Kazemi

"We want to raise awareness internationally for the people to know what women in Iran are going through,'' said Shanaz Fallah, director of the International Coalition of Women Against Fundamentalism.

Fallah said she hopes Monday's protest will help raise awareness of Kazemi's death and the oppressive nature of the Iranian government and its hard-line mullahs.

From Jack's Newswatch...........

Should be an interesting time at the UNSCAM Senate hearings in the morning

U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
Title: Oil For Influence: How Saddam Used Oil to Reward Politicians Under the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program
Date: 5/17/05
Time (EST): 9:30 AM
Place: Dirksen Senate Office Building, Rm. 106

This hearing originally scheduled to be held in room SD-562 will now be held in room SD-106.

The May 17th hearing will be third hearing the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has held on the United Nations’ Oil-for-Food Program (“OFF Program”). The Subcommittee’s first hearing on the OFF Program laid the foundation for future hearings by describing how the OFF Program was exploited by Saddam Hussein. A second hearing examined the operations of the independent inspection agents retained by the United Nations in the OFF Program and examined issues related to inadequate management, audit, and procurement oversight. The hearing also examined issues related to why the U.S. and U.N. did not interfere with Iraq's open exports of oil to Jordan and Turkey, in violation of U.N. sanctions. The May 17th hearing will detail how Saddam Hussein manipulated the OFF Program to win influence and reward friends in order to undermine sanctions. In particular, this hearing will present evidence detailing how Saddam rewarded foreign officials with lucrative oil allocations that could be converted to money. The hearing will also examine the illegal surcharges paid on Iraqi oil sales, using examples involving the recently indicted U.S. company, Bayoil. In addition, more detailed information will be provided on the nature and extent of the 2003 Khor al-Amaya incident in which oil tankers loaded a large amount of Iraqi oil circumventing U.N. sanctions.

To view the PSI Staff reports click on the OFF Reports link below and scroll down to the Related Files section.
image
Hearing File: OFF Reports

Witnesses

Panel 1
Mark L. Greenblatt , Counsel , U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
Steven A. Groves , Counsel , U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
Dan M. Berkovitz , Counsel to the Minority , U. S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

Panel 2
George Galloway , Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow , Great Britain

Panel 3
Thomas A. Schweich , Chief of Staff, U.S. Mission to the United Nations , U. S. Department of State
Robert W. Werner , Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control , U. S. Department of the Treasury
Peter Reddaway , Professor Emeritus of Political Science and International Affairs , George Washington University

Auditor- General testifies at the Gomery Commission-"unwritten deals, missing documents and untendered contracting were common practice"

"The goverment watchdog who helped expose sponsorship waste told an inquiry Monday that "Canadians expect better" than the problem-plagued process under which $800 million in ad contracts were doled out.

Auditor General Sheila Fraser told the Gomery inquiry that unwritten deals, missing documents and untendered contracting were common practice in government advertising through the 1990s and up to 2003.

"The amounts concerned are very large, nearly $800 million over a five-year period (1998 to 2003). And I could conclude by saying that Canadians expect better when public funds are spent."

Additional....

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1112141488044_3?s_name=&no_ads=

"Tremblay said her boss, Chuck Guite, came to her in 1997 with directives from Gagliano to hide the true source of the plaque project's funding.

"Guite told me Mr. Gagliano wanted to put money from the sponsorship program into this event that was taking place in Italy, but that there must not be a paper trail in our government (office)," she said under questioning from commission lawyer Guy Cournoyer.

Asked by Cournoyer whether the directives came from Gagliano himself or officials in his office, Tremblay replied: "Mr. Guite told me the minister himself." .....

So we have unwritten deals, missing documents and untendered contracting and allegations of making sure there was no paper trail-in the USA this might be construed as racketeering. In Canada, it's called "no recall".

Spectator-UNSCAM

Thanks Brian for the tip on the Suntimes link

There are some issues with the blog roll and will try to get to them-thanks!

Exit polls +

Panel on current affairs in Toronto this evening

Rosett re: UNSCAM

UNSCAM

6 in 10 feel media show bias in reporting the news

Teach kids peace - video

via canadiancoalition.com

Considering the fact that the Sudan is a "special" interest

of China, and since they have a veto at the UN, it might appear that the PM's pledge to Mr. Kilgour regarding Darfur may ring a little hollow and may be misconstrued by some as crass political opportunism- too little, too late.If the government hadn't gutted the military, along with the RCMP and CSIS, Canada would have been able to hold it's own on the world stage.They should be sending a brigade but because of the cutbacks all they can muster is 100? and they're going there unarmed? Who's zooming Who while innocent lives are being lost? Who's impeding progress in stopping the genocide?

Instapundit's not thrilled with "superior" responsibility of Big Media

Perhaps pollsters can add this when they say a poll is accurate

to +/_3.1%, 19 times out of 20

Background on the company following the money at the Gomery Commission

Looks like they have the right people following the money.

Questions of criminal activity remain unanswered

"We are seeing signs of criminal organizations that are so sophisticated that they actually are focusing on destabilizing certain aspects of our society. ... There are criminal organizations that target this destabilization of our parliamentary system," he told reporters.

This is too big for the Gomery inquiry, which is limited to the sponsorship program. Gomery has no authority to follow trails of criminal influence outside the sponsorship programs. For example, he disallowed questions about corrupt appointments to the judiciary.

AdScam is only the tip of the Libranos' iceberg. No wonder Daniel Dezainde cried on the witness stand."

Seems like Andrew Coyne was mentioning something about this the other day also.

If the advertisers pull plug, will the CBC be running pro Liberal opinions and programs 24/7

to keep their revenues up?