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leftcoastguy
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 Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 7:20 am Post subject: O'Brien bribery probe reaches PM's inner circle |
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O'Brien bribery probe reaches PM's inner circle
| Quote: | A political aide to a Tory MP has told police that Mayor Larry O'Brien's 2006 campaign team was secretly working on a plan to offer Terry Kilrea "something" to drop out of last year's mayoral race, and that the unspecified offer was "in the works" through Doug Finley, the campaign director for the Conservative Party of Canada.
Mr. O'Brien is the subject of an Ontario Provincial Police bribery investigation launched March 27 following an investigative report in the Citizen that documented two meetings -- including one in the parking lot behind a Tim Hortons -- between the mayor and Mr. Kilrea, who alleged that Mr. O'Brien offered him up to $30,000 and help to get a federal appointment if he bowed out of last year's mayoral race.
In a recorded statement to detectives on April 18, at 1:06 p.m., John Light, an aide to Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre, said he got a call last year from Greg Strong, a former vice-president at Calian, a staffing-services firm founded by Mr. O'Brien.
Doug Finley is shown last year entering Rideau Hall before Stephen Harper was sworn in as prime minister. John Light told police he turned down an offer to run Larry O'Brien's campaign, saying he would rather work for Terry Kilrea. In his interview with police, Mr. Light said Greg Strong then told him 'Kilrea is being taken care of ... that there was something in the works and... they were working through Doug Finlay (sic).'The communications manager for the Conservative party said Mr. Finley 'has never ... even heard of' Mr. Light and Mr. Strong.
According to his police statement, Mr. Light said he was asked by Mr. O'Brien's team to manage the 2006 campaign. He responded that he was flattered, but said he'd rather work on Mr. Kilrea's campaign.
The OPP executive summary of Mr. Light's recorded interview notes: "Strong replied not to worry, as Kilrea is being taken care of and that he is going to be offered something. Strong said that there was something in the works and that he couldn't tell anyone about it and they were working through Doug Finlay(sic) who was the Campaign Chair for the Conservative Party." |
What the hell? 
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Last edited by leftcoastguy on Sat Oct 13, 2007 10:42 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 9:09 am Post subject: |
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Seems like the Ottawa mayor has a *few* unsavory connections to sleazebags...
Ottawa mayor linked to Xtian "cult" school
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leftcoastguy
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leftcoastguy
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leftcoastguy
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| Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007 3:43 pm Post subject: |
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http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/OttawaAndRegion/2007/12/08/4713909-sun....
No wonder Harper's Conservatives are beginning to drop in the polls what with the Mulroney-Schreiber-Doucet-MacKay capers, and now this potentially damaging scandal surrounding the mayor of Ottawa. One is judged by the company one keeps.
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elmateo
sleepy.
Joined: 19 Apr 2006
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Location: socialist corner, ottawa
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| Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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| Citizens of Ottawa that voted for him for his stupid promise of "I wont raise taxes" in a cash-strapped city (and also considering the stupid Harriste law that fixed property taxes) should be embarrassed and outraged. He has since had to admit to raising property taxes... Ottawa has no transportation plan now (foolish). And on top of it all they elected a questionable hack with a shaddy ethics. |
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:45 pm Post subject: |
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CBC morning news is reporting that O'Brien has been arrested. 
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Reverend Blair
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| Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:47 pm Post subject: |
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Cool. Hopefully they'll issue warrants for some senior federal Conservatives next.
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Tehanu
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| Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 5:10 pm Post subject: |
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Some details:
| Quote: | ... Monday's charges stem from an allegation that Larry O'Brien's campaign tried to offer Terry Kilrea, a fellow candidate, a job in return for dropping out of the race.
Kilrea also alleges he was offered $30,000 to cover his expenses. Kilrea did eventually drop out of the race, but said he never accepted any benefit.
The formal charges are:
* Section 121(1)(d) of the Criminal Code, which deals with offering a reward or benefit in exchange for co-operation, and
* Section 125(b), which involves negotiating a benefit for appointment to or resignation from office "in expectation of a direct or indirect reward, advantage or benefit." |
CBC's going to have a phone in about whether or not the mayor should resign. I'm thinking leave of absence? |
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elmateo
sleepy.
Joined: 19 Apr 2006
Posts: 4978
Location: socialist corner, ottawa
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| Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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My opinion has always been Larry O'Brien is a scumbag. I would hold this opinion whether he was charged or not - I just remember getting an automated call the night before the election that was "don't vote for the other people they are going to raise your taxes - not one cent vote for me". Given the shit legislation Harris enacted that literally froze property taxes without the ability to increase with property value or inflation, this was the worst kind of scare tactic as no one was going to raise the % of tax on your property value. Yes property tax is regressive, but it is the only funding a city has.
O'Brien then claimed to be able to maintain services.
He ran a campaign on lies - and because Ottawa is ruled by right wing media (the Sun and Citizen being the only local papers)- there was very little questioning of this.
His friends in the federal government manipulated the light rail funding as well to create significant problems for the other candidates as well, both of whom were campaigning on ambitious (though very different) plans for the light rail. Larry's plan was never ever made clear. But Baird came to his rescue and announced they were withholding funding till they could reassess the plans... basically making any plans "nothing" just like Larry's plan. |
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leftcoastguy
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Reverend Blair
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| Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:44 am Post subject: |
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I really don't know what Harper is going to do with Baird. He should be forced out for interfering in the Ottawa election (the LRT thing), he should be forced out (at least temporarily) for this corruption/bribery thing, and he should be dragged out and buggy whipped for his ineptitude in Bali (not because I disagree with his position, although I do, but because he showed political savvy of a dead rat).
Baird is supposed to be the great saviour though. He was in charge of the Accountability Act (he should have been buggy-whipped for that too, but nobody seemed to notice). He's the guy who was brought in to sell the Conservatives' environmental agenda after Ambrose screwed up the sales job.
For Harper to dump him would look bad. To keep him will look bad. Makes me glad I don't shill for the Conservatives.
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No Yards
Glutton for Punishment
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 2944
Location: Toronto Ontario
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| Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 2:00 am Post subject: |
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While we're buggy-whipping the prick, can we go back to his Ontario Harris Tory days and lay a few on him for his part in Hydro privatization? The scam that screwed over consumers supposedly to give private corporations incentive to build more power sources ... instead they split the corporation into 4 or 5 different services and charged premiums to provide separately what we used to get all in one place. We got to pay more, and the different services got to pass the buck ... "that's not our problem, we're only the billing service ... that's not our problem we're only the transmission service ... you're not really one of our clients, talk to your billing company".
In the meantime we're reopening coal fired plants because private corporations are not going to invest more money to compete against themselves.
He's my choice for inclusion in the top 10 worst Canadians of the decade.
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Tehanu
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| Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 9:36 pm Post subject: |
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Larry O'Brien has been officially booked on charges of influence-peddling. He says he feels like a rock star with all the media attention. Lucky him.
| Quote: | ... Mr. O'Brien, 58, was booked, photographed and fingerprinted on charges alleging that he tried to persuade an opponent to drop out of the 2006 race for mayor.
... He said “it's obviously not a comfortable feeling” to face charges he offered rival Terry Kilrea a position on the National Parole Board if he dropped out of the 2006 municipal election.
... Mr. O'Brien has denied he did anything wrong and has said he intends to plead not guilty to the charges. |
Globe and Mail. |
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Tehanu
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| Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:30 pm Post subject: |
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More trouble for Larry O'Brien, as one of his staff members called a radio phone-in show, using a fake name, to support a controversial snow-removal tax. Whupsie!
| Quote: | ... Mayor Larry O'Brien told CBC News on Wednesday afternoon that Dave Gibbons, special assistant to the mayor, had left his post.
Hours earlier, Gibbons posed as someone named "Tom" and called into The Chat Room, a show hosted by Mark Sutcliffe on radio station CFRA.
He defended the idea of a $50-per-household tax surcharge to help pay the city's huge snow-removal bill this year. The mayor had publicly proposed the idea on Tuesday afternoon.
... The mayor was asked about "Tom" after some listeners heard him on the radio and noticed he sounded like Gibbons.
... "I think it is absolutely unacceptable ... I am angry about that," he said. "He confirmed in fact that he had made a mistake, so I'm going to go back and talk to him about that immediately following this meeting."
Still, the mayor stood by his idea on Wednesday. He reiterated that at the current rate of snowfall, the city would exceed its $65-million snow-clearing budget by $23 million. |
CBC |
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TS.
Delicious schadenfreude
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 14585
Location: Toronto, ON
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| Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:13 am Post subject: |
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Isn't it funny how people who do nasty things for politicians in power are allowed to "leave their posts" while those who do public spirited things like expose the government's shoddy nuclear policy (like Linda Keen) are fired in the middle of the night.
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Tehanu
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| Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:51 pm Post subject: |
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| No kidding, eh? But you see Linda Keen spoke out against her political bosses' decisions, rather than faking being a regular citizen. That's obviously much less acceptable. |
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:52 pm Post subject: |
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via CBC Radio: Ottawa mayor's trial re-starts today
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 6:54 pm Post subject: |
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Prominent Conservatives linked to influence-peddling case: testimony
| Quote: | ... "Prominent Conservatives" wanted the two to come to a business arrangement about who would run, Kilrea said during the first day of testimony at O'Brien's influence-peddling trial. O'Brien told him they'd make it worth his while to pull out, he testified.
Kilrea said O'Brien suggested his team could have played hardball, using a vulgar, Richard Nixon-era term for dirty campaign tricks. "We could have just ratf**ked you," Kilrea said he was told by O'Brien.
[...]
Kilrea had worked on the campaigns of now-Transport Minister John Baird and Pierre Poilievre, currently the prime minister's parliamentary secretary. He told Ontario Superior Court that O'Brien indicated he could get him a federal appointment if he quit the race. He said he was told by O'Brien that senior Conservatives didn't want to see him get hurt by leaving the race.
"They would like us to come to a business arrangement today," Kilrea recalled O'Brien saying.
Kilrea quoted O'Brien as telling him: "John Baird is the key. John Baird is the one who makes this happen."
The job offer was a five-year appointment to National Parole Board at a salary of $110,000 a year, he said. Kilrea said O'Brien called back within a few hours of his face-to-face meeting and told him he was "in the queue."
O'Brien indicated that had been arranged by John Reynolds, Harper's campaign co-chair in the 2006 election, Kilrea testified. |
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 3:53 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Edleson [O'brien's lawyer] also said Transport Minister John Baird will flatly contradict the testimony of O'Brien's chief accuser.
But an official from Baird's office told the Canadian Press that Edelson has completely misrepresented a police statement provided by the minister and that no contradiction with Kilrea's testimony exists.
Baird's office said the defence lawyer has taken a statement Baird made to police and characterized it as a conversation between Baird and Kilrea.
Edelson appeared to confuse Kilrea on the witness stand with a dramatically different account of a July 2006 meeting between Kilrea and Baird, then-Treasury Board president.
Edelson told the court that Baird's police statement says he told Kilrea that he'd just brought in the Federal Accountability Act and that under the new rules, Kilrea was unqualified for an appointment to the National Parole Board.
Baird's office, however, said the minister's statement to police doesn't allude to any conversation with Kilrea but rather is a statement of principles about the Accountability Act and Kilrea's unsuitability for an appointment. |
*click*
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Tehanu
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| Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 12:49 pm Post subject: |
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Sorting out the testimony in this case is a bit challenging. Anyway, Baird's going to be testifying briefly this morning as Kilrea's cross-examination is going on.
I guess Baird gets the same sweet deal as Mulroney in terms of having his legal fees covered, eh? Wonder how many lawyers he has.
| Quote: | ... Baird was Treasury Board president at the time of the 2006 mayoral election at the heart of the trial.
Terry Kilrea, O'Brien's opponent in that election, has alleged that O'Brien's camp offered to pay his campaign expenses and help get him appointed to the National Parole Board if he dropped out of the race.
... On Wednesday, O'Brien's lawyer, Michael Edelson, continued to question Kilrea's credibility for the sixth day as the court heard in even greater detail about the meetings Kilrea had with O'Brien and Baird in 2006.
... Both Baird and Kilrea denied on Thursday that they had discussed such an appointment, but some documents entered into evidence have given somewhat conflicting accounts of the conversations and correspondence. |
CBC. |
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swirrlygrrl
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Tehanu
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| Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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O'Brien's been acquitted.
| Quote: | OTTAWA – Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien has been found not guilty of two criminal charges after a lengthy influence peddling trial.
... Ontario Superior Court Justice Douglas Cunningham said he believed O'Brien was likely aggressive at a meeting between the two to discuss his intention to join the race, but this was not criminal.
"It is not an offense to want an opponent to drop out of a race, nor to encourage him to seek other employment," Cunningham told a courtroom packed with media and onlookers. "Were this an offense, there would be a need for many more jails."
... The case was tried by judge alone.
... Cunningham said that O'Brien probably exercised "poor judgment" when he then encouraged Kilrea to speak to Conservative cabinet minister John Baird about the appointment, but did not commit a criminal offense. |
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TS.
Delicious schadenfreude
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 14585
Location: Toronto, ON
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| Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 5:10 am Post subject: |
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So what do people think are the chances of O'Brien being reelected? I should think low.
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thwap
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Location: Hamilton
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| Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:24 am Post subject: |
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What is this? Is this legal immunity for famous people [the Canadian version of "famous" anyway]?
Didn't O'Brien have people who offered that guy a job???
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Hephaestion
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| Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 2:15 pm Post subject: |
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He's still a scumbag.
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Hephaestion
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swirrlygrrl
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voice of the damned
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| Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 4:17 pm Post subject: Ottawa mayor admits he's a f*ck-up |
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I don't know much about this guy, beyond that he's apparently a right-wing populist who gets compared to Rob Ford. However, his comments seemed so remarkable for a politician to make, I just thought they should be saved for posterity.
| Quote: | “People believe and recognize that the first two years of my mayoralty were a complete — and quite frankly, self-diagnosed as a complete — disaster. I probably made every single major political mistake that was possible. … I think I even made quite a few mistakes that, quite frankly, were impossible to replicate,” he said. “I just want to tell the citizens of Ottawa that I am sincerely sorry for the first two years. I completely regret some of my decisions and some of my actions.”
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Apparently, though, he's planning to run again. You can already hear his opponents' campaign ads...
"We'll just let Larry O'Brien speak for himself..."
Then again, maybe this is some sort of reverse-psychology ploy. Like, he thinks that by admitting the worst about himself, he'll take the wind out of the sails of anyone else trying to say he was bad. If so, that has to be the ultimate Hail Mary Pass.
link |
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Senor Magoo
He's got a big one
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| Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 5:05 pm Post subject: |
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North America loves the confessional.
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DSquared
aka Aristotleded24
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5570
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 3:27 am Post subject: |
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Watson leading, Doucett may push incumbent into 3rd:
| Quote: | The poll, conducted by Leger Marketing for the Ottawa Sun newspaper, has O'Brien, the incumbent, in second place, with an estimated 15 per cent of respondents' support.
But it suggests Doucet's campaign, which garnered 12 per cent of respondents' votes, is gaining quickly and looking to steal supporters in the final days leading up to the Oct. 25 municipal election.
"The next mayor is going to be Mr. Watson or Mr. Doucet, and the difference between us is going to be very, very tight," Doucet told CBC News Wednesday.
"We welcome any support from every corner, just as we have throughout the campaign." |
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This is pre-eminently the time, to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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DSquared
aka Aristotleded24
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| Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 1:47 am Post subject: |
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Watson has defeated O'Brien
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This is pre-eminently the time, to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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Tehanu
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| Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 2:41 am Post subject: |
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| I'm merging this thread to the old O'Brien thread, and at least there's some good news out of Ottawa on this sad day. Bye, bye, Larry. |
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DSquared
aka Aristotleded24
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5570
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 3:38 am Post subject: |
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Brian Watson, one year later
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This is pre-eminently the time, to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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