October 2007
Monthly Archive
October 31, 2007
George Bush’s nominee for America’s next Attorney General, Michael B. Mukasey, has told senators conducting his confirmation hearing that, while he personally finds waterboarding repugnant, he can’t say whether it’s torture. What do you think?
This account of waterboarding taken from the 1958 memoir of French journalist Henri Alleg. Any doubts about waterboarding as full-bore torture are put to rest by Alleg’s account:
“Together they picked up the plank to which I was attached and carried me into the kitchen. They rested the top of the plank, where my head was, against the sink.
Lo – fixed a rubber tube to the metal tap, which shone just above my face. He wrapped my head in a rag and held my nose. He tried to jam a piece of wood between my lips in such a way that I could not close my mouth or spit out the tube.
When everything was ready, he said to me, ‘When you want to talk, all you have to do is move your fingers.’ And he turned on the tap.
“The rag was soaked rapidly. Water flowed everywhere: in my mouth, in my nose, all over my face. But for a while I could still breathe in some small gulps of air. I tried, by contracting my throat, to take in as little water as possible and to resist suffocation by keeping air in my lungs as long as I could. But I couldn’t hold on for more than a few moments.
I had the impression of drowning, and a terrible agony, that of death itself, took possession of me. In spite of myself, all the muscles of my body struggled uselessly to save myself from suffociation. In spite of myself, the fingers of my two hands shook uncontrollably. ‘That’s it! He’s going to talk,’ said a voice.
“The water stopped running and they took away the rag. I was able to breathe. In the gloom, I saw the lieutenants and the captain, who, with a cigarette between his lips, was hitting my stomach with his fist to make me throw up the water I had swallowed. Befuddled by the air I was breathing, I hardly felt the blows.
“Well then?’ I remained silent. ‘He’s playing games with us! Put his head under again!’
“This time I clenched my fists, forcing the nails into my palm. I had decided I was not going to move my fingers again. It was better to die of asphyxiation right away. I feared to undergo again that terrible moment when I felt myself losing consciousness, while at the same time fighting with all my might not to die. I did not move my hands, but three times I again knew this insupportable agony.
“In extremis, they let me get my breath back while I threw up the water. The last time, I lost consciousness.”
Waterboarding is torture, no question about it. Cheney has no problem with it but then he’s an old, diseased, cowardly bastard who’s on death’s doorstep himself. If Mukasey can’t tell if waterboarding is torture his confirmation ought to be denied, no question.
October 31, 2007
He’s tried just about everything to make the Airbus scandal go away. He threatened journalists. He’s bobbed and weaved at every turn. He even bluffed the federal government out of nearly $2-million in damages for his “injured reputation.” Yet the Airbus scandal remains a millstone firmly attached to Brian Mulroney’s neck and he refuses to take the few simple steps he needs to free himself of it.
An interesting rehash of the known dealings between Mulroney, Karlheinz Schreiber, the CBC and others can be found in today’s Globe and Mail. The focus of attention is the $300,000 Mulroney now admits he received from Karlheinz Schreiber. The money was received in three equal payments, in cash-stuffed envelopes, passed across a table to Mulroney in private meetings with Schreiber. That too hasn’t been denied.
Of course, in persuading the federal government to cave on his defamation lawsuit, Mulroney stated, under oath, that he’d never had any business dealings with Karlheinz Schreiber. Not any, none, no way, never. When a former prime minister makes an unequivocal statement under oath – on pain of prosecution for perjury – he can expect to be afforded the benefit of the doubt. Mr. Mulroney made the statement, he was taken at his sworn word, the government grovelled and publicly apologized and sent his lawyers a big, fat cheque. Mulroney beat his chest and roared his vindication, assuming it was all over.
But it wasn’t.
Schreiber talked. He offered to talk to the National Disgrace, but they rebuffed him. Karlheinz next took his story to the Globe and Mail which ran a basic item on the claims. Mulroney’s real problems, however, emerged when a CBC producer got his hands on Swiss bank records evidencing Schreiber’s alleged payments.
As late as 1999, Mulroney had his spokesmen, Luc Lavoie, flatly deny that any money passed between Mulroney and Schreiber. “I mean the bottom line is that he never received any money from anybody,” said Lavoie.
Confronted with CBC’s Swiss bank documents Mulroney finally acknowledged having received $300,000 from Schreiber which he then claimed was a retainer for legal services to be rendered. He maintained he later earned those funds by performing legal work for his client.
Here’s the deal. Two years after receiving these payments Mulroney gave sworn evidence that he never had any business dealings with Schreiber. He denied having received any money from Schreiber. We had to take him at his word and gave him $2-million.
Years later Mulroney made a “voluntary disclosure” of the supposed income to Revenue Canada when the CBC had documentary evidence of the payments. Not surprisingly, the guy Schreiber claimed was also in on the deal, former Newfoundland Premier Frank Moores, also made a “voluntary disclosure” of his own at the very same time.
The Swiss bank accounts show Airbus money going to Schreiber and deposited into a “schmeergelder” (grease money) account from which $300,000 payments were transferred into accounts claimed to be for Frank Moores and Mulroney. Out of Mulroney’s accounts were three withdrawals, each of $100,000 coinciding with Schreiber’s coffee shop meetings with the former prime minister.
New information released in today’s Globe shows that in February, 1998 – long after Schreiber had caused Mulroney such enormous distress – Schreiber answered Mulroney’s call for a private meeting in Brian’s hotel room at the Savoy in Zurich. He was met in the lobby by Mulroney’s assistant, Paul Terrien, who escorted Schreiber to his boss’s room.
Terrien, today working as chief of staff to Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon, confirms the Schreiber-Mulroney meeting but says he didn’t ask and wasn’t told what the men discussed. Schreiber claims Mulroney called the meeting to find out if there was any evidence that might link them financially.
A year later, CBC was digging into the story and asked for an interview with Mulroney. The former PMs spokesman declined the interview request and said, “He is going nuts.” This was followed by the public acknowledgment of the payments.
The whole thing smells. If Mulroney received $300,000 as a retainer from Schreiber, there would be trust account records to document it. If the money was sitting in Mulroney’s firm’s trust account, there would be accounts rendered to justify withdrawal of the money in payment of fees. If the money was earned there should be accounting records concerning it between Mulroney and his then law firm.
In other words there should be at Mulroney’s finger tips a series of documents that would conclusively corroborate his retainer/legal fees story. Why has his former law firm not stepped up to confirm that the Schreiber money was received, held and disbursed appropriately? Why did Mulroney not declare as income the legal fees he claims he received, out of trust, in the year they were paid to him? Why did both Mulroney and Frank Moores make voluntary disclosures to Revenue Canada, when were they made and in respect of what income?
Here’s another question: Given Stephen Harper’s bold proclamation that his government is squeaky clean, why hasn’t he demanded Mulroney explain his sworn evidence in 1995 that he’d had absolutely no business dealings with Schreiber? Why isn’t he making any effort to see if we should be getting our $2-million back from his close friend, Brian Mulroney?
October 31, 2007
It doesn’t matter whether you’re convinced on global warming or you flat out don’t believe any of it or you’re somewhere in between. Watch the following video and see if it doesn’t eliminate your doubts or reinforce your beliefs:
When you’re finished, please spread the word. Your good deed for the day sort of thing.
October 30, 2007
We’ve all heard the hype about how NATO’s credibility is at stake in Afghanistan. Without continuing to carry Washington’s water in Afghanistan, so the line goes, the Alliance is meaningless. Cute.
Let’s remember how NATO got embroiled in Afghanistan. It was so the U.S. could pursue its lark in Iraq to rid the world of all of those nasty WMDs, or so that line went. What is now obvious is that the NATO nations simply served as enablers to a dysfunctional war of aggression and conquest. We were sold a bill of goods by Washington, plain and simple. It was all a big fraud, a scam, but somehow the U.S. still expects us to do the “honourable” thing.
It’s time NATO demanded an accounting, a balancing of the books. It’s time NATO told Washington that enough is enough, no third Middle Eastern war. Bad enough to be left to battle insurgents coming across the border from America’s trusted ally in its Global War on Terror, Pakistan. There’s no need to add to that burden a horde of weapons and insurgents pouring in from Iran.
If Bush/Cheney are mad enough to set the entire Muslim world ablaze, they can damned well do it on their own. NATO’s jumped-up secretary-general ought to actually do something for the alliance members – tell Washington that we’ve had it, no more of its botched wars. If NATO can’t or won’t rein in the Americans, the alliance has outlived its usefulness anyway.
October 30, 2007
Canada’s forest industry plans to be carbon neutral by 2015. Better yet, the Forest Products Association of Canada says it will meet that goal without resort to carbon offset schemes.
The forest bloc seems to have recognized the risk it faces from climate change ranging from more severe forest fires to widespread insect infestations. From the Toronto Star:
The effort must extend beyond forests and mills to wood and paper consumers, such as construction sites, homes and offices, Avrim Lazar, president of the Forest Products Association of Canada, said.
The aim is to protect both the environment and the industry’s bottom line, said Lazar, who was to announce the pledge this morning at a conference in Ottawa.
Global demand for wood products is soaring, he said. “If people continue to do it the old way … it won’t be very good for the planet.”
The devastating spread of pine beetles in British Columbia – partly because winters are no longer cold enough to kill the insects – is a wake-up call, he said.
“We got a lesson in the impact of climate change before most of the rest of Canada.”
As well, global buyers increasingly demand products from “sustainable” operations. That can be an edge for Canadian firms, which face fierce competition from China, Brazil and other places where trees grow faster, costs are lower, and environment rules can be lax.
The Canadian industry has reduced its greenhouse emissions 44 per cent since 1990, when its output increased by 20 per cent.
Part of the industry’s plan is a major initiative in recycling by keeping paper out of landfills and recovering scrap lumber from building sites. Major improvements have already been achieved at pulp, paper and saw mills.
Now if only Stevie Harper and Ed Stelmach can give their weary knees a rest and stand up to Alberta’s tar gobblers, we might actually have a chance of getting somewhere.
October 30, 2007
Our side had a good run, six years in fact. In a war, six years is a long time. It’s enough to even defeat former superpowers like Nazi Germany and Japan. It ought to have been enough to sort out Afghanistan’s Taliban. That window of opportunity, however, may have been closing as we hunkered down in our fortified garrisons, ran occasional patrols and even rarer search and destroy missions – the military equivalent of treading water.
A report in today’s New York Times tells of a new generation of foreign fighter, some looking more like Vikings than Islamists, coming into Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban:
“Foreign fighters are coming from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Chechnya, various Arab countries and perhaps also Turkey and western China, Afghan and American officials say.
‘We’ve seen an unprecedented level of reports of foreign-fighter involvement,’ said Maj. Gen. Bernard S. Champoux, deputy commander for security of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. ‘They’ll threaten people if they don’t provide meals and support.’
Seth Jones, an analyst with the Rand Corporation, was less sanguine, however, calling the arrival of more foreigners a dangerous development. The tactics the foreigners have introduced, he said, are increasing Afghan and Western casualty rates.
‘They play an incredibly important part in the insurgency,’ Mr. Jones said. ‘They act as a force multiplier in improving their ability to kill Afghan and NATO forces.’
Western officials said the foreigners are also increasingly financing younger Taliban leaders in Pakistan’s tribal areas who have closer ties to Al Qaeda, like Sirajuddin Haqqani and Anwar ul-Haq Mujahed. The influence of older, more traditional Taliban leaders based in Quetta, Pakistan, is diminishing.”
The Times report suggests the insurgency is now spreading beyond the country’s southern Pashtuns into the Uzbeks and Tajiks. With the addition of foreign fighters the lines of the insurgency are becoming blurred. More problems for NATO, more problems for Canada and yet, again, Canada’s modest force deployed in Kandahar will just have to make do with the same small number of troops as we had at the outset.
Next up, Iran. If Bush/Cheney bomb the hell out of Iran, as is widely expected, look for a growing Islamist revolt against Western infidels throughout the region, Afghanistan very much included. Then NATO will be fully enmeshed in the new war, the Global War on Islam. That one should be a real gem.
October 30, 2007
Alberta’s Tory Premier, “Special Ed” Stelmach has checked in with the Big Boys in Washington to assure them that his government’s paltry royalty increases won’t interfere with the supply of America’s oil.
Washington is counting, big time, on Stelmach to at least treble tar sands production by 2015 to feed America’s insatiable appetite for SUV juice and he’s determined to show himself an obedient puppy. Maybe Ed knows what happens to local big shots who screw up America’s oil supply. Then again…
October 27, 2007
My American friends:
Please amend your constitution – soonest – to totally disqualify maniacs afflicted with chronic disease from holding any senior office in your government. I shouldn’t have to explain the reasoning. Give a guy a few heart attacks and he may go from a coward who dodged his country’s draft five, yes that’s FIVE count’em, times into an outright lunatic who can’t find the son or daughter of a working family he doesn’t want to send to that very same place.
Take the loser you’ve already got – the one who lied your country into quagmire and economic ruin – and put him on a plane en route to rendition to the Hague. He’s nothing more than a shitsack criminal anyway, who needs him? Besides, it’s not like the Dutch will torture the creep unlike the Syrians and Egyptians to whom this jackass has entrusted the fate of many innocents.
Above all, don’t let a guy who can’t realistically expect to be drawing breath a few years hence hold the power to plunge your country into unwinnable wars. If he isn’t going to be around to face the consequences, he shouldn’t have the choice in the first place.
Storm the Bastille, arrest Cheney! It’s not like he’s got a lot to lose.
October 27, 2007
“Each person on earth
now requires
a third more land
to supply his or her needs
than the planet can provide.”
That is the depressing conclusion of a sweeping audit of the world’s resources by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released today. For all those cretins – including our own prime monster, Harpo – who still pitch sustainable growth and intensity-based emission targets it means their policies are morally, not to mention environmentally, bankrupt.
In fact it’s precisely the Harpo sort of leaders that are the UNEP’s greatest concern, those that just don’t get it.
The report – entitled Global Environment Outlook: Environment for Development – concludes that climate change is a global priority that demands political leadership, but there has been “a remarkable lack of urgency” in the response, which the report characterised as “woefully inadequate”. From The Guardian:
“The report’s authors say its objective is “not to present a dark and gloomy scenario, but an urgent call to action”.
It warns that tackling the problems may affect the vested interests of powerful groups, and that the environment must be moved to the core of decision-making.
The report said irreversible damage to the world’s climate will be likely unless greenhouse gas emissions drop to below 50% of their 1990 levels before 2050.
To reach this level, the richer countries must cut emissions by 60% to 80% by 2050 and developing countries must also make significant reductions, it says.
It addresses a number of areas where environmental degradation is threatening human welfare and the planet, including water, over-fishing and biodiversity – where the UNEP says a sixth, human-induced, extinction is under way.”
It’s about time we, and especially those of you with young children, recognized that global warming heel-draggers like Harper are far more menacing to the coming generations of young Canadians than all the drunk drivers combined could ever be. We have to start treating the Harpos, Bushs and Howards like what they really are – a menace to our families and our societies.
October 26, 2007
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, water carrier to the most delusional administration in his nation’s history, has called into question the committment of some NATO nations to “winning in Afghanistan.”
This jackass, whose own nation created the mess in Afghanistan by bailing out of that country to create an even greater mess in Iraq, told a group of senior US officers, “The failure to meet commitments puts the Afghan mission – and with it, the credibility of NATO – at real risk.”
These comments attempt to perpetuate Washington’s self-serving myth that Afghanistan is NATO’s mission, not its own. It’s America that has some 30,000 soldiers in Afghanistan compared to 160,000 in Iraq – all of it on a deranged, diseased, bald bastard’s wet dream. It’s America, and Gates’ very own Pentagon, that have created two losing wars and now stand on the verge of opening a third.
If the other NATO nations need any advice about maintaining their credibility, best that advice come from a country that can still claim some credibility itself.
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