European Passivity

That peculiar European passivity in the face of looming tragedy is once again evident in Europe.   Content to allow the EU courts to trump their nation-state laws passed by duly elected representatives, now Europeans are sitting on the sidelines while the European Commission conducts raids, not in response to and legal retaliation for wrongdoing, but in search of evidence they hope to find.

The European Commission raided energy companies in Germany this week "amid suspicions" they were in breach of EU anti-trust rules.   No court order.   No probable cause required.   This was a follow on after raids on 20 energy companies in six EU contries for the vague charge that they had "abused their dominant market positions."   Not, mind you, in response to evidence that companies had colluded to raise prices or other such shenanigans.   No such evidence is necessary in a police state.   And, that, sadly is the current direction Europe is taking while passive citizenry sits out another provocation to their political will.

And this is how the media, those champions of freedom, those intrepid purveyors of truth see it.

The commission's actions are further evidence of the prime attention to energy issues being paid by EU governments in response to high oil prices and the price dispute in January between Russia and Ukraine that temporarily cut off gas deliveries to some EU states.

For your own good, you see.

Worth Remembering

Speaking of terrorism, it's worthwhile to remember that Hamas is, first and foremost, a group of thuggish murderers.

Journalism Takes Another (long-delayed) Hit

The tide seems to be turning against the self-annointed media.   In the Netherlands, the AIVD, the national intelligence service, can eavesdrop and investigate journalists, according to the Interior Minister.

Journalists may not break the law in the execution of their profession and are therefore not shielded from investigation by the AIVD and the prosecution service, the Minister said.

German's foreign intelligence service spied on German journalists and two journalists in the Netherlands who are accused of receiving classified information.

EU Bans Tamil Tigers

A month after Canada added the Tamil Tigers to a list of terrorist organizations, the EU has banned the terror group, an action that will allow them to freeze Tamil Tiger assets in Europe. Britain,the U.S., India, and Australia already list the Tamil Tigers as terrorists.

This can't please Bill Clinton. You might remember that when the tsuami aid was distributed in Sri Lanka, Bill Clinton insisted that Sri Lanka share aid money with the Tamil Tigers, an action that renewed the war of terrorism that has killed 60,000 since 1972. Shortly after funding them with relief money, the Tamil Tigers engaged in two high profile political assassinations. Despite that, the EU has pretended that they are engaging in a "ceasefire". It's been a remarkably unsuccessful ceasefire. Two hundred have died alone in the last month since Norway has been interceding for them, ostensibly in an attempt to broker a "peace." (Translation: Buy time while they re-arm and re-equip, raise funds, and forceably conscript more child soldiers.)

The New York Times (via their wholly-owned, Paris-based International Herald) cynically noted that this could be "a major political setback for the guerrillas that could reduce their ability to openly raise funds among Tamils living in Europe." This is disingenuous because there is ample evidence that the Tamil Tigers don't solicit money but extort it from Tamil communities, a fact the leftwing Human Rights Watch has extensively documented in a 45-page report.

Rarely does any media outlet refer to the Tamil Tigers as terrorists as this CBC indepth report does. The story of the EU decision was headlined as "EU says Tamil Tigers 'terrorists'" by the BBC, who went on to note that the group used the peace talks as an opportunity to raise funds in Europe, something already widely known. Their clueless correspondents, however, state that Europe's Tamil diaspora is a valuable source of funds for the Tigers without any mention that much of it is involuntary and extorted through death threats, intimidation or other means. And the BBC minimizes the recent deaths by reducing the time frame to a few weeks.

Canada, however, has one of the largest Tamil populations and the Canadian intelligence service has warned that terrorists in Canada are a huge problem.   For years Toronto has seen deadly street fighting between rival Tamil gangs.

This is one of the reasons Canada banned them from fundraising and placed them on the terrorist list. But mostly, it was the change of government when the Liberals lost power. It was something the Tories had promised to do even before the election.   Of course, few media recall that former prime minister Paul Martin attended fundraisers organized by Tamil Tiger groups when running for office. Nor do they recall Bill Clinton's role in resupplying the terrorist group in the aftermath of the tsunami. Nor does the media seem inclined to follow up on the aid money that has apparently never gotten to Sri Lanka from a Canadian charity started by guess who? Maurice Strong of the U.N. Food for Oil program.

What a surprise.

Heroic, not "heroic"

Following the tradition of the snarky Toronto Sun in referring to a dead police officer as "heroic", the Globe and Mail uses "heroic" in quotes in referring to paramedics who died in a rescue attempt.

Don't you know, no one is heroic unless designated by the lamestream media?

The Kyoto Scam

If anyone has any doubt how the Kyoto scam worked, then Canada's experience is worth noting.

The governing party received a political boost yesterday after Liberal MP John Godfrey raised a leaked report from the C.D. Howe Institute that he said shows that under the previous government, Canada was on its way to meeting 80 per cent of its targets by 2010, two years before the 2012 deadline.

Environment Minister Rona Ambrose responded by saying the report also found that the Liberal plan would have spent billions on purchasing credits overseas, doing little to reduce Canadian emissions.

"I am really glad that the Conservatives were elected so that we can make sure that the pipe-dream plan goes up in smoke," Ms. Ambrose said.

The transfer of billions of dollars in wealth from Canada to unnamed overseas countries when patients still wait in line for routine health care is obscene.

Plain Speaking

The Duke of Edinburgh is right on.

"I am truly fed up with opening and closing ceremonies," the Duke said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.

"They ought to be banned. They are a pain in the neck," he added.

He described the 1972 ceremony in Munic has "absolutely, appalingly awful."   He's being kind.   Most of the ceremonies in the last twenty or so years can be described as appalingly awful.   The opening ceremony for the 2005 Winter Olympics was truly laughable, so much so that even the AP described it as "surreal."  

The Duke should be commended for plain speaking.   Just don't expect the BBC to acknowledge his remarks are spot on.   The BBC, after all, like most of the lamestream media are in the business of air brushing history.

Another U.N. Mess

One of those Bill Clinto-United Nations triumphs is fast falling apart.   In East Timor, the U.N. is doing what they do best.   Hiding.

Not so lucky were the ten police officers under U.N. "protection" who were shot dead as they were escorted by the U.N. to safety.   Naturally, the predatory NGOs are predicting a humanitarian crisis, a "health emergency" for which the displaced Timorese will desperately need their services and, naturally, public donations to, ah, fund the endeavor.  

What a surprise

The Houston Cronicle did their best to hide this story. You have to scroll nearly to the bottom to find out that Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman, the law firm that specialized in class action lawsuits has been a heavy Democrat donor.

How much have they given the Dems since 1999? How about $2.78 million.

Don't miss the Laborer's Union leaving the AFL-CIO.  

Tacky Journalism

The tacky Toronto Star on the funeral of a police officer.

Nicole Atkinson wiped her eyes with a stuffed animal after peering around a police honour guard to catch sight of her �hero� father�s casket being placed in a hearse that would carry it to the fallen police officer�s final resting place.

Why the quotes around hero?

Anglican Church Woes

The Anglican church has avoided suicide. Again.