Was Cadman bought?

This story (copied below) from the Montreal Gazette is of some interest.

Hat tip to Rayguy.

Cadman's dream for justice now a little closer

He entered politics to fight for justice for the victims of violence and their families after his son was stabbed to death.

Now British Columbia MP Chuck Cadman's dream of justice is a little closer to being realized after Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said late yesterday he shares many of Cadman's concerns and plans to act on them.

However, Cotler said he told Cadman only after last night's critical vote because he didn't want to be accused of trying to influence him.

"I went to Mr. Cadman (after the vote) and said, 'I didn't want to speak to you about this before the vote and never did, but those initiatives that you had with respect to victims' rights, I said I am going to be supporting them as best as I can because I believe we have a common cause in that regard.' "

Cotler said he had been thinking about issues Cadman had raised for some time, such as victims' rights and Cadman's bill to crack down on street racing. Cotler said his preoccupation with victims' rights came long before there was any question of a vote. Now that the immediate crisis has been averted, Cotler said, he can move forward with addressing those concerns.

Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan had nothing but praise for Cadman and also appeared open to acting on some of Cadman's causes.

"We are bringing forward legislative amendment to strengthen the rights of victims and victims' families. We're putting more resources into our existing victims' programs to expand them.

Does anyone believe this?

After these tapes we released this week (summary here) regarding Liberal attempts to buy Conservative MP's, something smells a little fishy. On the tape, the PM's Chief of Staff, Tim Murphy, makes statements such as how it is a "bad idea" to "have any kind of commitment that involves and explicit trade".

So here we have Chuck, meeting with the Prime Minister before the vote, not have any discussions of a trade, but then, lo and behold, less then 24 hours after he votes with the Libs, certain pet projects of his are now a higher Liberal priority. What a coincidence.

Even if I am wrong, based on the Liberal standard operating procedure we have all witnessed this week, I should be forgiven for jumping to conclusions.

Cadman sold out.

Politics as usual?

I cannot express my disgust at what is going on in Ottawa this week, so I will be lazy and link to a few who are doing a much better job.

Damian at Babbling Brooks has this excellent post on Belinda's whole "national unity" reasoning.

AC has an excellent post on the latest Liberal vote buying attempt.

Mark Steyn with two columns on the state of Canada.

Revenge of the Sith review

Ok, I promised no spoilers, so I will just comment on Revenge of the Sith in a general way.

First of all, a bit about me. I am a fan of science fiction, so I am drawn to many sci-fi movies, books, etc. However, I like to think I maintain enough distance from the "rabid fan" position to comment critically. The best Star Wars movie so far has been Empire. The franchise started to go down in Return of the Jedi, with the sickenly cute, obviously merchandised, Ewoks. The worst movie was Phantom Menace. It is so kid-friendly as to make you sick. I have always thought Lucas was the Star Wars legacy in Phantom. Also, making it kid-friendly usually backfires. Sure, Star Wars was scary, maybe too scary for kids at the time, but as adults 30 years later, we still love it. Does anyone think people will still love Phantom in 30 years or will it be known as the worst Star Wars movie?

That said, Revenge of the Sith was good. Very good. It is as dark as Empire, with lots of action. Christensen does a very good job protraying the fall and inner conflict of Skywalker. I must admit I did not think well of Christensen after Attack of the Clones. I felt his acting was a bit stiff and the flashes of evil seemed unrealistic. He may have improved, but I think he has more to work with this time. Portman does a good job as the conflicted wife. None of the great shots showing off her body that we saw in Attack, which is unfortunate. I have to say excellent job by McGregor, particularily when he confronts Skywalker about his betrayal of the Jedi (everyone knows this happens, so it should not be a spoiler).

Non fans and fans, even critical fans, will not be disappointed.

See this movie now.

Now a bit about last night.

The wife picked me up after work. She bought the tickets early, about 8:00 pm and picked me up at 10:30 pm. We got to the theater just before 11 and our theater had already been let in. I thought for sure we were going to get a crappy seat, but we did well. We had to sit for over an hour, the longest time I have ever waited for a movie. The audience was mostly kids in their late teens, but I saw a few my age. A sample of conversation overheard in the concession line by the wife:

Teen #1: Dude, I am going to be so wasted for school tomorrow.

Teen #2: Dude, me too.

Teen #1: Dude, I so don't want to go to gym tomorrow.

Teen #2: Dude, that sucks.

Teen #1: Dude, do you want a refill?

Teen #2: No. Dude I don't think I will make it through the movie without having to piss.

Yes, they really talk like that.

Revenge of the Sith

The wife and I are going to see the new Star Wars movie tonight. After I get off work we are going to meet up for the 12:01 showing.

I have a bit of a reputation for ruining movies for people. I really enjoyed Finding Nemo, so I proceeded to tell every joke in it to a friend of mine, thereby ruining the movie for him. After he saw it, he said I told him every joke in the film. That was my plan.

Of course, this guy got his revenge by telling all of our couple friends that I did this. No one will see movies us anymore, so we are going to see this one by ourselves.

I promise not to post any spoilers.

By Andrew Coyne

This column by Andrew Coyne is a must read.

Peter MacKay's Left Wing Girlfriend

Peter, if you ever want to commiserate together, email me.

Vote Switching

Paul Wells at Inkless Wells asked a few days ago for people to email him if they were intending to switch their vote and why.

This unscientific and completely bias poll is quite interesting and may provide some insight into what Canadians are thinking.

"Strange days indeed...."

They say a week in politics is like a year. What a difference a day makes. Belinda Stronach has left the Conservative Party and is now a Liberal with a senior Cabinet post, Minister of Human Resources Development.

I heard about this and immediately switched to talk radio to hear what the people had to say. I just caught the last part of a call in program where it seemed that many people felt this was a principled decision by Belinda. However, one of the last callers got on and stated that, if this was a decision based on principle, why did she not sit as an independent? Did she need to cross the floor and sit as a Liberal to make a statement about her principles?

The fact that she got a senior cabinet post sure makes it look like a payoff.

Although I believe this was pure ambition on her part, her stated reason was that she was not happy with the Conservatives and Bloc alliance. I think this demonstrates the differences in thinking between Albertans and Ontario. Ontario sees the block as a much bigger threat than the west does.

Many in the west, me included, have sympathy towards Quebec claims of being left out. Alberta feels the same way. Not that I agree with Quebec's perception that it is left out. Quite the contrary. With only 25% of the population, Quebec controls Canadian politics. There is no reason the second most populous province in Canada should not be near the top economically. Yet Quebec receives equalization payments. My tax dollars go to pay for $7 a day child care that costs $40 per day. What is fair about that?

Here is another little test. Name the last Canadian Prime Minister that did not come from Quebec. Kim Campbell? John Turner? Remind me again how well they did?

To get back to the main point, Belinda says she is unhappy with the Conservatives cozying up to the Bloc. As if they are. Just because both parties want to get rid of this government does not mean they are in bed together. What do you think is a greater threat to Canada: the fall of this Liberal government or the federal government treating 25% of its citizens like idiots and thinking that a sign with the Canada word mark at their favorite fishing trade show is going to turn them into federalists?

Of course, that is only if you believe Adscam was about saving Canada and not about illegally paying off Liberal party members with your tax dollars.

The Bloc will be against the Government of Canada no matter which party forms the government.

My advice to Belinda: Wake Up.

Also, treat Canadians with a bit of respect.

Don't feed me shit and call it ice cream.

Where is my $700?

Interesting developments in Ottawa over the last few weeks. I cannot say I am happy. The country seems to be going into the shithole, to put it bluntly. The House loses confidence in the government, so the government decides it will ignore it. Saner heads prevail and they realize the optics and decide to have a vote over a week later. It seems like we have had a coup. I fully support the opposition halting the operation of parliament, since it no longer has the confidence of the people. They should shut the place down until there is a confidence vote to sort this it. Since the government has no legitimacy, do I have to pay my taxes for this period?

The great Liberal pre-election payout has begun. $22 billion in 3 weeks. I did the math and it adds up to over $700 for every person in the country. Since it is my money, just send me the $700 and keep your stinkin' programs.

The tide must be turning. Even the wife wants her $700.

Not posting for a bit

As I am sure you can tell, I have not posed for a bit. I have been on a 3 week contract, working 10 hour days. Not really a big deal, but if you go from no employment to working it takes some time to adjust. Also during that time, we sold our house. So the last few weeks were a bit stressful, what with keeping the house clean all the time, something we are not used to. We got a good price, so we are happy. Now we just need to find a place for us to live. Then I need a full time job. This will be a year to remember.

Anyway, the job is now over, so I can spend some more time keeping this up to date. Expect the rest of the trip blog put up over the next little while.

National Unity my Ass

I was going not going to post anything until the trip posts were finished, but I just cannot keep it to myself.

We come back to Canada and I find the Gomery inquiry is putting out new scandals every day. Catching up with this info leaves me sick to my stomach. Today I read that 20 Quebec lawyers who wanted to be judges worked for the Liberals, on the understanding that was what was required to get on the bench. So far almost half on that list have been appointed. Is this Canada or some South American banana republic?

Remember Chuck Guite said a few months ago when he testified that the Sponsorship program was all about national unity? How does paying some ad agency $50k to hand a cheque to someone else help national unity? Oh, wait, it doesn't. But it sure helps the Liberals when that guys gives $49k as a donation for the next election.


But Paul Martin didn't know anything about it. Bullshit. A senior, or the senior, minister from Quebec and he was not aware of the pipeline by which money would "magically" appear if people were short during an election? He either knew, or knew enough to know someone was up to no good and decided to keep away from it. Just about everyone has seen this sort of thing somewhere, like at work, and knows how it works. If you are not involved, you either keep your head down and ignore it, or you try to put a stop to it. We know he did not try to stop it, so he either willfully ignored it or was involved.

Then he has the gall to go on television and say "let Gomery do his work, and then I will call an election". The only problem is he already called an election before Gomery did his work.

Anyone who votes for the Liberals in this next election should have their head examined. If I was a Liberal MP, I would be ashamed to stand for election for that party.

Asia Honeymoon (7) - Cu Chi Tunnels

22 March

We meet our guide, Chong and the one other person on this portion of the trip, an older Australian woman named Susan.

The tunnels are very interesting. We start the tour with an old VC propaganda film, which is such a bad piece of propaganda it is funny. Our guide warns us about it. The tunnels are a small section of a vast tunnel system near Saigon. In 1965, the Americans actually built their first military base over the tunnel complex and did not discover it until a few months later.

I can only make it through the first 100 meters before claustrophobia sets in. The tunnels were not made for 6 foot, 200 pound westerners. Although not over commercialized, the place is set for tourists. The tunnels were restored and opened when the government realized western, especially American, tourists would fly to Vietnam and pay to see them. You can buy various knickknacks and take your picture in an "authentic" communist underground meeting room. I have the wife take a picture of me beside the VC flag and a picture of Uncle Ho. hopefully this picture never gets out or my political career will be over, just like John Kerry. I'm kidding, but more on Kerry in a bit.

The best part of the tunnels for me is the examples of VC traps. They are very ingenious and very nasty. It is not the kind of thing I would want to face in battle.

Overall, the tour is very good. Not really polished, but I am not here for polish, a la Disneyland. I thought it would be very political, filled with communist BS, but it is not. As I said, the only propaganda was the initial film, which is so obviously propaganda as to be funny, and probably very interesting to those who study that sort of thing, or perhaps marketing executives.

If you vists Saigon, you must see the Cu Chi Tunnels.

Asia Honeymoon (6) - Ho Chi Min City

21 March

It is late when we land. No problems getting through passport control. Once we get out of the airport, I have to go to work dealing with people. Our guidebook says a cab to the hotel should cost about $5 US. The cab we get says he wants $20. Since it is midnite and there are 2 of us with luggage, I agree to $10. I may have made a mistake, as when we get to the hotel and I give him $10, a huge grin comes across his face and he reacts as if it was $1 million and takes off like a thief in the night. Did he mean 20 thousand Dong (Vietnam's currency)? 15 thousand Dong is one US dollar, so 20 thousand is about $1.33 US. That can't be right.

Our hotel is 3 stars. I was worried about what we would get and if this would be comfortable enough. The wife doesn't really care about fancy hotels, but to me, this is a vacation. For years my job had me living in the woods so when I go on vacation I don't what to be going without showers and wiping my ass with leaves.

A 3 star hotel includes your own shower, bathroom and TV. I am satisfied. The biggest difference I can determine between 3 and 4 stars is a pool at the hotel. Since this portion of our trip is all about sightseeing, 3 stars is all we need.

Finishing the Trip

Well, we are back. I was unable to put up more posts for the rest of the trip. Part of that was just having the time. It takes me about 30 minutes to do up a short post, and 1 hour for a medium one. This can be alot of time on a vacation.

However, the main reason was cost. The first few posts were posted on Phuket, Thailand, where I found the cheapest internet access, at 1 Baht per minute. About 40 Bhat equals 1 US dollar, so this is a good price. In Singapore, our hotel charged $6 Singapore dollars for the first 20 minutes. This is about $3.75 US and is on that crappy TV access with crappy wireless keyboards. The ship was a bit better, but they charge $1 S for 3 minutes. That is ten bucks even for a short post like this one. And the access is by satellite, which was not very smooth.

Therefore, I decided to wait until I was home to post the rest. I have not heard any complaints, and since you are getting this for free, I do not expect to get any.

Anyway, the rest of the trip will be posted over the next week or so, a few posts each day.

I have renamed the first few posts with the title "Asia Honeymoon" and a number. This will quickly identify which posts are on the honeymoon and ensure they are in chronoligical order.

Enjoy.

Asia Honeymoon (5) - More Airports

20/21 March

Hong Kong

Nice airport. Don't ask me about anything else, because that is all we see. We have about 45 minutes before our flight to Ho Chi Min City. I officially start the vacation by taking the first picture.

Asia Honeymoon (4) - What day is it?

20/21 March

Thirteen hours on a plane and a 16 hour time change including crossing the international date line doesn't do much for ones sense of time. Our flight is as pleasant as can be. They really take care of your on Cathay Pacific and I would recommend them. I try to get upgraded to first class by subtly mentioning at the gate that we are on our honeymoon. They flight agent knows exactly what I am going for. No dice. The plane is full.

The flight is otherwise uneventful. The food is good and they have those in seat LCD players with a wide selection of movies. The wife gets to watch Sideways, a movie I have no interest in and I have been actively preventing her from renting. I watch The Incredibles about 4 or 5 times during the trip. Well, not really. I watch it once and just leave it on while I drift in and out of sleep. Remember, yesterday was my wedding night and I only got 3 hours sleep.

Asia Honeymoon (3) - Vancouver Airport

20 March

Our first real married fight takes place in the Vancouver Airport, less than 12 hours after we are married. If you could call it that. The wife finally looked at our itinerary in detail. Monday is our first day in Vietnam and is also a travel day. Once we get to Vietnam we are supposed to spend the rest of the day touring on our own. We are arriving in Vietnam at 11 pm on Monday (which is 7:30 am next Friday in Edmonton, or something like that). This leaves us with no time to tour on our first day. Instead of two days in Vietnam, we effectively have one. Guess who she blames for this.

You are correct if you guess the only other person in the Vancouver Airport that she knows. I bet the guy sitting behind us on the airport bench while we "discussed" the issue never gets married.

As an aspiring political junkie, the most disturbing thing about this trip was being unconnected and unable to keep up to date on various political goings on. Fortunately, the Vancouver Airport stepped up to make me feel at home. Vancouver International is very clean and modern. Despite this, the first washroom stall I use has only one piece of graffiti, which, in true West Coast, pot smoking, hippie fashion states:

BUSH = HITLER

BOYCOTT US GOODS

Don't you think if Bush is as bad as Hitler we should be doing more that boycotting Coca Cola? Imagine that, if after Hitler invaded Poland we had said, "Bad Germany, Bad! We will no longer buy your schnitzel".

Take that Hitler.

Asia Honeymoon (2) - International Airport Tour 2005

20 March 9:14 am

We are just starting our decent into Vancouver.

We flew Air Canada on this leg. The wife is looking forward to the next leg, from Vancouver to Hong Kong. We are flying Cathay Pacific. Everyone says they are excellent. I am planning to ask the Captain to marry us on the flight. We want to get married in every country we visit, so why not in international waters?

Maybe we can get an upgrade to first class.

Asia Honeymoon (1) - For Better or Worse

20 March

Well, we did it. We had planned to get married on our trip to Asia. However, due to the bureaucratic problems of getting married overseas (guess who got blamed for that), we decided to do it before. So, as I write this, my left wing girlfriend has become my left wing wife.

Thanks to all the advice from those who read this blog. Some of you suggested I think twice. The truth is, I knew about three weeks after we met that I was going to marry her. That was 2 1/2 years ago.

On Thursday night we decided to get married before we left. Fifteen minutes at the registry office and we were done. I love Alberta. There are almost as many small registry offices here as liquor stores. Makes it easy to get married or renew your drivers' license. It is actually easier to get a marriage license than it is to get proof there is no impediment to your getting married. To get married you have to swear there is no impediment to your marriage. To prove that there is no impediment to your marriage you need a database search, and a bunch of other stuff that is much more expensive than a marriage license. If it is cheaper, might as well get married.

As I write this we are just about to leave for the airport. It is 5:30 am and we have had about 3 hours sleep and been married for just over 12 hours. We have fought only 3 times since the wedding, all about packing.

It is going to be a long rest of my life.

Blogging the Trip

I am a bit behind in posting on this trip. I will start to post as much as I can from now on, trying to catch up before the end. All the posts will be in order, but read the dates on the posts to get the true time of what hapened when.

Enjoy.