Canada: US relations: Canada's territorial sovereignty over Arctic is also geostrategic in age of global warming

In the hubbub following Prime Minister-elect Stephen Harper's assertion of Canadian sovereignty over its Arctic waters, I have yet to find much of a hint as to why his move makes real geostrategic sense - also for the US, the ostensible offender in this case. When the Associated Press broke the story, Washington Post carried it under Beth Duff-Brown's byline (Jan26,2k6), Canada reasserts Arctic sovereignty. Worth reading.

Rookmaker Club geostrategic analysis

The next day, Canadian Press's reporter, Murray Brewster had his rendition, "Harper tells US to butt out," which appeared somewhat bumptiously in National Post (Jan27,2k6). But here again, as from the tone of the headline one can gather, the whole background was Martinesque. It was assumed that the forays into the States of Martin campaigning for our Canadian version of the proper pricing of our softwood lumber was about as far as sovereignty went (a NAFTA panel favoured Canada, a WTO panel favoured the neighbours). But there's a lot more to this matter of Arctic sovereignty than the papers and the punditi have noticed.

Canada can no longer avoid noticing what happens in the Far North onshore or off. Climate change has something important to do with that. For one thing, the disappearance of ice for greater parts of the year, brings us much closer to Russia. And to Denmark. And to Iceland. And to international fishing, hunting activities. And to mineral and oil exploration, perhaps claims to drill below water and to establish offshore oil platforms. Not just relative "proximity," but also to a potential desire to use and exploit hitherto-non-existent shipping lanes. Which reasonably should be monitored by rescue stations, medical facilities, and some deep-water ports - if we're talking about the distance from the most northwest corner of the Northwest Territories to the most northeast corner of Inualivut, Newfoundland and Labrador.

What if there's a major ecological disaster as a result of all this far-off and ungoverned shipping? - as some envision with the opening of a true Northwest passsage.

The notion of the American Ambassador to Canada, expressed publicly and ill-advisedly, was answered well by PM-elect Harper. The US actually needs Canadian presence and governance of these waters, so that not just any commerical interest flying the flag of convenience of some fee-hungry smallish country, or the flag of some larger power like Russia or China or even, these days, of rogue states like North Korea or Iran: none can establish water-based satellites in the newly-opened shipping lanes, nor enrcroach further on the newly-accessible islands and continental shores.

Indeed, the USA should be most happy to neogitate arrangements and to pay fees for any use of these waters, on terms that are environmentally friendly, so that Canada and the USA can better protect all the inhabitants of the continent of North America. If deference to our claims can be sweetened for the USA by our joining in the Missile Defense Shield, without even contributing to its financing (as offered), whereas Canada would meet the expenses and provide the policing for any development of the Northwest Passage, and collect the fees for approved users, then the two countries would gain signficant benefits.

To her credit, freelancer Rondi Adamson, writing in Toronto Star yesterday, did add a word of sanity contra the Star's earlier nonsense about Harper's alleged posturing. Policies based on reality, instead of simply opposing US, strengthens our voice, says Rondi Adamson, (Jan29,2k6).

The received wisdom — or the received paranoia — among some Canadians seems to be that the Conservative victory will necessarily mean Canada will do nothing in future but bow to Washington. Under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, this mantra goes, Canada will not make decisions on its own, but what Washington dictates. We will lose all independence and self-respect.

I would argue the opposite. Under a Harper government, foreign policy decisions will not be based on an adolescent need to "stand up to" or adopt a posture of rebellion or condescension toward the United States. Foreign policy decisions should, and I hope will, be based on a realistic assessment of the threats that face us, and where in the world we want our moral place to be. I think this approach is one Canadians would appreciate, and indeed prefer, over the teenage "I'm doing the opposite of what you say" approach we have previously witnessed.

We've witnessed such in the conduct of relations with the USA visited upon us by Paul Martin, and by certain loudmouthed Liberals no longer around to muddy the discourse.

When I witessed on TV, Carolyn Parrish, Lib MP, plant her foot squarely in the crotch of a toy-Bush, squashing the figure's genitalia into the floor, as part of a vile charade on a comedy show, I realized just how far out the Martinite government and party had strayed from any authentic diplomacy. Martinism opened the way to these "assertions of sovereignty." We can't do worse. When finally Martin's caucusoid was expelled from the Lib caucus in Parliament, we should be careful to note that it was not for the cited offence or for her Bush-is-a-bastard remark, but for her criticism of Martin himself, however much less insultingly, that she got the boot. Of course, even sitting as an independent, Parrish the pariah did prop up the now-ousted Martin government.

Palestine: Security forces: Abbas moves to cut Hamas from control of PA Security Forces

We all are aware by now that the Hamas Party won a landslide in Palestine, defeating Fatah Party, which under Palestinian Authority (PA)'s President, Mahmoud Abbas, had inherited the legacy of Yasser Arafat. Apparently part of that heritage was widespread corruption among the officials and bureaucrats who thrived on the funds gushing into PA coffers from the European Union countries and from North America, as well as border fees charged by Israel and paid to the PA.

A chief reason cited for the Hamas win has been its work with the poor and providing the PA's social services. An earlier report mentioned how a Hamas terrorist was even hired by the UN in Palestine for its relief work.

The Hamas win, however, has resulted in seismic change, first of all in the attitude of the militants of Fatah, many of whom were nowadays employed in PA security forces, some of whom hoped for peace with Israel, and looked forward to an effective Fatah-majority in the Palestniain Legislative Council (PLC). Massive demonstrations by Fatah's forces and supporters erupted from the Hamas win, directed mostly by the younger leaders of Fatah against the Fatah election loss and against the Fatah officials who had been in power, on whom the loss was blamed.

Then came the press reports that Hamas planned to establish an army for Palestine, under its own command. The announcement brawt outrage from all sides critical of Hamas.

But even aside from such plans for the future, the prospect of having a Hamas majority in the PLC, has meant that Hamas must form a cabinet and a government (the Fatah cabinet already had promptly resigned, refusing, in accord with demands of Fatah militants in the streets, to serve in a coalition with Hamas).

So, the problem of its unexpected win has finally dawned on the Hamasians themselves: the party must actually now run a country.

Hamas will present a list of the cabinet members that will compose its government, to the President of the PA. The President then is obliged to certify the Hamas government and the transition from the outgoing Cabinent to the incoming.

For his part, Pres Abbas suddenly has announced that from now on all security forces will report to him only. This is in accord with the original arrangements made with the Palestine Liberation Organization (in which Fatah was always the leading element) that came out of the Oslo Accords establishing the PA. Since that time, only intelligence and the President's personal corps of bodyguards had been retained by Abbas, while the other three PLO-PA security entities had been turned over to the Fatah cabinet's Interior Minister. Now, Abbas by decree has reverted to the original arrangement. No PA security forces will be under the power of the new Hamas Interior Minister, whoever he turns out to be, if President Abbas has his way. - Politicarp

USA: Juridics: Alito confirmation vote looms, has been backed up to date of State of the Union address

Jay Sekulow, of the American Center for Law and Justice has sent out this email bulletin on the the prospects and timetable for the vote on Judge Sam Alito's confirmation to the US Supreme Court.

The clock is ticking on the upcoming Senate vote for Judge Samuel Alito! Tune in for the latest information on this most-important battle for the Supreme Court - and updates on other important cases and issues.

Right now, it appears the first call for a cloture (an end to the debate) will take place Monday evening (1/30). If granted, Judge Alito could be voted on as early as Monday evening or Tuesday morning. However, what will actually happen is still very much unknown! Senator Kerry has called for a filibuster (with little support at this time).

The timing is all MachiaDemocrat, since they have purposefully backed up the vote to the day before or the day after the State of the Union address by President George Bush. This positioning and scheduling by the Democrats is very likely designed to bash Alito and at the same time generate as much fear as possible, and resulting public pressure, by blatantly using the Abortion issue as a litmus test, quite falsely, to smear Alito and hence undermine Bush and to gain some traction toward the November election of a new House of Representatives, some Senate seats also being on the ballots in some states, and many Governors.

Nevertheless, I'm still expecting the Senate to confirm Sam Alito to a seat on the US Supreme Court. - Politcarp

USA: Politics: Democrats' stealth campaign to put mass spin on Prez State of Union address

Howard Dean, Chair of the Democratic National Committee, has set himself up as the hub, or is it the nub, of a carefully-orchestrated massive spin operation to throw as much mud as possible on President George Bush's State of the Union address, to be delivered on the evening of January 31 to a joint assemblage of both Houses of of the US Congress.



Dean has been working overtime to stack the public response with entirely negative appraisals as the MainStream Media go thru the exercize of pretending the reactions they emblazon on TV are all spontaneous, and honest. Not so! The reactions to the address are being orchestrated by massing Democrats and especially the Bush-Haters among them to gather in groups to juice each other up, to fire off contrived emails from laptops to targetted print, online, TV, and politicians they consider vulnerable to such manufactured public opinion. Dean's rubric is "They won't know what hit them."

But Dean's underling, Tim McMahon, is the honcho of these mass operations, and he's been recruiting cells to swing into action before the speech, during it, and immediately afterward.

On January 31st, George Bush will deliver his State of the Union address, to be followed by the Democratic response. We can't afford to sit back and listen -- we have to act if we're going to change the direction of this country. You can kick off this year of change by hosting a Watch Party that night.

Don't let the name fool you -- these Watch Parties are about more than watching. Your event will provide crucial information to Democrats in your community before the speech, and the opportunity to hear directly from our party's leaders immediately after.

Besides connecting with your friends and neighbors to discuss the state of our nation, you and your guests can join a nationwide conference call with Governor Howard Dean, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, offering immediate reaction and opportunities for rapid response.

That one was emailed on January 13.

On January 23, the basic rhetoric was the same, but with a few more operational and hortatory details:

There's still time to invite people over to watch together, react together, and -- most importantly -- decide together what you will do to work for change on the ground in your community this year.

There will also be a Watch Party Conference Call immediately following the official Democratic response. You'll be able to join Governor Dean and other Democratic leaders for immediate reaction and opportunities for rapid response.

You can set up your own Watch Party and start sending invitations using this simple tool on our web site ....

From Anchorage to Wichita to Brooklyn people have already created Watch Parties. Everyone attending will receive background information before the speech, and the opportunity to hear directly from our party's leaders immediately after.

You can search by zip code for an event in your area ....

Where will you be next Tuesday night?

Apparently, the Dem combine wants to orchestrate the greatest exhibition of groupthink they can muster. McMahon put this one out on January 25. with "Less than a week left" on the subject line of his email.

On Tuesday night, George Bush will attempt to convince America that up is down, left is right and that staying the course is the way to go.

Republicans will be out in full force spinning reporters who are just itching to give George Bush a pass -- but we can't let them.

Thousands of Americans will join together at our State of the Union Watch Parties and become a part of the Democratic Party's rapid response efforts.

Since I wrote to you on Monday more events have been created from Seattle to Baton Rouge to Buffalo. Attending one of these historic (and fun) events is as easy as clicking here for a list of events near you:

You get the picture, Americans and Canadians both, Democrats and Republicans both, Tories and Libs and NDPers all. You know a scam when you see one, and the Dean/McMahon scam to manipulate the public perception and the media spin upon what the President has to say is not what you'd call democratic politics. There's no breather envisaged for TV viewers to mull and reflect, and more slowly form their own opinions based on their own cognitive gifts. But, hey, you don't have to watch alone as they spue out their doctored versions of what happened before your eyes and you heard with your own ears.

Maybe you should gather a Watch Party of your own. If you don't, you'll be letting this type of political discourse prevail, a line I find on the Democratic Party website:

Or do what we did during the debates. Fire up the computer and have fun on the open thread slamming every lie Dumb Fuhrer will tell that night.

Or consider this "watch" strategy, promoting drunkeness and perhaps a little drunk driving afterward, to boot.

...you could liven up the party with a George Bush Drinking game...everytime he tells a lie someone takes a drink depending on the lie told or you could hand out GOP talking points and when he touches on each one, the person with that card is required to chug one down...I figure with his track record it could turn into a lively party...although might want to set aside incentives for designated drivers as few will be ready to drive themselves home.

Had enuff? One more, with feeling.
"The Bush regime is setting out to radically remake society very quickly in a fascist way. Millions are deeply disturbed and outraged by this and recognize that politics as usual, cannot meet the enormity of the challenge. There is not going to be some savior from the Democratic Party. Entrusting hopes and energies into "leaders" who tell us to seek common ground with fascists and religious fanatics is proving to be a disaster and actually serves to demobilize people. "They're not going to be driven out by indictments. They're not going to be driven out by Senate committees. They're going to be driven out by the activity of me and you, out in the streets, screaming at the top of our voices, protesting, moving, acting, demonstrating that the world cannot wait......It's going to be up to you and me-informed citizens who've had enough and won't take it anymore....."

Pathetic! - Politicarp
[underlining is mine, plus the strikeover; all large type are quotes from the Democrats involved, from the site which you can check for yourself by clicking the live-link blog-entry title at the top]

Iran: Nuclear annihilation of Israel: Can the Russian Solution avert Holocaust and/or World War?

One would like to think that a huge diplomatic breakthru has taken place in regard to the North Atlantic consensus that Iran must be stopped from gaining nuclear power - which means atomic weaponry of mass destruction and the genocide of the people of Israel, as Iran has made its intentions all too clear.

If a breakthru, then it is the work of Russia (a next-door neighbour of Iran) with China (an ally of Iran, and a customer for its oil). Yesterday, David E. Sanger and Elaine Sciolino, reporting in New York Times, said both President Bush and Great Leader Hu Jintao, have backed the Russian idea. Indeed, it is difficult for anyone not to endorse it, if only for the sake of appearances, no matter what the truth may be. Further details of support for the Russian Solution are cited in the blogRegime Change in Iran.

Rookmaker Club geostratic analysis



It would seem that Russia has impressed Iran in regard to the polarization that has been settling in between all of Europe and North America, on the one side, and Iran and China, on the other.

Now Russia is claiming that it has persuaded Iran to refine its uranium at Russian nuke facilities to a grade suitable only for use in peace-preserving ways.

In the meantime, developments elsewhere may have contributed to Iran's good faith (or greater deceptive craftiness) in opting for the Russian Solution. Certainly in the USA, starting with Newt Gingrich's advocacy of a regime-change policy toward Iran, and its widespread adoption by foreign-policy thinkers of various political stripes and politicians themselves, the need to stop Iran cold has emerged as the most reasonable course, if the Russian Solution does not hold.

Most probably, I would guess, the Russians are acting in good faith, and may have persuaded China that the latter's own overall interests are best served by the proposed Solution. But even more probably is the reality that Iran is not negotiating in good faith with Russia, nor presenting itself with full accuracy of its intentions to oil-thirsty China.

The truth is that no one can trust the mullocracy governing Iran these days.


Iran's infamous giant anti-Israel poster in front of which the Iranian President vowed to destroy Israeli civilization

New York Sun carried a brief item by Daniel Freedman yesterday entitled "President Bush's Mistake." But we should not yet discount the President's blessed wiliness in the various moments of the necessary diplomatic game. His effective Secretary of State, Condi Rice, has expressed the same measured stance for the time being. For one thing, Bush cannot be seen as wanting to be the arbiter of which of the world's countries get to have, as he put it, "civilian nuclear power."

Besides the USA, the French and Germans and the great sweep of the entire EU, along with Israel, defnitely want Iran stopped from any prospect of gaining WMDs with which to hold the world to ransom; and to conquer, if not annihilate, Israel. However, just how can Iran actually be stopped short of any actual successful popular revolt in that country? I don't think conditions in Iran are ripe for regime change by popular revolt, no matter what percentage of the population presently despises the regime. The regime still commands the fanatical loyality of a vast horde of partisans, trained to put down any resistance from the public.

Monday, January 31, will see "the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China" meet in London with USA Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "in an effort to resolve their differences on how best to punish Iran for its nuclear activities" in the upcoming gathering next week of the International Atomic Energy Agency. - Politicarp

Canada: Politics: Xray analysis of Harper's Conservatives in lite of fading 'PanCanadian Consensus'

A newly-emergent group of analysts and politicians have recently come to the fore with the arrival of the Conservative Party to (at least temporary) power in Canada. Two of these leaders have produced a very salient document that will grow rapidly in significance over the next months, entitled "2006 Election Analysis: Replacing the Canadian Consensus."

First, the authors and the thinktank thru which they are making this full-dress political analysis, more a policy advisory for the Conservative Party itself, altho all politically-thawtful Canadians should consider its thesis and argumentation. The tank is the Work Research Foundation (WRF), located non-virtually in Ancaster, Ontario; and virtually at the WRF website (frontpage). Here's how WRF beckons us to its endeavours:

At best, the Canadian political scene can be called "comfortable"; at worst, "stale." Regardless of party affiliation, our leaders are concerned with the politics of image and strategic vagueness - being as many things to as many people as possible in order to gain or keep power.

Where, then, do genuine, creative policy ideas come from?

Canada's most influential, yet least-reported, group of influencers is the country's think-tank scene. Almost always non-profit and non-partisan, Canada hosts approximately fifty organizations which have taken on the role that universities and the civil service used to fill: actively studying public policy, increasing public awareness on a wide array of issues, and "wholesaling" ideas which governments may adopt at the "retail" level of legislation.

The Work Research Foundation has found an important foothold in this field. In an industry of making and marketing ideas, shaping the minds of young people, and moulding public opinion and policy preferences, we are illuminating a framework of values-based political leadership, refocused economic structures, and more reflective community design that truly sets us apart.

Beyond the necessary self-descriptions, two WRF political thinkers have, as mentioned, generated the policy paper, Replacing the Pan-Canadian Consensus, in which they dismantle each of the main time-worn clichés inherited from 30 years ago, once-vital ideas that never were subjected to reconsideration by the "natural governing party," today's now-defeated Liberal Party according to its self-misconception, of the basics of the contemporary Canadian polity.

More than this, however, authors Ray Pennings and Michael Van Pelt, subject the presentday Conservatives to an analysis of its discernible more-or-less organized streams, which the analysts find to be ruffly six in number. They then discuss how Stephen Harper rose to the challenge of these diverse orientations within the party, struggling thru the party's previous opposition status in the House of Commons and now again in the role of Prime Minister of the Canadian Federal government struggling to meet the challenge of these different motivating-emphasis sectors that make up the party. This analytic effort is necessary because it's not just the Liberals who are affected by the fading of the "PanCanadian Consensus" that was sufficient a while back.

Understand the division (and failure) of yesterday, and one might understand the unity (and success) of today. In explaining twenty years of division of the political right, it is too easy to call it simply a poorly-managed civil war, and too easy to attribute Harper's success today to his ability to simply put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Rather, it is more accurate to see these twenty years as the process by which the political right sorted out its response to the demise of the Pan-Canadian consensus.

I haven't found much that comes near the insightfulness of the work of Pennings and Van Pelt in the thoro document at hand, remarkably so soon after the election. I recommend it to all Canadians and, of course, especially to all Conservatives. NDPers, Libs, and Americans will also profit from a close examination of the text.

Who are the authors?

Ray Pennings has been involved in municipal, provincial and federal politics for twenty-five years. Additionally, he has been active in industry organizations, labour groups, and now serves as the Vice-President of Research for the Work Research Foundation

Pennings had run for a House of Commons seat under the auspices of one of the antecedant parties now merged into the federal Conservative Party of Canada.

Michael Van Pelt has been elected as a municipal councillor, and has also worked for both the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, and as the General Manager of the Sarnia Chamber of Commerce. He now serves as the President of the Work Research Foundation.

Now, do the ideas put forward by these two political analysts have any legs to walk on in the new House of Commons where the Tories will constitute a minority government? Perhaps, yes, if the following thawt of Prof of Political Science at Redeemer University College and blogger, David Koyzis, has a finger on the pulse of a new development with real potential.

A realistic possibility?

[Koyzis asks, m]ight David Sweet, Jim Flaherty, Rob Merrifield, Rick Dykstra and others form a christian democratic coalition within the larger Conservative caucus? Might sympathetic Liberals and New Democrats be persuaded to come on side of such a project? Or is this a pipe dream?

That there may well be an affinity between the thinktankers, the newly-elected Members of Parliament, Prof Koyzis, and one of his students was crystallized for me when I visited yet another blogger's post-election entry. Rob Joustra points us to the campaign websites of both candidates (now Members of Parliament)David Sweet and Pierre Poilievre (who does not appear on the Koyzis list). A Koyzis star-student, Joustra exclaims about both Sweet and Poilievre, "Holy Moses! The Boys are In!" Another name that does not appear in either Koyzis or Joustra is that of Cheryl Gallant, who was re-elected and who is the leader of the all-party Pro-Life caucus in the Commons.

I don't know much about either of those named by Joustra, but according to the policy wonks Pennings and Van Pelt, they could belong to any of the six streams of Conservatism that Harper must shepherd into a coherent political force. I do know something about another new Federal MP to whom Koyzis refers - namely, Jim Flaherty who is a hyper-individualist, fiscal con, and anti-poor who wanted to put people in jail rather than let them live homeless. They cluttered the downtown business streets of Toronto. I can't see this stance as "Christian democratic" in any sense, altho I know Flaherty is strong for two things important to me politically: family, and equal funding for school systems other than the atheist-secularist govt-run schools and the govt-funded Catholic separate system, only.

The tite-fisted Flaherty served as Finance Minister in the Ontario Archconservative govt of the recent past and did indeed find money to begin school-funding for parents who send their kids to philosophically- and religiously-based schools other than those of the two established religions just mentioned - atheist-secularist and Roman Catholic. Of course, it so happens that the Fed Canadian govt does not have jurisdiction over schools, whereas the provinces do. At the same time, the Fed govt has a responsiblity to prevent provinces from practicing discrimination in favour of thus-established religions (atheism-secularism and Roman Catholic) in the matter of schools-support. As a matter of fact, the UN Commission on Human Rights years back had a panel which examined the school-support rights issue here, in which UNCHR made a negative judgment on Ontario's present arrangement. The provinicial Tories, including its Libertarian component (see Pennings and Van Pelt), for all their faults, did try to rectify this situation, belatedly, just before an election which voted them out of office and left the next govt to dispose of the legislation for equality in schooling support.

However, Ontario teachers unions bawt their way in the interim election and helped put into office a Roman Catholic Liberal who, with his children subsequently, benefited from the previous grossly-unfair and inequitable distribution of schooling funds. The belated Tory initiative was undone by the religious bigotry of the provincial Liberals. The fed Libs under Prime Minister Paul Martin did not act against this iniquitous inequity. Maybe the Koyzis proposal for a Christian democratic coalition in the new House of Commons will take up this issue, so that kids of Christian families in poverty and in the lower reaches of the middle-class (the two income demographics where most immigrants begin) can have a Christian elementary and high school education, if the parents (and late-teens students) so choose. And, of course, not just Christians, but all religions and philosophies formally committed to non-violent societal participation. I cite the Christians because again, they are the largest demographic of the non-govt-run schooling constitutencies. Support for all schools agreeable to Canada's democratic polity - full, honest, unbigotted govt support. The fed govt has the duty to call the province of Ontario to account in this regard in the name of the Charter of Rights. The Supreme Court of Ontario refuses to correct this wrong, and one of its former Judges is now High Commissioner of the UNCHR; recently, she visited the Roman Catholic school system in Ontario without saying a word in her public appearances in regard to the religious discrimination in Ontario against other kinds of schooling devoted to Canada's democratic arrangements.

I think a Christian democratic coalition in Parliament would have its work cut out for it on this one issue alone. But there are others which beg for redress as well. - Owlb

Rob Merrifield
Rick Dykstra

USA: Prez Security Wiretaps: Heavy law-argument favors Bush, demolishes Newsweek punditherer

Hugh Hewitt, the astute bloggerissimo of Christian online comment in the USA, has rather definitively shattered the fragile thread of thawt offered by one of Newsweek's alleged heavy-weights. In his blog entry, "Jonathan Alter, Round 2" (Jan26,2k6), Hewitt backs up the Bush position regarding his Presidential authority in the current wiretap practices of the National Security Agency. It's hard work to read these exhaustive arguments from the most authoritative legal minds on record on the subject of Presidential powers in wartime, but Hewitt supplies said arguments in the course of itemizing the case for the President's move in the current case. He also let's us know where Alter on Hewitt's radio show came up short, not even able to engage the broadcast discussion. I've read thru the expert juridic thinkers cited, as Hewitt presents them thoroly in somewhat lengthy texts, and I am persuaded that they and he have by far outdistanced both Alter and the general far-left hullabalooo. - Owlb

USA: Juridics: Alito inches forward with Dem Sen votes, subject to witchunt by far left

Judge Samuel Alito, nominated to a seat on the US Supreme Court, inched forward in endorsements by Democratic Senators today. At least half of the Democrats who voted for the previous nominee confirmed after he was named by Pres George Bush, now Chief Justice Roberts, will not join in the effort on behalf of Alito. Some Republicans are also still dragging their feet. But it now seems likely that Alito will be confirmed, that an all-out filibuster by Democrats will not proceed, altho holdouts for this strategy are calling for "some version of extended debate," as in the case of Ron Wyden (D, Oregon). But this is a ploy to gain more time, with the hope that a public uproar against Alito can still be manufactured by far-left organizations awash in money.

Bloomberg.com reports:

Two Democratic senators representing states carried by President George W. Bush said they will vote to confirm U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr.

Alito picked up the support of Tim Johnson of South Dakota, who was re-elected in 2002 by 524 votes, and Robert Byrd of West Virginia. Byrd's endorsement came just days after West Virginia businessman John Raese announced plans to challenge the veteran senator in November.

With more than enough senators having declared support for Alito to ensure confirmation, Senate leaders agreed to schedule a roll-call vote on the nomination for Jan. 31. The Senate scheduled a vote the previous day to cut off debate.

While the politicization of Presidential nominations to the US Supreme Court has become excessive, it remains far superiour to what happens in Canada, where the Prime Minister appoints all new members. The previous government had set up a new mechanism to give a shadow of impartiality to the process, under former Prime Minister Paul Martin's Minister of Justice, Irwin Cotler. But the facade was transparent to knowledgeable observers. The new Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has mentioned in the campaign how much he will be hedged in by a Court dominated by far-left ideology. It remains to be seen during his tenure, which may be rather brief before his opponents pull the plug on his government, whether Harper can make any headway in opening the Canadian hi court to a more plural approach to legislation that can put the brakes on the wild activism of the handpicked occupants now warming their fannies on the bench in question.

In a parallel development, FoxNews reports that the Senators who survive politically on this money, notably Ted Kennedy (D, Massachusetts), are still threatening filibsuter.

Massachusetts Sens. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy, along with a small number of other Senate Democrats, have threatened a filibuster to block the vote for Judge Samuel Alito's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court .....

But a senior Democratic leadership aide told FOX News on Thursday that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and a majority of Democrats "do not support this action by Kerry and Kennedy. It is not politically advantageous for us."

Kennedy's behaviour in the Senate Judiciary Committee in interrogating Alito and haranguing him, the committee and TV viewers, has lost credibility by his antics. One could almost wish the Dems would arrange for him and his cohorts to do their thang, to witness his utter self-destruction; but the exercise has already become such a waste of time, devoted as it is to farcical posturing, that the public has largely entered into a terminal weariness. I count myself among those, therefore, who simply want the vote taken, either Yes to Alito or No to Alito. Let's get on with the next resignation, and Bush's next nominee. I think he should name Harriet Miers again this round. - Politicarp

Palestine: Legislative Council: Hamas 'landslide' majority victory, Fatah cabinet resigns

The world press and pollsters have been confounded, as Hamas moves to a popular-vote majority and a 'landslide victory' in its number of seats in the new Palestinian Legislative Council, located in Ramallah, West Bank. Washington Times got it wrong, saying Fatah, the party of the President of the Palestianian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, had squeaked thru with a majority. Not so!



Rookmaker Club geostrategic analysis

While much comment states that the Hamas victory can be attributed to a popular rejection of corruption. widespread in and under Fatah, the ramifications may be expected to tidal-wave out into many aspects of politics and daily life in the Middle East. There's trouble ahead, certainly trouble for Israel. And Likud, the political party from which Ariel Sharon (still in a coma) withdrew to form the new Kadima party (now headed bycaretaker stand-in Ehud Olmert), the old Likud is getting international press attention in the person of former Israel Prime Minister, David Natanyahu. Even such an adamant anti-Palestinian hawk is staggered by the results of the Palestinian election. One of the first consequences of which will be uncertainties ahead as Israel itself proceeds on March 26 to form its own new government.

Meanwhile, USA President George W. Bush has declared that the US will not have dealings with Hamas, and thus no dealings with the Palestinian Authority's Hamas-run government. Because, said Bush quite correctly, Hamas is pledged to the destruction of Israel; and, said Hamas, it is still firmly committed to the destruction of Israel. Stephen Harper, new Prime Minister of Canada, also declared his country would have no dealings with Hamas for the same reason.

Ehud Olmert, the acting Prime Minister of Israel, had earlier declared that his country would promptly withdraw all the settlers occupying smaller enclaves in the West Bank (these settlements now become close to indefensible), but at the same time in the case of larger settlements - like Ma'ale Adumin which is home to some 30,000 Jewish souls near Jerusalem - Israel has a nightmare on its hands, since effective defense of these has become also extremely problematic.

On top of all this, of course, Israel and the USA face a rapidly-nuclearizing Iran.

With a capacity now for Islamofascists to lob heavy artillery, even payloads from missile-launchers, from inside southern Lebanon where the Iranian-funded Hizbullah is entrenched and from a Hamas-run Palestine which has increasing access to heavy armaments smuggled in from Egypt, the possiblity of an Iran/Palestine axis becomes the logical next step toward the annihilation of Israel. - Politicarp

Palestine: Natnl Assmbly election: Exit polls suggest Hamas a close second behind Fatah

Many prognisticators were saying Hamas would receive about a third of the popular vote in the elections sponsored by the Palestinian Authority, for the political entity's first National Assembly. While President Mahmoud Abbas will not be affected directly by the vote, his party (and that of former terrorist leader Arafat) apparently has been denied a majority. So, to form a government, the two leading parties must acknowledged one another, if not themselves form a coalition. There are several smaller parties who may make up the difference to put Fatah clearly in power.

An exit poll by Bir Zeit University in Ramallah showed Fatah winning 63 seats in the 132-member parliament with 46.4 percent of the vote and Hamas taking 58 seats with 39.5 percent. Smaller parties received 11 seats, according to the poll of 8,000 voters in 232 polling stations. The poll had a one-seat margin of error.

A second survey showed Fatah beating Hamas 42 percent to 35 percent, or 58 seats to 53. Official results are due Thursday.

"Neither Fatah or Hamas can form the Cabinet on its own, so they need to get into a coalition with other factions or with each other," said pollster Khalil Shikaki, who carried out the second survey.

Fatah is a mildly-secular party, while Hamas is a cleric-run religiofascist party, and it remains to be seen what stewardship of its role in government and/or the National Assembly it will opt to undertake. - Politicarp

Canada: Govt: Robert Novak, astute US rightwing journalist guages Harper election

Robert Novak in his email newsletter, Evans-Novak Political Report for Jan24,2k6, in his typical thumbnail way analyzes what he sees as the significance for the US of Harper's win:

Canada 2006

Canadian politics say something important about the U.S. relationship with Canada, and they will likely have two important effects on American policy-making.

1) This election proved first of all that Canadians are not anti-American enough to re-elect a government perceived as corrupt. With their party suffering from scandals and its future hanging in the balance, Canada's ruling Liberal Party aggressively played the anti-American card that has previously worked well for endangered leaders in France and Germany. In one late ad for Prime Minister Paul Martin (L), a female voice stated that a Conservative victory "will put a smile on George W. Bush's face," and added, "At least someone will be happy." Another ad hinted darkly that right-wing groups in the U.S. funded Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper's rise to power.

2) The Conservative Party's failure to secure an absolute majority in Parliament was disappointing considering the negative campaigning by and scandals of the Liberals. It also shows that Canadians are considerably to the left of their American neighbors.

3) The victory by Harper yesterday will have two major ramifications for Americans: First, it will change Canada's famously loose asylum and immigration policies. Second, it makes possible cooperation with the U.S. on missile defense, something Martin had refused.

4) The U.S. is becoming rather lonely in this hemisphere, now that Bolivia has joined the list of Latin American countries electing leftist regimes. It always helps to have an ally in the region, and for the moment, there are at least Mexico, Colombia, and Canada.

The old goat, who figured marvellously in the Valerie Plame Affair, seems rather correct in his interestng #3 item. But "change" hedges the bet in not quantifying or qualifying what kinds of changes and how much, how far-reaching they may go. Canada is cooperating some in the missile defense of the continent, if I recall correctly, but does not contribute financially to the project. - Politicarp

Canada: Govt: Harper denied majority, result of Lib pro-abort demote-marriage fearmongering

These are the standings reported by the nonpartisan independent TV channel CPAC, for which Nik Nanos of SES has been the pollster thru-out the election. The results seem to be official to date, however, a number of close votes will probably be subjected to recounts - so the tallies may vary.

My main concern about the results are that they land a herculean task on the shoulders of the new Prime Minister, Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party. The Conservatives now have a smaller minority than had the previous Liberals of Paul Martin; the Conservs must govern within the titest constrictions imaginable - and, to boot, face a hostile Senate largely appointed by the Libs from ages past, face a glum and surly Lib-apppointed Supreme Court intent on expanding riggedhts, always hungry to stuff the text of the Charter with meanings not there, and a media that is anxiously sharpening its knives at the moment to saint-sebastianize Harper with a thousand small wounds.

I'm happy the New Democrats got their due in seats. In my riding, there was absolutely no sign of the Tory candidate on the ground. We got no visit on my street, where the only signs were NDP, and we got no Tory info in the mailbox.

I'm happy the number of seats for the Bloc Quebecois was decreased a bit; delited there were Conservatives elected in Quebec.

I was disappointed there was not a single seat won by the Green Party - as they do represent a significant if small proportion of the electorate, focused as they are on the environment.

One Independent was elected somewhere or other. A good sign.

The two-party Pro-Life Caucus in Parliament, both Conservs and Libs, saw a number of their participants re-elected, but Harper has committed himself to zero-legislation, apparently on any aspect of abortion, so the new practices of hacking near-term babies apart in the womb will not be stopped by law, nor will the practice of leaving live newborns on the abortuary table to die. Apparently, the Canadian public has so absolutized the Court-decreed "right" to abortion, that that no salutary constraints on its practice can ever be instituted. Harper has said he will not block an effort to speak on behalf of the near-born or unwanted-born, but it will be up to Cheryl Gallant and her colleagues to find a way to raise the issue in the form of a Private Members' Bill. On that, I am also skeptical because it's difficult for solid Pro-Lifers to go for what they may consider "half-way measures" instead of the whole load.

I doubt that the demotion of marriage to the generic arrangement I call "gmarriage" (since "Same-Sex" is an inance abstract term that doesn't even inform us that three distinct and different forms of intimate union are being contemplated, only one of which is marriage, that between 1woman1man) will be rescinded. I just don't see any movement in this sitting of the House of Commons, and if it does pass that House, such legislation would then have to pass the appointees who compose the so-called Senate.

Well, the Libs are out of power for a season. Martin is out, Pettigrew is out, McClellan is out (maybe, recount in order), etc. Still the Libs won the big cities, along with some incursions by the NDP.

Harper is upbeat. If anyone can handle the circumstances into which he has been dumped, it's him. He's neither a rabble-rouser nor a sentimentalist. - Owlb

Canada: Fed Election: Martin's unprincipled & greedy foreign policy regarding Communist China

WHO'S SCARY?
by DJ McQuire, China e-Lobby and China Support Network
DJ McGuire©2006, republished with the author's permission.

Who's scary again?

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin has resorted to frightening as many voters as possible about a Conservative victory in Monday's election. Whether by coincidence or as a result of Martin's rhetoric, his governing Liberals have taken a slice out of the Conservatives' lead in the polls. Regardless of the state of the race, with the election just on the other side of the weekend, it seemed a good time to remind the Canadians among our readership why we endorsed the Conservatives in this vote.

Recommended by Rookmaker Club for Geostrategic Analysis

China Support Network



China e-Lobby

The following is an updated version of an earlier post detailing Prime Minister Martin's record on Communist China, and "scary" doesn't even begin to describe it.

Espionage: Just this past summer, Hao Fengjun, the former official in the anti-Falun Gong 610 office who defected to Australia, revealed a Communist spy network in the Great White North that "he estimated as numbering 1000 agents" (Epoch Times). A former Canadian intelligence official estimated the economic damage to Canada at nearly $1 billion a month (CTV). However, another critical part of the espionage operation is to conduct chilling surveillance on Falun Gong practitioners in Canada. One woman who left Communist China for Ontario had her entire life revealed when Hao released her file to the media to prove his point (Epoch Times). The "scary" Conservatives demanded Prime Minister Martin take action (Hansard: One and Two). To date, Martin and his government have yet to even publicly raise the issue outside of answers forced out of them by said Conservatives (for those who worry about these things, the questioners ran right across the spectrum of Conservative MPs: from Peter MacKay to Stockwell Day). The intimidation, meanwhile, goes on to this day (Between Heaven and Earth).

Infiltration into Canadian resources: Communist China has become a large-scale investor in Canada's major resources, including Albertan oil (fourth item, Edmonton Sun), Saskatchewan oil and uranium (Globe and Mail), and Canadian held resources abroad (BBC). Prime Minister Martin and his government have said nothing, despite the obvious political gain of scoring points, as it were, against the gatekeeper of Alberta's oil, Premier and federal Liberal whipping boy Ralph Klein. Meanwhile, Martin's willingness to allow then-Canadian-owned PetroKazakhstan to be purchased by a Communist-owned firm forced the Kazakhs to ask Communist China to allow them to buy a piece of the company operating on their own soil (United Press International via Washington Times).

Forced repatriation of at least one Falun Gong practitioner to Communist China: You read that right. Practitioner Xiaoping Hu "was deported to China on August 5, despite protests from thousands of Canadians, NGOs and Members of Parliament" (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, Han Guangsheng - who, like Hao, was a former 610 officer who defected - may also be sent back by the Canadian government (Epoch Times). Prime Minster Martin, when pressed on the repatriation, denied it had ever happened (Epoch Times).

The elevation of business interests over human rights: Again, as an American, I must acknowledge that my own leaders have largely dropped the ball on this issue, but Mr. Martin is in a class by himself. During a trade mission to Communist China that just happened to coincide with the death of Zhao Ziyang, Jason Kenney - another "scary" Conservative MP - took the time to pay his respects at Zhao's family home. Prime Minister Martin "castigated Kenney for his visit, claiming that he himself had chosen not to pay tribute to Zhao because the family had requested privacy - which was later proven to be false" (Western Standard).

Taiwan: During the last Parliament, Jim Abbott - a Conservative MP - presented a bill designed to improve Canada's relationship with the island democracy of Taiwan. Dan McTeague, Liberal MP and Parliamentary Secretary to Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew, responded by slinging ad hominem attacks on a sympathetic committee witness that were so incoherent as to earn the wrath of Paul Wells.

Foreign aid to Communist China: At present, Canada sends over $50 million in foreign aid to Communist China (Terry O'Neill, Western Standard, details where that money goes), despite the Communist espionage network and resource grab. When International Trade critic Helena Guergis (Conservative from Ontario) demanded the "aid" stop (CBC), the governing Liberals dismissed her out of hand (Hansard). Of course, they have also refused to take up any of the suggestions offered by our readership for alternative uses of that money.

Head tax money goes to Communist-sympathizing group: Even the Liberals' attempt to atone for Canada's Chinese head tax could not escape Communist influence. The money paid for compensation for the tax - $2.5 million - will be sent in one lump sum payment to the National Chinese Canadian Congress, a group best known "for their cozy relationship with the CCP" (Epoch Times). Despite being criticized by both the Conservatives and the New Democrats for this, Prime Minister Martin himself ruled out paying any compensation to the actual victims of the head tax, or their descendants (Vancouver Sun).

Meanwhile, the Conservatives have largely called on the governing Liberals to give human rights more respect, end aid to the Communist regime, take action its espionage and economic infiltration, and establish friendlier ties with Taiwan. One additional point: those who would worry about the role of Stockwell Day (current Conservative Foreign Affairs critic) as Foreign Minister would do well to review the speech he gave at the University of Toronto last year (Between Heaven and Earth). It was arguably the most knowledgeable address on Communist China given by any Canadian politician in this young century.

As said before, the Canadian voters must decide for themselves how "scary" Stephen Harper's Conservatives are, but Prime Minister Martin's Liberals are still as terrifying today as they were when this campaign began.

Canada: Fed Election:Countdown to Vote Day (Monday) - Tories maintain 7% lead for at least a minority govt, Greens total 6.1%

“CPAC-SES tracking shows the Conservatives with a seven point lead. Conservative support stands at 36.2% followed by the Liberals at 29.4%, the NDP at 17.3%, the BQ at 11.0%, and the Green Party at 6.1% nationally. Thirty-one percent of Canadians chose Stephen Harper as the leader who would make the best Prime Minister compared to 22% for Paul Martin.” - Nik Nanos, President, SES Research.

NiK Nanos of SES research polling released the following info in the last hour:

SES will be polling on Sunday and releasing the last poll of the election Sunday night. Our objective is to post the results between 6pm and 7pm EST after we survey Canadians Sunday afternoon.

Polling January 18 to 20, 2006 (Random Telephone Survey of 1,200 Canadians, MoE ± 2.9%, 19 times out of 20). Percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding. Our tracking polls allow for a daily barometer on the activities of the respective campaigns. Longitudinal tracking charts on all measures can be found at the SES website at www.sesresearch.com.

All values in parenthesis are changes from our first day of tracking on December 1, 2005.

Canada Decided Voters (Tracking ended January 20, 2006, N=1,057 decided voters)
CP 36.2% (+7)
LIB 29.4% (-8)
NDP 17.3% (+2)
BQ 11.0% (-3)
GP 6.1 (+1)
*12.0% of Canadians were undecided (-4)

In Quebec
BQ 44% (-6)
CP 27% (+18)
LIB 18% (-12)
NDP 9% (+3)
GP 3% (-3)
*13% of Quebecers were undecided (+2)

Outside Quebec
CP 39% (+2)
LIB 33% (-6)
NDP 20% (+1)
GP 7% (+2)
*12% of Canadians outside Quebec were undecided (-5)

In Ontario
CP 35% (+2)
LIB 39% (-4)
NDP 17% (-1)
GP 8% (+4)
*14% of Ontarians were undecided (-6)

Best PM
Harper 31% (+10)
Martin 22% (-7)
Layton 16% (+2)
Unsure 14% (-3)
None 9% (-3)
Duceppe 6% (NC)
Harris 3% (+1)

Leadership Index [Daily composite of the Leaders’ Trust, Competence and Vision]*
Martin 63 (+5)
Harper 75 (NC)
Layton 44 (-15)
Duceppe 23 (-2)
Harris 8 (-2)
* Change for this measure is from yesterday’s composite score.

On the SES website (www.sesresearch.com), we post updated daily longitudinal tracking chart, regional breakdowns and details on the questions and the methodology each afternoon. Watch PrimeTime Politics at 8 pm EST (Monday to Friday) to get a detailed briefing of the numbers.

For any media use of the polling data, we need to clearly identify the sponsor (CPAC) in accordance with the Elections Act. Please refer to the research as the CPAC-SES Nightly Tracking.

USA: Vote 2006: To Walter Shapiro,Salon -since Strausz-Hupe, it's called 'Protracted Conflict,' and that the WarVsTerror is

Surprise! Karl Rove addressed the Republic National Committee to outline an approach for the GOP in the upcomng US Fed elections, largely for seats in the House of Representatives, some in the Senate, and some Governors. And his address touched on three points integral to what he considers a winning campaign platform will be: 1.) winning the Protracted Conflict against the Terrorist combine which may take 50 or 75 years; 2.) emphasizing the health of the economy, relatively low unemployment, and the role of tax cuts in all this; and 3.) we Republicans have seen two excellent Judges get longterm seats on the Supreme Court (with the possiblity of a third appointment before the Bush dispensation is complete?),



The problem is that this salonisto muy loco, true to la forme salonique, is salonivating all over the place with dribbled drool, sneers, and an attempt to play off the "neglected to mention" topics of Social Security (blocked by Dems and partisan leftwing groups), health care (the new drug prescription law for Seniors is kicking in and will display its benefits in the long run, becoming a future model, I think), and energy (there's no solution here, until the US dares to resort to a command-economy move on a particular strategic industry, revolutionizing the vehicle industry on a tripartite basis to drop present products in favour of mandating vehicles exclusively fuelled by non-pollutants). But the Republicans don't have the guts, which the Dems also lack, for such a move. And the Greens are satisfied to quarrel against opening oil fields in Alaska, while supporting the full range of far-left policies like walking out of Iraq prematurely. Too bad. - Politicarp

Canada: Fed Election Countdown: 2 days before Vote Day - Travers of Toronto Star already writing history of Martin's defeat

Jim Travers, reporter for Toronto's Daily Star is busy writing the history of the defeat of Paul Martin and his scandal-haunted and hubris-ridden loss of government control in Canada. "Martin damaged beyond repair" (Jan21,2k6): - let's hope Travers is not saying that Martin damaged the country beyond repair, but only himself and his Liberals. Of course, they'll be back at some point down the road. I skip many interesting points the reporter makes as he inspects the entrails of the corpse to auger times past, in answer to the question of historical causality. Why did Martin fall? What was the moment when his destiny turned down the wrong road? But these words of Jim's in the Star are worth meditating:

Opinion polls argue the Conservatives' case. In 2004, residual optimism that Martin might yet fulfil those great leadership expectations trumped the unpleasant experience of his first months in office, making it possible to demonize Conservatives as Reformers. This time the winds of change are howling at Harper's back and Liberal warnings about neo-cons storming Parliament Hill sound like what they are: fear-mongering.

Remember too, Liberals and Conservatives have effectively flipped election roles. Instead of Conservatives exposing their default characteristics with uncensored comments, it's Liberals who are tripping over their tongues. Instead of Liberals setting the pace with a razor-sharp campaign, it's now Conservatives.

Of the many reasons for that reversal, one stands in sharp relief. Between elections, Conservatives looked unflinchingly at why they lost while smug Liberals convinced themselves they had won because they were smarter, shrewd, more compelling. One party was honest with itself and learned, the other wasn't and didn't.

As we begin to wonder who Harper will appoint as Finance Minister? Justice Minister? Foreign Affairs Minister?, we also wonder about the ensuing expertise level. Will the competence of the new cabinet be competitive with that of the outgoing Lib govt? If not, how much more will new ministers be subject to the chicanery of senior Civil Servants so frozen in time to the Lib mentality and culture of governance and policy approaches? - Politicarp

North America: Investments: Brimelow asks, Time to say Oh! Canada?

Peter Brimelow an investments writer for MarketWatch, thinks Canada may well be a prime location to which one could do well to migrate one's investments, should Stephen Harper be elected on January 23. Well, he has caveats, and his originating article is entangled in a registration form - but I found the same thing on Yahoo! Finance.

In the article, Brimelow cites Dennis Gartman:

Canada's very much on the alert mind of Dennis Gartman of the well-regarded Gartman Letter, a daily institutional service. Gartman's noticed that Harper and his opposition Tories are doing unexpectedly well in the election campaign -- which in Canada can often be very volatile -- and may displace the governing Liberal Party, perhaps even winning with an outright majority.

And that could matter a lot. As Gartman reports it, the Conservatives last Friday "took one of the most courageous positions we've seen in quite a long while, pledging to cut corporate taxes and eliminate capital-gains taxes for individuals. The position was put on the table by the leader of the Tories, Mr. Harper, and therefore is all the more serious."

Gartman acknowledges that any such tax cut is "likely to be not to be enacted until early '07... if even then." All the same, "this is a huge change in sentiment," he adds, calling it "the most pro-capital legislation we've seen put on the political table in Canada in a very long while and it is worthy of our respect ... indeed our admiration."

As for the investment angle, Gartman's conclusion is thus:

"Perhaps we need to look to other Canadian energy assets, and perhaps we need to look even more strongly at Canadian energy trusts As Keynes said, 'When the facts change, I change." The facts regarding investment in Canada have not yet officially changed, but ... perhaps they are about to do so!"

There's some political garbage on the page as well, Brimelow's not Gartman's. But, all in all, should Harper be elected, there will ensue a barrage of investment attention to Canada, I predict. Whether increased captial (of our own, and from the USA and the rest of the world) will add up to a reduction of child poverty (for instance), remains to be seen. Harper seems well pointed in the direction of a compassionate conservatism. I'm hoping. - Owlb

World: Oil and Iran: Only the Saudis and the Canucks have more oil than Khomeniac Iran

Jonas Max Ferris, of the FOX News business team, describes Iran:

.

Iran sits on an underground sea of black gold, 135 billion barrels by some estimates — perhaps 10 times what in theory could be extracted from the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR) and around 12% of the world’s oil reserves. Only Saudi Arabia and Canada have more. Oil reserves are notoriously inaccurate, but these numbers are likely in the ballpark.

With oil near $70 a barrel, Iran rakes in about $150 million a day in pure profit, given the low cost of mideast oil production. That works out to roughly $50 billion a year for the Iran state-run oil industry. For a $180 billion dollar economy, that’s a big piece of the pie.

Iran is in a rare moment of strength, right up there with the OPEC oil embargo of 1973 and the hostage crisis of 1979. The global economy needs oil more than ever, and can’t lose access to the 2.5 million barrels a day Iran exports — about 5% of total oil exported from top world producers.

Last I heard, France's Chirac has mentioned use of that country's nuclear option, and was I correct to connect that thawt on his part with a related one regarding Iran? Everyone opposed to the war against terrorism has claimed that the only factor motivating the war from the Allies side, is oil. But they forget that all the oil in Islam can't buy nuclear-weapons capability. The issues vis à vis Iran are twofold now: lack of democracy (the votes controlled by the mullocracy are not democractic); and nuclear-weapons proliferatoin. I just have to check out the detail regarding Chirac! - Politicarp

UPDATE: I found it! France's Chirac on nukes. No mention of Iran - so this is a bit of a correction. - P

Work: Denmark: Lego company benefits from labour-biz-govt tripartism

ILO on line (No. 3 – Friday 13 January), an email newsletter from the International Labour Organization carries an item on the Lego company, Denmark, European Union. The article conveys a sense of how industrial tripartism could work, and in this company's case, does in fact work - for workers, employers, and government, benefiting business, as well as labour, and therefore contributing to society at large and the state toward socioeconomic justice and well-being for all. If the products made by this company are of good quality, then consumers too become part of this favourable picture. As a supporter of the Christian Labour Association of Canada and the Christian Labor Association of the USA, I find strong affinities with what industrial harmony thru tripartite negotiation can produce in the way of a distinctive quality of labour relations. Tho CLAC also historically stands in principle for union pluralism in large workforces, neither CLAC nor CLA-USA has yet been able to practice that second plank in the platform of an industrial-relations philosophy good for all the interests that converge in a business firm and a workforce.

Principium Consumers Hub:

Before I present the public discourse from ILO, I want to mention that the live-link of the title directs the reader to a commercial site, which seems to be an entirely separate company from Lego itself. The site seems to be run what seems to be the/a North American distributor of Lego's products. The second company? Lucasfilms. Bit there's no sense here that the distributor's employee and society-contributive practices are anything above the mediocre. It's Lego, Denmark, EU that ILO writes about and that interests us. - Owlb

The experience:

“Putting flexibility and security together”

Workers who are facing layoffs may want to know why employees at Danish toymaker Lego don’t worry too much if their jobs are outsourced. It has to do with what the International Labour Office and others call “flexicurity”. ILO Online reports from the Lego toy factory in Denmark.

BILLUND, Denmark (ILO Online) – Although Lego received the award “Toy of the Century” in 2000, Lego production worker Charlotte is facing an uncertain New Year. In 1999, the company had suffered its first financial loss since 1932 when a Danish carpenter invented the famous bricks.

As one of the world’s most successful toymakers the company employs some 5,600 people worldwide. But even Lego is not immune to the upheavals of globalization. The last few years have seen layoffs for hundreds of their workers and there will be more in 2006 as Lego out-sources its distribution to the Czech Republic.

But Charlotte is not too worried. “I’m not particularly concerned if I should lose my job.... They are good at taking care of you at Lego if you are fired ... they don’t just leave you on your own”, she says.

That’s because Lego is based in Denmark, where a flexible labour market, broad social security and retraining form the building blocks of a model called “flexicurity”.

“You can compare it to three sides of a triangle, where one is the flexible labour market – we say it’s easy to hire and fire people”, explains the Danish Employment Minister, Claus Hjort Frederiksen.

For Charlotte, it means she can put her daughter in a state-run nursery, part of a strong social security system. For Lego, it means they can respond to changing markets.

“There is a balance here, but if that balance should shift, then the entire Danish system collapses. So as a union we are highly conscious that there is a connection, that flexibility leads to security which the state supplies”, comments Hans Jensen from the Federation of Danish Trade Unions (LO).

Strong support from the social partners is the basis of the Danish flexicurity model and in the view of the ILO this is essential. A tripartite approach based on social dialogue with consultations and negotiations between the government, employers and workers is the key for finding the solutions needed in the labour market for both enterprises and their employees.

Lego has signed an agreement with trade unions and the local employment office to retrain workers for jobs in the service sector. The ‘From Industry to Service’ agreement reached with the major Danish trade union in November 2005 aims at retraining production workers with a view to taking jobs at the theme park ‘Legoland’ and Billund airport. Many of the 200 Lego workers concerned have already signed up for training and education programmes.

“If the case is that we have to let people go, we help them have the best chance they can have to get a better job”, explains Conny Kalcher, Vice President of Communications at Lego. The Danish employers strongly support this kind of agreement: “A flexible labour market gives companies the possibility to increase, restructure, or decrease, depending on the market relations”, says Jørn Neergaard Larsen from the Confederation of Danish Employers (DA).

The Danish example illustrates the link between job security, labour market flexibility and social protection. Each year, some 30 percent of Denmark’s workers change jobs, a rate outpaced only by the United States and Britain. And Danish unemployment now stands at 4.7 per cent, or just half of the euro-zone average of 8.6 per cent.

At over 5 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), Danish expenditures on labour market policies are the highest in the European Union. Though more than half of this expenditure is on passive measures, the Government has placed considerable emphasis on the participation of the unemployed in active training and educational programmes.

After a period of passive receipt of benefit, unemployed workers participate in such programmes to improve matching in the labour market. Although employment stability in Denmark is relatively low – in 2001 workers had stayed on the average 8.3 years in the same job, Denmark ranked second in the job security feeling rankings of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2000, out of a total of 17 countries.

According to a recent ILO study */, Denmark is a good example of a policy of “protected mobility” on the labour market which seeks to combine both flexibility and security. High mobility in the labour market does not necessarily contradict people’s sense of security. When there is a system of social protection in place, which includes unemployment benefits, this eases the burden of being dismissed. Social protection mitigates the negative effect for the individual employee when an enterprise needs to restructure its activities, decrease its production or outsource.

“The world Lego comes from the Danish ‘leg godt’ which means ‘playing well’. It also means ‘I put together’ in Latin. What is the case in the Danish labour market and as seen in the Lego experience is that flexibility and security can go together. In Denmark, there’s a consensus that flexicurity can work for everyone. It’s a matter of having all the building blocks in place, and for this to happen it is very important that you have a strong and capable organizations such as DA and LO to represent both the employers as well as the workers”, concludes Jean-François Retournard, Director of the ILO Bureau for Employers’ Activities.

__________

*/ Is a stable workforce good for productivity? By Peter Auer, Janine Berg and Ibrahim Coulibaly, International Labour Review, vol. 144/3, ILO, Geneva, 2005.

Canada: Election: Quebec's 3rd Party, Democratic Action of Quebec (ADQ) supports federal Conservatives

An unsigned brief article (Jan10,2k6) in the Quebec daily LeDevoir gives us a glimpse of new developments in the province's electoral activity, a news item which it's taken me sometime to catch up with. But to get the flavour of things in la belle province, here's my very free, expanded and explanatory translation of that item:

Following the lead of the provincial parliamentary member for Beauce-North, Janvier Grondin, now two other parliamentary members, called "deputies," of the provincial political party Democratic Action of Quebec (ADQ) are publicly supporting a Conservative candidate during the upcoming federal elections.

The province calls its parliament "National Assembly." The provincial parliamentary member for Lotbinière, la députée Sylvie Roy, and le député for Chutes-de-la Chaudière (which latter translates as "Boiler Falls"), Marc Picardy, gave their support to Jacques Gourd, the candidate of the Conservative Party in la circonscripton (or "riding" as we say in English-speaking Canada, or "Congressional district" as Americans say in their context) - which combines the two provincial ridings into the federal riding of Lotbinière-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière. An activist in the ADQ, Mr. Gourd was until the announcement of his candidacy for the federal election, President of the County Executive for Mrs. Roy. For his part, Janvier Grondin had lined up behind the Conservative candidate in Beauce County, Maxime Bernier. Now he's running too. That's three "adéquistes" as ADQ party members are called, now running for the Conservatives on the federal level.

These developments were not foreseen by most of us Commoners, when we first wondered if the Conservs could shake the Libs from their seemingly-everlasting control of the House of Commons. - Politicarp

USA: Foreign Policy : Hamas win or sizable minority in upcoming Palestine vote will scuttle US support for PA

Forward magazine, a literate liberal Jewish magazine of analysis and opinion, seems to have scooped the news in the American newsmedia regarding possible responses to the elections for Parliament which will take place next week under the Palestinian Authority. The US says in that case Palestine will lose its American ally, as it cannot support Hamas the terrorist organization whose political wing is fiercely fiting the war of words against the Fatah Party. Forward:

U.S. officials have told P.A. representatives and other foreign diplomats that the White House is considering several possible responses to a Hamas victory. If Islamic militants win, U.S. officials have said, the Bush administration will reconsider America's relationship with the P.A. In any case, it will continue to refuse to deal with elected officials affiliated with Hamas. In addition, Bush administration officials have said that they probably will decrease American financial assistance to the P.A.

One Palestinian poll suggests that Hamas will take 40% of the vote.

No matter how the Palestinian vote turns out, one of the administration's immediate goals is to secure as much stability as possible in the Palestinian territories in the weeks leading up to Israel's general elections on March 28, Washington insiders said. The administration is concerned that internecine fighting among disgruntled Palestinian factions and militias after the elections might increase the chaos within Palestinian society and lead to increased terrorism against Israel.

Such violence, in addition to its destructive impact on Palestinian society, could drive Israeli voters to support Likud candidate Benjamin Netanyahu over Washington's preferred choice, the more moderate Ehud Olmert, acting prime minister and leader of the centrist Kadima party.

The USA faces very difficult choices in regard to the more likely scemarios ahead in the next week and the next three months. Netanyahu, a former Prime Minister of Israel, is far too much a fanatic for my taste. So I can't help but find myself cheering for the Kadima Party (Kadima = The Future) and its leader since the incapactitation of Ariel Sharon, Olmert - who is no simplistic dove but very much a realist who guided Sharon at crucial points in the latter's development away from his earlier bloodihandedness and fanaticism. We're all hoping for a new dynamic in both Palestine and Israel, but the rise of Hamas in electoral politics feels very dicey at best. - Politicarp



For a Netanyahuvian hardline assessment of Sharon as a compromiser, see Jewish World Review's article, "Sharon's place in history," by Frank J. Gaffney Jr., of the Center for Security Policy, Washington, DC. Pat Robertson baptized this kind of thinking as Christian doctrine in his putting a "prophetic" curse on Sharon, while he lay in his coma - but that's not Gaffney's fault, of course. But, heck, the politics of Israel and Palestine are so complex, violent, old, and intractable that perhaps we shouldn't begrudge Gaffney his assessment. - P

Canada: Fed Election Polls: Conservatives lead Liberals by 6.3%; Conservs triple support in Quebec

The sponsor of SES polling research for the Canadian Federal Election 2006 is the Canadian Public Affairs Channel (CPAC), "now re-branded as Canada's 24.7.Politics.TV., with a fresh new on-air look and attitude."

CPAC English
CPAC Français

From CPAC's site:

Created by Cable for Canadians

CPAC is Canada’s only privately-owned, commercial free, not for profit, bilingual licensed television service. Created in 1992 by a consortium of cable companies to preserve an independent editorial voice for Canada’s democratic process, CPAC provides a window on Parliament, politics and public affairs in Canada and around the world. Since 1992, the cable industry has invested close to $50 million in CPAC, and today CPAC programming is delivered by cable, satellite and wireless distributors to over 9.5 million homes in Canada, and worldwide via 24/7 webcasting and podcasts available on this web sites.

SES research results for last nite

Canada Decided Voters
(Tracking ended January 18, 2006, N=1,015 decided voters)

CP 37.0% (+8)
LIB 30.7% (-6)
NDP 16.6% (+2)
BQ 10.7% (-3)
GP 4.9 (NC)
*15.2% of Canadians were undecided (-1)

In Quebec
BQ 44% (-6)
CP 24% (+15)
LIB 19% (-11)
NDP 10% (+4)
GP 3% (-3)
*17% of Quebecers were undecided (+6)

Outside Quebec
CP 41% (+4)
LIB 35% (-4)
NDP 19% (NC)
GP 6% (+1)
*15% of Canadians outside Quebec were undecided (-2)

In Ontario
CP 40% (+7)
LIB 39% (-4)
NDP 15% (-3)
GP 7% (+3)
*12% of Canadians outside Quebec were undecided (-8)

Best PM
Harper 30% (+9)
Martin 24% (-5)
Layton 17% (+3)
Unsure 14% (-3)
None 9% (-3)
Duceppe 5% (-1)
Harris 2% (NC)

Leadership Index
[Daily composite of the Leaders’ Trust, Competence and Vision]*

Martin 69 (+5)
Harper 76 (+1)
Layton 53 (-4)
Duceppe 26 (+7)
Harris 10 (+1)
* Change for this measure is from yesterday’s composite score.

On the SES website , Nik Nanos posts an updated daily longitudinal tracking chart, regional breakdowns and details on the questions and the methodology each afternoon. Watch PrimeTime Politics at 8 pm EST (Monday to Friday) to get a detailed briefing of the numbers.

USA: Juridics & Ethics: Supreme Court grants rite to die for terminally-ill, and with physician's assistance

John Jessup, reporting for CBN.com, the Christian online website dominated by Pat Robertson, TV evangelist of a certain kind of fame - Islam Is a Religion of Evil, Kill Chavez, Dover PA is under God's wrath, and Ariel Sharon was struck down by God for pulling Jewish settlers out of Gaza - has let one slip thru his atennae of denunciation.



The reactionary website reported the news from the Supreme Court that upheld the State of Oregon's law of compassion for the terminally-ill who want to terminate their earthly pilgrimage, instead of living on helpless in pain when an easy passage is possible. I think this is ruling of the court and of Oregon are very responsible decisions that take into account the changed conditions of longevity and medical potential for self-chosen yet doctor-assisted death. I hope to go this way, if I become incapacitated, as I don't want to fall into the the hands of the "caring industry" and the staffs of old-age homes. I have no family for whom direct contact were I so incarcerated mite be an ameliorating circumstance. I don't support the turn of events that took Terri Schiavo's life, instead going with the wishes of the husband who got rid of her rather than her congenetic family who kept themselves at her side until the State of Florida prevented it. That's another kind of situation. We're not all the same. One size doesn't fit all. Oregon and the US Supreme Court did good. I thank God for this compassionate decision, and the mercy I'd like to receive when my time comes. - Owlb

AP via MSNBC on Hi Court ruling on assisted suicide

Afghanistan: Taliban: Talibanis on the rise again, now Canada hit by brunt of hostilities

While still under the minority government of the Liberal Party, Canada has been drawn into the center of hostilities in Afghanistan, as the Talibani network reconstitutes itself and adapts new techniques they've learned from Al-Quaeda in Iraq. Obviously, the new rash of suicide bombings by guerillas against the Afghan democracy, the UN forces, and especially from our angle in Toronto against the Canadian warriors there, this entire trend of terrorism toward increased use of suicide bombings demonstrates that the Afghan war against terrorism is one of the two main theatres of a single war, the other being Iraq. The US is fiting in both, but of course most concentrated in Iraq now; Canada is in the same war, suffering losses, sacrificing for Afghani democracy, and the US is also still fiting in Afghanistan. Both countries are de facto at war against a common enemy - but with different distribution between the two theatres of the war, indeed the two democracies, where the hostilities continue.

The sacrifice, heroism, and tragedy of the Canadian guys dead and those still surviving now in the US military hospital in Germany are something that should be honoured now, even in the midst of Canada's election campaign. At home Canada is participating in a war-time election, is a country at war against terrorism, and we should consider how much we need a party and government in power that will pursue the war vigourously toward victory for all humankind. - Politicarp

Commerce: Autos: Ford, GM have whopper sales in China

"Whopper sales" is hyperbolous, but not relative to Ford China's sales last year, exceeded this year by 46%, MSM's Moneywebsite reports in an unsigned Associated Press article.



Ford China's growth also exceeded China's home-grown automakers' sales which grew by 14%. In turn, however, General Motors and the German Volkswagen outdistanced Ford in total China sales.

Principium Consumers Hub backgrounder:

The criticism of the Communist Chinese on human rights, labour rights, religious rights and real democratic openness must take into account that Ford, GM, and VW are just a few of the Western mega-corporations with subsidiaries and joint ventures involving large Chinese corporations (Ford China is a venture 50-50 with a Chinese corporate co-owner). Not only are such companies manufacturing in China, but their Western investors also export from the USA, Canada, and Germany (for instance) to retail there several models not made in China. Thus, in the case of the Western auto industry's presence on the mainland, companies like Ford are spreading the pollution-driven automobile culture of illness and death, contributing to future soaring health costs due to respiratory ailments thru-out China. They also are driving up the voracious appetite in China for automobility, an automobility that is technoligically-dependent on oil and gas. So, China's "revolutionary" capitalism is based on entrenching a killer technology and a runaway need for oil/gas, which latter puts the mainland Chinese in competition with North-America-originated automakers and all consumers of petroleum products in a desperate fite to buy from all the oil sellers in the world - think Araby, think Venezuela, think Nigeria. Think Iran. Think the price of oil is going to continue to rise.

Now, what are Ford and GM and, for that matter, Volkswagen doing to produce and sell, preach and promote a new kind of car fuelled by other means, sage and non-pullutant alternative means? - Owlb

Canada: Politics: Hold the compress! SES pollster Nanos says straying from platform chips at Tory vote

Yes, you can remove the icepacked compress from your brow, and absorb new developments in the poll results, and then reapply compress to your poll-volatility headache. While the Tories have not slipped below 37% (well, just a smidgen), the gap between Tories and Libs has been cut in half. Still, that's nationally a 5 percentage-points lead. Can Harper recover a wider gap? get further out in front once again? I can hear the pounding of the horses' hooves as they turn the last corner of the track! - Politicarp

Here's the conclusion from last nite's CPAC / SES Nightly Tracking by pollster Nikita Nanos:

“The Conservatives continue to maintain a lead over the Liberals. CPAC-SES tracking has the Conservatives at 36.9% support followed by the Liberals at 31.5%, the NDP at 17.6%, the BQ at 10.0% and the Green Party at 4.0%. Battleground Ontario continues to be a neck-and-neck race and Stephen Harper is ahead of Paul Martin as the best Prime Minister by three points. In Quebec, BQ support has dropped to 41% - their lowest level since the start of the campaign.”

“My sense is that Tory momentum was generated by a combination of issues/anger and supported by a well executed campaign. Less emphasis by the Conservatives on their platform likely takes some of the wind out of the Tory sails.” – Nik Nanos, President, SES Research.

Note what expert Nanos suggests: The lessening of the intensity of emphasis on the Conservative Party platform has led to a loss of some voters. I'm not so sure. Note that the Greens have dropped considerably from a hi of 7% to a present 4%. I think the Greens have scattered in three directions (all this outside Quebec). So, while the NDP was gaining some Greens, it was also losing some NDPers to the Libs. And, some Greens went to the Libs. While some Libs had earlier re-aligned to the Tories, some of these Libs have now double-realigned back to the Libs. This is primarlily the reason for Harper = USA and other Lib attack ads have "gone about as far as they can go" (I'm thinking of the song "Everythin's uptadate in Kansas City," from Oklahoma!). "They've gone about as far as they can go." - Owlb

Canada: Politics: Harper vote-crest wanes to -2, if you don't mind clicking up a Gay site where I first saw news, hour ago

I invite readers who don't mind, to clickup a Gay news source, 365 Gay.com to peruse both the news item reported and some details of where, and when, and by whom.

The reporter, Martin O'Hanlon a self-acknowledged Liberal who says "my heart doesn't sing" at the small number of losses by Stephen Harper's Conservatives - in the measurement of voters intentions and opinions to date regarding the parties and their leaders. One of them will form the new government, either on a minority or a majority. At best, I would guess that Harper could win a slim majority, and that means a Cabinet stretched quite thin (for instance of the myriad of consequences that accrue from such an anticipated fact). Aside from all such speculation, Harper whose momentum may have stalled statistically and apparently dropped by a small degree, he could sustain his lead position losing a point or two more. There are five days left till Voting Day, and the advance voting is up 25% in comparison with the 2004. I think it all turns on how effective the nauseating demonize-Harper Liberal campaign TV ads are. The anti-American Liberal saturation ad campaign is just one factor, but increasingly the more important one, as the countdown ticks to Victory Day. I think the Victory will be Harper's, but now the question is: minority government or slim-majority or leeway-majority?

According to O'Hanlon, "Previous polls had the Tories leading nationally by up to 13 points." So, O'Hanlon contrives a -3 statistical event because now the Tories are leading by "only" 10 percentage points, but that latter datum is a fact accorded credibility by only one polling company, Decima - a wonderful name for a polling company if it measures down to the decimal point, but also it's just two letters short of "decimate." A hint from the corporation's darkside, bent on the decimation of Harper by putting its statistical hand on the measurement scale? Ho! Ho! Ho!

O'Hanlon, a Liberal disappointed that Harper apparently fell so few points, while the reporter is writing for Canadian Press shortly after its CP online publication pops up, properly bylined in 365Gay.com. And it gives this description (with several misleading elements, according to my way evaluating the statistical categories of persons down to the decimal!):

The results came amid a flurry of warnings about what a Conservative government would do to Canada.

Environmentalists, economists, natives, victims groups, law professors and even an abortion doctor have joined Martin in a last-ditch effort to stop Stephen Harper.

Martin pressed on with his Hammer Harper tour Tuesday in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. He warned that the Tory leader would ``walk away'' from social services and ``turn back the clock'' by breaking promises to Canadians and the world.

Boing! Harper is not going to walk away from social services, and to assert so is to miss the style of governance to which Harper is committed. He is going to be incremental in applying his central goal of Accountablity, not just for the House of Commons and the Government itself in answer to the duplicitous till-robbing Chretian-Martin Liberal reigns. As to breaking promises - that is, Liberal false promises - as a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol, Canada has not met its promises, nor kept its word. Canada, under Liberal signing and Liberal feigning, is actually a worse polluter, increasingly so, than is the USA. In other words, a new government is perfectly free to undo Canada's signature from the Kyoto Protocols should the government of the day evaluate those Protocols as having been signed in bad faith. They are clearly nothing more than a false promise by a Finance Minister (Paul Martin then) who knew the dollars-and-cents of the falsity. We have to fite for the world's air in another way than Kyoto (I wold argue these days), and in my opinion it involves a government which can question the oil-fuelled vehicle. Martin didn't have the courage to so question. Nor will Harper. Nor does Layton. Nor Duceppe. Maybe the Greens, but they too are down in the polls, apparently having crested a week ago at 7%; now voters of once-expressed-Green intentions are eroding in favour of all three of the other parties. But the NDP's vote has eroded slightly to the Liberals.

The tick of the countdown gets louder and louder, and the Canadian election is being monitored in the US and around the world, as never before. - Owlb

Canada: Politics: Conservative Party grows in voter strength in Quebec

Blogger Laurent puts us on course regarding astounding developments in politics in la belle province. In Le blog de polyscopique, a marvellous bilingual good-looking blog, near-daily, he tells us:

Two new polls, each with a large sample (about 2,000) of Quebecers, confirms the rise of the Conservative Party in Québec. According to an Ipsos-Reid poll, the Conservatives are at 25 percent in Québec compared with 48 percent for the Bloc and 13 percent for the Liberal Party. A Decima poll puts the Conservatives at 28 percent in Québec while the Bloc is at 45 percent and the Liberals at 14 percent. According to the same poll, 12 percent of sovereignists support the Conservatives whereas 80 percent support the Bloc. Among Québec federalists, 41 percent opt for the Conservative Party whereas 28 percent choose the Liberals, 13 percent the NDP and 9 percent the Bloc. Publié par Laurent

Merci! à vous, Laurent.

For a great French-only blog, go to Jonathan Hamel's La sphère des idées de J. H.. In the last week, JH has documented for those of us who don't read the French press or watch French TV a host of declarations of support and other developments that seem to promise some seats going to the Tories ("Conservateurs") and not the separtists ("Bloquistes"), while the Liberals are literally in free-fall.

Merci! à vous, Jonathan.

Truly historic times for Québec, and for all Canada. - Politicarp

Canada: Faith & Politics: Martin, Harper, other party leaders respond to two questions from Evangelical Fellowship of Canada

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada has posed two questions to the party leaders running to become Prime Minster and govern the country. The statement of Martin (renegade Roman Catholic but not excommunicated) is clever but ultimately unsatisfying. The statement of Harper (Roman Catholic) is excellent. The statement of Jack Layton (United Church of Canada) is fine. The statement of Gilles Duceppe (????) is Know-Nothing. - Owlb

USA: Politics: refWrite joins blogosphere call for Congressional cleanup & break with lobbyists

We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership in the House of Representatives needs to be thoroughly and transparently free of the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and beyond that, of undue influence of K Street.

We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members.

But we are certain that the public is disgusted with excess and with privilege. We hope the Hastert-Dreier effort leads to sweeping reforms including the end of subsidized travel and other obvious influence operations. Just as importantly, we call for major changes to increase openness, transparency and accountability in Congressional operations and in the appropriations process.

As for the Republican leadership elections, we hope to see more candidates who will support these goals, and we therefore welcome the entry of Congressman John Shadegg to the race for Majority Leader. We hope every Congressman who is committed to ethical and transparent conduct supports a reform agenda and a reform candidate. And we hope all would-be members of the leadership make themselves available to new media to answer questions now and on a regular basis in the future.

Signed,

N.Z. Bear, The Truth Laid Bear
Hugh Hewitt, HughHewitt.com
Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit.com
Kevin Aylward, Wizbang!
La Shawn Barber, La Shawn Barber’s Corner
Lorie Byrd, Polipundit
Jeff Goldstein, Protein Wisdom
Stephen Green, Vodkapundit
John Hawkins, Right Wing News
John Hinderaker, Power Line
Jon Henke / McQ / Dale Franks, QandO
James Joyner, Outside The Beltway
Mike Krempasky, Redstate.org
Michelle Malkin, MichelleMalkin.com
Ed Morrissey, Captain’s Quarters
Scott Ott, Scrappleface
John Donovan / Bill Tuttle, Castle Argghhh!!!

Bloggers who support this statement can sign on here at Truth Laid Bear.

USA: Politics: Congress Republicans launch strict new rules vs corruption of members

Stinking of corruption smell, the majority party in the USA House of Representatives have shouldered out of the way the obstructions of those tainted in the Abramoff Lobbyist Scandal, to start the machinery of reform on the issues involved regarding the offenses involved. About time. Washington Post reporter Jim Abrams tells us:

"The problems we have been reading about stem from violation of existing rules," [Dennis] Hastert, R-Ill., said in apparent reference to [Jack] Abramoff, who sought to influence lawmakers through donations, meals at his high-priced restaurant, golfing trips and skybox seats. Abramoff has pleaded guilty to corruption-related charges and is cooperating with prosecutors.

Democrats, who are unveiling their own lobbying ethics package on Wednesday, chided Republicans for addressing the issue only after the Abramoff controversy helped bring down two senior Republicans and cast a shadow on next fall's elections.

And well the Dems should chide, but they shouldn't pretend they're not into receiving Lobbyists' gifts and perks. The disease in the House has been all-too-bipartisan. Some commentator remarked that the Republicans received 60% of Abramoff's favours, but even that partisan figure favouring the Democrats, leaves the Democrats guilty of receiving a whopping 40% of the Great Lobbyist's largesse.

It's important to note that many of the all-out Conservatives among GOP House members have long records trying to establish and maintain very strong strict ethics rules, on issues of lobbying and others. But the Dems receive many of their favours from media powers, who at times publish erroneous and personally-targetted pieces aimed at the most articulate Republican reformers. A current case is the lousy treatment meted out by Dem-lackeys at New York Times and Washington Post, by take a look at Eleanor Clift's attempt to praise and sneer at Gingrich at the same time. According to what I've heard on TV just now from Newt Gingrich, who the Dems fear because of his campaign now from outside Congress to get new stricter and well-monitored reformed legislation, the new Newts inside the House GOP are taking up the cudgels for a cleaner-than-thou Republican Congressional caucus. - Politicarp

Hat Tip to Hugh Hewitt's blog in a post by Mary Katharine Ham, "We Intend to Announce a Plan" (Jan17,2k6).