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 readingTag: EU Politics
Blast Furnace Canada Blog: Berlusconi out, not because of "bunga bunga" but bonda bonda
After sticking around what seemed like forever, and beating off one sleaze scandal after another, the world’s most powerful womanizer, Silvio Berlusconi, has finally said he’s going to resign after bond markets pushed up the yield of Italy’s 10 year bo…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Greece and the game of chicken
It is truly unbelievable the game of chicken we’ve seen played this week in Europe. Just one week ago, Greece’s PM George Papandreou, was handed the deal of the millennium – a write off of 50% of his country’s debts — and he caused havoc when he w…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Wagging the dog, Mexican style
It’s been a little over 24 hours since the United States announced it had arrested an Iranian operative who was picked up in Mexico for wanting to try to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the US. If even half of it is true then it s…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Carney: €1 trillion to bail out Europe
We’re all used to the concept of “shock therapy” when it comes to finances. Canada went through that process a decade and a half ago in an unpopular but successful attempt to balance the budget and start paying down our debt. We…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Unfunded mandate galore, courtesy the Fed Cons
No surprise that the Cons reintroduced, yet again, their “omnibus” crime bill. And no surprise, again, that the Cons refused to say how much it will cost to implement — much less if there will be any commensurate transfers to the provinces…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: It’s not obstetrics, it’s obstruction
It’s taken some time to write this but I can’t wait any longer. It’s more than obvious that the Holy See simply doesn’t get it when it comes to child abuse.Not that long ago, in July of this year, an independent inquiry in Ireland led by Ju…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: DSK walks
In probably his most humiliating moment since becoming Manhattan’s DA, Cyrus Vance Jr has dropped all seven charges against Dominique Strauss Kahn in the allegation that he raped a hotel worker, now identified as Nafissatou Dialou — and the courts hav…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Latest Fed decision, and de Tocqueville on bombastic simpletons
The US Fed dropped its usual pretentiousness and the technocratic language often used in its statements on interest rate decisions and was remarkably clear in yesterday’s decision, in which it pledged (by a vote of 7 to 3 with two abstentions) to…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: UK lights up — is Canada next?
While no act of law enforcement, and no austerity measure, can justify the kind of rioting that has happened in the UK the last few days, one cannot help but appreciate the need to vent. These are not easy times and budget cutbacks can only…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: When "Free Trade" ain’t free
In the absence of any long term prospect for a Free Trade Area of the Americas, Canada has decided to go it alone and try for bilateral agreements. This started with the Chrétien Liberals but has continued under PMS.To date, we’ve si…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: What if what happened in Norway, happened here?
If what happened last weekend in Norway — the murders of 70+ people — were to happen here in Canada, what would our reaction be? Would we retrench and abandon our decades-old open door policy on immigration and adhere instead to a “Nativi…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: "I invested in a company called News Corp .." "Dad, that’s Fox!" "Argh! Undo, undo!"
Funny line from the 1999 Simpsons episode “Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo” but it got terribly serious today with one of the whistle blowers being found dead and PM David Cameron cutting short a visit to South Africa (presumably in part to honour Nelso…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Brooks is not the victim here
Why was Rebekah Brooks made to fall on her own sword? What happened to the buck stops here (meaning it’s the ownership of the paper, not the editors, who take responsibility)? Isn’t the Murdoch family who should give up Ne…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: BREAKING: Rupert throws in towel
The BBC has just reported, as I am writing this, that Rupert Murdoch and his News Corporation is giving up its bid for total control of BSkyB (he presently has a 39% stake in the DTH satellite company and its stable of news and sports channels). &…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: How low will Rupert go?
Former British PM Gordon Brown has gone on the offensive against Rupert Murdoch. He stated today that while both PM as well as Tony Blair’s Chancellor, his banking records and e-mails were hacked by the more reputable of Rupert’s publ…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Canada boycotts arms meeting
I rarely agree with the Harper Government on anything. But on this one, I do. We have every right, indeed the duty, to boycott a disarmament conference if the country chairing the meeting is North Korea. …
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Good riddance to one Murdoch newspaper, but here comes another …
The ever so controversial Sunday paper News of the World, which defies even the vilest of descriptions, is finally folding this weekend after 168 years after it got caught up in even more phone hacking scandals. The paper has raised eyebrow…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Another blow for DSK? (And yet another random rant about the double standard)
Just when when Dominque Strauss-Kahn thought he finally got a lucky break, now a French writer by the name of Tristane Banon has filed a complaint that he raped her in 2003. DSK in turn has filed a counter-complaint accusing her of filing a…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Case against DSK on shaky ground
The free world was shocked when Dominique Strauss Kahn was charged with sexual assault a few weeks back. But now, DSK’s bail conditions have been significantly relaxed after the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. (son of Jimmy Cart…
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