If BS could protect Canadians, we'd be the safest country in the world............What have they done, not what are they going to talk about

"In the absence of that threat, she said security officials "are remaining vigilant."

But critics weren't buying it.

"The Canadian Press quotes you reassuring Canadians that their government remains vigilant," Ron Moran, head of the Customs Excise Union, wrote in a letter to McLellan.

"Unfortunately, that is not the message customs officers would have me share with media.

"On a daily basis since the first bombings in London and increasingly today, customs officers from across Canada have called my office to inform me that their work site is not in a state of heightened vigilance.

"We are calling on the Canada Border Services Agency to immediately begin development, for implementation as soon as possible, of a national Customs public security policy. Such a policy does not exist and must."

Four years since 9/11 and they're just talking? What have they been doing for four years?

Terrorists threatened Italy

Keeping an eye on UN reno project

"Reality television star Donald Trump told the U.S. Senate on Thursday the United Nations should be fired over its handling of a $1.2 billion plan to renovate the world body's New York headquarters.

Trump, a New York real estate magnate who surrounds himself with aspiring young executives on his NBC show "The Apprentice" and then fires one a week, predicted the renovation would run far over budget because U.N. managers were incompetent.

He insisted he could do the job for half the U.N. estimate, but then admitted he had no plans to bid for the job.

"If you don't know what you are doing it can be fraught with cost overruns, et cetera, et cetera," he told a Senate Governmental Affairs Committee looking into the project, known as the U.N. Capital Master Plan.

The U.S. Congress has agreed to loan the United Nations the $1.2 billion at a 5.54 percent interest rate, to be repaid over 30 years. But some lawmakers have had second thoughts over mismanagement of the $67 billion oil-for-food plan for Iraq."

AKBAR GANJI : A Profile in Courage

"In this ‘duel’ of life and death, Sultan Khamenei has monopolized control over every aspect of power and authority in the country. He appoints the judges, the military and police commanders, and the religious surrogates, indirectly screens the members of parliament and now has managed to install one of his hatchet men as President of the country. In addition to controlling all levers of state power, he also has ultimate authority over the national economy including the oil sector with close to $50 billion annual revenue. This man with such unprecedented monopoly of power is accountable to no one and can keep his job for life.

Facing him with unparalleled bravery and courage is Akbar Ganji. He is alone. He has no armies, no political party, no money, no organization but plenty of moral courage and political convictions. He, not unlike Mahatma Gandhi, is willing to undertake the highest risk: his life. Until yesterday, he was on a life-threatening hunger strike. After mounting pressures of protests from every decent person and organization, the regime in Tehran blinked first and accepted his demand to be transferred to a prison hospital for treatment of his chronic asthma, which has caught while in custody. "

Of course if there had been a number of disaster drills in Canada, they'd be able to respond just as quickly?

Canadians don't need handholding-they want to know what's been done to improve their security since 9/11

besides cutting CSIS by 700 people and the Mounties by 2200 officers.Telling Canadians they are safer with fewer people doesn't add up. It appears that they were able to get away with this for years because the media couldn't be bothered asking the necessary questions.

Here's just a couple of questions. How many major disaster simulations have been carried out in the major centers in Canada in the past 12 months and how many first responders were involved in each one?


In emergency preparedness, funds were not allocated based on an assessment of risks.
Equipment purchased for first responders in different cities was not required to be interoperable, thus missing an opportunity to create a national pool of compatible equipment. Training for first responders is progressing very slowly—fewer than 200 of the needed 6,000 intermediate-level first responders have been trained.

Top al-Qaeda Briton called Tube bombers before attack

"Security sources there told The Times that he was armed with a number of guns, wearing an explosive belt and carrying around £17,000 in cash. He had a British passport and was about to flee across the border to Afghanistan."

A couple of definitions to keep in mind for those who support terrorists

Main Entry: se·di·tion
Pronunciation: si-'di-sh&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin sedition-, seditio, literally, separation, from se- apart + ition-, itio act of going, from ire to go -- more at SECEDE, ISSUE
: incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority

Main Entry: trea·son
Pronunciation: 'trE-z&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English tresoun, from Old French traison, from Latin tradition-, traditio act of handing over, from tradere to hand over, betray -- more at TRAITOR
1 : the betrayal of a trust : TREACHERY
2 : the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign's family

Some opinions on the day's events...........

www.debka.com

"The fact that the four attacks were almost simultaneous is an al Qaeda hallmark, indicative the group’s predilection for coordinated strikes.

But four more unusual features make this incident especially dangerous:

1. For the first time al Qaeda terrorists struck without concealment, in broad daylight, in a European city. They obviously found the new security measures London put in place after the July 7 attack permeable.

2. For the first time, al Qaeda carried out two consecutive attacks in the same city and selected the same targets. This means the terrorist organization has prepared several teams for a wave of attacks in London, and possibly other British cities.

3. Al Qaeda’s second strike points to British intelligence still groping in the dark and inability to predict what al Qaeda will do next. After unearthing the names of the first four bombers, the MI5 is at sea as to the identities and whereabouts of their controllers, organization and its senior plotters.

4. In two of the stations targeted, a strong, acrid smell raised the suspicion of a chemical attack. It is too soon to determine the type of explosives used, some of which did not explode, or the source of the smell. First tests indicated that no chemical agents were present at any of the crime sites. "

BBC eyewitness reports on today's events

For the revisionists out there-it's not about Iraq,just a convenient propaganda excuse to kill innocent people

via www.captainsquartersblog.com

PM John Howard answers the naive- via Instapundit .com

JOHN HOWARD [K. J. Lopez]
This quickie transcript was just sent to me by someone who described it as "a direct, devastating bitch-slap to the nonsense that the U.S., Britain and Australia brought this on themselves from any other leader":

PRIME MIN. HOWARD: Could I start by saying the prime minister and I were having a discussion when we heard about it. My first reaction was to get some more information. And I really don't want to add to what the prime minister has said. It's a matter for the police and a matter for the British authorities to talk in detail about what has happened here.

Can I just say very directly, Paul, on the issue of the policies of my government and indeed the policies of the British and American governments on Iraq, that the first point of reference is that once a country allows its foreign policy to be determined by terrorism, it's given the game away, to use the vernacular. And no Australian government that I lead will ever have policies determined by terrorism or terrorist threats, and no self-respecting government of any political stripe in Australia would allow that to happen.

Can I remind you that the murder of 88 Australians in Bali took place before the operation in Iraq.

And I remind you that the 11th of September occurred before the operation in Iraq.

Can I also remind you that the very first occasion that bin Laden specifically referred to Australia was in the context of Australia's involvement in liberating the people of East Timor. Are people by implication suggesting we shouldn't have done that?

When a group claimed responsibility on the website for the attacks on the 7th of July, they talked about British policy not just in Iraq, but in Afghanistan. Are people suggesting we shouldn't be in Afghanistan?

When Sergio de Mello was murdered in Iraq -- a brave man, a distinguished international diplomat, a person immensely respected for his work in the United Nations -- when al Qaeda gloated about that, they referred specifically to the role that de Mello had carried out in East Timor because he was the United Nations administrator in East Timor.

Now I don't know the mind of the terrorists. By definition, you can't put yourself in the mind of a successful suicide bomber. I can only look at objective facts, and the objective facts are as I've cited. The objective evidence is that Australia was a terrorist target long before the operation in Iraq. And indeed, all the evidence, as distinct from the suppositions, suggests to me that this is about hatred of a way of life, this is about the perverted use of principles of the great world religion that, at its root, preaches peace and cooperation. And I think we lose sight of the challenge we have if we allow ourselves to see these attacks in the context of particular circumstances rather than the abuse through a perverted ideology of people and their murder.

PRIME MIN. BLAIR: And I agree 100 percent with that. (Laughter.)


Posted at 01:49 PM

Why should it be so difficult for Canadians to find out where their money is going-the more they talk about transparency the more they keep the public

in the dark.These aren't exactly nuclear secrets.One wonders why the media, which have trouble getting access to basic information, haven't been more vocal on Commissioner John Reid's behalf to extend his term by a year.


also read about the Information Commissioner

Michael Yon's doing some excellent reporting from Iraq-you can join his email list if you wish

More explosions in the U.K?- early reports - more details later

Perhaps to avoid any potential conflict of interest , the Commissioner should report to Parliament and not to the government.

"Fraser also reported the federal government paid three Quebec advertising agencies $244,380 in commissions to simply transfer $1.7 million from the Public Works sponsorship branch to the RCMP.

The RCMP’s commanding officer in Quebec questioned the large commissions paid to the advertising firms years before it became an explosive issue in Parliament.

Odilon Emond, an assistant RCMP commissioner and commanding officer of the RCMP’s C-division in Quebec, raised the concerns in 1998 but the RCMP did nothing after he questioned the deals."

CHINA.................

Hands off the Net

"Somewhere along the way the United Nations forgot to invite Silicon Valley. Its 40-member working group boasts not a single executive of a major technology company. It invited such "experts" on the Internet as Peiman Seadat from Iran's U.N. mission in Geneva; Juan Fernandez, head of Cuba's Commission of Electronic Commerce; Faryel Beji, president and CEO of the Tunisian Internet Agency; Baher Esmat, a telecom planner for the government of Egypt; and assorted other bureaucrats from Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Korea, Singapore and a few dozen other countries."

Seems like they tried to jump on the train after it left the station- where have they been for 4 years?

This should be treated as opinion until some experts come forth to substantiate some of the claims but this article is probably why the Advisory Group came out with their PR now.What is important is that those responsible for security be given the tools to do their job and soon, minus the turf wars.

Life must go on while those in charge of security remain on their toes

Another half baked scheme on life support

There are better ways of cleaning up the environment than trading carbon credits with some far off places with no accountability, especially when the majors aren't on board. It would place Canadian companies at a disadvantage which could mean a loss of jobs.

Blackfive- Spiritual warfare and the Navy SEALS