Jack's Newswatch

The British are all smiles over the release of Peter Moore, a British citizen who was held hostage by an Iranian-backed Shia terror group in Iraq. But there is little talk about the price paid to secure Moore’s release. The US military has freed Qais Qazali, the leader of the Asaib al Haq, or League of the Righteous, as well as his brother Laith, several Qods Force officers, and more than 100 members of the terror group, in exchange for Moore. And that isn’t all. The British also received the corpses of three security contractors who were working to protect Moore when he was kidnapped at the Finance Ministry in Baghdad in May 2007. The three contractors were executed by the Asaib al Haq; another is also thought to have been killed.

Qais Qazli wasn’t just some run of the mill Shia thug; his group is backed by Iran. Qazali’s men were trained by Iranian Qods Force to infiltrate and assault the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala in January 2007. Five US soldiers were killed during the kidnapping attempt. The US soldiers were executed after US and Iraqi security forces closed in on the assault team.

The attack on the Karbala Provincial Joint Coordination Center was a complex, sophisticated operation. The assault team, led by tactical commander Azhar al Dulaimi (who was later killed by the US military), was trained in a mock-up of the center that was built in Iran. The unit had excellent intelligence and received equipment that made them appear to be US soldiers. Some of the members of the assault team are said to have spoken English. They drove SUVs that looked like ones used by US contractors.

[Source]

Related:

First picture released of Peter Moore amid claims he was held in Iran

It’s Not Yet Friday, But It Is New Year’s Eve

Popularity: 2% [?]

Extremist “patriot” groups and other armed militia have undergone a dramatic resurgence in America, their numbers more than doubling in the past year amid growing Right-wing fears over expanding federal power and gun control.

Such groups – a mix of libertarians, gun rights advocates and survivalists – appeared to be in terminal decline before the election of Barack Obama, according to monitoring bodies.

The Southern Poverty Law Centre, which tracks extremist organisations, says it has so far counted more than 300 patriot groups this year, at least double last year’s total of 150. The real total will be much higher as many groups do not go out of their way to publicise their existence.

A similar wave of anti-government groups, some of whose members dress in camouflage gear and conduct military training at weekends, sprung up during the Clinton administration.

However, SPLC researchers said there was a new race factor reflecting President Obama’s ethnicity and immigration fears.

The groups themselves reject accusations of racism but agree that many members are deeply worried about gun control, are angered by the federal economic rescue packages, and are dismayed by government interference in areas such as health care. They voice frustration at what they perceive as America’s international decline.

Tensions are running high and some fear major bloodshed springing from a minor event. A law enforcement official told the SPLC that “all that’s lacking is a spark”.

[More]

Popularity: 6% [?]

MONTREAL- At Nick Rizzuto Jr.’s wedding in 1995 at the Sheraton Centre Hotel downtown, RCMP and Laval police officers were so shutter-happy, the guests might have taken them for official wedding photographers.

Now that the reputed Canadian godfather’s eldest son is about to be buried, all eyes – and lenses – will be focused on his funeral.

Gunned down Monday near a real-estate developer’s office in Notre Dame de Grâce, Rizzuto’s body is expected to lie in repose at the Complexe Funéraire Loreto in St. Léonard, not least because the swank funeral parlour is owned by the mother of the deceased, Giovanna Cammalleri, and his aunt, Maria Rizzuto Renda.

The funeral service is expected to take place Saturday at Notre Dame de la Défense church in Little Italy.

Vito Rizzuto, the slain man’s father, though previously known as Canada’s Teflon Don, is currently serving a 10-year sentence in the United States for racketeering, related to three murders that occurred in the 1980s. His sentence will end in 2012.

It will be up to the warden of a Colorado prison to decide whether he will be able to attend his son’s funeral in the coming days.

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Popularity: 3% [?]

Stephen Harper is a despot. The decision to “padlock” Parliament is a cover-up designed to avoid scrutiny over the Afghan detainee issue. The Conservatives have a very thin legislative agenda and no new ideas to put forward.

Ralph Goodale, the Liberal House leader, was getting warmer as he groped for explanations for the Prime Minister’s decision, announced yesterday, to prorogue Parliament until early March.

While Mr. Harper may harbour aspirations of despotism, he remains, alas for him, the head of a minority government. The second prorogation in little over a year is unusual and, in large measure, unnecessary. But it is going too far to claim it is a debasement of democracy. There is a budget scheduled for March 4 and, if the opposition parties feel the Conservative government is acting undemocratically, they can bring it down. Noticeably, Mr. Goodale clammed up when he was asked if the Liberals would give vent to their outrage by voting against the budget.

[More]

Notes:

Just read through Jim Travers column today and he’s crying in his beer. Can you just imagine if Harper called him up and said something along the lines of “Hey Jim. I just read your column and you really have me thinking. You’re right. I think I’m going to call an election and let the people speak. What do you make of that idea?”

Popularity: 4% [?]

MONTREAL — A French family who immigrated to Montreal after being wooed by a Canadian embassy official in Paris have been told they must leave the country because their daughter has cerebral palsy and places an “excessive burden on social services.”

David Barlagne settled in Montreal with his wife and two daughters in 2005, hoping to start a computer software business. Barlagne said he had warned Canadian authorities that his daughter, Rachel, has cerebral palsy, a congenital neurological disorder that causes lifelong uncoordinated physical movement.

“I asked whether this would be a problem, and I was told that once my business was established in Canada after a couple of years, I could make a request for permanent residency and it would simply be a formality,” Barlagne recalled.

Four years later, his business is thriving, and his wife, Sophie, teaches French to immigrants as a volunteer.

But Citizenship and Immigration Canada has rejected Barlagne’s request for permanent residency because Rachel, 7, is considered “medically inadmissible.”

[More]

Popularity: 6% [?]

Islands across the Pacific were the first to welcome in the New Year, with celebrations to mark the start of 2010 beginning in the tiny nation of Kiribati at 10am GMT, followed by the Chatham Islands, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia.

In Suva, the capital of Fiji, hundreds of people counted down the last 10 seconds of 2009 from Albert Park during the country’s annual New Year’s Eve Street Party.

In Auckland, as thousands poured onto the streets to ring in the New Year, police warned partygoers to “have fun by all means but obey the rules and everyone will have a good time”.

But well before the clock struck midnight, thousands of revellers gathered on Sydney harbour in order to save a spot with a good view of the annual Harbour Bridge fireworks.

[More]

Updates:

4:34 pm EST, December 31st, 2009 — Revelers Met By Snow, Security In Times Square

Notes:

Happy New Year everyone. Stay safe this evening if you’re going out (I’m not).

Popularity: 1% [?]

Prime Minister Stephen Harper suspended Parliament yesterday until March 3, and came in for considerable abuse in return. Liberal MP Ralph Goodale called the move “a shocking insult to democracy.” NDP House Leader Libby Davies labelled the decision a “political scam.”

Already equated to a dictator in the Toronto Star, Mr. Harper was compared in Maclean’s magazine to King Charles I, whose confrontation with Parliament ultimately cost him his head.

Enough. Parliament was due to return on Jan. 25. The Vancouver Olympics open Feb. 12 and run to Feb. 28, preoccupying public attention and sending Ottawa into hibernation. In effect Mr. Harper has cut two extra weeks from the opposition’s anticipated window of public attention. It’s not the end of the world.

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Updates:

2:35 pm EST, December 31st, 2009 — Proroguing Parliament is ‘routine,’ Tories say

Popularity: 4% [?]

#1 — OC | 8 U.S. CIA agents killed in Afghan suicide blast

KABUL — Insurgents intensified their campaign against military targets and U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, killing eight U.S. CIA agents at a base and four Canadian servicemen on patrol and a journalist accompanying them.

[...]

#2 — BBC | US talk show host Rush Limbaugh in hospital in Hawaii

The right-wing US talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been taken to hospital in Hawaii after experiencing chest pains, say reports.

[...]

#3 — BBC | Somali man ‘tried to take bomb onto plane’

A Somali man is in custody in Mogadishu, suspected of trying to take explosives onto a plane in November, officials have revealed.

[...]

#4 — CNN | Parliament calls for arrest of Moussavi, two other opposition leaders

(CNN) — Iran’s parliament has asked authorities to arrest “the main instigators and directors” of Sunday’s violent anti-government protests, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported Wednesday, the same day massive pro-government rallies were held in Tehran and other cities.

[...]

Times | Iran Government stages rallies as Mousavi’s nephew is quietly buried

#5 — Fox | 13 Republican Attorney Generals Threaten Lawsuit Over Health Care

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Republican attorneys general in 13 states say congressional leaders must remove Nebraska’s political deal from the federal health care reform bill or face legal action, according to a letter provided to The Associated Press Wednesday.

[...]

#6 — Fox | Gunman Opens Fire in Finland Mall, Killing 4

HELSINKI —  A gunman killed four people early Thursday in a shooting rampage at a mall in Finland’s second largest city, police told a state broadcaster.

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#7 — NY Times | With Greece Teetering, the Worst May Not Be Over for Europe

LONDON — Never before has Europe’s monetary union seemed so fragile.

[...]

#8 — Times | Obama considering military strikes after Christmas Day aircraft plot

The Pentagon is drawing up urgent plans for increased military co-operation with Yemen, including possible retaliatory strikes against al-Qaeda targets, according to US officials engaged in a high-stakes bid to neutralise Islamist militants without enraging the Arab world.

[...]

#9 — Times | Four foreigners face execution in China over drugs haul

Four foreigners have been arrested in China on drugs charges and may face execution just days after Akhmal Shaikh, a Briton thought to be mentally ill, was executed for smuggling heroin.

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#10 — Telegraph | ‘Dead’ mother and baby revived after Christmas Eve birth

A woman has apparently come back to life after “dying” during childbirth while her newborn son was also miraculously revived by doctors.

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Popularity: 2% [?]

#1 — CBC | 5 Canadians killed in Afghanistan

Five Canadians — four soldiers and a Calgary Herald reporter — were killed in a bomb blast Wednesday in Afghanistan.

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#2 — CBC | Niedermayer to captain Canadian team

Veteran defenceman and B.C. native Scott Niedermayer will serve as captain of the Canadian men’s hockey team at the 2010 Vancouver Games, it was announced on Wednesday.

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#3 — CBC | Review panel green-lights Mackenzie pipeline

A proposed $16.2-billion natural gas pipeline through the Northwest Territories moved closer to reality Wednesday after winning approval from a regulatory panel.

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#4 — CTV | McGuinty gov’t touts looming income tax cuts

TORONTO — Almost all Ontario residents will get a modest income tax cut starting in 2010, which many will be able to see for themselves when they get their January paycheques, Revenue Minister John Wilkinson said Wednesday.

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#5 — CTV | Changes to civil justice system to take effect Jan. 1

TORONTO — The new year will see Ontario bring in changes to its civil justice system that are designed to shift more cases to small claims court.

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#6  — Globe | Caledonia couple settles lawsuit against police, government

The Ontario government suddenly has settled out of court with the Caledonia, Ont., couple who were suing Queen’s Park and the OPP for abandoning them to a lawless native occupation that began almost four years ago.

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#7 — LFP | Slashed linesman: Fighting for life in London hospital

WOODSTOCK — A linesman is fighting for life in a London hospital after his throat was slashed by a skate blade as he broke up a junior hockey fight.

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#8 — OC | Suspect stripped of gun, badge

The RCMP stripped a troubled Const. Kevin Gregson of his service pistol and badge five years ago and raided his home to seize the officer’s personal weapons and ammunition, according to Saskatchewan court documents.

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#9 — OC | Opposition parties object to postponement of Parliament for 2 months

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper has decided to shut down Parliament for two months, a move swiftly condemned by opposition parties as a way to halt investigations into the torture of Afghan detainees.

[...]

Star | Commons shut down, opposition furious

#10 — Star | Pearson airport staff left holding the bag(s)

“Small purses are allowed,” Air Canada Employee No. 1 explained.

“But they say `small purse’ – what’s `small?’” asked Air Canada Employee No. 2.

[...]

Popularity: 2% [?]

OTTAWA — The Conservative government will ask the governor general to suspend Parliament today, delaying the return of MPs until the beginning of March.

Sources say the government is expected to prevent Parliament coming back on its scheduled return date of Jan. 25 so it can keep the House in recess until after the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Dimitri Soudas, press secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, would not confirm or deny the story, saying only that “no decision had yet been made” with respect to proroguing Parliament.

Preventing the return of Parliament until after the Olympics would effectively shut down all government committees, which would stop MPs from pursuing the Afghan detainee controversy until Parliament returned.

“If the government attempts this manoeuvre, it’s a shocking insult to democracy,” said Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale. “The government is in a very sticky place with respect to Afghan detainees and they’re running from accountability here — this is a cut and run government.”

A Conservative source also said proroguing Parliament was considered the best way to give the Harper government the upper hand in the Senate.

In early January, there will be five vacancies in the Senate, all of which Harper could fill with Tory loyalists. Even though the new senators would give the Tories majority over the Liberals in the Senate, the Liberals retain their majority on Senate committees until the next general election or until Parliament is prorogued.

Suspending Parliament would allow the Tories to reconstitute Senate committees, making it much easier for them to pass legislation unchanged.

“I think it’s outrageous,” said NDP House Leader Libby Davies. “There’s no legitimate reason for Parliament to be prorogued.

“This is another political scam he’s pulling to suit his own political agenda instead of representing the public interest by making Parliament work.”

[Source]

Updates:

12:32 pm EST, December 30th, 2009 — The Short Parliament

12:52 pm EST, December 30th, 2009 — Main Reasons for Prorogation

1:46 pm EST, December 30th, 2009 — Parliament shut down until March

4:36 pm EST, December 30th, 2009 — “Lefties nuked!”

6:20 pm EST, December 30th, 2009 — Ivison loses it

Notes:

This is the big story in Canada today. For foreign visitors who don’t understand our political system Harper today moved to change a choke hold “lefties” have held over this country for decades (the Senate). They will scream and they will rant in the years ahead but it won’t do them a damned bit of good.

The simple truth is that today Harper took away their toy and is about to return it to it’s rightful owners, the people they represent. Trudeau’s hold on this nation is about to be broken and it’s well past time.

For Canadians — have a very happy New Year because it’s going to be a hoot and you truly have something to celebrate this year.

Popularity: 10% [?]