It’s mainly this: Lockheed has mastered the game of spreading around a government’s money to see to it that government has to keep sending it more money. Not socialism exactly, but… The jet fighter is needed to replace aging U.S. military planes, but β already the most costly weapons system
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The Disaffected Lib: When Is America Truly #1? When It Screws Up.
All the King’s horses and all the King’s men cannot save America from its own stupidity. There are many examples of American hubris but one that stands out is the legacy of Dick Cheney’s frolic in Iraq. Asia Times has published an interesting overview of America’s greatest, perhaps its conclusive,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Now Can the World Have Its Forests Back?
A main cause of deforestation in South America and Asia has been clearing land for palm oil production. Palm oil has become a major source of biodiesel, a supposedly green fuel. Not so fast. The Guardian has received leaked EU data that shows palm oil biodiesel the second carbon filthiest
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: What Could Bring the Tar Sands to Heel and Cost Canadians a Gazillion Dollars
A Saudi prince once quipped, “the Stone Age didn’t end because they ran out of stones.” His point was that the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil. He is right. There are a number of factors that will render oil energy unviable well before
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: About that "Secret Agenda"
L’il Steve Harper has spent the past six or more years assuring Canadians at every opportunity that he really doesn’t harbour any “secret agenda.” Then he goes all the way to Switzerland, drops his pants, and announces that he’s got “major transformations” in store for his small folk at home.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Just Too Dumb to Be an Atheist
There I’ve said it. I’m just too damned dumb to accept atheism. And, the way I see it, so are you even if you won’t admit it… yet. It’s the whole faith thing that stops me in my tracks. What is faith but a willingness to accept as true something
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Capitalism No Longer Fits
“Capitalism, in its current form, no longer fits the world around us.” What a curious thing for the founder and chairman of the Davos World Economic Forum, professor Klaus Schwab to declare. “A global transformation is urgently needed and it must start with reinstating a global sense of social responsibility,”
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Disneyfication of America
It’s much easier to understand the bizarre antics of our cousins to the south when you realize they’re not on the same page as the rest of the world. In fact, they’re not even on the same book. The thing is, it’s not funny. It’s potentially quite dangerous – to
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: What Did Steve Harper Just Say?
The Grand Dissembler, Steve Harper, picks his words carefully. That’s why it’s often worthwhile to pay close attention to what comes out of his mouth. Take his remarks to a conference of First Nations chiefs in which he promised not to scrap the Indian Act: “After 136 years, that tree
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: F-35 Update
F-35 Killer? With Europe hovering on the brink of meltdown, with pipelines to stop, with the Republican presidential clown car careening through the Deep South, it’s easy to lose sight of the F-35 controversy. Fortunately there are some, like the Ottawa Citizen‘s David Pugliese, who keep an eye on the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Integrity of Science
I have a friend who is an ardent defender of the Athabasca Tar Sands. We get into friendly arguments by e-mail that can go for several days at a time. The most recent topic has been the safety problems surrounding the TransCanada and Enbridge proposals to ship bitumen thousands of
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Did Keystone Kill Off the Northern Gateway Pipeline?
According to Andrew Nikiforuk, the Keystone XL pipeline may have only sustained a flesh wound but it was a killer blow to the Northern Gateway pipeline. The best analysis of all things related to the Athabasca Tar Sands is plainly that of Andrew Nikiforuk. Formerly an author and freelancer, Nikiforuk
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Carney Drops a Bombshell
Kudos to Bank of Canada governor, Mark Carney, for coming right out and warning that the crippled U.S. economy is unlikely to ever fully recover. βItβs going to take a number of years before they get back to the U.S. that we used to know β in fact, they are
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Can Someone Explain This to Me?
At the heart of much of the opposition to the Athabasca Tar Sands is that it exports dangerous contaminants that put entire ecosystems at risk. We export a semi-refined product bearing significant quantities of abrasives, corrosives, heavy metals and other toxins. We export this product to places where it is
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The South Shall Rise Again
Newt Gingrich swept back to prominence in the Republican ranks by a convincing win in South Carolina. Gingrich has been openly race-baiting and it seems the good folks of America’s south like what they hear. Bill Moyers tells Bill Maher that the radical fringe now dominates the Republican party. One
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Britain – Difficult Dry Days Ahead
It’s the 21st century’s double-whammy – population growth coupled with global warming – and even soggy old Britain isn’t immune. Britain’s Environment Agency has released a study on what lies in stores for rivers in England and Wales by 2050. It warns that some rivers could see summer river levels
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Looney Lefties Call for End to Austerity
Lefties – as in the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization – have joined in a warning to western governments of the economic and social risks they’re inviting through austerity budgeting. “Expressing concern about the weakness of economic activity and rising unemployment, the IMF‘s Christine
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Has Harper’s Buddy Bruce Carson Conveniently Fallen Between the Cracks?
What happened to the RCMP investigation into Bruce Carson that Harper himself ordered, presumably to get his own lard arse off the hook? Carson, you will recall, is the convicted fraud artist/disbarred lawyer/courtesan frequenting and purported influence peddling dirty old man who wangled his way into a fixer job in
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Did Bishop Mitt Coerce a Woman into a High-Risk Childbirth?
A lot of people have been predicting that Mitt Romney’s Mormon mishaps could undermine his presidential aspirations. Perhaps they’re right. “…the Republican presidential front-runner, has been accused in a new biography of forcing a female member of his Mormon church to risk death by giving birth despite complications with her
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Don’t Get Caught Holding the Bag on Fossil Fuels
The expected global drive to curb carbon emissions could create a fossil fuel bubble collapse. A coalition of prominent UK investors, politicians and scientists has warned the Bank of England that massive reserves of coal, oil and gas could turn into sub-prime assets. In an open letter on Thursday, they
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