Liberal Republicans

From last nights Republican Presidential Candidates debate there were detectable liberal tendencies.

This gives a new meaning to neo-liberal as Republican candidates move left. Making them sound like Canadian liberal social democrats.

Brownback Is Pro-Labor Union!!!! In Iran that is...

And Mike Hucakbee embraced the social gospel....from the right

"Many of us who are pro-life, quite frankly, I think, have made the mistake of giving people the impression that pro-life means we care intensely about people as long as that child is in the womb. But beyond the gestation period, we've not demonstrated as demonstrably as we should that we respect life at all levels, not just during pregnancy. We shouldn't allow a child to live under a bridge or in the back seat of a car. We shouldn't be satisfied that elderly people are being abused and neglected in nursing homes."

Ron Paul sounds like Jack Layton.....

TEXAS REP. RON PAUL called pre-emptive war the most pressing moral issue in the United States: "I do not believe that's part of the American tradition. We, in the past, have always declared war in defense of our liberties or go to aid somebody ... And now, tonight, we hear that we're not even willing to remove from the table a pre-emptive nuclear strike against a country that has done no harm to us directly and is no threat."

You can't tell the difference between the players without a program....

Obama, Brownback want Iran divestment

Congressman Duncan Hunter contested the myth that the reason to import foreign workers is because American workers don't want to do these menial jobs. He sounded like AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

“If you had your way with immigration who would fill the jobs that no one wants?” asked Tom Fahey of the New Hampshire Union Leader. Hunter referred back to the employment “sweep” in a meat packing plant in Iowa. “There were American citizens lined up the next day to get their jobs back at $18 bucks an hour” said Hunter.

And of course Rudy Gulliani cannot hide his very Canadian view on abortion.

'My view on abortion is that it's wrong,' he said, 'but that ultimately government should not be enforcing that decision on a woman.'

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Ron Paul Quotes Ayn Rand

Ron Paul quotes Ayn Rand in the Republican Presidential Debate last night on the controversy of Gays and Lesbians in the Military.

Should gays and lesbians be allowed to serve openly in the U.S. military? The audience applauded Texas Rep. Ron Paul’s answer.

“We don’t get our rights because we’re gays or women or minorities. We get our rights from our creator as individuals. So every individual should be treated the same way,” Paul said.

“If there is homosexual behavior in the military that is disruptive, it should be dealt with. But if there’s heterosexual sexual behavior that is disruptive, it should be dealt with.

“So it isn’t the issue of homosexuality. It’s the concept and the understanding of individual rights,” he said.

Individual rights are not subject to a public vote;

a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a

minority; the political function of rights is

precisely to protect minorities from oppression by

majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is

the individual).

- Ayn Rand

Of course discrimination is never against an individual but against a social group the individual belongs to. Bigotry does not recognize the individual or their rights. Prejudice lumps people into categories of; them and us. Which is why it is discrimination.

See:

Ron Paul

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Rich Getting Richer

This is rich....with the full ironic meaning behind the word.

Much Too Golden Years
Elizabeth MacDonald
A growing number of chief executives, like AT&T's Ed Whitacre, are getting rich, lifetime compensation deals.

Fat cat chief executives are almost always used as Exhibit A in the national debate about the rich getting richer.

Bolstering that case is a growing body of evidence showing that a burgeoning cohort of chief execs are getting lush compensation deals that last long after they've driven out of the corporate parking lot.

Whitacre's golden parachute has quite the platinum lining. His pension package includes $4.5 million in annual payments for life, plus an $18.8 million lump sum. He'll also get $25,000 in country club fees, $6,500 in annual home security costs and access to the corporate jet for 10 hours a month. AT&T will also cover up to $19,000 in taxes for these benefits, except for use of the aircraft. Whitacre and his family will also receive free health insurance for life. Plus, he'll get just over $1 million a year for three years to work as a consultant to AT&T during his retirement.

• Gilded Greetings
• Special Report: CEO Compensation
• Complete Coverage: Leadership

See:

CEO Cream Sour Milk for Workers

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Casey Up To Bat

In a stunning move the longest serving Conservative MP in parliament; Bill Casey from Nova Scotia has announced he will vote against his Party and its Government over its budget, which he claims is a broken promise.

Flaherty repeated that Nova Scotia can't enjoy the benefits of a new equalization formula and its offshore accord at the same time.

This is the point that Danny Williams and Lorne Calvert have been making.

If only Alberta CEO Ed Stelmach and his PC crew could muster the indignation of betrayal that Casey has, and denounce this resource royalty grab, this unequal national transfer program, this new NEP, might well be dead.



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Not The Nations Team

Not after last nights loss. The Senators put it out there again but the problem is that they are not a 'Team'. There are a lot of 'i's on the ice but there ain't no 'i '
in Team.

It doesn't matter that by being in this years playoffs have been in more playoffs than the Leafs.

Well to the Leaf establishment and its fan base yes it does. They would like nothing better than 'that other Ontario' team to fall flat.

For example here is some so called analysis of the game. Do you detect a Leaf/Toronto bias?

History is against the Ottawa Senators in the Stanley Cup final

June 5, 2007

By: CHRIS JOHNSTON

OTTAWA (CP) - It might be time to turn out the lights on the Ottawa Senators' dream season. Only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs have ever erased a 3-1 lead in the Stanley Cup final and these Senators don't have the look of a team about to join them in the history books. Ottawa thoroughly outplayed Anaheim in the first period of Game 4 on Monday night before going completely flat in a 3-2 loss. "It's hard to explain," said forward Mike Fisher. Indeed, none of the Senators seemed to have any explanation for what had just happened.

While ESPN, the Americans, report the same story like this;

The victory gives the Ducks a 3-1 series lead and the opportunity to win their first-ever Stanley Cup at home on Wednesday. Of the 28 teams that have taken a 3-1 series lead in the Stanley Cup final since 1939, only one has failed to win a championship and that was 65 years ago.

There is joy in Hogtown as the Senators appear to be flaming out. Our Nations team. NOT.

Which is unfortunate but exposes the Toronto domination of Canada's Sports media. After all its not called the Toronto Sports Network for nothing.

Toronto fans should embrace the Senators after all their team has not been in the playoffs since Canada's Centennial. Forty years. F O R T Y.

Despite all their wishful thinking, simulated video game victories, and Mike Meyers best efforts.






See:

Hockey

Shane Doan

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Nessies Relative

Is this skeleton any relation to Nessie since there have been reports of that fresh water monster being seen and filmed in Loch Ness.

Whatever was filmed is a shadow underwater, which could be a large sturgeon.

This at least is a skeleton. Though how it got into an iceberg is a puzzle itself.




Scientists are puzzled by pictures that appear to show a mammalian skeleton jutting out of an iceberg that recently drifted past the east coast of Newfoundland. (CP PHOTO/HO/Department of Fisheries of Oceans)

See

Nessie was an Elephant?

They Walk Among Us

Shark

Cryptozology Part 1

Cryptozoology Part 2

Dinosaurs

Fossils

Monsters


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Ron Paul

Even the Democratic Candidates for President have not been this radical when it comes to the war in Iraq. Ron Paul is the self styled 'Libertarian' candidate in the Republican Primaries. He is not as libertarian when it comes to other issues like abortion, gay rights, or immigration.

Of course he has as much chance as the Democratic libertarian Dennis Kucinich does.

This is from the last Republican candidates debate.

Ron Paul

Voted against use of military force in Iraq. Supports withdrawing troops from Iraq, but opposed war spending bill which included a plan to withdraw most U.S. troops by March 2008. Calls for repealing authority given to the president in 2002 Iraq war authorization vote. Opposed Bush plan to increase the number of American troops in Iraq. Says military victory in Iraq is "unattainable."

You’d abolish the Department of Homeland Security in the middle of a war?

Ron Paul: We were already spending billions of dollars on homeland security prior to 9/11 and it didn’t prevent the attacks; inefficiency was the problem. Adding another huge, expensive, inefficient level of bureaucracy makes things worse.

You’re the only one on this stage who opposes the war. Are you out of step with your party, and why are you seeking its nomination?

Ron Paul: The Republican Party has lost its way. The conservative wing was always anti-interventionist: Taft was against NATO; Bush ran on a promise of a humble foreign policy, anti-nation-building, anti-global-policing; Republicans were elected to end the Korean and Vietnam wars; it’s the Constitutional position; the founders’ advice was to pursue friendship with other nations but avoid entangling alliances. We should negotiate, talk, trade with other countries; we lost 60,000 soldiers in Vietnam and lost the war, and now we invest there. We shouldn’t go to war so carelessly.

Follow-up: Is noninterventionism still a viable position after 9/11?

Ron Paul: 9/11 was a response to our previous interventions. We’d been bombing Iraq for a decade; we’re now building 14 permanent bases there and an embassy bigger than the Vatican. If China were doing this in the Gulf of Mexico we’d be upset.

Follow-up: Are you suggesting we invited the 9/11 attacks?

Ron Paul: I suggest we believe their reasons are what they say they are; also bin Laden says he’s delighted our soldiers are over there where they can be targeted more easily.

Giuliani intervenes: As NYC mayor during 9/11, I’ve never before heard such a shocking claim that we invited 9/11 and I ask Ron Paul to withdraw it or clarify whether he believes it.

Ron Paul: I believe the CIA is correct when it warns us about blowback. We overthrew the Iranian government in 1953 and their taking the hostages was the reaction. This dynamic persists and we ignore it at our risk. They’re not attacking us because we’re rich and free, they’re attacking us because we’re over there.

(Later on Tancredo also attacked Paul, saying that regardless of what our foreign policy was or whether Israel existed, the terrorists would still attack us because they view it as a religious imperative. Paul did not have a chance to respond.)

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Made In America Royalty Scheme

Alberta has the dubious distinction of being at the bottom of the royalty payments made by oil companies to governments. It is in good company though.

GAO: U.S. gives oil companies a big break

Revenue cut for feds from resource taking is far below states like Alaska, Louisiana

Apparently we have a made in the USA royalty scheme here in Alberta. And Big Oil would like to keep it that way.CAPP Presents to the Alberta Royalty Review Panel


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More Made In Canada Nonsense

The latest twist on the Conservatives Made in Alberta Green Plan is the position Harper and Baird will present at the G8 meeting this week;

The official who briefed reporters on Friday also said Canada will be looking for a solution that works internationally while respecting Canada's unique needs. "We're special, we're unique in the G8. We're not like Europe, we're not like the United States in all respects," said the official.

Of course we are special and unique, just like Russia, Nigeria, Mexico, Venezuela, Norway, etc., etc., and all the other oil/gas producing countries.

Irony further abounds as this is Environment Week in Canada. And Harper and Baird will not be around to celebrate it. Instead they will be shilling for the U.S. at the G8. While telling Canadians that we must pay for their Made In Canada Green Plan.

And while John Baird has said it is all about China, Sheila Copps in her column in the SUN points out that has always been the case, even when the Liberals were in power.

Merkel's environmental credentials are long-standing. As environment minister, she sowed the seeds for the Kyoto Protocol by negotiating a world consensus on greenhouse gas reductions known as the Berlin Mandate.

The United States was offside, and Canada was trapped between our significant oil revenues and a European pro-reduction consensus. Canada joined a no-reduction negotiating group including the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

Meanwhile, Merkel's conference was about to crater. If she could not get any movement, China was threatening to walk, dooming talks.

I got a phone call from Merkel at midnight. She was desperate to turn the tide and asked if we could meet on an urgent basis for breakfast. At the 7 a.m. meeting Merkel asked whether Canada could support some reductions to keep China at the table.

I told her that Canada would be prepared to support 2% reductions. I had already explained the fluidity of the situation to economic cabinet chairman Andre Ouellet. He refused to undermine my mandate and realized the Berlin meeting would be in shambles if China bolted. He agreed that Canada should help keep the climate change agenda on track.

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The Trouble With Being Harry

Is that he promised his lads he would be with them in Basara but low and behold he is too special so he gets sent to Medicine Hat while his lads get sent to the meat grinder of Iraq.

Prince Harry training at Alberta military base

Of course there is talk that because he is at Suffield base in Medicine Hat, training ground for the Afghan mission and Canada's version of Area 51, he is going to Afghanistan. Sure, like he was going to Iraq.

Prince Harry may yet fulfil his desire to serve in a war zone - in Afghanistan rather than Iraq. Last month, military chiefs decided almost at the last minute that Harry, third in line to the throne, could not go to Iraq with his regiment, the Blues and Royals. The Army Chief of Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said the prince had been the target of specific threats, exposing "not only him, but also those around him, to a degree of risk that I now deem unacceptable".

The Blues and Royals are now deploying to Iraq without Cornet, or 2nd Lieutenant, Wales. According to reports last week, however, Army commanders are considering sending him to Afghanistan instead, where he might join a small group of fellow officers training the Afghan army.

But is Afghanistan any less dangerous? Last week two British soldiers were killed in Helmand province, where most of Britain's 6,500 troops are stationed. A third, who died the previous week, was named.

As a great Brit once wrote; "All animals are created, equal but some animals are more equal than others". Especially if they are Royals.

Perhaps he could dress up for the occasion of his deployment.

In 2005 he made a most foolish mistake when he attended a private fancy-dress party in the uniform of an Afrika Korps officer with the accessory of a Nazi armband.



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