Steve and Sandra and Acts of Spam

Steve and Sandra and not Garth

A little recent history and a nudge from Canadian Cynic.

Steve and Sandra and the faith-based thing

Amid stories of the no longer secret Republican Party derision of the fundies down south, comes this quote from Harper in his Reform days, as reprinted in The Star:

"In the United States, this (social conservative) element of the electorate has been critical in the development of the Republican coalition. It provides workers and funds disproportionate to its size as a voting bloc."

Steve and Sandra - NAU you see it...NAU you don't

NDP Trade Critic Peter Julian has raised the question of the secret conference at the Banff Springs Hotel organized by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives. He will be making access to information requests.
Good for him, but he will be up against these guys.

Steve and Sandra and the lighter side of torture

US Congress, with the help of 12 Democrats, has suspended the right of habeas corpus. Bush is now officially in the business of disappearing people without trial, and authorizing interrogation methods the UN considers illegal. In addition, immunity from prosecution is now retroactively granted to the perpetrators of all previous abuses.

In a story in the Toronto Star regarding Canada's ongoing complicity in the Arar case, there is this tragic little sidebar, with a quote from a State Department official regarding their decision to send Arar to Syria.
It reads in part :
"there were assurances that [Arar's] treatment would meet the standards of the Geneva Conventions," he told a briefing. "We had to have a reasonable expectation that he was not going to be tortured or maltreated. We were able to assure ourselves of that."
Not any more.