Golly.Thank goodness for small mercies. It looks as if it's going to be a peaceful long weekend after all. Apart from the roar of fighter jets flying low over my house on final approach to the nearby air show. Because there's nothing like being woken up by a CF-18 eh?But at
Continue readingTag: Barack Obama
LeDaro: Syrian Civil War and Stephen Harper
Will this monkey dance when called upon by Obama to intervene in Syria’s civil war? Will he recall the Parliament the way Cameron of Britain did to make the decision? Cameron was turned down by the British Parliament. Or will he quietly join in without Parliament’s consent?
Continue readingLeDaro: Barack Obama and Martin Luther King
Was Obama a suitable person to give a speech on the 50th anniversary of MLK’s “I have a dream” speech? MLK may have his own weaknesses as he was human after all, but he was not a hypocrite like Obama. It was Martin Luther King’s efforts and Lyndon Johnson’s co-operation
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The real reasons for threats of war against Syria
(that the mass media won’t tell you about) 1. The Middle East holds 60% of the world’s remaining energy reserves: therefore, the entire region is critical to control – for anyone with an empire fetish, that is. And if you’re serious about controlling the Middle Eastern oil reserves, then you
Continue readingLeDaro: Power Struggle: Putin, Russia and the West
I watched a documentary last night on “Putin, Russia and the West.” It is an amazing story of power struggle between Russia and America. It revealed that how these two nations are trying to control the world politics, regime changes etc. Here is a small clip from the documentary: “Even
Continue readingLeDaro: Oprah Winfrey faces racism in Switzerland
Racism is well and alive in Europe and North America. Oprah Winfrey was denied service at a store in Zurich, Switzerland. She said she had similar experiences in America. Earlier Barack Obama commenting on Trayon Martin case stated that he faced similar treatment as he was growing up. It is
Continue readingLeDaro: Who is the bigger imperialist power: U. S or Russia
According Vladimir Putin it is America. “Veteran Kremlin-watcher Fyodor Lukyanov last month commented that letting Snowden into Russia would be like “turning a small headache into a major migraine.’’As Lukyanov puts it: ‘’If Putin cares about nothing else, he cares about how the Third World thinks about Russia. And the
Continue readingLeDaro: Relations between U.S and Russia are becoming tense
It looks like that the ‘cold war’ is slowly creeping back. Obama has snubbed Putin by cancelling his meeting with Putin in September. It looks that history does repeat itself. U.S. President Barack Obama said he was disappointed that Russia had granted temporary asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Great Surrender
He likes to pose as a patriot. Or go on and on about standing up for our sovereignty, in the True North strong and Conservative !!!!He has bombarded us with propaganda about the War of 1812, and how we beat the Americans eh?But now that the Americans are threatening to invade
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper’s Desperate War with the White House
Well I never said the end of the Con regime would be pretty eh? But who knew it would be so humiliating? Such a crude awakening. Read more »
Continue readingImpolitical: The Keystone jobs
I keep hearing people saying Obama still might approve Keystone. And who knows. But he’s sure not sounding like he’s going to do it at moments like this: If [Congressional Republicans have] got a better plan to create jobs rebuilding our infrastructure or to help workers earn the high-tech skills
Continue readingImpolitical: The Keystone jobs
I keep hearing people saying Obama still might approve Keystone. And who knows. But he’s sure not sounding like he’s going to do it at moments like this:
If [Congressional Republicans have] got a better plan to create jobs rebuilding our infrastructure or to help workers earn the high-tech skills they need, then they should offer up these ideas. But I’ve got to tell you, just gutting our environmental protection, that’s not a jobs plan. Gutting investments in education, that’s not a jobs plan. You know, they keep on talking about an oil pipeline coming down from Canada that’s estimated to create about 50 permanent jobs. That’s not a jobs plan.
That was a speech he gave yesterday. Obama gets the 50 number from a Cornell study that says this on job creation:
In this context, it is also important to consider that almost all of the jobs (direct, indirect
and induced) associated with Keystone XL will, of course, also be temporary. The operating
costs for KXL are very minimal, and based on the figures provided by TransCanada for the
Canadian section of the pipeline, the new permanent US pipeline jobs in the US number
as few as 50. The other operating expenditures (for materials, supplies, services, electric
power, property taxes, etc.) would comprise the bulk of operating expenses and would also
have some job impacts. So considering a broad range of spin-offs, operating expenditures
would have job impacts in the order of around 1,000 per year.It is unfortunate that the numbers generated by TransCanada, the industry, and the
Perryman study have been subject to so little scrutiny, because they clearly inflate the
projections for the numbers of direct, indirect, and long-term induced jobs that KXL might
expect to create. What is being offered by the proponents is advocacy to build support for
KXL, rather than serious research aimed to inform public debate and responsible decision
making. By repeating inflated numbers, the supporters of KXL approval are doing an
injustice to the American public in that expectations are raised for jobs that simply cannot be
met. These numbers—hundreds of thousands of jobs!—then get packaged as if KXL were a
major jobs program capable of registering some kind of significant impact on unemployment
levels and the overall economy. This is plainly untrue.
Current Canadian government advertising that can be seen on U.S. websites is touting 40,000 plus jobs that the pipeline will support during a two year construction period. More on that advertising, said to total about $16 million, here.
(h/t)
Continue readingImpolitical: The Keystone jobs
I keep hearing people saying Obama still might approve Keystone. And who knows. But he’s sure not sounding like he’s going to do it at moments like this: If [Congressional Republicans have] got a better plan to create jobs rebuilding our infrastructure or to help workers earn the high-tech skills
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: European Parliamentarians Ask President Obama To Free Bradley Manning
In this open letter to President Barack Obama and US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, European parliamentarians demand the immediate release of Bradley Manning. The post European Parliamentarians Ask President Obama To Free Bradley Manning appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingImpolitical: Obama on Keystone
In an extended interview published in the New York Times today, Keystone was raised with Obama: NYT: A couple other quick subjects that are economic-related. Keystone pipeline — Republicans especially talk about that as a big job creator. You’ve said that you would approve it only if you could be
Continue readingImpolitical: Obama on Keystone
In an extended interview published in the New York Times today, Keystone was raised with Obama: NYT: A couple other quick subjects that are economic-related. Keystone pipeline — Republicans especially talk about that as a big job creator. You’ve said that you would approve it only if you could be
Continue readingImpolitical: Obama on Keystone
In an extended interview published in the New York Times today, Keystone was raised with Obama:
NYT: A couple other quick subjects that are economic-related. Keystone pipeline — Republicans especially talk about that as a big job creator. You’ve said that you would approve it only if you could be assured it would not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon in the atmosphere. Is there anything that Canada could do or the oil companies could do to offset that as a way of helping you to reach that decision?
MR. OBAMA: Well, first of all, Michael, Republicans have said that this would be a big jobs generator. There is no evidence that that’s true. And my hope would be that any reporter who is looking at the facts would take the time to confirm that the most realistic estimates are this might create maybe 2,000 jobs during the construction of the pipeline — which might take a year or two — and then after that we’re talking about somewhere between 50 and 100 [chuckles] jobs in a economy of 150 million working people.
NYT: Yet there are a number of unions who want you to approve this.
MR. OBAMA: Well, look, they might like to see 2,000 jobs initially. But that is a blip relative to the need.
So what we also know is, is that that oil is going to be piped down to the Gulf to be sold on the world oil markets, so it does not bring down gas prices here in the United States. In fact, it might actually cause some gas prices in the Midwest to go up where currently they can’t ship some of that oil to world markets.
Now, having said that, there is a potential benefit for us integrating further with a reliable ally to the north our energy supplies. But I meant what I said; I’m going to evaluate this based on whether or not this is going to significantly contribute to carbon in our atmosphere. And there is no doubt that Canada at the source in those tar sands could potentially be doing more to mitigate carbon release.
NYT: And if they did, could that offset the concerns about the pipeline itself?
MR. OBAMA: We haven’t seen specific ideas or plans. But all of that will go into the mix in terms of John Kerry’s decision or recommendation on this issue.
Fascinating response from Obama there. First, he’s not buying the inflated jobs numbers related to Keystone. Recall Harper’s 2012 sit down session with an American think tank where he claimed that Keystone would be responsible for about 30,000 jobs. Obama is where the U.S. State Department has been, that the job benefits are on a much lower scale.
Also note those remarks that show he’s sticking to the principle that carbon release is a key decision making component for him. That sets approval at a very high bar. He’s putting the environmental consideration at the fore.
Then the bit about Canada doing more to mitigate carbon release. The Harper government will likely see this as an opening but it’s also not very welcoming language to a government that has tried to delay and skate on carbon emissions. It sounds like a stick that Obama is going to deploy.
It is promising though for those who care about the environment and think that a stick is just what the Harper government needs.
Continue readingLeDaro: Barack Obama on Trayvon Martin’s case
I am very impressed by the stand Barack Obama took on the case of Trayvon Martin who was murdered by George Zimmerman. “You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Obama, Trayvon Martin, and the Legacies of Pain
It may not go down in history as one of his greatest speeches.There were no soaring flights of rhetoric, he hardly raised his head as he delivered it.But I thought Barack Obama's reaction to the Trayvon Martin verdict was one of the finest moments of his Presidency.For this needed
Continue readingLeDaro: Barack Obama’s victory dance
…after winning the second term for the President of U.S.A
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