From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V8 #397 Reply-To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Sender: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Errors-To: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Cdn-Firearms Digest Friday, September 9 2005 Volume 08 : Number 397 In this issue: Smaller federal surplus expected [COLUMN] Chicken killer! [LETTERS] WINNIPEG SUN, SEPT. 9/05 Letter to Globe and Mail (unpub) ... Alberta industry, environmentalists to discuss fate of threatened Letter to paper not yet printed [EDITORIAL] Liberals target wrong people Two orphan grizzly cubs killed Man fighting for life after east-end shooting Dependence on Government, Not Racism, Hurting Black People, Pastor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 13:48:41 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: Smaller federal surplus expected http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2005/09/08/1207945-cp.html Smaller federal surplus expected By SANDRA CORDON OTTAWA (CP) - Finance Minister Ralph Goodale is poised to announce an unusually small federal surplus - bad news in normal times, but curiously good news for the beleaguered minority Liberal government. Sources say Ottawa's surplus for the past fiscal year will total only about $2.6 billion - a bit below the $3 billion that was expected for 2004-05. Normally, having such a small cushion against deficit wouldn't be cause for celebration. But after years of being politically reviled for consistently underestimating - by large amounts - the size of the federal surplus, Goodale will this year be close to the mark. Last year was particularly embarrassing for the minister and the Finance department. After predicting a surplus of $1.9 billion for fiscal 2003-04, the real year-end figure turned out be the exact reverse: a whopping $9.1 billion. Goodale's political opponents weren't celebrating the unusual accuracy Thursday. Monte Solberg, the Opposition Conservative Finance critic, said Goodale's office made several last-minute spending plans to soak up enough surplus cash to bring the final amount below the expected $3 billion. Solberg said that explains the inaccuracies by private-sector forecasts analysts, hired by the opposition parties to do their own budget predictions. Those estimates have ranged from almost $7 billion to $8 billion in surplus cash left over after fiscal year-end March 31. Forecasters simply didn't have all the information about the government's last-minute spending plans, said Solberg. "Some of those (items) are completely subjective, they could have announced some things whenever they wanted," he said. "This is their (Liberals) way of coming in on target and trying to discredit the numbers (the private-sector analysts) have produced." Following a speech Thursday in Vancouver, Goodale said he intends to announce a small surplus "in a week or two" and warned it won't be any where as large as the private estimates suggest. "They're simply wrong," Goodale said. "I would expect the actual surplus to be generally in line with my projections in the budget last February - probably a bit lower as I have said all through this summer." All surplus dollars at fiscal year-end go to pay down the federal debt. Pricey plans announced after the last budget include a $1-billion farm aid announcement - financed from last year's surplus since it was channelled through an existing program - as well as a $2.3-billion cost of winding up some projects at Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. There were other big-ticket spending items in February's budget, which ate into extra cash in the federal kitty. That included $700 million for child care and a $4.25-billion fund to reduce hospital wait times. Some other major spending plans announced last spring weren't covered by the last year's surplus. Those include the minority Liberal government's deal with the NDP which boosted social spending by $4.6 billion, to be financed this year and next. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 14:13:40 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: [COLUMN] Chicken killer! http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Columnists/Hanon_Andrew/2005/09/09/1208399. html Chicken killer! By ANDREW HANON I am about to tell you something about myself that I don't share with just anyone. It's a part of my personal history that, while I'm not at all ashamed of it, leads many people to judge me very harshly. Whatever you think of me now, once I reveal this secret, your opinion of me will irrevocably change. The shift might only be slight. After the initial shock of this revelation, you could all but forget about it until some later date when something I mention in passing triggers its memory. Or, your perception of me might be radically altered. You might tell yourself that you thought you knew me, but after this ... well, this changes everything. But it's something I have to do. So (sharp intake of breath) here goes. I slaughtered my own chickens and ate them. There, I've said it. Whew. I feel much better now, like a huge weight has been lifted. I almost feel giddy. Whoo-hoo! Uh-oh. There's that look in your eyes that I know so well. You think I'm some sort of monster. You'd think that because at one point, I actually produced my own food, I must have a penchant for violence, or at least a sociopathic disregard for life. Modern urban society has become so disconnected from its own food supply that when we are confronted with the awful truth of farming, we somehow think there's something wrong with the farmer. A friend of mine, who would weep in anguish over animal cruelty stories in the news, nicknamed me Chicken Killer when he learned of my sordid past. That didn't stop him from clogging his arteries with fast-food hamburgers and chicken nuggets, though. "The meat I buy doesn't come from animals," he'd argue only half-jokingly. "It comes from the butcher shop." My friend, like so many of us, steadfastly refused to connect the dots between the brutality of modern farming techniques and the necessity to supply cities bursting at the seams with enough cheap food to feed everyone. Modern farms, whether we're talking livestock or produce, have been forced to become food factories to supply people who no longer produce any of their own. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the radical fundamentalists of the animal rights movement, has targeted Kentucky Fried Chicken for its ruthless treatment of hundreds of millions of chickens on poultry farms across North America. PETA's "I am not a nugget" stickers can be seen vandalizing signposts, walls and newspaper boxes all over the city. Funds are being raised to put the same message on a billboard in Sherwood Park. The group has produced a video decrying the methods used on poultry farms supplying KFC. The narrator is mamma-riffic former Baywatch babe Pam Anderson, who spends a great deal of the video explaining how the chickens are pumped so full of growth hormones that their legs can no longer support their oversized chests. Ingenious marketing or unintentional irony? You be the judge. The point that PETA has completely missed, however, is that these farms are not unique to KFC suppliers. Virtually every non-hippie-run poultry operation on the continent uses the same heartless, assembly-line techniques. It's the only way to keep up with consumer demand, because nobody's raising their own poultry in smaller numbers and under more humane conditions. If you want to demonize anyone, demonize consumers, most of whom don't even want to know where their food is coming from. Don't blame the few people left on the planet who are actually producing food for the rest of us. Letters to the editor should be sent to mailbag@edmsun.com. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 14:20:24 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: [LETTERS] WINNIPEG SUN, SEPT. 9/05 http://winnipegsun.com/Comment/Letters/2005/09/09/1208497.html Someone doesn't get it Re: No faith in justice system (Sept. 4 editorial). The people get it (the correlation between a lenient justice system and increased crime). The police get it. Even British PM Tony Blair gets it. In a brilliant summation of what is happening in increasingly left-leaning countries, he said that we need "an historic shift from a criminal justice system that asks, first and foremost, 'How do we protect the accused from the transgressions of the state or the police?' to one whose first question is 'How do we protect the majority from the dangerous and irresponsible minority?' " The one person who doesn't get it is former human rights activist, now federal justice minister, Irwin Cotler. Therefore, as long as he keeps his post and the Liberals stay in power, I doubt if anything will change. J. M. Pankewitz Edmonton (How right you are.) Violent crime in decline While certain situations do merit stiffer mandatory minimum sentences, The Sun is inaccurate when it perpetuates the myth that violent crime is increasing. According to Stats Canada's website, the violent crime rate in 2004 fell 2%, continuing a general decline since 1992; the violent crime rate was 10% lower than a decade earlier. Sun readers should have accurate information, not fear mongering. Dale Swirsky Winnipeg (Those stats don't tell the whole story.) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 14:50:54 -0600 (CST) From: "Robert S. Sciuk" Subject: Letter to Globe and Mail (unpub) ... The Supreme Court nomination process ... (fwd) Dear Sir/Madame, If Canadians are a bit cynical at the Federal Government's request for Supreme Court nominations, I think Justice Minister Cotler might be a tad more understanding. Expecting Canadians to accept such a crass attempt to divert attention from the actual process is just a little over the top even for the Martin government. Fresh from the Chretien era, and in the wave of inaction on the democratic deficit and continued cronyism in federal appointments Canadians have no confusion on exactly who calls the shots in our asymmetric federal system. Just as in the case of the selection for Governor General, Canadians can expect a French speaking woman of colour, preferably with a visible handicap, currently working for the CBC and with a strong left wing bias to be the perfect choice for Supreme Court Justice, regardless of her experience and talent. It seems that hard work, relevant experience, ethics and skills have no place in the nomination process for today's federal appointees. Do I sound cynical? Sincerely, Robert S. Sciuk Oshawa, Ont. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 15:05:33 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: Alberta industry, environmentalists to discuss fate of threatened caribou Sender: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Reply-To: cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2005/09/08/1207998-cp.html Alberta industry, environmentalists to discuss fate of threatened caribou By JOHN COTTER Industry, government and environmental groups are trying to put aside their differences to form a plan to save Alberta's dwindling caribou population. (CP PHOTO/HO/Alberta Wilderness Association/Ralf Bürglin) EDMONTON (CP) - Industry and environmental groups are trying to put aside their differences to find a way to save Alberta's threatened woodland caribou from booming energy and forestry development. Three of 18 caribou herds in Alberta are at immediate risk of being wiped out, according to a report prepared this summer for the provincial government. Six herds are listed as in decline. The fate of six other herds is unknown. Only three herds are listed as stable. The Alberta Caribou Committee will meet for the first time Friday to figure out how to manage the province's new caribou recovery plan. Committee member Cliff Wallis of the Alberta Wilderness Association warns that the province could lose the species in a decade. "These animals are running out of a place to live," said Wallis in reference to the growing number of timber clearcuts, pipelines and seismic lines that criss-cross Alberta's boreal forest. "Caribou will be a species of the past in Alberta if we don't make the hard choices this year." Premier Ralph Klein's government has already made some choices about Alberta's caribou herd, which is estimated to number between 2,500 and 4,200 animals. Earlier this summer the province ruled out calls by a government committee and environmental groups to temporarily protect sensitive caribou habitat from new resource development. Instead the government wants industry to come up with ways to reduce the impact of oil and gas activity near threatened herds. Some of the ideas include building fewer roads through pristine habitat, changing timber harvesting practices and concentrating oil and gas rigs in fewer areas. Traffic near herds has resulted in caribou being killed by trucks as the animals lick salt or nibble on clover at the edge of the road. Cutlines and seismic lines make it easier for wolves to roam near caribou herds and prey on the shy, docile animals. The government is also considering a predator management program that could involve killing wolves near threatened herds, said Dave Ealey, a spokesman for Alberta's Sustainable Resource Development Department. "There could be selective culling of wolves," Ealey said. "There would still be wolves on the landscape, but we would minimize their impact on caribou." Suncor and ConocoPhillips announced last year they are working on a caribou restoration program near their North Cabin pipeline project near Valleyview. The pipeline passes through the northwestern Alberta range of the Little Smoky caribou herd, which is in decline. Roger Creasey, an ecosystem manager for Shell Canada, said he hopes the committee will be able to reach a consensus on what action to take. He said they must come up with some new ideas to conserve the caribou that will still allow industry to operate. "That is the challenge," Creasey said. "We are trying to reduce our footprint of roads and wellsites. We have to find a sustainable way to do our business and sustain the caribou." Alberta is not the only province where the caribou are under siege. Earlier this year conservationists in British Columbia called on the provincial government to ban logging in some areas to help save the endangered caribou. The caribou population in B.C. has dropped to 1,700 from 2,700 in 1997. The government recently changed timber cutting areas in southeastern B.C. near caribou migration routes. In Manitoba, caribou numbers have dropped to 2,500 from 5,000 over the past 50 years, but the province does not consider them threatened. Wallis said governments and industry must put a greater value on the animals. "Caribou are kind of a flagship species for the northern forest, and if we can't do a good job saving these beautiful animals, than how do we protect all the lesser species?" ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 16:27:34 -0600 (CST) From: "ross" Subject: Letter to paper not yet printed There have been many groups who have come out against the province of Ontario for attempting to enshrine Shari Law in faily mediation. They object to Sharia law not only on the grounds that it will leave women with less than what is available to them under the charter, but because it would violate several areas of charter law. I find it amusing that these people would object to something like Sharia Law which affects a minority of citizens, yet not object to the charter violations which the Liberal Government has committed against 7.5 million canadians who have been nothing if not law abiding. I am referring to the Firearms act that the federal Liberals keep as a sacred cow and homage to the ecole polytechnique womwn who were murdered by another adherent to Sharia Law Marc Lepine AKA Gamel Ghabril , an Algerian mysogonist. Becausae of his cowardly actions, 7.5 million canadians have lost their basic and fundamental charter rights. Where were these groups when this heinous act of delibereate civil rights violations was taking place. The firearms owners of this country are men and women of all faiths, and have been certified as free of criminal record and free from violence, yet it is this same group who have had their rights trampled, just like the provincial Liberals want to trample the rights of Muslim women with the enshrinement of Sharia law. Our rights are far too important to allow politicians be they federal or provincial to trample on them. What is the next step then.. Whose rights will be next to be trampled. How soon until we will be asked...your identification papers please. Either we all have our charter rights, or none of us have charter rights. The governments cannot suck and blow at the same time. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 16:27:39 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: [EDITORIAL] Liberals target wrong people http://www.timminspress.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=124784&c atname=Editorial&classif=Editorials Liberals target wrong people The Timmins Daily Press Editorial - Thursday, September 08, 2005 @ 07:00 Once again, the Dalton McGuinty Liberals have proven that their primary, even only, area of concern when it comes to running the province is what goes on in the Greater Toronto Area. The latest bit of proof (as if we in the North really need any more) is proposed new legislation designed to curb gun violence. In reality, this carelessly put together piece of fluff will - like the federal gun registry before it - only penalize honest gun owners and do nothing about curb gun violence on the streets of Toronto. The legislation, as put forward by Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant contains four elements: more gun store inspections to make sure guns are being properly and safely stored; setting up of a gun amnesty in hopes that people will turn in illegal firearms; expanding the province's witness protection program; and allowing the Crown to present community impact evidence to the court in hopes that tougher sentences will result. The last three prongs in the attack against gun crime are as innocuous as they will be ultimately ineffective. Gun amnesties have been done before with even the police admitting virtually no "crime guns" have ever been turned in. As for the other two prongs, a few finks may roll on their friends and a few judges might finally get their heads out of wherever they have been keeping them and hand down tougher sentences. But in reality these measures will have no significant impact on gun crime. To paraphrase Annette Benning in The American President, the Liberals have passed gun violence legislation that while have absolutely no impact on gun violence. But increasing inspections of gun stores to supposedly ferret out illegal gun sellers is worse than ineffective: it penalizes honest citizens in the quest for guilty ones. Roger Cauchon, owner and manager of Albert's Sports and Workwear, has sold guns in the city for nearly 40 years. He told Daily Press reporter/photographer Scott Paradis during that time he has seen new laws come in one after the other, from federal and provincial levels of government, that make it harder for him to sell firearms and fail to curb violent activity. He said - correctly - the proposed legislation doesn't make sense because gun violence isn't coming from the hunters who purchase firearms, yet that' s who the idea would affect. He added the legislation is another example of how the province is unable to distinguish between responsible gun owners and criminals. What Cauchon didn't say, but we will, is that it is also another example of how the decision-makers in Toronto never look further than the front of Queen's Park when they pass these kinds of laws. Urban dwellers, especially those in areas terrorized by guns, only know that guns are bad and therefore should be taken away. In fact, responses to the new legislation - from Toronto area police, of course - echo the same sentiment: even one gun off the street is a good thing. While this may have a kernel of truth in Toronto, it holds much less than that in remote areas where many who have guns use them to hunt or to protect their property or livestock from real predators, not the kind that wear gang colours. So the city people demand action, and the Liberal government dances like a marionette, never looking anywhere but at the puppet masters who the Queen' s Park denizens believe hold the key to their political future. And at the end of the day, those of us who do not live in the provincial capital or surrounding area pay the price so McGuinty and his cronies can score political points in Toronto. But we know one thing the puppets seem to forget: come election day a vote from the North is worth the same as a vote in Toronto, and the way the Liberals are going now, we doubt they will be seeing very many of the former. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 16:27:48 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: Two orphan grizzly cubs killed http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050909/BEA RS09/National/Idx Two orphan grizzly cubs killed By DAWN WALTON Friday, September 9, 2005 Page A2 CALGARY -- Grizzly bear experts, conservationists, even Parks Canada officials, predicted it, but nobody expected death would come this soon. Late Wednesday night, two grizzly bear cubs that were orphaned after their mother -- a bear with celebrity status in Banff National Park -- was struck by a train almost three weeks ago, were killed when they burrowed under a fence and attempted to cross the Trans-Canada Highway. Alerted to two tiny, motherless cubs wandering on the road, Mounties and park officials rushed to the area near the Mount Norquay exit and frantically flashed lights in attempt to slow traffic. "We're talking dark on a busy highway and we're talking about little dark bears," said Jillian Roulet, superintendent for Banff National Park. Advertisements click here click here "They were trying their best, but it didn't work." One bear was struck in the westbound lane, the other in the eastbound. A third cub, a male, who was not along the roadway Wednesday night is being tracked for capture and relocation to captivity. "It's tough to accept that we've lost four bears in the space of three weeks and one of them is destined to a life in captivity," said Tracey Henderson, program director of Alberta's Grizzly Bear Alliance. In a fragile ecosystem where grizzly bear numbers have dwindled -- the park has perhaps 55 to 70 bears -- the loss of even one is a massive blow. The death of two cubs and their mother highlights the conflict between humans and wildlife. The 10-year-old sow, known as bear No. 66, preferred to hang around town, and was with the three cubs and likely feeding on berries along the Canadian Pacific Rail line between Banff and Lake Louise when it was hit on Aug. 19. At the time, Banff officials canvassed bear experts from around the continent and decided that the cubs should neither be captured and reintroduced into the wild nor kept permanently in captivity. The best course of action, Parks concluded, was to let nature take its course. Fortuitously, wildlife specialists placed an ear transmitter on the remaining cub on Wednesday afternoon, so tracking should be easy. Once it is captured, the Calgary Zoo has agreed to take the bear on a temporary basis. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 17:26:59 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: Man fighting for life after east-end shooting http://www.900chml.com/news/news_local.cfm?cat=7428327912&rem=17815&red=801 32723aPBIny&wids=410&gi=1&gm=news_local.cfm Man fighting for life after east-end shooting Sep, 09 2005 - 12:00 PM HAMILTON (AM900 CHML) - A 22-year old man is clinging to life after reportedly being shot in the head in Hamilton's east end. Police say it happened around 3 this morning in the Roxborough and Ottawa area. The man is in critical condition. Investigators say the victim is from out of town. - - Jay McQueen ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2005 20:00:11 -0600 (CST) From: Joe Subject: Dependence on Government, Not Racism, Hurting Black People, Pastor Says Sender: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Reply-To: cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca http://www.gopusa.com/news/2005/september/0909_peterson_blacksp.shtml Dependence on Government, Not Racism, Hurting Black People, Pastor Says By Susan Jones CNSNews.com Senior Editor September 9, 2005 (CNSNews.com) -- A black conservative leader says don't blame racism or President Bush for what happened to thousands of black people during and after Hurricane Katrina. "The truth is black people died, not because of President Bush or racism, they died because of their unhealthy dependence on the government and the incompetence of Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco," said the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of BOND (the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny). Peterson singled out the Rev. Jesse Jackson, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and rapper Kanye West, all of whom blamed President Bush for not doing enough to help black people, especially in New Orleans, where TV images showed scenes of desperation and violence that continued for several days after the hurricane hit. Jackson called President Bush's response "incompetent" and charged that racism is partly to blame for the slow evacuation of survivors; and during a nationally televised fundraising event on NBC, West said, "George Bush doesn't care about black people." Not fair, said the Rev. Peterson: "If black folks want to blame someone for this tragedy they only need to look in the mirror." Mayor Nagin has blamed everyone else except himself, when it was Nagin who failed in his duty to evacuate and protect city residents, Peterson said. "Our prayers go out to the families of the deceased," Peterson concluded. "Hopefully this will help black people realize the folly of depending on the government or leaders and serve as a notice to avert future tragedies in other cities." Peterson frequently criticizes the entrenched civil rights leadership, saying liberal black leaders have failed and exploited African-Americans. Copyright © 1998-2005 CNSNews.com - Cybercast News Service ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V8 #397 ********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:akimoya@cogeco.ca List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca FAQ list: http://www.magma.ca/~asd/cfd-faq1.html and http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/homepage.html FTP Site: ftp://teapot.usask.ca/pub/cdn-firearms/ CFDigest Archives: http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab133/ or put the next command in an e-mail message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca get cdn-firearms-digest v04.n192 end (192 is the digest issue number and 04 is the volume) To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next five lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-alert unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".) 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