Al Banna

Terrorism 3 Comments

I think this blog is misnamed. May I suggest a change to The Bloodhound? Given a whiff of information about possible Sask Wheat Pool involvement in questionable oil-for-food contracts….

NIDAL, Abu (a.k.a. AL BANNA, Sabri Khalil Abd Al Qadir);
Founder and Secretary General of ABU NIDAL ORGANIZATION;
DOB May 1937 or 1940;
POB Jaffa, Israel (individual) [SDT]
This person was an infamous terrorist (now believed to have committed suicide in Baghdad), and is blacklisted by the Treasury Department (see the linked sanctions document).
[…]
When I did some background research on “Abu Nidal Organization” (ANO), I saw many references to close ties to Iraq, and routing funding through Lebanon. Perhaps a total co- incidence. But it is chilling to find a telephone listing in Montreal for an Albanna that is renting a furnished executive suite, and shares the same name as an executive for a company in Lebanon linked to Oil For Food contracts placed on hold by the US. Very chilling indeed. Scroll down to my earlier posts to see how the dots connect.

(Helpful blogging tip – it’s more useful to include a list of direct links to earlier referenced posts – surfers who come in to an individual entry page don’t have the ability to “scroll down”. )

NDP Call Center?

Gopher News 6 Comments

Brad at SaskDesk is curious about something in the NDP declaration of political contributions:

NDP
Total Donations = $1,530,020
Received from Individuals = $854,080
Received from Corporations = $171,560
Received from unions = $15,097
Received from Constituency Associations = $16,768
Event and Promotion Revenue = $472,513
Other Revenue(from selling call centre services to Jack Layton) = $293,661

What call center does the Sask NDP own?

Policing The Borders

Insufferable Twits 6 Comments

The Auditor General wrote “A weak immigration service is putting Canada in danger because it isn’t weeding out applicants presenting criminal, security, or health risks”. Last year, a high-ranking Canadian diplomat based in China made a million in bribes from immigrants before bolting from his post. The Libranos refuse to add the Tamil Tigers to the list of terrorist organizations…
… but they have lots of enthusiasm for sending the Language Police to spy on their own border agents.
Via Nealenews

Lorne’s Castrovian Legislation

Gopher News 5 Comments

Catprint In The Mash has the relevant exerpts of the new search and seizure authorities of the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board. It’s nasty stuff.
Between this and the rising tensions due to inequal enforcement of smoking bans, (the NDP is afraid of the poltiical falllout of taking on First Nations – and they know it) one can’t help but worry that the day will come when someone’s going to get hurt. And it’s going to be the innocent Civil Service Joe just doing his job that finds himself facing a shotgun or baseball bat in the hands of someone who thinks there’s nothing left to lose. After all, it isn’t the health minister who has the dirty work of walking into a failing small town bar alone, searching for contraband ashtrays. It isn’t the deputy minister watching their life savings drip away with every lost customer.
In a real world, the NDP would look at their own dismal record in picking winners and losers – sod turnings for non-existant ethanol plants, the Spudco fiasco – and come to the logical conclusion that they’re not qualified to interfere in the economy. With a virtually uninterrupted history of abject business failure, it’s is the last place Lorne Calvert and Co. should insert their idiotic ideology driven “expertise” .
Latest case in point: another $53 million dollar for the welfare case known as the Meadow Lake pulp mill, located in the constituency of finance minister Maynard Sontag.
For once – just once – I’d like to see a cabinet minister relieved of his pension for failed government investments. While we’re at it, let’s include a few deputy ministers and senior beaurocrats. What the hell – if they want to play the game like bona fide business people, then why not play for real? Seize their homes and property to help pay creditors.
Perhaps then, when politicians decide to invest taxpayer’s dollars in propping up their own poltiical careers, whether it’s in the economy or in the business climate in general – we’ll actually see a little of that “accountability” they like to brag about before the cameras.

Bad Day For Kofi

Radioactive 1 Comment

I’ve been receiving a lot of oil-for-food links these days – and while I generally try to follow that story somewhat closely, I hadn’t had time to really put anything beyond a cut and paste together. Debbye in TO, on the other hand, has a fabulous update. Here’s the news I hadn’t heard;
Foxnews:

Congressional investigators began reviewing documents on Thursday handed over by Robert Parton, a former senior investigator on the Independent Inquiry Committee probing the $64 billion Oil-for-Food program.

Parton is one of the two lead investigators who resigned from the Volcker committee protesting his reluctance to investigate Kofi Annan.

Parton delivered the documents on Wednesday night after he was issued a subpoena by the House International Relations Committee on Friday night.
“I have directed investigators for the committee to begin an immediate and careful examination of documents received from Mr. Parton,” Rep. Henry Hyde, the committee’s chairman, said in a statement on Thursday. “I wish to extend to Mr. Parton my thanks for fully complying with the committee’s subpoena. It is my hope and expectation that neither the United Nations nor the independent inquiry will attempt to sanction Mr. Parton for complying with a lawful subpoena.”

The UN actually tried to block the subpeona, citing diplomatic immunity.

Because the review of the subpoenaed materials is currently underway, Hyde, R-Ill., declined to characterize their contents. The materials contain records of Parton’s investigation of the role played by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the probe of what happened to billions of dollars that went missing from the nine-year humanitarian aid program with Iraq.
The contents of the boxes handed over by Parton are believed to be damaging to the secretary-general because, as sources told FOX News, they describe inconsistencies in the story Kofi Annan told investigators about a conflict of interest involving his son Kojo Annan, and Cotecna, the Swiss company that employed Kojo Annan and which won one of the most lucrative Oil-for-Food contracts.

Now, go read Debbye’s posts – just keep scrolling.
Don’t forget Shaken-occasionally-stirred either – again, scroll down a bit and you’ll find a lot of original investigation work.

RCMP Forensics Backlog?

Roadkill 7 Comments

What 9 (or is it 10?) billion in “security spending” gets us:
National Post

OTTAWA – The RCMP has mismanaged its forensic services, creating a backlog of more than 950 DNA cases while straining other resources, two retired forensic officers said yesterday at a parliamentary committee meeting. Appearing before the Commons justice committee, the former officers, Gary Mcleod and David Hepworth, said the RCMP wastes money through an inefficient forensics system that in February had 959 cases still pending, with the average case turnaround time about 85 days too long. “What we need to have is a national strategy,” said Mr. Hepworth, a police officer since 1962 and a forensics investigator for 30 years.

SDA flashbackto February news that the feds were closing one of six RCMP forensics labs as a “cost cutting” measure:

Well, let’s be practical. So long as the RCMP are short 2500 officers, closing detachments in grow-up regions of Quebec, and a month and a half behind in processing Interpol terrorist alerts, it’s just a little silly to get twisted out of shape about backlogs in forensics. It’s not as though the Canadian justice system actually locks up criminals when they do bother to convict them.

Bananada: Not Just Another Catchy Slogan

The Libranos 63 Comments

By way of a commentor and Damian Penny at the Shotgun, CTV News is confirming that the Paul Martin Liberal Party will shortly announce that the Twelve Year Program begun under Jean Chretien to transform Canada into a full fledged Banana Repubic is nearing completion;

The Conservatives won a battle Thursday in their effort to force a non- confidence vote against the Liberal minority government, but it appears they could yet lose the war.
Minutes after the Tories won the right to proceed with an amendment later this month calling on the government to resign, the Liberals said they will simply ignore the call.
By tradition, the government must step down if it loses a vote on a money bill, such as the federal budget, but it’s not clear if the Tory amendment falls under that category.
The Speaker of the House of Commons ruled Thursday that the amendment, to a finance committee bill, was in order. That appeared to clear the way for a vote on the matter in about two weeks.
The Tories hold that if they win the vote, it requires the government to resign and call an election.
Not so fast, said government House leader Tony Valeri. He said the Liberals will refuse to recognize the amendment as a confidence motion and keep governing.

I speculated that the reason the Liberals have methodically eroded the Canadian Armed Forces, was to prevent the last hope of Canadians to remove them from power by military coup.
And people thought I was joking.

Jack Layton’s Hidden Health Care Agenda

Great Moments In Socialism 26 Comments

Janice MacKinnon tossed an electoral bomb into the lap of New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton on Wednesday, issuing a report calling on governments to introduce user-pay into the health care system through taxation of health benefits.

Ex-Sask. NDP finance minister proposes�user-pay tax�
A former New Democrat finance minister from Saskatchewan says Alberta should tax people for how often they use medical services.
Janice MacKinnon asks why would taxpayers want to continue to give millionaires free health care.
She says health care should be a taxable benefit based on use and income, as well as providing credit for healthy behaviour.
Alberta Health Minister Iris Evans says this is a very major change that MacKinnon is recommending that would have to be considered at a national level.� �

This is scary stuff.

Premier Lorne Castro

Gopher News 20 Comments

Hey, you leftie readers, always blathering about “right-wing” police states – get a load of this bone the Calvert NDP government is throwing their labour masters. To appease them for backing away from the promised part-time “hours of work” legislation (that would have, in effect, unionized non-union businesses) the Saskatchewan government plans changing the Trade Union Act to expand the authorities of the Labour Relations Board beyond that of law enforcement.
The NDP is planning to empower labour board officials with the right to enter a home or business and seize property without a warrant.
We call it “Calvert’s Cuba” for a reason.

Paul Martin And Adscam: Gathering Up Threads

The Libranos 13 Comments

With the publication ban finally lifted on testimony by chief Adscam mechanic, Chuck Guite before the Gomery Inquiry, the first direct connections have been drawn to both former PM Jean Chretien and current PM Paul Martin (then Canada’s Finance Minister.

CG: Because I met with Mr. Gagliano. �
ROY: What exactly did you tell him and what did you get by way of an answer?
CG: I told him what was happening, and I wanted assurance that the volume of business that V&B had from the government would be maintained. We probably talked about it and so forth, and he said �I will look after that.� So I don�t — if he spoke to Mr. Manley — I think he was at Tourism then —
ROY: He was responsible for Tourism Canada —
CG: — and the Bank —
ROY: — as Minister of Industry.
CG: And I think Mr. Martin was at the Bank at that time.
ROY: In 2000?
CG: Yes, I would think so.
ROY: He was Minister of Finance?
CG: Minister of Finance.
ROY: Yes.
CG: And I got a call from Pierre Tremblay about a week later.
ROY: Saying what?
CG: Saying that �It will be done.�
ROY: What will be done?
CG: The interfe — I don�t want to use that word — the Minister had spoken to both ministers and the volume of business would be maintained

Much, much more at Andrew Coyne. I’ve linked to the main page, as he has multiple posts – one which points out that the government owned CBC is not mentioning the Martin “smoking gun”. Most curious – unless one is aware of the tight group of Liberal patronage appointees on the corporation’s board.
This isn’t the first time Martin has been accused of interfering in advertising contracts in favour of Martin-friendly firms, though the Earnscliffe case falls outside the limited terms of reference for the Gomery Inquiry.
For his part, Paul Martin’s office has issued a blanket denial – and off to Holland he goes, in a reversal of an earlier decision not to attend VE Day ceremonies.
In a final twist, the company mentioned in the Guite testimony – Vickers and Benson – has tangled ties to the Canadian owned Power Corporation of BNP Paribas, Oil-For-Food, Maurice Strong, Paul Vocker, Jean Cretien, Paul Martin connections.
Woohoo!

It is clear however that Vickers & Benson contributed $93,852.44 from 1993 to 2003 to the Liberal Party, including a whopping $13,933.40 in 2000, the year of the sale. John Hayter, the chairman and CEO, donated $1000 in 2000 as well.

Guite Testimony

Radioactive 7 Comments

update
First transcripts are up at CQ.. (The link includes all the Captain’s Quarters Adscam postings, so a good one to bookmark).
CBC is now up with a little, though no mention of Martin….

Captain’s Quarters will be releasing details of Chuck Guite’s testimony shortly.

Thanks to a new source, I have received an extensive amount of the testimony given by Chuck Guit� last Thursday and Friday under the publication ban. This testimony will take me hours to review for content, so please bear with me. I will start posting excerpts and analyses of what I’ve read tonight, when I have some time to properly review the material. Keep checking back here for updates.

I knew there was a new source in the works, but was unsure of how things were working out. Local radio has just announced that Gomery may lift the publication ban, but with so much information pent up, Ed’s exerpts will be invaluable – they may also include information we won’t be “allowed” to hear in Canada.
update – CTV

A Quebec judge who is overseeing Chuck Guite’s criminal trial has ordered a publication ban on Guite’s testimony at the sponsorship inquiry, just minutes before the tesimony was to be revealed.
Justice John Gomery decided Wednesday that a ban on most of�Guite’s testimony could be be made public at 3:30 p.m. ET.
But Justice James Brunton of Quebec Superior Court beat the deadline by ordering a temporary ban on the testimony. He said he wanted to wait until he rules on a motion by Guite’s lawyers to have the testimony kept secret until after Guite’s criminal trial.
Brunton said “the Earth won’t stop turning if I take a llittle time to decide.”

Neither will the blogosphere.

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