There are two stories that have emerged the last few days. They are totally unrelated but it does raise questions about a certain world leader, PMS. The events of the last twenty four hours or so in Gaza and southwestern Israel have raised the stakes much further and higher
Continue readingAuthor: BlastFurnace
Blast Furnace Canada Blog: How are we honouring our veterans? We’re not
This is Remembrance Week. The days up to and including November 11th were long ago set aside to remember the men and women in military uniform or law enforcement who made the supreme sacrifice — in wars and police actions that were sometimes j…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: R*@#^d Ann, huh?
Maybe it’s because I was, at least in the first six or seven years of my life on this planet, a “slow learner” and had to spend Grades One and Two in the remedial program (along with very intensive speech therapy). Or maybe because it’s just Ann Coulter. I am
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Billy Graham: Wrong about gay marriage
Billy Graham, who is into his eighth decade as a minister, is one of the very few people in the States who is so famous that the only address you need to write on an envelope is his or her name only, no box number, no state, no ZIP code — in
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: "Binders of women", Mitt?
There have been many foot in mouth moments in debates over the years. Think Gerry Ford’s comments in 1976 about how he would not allow the USSR to dominate Poland (of course, Poland had been a client state of Moscow since WW2). Carter saying that his daughter and youngest child
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Khadr: Back in the Great White North
Omar Khadr returned to Canada this past weekend to serve out the remainder of his sentence at Guantanamo Bay. Unlike the “military commission” which gave Khadr no credit for time served on the eight year sentence he received for manslaughter, the “two for one” rule in effect in Canada at
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Justin runs for his father’s old job
I really have only four words about Justin Trudeau making a run for the Liberal leadership … Just can’t win Sussex. Unless some kind of a miracle happens or PMS stumbles big time, Trudeau is easily beatable. I suspect any of the registered candidates may well be too. I also
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Harper selling out to UK?
It’s not necessarily a bad thing to be able to share consular services. Canada and Australia have had such a sharing agreement for over 25 years — Australia handles Canadian interests in parts of Asia-Pacific region and in turn we handle theirs in some countries in Latin America and Africa.
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: SCOC grants standing in sex-trade case
The Supreme Court of Canada has done the right thing by agreeing to consider the appeal regarding the prostitution laws in this country. In a 53 page decision and on behalf of a unanimous court (PDF), Associate Justice Thomas A. Cromwell said that while the women who filed the class
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Canada: Sending a message to Iran, or giving up on it?
Following up on my previous post regarding Canada’s sudden decision to completely sever ties with Iran, I have these extended thoughts on why this was way too fast and too sudden. Five days after the announcement, there’s still no indication on who Canada has in mind to be a protecting
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: In respect of 9/11/2001 …
… this page is black today. In memory of the 2977 men, women and children from nearly 60 countries who were slaughtered in this unthinkable act.
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Who’s protecting Canada now that we’ve left Iran?
There’s no doubt sanctions need to be put on Iran. And at first, I thought John Baird had a lot of guts going for the jugular like this. But wasn’t Canada suddenly cutting ties with Iran last Friday just a tad too rapid? No skeletal staff to handle outstanding visa
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Dead (or dead)
Although pains were taken to hide the identity of the SEAL Team Six officer who took part in last year’s raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, his true name was revealed today. Regardless of the propriety of this or whether he should have written the account at all, the implication
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Harper putting screws on Roma, and it’s wrong
I would have thought detention centres for would-be refugees were a thing of the past. But in the last few days we’ve actually heard the Cons say that if their refugee “reforms” don’t move things fast enough they are prepared to round up the in-process Roma population and confine them
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Since when was rape "legitimate"?
Just when we thought VP Joe Biden Jr had shot off his mouth yet again when he said that bank deregulation like what Mitt Romney is proposing would put Americans — blacks in particular — “in chains” (which would not be my choice of words) … … comes this moron,
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Isn’t it time to put an end to the Međugorje fraud?
Being someone who happens to be a kid born in Canada of parents from Croatia, this is bound to ruffle some feathers including some within my “ethnic group”. But it’s way past time to put logic into the alleged three decades long non-stop apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Međugorje,
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Romney: Assuring defeat with Paul Ryan?
Do Vice Presidential choices matter? For 97% of those who vote, no. But veep picks can often set the tone for the success or failure of a campaign or administration. There have been a few lackluster choices on the Democratic side. But why is it that GOP Presidential nominees
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Iran: Getting away with genocide, thanks to banks (maybe)
If the allegations about the British based bank Standard Chartered Bank PLC are true then a financial institution that has been at the forefront of a “corporate responsibility” campaign is guilty of an instance of money laundering that makes the Bank of Credit and Commerce International look like Romper Room
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Why won’t McGuinty stop health care (and card) fraud?
Last week, I was shocked to hear on the news, as were a lot of people in Ontario, that there are still 3.5 million of the old red strip, no expiry date Ontario Health Cards. And that the government is doing nothing about it. The green photo cards should have
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Romney should audition for Keystone Kops with his mouth
Remember four years ago and Barack Obama’s goodwill tour of Europe — well before the Democratic convention — and how it brought out people in the tens of thousands; including 200,000 at Victory Column in Berlin. No surprise there as he was spreading the word of reconciliation with the NATO
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