Nothing like thinking big- and this is just one group using the Canadian laundry system- via Primetimecrime.com

"The former managers of the state-owned Bank of China are alleged to have been engaged in an elaborate plot in which they stole $485 million by running funds through front companies and financial institutions in Hong Kong, Vancouver and Las Vegas, officials said."

Feds step into Blackberry fray...............

GAO report on preparedness and response to Katrina and Wilma- pdf

...............Regular training and periodic exercises provide a valuable way to test emergency management plans. In our previous work on Hurricanes Andrew and Hugo, we identified the need for the federal government to upgrade training and exercises for state and local governments specifically geared towards catastrophic disaster response. Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the benefits of applying lessons learned from training exercises and experiences with actual hurricanes as well as the dangers of ignoring them. FEMA’s “Hurricane Pam” exercise—conducted between 2004 and 2005 to simulate the impacts of a category 3 hurricane—identified the impacts such as widespread flooding, extensive evacuations, sheltering thousands of individuals left homeless after a storm, and disposing of tons of debris similar to Hurricane Katrina’s results. Not all capabilities-related issues identified in the Hurricane Pam exercise were addressed before Hurricane Katrina hit. In addition, we observed that an incomplete understanding of roles and responsibilities under the NRP lead to misunderstandings, problems, and delays, an area that training might be able to correct. One overall challenge is ensuring that key officials participate in training and exercises so that they are better prepared to deal with real life situations...........

Justice Gomery's Phase 2 Report is released..........

Justice Gomery's news conference - live at 3:00pm ET

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060201/gomery_secondreport_060201/20060201?hub=Canada

The Sponsorship program only amounted to about 2% of the Public Works budget

RCMP- understaffed and underfunded........

Bumped

Thanks Kate! The shape the Liberals left our Mounties in is truly reprehensible.Instead of concentrating on criminals and terrorists , the Liberals concentrated on honest duck hunters and farmers.It's not like they didn't have the money available or anything.Now why would the Liberals want to cripple the investigative backbone of the RCMP by consistently underfunding them for years? Who benefitted when the RCMP couldn't function effectively and in a timely way?
Welcome Instapundit readers! Thanks Glenn!

Swearing-in day at Depot, as the training facility here is known, is a time for such blue-sky optimism -- a moment for grads to reflect with pride on joining the world's most iconic police force. But reality quickly intrudes. No sooner have Johnston and 27 fellow graduates scattered to postings across the country than the federal auditor general releases a report revealing that many of those positions he covets aren't actually getting filled. Newly released numbers show the Mounties have fallen some 600 officers, or 25 per cent, below normal strength in federal enforcement areas like drug interdiction and organized crime.


Who benefits when they can't adequately fulfil their mandate -Maintiens le Droit? Basically they have been using bandaid solutions when the artery is haemorrhaging.They were transformed into a paper shuffling bureaucracy from the effective crime fighting organization they used to be.One only has to look at the recent track record and the length of time it takes to conclude investigations.

[RCMP]

Second Gomery Report will be out at 2:00pmET

The Patriot Act.............

"If your house were on fire, and firemen had to kick your door down and break a few windows to save you and your family, would you consider that an invasion of your privacy or a violation of your civil liberties?

Yet that is precisely the attitude Senate Democrats take regarding the Patriot Act despite evidence that it has infringed on no one's rights, except perhaps on the freedom of terrorists to plot mass murder undetected and unmolested."

UN contracts........"issues" is probably a diplomatic term for corruption

"The probe, overseen by Steve Lucas, the chairman of Compass's audit committee, centred on allegations that ESS improperly obtained information on a three-year $62 million contract to supply food and water to UN peacekeepers in Liberia.

It also took in allegations surrounding the relationship between ESS and IHC, which works for companies trying to do business with the UN.

Fox News, the US news channel, obtained copies of e-mails from IHC to ESS containing confidential information on the contract bidding process that was designated only for UN officials. "

Your picks for cabinet based on ability, experience, regional and gender considerations?

Uncle Jimbo..........re Sheehan

Army Times profiles Michael Yon...........

Mark Steyn on the Canadian election and Harper

How Iran buys friends........

"Why this failure of the best efforts of the United States and the European Union to heel Iran's atomic aspirations? Tehran is countering via increasingly cozy relationships with China, Russia and India.

And why are Beijing, Moscow and New Delhi dragging their feet on dealing decisively with Iran's nuclear program? Raw self-interest.

Take China: Now perhaps the world's No. 4 economy, China is also the No. 2 energy consumer — scouring the globe for new energy sources to stoke a decade of double-digit economic growth. And Iran is now China's third-largest oil supplier.

Moreover, China has invested nearly $100 billion in developing Iranian oil/gas fields. By some estimates, Iran will provide China with over 250 million tons of natural gas and 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day over the next 30 years."

Michelle Malkin- Buy Danish

Bloggers reaction to State of the Union speech..

More about Gen Sada's comments about WMD........

5 years to investigate? police understaffed?

That Liberal ad was demeaning to the dedicated people who defend Canada

Ad was 'offensive"

"Hillier veered from his organizational announcement to deliver a stern parting shot to Paul Martin, the outgoing prime minister, in relation to a Liberal Party ad that was released during the recent election campaign.

The ad, which was quickly pulled, attempted to cast fear in the hearts of voters by suggesting Conservative Leader Stephen Harper had plans to boost military presence in Canada's cities.

Hillier said it was offensive to members of the military, and pointed out that there are already uniformed military men and women working and living in cities and communities across Canada.

"Almost every other man and woman in uniform -- and I heard from thousands of them and their families -- were insulted by that commercial. We don't think it reflects the national treasure that our men and women in uniform are."

Also:
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Clancy_Roy/2006/02/01/1420500.html

"Canadians who hadn't realized how desperate the plight of our Armed Forces had grown under successive Liberal regimes should be forgiven.

The Liberals were masters at patting the military on the back with one hand while lacerating defence budgets with the other.

Military spending has plummeted so low, it has reduced Canada to a nation of "freeloaders" no other country in the world takes seriously, warns Colin Kenny, chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence."

"We're the eighth richest country in the world and in NATO, the only two countries that spend less per capita are Luxembourg and Iceland, and Iceland does not have an armed forces," Kenny told me in an interview one year ago today.

The senator might be a Liberal, but he has warned for years of the acute need for new equipment and trained troops in this troubled world. ...

"The security and safety of the nation is the first obligation of the government," he said."

The Liberals took out $20 billion and only "promised" to put back $13 billion over the next 5 years and expected Canadians to believe that was an "increase"