Anne Elliot

Moving on

2005-10-28T11:12:00.000-06:00

I enjoyed posting here, but I did not like posting anonymously. Please come on over and visit me at my new blog, Meg's Musings (but not if you are an e-mail spammer). See you there!

Some observations on Vatican goings-on

2005-07-08T15:50:00.000-06:00

From my far-removed perch - I read my daily dispatch from the Vatican press office, I'm nowhere near Rome, but I notice over time that some interesting things emerge. E. g. - Archbishop Angelo Amato, secretary of the CDF, is meeting with His Holiness a lot (including tonight). So is Cardinal Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, the other fellow having an audience with HH tonight. I've already mentioned how interesting I find all the Section 2 resignations; those must keep Cardinal Re pretty busy. And Cardinal Pell of Sydney had an audience this morning. Was he just in town or what? Again, interesting.

London 7 July 2005

2005-07-07T14:33:00.000-06:00

Our sympathies and condolences. God bless all there, and their families and loved ones.

Africa . . . before we send the waBenz* more money . . .

2005-07-06T20:16:00.000-06:00

. . . maybe we could do a leeetle more about Darfur?

Dunno, just a suggestion.

(*One good thing about this G8 summit, it's getting out one of my all-time fave nicknames, waBenz or waBenzi which, in Swahili, means, literally, "men [or people] of the Benz" - the popular name for the African kleptocrats and their hangers-on who have a bit of a penchant for fine German automobiles. For an English-language reference, go here and scroll down to NIGERIA'S ANTIDOTE TO MERCEDES "WABENZI".)

Here's a Darfur roundup for those of you who are, like me, sick of yappy pop singers, preening politicos, and college students two days off their Ritalin. Courtesy the Coalition for Darfur:

Khartoum and the two rebel groups in Darfur have signed a preliminary peace agreement with the arduous and contentious details of a comprehenisve peace agreement to be worked out later:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/05/AR2005070501120_pf.html

The UN is reporting that $1.3 billion out of the $1.9 billion it needs to support the North/South peace agreement has yet to be received:
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EGUA-6DVMFU?OpenDocument

Eric Reeves has revised his mortality total for Darfur from 400,000 to 360,000 but warns that the mortaily rate will likely increase in the near future:
http://www.sudanreeves.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=58&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Rebels in Eastern Sudan have accused Khartoum of bombing civilians and villages and covering up the attacks:
http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=10450

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, briefed the Security Council recently on the status of the investigation into the crimes committed in Darfur. He reported that the ICC has collected a "significant amount of credible information" to show that grave crimes have taken place in Darfur.

Ocampo's statement and report can be found here (both PDF files):
http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/cases/LMO_UNSC_On_DARFUR-EN.pdf
http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/cases/ICC_Darfur_UNSC_Report_29-06-05_EN.pdf

Sudan is still refusing to cooperate with the ICC:
http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=10443

Last week, President Bush stated "the violence in Darfur region is clearly genocide."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050630.html

A survey of 11,000 Africans show found that about two-thirds of respondents agreed that the U.N. should have the right to intervene to stop serious abuses of human rights in the region:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29262

Janes Defence Weekly reports that sections of eastern Sudan are becoming "areas of choice" for Al-Qaeda and other militant groups as they seek to boost recruitment in the region:
http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/jid/jid050630_1_n.shtml

One man's patriot is another man's scoundrel

2005-07-06T19:04:00.000-06:00

My dear American friends: I'm not making this up!!!

ON THE COVER: True patriot love

Thanks to former prime minister Pierre Trudeau’s open-border policy, approximately 50,000 draft-age Americans fled north during the late 1960s and early 1970s (many with wives and girlfriends) to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War. Fifty-eight thousand Americans ended up losing their lives in that war, and thousands more veterans lost their health and well-being after they’d made it home.
A number of those artful dodgers made Vancouver home, and many continue to enrich the city with their intellectual prowess, commitment to community involvement and activism, and their sharp sense of humour. For many, the time they’ve now lived in Canada is close to double the years they spent in the U.S.

Considering all of the great Canadians now (quietly) coming to the U. S. in the "brain drain", I'd say we're definitely getting the better end of the deal.

Back from vacation

2005-07-06T19:00:00.000-06:00

Lovely vacation with the world's best in-laws in Vancouver. A little blogging on the side as we air out the home. It's good to go away, but it's even better to come home. Hope everyone had a lovely Canada Day/Fourth of July/what-have-you.

Canon 401, paragraph 2 resignations

2005-06-21T14:40:00.000-06:00

Remember back under the administration of John Paul the Great (seems a while ago now in some respects), when people would complain that the pope just wasn't doing enough? Statements like, "If I was pope . . . " (a frightening prospect, in many cases). Well, I should hope no one is saying that about our Benedict, the German Shepherd (which I say with all fondness). I keep all my Vatican Information Service e-mails for a few months, and today, not having seen any article analyzing this, I ran a search through my mailbox. This is what I came up with:

CANON 401, PARA. 2 RESIGNATIONS

VATICAN CITY, MAY 18, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Linz, Austria, presented by Bishop Maximilian Aichern O.S.B., in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2, of the Code of Canon Law.

VATICAN CITY, MAY 24, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph, U.S.A., presented by Bishop Raymond James Boland in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law. He is succeeded by Coadjutor Bishop Robert W. Finn.

VATICAN CITY, JUN 2, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
-On May 30, the Holy Father accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Hsinchu, Taiwan, presented by Bishop James Liu Tan-kuei, in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2, of the Code of Canon Law.

On Saturday, June 4, it was made public that the Pope:
- Appointed Bishop Jose Luis Escobar Alas, auxiliary of San Vicente, El Salvador, as bishop of the same diocese (area 2,056, population 477,603, Catholics 456,982, priests 43, religious 155). He succeeds Bishop Jose Oscar Barahona Castillo, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, in accordance with Canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

VATICAN CITY, JUN 6, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father
- Appointed Bishop Jose Luis Escobar Alas, auxiliary of San Vicente, El Salvador, as bishop of the same diocese (area 2,056, population 477,603, Catholics 456,982, priests 43, religious 155). He succeeds Bishop Jose Oscar Barahona Castillo, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, in accordance with Canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

VATICAN CITY, JUN 21, 2005 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Reno, U.S.A., presented by Bishop Phillip Francis Straling, in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

Six in what, two months? And he's just warming up? Not too bad. I wonder what they were really talking about at the bishops' meeting last week.

For reference:

Can. 401 §2. A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.

230 Years of Bunker (Breed's) Hill

2005-06-21T14:01:00.000-06:00

A few days late with this, but this is a wonderful account of the Battle of Breed's (Bunker) Hill, by Tom Fitzpatrick. Saturday was the 230th anniversary of this pivotal battle in the American Revolutionary War. I've always been interested in it as a patriotic American, and also because through a maternal great-grandmother I'm descended from all kinds of Massachussetts folk, including Breeds of Charlestown. It wasn't that the Americans were so brilliant (they weren't) as much as they were able to go the distance; as British General Henry Clinton said, "A few more such victories would have surely put an end to British dominion in America."

Great moments in Canadian-American history

2005-06-07T15:30:00.000-06:00

Who needs guns when you have explosives?

Friends say he is just a jokester. A threat at school, a teen arrested (requires free registration, or use bugmenot.com)

I doubt that this boy is any more violently anti-American than any bright, disaffected American boy his age. The Justice Dept. is just plain stupid to tie the sentiments of a pro-Canadian t-shirt to an alleged anti-American mindset. However . . . Travis, you haven't exactly done a great job keeping yourself clear of the circumstantial evidence, now, have you? Whether he did it or not, as I say, this case will ensure a few great moments in Canadian-American history (along the lines of the Singapore caning . . .). All the way out here in Edmonton, I can hear the Newsworld people batting around story ideas in a conference room in Toronto . . .

UPDATE: Mark Steyn mentions this in the sidebar shown on his inner pages, calls it "maple jihad".

One of my favorite "Nigerian" e-mails

2005-05-20T23:10:00.000-06:00

Received this junk e-mail today for the second time and couldn't resist posting it. Doesn't it sound like it was written by a man in the UK named "Brian Smith"? The Chinese footer at the end is a nice touch, especially since the e-mail addy is Italian (it probably says, "Man who responds to junk e-mail and his money are soon parted"). The sad thing is that people (still) actually respond to these.

From: briansmith@ssizz.net
Subject: [Bulk] Favour
Date: May 20, 2005 7:37:27 PM MDT
Reply-To: briansmith@lifegate.it

Hello,

I am Brian Smith Esq, my client is one of the top Managers of Midland Bank London Branch and his colleague in the same bank here in the United Kingdom have an urgent and very confidential business proposition for you.

On June 6th, 2001, a Chinese business man, Mr. CHOW LIU, deposited in his personal safety deposit vault currency valued at (Seventeen Million, Five Hundred Thousand British Pound Sterling) in my client's branch.

Upon expiration of the period of leasehold of his safety deposit vault Two years ago, my client sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply. Some months ago, a reminder was sent and finally it was discovered he had passed away.

On further investigation, it was discovered that he did not leave a WILL and all attempts to trace his next of kin were fruitless. Further investigations revealed that Mr. CHOW LIU did not declare any next-of- kin in all his official documents in my
clients' bank.

This sum of Seventeen Million,Five Hundred Thousand British Pound Sterling) is still in the Vault which was opened and the keys changed upon the expiration of the period of leasehold by my clients.

Consequently, my proposal is that my clients will like you as a foreigner to stand in as the next of kin to Mr. CHOW LIU. This is simple. I will like you to provide me immediately with your full names and address so that by virtue of my position as an
attorney, I will prepare the necessary documents and affidavits, which will put you in place as the next of kin.

I shall do the drafting and notarization of the WILL and obtain the necessary documents and letter of probate/administration in your favor for the shipment of the funds through a security company to you. The money will be shipped by courier to you for us to share in the ratio of 80% for me and my clients and 20% for you. I hope that is okay.

There is no risk at all as all the paperwork for this transaction will be done by me as an attorney and the position of my client as the Branch Manager guarantees the successful execution of this transaction. If you are interested, please reply immediately via email. If on the other hand you are not interested please disregard this mail and I will not contact you again.

Upon your response, I shall then provide you with my phone number, more details of the transaction and the relevant documents that will help you understand. Please observe utmost confidentiality and be rest assured that this transaction would be most profitable for all of us.

Best regards,

Brian Smith Esq.

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Just before the Canadian budget vote . . .

2005-05-19T15:42:00.000-06:00

. . . something feels funny. I don't know why. Anxiety, probably. But The Hack thinks so, too. We'll know soon enough. BTW, I'm betting that John Efford votes.

Ugh. This is almost as bad as the 2000 presidential election.

Now: Who would have predicted this?

2005-05-19T06:33:00.000-06:00

Anything is possible today. Anything. My American brethren, you are really missing some choice political drama.

Parrish has appendicitis, could miss budget vote

Update: This story came and went so fast it could have given you whiplash, but looks even more interesting now, as Warren Kinsella notes: Liberal MP [Jim Karygiannis] falls ill, but will return to vote

Updateder: Well, Carolyn's "well" now, will vote today, as the linked story above has changed.

"Benedict bishops"

2005-05-18T11:52:00.000-06:00

Because they tend to be tougher and more willing to do what must be done, also more orthodox and orthoprax, the habit came about of calling bishops created in the '90's on "John Paul II bishops". Well, now we have our first two American "Benedict bishops":

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Congratulations to them; may they stay close to Christ and find in their ministry the satisfaction of being a hard-working shepherd, and not one who may wonder if there is a millstone to be fitted for him.

Pillow Talk - Peter and Belinda

2005-05-17T15:12:00.000-06:00

This is a great satire - hat tip to the Shotgun.

Pillow Talk - Peter and Belinda

Holy crap

2005-05-17T14:12:00.000-06:00

(as they say down in Texas)

Stronach appointed to Liberal cabinet

Oh, my. Talk about your red Tories. At any rate, this confirms my opinion of Belinda's political skills and ability to read which way the wind's blowing.

Poor Peter, she's broken his heart . . .

Other big news of the day - beatification cause opened for John Paul II

2005-05-13T11:55:00.000-06:00

Slow news day, right? From the Vatican Information Service, as well:

BENEDICT XVI ANNOUNCES CAUSE OF BEATIFICATION OF JOHN PAUL II

Whadda ya know - Levada is heading the CDF

2005-05-13T11:46:00.000-06:00

Okay, kids - discuss amongst yourselves.

NOMINA DEL PREFETTO DELLA CONGREGAZIONE PER LA DOTTRINA DELLA FEDE (article is in English)

Moloch on Ratzinger - er, Benedict

2005-05-12T11:54:00.000-06:00

Demander of child sacrifice checks in with his take on the elevation of Benedict XVI.

Different day to pay attention to Rome?

2005-05-12T11:03:00.000-06:00

I mean, in the sense of appointments.

I've gotten used to the rhythm of North American appointments being announced on Tuesdays. But the Holy See made our announcements today, a Thursday. Guess we'll see soon enough.

From the "Great Minds Think Alike" series

2005-05-11T21:04:00.000-06:00

Andrew Coyne's column this morning in the Nat'l Post:

Government by technicality

He takes what I said this morning about the "non"-non-confidence vote and runs with it. Takes it exactly where I'd go, by the way.

One way to quickly learn about the country you're living in: Move there just before a major constitutional crisis.

Hey, babe, where's the show?

2005-05-11T20:52:00.000-06:00

CNBC Canceling Dennis Miller's Talk Show

Ring, ring. "Hello, Mr. Miller? This is Roger Ailes. Mr. Murdoch asked me to give you a call . . . "

Only question is, where would he fit into the schedule there? Or is it time for FOX2?

Anyway, in Dennis' honor, I always recommend the hilarious SNL skit from 1992, Cooking with Dennis Miller. If you like Dennis, you'll love this homage from Dana Carvey, done the fall after Miller left the show.

Do you have a blog? Do you care about Darfur?

2005-05-11T17:10:00.000-06:00

Are you a member of the Coalition for Darfur?

No?

Well, it's past time already, but late's better than never, right?

The Attention it Deserves

The Coalition for Darfur has two goals: to get bloggers writing about Darfur and to raise money for worthy organizations providing life-saving assistance to the people of Darfur.

So far, we are not doing particularly well on either count.

Outside of Instapundit, very few of the "big blogs" seem to be paying much attention to Darfur, which is why it was nice to see Kevin Drum finally address the issue a few days ago.

In his post on the topic, Drum made an important point about the genocide:
But hope is not a plan, and right now it strikes me that the only realistic option for stopping the genocide is to be prepared for a full-scale invasion and long-term occupation of Sudan. I could probably be talked into that if someone presented a serious military plan showing where the troops would come from and how they'd get there, but I haven't seen it yet.
It is probably an oversimplification to say that full-scale invasion and occupation of Sudan is the "only realistic option" for dealing with the genocide, but the key point to be understood here is that nobody knows what it will take to stop this because almost nobody is even thinking about it.

Lt. General Romeo Dallaire, the head of the failed UN mission to Rwanda, estimates that it would take 44,000 troops to stop the violence and Brian Steidle, a former Marine who spent six months serving with the AU mission in Darfur, estimates that it will take anywhere from 25,000 - 50,000. There is also talk of imposing a no-fly zone and an arms embargo and expanding the AU mandate to allow it to protect civilians. But after more than 2 years of violence, these things still remain little more than talk.

As far as can be determined, nobody (not the US, the EU, NATO, or the UN) has even seriously contemplated what sort of military action might be necessary in order to stop the genocide. Foreign policy journals and think tanks have likewise been silent on the issue. The only people who appear to be seriously thinking about what needs to be done in Darfur are journalists like Bradford
Plumer and activists like Eric Reeves.

For two years, rhetorically pressuring Sudan to disarm and reign in the Janjaweed and stop the genocide has not worked. Many hoped that the Security Council's referral of the crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court might force Khartoum to back down, but unfortunately that has not happened. If anything, the ICC referral may have made the situation on the ground worse - and open discussion ofpossible military intervention might make things worse still. It is impossible to say.

Nobody wants a large-scale invasion of Sudan, but more importantly, nobody wants to even think that such an invasion might be necessary and how it will need to be carried out. It is a sign of just how little serious concern the genocide in Darfur is generating that those who might theoretically be called upon in the future to intervene do not appear to even have begun examining the feasibility of such an intervention. Darfur might not require military intervention, but it certainly requires more than the few small steps currently being contemplated. And until those in power begin to give the genocide the attention and serious thought it deserves, there is little reason to believe that there will soon be an end to the violence.

This genocide will end in one of two ways: either the international community will begin to take its responsibility to protect the people of Darfur seriously and take whatever steps are necessary to ensure their survival or it will end when the Africans in Darfur have been completely eliminated.

The choice is ours.

The Voice of Canada

2005-05-11T16:47:00.000-06:00

Just before I went to turn off CPAC, this caller (by accent, an Atlantic Canadian of some stripe) was interviewed. He said, "When Mulroney went out and Chrétien came in, I thought things would get better. Then when Chrétien went out and Martin came in, I thought things would get better. Now, with all the Gomery revelations, I just don't know what to think." The interviewer asked, "Do you think it's reasonable to wait until next Thursday for a confidence vote, or should it be sooner?" The fellow said, "Oh, no! They should do it in the next day or so. And forget the budget, it should just be a confidence vote. Martin must really be scared."

Now the guy couldn't tell that Chrétien was a walking moral sewer, but he can tell that Martin's running scared. Hint: Bad news for the government.

The game's afoot!

2005-05-11T16:46:00.000-06:00

Occam's Carbuncle has an interesting take on the Liberals standing up to vote "Yea" on the adjournment today. Personally, I think they did it to take at least one "non-confidence" vote out of the oppo's hands: "How could it be a 'confidence' vote? We voted for it! To end the day! It was just a short day anyway!" Though my heart did kind of jump when Annie McLellan first stood up - we live in her riding, and I was wondering if being the red bulls-eye in a blue ring was getting to her . . . but of course she was just voting as deputy PM.

BTW, I think Jack Layton was not amused by this maneuver.

Stephen Harper: Man on Fire

2005-05-11T15:31:00.000-06:00

Well. Stephen's little address in Parliament today was something to see. No more "robot" jokes, people, they're as passé as using "natural governing party" in an un-ironic sense. His eyes were flashing, the gloves were off. No more Mr. Nice-former-economist-Guy. His French was quite passionate.

So now they're voting on a motion to adjourn. To an American, this doesn't sound very exciting, but it's come to be the Canadian political equivalent of High Noon.

(Hehehe: CPAC now has the "William Tell Overture" playing over the voting-call screen. Sly pro-Con/Bloc statement? Or desperate pro-Liberal cry? Either way, it's pretty amusing listening to it in the current context.)