C-FAR #327 September 1998
Gun Storage Regulations Imperil
Canadians' Safety
The restrictive, costly and idiotic regulations
under bill C-68, the federal firearms confiscation law require that guns
must be stored unloaded, under lock and key and kept separate from their
ammunition. The Government is loathe to recognize Canadians' rights to
protect themselves. U.S. Sen. Larry Craig (Republican --Idaho) hit the
mark: "There's a nonsense rhyme about a mother who gives her daughter
permission to go for a swim -- as long as she doesn't get near the water.
Likewise, some members of the Senate believe an estimated 65 million Americans
should only have firearms in the home for self-defence if those firearms
can't be used for self-defence because they are unloaded, locked up or
locked away."
Say It's Not So -- Racism In Cambodia
We're led to believe in the guilt-mongering media
that only Whites are guilty of racism. It seems it's not so. Consider:
"One word has turned up day after day in the Cambodian election campaign,
picking at the scabs of centuries of racial hatred: 'Yuon,' an ethnic slur
for Vietnamese. 'I felt sick when I started hearing the word 'Yuon' on
radio and television,' Khun Sokha says. Even though her family emigrated
from Vietnam generations ago, she fears for her life if July 26 elections
are won by politicians using the term to tap a rich vein of distrust. Her
fear may be justified: Three ethnic Vietnamese were shot dead Wednesday
night in what police say was the first such violence of the campaign season.
Unidentified gunmen burst into their home in an eastern Cambodia fishing
village, police said Thursday. 'It was a terrorist attack because nothing
was stolen after that," Mao Ch'ndara, a senior police official said.
'I think it marks the harassment of the Vietnamese before the elections.'"
Multicult Means "Different"
Values -- Wife, 16, Killed Over Dowry
"A pregnant 16-year-old has been burned
to death, reportedly for her family's failure to pay a 10,000-taka (HK$12,800)
dowry following her marriage four months earlier. Asiya Akhter Asma was
beaten by her husband and two of his brothers on July 10 at Monipurighat
in northern Kishoreganj district. When her condition deteriorated, Asma's
husband doused her body with kerosene and struck a match, the daily Janakantha
reported yesterday. Neighbours arrived and the men tried to pass it off
as an accident, saying she caught fire while cooking in the kitchen. When
she was declared dead at the hospital, her husband and his brothers vanished.
Police are still searching for them. Ain-O-Salish Kendra, a women's legal
rights organisation, called the incident barbaric. Nina Goswami, a spokeswoman
for the group, said they recorded 71 dowry deaths in the first six months
of this year. (South China Morning Post, August 4 1998)
Native Land Claims --What Price
Dignity?
"Aboriginal leadership does not oppose development
initiatives; instead, it demands 'compensation'." (Globe and Mail,
May 2, 1998) "The Huu-ay-aht First Nation is charging $20 for hikers
who cross their land while walking the West Coast Trail in Pacific Rim
National Park, one of the most popular wilderness trails in Canada. ...
[The fee is intended to pressure the government to wrap up] negotiations
with the Huu-ay-aht, who are seeking compensation for keeping the Vancouver
Island land as a park rather than logging the pristine, uncut forests.
... When asked for payment, hikers will be handed a 'visa' that explains
the history of the Huu-ay-aht culture and the dispute with the government."
(Globe and Mail, July 28, 1998) In Alberta, "Stoney Indian Chief Philomene
Stevens and some of her family received more than $1.5 million during a
three-month logging frenzy on the reserve. The Stevens family -- including
patriarch Stoney shaman John Stevens ... has been ordered by a Court of
Queen's Bench judge to return $200,000 to the band." (Vancouver Province,
December 29, 1997)
"Since 1972, when the polar bear was listed
as an endangered species, Americans have not been able to import the skins.
The controls have been lifted in the past 12 months. [A zest for "sharing"
must have prompted residents of Resolute Bay, N.W.T. to sell permits to
American big-game hunters] ... The Americans paid $18,000 each to Resolute
Bay's community coffers to hunt bear." (Vancouver Province, April
30, 1998) Driven by the export trade, last winter "about a dozen native
hunters [decimated] ... the only vibrant wolf population left in the world.
... Many of the wolves are being chased to death by hunters riding snowmobiles.
... The hunters track down a pack of wolves, manoeuvre them onto a frozen
expanse of tundra, and then, as the animals search vainly for somewhere
to hide, chase them until they collapse from exhaustion. Then the hunters
shoot them. ... In the Northwest Territories, resident hunters and natives
can take as many wolves as they can get." (Globe and Mail, February
26, 1998)
Endangered species lists be damned! The recent
sacrifice of a bowhead whale (estimated population: 700) must be a good
thing, because blood-sport somehow "empowers" the Inuit. Speaking
for those who cannot speak for themselves; Greenpeace mumbled, "While
we are not officially opposed to this hunt, we think it might be ill-advised
at this time because of uncertainty over bowhead populations." (Toronto
Sun, July 15, 1998) Since unadulterated ancestral practices might fail
to bag the creature, it was felt that explosive-tipped harpoons were the
esteem-building '90s way to go. The spokesman-less whale, presumably felt
equally ennobled by the experience. Pieces of meat were air-lifted to assuage
the neighbours. "Muktuk is eaten frozen or, these days, microwaved
or deep-fried. [More heritage-laden fun!] ... The whale's massive head
was left to rot on the beach." (Globe and Mail, August 13, 1998)
About the time the Inuit were proving they could
too kill a whale, an innocuous item appeared:
"A humpback whale swam freely in Trinity
Bay [Newfoundland] yesterday, thanks to three fishermen and a man from
St. John's. [Told of a whale fouled in a fish net] John "Boddie, 28,
grabbed a leaky mask, snorkel and knife, and dived into the water. He noticed
two anchored lines wrapped around the whale's tail. He then got a wet suit
and a better mask, and took a tree trimmer to cut the ropes. The three
fishermen also joined the effort." (Globe and Mail, July 29, 1998)
"The treaty-negotiation process in British
Columbia has cost more than $100-million since September of 1992, and will
likely cost another $75-million before any treaties are signed." (Globe
and Mail, June 24, 1998) The fact that these loans and grants come from
federal and provincial governments (the other side of the bargaining table)
adds just the right farcical note to the two-way tax-funded spend-fest.
Nisga'a Chief Joseph Gosnell, Sr. rhapsodizes: "To the Nisga'a people,
a treaty is a sacred instrument. It represents an understanding between
distinct cultures and shows respect for each other's way of life."
(Globe and Mail, August 10, 1998) Gosh, what a wonderful reciprocal arrangement!
In light of the more than $6-billion spent annually on status Indians and
Inuit, the $700-million aboriginal healing fund pay-out, the $500-million
aboriginal health program the Auditor-General identified last October as
actually contributing to native drug abuse, the creation of Nunavut (among
other pending disasters) perhaps these "agreements" should be
identified for what they are -- class action suits on the instalment plan.
In northern Quebec, among the Cree, Inuit and
Naskapi (total population - 20,260), "For the last financial year
(1995-96) total expenditures by 14 federal departments and agencies ...
were $193,353,600 ... almost $56 million higher than spending for 1990-91.
... The total does not include what natives get through such programs as
seniors' pensions and children's' allowances, and it has nothing to do
with the $230 million received in grants. (Toronto Sun, March 22, 1998)
"The 'first nations' of Quebec, its aboriginal peoples, control about
2/3 of the province. In modern, functioning democracies - and Canada is
one of the world's most envied - citizens rather than ethnic groups rule."
(Time Magazine, March 9, 1998) Does Ottawa know ? "Canadian Airlines
International will hire more aboriginals after having its hand forced by
the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
... Under the employment target, Canadian will try to raise its aboriginal
recruitment level to 3 per cent of its work force, which totals about 16,000
worldwide." (Globe and Mail, July 7, 1998)
"New [military] recruitment targets have
been set for visible minorities -- one quarter of all new recruits [must]
satisfy federal employment-equity watchdogs." (Toronto Sun, July 20,
1998) "Natives in the Canadian military will be allowed to wear their
hair in braids under a new policy to be announced in the new year."
(Vancouver Sun, December 23, 1997) Writing in the Toronto Sun, August 11,
1998, David Frum laments the substitution of race-based entitlement for
democracy: "Nisga'a Indians - and only Nisga'a Indians - will possess
the right to vote for the new governments of the Nisga'a lands. Non-Nisga'a
on those lands will be disenfranchised. ... The principle has been established:
a citizen's right to vote for the government of the territory in which
he lives can be abridged solely on account of race. And disenfranchising
those citizens does not require a constitutional amendment, a referendum,
or some other solemn and unusual change in the law."
Pushing the envelope in Brantford, "Judge
Gethin Edward of the Ontario Court, provincial division ordered the removal
of Canadian and British flags from a courtroom at the request of a witness.
... The witness does not recognize the authority of non-native government
and did not want to testify unless the flags were moved.. ... Natives are
working towards the establishment of their own judicial system but, in
the meantime ... [there's Judge Edward.]" (Globe and Mail, July 21,
1998)
Buchanan Blasts War Crimes Tribunal
Treaty
Goody Two Shoes Canada, of course, applauded
the sovereignty-losing treaty creating an international court to try war
crimes. Slightly more worldly wise observer, U.S. columnist Pat Buchanan
offered a different view:
"'As American objections to the treaty's
text were trounced in one overwhelming vote after another, delegates ...
stood and cheered.' Thus does The Washington Post describe the reaction,
as the final votes were taken in Rome to establish a permanent global court
for prosecuting war criminals. The tribunal will have 18 judges and a staff
of investigators and prosecutors free to roam the world, conducting show
trials of alleged war criminals, including U.S. soldiers. The accused --
let us say the U.S. captain of the Vincennes, which mistakenly downed an
Iranian airliner -- would enjoy few of the rights guaranteed by our Fifth
and Sixth amendments. America would have no oversight of court operations,
no veto of court decisions. If the United States objected to an indictment,
say, of Ronald Reagan for his strike on Libya, who would decide if Reagan
was put in the dock, in absentia?
According to the treaty, 'Any dispute concerning
the court's jurisdiction shall be settled by the decision of the Court.'
A set of proposals offered to meet major U.S. concerns was rejected 115-17.
Even liberals were stunned at the joyful routing of U.S. positions. A 'diplomatic
train wreck,' said the Post, 'an end to one of the most ambitious ventures
in the Clinton administration to multilateral management of the world's
problems.' Yet good can come out of Rome. For the architects of the New
World Order over-reached. Invoking their one-nation, one-vote formula,
they conducted a naked power grab at the expense of our Republic and then
laughed in America's face. ... What, ultimately, are all these transnational
institutions -- the U.N., WTO, IMF, World Bank, etc., all about -- but
part of a veiled scheme for the transfer of money, prestige, power and
sovereignty from America to a new class of parasite-mandarins, slavering
to control the destiny of mankind.
As the United States was being slam-dunked on
vote after vote, mocked as well, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Anan cooed
that the new court is a 'gift of hope to future generations and a giant
step forward in the march toward universal human rights and the rule of
law.' Of course Kofi would see it that way. After all, he hails from an
inconsequential little country on a mendicant continent that has distinguished
itself lately for coups, massacres and AIDS. Yet he has risen to the apex
of a towering bureaucratic pyramid, which will be further enriched and
empowered if this court comes into being. But, ask yourself: By whose approval
is Kofi Anan paid a salary larger than that of the president? Who subsidizes
his apartment and travels, and pays the U.S. taxes from which Kofi is exempt
as one of a vast throng of 'international civil servants'? Who endowed
the prestigious chair on which this peacock sits to lecture the United
States? Who created his upholstered playpen and plays host to the richly
remunerated bureaucracy over which Kofi presides?
We did, we Americans [and Canadians]. Now, ask
yourself: Who would be the big losers if an angry nation rose up and defunded
the IMF, the U.N., the World Bank, the WTO and all the rest; and told them
all to pack up and get out? Correct. Kofi and his global parasites. They
would be out of our lives, out of our pockets, out of our country. And
how would we suffer from not having them around? We seemed to do just fine
before they all turned up. The New World Order is being built on a fallacy
and a scam. The fallacy is that 'all nations are created equal' and each
has an equal right to determine the world's destiny. The scam is that the
misery of the world's failed nations is our fault and, therefore, we 'owe'
them. And how are we supposed to make amends for our sins of colonialism,
imperialism and racism? By transferring wealth and power to Kofi, et al.,
who will show us the way to a more equitable and just world order. ...
How should we deal with these snake-oil salesmen? The same way that the
town dealt with the phony Duke and Dauphin in Huckleberry Finn- tar and
feather 'em, and ride 'em out on a rail." (Creators Syndicate, July
29, 1998)
The Future With "Diversity"
"More than 20 percent of Mexico City residents
have been victims of crime this year, according to a university study released
Thursday. The Autonomous Metropolitan University said its survey of 1,660
Mexico City residents showed that 22 percent of the estimated 9 million
residents of the Mexican capital were victims of theft or another crime
from January to July. The study did not provide comparative figures for
the same period a year ago, before Cuauhtemoc Cardenas of the leftist Party
of the Democratic Revolution became Mexico City mayor in December. Crime
has soared since a peso devaluation in December 1994 and a subsequent economic
crisis forced thousands out of work. While the economy has slowly recovered,
crime rates have stayed high. The university survey said the most frequent
crimes were street robberies at 22 percent; theft in public transport,
20 percent; and auto theft, theft while in cars and armed attack, each
at 8 percent. Among those hit by crime, 61.2 percent said they did not
report the crime to authorities. Most said the government 'would not pay
attention.'" (Reuters News Service, August 6, 1998)
Hatred of Vietnam runs deep; Cambodia's larger
neighbor has consumed large swaths of Cambodian territory over the past
several centuries. Khun Sokha, a 50-year-old fisherwoman, recalls seeing
corpses of slain Vietnamese floating down a river after Prince Norodom
Sihanouk was deposed by Lon Nol in a 1970 U.S.-backed military coup. Attacks
on ethnic Vietnamese fishing villages followed, as did failed military
offensives against the Vietnamese-backed Khmer Rouge guerrillas, who seized
power in 1975 and began a reign of terror that cost the lives of as many
as 2 million Cambodians. The Khmer Rouge regime, however, proved every
bit as rabidly anti-Vietnamese as Lon Nol, and their old allies in Vietnam
responded to repeated border attacks by toppling the Khmer Rouge in 1979.
A decade of military occupation followed.
Hun Sen, a mid-ranking Khmer Rouge commander
who defected to escape purges, rose to the top of the Hanoi-installed government
in 1985 and has been Cambodia's most powerful figure ever since. But many
Cambodians distrust their leader and accuse him of being a puppet of Vietnam.
Hun Sen's main opponents in the upcoming elections
are playing up his alleged links to Hanoi, accusing him of giving away
disputed territory and allowing illegal Vietnamese immigrants to settle
on prime land.
In 1993, Hun Sen lost U.N.-sponsored elections.
Still, he forced his way into a co-premiership with the winner and then
deposed Prince Norodom Ranariddh in a bloody coup a year ago. Hun Sen has
called new elections and allowed Ranariddh to return from exile in an effort
to win back international legitimacy and foreign aid.
Critics say that Hun Sen has stacked the electoral
machinery in his favor and is using violence and killings to intimidate
opponents, but his victory is not a foregone conclusion.
Ranariddh and another leading opponent, Sam Rainsy,
have drawn huge crowds at campaign rallies. They are popular to many because
they stand up to Hun Sen, but they also have made much of anti-Vietnamese
sentiment.
They accuse the Vietnamese of stealing land and
depleting fish stocks. They promise to get rid of all illegal immigrants,
though they insist they will do so peacefully and legally.
Sam Rainsy acknowledged to reporters Thursday
that he may have inadvertently raised anti-Vietnamese emotions in some
of his speeches, but said he has "never advocated violence or the
use of violence to solve these problems."
Since Ranariddh and Sam Rainsy both are French-educated
lawyers steeped in the culture of human rights, their rhetoric is jarring.
"There are Vietnamese Khmers, but a Yuon
is a Yuon," Ranariddh told a cheering crowd in a campaign speech Wednesday.
He has repeated the message again and again while crisscrossing the countryside.
The talk may seem like posturing, but to ordinary
ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia, it's frightening. There are 200,000 to 1
million ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia, a nation of 10 million.
Ngoc Sanh, president of the Vietnamese Association
in Phnom Penh, says he hopes that if Ranariddh or Sam Rainsy win, the international
community will ensure ethnic Vietnamese are protected from violence or
eviction.
Since violence is never far away, Pham Thi Cu
Ba, 34, said she and her family are preparing for the worst. They just
sold their small floating house and were buying new engines for their two
fishing boats.
They also have stocked up on gasoline so they
can flee to Vietnam.
"We are ready to leave if things get too
bad," she said, producing papers showing she is a Cambodian resident.
"But we want to go peacefully. We don't want any shooting."
By KER MUNTHIT, Associated Press Writer
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