The Harper speech - CTV version

Craig Oliver must be spiking his coffee.

CTV's chief political correspondent Craig Oliver told Newsnet the prime minister tried to emotionally link the events of 9/11 with current Canadian involvement in Afghanistan.

Oliver said the speech comes at a time when the Canadian mission in Afghanistan is in a bad patch. "If you and I were in a street fight and we had to turn to onlookers and say, 'please give us help here', we wouldn't be said to be winning.

Wow, some tough words there, although I doubt ole Craig would know a streetfight from a streetwalker.

I'd put a little more credence in Oliver's analysis though, if CTV hadn't just run this story before he trotted out his puffery.

Canadian troops made significant incursions into territory held by the Taliban in the Panjwaii district of southern Afghanistan.

Troops used helicopter and warplane artillery to pummel heavily-fortified trenches suspected of firing rockets at Canadians. The troops met little resistance as they advanced several hundred metres. Blood trails were found leading away from trenches abandoned by the Taliban.

"We actually busted into his first line of defence and penetrated his first level of fighting positions," Col. Omer Lavoie, who is commanding the Canadian attack, said Monday of the Taliban. The operation, which began Sept. 2, has killed at least 500 insurgents, according to the most recent figures from the alliance.

Are Craig Oliver's rants on a 7 day time delay, or is he just so busy climbing onto his high horse, he doesn't actually watch the CTV news broadcast.

I guess he missed the CTV news on Saturday too.

Insurgent fighters in a Taliban stronghold are being pounded by NATO forces and are on the verge of collapse, said the commander of Canadian forces in southern Afghanistan on Saturday.

Backed by U.S. and British air power, Canadian and Afghan troops took turns moving through former insurgent outposts in the Panjwaii region, where Taliban are engaging in a "last stand," according to Lt.-Col. Omer Lavoie.

Back to you, Lloyd.

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UPDATE: 4:30 AM EDT ON 12/09/06
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In the interest of fairness, any future analysis by Craig Oliver will start off with, "Once upon a time..."

PANJWAI DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN — Hundreds of insurgents have scattered from a grinding Canadian military advance in Panjwai district, as soldiers punched into a former Taliban stronghold in a cascade of dust and flying rubble.

Technorati Tags: Craig Oliver, Afghanistan, Stephen Harper

The Path to 9/11

Saw Part II tonight.

On the whole, I thought the film was very well done. My wife pointed out that there were many places where the makers could have easily banged out more drama (passengers on United Flight 93 rushing the cockpit, for instance) purely for it's own sake, but she thought they stayed fairly matter of fact. I had to concur.

These guys feel a little more strongly.

The Path to 9/11, although it remained largely intact, was edited for the worst of all possible reasons: as a CYA, to protect the worthless hide of a long-gone politician to whom some people in Hollywood retain a bizarre, vestigial allegiance.

Clinton's not the only one who gets a rough ride. This will piss off more than a few people in positions of authority who dropped the ball on Bin-Laden.

Any takers out there?

Technorati Tags: Path to 9/11, World Trade Center, 9/11

Yeah, the scandal guys... right?

Whatever happened to those other guys, whaddayacallem?

"For their part the Liberals held another leadership debate over the weekend. It was on TV Sunday afternoon. And I think I speak for most Canadians when I say the best part was when Drew Bledsoe threw that touchdown pass to Terrell Owens."

Technorati Tags: Liberal Party, ethics, leadership debate

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick...

While Taliban Jack is running around screeching like a chimp that peed on a live wire, Stephen Harper is taking action.

Two days ago, I posted about Canada possibly sending tanks to Afghanistan. It seems fitting that, on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, there is a confirmation that we are bringing out the big guns.

OTTAWA — The Canadian Forces' main tank unit is racing to prepare 120 troops and 15 Leopard tanks to send to Afghanistan as early as next week, in what would be a major boost in Canadian military capability there, according to a military expert who observed them.

So what will this do for our troops on the ground?

"It would be a significant increase in our capability," said retired Major-General Lewis Mackenzie, a former commander of UN peacekeepers in Bosnia. "There's not a lot more boots on the ground at 120 [troops], but there's a lot more combat power because of the 105-millimetre gun and the armoured protection they provide."

"When the infantry, for example, come up against a couple of houses where they would suffer casualties going in and clearing that house of the enemy, even though they would win, it's sort of nice to be able to stand back and turn to the tanker and say, 'Take that house out.' "

This will provide a bit of a stand-off capability to our guys, instead of playing the hut-to-hut, hit & scoot tactics favoured by the Taliban. In a conflict like this, you don't want to be playing the other guys game.

Long past time, I say. If the Liberals hadn't been so intent on gelding the military and turning it into a travelling circus act, we could have had our own air force doing close air-support as well.

Technorati Tags: Leopard tank, Afghanistan, Canadian Forces

September 11, 2001 - 2006

September 10th people have a role model. He was pleasant and fashionable and well-meaning and wrong. His name was Neville Chamberlain. September 11th people have a role model. He was curmudgeonly and hard-nosed and right. His name was Winston Churchill.

You have to be critical. You have to choose.

Technorati Tags: New York, World Trade Center, 9/11

Yeah, no surprise here.

Last year, the federal Liberal party apparently commissioned a report by a panel of ethicists. I know we're talking Augean Stables here, but really, what choice did they have?

"The Liberal party must bring order to its own affairs if it wants the public to one day confer another mandate to govern," concluded the panel which included Michael Bloomfield, a Victoria-based biologist and ethicist, and Penny Collenette, spouse of former Liberal minister David Collenette.

Lots of pretty words there, there's just one problem.

Steven MacKinnon, national director of the Liberal Party of Canada, said Sunday that the party has been working on a code of ethics since last year, although it won't apply to MPs or senators.

Oh well, it's nice to know that... at least we can trust the chauffeurs and the guys in the mailroom.

Technorati Tags: Liberal Party, ethics, political correctness

Words fail me

As we approach this terrible anniversary...
I am saddened as I remember that the events of that day.
I can't help but wonder what sort of a world my young son will experience as he slips and slides toward adolescence. I worry about the world growing ever smaller and more dangerous. Words fail me.

I'll let these guys do the rest.

Technorati Tags: New York, World Trade Center, 9/11

Chaos Theory

This struck me as one of the more plausible theories about what is happening to the NDP these days. If this is what is actually occurring, it's the beginning of the end for THE BIG DIPPERS.

If an extremist nutjob hijacked the agenda of the big two parties, the Conservatives or the Liberals, he would be maneuvered out of the leader's seat by the moderate elements in the party who actually want to win an election one day. We all saw this happen with Stockwell Day.

What is happening with the NDP though is that, instead of maneuvering against Layton, the moderate elements are running to the Liberal party. This is creating the really bizarre effect that, the nuttier Layton's NDP becomes, the greater support for Layton within the NDP becomes! Thus the crazier Layton is empowered to be and the more internal debate within the party is shut down.

And while you're there, check out the selection of Iranian Holocaust Denial cartoons.

Man, those Persians sure know how to have a good time.

Technorati Tags: NDP, Iran, Holocaust Denial

Jacking up the troops

Is it just me, or does it seem like, the more the Dippers call for Canadian troops to cut and run, the more they rise to the occasion?

The 94 militants were killed in Kandahar province's Panjwai and neighbouring Zhari districts late Saturday and early Sunday, and were separate to more than 40 Taliban who died in fighting in the same areas earlier Saturday, NATO spokesman Maj. Scott Lundy said.

The killings were part of a NATO-led operation called Operation Medusa, which began Sept. 2 and has killed at least 420 insurgents, according to the alliance. Purported Taliban spokesmen have disputed the high death counts.

With this latest Canadian led rout, all the screeching and wailing from the NDP becomes a little more surreal. "Support out troops", cries Taliban Jack, "By bringing them home."

Our guys are cutting through through the Taliban like a hot knife through hummus... so what's with all the hysterics?

Technorati Tags: NDP, Afghanistan, Canadian Forces

Idiots, explosives & falling anvils

I keep hearing banging noises and lots of "nyuk, nyuk, nyuk" in the background whenever anyone attempts to report on the NDP convention. So what exactly, have Curly, Larry & Alexa been up to?

Well, the Dippers are apparently insane with rage that there was a mere 6 hours of debate in Parliament before it voted to extend the military mission in Afghanistan.

I know you're sitting there waiting for it... so here's the punch line.

ADDENDUM: - 9:58 am - after a full 51 minutes debate, a full 5 hours and 9 minutes LESS than the debate in the house on this issue, the NDP pass a motion to resolve that they remove troops from Afghanistan immediately.

This is what happens when you get too many geriatric, shroomed out ex-flower children and their genetically damaged progeny in the same space for any length of time.

SIDENOTE: There are, of course, other opinions.

The big headline out of the convention was the party's call for Canadian troops to be brought home from Afghanistan. Already, the policy is paying dividends. Polls indicate the NDP position is very popular among opium growers, warlords and unemployed philosophy graduates who think Noam Chomsky is, like, on to something, man.

TrustOnlyMulder puts on his helmet, gloves and safety boots and attempts to wade through the wreckage.

UPDATE: Just to show the Dippers I'm not a totally heartless neocon, here's the holy grail of socially progressive debating.

CRUSH JACK LAYTONS HEART LIKE A GRAPE UPDATE: Sat. Sep. 9 2006 1:45 PM ET

Insurgent fighters in a Taliban stronghold are being pounded by NATO forces and are on the verge of collapse, said the commander of Canadian forces in southern Afghanistan on Saturday.

Technorati Tags: NDP, Afghanistan, Canadian Forces

Social Darwinism at work

It's true... "Guns are the tools of liberty & freedom."

NEW YORK, Sep. 9, 2006

(AP) Margaret Johnson's wheelchair might have made her look like an easy target. But when a mugger tried to grab a chain off her neck Friday, the 56-year-old pulled out her licensed .357 pistol and shot him, police said.

courtesy of Calamity Kate.

Technorati Tags: liberty, freedom, New York

Liberal military strategy

There's a couple of interesting nuggets in an article about the tanks that are reportedly being deployed to Afghanistan.

In the late 1990s, the Canadian Forces spent $145 million to upgrade its 114 Leopards with new computers and heat-sensing equipment to improve their fighting capability.

The Leopards were in the process of being mothballed or sold off but with the Afghan war heating up army commanders put a halt to that process in May.

So, much like the purchase of 4 used British submarines that have already caused the death of one Canadian Naval officer, (and that will not be ready for service for years, if ever) these tanks were apparently a big dollar bribe to the armed forces... but god forbid they actually ever be used for combat (remember, we've been in Afghanistan for over 4 years).

The waste and corruption of the Liberal decade plus, will be dogging us long into the future. Funny, you don't ever hear the Libs apologising for the way they've let our military down.

Oh, that's right, we don't need any of this stuff... we're peacekeepers.

SIDENOTE: Libs pissed away money like, well... a drunken sailor.

Canada announced the purchase of four mothballed subs from Britain in 1998. So far, buying and maintaining them has cost about $1.2 billion. But the navy has had difficulty getting more than one of the Victoria-class subs to sea at any given time.

HMCS Chicoutimi has been sitting in dry dock at Halifax Shipyard since last spring because of a fire on board on Oct. 5, 2004, that killed Lieut. Chris Saunders of Halifax.

The work to make Chicoutimi seaworthy again — pegged at $100 million — won’t start until 2010. According to the navy, the sub will return to active duty in 2012, eight years after it last went to sea.

If a business burned up money like this, without any checks & balances, it would be bankrupt in jig time. The Libs just reached out and picked our pockets time and time again.

Technorati Tags: Panjwai, Afghanistan, Canadian Forces

Canada dials it way up

Taliban Jack might be thinking of running away, but the guys on the sharp end of the spear just wanna reach out and touch somebody.

Troops on the front lines in the Panjwai region of Kandahar are convinced that the Defence Department is sending them 10 Leopard tanks.The tanks will be welcomed by the soldiers who say the heavy machines can plow through the mud walls and deep irrigation ditches of Panjwai. At the moment they're relying on a bulldozer they borrowed from the local authorities.

Tonight on tv, I watched a memorial service for one of the soldiers killed in Afghanistan. A number of troopers stood up and spoke about their late friend and the ongoing battle. Trust me, the last thing these guys are thinking about is pulling out.

Note to all you sensitive Libbers & Dips: in the armed forces big green "break stuff & kill people" tool box, a tank is... the BIG HAMMER.

UPDATE: Kicking ass in Panjwai.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - More than 40 suspected Taliban fighters and one NATO soldier were killed during fierce fighting in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said Saturday.

No word yet on whether NATO trooper is Canadian. Those tanks can't arrive too soon.

Technorati Tags: Panjwai, Afghanistan, Canadian Forces

Clarity is good

Get the whole spiel.

If the Afghanistan mission is to be debated, let it be debated for what it is: Either that we owe a duty to that country and it citizens, that will cost the lives of some of our soldiers to pay it and that it is honourable for Canada to assist a country ravaged by terror and war towards a better life, or that none of these things are true, that the mission is a misguided adventure, that Canadian soldiers should not be shedding blood a world away from Canada and that whatever the future holds for Afghanistan is none of our Canadian business.

So what is Canada's actual contribution... the "ass in the grass", if you will, in Afghanistan?

We rank third... in between Germany and the Netherlands, but ahead of the United States.

Technorati Tags: Rex Murphy, Afghanistan, Canadian Forces

This is your CBC

I first wrote about child murderer Samir Kuntar on July 18, 2006. He is perhaps the most despised man in Israel and a not insignificant factor in the recent Israeli/Lebanon debacle.

So why is the taxpayer funded CBC sucking up to this fundamentalist psychopath?

CBC and Nahlah Ayed’s sympathetic portrayal of Qantar's plight raises many troubling questions:

Why did CBC present a one-sided report on a murderer’s family and construct the report so that viewers would feel sympathy for a terrorist?

Why did The National’s producers not ask Ayed to balance footage of the murderer’s family with footage of the victims' family?

Would CBC have constructed a story about callous multiple-murderers in Canadian prisons the same way?

Was it appropriate for Ayed to adopt Hezbollah’s term, "Operation True Promise," in discussing the recent kidnapping of Israeli soldiers and murder of others?

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UPDATE: Hezbollah says it will swap 2 soldiers for child murderer... telling you everything you need to know about this organisation.

Technorati Tags: Samir Kuntar, Nahlah Ayed, CBC

Screeching & wailing sells ad space

The mainstream media is making mountains out of molehills again, portraying NATO's top commander as begging for more resources to shore up NATO troops.

In actual fact, it's nothing of the sort. Here's what General James Jones actually said,

"It will help us to reduce casualties and bring this to a successful conclusion in a short period of time," he said. "This is not a desperate move, it is more of an insurance package."

So what is really happening in Afghanistan right now?

Associated Press — NATO troops killed more than 20 Taliban in clashes Friday with NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, a spokesman for the alliance said.

Lt.-Col. Nick Grant-Thorold said 20 to 30 insurgents were killed in Kandahar province's Panjwaii district during an anti-Taliban operation called Operation Medusa.

The latest deaths raise NATO's estimate of the total number of insurgents killed to least 290 since the Canadian-led operation began Sept. 2.

The sad truth is that panic and doom & gloom sells more advertising space than good news. It's just too bad that people like "Taliban Jack" Layton are willing to use this obfuscation to try to further their agenda.

The Libs and Dippers won't like this, (flagged by Not Dead Yet) but let's hear from an actual soldier.

A lot of people in Canada think that we should not be here in Afghanistan, but those people don't see the remarkable changes happening here. One interpreter told me, "Because Canada is here, our people are happy again."

So to all those Canadians who continue to harp about what they don't know — here's your straw, suck it up.

Technorati Tags: NATO, Operation Medusa, Canadian Forces

Brison full of, well... you know

Scott Brison is full of more than pain.

"Equality is not an esoteric issue for me," he told a cheering crowd of 300, in closing remarks during the debate on women's issues. "I understand what it means to be 16 and told you can't do something because of who you are. ... I understand the pain of prejudice and glass ceilings."

Apparently, Scotty forgot what year he was born.

He was 14 when the Trudeau government repatriated the Constitution and adopted the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation."

He's also a bit of a hypocrite.

He chose the Liberal party at 35 "because I have always believed in socially Liberal values."

So being a member of the Conservative Party until 35 years of age, was what... a schoolgirl crush?

He came out publicly in late 2003 (for Brison, there appears to have been stages of coming out) because "I didn't want to hide anything. It was an extra step, coming out officially was very positive."

That's also a little disingenuous isn't it, Scott?

He'd already been "outed" in Frank magazine, something he says didn't bother him because "I was never really in" the closet.

How can you be "outed" if you weren't in the closet? Can anybody else follow this trail of buffalo chips?

Let's not even get into his denials about tipping off a stockbroker buddy on the "income trust" decision. This guy is truly a piece of work.

When asked later whether he personally had a communication in which he might have speculated on the outcome without firm knowledge, Mr. Brison said "No," adding, "You're asking me something in terms of communication that I don't remember. I don't recall anything."

Mr. Brison also would not say whether he had been questioned by police. "I'm not going to comment," he said.

h/t to Norman Spector.

SIDENOTE: The good ship Brison had a small mutiny in the closing weeks of August.

Two senior members of Scott Brison’s campaign - his national director, Leslie Swartman, and a communications strategist, Susan Murray - have resigned within the last few weeks.

Technorati Tags: Scott Brison, Charter of Rights, Liberal Party

Reality Cheque

The 20 or 30 million taxpayer dollars Dilton McDoily is blowing on Caledonia is just chump change. Here's the real bonanza.

The biggest winner in the residential schools settlement is not a native. He's a lawyer named Tony Merchant, and his firm's take could hit $100 million. No wonder he has so many critics.

CAUTION: Not recommended reading for the faint of heart, or those with high blood pressure. The article also details how his Liberal ties got Merchant's wife appointed to the Senate. I had to stop right there.

It was not, therefore, unexpected to see a Merchant appointed to the Senate in 2002. The surprise was that it was Pana, not Tony, going to the Red Chamber. "There were discussions," says Merchant, "but it would have been impossible unless I was prepared to back away from practice.

If I don't go lie down right now, I'm gonna have a stroke.

Technorati Tags: residential schools, Tony Merchant, Liberal Party

Can anybody tell me...

If you jump the immigration line by asking for refugee status, do you also bypass the medical screening that legitimate immigrants have to go through?

Toronto just absorbed 150 HIV/AIDS positive refugee claimants after the recent AIDSAPALOOZA... most of them reportedly from South Africa. I'm guessing that once this news reaches SA, we'll be the number one travel destination for any infected individuals with an ounce of hope/initiative.

Today we learn that there is highly evolved type of tuberculosis rampaging through this region.

An extremely deadly strain of Tuberculosis has appeared in South Africa, killing 52 of 53 people diagnosed with it so far. It is called XDR-TB (Extreme Drug Resistant Tuberculosis). Officials say it started in rural areas of the Kwazulu-Natal region of the country among miners, and has probably found its way into urban areas.

South Africa, predictably, has its head up its ass yet again.

Public health officials in South Africa insist there is no outbreak.

For anyone who's interested, that makes this strain of TB at least as deadly as ebola virus. Garlic and beetroot ain't gonna make a dent in this baby.

The WHO is attempting to get the word out.

Dr. Paul Nunn of the World Health Organization is attending the Johannesburg meeting.

“It is extreme drug resistant to the point where we’re talking about untreatable TB. So, the World Health Organization is particularly concerned that if these strains spread then we are going to be jerked back into the pre anti-biotic era, when in fact we do not have the drugs to treat patients. That is the potential of this epidemic,” he says.

Technorati Tags: South Africa, pandemic, XDR-TB

Dippers forced to eat...

... a BIG shit sandwich.

On Wednesday afternoon, riding association president Sue Creba issued a statement saying members wished to withdraw the preamble.

"We in no way intended to suggest that our Canadian Forces personnel were in any way associated with terrorism," Creba said.

Hey Sue, I'm guessing it'll take more than a few pina coladas to get rid of that taste. Also noteworthy was the absence of Taliban Jack Layton... a man who would normally walk across broken glass to get a soundbite on the 6 o'clock news.

And speaking of politically correct idiocy, let's make a stupid, empty gesture that helps the dumbed down citizenry somehow feel ennobled.

HALIFAX (CP) - The Nova Scotia International Air Show dropped a U.S. warplane from its program Wednesday because it's identical to planes that killed a Canadian soldier and wounded dozens of others in Afghanistan.

==> Meanwhile, back in the real world, from his hospital room in Germany, company commander Major Matthew Sprague, talking about the "friendly fire" incident, refused to play the blame game.

"I'm sure it will be analyzed to death, conclusions will be drawn, studies will be done, but I was on the ground and I feel just as bad for that poor American pilot," said Sprague, who fractured his skull. "His reactions saved lives that day, too."

And that, my friends on the lunatic left... is the Canadian soldier personified.

Technorati Tags: NDP, terrorist, Canadian Forces