A rare creature in the US Senate

Man with a conscience in the US Senate?  Who woulda thought, eh?


From Global Research
US Has Established 17 Illegal Military Bases in Syria: State Senator Richard H. Black
 
Virginia State senator Richard H. Black has made it clear that the United States makes trade between Iran and Syria more difficult by occupying the north of the Euphrates River in accordance with ‘Plan B’ announced several years ago by Secretary of State John Kerry.
He told the Syriatimes e-newspaper that The U.S. has attempted to block routes between the countries wherever possible and it has established 17 bases in Syria without the slightest lawful justification for doing so.

“The United States has established a semi-autonomous region dominated by Syrian Kurds to control the region. Since Kurds make up only 20% of the area’s population, allowing them to dominate the region creates a political unstable situation; the much larger Arabic population is almost certain to take up arms to avoid falling under the domination of the Kurdish minority. This creates a situation where ethnic violence provides justification for the U.S. to remain in the area indefinitely, since the United States has announced its intention to prevent the resurgence of ISIS. The reemergence of violence in the area would likely be attributed to ISIS and used as a pretext for continued occupation,” the senator said.

U.S. refuses to publicize barbaric nature of its premier “moderate rebel” group
Asked about the US use of internationally banned weapons in attacking areas in the north of Syria, Sen. Black replied:

“There are reports that the U.S. has used cluster bombs and white phosphorus in Syria. The U.S. has denied those allegations. Meanwhile, the U.S. led coalition repeatedly complains about the use of so-called “barrel bombs” by Syria. It is not clear what the distinction is between a barrel containing explosives and shrapnel and a 15,000 pound “bunker-busting” bomb that hurls razor-sharp shrapnel great distances.”

He pointed out that during his recent visit to Syria [in September 2018] he entered a building that contained “barrel rockets” that were manufactured by the terrorists who were driven from Aleppo.

“Some people claim that “barrel bombs” should be illegal because they are not precision-guided. The “barrel rockets” were fired by terrorists into random civilian areas for the sole purpose of killing innocent people. I have not heard any of Syria’s military opponents complaining about the use of “barrel rockets” by the terrorists. In fact, the west has never complained about any legal violations by terrorists that they support,” the Senator stated.

He made it clear that the United States refuses to publicize the barbaric nature of it’s premier “moderate rebel” group [the Free Syrian Army], and its constant cooperation with terror forces like al Nusra and ISIS.

“We know, for example, that the Free Syrian Army frequently beheads and mutilates captives. We know they have cannibalized soldiers in battle. We know that they have thrown postal workers from municipal buildings to their death. Within the last several weeks, the Free Syrian Army distributed a video depicting one of its soldiers carrying out an “honor killing” of his own sister by machine gunning her to death,” the Senator said.

He indicated that he traveled five hours from Damascus to Aleppo on his trip to Syria this September......

Imagine This: Your family home need immediate repairs but you prefer to build a palace for your mistress ....

because of those personal "special" favors she does for you.  What kind of a person does that make you?  A1 Scumbag!
US Senator Lindsey Graham is that kind of a scumbag and so also are the voters who keep him in the Senate.
The special "favors" the despicable Graham will get, will of course be, the kind that the Panama Papers are all about.

Julian Pecquet at Al Monitor
Congress ponders 'Marshall Plan' for Egypt

A top US senator is floating an ambitious proposal to rebuild Egypt and other Middle East trouble spots, prompting congressional soul-searching into whether the region's strongmen have any desire to change.

The chairman of the Senate Appropriations panel on foreign aid, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., laid out his vision for a "Marshall Plan" in an April 7 briefing with reporters following his trip to the region. As a preliminary step, he said he would work within his subcommittee on emergency funding of "multiple billions" of dollars for Egypt and several other countries.

"One thing I will talk to [Democratic counterpart Patrick] Leahy [D-Vt.] about is an emergency appropriation that will help Egypt, Jordan and probably Lebanon to deal with the stresses they're facing," Graham told reporters. "And we need to get some money into the system to help Israel create some capabilities to shore up borders that have been compromised."

Graham made the remarks following a congressional delegation he led to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel, during which he and several other lawmakers met with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and other national leaders. Separately, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., also met with Sisi on April 7.

"I was stunned at how things have deteriorated," Graham said, notably in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula bordering Israel. "If you go to Egypt and don't realize they need some help yesterday, you're making a huge mistake."

Graham did not offer specifics about his proposed emergency appropriation, which would go beyond the $1.3 billion in military aid and $150 million in economic assistance that the State Department has requested for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. Several senators who went on the trip with him also argued for beefed up support for Cairo.....

Sen. Rand Paul questions why "mine resistance, ambush protection" 20 tonnes vehicles are in possession of police forces in towns across America

The answer to that, dear Sen. Rand Paul is because the warmongers and the investors in the military complex in your Godforsaken country of the United States of America has turned your country into a police state and they want to  become even more rich by spilling the blood of helpless poor people and  the scum  don't give a fig if that blood happens to be that of Americans. They just want to feed the war machines. Capiche?  Now stop asking stupid questions to which you know the answers  well in advance and know them perfectly well.



Full Senate hearing  farce is here.  

There's at least one senator in the US who's not blind and deaf when it comes to Syria .....

and his name is Richard Black, a senator from Virginia. He knows about the plight of Christians and the other minorities in the Middle East,  the same minorities that warmonger John McCain and his transgender wannabe sidekick want eradicated from Syria along with Assad their protector.

US Senator John McCain, the Godfather of ISIS/ISIL/IS/xyz ?

As far as my opinion is considered .... YES, he is.  And, with the backing of the president of the USA and probably more than half of the members making up the Senate body.  That's how much rotten to the core the once great nation has become.  It can no longer distinguish good from evil and the sooner the decline and death of this entity the better it will be for the rest of the world.

Below are the first few paragraphs of  a nicely put and very believable article by Thierry Meyssan. Worth a read in its entirety. I like it, but at the same time, I  can't forget that Meyssan also firmly believes (at least he did a few years ago) that a missile hit the Pentagon and not a plane.  After that, I tend to take everything he writes with a grain of salt ..... but this article about McCain's involvement with Abu Bakr al Baghadi the Houdini of Iraq, makes a lot of sense and years from now, if not sooner ... might have a lot of bite.

John McCain, Conductor of the "Arab Spring" and the Caliph 
Everyone has noticed the contradiction of those who recently characterized the Islamic Emirate as "freedom fighters" in Syria and who are indignant today faced with its abuses in Iraq. But if that speech is incoherent in itself, it makes perfect sense in the strategic plan: the same individuals were to be presented as allies yesterday and must be as enemies today, even if they are still on orders from Washington. Thierry Meyssan reveals below US policy through the particular case of Senator John McCain, conductor of the "Arab Spring" and longtime partner of Caliph Ibrahim.

John McCain is known as the leader of the Republicans and unhappy 2008 US presidential candidate. This is, we will see, only the real part of his biography, which serves as a cover to conduct covert actions on behalf of his government.

When I was in Libya during the "Western"attack, I was able to view a report of the foreign intelligence services. It stated that, on February 4, 2011 in Cairo, NATO organized a meeting to launch the "Arab Spring" in Libya and Syria. According to this document, the meeting was chaired by John McCain. The report detailed the list of Libyan participants, whose delegation was led by the No. 2 man of the government of the day, Mahmoud Jibril, who abruptly switched sides at the entrance of the meeting to become the opposition leader in exile. I remember that, among the French delegates present, the report quoted Bernard-Henry Lévy, although officially he had never exercised functions within the French government. Many other personalities attended the symposium, including a large delegation of Syrians living abroad.

Emerging from the meeting, the mysterious Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook account called for demonstrations outside the People’s Council (National Assembly) in Damascus on February 11. Although this Facebook account at the time claimed to have more than 40,000 followers, only a dozen people responded to its call before the flashes of photographers and hundreds of police. The demonstration dispersed peacefully and clashes only began more than a month later in Deraa. [1]

On February 16, 2011, a demonstration underway in Benghazi, in memory of members of the Islamic Fighting Group in Libya [2] massacred in 1996 in the Abu Selim prison, degenerated into shooting. The next day, a second event, this time in memory of those who died by attacking the Danish consulate during the Muhammad cartoons affair, also degenerated into shooting. At the same time, members of the Islamic Fighting Group in Libya ,coming from Egypt and coordinated by unidentified, hooded individuals, simultaneously attacked four military bases in four different cities. After three days of fighting and atrocities, the rebels launched the uprising of Cyrenaica against Tripolitania [3]; a terrorist attack that the western press falsely presented as a "democratic revolution" against "the regime" of Muammar el-Qaddafi.

On February 22nd, John McCain was in Lebanon. He met members of the Future Movement (the party of Saad Hariri) whom he charged to oversee the transfer of arms to Syria around the MP Okab Sakr [4]. Then, leaving Beirut, he inspected the Syrian border and the selected villages including Ersal, which were used as a basis to back mercenaries in the war to come.

The meetings chaired by John McCain were clearly the trigger point for a long-prepared Washington plan; the plan that would have the UK and France attack Libya and Syria simultaneously, following the doctrine of "leadership from behind" and the annex of the Treaty of Lancaster House of November 2010. [5]

The Illegal Trip to Syria, April 2013

In May 2013, Senator John McCain made his way illegally to near Idleb in Syria via Turkey to meet with leaders of the "armed opposition". His trip was not made public until his return to Washington. [6]

This movement was organized by the Syrian Emergency Task Force, which, contrary to its title, is a Zionist Organization led by a Palestinian employee of AIPAC [7]

In photographs released at that time, one noticed the presence of Mohammad Nour, a spokesman for the Northern Storm Brigade (of the Al-Nosra Front, that is to say, al-Qaeda in Syria), who kidnapped and held 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims in Azaz. [8] Asked about his proximity to al-Qaeda kidnappers, the Senator claimed not to know Mohammad Nour who would have invited himself into this photo.

The affair made a great noise and the families of the abducted pilgrims lodged a complaint before the Lebanese judiciary against Senator McCain for complicity in kidnapping. Ultimately, an agreement was reached and the pilgrims were released.

Let’s suppose that Senator McCain had told the truth and that he was abused by Mohammad Nour. The object of his illegal trip to Syria was to meet the chiefs of staff of the Free Syrian Army. According to him, the organization was composed "exclusively of Syrians" fighting for "their freedom" against the "Alouite dictatorship” (sic). The tour organizers published this photograph to attest to the meeting.

If we can see Brigadier General Idriss Salem, head of the Free Syrian Army, one can also see Ibrahim al-Badri (foreground on the left) with whom the senator is talking. Back from the surprise trip, John McCain claimed that all those responsible for the Free Syrian Army were "moderates who can be trusted" (sic).

However, since October 4, 2011, Ibrahim al-Badri (also known as Abu Du’a) was on the list of the five terrorists most wanted by the United States (Rewards for Justice). A premium of up to $ 10 million was offered to anyone who would assist in his capture. [9] The next day, October 5, 2011, Ibrahim al-Badri was included in the list of the Sanctions Committee of the UN as a member of Al Qaeda. [10]

In addition, a month before receiving Senator McCain, Ibrahim al-Badri, known under his nom de guerre as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,

created the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ÉIIL) – all the while still belonging to the staff of the very "moderate" Free Syrian Army. He claimed as his own the attack on the Taj and Abu Ghraib prisons in Iraq, from which he helped between 500 and 1,000 jihadists escape who then joined his organization. This attack was coordinated with other almost simultaneous operations in eight other countries. Each time, the escapees joined the jihadist organizations fighting in Syria. This case is so strange that Interpol issued a note and requested the assistance of the 190 member countries. [11]..........

Is the CIA blackmailing US senators?

Why else would the CIA  spy on them?  Some of the actions and decisions coming from the US Congress are so bizzaro world, one can make a good case that a large contingent of the US govt body is either blackmailed or powerful A1 type hypnotists have them under their spell and making them sign their names to the most outrageous actions they normally wouldn't have.

Spencer Ackerman  writing at TheGuardianUK:
CIA admits to spying on Senate staffers   
CIA director apologises for improper conduct of agency staff
One senator calls on John Brennan to resign in wake of scandal
The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, issued an extraordinary apology to leaders of the US Senate intelligence committee on Thursday, conceding that the agency employees spied on committee staff and reversing months of furious and public denials.



Brennan acknowledged that an internal investigation had found agency security personnel transgressed a firewall set up on a CIA network, which allowed Senate committee investigators to review agency documents for their landmark inquiry into CIA torture.

Among other things, it was revealed that agency officials conducted keyword searches and email searches on committee staff while they used the network.

The admission brings Brennan’s already rocky tenure at the head of the CIA under renewed question. One senator on the panel said he had lost confidence in the director, although the White House indicated its support for a man who has been one of Barack Obama’s most trusted security aides.

CIA spokesman Dean Boyd acknowledged that agency staff had improperly monitored the computers of committee staff members, who were using a network the agency had set up, called RDINet. “Some CIA employees acted in a manner inconsistent with the common understanding reached between [the committee] and the CIA in 2009 regarding access to the RDINet,” he said.
Asked if Brennan had or would offer his resignation, a different CIA spokesman, Ryan Trapani, replied: “No.”

In March, the committee chairwoman, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, accused the agency of violating constitutional boundaries by spying on the Senate.
Feinstein said the vindication, from CIA inspector general David Buckley, and Brennan’s apology were “positive first steps,” suggesting that the director had further work to do before she would consider the matter closed............

US Sen. Richard H Black of Virginia, a true Christian, writes to thank Assad for saving Christians....

and lo and behold ....  the silence of the MSM is deafening.  

BuzzFeed, who requested the senator for a copy of the letter and got it, is the only online site of note to have posted the letter. The few others that have deemed to give this any notice, have given it just a few sentences in print and made the whole thing look like it was a stupid thing to do.  When did thanking someone for the good they have done become a "NO NO".  Even Buzzfeed, although taking the initiative to post the entire 2-page letter online,  calls it "fawning."

From the depths of the steaming hot pile of rot which makes up the political body of today, comes one person like Sen. Richard Black and gives us hope that within that dirty heap there might be others like him who just need a hot water bathing to discover that they too have a conscience and that conscience wants to speak up and tell the truth ... consequences be damned.

Miriam Berger and Gideon Resnick writing at BuzzFeed
....Republican State Senator Richard Black of Virginia has written a letter to Bashar al-Assad praising the Syrian president for his fight against “criminals linked to al-Qaeda” and thanking him for his “heroic rescue of Christians.”
“You have followed the practice of your father by treating with respect all Christians and the small community of Jews in Damascus…. I am grateful for that,” the letter reads. It concludes: “Until then, I pray that the Syrian armed forces will continue to exhibit extraordinary gallantry in the war against terrorists.”
Assad has been accused of widespread human rights abuses in his country’s three year long civil war.

Reached by cellphone, a man identifying himself as Senator Black confirmed to BuzzFeed that he had written the letter, which was dated April 1 (though it did not appear to be an April Fools’ joke). It was addressed to Assad, but Black said it was “difficult” to get the letter to the Syrian president. He refused to elaborate further on his channels to Assad. “I had not published it because I didn’t know how long it would take to get it delivered to President Assad,” 

Black said. “I didn’t want to just publish it in the newspapers without it ever being received. It accurately reflects my views on the Syrian situation.”

Black received unofficial confirmation that the letter had been received by the government after a contact, who he declined to name, told him that the Syrian First Lady, Asmaa al-Assad, had posted it to her Facebook page. “The individual who wrote [me] wanted to confirm that it wasn’t a prank,” Black said. “I’m not much of a prankster.”

When asked if he feared backlash over the letter’s contents, Black said, “Anytime you take a stand there will be certainly people who disagree. But Al Qaeda killed 3,000 Americans on 9/11 and I’m deeply troubled that we are now assisting al-Qaeda in Syria.”...................

Bombshell from the Liberal Party of Canada

What a well placed resounding slap at the Conservative govt. of Stephen Harper!!  Serves the PM right for dilly-dallying on the issue of dismantling the Senate and having only elected senators and not appointed ones.  One up for the Liberals. Well done!

There could be something like a scandal or worse behind it all ... but until that's revealed this move by the Liberals will be seen by many as a very positive one.  

James Cudmore writing at CBC:
Justin Trudeau has expelled from his caucus every single Liberal member of the upper house and has declared there is no longer any such thing as a Liberal Senator.

The Liberal leader said the former members of the Liberal Senate caucus will sit as Independents, and they will have no formal ties to the Liberal parliamentary machinery apart from through their friendships.

Trudeau's decision will see some lifelong Liberals and key party operators and fundraisers removed from the party's caucus and forced outside its inner circles – a foundation-shaking decision in a business where power is derived from membership in a political club and the ability to access its best back rooms. 

"The 32 formerly Liberal senators are now independent of the national Liberal caucus," Trudeau said. "They are no longer part of our parliamentary team. There are no more Liberal senators. 

"The only way to be a part of the Liberal caucus is to be put there by the people of Canada."
The move stunned both Liberal senators and senior Liberal Senate staffers, who had not been formally advised of the decision. It also blindsided veteran insiders and political observers who had no inkling about the change........

Ottawa Politics and the shamelessness that is synonymous with most therein

Mike Duffy's speech to Senate.  PM Harper must be regretting the day he picked this man to be a member.

From David Akin's blog:
....Honourable Senators; I rise today against the orders of my doctors who fear my heart condition has worsened after months of unrelenting stress.
But given the unprecedented nature of today’s proceedings, I feel I have no other choice than to come here to defend my good name.
Like you, I took a solemn oath to put the interests of Canadians ahead of all else.
However the sad truth is, I allowed myself to be intimidated into doing what I knew in my heart was wrong, out of a fear of losing my job, and a misguided sense of loyalty.
Much has been made of the $90 thousand dollar cheque from Nigel Wright.
I hope I’ll be able to give an explanation of the chain of events, and .........

One down, how many more to go?

Mac Harb resigns.  In my opinion he should have done so as soon as the audit of the  irregularities in his spending claims  were made public.  However, his action even if a bit late shows some sense of decency in the man from the Liberal party.  Not so with the Conservative senators!  No sireeee!!  The shameless ones are hanging on for dear life and will continue making excuses for their greed and dishonesty.

Josh Wingrove writing at TheGlobe&Mail:
Mac Harb resigns from Senate,   didn’t want to be ‘poster boy’ for spending audit.  After first pledging to defend his housing claims in court, Mac Harb has abandoned his legal fight, repaid a total of $231,649 and resigned from the Senate.

Mr. Harb is said to have made the decision after the wide scope of a Senate spending review by Canada’s Auditor-General became clear, with his lawyer saying the former senator, who was facing a long and expensive legal battle, didn’t want to be the “poster boy” for the lengthy audit.
In departing, Mr. Harb said his claims were in keeping with common Senate practice, and that “most senators made similar claims.” The Liberal appointee maintains he was treated unfairly by a Conservative-dominated committee and believes the Auditor-General’s investigation, due to be completed in 2015, will vindicate him.

Mr. Harb’s resignation comes as the Liberal caucus – senators and MPs – meets in Prince Edward Island this week. It also leaves six open seats in the Senate. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said last week he has “no immediate plans” to fill any Senate vacancies, and a spokesman for Mr. Harper said Monday that statement still stands after Mr. Harb’s departure..................

PM very clear on Conservative ethics requirement: "Those who seek to benefit from public office should leave Tory caucus"

It's tough to find an honest politician and PM Stephen Harper has his own quota of faults too, we know that  ... but even his enemies must admit that this man would prefer to die than take what does not belong to him.  People like him are allergic to greedy people like Mike Duffy, Pamela Waller, Patrick Brazeau ... and I fear to think how many others like them are still inside the Tory caucus.

From SUNNews
... Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Conservative MPsTuesday morning he is "very upset" about a Senate expense scandal that forced his top aide to resign Sunday and saw two Senators leave his caucus last week. 

From Yahoo:
...Prime Minister Stephen Harper says any federal Conservative who is in politics to seek personal gain from public office should get out of his caucus.

From OttawaCitizen:
....Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday he is “not happy” with the actions of some Senators and with the conduct of his own office......

From CBC
...."I don't think any of you are going to be very surprised to hear that I’m not happy. I'm very upset about some conduct we have witnessed, the conduct of some parliamentarians and the conduct of my own office," Harper told Conservative MPs and senators Tuesday.

"Canada has one of the most accountable and transparent systems of government in the entire world," Harper said. "It is something we can never take for granted."
"I know that, like me and my family, that you are scrupulous about paying expenses of a personal nature yourselves... but that said, let me repeat something else I said in that same speech in 2005, and let me be very blunt about it: Anyone who wants to use public office for their own benefit should make other plans, or better yet, leave this room," Harper said.

In an apparent swipe at the opposition, Harper also said his government has been trying to pass legislation to reform the Senate for years.

"The Senate status quo is not acceptable, Canadians want the Senate to change," Harper said.....

The mistakes of the "strong Conservative majority" coming back to take a bite

On the heels of the two Conservative senators' scandals, Pamela Wallin's travel expenses  that show she was  milking the taxpayers and Mike Duffy's living expenses exposing him to be a cheat...  now we have yet another appointee of the Harper machine connected to a much bigger scandal.   Are there more fearsome skeletons in the Conservative closet?  Wonder how many more errors in hiring judgement the Cons have made so far that we don't know anything about .... as yet.

Human nature being what it is, I will readily admit that people who are honest themselves, like our PM Stephen Harper, tend to think people they happen to  know and admire are also like them. Look in your own backyard.  Haven't there been times when you thought someone was a "good" person and then you got slapped in the face with that person's  alter ego  ... a cheat, a liar or even worse?

PM Harper has now learnt a bitter lesson and from the second link below  I can premise that  he will always from now on insist on thorough investigation of any and all appointees to any post within his government.  A wise man learns through his mistakes.

FromCTVNews:
....The man once entrusted to keep an eye on Canada's spy agency is now a wanted man.
An arrest warrant is out for Arthur Porter, the former head of the CSIS watchdog agency, for alleged fraud in one of the country's most expensive infrastructure projects.
He is among the five people named in arrest warrants issued Wednesday by Quebec's anti-corruption squad, in the case of the $1.3-billion construction of a Montreal mega-hospital.
The warrants say the men are wanted on numerous charges -- including fraud, breach of trust and document forgery. They say Porter and Elbaz are wanted under suspicion of having accepted bribes from some of the others.
Porter was the director general of the McGill University Hospital Centre when the alleged fraud occurred.
He was also head of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, which he joined in 2008 before becoming its chairman in 2010.
Porter resigned under suspicious circumstances in 2011, and has since left the country. After that affair, the federal government tightened the screening process for nominees to the intelligence committee.
Quebec's provincial police anti-corruption squad has made numerous arrests over the last year in relation to ongoing scandals in the construction industry..........

From TheGobe&Mail:
The Harper government quietly introduced  strict security vetting for nominees to Canada’s spy watchdog after chairman Arthur Porter resigned amid concerns about his business dealings.
Appointees to the Security Intelligence Review Committee now must be security cleared to the top-secret level – a rigorous process that wasn’t in place when Mr. Porter joined in 2008 or became chairman in 2010............

PM Harper to get input from Supreme Court on the Senate question

Good to know he's going to keep his word....better late than never.

From NationalPost:
Harper government asks Supreme Court to rule on legality of Senate reform.  OTTAWA — The fate of Canada’s Senate is to be considered by the country’s top court, which has been asked to rule on how reforms to the upper chamber can be made – and on whether it can be abolished.

The Conservative government Friday said it will send six “reference questions” to the Supreme Court of Canada, marking the first time in more than 30 years that the top court would weigh in on Senate reform.

The questions submitted Friday could clear up whether reforming the Senate requires opening up the Constitution – a thorny process that involves the provinces as well as the federal government.

The six questions sent to the court include asking the justices to rule on: the constitutionality of limiting Senate terms to eight, nine or 10 years, among other options; how to go about consulting the provinces on Senate reform and how to go about electing senators who are currently appointed by the prime minister; whether the federal government can repeal the minimum wealth requirements and property qualifications for senators; and how the country could go about abolishing the Senate.

Depending on how the court rules, the government intends to push the Senate Reform Act through the legislative process.

The opposition New Democrats have advocated for abolishing the Senate — a path Prime Minister Stephen Harper has hinted at in the past.

“This party’s preference is to see a reformed and elected Senate, but the Senate must change. If the Senate cannot be elected, then it should be abolished. Those are the choices,” Harper told the House of Commons in 2007..........

Conservative govt. getting too big for their boots ....

they gotta remember that the bigger one gets, the harder they fall.

Here's  how much  multi-faced the PM has become.... the same man who, a few years ago, said he would get rid of the Senate or  have an "elected to" Senate instead of the "appointed to" one that we have at present,   now keeps appointing many more senators to the body.  From the 6 new senators, only 1 of them  is an elected one.  Politicians... underneath it all, they are all liars to the core....each and every one of them.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper  has appointed five new senators to sit in the Upper Chamber, including one chosen by voters in Alberta.
Harper made the announcement in a press release Friday afternoon.
The new senators are:
Denise Batters, a Regina lawyer and mental-health expert whose late husband, former MP Dave Batters, committed suicide.
Lynn Beyak, a small business owner from Dryden, Ont., with experience in real estate, insurance and tourism.
Doug Black, a Calgary lawyer, as well as vice-chair and senior counsel of the law firm Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP.
Victor Oh, a Mississauga, Ont., entrepreneur and president of Wyford Holdings, a property development and management business.
David Wells, a St. John's executive who most recently served as deputy CEO of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board.
Black was selected by voters in Alberta in a Senate consultation process last spring.....

Chess Master extraordinaire makes 5 moves

From the CanadianPress
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has appointed five new senators, bolstering the Tory majority in the upper chamber.

He is sending Diane Bellemare, Tobias C. Enverga Jr., Thanh Hai Ngo, Thomas Johnson McInnis and Paul E. McIntyre to the Senate.

Bellemare fills a vacancy in Quebec, Enverga and Ngo take vacant Ontario seats, McInnis is from Nova Scotia and McIntyre is from New Brunswick.

The prime minister says the new senators are pledged to support his government's efforts to reform the Senate, including term limits.

The appointments give Harper's Tories 62 of the Senate's 105 seats.
The Liberals hold 40 seats, there is one Progressive Conservative senator and two independents.

Dear Senator Dallaire

 A friend of mine forwarded an email he has sent to the Canadian Senator Romeo Dallaire who has declared himself  a saint, but in reality he is far, far, far, far from sainthood of any kind.

Dear Senator Dallaire:
Yesterday I received an e-mail from you enclosing a  petition urging the return of Omar Khadr to Canada.

 I will not be signing the petition.
   
 In fact, I had already sent the Minister an email requesting that  he decline to sign a Prisoner Transfer Agreement, thereby blocking Omar Khadr's return to Canada, in the light of the appearance of Ezra Levant's new book "The Enemy Within: Terror, Lies, and the Whitewashing of Omar Khadr", which I read with consternation.
  
Omar Khadr's return to Canada so far in advance of serving his full sentence would send so many wrong signals that one does not know where to begin.
  
He would be a symbol for jihadis all over the world, generating much traffic and activity centring on Canada, both electronic communications and physical visits, thereby putting a further strain on our law enforcement agencies.  Further, his return would appear to fly in the face of the spirit of the government's new flagship crime bill.  It would also be seen as a sign of weakness by the very people we should not be encouraging.   

A lot of us are looking to the current government to provide the same sort of leadership over this issue as they showed over Israel, Kyoto, etc.,  in the face of pressure from the liberal establishment to sign the Transfer Agreement.

Meanwhile, more recently, a very interesting item has come to light: 
 Saudi women's rights activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider points out that:
 "... prisoners in Guantanamo Bay in some ways are better off than some Arab women who are kept as prisoners in their own homes.  While the Guantanamo prisoners " wear practical, light-cloured clothing suitable for the climate ... some Arab women are forced to wear impractical and suffocating garments    ... A prisoner in Guantanamo [can] see the sun, feel its rays and enjoy the caress of fresh air on his face, even when he is in chains, whereas the women in some Arab states  are shackled [both]  physically and spiritually ... the minute the girl enters her teens , she no longer sees the light of day, and she cannot breathe fresh air except through a veil, since she is covered from head to toe in black garments." 

When Omar Khadr's sister and mother were interviewed on the CBC wearing such garments the interviewer should have told them that he was freer than they were.


Meanwhile, it's only fair that I draw your attention to the April issue of Literary Review, with  Reg Whitaker's review of Ezra Levant's book:  "Citizen Khadr, Either Omar Khadr has certain basic rights or no Canadian does. Which is it?" pp.   22-24. 


There are serious points Ezra makes that Reg Whitaker simply ignores: 
1)  Why Omar  Khadr is in no way a "child soldier" ( I would be very interested in your own comments on this one).
2)  The way Khadr and the other jihadis are playing the Canadian "liberal media-legal industrial complex"  strongly recalls the way in which the nuclear disarmament movement was largely directed from Moscow via local Communist parties, via its "useful idiot"  liberals.


signed
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Further, the letter writer comments to me:
When contemplating DND, one is reminded of the passage in "Flashman at the Charge" where, just before his meeting with Michael Ignatieff's terrible great-grandfather, Flashman muses on the Tsarist public service; something along the lines of (quoting from memory)."Those Russian civil servants are a bad lot ....arrogant, corrupt, immensely puffed up .... they give themselves military ranks, so that you find that Colonel So-and-so is in charge of neglecting the parish sewage, or General ....  is fiddling municipal finances." 


Step forward, Romeo Dallaire.
Apparently many in the military consider Dallaire to be a coward, not a hero, for his embarrassing role in Rwanda, for example, the Belgians, whose soldiers were slaughtered right under Dallaire 's nose as he was allegedly "negotiating" with their genocidal captors.  They'd like to try him for what they see as his abdication of leadership but the Liberal Gov't of the day protected him from any such extradition to face legal action.  Liberals love him for his wishy-washy "victimhood" nonsense, not to mention his  flagship status as a prominent Francophone.   There's a lot more to the Rwanda slaughter than most people realize.  It was an international failure of the highest order and Dallaire was a useful pawn in the UN's inaction.   
How else can his actions circulating a petition calling for Omar Khadr to return to Canada be explained?

Everything you say makes perfect sense, friend.

It was a good thing warmonger John McCain lost the election

What does Sarah Palin see in him?  Yes, there are times when I can clearly see that Obama is better than McCain could ever have been.  It was a blessing in disguise that this senile idiot did not win the presidency otherwise by now he would have dragged not only the USA but Canada and other NATO countries into yet another war in a Muslim land.  I don't know of any Syrians flying planes into world towers, although we all know about terrorists with Saudi passports happily walking through airports on their way to killing and burning Americans  in their own land.  Saudi Arabia is still standing but this dumbfuck wants Syria destroyed?


NYTimes Feb 20, 2012
With the Syrian government continuing its deadly crackdown on its citizens, two senior American senators who were on their way to the Middle East spoke out strongly on Sunday in favor of arming the Syrian opposition forces.
The senators, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, both Republicans, laid out a series of diplomatic, humanitarian and military aid proposals that would put the United States squarely behind the effort to topple President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The senators, both of whom are on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that rebel fighters deserved to be armed and that helping them take on the Syrian government would aid Washington’s effort to weaken Iran............

ChicagoTribune March 5, 2012
...In 2008, we thought McCain was running for president of the United States, but he was really out to be emperor of the planet. He sees no limit to our responsibility -- or our right -- to dictate outcomes when violence erupts in any other nation. Their problems are automatically our business. In his book, there are no foreign affairs. They are all American affairs....

Politico May 3, 2012
Arizona Republican John McCain on Monday became the first senator to call for U.S.-led air strikes to stop the slaughter of unarmed civilians being carried out by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“Providing military assistance to the Free Syrian Army and other opposition groups is necessary, but at this late hour, that alone will not be sufficient to stop the slaughter and save innocent lives. The only realistic way to do so is with foreign airpower,” McCain, a Vietnam War veteran and the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a speech on the Senate floor.
“Therefore, at the request of [opposition forces], the United States should lead an international effort to protect key population centers in Syria, especially in the north, through airstrikes on Assad’s forces.”..........

Liberal senators .... wasting your money

It's no surprise that the top spenders in our Senate are the Liberals. Travelling all over the country and living it up in top-notch hotels is the order of the day for these guys. Their complete disregard for taxpayers' money spent on their egocentric whims and fancies while blatantly saying they are sitting on this committee here and that committee over there which makes it necessary for their constant travelling around, does not cut it.

If the Conservative senators are able to cut costs to the bare minimum and yet show all the efficiency we get from them, then there's only one conclusion to draw from this.  These Liberal senators are lousy at the jobs they are entrusted to do.

Here's the list of these big spenders, big spenders only when it's with taxpayers' money.   With their own big bucks, what are the bets that Scrooge might learn a lesson or two from them ?