Don't Cry For Me Argentina

Argentina is an interesting country. I'm not sure what everyone's beef with Argentina is. When the Taliban gave the contract for the Oil Pipeline in Afghanistan to Bridas an Argentina firm instead of UNICOL, everyone freaked. Yet you have to admit that Bridas is a large and competent company originally from Argentina.

Bridas began expanding into the Central Asian energy sector in 1987, and secured its first large-scale contract (gas exploration rights in Turkmenistan), in 1992. Between 1995 and 1997, CEO Carlos Bulgheroni was personally involved in negotiations between Bridas and the governments of Pakistan and Turkmenistan, as well as the ruling Taliban faction in Afghanistan, to build the Trans-Afghanistan Gas Pipeline.

These negotiations were in competition with those undertaken by Unocal, and although an agreement with Unocal-led corporation CentGas was reached, the deal was forfeited in January 1998 in favor of one with Bridas. Instability in Afghanistan delayed construction of the pipeline, however, and following the United States Invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, the Bridas contract was rescinded in favor of the former one with Unocal.

Not only oil but nuclear reactors and satellites as well. In 2006 an Argentina company won the contract to help refurbish one of Libya's nuclear reactors. In 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy was trying to take over the contract and sell Libya a French reactor. Oil, satellites, nuclear reactors... Argentina is a pretty industrialized nation.

It reminds me of Evita, an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical written in 1977 about the life of Eva Perón who was the second wife of President Juan Perón (1895–1974) and served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She is often referred to as simply Eva Perón, or by the affectionate Spanish language diminutive Evita. The song Don't Cry For Me Argentina is from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Madonna played Evita in the 1996 movie.

Although she was a stage, radio, and film actress and was active in charity work, Eva Perón became powerful within the pro-Peronist trade unions, primarily for speaking on behalf of labor rights. She also ran the Ministries of Labor and Health, founded and ran the charitable Eva Perón Foundation, championed women's suffrage in Argentina, and founded and ran the nation's first large-scale female political party, the Female Peronist Party.

Eva Perón is referred to as the Mother of Argentina and Spiritual Leader of the Nation. She dies at an early age of cancer but her legacy has been recorded in eternity. In her autobiography, La Razon de mi Vida, Eva writes, “From every period of my life, I retain the memory of some injustice tormenting me and tearing me apart.”

Everyone jokes about how Adele's new song makes grown men cry. That one doesn't really do it for me but it is hard not to shed a tear for Evita. A compassionate activist about to die a very premature death from cancer. It's hard not to shed a tear for the injustices she saw and stood up to correct.

What ever happened to the revolution of love? The American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Communist Revolution, the Arab Spring, they all want the same thing. They’re all trying to oppose a great injustice and restore equality and fairness to an unjust system despite the fact that all too often the worker’s revolution is high jacked by a dirty politician. It’s a quest for love. Not the trashy nightclub come grind with me kind of love. The real, heartfelt, selfless love that moves us and transforms us.

Where is that kind of love? I'm not just talking about a Black Eyed Peas heartfelt observation. I’m talking about that and more. Much more. I’m talking about the passion and the compassion. They go hand in hand. The heart felt yearning for not only a lost loved one but for a better world. A better justice. That love seems so far removed in a materialistic world driven by greed and exploitation. A new SUV paid for by torturing a crack addicted sex trade worker. I find the extreme real but difficult to process.

Court freezes fraud assets

Man convicted of credit card fraud forced to give up luxury cars. No kidding. The guy commits massive credit card fraud and uses the fake credit cards to but luxury cars and boats. When he gets caught, the court has every right to seize his assets to repay what was stolen.

Here’s the deal: if the court can seize someone’s assets for a credit card fraud, why not for a larger investment fraud? $26 million is a lot of money but $7 billion is a huge amount of money. Right before Earl Jones jumped ship and took the money and ran in his ponzi scheme, he transferred several millions dollars of the company’s money into his wife’s name right before he went bankrupt. That’s illegal. You can’t do that right before a bankruptcy. The court has every right to seize that money and return it to the shareholders who were defrauded.

$7 billion is a huge amount of money. It didn’t just disappear. It had to go somewhere. Follow the money and seize it so it may be returned to the shareholders. That is a must in confronting the investment fraud epidemic. Jail time for a scape goat is one thing but the real players will just find another scape goat. We need to follow the money and start seizing it.

Elections Canada hides Peter Poutine's identity

First we heard that Peter Poutine, the person behind the robocall scandal was going to go reveal themselves since their ip was allegedly traced. Today the media is reporting that that Elections Canada is not revealing who it is. They're waiting to see if any charges will be laid. That isn't right. If they have found out who it is, the public should know.

CTV reported Monday night that senior Conservative sources said that Tory party campaign worker Michael Sona had taken responsibility for the calls, but Sona is proclaiming his innocence.

Staff at a Thunder Bay call centre tasked with making scripted calls claiming to be on behalf of the Conservative Party about voting locations during the 2011 federal election knew they were giving out incorrect information, say former employees. “The whole call centre (noticed it was happening).” “We called the RCMP,” she said. “We actually also told our supervisor about it.” But no action was taken at the call centre and employees were told to stick to the script, the woman said.

Fraudulent robocalls that misdirected voters in Guelph, Ont., came from a Virgin Mobile disposable cellphone registered to a fabricated owner called Pierre Poutine, of Separatist Street, in Joliette, Que., court documents obtained by Postmedia News reveal.

The obviously fabricated name appears to have been a ruse to evade detection in the event the number was ever investigated. The “Pierre Poutine” phone was activated April 30, two days before the election, and called only two numbers other than its own voice mail.

Both corresponded to RackNine, the Conservative-linked voice-broadcasting firm that was used by whoever made the fraudulent calls into Guelph, causing chaos at a polling station.

Democracy Watch claims Elections Canada is falling down on electoral fraud. The National Day of Action Against Election Fraud took place across Canada over the weekend.

Nicolas Sarkozy: le chien sale

The Vancouver Province is reporting that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is denying multiple allegations that he accepted millions from Gadaffi for his 2007 election campaign before leading an assault against him.

This not a new allegation. Gadaffi's son said the same thing. Sarkozy had a long term relationship with Gadaffi and Libya. They sold him arms for years. In fact the new allegations exposing the money trail between the donations turned up in court investigating a French Arms dealer named Ziad Takieddine.

The president's fury comes after investigative website Mediapart released a report by French terrorism expert Jean-Charles Brissard. Its claims that Sarkozy secretly received Gaddafi's millions for his previous election campaign are based on court testimony to an arms trafficking probe.

The report alleges that French arms dealer Ziad Takieddine arranged the Gaddafi donation channeled via Panama and a Swiss bank account in the name of a sister of one of Sarkozy’s key political allies, the head of his UMP party. The deal was said to be reached during one of Sarkozy’s frequent trips to Libya as French interior minister, where he met Gaddafi in person.

Sarkozy and Takieddine both deny it but let's look at what we do know. We do know that France sold Libya arms for years. We now that Takieddine was a French arms dealer in Libya and that Sarkozy made multiple trips to Libya. In fact the year in question, 2007, saw Sarkozy make one of his frequent trips to Libya where he told the world that we should trust Gadaffi with nuclear power because he wanted to sell him a French nuclear reactor. What's the matter? Did Gadaffi decide to buy one from someone else? Is that what this is all about ? In 1976, Iraq purchased an "Osiris"-class nuclear reactor from France.

"If he had financed it, I wasn't very grateful," Sarkozy said sarcastically, in an apparent reference to the active role that France played in the NATO campaign that led to the strongman's ouster. No kidding. Like I said before, Sarkozy screwed Gaddafi royally.

What's even more disturbing is the claims that a complicated plot involving the 2002 killing of 14 people — including 11 French engineers — in the Pakistani city of Karachi, which involves defence sales, kickback allegations and intermediaries reportedly channelling millions of dollars worth of cash, Karachigate has been making headlines in France over the past few years and has long threatened to implicate Sarkozy.

French media reports as well as some of the families of the Karachi attack victims have suggested that the suicide bombing was in retaliation for scrapped defence commissions.

The Mossad

Dare I mention Mossad? The Israeli secret service. Meir Dagan, former chief of Israel's Mossad, was on 60 minutes last night laking about how he didn't think Israel attacking Iran's nuclear plants would be wise at this time. Interesting to say the least.

Mostly because it wouldn't be a matter of bombing one or four sites, it would be a matter of bombing a dozen sites. The whole matter of nuclear energy is very problematic. How can we say Iran isn't allowed to develop nuclear energy when we sell Candu reactors to China, India and Pakistan all of which have been use to test nuclear weapons. Yet letting Iran have nuclear weapons is very problematic indeed. The first thing we should do is stop selling Candu reactors to China, India and Pakistan.



When I think if Mossad, I think of the magnificent fortress near the Dead sea called Massada. What a tragic end that fortress had. Historically, the Romans placed them under seize and eventually built a ramp so their armies could invade the fortress. The night before the invasion all the inhabitants of Massada committed suicide because they did not want to return to slavery. Tragic indeed.

As is the motivation behind Meir Dagan's involvement with Mossad. The Holocaust was a horrific event. That is why we wet and fought in the trenches on foreign soil. My grandfather had mustard gas burns on his back from the trenches of WWI. Meir Dagan carried a picture of his Grandfather wearing a prayer shall in a consecration camp right before he was executed. Very sad. No doubt one one would be determined to say never again. Thus the preemptive work of Mossad.



Yet there are elements of that preemptive work that disturb me. There are elements of that organization that concern me. Mainly because of it's work with the CIA and MI6 which are far less reputable.

First, does the end justify the means? Murdering a nuclear scientist in Iran may save lives if they use that technology to make nuclear weapons and kill full cities, yet is not killing a scientist murder? Where do we draw the line? Do we draw lines? I certainly hope so.

Executive a terrorist leader. One can again argue that executing the leader of a group of terrorists will in turn save many lives. Yet who determines who is a terrorist and who is not?

Then there's the drugs... We know Iran Contra wasn't limited to Iran. We know Oliver North was in charge of everything that went in and out of Nicaragua. That would include the cocaine coming out of Nicaragua that came out of Panama from their friend Noriega through Operation Watch Tower. That would include the arms that went into Nicaragua for the Contra rebels that the cocaine bought.

Colonel Edward P. Cutolo claimed there were a series of three electronic beacon towers beginning outside of Bogata, Columbia, and running northeast to the border of Panama." With the beacons in place and activated, aircraft could fix on their signal and fly undetected from Bogata to Panama, landing at Albrook Air Station.

Cutolo testified that the cargo flown from Colombia into Panama was cocaine. Cutolo claimed during the Feb., 1976, Watch Tower Mission, 30 high performance aircraft landed safely at Albrook Air Station where the planes were met by Col. Tony Noriega, a Panama Defence Force Officer assigned to the Customs and Intelligence Section. Also present at most of the arrivals was CIA Agent Edwin Wilson.

Cutolo claimed he was informed that Michael Harari is listed as a senior Mossad agent. Harari was the un identified male Israeli national that met the aircraft which flew into Albrook Air Station during Operation Watch Tower. He was the one who gave Edwin Wilson two briefcases full of U.S. currency in various denominations. The briefcases were given to Edwin Wilson at the end of operations in March and Feb. 1976. It is my understanding from Pentagon contacts, that Harari's activities in Latin America are well known, including his drug trafficking endeavors.

Does the end justify the means? No it does not. And why would an Israeli arms dealer sell arms to the enemy? Just for the almighty dollar? Isn't that a betrayal of trust?

Rogue US Solder killed 16 civilians

Another bizarre tragedy in Afghanistan. A rogue US solder snaps. He went AWOL and killed 16 civilians including nine children. Words cannot convey how strange and how sad this event really is. Why on earth would he do that? Obviously he snapped but to kill allies, civilians at that, clearly is treason.

There should be a fair trial but this is not a civil matter. It is a military matter. It should be determined if there really was just one shooter or multiple shooters. If found guilty then they should face the firing squad. Sorry if that sounds extreme but that kind of treason in a time of war puts all of his fellow soldiers at risk not to mention the outrageousness of the atrocity all on it's own.

Justice is not possible. There is no way to bring back the lost loved ones. Some might argue that 16 Americans should be executed not just one, to which I respond, which ones? 15 random Americans should be lined up and murdered? That would not be just. It would perpetuate the injustice until we are all blind.

If one person committed murder than that person should be put to death, not 15 random people. Clearly something went wrong that needs to be addressed. There was a rogue shooter at a US Army Base in the States. Instead of shooting fellow soldiers or fellow students at school, this lunatic shot foreign civilians. Equally shameful.

Without minimizing the atrociousness of the tragic event, I will add that the Taliban have also murdered many more than 16 civilians in many of their suicide attacks. We should recognize the seriousness of the tragedy and remember the enemy has done worse. That in no way minimizes what this solder has done. It just reminds us that there isn't one good guy and one bad guy in this conflict. Mistakes are made but evil does perpetuate and we are morally bound to resist it.

Suicide attacks kill 20

Bombing toll hits 78 dead

Taliban bomber kills nine people

12 dead in three Afghanistan bomb attacks

As for the tragic situation in Afghanistan, I will note that the current president who would not be president if the allies hadn't invaded, just endorsed a law that allows husbands to beat their wives and forbids women from leaving home without a male escort. That is not the sign of an enlightened moral nation. It is an extremist defiantly bragging about being a neanderthal. That has nothing to do with God or Islam.

It makes us wonder why we went to Afghanistan in the first place. A mission isn't wrong because it's hard or because there are many casualties. If Bin Ladden was responsible for 9/11 then it would have been the right thing to do. I just don't believe Bin Ladden was responsible for 9/11. I think the invasion was really about reversing the Taliban's decision to give the contract for the Central Asia gas pipeline to an Argentina firm named Bridas instead of the UNICOL.

Letting girls attend school is a basic right in a civilized society. Yet returning Afghanistan into the world largest producers of Opium after it was almost completely shut down has been a tragic bi product of the invasion.

More Mexican drug violence

More violent drug related murders in Mexico. These dismembered bodies belong to four youth ranging in age from 14 to 21 in school. There have been a few series run recently about the drug related violence at the hands of the cartels in Mexico. All the images are disturbingly graphic. I realize that when someone gets shot they bleed. I just don’t understand every time we see a picture of a shooting in Mexico that there is so much blood involved.

I keep talking about the sanctity of life. Obviously, when the greed of cocaine trafficking takes over, there is no respect for life at all. It’s all about pouring blood on the golden calf of the almighty dollar. It’s even more disturbing when it involves youth.

Stratfor on Wikileaks

WikiLeaks has announced they have released millions of confidential e-mails from Texas based intelligence firm Stratfor which provides intel for large corporations. I’m not a big fan of releasing confidential military documents that reveal the position of your troops to the enemy as that clearly is treason. Yet exposing wrong doing is a civic duty. Especially when it involves quasi military organizations funded by large corporations that are committing invasive atrocities and trample the Constitution.

Kony Con 2012

I am told the Kony videos have gone viral on Twitter. I don’t know much about the situation other than it’s not new, he’s not as much of a threat as he once was and that the opposition fund raising to oppose him have been accused of committing the same atrocities they dramatically accuse him of committing.

The one thing I do know is that US troops have moved in and pushed him out of the country. Which in itself is somewhat surprising because after the likes of Sudan and Rwanda, the West don’t normally care about atrocities in Africa unless they have oil.

Guess what. They have oil. That makes the presence of US troops suspicious. It’s like those Farmed Salmon commercials. Two guys are having a conversation at the office. One turns to the other and whispers that he just received an e-mail saying someone is trying to get a million dollars into the country and that if he gives them a thousand dollars and his bank info, they will deposit it right into his bank account.

The other guys says, hey I got one of those e-mails too. Instead of saying hey this might be a scam, they smile and say, we’re both gonna be rich. It’s a humorous commercial concluding that we shouldn’t believe everything we hear. We need to use our brain and think because scams are unfolding all around us.

Joseph Kony is not in Uganda and hasn't been for six years. The LRA is not in Uganda but now operates in the DRC, South Sudan and the Central African Republic. The Ugandan military has been accused of committing the very same atrocities of murder and sexual trafficking that Invisible Children works to end. Invisible children? That sounds a lot like another front, the Children's Defense Fund.

Russians protest against Putin and voter fraud

There have been a lot of demonstrations in Russia these days filled with allegations of voter fraud. Vladimir Putin has admitted there were violations of electoral law during his recent presidential-election win but brushed off claims of a 10-per-cent boost to his vote, saying the malpractice was too insignificant to influence the result.

This is rather bizarre. Putin admits rigging but sluffs it off by claiming it is insignificant. Vote rigging is significant. It is illegal and immoral. Back in the day, dictators would rise and oppress the people. Now the snakes in the grass enter from within and steal democracy through fraud. Buyer beware. Our freedom is still at stake.

More than 500 protesters jailed by Russian police

Police said they arrested 250 people in Moscow and 300 in St. Petersburg after moving in roughly to break up rallies claiming that Sunday's polls were rigged.
Some 20,000 anti-Putin protesters had turned out in Pushkin Square in central Moscow chanting "Russia Yes! Putin No!" Most of the rally dispersed peacefully but police moved in to disperse hundreds of people who refused to leave the square.