Great advance in trying to find an anti breast cancer vaccine. In Nature Medicine
An autoimmune-mediated strategy for prophylactic breast cancer vaccination
Ritika Jaini1,4, Pavani Kesaraju1,2,4, Justin M Johnson1, Cengiz Z Altuntas1,3, Daniel Jane-wit1,3 & Vincent K Tuohy1,2
Abstract
Although vaccination is most effective when used to prevent disease, cancer vaccine development has focused predominantly on providing therapy against established growing tumors1. The difficulty in developing prophylactic cancer vaccines is primarily due to the fact that tumor antigens are variations of self proteins and would probably mediate profound autoimmune
There is talk of human trials as early as next year. If all goes well, a vaccine could be available in 5 years. This also holds promise for other cancers like prostate cancer. Let's hope this research bears fruit.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Rex on the accidental tourist
Rex takes iffy apart. iffy really doesn't understand Canada or Canadians. He doesn't even understand his own party. I love this line: he'd be the perfect Canadian, by his terms ... if he'd never come back at all. bet the grits wish he was such a perfect Canadian
Mr. Ignatieff, in a recent Toronto speech, tried a little rhetorical judo on the Conservative ads. He tried to project the idea of Canada as a place in continual evolution, as the most internationalist of countries, and went so far as to say his "being out of the country" actually made him a better Canadian.
This last claim was merely excess and nonsense since, in logic, he'd be the perfect Canadian, by his terms ... if he'd never come back at all.
Let me be clear on this point. His absence is not a disqualification for our highest office, but it is a mighty obstacle. The common-sense response to having lived "out of country" for so long is that he cannot know it. We are, we Canadians, very much where we live. We learn our country by living in it, by absorbing the flow of its events, by acquiring an emotional as well as an intellectual grasp of its rhythms and moods. We inhabit this country, and it returns the favour: It inhabits us.
Mr. Ignatieff, in a recent Toronto speech, tried a little rhetorical judo on the Conservative ads. He tried to project the idea of Canada as a place in continual evolution, as the most internationalist of countries, and went so far as to say his "being out of the country" actually made him a better Canadian.
This last claim was merely excess and nonsense since, in logic, he'd be the perfect Canadian, by his terms ... if he'd never come back at all.
Let me be clear on this point. His absence is not a disqualification for our highest office, but it is a mighty obstacle. The common-sense response to having lived "out of country" for so long is that he cannot know it. We are, we Canadians, very much where we live. We learn our country by living in it, by absorbing the flow of its events, by acquiring an emotional as well as an intellectual grasp of its rhythms and moods. We inhabit this country, and it returns the favour: It inhabits us.
iffy is not a leader, but he is the grit leader
Remember how long John Turner hung around. The grit constitution does not allow a simple ouster, but more than that, the grits are no shape for a leadership race. So iffy will stay until at least after he loses the next election.
Liberals can't remove Ignatieff before next election, even if they wanted to
Untested Grit Leader Michael Ignatieff was a 'quick fix,' but trying to force him out would send party into a 'tailspin.'
By HARRIS MACLEOD
Published May 31, 2010
The Liberals are heading into the summer with their public support as low as it was under former leader Stéphane Dion, and some Grits are worried Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff will lead them to an even worse defeat in the next election, but options to improve the situation are limited.
"There has to be a growing concern about what's going to happen to the Liberal Party if he's at the helm in the next election," said Chris Dodd, who was a riding association president in the riding of Ottawa West-Nepean, but tore up his membership over the way Mr. Ignatieff was crowned leader.
Liberals can't remove Ignatieff before next election, even if they wanted to
Untested Grit Leader Michael Ignatieff was a 'quick fix,' but trying to force him out would send party into a 'tailspin.'
By HARRIS MACLEOD
Published May 31, 2010
The Liberals are heading into the summer with their public support as low as it was under former leader Stéphane Dion, and some Grits are worried Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff will lead them to an even worse defeat in the next election, but options to improve the situation are limited.
"There has to be a growing concern about what's going to happen to the Liberal Party if he's at the helm in the next election," said Chris Dodd, who was a riding association president in the riding of Ottawa West-Nepean, but tore up his membership over the way Mr. Ignatieff was crowned leader.
Canadian economy booming
The Canadian economy grew at twice the rate of the American. The grits and dippers continue to ignore the economy and continue slinging mud. Would the economy under a rae coalition prosper? With large tax increases and ever more government spending, I guarantee not.
Economy growing at 6.1% pace
3rd straight quarter of growth following recession
CBC News
Canada's economy expanded by 1.5 per cent in this year's first quarter, the third straight gain following a recession.
Statistics Canada released data Monday showing Canada's gross domestic product grew by 1.5 per cent between January and April inclusive, following a 1.2 per cent gain in the three months before that.
On an annualized basis, GDP grew 6.1 in the first quarter after advancing 4.9 in the fourth quarter of 2009. That pace of growth is the strongest in more than a decade.
The U.S. economy expanded at a three per cent pace during the same period.
Goods-producing industries grew by 2.7 per cent during the quarter, outpacing the 1.1 per cent gain in services. In manufacturing, the gains were widespread, with durable and non-durable goods advancing 5.9 and 2.1 per cent, respectively.
Economy growing at 6.1% pace
3rd straight quarter of growth following recession
CBC News
Canada's economy expanded by 1.5 per cent in this year's first quarter, the third straight gain following a recession.
Statistics Canada released data Monday showing Canada's gross domestic product grew by 1.5 per cent between January and April inclusive, following a 1.2 per cent gain in the three months before that.
On an annualized basis, GDP grew 6.1 in the first quarter after advancing 4.9 in the fourth quarter of 2009. That pace of growth is the strongest in more than a decade.
The U.S. economy expanded at a three per cent pace during the same period.
Goods-producing industries grew by 2.7 per cent during the quarter, outpacing the 1.1 per cent gain in services. In manufacturing, the gains were widespread, with durable and non-durable goods advancing 5.9 and 2.1 per cent, respectively.
death of the euro?
It looks more and more like the euro will not survive. Can the eu be far behind?
Greece urged to give up euro
Robert Watts
THE Greek government has been advised by British economists to leave the euro and default on its €300 billion (£255 billion) debt to save its economy.
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), a London-based consultancy, has warned Greek ministers they will be unable to escape their debt trap without devaluing their own currency to boost exports. The only way this can happen is if Greece returns to its own currency.
Greek politicians have played down the prospect of abandoning the euro, which could lead to the break-up of the single currency.
Greece urged to give up euro
Robert Watts
THE Greek government has been advised by British economists to leave the euro and default on its €300 billion (£255 billion) debt to save its economy.
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), a London-based consultancy, has warned Greek ministers they will be unable to escape their debt trap without devaluing their own currency to boost exports. The only way this can happen is if Greece returns to its own currency.
Greek politicians have played down the prospect of abandoning the euro, which could lead to the break-up of the single currency.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Mansur on Churchill and geopolitics
Again I ask where is our Churchill?
Geopolitics is a simple yet slippery notion about understanding politics in terms of the power capabilities of states on the global stage. It is a notion that has earned suspicion in English-speaking countries of the West for being associated with the politics of colonial-imperial age.
Politics in general, and international politics in particular, is about power that can never be fixed permanently.
Power is fluid and it is an amalgam of tangible and intangible resources. It is both the hardware and software of a state and its people and it needs to be harnessed and mobilized in securing and pursuing interests states set for themselves.
Just about everyone in a democracy has an opinion about politics. Yet rare is an individual who grasps ahead of others politics in terms of power at a particular time in history, understands the geopolitical setting, and is alert to the changes wrought by science and technology to the nature of power. When such power is possessed by demonic leaders, they might do immense harm to others.
Churchill was such a politician, statesman and historian. Seventy years after that heroic period in British and Commonwealth history when Churchill defiantly inspired and led the free world to eventually defeat Nazi Germany, remembering him is also thinking geopolitically about politics.
Thinking geopolitically means assessing global politics in terms of culture, economy, sociology, demography, history, ideology and personality type in reference to individual leaders.
It is to penetrate the fog of politically correct speech and dare to be vigilant about freedom.
In the post-9/11 world, the threat to freedom emanates from tyrants and closed societies armed — or seeking to be armed — with weapons of mass destruction while colluding with terrorists.
Geopolitics is a simple yet slippery notion about understanding politics in terms of the power capabilities of states on the global stage. It is a notion that has earned suspicion in English-speaking countries of the West for being associated with the politics of colonial-imperial age.
Politics in general, and international politics in particular, is about power that can never be fixed permanently.
Power is fluid and it is an amalgam of tangible and intangible resources. It is both the hardware and software of a state and its people and it needs to be harnessed and mobilized in securing and pursuing interests states set for themselves.
Just about everyone in a democracy has an opinion about politics. Yet rare is an individual who grasps ahead of others politics in terms of power at a particular time in history, understands the geopolitical setting, and is alert to the changes wrought by science and technology to the nature of power. When such power is possessed by demonic leaders, they might do immense harm to others.
Churchill was such a politician, statesman and historian. Seventy years after that heroic period in British and Commonwealth history when Churchill defiantly inspired and led the free world to eventually defeat Nazi Germany, remembering him is also thinking geopolitically about politics.
Thinking geopolitically means assessing global politics in terms of culture, economy, sociology, demography, history, ideology and personality type in reference to individual leaders.
It is to penetrate the fog of politically correct speech and dare to be vigilant about freedom.
In the post-9/11 world, the threat to freedom emanates from tyrants and closed societies armed — or seeking to be armed — with weapons of mass destruction while colluding with terrorists.
The Religious Right?
I wrote this letter in response to Josee Legault's article on marci macdonald's delusional book.
The faithful have rights, too
THE GAZETTE MAY 30, 2010
Re: "The religious right and Harper" (Opinion, April 28).
What a surprise. Tory- hater Josée Legault is enraptured by Marci McDonald's, factually challenged paranoid delusion, The Armageddon Factor. It seems that religious people need to stay out of the public square because only followers of the secular humanist cult should be listened to.
But religious people have as much right to speak and to lobby the government as anyone else. Perhaps one reason that religious people are more likely to vote Conservative is the disrespect shown them by the Grits, the Dippers, and the Bloc.
To those who wish to silence religious voices, I say, we will not be silenced. We have every right to speak out, and we are certainly not all of one opinion, even on social issues. I, for example, am pro-life, but I don't have any problems with same-sex marriage.
Roy Eappen
Montreal
The faithful have rights, too
THE GAZETTE MAY 30, 2010
Re: "The religious right and Harper" (Opinion, April 28).
What a surprise. Tory- hater Josée Legault is enraptured by Marci McDonald's, factually challenged paranoid delusion, The Armageddon Factor. It seems that religious people need to stay out of the public square because only followers of the secular humanist cult should be listened to.
But religious people have as much right to speak and to lobby the government as anyone else. Perhaps one reason that religious people are more likely to vote Conservative is the disrespect shown them by the Grits, the Dippers, and the Bloc.
To those who wish to silence religious voices, I say, we will not be silenced. We have every right to speak out, and we are certainly not all of one opinion, even on social issues. I, for example, am pro-life, but I don't have any problems with same-sex marriage.
Roy Eappen
Montreal
Bibi in Toronto
I got a great seat to see Bibi Netanyahu today. I arrived early and left around noon. I never saw a single protester. Though my friend Arnie at BCF was not so lucky. Shame on the Toronto police for not arresting the thug. Lots of familar faces including my friend Joanne from
Lumpy,Grumpy and Frumpy. Tim Hudak and his family were there, as were all the Toronto Mayoral candidates. Rocci Rossi raised more than $1800 for UJA and was a member of the Chai club. Sara Thomson and Rob Ford and all the rest were also there.I met the deputy editor of the Jerusalem Post David Brinn.
It was a huge crowd of enthusiatic walkers who had come for the annual UJA walk for Israel.Bibi was proceeded by several speakers and the evnet was more than an hour late. HM Minister of State for Foreign Affairs for the Americas Peter Kent gave an excellent speech praising our close ties to Israel and condemning palestinian violence.
Speaking before Netanyahu, Canadian Foreign Minister Peter Kent referred to a recent magazine article in The Economist whose headline read: “Canada and Israel – Unlikely Allies.”
“With all due respect, the title couldn’t be more wrong,” Kent said. “As vibrant and democratic states in which the rule of law and human rights are observed and revered, Canada and Israel are the likeliest and the most natural of allies.”
"when faced by those who seek to wipe both it and the Jewish people from the face of the Earth, Israel can always count on our unequivocal support."
Bibi gave a great speech praising HM PM Harper to the heavens. Every time HM PM Harper's name was said, it drew rapturous applaiuse.
Mr. Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa on Monday.
In his speech, Mr. Netanyahu said Mr. Harper “has been an unwavering friend of Israel. He’s been a great champion of Israel’s right to defend itself. And he stands against all efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state,” adding that, “The ties between Canada and Israel have never been stronger.”
Bibi spoke of a demilitarized palestinian state. And about the state sponsor of terror, Iran.
It was the first time since 1978 that a sitting Israeli prime minister addressed Toronto's Jewish community. Netanyahu's speech was seen as a thank-you for the Harper government's staunchly pro-Israel stance.
Netanyahu said the people of Israel "are prepared to make compromises for peace but they're not and I'm not prepared to make any compromises on our security. Israel will never ever give up the power to defend itself."
"And just as we are asked to recognize a nation-state for the Palestinian people, the Palestinians will have to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. The Palestinians will have to recognize the Jewish state," he said emphatically.
Meantime, Israel's "first and foremost" challenge is to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Netanyahu said.
Whole speech at Gay and Right. Note how Bibi praises CIC and UJA.
Lord Black on prison
Lord Black's imprisonment has made me much more cynical about American justice. Jailing non violent criminals is probably a bad idea. Jailing small time drug users is probably a bad idea. As I have already said I favor the Portugese solution of decriminalizing small amounts of drugs and increasing rehab. I don't totally agree with Lord Black about violent criminals. that's what jails ate for. The same goes for sex offenders. I have often complained about minimal sentences for violent acts. That is still my opinion. Lord. Black does make several interesting points and I think we as conservatives should pay some attention.
In the past two years, as regular readers in this space would know, thanks to my gracious hosts in the U.S. government, I have had what could be called extensive hands-on experience of the American correctional system. I have been tutoring and teaching fellow prisoners in English, and in U.S. history. And some of them have taught me how to read music, play the piano, keep fit, diet sensibly and assimilate some local folkways, while I have been fighting my way through the courts toward a just disposition of the few remaining (unfounded) charges that bedevil me. The fact that all my life any definition of Canada's virtue and distinctiveness has prominently included references to civility and decency explains my alarm and outrage at finally reading the three-year-old report on the Correctional Service of Canada, misleadingly titled "A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety."
In the past two years, as regular readers in this space would know, thanks to my gracious hosts in the U.S. government, I have had what could be called extensive hands-on experience of the American correctional system. I have been tutoring and teaching fellow prisoners in English, and in U.S. history. And some of them have taught me how to read music, play the piano, keep fit, diet sensibly and assimilate some local folkways, while I have been fighting my way through the courts toward a just disposition of the few remaining (unfounded) charges that bedevil me. The fact that all my life any definition of Canada's virtue and distinctiveness has prominently included references to civility and decency explains my alarm and outrage at finally reading the three-year-old report on the Correctional Service of Canada, misleadingly titled "A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety."
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Polar Bears
The chicken littles are always crying "what about the polar bears?" So what about them. The Inuit say, the polar bears are alright. So now the chicken littles will have to look to something eles.
The Nunavut government does not think the polar bear should be classified as a species of special concern under the federal Species at Risk Act, says territorial Environment Minister Daniel Shewchuk.
Shewchuk said there is no clear evidence to support assigning that status to the polar bear despite recommendations to the contrary by Environment Canada and a federal scientific panel.
"We live in polar bear country," Shewchuk told reporters in Iqaluit on Friday afternoon. "We understand the polar bears, and we do actually think our polar bear population is very very healthy, with the exception of a couple of populations that we are taking action on."
It is a very bad time for the chicken littles. There is rebelion at the Royal Society.
Even the warmists at newsweek seem to be in despair.
The shift has left many once celebrated climate researchers feeling like the used-car salesmen of the science world. In Britain, one leading scientist told an interviewer he is taking anti-anxiety pills and considered suicide following the leak of thousands of IPCC-related e-mails and documents suggesting that researchers cherry-picked data and suppressed rival studies to play up global warming. In the U.S., another researcher is under investigation for allegedly using exaggerated climate data to obtain public funds. In an open letter published in the May issue of Science magazine, 255 American climate researchers decry “political assaults” on their work by “deniers” and followers of “dogma” and “special interests.”
The Nunavut government does not think the polar bear should be classified as a species of special concern under the federal Species at Risk Act, says territorial Environment Minister Daniel Shewchuk.
Shewchuk said there is no clear evidence to support assigning that status to the polar bear despite recommendations to the contrary by Environment Canada and a federal scientific panel.
"We live in polar bear country," Shewchuk told reporters in Iqaluit on Friday afternoon. "We understand the polar bears, and we do actually think our polar bear population is very very healthy, with the exception of a couple of populations that we are taking action on."
It is a very bad time for the chicken littles. There is rebelion at the Royal Society.
Even the warmists at newsweek seem to be in despair.
The shift has left many once celebrated climate researchers feeling like the used-car salesmen of the science world. In Britain, one leading scientist told an interviewer he is taking anti-anxiety pills and considered suicide following the leak of thousands of IPCC-related e-mails and documents suggesting that researchers cherry-picked data and suppressed rival studies to play up global warming. In the U.S., another researcher is under investigation for allegedly using exaggerated climate data to obtain public funds. In an open letter published in the May issue of Science magazine, 255 American climate researchers decry “political assaults” on their work by “deniers” and followers of “dogma” and “special interests.”
Goldstein takes loser bobby rae apart
Lorrie Goldstein pokes so many holes in bobby rae's logic, it looks like Swiss cheese. By all this coalition talk, bobby does concede that the grits have no hope in winning with iffy. I guess he is trying to suggest they could win with him, but iff that seems pretty iffy. Voila, the coalition of the losers 2.
A coalition of losers: Goldstein
Is know-it-all Bob Rae conceding next election?
By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN, TORONTO SUN
Count on Bob Rae to never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
The Liberal MP, would-be Liberal leader and former Ontario NDP premier is demonstrating that yet again these days by talking up a Liberal/NDP coalition government following the next election.
By promoting the coalition now, Rae is tacitly admitting he thinks the Conservatives will win the most seats, with the Liberals (presumably) finishing second.
A coalition of losers: Goldstein
Is know-it-all Bob Rae conceding next election?
By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN, TORONTO SUN
Count on Bob Rae to never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
The Liberal MP, would-be Liberal leader and former Ontario NDP premier is demonstrating that yet again these days by talking up a Liberal/NDP coalition government following the next election.
By promoting the coalition now, Rae is tacitly admitting he thinks the Conservatives will win the most seats, with the Liberals (presumably) finishing second.
iffy and the grits continue to limbo
Ho low can they go? the grits are now under their 30% floor all of the time. They are now around 25% support. The Tory lead continues to grow. The grit non scandals have almost no effect, except for lowering the tone of debate.
How low can you go iffy and the grits?
OTTAWA - The Conservatives are widening their gap over the federal Liberals, a new poll by Leger Marketing for QMI Agency suggests.
The Tories lead by 12 percentage points across the country, holding steady at 37% - nearly the same percentage of vote share that delivered a minority government in October 2008.
Liberals obtained 25% of respondents’ support while the NDP received 17%, a three percentage drop from a similar Leger survey last month.
How low can you go iffy and the grits?
OTTAWA - The Conservatives are widening their gap over the federal Liberals, a new poll by Leger Marketing for QMI Agency suggests.
The Tories lead by 12 percentage points across the country, holding steady at 37% - nearly the same percentage of vote share that delivered a minority government in October 2008.
Liberals obtained 25% of respondents’ support while the NDP received 17%, a three percentage drop from a similar Leger survey last month.
maoists continue their murderous ways
maoist rebels have killed dozens of innocents on a train attack in India. Terrorists must be found and severely punished. Yet another reason to despise communism.
More than 100 people are now known to have been killed in a train crash in eastern India.
At least 145 people were injured - many critically - when two trains collided overnight in West Bengal.
Police said Maoist rebels sabotaged the track causing the Calcutta-Mumbai passenger train to derail, throwing five of its carriages into the path of an oncoming goods train.
But a spokesman for the Maoist rebels called the BBC to deny any involvement.
A railway spokesman said 78 bodies had been recovered, but that more than 30 remained trapped in three carriages that were crushed by the freight train. recovered, but that more than 30 remained trapped in three carriages that were crushed by the freight train.
More than 100 people are now known to have been killed in a train crash in eastern India.
At least 145 people were injured - many critically - when two trains collided overnight in West Bengal.
Police said Maoist rebels sabotaged the track causing the Calcutta-Mumbai passenger train to derail, throwing five of its carriages into the path of an oncoming goods train.
But a spokesman for the Maoist rebels called the BBC to deny any involvement.
A railway spokesman said 78 bodies had been recovered, but that more than 30 remained trapped in three carriages that were crushed by the freight train. recovered, but that more than 30 remained trapped in three carriages that were crushed by the freight train.
Friday, May 28, 2010
The peaceful Imam
I have great admiration for the Aga Khan. He preaches tolerance and peace and I have never heard of a jihadi from this sect of Islam. I am glad HM PM Harper has made him an honorourary citizen of Canada.
Cirque de Soleil: Totem
R.I.P. Gary Coleman
I enjoyed watching Gary Coleman in Different Strokes. The premise of the show was heartwarming. I believe we have a duty to those around us. Mr Drummond took in the children of his housekeeper and raised them as his own. Unfortunately Gary Coleman didn't have some one like Mr Drummond in his real life. There is something unnatural about a family living off their minor children. Coleman sued his parents for stealing millions.It often leads to disaster. Being a child star is often a bad idea, unless you have strong loving parfents. The parents of Ron Howard banked all of his salary and treated him like a normal kid. he has survived so many others have not. Different Strokes has been a disaster for the child actors involved. Dana Plato is dead. I hear her son killed himself recntly and willis is just recovering from his troubles.. I hope Gary Coleman has found some peace. His life sounded very sad to me. Which is sad, because he brought laughs to many people. May you rest in peace Arnold.
Maxime Bernier in the Financial Post
Reducing taxes is always a good idea. The government feeds on taxes and grows to raise taxes even further. The government must be starved. This article is excerpted from Maxime's Winnipeg speech. Maxime needs to be in cabinet !! More here at Frontier site.
Abolish the corporate tax — only real people pay taxes
By Maxime Bernier
A famous American jurist, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., wrote in 1927 that taxes are the price we pay for civilization. However much truth there may be in this statement, we’ve now gone way beyond this. Taxes today are the price we pay for having a big, fat and inefficient bureaucracy that tries to intervene in every aspect of our lives.
As long as we have taxes, however, we should make sure that they cause the least possible distortion in our economy.
Some taxes are really dumb. A tax on capital is self-defeating, in that it slows down capital accumulation, investment and economic growth. Fortunately, it has been abolished at the federal level. And our government provided an incentive in the 2007 budget to encourage provinces that still have a tax on capital to phase it out....
Abolish the corporate tax — only real people pay taxes
By Maxime Bernier
A famous American jurist, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., wrote in 1927 that taxes are the price we pay for civilization. However much truth there may be in this statement, we’ve now gone way beyond this. Taxes today are the price we pay for having a big, fat and inefficient bureaucracy that tries to intervene in every aspect of our lives.
As long as we have taxes, however, we should make sure that they cause the least possible distortion in our economy.
Some taxes are really dumb. A tax on capital is self-defeating, in that it slows down capital accumulation, investment and economic growth. Fortunately, it has been abolished at the federal level. And our government provided an incentive in the 2007 budget to encourage provinces that still have a tax on capital to phase it out....
maurice strong, the original socialist hoaxster
When I call it environmentostalinism , it is mostly because of maurice strong. strong is anti-human. he is now living in communist China.
Mr. Strong has been central to reformulating socialism’s grand narrative in radical environmental terms. He was the mastermind of the seminal UN environmental conferences at Stockholm in 1972 and Rio in 1992. He is a key promoter of the subversive anti-market concepts of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. He is the godfather of climate-change hysteria.
Mr. Beck fingers Mr. Strong as part of a cabal (exotically dubbed “Crime Inc.”) that wants to take down the global economy en route to taking global control.
Mr. Strong has posted a brief article on his website (www.mauricestrong.net) in which he responds to “misinformation, misinterpretation and outright lying by my critics.” The only critic he mentions is not Glenn Beck, but yours truly. Nor does he deal with the points raised by Mr. Beck, who, on his TV show, brought up an interview that Mr. Strong gave almost 20 years ago in which he opined on a novel he was thinking of writing. It would involve a cabal of concerned citizens taking control of the globe. Mr. Beck noted that Mr. Strong had not found time to write such a novel. Rather, he seemed to be living the “plot” himself.
Notice what this monster says 38 years ago. he is a threat to freedom and humanity .
Mr. Strong has been central to reformulating socialism’s grand narrative in radical environmental terms. He was the mastermind of the seminal UN environmental conferences at Stockholm in 1972 and Rio in 1992. He is a key promoter of the subversive anti-market concepts of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. He is the godfather of climate-change hysteria.
Mr. Beck fingers Mr. Strong as part of a cabal (exotically dubbed “Crime Inc.”) that wants to take down the global economy en route to taking global control.
Mr. Strong has posted a brief article on his website (www.mauricestrong.net) in which he responds to “misinformation, misinterpretation and outright lying by my critics.” The only critic he mentions is not Glenn Beck, but yours truly. Nor does he deal with the points raised by Mr. Beck, who, on his TV show, brought up an interview that Mr. Strong gave almost 20 years ago in which he opined on a novel he was thinking of writing. It would involve a cabal of concerned citizens taking control of the globe. Mr. Beck noted that Mr. Strong had not found time to write such a novel. Rather, he seemed to be living the “plot” himself.
Notice what this monster says 38 years ago. he is a threat to freedom and humanity .
Peggy Noonan on bo
Peggy, bo's popularity was already tanking. This should guarantee that bo is a one term president. This article is pretty damning.
He Was Supposed to Be Competent
The spill is a disaster for the president and his political philosophy.
By PEGGY NOONAN
I don't see how the president's position and popularity can survive the oil spill. This is his third political disaster in his first 18 months in office. And they were all, as they say, unforced errors, meaning they were shaped by the president's political judgment and instincts.
There was the tearing and unnecessary war over his health-care proposal and its cost. There was his day-to-day indifference to the views and hopes of the majority of voters regarding illegal immigration. And now the past almost 40 days of dodging and dithering in the face of an environmental calamity. I don't see how you politically survive this.
The president, in my view, continues to govern in a way that suggests he is chronically detached from the central and immediate concerns of his countrymen. This is a terrible thing to see in a political figure, and a startling thing in one who won so handily and shrewdly in 2008. But he has not, almost from the day he was inaugurated, been in sync with the center. The heart of the country is thinking each day about A, B and C, and he is thinking about X, Y and Z. They're in one reality, he's in another.
He Was Supposed to Be Competent
The spill is a disaster for the president and his political philosophy.
By PEGGY NOONAN
I don't see how the president's position and popularity can survive the oil spill. This is his third political disaster in his first 18 months in office. And they were all, as they say, unforced errors, meaning they were shaped by the president's political judgment and instincts.
There was the tearing and unnecessary war over his health-care proposal and its cost. There was his day-to-day indifference to the views and hopes of the majority of voters regarding illegal immigration. And now the past almost 40 days of dodging and dithering in the face of an environmental calamity. I don't see how you politically survive this.
The president, in my view, continues to govern in a way that suggests he is chronically detached from the central and immediate concerns of his countrymen. This is a terrible thing to see in a political figure, and a startling thing in one who won so handily and shrewdly in 2008. But he has not, almost from the day he was inaugurated, been in sync with the center. The heart of the country is thinking each day about A, B and C, and he is thinking about X, Y and Z. They're in one reality, he's in another.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Welcome Bibi
I am staunchly pro Israel. I have said I am a Christian Zionist in the pages of the NP. I am a staunch friend of the Jewish people. I make no apology for either statement. I am happy that HM PM Harper and the Tories share my views. Prime Minister Netanyahu has noticed and so has the Economist. I welcome the Israeli Prime Minister to Canada.
Unlikely allies
Israel’s new North American friend
May 27th 2010 | OTTAWA | From The Economist print edition
THE last time Binyamin Netanyahu visited Canada, in 2002, he had to cancel a stop at a Montreal university after protests turned violent. When Israel’s prime minister meets Stephen Harper, his Canadian counterpart, in Ottawa on May 31st, he can expect a far warmer welcome. While Israel’s relationship with the United States has been strained during Barack Obama’s presidency, its ties with Canada have flourished under Mr Harper. “It is hard to find a country friendlier to Israel than Canada these days,” said Avigdor Lieberman, Mr Netanyahu’s ultranationalist foreign minister, on a trip to Ottawa last year. “No other country in the world has demonstrated such a full understanding of us.”
Mr Harper wasted little time in changing Canada’s traditionally even-handed stance towards the Middle East. One of his first moves as prime minister was to cut funding to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas’s victory in legislative elections. In July 2006, he called Israel’s controversial pounding of southern Lebanon “measured”. He stood by his words even after seven Canadian civilians and a Canadian UN peacekeeper were killed in the onslaught. Peter McKay, then the foreign minister, explained that “it’s not a difficult choice between siding with a democracy that’s being attacked by terrorists and a group of cold-blooded killers.”
Unlikely allies
Israel’s new North American friend
May 27th 2010 | OTTAWA | From The Economist print edition
THE last time Binyamin Netanyahu visited Canada, in 2002, he had to cancel a stop at a Montreal university after protests turned violent. When Israel’s prime minister meets Stephen Harper, his Canadian counterpart, in Ottawa on May 31st, he can expect a far warmer welcome. While Israel’s relationship with the United States has been strained during Barack Obama’s presidency, its ties with Canada have flourished under Mr Harper. “It is hard to find a country friendlier to Israel than Canada these days,” said Avigdor Lieberman, Mr Netanyahu’s ultranationalist foreign minister, on a trip to Ottawa last year. “No other country in the world has demonstrated such a full understanding of us.”
Mr Harper wasted little time in changing Canada’s traditionally even-handed stance towards the Middle East. One of his first moves as prime minister was to cut funding to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas’s victory in legislative elections. In July 2006, he called Israel’s controversial pounding of southern Lebanon “measured”. He stood by his words even after seven Canadian civilians and a Canadian UN peacekeeper were killed in the onslaught. Peter McKay, then the foreign minister, explained that “it’s not a difficult choice between siding with a democracy that’s being attacked by terrorists and a group of cold-blooded killers.”
Good
I think this is a good thing. It is more optics than anything. I don't begrudge MP's their salaries , expenses or pensions. I would raise their salaries. If we want the brightest and the best in parliament , we have to pay them. Many of these men and women could earn far more in the private sector. I do think that making their expenses public is a good idea.
The Conservative government plans to introduce a series of proposals to other parties next week to ensure greater transparency for MP and parliamentary expenses, CBC News has learned.
MPs from all four political parties have heard an earful from constituents over a secretive parliamentary board's recent decision to reject federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser's request to conduct a performance audit of $533 million in annual spending by the House of Commons and the Senate.
Government House Leader Jay Hill's proposals will include an invitation to Fraser to conduct such a performance audit, also known as a "value for money" audit, of all MPs' expenses.
They also include a call for a performance audit of parliamentary administration and parliamentary officials, as well as Senate officials and senators.
The details of the terms of reference, and frequency, of these audits would be determined by the Board of Internal Economy, the all-party Commons body that initially denied Fraser's request. The proposals will be taken to the board next week.
As well, the government proposal would state that all MPs' and leaders' offices should disclose expenses proactively. It calls for an agreement to be resolved without conflict or animosity between parties.
The Conservative government plans to introduce a series of proposals to other parties next week to ensure greater transparency for MP and parliamentary expenses, CBC News has learned.
MPs from all four political parties have heard an earful from constituents over a secretive parliamentary board's recent decision to reject federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser's request to conduct a performance audit of $533 million in annual spending by the House of Commons and the Senate.
Government House Leader Jay Hill's proposals will include an invitation to Fraser to conduct such a performance audit, also known as a "value for money" audit, of all MPs' expenses.
They also include a call for a performance audit of parliamentary administration and parliamentary officials, as well as Senate officials and senators.
The details of the terms of reference, and frequency, of these audits would be determined by the Board of Internal Economy, the all-party Commons body that initially denied Fraser's request. The proposals will be taken to the board next week.
As well, the government proposal would state that all MPs' and leaders' offices should disclose expenses proactively. It calls for an agreement to be resolved without conflict or animosity between parties.
The timid iffy and his timid grits
iffy is all talk and no action, that according to red star leftist thomas walkom. So even the red star believes that iffy is ineffective in opposition, why on earth should he be considered to be HM PM? It is adion all over again. iffy is not a leader.
Canadians spend much time debating which party would make the best government. Perhaps, in this era of minority parliaments, we should focus equally on who would do the best job of acting as official opposition.
Because it seems that Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals certainly aren’t up to the job.
The latest example of Liberal ineffectiveness is the party’s contradictory approach to a massive omnibus bill working its way through the Commons.
Bill C-9 is ostensibly designed to implement federal budget measures, including some popular tax changes, approved back in March.
Canadians spend much time debating which party would make the best government. Perhaps, in this era of minority parliaments, we should focus equally on who would do the best job of acting as official opposition.
Because it seems that Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals certainly aren’t up to the job.
The latest example of Liberal ineffectiveness is the party’s contradictory approach to a massive omnibus bill working its way through the Commons.
Bill C-9 is ostensibly designed to implement federal budget measures, including some popular tax changes, approved back in March.
Women's Information Network
My friend Deborah Rankin is certainly not a Tory. She considers herself a progressive and a feminist. She is very much pro life. She has founded a new organization. Here is the press release. She can be reached at dkarankin@yahoo.ca for more info.
Women's Information Network Statement on Maternal-Child Healthcare for G8 Summit
Women's Information Network (W.I.N.) salutes the Canadian Government's commitment to put maternal-child healthcare at the top of its agenda when Canada hosts the G8 summit in June, 2010, and strongly supports the human rights of all elected representatives in Parliament to vote their consciences on this pressing moral issue, free from partisan reprisals.
W.I.N. supports the "conscience rights" of all elected representatives at all levels of government, and in all instances of public life, and supports substantive democratic debate on all issues as the best guarantor of these rights.
The lack of adequate maternal-infant healthcare in the developing world is an urgent concern requiring clear thinking and goodwill from politicians who have the power to make a real difference. Too many women lack the necessities of life, a sad fact that contributes to poor maternal-infant health outcomes.
Yet, women and their children have fundamental human rights to protection, aid, and healthcare, especially during the pre-natal and post-natal years, under the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
W.I.N. supports the rights of women and children to receive healthcare without any strings attached and strongly opposes any attempt to make funding for abortion a condition of providing this vital humanitarian aid to women and children in some of the poorest countries in the world.
Abortion is incompatible with maternal-child healthcare because it harms the mother, baby, and subsequent born children. Copious research links it to infertility, breast cancer, and depression, while Canada's own long-suppressed research shows elevated risks for suicide and psychosis in post-abortive women.
Abortion causes fetal death, yet one of the goals of maternal-infant healthcare is to reduce the incidence of fetal death i.e. from smoking and other causes. W.I.N. emphasizes that human embryos and fetuses are unique-DNA nascent human beings, and not blobs of tissue, parasites, or tumors, as many abortion advocates claim.
Multiple studies also link abortion to prematurity and low birth weight in subsequent born infants, risk factors for the development of diseases such as diabetes, cerebral palsy, and retardation.
Proactive abortion policies have also resulted in many unforeseen social problems, especially coerced abortion, coupled with violence towards pregnant women who refuse to abort, the latter all too often resulting in fetal injury or fetal death, and increased risk of subsequent miscarriage. The most horrific result is homicide of the mother, with murder by a woman's male partner now the leading cause of death among pregnant women in the US.
Legal abortion has also been accompanied by a marked increase in father absenteeism and the ensuing feminization of poverty when deadbeat dads refuse tosupport their children, rationalizing that the woman could have had an abortion instead.
Coerced abortion is often used to cover up the sexual abuse of minors, and most shockingly, sex slavery, a gravely serious problem in the developing world. Amnesty International opposes forced abortion as a human rights violation and W.I.N. urges all concerned citizens to say a clear no to it.
Since, undeniably, some women die from abortion, either as a direct cause or as an underlying factor in some maternal deaths, often leaving born children without a mother to care for them, W.I.N. believes that the best way to prevent abortion-related deaths is to prevent abortion itself, by deterring legal abortion through health education and better social support for mothers, especially those at the margins of society, and by enforcing prohibitions against illegal abortion.
Given these gripping realities, it can't be reasonably argued that abortion is in the "best interests of the child", the framing principle of the law. W.I.N. firmly believes that the best interests of the child must prevail in determining all norms and standards for maternal-child healthcare.
W.I.N. also strongly opposes "fertility reduction quotas", an intrinsically coercive framework, in the guise of maintaining sustainable population levels, whether such measures are implemented through abortion, sterilization, or contraception. Human beings don't have the same status as animals, and must never be viewed as resources to be managed. Human population control is illegitimate and violates human dignity, as well as human rights.
W.I.N. supports access to family planning resources, including contraception, to help space pregnancies. However, this access must be based solely on free and informed consent. W.I.N. emphasizes that some contraceptive options may have health risks that outweigh benefits, or may conflict with a woman's moral values or personal goals.
W.I.N cautions that family planning isn't the same as maternal-child healthcare and must be viewed only as an option and never as a prerequisite of healthcare for mothers or their children. W.I.N. notes that, under medicare, family planning isn't tied to maternal-child healthcare. Last year, priority access to Swine Flu inoculations for mothers and young children wasn't contingent upon agreement to use contraception, nor were contraceptives or contraceptive information provided on this occasion.
W.I.N. rejects the view that abortion is a form of family-planning. Rather, in most cases it is a crisis-management option that, in countries where abortion is legal, depends upon a misuse of medical resources to solve social problems.
W.I.N. supports educating women about their reproductive cycles by teaching them ovulation detection, a scientifically proven method used to avoid or achieve pregnancy, as well as informing them about the natural contraceptive benefits of the Lactational Amenorrhea Method, the scientific name for breast feeding.
W.I.N. believes that maternal-child healthcare can be best accomplished through a preventative health approach promoting nutrition, inoculations, breast feeding, home visits from nurses, training midwives and front-line workers, providing emergency obstetrical care, protecting a sustainable blood supply, and ensuring clean water and sanitation, coupled with community development requiring the staffing and building of schools, hospitals, birthing-centers, and housing, standardized to current building codes, as well as modernization of transportation and infrastructure, while redoubling efforts to advance literacy and gender equality.
W.I.N. urges our Canadian Government to be steadfast in bringing forward this important and timely initiative without compromising its whole health vision.
Deborah Rankin
Founder/Director
Women's Information Network
Copyright 2010 Deborah Rankin
All rights reserved. This material may be transmitted for educational purposes only, and may not be reproduced in part or in whole for publication or sale without the express permission of the author.
Women's Information Network Statement on Maternal-Child Healthcare for G8 Summit
Women's Information Network (W.I.N.) salutes the Canadian Government's commitment to put maternal-child healthcare at the top of its agenda when Canada hosts the G8 summit in June, 2010, and strongly supports the human rights of all elected representatives in Parliament to vote their consciences on this pressing moral issue, free from partisan reprisals.
W.I.N. supports the "conscience rights" of all elected representatives at all levels of government, and in all instances of public life, and supports substantive democratic debate on all issues as the best guarantor of these rights.
The lack of adequate maternal-infant healthcare in the developing world is an urgent concern requiring clear thinking and goodwill from politicians who have the power to make a real difference. Too many women lack the necessities of life, a sad fact that contributes to poor maternal-infant health outcomes.
Yet, women and their children have fundamental human rights to protection, aid, and healthcare, especially during the pre-natal and post-natal years, under the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
W.I.N. supports the rights of women and children to receive healthcare without any strings attached and strongly opposes any attempt to make funding for abortion a condition of providing this vital humanitarian aid to women and children in some of the poorest countries in the world.
Abortion is incompatible with maternal-child healthcare because it harms the mother, baby, and subsequent born children. Copious research links it to infertility, breast cancer, and depression, while Canada's own long-suppressed research shows elevated risks for suicide and psychosis in post-abortive women.
Abortion causes fetal death, yet one of the goals of maternal-infant healthcare is to reduce the incidence of fetal death i.e. from smoking and other causes. W.I.N. emphasizes that human embryos and fetuses are unique-DNA nascent human beings, and not blobs of tissue, parasites, or tumors, as many abortion advocates claim.
Multiple studies also link abortion to prematurity and low birth weight in subsequent born infants, risk factors for the development of diseases such as diabetes, cerebral palsy, and retardation.
Proactive abortion policies have also resulted in many unforeseen social problems, especially coerced abortion, coupled with violence towards pregnant women who refuse to abort, the latter all too often resulting in fetal injury or fetal death, and increased risk of subsequent miscarriage. The most horrific result is homicide of the mother, with murder by a woman's male partner now the leading cause of death among pregnant women in the US.
Legal abortion has also been accompanied by a marked increase in father absenteeism and the ensuing feminization of poverty when deadbeat dads refuse tosupport their children, rationalizing that the woman could have had an abortion instead.
Coerced abortion is often used to cover up the sexual abuse of minors, and most shockingly, sex slavery, a gravely serious problem in the developing world. Amnesty International opposes forced abortion as a human rights violation and W.I.N. urges all concerned citizens to say a clear no to it.
Since, undeniably, some women die from abortion, either as a direct cause or as an underlying factor in some maternal deaths, often leaving born children without a mother to care for them, W.I.N. believes that the best way to prevent abortion-related deaths is to prevent abortion itself, by deterring legal abortion through health education and better social support for mothers, especially those at the margins of society, and by enforcing prohibitions against illegal abortion.
Given these gripping realities, it can't be reasonably argued that abortion is in the "best interests of the child", the framing principle of the law. W.I.N. firmly believes that the best interests of the child must prevail in determining all norms and standards for maternal-child healthcare.
W.I.N. also strongly opposes "fertility reduction quotas", an intrinsically coercive framework, in the guise of maintaining sustainable population levels, whether such measures are implemented through abortion, sterilization, or contraception. Human beings don't have the same status as animals, and must never be viewed as resources to be managed. Human population control is illegitimate and violates human dignity, as well as human rights.
W.I.N. supports access to family planning resources, including contraception, to help space pregnancies. However, this access must be based solely on free and informed consent. W.I.N. emphasizes that some contraceptive options may have health risks that outweigh benefits, or may conflict with a woman's moral values or personal goals.
W.I.N cautions that family planning isn't the same as maternal-child healthcare and must be viewed only as an option and never as a prerequisite of healthcare for mothers or their children. W.I.N. notes that, under medicare, family planning isn't tied to maternal-child healthcare. Last year, priority access to Swine Flu inoculations for mothers and young children wasn't contingent upon agreement to use contraception, nor were contraceptives or contraceptive information provided on this occasion.
W.I.N. rejects the view that abortion is a form of family-planning. Rather, in most cases it is a crisis-management option that, in countries where abortion is legal, depends upon a misuse of medical resources to solve social problems.
W.I.N. supports educating women about their reproductive cycles by teaching them ovulation detection, a scientifically proven method used to avoid or achieve pregnancy, as well as informing them about the natural contraceptive benefits of the Lactational Amenorrhea Method, the scientific name for breast feeding.
W.I.N. believes that maternal-child healthcare can be best accomplished through a preventative health approach promoting nutrition, inoculations, breast feeding, home visits from nurses, training midwives and front-line workers, providing emergency obstetrical care, protecting a sustainable blood supply, and ensuring clean water and sanitation, coupled with community development requiring the staffing and building of schools, hospitals, birthing-centers, and housing, standardized to current building codes, as well as modernization of transportation and infrastructure, while redoubling efforts to advance literacy and gender equality.
W.I.N. urges our Canadian Government to be steadfast in bringing forward this important and timely initiative without compromising its whole health vision.
Deborah Rankin
Founder/Director
Women's Information Network
Copyright 2010 Deborah Rankin
All rights reserved. This material may be transmitted for educational purposes only, and may not be reproduced in part or in whole for publication or sale without the express permission of the author.
In Defence of the Crown
An interesting piece in the Boston Globe. To which I say God Save the Queen of Canada. It is why constitutional monarchies are often the best places to live.
But in Europe and parts of Asia, many politicians, political scientists, and citizens have lately developed greater respect for the positive role a constitutional monarch can play in democracy. As in Belgium, monarchs can be arbiters of last resort when elected politicians cannot resolve deep divisions. They can offer their nations a unifying figure to prevent political crises from spiraling into something worse. And in an era of partisanship and diminished individual rights, monarchs can serve as a means of stability in a democracy that might otherwise tear itself apart. A.W. Purdue, author of the book “Long to Reign?”, argues that a king or queen “enables change to take place within a frame of continuity.”
But in Europe and parts of Asia, many politicians, political scientists, and citizens have lately developed greater respect for the positive role a constitutional monarch can play in democracy. As in Belgium, monarchs can be arbiters of last resort when elected politicians cannot resolve deep divisions. They can offer their nations a unifying figure to prevent political crises from spiraling into something worse. And in an era of partisanship and diminished individual rights, monarchs can serve as a means of stability in a democracy that might otherwise tear itself apart. A.W. Purdue, author of the book “Long to Reign?”, argues that a king or queen “enables change to take place within a frame of continuity.”
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
More on the death of the welfare state
John Reynolds has a good article on the failure of western governments and their huge social programs. These massive programs are crowding out the private sector and leading to massive debt and are ultimately unsustainable.
It is sometimes argued, in defence of high taxes, that governments merely provide services people need – without the waste (profits, for example) inherent in capitalism. In one sense, the argument sounds plausible. Without medicare, a health care insurance monopoly, people would presumably buy insurance from competing companies, some of which would spend money on repetitive TV commercials and all of which would aspire either to profit or, at least, not register a loss.
But the argument fails for two reasons, both of them explicitly documented in the imminent restructuring of Europe’s debt-imperilled welfare states. The Taxes-R-Us argument fails because people individually make very different decisions than governments make on their behalf. And it fails because marketplace competition imposes a financial discipline that governments do not impose on themselves....
In a report last week, The New York Times reviewed the consequences of extravagant government spending throughout Western Europe. “The assumptions and gains of a lifetime are suddenly in doubt,” writer Steven Erlanger said. “The deficit crisis that threatens the euro has also undermined the sustainability of the European standard of social welfare, built by left-leaning governments since the end of World War II.”
Europeans have long boasted, Mr. Erlanger said, that their social model – “with its generous vacations and early retirements, its national health care system and extensive welfare benefits” – proved the superiority of the Welfare State over the “comparative harshness” of U.S. capitalism.
In retrospect, it’s apparent that the beneficiaries of big government in Europe (and, to a somewhat lesser degree, in North America) are the people who consumed government largesse in the halcyon days of the past; the losers are the people who will be required to pay for them. In some cases, these will be the same people – a just retribution. In other cases, though, they will be different people, and the retribution will be unjust.
It is sometimes argued, in defence of high taxes, that governments merely provide services people need – without the waste (profits, for example) inherent in capitalism. In one sense, the argument sounds plausible. Without medicare, a health care insurance monopoly, people would presumably buy insurance from competing companies, some of which would spend money on repetitive TV commercials and all of which would aspire either to profit or, at least, not register a loss.
But the argument fails for two reasons, both of them explicitly documented in the imminent restructuring of Europe’s debt-imperilled welfare states. The Taxes-R-Us argument fails because people individually make very different decisions than governments make on their behalf. And it fails because marketplace competition imposes a financial discipline that governments do not impose on themselves....
In a report last week, The New York Times reviewed the consequences of extravagant government spending throughout Western Europe. “The assumptions and gains of a lifetime are suddenly in doubt,” writer Steven Erlanger said. “The deficit crisis that threatens the euro has also undermined the sustainability of the European standard of social welfare, built by left-leaning governments since the end of World War II.”
Europeans have long boasted, Mr. Erlanger said, that their social model – “with its generous vacations and early retirements, its national health care system and extensive welfare benefits” – proved the superiority of the Welfare State over the “comparative harshness” of U.S. capitalism.
In retrospect, it’s apparent that the beneficiaries of big government in Europe (and, to a somewhat lesser degree, in North America) are the people who consumed government largesse in the halcyon days of the past; the losers are the people who will be required to pay for them. In some cases, these will be the same people – a just retribution. In other cases, though, they will be different people, and the retribution will be unjust.
Canada, a safe haven for investors
The economic news out of Canada is pretty good these days. This explains a lot of iffy silly games and tricks. iffy never talks about the economy now. All he has said of late is he wants to eliminate those business tax cuts. That of course is a very bad idea.
I hope investors around the world start investing heavily in Canada. With the business tax cuts, and our near booming economy, Canada is a great place to invest.
The Canadian economy is particularly strong this year, aided by a healthy banking sector and low government deficits relative to its competitors, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
"I think Canada looks good — it shines, actually," said Alexandra Bibbee, who heads the group that analyses the Canadian economy for the OECD, a research body funded by 31 member countries in Europe, North America and Asia.
"Canada could even be considered a safe haven."
Canada's growth, which fell 2.7 per cent in 2009, is projected to grow by 3.6 per cent this year and ease to 3.2 per cent in 2011.
I hope investors around the world start investing heavily in Canada. With the business tax cuts, and our near booming economy, Canada is a great place to invest.
The Canadian economy is particularly strong this year, aided by a healthy banking sector and low government deficits relative to its competitors, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
"I think Canada looks good — it shines, actually," said Alexandra Bibbee, who heads the group that analyses the Canadian economy for the OECD, a research body funded by 31 member countries in Europe, North America and Asia.
"Canada could even be considered a safe haven."
Canada's growth, which fell 2.7 per cent in 2009, is projected to grow by 3.6 per cent this year and ease to 3.2 per cent in 2011.
Will iffy embararass himself yet again
I wonder how his "whipped" MP's will respond to the the gun registry bill c 391 third reading.
This candidate in BC is not impressed.
Just days before leaving for an extended holiday,dodging volcanoes along the way, I read Liberal Leader Micheal Ignatieff’s announcment regarding his new approach to the long gun registry. Instead of allowing MPs the ability to vote in the interests of their constituents, as he did during second reading of a long-gun private member’s Bill, Mr. Ignatieff has reversed his position and stated that third reading of the Bill will now be a whipped (or forced) Party vote.
Forcing a sitting MP or prospective candidate to vote the Party position on an issue, knowing in advance that it runs contrary to the interests of the constituents in the Riding clearly runs contrary to the principles of representative democracy. This is the primary reason why I left Jack Layton’s NDP.
As a result, I have informed the President of the Kootenay-Columbia Liberal Riding Association that I am withdrawing from seeking the federal Liberal nomination for Kootenay-Columbia.
There is something clearly wrong with our democratic system when the internal strategic interests of a political party come before the interests of the people we claim to serve. An obvious recent example is the whipped vote by both the Conservatives and the Liberals to help pass the federal implementation legislation for the HST(otherwise known as the Comprehensive Integrated Tax Coordination Agreement between the Government of Canada and The Government of British Columbia ).
Perhaps it’s time that an independent candidate runs to be the next Member of Parliament for Kootenay-Columbia. I think the Constituents of this Riding would be well served by it.
Brent Bush
Kimberley
I suspect grits will pretend to be ill or perhaps accidently vote yes, like dryden and dosanjh did before. iffy will have a few more knives in his back and no one will be punished as in the case of the Newfoundland MPs on the budget and the recent abortion melee. iffy is not a leader
This candidate in BC is not impressed.
Just days before leaving for an extended holiday,dodging volcanoes along the way, I read Liberal Leader Micheal Ignatieff’s announcment regarding his new approach to the long gun registry. Instead of allowing MPs the ability to vote in the interests of their constituents, as he did during second reading of a long-gun private member’s Bill, Mr. Ignatieff has reversed his position and stated that third reading of the Bill will now be a whipped (or forced) Party vote.
Forcing a sitting MP or prospective candidate to vote the Party position on an issue, knowing in advance that it runs contrary to the interests of the constituents in the Riding clearly runs contrary to the principles of representative democracy. This is the primary reason why I left Jack Layton’s NDP.
As a result, I have informed the President of the Kootenay-Columbia Liberal Riding Association that I am withdrawing from seeking the federal Liberal nomination for Kootenay-Columbia.
There is something clearly wrong with our democratic system when the internal strategic interests of a political party come before the interests of the people we claim to serve. An obvious recent example is the whipped vote by both the Conservatives and the Liberals to help pass the federal implementation legislation for the HST(otherwise known as the Comprehensive Integrated Tax Coordination Agreement between the Government of Canada and The Government of British Columbia ).
Perhaps it’s time that an independent candidate runs to be the next Member of Parliament for Kootenay-Columbia. I think the Constituents of this Riding would be well served by it.
Brent Bush
Kimberley
I suspect grits will pretend to be ill or perhaps accidently vote yes, like dryden and dosanjh did before. iffy will have a few more knives in his back and no one will be punished as in the case of the Newfoundland MPs on the budget and the recent abortion melee. iffy is not a leader
A federal crime
Apparently bo and his minions tried to bribe rep joe sestak, so arlen specter could win in the dem senate primary in Pennsylvania. That's a crime, unless you are a democrat. The minions say their Senate candidate is a liar. Senator Toomey sounds good to me.
bo's approval ratings now at 42%.
bo's approval ratings now at 42%.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Free Lord Black!
I think Lord Black's U.S. convictions were wrong and without merit. Hopefully the US Supreme Court will agree. This is a case of overzealous prosecution. Lord Black should be freed.
When Conrad Black entered the U.S. justice system, he was a little-known Canadian-born press baron snared by America's renowned white-collar crime dragnet. Three years later, however, the noted historian could be on the verge of leaving an indelible mark on the way that country prosecutes white-collar criminals in the future.
The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to release its highly anticipated decision on the honest services statute by the end of June and many legal observers, including those who prosecuted Lord Black under the controversial law, predict the top court will strike down the 28-word act as unconstitutionally vague. "I really do believe that the
convictions on honest services violations for Conrad Black are going to be vacated," says Bennett L. Gershman, a law professor at Pace University in New York.
When Conrad Black entered the U.S. justice system, he was a little-known Canadian-born press baron snared by America's renowned white-collar crime dragnet. Three years later, however, the noted historian could be on the verge of leaving an indelible mark on the way that country prosecutes white-collar criminals in the future.
The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to release its highly anticipated decision on the honest services statute by the end of June and many legal observers, including those who prosecuted Lord Black under the controversial law, predict the top court will strike down the 28-word act as unconstitutionally vague. "I really do believe that the
convictions on honest services violations for Conrad Black are going to be vacated," says Bennett L. Gershman, a law professor at Pace University in New York.
Hypocrisy?
Wow, victim studies professor booed. This is the tactic the left has used at universities for a long time, yet when others do it the left is outraged. Indeed usually the left would have stormed the stage and prevented this woman from speaking. Imagine Ann Coulter trying to speak at the u of o.
Religion in the public square
Margaret Somerville defends the right of religious people to engage on policy. Canada has no clause in our constitution separating Church and state. The American constitution seeks to protect the church from the state, not vice versa.
Dr Somerville makes the point that aggressive secularism has become a kind of religion , which tries to push out all others. It is the right of all citizens to be involved in the decisions of government.
Religion has a role to play in the public square
BY MARGARET SOMERVILLE, CANWEST NEWS SERVICES MAY 18, 2010
If you’ve paid any attention to the media over the last week – for instance, regarding whether the G8 “maternal and infant health initiative” should include abortion, or The Current’s and The National’s programs on CBC that focused on Marci McDonald’s new book, The Armageddon Factor, that raises alarm about the rise in political power and influence of the “Canadian religious right” – you’ll find this secularist truism espoused both front, centre and behind the scenes: Religion and religious voices and views have no valid role to play in the public square. Indeed, many secularists are openly hostile to any such participation. But are they correct?
To respond, we need to examine the arguments for and against their participation....
Dr Somerville makes the point that aggressive secularism has become a kind of religion , which tries to push out all others. It is the right of all citizens to be involved in the decisions of government.
Religion has a role to play in the public square
BY MARGARET SOMERVILLE, CANWEST NEWS SERVICES MAY 18, 2010
If you’ve paid any attention to the media over the last week – for instance, regarding whether the G8 “maternal and infant health initiative” should include abortion, or The Current’s and The National’s programs on CBC that focused on Marci McDonald’s new book, The Armageddon Factor, that raises alarm about the rise in political power and influence of the “Canadian religious right” – you’ll find this secularist truism espoused both front, centre and behind the scenes: Religion and religious voices and views have no valid role to play in the public square. Indeed, many secularists are openly hostile to any such participation. But are they correct?
To respond, we need to examine the arguments for and against their participation....
I agree with Prof Flanagan
That's probably not a big surprise. I generally do on most issues. In this case he is quite right. Corporate welfare is bad, foreign aid has generally been an abysmal failure and funding cultural events is probably a bad idea. I do support giving aid in the form of massive tariff cuts. We should also get rid of supply management systems and agricultural subsidies.
Down with big government
If the Conservatives had held to this principle, Rahim Jaffer, abortion and the Gay Pride parade wouldn’t have become issues
Tom Flanagan
Globe and Mail
Rahim Jaffer, abortion, the Toronto Gay Pride parade – these three issues have recently involved the Conservative government in heated debate. There is a common thread to these seemingly unrelated issues. They all illustrate what happens to a conservative government when it increases, rather than decreases, the size of the state.
Attention on Mr. Jaffer has focused on whether he violated the regulations for lobbying when he attempted to find subsidies for “green” businesses. But that question has little practical importance, given that he did not facilitate any grants and did not make any money. The much more important question is why has a conservative government created a $1-billion Green Infrastructure Fund? Such discretionary granting programs are an irresistible attraction to would-be middlemen of all types. Indeed, advisers and representatives are indispensable if ordinary businessmen are to find their way through the maze of government rules.
Down with big government
If the Conservatives had held to this principle, Rahim Jaffer, abortion and the Gay Pride parade wouldn’t have become issues
Tom Flanagan
Globe and Mail
Rahim Jaffer, abortion, the Toronto Gay Pride parade – these three issues have recently involved the Conservative government in heated debate. There is a common thread to these seemingly unrelated issues. They all illustrate what happens to a conservative government when it increases, rather than decreases, the size of the state.
Attention on Mr. Jaffer has focused on whether he violated the regulations for lobbying when he attempted to find subsidies for “green” businesses. But that question has little practical importance, given that he did not facilitate any grants and did not make any money. The much more important question is why has a conservative government created a $1-billion Green Infrastructure Fund? Such discretionary granting programs are an irresistible attraction to would-be middlemen of all types. Indeed, advisers and representatives are indispensable if ordinary businessmen are to find their way through the maze of government rules.
The Tide is turning
An interesting piece in the nyt . It seems that the fraud is unravelling faster than the chicken littles can spin it. Even the whit wash investigations are convincing very few. Even HM PM Cameron is not talking too much about the fraud. Most of his MP's think it is at the bottom of their list of priorities. Indeed sceptics won a debate at Oxford debating union.
It is now time for a more rational discussion of the subject as was said by the one of the warmists at the Heartland conference.( watch the Scott Denning speech here) Both sides should listen to each other and the ipcc should be disbanded. Confidence in science should be restored by making all data public, by fixing the peer review status and trying to take the politics out of the debate.
Climate Fears Turn to Doubts Among Britons
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: May 24, 2010
LONDON — Last month hundreds of environmental activists crammed into an auditorium here to ponder an anguished question: If the scientific consensus on climate change has not changed, why have so many people turned away from the idea that human activity is warming the planet?
Related
Nowhere has this shift in public opinion been more striking than in Britain, where climate change was until this year such a popular priority that in 2008 Parliament enshrined targets for emissions cuts as national law. But since then, the country has evolved into a home base for a thriving group of climate skeptics who have dominated news reports in recent months, apparently convincing many that the threat of warming is vastly exaggerated.
A survey in February by the BBC found that only 26 percent of Britons believed that “climate change is happening and is now established as largely manmade,” down from 41 percent in November 2009. A poll conducted for the German magazine Der Spiegel found that 42 percent of Germans feared global warming, down from 62 percent four years earlier.
It is now time for a more rational discussion of the subject as was said by the one of the warmists at the Heartland conference.( watch the Scott Denning speech here) Both sides should listen to each other and the ipcc should be disbanded. Confidence in science should be restored by making all data public, by fixing the peer review status and trying to take the politics out of the debate.
Climate Fears Turn to Doubts Among Britons
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: May 24, 2010
LONDON — Last month hundreds of environmental activists crammed into an auditorium here to ponder an anguished question: If the scientific consensus on climate change has not changed, why have so many people turned away from the idea that human activity is warming the planet?
Related
Nowhere has this shift in public opinion been more striking than in Britain, where climate change was until this year such a popular priority that in 2008 Parliament enshrined targets for emissions cuts as national law. But since then, the country has evolved into a home base for a thriving group of climate skeptics who have dominated news reports in recent months, apparently convincing many that the threat of warming is vastly exaggerated.
A survey in February by the BBC found that only 26 percent of Britons believed that “climate change is happening and is now established as largely manmade,” down from 41 percent in November 2009. A poll conducted for the German magazine Der Spiegel found that 42 percent of Germans feared global warming, down from 62 percent four years earlier.
Monday, May 24, 2010
John Stossel on freedom of Speech
John Stossel with two heros of free speech Ezra , Ayaan Hirsi Ali and more. This aired last week on Fox Business.
Charity and beggars
I do give money to specific charities. It is my duty to share with those who are less fortunate. as a rule I don't give to people begging on the streets in Canada. It =has long been my thinking that by giving money to people on the street I am funding their addictions and killing them. So this article was very interesting to me.
There's a good chance if there is not a member of your family who is an addict of some kind, then you know someone who is. You also know, then, how creative and persistent they are at getting what they need i.e. money for the substance of their addiction.
I have lived for many years on the streets of Calgary and have been a regular guest at the homeless shelters provided for people in my situation.
Being broke was an everyday state of affairs, and finding ways and means of getting money was a constant challenge. I would stand in line at 5:30 a.m. at a temporary manpower, collect bottles or go door-to-door with a rake asking to do yard work. But it just wasn't in me to ask complete strangers for money, to panhandle. But I know of many who did, and every one of them did so to feed an addiction.
There's a good chance if there is not a member of your family who is an addict of some kind, then you know someone who is. You also know, then, how creative and persistent they are at getting what they need i.e. money for the substance of their addiction.
I have lived for many years on the streets of Calgary and have been a regular guest at the homeless shelters provided for people in my situation.
Being broke was an everyday state of affairs, and finding ways and means of getting money was a constant challenge. I would stand in line at 5:30 a.m. at a temporary manpower, collect bottles or go door-to-door with a rake asking to do yard work. But it just wasn't in me to ask complete strangers for money, to panhandle. But I know of many who did, and every one of them did so to feed an addiction.
R.I.P. Trooper Larry Rudd
A great sadness on a day we celebrate the birthday of Our Sovereign Lady. My deepest sympathy to the family and friends of this brave young man. He has served his Queen and Country with honour and courage. He is a martyr for freedom.
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- Trooper Larry Rudd of the Royal Canadian Dragoons - who was described Monday as "a Gentle Giant" - became the 146th Canadian to die in Afghanistan and the fourth from southern Ontario to be killed here this month.
The Brantford, Ont., native, whose squadron was in the first weeks of its seven month tour in Afghanistan, died early Monday afternoon when the armoured vehicle he was travelling in struck a makeshift landmine during a combat resupply of other Canadian troops in Panjwaii District - southwest of Kandahar City.
"Trooper Rudd will be remembered by those who served alongside him as a professional soldier who never complained regardless of the hardships he and his crew endured," Col, Simon Hetherington, deputy commander of Canada's Task Force Kandahar, said.
"He was dynamic and motivated; generous and outgoing. He was the type of man soldiers of all ranks would look to for friendship."
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- Trooper Larry Rudd of the Royal Canadian Dragoons - who was described Monday as "a Gentle Giant" - became the 146th Canadian to die in Afghanistan and the fourth from southern Ontario to be killed here this month.
The Brantford, Ont., native, whose squadron was in the first weeks of its seven month tour in Afghanistan, died early Monday afternoon when the armoured vehicle he was travelling in struck a makeshift landmine during a combat resupply of other Canadian troops in Panjwaii District - southwest of Kandahar City.
"Trooper Rudd will be remembered by those who served alongside him as a professional soldier who never complained regardless of the hardships he and his crew endured," Col, Simon Hetherington, deputy commander of Canada's Task Force Kandahar, said.
"He was dynamic and motivated; generous and outgoing. He was the type of man soldiers of all ranks would look to for friendship."
grits rudderless and have no rudder in sight
If I were iffy, I wouldn't turn my back on my caucus.The grits are again talking coalition, but require the bloc, which would kill the grit brand for good in much of the country. No wonder grit partisans like graves are trying to give the grits advice. Is that the point of marci madconald's delusional book? All fear mongering all the time. The grit mantra. It is also interesting that even heir apparent bob rae is being dismissed by the Ontario caucus.
Another Liberal MP, who didn't want to be named, was more blunt.
"I was having a conversation with somebody, and they said, 'What do you expect? He doesn't know what the hell he's doing because he's been 35 years out of the country.'"
He said that when Mr. Ignatieff first became leader, after rivals Bob Rae (Toronto Centre, Ont.) and Dominic LeBlanc (Beauséjour, N.B.) dropped out of the race at the end of 2008, he had the support of many in caucus, but now he is increasingly isolated.
One Liberal insider had more to say.
"The bottom line is the guy doesn't have a whole lot of political aptitude, shall we say. That's not going to turn around. He's been in the House now for several years, he's been the leader de facto for over a year, and the direction is still south," said the insider who spoke to The Hill Times on condition of anonymity. "There would be a lot more interest in dumping him if there was a significant replacement in the wings. And that's doing more to keep him alive than anything else."
Another Liberal MP, who didn't want to be named, was more blunt.
"I was having a conversation with somebody, and they said, 'What do you expect? He doesn't know what the hell he's doing because he's been 35 years out of the country.'"
He said that when Mr. Ignatieff first became leader, after rivals Bob Rae (Toronto Centre, Ont.) and Dominic LeBlanc (Beauséjour, N.B.) dropped out of the race at the end of 2008, he had the support of many in caucus, but now he is increasingly isolated.
One Liberal insider had more to say.
"The bottom line is the guy doesn't have a whole lot of political aptitude, shall we say. That's not going to turn around. He's been in the House now for several years, he's been the leader de facto for over a year, and the direction is still south," said the insider who spoke to The Hill Times on condition of anonymity. "There would be a lot more interest in dumping him if there was a significant replacement in the wings. And that's doing more to keep him alive than anything else."
In defence of Cardinal Ouellet
Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois has been sounding a lot like
Casablanca’s Captain Renaud these days: She’s shocked, shocked to find that the Roman Catholic Church opposes abortion.
It’s enough to make you wonder where she has she been for the last couple of decades.
In fairness, though, it’s probably not the church’s position that has Marois so riled up. It’s more likely that what shocked her is that this time it was a Quebec prelate who had the bad manners to challenge the apparent national consensus on abortion and Quebec’s secularist enterprise -- not the pope or some Vatican official far away in Italy.
The culprit was Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the archbishop of Quebec and
primate of Canada, a mild mannered, painfully polite man who has a decided talent for attracting controversy on the oddest topics. Even urging Catholics to go to mass on Sundays and to confession once in a while got Ouellet heated coverage in the French-language media.
This time, however, he really put his foot in it, musing aloud at a pro-life rally that abortion is wrong, even in those rare cases when pregnancy results from rape, and congratulating the federal government for leaving abortion funding out of its plan to finance maternal care in Third World countries.
More from Suzanne.
Happy Victoria day
A wonderful message from HM Governor General Michaelle Jean
Victoria Day
May 21, 2010
Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean,
Governor General of Canada, on the occasion of Victoria Day
OTTAWA—On behalf of all Canadians, it gives me great pleasure to offer Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II my best wishes for health and happiness on the occasion of the Canadian celebration of her official birthday, May 24. This date, chosen in honour of Queen Victoria, born May 24, 1819, perpetuates a tradition that is very dear to us.
Canadians hold Her Majesty in the highest esteem and are eagerly anticipating the visit she is making here this summer with the Duke of Edinburgh. This will be an opportunity for the entire country to come together to celebrate our history and our close ties with the Monarchy.
Canada is proud not only of its relationship with the Monarchy but also of its role as an active participant in the Commonwealth of Nations headed by Her Majesty. So many countries have followed her wonderful example of compassion and generosity. Her kind words and steadfast leadership inspire nations around the world to continue to pursue and maintain peace, goodwill and international co-operation.
The respect and admiration we feel for Her Majesty this May 24 illustrate the genuine affection and great loyalty our sovereign inspires.
Michaëlle Jean
A great Letter from my good friend Chris Reid to the Globe.
About that title ...
It is great to hear the Queen will visit Canada for Canada Day. What a wonderful way for Canadians to celebrate their confederation. I’m disappointed in The Globe’s description of her in a photo caption as “Britain’s Queen Elizabeth” (The Queen’s Tour: Canada Day Address, Off To The Races, A Royal Visit To RIM – online, May 20). Queen Elizabeth II is Canada’s head of state, regardless of her role in Britain. I understand newspapers pride themselves on being accurate, and therefore her title should have been stated as “Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.”
If this is too long for a picture caption, perhaps stating “Canada and the Commonwealth’s Queen Elizabeth II” would be more accurate, since she is Canada’s head of state and head of state of several sovereign countries.
Christopher Reid, Malvern, Australia
God Bless the Royal Family!!!!
God save the Queen of Canada.
Victoria Day
May 21, 2010
Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean,
Governor General of Canada, on the occasion of Victoria Day
OTTAWA—On behalf of all Canadians, it gives me great pleasure to offer Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II my best wishes for health and happiness on the occasion of the Canadian celebration of her official birthday, May 24. This date, chosen in honour of Queen Victoria, born May 24, 1819, perpetuates a tradition that is very dear to us.
Canadians hold Her Majesty in the highest esteem and are eagerly anticipating the visit she is making here this summer with the Duke of Edinburgh. This will be an opportunity for the entire country to come together to celebrate our history and our close ties with the Monarchy.
Canada is proud not only of its relationship with the Monarchy but also of its role as an active participant in the Commonwealth of Nations headed by Her Majesty. So many countries have followed her wonderful example of compassion and generosity. Her kind words and steadfast leadership inspire nations around the world to continue to pursue and maintain peace, goodwill and international co-operation.
The respect and admiration we feel for Her Majesty this May 24 illustrate the genuine affection and great loyalty our sovereign inspires.
Michaëlle Jean
A great Letter from my good friend Chris Reid to the Globe.
About that title ...
It is great to hear the Queen will visit Canada for Canada Day. What a wonderful way for Canadians to celebrate their confederation. I’m disappointed in The Globe’s description of her in a photo caption as “Britain’s Queen Elizabeth” (The Queen’s Tour: Canada Day Address, Off To The Races, A Royal Visit To RIM – online, May 20). Queen Elizabeth II is Canada’s head of state, regardless of her role in Britain. I understand newspapers pride themselves on being accurate, and therefore her title should have been stated as “Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.”
If this is too long for a picture caption, perhaps stating “Canada and the Commonwealth’s Queen Elizabeth II” would be more accurate, since she is Canada’s head of state and head of state of several sovereign countries.
Christopher Reid, Malvern, Australia
God Bless the Royal Family!!!!
God save the Queen of Canada.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
charest is just appalling
I agree with the NP, charest's latest anti Tory gambit is truly disgusting. He is trying to save his rapidly sinking ship. his poll numbers are in free fall and there is a new scandal almost weekly. Using abortion as a smokescreen is not going to work. I used to think better of you jean charest.
At a time when his poll numbers have slipped precipitously, and his government faces allegations of corruption, the Premier is looking for an issue--any issue-- with which he can paint himself as the defender of Quebec. Abortion has conveniently landed in his lap, thanks to the controversy over the federal Conservatives' maternal health initiative.
But Mr. Charest's cynical grandstanding does a grave disservice to the issue at hand. As columnist Tasha Kheiriddin pointed out on Tuesday, abortion is a complex matter, involving the balancing of competing, concurrent rights. In 1990, while a federal cabinet minister, Mr. Charest himself voted in favour of legislation which attempted to do just that--balance the rights to life and bodily integrity of both a pregnant woman and the fetus she is carrying.
At a time when his poll numbers have slipped precipitously, and his government faces allegations of corruption, the Premier is looking for an issue--any issue-- with which he can paint himself as the defender of Quebec. Abortion has conveniently landed in his lap, thanks to the controversy over the federal Conservatives' maternal health initiative.
But Mr. Charest's cynical grandstanding does a grave disservice to the issue at hand. As columnist Tasha Kheiriddin pointed out on Tuesday, abortion is a complex matter, involving the balancing of competing, concurrent rights. In 1990, while a federal cabinet minister, Mr. Charest himself voted in favour of legislation which attempted to do just that--balance the rights to life and bodily integrity of both a pregnant woman and the fetus she is carrying.
Frankenstein
I recently saw Canstage's new musical Frankenstein. I also saw Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein a few weeks ago. The new musical is, in the words of one of my fellow theater goers, a cross between Dr Seuss and Tim Burton. The sets were interesting and the whole atmosphere was quite dark. Most of the performance was sung in rhyming couplets, so there was some hilarity. I think the authour, is quite faithful to the original novel. Overall an interesting afternoon of theatre, but a little odd. Some of the music was quite beautiful. None of the songs really stood out for me. The acors did a good job with what the had.
Theater in Montreal
I recently saw the Segal's production of Harvey and the Geordie fundraiser production of the Real Inspector Hound.
Geordie did Harvey as a fundraiser a few years ago.
Harvey was a very funny and enjoyable performance. The Segal had a psychologist give a talk about mental illness . RH Thomson did an amazing job as Dowd. It was even funnier than the Geordie prodction. ( Geordie Production was excellent and it was an amateur performance.)
The Real Inspector Hound was also funny and very well done. The volunteer cast, must have spent many hours rehearsing this play. Geordie productions does theatre for kids and does some wonderful work all over Quebec. It wasn't quite as polished as the Soulpepper version I saw recently, but it made up for it with spirit and enthusiasm. Here are some photos from the event.
Geordie did Harvey as a fundraiser a few years ago.
Harvey was a very funny and enjoyable performance. The Segal had a psychologist give a talk about mental illness . RH Thomson did an amazing job as Dowd. It was even funnier than the Geordie prodction. ( Geordie Production was excellent and it was an amateur performance.)
The Real Inspector Hound was also funny and very well done. The volunteer cast, must have spent many hours rehearsing this play. Geordie productions does theatre for kids and does some wonderful work all over Quebec. It wasn't quite as polished as the Soulpepper version I saw recently, but it made up for it with spirit and enthusiasm. Here are some photos from the event.
More on the impending death of the welfare state (and the euro)
This time in the nyt. Even the lefties are beginning to understand the failures of the welfare state. Someone actually has to work.
Crisis Imperils Liberal Benefits Long Expected by Europeans
By STEVEN ERLANGER
PARIS — Across Western Europe, the “lifestyle superpower,” the assumptions and gains of a lifetime are suddenly in doubt. The deficit crisis that threatens the euro has also undermined the sustainability of the European standard of social welfare, built by left-leaning governments since the end of World War II.
Payback Time
Pension Problems
Europeans have boasted about their social model, with its generous vacations and early retirements, its national health care systems and extensive welfare benefits, contrasting it with the comparative harshness of American capitalism.
Europeans have benefited from low military spending, protected by NATO and the American nuclear umbrella. They have also translated higher taxes into a cradle-to-grave safety net. “The Europe that protects” is a slogan of the European Union.
But all over Europe governments with big budgets, falling tax revenues and aging populations are experiencing rising deficits, with more bad news ahead.
With low growth, low birthrates and longer life expectancies, Europe can no longer afford its comfortable lifestyle, at least not without a period of austerity and significant changes. The countries are trying to reassure investors by cutting salaries, raising legal retirement ages, increasing work hours and reducing health benefits and pensions.
Crisis Imperils Liberal Benefits Long Expected by Europeans
By STEVEN ERLANGER
PARIS — Across Western Europe, the “lifestyle superpower,” the assumptions and gains of a lifetime are suddenly in doubt. The deficit crisis that threatens the euro has also undermined the sustainability of the European standard of social welfare, built by left-leaning governments since the end of World War II.
Payback Time
Pension Problems
Europeans have boasted about their social model, with its generous vacations and early retirements, its national health care systems and extensive welfare benefits, contrasting it with the comparative harshness of American capitalism.
Europeans have benefited from low military spending, protected by NATO and the American nuclear umbrella. They have also translated higher taxes into a cradle-to-grave safety net. “The Europe that protects” is a slogan of the European Union.
But all over Europe governments with big budgets, falling tax revenues and aging populations are experiencing rising deficits, with more bad news ahead.
With low growth, low birthrates and longer life expectancies, Europe can no longer afford its comfortable lifestyle, at least not without a period of austerity and significant changes. The countries are trying to reassure investors by cutting salaries, raising legal retirement ages, increasing work hours and reducing health benefits and pensions.
Congratulations Congressman Djou ( R-HI)
"I congratulate Charles Djou for his victory and a successful campaign based on the widely-shared values of cutting spending, shrinking government and creating real, permanent American jobs," said National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (Texas).
Saturday, May 22, 2010
An Event with Clement
The event was attend by three former Premiers of Ontario mike Harris, Ernie Eves and even Bill Davis.
It was great to se HM Minister. We discussed afew things, including the British election, which was taking place that day.
The Climate Realist conference and sea levels
Here is a great summary of the Climate Conference I attended in Chicago last week attended. It was an amazing event for climate realists, the media tried to ignore it. BBC was there. Lots of other blog coverage.
It is appropriate that the theme of this year's conference was Reconsidering the Science and Economics, as much has happened since Heartland's Third International Conference on Climate Change held in Washington, D.C. in June of last year. Among the happenings: It was in November of last year that emails and other documents from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia revealed a pattern of mismanagement of temperature data, interference with peer review, and an effort to suppress academic debate on global warming (Climategate). In December of 2009, negotiations in Copenhagen, meant as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, collapsed, leaving the world without a binding international agreement after Kyoto expires in 2012.
Dr Nils Axel Morner ( he has been an IPCC reviewer) who has written hundreds of papers on sea level gave a great talk at the conference. Here is some more from him. If sea level isn't really rising precipitously, the alarmism is pretty much defanged and that's exactly what Dr Morner says.
It is appropriate that the theme of this year's conference was Reconsidering the Science and Economics, as much has happened since Heartland's Third International Conference on Climate Change held in Washington, D.C. in June of last year. Among the happenings: It was in November of last year that emails and other documents from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia revealed a pattern of mismanagement of temperature data, interference with peer review, and an effort to suppress academic debate on global warming (Climategate). In December of 2009, negotiations in Copenhagen, meant as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, collapsed, leaving the world without a binding international agreement after Kyoto expires in 2012.
Dr Nils Axel Morner ( he has been an IPCC reviewer) who has written hundreds of papers on sea level gave a great talk at the conference. Here is some more from him. If sea level isn't really rising precipitously, the alarmism is pretty much defanged and that's exactly what Dr Morner says.
Rex on the Ottawa "anarchists"
I have little use for these criminals, neither does Rex or most law abiding Canadians. Their violent actions utterly discredit them.
But a subset of these angry anti-globalist nomads — recall Quebec city in 2001; recall, more recently the Vancouver games — always ups the ante with a little direct action: a chair through a window here, pelting the police there, scampering around in their black clown masks and moaning with farcical hyprocrisy about police brutality whenever they’re called on their despicable actions.
A portion of the anti-globalist crowd tries to put such assaults on civic order under the rubric of “diversity of tactics” — another evasive, sly euphemism for simple thuggishness. Don’t try to tell us it’s for the Palestinians or the rainforests or the oppressed of the world.
Here’s a newsflash: There are far better men and women working in Starbucks, and in the Royal Bank, than any of the crowd that kick in their windows. And far braver too. For many people, it takes more guts to go to work every day — to do the daily round of often dull and wearying work to better oneself, or to care for a family — than these heroic Glebe guerillas could even aspire to.
But a subset of these angry anti-globalist nomads — recall Quebec city in 2001; recall, more recently the Vancouver games — always ups the ante with a little direct action: a chair through a window here, pelting the police there, scampering around in their black clown masks and moaning with farcical hyprocrisy about police brutality whenever they’re called on their despicable actions.
A portion of the anti-globalist crowd tries to put such assaults on civic order under the rubric of “diversity of tactics” — another evasive, sly euphemism for simple thuggishness. Don’t try to tell us it’s for the Palestinians or the rainforests or the oppressed of the world.
Here’s a newsflash: There are far better men and women working in Starbucks, and in the Royal Bank, than any of the crowd that kick in their windows. And far braver too. For many people, it takes more guts to go to work every day — to do the daily round of often dull and wearying work to better oneself, or to care for a family — than these heroic Glebe guerillas could even aspire to.
Salim Mansur again celebrates...
A giant of the 20th Century. Where is our Churchill to stand defiantly against the jihadi threat, which threatens the very existence of the Western democracies.
In 70 years — or in the words of the biblical psalm, three score years and 10 being the span of a man’s life — living memory of events fades away and much gets forgotten.
It probably matters little to most people in our present time how defiantly alone Britain and Winston Churchill stood in facing Adolf Hitler during the last days of May 1940, or to imagine how vastly different our world would be today if Churchill had succumbed to the pressures to negotiate peace with Germany as the fate of France was being sealed by what was seen then as an invincible German military war machine.
Fascism
It is mostly forgotten now that in the Depression years of the 1930s, the real revolutionary force was fascism — the fusion of nationalism with socialism — which had greater appeal over communism in Europe and North America.
Across Europe the slogan, “Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state,” made popular by Benito Mussolini, the fascist leader of Italy, had a special appeal among all classes of people and support of the Catholic Church.
In Quebec, for instance, support for Charles Maurras, the founder in France of Action Francaise as the forerunner of fascism, was deep and widespread.
In 70 years — or in the words of the biblical psalm, three score years and 10 being the span of a man’s life — living memory of events fades away and much gets forgotten.
It probably matters little to most people in our present time how defiantly alone Britain and Winston Churchill stood in facing Adolf Hitler during the last days of May 1940, or to imagine how vastly different our world would be today if Churchill had succumbed to the pressures to negotiate peace with Germany as the fate of France was being sealed by what was seen then as an invincible German military war machine.
Fascism
It is mostly forgotten now that in the Depression years of the 1930s, the real revolutionary force was fascism — the fusion of nationalism with socialism — which had greater appeal over communism in Europe and North America.
Across Europe the slogan, “Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state,” made popular by Benito Mussolini, the fascist leader of Italy, had a special appeal among all classes of people and support of the Catholic Church.
In Quebec, for instance, support for Charles Maurras, the founder in France of Action Francaise as the forerunner of fascism, was deep and widespread.
Charles Krauthammer on the weak bo
bo is a failure in foreign , as well as domestic policy. The enemies and even the allies of the United States see this quite clearly. bo attacks US allies and praises America's enemies.
Dr Krauthammer writes about bo's ineffective Iran policy.
It will, however, make meaningful sanctions more difficult. America's proposed Security Council resolution is already laughably weak -- no blacklisting of Iran's central bank, no sanctions against Iran's oil and gas industry, no nonconsensual inspections on the high seas. Yet Turkey and Brazil -- both current members of the Security Council -- are so opposed to sanctions that they will not even discuss the resolution. And China will now have a new excuse to weaken it further.
But the deeper meaning of the uranium-export stunt is the brazenness with which Brazil and Turkey gave cover to the mullahs' nuclear ambitions and deliberately undermined U.S. efforts to curb Iran's program.
The real news is that already notorious photo: the president of Brazil, our largest ally in Latin America, and the prime minister of Turkey, for more than half a century the Muslim anchor of NATO, raising hands together with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the most virulently anti-American leader in the world.
Dr Krauthammer writes about bo's ineffective Iran policy.
It will, however, make meaningful sanctions more difficult. America's proposed Security Council resolution is already laughably weak -- no blacklisting of Iran's central bank, no sanctions against Iran's oil and gas industry, no nonconsensual inspections on the high seas. Yet Turkey and Brazil -- both current members of the Security Council -- are so opposed to sanctions that they will not even discuss the resolution. And China will now have a new excuse to weaken it further.
But the deeper meaning of the uranium-export stunt is the brazenness with which Brazil and Turkey gave cover to the mullahs' nuclear ambitions and deliberately undermined U.S. efforts to curb Iran's program.
The real news is that already notorious photo: the president of Brazil, our largest ally in Latin America, and the prime minister of Turkey, for more than half a century the Muslim anchor of NATO, raising hands together with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the most virulently anti-American leader in the world.
Friday, May 21, 2010
The Toronto party
It isn’t just the West where the Conservatives are in command. According to EKOS, they’ve moved out to a seven-point lead, 38-31, in the Liberal heartland of Ontario. Never mind the Liberals as the Greater Toronto Area party — these numbers would reduce them to just a downtown Toronto party, leaving the suburban belt largely to the Tories. Even in the Atlantic, regarded as unassailably Liberal, the Conservatives lead by five points.
And this after weeks of blistering attacks — enabled by the Hill media — on the Jaffer-Guergis affair, the Afghan detainee paper trail and whether abortion should be part of the overseas maternal health initiative. The Liberals have failed to move public opinion their way. If anything, it is moving the other way.
Our Sovereign Lady's Homecoming
Her Majesty the Queen and HRH the Prince Phillip will be in Canada from to June 28 to July 6. It will be a great opportunity to see HM and to celebrate Canada and its links to the Crown. Hopefully she will announce HM Governor General during the homecoming
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office released a preliminary schedule of Queen Elizabeth’s Canadian visit Wednesday, slated to run from June 28 to July 6 with prominent stops in Halifax, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Toronto and Waterloo – a length and profile that amount to a warm embrace of the monarchy on the part of Mr. Harper.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office released a preliminary schedule of Queen Elizabeth’s Canadian visit Wednesday, slated to run from June 28 to July 6 with prominent stops in Halifax, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Toronto and Waterloo – a length and profile that amount to a warm embrace of the monarchy on the part of Mr. Harper.
Chantal Hebert on iffy and the grits in Quebec
iffy's grits are not having much luck in Quebec. Charest is in freefall, but he keeps bashing the Tories every chance he can get. charest who used to be a federalist is lashing out at Canada in a desperate attempt to stop his free fall at the polls. The grits are going nowhere fast in Quebec. Hebert is also equating iffy to dion.
A year into Ignatieff’s tenure as leader, the list of potential Liberal gains from coast to coast to coast does not run much longer than the short Quebec one. Having a list at all increasingly involves a big dose of wishful thinking.
Nationally, this week’s CBC-Ekos poll has the party below its dismal 2008 election score and almost ten points behind the Conservatives. With numbers like those, the Liberals would lose seats in an election. The two main parties started the year on or around parity in voting intentions.
Ignatieff’s failure to connect with Quebecers is emblematic of his larger failure to connect with Canadians. And unless it is reversed, it may go down as the biggest squandered Quebec opportunity in recent federal Liberal history.
A year into Ignatieff’s tenure as leader, the list of potential Liberal gains from coast to coast to coast does not run much longer than the short Quebec one. Having a list at all increasingly involves a big dose of wishful thinking.
Nationally, this week’s CBC-Ekos poll has the party below its dismal 2008 election score and almost ten points behind the Conservatives. With numbers like those, the Liberals would lose seats in an election. The two main parties started the year on or around parity in voting intentions.
Ignatieff’s failure to connect with Quebecers is emblematic of his larger failure to connect with Canadians. And unless it is reversed, it may go down as the biggest squandered Quebec opportunity in recent federal Liberal history.
The end of the eu?
I am a eurosceptic. I think the eu should be a defence alliance and free trade zone no more.The UK's natural ties are with the Anglosphere. Will my dream come true? First Greece, then Spain and Portugal. The euro may very well collapse. Can the eu be far behind?
The EU is as doomed as its currency – let's get out from under this collapsing monstrosity
By Gerald Warner Politics Last updated: May 19th, 2010
159 Comments Comment on this article
The European experiment has failed and is only artificially being kept alive on a life-support system of taxpayer-funded bailouts. The euro is now a zombie currency: only the political will of the European nomenklatura keeps it nominally in existence. That is the exact reverse of the proper relationship between a currency and the state: the currency should be the expression of a healthy economy testifying to the legitimacy of the government it represents. Instead, a synthetic European super-state is showing its non-viability and moribundity through the implosion of its currency.
The EU is as doomed as its currency – let's get out from under this collapsing monstrosity
By Gerald Warner Politics Last updated: May 19th, 2010
159 Comments Comment on this article
The European experiment has failed and is only artificially being kept alive on a life-support system of taxpayer-funded bailouts. The euro is now a zombie currency: only the political will of the European nomenklatura keeps it nominally in existence. That is the exact reverse of the proper relationship between a currency and the state: the currency should be the expression of a healthy economy testifying to the legitimacy of the government it represents. Instead, a synthetic European super-state is showing its non-viability and moribundity through the implosion of its currency.
Another reason to cheer Maxime!
As I said a few days ago, Maxime gave a speech on taxes in Winnipeg at the Frontier Centre. He makes a lot of sense, as he usually does. Less government spending and more private wealth creation are excellent ideas.
As long as we have taxes however, we should make sure that they cause the least possible distortion in our economy.
Some taxes are really dumb. The capital tax for example. Capital is the result of investments; it serves to increase our productive capacity; in a word, to become richer. We need more capital accumulation, not less. A tax on capital is self-defeating, in that it slows down capital accumulation, investment and economic growth. Fortunately, it has been abolished at the federal level. And our government provided an incentive in the 2007 budget for provinces that still have one to phase it out.
What about the corporate income tax? One proposal we hear regularly from proponents of bigger government is that corporations don’t pay enough taxes. If only they did, we could fund more government programs, and we could reduce the tax burden on individual taxpayers.
However appealing this may be, it has no basis in logic.
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