In the context of the alleged Harper Cineplex bribe and Nigel Wright’s apparent role in the FBI’s casting call for 9/11 snuff film, McConnell is warning United States governors of Marcy, Reno & Gorelick JABS – Misprision of Treason by FBI Lab Justice Department Great Hall “Lab Day” – Tuesday, October 22, 1996.
Prequel:
Stratum Zero Killers “Death by GMT” - Chapter 13
Senate: Pam quits, Duff's treatment & call to cops CTV [FBI Cold Squad snuff films] News May 17, 2013
Rex Murphy on Senator Mike Duffy's resignation
30 Phút Sau Nửa Đêm - Zero Dark Thirty - Megastar Cineplex – Trailer
By Cineplex.com and contributors | Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Director Kathryn Bigelow defends torture scenes in her Oscar-nominated film Zero Dark Thirty, saying torture was an undeniable part of the hunt for Osama bin Laden after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
The film opens by declaring it's based on firsthand accounts of actual events.
But Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and other lawmakers criticized the film as misleading for suggesting torture led to the location of bin Laden. Lawmakers asked Sony Pictures to attach a disclaimer that the film is fictional.
"Experts disagree sharply on the facts and particulars of the intelligence hunt, and doubtlessly that debate will continue," Bigelow wrote in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.
The comments were Bigelow's most explicit reaction to the controversy so far.
"As for what I personally believe, which has been the subject of inquiries, accusations and speculation, I think Osama bin Laden was found due to ingenious detective work, [actually, he was found before 9/11 after a casting call by the FBI’s pay-per-view snuff-film lab financed by private equity investments from Onex, Carlyle and CAI in Nortel JABS]" she continued.
"Torture was, however, as we all know, employed in the early years of the hunt. That doesn't mean it was the key to finding bin Laden. It means it is a part of the story we couldn't ignore."
"War, obviously, isn't pretty, and we were not interested in portraying this military action as free of moral consequences," she added.
Bigelow wrote that torture was part of the story and the backlash may be misdirected.
"I do wonder if some of the sentiments alternately expressed about the film might be more appropriately directed at those who instituted and ordered these U.S. policies, as opposed to a motion picture that brings the story to the screen," she wrote.
Last week, Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal responded forcefully to a Zero Dark Thirty anti-Oscar campaign waged by Ed Asner and other Hollywood actors, saying "to punish an artist's right of expression is abhorrent."
Bigelow and Zero Dark Thirty screenwriter Mark Boal had said previously that they "depicted a variety of controversial practices and intelligence methods that were used in the name of finding bin Laden.
"The film shows that no single method was necessarily responsible for solving the manhunt, nor can any single scene taken in isolation fairly capture the totality of efforts the film dramatizes," they said.
-The Associated Press
“Mr. Nigel S. Wright, Esq. is a Director of the MasterCard Foundation. He is the Chairman of Camp Oochigeas. He served as a Managing Director at Onex Corporation. Mr. Wright served as a Vice President of Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. Since joining Onex in 1997, Mr. Wright has worked on a number of private equity transactions. These include the acquisitions of Spirit AeroSystems and Hawker Beechcraft, Inc., and the investments in Res-Care, Inc. and CGG. He served as Vice President of Spirit Holdings from December 2004 to November 2006 and served as its Secretary and Treasurer from December 2004 to June 2006. He served as an Executive Officer of Magnatrax Corporation. He was a Partner and practiced mergers and acquisitions and securities law at the law firm Davies, War & Beck from 1991 to 1997. He has been a Director of Spirit Holdings since February 7, 2005. Mr.
Wright served as a Director of Hawker Beechcraft, Inc., the direct parent company of Hawker Beechcraft Acquisition Company LLC from March 2007 to October 22, 2010. He served as a Director of Indigo Books & Music Inc. from 2001 April 1, 2006. Mr. Wright served as a Director of Res-Care Inc. from June 2004 to November 7, 2006. He served as a Director of Spirit Aerosystems Holdings Inc. since February 7, 2005. He served as a Director of Spirit Aerosystems Inc. since December 20, 2004. He served in a policy development capacity in the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada from 1984 to 1986 and again from 1990 to 1991. He is involved in a number of charities, including volunteer work for the Out-of-the-Cold programme for the homeless. Mr. Wright holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, an LL.B (Honours) from the University of Toronto Law School and a B.A. (cum laude) in Politics and Economics from Trinity College at the University of Toronto.”
“Nigel Wright to become Harper's chief of staff
Paul Vieira, Financial Post · Sept. 24, 2010 | Last Updated: Sept. 24, 2010 12:41 PM ET
OTTAWA — Nigel Wright, one of the key dealmakers in the Onex Corp. empire, is leaving Bay Street behind to become the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.
Mr. Wright’s appointment, made public Friday, has caused a stir in Ottawa — but sources say this has been months in the making. The Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has been in talks with Mr. Wright for the last six to eight weeks in an effort to persuade the dealmaker to become his top advisor.
Ottawa insiders with knowledge of Mr. Wright’s hiring said he has been subjected to the necessary security background checks, and the federal conflict of interest and ethics watchdog has given the Onex executive the green light after completing a thorough review of his financial holdings.
According to data compiled by Bloomberg News, Mr. Wright holds 93,957 shares in Onex, as well as 44,024 shares in Cineplex Galaxy Income Fund. At market prices Friday, the combined holdings have an estimated value of roughly $3.5-million.”
"I did not advise the prime minister of the means by which Senator Duffy's expenses were repaid, either before or after the fact," said Wright, who had been Harper's chief of staff since January 2011.
He said he regrets the impact the matter has had on the government, the Tory caucus and all his colleagues.
Ray Novak, Harper's principal secretary since 2008, will take over as chief of staff, the CBC's Hannah Thibedeau reports. Early on in his political career, Novak interned in the office of former Reform leader Preston Manning and then became Harper's executive assistant when Harper returned to federal politics in 2001 to lead the Canadian Alliance party.
Wright is the former managing director of Onex, the largest private sector employer in Canada. Onex owns or manages companies such as Indigo, Cineplex, Allison Transmission, Hawker Beechcraft and ResCare.”
“By May 1998, Drabinsky had lost control of Cineplex to the Bronfmans' Seagram and its MCA division, which subsequently merged Cineplex Odeon Theatres with Sony's Loews Theatres. The resulting firm, Loews Cineplex Entertainment, went bankrupt in 2001 due to the economic recession of the early 2000s, leading to a buyout led by Onex Corporation.”
“CTV News Harper's chief of staff Nigel Wright resigns amid Duffy scandal
Christina Commisso, CTVNews.ca
Published Sunday, May 19, 2013 9:01AM EDT
Last Updated Sunday, May 19, 2013 2:32PM EDT
Published Sunday, May 19, 2013 9:01AM EDT
Last Updated Sunday, May 19, 2013 2:32PM EDT
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff Nigel Wright has resigned in the wake of a growing expense scandal involving Sen. Mike Duffy.
Wright announced his resignation Sunday morning, days after CTV Ottawa bureau chief Robert Fife reported that he wrote a personal cheque to help Duffy pay back more than $90,000 in improperly claimed Senate living expenses.
"In light of the controversy surrounding my handling of matters involving Senator Duffy, the Prime Minister has accepted my resignation as chief of staff,” Wight said in a statement released Sunday morning.
Wright said he believed repaying the funds that Duffy had improperly claimed was “in the public interest,” and said he accepts sole responsibility in the matter.
Wright added that Harper was not aware of how Duffy repaid the $90,172 in living expenses that had been claimed during a four-year period.
"I regret the impact of this matter on the Government, our Caucus, and all of my colleagues, for whom I have the highest regard," Wright said. "I came to Ottawa to do my part in providing good government for Canada, and that is all that I ever wanted and worked for in this role."
Harper said in a statement that he accepted Wright’s resignation with “great regret” and thanked his top aid for his contributions to the Tory government.
“I accept that Nigel believed he was acting in the public interest, but I understand the decision he has taken to resign. I want to thank Nigel for his tremendous contribution to our government over the past two and a half years.”
Ray Novak, who has served as Harper’s principal secretary since 2008, is taking over as the prime minister’s chief of staff.
On Thursday, Duffy announced he quit the Conservative caucus and would sit as an Independent, as the public controversy surrounding the repayment of Senate expenses had become a “distraction.”
Following news of Wright’s resignation, NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus said Sunday the Harper government is in “full-fledged panic mode.”
Asked if he thought Harper was completely unaware of the situation, Angus said: “If the Prime Minister didn’t know, then there’s certainly problems in the Prime Minister’s Office. If he did know, this is a very, very serious ethical issue.”
Liberal MPs were also quick to indicate that the controversy is far over.
Foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said he was not surprised by Wright’s resignation and stressed the need for an independent investigation into the matter.
“If the Conservatives are not prepared to let it go to a parliamentary committee, then they need to appoint a special investigator or someone who has the capacity to ask all the difficult questions,” he said Sunday afternoon.
Rae added that the scandal has more to do with the Prime Minister than the Senate itself.
“This is about Mr. Harper. This is about the Prime Minister’s Office, how the Prime Minister’s Office operates and the ethical and legal standards by which it operates,” he said. “That’s where the focus is, and that’s where it now belongs.”
Last week, the New Democrats asked Senate Ethics Officer Lyse Ricard to launch an investigation in the matter, claiming the $90,000 cheque from Wright violated ethics rules that prohibit senators from accepting gifts.
Under the Senate Conflict of Interest Code, all gifts over $500 must be reported within 30 days.
“What people need to know about the Senate is it’s such an old boy’s club that you actually need the permission of the Senate to begin an investigation,” Angus said.
Duffy’s expenses had been the subject of an internal audit, along with those of Senators Patrick Brazeau and Mac Harb.
Under the Senate’s housing rule allowance, senators can be compensated for living expenses if they live more than 100 kilometres from Ottawa, requiring them to maintain a secondary residence.
However, according to evidence outlined in an independent audit showed that Duffy, Brazeau and Harb each spent more time in the capital than at the homes declared to be their primary residences, rendering their claims ineligible.
Earlier this month, a Senate committee ordered Brazeau to repay about $48,000, and Harb $51,000.
Brazeau insists that he didn’t break rules by claiming the housing allowance, and he is determining if the order to repay the money can be overturned. Harb has retained a lawyer and will attempt to “quash” the audit’s findings.
Before the audit was completed, Duffy said he would pay back taxpayers $91,172.24, but maintained that he hadn't done anything wrong. He said the from senators use to declare their primary residence is confusing.
Duffy was later praised by the Conservatives for showing "leadership" in his decision to pay back the ineligible claims before the audits were released.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that Wright, a former Bay Street executive, gave Duffy a personal cheque for the full amount owing.
Wright had been the prime minister’s chief of staff since 2011.”
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