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True Green Report
Opening Oil-For-Food books
April 5, 2004
Slick scams rather than oil slicks should be a priority for the Kyoto-pushing United Nations.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the UN’s Oil-for-Food Program for Iraq is looking more and more like a gigantic scam. Yet the UN continues to claim the program was an unprecedented feat of humanitarian relief work. The Security Council members ultimately responsible for the program, including the United States, would rather keep the details locked in the closet.
Fortunately, the Iraqi Governing Council wants to pick the lock. The Iraqis have appointed auditors KPMG and the London-based international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to investigate the many allegations of impropriety surrounding oil-for-food. Their job will include digging into the list of names--recently published by the Iraqi daily Al Mada--of individuals and organizations that allegedly received allocations of Iraqi oil from Saddam Hussein at well below market prices. Many of the names had nothing to do with oil, such as the Russian Orthodox Church and the president of Indonesia.
The UN office administering oil-for-food…appears to have been happy to look the other way while all of this took place and now refuses to take any responsibility for the way the program was abused. The Security Council was also complicit in accepting a lowest-common-denominator deal in 1995.
Greenpeace eyes fed money
Greenpeace has a green eye on Canadian Liberal Government money. Although saluting the sales of the Federal government shares in Petro-Canada, Greenpeace is insisting that all the money recouped should be designated forthwith to environmental issues and especially "on meeting our Kyoto commitment."
"$2.8 billion would be a welcome addition to the current federal spending on the environment," said Greenpeace Climate Campaigner Steven Guilbeault. "However, the Greater Montreal Area alone, will need at least $1.6 billion over the coming years just for renovations to it’s (sic) subway system. It would be a serious mistake to assume that the Federal government’s spending announcement will take care of the environmental needs of this country."
Guilbeault also noted that "on a kWh basis the federal incentive program for wind energy is roughly a third of the one that exists in the U.S. under the Bush Administration."
He added that "despite the fact we have a plan for Kyoto, many elements of the plan are still unclear, like the "One tonne challenge" or how some of the targeted measures will actually deliver the emissions reduction that we need in order for us to reach our Kyoto target."
Strapping Fido in
Who needs People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) when there’s the Santa Fe City Council?
Described by NewsMax.com scribe Carl Limbacher as "ultratrendy, ultraliberal, ultrawacky", a committee of Santa Fe’s council wants to make seatbelts for critters law.
The committee in New Mexico’s capital endorsed an ordinance that would require any animal "in or on" a vehicle to be restrained.
Guess "on" includes your neighbour’s cat who indulges in catnaps on the sun-warmed roof of your SUV.
In a panic about where to go find a seatbelt for the family pooch?
Among the options for pet owners, the Associated Press reported:
• A "pet safety sitter" ($13.69 to $21.69American that straps Fido’s hairy chest to the seat. (No device was mentioned to spare rush-hour drivers the in-car howling when Fido’s hairs get caught up in the sitter);
• A restraint with a loop that attaches to a seat belt. (Great for the family Bouvier, but a circus ride in certain circumstances for your Chihuahua.
• "Pickup tie-outs" that attaches to a Muttley’s collar to keep it from jumping out of a pickup’s bed. (Watch the animal rights activists’ charges of animal cruelty on this one).
• A little booster seat so Puff can see out the window.
According to Limbacher, "For once cats will get equal treatment. Under the scheme they, like dogs, will have have to be leashed whenever on public property."
And just to think that we only recently managed to get Canadafreepress.com office mascot, Kiko used to his riding goggles.
