Liberals knew Afghan detainee allegations in 2005!

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Sandy

Finally, people are coming forward and telling the truth about what really happened regarding Afghan detainee treatment before the Conservative government came to power in January, 2006.

And, miracles of miracles, it is the CBC who is letting the cat out of the bag — that between 2002 and 2005 during both the Jean Chretien and Paul Martin Liberal governments, there were reports expresssing major concerns about possible Afghan detainee abuse once they were tranferred to the Afghan authorities.

For example, an anonymous source has apparently told the CBC that the Martin Liberal government feared an Abu-Ghraib type of scandal, yet did nothing — I repeat, did nothing. Read that story here. 

Not only that, we also learn that Eileen Olexiuk, the second-in-command at the Canadian embassy in Kabul between 2002 and 2005 submitted three reports outlining the allegations of detainee abuse. Yet, even when she raised the possibility of torture in 2005, the Martin Liberal government did nothing. “I don’t think anybody really cared, quite frankly,” she said.

Well, now, my fellow bloggers, I challenge you to send out this URL to everyone you know, as well as all those journalists who have been happy to pound the Liberal drum.

Liberal hypocrisy has been exposed! They KNEW about allegations of detainee abuse at the hands of the Afghanis when they were still in government — AND DID NOTHING ABOUT IT — NOTHING!

One final thought, I would also recommend those who worry about whether or not Canadian troops have transferred any “innocent” Afghan civilians to the Afghan authorities, read this piece by the CBC’s Neil MacDonald.

c/p Jack’s Newswatch

Filed under: Afghan Detainee Topic | Tagged: , | 14 Comments »

YouTube, March 16th, 7pm ET: Interview with PM on budget

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Sandy

Prime Minister Stephen Harper cannot get fair treatment by most of the Canadian media so he is going directly to the Canadian people on Tuesday, March 16th at 7pm Eastern time. 

Check out  http://www.youtube.com/TalkCanada.

The invitation at the Talk Canada link is for ordinary Canadians to submit their budget-related questions by Sunday, March 14th at 1pm ET. Then, a selected few will be chosen for the interview with the PM on the Tuesday evening.

Since so many young people are using the Internet for their news, it is an excellent way for the PM to communicate. However, it is also a very sad commentary on the state of ”journalism” in this country. h/t Stephen Taylor.

c/p at Jack’s Newswatch. See also Blue Blogging Soapbox.

Filed under: Federal Budget, Harper Government, Using Social Media & YouTube | Tagged: , | 9 Comments »

Akin anti-Tory smear on Jaffer judge yellow journalism

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Sandy

Filed under: Harper Government, Media Topics | Tagged: , , | 19 Comments »

Attacked by comment spam yesterday

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Sandy

Just to let my fellow Blogging Tories know, yesterday one of my threads was attacked big time by a comment spammer — like one or two comments every minute. They were ads to every imaginable product from Acer notebook, insurance, pet supplies, you name it.

Sure, my Akismet caught them all in the spam filter but I still had to delete every single one manually both on my blog and in my e-mail which is more work than any blogger needs.

What did I do? All I did was link to a high school teacher’s site — hardly a controversial source — but within five or ten minutes the spam started and only stopped after I closed down comments on that thread and everything else.

Unfortunately, because I am now on the free WordPress.com server, I can’t install any captcha plugins.

Anyway, did anyone else have a similar problem?

Filed under: Blogging Issues | Tagged: | 7 Comments »

“The Lamppost” blog by an Ontario English teacher

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Sandy

For some time now, I have had Brad W’s blog on my list of “education” favourites. Brad is a high school English teacher somewhere in Ontario. His site is professional, precise, thorough and technologically advanced. In other words, his students and colleagues are lucky to have him.

Anyway, for educators and English literature students everywhere, it’s called “The Lamppost” and can be found at www[dot]thelamppost[dot]ca/blog.

Update: For some unknown reason, I have been receiving a great deal of comment spam attached to this particular thread. As such, comments have been turned off and visitors will have to type in “The Lamppost” URL manually.

Filed under: Teachers Blogs, Teaching English, Teaching, Curriculum | Tagged: , | Comments Off

Not all communities like Ontario’s full-day kindergarten

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Sandy

While there is no doubt most parents and childcare providers in Ontario’s larger centres are delighted with the pending full-day junior and senior kindergarten program — usually referred to as the “Early Learning Program” or ELP – many in smaller and rural communities are not.

Why? Because, whether intentional or not, the ELP will:

  1. Put hundreds of private and regional subsidized daycare centres out of business;
  2. Mean huge Early Childhood Educator (ECE) job losses that won’t necessarily be translated into ELP positions, and
  3. Result in parents actually having fewer childcare choices than they have now.

For example, read this article by Scott Dunn in the Owen Sound Sun Times. The title says it all: “Parents, care providers dislike kindergarten change — Bluewater Board plan criticized for making scheduling more difficult” (h/t Catherine).

Now, I am not against the ELP per se. Most parents I have talked to are excited about it. My problem is its universal nature and the timing of its implementation –  a time when there should be a freeze on new spending rather than spending on new, plush programs.

However, as is usually the case with anything the McGuinty Liberal government does, it’s full speed ahead and damn the torpedos regardless of a $25 billion and ever climbing deficit. Instead, the government has committed to spending taxpayers dollars they don’t have on a long-term program that will involve highly paid unionized workers — and all that implies.

Filed under: All-day Kindergarten, Early Childhood Learning, Ontario Gov't | Tagged: , | 10 Comments »

McGuinty: the magical thinker of Wonderland!

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Sandy

Sometimes I could swear Ontario has disappeared down the rabbit hole given all the magical thinking coming out of Queen’s Park. You can almost hear Premier McGuinty walking down the hall of the legislature, head down, muttering under his breath:

“I’m late / I’m late / For a very important date. / No time to say “Hello.” / Goodbye. / I’m late, I’m late, I’m late.”

Or, in answer to any question about the state of Ontario’s finances, the Premier says something like:  ”you can always take more than nothing.” Well, they are not only spending more than nothing, they are spending more than they have, much more than they have, such as:

Taken individually, apart from what it is going to cost taxpayers for wind energy, the expenses are perhaps worthwhile. However, this is the real world. No wonder, in her Toronto Sun column today, Christina Blizzard compares (h/t Jack’s Newswatch) the Premier and his caucus to the goings on in Wonderland and how things in Ontario are getting curiouser and curiouser. But, for Ontario’s citizens, getting out of this mess will be no tea party! 

Yet, the Wonderland thinking continues as the McGuinty Liberal government’s Throne speech yesterday proved — which was apparently “promise rich.” As Alice says:

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn’t be, and what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”

Well, my fellow Ontarians, is that the kind of magical thinking government – with an ever climbing deficit and debt – you want to leave to your children and grandchildren? If not, think about voting PC in October 2011.

Filed under: Ontario Gov't | Tagged: | 6 Comments »

Ignatieff’s push for Afghan detainee “inquiry” suspicious

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Sandy

Call me suspicious, but it’s got to be more than a little coincidental that on the same day we learn that Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff wants Prime Minister Stephen Harper to call a full public inquiry into the Afghan detainee issue — rather than just a report by Judge Frank Iacobucci – we also read that the only way for the Liberal opposition to justify a federal election is to create a crisis (h/t Jack’s Newswatch). 

So, does Mr. Ignatieff hope a full public inquiry would create such a crisis or scandal where he would be able to justify to Canadians: “Look, we had no choice but to declare non-confidence in the Conservative government?“

Well, if I were in the federal Liberal caucus or the Liberal Party of Canada, I would be very careful of what I asked for — since it was the Chretien Liberal government who sent our troops to Afghanistan in the first place and the Martin Liberal government who changed the rules for handing over Taliban prisoners to Afghan authorities.

Which makes me wonder: Who in the Liberal caucus or the OLO office are so desperate to get back into power, they are ready to push Mr. Ignatieff over a cliff?  Is there, for example, a Liberal leadership coup going on behind the scenes?
Read more »

Filed under: Afghan Detainee Topic, Federal Politics | Tagged: , , , | 33 Comments »

Why is Ontario rushing ahead with wind power?

Posted on March 6, 2010 by Sandy

A short time ago I wrote about the wind turbine proposal for the Lake St. Clair/Lake Erie area near Leamington and Pelee Island. If approved, that long-term project would involve the construction of some 700 wind turbines just off the shores of the two lakes — directly in the path of one of North America’s main bird migration routes.

Today a reader to that thread pointed me to a related article in the Financial Post, by Michael Trebilcock, a professor of law and economics at the University of Toronto (h/t MA). For example, here are just a few sections from Trebilcock’s column:

“First, as to the cost of wind-generated electricity, the feed-in tariff for on-shore wind turbines in Ontario provided for under the Green Energy Act is 13.5¢ per kWh (and higher for smaller projects). This is more than twice the prevailing rates for electricity on the spot market in Ontario (less than ¢6 per KWh).”

“Adam White, President of the Association of Major Power Consumers of Ontario, states:  ‘The situation is not sustainable because it will leave companies paying higher rates than competitors in other jurisdictions.’”

Read more »

Filed under: Environment, Ontario Gov't, Wind Energy | Tagged: , | 19 Comments »

ETFO equates childcare with women’s rights?

Posted on March 5, 2010 by Sandy

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) is recognizing International Women’s Day on Monday, March 8th, 2010, by distributing a media release with a title that suggests women can only fully participate in the current economic recovery if they work outside the home and have access to a universal (read national), subsidized government-run childcare program.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not against women working outside the home and using subsidized childcare. I worked for most of my adult life and made use of a regional childcare program for a couple of years when I went back to school as an adult to complete teacher training. However, I also stayed at home until my children were ages 3 and 4.

So, I am not against women working, far from it. What I am against is duplicitous, patronizing messages that have nothing whatsoever to do with women’s rights. In fact, the ETFO press release is about one thing and that is more public sector union jobs.
Read more »

Filed under: Early Childhood Learning, Teacher Unions | Tagged: , | 20 Comments »

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