Hamid Karzai is trying to broker a two-state within one state deal that would effectively cede control over Afghanistan’s Pashtun south to the Taliban. That Taliban we’ve spent the last decade plus saving Afghanistan from? Yes, those guys. …The Afghan peace process envisions that “by 2015, Taliban and other armed groups
Continue readingAuthor: The Mound of Sound
The Disaffected Lib: TARPing Athabasca?
It now seems only a matter of time before major investors start pulling their money out of bitumen. The markets are waking up to the reality of a Carbon Bubble in which high-carbon, high-cost fossil fuels have been exposed as the worst bet ever. They’re coming to grasp that the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Bad Moon Rising for Bitumen
It was coming. You were warned. Now brace yourselves. Some place in England called Oxford University today begins a four-year study to identify assets that could be left “stranded” by climate change. That’s stranded as in suddenly worthless – or worse. Guess what? Bitumen is probably top of the list.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: "The Worst Procurement in the History of Canada"
At least until the F-35 saga is wrapped up. “The Worst Procurement in the History of Canada“ is the title of a report released by the Rideau Institute and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives into the inept and seemingly endless quest for a helicopter to replace the Canadian navy’s
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Let The Rumors Begin
Pope Benny, a.k.a. Joe Ratzinger, is packing it in. The first pope to resign since the medieval period, the 85-year old has given barely two weeks notice. He’s out on February 28th. The pope blames the ravages of old age for his decision, claiming he’s just not up to the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Blowback – Drone Warfare
Send in the drones. Few grasp the significance of drone warfare. We don’t see them. Our people don’t get killed. We rarely know who does get killed and when, infrequently, we hear anything about it at all it’s the announcement of some terrorist leader expunged from the face of the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Endangered and Elusive "Eastern Bald Senator"
h/t Perry Williams, St. Catherines, P.E.I.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Afghan Govt. Jails 13-Year Old Boy for Sex With Men
When George w. Bush sent the Taliban packing in 2011 it was once again open season on little Afghan boys’ bums. A lot of Afghan guys, you see, like to diddle boys. Warlords are known to be particularly fond of delicate boy bums. Oh, but just don’t get caught. Afghanistan
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: A Tar Sands Compromise, One They’ll Have to Refuse
Today’s bitumen trafficking contemplated by Enbridge, Redford and Harper is beset by indefensible problems. The proponents are making it far worse than it needs to be. A huge part of their problem is dilbit, the stuff that still lines the riverbed of the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. It’s truly noxious
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Canada’s Sub-Prime Disaster Waiting in Harper’s Wings
One sector known for being a holdout on climate change is the financial community. Some of the most outlandish denialist journalism has come (and too often still does) from once credible outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and Financial Post. But now they’re being overtaken by reality. Denialism, no
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: About That F-35 Bill
The F-35 programme has been underway for, well, eleven years. Current plans call for completion of testing in 2019. Here’s a sobering look at F-35 development taken from Aviation Week. The U.S. bill for JSF development and production has increased about $40-million a day, in 2012 dollars, since the program
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Here Come the Auditors
A Senate budget committee has called in outside auditors to scrutinize the expenses claimed by three senators and the status of their actual residency. Tories Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau and Liberal Mac Harb will be undergoing scrutiny of their claims for extra housing allowances based on their actual residence lying
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Canadian Trained Troops Fight American Trained Troops In Mali Again
Canadian-trained Malian paratroopers loyal to democratically-elected but deposed president Amadou Tourre are fighting again with the American-trained forces of our new ally and coup leader, butcher and probable mass murderer and war criminal, Captain Amadou Sanog. Now, of course, the paratroopers fighting to restore the legitimate government are referred to,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Criminalizing Mental Illness
Harper has probably got a tent in his puritanical pants over this one. Our prime monster is on the crime and punishment bandwagon and this time he’s got the mentally ill squarely in his sights. They may be crazy but that doesn’t mean you can’t get’em a long term stay
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Could the U.S. and China Stumble Into War?
We like to think that the United States and China have become so inter-dependent, their economies so entwined, as to rule out any major armed conflict between them. But that’s a dangerous assumption to rely upon because it omits other factors and forces at play that drive U.S.-Chinese tensions. We
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Enbridge Pulls Out All the Stops
In yesterday’s paper there was a story that, contrary to eco-terrorists’ claims, dilbit floats and so is quite amenable to conventional oil spill recovery efforts. The claim, naturally, came from an Enbridge spokesman. Guess what? He’s right. Dilbit, the mixture of bitumen and the dilutents necessary to lower its
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Is North Africa the West’s First Climate War?
We’ve witnessed unrest and uprisings in one form or another from Egypt to Morocco over the past two years. We, the West, intervened directly in two – Libya and Mali. We’ve been quick to label each of these conflicts as uprisings to break the shackles of tyranny or Islamist terrorism.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: China’s Top Guns
Wired.com has a sobering assessment of China’s recent aerial war games. Let’s set aside the jokes about parallel parking and realize that China has developed a world class air force, the largest next only to America’s and Russia’s, that will soon be deploying not one but two indigenous stealth fighters.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Is Duffy Toast?
This story has been kicking around for a few days. Former CTV News Conservative party apologist turned Harper senator, Mike Duffy, seems to be in a great deal of hot water. I’ve known Duffy since the early 70’s and I always knew him to be a full-time Ottawa guy. He
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: When The Rich Eat the Poor
You might think that Ethiopia is a country that would take its food supply very, very seriously. We’re regularly greeted by appeals for donations to help relieve starvation in the Horn of Africa – Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Eritrea. It’s a bit disconcerting to learn that Indian investors are now snapping
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