Damn Cold

THURSDAY EVENING	THURSDAY OVERNIGHT	FRIDAY MORNING	FRIDAY AFTERNOON
-29°C	-26°C	-28°C	-10°C
Mainly clear	Mainly clear	Mainly sunny	Mainly sunny
0%	0%	0%	0%
NE 10 km/h	S 5 km/h	SW 5 km/h	SW 5 km/h
100%	37%	48%	27%
Current Weather

-25°C Partly cloudy	FEELS LIKE -34°C WIND NW 11 km/h GUSTS RELATIVE HUMIDITY 52% DEWPOINT -32°C PRESSURE 95.06 kPa VISIBILITY 11 km CEILING 2300 ft
Updated : Thursday February 16 2006, 13:00 MST - Edmonton Int'l Airport

Annual Average Temprature

Edmonton Mun., AB, Canada

	J	F
Maximum	-8	-4
Minimum	-19	-16
Mean	-13	-10

Well ok we have been spoiled. We have not had winter at all this past four months. Usually winter begins on Halloween, first snowfall even if it doesn't last, then slowly fall turns to brrr snowy winter. Well that didn't happen, we had only one week of real cold till now and that was in December for a few days, again mid way through the week. And again it was above zero centigrade then dropped to 20 below. And still no snow. We are as brown here as Lethbridge is which is semi-arid semi-desert.

This last weekend, was it only five days ago, I was wearing a spring coat and it sure as heck was warmer than -3 in fact it was a record 14 above. And now this....which is more like January norms than February. But this too shall pass and this weekend it will be warm again.

Which bodes ill for farmers and this province, which is part of the Palliser Plain, an area across the Canadian and American prairies that suffered from the great drought that coincided with the Great Depression .

In the years between 1857 and 1860, both the British and Canadian Governments sent expeditions across the Prairies to assess the suitability of the region for agricultural settlement. Capt. John Palliser's report and that of Henry Youle Hind both concluded that a portion of the southern prairie adjacent to the U.S. border, an area which became known as “Palliser's Triangle,” and less widely as “The Great North American Desert,” was too dry for successful agricultural settlement. These conclusions were later used by cattle interests to encourage the national government to sell or lease large tracks of land to them at very favourable prices, and to delay the incursion of farm settlement onto land in southern Alberta.

Already folks up north around Grand Prairie and Fort McMurray are reporting seeing more dirt drifts blowing across the roads which should have been snow drifts. Which means that if we have no ground water from snow, we will have parched drought conditions. Which brings with it the ravages of locusts in the south of the province and a plague of grasshoppers in the north. We have already had disasters grass fire conditions in the south of the province, fires normally found in further south climates like the hills of Orange County in LA.

Crews put out Alta grass fire
CARSELAND, Alta. -- A rare winter grass fire fuelled by gusty winds and tinder dry conditions in southern Alberta briefly forced 400 Carseland residents from their homes Thursday.

These may be good times for us urban dwellers so accustomed to frigid winters we plan our holidays to Hawaii around them, but to farmers, and to the ecology of the prairies this aspect of global warming and climate change is unwelcome and could portend a disaster in the making.

Devastating Dry Spells: Drought on the Prairies

Blowing dust, swarms of grasshoppers, and not enough hay to feed the starving livestock. For Prairie farmers, drought can be disastrous. But it's not just the farmers who suffer — a severe drought in Western Canada can hurt the entire Canadian economy. From the devastating dustbowl years of the Great Depression to some of the more recent Prairie dry spells, CBC Archives explores the history of drought in Western Canada.

Climate Futures: A Buyer’s Guide

No…the title is not about “green tags” or stock picks. It’s about figuring out how the majority of US citizens who simply “don’t buy it”…”it” being the risk posed by climate change to personal health, to all of earth’s living systems, and to our children’s future…will sit up and pay attention to the management of climate risk.

What would it take to explode the opinion leader's heads enough to reveal the invisible to them? The Dustbowl years of the 1930’s provide a fair analogy. Just prior to when that historic drought set in, a very large segment of the US’ population lived on farms: at least 45%. Markets for agricultural products were booming, trees were removed from the most productive farmlands, slash-and-burn style, and prairie soils were ploughed from fence to fence. The most erodable hillsides were laid bare. Along came extended drought and the nation’s food basket crumbled. Farm losses were severe; and, unemployment, and population shifts amplified stock market volatility (a point often overlooked by economists who see the Great Depression solely in economic terms). Rural population loss from the Dust Bowl states continues to this day. An oversimplification, granted, but not a gross mischaracterization.

In the several decades following the Dust Bowl, huge Federal programs were established to make farming on the Great Plains and Midwest lands sustainable. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) participants helped reestablish “windbreaks” of trees and were responsible for the replanting of large tracts of forests. Just as important, the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service ASCS), and Soil Conservation Service (SCS) were established and funded by Congress. Because of these three government efforts, soil loss from wind erosion was gradually reduced. When the rains returned almost a decade after the start of the drought, modern industrialized farming practices were developed in lock step with conservation practices. The wind rows are still there. This process, come to think of it, is not that different that what is going on right now in China!

What sort of large scale changes could set off a similar reaction in US governance with regard to climate change? Is there really any chance of that happening soon, what with most climate change impact scenarios being on the scale of half to full century? Yes there is.

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Helicopters and Guns

Again imitation is the highest form of flattery. The Tories now plan to shut down the Gun Registry imitating Jean Chretiens cancellation of the multi million dollar helicopter purchase promised by Mulroney. Cause of course like Jean, Stephen promised. And like Jean's mistake it's going to cost us money, more money than leaving it. Yep these guys are the same as the last guys. Who did you vote for?


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Ottawa Conservative Lobbyist Heaven

The Dan Report says that Reynolds Joins Law Firm Known for Lobbying which means he will be joining ex-Harper aide, Geoff Norquay as a lobbyist Ottawa's Revolving Door

But they aren't the only ones as Greg Weston of the Sun reports. They are in good company. In fact a veritable avalanche of lobbyists has appeared in the last month says Weston;

The change of government has also spawned an old game of musical chairs. Ordinarily, the office of the federal lobbyist watchdog might register a few dozen changes in the industry each month. But a review of federal records shows a staggering 824 changes to the lobbyist register in the last 30 days.According to the industry’s newsletter, The Lobby Monitor, more than 300 of those are new registrations.

Just another broken Tory promise.


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A Murder of Crows

Which is the term for a group of crows, not a flock, a murder. Except that in good old Charlottetown PEI they plan to actually murder their crows. Rid whole city of crows, says expert Lets call this for what it is; human chauvinism, speciesism, because the reason they want to get rid of the crows is that;Residents there complain the birds wake them before dawn with their noisy squawking and that the bird droppings are soiling property.

Damn birds how thoughtless of them. It seems this is a popular past-time for city residents not only in Charlottetown but in Chatham, Ontario as well. Seems the need for peace and quiet supercedes our ecological responsibility to our feathered friends. Last year, the city of Chatham, Ontario, hired the company to get rid of 500,000 crows at a cost of $60,000. A small price to pay for a good nights sleep. Murder dem crows, zzzzzzz.

The fact that they are intelligent birds who learn, well that's besides the point right.Tool-Using Crows Give New Meaning to Term 'Bird Brained'

Tool using birds....hmmm I thought the only tool users were higher primates, in fact tool use does indicate a sentience other than just animal instinct and occurs in dolphins as well as crows and ravens. Drat there goes another human chauvinist myth.

General Corvine Information

Crows belong to the family Corvidae. Crows are believed to be the most intelligent of all birds. There is very little wonder why they have been revered and worshipped over the centuries.

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Alberta: Education Cross Roads Conference

Post Secondary Education At the Crossroads

February 23 – 26, 2006

CONFERENCE REMINDER!

Just a reminder that if you have not already done so, to register for our upcoming Post-Secondary Education Conference. If you are unable to attend the whole conference, but would like to take in the keynote speakers in either Calgary or Edmonton, tickets are available at $10 each. The keynote speakers will present in Calgary on February 23 at 7:00 pm, Orpheus Theatre, SAIT Campus and again in Edmonton on February 24 at 7:30 pm in Salon A of the Crowne Plaza.

In the summer of 2005, Public Interest Alberta put its post-secondary education campaign into action. At its core, the campaign has been about stimulating a wide debate on post-secondary education. At the Crossroads is the culmination of the campaign effort to capture Albertans' ideas into the evolution of our post-secondary education system.

At the Crossroads offers a unique opportunity for all post-secondary education stakeholders, advocates, and members of the public to develop concrete initiatives and action plans, which will provide a framework to fashion a post-secondary education system that best serves our society. We hope you can join us to be a part of this important discussion about the future of our post-secondary education system.

*Keynote Speakers:

Peter MacMenamin

Peter MacMenamin is the Deputy General Secretary of the Teachers’ Union Ireland (TUI) and oversees the Higher Education mandate of the Union. He was also the President of the TUI from 1988 to 1990. Prior to joining the higher echelons of the Union, MacMenamin had been an educator at Second Level school for over 15 years. Peter MacMenamin will speak about the transformation of Ireland’s post-secondary education system and the impact that this has had on their society and economy.

Jeffrey Simpson

Jeffrey Simpson, The Globe and Mail’s national affairs columnist, is the recipient of all three leading Canadian literary prizes – the Governor-General’s Award for non-fiction book writing, the National Magazine Award for political writing, and two time winner of the National Newspaper Award for column writing. Jeffrey Simpson has published five books – Discipline of Power (1980); Spoils of Power (1988); Fault-lines, Struggling for a Canadian Vision (1993); The Anxious Years (1996); and Star-Spangled Canadians (2000) and The Friendly Dictatorship (2001). Jeffrey Simpson will address the issue of why and how the federal and provincial governments must make post-secondary education a priority.

*Either keynote presentation is included in the full conference registration of $125.00.

For more information about the event, click on the graphic above to go to our website.

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Arctic Meltdown

Arctic could be ice-free in summer in 15 years: scientists
Scientists now say that in as little as 15 years, the Arctic could be ice free in the summer. They say the last time that happened was more than a million years ago. Barber says he's most concerned about multi-year ice. He says the loss of this type of ice can affect the habitat of species, such as ring seals. He says the melting is happening too fast for them to adapt.

Hey but there is always a silver lining even to global warming, capitalism knows how to adapt even if seals don't.

But Simon Prinsenberg, who's with the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax, says less ice could be positive for northern economies. "A lot of people think that with less ice we might see more fisheries up there and since there's less ice it's also easier to get up there," he says.

But considering who is in charge of the government now don't expect any real solutions to this crisis. Cause it might hurt our car and gas/oil industries.

International study on Arctic climate change produces startling findings
Louis Fortier, a researcher with Universite Laval in Quebec City who led the project, agreed the focus in Canada and internationally needs to be on coping with the reality of global warming and minimizing the damage. ‘‘If we wanted to really change things to avoid the bulk of the impacts of climate change, we would have to totally change our way of life tomorrow,’’ Fortier said.‘‘We’d have to stop using our cars and reduce (greenhouse gas) emissions by 60 to 80 per cent, which would obviously create major problems.’’

Yep problems that our new Minister of the Environment already is in denial over it. And she is completely objective about Kyoto too.

Canada's new environment minister says no to trading emissions
Ambrose, an Edmonton MP, did policy work for the Alberta government on the Kyoto issue before she ran for office.

And who does she meet with first to discuss the environment, why the Alberta Environment Minister who screwed up when the CN dumped their toxic load into Wabumun last summer. I feel better already. Oh yes and as usual with the Harper regime, it was another secret meeting.

Rona sees greener Alberta
The pair were less clear on whether the province and country are capable of meeting the commitments the Liberals made in signing the Kyoto accord.

Actually with the winter or lack of it we have had it's going to be a browner Alberta not a greener one. Grass fire near Alberta town Grass fires in February in Alberta? Scary.

Rona? Hmm isn't there a hardware company by that name?

See

2005 Record Heat Wave

Told Ya So

More Thaw

Ecology=Equality

Hot Air Over Climate Change--Business as Usual

Tags
environment
Arctic
climate change
global warming
Rona Ambrose
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New Meaning for Nanny State

Asper nanny stole $150K So the Aspers like many rich folks have a nanny. Usually they are indentured servants, slaves by any other name, who are not immigrants but brought here to work in the homes of the rich and wealthy. Nannies are the private version of day care. The difference is wealth. The Wealthy have always availed themselves of servants to take care of their children. So much for the conservative ideal of parents taking care of their children. For the rich its too much bother, they are much to busy.

Nannies face deporation if they take any other job and once their term as an employee of the family is over they are sent back home. In this case as with the vast majority of nannies in Canada they come from the Phillipines.

National Day of Protest: Stop the Unjust Deportation of Filipino Live-in Caregivers!

It is the largest labour market of women in the world, and all countries that import nannies do so as indentured servants. And the Phillipines government benefits from their exploitation abroad, by taxing them on the wages they make.

And when you consider the work that they are expected to do, which is wait hand and foot upon their masters this 'theft' is a small price to pay compared to what nannies are paid. Below minimum wage, since they are not covered by labour standards in Canada, in fact they are singled out for not being covered by minimum wage standards.

She tended to daily needs including taking the children to school and grocery shopping, defence lawyer Mike Cook said yesterday. "She was basically running the household," he said.

According to the affidavit, the nanny admitted to forging and cashing the cheques and said she sent some of the money to the Philippines to pay for her brother's medical expenses.

Considering the horror stories told by nannies about their employers this only makes the news because of the Family involved. The real story is the impovershment and exploitation that nannies face in Canada and around the world.

Filipino nannies in Canada: prisoners of legislated poverty

This is the model of child care that the Tories support and will support with their baby bonus benefit. It will be just enough to pay for the nannies of the wealthy, saving them the expense and the economic hardship.

Trust gut about nanny: expert
"Nannies are a great alternative to day care and they really do benefit the family. The bond with the children is phenomenal."



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Leaks

US slams 'prisoner abuse' leak And all the Americans can worry about is who leaked the story. Sort of like who leaked the story about Ambassador Wilson's wife being a CIA agent which has been swept under the rug. Which is what they would have liked happen to the Abu Ghraib story. Cheney Mishap Takes Focus Off CIA Leak


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Red Menace In Canada

So where do our Blogging Tories and Conservative activists on the right go to rest, recuperate and get their fix of political strategizing? Why to the U.S. of course, because as we all know the Right Wing brain is in the U.S.

Check out these right wing Canadian bloggers who went to the CPAC . No not the TV channel, the Conservative Political Action Conference.

No they did not go to a Libertarian conference, though they probably should have, then they would have had a rude awakening,.

Actually CPAC is the Republican PAC. They got autographs from Karl Rove and Ann Coulter...bestill my beating heart...lucky for them Dick Cheney didn't invite them quail hunting.

Now the RightWhingnuts in Canada like to dis the Left in this country for being Anti-American but the one thing the Left here does not do is go south of the Border to go to Political Action conferences held by the Democrats. The Democrats are far too rightwing for us.

And very few of the left work on Democratic campaigns as compared to our pals on the right who flock south like snow birds seeking out Republican campaigns to cut their teeth on.

So if their rhetoric sounds imported it is. And they accuse us and all Canadians of being Anti-American, they say it not because they are defending our friends south of the border, poor babies can't defend themselves from Canadian sarcasm and ridicule, but because they are defending their imported Republican politics.
Scratch away at their contentialist veneer and you will find not Tory Blue but Republican Red. It gives new meaning to the Red Meance.

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Ottawa, Alberta

Welcome to the world of Alberta politics on the national stage. As I wrote here this is the era of Cone of Silence politics when it comes to our paranoid secretive PM. Once a backroom boy always a backroom boy.

Wed, February 15, 2006

PM mum on meeting

Details of visit with Quebec premier under wraps

OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper's staff are treating his first meeting with a provincial premier like a state secret -- even keeping the location under tight wraps.

Harper will meet today with Quebec Premier Jean Charest at noon and his aides have advised that no pictures of the meeting will be allowed.

The traditional public comments usually made by heads of government after they meet in Ottawa have also been cancelled.

An official in the PMO told Sun Media that in an effort to bring a tone of seriousness to his discussions, Harper will not make himself available to the media unless he has something to announce.

An official in the PMO told Sun Media that in an effort to bring a tone of seriousness to his discussions, Harper will not make himself available to the media unless he has something to announce.

The official pointed out that there's no need for a picture of the duo since there will be no announcements made after Charest and Harper's tete-a-tete.

"This prime minister will take the mic and say something when he has something to say, something to announce, something concrete," said the official.

"Not everything is a photo-op."

Opps then I wonder how that official can explain this......

The two leaders met behind closed doors Wednesday (CP photo)

And then it gets better..... our new PM has nothing to say because.......

"He's a person who listens a lot," Charest told a news conference.

And he can hold private meetings without public knowledge of what was said 'cause well this guy did........

William Stairs, Harper's director of communications, defended the meeting. He argued that other PMs, notably Chretien, have held private meetings with premiers.

Oh dear now the PMO is using the Liberals, those morally bankrupt Liberals, who had no right to govern, especially the "Friendly Dictator" as an excuse to do the same.......Its not power that corrupts in Ottawa it's the PMO....

Why has Stephen Harper stayed out of sight?

Setting up shop 'a formidable task,' aide says of PM's lack of public action

GLORIA GALLOWAY

OTTAWA -- Stephen Harper will re-enter the public realm this afternoon to offer a few patriotic words about Flag Day before returning to the prime ministerial bunker and his preferred task of shaping government.

In more than a week since his controversial cabinet took the oath of office, Mr. Harper has made few forays into the world of cameras and digital recorders.

Harper gives new meaning to being a back-door man.

Mr. Harper, who attended a Flag Day ceremony on Parliament Hill yesterday, ducked out a back door to avoid questions from the media. Before his exit, a television reporter asked him about Mr. Martin's comments on Mr. Emerson. "You know my answer," Mr. Harper said. "Mr. Emerson will make a great contribution."

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Conduct Unbecoming

I think these two headlines say a lot about the Bush Regime. Disgusting behavior says it all. They show a regime that denies, covers up and then apologizes for behavior unbecoming......It only took Dick three days before he admitted he pulled the trigger. And Abu Gharib just won't go away. Just like Osama bin Laden won't go away.


'I'm the guy who pulled the trigger,' Cheney says
CTV.ca - 4 hours ago

Abu Ghraib Photos Show `Disgusting' Conduct, US Says
Bloomberg - 7 hours ago



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Is This Anyway to Treat a Beer?

What would Sir Alexander Keith Say?

Beer ad front man faces porn charges
London Free Press -
By CP. TORONTO -- The plug has been pulled on a beer advertising campaign featuring an over-the-top Scotsman after police laid child pornography charges against a Toronto commercial actor. Robert Norman Smith ..

As the Keiths TV ad says Is this anyway to treat a beer?



Alexander Keith's - Beer Funeral Commercial
If you're going to drink the pride of Nova Scotia be sure you do it with reverence and respect - lest you feel the ire of this surly kilt-clad Keith's-lover.



I don't think he would have got busted if he was just a Keiths-Lover......

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Blogger Problems

So I tried to post a comment on another blogger/blogspot.com blog and it waaaaassss soooooo sloooooowwwww. Then I tried to post here with a clever comment on the story in question and this is what I got.

Blogger Problem

This server is currently experiencing a problem. An engineer has been notified and will investigate.

Status code: 1-500-11

So we can assume that Blogger is again having problems today like it has for the past week. Well at least the 'engineer' has been notified......I feel so much better knowing that.

Oh yeah and I still get this stupid announcement every time I load a story into blogger

There were errors. (Details ...)

and of course when I go to republish my whole blog it tells me it has failed and wait ten minutes and try again. Where is that damn engineer?

Oh and this is happening fairly regularly too.....

Could not connect to Blogger.com. Saving and publishing may fail. Test connection now.

I think that this engineer guy/gal is just a myth or perhaps Google is outsourcing the work to China.


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Standard Western Racism

Not satisfied with insulting Canadian Muslims with its thinly veiled racism by republishing the Muhammed cartoons, see my comments here and here, now the Western Standard in the same issue has struck another low blow by insulting the wife of the Premier, with an anti-aboriginal racist slur.

It is well known that in Alberta Conservative circles that gay bashing, bashing natives and bashing East Indians is a popular past time. But this goes too far, the unnamed source clearly is a disgruntled insider who is tired of Kleins failure to exit the throne.

And so it is also a sexist slur, claiming that its all Colleens fault. Wow two count em two slurs in one article by an unamed source. The night of long knives is out for our dear Fuerher Herr Klein.

The comments were part of a column in the Western Standard magazine by writer Ric Dolphin. He suggested Colleen Klein wields too much influence over Premier Ralph Klein and his office.

Them there are fighting words Ezra

He then goes on to quote an unnamed source who said, "Once she [Colleen] stops being the premier's wife, she goes back to being just another Indian."

Klein's wife is Métis.

Comments on Klein's wife spark new controversy for Western ...
CBC News, Canada - 55 minutes ago
Aboriginals upset with Western Standard column CBC Calgary
Premier Klein's wife, Colleen, said to be devastated by magazine ... Canada.com
Alberta mag accused of racial slur against Klein's wife Edmonton Journal
Calgary Sun - all 10 related »

And it gets better because Ric Dolphin is no stranger to right wing controversial yellow journalism he was a reporter for the Alberta Report and their doppleganger the B.C. Report.

And this is far more the Report style of journalism than it is the Edmonton Journal or Calgary Herald that have both employed Ric in the past. They would not accept an 'unnamed' source for any such racist quote, but that is standard Report style journalism.

And it is Ric Dolphin wearing his outraged reactionary hat of the Alberta Report(er) that impunes Colleen with his sexist slur saying she has too much power over Ralph. This is that woman hating, sexist patriarchical slur that the Alberta Report specialized in. You know women who advance in society are not 'Real Women'. Even if they stand by their man. Nope this is that old adage that the woman is the power behind the throne, and that makes Ralph a whimp in the eyes of the butch right wing.

The Western Standard as I said before is a plagarized publication, a rehashed Alberta Report, complete with some of its old staff, and with a palagarized name, taking off on the popular American right wing paper the Weekly Standard.

And of course once again it is mindless right wing drivel that can insult thousands of Muslims and the Premier of Alberta and hence thousands of Tories in Alberta in one fell swoop. Yep that Ezra sure does spread the B.S. around.

Let's see whose up next to be smeared by this pathetic excuse for a newsmagazine, one that makes the news more than it reports it. Just like Alberta Report.


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Canada's Real Prime Minister

Is this guy. Really. And you thought you voted for some new Conservative party. Ha! Just look at who got the position of Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Wilson to be next ambassador to the U.S.

Wilson to be US ambassador, CTV reports Globe and Mail

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

Ottawa — Canada's next ambassador to the United States will be Mulroney-era finance minister Michael Wilson, The Globe and Mail has learned.

Mr. Wilson is expected to be appointed toward the end of this week or early next week, pending the agreement of the U.S. government, which is normally a formality.

The appointment is the latest example of former prime minister Brian Mulroney's influence on Stephen Harper's new Conservative government. Derek Burney, a former chief of staff to Mr. Mulroney who also served as ambassador to the U.S from 1989 to 1993, is head of Mr. Harper's transition team and was also rumoured to be in line for the job.

Mr. Wilson, 68, takes over from outgoing ambassador Frank McKenna, who tendered his resignation immediately after Mr. Harper won the Jan. 23 election.

Other members of Mr. Mulroney's inner circle who are close to Mr. Harper include senators Hugh Segal and Marjory LeBreton, both of whom have acted as advisers to the new Prime Minister.

Mr. Wilson was Mr. Mulroney's finance minister and is best known as the man who introduced the much-maligned goods and services tax in 1990. Besides finance, Mr. Wilson also served as minister of industry, science and technology and of international trade.

A tip o the blog to Dissonance and Disrespect for this.

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Conservative Conundrum

A less than impassioned criticism by the 'Prime Minister' of Ezra Le Rant and his Western Standard and the Jewish Free Press both of Harpers home town; Calgary.In fact it isn't a criticism at all it's a defense of Le Rant. Harper regrets publication of controversial Muhammad cartoons

"Free speech is a right that all Canadians enjoy; Canadians also have the right to voice their opinion on the free speech of others," Stephen Harper said in a written statement, his first comments on the incendiary cartoons since the furor erupted.

Well what did you expect, Le Rant is one of the young Turks who surround Harper, like Jason Kenney, Rob Anders, etc. all members of the Republican wing of the Conservative party.

Harper is in a conundrum, as is his Conservative party, as are Blogging Tories because Le Rant may have put Canadian troops in harms way with his publishing the cartoons. The rioting over the cartoons has seen assualts on NATO troops in Afghanistan. And his publishing the cartoons has made it into the world wide Muslim press.

Legal redress sought over cartoons Aljazeera.Net
Canadian PM laments publication of Prophet caricatures Malayala Manorama

Ezra Levant is an Idiot.

On Tuesday, Lt.-Col. Tom Doucette told CTV News that the decision of Western Standard, a Calgary-based magazine, to reprint the cartoons could endanger Canadian troops serving in Afghanistan. "What it might do is slow things down, i.e., in concentrated centres," Doucette told CTV. "If we get crowds gathering, then we will try to avoid that." His comments bolstered a similar warning from Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor. "It doesn't help. Radicals in Syria and Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq, they get people roused up because their religion's being offended," O'Connor said, the Ottawa Citizen reported Tuesday. "We don't need any more risk in the area than we have."PM 'regrets' publication of Muhammad cartoons

Uh oh now all those Blogging Tories that support our troops in Afghanistan will have to make a choice defend an idiotic provocatation that was unneccary and that will lead to endagering our troops, or denounce Le Rant for his deliberate and calculated attempt to increase his magazines circulation and his own profile. The later being more the case than a case for Free Speech.

Ezra Levant, publisher of the Western Standard, told CBC television the magazine decided to publish the cartoons because it considered them newsworthy. "We're not publishing them for their editorial merits," he said."They're boring cartoons. They're bland. They're not interesting. We're not running them because we share their views. We're running them because they're the central fact that caused Muslim radicals around the world to riot."

Ezra is all about Ezra being the news. The Western Standard has no more real circulation than Alberta Report before it. So this is all about Ezra in the news. Always has been. And Ezra ain't news.

And his publishing the cartoons is sheer opportunism not a question of fighting censorship. The Canadian media didn't censor the cartoons they just didn't run them because of good sense and good taste. Something that is lacking at the Western Standard.

But again as I said it's not about the cartoons or freedom of the press or freedom of speech its about Ezra. He thinks now that the Conservatives are in power he and his right wing pals should get more press and be referred to like his counterparts in the U.S. are.

It's a tempest in a tea pot feuled by faux right wing outrage.

And unlike Voltaire I cannot support Ezra's right to so called Free Speech.

As a right winger he has now shown himself as a fascist who would deliberately publish material he knows will provoke a negative reaction in order to prove his point that his self appointed enemies, Canadian Muslims, are terrorists and reactionaries. To Ezra and his Conservative pals all Muslims are radicals. He is practicing the Goebbels school of propaganda not Free Speech.

Levant, who is Jewish, had some harsh words for Elmasry. He described him as an "idiot" several times, and said he has no moral high ground to lecture him on journalistic integrity.
Levant pointed to controversial comments Elmasry made in October, 2004, when he said all Jews over the age of 18 are fair targets for suicide bombers. Elmasry made the comments on The Michael Coren Show, an Ontario program that runs on Burlington's Crossroads Television System.Elmasry later repeated the comments in a Globe and Mail interview, but eventually claimed he was expressing a widely-held Palestinian view, not his own personal belief."PM 'regrets' publication of Muhammad cartoons

Yeah Ezra is Jewish, so what. He is a perfect example of what he calls the self-hating Jew, he is Jewish when it is conveniant to be Jewish. Like now. Most of the other times he is just a regular WASP Right Winger like his other pals in the Calgary Conservative circle.

And yeah he uses a mistatement by his opponents to belittle them, like he has never done that and had to apologize. These are the debating tactics of a fascist. Never apologise never surrender. Ah, Dr. Gobbels would have been proud.

And Canadians deserved more outrage out of our PM rather than his weak tea 'regret'. Yeah we all regret your pal's in Calgary are idiots, but your job is not to defend them but to speak for Canadians whom they have insulted and outraged.





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Dick Cheney Murderer?

The joke making the rounds is that the VP of the U.S. shot a lawyer. Get it? It's based on that quote from the Merchant of Venice by Shakespere, "kill all the lawyers".

Unfortunately for Dick Cheney this may turn out to be just the case. As his 'hunting accident' , which is another way of saying his 'ineptness' may result in the death of his hunting companion who is a lawyer and fundraiser for the Republicans in Texas.

Texan shot by Cheney on hunt has heart attack

"Some of the birdshot appeared to have moved and lodged into a part of his heart and caused the atrial (fibrillation) and what we would say is a minor heart attack," hospital administrator Peter Banko said in a press conference.

Banko said Whittington, who before Tuesday had been described as suffering only superficial wounds and well on his way to recovery, would have to stay in the hospital another a week to make sure the remaining pellets do not cause more damage.

Dr. David Blanchard, the hospital's emergency room chief, said on Tuesday, "We knew he had some birdshot very near to the heart from the get-go."

Cheney's Late Disclosure of Hunting Incident Fuels Criticism

The announcement appeared to catch the White House officials and Cheney's staff by surprise. The vice president abruptly left a lunch with Senate Republicans after an aide slipped Cheney a note a half-hour before the doctor's 1 p.m. news conference.

For the second consecutive day, White House spokesman Scott McClellan faced a barrage of questions about why the Feb. 11 incident wasn't revealed until the next day, and then by the ranch owner calling the local newspaper. In past accidents involving President George W. Bush, such as when the president had a bicycle crash in Scotland last year, the White House press office issued a statement soon afterward.

Texas has the death penalty. Will the VP ever be charged for negligance, aggravated assault, or in the worst case if Wittington dies, manslaughter?

Doubtful this is Texas. And Cheney is a white guy. A powerful white guy. So the rules don't apply to him. Just like he didn't need to get a hunting license.

Already the second most powerful man in the United States, though some say the most powerful, has his ineptness being covered up. But with Whittington getting worse, suddenly the motives for the cover up get sinister.

And what went from oh its just an accident he will be out of hospital soon, now turns out to be a big lie too. The doctors knew Whittington had over 200 pieces of birdshot in his body, including near his heart, from "the get-go".

For Texas authorities the case is closed for now. The Kenedy County Sheriffs Department concluded ``this was nothing more than a hunting accident.'' The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department gave Cheney and Whittington warnings because they didn't have a $7 stamp for game birds on their hunting licenses, a new requirement.According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, a significant portion of the 30 hunting accidents in the state last year occurred as a hunter was turning to fire at game. ``It's a classic example of what causes a hunting accident in Texas,'' said Tom Harvey, a department spokesman.

Yep stupid inept white guys with guns

Shooting required speedy disclosure

By every standard and by all accounts, the failure to promptly disclose the accident was wrong. Of course, the first priority when a person is shot and wounded is to make sure the victim receives the necessary medical care. That apparently was done at the scene by medical attendants accompanying Cheney. And the Secret Service reportedly notified the local sheriff's office of the incident on Saturday. The vice-president's staff also regarded the matter as serious enough to alert President George Bush on Saturday and to give the White House updates on the condition of Whittington.What makes little sense, however, was the White House's decision to defer disclosure of the shooting incident to the vice-president's office, and that office's decision to further defer to the owners of the ranch. Cheney did not check his official title at the Armstrongs' front gate. That was no private citizen who pulled the trigger, sending someone to the hospital. That act, though accidental, was committed by the country's second-highest public official. Neither Cheney nor the White House gets to pick and choose when to disclose a shooting. Saturday's incident required immediate public disclosure — a fact so elementary that the failure to act properly is truly disturbing in its implications.

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The Real Debt and Deficit Crisis

Here is the real debt and deficit crisis, ironically one that is driving the booming economy in North America. Just as stocks rise when workers are laid off, so does an economy boom when driven not by production but by consumer debt. But as we all know all booms eventually bust.

And with such huge consumer debt and low average wages, getting lower as capitalism pushes to offset it's falling rate of profit on the backs of the workers who produce them, if a credit or capital crisis hits North America, this personal debt will have a greater impact than the Great Depression. Economists warn on US debt crisis

Family debt soars as incomes stagnate

Canadians outspend their ability to repay, new report finds

Eric Beauchesne, The Ottawa Citizen; with files from CanWest News Service

Monday, February 13, 2006

Cash-strapped Canadian families are racking up debt at an alarming rate and the record number of households declaring bankruptcy will continue to rise unless people tighten their belts now, a new report warns.

"The alarm bells are ringing louder than ever," says the Vanier Institute for the Family, in a report on the state of family finances in Canada released on the weekend.

"They rang for governments and for many businesses and they did something about it. It is now time for families to do something about their own situations."

The average household income is now about $55,000 a year, roughly the same as at the start of the decade and up only one per cent, or about $500, from 1990.

In contrast, average household debt now stands at about $70,920, up 16 per cent from 2000, and 40 per cent from 1990.

"On average, households are putting nothing away for a rainy day, for a bout of unemployment, or for retirement," the report says.

The real hourly earnings of Canadians have increased by just a dime over the past decade and a half, the report says.

The marginal 10-cent-an-hour-after-inflation increase in hourly earnings since 1990 has been accompanied by fewer hours of work, says the respected social policy think-tank.

"As such, more members of cash-strapped families are stepping into the growing paid-labour market," it says.

While that has produced record levels of employment and dual-income families, their disposable income, after taxes and government benefits, has stagnated over the last five years.

With the booming real estate market and interest rates at historically low levels, Canadians have reduced their savings and taken on more debt, it notes.

The days of cheap debt, however, are coming to an end, it says, predicting interest rates will continue to rise over the short term at least.

Total debt per household is now equal to 125 per cent of disposable incomes, up from 91 per cent in 1990, an increase that has helped push insolvencies to record levels and will continue to do so.

And nothing the new Conservative government will address this crisis. All they have offered is tax credits to the rich and an inadequate baby bonus. Tax credits do not put real money in your pocket, as ING would say. In fact they only help those who pay taxes, and result not in a lower pay cheque per se but as a balance against earnings on your annual income taxes. Instead a tax cut on those earning under $100,000 would put real money back in your paycheque.

Unfortunately those tax cuts implemented by the Liberals before the election are going to be killed by the Conservtive government in order to pay off its GST promise. Once again helping the rich who are the only ones who really benefit from a GST cut, since it really only appears as a cost savings on big ticket items, like cars and other luxury goods.

See:The Real Debt and Deficit Crisis January 2006

Storm Clouds Over The US Economy

Greenspans Legacy

The Wit and Wisdom of Warren Buffet

Housing Boom or Bust

Debt Crisis

Air Canada Profits From Bankruptcy

Jobs Not Tax Cuts

Retirement Reverse Discrimination

Social Insecurity- The Phony Pension Crisis



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