No War, For Oil – Chretien Connection

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A New York Post article today The French War For Oil is all about France. Kenneth Timmerman forgot to mention another anti-war country with oil interests in Iraq – Canada.

… the French interest in maintaining Saddam Hussein in power was spelled out in excruciating detail. The price tag: close to $100 billion. That was what French oil companies stood to profit in the first seven years of their exclusive oil arrangements – had Saddam remained in power.
…
Almost as soon as the guns went silent after the first Gulf war in 1991, French oil giants Total SA and Elf Aquitaine – who have now merged and expanded to become TotalFinaElf – sought a competitive advantage over their rivals in Iraq by negotiating exclusive production-sharing contracts with Saddam’s regime that were intended to give them a stranglehold on Iraq’s future oil production for decades to come.
…
The Total contract, a copy of which I obtained, was “very one-sided,” says Hillman. (Hillman, a political economist and a managing partner at Trireme Investments in New York, did a detailed analysis of the contract.) An ordinary production agreement typically grants the foreign partner a maximum of 50 percent of the gross proceeds of the oil produced at the field they develop. But this deal gave Total 75 percent of the total production. “This is highly unusual,” he said. Indeed, it was extortion.
But Saddam willingly agreed: He saw the Total deal, and a similar one with Elf, as the price he had to pay to secure French political support at the United Nations.

What is the Canadian connection ?
Paul Desmarais Sr. His sons, Andr� and Paul Desmarais Jr. are the current co-CEO’s of Power Corporation of Canada, the majority shareholder in France’s TotalFinaElf.
Andr� is married to former PM Jean Chretien’s daughter, France.
Stockwell Day (Alliance) – during Question Period:

“I do not fault the Prime Minister’s family ties with his nephew, our Ambassador to France,” said Day “or with Paul Desmarais Sr. who is the largest individual shareholder of France’s largest corporation, TotalFinaElf, which has billions of dollars of contracts with Saddam’s former regime. With this valuable source of information and experience at his fingertips, has the Prime Minister ever discussed Iraq or France with his family or friends in the Desmarais empire?”

This link lists the prominant Canadian politicians who include PowerCorp on their resume – they include Trudeau, Mulroney – and current Prime Minister Paul Martin.
With the revelations about the UN Oil-for-food kickback scandal finally breaking the surface, and the depth of corruption in the Chretien government emerging via Adscam, the Chirac-TotalFinaElf-PowerCorp-Chretien connections are just hanging there for the picking, like rotten fruit from a tree.
That is, if the anti-American leftists in the Canadian media can bring themselves to face the possibility that Canada’s “principled” position on Iraq was all about oil.

Kerry: “Firehose On Terror”

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Bill Hobbs has a devastating analysis of the approach the Man Who Would Be President wants to take to terror.

For John Kerry, our “first responders” in the War on Terror are the people who respond to an attack with firehoses, bulldozers and cadaver dogs. For President George Bush, our “first responders” are the 101st Airborne, the Third Infantry Division, the Navy and the Air Force. They get no mention in Kerry’s self-described “Agenda to Support Front Lines in America’s War on Terror,” which contains not a single single word about offense.

If we don’t think the choice Americans make at the polls this November matters to the security of Canadians, try Stewart Bell’s newly released “Cold Terror: How Canada Nurtures and Exports Terrorism to the World”.
A fence straddling, appeasing, left-leaning administration to the south is unlikely to kick our own politicians into taking action to reverse Canada’s shameful immigration and refugee policies.
Hat tip – Instapundit

A Tale Of Two Polls

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BBC commissioned poll in Iraq
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The poll suggests that Iraqis are happier than they were before the invasion, optimistic about the future and opposed to violence.
It suggests that the reporting of the daily attacks on the occupying forces in Iraq could be obscuring another picture.
Seventy percent said that things were going well or quite well in their lives, while only 29% felt things were bad.
And 56% said that things were better now than they were before the war.
Almost half (49%) believed the invasion of Iraq by the US-led coalition was right, although 41% felt that the invasion “humiliated Iraq”.
More than three quarters (79%) want Iraq to remain united, and only 20% want it to become an Islamic state.

  CTV/Globe and Mail/Ipsos Reid poll of Canadians

Prime Minster Paul Martin … reiterated his support of Canada’s decision not to send troops to Iraq, a view shared by 74 per cent of Canadians in a new CTV/Globe and Mail/Ipsos Reid poll.
63 per cent of Canadians believe the United States made a mistake in going to war in Iraq.That’s a dramatic jump of 16 points since December.
Other findings of the poll:
67 per cent agree that U.S. President George Bush knowingly lied to the world in order to justify his war with Iraq.
61 percent agree “true democracy will never come to the region,” despite all the U.S. efforts.
69 per cent�agree that because of what has happened, the U.S. “will learn a valuable lesson” that it is better for them to work with countries around the world rather than to act on their own in issues of world crisis.
54 per cent disagree that because of what happened on Sept. 11 2001, the U.S. is justified in any action it takes to protect itself from future terrorist attacks.

What do the Iraqis know that Canadians don’t?
The truth?
The Canadian poll was blasting all over the airwaves today. A representative from Ipsos-Reid was interviewed on local talk radio – and it was most enlightening. In discussing the poll results there was no qualification offered for the belief that “Bush lied”, as in pointing out that no one has any evidence that this is true. He offered that the poll results indicated that Chretien had chosen the correct position regarding Iraq – as though popular opinion should guide national security policy.
Very revealing. I wonder how the questions were worded. Check the second last paragraph, for example – the learned a valuable lesson result.

Western Alienation Part III

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I spoke with a friend in Ontario today, whose company has just struggled through a difficult period, and now, is being subjected to yet another audit.
It turns out this audit is on a reassessment they came up with during a previous audit. I’ve lost track of how many times this company has been subjected to federal or provincial tax scrutiny. They have never been found guilty of any misdeeds and on at least one occassion, claimed a substancial refund.
I not so jokingly suggested she tell them where to shove it, until they’re finished with the Liberal Party of Canada.
And then I suggested that if Ontario decides, yet again, to vote the bastards back into power, it’s time for a separation movement in the West.
No, not this separation movement.
This one.

911 days after 911

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Winds Of Change has a roundup of links about yesterday’s Madrid bombings. Among them is noted that Spain’s “311” was 911 days after “911”.
Lileks:

There’s a small padded room in my mind where I imagine the theories of the daft: OMG Bushitler did this, it’s part of a campaign to make us “afraid,” it’ll only get worse. That’s one take, from the foil-chapeau brigade, a decided minority. Then there’s the schadenfreuders: well, Spain supported the war in Iraq. Payback’s a bitch, eh? As if there was some sort of epiphany in the terrorist community: whoa, Spain is assisting the Crusaders now. I know it’s going out on a limb, but I propose adding Spain to the list of Western Christian polyglot democracies to destroy. All in favor, say aye. Of course one can say that the jihadists attacked Spain for its role, but to suggest that Spain earned this atrocity means that the two causes are morally indistinguishable.
To some, they are. To some, the act of “resistance” has such a romantic pull they cannot possibly renounce the use of flamboyant violence – until they find themselves in a train station on an average weekday morning, ears ringing, eyes clouded, looking down at their shirt, wondering why it’s so red all of a sudden.

Insufferable Twit Watch

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I’m starting a new category here at SDA. I’m calling it the Insufferable Twit Watch. For my inaugeral entry, I feature a local radio personality – Saskatoon’s 650 CKOM program director, Kurt Leavins.
Leavins has an afternoon show, informally known as the Anti-American Bush-Bashing Hour. Leavins does not take calls, so he’s got free reign to spout off with whatever canard-de-jour is floating through the CNN headline banner. I do email him from time to time, when he says something particularly egrarious. To his credit, he always replies, but he never, never admits an error or corrections on air. (I’ve included one such email exchange in the expanded entry)
Yesterday, Leavins offered his thoughts on the train bombings in Madrid. He mentioned that Al Queda had taken responsibility and then, in his usual “I told you so” voice, reminded we memory-challenged listeners of Spain’s involvement in the Iraq war;

[Paraphrased quote] — Don’t get me wrong, I’m sorry that this happened, but you know — given Spains involvement in the Iraq war — “you had to see it coming”.

Memo to Kurt Leavins:
The war with Al Queda was not initiated by George W. Bush. It did not commence with an invasion of Iraq, or the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
Perhaps you slept in on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Perhaps you haven’t heard.
At about 9 am that morning, Al Queda launched an attack using hijacked airliners that destroyed both towers of the World Trade Center, part of the Pentagon, while a fourth plane crashed short of its target in a field in Pennsylvania. Prior to this, Al Queda and its islamofascist affiliates had a long, sordid history of attacking military and civilian targets around the world.
And perhaps you haven’t been reading the papers.
Canadian troops are currently serving in Afghanistan – the same Afghanistan that harboured Bin Laden and provided safe haven for Al Queda training camps and a launching point for terrorism. For our efforts, Canada has been added to the list of official targets for Al Queda retaliation.
I hope that when the day comes that it is the CN Tower lying in a pile of flame and broken bodies, or the Parliament buildings hoplessly contaminated through a dirty bomb attack, you’ll remember those words and remind us, too, that “we had to see it coming”, so that we can be properly reflective and humiliated by our error in backing the American fight against terror and tyranny.


Congratulations, Kurt Leavins – SDA’s Insufferable Twit for March 12, 2004.

Update: Think I’m being harsh? Leavins just announced the topic for his “Afternoon Show” today – “Did They Bring This Bombing Upon Themselves?”
Hitchhiking on the Beltway Traffic Jam.

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What Hockey Was

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Hockey was part of my growing up. Going to a hockey game when I was a kid meant cheering the Arcola-Kisbey Combines – which escalated into a (mostly) verbal blood feud if the opponant was the despised Carlyle Cougars, from the rival town to the east.
One end of the rink had a large lobby for the little kids and seniors who preferred to stay warm, the glass looking onto the ice surface protected by chain link. A hard shot could stretch the chain link enough to break a window, though that didn’t happen very often. When it did, the player responsible was legend for a month.
Most watched from the stands, in the cold – elbow to elbow, on 4 rows of wooden bleachers, drinking hot chocolate or coffee, shifting weight from leg to leg in a vain attempt to keep toes from freezing, yelling encouragement, insulting the enemy, cheering the goals.
Watching from the bleachers meant staying sharp and never taking your eye off the game – the wooden boards had no plexiglass, and you had to be ever ready to dodge a 60 mph puck. The reckless older boys stood against those boards, leaning over as far as their torsos would allow, to catch the action when it was at the other end of the rink – ducking and scrambling when the play returned to their own, and players body checked and thrown halfway over, sticks flying.
The moisture from our breath froze in the air and rose to the roof to form hoarfrost. The sound of skates carving ice, body checks, cheers and taunts echoed in the cold.
Sometimes there were fights, and nearly always they were fair, square and honorably fought. And sometimes there were injuries, but absent a freak accident, they were minor – the players had jobs, families or school to go back to in the morning. They were not paid. They kept the sticks down.
Between the periods, you waited as players first made their way off the ice and into their dressing rooms, and then you followed the rest of the crowd, shuffling politely into the warmth. You lined up for a home cooked burger and fries drenched in vinegar, salt and ketchup.
No one was paid for anything. Volunteers served as time keepers and referees, took in the gate, made the pies, served in the kitchen, cleaned the bathrooms, chaperoned the kids. Volunteers scraped the tortured ice with hand shovels and reflooded the surface in preparation for the next period. Many decades earlier, volunteers had built the rink. (They still do. When the rink burned down 2 years ago, volunteers raised the money and rebuilt it.)
That was hockey.
I haven’t been to a game for years. Not since they put the plexiglass up.

DEAR MR. SASKATCHEWAN

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Saskatchewan wins a prize…

RE: CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL
SIR,
I AM MAKING THIS CONTACT ON BEHALF OF MY ORGANIZATION, THE AMERICAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR PROVINCE HAS BEEN CHOSEN FOR OUR PRESTIGIOUS AWARD – THE AMERICAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE FOR 2005.
MY AIM OF CONTACTING YOU IS TO SEEK YOUR ASSISTANCE IN TRANSFERRING THE SUM OF FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ONLY (US$450,000) OUT OF SASKATCHEWAN AND INTO OUR TRUSTED BANK ACCOUNT ABROAD, FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROMOTING YOUR BEAUTIFUL PROVINCE’S CULTURE.
IS REST ASSURED THAT THERE IS NO RISK INVOLVED SINCE I HAVE TAKEN CARE OF EVERYTHING HERE IN SPAIN.
I WANT YOU TO IMMEDIATELY INFORM ME OF YOUR WILLINGNESS IN ASSISTING / CO-OPERATING WITH US ON MY E-MAIL ADDRESS SO THAT I CAN SEND YOU FULL DETAILS OF THIS TRANSACTION AND LET MAKE REARRANGEMENT FOR A MEETING AND DISCUSS AT LENGTH ON HOW TO TRANSFER THE SAID FUND. FINALLY, I AM TRUSTING ON YOUR FULL UNDERSTANDING OF THE ABOVE AND HOPING THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THE NEED FOR ABSOLUTE CONFIDENTIALITY.
AWAITING WITH INTEREST YOUR RESPONSE AND HOPING TO DEVELOP GOOD BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU.
YOURS FAITHFULLY,
XAVIER TUDELA
PRESIDENT
AMERICAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE

… for Most Gullible Government in America.

Bertuzzi Redux

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Vancouver Canucks general manager Brian Burke is giving a news conference. He isn’t happy with the NHL… and is complaining that the media has kicked “the crap” out of his player.

“Shocked.. shocked at the size of the fine”
“There’s been so little analysis of anyone else’s blame… all you guys have done is crucify my player”.

He claims he accepts responsibility as general manager, and recognizes that Todd went over the line .. then, he goes on to question when Moore’s injury happened – during the cheap shot, or during the pile-on afterwards – and follows up with medical details to imply that the severity of the injury has been exaggerated. Nice move, Brian. That’ll win ya some sympathy.

“We get into a Murphy’s law game, the incident happened, and people say it was premeditated.”

Burke denies that the management had directed Bertuzzi to take out Moore, defends Canucks coach Mark Crawford (who laughed after the hit) and pointed out that there are other players whose job it is …. and that the notion that the Canucks would use a star forward like Bertuzzi for enforcement purposes is ridiculous.
I think the American media is going to have a field day with this.
(The NHL announced this morning, after a 10 minute hearing, that Bertuzzi is out for the remainder of the regular season – 12 games – and the playoffs, and the case will be revisited before he is reinstated. The Canucks recieved a $250,000 fine. Bertuzzi will lose a half million in lost salary.)
Addendum: Hockey guru Liam McGuire reminds us that it wasn’t always this way.
It used to be worse:

Hall-of- Fame defenseman Doug Harvey once speared George Sullivan so severely in a game that Sullivan was administered last rites at the hospital. Rocket Richard broke three sticks over Hal Laycoe, not one, not two, but three and in between he dropped Cliff Thomson, the linesman. Gordie Howe was suspended three times for attempt-to-injure and on numerous other occasions he committed some of the most vile acts imaginable including splitting Brad Parks tongue in half and sucker punching Stan Mikita sending him to the dressing room. The stick fights were out of a movie. People today would not be able to comprehend the NHL pre 1970. Ted Green and Wayne Maki in 1969 during an exhibition game in Ottawa hit themselves in the head with their sticks as hard as they possibly could. Green needed a six hour operation to save his life and has had a permanent plate in his head since that time. Eddie Shack during a game in Toronto in 1967-68, told Larry Zeidel that if he came after him again he was going to hammer him with his stick. Zeidel came after him and Shack swung his stick down on Zeidel’s head as hard as he could. Same thing with Bernie Geoffrion and Ron Murphy, a stick fight the likes of which the fans of the game today would curl up into a little whining ball, rolled up fists to teary eyes crying for their momma’s ..

Point taken. We do have short memories.

Canadian Gun Control Goes International

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As if pissing away 2 billion on a failed gun registry in Canada wasn’t enough.
CANADA HELPS AFRICANS PREVENT AND RESOLVE VIOLENT CONFLICT

March 9, 2004 – A $4.5 million contribution by Canada over three years to the ECOWAS Peace Fund will support conflict prevention, crisis management and peacebuilding activities, and will contribute to a scholarship fund that will enable West African civilians and military personnel to benefit from training for peace support operations at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, in Ghana.

Well how about that… Annan was in Ottawa the day this was announced … what are the odds?

The project will also help ECOWAS establish a unit that will work to stop the flow of small weapons into and across borders in these countries.

Eh, so what does that last line mean, in practice? Well, basically, it means they’re going to purchase guns from the criminals. Apparently, firearms are a finite resource, and if they just buy them all up, people won’t be able to shoot one another. Our tax dollars at work.
Did anyone point out to ECOWAS Canada’s success in controlling the flow of illegal firearms to the African-Canadian community?

Howard Stern, Whine Jock Pt II

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A followup to my comments on the allegedly beleagured shock jock:
Dead Man Talking, And Talking, And Talking – Reid Stot has a lengthy post on the history of Howard Stern, wolf crier…

But if you want the short tame proof this is nothing new, consider this quote: “Howard Stern is Dead Man Talking. Remember where you heard it first.” And where and when did we hear it first? From Michael Harris, in Ottawa, Tuesday, November 18, 1997.

“Live by the tit, die by the tit”.
Wish I’d come up with that.
Via Instapundit:

Human Remains In Meat Supply?

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human remains may have been in meat supply

PORT COQUITLAM, B.C. – There may have been human remains in meat processed for human consumption from a B.C. pig farm at the centre of Vancouver’s missing women case.
…
Investigators have found D.N.A. at the farm site that has been matched
to several women missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Farmer Robert Pickton faces 15 counts of first degree murder.
The Crown Prosecutor said earlier that Pickton will be charged with at
least seven more counts.

We need the death penalty back in Canada. And we need it yesterday.
CBC backgrounder on BC’s missing women case

PETA’s “The Passion”

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PETA does get attention when they pull these stunts.


Why they continue to promote themselves as deranged extremists doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. There isn’t a lot of evidence that the organization is controlled by clueless idiots, (not to be confused with the clueless idiots who fund them with donations) so why do they insist on creating and then stepping into the wacko animal rights stereotype?
update On a less serious note – Wizbang is reminding us to commemorate Eat An Animal For Peta Day

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Devious Minds

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I’ve thought about the sweet prospect of the current civil war creating a formal split in the Liberal Party….Sean, at Pol:Spy goes one better. He has a plan

Conservatives need to find a way to start a new party that will attract disaffected Liberals. It would be after the Warren Kinsellas and Sheila Copps of Canada. It would be incredibly left-leaning, promising a new and improved Nanny State, and free government handouts for everyone. Of course, the party wouldn’t win – it’s not supposed to. However, it would siphon Liberal votes from the other Liberal Party (along with a strengthened NDP) and put the Conservatives right up the middle.
Just as you fight fire with fire, you can fight Liberals with Liberals. The entire Reform/ Alliance/PC fustercluck proved this and then some.

Heh.

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