poised for turnaround

Conference Board scales back economic outlook

Blame high oil prices for recession, CIBC says

Universities eye 'painful' cuts in wake of crisis

Economy 'slowing rapidly,' Atlantic provinces warned

NAFTA in jeopardy if Obama wins, Cellucci says

Gallup's verdict: It's all but over for McCain

Dirty tricks pile on in final hours of presidential campaign

Obama, McCain make final push for votes

Massive get-out-the-vote operations hit overdrive

May won't join Liberals and blames NDP for Harper's victory

Expanded Cabinet boosts spending and office budgets by $4.7-million

Bigger cabinet won't come cheap

Despite 'hurdles,' Aglukkaq ready for cabinet posting

New government House leader could set more positive tone in Parliament

Libs about $2-to $3-million in debt

Emergency-room nightmares spur calls for action

Federal scientists demand end to self-policing in food industry

Lobbying industry could be hard hit in economic downturn

The robot that could take a Canadian to the moon

Sniper shots investigated

Quebec minister takes a break

Rogers at a turning point

Tim Hortons serves up national identity, researcher finds

Constitutional challenge to new national security laws ruled premature

Williams declares 'Newfie joke' over as N.L. stops receiving equalization

===================================

Daily Digest November 2, 2008

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

EDITORIAL PAGEs

HALIFAX CHRONICLE HERALD -
Child porn bill has no bite

MONTREAL GAZETTE -
Courts get it wrong on victimized children

OTTAWA CITIZEN -
Running away from disease

Save us, please, from those who would save the earth

Sombre month, sombre thoughts

TORONTO STAR -
America weighs hope and fear

For a national regulator

LONDON FREE PRESS -
Corporations, heal yourselves

CALGARY SUN -
Time to get out the knife

EDMONTON JOURNAL -
Harper should lift more secrecy veils

Hold the cellphone! This just in

VICTORIA TIMES-COLONIST -
Politicians fixate on past problems

Harper tilts toward a more kindly centre

Falling oil prices offer a chance to pull Iran's teeth


ISSUES

AFGHANISTAN -
West urged to work with Afghan tribes
http://www.thestar.com/SpecialSections/article/529042

UK minister shocked by Afghan claim 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7704276.stm


CANUSA/USACAN
Meat industries want Ottawa to launch U.S. trade challenge

Feds brace for Obama Weston: . MORE...

It's all over but the counting L. IAN MACDONALD: .. MORE...

World views McCain with unease, skepticismMargolis:  .. MORE...

The 'skinny' on Obama Van Dusen: .. MORE...

A chance for reconciliation Siddiqui:  MORE...

Americans will be watching for the Bradley effect in Tuesday's vote
Webster: In 1992, voters told pollsters they would elect a black governor - but they didn't. MORE...

Barack Obama is the best man to lead America The Economist: . MORE...

PM pivotal in relations with U.S.

McCain Canada's 'friend'

What did Dubya do?

Five things that keep Democrats up at night

America's four lousy choices

Long to-do list awaits Obama

Stopping the Revolution in its tracks

Asking Americans...What If Obama Wins?


HEALTH CARE RELATED
The food industry's untold secrets: Check the pantry
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081031/food_fraud_081102/20081102?hub=Canada


JUSTICE SYSTEM
Crime fighters? No, just politics

Queen would not be amused

Remove cloud of secrecy from bail hearings

Threat of prosecution hampers free speech, Wente tells forum


POLITICS IN THE PROVINCES
Now is not the time to be timid


POLITICAL OPINION -
Tory cabinet to cost $3.9 million in salaries

Harper extends an olive branch Persichilli: .. MORE...

Kennedy running? MORE...

Bloc riding transfers $185000 to Liberals


PROGRAMMES
Canada declines to clarify chrysotile asbestos position
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081101/asbtestos_canada_081101/20081101?hub=Canada


OPINION AND INFORMATION

Next Grit leader? Come on down, Danny Williams!

INFOS 
Le cabinet conservateur élargi coûterait 3,9 millions $ de plus
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/politique-canadienne/200811/02/01-35423-le-cabinet-conservateur-elargi-couterait-39-millions-de-plus.php

Ottawa compte réformer le lucratif secteur des boutiques hors taxes
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/081102/N110267AU.html

Les ministres des Finances se penchent sur les problèmes de l'économie
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/081102/N110253AU.html

Les détenteurs de laissez-passer trichent, selon les agents de douane
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/081101/N110176AU.html

Harper interpellé de nouveau
http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/National/2008/11/02/002-kadr-manif-dimanche.shtml

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         Information on the US election is included.

        Not much else on any pnes's mind it seems.

                  Joe

«¤»¥«¤»«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»

From: Larry Kazdan
To: Letters@globeandmail.com
Subject: Letter re:  Laissez-faire is not fini, Marcus Gee, Oct. 31

Re: Laissez-faire is not fini, Marcus Gee, Oct. 31

Laissez-faire is not fini 29

Laissez-faire is not fini because of the financial credit crunch.  It is fini because it long ago disappeared.  Most sectors of the world economy are now dominated by groups of large corporations that administer prices, and often depend for success on large government contracts, government-funded research, various
subsidies, and lobbying for favorable tax laws.  Although capitalism has been around for several hundred years, the prosperity that the average Canadian
takes for granted depends largely on gains which trade unions and left-wing political parties won in the twentieth century: 
better wages and working conditions, an expanded public education system, adequate old age and public pensions, and universal health care.

Gee advises that government intervention in the current crisis should be "brief and as light as possible".  In fact, radical surgery is necessary to assure that savings and credit are channeled into direct investment and employment, rather than into a rush to buy speculative real estate, stocks, bonds and other exotic instruments that create unsustainable bubbles. 

===================================
Subject: Re: A messed up UN not on the job, Joseph Quesnel, Nov. 1
From: Larry Kazdan
To: letters@wpgsun.com


Re:  A messed up UN not on the job, Joseph Quesnel, Nov. 1

While it is true that the UN has to get on with their job in the Congo, we might also ask what is Canada doing in support of UN Peacekeeping.  While Canada has about 2500 soldiers fighting a counterinsurgency in Afghanistan and we are spending billions of dollars to do so, our contribution to UN Peacekeeping has dwindled to less than 200 soldiers and police.  Canada could balance its military commitments by providing at least several hundred troops directly for UN Operations.  It could also support the UN in many other ways through the provision of communications and reconnaissance technology, specialized training and joint exercises.
It is not enough to ask the UN to fulfill its responsibilities.  We must also provide it with the tools to do so.
--
Larry Kazdan , Vice-President,
World Federalist Movement Canada – Vancouver Branch
620 E. 23 Ave.
Vancouver, B.C. V5V 1X8

__________________________________________
Democratize the UN!

Campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly

UNPA Overview  

UN Parliamentary Assembly in a Nutshell  (PowerPoint Presentation)   Top Ten Reasons to Endorse the UNPA Campaign   

=================================== Larry Kazdan C.G.A,
620 E. 23 Ave,
Vancouver, B.C.

Jeffrey Sachs' new book, and his vision of global solutions for global challenges.

Read his article Common Wealth in Time Magazine.

Read his article Common Wealth in Time Magazine.

Check out Sach's Common Wealth website

which features a forum and club newsletter.

" ...we need to redesign our social and economic policies before we wreck this planet."
                  - foreword to Common Wealth by Edward O. Wilson

This is an unusual and radical book on economics by a Columbia University professor.  First, it displays not one graph of a supply demand curve.  Second it looks closely at population increase and limits to growth in arguing that cooperation must trump competition if the planet is to survive.  Sachs stresses that the market cannot solve all problems and suggests that private industry and national interests must subordinate themselves to overwhelming societal goals:

  "The challenges of sustainable development—protecting the environment, stabilizing the world's population, narrowing the gaps of rich and poor and ending extreme poverty—will render passé the very idea of competing nation-states that scramble for markets, power and resources."  (Common Wealth in Time, March 24/08,  p.28)

Even the book's title Common Wealth is an unusual choice for an American academic, considering that in a less individualistic country like Canada, the term Cooperative Commonwealth Federation went out of fashion many decades ago.  Yet Sachs calls for global cooperation, posits common wealth as a goal, and also discusses regional integration and subsidiarity as solutions.

Most books on economics refuse to stray into politics but Sachs takes issue with a misguided counterproductive American foreign policy based on military hegemony.  The U.S. must revert to an inclusive multilateralism that focuses on solving the great challenges that threaten the planet's existence:

  "Security is a daily challenge to be achieved through cooperative efforts, not a prize to be won by a decisive military battle or change of regime." (p.282)

In fact, the solution to the world's problems requires a reorientation of American action so that it will underpin the achievement of Millennium Development Goals.  The cost would be less than a fraction of the budget of the U.S. military:

"If the trillions of dollars that the U.S. is squandering in Iraq was instead being invested in clean energy, disease control and new, ecologically sound ways of growing food, we wouldn't be facing the cusp of a rapidly weakening dollar, soaring food and energy prices and the threats of much worse to come." (Common Wealth in Time, March 24/08,  p.28)

Sachs sees three big challenges that threaten the planet's future:

a.  how to devise new systems of energy, land and resource use that will avert climate change and species and ecosystem destruction

b.   how to stabilize world population at 8 billion or below, and

c.   how to end extreme poverty.

Solutions are available and precedents abound.  The eradication of smallpox is an example of how a significant goal was set and met.  The four elements necessary for success are having a clear objective, an effective technology, a clear implementation strategy and a source of financing.

 The core of Sachs' book consists of several chapters that detail how each of the major problems can be solved by existing methods assuming political will.  Climate change can be avoided through carbon collection and sequestration, the use of hybrid cars, a carbon tax and tradeable permits.  Population can be stabilized by better education and legal protection for women, better access to family planning, and social programs that provide for people in their old age.  Extreme poverty can be ended by a  increased investments in agricultural production, better education and health care, and better infrastructure as exemplified by Millennium Development Villages.

But global cooperation among nations will be instrumental to carrying out these initiatives:

"Intergovernmental processes must also change in fundamental ways.  The European Union is surely the harbinger of further regional integration.  As our problems have become global, old nation-state boundaries have become too small to provide many of the public goods required at a transnational scale.  The EU not only makes war unthinkable among its member states but also provides critical Europe-wide investments in environmental management, physical infrastructure, and governance 'software' such as monetary policy, food safety , and financial market regulation.  Other regions in the world, notably Africa, will follow Europe's lead in forging a much stronger transnational organization." (p.333)

In addition to calling for better regional arrangements, Sachs also demands UN reform:

".. the deepest measure of UN success will be whether the Millennium Promises are sustained over time as shared active global goals and whether these goals are achieved in practice.  Given the centrality of the United Nations to this overarching challenge, the UN itself needs to be reformed to fulfill these leading tasks."  (p.335)

Sachs also recognizes that global management must be democratically-based:

"These transnational organizations have had a difficult time achieving direct democratic engagement of the people.....  Part of the answer is to empower transnational democratic institutions such as the European Parliament." (p.333)

For those of us supporting the Campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (detailed at www.unpacampaign.org), this is a welcome statement since the UNPA is the logical extension and political counterpart of Sach's economic prescription for the world.  A Parliamentary Assembly at the UN would act as a needed symbol of global community, a global conscience to make sure the UN does the right thing about the environment and poverty, and a channel for civil society to apply pressure for greater control and accountability.

This is a very optimistic book.  Challenges are opportunities:

"Ours is the generation that can end extreme poverty, turn the tide against climate change and head off a massive, thoughtless and irreversible extinction of other species." 

Of course, if we don't succeed, the implication is plain.  That species extinction could well include those smart guys homo sapiens.

Sachs ends his book by noting that great social transformations such as the end of slavery, the women's and civil rights movements, and the end of colonial rule all began with public awareness and engagement.  Sachs offers us various actions we can take as individuals to build a world of peace and sustainable development.   Sachs calls upon us to be "citizens of the world" (p.336), a call that echoes down through history from the time of Socrates.

Common Wealth is in many ways a revolutionary book at a time when a revolution in outlook is vital to humankind's survival.  The era of exponential economic growth is over; the open frontier is gone; we must now learn to practice a new economics more appropriate for a crowded planet.  This is an economics that will require better and more democratic supranational cooperation, a goal that Canadians, well-versed in federalism and multilateralism, are well poised to champion. 

                                                                                                                      -  Larry Kazdan,
                                                                                                                            Vancouver, B.C.

===================================

Daily Digest November 1, 2008

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

EDITORIAL PAGEs

ST.JOHN'S TELEGRAM -
Building cabinets

HALIFAX CHRONICLE HERALD -
Can Obama seal the deal in race for the White House

OTTAWA SUN -
Corporations should solve own problems

TORONTO STAR -
Uploading move good but slow

The shrinking TV dollar

NATIONAL POST -
A Cabinet for all seasons
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=925409

TORONTO SUN -

Corporations should solve own problems

K-W RECORD -
Every vote matters

SUDBURY STAR -
Long wait for provincial relief - Editorial (add your comment)
It's
Church trying to rehabilitate Pius' standing

Fifth Avenue doyenne

Finding room for Canada

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS -
Bracelets still on trial
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/editorial/story/4244327p-4887308c.html

Last call in the car
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/editorial/story/4244328p-4887344c.html

WINNIPEG SUN -
Corporations should solve own problems

CALGARY SUN -
Corporations should solve own problems

EDMONTON SUN -
Corporations should solve own problems
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Commentary/2008/11/01/7272896-sun.html
 
LETHBRIDGE HERALD -
Safety is the point
http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3498&Itemid=56

RED DEER ADVOCATE -
Tory climate plan is seriously flawed

VANCOUVER SUN -
Justice delayed and denied: The RCMP can no longer be left to investigate itself


ISSUES

AFGHANISTAN -
General Petraeus plans more border raids
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5062822.ece

Analysis: Amrica decides to fight and win in Afghanistane

Deaths fault of MoD, says SAS major
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/nov/02/military-afghanistan

UK minister 'horrified' by kit claim
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7704276.stm

Gates believes NATO won't send more troops

Unpredictability vital in Afghanistan: French colonel

An expanding war in Afghanistan awaits next US president

Canadians troops celebrate latest Afghanistan victories


CANADIAN FORCES
Outgoing general: NATO could work with tribes
Canada's top general in Afghanistan says NATO troops in the country could learn to work better with Afghan tribal leadership.

CANUSA/USACAN
Obama could dance all over wallflower's toes Travers: . MORE...

Choice of Palin proves McCain not fit for White House Corbella:  MORE...

America votes 2008: What it means to us Walkom: . MORE...

Obama victory would validate new era Ibbitson: . MORE...

McCain: Man without a plan Frum: . MORE...

Fast-track cards a licence to smuggle, border guards fear
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081101.wbordercar01/BNStory/National/home

Get it right, America

U.S. to accept enhanced drivers' licences at border 

The pain of getting across the border 

A licence to complicate 

U.S. envoy says Canadians need to get with passport program 

Alternatives to passports at border being discussed: U.S. official 


ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
Financial forecast: What do psychics predict?

Ottawa slammed for imprudent budgeting: Economist

Dismal stats mean Canada is recession-bound: TD

G7 faces worst recession since '30s: TD Bank

Economy shrinks 0.3 per cent


FOREIGN AFFAIRS
A messed up UN not on the job


JUSTICE SYSTEM
Federal lawyers appeal award given to killer


POLITICS IN THE PROVINCES
The two faces of Quebec Premier Jean Charest MacPherson: . MORE...

Governing B.C. Liberals gird for election fight

Ontario fears wealth-sharing shutout

Cities say immediate aid required

POLITICAL OPINION -
And the next Liberal leader is ...Stephen Le Drew: . MORE...

Doubtful Harper will forgive and forget Williams' ABC campaign Stephenson: . MORE...

How Harper's Quebec strategy blew up in his face Jeffrey Simpson: . MORE...

Deficit talk is unconservative Calgary Herald: . MORE...

Please, Mr. Martin, a detail, a crumb Rex Murphy: . MORE...

Experience, not age, is what matters in our leaders Hunter: MORE...

Kinder, gentler Baird ready to play well with others Sherring:  .. MORE...

Ritz again a big noise in Harper cabinet Mandryk:  . MORE...

Mr. Flaherty, it's time to fix pensions DeCloet: . MORE...

Rae enters leadership fray

Leadership rules could sink some candidates

What a [Cauchon] anonymouse says in Le Devoir about Bob Rae

Rae of Hope

Sting-Rae

Finding room for Canada

Military working on system to detect enemy divers

Flaherty touts Canadian system

Cabinet picks surprisingly risky

Even Grit loves new health minister

Federal Tories get some blame

Cash-strapped Liberals fall behind NDP in fundraising

Flaherty to warn of frugal times
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=925400


PROGRAMMES
U.S. murder case poised to put Tory clemency policy to the test

Fast-track customs cards a licence to cheat, border guards fear

PRESSURE POINTS
MIT scientists baffled by global warming theory, contradicts scientific data


OPINION AND INFORMATION
The danger of seeking heaven on earth

Speaking conservatively

'Common-values' pledge gives immigrants a false impression

Bash away, silly boobs Coren:  Just a typical week in the good old Christian-bashing business. . MORE...

Do we need a new voting system?

YES: PR is more democratic

NO: Don't sacrifice stability

Doubtful Harper will forgive and forget Williams' ABC campaign


INFOS 
Le Parti libéral a récolté moins d'argent que le NPD
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/politique-canadienne/200811/01/01-35250-le-parti-liberal-a-recolte-moins-dargent-que-le-npd.php

Succession de Stéphane Dion - Lutte en coulisse des candidats pressentis
http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/11/01/213704.html

Un Harper nouveau ?
http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/11/01/213631.html

Une question d'approche
http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/ottawa/2008/11/01/001-colloque-terrorisme-securite_n.shtml

Les détenteurs de laissez-passer trichent, selon les agents de douane
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/081101/N110166AU.html

Les Forces armées canadiennes changeront de stratégie en Afghanistan cet hiver
http://info.branchez-vous.com/Nationales/081031/N103193AU.html

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From: "Brian Graff"
Subject: RE: Flay "THE BAY"

Joe:
 
This has nothing to do with "The Bay" department stroes - it was not inside a Bay store and "The Bay" do not own the office tower in question. it is Brookfield Property Management, which owns the property called the Hudson's Bay Centre at Yonge and Bloor. The Bay does have a store there, andt he name of the complex comes from that fact. Similarly, the TD Centre isn't owned by TD Bank, but Cadillac Fairview, and so on.
 
see http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Brookfield-Asset-Management
=====
. . thanks. My aim, then, would be for "The Bay" to tell Brookfield Managament and others it leases from

        Best regards,

        Joe

=====
But if you read the article, it was in the adjoining office tower - The Bay have no real influence as their only involvement is that that part of the complex shares the same name... just as the Eaton Centre has the name of a defunct company and the Eaton family would have little influence over anything done there!
 
I am sure that the bad publicity is enough to get Brookfield to clarify their policies and make things clear to their employees - the problem is likely some 30 year old junior property manager who is ignorant about the war and how we treat  veterans this time of the year.
 
Brian

=====
. . . you are correct.  I'll bring these facts forward in the Digest, okay?

        Joe

=====
sure thing, Joe.
 
People should email Brookfield directly, even if they don't live in Toronto - because brookfield is a company that owns more than just this one building in Toronto.
 
Brian

===================================
From: Ron Critchley
Subject: Re: Flay "THE BAY"

Joe,
 
Yesterday, in Huntingdon Quebec, two Legion members had trouble getting the Societe des Alcools (gov't. liquor store)  to allow a poppy tray.  After some discussion, the store relented.
 
The Legionnare is a veteran.  His wife, the daughter of a general, saw her father for the first time in 1945 when she was four or five years old.  He had been overseas.
 
Ron Critchley

===================================
From: "Jim Weir"
Subject: Re: Flay "THE BAY"

The apology from the BAY should have included a big cheque for the Poppy Fund to be meaningful.
What's your beef with "O God our help in ages past"?
 
James Weir, Kincardine, Ontario   A 75 year old Legion Chaplain with no connection to Canadian forces.

=====
Not a 'beef"
The Wellington Regiment came home.  They marched
with empty spaces I took for those dead or wounded.

This and singing the Hymn all gathered around the
flagpole at Torrance School are indelibly in my synapse
connections.

Very simply: the music starts; emotion swells; I cannot sing.

===================================
From: "Mark Whittle"
Subject: RE: Flay "THE BAY"

You gotta' love Mall Security eh Joe, wanna' be cops playing high and mighty for the management? As I recall the Bay sure isn't the outlet it used to be back in the day, talk about tone deaf management. My dad Bert was a war veteran too, I'm glad he came back alive and put in a life-time of good public work. If the public goes there (the Bay), so should the veteran's selling poppies to keep the memories alive so all Canadians can appreciate them.
Mark-Alan Whittle

===================================
Subject: Re: Flay "THE BAY"
From: Anne-Marie

Hi Uncle Joe.

I don't always get a chance to read or comment on the Digest, but today I had the time to read and now the time to comment. SHOCKING. I read (or heard about) similar instances last year with the Salvation Army Kettle collectors. A shame that common sense and decency do not prevail -- what are the children being taught? Rules are rules, respect for the elders and the decorated should not be a matter of being on a list.

There, my rant is done and I feel better.

Hoping all is well with you, Aase and all the relatives!

Anne-Marie

Ps. Thanks for the Digest.

===================================
Subject: RE: Flay "THE BAY"
From: "Efstratios Psarianos"

Fight the power!
 
Since we're a nation of 30-odd million, dingdongery like this is bound to happen on occasion. That being said, the dingdongs in question deserve to get their bells rung over this.
 
The iniquity of some individuals will never cease to amaze me: I mean I can't even imagine myself being nasty to an 85-year-old, let alone one who's a veteran selling poppies. Time for some "sensitivity training".
 
 
Stratos

===================================
From: Tom Brewer
Subject: Re poppies

It is obvious the security firm was doing their job. It is obvious too the security individual was not using or capable of using what God gave him that being his/her brain! It is obvious this person knew little of the poppy campaign and must have been raised in some backwoods area of this world.
 
Being the Bay I'm appalled! Apology, heck must be another political nerd... You just have to apologize and all is well... Right?
 
The only good from all of this is the fallout which I am sure helped sales otherwise. You would assume the Bay would have made a donation to offset lost sales too.
 
As Canadians we need to step up to the plate to ensure others don't forget how many died or were injured during the wars. We cannot forget.
 
Tom Brewer
Regina, sk

===================================
From: "Rebecca Gingrich"
Subject: RE: Flay "THE BAY"

Joe--I can't but believe that it is just because it is Remembrance Day
shortly that we are all being revved up to support our Veterans.  Also it
helps to make more and more people accept the farce that is our 'war' in
Afghanistan.  You know, 'support the troops'?  Of course we support our
troops.  But that doesn't mean we have to support the war for oil does it?
As for this story--where is the outcry in the other 363 or 4 days of the
year?  Our Veterans suffer 24/7/12 and are not given the support needed. 
Remember the Agent Orange spray in NB?  What did those poor Veterans get for
their poisoning?  NOTHING!!!  How hard has Matt Stoppford fought and to what
end?  How many thousands of Veterans are going without but we are supposed
to get upset about this incident?  This should never have happened. One
phone call to check if it was ok for poppies to be sold in the lobby was OK
with the Bay.  If they had said no then something could have been written. 
But this is a non-issue.  In today's climate can you imagine what would have
happened to the Bay if this had not really been a Veteran?
Lets get upset and do something about things that really matter.  I am
getting tired of these non-stories to rally us idiot citizens.  Lets get
really concerned about the rest of the year when those who were duped or
conscripted into going to war for a lie and greed are left to suffer with
nothing.
becky

=====
You speak much truth.

===================================

Flay "THE BAY"

BELOW(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)(30)30)(30)(30)(30)(30)

        According to the video below the headline this incident has been rectified. 

        Would calling up the administration of a "Bay" store if one is in your area be of any value? You must judge.

        I have, asking the call be passed up to upper management so that an order will come down from them to all
        their locations - be they "The Bay" stores or under other names.

                 Joe Hueglin
                 Who Remembers V-E Day well and could never fully sing "O God Our Help in Ages Past" since.

________________________
Poppy-selling vet bounced
85-year-old told to leave by The Bay
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2008/11/01/7271986-sun.html#/news/torontoandgta/2008/10/31/pf-7268341.html

 In the 20 years veteran Alan Lawrence has been selling poppies he has never felt as dishonoured as he did yesterday when Hudson Bay Company security kicked him to the curb.

He was inside the Bay office tower at Yonge and Bloor Sts. selling poppies like he had for years when security told him to get of the property.

"It just shows how much some people think about what we did, and that hurts," said Lawrence, 85, who joined England's Royal Navy at 16.

"They have some nerve resenting me standing on their property and telling me to get off. I couldn't believe anyone could be so obnoxious.

"We made it possible for him (the security guard) to have a job. He wouldn't have it if Hitler had won."

Lawrence had a similar experience five years ago at the Toronto Stock Exchange.

"It isn't always that pleasant standing outside. To kick me out is absolutely stupid and I can't believe it could happen in Toronto," Lawrence said.

Others couldn't believe it, either.

Mike Sawyer, who has been a reservist for the past four years, went into the store's management office to give them a piece of his mind.

"It's disgusting. This business is only possible because of men like him. I can't believe the attitude," Sawyer said.

Beverly Scarrow says she can't believe a veteran would be treated in this fashion.

"My father is a veteran. It's ridiculous something like this could happen. It's not like this isn't a good cause. It is sad they would have this attitude toward a veteran," Scarrow said.

Businesses do have a right to say who can be on their property, said Ray Kokkonen, acting president of the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association.

STRANGE HAPPENING

"I find this strange. As long as you aren't obstructing traffic, most businesses are happy to work with the campaign," he said.

"I'll be going out in a few days to sell poppies and I can't think of a good reason for a business to kick someone out."

Pebble Carrier, a member of the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 344, says members should get clearance from companies before they started campaigning.

"There are some who would go out (not representing any organization) and are just panhandling," he said.

Brookfield Property Management, which told Lawrence to leave, has since apologized.

"One of our security saw him (Lawrence) and he didn't have a memo authorizing him to be there and he was asked to leave even though he was here for a good cause," said Arash Ghorbandaei, Brookfield director of security.

Money donated to the Royal Canadian Legion during the Remembrance campaign is placed in public trust funds and is used to help needy ex-service members and their families.

"It isn't just for the veterans but also for our boys overseas right now," Carrier said.

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