Less than a week to go before the Iowa caucuses. And Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) has chosen to fan the flames. First, by associating with the most unscrupulous of televangelists (which I wrote about a few months back). Now he has come out (pardon the expression) against an
Continue readingAuthor: BlastFurnace
Blast Furnace Canada Blog: North Korea: Moving the doomsday clock closer to midnight
It’s been a little over thirty six hours since North Korea revealed that Kim Jong Il died from an apparent heart attack on Saturday. It was well known that Kim was in ill health for years but his passing poses a huge risk for the West. Having dealt with Libya
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: What’s in YOUR drinking water? In Hamilton it could be Scotchgard ™
Several months ago, back in the spring of this year, Radio Canada ran an investigative report regarding the run-off of chemicals from John Munro International Airport at Mount Hope, the highest point in Hamilton. This was prompted after a lot of fish and turtles were turning up dead downstream in
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree (Justin edition)
I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. And it did yesterday when Justin Trudeau, son of Pierre, called Environment Minister Peter Kent “you piece of shit.” At least Justin apologized. Of course there was no excuse for it — but entirely understandable given that Kent was giving
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Kyoto backlash
It’s been over a week since my last post. Too much has been going on but I did want to talk about Peter Kent announcing Canada is pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol, or rather forcing the world to pull out of Canada so we don’t get fucked with $14
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Channeling the Mad Man of the Airwaves
No sooner did a “third party” manager come to take control of the financial affairs of Attawapiskat than he was told to get the hell out of Dodge. Chief Theresa Spence must have channeled Howard Beale when she said that her band of 2800 Cree were “not going to taking
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: A pinhole light of hope
Despite the deliberate ballot stuffing and other dirty tricks that Vladimir Putin tried to pull in this week’s elections to the Duma, Russia’s Parliament, the “United Russia” party fell well way below the two-thirds majority needed to unilaterally change the country’s constitution. In fact it couldn’t even muster a simple
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: The Cain identity
Yesterday’s decision by Herman Cain to drop out of the GOP Presidential stakes (technically, suspending, a legal loophole that allows him to reallocate donations made to him to another candidate or a PAC) really wasn’t surprising nor was the timing. But it was inevitable. If it was just one woman
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Harper’s "Office for Relgious Freedom": Another Newspeak front?
Dubya got into a lot of hot water in many circles with his so-called “faith based initiative” (which President Obama has actually continued and broadened to include people of faith who are LGBT) and now Harper appears to want to go down the same path with something called the “Office
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Déjà vu 2011 style
If this is déjà vu all over again, well it is. Fearing another crisis like the one in 2008, during the US election no less, those who control the supply of money are again swinging into action. And once again it’s making me ask about our complacency about these things
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: The Attawapiskat Outrage
It is simply inexcusable that people should have to live in third world conditions in Canada. Yet that is how people in many First Nations (FN) communities across Canada do live. And it gotten so bad in Attawapiskat FN, Ontario — 694 km (432 miles) northeast of Thunder Bay, and
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: When you can see the rebar sticking out, you have a problem
The idea behind reinforcing concrete with steel rebar is to ensure the concrete doesn’t rip itself out during the expansion and contraction caused by temperature swings. Yet just walk or drive around Hamilton. You can easily see one or more rebar lines sticking out of light standards, overpasses, tunnels and
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Who’s protecting YOUR water?
This should really make us all wake up: Someone from Russia (it could have been the government or a private interest, we don’t know yet) was able to remotely shut off then back on a second later a pump in Springfield, the capital of the state of Illinois — and
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: A reply to my tar sands entries
In response to some of my recent posts about the tar sands, I got an e-mail the other day in reply that was quite compelling enough that I asked the writer if I could use it here. He agreed provided I not use his last name. I am okay with
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Railway bridges are falling down in Hamilton
You’d think that if a bridge carries a railway then it should be the railroad company that pays for repairs and/or replacement. Not necessarily. Hamilton has about 400 bridges across the vast city, many of them downloaded to the city years ago. And there are seven, all of them for
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: How will DSK beat off this one? … pardon the expression
No sooner did Dominique Strauss Kahn manage to stave off sexual assault charges in Manhattan than he now faces allegations he has ties to … a call girl. In northern France. For €500 to 1500 — a night. (The French newspaper L’Express has much much more in their article published
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: From the drive-in to the Crystal Cathedral … and back again
The in-Chapter 11 Hour of Power Ministry is so over its head that it reluctantly decided to sell off its flagship piece of real estate in Garden Grove, California. The bidding war for the Crystal Cathedral has come down to three candidates, but onl…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: If you can’t track the guns, you can’t track the criminals
The Brady Law in the States, which is supposed to ensure felons don’t have access to guns (they are supposed to be flagged by a background check), has proven to be a joke, the NYT reports today. In just one state — the State of Washington — nearly 3300 convicts have had their "right to bear arms" that they forfeited, restored. In one case, a man out of jail for just two months shot dead his
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Keystone XL delayed; and how many Wal-Marts does Hamilton need?
It was a big surprise but also a delight to hear that Hillary Clinton’s State Department has ordered Trans Canada Pipelines to reconsider the proposed route of the Keystone XL project, in particular the section that would have gone through Nebraska’s S…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Perry’s brain freeze
Last night, Rick Perry, the most bloodthirsty governor in American history (he has permitted 234 legal murders and counting) had a major big time brain freeze when asked what three agencies he would try to cut from the US government (presuming of cours…
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