Friday, April 30, 2004
Another day, another outrage. Volume XII, No. 3
Yesterday we learned that Ottawa's secret National Unity Reserve was actually much bigger than originally dislcosed. About $65 million/year (not the previously stated $40 million) was used to fund everything from the “Canadian Irish Studies Foundation” to the sponsorship program. All of the money was at the discretion of the Prime Minister. It's painfully clear that the rot in the Chretien years, given this and the laundry list of other revelations, was way worse than we thought. As always, there will be little anger among regular Canadians. But Paul Martin’s government should, at least, be complimented for axing this slush fund: his officials reportedly called it a “honey pot…not consistent with the values of sound fiscal management." True. Very true. But even though the program has been “terminated” why is it still going? $49 million in FY2004-05 and $16.2 million in 05/06. Reg Alock, the treasury board prez, says it would be unfair to cancel previously promised money. Huh.
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Yesterday we learned that Ottawa's secret National Unity Reserve was actually much bigger than originally dislcosed. About $65 million/year (not the previously stated $40 million) was used to fund everything from the “Canadian Irish Studies Foundation” to the sponsorship program. All of the money was at the discretion of the Prime Minister. It's painfully clear that the rot in the Chretien years, given this and the laundry list of other revelations, was way worse than we thought. As always, there will be little anger among regular Canadians. But Paul Martin’s government should, at least, be complimented for axing this slush fund: his officials reportedly called it a “honey pot…not consistent with the values of sound fiscal management." True. Very true. But even though the program has been “terminated” why is it still going? $49 million in FY2004-05 and $16.2 million in 05/06. Reg Alock, the treasury board prez, says it would be unfair to cancel previously promised money. Huh.
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Thursday, April 29, 2004
Brahimis are everywhere
Maybe I just missed this, but it doesn’t seem to have gotten a lot of play. CNN’s (now ex, she resigned last week) reporter in Amman and Baghdad, Rym Brahimi, is engaged to be married to a Jordanian Prince. The Hashemite Prince is a half brother of King Abdullah and son of the late King Hussein. Not only that, but Rym is actually the daughter of Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.’s man in Baghdad who’s leading the process of creating the interim Iraqi government. Arab chatter classes = very small world.
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Maybe I just missed this, but it doesn’t seem to have gotten a lot of play. CNN’s (now ex, she resigned last week) reporter in Amman and Baghdad, Rym Brahimi, is engaged to be married to a Jordanian Prince. The Hashemite Prince is a half brother of King Abdullah and son of the late King Hussein. Not only that, but Rym is actually the daughter of Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.’s man in Baghdad who’s leading the process of creating the interim Iraqi government. Arab chatter classes = very small world.
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Don Cherry's swan song?
So it looks like hockey loudmouth Don Cherry might have to hang up his skates. The CBC is said to be leaning against renewing his contract for the "Coach's Corner" segment on Hockey Night in Canada. I do not look forward to the day when this news is made official. There will be riots in the streets. I still can't think of a single event -- not even the federal sponsorship scandal -- that rivalled the outrage in Canada surrounding the near-failure to renew HNIC host Ron MacLean's contract. This country loves its hockey, and they love Don Cherry.
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So it looks like hockey loudmouth Don Cherry might have to hang up his skates. The CBC is said to be leaning against renewing his contract for the "Coach's Corner" segment on Hockey Night in Canada. I do not look forward to the day when this news is made official. There will be riots in the streets. I still can't think of a single event -- not even the federal sponsorship scandal -- that rivalled the outrage in Canada surrounding the near-failure to renew HNIC host Ron MacLean's contract. This country loves its hockey, and they love Don Cherry.
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Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Specter squeaks by
Movement conservatives in the U.S. are aghast this morning with the news that liberal Senator Arlen Specter won the Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary against his conservative challenger, Rep. Pat Toomey by a margin fo 51-49%, or about 15,000 votes. I don’t think even Toomey’s boosters were expecting the race to be that close. And there are a lot of people who are dispapointed this morning with two supposed friends of conservatism -- President Bush, and Pennsylvania’s other senator, Rick Santorum -- for their endorsement of Sen. Specter. These endorsements might have made the difference for Specter. This is really too bad.
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Movement conservatives in the U.S. are aghast this morning with the news that liberal Senator Arlen Specter won the Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary against his conservative challenger, Rep. Pat Toomey by a margin fo 51-49%, or about 15,000 votes. I don’t think even Toomey’s boosters were expecting the race to be that close. And there are a lot of people who are dispapointed this morning with two supposed friends of conservatism -- President Bush, and Pennsylvania’s other senator, Rick Santorum -- for their endorsement of Sen. Specter. These endorsements might have made the difference for Specter. This is really too bad.
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Tuesday, April 27, 2004
I never thought I'd see the day...
...when Sen. Marjory LeBreton would be out trashing Joe Clark. (See Roger Smith's video report).
Said LeBreton about Joe's recent shenanigans: "I don't think many people care what Joe Clark says and I think that's the saddest commentary of all."
Hear, hear Senator.
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...when Sen. Marjory LeBreton would be out trashing Joe Clark. (See Roger Smith's video report).
Said LeBreton about Joe's recent shenanigans: "I don't think many people care what Joe Clark says and I think that's the saddest commentary of all."
Hear, hear Senator.
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Monday, April 26, 2004
Is Joe tinting his hair?
On the left, Joe Clark circa the 2000 election.
On the right, Joe Clark in the House of Commons sometime last year. Hmmmmm....gotta wonder.
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On the left, Joe Clark circa the 2000 election.
On the right, Joe Clark in the House of Commons sometime last year. Hmmmmm....gotta wonder.
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Sunday, April 25, 2004
Russert grills Bandar
If anything good has come out of Bob Woodward's new book, Plan of Attack, it's that it's forced the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., Prince Bandar bin Sultan, out from under his rock. Bandar is normally quite reclusive; he won't talk to the press (at least not on the record), leaving that job up to flaks like the ubiquitous Adel al-Jubeir, his brother Nail, or the Saudi embassy's lavishly-paid spin doctors at Qorvis Communications. But because of the allegations in Woodward's book -- the most serious being that there is a "secret deal" to lower oil prices before the November election to help Bush's re-election -- Bandar has been making the rounds. And he's been everywhere, even calling into the Larry King Live show last week when King was interviewing Woodward.
Most of the Bandar interviews have been pretty boring -- until today. Tim Russert's interview with the ambassador on Meet the Press was the best skewering I've seen on TV in a very long time. When it comes to asking real questions to an interviewee, Russert really has no equal. He also has a crackerjack research team. If you haven't seen this on TV, I urge you to read the transcript. Bandar was blown out of the water, and Russert refused to let up. My favourite passage:
MR. RUSSERT: Prince, the former general consul to the Department of Treasury, David Aufhauser...
PRINCE BANDAR: Yeah.
MR. RUSSERT: ...a professional, a lawyer, testifying under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Question: "With regard to the trail of money ... and whether it leads in some cases to Saudi Arabia?" Aufhauser: "In many cases it is the epicenter." Question: "And does that trail of money also show money going to al Qaeda?" Aufhauser: "Yes." "Is the money from Saudi Arabia a significant source of funding for terrorism generally?" Aufhauser: "Yes. Principally al Qaeda but many other recipients as well."
This was the scene in April 2002, when your king, a state-sponsored telethon--and look at these pictures--raised over $92 million and the money was "for Palestinian martyrs"...
PRINCE BANDAR: Right.
MR. RUSSERT: ...suicide bombers who blew up Israeli children, school buses, restaurants. Here's the Treasury Department of the United States saying that Saudi money is funding al-Qaeda. You're having telethons raising money for Palestine suicide bombers, and you sit here and say, "How could people say these terrible things about us?"
PRINCE BANDAR: Yes, I say that very easily because nothing stands still. If you are saying before 9/11 we didn't have our thing together, yes, but nor did you. Look what 9/11 is showing. However, since...
MR. RUSSERT: This was April of 2003.
PRINCE BANDAR: I understand. Since then, since 9/11, when after we recovered from the shock, we looked at all our procedures, and we have come through and we're proud of it. And listen to--you read to me a quote. Let me read to you the same man you quoted in a hearing afterward said exactly the opposite to this. Secretary Snow in public, in Saudi Arabia, and in a briefing here, says the opposite to that. And the Financial Action Task Force of the Organization of the Economic Cooperation and Development--the OECD--just came out with a report in March. It says: "In the area of charitable giving, new regulations to crack down on abusers at Saudi Arabian-based charities probably go further than any country in the world." This is done by the G-7.
Please. Given the magnitude of the rot in the Kingdom, they have done precious little to curb terrorism or terrorist funding. Their "new regulations" on charities amount to having these entities submit an annual report.
President Bush's relationship with Saudi Arabia is being examined more closely all the time. I think it could become a real liability for him in the November election.
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If anything good has come out of Bob Woodward's new book, Plan of Attack, it's that it's forced the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., Prince Bandar bin Sultan, out from under his rock. Bandar is normally quite reclusive; he won't talk to the press (at least not on the record), leaving that job up to flaks like the ubiquitous Adel al-Jubeir, his brother Nail, or the Saudi embassy's lavishly-paid spin doctors at Qorvis Communications. But because of the allegations in Woodward's book -- the most serious being that there is a "secret deal" to lower oil prices before the November election to help Bush's re-election -- Bandar has been making the rounds. And he's been everywhere, even calling into the Larry King Live show last week when King was interviewing Woodward.
Most of the Bandar interviews have been pretty boring -- until today. Tim Russert's interview with the ambassador on Meet the Press was the best skewering I've seen on TV in a very long time. When it comes to asking real questions to an interviewee, Russert really has no equal. He also has a crackerjack research team. If you haven't seen this on TV, I urge you to read the transcript. Bandar was blown out of the water, and Russert refused to let up. My favourite passage:
MR. RUSSERT: Prince, the former general consul to the Department of Treasury, David Aufhauser...
PRINCE BANDAR: Yeah.
MR. RUSSERT: ...a professional, a lawyer, testifying under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Question: "With regard to the trail of money ... and whether it leads in some cases to Saudi Arabia?" Aufhauser: "In many cases it is the epicenter." Question: "And does that trail of money also show money going to al Qaeda?" Aufhauser: "Yes." "Is the money from Saudi Arabia a significant source of funding for terrorism generally?" Aufhauser: "Yes. Principally al Qaeda but many other recipients as well."
This was the scene in April 2002, when your king, a state-sponsored telethon--and look at these pictures--raised over $92 million and the money was "for Palestinian martyrs"...
PRINCE BANDAR: Right.
MR. RUSSERT: ...suicide bombers who blew up Israeli children, school buses, restaurants. Here's the Treasury Department of the United States saying that Saudi money is funding al-Qaeda. You're having telethons raising money for Palestine suicide bombers, and you sit here and say, "How could people say these terrible things about us?"
PRINCE BANDAR: Yes, I say that very easily because nothing stands still. If you are saying before 9/11 we didn't have our thing together, yes, but nor did you. Look what 9/11 is showing. However, since...
MR. RUSSERT: This was April of 2003.
PRINCE BANDAR: I understand. Since then, since 9/11, when after we recovered from the shock, we looked at all our procedures, and we have come through and we're proud of it. And listen to--you read to me a quote. Let me read to you the same man you quoted in a hearing afterward said exactly the opposite to this. Secretary Snow in public, in Saudi Arabia, and in a briefing here, says the opposite to that. And the Financial Action Task Force of the Organization of the Economic Cooperation and Development--the OECD--just came out with a report in March. It says: "In the area of charitable giving, new regulations to crack down on abusers at Saudi Arabian-based charities probably go further than any country in the world." This is done by the G-7.
Please. Given the magnitude of the rot in the Kingdom, they have done precious little to curb terrorism or terrorist funding. Their "new regulations" on charities amount to having these entities submit an annual report.
President Bush's relationship with Saudi Arabia is being examined more closely all the time. I think it could become a real liability for him in the November election.
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Curling season's over
The World Curling Championships in Sweden are over. Canada's Colleen Jones won gold on the women's side; Mark Dacey took home a bronze in the men's event.
Pretty good performance, but it won't satisfy Canadian curling fans. There is an implicit expectation that both Canadian teams will win gold every year. So Dacey will doubtless be disappointed. Jones has struggled a lot in the past at the world level -- this is her second win in six trips.
One interesting lesson from this, which probably applies to most sports, is the need to lose during the round-robin. The logic seems peculiar, but statisically speaking, you will eventually lose. Dacey went 9-0 in the round-robin, and lost when it mattered in Saturday's semi-final. Jones went 9-0 last year in the round-robin and lost the final to the U.S. This year Jones went 6-3 in the round-robin and won the final. Better to get a loss or two or three out of your system early on.
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The World Curling Championships in Sweden are over. Canada's Colleen Jones won gold on the women's side; Mark Dacey took home a bronze in the men's event.
Pretty good performance, but it won't satisfy Canadian curling fans. There is an implicit expectation that both Canadian teams will win gold every year. So Dacey will doubtless be disappointed. Jones has struggled a lot in the past at the world level -- this is her second win in six trips.
One interesting lesson from this, which probably applies to most sports, is the need to lose during the round-robin. The logic seems peculiar, but statisically speaking, you will eventually lose. Dacey went 9-0 in the round-robin, and lost when it mattered in Saturday's semi-final. Jones went 9-0 last year in the round-robin and lost the final to the U.S. This year Jones went 6-3 in the round-robin and won the final. Better to get a loss or two or three out of your system early on.
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