The president’s gone, Mr. Harper. You can come out now. Give the man his due, Stephen Harper towers over every other prime minister before him in how he has managed to embarrass himself, the office of prime minister and the country he supposedly represents on the world stage. He was
Continue readingTag: Obama
The Disaffected Lib: Big Oil Preps Harper for Obama Meeting
Stephen Harper apparently didn’t get the message that Obama doesn’t want to be pestered about the Keystone XL pipeline. U.S. officials in advance of the North American leaders summit in Mexico went out of their way to make it clear that Harper should back off. So, what did Stevie do?
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Keystone Ad Stephen Harper Doesn’t Want Americans to Watch
Well as you know he's been putting pressure on the Obama administration to approve his Keystone XL pipeline.And so have his Republican buddies. Republican leaders in Congress are planning a legislative offensive to force the White House’s hand on the Keystone XL pipeline decision if the Obama administration does not declare
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Pardon?
I’d wondered why the USA wasn’t chasing after draft dodgers still. On this day in 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter granted an unconditional pardon to hundreds of thousands of men… fb.me/2Zrr46qpA— Christina Cherneskey (@ccherneskey) January 21, 2014 My respect for Carter went up when I learned this. Obama could redeem
Continue readingOpenMedia.ca: Australians to Canadians: Beware TPP economic fallout
Over 125,000 people – including tens of thousands of Canadians – have now spoken out about the damaging Internet censorship proposals in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). We know from leaked drafts all about how the TPP would make your Internet more expensive, censored, and policed. Now, our friends in Australia
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Obama’s NSA is the East German Stasi of our time
German leader flat out states that Obama’s government is little better than the East German Stasi. “In an angry exchange with Barack Obama, Angela Merkel has compared the snooping practices of the US with those of the Stasi, the ubiquitous and all-powerful secret police of the communist dictatorship in East
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Irony of Raul Castro – Obama handshake: Cuba helped defeat S.A. apartheid in battle whereas U.S. sent Stingers to UNITA
Raúl Castro at Mandela memorial service / Nelson Mandela with Fidel in Cuba At the memorial service for Nelson Mandela, the media seized on the handshake between Barack Obama and the president of Cuba, Raúl Castro, as possible evidence of something more significant afoot in the relations between the two
Continue readingLeft Over: Big US Brother will Contine to Watch You….
Canadian Banks To Be Compelled To Share Clients’ Info With U.S. CBC | Posted: 11/25/2013 5:00 am EST As a happily ex-Yank who gladly and gratefully accepted citizenship in this far superior (in every way) country, Canada, many decades ago, I would personally like to point out to the Yanks that Canada
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Where Canada Is Going
It’s very important to Canada’s economy that we send a resource (we can’t use without killing the planet) to Communist China so their economy can continue to pollute at record pace as they ship unneeded goods to the United States and Canada so we can bury them in our landfills
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Obama’s Ongoing War Crimes
There may be nothing that conveys the degree to which the United States has debased itself in the supposed War on Terror more than the now infamous “Double Tap”. It’s a term coined by professional assassins to describe the insurance shot. In modern drone warfare, the Double Tap has been
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: US government shutdown drives people against Republicans and into the arms of Obama and the Democrats
Reportedly, Americans are blaming the Republicans for the government shutdown, which most of them do not like. This plays well for the Obama government and the Democratic Party. It has been a successful PR campaign so far, it would appear. The Democrats are looking good in the eyes of the
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: What The US Government Shutdown Really Shows
Last night, the US Government shut down all ‘non-essential’ services. The reason? Because a group of Republicans in the House of Representatives had a hissy fit over funding health care and tried to slam riders onto the budget legislation which would defund it, and the Senate refused to pass the amended
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Breaking: Right-Wing Terrorists Shutdown U.S. Government
Well yank my doodle dandy. One more good reason why right-wingers should never be allowed anywhere near a democracy. In Canada they've closed down Parliament, in the United States they've closed down the government. Read more »
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: US government shutdown, and other fairy tales and political theatre
I’m not sure what to make of the hoopla going on in the US right now. I’m inclined to think it’s all just political theatre, as Gerald Celente calls it, designed to distract the people from the real issues – the central one being, who controls the government and the
Continue readingImpolitical: Leadership noted
What a great display of striking, positive leadership for the good in the last 24 hours. First, this news of the Obama administration’s announcement today on limiting emissions from new power plants: A year after a plan by President Obama to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants set
Continue readingImpolitical: Leadership noted
What a great display of striking, positive leadership for the good in the last 24 hours. First, this news of the Obama administration’s announcement today on limiting emissions from new power plants: A year after a plan by President Obama to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants set
Continue readingImpolitical: Leadership noted
What a great display of striking, positive leadership for the good in the last 24 hours. First, this news of the Obama administration’s announcement today on limiting emissions from new power plants:
A year after a plan by President Obama to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants set off angry opposition, the administration will announce on Friday that it is not backing down from a confrontation with the coal industry and will press ahead with enacting the first federal carbon limits on the nation’s power companies.
This is executive action that does not require approval by Congress. Obama will, however, have to take on the coal industry. Yet somehow, doesn’t that now seem like much less of a task in the wake of Obama’s handling of the Syria crisis? The timing of this announcement seems to be one from a leader feeling emboldened, with that major international event just under his belt. Moving on now to one of the other major challenges the world faces.
And what will be the reaction of PM Harper? He of the letter to Obama asking for joint things to be done emissions-wise. Obama is acting. Unilaterally. What then is Canada prepared to do?
The second instance of leadership very much worth noting, the interview released of Pope Francis speaking on the Catholic church and his view of how the church needs to evolve.
Even if you are not a particularly religious person, this seems to have big implications. The way that this Pope, in such a position of influence and stature, is shifting the church from a close-minded, dogmatic institution to a non-judgmental, loving stance is remarkable. At least, that’s the way it is striking me. I see news of others similarly moved.
And I certainly don’t see how this is good news for those politicians who would seek to use gay issues and reproductive rights as exclusionary and divisive wedge political issues. This is a powerful counter.
And if you only read one thing on yesterday’s Pope news, I recommend this.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The U.S. and Assad. America Has Been Down This Road Before.
Is the United States poised to repeat the same mistakes in Syria that it made in Iraq after 1991? Chatham House, Associate Fellow, Nadim Shehadi, warns that is exactly what might happen. Some of the statements on Iraq from that period are eerily echoed today on Syria. Dick Cheney, then
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Democracy Now interview with Noam Chomsky on Syria and related matters: U.S. ‘torturing’ Iran for 60 years
In this talk hosted by Democracy Now, Noam Chomsky raises a number of key points with respect to the U.S. government’s approach to Syria and Iran. He also addresses the self-serving attitude of the U.S. with respect to international law. The spectacle of Barack Obama, a president known for his
Continue readingLeft Over: I’ll See Your Bombs, and Raise You Climate Change….
Harper offers Obama climate plan to win Keystone approval Sources say PM willing to accept emissions reduction targets proposed by the U.S. By Chris Hall, National Editor, CBC News Posted: Sep 6, 2013 2:15 PM ET Last Updated: Sep 6, 2013 10:08 PM ET First he pontificates (through his
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