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Sunday June 08, 2008
Two by Two
One by one they
followed the sun
Two by two to another rendezvous
Three by three don't tread on me
Four by four they're loosing the war.
Five by five can't stay alive ...... Bob
Dylan
1) Two
Canadian soldiers lost this week - but don't worry, it wasn't during an
assault on the Taliban, nosiree!
The second Canadian soldier in a week has been killed in
Afghanistan.
He fell down a well. On a routine patrol in an area where the
military
knows there are wells. And apparently he couldn't swim and
apparently,
in spite of billions spent on equipment and training, the
military does not have the capacity to rescue soldiers who fall down
wells.
DND
issued a terse press release with all the ad nauseum words -
"deeply"... "thoughts and prayers"... "not forget his sacrifice".
Brig.-Gen.
Denis Thompson and PM Stephen Harper (National Post) also
performed their "deeply ... thoughts and prayers ... not forget"
ritual, and then moved on to more pressing activities.
A couple of days earlier, DND reported that a Canadian
was killed by insurgents at close range (small arms fire)
while on patrol in the same area where, just a few days before that,
Canadian forces are said to have engaged for four whole days in
"Operation Rolling Thunder", an assault on Taliban forces which we are
told involved fierce fighting, without a single casualty!
At first the Canadian commanders answered media questions with ""We
choose not to speculate on who may - or may not - have come out of the
fight in good shape"
but later news items said that a "mid-level Taliban commander" and a
handful of foot soldiers were killed.
In stark contrast, the other side stated that the four day spree was a
Mujihadeen "spring offensive" that killed 19 American and 12 Canadian
soldiers. You can review all of this in my June 1 report on
this issue.
DND is now reporting unexpected and accidental deaths, but doesn't even
mention "Operation Rolling Thunder" - or anything like it - in
its news
releases.
Will the actual deaths be reported gradually, two by two like this,
until the number 12 is reached?
People still believe what they read in their favourite newspaper, even
though it smells fishy enough to have come out of a London chip shop.
By the way, I suggested earlier
that Canada's new Chief of Defence Staff was deployed in Iraq, proving
that our government acquiesed to anti-war protests by going underground
to support that war. I didn't think that was such a good
recommendation for the new guy, but the Toronto
Sun views it as his best feature!
Another result of having learned only readin' and
ritin'. Special
to the Toronto Sun: This is "rithmatic": Iraq = quagmire;
Afghanistan
= bigger quagmire.
By the way, if you need more evidence that Canada has been assisting
the Iraq war, DND
has it for you.
=================
2) Sleeping with the RCMP
The Canadian
Press
reports that Julie Couillard, the woman who got Maxime Bernier
oh-so-reluctucantly tossed out of Harper's cabinet, does not have the
Hell's Angels so far in her past as the Allcons (Alliance/Reform
masquerading as Conservatives) led by PM Stephen Harper would have us
think. Not only that, but it's been confirmed she was under RCMP
surveillance. And the RCMP knows that it only takes two to keep
the
government off their backs.
Tell us again how she isn't a paid informant for the RCMP, like her
former male interests. I think we should believe her claim that
there
was evidence of a bug beneath her mattress. As I said before,
there now exists the potential for, if not the actual exertion of power
over the government by the very forces it should be controlling.
That's one small step toward a police state. We're actually being
softened up for it. Once we become inured to sights like this
on the highways, we may not question seeing officers pointing real guns
at us on city streets. Look how well we've adjusted to all the
cameras.
(It doesn't occur to the government to pass laws governing the speed
capabilities of motor vehicle engines. On the one hand, cars are
sexily marketed for their "power" (virility); on the other hand, fines
are levied for exercising that power. And nobody, quite
bizarrely,
ever seems to put two beside two with a plus sign in between.)
==================
3) Two Harper experts add up to zero
From the Chronicle
Herald:
Prime
Minister Stephen Harper has filed a court motion to stop the Liberals
from using an allegedly "doctored" audio tape to discredit him in the
Chuck Cadman affair. Harper says in the motion, filed Wednesday in
Ontario Superior Court, that he will suffer "irreparable harm" if the
injunction is denied. But the author who recorded the tape denies
altering it, and the Liberals noted that Harper hasn’t questioned the
accuracy of his quotes. Moore also did not say specifically how the
tape had been changed or offer any proof that the Liberals knew it was
tampered with.
CTV News
says:
Tories
using Cadman to distract from Bernier: Grits
Quite. The purpose of the law suit was that it was supposed to
muzzle
the opposition, since Parliament should not debate a matter that has
gone to the courts. But now Harper is tossing "experts" at the
case -
who may end up wishing they'd never got involved.
Two top specialists found the tape doctored? One American
self-professed specialist
whose most lucrative speciality is no doubt his paid court testimony
for the prosecution - we see those in TV trials all the time - and one
Canadian whose specialty is assessing recorded employee
interviews and who will only say that it was not
a continuous recording.
To which the author Tom Zytaruk readily admits, Harper having turned to
leave and then turned back to say more, resulting in the tape recorder
being switched off and back on again.
Meet
author at centre of Chuck Cadman storm (HillTimes)
===============
4) Forget Israel, Harper likes his crime homegrown
Harper has turned his
focus on youth violence in Canada (Star)
after being advised that Israel's not a good place to visit just now,
what with Olmert being brought down on corruption charges that were
ignored completely when he wasn't part of a peace process with
Palestine that looked as if it might actually go somewhere.
Israel's war crimes don't phase Harper at all, but maybe that's because
they don't hold out the promise of profit that privatised
prisons (NUPGE) will. Do the math, eh? Our
kids are the future - of the warmongers slash profiteers.
Read more
about the move toward privatization of our public services at Public
Values.ca
Now maybe you'd like to try this: (thanks to Gary K., Vancouver):
Middle East Pop
Quiz (Antiwar)
yayacanada
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