Aspen Mystery

So why are Colorado's Aspen stands dying off? No one seems to know. A combination of factors seems to be at play here. Ranching, urban development, and finally local drought. Add to that opportunistic insects and disease and you have the perfect mix for a wipe out of Aspen forest. Of course as everyone scratches their heads about this they forget two little words; Global Warming.

In Alberta a major portion of our Boreal forest is Aspen and NASA's Earth Observatory has noted the same phenomena.

The Future of the Boreal Forest

In Western Canada, some scientists are already concerned that the expected warming and drying of the climate will drastically reduce the abundance of aspen, the primary commercial hardwood species in the southern boreal forest. Insufficient moisture could produce an open aspen parkland, where stunted aspen cluster along water courses, with grasslands in between.

Where forests will gain or lose ground depends on the regional characteristics of their environment, including water availability and temperature, and one other crucial factor—how fast the species can migrate. This lag time between climate change and species adaptation is something many models don’t take into account.

Folks in Colorado where this is happening have every reason to become tree huggers now. Residents of Mancos feel the pain of trees' deathThe Aspen are key to their bio-political-economy as they are Alberta's . Which should remind us all that The Word For World Is Forest.

Also See

Environment

Green Plan

Kyoto

Climate Change

Global Warming



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Even Brits Get It

One of the top ranking British Capitalists understands that America is no friend of Free Trade....a message that hits home with Canadians.

Especially after Harpers Softwood lumber sell out.

Now imagine Thomas d'Aquino, president and CEO of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives saying something like this....


Digby Jones, the former head of the CBI, will tonight use his first speech since leaving the employers' organisation to attack Britain's special relationship with a "bullying, protectionist" United States.

Addressing the Institute of Directors in Birmingham, Sir Digby will call for the UK to recover its independence not just from Brussels but from Washington.

"One of the most shocking and worrying aspects of loss of independence has been a refusal to stand up to the United States in so many areas," he will argue in a speech called "I want my country back".

Sir Digby will say he is not talking about Iran, Afghanistan or Lebanon, but about areas where "our country could have and should have stood up and fought a protectionist, bullying America - in the fields of trade, investment and the rule of law"

Nope neither can I.

Thoms d'Aquino and the CCCE are integrationists, a quizzling class of capitalist compradors. The FTA and NAFTA were never about Free Trade but an intergrated market in North America, the Contientalist dream of Bay Street.

An example of this contientalism is TD PriceWaterhouse.Whose ads in America are for its investment banking business Price Waterhouse that was bought out by Canada's TD bank. In Canada the TD Bank, formerly the Toronto Domion, now includes TD Price Waterhouse, the former Canada Trust and TDNorthBank an American bank.

The reason the banks want the ability to merge in Canada is for market capitalization that would allow them to buy into the American market even more.

And this is the whole short coming of the CCCE they want our poilitcal economy to look like their intergrated North American boardrooms. The shortsightedness of the Contientalists produced Harpers softwood deal.

But capitalism is global in reach. And this is anathema to the conservative continetalists. They do want a steady state capitalist economy, one that shuts out the world and locks us into Fortress North America. But as always the wiff and poof of capitalism gets in the way.

When the big Canadian Resource companies Teck-Caminco, Inco, Falconbridge began trying to buy each other out to create the ultimate Resource monopoly, they left themselves open to take over by equally voracious global capitalists from abroad.

Their failure was to look abroad for investment opportunities. They really were risk averse to playing in the global marketplace. They only looked as far as their back yard. Unlike Indias Mittal Steel which invests globally and owns major steel companies in the U.S. and now owns Defasco.

Contientalism in Canada has been tried before its called the Auto Pact, and today as the Big 3 American auto companies collapse before the onslaught of global competition, we find ourselves bailing them out, while Toyota, Honda, and their global competitiors invest in Canada.

Free Trade means you are willing to play in the global marketplace not just stay at home buying up each others businesses. Genuine Free Trade is not contientalism, it is in essence Fair Trade globally.

While the economies of rich countries will continue to grow, "a key policy issue should be to find ways to distribute that growth beyond the super-wealthy who have benefited the most for the past two or so decades of growth."An interesting exercise is now underway in the United States to deal with these challenges. It is called The Hamilton Project, and its leaders include Robert Rubin, former U.S. Secretary the Treasury and now chairman of the executive committee at Citigroup Inc. We don't have anything like this in Canada.A recent discussion paper for The Hamilton Project argued that "achieving an equitable distribution of the benefits and costs of trade will require strong, effective government policies," adding that "the need for such policies will only grow more important, as nations like China and India become increasingly dominant forces in the world economy."

Also See

Softwood

Free Trade

Fordism

GM

Free Market

AFRICA

Free Trade; Hong Kong & Somalia

Libertarian Economics

Monoop

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Watch How You Dress

Another example of Christian tolerance in action....this is no different those who would tell women that their provcative dress incite men to lust......

Rwanda: Skimpily Dressed Woman Escapes Lynching There was drama last week in Rwamagana town as students from the Rwamagana Mission School mobbed a skimpily-dressed, leaving her half naked. According to an eye-witness, the youthful woman's woes began when she tried to resist intimidation by over one hundred rowdy students.

The students were male of course.Perhaps they wanted her to wear a nuns outfit which is the Christian equivalent of the Burka.

Also See:

More Christian Abuse

Christianity Is Child Abuse

Christian Killers and Rapists

Private Day Care Abuse

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Stupid Humans

Just typical of folks who decide to carry their prejudices to their logical extreme, like lynching parties in the U.S......

The discovery of a dozen dead stingrays on Australian beaches has raised fears that angry fans of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin are taking revenge on the normally placid creatures for his death.

	Stringrays: found with their tails cut off on beaches

The rays were found with their tails cut off on beaches in Queensland, where Irwin died last week. He was speared in the heart by a stingray barb while filming on the Great Barrier Reef.

Irwin's supporters said he would have been appalled by any harm done to stingrays, which have accounted for only three or four deaths since Australian records began.

"We will not accept and not stand for anyone who's taken a form of retribution. That's the last thing Steve would want," said Michael Hornby, the executive director of Irwin's charity, Wildlife Warriors.

Also See:

"Things that Can Kill you in the Sea"

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Bad News For the Bloc

As I said here the BQ has joined the other Federal Political parties in their opportunitic denounciation of the NDP poisiton on Afghanistan. How quickly they will change their tune....

Canadian tank deployment carries political risks

Sending tanks to fight Taliban insurgents could cause problems both in Afghanistan and at home, especially if some of the troops involved are drawn from units in Quebec, experts warned Tuesday.

A Montreal political scientist said if there are casualties from Quebec, Stephen Harper and his Conservatives could pay a heavy price in political support in a province already deeply opposed to the war.

In addition, the grim appearance and destructive power of up to 15 Leopard tanks has the potential to further alienate Afghans already suspicious of foreign troops, said experts in counter-insurgency warfare.

A proposal to send reinforcements, including tanks, to a war-torn country where the Canadian army has met stiff resistance, will be debated this week by the federal cabinet. It's been suggested some of the troops could be drawn from units in Valcartier, Que.

Also See:

Afghanistan






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The Solution to Racial Profiling

Dust My Broom the Blogging Tory provides us with the solution for Muslims in Canada and the United States to feel safe again. Of course it really has nothing to do with religion but region. Dark swarthy Christians and athiests also get harrassed by the new Security State in Canada. And some even get tortured even though they are Canadian citizens.Canada had rendition program, Amnesty aide suggests



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Cherniak and Kinsellas Wet Dream

Found at the Blogging Tories
(said in the voice of Rod Sterling of the Twilight Zone)

Vote Liberal. Just this once. PLEASE!
→ Upper Canada Catholic | 12 Sep 2006 | 10:46pm EST
I never thought I would type those words, honest, but if you live in Parkdale-High Park there is a provincial by-election tomorrow – and YOU NEED TO VOTE Liberal.

The reason is simple: the Tory candidate (preferred in these quarters) isn’t going to win, but the NDP fruitcake just might. AND WE NEED TO STOP HER. She thinks Karla Homolka is a “scapegoat like Christ” and that pedophiles get a raw deal from society. Presumably, she would lobby hard on behalf of her constituents to bring more half-way houses and sex offenders into their neighborhoods.

She is also a United Church minister, making that reason #498 I left the United Church of Canada and became a Catholic.

Speaking of Serling this quote is particularly apt for the smear campaign ortchestrated by Cherniak, and abetted by Kinsella and the Liberals against DiNovo.

• "The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosives and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy. And a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own."

The Twilight Zone

"The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street"

Also See:

Cherniak

Kinsella

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Did They Practice Safe Sex?

MacKay invited Rice to accompany him to his home district where polite but cheeky protests greeted the pair.Other signs made light of the tandem visit by the two unmarried diplomats. "Condi + Peter Make Love Not War," read one, decorated with a large, red heart.

MacKay could not have given Rice a warmer welcome. The two had dinner together in the town of Pictou on Monday night and were up early on Tuesday to tour its picturesque waterfront.

Rice described the renewed relationship as an "alliance" that has never been stronger.

MacKay and Rice seemed to hit it off on a personal level throughout the two-day visit, which ended in MacKay's home riding of Central Nova.

Rice said she spent Monday evening at Pictou Lodge Resort - an oceanside retreat that features log cabins and fine dining - leaving her window open to enjoy the ocean breezes.

In the morning, MacKay led her on a waterfront tour, which included a stop at the local Tim Hortons.

Also See

Peter McKay



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Damascus 6-500

George call Damascus 6-500 time to talk. US grateful as Syria foils attack on embassy raid


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9/12

The day after 9/11. Remember? The day NATO invoked article 5 aka the Three Musketeers article, one for all and all for one.

Article 5 The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

This was the first time that Article 5 was ever used. Originally intended to assure European members that if they were attacked by Russia traditionally isolationist America would come to their aid immediately (unlike WWI and WWII).

The world was aghast after 9/11 where even the French cried "We Are All Americans Now" misquoting JFK. Three years later America would repay that statement of soldiarity by renaming french fries as Freedom Fries, as France refused to support the Americans arbitrary invasion of Iraq.

Not all Americans now - World - Times Online

Sympathy for a grieving America translated quickly into general support for the US war against the Taleban. But within a few weeks that support began to drain, as civilian casualties mounted and some questioned whether the US was doing enough to address the “root causes” of terrorism, in particular the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Then, in the view of most of the world, the US took a terrible detour: from the high road of regime change against the perpetrators and enablers of 9/11, the US descended into the thickets of Guantanamo, the “axis of evil”, pre-emptive war without UN authorisation, the invasion of Iraq, Abu Ghraib and the quagmire of Baghdad today

NATO's generosity and solidarity on 9/12 was ignored by the Bush White House which went its own way and declared war on the Taliban, much like it preempted the UN resolution on Iraq, and went to war against Saddam. Ironically the Bush Doctrine while declaring itself a global strategy is really just another form of America First isolationism. Yer with us or agin us. But we call the shots.

What happened to the new world order
In other words, the appearance of American foreign policy after 9/11 conveyed the notion that the US was (and to a degree remains) aloof from its former allies - If not geographically, then at least mentally and strategically. With its description as a hyperpower came the epithet of unilateralism. Yet from a European perspective, American unilateralism looked like the secretly raised child of American isolationism.

Only in hindsight did the Bush White house involve NATO, three years later as they planned to move out of Afghanistan, Mission Accomplished, and on to Iraq.

Then, now and beyond

By Tod Lindberg
September 12, 2006

That said, I think the Bush administration, in addition to getting a great deal right following the attacks of five years ago, made three specific mistakes in the early going that unnecessarily damaged the position of the United States.
The first was to sideline NATO for the Afghanistan operation. Following the September 11 attacks, the Atlantic alliance quickly decided for the first time ever to invoke Article 5 of the Washington treaty, which declares an attack on any member of the alliance to be an attack on all members. The administration, wanting to act quickly against the Taliban, thought working through or with NATO would be an unacceptable and unnecessary hindrance. So Article 5 went by the boards.
Now, as it happens, there is solidarity of the sentimental sort, which is touching, and there is solidarity of the hard security sort, which is when allies are willing to fight your war with you. The latter is a big deal. It would have been worth the trouble to figure out how to involve NATO from the early going, especially since the administration was, quite rightly, making broad claims about September 11 as an attack not just on the United States but also on the modern world itself.

At no time has the US or NATO or any of its member states officially declared WAR on Afghanistan or Iraq. Instead all these hot wars started by the U.S. are considered police actions. Not unlike the 'war' which was not a 'war' in Vietnam.

The New NATO that exists today is an organization in transition from a Cold War common front in Europe to the new Global Policeman. In becoming that policeman its role and membership will change. Thus what is occuring now in the crisis of failure of the old membership to step up to the plate in Afghanistan is that NATO is being challenged to change. To become a broader member organization that can be America's ally in new American policing actions.

The reshaping of NATO is occuring now. The failure of European nations to step up to the plate in Afghanistan will allow America and now Canada to call for expansion of membership to other American allies like Australia and Israel. To globalize NATO has been the American agenda all along.

A Global Alliance
Globalization of the alliance does not require any changes to its basic structure. But amendments will have to be made to the North Atlantic Treaty, especially article 10, which only allows NATO to expand in European countries. At present, the treaty allows for the accession of a number of countries with questionable democracy, Belarus, for instance, but does not allow for the admission of such democratic powers as Australia and Japan. Adherence to general values should be the better recommendation than geography.

The principle of article 5, that an attack on one member of the alliance is seen as an attack on all the members, should remain the main principle. That is a relatively simple affair for the U.S. In the end, whether officially or not, the U.S. is the guarantor of the security of such states as Australia, Israel, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.





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