Mission Statement – True North is not for everyone
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Editor's Notes
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United States has assured Russia

it has no military plans against Iran

 

The United States has no military plans against Iran and Washington agrees to cooperate with Moscow on bringing Iran back to negotiations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday. — 327 words.

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Chinese Communists punish

20,768 Chinese Communists

 

The Chinese Communist Party (CPC) punished 20,768 lower-level party administrators and local officials working in the countryside last year for breaking laws or the Party's rules, the CPC discipline watchdog has announced. — 196 words.

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‘Only Americans and America’s friends

are now afraid of George-the-Bully’

 

An Editorial in The International Herald Tribune says, “Given America's bitter experience in Iraq, one would think that President George W. Bush could finally figure out that threats and brute force aren't a substitute for a reasoned strategy. But Bush is at it again, this time trying to bully Iran into stopping its meddling inside Iraq. – 538 words.

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Advisor has praise for private business

China entrepreneurs absolved

of ‘original sin’ of corruption

A top government advisor has come to the defense of much-maligned private entrepreneurs, saying that it is unfair to assume that all of them are guilty of "original sin" on their way to riches. — 369 words.

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Venezuela rejects Negroponte’s

‘concerns’ over its democracy

 

The Venezuelan government issued a statement yesterday rejecting comments made by a senior U.S. official, John Negroponte, who called Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez “a threat to democracy” in Latin America. – 565 words.

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Chavez is no Pinochet

U.S. diplomat shrugs off

Chavez enabling law

 

Richard Gott of The Guardian, The United Kingdom, says of Venezuela, “The country's traditional infrastructure is plagued by bureaucracy and corruption, the twin-headed disease inherited from the Spanish colonial era. Bureaucrats, and that means public servants in every ministry and ancient state entity, exist to ensure that nothing ever gets done, while corruption exists to lubricate their powers of inaction. – 829 words.

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No shadow for groundhog

predicts an early spring

 

A new pair of hands pulled Punxsutawney Phil from his stump this year, so it was only fitting that the groundhog offered a new prediction. Phil did not see his shadow on Friday, February 2 which, according to German folklore, means folks can expect an early spring instead of six more weeks of winter. – 485 words.

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True North Canuck Fact of the Day

 

Shortest and longest federal election campaigns

 

The shortest federal general election campaign in Canada lasted just 20 days in the December 1874 election.  The longest campaign saw politicians knocking on doors for 72 days in search of votes in the December 1917 election.

 

Trivia compiled by Randy Ray and Mark Kearney. Visit their Web site at: www.triviaguys.com

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Harold Wright, True North’s Doctor of Punology, says, “Police were called to a daycare where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.”

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Until Further Notice

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Carl Dow
39 Melgund Avenue
Ottawa, ON K1S 2S1

"Why wait for spring?
Do it now . . ."

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