Slight Bitter Aftertaste

Black and TanBen & Jerry's, no longer owned or operated by either Ben or Jerry, finally catches on to the fact that not all of their customers think a "Black & Tan" ice cream will go down smoothly.

Ben & Jerry's, the socially aware ice-cream maker, has apologised to Irish consumers for launching a new flavour evoking the worst days of British military oppression.

Black and Tans, irate customers explained, was the term for an irregular force of British ex-servicemen recruited during the Irish war of independence and renowned for their brutality, including the 1920 massacre of 12 people at a Dublin football match.

Some things are still hard to swallow after seventy-six years.

Internet Identity Theft, Impersonation, and Stalking by Proxy

Internet Stalking. Lifelike shot, but where's the booze?A few of our longtime readers will recall the case of the New Zealand woman who impersonated Viggo Mortensen online for a couple of years. Actually, for all I know she's still doing it. But at the time I tried to make a few points about the illegality of posting information to the Internet which is designed to make people think you are someone else. Thanks to BoingBoing I've come across a nice article about all that and more here.

The data is sketchy; victims volunteered to fill out a questionnaire, and harasser data is, in most cases, provided by the harassed. But there are some insights. For example, increasing numbers of men appear to be applying for help, and overt threats of offline harm occurred in about a quarter of the cases last year.

In about half the cases, victim and perpetrator appear to be strangers. For the rest, it can be deeply, disturbingly personal. 

"With any new technology that comes along, you have the shadow of criminality that follows," Mr. Meloy said, although he added that the Internet, with all its distance and anonymity, provided a unique vehicle for the unleashing of hidden furies.

"It's a much more veiled, shielded, disinhibited way of communicating," Mr. Meloy said, "and much more raw in the expression of aggression."

Harper’s Government Hosts “The African Hitler”

For what it's worth, passed on from Cryptome:

PAUL KAGAME, << THE BIGGEST KILLER ALIVE>> TO VISIT CANADA.

Toronto, Canada, 26 March 2006 (GLAC) – The Canadian government led by the conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in association with several Canadian multinationals, has invited the African Hitler, the dictator Paul Kagame, for a visit to Canada on April 25th and 26th 2006, Great Lakes Confidential has learnt from very reliable sources.

On his way to Canada, Paul Kagame drags with him the blood of millions of people. According to a diplomat who confided in Grands-Lacs Confidentiel, "Beyond any doubt, Kagame is the greatest african killer of all times". The gesture of the Canadian government to invite such an individual affects greatly the respect the whole world has for Canada in terms of human rights and democratic values.

"Canada often played a foreign politics of hypocrisy. A true Pharisee, pretending to be a prophet of light" the source said.

Early 1990's, some Western powers, among which the United States (Clinton's administration), the British and Belgian governments, appointed Paul Kagame to head a war that aimed at " reshaping the heart of the African continent". It is with this precise objective that Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni accepted to be in command of "the darkest page of the African history of the last 50 years" our source, a diplomat, said.

Paul Kagame is the main trigger of the Rwandan genocide of april 1994. With Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, he also is the main architect of the war of occupation, depopulation and exploitation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This war has caused the death of more than 5 million people since 1998. It is also Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni the engineers of the assassination of Melchior Ndadaye, the first President democratically elected in Burundi since the independence. Mr. Ndadaye was butchered on October 21st 1993.

Why are Canadian multinationals interested in Paul Kagame who rules Rwanda, one of the poorest countries in the world with no natural resources what so ever to offer them?

These multinationals with their Canadian lobbyists play at two levels :

1. They financed a conference held exclusively about the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), entitled "Gouvernance et secteur minier : le défi congolais" (governance and mine sector: the challenge of the Congo" which took place in Montreal on march 30 – 31, 2006. To view the program of the conference click on the following hyperlink:http://www.unites.uqam.ca/grama/pdf/Colloque_RDCongo_programme.pdf

2. At the second level, those lobbyists are organizing another conference under the fallacious theme "Education and economic Development in Africa". The conference pretends to use the analysis that the experts have made at the conference to put in action plans for the future of the Congo.

When one would expect a guest from the concerned country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo; it is Paul Kagame who is officially invited by the Canadian Government to meet the multinationals and sign mineral deals that will affect the lives of thousands in the DRC. Our source, a member of the conference organizer committee warns that the impact of Kagame's deal with the Canadian multinationals in the Congo could be effective as early as 2006 for the 20 years to come.

"Paul Kagame's arrival in Canada meets the multinational's need to refinance the military option so as to perpetuate the looting of the resources in Africa. The DRC will be sold in pledge. What is determinant is the level at which Paul Kagame will meet the executives of the Canadian multinationals. The Canadian policy to keep on supporting such a mass killer, meaning the continuity of the depopulation of Africa, is simply a shame" affirms our source.

Several Canadian and American business men, high level political personalities, heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Ottawa, representatives of Canadian and American multinationals will inevitably be at the meetings of the 25th and 26th of April in Montreal, to listen to the "guest speaker", the greatest living war criminal.

When inviting Paul Kagame, the government of Stephen Harper :

1. Tramples on the democratic values and human rights that many canadians want to protect.2. Gets openly involved in a new war of conquest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as in a new wave of massacres of the Congolese population.

On the African level, the meeting of Paul Kagame with Western powers coincides with a disturbing situation occurring in Burundi and DRC which manifests itself in the following manner:

· The recent visit of James Kabarebe, the head of the Rwandan army, to Burundi and Tanzania.

· The arrival of many mercenaries in Bujumbura en route to invade the DRC.

· The uncompromising stand of the Rwandans living in the DRC, threatening the Congolese government in order to obtain a "tutsiland" at the gunpoint.

· Early March this year, a failed coup attempt took place in Bujumbura aiming at toppling the second democratically elected regime of Burundi. Overthrowing the democratic regime in Burundi is the price Burundi will have to pay to serve as a corridor to Kagame's mercenaries to invade the DRC. The chaos in Bujumbura will be a favourable opportunity for this new invasion.

· The first democratic elections planed for June 2006 in DRC might put an end to the looting of the Congo's abundant natural resources. This will not be good for the multinationals who financed the war for "reshaping Central Africa".

A specialist of strategic Issues in the Great Lakes region of Africa, from his office in Toronto, specifies that this visit "must be cancelled by any possible means. It is a question of Congolese people living in Canada, in association with other Africans, to get organized, to put pressure, write to Canadian government's representatives to cancel the visit of this criminal".

In order to disguise this visit which is crucial for the future of Central Africa, pro-Kagame lobbyists invented from scratch, the so-called conference on education in Africa, whereas the true intentions of the Harper government are to :

– Keep for ever the free access of multinationals to the huge mining ressources of the DRC as well as the chaos and the abuse on populations that goes with it.- Sign new agreements between the Canadian multinationals and Kagame so as to start the war over again and stop the coming elections in DRC.

– Show the Canadian government's support to Paul Kagame to have him continue with his favourite mission consisting of plunging Central Africa into mourning.

If the Canadian Government had honest intentions towards the DRC, it would first appear by its respect for the democratic elections planned for June 2006, the first elections since 1960. The Canadian government would wait for the elections of the new government to initiate connections between the new government and mining companies.

On the contrary, the speed of the invitation, between Stephen Harper's elections at the end of January 2006 and before the Congolese elections in June, is a true insult for the Congolese people that prepares for elections with so much enthusiasm.

To hide its support to the criminal, the conservative government of Ottawa, chose to invite Kagame in Montreal, far from the capital city, to give the impression that it is simply a business visit. But there again, what business could be discussed between Rwanda and Canadian mining companies, except for Congolese business? The liberal government of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien refused to receive a visit from Kagame.

Among the multinationals that financed and still support the war of the depopulation and looting in DRC, one can name the following Canadian companies: Barrick Gold, American Mineral Fields (AMF), Tenke Mining, Banro Resource, Consolidated Trillion, First Quantum Minerals, International Panorama Resource, Melkior Resources, Samax Gold and Starpoint Goldfields. The above mineral companies obtained very lucrative mineral concessions of copper, cobalt, gold, platinum, zinc and many more.

1. American Mineral Field (AMFI) : On the board of directors are Georges Bush Senior and Brian Mulroney ( conservative former Prime Minister of Canada and spiritual father of Stephen Harper).

2. Banro : George Bush Senior and Brian Mulroney are on the board of directors.

3. Barrick Gold: Is it a mere coincidence that the key organizer of the meetings is PLACERDOME, a subsidiary of Barrick Gold?

In an article entitled "The Western Heart of Darkness " published by the "Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Monitor" of October 2001, Asad Ismi informs us that : <<Barrick Gold and Banro hold mining properties in eastern Congo under Rwandan/Ugandan control. Banro has 47 mining concessions in Sud Kivu and Maniema provinces while Barrick got exploration and exploitation rights to "a huge tract of land" (82,000 sq. km) in Orientale province. As reported in "Le Monde Diplomatique," Barrick and Banro have been accused of "funding military operations in exchange for lucrative contracts". Banro is also included in the U.N. list of companies involved in the illegal exploitation of the eastern Congo. The company is importing cassiterites (tin ores) from the rebel area into Canada.>>

In the same article, Asad made curious revelations to readers about the attitude of Canadian conservative governments in the Congo war. One can notice the link between Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney, two Canadian Prime Ministers from the conservative party who chose to collaborate with Rwanda concerning the natural resources of the Congo.

In another article signed by a Montreal based organization <<Alternatives>> and entitled "Untold suffering in the Congo", intriguing connections are revealed between Barrick Gold, American Mineral Field and various personalities from the international political scene such as Georges Bush, Brian Mulroney, Andrew Young, George H.W. Bush, Edward Neys (former american ambassador in Canada and president of the private firm PR firm Burston-Marsteller), ex american senator Howard Baker ; J. Trevor Eyton (a member of the canadian senate) and Vernon Jordan (one of Bill Clinton's lawyers). To read this article, click here :

http://www.alternatives.ca/article2396.html

At the time when Paul Kagame is accused from everywhere around the world for being the one who triggered the Rwandese genocide, can we assume his invitation to Canada happens by chance? Or could it be a recurrent factor in the politics of the Canadian conservative party? One can then fully understand the fact that Louise Arbour, the then Attorney General of the TPIR (Tribunal Pénal International for Rwanda), received from M. Hourigan, investigator at the Uniited Nations, documents incriminating Paul Kagame as the one who triggered the rwandese genocide and decided to make them disappear. This action is in total agreement with the Pharisee's culture of Canadian politics in Africa.

The National Post, a Canadian newspaper, in its march 1st 2000 edition, exposes this mafia conspiracy against justice by the exact same people who claim they represent justice.

<<Three Tutsi informants have revealed to the United Nations that they were part of an elite strike team that assassinated the Hutu president in 1994, shedding new light on an event that triggered the genocide of at least 500,000 people in Rwanda. The informants told UN investigators in 1997 that the killing of President Juvenal Habyarimana was carried out "with the assistance of a foreign government" under the overall command of Paul Kagame, now the vice-president of Rwanda. But when the information was presented to Louise Arbour, then the chief UN war crimes prosecutor, she terminated the investigation, the report said. Their information and request [They asked only that their safety be guaranteed] was raised with Judge Arbour", said the report, dated Aug. 1, 1997. "Although she was at first very positive, she later advised that this issue was not within the ICTR mandate and would not be investigated". >>

To read the full text by Stephen Edwards (of the National Post) please click here:

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/36/441.html

Let's remind the readers of Grands-Lacs Confidentiel, some high war actions of Paul Kagame.

· In the Democratic Republic of the Congo: In an article dated march 17th,2006 published by the NGO " Alternatives ", the number of deaths due to the war imposed by the international mafia on Congolese people now reaches over ten million people (http://www.alternatives.ca/article2396.html ). Among those one counts the massacres of Kasika (where women were buried alive), Makobola, Kahungwe, Kisangani, and so on. Reaction of the International justice: Null.

· With the help of the American government under the Clinton administration, Paul Kagame was placed at the head of the Rwandan Patriotic Front by his masters in London and Washington for a double mission: topple the Rwandese government of Juvenal Habyarimana and redefine the map of Central Africa.

· In the north of Rwanda (Byumba, Kagitumba and other villages) where the attack started, many hutu were killed cold bloodedly and their body thrown in common graves. Many reliable non-governmental organizations report on this.

· In order to get ready for his raking of the heart of Africa, Paul Kagame prepares, with the help of tutsi extremists, the toppling of the first democratically elected government of Burundi. Melchior Ndadaye is savagely murdered on October 21st 1993. This crime plunges Burundi into a war that goes on up to now.

· Paul Kagame is now officially accused by his own body guard, Abdul Ruzibiza, to be the person who triggered the Rwandese genocide. The coup war planned at Bobo Dialousso (Burkina Faso) by Kagame himself. A few months later, the plane bringing the Rwandese president Juvenal Habyarimana, the burundese president, Cyprien Ntaryamira, and several other political personalities is shot down when it was ready to land in Kigali. Abdul Ruzibiza confirms he was on the site where the missile was sent to shoot the plane of President Habyarimana. M. Ruzibiza finished his testimony at the Tribunal Pénal International pour le Rwanda (TPIR) in the first half of the month of march 2006.

· Contrary to the naked lies that President Habyarimana's assassination was perpetrated by hutu extremists, reliable accusations abound and weight heavily on Paul Kagame for his crimes in Rwanda, Burundi and DRC. What does the attitude of Canada reveal to us, in welcoming such a criminal, with blood from head to toe?

· The whole world still remembers the massacres of thousands of Rwandese refugees in the DRC, in the region of Tingi-Tingi. Over 340 000 people died there under the boots Kagame (Stephen Smith of the journal Libération reports: http://ospiti.peacelink.it/bukavu/znews024.html ).

WHAT CAN WE DO TO OPPOSE PAUL KAGAME'S VISIT TO CANADA?

Grands-Lacs Confidentiel appeals to all the African organizations based in Western countries and more specifically in Canada and the United States, to get organized and mobilized against the arrival of the African Hitler in Montreal, Canada. Concrete actions may include:

– To protest by writing a letter directly addressed to the Prime Minister of Canada, Right Honourable Stephen Harper and to the Minister of foreign affairs.- Write to the Member of parliament in your area.

– Address a letter specifically to the Minister of Citizenship and immigration, l'Honorable Monte Solberg, requesting him not to deliver an entry visa to Canada for Paul Kagame. It is the minister of citizenship and immigration who holds the final decision on the visa to be issued. The letter must be sent to him three weeks before the arrival of Kagame.

– Contact other Africans and friends of Africa to organize demonstrations in Ottawa and Montreal.

– Join the groups determined to ban the criminal Paul Kagame from Canada through legal procedures.

– Please remember to attach photographs of crimes committed in the DRC by Kagame and his team.

Grands-Lacs Confidential appeals to all associations of Congolese, Burundian, Rwandan and Ugandan people, as well as all friends of Africa to support by financial contributions the present initiative to get an order against Kagame through the law.

THE AGENDA OF PAUL KAGAME'S VISIT IN CANADA

L'AGENDA DE LA VISITE DE PAUL KAGAME AU CANADA

· To obtain the program of Paul Kagame's visit in Canada (html format) click here :

http://www.ccafrica.ca/events/ccaf/education/day1_e.htm

· To obtain the program in pdf format, click here:

http://www.ccafrica.ca/events/ccaf/education/Education_Conference.pdf

· To understand the connections between those who organize the event and Barrick Gold, one of the Canadian multinationals that was around during the war in the DRC, click here :

http://www.placerdome.com/Home.htm

When accepting to give an entry visa to the " greatest living criminal ", the canadian government proclaims its choice: getting access to minerals in Congo at any cost even if this means the total elimination of the Congolese population in all exploitable areas.

When accepting to give an entry visa to Paul Kagame, the Canadian government confirms its prostitution with the " Africa Hitler", affirming the continuity of the war and the looting of the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to make that country ungovernable and easy to dismember.

This alliance between Canada and the criminal Kagame proves the statement of Asad Ismi in his article << Western Heart of Darkness >>: "The destruction of the Congo says much more about the West than it does about the Central African country. It reveals most clearly that the West is largely a criminal enterprise, the prosperity of which is based on the genocide of Third World people and the theft of their resources."

Toronto, March 26th 2006.

– 30 –

Esdras MASAN
Chief Editor, Grands-Lacs Confidentiel
E-mail : glac_editor[at]yahoo.com

Pope h8s Judas

Battle Pope!Pope Rat lays one down on Judas, who is dead and thus unable to defend himself effectively.

"The money was more important than communion with Jesus, more important than God and his love," he told a congregation in the Basilica of St John Lateran. The Pope said the renegade apostle's lies had cast him into a hopeless, downward spiral. "He became hardened, incapable of conversion, of the trusting return of the prodigal son, and threw away his ruined life." Vittorio Messori, who wrote a book with the Pope, said the pontiff's approach was "the strictest interpretation of the mystery of the betrayal". Even his predecessor, John Paul II, had seen some hope for Judas in his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope, published in 1994.

As any decent theologian knows, the abandonment of hope is a definitively anti-Christian act, and specifically condemned by prophets from the Old Testament to the church next door. Da pope better watch his back.

Slightly OT: Anyone looking for cheap, vicarious religious thrillsBuddy Christ! Duuuuuude, what would I do? (and aren't they the best kind?) should rent the movie Dogma and show it in a room full of Catholic theologians. When I showed it to Carinthia (doctorate in theology, Trinity College Dublin) she watched the first act with amusement, pointing out obscure transgressions and citing relevant passages from the Old Testament, but when it came to the central theme of the movie, she leapt out of her armchair, cocktail flying. Pointing at the screen as they once must have pointed at Hester Prynne, she postively bellowed.

"The Plenary Indulgence! That goddam Plenary Indulgence! I knew it was nothing but trouble! NOTHING but trouble."

She then went on to slander, in baroque and glorious terms, the pope who came up with the stupid scheme and every band of roving cardinals who'd ever supported it. By name. Quite impressive. Even though I had spent a pretty penny on the brandy for that Sidecar, it was still worth it. Nothing like watching people Godspell, everybody's favorite Crucifixion Musicalget all riled up over obscure metaphysical references. I am reminded of a letter to Miss Manners; she was asked what she would have done at a dinner party given by the writer…it seems that several people got into heated discussion of whether or not the existence of angels depended upon the existence of God, to which Miss Manners, ever sensible, replied, "Where was this dinner party and why was Miss Manners not invited? She always ends up sitting between people who live to discuss the price they got for their condos, or the price they paid for their cars."

Word.

Shebeen Club: My Life in Crime

Truman, very TruTake two: the first attempt at posting this went kapoof!

Apparently, this little press release of mine has stirred up quite a response. The presenter emailed me a bit anxiously, noting that he's in every paper in town today. Funny, that. I found myself to be considerably less upset about it. Good thing he doesn't know Granta is on the list, along with every literary magazine in the US and Canada (all the ones I could find emails for, anyway). Hey, sooner or later everyone comes through Vancouver, and that woman in Georgia said some very nice things in January.

Someone told Maikopunk that the release was "tasteless and glib." While I fully cop to the glibitude, I must protest the characterization of this missive as "tasteless." As with the finest works of the esteemed cinematic genius Mr. John Waters, it is in the very best of Bad Taste.

Vulgar is the new black.Holmes and Watson

 

In any case, her friend was perversely piqued and intrigued by her put-downs, and once I actually posted the word "Harumph" on her blog, signed up for two tickets.

As the great Gawker says,

It's Not Whoring If You Do It For Free

For immediate release: post/forward at will!

Who: The Shebeen Club presents Jeremy Hainsworth, crime reporter extraordinaire

What: My Life in Crime!  When: 7-9pm Tuesday, April 18th, 2006 (3rd Tuesday ea month)

Where: The Shebeen, behind the Irish Heather, 217 Carrall

Why: Voyeurism runs deep, baby! Find out what it really takes to do this job. It’s not all fedoras and dive bars. 

How (much)? $20 before April 14th, $25 thereafter

reservations and media inquiries: lorraine.murphy at gmail dot com.

Admission includes a criminally good dinner/drink combo! This month it will be a Bloody Mary and your choice of blood pudding and a side of fries/salad OR a vegetarian blood orange entree salad. Bloody marvelous!

 Background: https://raincoaster.wordpress.com/2006/03/18/the-shebeen-club-a-history-in-press-releases/ 

Putting the “laughter” in “manslaughter.”

 

With patented black humour, Jeremy will lead us down the dark and twisted alleys of a crime reporter’s life. From paperwork to prison visits, we’ll become one with the sordid underbelly of Vancouver. It’s Blood Alley, so we’re halfway there!

Jeremy will also be discussing (and bringing a copy of) the publication ban on the Pickton trial.

Dress: Clark Kent, Lois Lane, or Raymond Chandler. Ann Rule doesn’t know how to dress!  

Bio: Jeremy Hainsworth is one of a handful of journalists writing for the international media from Vancouver. As B.C correspondent for the AP, he has had the dubious honour of covering the ongoing hearings of alleged serial killer Robert Pickton and the Air India terrorism case. He has freelanced for Reuters, was senior crime reporter for The Calgary Herald, senior editor of Sterling News Service (his office was below that of Conrad Black's partner David Radler), and managing editor of the Dawson Creek daily paper where he covered his first murder from seeing the body to the release of the convicted youths.

He has a diploma in journalism from Langara and a BA from UBC. His work has appeared in many of the world's major newspapers on every continent except Antarctica where penguins cannot read. 

The ShebeenMeet & Mingle 7-7:30

Listen & Learn 7:30-8

Wistful reminiscences of hookers with hearts of gold 8-9