The Commons: Full disclosure

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 6:14 PM - 39 Comments

The Scene. In an effort, perhaps, to enliven the proceedings slightly, Michael Ignatieff opened with a minor flourish. Between January 2006 and May 2007, there had been, he said, a “cascade” of reports about torture in Afghan jails. One imagines a great rush of paperwork spilling over the Peace Tower, tourists frolicking in the mess at the bottom as if in a ticker-tape parade.

“It defies belief that this information never reached the Prime Minister,” Mr. Ignatieff ventured of this metaphorical waterfall. “How can anyone believe that the Prime Minister did not himself know about torture in Afghan jails and the risk that detainees transferred there would be tortured? And if that is so, how can he possibly justify his failure to act for those crucial 18 months?”

The Prime Minister stood, adjusted his left cuff and proceeded with a series of shrugs. “Mr. Speaker, once again, everybody knows that there are widespread allegations,” he said. “Taliban make allegations in every case.”

Congratulations to those of you who had “11″ in the “How many words will the Prime Minister speak today before referencing the Taliban?” pool. Continue…

Chipping at hockey's barriers

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 5:42 PM - 13 Comments

Here’s a hockey story you don’t see every day. A lot of ink has been spilled about Brian Burke and his Stanley Cup ambitions, especially since he became president and GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. But ESPN’s John Buccigross has captured another side of the man—proud father of an openly gay son. Brendan Burke, a 20-year student at Miami University in Ohio, came out to his family two years ago, and the university hockey team he helps manage this past spring. Now he’s speaking out to a wider audience, and challenging a sport that is frequently hostile to homosexuality. Brian Burke says he loves his son and admires his courage. And the Leafs’ honcho is backing up his talk: this past summer he and Brendan attended Toronto Pride together.

ESPN

What the Bronfman kid's up to

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 5:32 PM - 0 Comments

There’s nothing very Montreal about the Bronfmans anymore. Exhibit A is Warner Music Group CEO Ed Bronfman, Jr.’s 27-year-old son, Ben. The Seagram heir is a punk musician who grew up in Manhattan and who lives with his fiancee, the British-born, Tamil-background hip-hop singer M.I.A., in Bedford-Stuyvesant with the couple’s child. “I’ve always had that f**k-the-system mentality, and his dad is so ‘the system,’” M.I.A., whose real name is Maya Arulpragasam, told Spin recently. “But then, they’re the most liberal family—they bootlegged alcohol, for God’s sake. They’re rich because they threw big, illegal parties, so I don’t mind.” Ben is now hobnobbing with New York’s environmental movers and shakers, according to the New York Observer

New York Observer

You can't say that here

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 4:15 PM - 18 Comments

Let’s watch as opposition MPs attempt to raise in the House the matter of Gerald Keddy’s misunderstood comments.

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British government spills its “secret”

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 4:15 PM - 0 Comments

The Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS, Britain’s largest mortgage lender, were secretly kept afloat with £62 billion ($109 billion) in emergency government support through the Bank of England at the height of the credit crisis last year, the Times of London reports. The bank contends it was dealing with “exceptional circumstances” and acted as “lender of last resort.” Today’s disclosure was made only after the government “judged calm had been restored and there was no longer any need for secrecy.” Both banks eventually provided the bank with collateral with a value in excess of $175 billion. They were also charged fees by the bank. The revelation is destined to spark controversy— and to intensify complaints from HBOS’ and Lloyds of Londons’ shareholders that they were not given the full picture when they were offered shares in earlier rights issues by the two banks in January. The Financial Services Authority is already investigating HBOS for alleged lapses in disclosure.

Times of London

The Most Important Video You Will See Today

By Jaime Weinman - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 3:43 PM - 19 Comments

I know I am the ten thousandth blogger to embed this video, but come on. It is, quite rightly, today`s top story.

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.4005687&w=560&h=340&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

Ignatieff and torture: the Liberals respond

By Paul Wells - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 1:50 PM - 156 Comments

From the Inkless emailbox: the DonOLO responds.

Michael Ignatieff argues against torture from 1987 – 2009

Lesser Evil Lecture at the Miller Center of Public Affairs – April 23, 2005

“If you ask me what I would do and what I endorse, I would have an absolute prohibition on torture”… (58)

“Let me be clear on what water boarding is. You put somebody in a tank of water upside down until they have the experience of downing and you pull them out just before they drown. And that’s torture. Because it is the most awful experience a human being could have short of dying violently. So we don’t want to do that.” (54:12)

Ignatieff, Michael. “Lesser Evil.” Penguin Group, Toronto: 2004.

“I argue that actions which violate foundational commitments to justice and dignity – torture, illegal detention, unlawful assassination – should be beyond the pale.” (x) Continue…

A misunderstanding

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 1:30 PM - 19 Comments

Gerald Keddy, yesterday. If anyone ever stops Nova Scotia farmers from hiring migrant labourers to harvest their crops, they would destroy a lot of businesses because unemployed Nova Scotians don’t want those jobs, says Gerald Keddy, the Conservative MP for South Shore-St. Margarets. ”Nova Scotians won’t do it — all those no-good bastards sitting on the sidewalk in Halifax that can’t get work,” Mr. Keddy said Monday.

Gerald Keddy, today. Conservative MP Gerald Keddy is apologizing for referring to some unemployed Haligonians as “no-good bastards.” Keddy, MP for the Nova Scotia riding of South Shore-St. Margaret’s, issued a statement Tuesday saying he was sorry for the “insensitive comments.” ”In no way did I mean to offend those who have lost their job due to the global recession, nor did I mean to suggest that anyone who is unemployed is not actively looking for employment,” he said.

Ignatieff, torture, NDP

By Paul Wells - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 1:08 PM - 107 Comments

From the Inkless emailbox. This news release from the NDP is pretty incendiary, but readers who don’t welcome the message will want to know (a) that the NDP is putting this stuff about and (b) that this is probably what a general election campaign will feel like. Readers who welcome the message, on the other hand, will welcome the message. Buckle up:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

 

REALITY CHECK: Join Ignatieff’s Book Club on Torture

Yesterday in scrums, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff attempted to dismiss charges of hypocrisy against him, by challenging reporters to examine his well known statements about the appropriate use of torture:

“I did twenty minutes [sic] of journalism on protecting human rights, I have no explanations to make here, I have always been against torture.  If you would take the trouble to read what I have said, you will see that it’s a terrible accusation.” – Michael Ignatieff, CTV News Channel, 23 November 2009

Okay.  Let’s take him up on that: Continue…

Another Montreal café firebombed

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 1:08 PM - 0 Comments

Another Montreal café has been firebombed, the ninth such incident in what has become a dangerous trend across the city. Police say the attacks, involving Molotov cocktails thrown through café and bar windows, are probably linked and could be connected to an underground turf war. The owners of the targeted businesses have been mostly unwilling to speak out about the attacks, but the president of the Union of Quebec Bar Owners is urging them to co-operate with police to prevent more violence.

CBC

China executes men behind tainted milk

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 12:57 PM - 0 Comments

A dairy farmer and a milk salesman were executed in China today for deliberately adding melamine, an industrial chemical, to infant formula that made 300,000 children sick and killed at least six babies. The scandal caused a massive recall and created outrage in China that was further fueled by allegations of a cover up. Sanlu, the company that manufactured the formula and used melamine to boost its nutritional properties, knew the milk was dangerous in May of last year but waited until August to warn officials, who in turn waited another month to take action. Chinese media also knew about the tainted milk, but refused to report on the issue because it took place in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics. Another 19 people associated with the tainted formula are currently in jail, including Sanlu’s general manager. Some parents of affected children say the executed men were merely scapegoats and that Sanlu’s executives should receive harsher sentences.

The Guardian

The Other CBC (Not the Congressional Black Caucus) Announces its Schedule

By Jaime Weinman - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 12:50 PM - 2 Comments

It’s Winter Schedule day at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and Diane at TV-Eh has the press release the CBC sent out today.

With the new Kids in the Hall limited-run reunion series, the Rockford Files-inspired Newfoundland mystery Republic of Doyle, a bunch of returning comedies, and the new comedy 18 to Life (which was originally announced as a CBC-ABC co-production, until the U.S. partner pulled out), it’s a very light, comedy-heavy lineup, apart from the Bush-era bad-assery of The Border.

This seems like an understandable strategy in times like these, though of course it may not be an intentional strategy; sometimes it just happens that the shows that make the schedule are relatively lighthearted shows. Anyway, it’s a reminder of how quickly network schedules and branding can change, because it was only a couple of years ago that the CBC was touting its “sexy” lineup.

Maritime ski hills hold off on making helmets mandatory

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 12:34 PM - 2 Comments

Almost a year after actress Natasha Richardson died as a result of a head injury she endured while skiing in Mont Tremblant, ski hills in Atlantic Canada are holding off on making helmet-wearing mandatory. The reason, says provincial parks manager Shane Arbing, is that although the Canadian Standards Association issued specifications for ski and snowboard helmets in the wake of Richardson’s death (she was not wearing a helmet when she fell), there are no models that meet the standard on the market—which could have something to with the fact there are no laws that require helmet manufacturers to meet CSA standards. Anthony Todderin, a senior media relations officer with CSA, says he’s hopeful that CSA-approved helmets, which he says offer “better protection,” will be available soon.

CBC

The big think

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 12:30 PM - 49 Comments

An open letter, received just now, from Michael Ignatieff.

I am pleased to announce today that the Liberal Party of Canada will host a special conference in Montreal, March 26 to 28, 2010, “Canada at 150: Rising to the Challenge”.

Canada at 150: Rising to the Challenge

The three-day conference, in the tradition of the 1960 Kingston Conference and the 1991 Aylmer Conference, will invite progressive thinkers and activists from a broad swath of Canadian society to discuss the fundamental challenges facing Canada in a new era of uncertainty and global economic upheaval.  The conference will be a key step in the development of the Liberal Party’s platform for the next general election.

Continue…

Drugs cut HIV death toll

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 12:27 PM - 0 Comments

About 33.4 million people around the world are infected with HIV, up from 33 million in 2007—an increase that can be explained by the fact that fewer people are dying with HIV, the BBC reports. What’s more, there’s been a significant drop in the number of new infections, according to the World Health Organization and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/Aids, who say that drug treatments have helped save lives. Since the availability of effective treatment in 1996, a new report notes, about 2.9 million lives have been saved. Since the epidemic began, almost 60 million people have been infected by HIV, and 25 million people have died due to causes related to the virus. Thanks in part to HIV prevention programs, new infections have been reduced by 17 per cent over the past eight years, and in sub-Saharan Africa, the hardest hit area, the number of new infections is down by around 15 per cent from 2001, meaning about 400,000 fewer infections in 2008 alone.

BBC News

Another reason to brush your teeth?

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 12:18 PM - 0 Comments

The same bacteria that is implicated in gum disease may now play a part in triggering multiple sclerosis, according to a study in the December 2009 issue of the American Journal of Pathology. Porphyromas gingivalis is a common bacteria in humans. It makes a type of lipid or fat called phosphorylated dihydroceramides (DHCs) that enhances our inflammatory responses. Researchers in the U.S. have found that DHCs can trigger or increase the severity of MS, which occurs when the immune system turns against the body and attacks the brain and spinal chord and leads to paralysis. DHCs may also play a role in other autoimmune diseases. The study refers to DHCs as a “tipping” factor because of their ability to prompt or worsen these illnesses. Next the researchers will focus on determining how this lipid causes such havoc, and whether it can be used to predict the onslaught of MS or even treat the disease. This is particularly relevant in Canada, which has the highest rate of MS in the world—three people across the country are diagnosed with it every day.

American Journal of Pathology

CEGEP Screwballin'

By Martin Patriquin - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 12:14 PM - 15 Comments

Just over two years ago, this corner wrote a piece about how the sovereignist movement was becoming so weak that its principals were beginning to eat one another in the usual fashion: its hardliners complained loudly and often that the moderates were too soft, the moderates didn’t fight back against the dogma so as not to appear too un-québécois, and the ensuing public feud made the whole lot seem terrifically unbalanced.

Anyway, the piece quoted former PQ MNA Yves Michaud, a not-uncharming firebrand who, like most retired PQ politicians, likes to tell the party what to do. In this case, Michaud said the PQ should make several “acts of sovereignty”, chief among them would be to make in mandatory that all immigrants attend French CEGEP (the two years after high school). “Half of the immigrants go to English CEGEP. They might speak French, but how many of them would vote ‘Yes’?” Michaud said at the time. Michaud’s message: indoctrinate the suckers, for the sake of the country.

Continue…

As David Mulroney's jet hurtles through the skies toward Ottawa…

By Paul Wells - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 12:03 PM - 24 Comments

…our their Kady feels the strangest sense of déjà vu. Witnesses showing up before they’d been called? She’s seen this one before!

Formally Proposed Parliamentary Reform of the Week

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 11:52 AM - 3 Comments

A British committee set up in the wake of all that unpleasantness over MPs’ expenses, comes back with some suggestions.

“Achievable” but radical change to rebuild parliament’s independence from the executive, including a new body of elected backbenchers responsible for organising Commons business, is proposed today by a prestigious select committee set up by Gordon Brown.

The report also suggests that the public should be a given some direct say over what MPs debate, through devices such as e-petitions. Prime minister’s questions would be shifted from Wednesday to Thursday afternoon to liberate more time for backbenchers on Wednesday. It calls for Commons select committees to be streamlined and given more independence from the government so they are able to scrutinise Whitehall departments more thoroughly. Their chairmen ought to be elected by the whole house in a secret vote, rather than effectively agreed between the party whips, it says.

Ad Hoc Parliamentary Reform of the Week

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 11:37 AM - 6 Comments

If the government won’t answer your requests in Question Period, leave.

Frustrated by Premier Dalton McGuinty’s refusal to hold public hearings on the controversial 13 per cent HST, the 25-member Progressive Conservative caucus stormed out of the Legislature’s daily question period today shortly after it began.

“You have lost touch,” Conservative Leader Tim Hudak told McGuinty before the stunt took place, accusing the Liberals of being afraid of a public backlash over the tax. ”If Premier McGuinty is going to show that level of contempt for taxpayers by forcing through the largest sales tax grab in the history of this province without any kind of public hearings . . . we see no point in proceeding with question period today.”

Rupert Murdoch hints at exclusive deal with Bing

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 11:36 AM - 1 Comment

Is the web’s free-ride coming to an end? Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has been talking with Microsoft about making its online content available only via the newish Bing search engine. It’s relative simple to block out Google—just add a line of code and the web engine will ignore your content—but few have reason to do so, given that more than 65 percent of all search inquiries in the United States are made via that site. (Bing handles 9.9 percent of U.S. searches.) However, Murdoch has been braying for months about the need for news organisations to take control of their own content and rein in the web “pirates.” Pay walls may be next on his agenda.

NYTimes

Murder of a missionary

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 11:34 AM - 1 Comment

Father Daniil Sysoyev was shot dead inside his own church last week, in a killing that many suspect was by Islamic radicals. He was a controversial figure, even within the Russian Orthodox Church. In contravention of an unspoken agreement among the major Russian religions not to seek converts among each other’s flocks, Sysoyev was an active missionary, seeking to proselytize Moscow Muslims. Sysoyev also posted a series of online sermons on YouTube dissecting the Islamic faith and making several incendiary claims about the religion. The priest himself spoke of receiving multiple death threats for his views on Islam. Late last week, after the evening service, an intruder burst into Father Sysoyev’s small church, located in a drab Moscow suburb. The killer was wearing a surgical mask, brandishing a pistol, and demanded to know where Sysoyev was. When the priest emerged, he was shot twice, in the head and neck, and later died in hospital. A lengthy funeral service was held for Father Sysoyev yesterday at a church in southern Moscow, presided over by Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Tensions were high even as leading Christian and Muslim figures called for calm. “To kill a man of God inside his own church is absolutely disgusting,” said Natalia, an elderly mourner who said she had not known the priest personally but respected his views. “If it was the Muslims, there will be hell to pay. Russia is a Christian country and they shouldn’t forget that.” Muslims agree the danger exists. “He was an odious figure, who openly insulted Islam, the Koran, and our prophet,” said a high-profile Muslim intellectual who did not want to be named, because of the sensitivity of the situation. Whether or not the murder was perpetrated by Islamic radicals, he said, there is now every chance of a backlash. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we see revenge attacks,” he said. “The fact that the Patriarch himself led the funeral service is a sign from the authorities that these views are acceptable, and it’s very ominous.”

Independent.co.uk

The burden of proof

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 11:10 AM - 25 Comments

As noted, the government’s present stance, as articulated by Defence Minister Peter MacKay, is as follows: “There has never been a single proven allegation of abuse involving a prisoner transferred by the Canadian Forces. Not one.”

Here, again, it is perhaps worth reviewing the report that seemingly brought a halt to transfers in November 2007. Page one of the report indicates it was filed by a Canadian official after a visit to a “detention facility in Kandahar City to interview Canadian-transferred detainees.” At page three, it is disclosed that a detainee made an “allegation of abuse.” He described the abuse, then pointed to a chair, underneath which, he said, were the implements used to abuse him. There, the Canadian officials found “a large piece of braided electrical wire as well as a rubber hose.” The detainee then showed Canadian officials a four-inch bruise on his back. The Canadian official reports that the mark “could possibly be the result of a blow.” The detainee asked that the allegation be kept confidential and the Canadian official cautions that the matter should be handled “strategically,” while raising the possibility of “retaliation.”

If this does not establish an incident of torture, or demonstrate a reasonable threat of torture, what, for the sake of argument, would? Would a Canadian official have to personally follow a Canadian-transferred detainee into prison and then personally witness the torture of that detainee? Is a legal verdict required? Would an Afghan or Canadian court have to find an Afghan official guilty of torturing a Canadian-transferred detainee?

Singing with glee

By John Intini - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 10:45 AM - 2 Comments

As well as being a member of the choir backing up Dead Man’s Bones in Vancouver last month, Jane Ag­yeman was picked to perform a solo, a cover of Cher’s Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down). Fully aware of who the packed house had paid to see – the band is fronted by Academy Award-nominated actor Ryan Gosling – Agyeman wasn’t expecting much more than a polite response, like at an elementary school concert, she says, when “the crowd claps because it’s mandatory.” So it came as a bit of a shock when the club erupted with applause following her four minutes alone in the spotlight. And the Georgia Straight’s review of the show, while generous to Gosling, credited the Grade 11 student at North Vancouver’s Carson Graham secondary school with having “turned in the night’s most killer performance.”

Being upstaged by a kid from the choir is something Gosling has been setting himself up for this fall. On the band’s self-titled debut, which came out last month, Dead Man’s Bones is joined by the Silverlake Conservatory of Music’s children’s choir. And at every tour stop, the band selected a local chorus, painted the members’ faces like ghosts, and took them on stage as backup. When asked by a journalist from Pitchfork what they hoped to achieve by including the kids, Gosling offered a rambling, but poignant response: “You know when you’re a kid and you get crayons and papers and just draw whatever you want and it’s just a bunch of messy lines, but to you it makes sense, and then they put it on the fridge? From that point on, you’re always trying to get back on the fridge. We wanted to get back to that place before we were trying to make the fridge. We wanted to work with people who hadn’t been affected in that way yet.”

The guys in Dead Man’s Bones aren’t the only ones trying to capture a bit of that magic. Aside, perhaps, from Whoopi Goldberg’s turn in Sister Act, choirs have never been more centre stage in pop culture than they are right now. The soundtrack for Where the Wild Things Are features Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and 16 untrained children’s voices. A Grade 5 chorus at New York City’s PS22 regularly captures the YouTube generation’s attention (12 million views and counting) with covers of modern-day pop songs, and counts Beyoncé, Rihanna and Lady Gaga as fans. The Choir, an award-winning BBC reality show about a choirmaster who tries to turn inexperienced, and often reluctant, students on to song, has proven incredibly popular in the U.K. (TVO is airing all three episodes of season one on Jan. 1). And then, of course, there’s Glee. Fox’s massive hit, about a high school show choir, has 8.6 million tuning in every week. And the show’s chart-topping music—including covers of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ and Beyoncé’s Halo—has sold more than 2.6 million downloads on iTunes. At the risk of being stuffed in a locker for saying it, choirs are, well, cool.

Continue…