Shamrocks! (Underground)

Peggy Noonan's Maximizing

2010-06-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

One...take control of me?
You're messing with the enemy
Said its 2..it's another trick
Messin with my mind, I wake up
--Kasabian

At one point way back in the day, when I used to take hardcore ideologues seriously, I used to read Peggy Noonan's Wall Street Journal column. Peggy is a former Reagan speech writer, and writes for the super un-serious Wall Street Journal editorial page, which is inversely credible to the WSJ's straight up news reporting. That is to say, that the WSJ editorial pages are basically crap and essentially some of the worst writers taking up some of the most valuable editorial space in the world.

The point at which my lifetime Peggy quotient was met was when I read this horrible column, in which she tries to point out how New Yorker's are pulling together after 9/11. Noonan makes a big deal of noting out all the different races of everyone on the subway one night (as any Reagan era relic would), telling the story of how a large black man saved another subway rider from an aggressive Jamaican woman.

Peggy, without any sense of irony, taste or sensitivity tells the black youth with only the condesenscion that a rich, white-privileged, Reagan-era republican can: "Goodbye, my brother" as she gets off the train.

Yeah.

Peggy's duplicitous BS went off the charts after her "not-so-off-camera" Sarah Palin debacle during the '08 election, when she first stated that the McCain campaign was "over" because of his choice of Palin for VP. She later denied the reference was the campaign and said that it was in reference to some Replublican mea culpa soundbite that no one believed.

Which brings us to the last time Peggy appeared on my radar, which was unfortunately today, when in reference to Obama's terrible speech last week she insinuates that not holding a hard copy of the speech during the telecast was akin to not being ready for an oil spill:

The president could move his hands because he was not holding a hard copy of his speech. Normally presidents have had a printed copy of the speech in their hands or on the desk, in case the teleprompter freezes or fails. Mr. Obama's desk was shiny and empty. A White House aide says the director of Oval Office operations had a hard copy just off camera, and was following along as the president spoke so that if the prompter broke he'd be able to give it to the president at the spot he left off.

But that would look a little startling, an arm suddenly darting into
the frame to hand the president a script. And the pages could fall. If one were in the mood for a cheap metaphor one would say this is an example of the White House's tendency not to anticipate trouble.

If one were in the mood - what an asinine qualifier. Oh, geez, yes, a hand coming out of nowhere would be shocking!! The Asian markets would TANK!!!

P-dawg is the one in the mood for cheap metaphors, as she spent three paragraphs discussing this crap before making this stupid assessment.

If one were in the mood, one could surmise the Peggy is taking small, inconsequential details and blowing them up to major proportions. This is known as Maximizing, which is an especically handy psychological trait if you are facing a deadline and have no idea as to how to criticize the president.

Even more annoying, is the fact that she quotes MSNBC's pro-Obama commentators in her criticism:

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann famously said "It was a great speech if you were on another planet for the last 57 days." Chris Matthews scored "a lot of meritocracy, a lot of blue ribbon talk." Mr. Olbermann, on Mr. Obama's well-written peroration: "It's nice but, again, how? Where was the 'how' in this speech when the nation is crying out for 'how'?"

..... Essentially, she uses commentators able to see past ideology and party lines and criticize the president - something she could never, ever do, as a Republican zombie.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm just hoping P. Noonan can stay under my own news radar. I haven't blogged in quite a while, and it is time consuming to write this crap down...

The Vancouver Police Department- Canada's LAPD

2010-01-24T06:49:00.000-08:00

Police and thieves in the street
Oh yeah!
Fighting the nation with their guns and ammunition
And all the peacemaker turn war officer
--The Clash

The Vancouver Police Department has struck again:

VANCOUVER - The family of the Vancouver man injured by police in a case of mistaken identity Thursday is not ready to accept the Vancouver police department’s apology.

Two plainclothes police officers arrived at Yao Wei Wu’s south Vancouver home at 2:20 a.m. Thursday after receiving a call from a woman at the residence who said she was being attacked by her husband and feared for the safety of their baby.

What police didn’t know was that there were two suites in the home and they had gone to the wrong door.

Yes, the VPD thought this guy was a threat and beat him accordingly.

Imagine if Wu had been running around in the night, pulling innocent people from their homes and beating them? What would the police response be then?

Well, we have an answer to that hypothetical: The right hand will investigate the left hand. Here's the Police Chief...

Chu would not say where the information about Wu resisting arrest came from, but said the department would conduct its own investigation into the incident and he saw no reason to bring in an outside force.

No, of course not. Unless, perhaps investigating yourself is a conflict of interest. Whatever, I'm sure VPD officer attacks on innocent civilians and subsequent "investigations" of the same incidents isn't common...is it?

Former bar manager Sarah Penman says a run-in between a Vancouver police sergeant and a customer outside the Regal Beagle last summer was so distressful she had to quit her job.

The Province has obtained a copy of a surveillance videotape from the popular Kitsilano bar that documents an incident allegedly involving Sgt. Darcy Taylor, a 20-year member of the Vancouver Police Department, and an alleged victim
[..]
The video shows a police officer rushing from across Broadway toward a group of three people standing on the sidewalk.

The officer delivers a blow to the man’s chest and knocks him off his feet onto the sidewalk.

The man’s lawyer, Jason Tarnow, said his client suffered a bruised chin and smacked the back of his head on the sidewalk when he was sent flying.

“The cop was telling Justin, ‘What are you going to do now? Hit me. Hit me,’” said Penman.

What do you wanna bet the police are investigating the police on this one?

Penman said she has been interviewed by police investigating the incident .

Ridiculous.

Vancouver has a serious crime problem and the VPD is a part of it.

Call In The Calvary, Just Make Sure They Exit Stage Right

2010-01-18T03:32:00.000-08:00

Wanna make a deal
Angel Vs Eel
Owl Vs Dove
Every living thing
Pushed into the ring
--Metric

The tragedy of Haiti continues as the situation turns even more dire:

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Rescuers pulled three survivors from the rubble Sunday five days after the Haiti earthquake, but tensions were growing among a desperate population as police opened fire on looters, killing one man.

After hours of painstaking digging through the ruins, a team from Florida unearthed a seven-year-old girl, a man aged 34 and a 50-year-old woman in the ruins of a store as dawn broke in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Later hundreds of rioters ransacked Hyppolite market in the heart of the devastated city as survivors besieged hospitals and make-shift field clinics, some carrying the injured on their backs or on carts.

If we thought Katrina's aftermath was devastating, this one will take the cake. The American, UN and even Chinese response (perhaps the start of positive internationalism on China's part?) has been fast, effective-ish and positive, so far, but this ordeal won't be over by the time 2011 rolls around. Not by a long shot.

The '04 Tsunami that buried entire islands spread destruction across the entire Indian Ocean, meaning that the concentration of the menace was far and wide. Reconstruction continues to this day, while radical social change and resistance against aid groups and developers endures. The Haitian disaster is concentrated in Port Au Prince, with 3M citizens at risk, meaning that a comparable citizenry is affected, but in a much smaller area. An massive international-size disaster within one tiny country.

However, for many reasons, I'm hoping the US does not have an over-arching control of the relief effort. Money, fine. Air craft carrier to supply rations and fresh water? Perfect! But if the same aid groups and mercenaries that overwhelmed the coastal third world after the '04 Tsunami appear, it could end badly. While many Thais were forcibly converted to Christianity at the threat of withheld food, Sri Lankans were forced from their seaside homes that were bulldozed in the name of development.

And it won't be Obama, or the good intentions of the vast majority of US citizens that will turn tragedy to continued abuse of the traumatized. It will be the rampant opportunism seen in a blank slate state that will be too enticing for some. It will be the force of history and habit. As the world has been told, the Haitian President barely survived, while his ministers are feared dead. The government no longer exists, and nature abhors a vacuum (see: Somalia, circa now).

At first, the Haitian decision-makers will welcome the relief, and public pronouncements to that affect will be spouted. But disillusionment and mixed emotions with the long-term US effort is as predictable as Monday following Sunday. How do you come out against the country that saved you from the brink but pushes you to lesser one? As time goes on, young Americans will be ones re-writing government policy, law and possibly the constitution as they did in Japan and Iraq, seeing an opportunity to imprint their way of life on another country. Again.

My own hope will be that if the US has to be the leader on rebuilding Haiti, it will recognize a line where positive intervention becomes negative interference. Obama, with his own ties to 3rd world, may be keenly aware of this line but it is doubtful he can control all the levers of the mechanized Leviathan.

And if Eisenhower couldn't, who can?

Revisiting Predictions 2009: The Recap

2009-12-11T19:18:00.000-08:00

All the remains of our cadaver of days,
I keep hidden away
Keep them there just in case
I wanna visit that place
Blow the dust from the bones
Off a body of years that I leave all alone
--Mother Mother

Last January I predicted the following:
1. There will be all out war in Afghanistan
On this count, 2009 has had the worst of all periods of the long struggle. Despite the small contingent (relative term of Canadians, there are now almost 90,000 NATO soldiers there, and the pitched battles have become more of a real war as opposed to an insurgency, as the Taliban have taken over areas, not just minds. NATO is now retreating to major centres in a serious retrenchment. 2010 looks even more gloomy.

2. ...A civil war in Pakistan. While not called a civil war in Pakistan, essentially, we have the western NWFP/Waziristan areas in a fight against the eastern federally controlled areas. The Taliban overstretched its mandate, getting to within spitting distance of Islamabad and the federal government took exception...with some prodding from a certain superpower.

3. The Housing Bubble will not completely deflate in 2009 Has it completely burst? In some places yes (ie: Vegas, Florida), so this prediction was not totally accurate. However, the central banks have come under pressure politically, meaning that rates have become artificially low again, reinflating the bubble in certain places and asset classes (ie: Vancouver housing market).

4. The Recession will not end in 2009. On this point, Canada has pulled out of recession. Is it possible that we will go back into recession? Quite possibly. If stimulus funds dry up, there is a chance that demand could drop off again. Technically, we are out of the woods on this one.

5. Oil Prices will take the wind out of the sales of Iran, Venezuela and Russia. Venezuela's Chavez is weaker than ever has the state creaks under debt, inflation, overspending and resurgent opposition. Iran, as I thought, is has been on the brink for some time, just as the '79 revolution was a long term project, so is the 2009 project. Russia, for its part, is about even from the beginning of the year, keeping a low profile after an explosive '08.

6. FARC will be all but dead by year end. FARC is not dead, but it is on deaths' door. FARC is still confined to border areas with suspected help from Chavez on the Venezuelan side and Correa on the Equadorian border of Colombia.

7. Obama will lift the Cuban Embargo. I was dead wrong on this point. Things have gotten better between the countries, and the shuttering of Guantanamo will surely help. The Embargo, however, will live to see another day.

8. The Liberals will win a general election this summer. Dead wrong on this point.

9. The environment will cease to be a top issue as long as the economy is in the tank. This is a general rule in any recession, and this one is no different. When the economic clouds cleared a little bit, we restarted the meetings to come to a global consensus on emissions targets.

10. Not all of these gloomy predictions will be right. Spot on the mark. This was my best prediction of the year.

Top 10 Albums of the Millenium (and the also rans)

2009-11-29T17:21:00.000-08:00

One hand clutching a sword raised to the sky
They wonder how, they wonder why
The sky turns white it all becomes clear
They felt lifted from their fears
They shed tears in the light
--The Streets

This is by no means an authoritative list, and is not meant to be an outline of the greatest albums (ie: best by critical acclaim) necessarily, but my own personal review of the albums that shaped my millenium. They are not listed in any particular order, other than by year.

1. Renegades - Rage Against the Machine (2000). Generally, cover albums are done by bands ready to break up and Rage was no exception. Before they did disband, they released a work of holdover pre-millenial tension and raised one more defiant fist against the man, paying homage to their heroes, stretching from the Rolling Stones to Cypress Hill. After a listen of this album you could never hear any of the original songs the same way. For me, this album represented the last great fusion of rap and metal before the Los Angeles created sound (starting with the RHCP) flaked out with Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and assorted dimwitted friends killing the now dormant genre.

Close seconds 2000: Lost Souls - Doves

2. Vespertine - Bjork (2001). This album was released in the summer of 2001, but was definitely in the tradition of Scandinavian-based winter soundtracks. For me, it represented the dark period after 9/11 when it was clear that the west would be at war for an extended period. Songs like Coccoon and Pagan Poetry were a hyper-modern escape from reality. Even now, it seems like Bjork had extended a hand into the vast oceans of time of the future to bring us back something unique. Legend has it, she created the album at the top of snowcreseted mountain in Iceland.

Close seconds- 2001: "Is this It? - The Strokes.

3. Original Pirate Material - The Streets (2002). The Streets, aka Mike Skinner, was just a wee raver lad during the nineties, bringing his influences into modern hip hop. With one song, "Has it come to this?", he launched British grime out of Brixton and onto an international stage with wit, honesty, and chopped up, laptop-screwed beats that define a raw debut album. The intro, "Turn the Page" mocks the boring US gangsta rap era at its twilight and explicitly states he will not be following the lead of aping his North American cousins. It was the dawn of a new era.

Close seconds- 2002: "Veni Vedi Viscious" - The Hives

4. Hail to the Thief - Radiohead (2003). At the turn of the millenium, Radiohead were widely regarded as the kings of pop for Kid A and Amnesiac. By 2003, their focus was dead set on George W. Bush, with anti-war music subtlely implying that the Lilluputians of "Go To Sleep" should attempt to hold down the sleeping American Gulliver. It was an album full of imagery, intelligence and candor.

Close seconds- 2003: "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" - OutKast

5. College Dropout - Kanye West (2004). Before Kanye West (aka: Gayfish) became the biggest douchebag on earth, Kanye changed Hip Hop, clearing a path for conscientious hip hop of Talib, the Roots (as much as they cleared a path for West), Common, Kid Cudi and Lupe Fiasco. While Kanye's rap skills were lacking, his production and lyrical skills in terms of originality and content were a shot across the stagnant pond of Hip Hop (exceptions of course), which was navel-gazing at this point. The album starts off with "If this is your first time hearing this/You about to experience/something so cold", and from that point it became a journey, an autobiography and a triumph.

Close seconds- 2004: "Boy in da Corner" - Dizzee Rascal

6. Silent Alarm - Bloc Party (2005). I knew the first time I heard the first bars of "Helicopter" that Bloc Party were going to be band I had to know. Like most of the English imports during the millenium they never quite made the jump over the pond, but their jet engine beats coupled with the unapologetically English vocals and caffeine infused guitar riffs became timeless.

Close seconds- 2005: "Hot Fuss" - The Killers

7. Pieces of the People We Love - The Rapture (2006). The Rapture was often compared to U2 because of the ultra-fast strum style that permeated the guitar work, but beyond that, the Rapture had staked out their own style. The Rapture used humour, touches of New Order dance sensibility, and call-and-response hip hop techniques to craft an album that stands out in my mind as a defining work of the year.

Close seconds- 2006: "Show Your Bones" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

8. Untrue - Burial (2007). The first time I heard this album it was late at night, and I was listening to my iPod as I fell asleep. The album came on, and I listened. And re-listened. And I stayed up most of the night listening to this masterpiece. Burial had taken the soundtrack of night, laced it with the percussion of flicking lighters and dropped coins, and vocals that switched in an instant from female to male, warping the perception of the songs in an instant.

Close seconds- 2007: "Kala" - M.I.A.

9. In Ghost Colours - Cut/Copy (2008). Cut/Copy exuded ballsyness in releasing an album like "In Ghost Colours" which would have been a smash hit in 1990, and would have made them the world's biggest band. They cheerfully updated the Happy Monday's English dance rock, post-rave influence and went full-throttle with an album that is self-confident and brimming with melodies that stay with you long afterwards. A DJ favourite, "Hearts on Fire" will bring a smile to your face with the ancient and overused-at-the-time cliche dance sample.

Close seconds- 2008: "Tha Carter III" - Lil' Wayne

10. Yesterday and Today - The Field (2009). The Swedish techno master's follow up to the critically acclaimed "From Here We Go Sublime" was an album focused on musical texture, creating long-sequenced soundscapes that build element on element. The first time I heard "I Have the Moon" was as I traversed an artic ridge during a beautiful clear day at -35C. It was pure magic, and the album remains on heavy play.

Close seconds- 2009: "Post - Nothing" - The Japandroids

Other albums that defined my decade but did not appear on the list include:

- Coldplay's "X&Y", which I first heard while relaxing on a deck from a beach in Thailand. The opening notes of "Square One" inevitably lead me back to the same state of mind at that one day.

- God's Son - Nas. I first really listened to this album while at top volume from an apartment overlooking Kashihara, in Nara Prefecture, Japan. Nas' "Made You Look" was and remains real hip hop.

- "Takk - Sigur Ros".

- Franz Ferdinand (self-titled debut)

- Up the Bracket - The Libertines

- Rooty - Basement Jaxx

- Nordic Light Hotel - The Field

- The Bravery (Self-titled Debut)

- Push the Button - The Chemical Brothers

- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix

- Justice - Cross

- Feed the Animals - Girl Talk

- The Inhuman Condition - Sam Roberts

- LCD Soundsystem (self-titled debut)

- Loyal to the Game - 2pac

- Elephant - The White Stripes

- Highly Evolved - The Vines

- Our Love to Admire - Interpol

- Demon Days - Gorillaz

- TI vs. TIP - TI

- A Grand Don't Come For Free - The Streets

- West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum - Kasabian

- Crystal Castles (Self-Titled Debut)

- In Rainbows - Radiohead

- Medulla - Bjork

- 24 Hour Party People - Soundtrack

- Yoshimi Battles... - The Flaming Lips

- The Black Album - Jay Z

Interpol's "Mammoth"

The Greedy Charade at the Anti-Government Protests

2009-08-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through...
--Gordon Gekko

Here is a smattering of recent protests from the US...

Tim Bishop's Townhall in NY:

An Austin TX protest:

Spector and Sebelius in Philadelphia:

The overwhelming emotion present at these meetings is hatred. These are not democrats (small d) in search of debate or conversion. This is hatred, with greed and fear of change manifested in shouted slogans.

"I want my country back"....but from where? Whom? A black president? The older white demographic present at the last time of serious social change has come back with a vengeance. This is a reactionary segment of the US, rearing its head again.

"Silent No More"? When were these rich white conservatives silent over the last decade? Their interests were running the US into the ground. If they "took the country back" as some of these muntineers wanted, what exactly would change or improve? Nothing - it would be business as usual.

"I don't want to pay taxes for someone else's healthcare, I like mine just fine". Unfortunately, this sums up the problem, doesn't it? If this person was seriously ill, and her HMO desserted her, who could she turn to, or blame? If we are all looking out for number one, then can we blame the HMO's for reneging on their promises to pay for care?

Reality: Sadder, Funnier than Marketing

2009-07-24T03:09:00.000-07:00

One time a thing occured to me
What's real
And what's for sale
--STP

From Andrew Sullivan's Blog, comes a comparison of an Israeli phone company ad, depicting Israeli soldiers playing football with the Palestinians on the other side of the security wall:

The scene is recreated by the Palestinians, and...

The scene is funnier given the background music is from the original ad.

Of course, the original ad is ridiculous on a couple of different levels.

The first is that the wall, obstensibly a security measure, but also a consolidation of land grabs since 1967, is made to be something of a funny joke that serves as a prop between the two groups of obviously like minded adversaries. Hey! Everyone likes football!...AND a joke between the military and a demoralized minority, deprived of voting rights in a de facto Israeli/West Bank state that has cordoned Palestinians off into hundreds of open air prisons.

The other thing is that this is ad is obviously for only Israeli consumption. The ad takes the most aggressive of ME armies and a controversial security measure and turns them into non-aggressive play things. Anywhere outside of Israel would this farce been ridiculed out of existence for its cruel mangling of reality.

However within Israel, you can imagine the ad is retail therapy. An Israeli consumer, possibly feeling at odds with the measures of the government and settlers and upset by foreign disgust with the occupation gets relief by a moment of levity regarding these burdens. The Palestinians, those baring the brunt of the crushing policies, never make an appearance, allowing the imagination to envision a people having the time of their lives playing football with their oppressor.

It is a purely psychological manipulation by a marketing PhD's, juicing demand through addictive, reality warping advertising.

Which is why the second video is so funny. It is an act of genius, blowing apart the happy take on the Palestinian/Israeli divide, and destroying the ridiculousness of the marketing schmaltz.

What a Bizarre Idiot - Sarah Palin's Resignation

2009-07-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

I'm supposed to be i-d-i-o-t a.k.a i-d-i-o-t, yeah thats me i-d-i-o-t.
I put with being laughed at cause I put up with being me.
And then on artificial someone says I'm the i-d-i-o-t.
But I got motivation yeah I pretty much love it all.
--The Hives

Um, by the way, sure wish folks could ever, ever understand that we ALL could learn so much from someone like Trig - I know he needs me, but I need him even more... what a child can offer to set priorities RIGHT - that time is precious... the world needs more "Trigs", not fewer.
--Sarah Palin

This is one of the most bizarre, uncomfortable, weird, demented and horrible speeches I have ever watched/heard/read.

Unfortunately for Governor Palin, I believe that there is another shoe to drop. This is a very unexpected move, and probably the result of a hurried decision made by worried advisors in expectation of some very bad press. We are missing a large chunk of the equation, but sure enough...it will come.

Hi Alaska, I appreciate speaking directly TO you, the people I serve, as your Governor.
People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska. Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine.

I want Alaskans to grasp what can be in store for our state. We were purchased as a territory because a member of President Abe Lincoln's cabinet, William Seward, providentially saw in this great land, vast riches, beauty, strategic placement on the globe, and opportunity. He boldly looked "North to the Future". But he endured such ridicule and mocking for his vision for Alaska, remember the adversaries scoffed, calling this "Seward's Folly". Seward withstood such disdain as he chose the uncomfortable, unconventional, but RIGHT path to secure Alaska, so Alaska could help secure the United States.

People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska.

Alaska's mission - to contribute to America. We're strategic IN the world as the air crossroads OF the world, as a gatekeeper of the continent. Bold visionaries knew this - Alaska would be part of America's great destiny.

Our destiny to be reached by responsibly developing our natural resources. This land, blessed with clean air, water, wildlife, minerals, AND oil and gas. It's energy! God gave us energy.

So to serve the state is a humbling responsibility, because I know in my soul that Alaska is of such import, for America's security, in our very volatile world. And you know me by now, I promised even four years ago to show MY independence... no more conventional "politics as usual".

And we are doing well! My administration's accomplishments speak for themselves. We work tirelessly for Alaskans.

We aggressively and responsibly develop our resources because they were created to be used to better our world... to HELP people... and we protect the environment and Alaskans (the resource owners) foremost with our policies.

Here's some of the things we've done:

We created a petroleum integrity office to oversee safe development. We held the line FOR Alaskans on Point Thomson - and finally for the first time in decades - they're drilling for oil and gas.

We have AGIA, the gasline project - a massive bi-partisan victory (the vote was 58 to 1!) - also succeeding as intended - protecting Alaskans as our clean natural gas will flow to energize us, and America, through a competitive, pro-private sector project. This is the largest private sector energy project, ever. THIS is energy independence.

And ACES - another bipartisan effort - is working as intended and industry is publicly acknowledging its success. Our new oil and gas "clear and equitable formula" is so Alaskans will no longer be taken advantage of. ACES incentivizes NEW exploration and development and JOBS that were previously not going to happen with a monopolized North Slope oil basin.

We cleaned up previously accepted unethical actions; we ushered in bi-partisan Ethics Reform.

We also slowed the rate of government growth, we worked with the Legislature to save billions of dollars for the future, and I made no lobbyist friends with my hundreds of millions of dollars in budget vetoes... but living beyond our means today is irresponsible for tomorrow.

We took government out of the dairy business and put it back into private-sector hands - where it should be.

We provided unprecedented support for education initiatives, and with the right leadership, finally filled long-vacant public safety positions. We built a sub-Cabinet on Climate Change and took heat from Outside special interests for our biologically-sound wildlife management for abundance.

We broke ground on the new prison.

And we made common sense conservative choices to eliminate personal luxuries like the jet, the chef, the junkets... the entourage.

And the Lt. Governor and I said "no" to our pay raises. So much success in this first term - and with this success I am proud to take credit... for hiring the right people! Our goal was to achieve a gasline project, more fair oil and gas valuation, and ethics reform in four years. We did it in two. It's because of the people... good public servants surrounding the Governor's office, with servants' hearts and astounding work ethic... THEY are Alaska's success!

We are doing well! I wish you'd hear MORE from the media of your state's progress and how we tackle Outside interests - daily - SPECIAL interests that would stymie our state. Even those debt-ridden stimulus dollars that would force the heavy hand of federal government into our communities with an "all-knowing attitude" - I have taken the slings and arrows with that unpopular move to veto because I know being right is better than being popular. Some of those dollars would harm Alaska and harm America - I resisted those dollars because of the obscene national debt we're forcing our children to pay, because of today's Big Government spending; it's immoral and doesn't even make economic sense!

Another accomplishment - our Law Department protected states' rights - TWO huge U.S. Supreme Court reversals came down against that liberal Ninth Circuit, deciding in OUR state's favor over the last two weeks. We're protectors of our Constitution - federalists protect states' rights as mandated in 10th amendment.

But you don't hear much of the good stuff in the press anymore, do you?

Some say things changed for me on August 29th last year - the day John McCain tapped me to be his running-mate - I say others changed.

Let me speak to that for a minute.

Political operatives descended on Alaska last August, digging for dirt. The ethics law I championed became their weapon of choice. Over the past nine months I've been accused of all sorts of frivolous ethics violations - such as holding a fish in a photograph, wearing a jacket with a logo on it, and answering reporters' questions.

Every one - all 15 of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. We've won! But it hasn't been cheap - the State has wasted THOUSANDS of hours of YOUR time and shelled out some two million of YOUR dollars to respond to "opposition research" - that's money NOT going to fund teachers or troopers - or safer roads. And this political absurdity, the "politics of personal destruction" ... Todd and I are looking at more than half a million dollars in legal bills in order to set the record straight. And what about the people who offer up these silly accusations? It doesn't cost them a dime so they're not going to stop draining public resources - spending other peoples' money in their game.

It's pretty insane - my staff and I spend most of our day dealing with THIS instead of progressing our state now. I know I promised no more "politics as usual," but THIS isn't what anyone had in mind for ALASKA.

If I have learned one thing: LIFE is about choices!

And one chooses how to react to circumstances. You can choose to engage in things that tear down, or build up. I choose to work very hard on a path for fruitfulness and productivity. I choose NOT to tear down and waste precious time; but to build UP this state and our country, and her industrious, generous, patriotic, free people!

Life is too short to compromise time and resources... it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: "Sit down and shut up", but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out. And a problem in our country today is apathy. It would be apathetic to just hunker down and "go with the flow".

Nah, only dead fish "go with the flow".

No. Productive, fulfilled people determine where to put their efforts, choosing to wisely utilize precious time... to BUILD UP.

And there is such a need to BUILD up and FIGHT for our state and our country. I choose to FIGHT for it! And I'll work hard for others who still believe in free enterprise and smaller government; strong national security for our country and support for our troops; energy independence; and for those who will protect freedom and equality and LIFE... I'll work for and campaign for those PROUD to be American, and those who are INSPIRED by our ideals and won't deride them.

I WILL support others who seek to serve, in or out of office, for the RIGHT reasons, and I don't care what party they're in or no party at all. Inside Alaska - or Outside Alaska.

But I won't do it from the Governor's desk.

I've never believed that I, nor anyone else, needs a title to do this - to make a difference... to HELP people. So I choose, for my State and my family, more "freedom" to progress, all the way around... so that Alaska may progress... I will not seek re-election as Governor.

And so as I thought about this announcement that I wouldn't run for re-election and what it means for Alaska, I thought about how much fun some governors have as lame ducks... travel around the state, to the Lower 48 (maybe), overseas on international trade - as so many politicians do. And then I thought - that's what's wrong - many just accept that lame duck status, hit the road, draw the paycheck, and "milk it". I'm not putting Alaska through that - I promised efficiencies and effectiveness! ? That's not how I am wired. I am not wired to operate under the same old "politics as usual." I promised that four years ago - and I meant it.

It's not what is best for Alaska.

I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is unconventional and not so comfortable.

With this announcement that I am not seeking re-election... I've determined it's best to transfer the authority of governor to Lieutenant Governor Parnell; and I am willing to do so, so that this administration - with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future - can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success.

My choice is to take a stand and effect change - not hit our heads against the wall and watch valuable state time and money, millions of your dollars, go down the drain in this new environment. Rather, we know we can effect positive change outside government at this moment in time, on another scale, and actually make a difference for our priorities - and so we will, for Alaskans and for Americans.

Let me go back to a comfortable analogy for me - sports... basketball. I use it because you're naïve if you don't see the national full-court press picking away right now: A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket... and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can WIN. And I'm doing that - keeping our eye on the ball that represents sound priorities - smaller government, energy independence, national security, freedom! And I know when it's time to pass the ball - for victory.

I have given my reasons candidly and truthfully... and my last day won't be for another few weeks so the transition will be very smooth. In fact, we will look to swear Sean in - in Fairbanks at the conclusion of our Governor's picnics.

I do not want to disappoint anyone with my decision; all I can ask is that you TRUST me with this decision - but it's no more "politics as usual".

Some Alaskans don't mind wasting public dollars and state time. I do. I cannot stand here as your Governor and allow millions upon millions of our dollars go to waste just so I can hold the title of Governor. And my children won't allow it either. ? Some will question the timing. ? Let's just say, this decision has been in the works for awhile...

In fact, this decision comes after much consideration, and finally polling the most important people in my life - my children (where the count was unanimous... well, in response to asking: "Want me to make a positive difference and fight for ALL our children's future from OUTSIDE the Governor's office?" It was four "yes's" and one "hell yeah!" The "hell yeah" sealed it - and someday I'll talk about the details of that... I think much of it had to do with the kids seeing their baby brother Trig mocked by some pretty mean-spirited adults recently.) Um, by the way, sure wish folks could ever, ever understand that we ALL could learn so much from someone like Trig - I know he needs me, but I need him even more... what a child can offer to set priorities RIGHT - that time is precious... the world needs more "Trigs", not fewer.

My decision was also fortified during this most recent trip to Kosovo and Landstuhl, to visit our wounded soldiers overseas, those who sacrifice themselves in war for OUR freedom and security... we can ALL learn from our selfless Troops... they're bold, they don't give up, they take a stand and know that LIFE is short so they choose to NOT waste time. They choose to be productive and to serve something greater than SELF... and to build up their families, their states, our country. These Troops and their important missions - those are truly the worthy causes in this world and should be the public priority with time and resources and NOT this local / superficial wasteful political bloodsport.

May we ALL learn from them!

*((Gotta put First Things First))*

First things first: as Governor, I love my job and I love Alaska. It hurts to make this choice but I am doing what's best for Alaska. I've explained why... though I think of the saying on my parents' refrigerator that says "Don't explain: your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe you anyway."

But I have given my reasons... no more "politics as usual" and I am taking my fight for what's right - for Alaska - in a new direction.

Now, despite this, I don't want any Alaskan dissuaded from entering politics after seeing this REAL "climate change" that began in August... no, we NEED hardworking, average Americans fighting for what's right! And I will support you because we need YOU and YOU can effect change, and I can too on the outside.

We need those who will respect our Constitution where government's supposed to serve from the BOTTOM UP, not move toward this TOP DOWN big government take-over... but rather, will be protectors of individual rights - who also have enough common sense to acknowledge when conditions have drastically changed and are willing to call an audible and pass the ball when it's time so the team can win! And that is what I'm doing!

Remember Alaska... America is now, more than ever, looking North to the Future. It'll be good. So God bless you, and from me and my family - to ALL Alaska - you have my heart.

And we will be in the capable hands of our Lieutenant Governor, Sean Parnell. And Lieutenant General Craig Campbell will assume the role of Lieutenant Governor. And it is my promise to you that I will always be standing by, ready to assist. We have a good, positive agenda for Alaska.

In the words of General MacArthur said, "We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction."

###

--------------------------------------------
A fifth grader could have done better. Sweet Jesus that was horrible.

RIP MJ

2009-06-25T17:52:00.000-07:00

He was truly an original, and an artist that towered above his contemporaries. Like other commentators, I wish that he finds what he looking for in the afterlife, if one exists. He was a tortured soul, irresponsible in his actions, callous in his disregard for social norms and behaviours. But what he will be remembered for is the incredible performances, the leaps and bounds he made musically, and a style that could not be imitated.

Truly the GOAT. The greatest of all time.

BTW - I'm busting Thriller right now.

Shame On The Harper Government

2009-06-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

Scars on my shins,
Scars on my knuckles
Today I woke up in the basketball court
--Bloc Party

The Iranian Protesters, beaten and near-death will not find sanctuary at the Canadian Embassy in Tehran:

"The Embassy was closed Saturday and there were no Canadians at the Embassy when the protests began. Reports that we were providing shelter to Iranian demonstrators are false," foreign affairs and international trade spokesperson Simone MacAndrew said in a statement to CTV.ca.

"Canada's Embassy is located in the centre of recent demonstrations. Due to the tense security in Tehran this week, the Embassy has been closing early so that staff can return home safely before the public and democratic demonstrations begin

They are backpedaling - Everyone knew the big protest and possibly hyper-violent confrontation was on Saturday and Canada made a conscious decision to send the losing regime a message: Scoring some minor points with the murderous dictatorship is more important than doing the right thing and keeping a positive image of Canada.

On moral grounds, this is reprehensible. Just on moral grounds, Canada needs to open the Embassy.

If the decision were purely Realpolitik, it will not work either. The fact that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Iranians know what Canada did and now the entire world knows means that our standing in the world has been dealt a serious blow. And for what purpose? So the old regime will smile on us just a little more than say the Swiss? What tangible benefits will we see from this?

Is it enough that the country cannot look at itself in the mirror? Or will the benefits be so much that it will not matter that the future Iranian regime will remember this travesty?

If you feel like I do, you will want to email the responsible parties:
Prime Minister Harper: pm@pm.gc.ca
Canadian Tehran Embassy: tehran@international.gc.ca
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon: Cannon.L@parl.gc.ca

WSJ's Editorial Page Is Again Far, Far From Truth

2009-06-18T16:26:00.000-07:00

Pitiful:

Someday a future president may have to apologize to Iranians for Mr. Obama’s nonfeasance, just as Mr. Obama apologized for the Eisenhower administration’s meddling. But the better Eisenhower parallel is with Hungary in 1956. Then as now a popular uprising coalesced around a figure (Imre Nagy in Hungary; Mir Hossein Mousavi in Iran), who had once been a creature of the system. Then as now it was buoyed by inspiring American rhetoric about freedom and democracy coming over Voice of America airwaves. And then as now the administration effectively turned its back on the uprising when U.S. support could have made a difference. Hungary would spend the next 33 years in the Soviet embrace.

This is, of course, ridiculous, as Matt Steinglass points out:

The error in 1956 was on the part of Radio Free Europe, in holding out to Hungarian resisters the false hope that the West would or could intervene on their behalf. It would be similarly cruel and immoral to give Iranian demonstrators the false idea that we in the democratic world can offer them anything more than our sympathy. We can’t. We will not invade Iran, and nothing else we do will have much of an effect on the behavior of a regime fighting to retain its hold on power. The demonstrators in Iran must know that they have to win the struggle for a fair election on their own, and must be prepared to face the consequences of failure. And they do know this. That is precisely what makes them so courageous. It would be stupid and irresponsible of the US to use their struggle as an occasion for ineffectual rhetorical grandstanding, and fortunately President Obama, unlike our last President, seems able to resist the temptation.

Iran's establishment can absolutely suck the wind out of this thing with one fowl swoop if they can paint the US as being anywhere near this revolt. Best to stay out of the way, stop the navel gazing and just observe.

Belfast's Shame

2009-06-18T16:16:00.001-07:00

Unbelievable. This about as wrong as it gets.

Iran: The Wheels Are Stil In Spin

2009-06-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

Everywhere I hear the sound of
Marching, charging, feet, boy
--Rolling Stones

I guess millions and millions of shocked Iranians can be discounted - Ken Ballen and Patrick Doherty did a pole last month showing that of course Ahmadinejad would win, by approximately 2 to one over Mousavi.

Of course, if you take a couple minutes to review the pole there are issues that begin to emerge. The stink emerges from this piece of drivel fairly quickly:

When our poll was taken, almost a third of Iranians were also still undecided.

Really? That doesn't seem right - Seems a high for a well publicized election.

Here's the actual chart, courtesy of 538:

So 15% refused to answer, 7% would not vote, and about a third were "undecided", and around 3% were voting for someone other than the two frontrunners. Despite these completely oddball results, Ballen and Doherty decide that these people were not intimidated because the respondents generally were pro-reform, pro-democracy, and pro-detente with the west. Ballen and Doherty decided that this meant they saw Ahmadinejad as the "best negotiator" for Iran.

The problem is that if you follow Ahmadinejad's rhetoric, it's clear he is not interested in detente, reform, or any of the above. It straight up does not make sense.

More damning, is that the election results showed massive wins for Ahmadinejad in areas that are typically won by underdogs, including Kurdish areas which never vote for the Conservative hardliner. Even Azeris, Mousavi's own people, apparently voted for Ahmadinejad in record numbers. Ballen and Doherty never address this, nor any of the actual voting irregularities spotted by anyone over the weekend. In fact, they only saw the results as being "similar" to their own findings, and said "we are freaking geniuses!"

Here are the 2009 results for candidate Karroubi against Ahmadinejad, keeping in mind that Karroubi beat Ahmadinejad in all of these areas in 2005:

Nothing unusual here, say Ballen and Doherty. No intimidation of the voters was present during the polling.

Why? Well, because Iranians know that they are free to express their opinions without fear....

They are well aware that an Iranians' political viewpoint is sacred, and not to be coerced one way or another by violence...

Seriously, how could anyone think that the Ayatollahs would ever stoop to such barbarism??? I mean intimidation? Really???

How batshit crazy do you have to be to believe that Iran's leadership would do something so ridiculous?
--------------------------------
Ballen and Doherty should have come clean about their own shoddy work and admitted that intimidation and reprisals were at work during their polling and instead became enthused that the election reinforced their findings(although not really - see here and here).

Instead of admitting their errors, they became useful idiots of the Iranian establishment's propaganda. Ballen and Doherty will not live this down anytime soon, and it is my hope they never, ever do. F***ing Enablers.

Unbelievable.

Broken back to the ceiling
Broken nose to the floor
I scream at the silence, it's crawling
It crawls under the door
There's a rope around my neck
And there's a trigger in your gun
Jesus say something
I am someone, I am someone
I am someone
--U2

Sometimes, All It Takes Is One Renegade...

2009-06-07T07:09:00.000-07:00

Profligate Spendthrift Unimpressed With Substance

2009-05-31T15:18:00.000-07:00

But I won’t let you sit by
So cold in the pitch night
Alone
You can’t make amends
--Interpol

The former expense account junkie, Adrienne Clarkson, showed up in Iqaluit last week.
She was entering the Frobisher Inn Gallery restaurant as if she were royalty, being late for her lunch appointment and then presenting herself to the room for several moments before finding her seat.

But she knew exactly where she was sitting. John Ralston Saul was sitting with her party of a dozen right at the front of the restaurant.

Lame.

Anyways, the disgraced Clarkson decided to get catty with Michaelle Jean, a supercharged charismatic and down to earth woman, far superior in every way to the former GG:

Clarkson unimpressed with Jean's seal-eating gesture
By Alexander Panetta – 4 hours ago

IQALUIT, Nunavut — At least one person's unimpressed by all the fuss over the seal-skinning adventures of Michaelle Jean: her predecessor as Governor General.

Adrienne Clarkson was curt when asked by a reporter about Jean's headline-grabbing gesture last week, and Clarkson's own memories of meals with the Inuit.

"I've eaten raw food here since 1971. It's nothing new to me, okay?" Clarkson told The Canadian Press this weekend. Both women were attending an arctic gathering hosted by Clarkson's husband John Ralston Saul.

Yes, but did Clarkson eat seal in front of the media in order to defend Canada's seal hunt? Did she send the world a message of solidarity with other Canadians?

What a bitchy, self-centred response.

The issue was not about her, it was about Michaelle Jean, and Michaelle's gesture, not about what Clarkson had eaten and when. Nobody cares what Clarkson did in '71, and no one wants to hear about it.

Somehow, this ugly leftover from the Chretien Regime just regurgitated her self-important bile all over the news again.

Dear Adrienne: Please disappear for another 5 years or so. This is the last Canadians will need to hear from you for a long, long time.

Interpol asks us all to spare them the suspense:

Creeping Protectionism: Obama Gives in to History

2009-05-20T17:04:00.000-07:00

It's no surprise that protectionism has become the latest phenomena in the downturn. Fear, driven by nationalism, job losses, general malaise, and xenophobia results in a hostile and economically reactionary constituency. Lawmakers, and in particularly Obama, despite their true selves are servants to a greater master than ideology, education, party, or accumulated knowledge. We have seen this in almost every downturn in the 20th century, and this is no exception.

They are servants of populism - the plague of any downturn. If truth is the first casualty of war, then reason is the first casualty of a recession. Case in point:

WASHINGTON — Canadian Industry Minister Tony Clement on Wednesday slammed the Democratic-led U.S. Congress for expanding "injurious" Buy American rules that bar Canadian firms from bidding on American economic-stimulus projects, suggesting Capitol Hill lawmakers are ignorant to the potential for their actions to backfire on the U.S. economy.

Unfortunately for the US, "Buy American" and other assorted assanine policies driven by an inwardly focused electorate mean that others may retaliate for the continuing idiocy of Congress:

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva paid a visit to his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, this week, with a view to boosting trade between the two emerging economies and promoting what Lula called a “new economic order” that relies less on the US dollar.

[...]

”I think the trip that I am about to embark on…is one of the most important I am going on to defend a new economic order and a new commercial policy in the world,” Lula told journalists before he left Brazil, AFP reported.

China and other major trade partners, including Canada, have been waiting for a sensible US trade policy for a long time. The "Buy American" policies may be a last straw for the US' biggest partners.

Witness Canada's push for a oil deals away from the US, China and Canada's continued push for European trade integration and diversification away from the US trade hegemony.
------------------

It was inevitable that the American and world believers in Obama (this blog included) would be disappointed by Obama because of his need to have as large a tent possible. The short-sightedness of certain actions (not releasing more torture photos, keeping Gitmo's military trials, etc) has made the world wonder if Obama's better instincts and image have not been permanently damaged by adhering to a populist agenda that requires bending over backwards to satisfy the most backward of the US' interest groups.

I declare the world's honeymoon with the new president over.

It's back to earth, and back to playing hardball with one more compromised and damaged politician, beholden to satisfy idiocy as opposed to Obama's supreme intellect and abilities.

So much for the PHD's from the University of Chicago he surrounded himself with. What a waste.

Dwarfed Punk

2009-03-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

Turn off the brain and enjoy:

NI Riots Return, From Another Time and Another Place

2009-03-15T09:04:00.000-07:00

(Photo Credit: NYT)

Just as I am
I awoke with a tear on my tongue
I awoke with a feeling of never before

Another time, another place
--U2

The media, the politicians, and the world at large want to believe that the killings in N. Ireland are completely without popular support.

Unfortunately, murderous terror organizations do not form in a vacuum. They are aided and abetted by large groups of sympathizers forming a critical mass capable of enabling, defending, encouraging, protecting and giving ideological support to the most capable of their members - ie: the terrorists themselves. Today, it appears that the bad old days are back in N. Ireland, if the above picture and the ongoing and probably completely well-rehearsed riots are any indication:

LURGAN, Northern Ireland (AP) — Irish nationalist gangs hurled gasoline bombs at police officers on Saturday after three suspected Irish Republican Army dissidents were arrested on suspicion of killing two British soldiers in an attack designed to stir up wider violence in Northern Ireland.

Police officers in armored cars and flame-retardant suits said no members of their force were injured during the rising mob violence in the Irish Catholic end of Lurgan, a religiously divided town southwest of Belfast. Rioters also blocked the main railroad that goes between Belfast and Dublin, which runs alongside the town’s hard-line Kilwilkie district.

Belfast is still a divided town, and the segregation, religious bigotry and soci0-economic stigmas that permeates the city means that the while the progress at the top end (ie: political) may have been a necessary first step, and there is progress with law enforcement (Catholics can be policemen without the IRA hunting them), the most basic issues remain.

Catholics are still living in rundown ghettos in the worst areas of Belfast, while industries are protected for Protestants officially or otherwise. Protestants are still being force fed a diet of hate by preachers and leaders in an ancient and continued effort to keep the lower classes divided in an effort to keep down labour costs, and keep religion alive one of the last corners of fervant belief in Europe.

Leadership is not the only issue. The terrorists that kill the innocent have crossed the vast moral divide from sympathizers to cold-blooded killers all by themselves and deserve nothing but punishment. Where once there was an argument about "protection" by the militants from the British, the British soldiers today are far from the soulless killers that shot from the hip into crowds of unarmed people 30 years ago.

The murdered soliders were ordering pizza, and hanging out with their friends at a barracks. Innocent.

But apart from the CIRA and RIRA, the Catholic and Protestant communities need to come to terms with the fact that they are still producing young men capable of sectarian murder.

Again - this does not occur in a vacuum. The communities themselves need to recognize that the conversations at the dinner table, and the sermons on Sunday have an effect on the impressionable. That those charged with more hormones than blessed with brains may think that they can serve their clan by killing more of the enemy based on what they have been told.

N. Ireland has come a long way in a short time. It still has a long way to go.

Elizabeth May: Most. Incompetent. Leader. Ever.

2009-03-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

(Photo Credit: Chronicle Herald)

The least intelligent of all the federal leaders in Canadian Politics in living memory makes one of the stupidest gaffes you could imagine since the last time she opened her sorry mouth. In discussing where she would like to be elected as an MP, Elizabeth May said:

"I have told the party I’m prepared to look a bit around, although I don’t want to," she said. "Anything in Nova Scotia is more palatable to me than having to move out West."

This is probably the least astute leader I have seen in a long time. I'm counting Stockwell Day in this assessment, too.

It's probably the worst thing I have heard a politician say since Elizabeth May came out and said she thought Canadians were stupid, and then started suing the pants off anyone that disagreed with her demented explanations for saying it.

If Canadian politics were the "Gong Show" she would have heard the ringing in her ears long before now.

Never Again: N. Ireland Rejects The Past

2009-03-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

(Photo Credit AFP)

Well you stole it 'cause I needed the cash
And you killed it 'cause I wanted revenge
--U2

The killings in N. Ireland over the past few days serve as a grim reminder of the recent past where the IRA and various Loyalist terror outfits ran one of the most contested pieces of land on planet earth - Northern Ireland. It also serves to remind us of the not quite unfinished business of the uneasy detente between the Protestants and Catholics in the province.

The good news of all this, is that if there is one thing both sides of the great divide can agree on: It was wrong. It should not have happened, and there is no public support for more killing.

Even Martin McGuinness, famed enforcer of the IRA came out against the attacks standing (get this) shoulder to shoulder with the N. Irish Police.

The question has to be why now? Why would the paramilitaries choose to assert themselves, when the public backlash was sure to be swift?

Some see the method in the madness. It's the same insane calculation that all resistance/guerilla movements count on - an overreaction by the authorities to a challenge of their dominance resulting in a massive wave of support for the movement:

Does this mean a new round of Troubles? No. But a new round of Troubles wasn't likely to happen 40 years ago, either. Public opinion was firmly against IRA terrorism in the late 1960s; a mere 2 per cent of Northern Ireland Catholics then supported the Provos. Catholic women initially brought tea and biscuits to British soldiers on patrol; after all, they had arrived to protect Catholic areas from Protestant mobs in 1969.

So why did the Troubles happen? Well, the Brits made horrendous mistakes when the IRA began its terror campaign. Sometimes, they overreacted, as when British paratroopers fired on a crowd of demonstrators and killed 19 people. Sometimes, they underreacted, as when they let the IRA set up "no-go areas" where it brutally consolidated support.

And who are the new bands of dissidents?

As to what motivates them, a dissident spokesman provided a clue last month in a rare interview with a Belfast paper, the Irish News. Politics had failed republicans: “politics and military cannot operate side by side.” To avert another Omagh they would not leave bombs in town centres but would target the security forces. Police and mainstream republicans say, and a number of arrests bear them out, that most dissidents are not disaffected ex-IRA but younger men, drawn in by a mixture of diehard belief that violence is essential if Northern Ireland is to be freed from the United Kingdom and a hankering for the excitement of disorder and the community status that paramilitaries once enjoyed.

A belief that the imagined utopia of the Troubles is a the way to the future is the cornerstone of a doomed movement.

There were no good ol' days.

Let's just hope the authorities and the Sinn Fein can act conservatively and wisely by playing the public against the murderers. This will be a battle for hearts and minds, and any drastic reactionary response by the British will end badly.

Here's MIA, pre-superfame, discussing the nature of resistance in her own terms:

Prohibition Continues: Legalize It (And Everything Else, Too)

2009-03-05T18:10:00.000-08:00

It sounds like a cliche because it is true: The drug war has failed.

Eradication programs in countries with a steady demand for drugs means that the less drugs on the market, the higher the price, ergo more dealers/suppliers push for more drugs to enter the market as profits get higher and higher.

Basically, without addressing demand, authorities are playing a wack-a-mole project with the supply of drugs. It won't work. And the only way to address demand, is to stop criminalizing addicts, who will be imprisoned for their mild self-harming ways, only to be placed in an environment inundated with copious amounts of drugs, violence, paranoia and intimidation.

That's only the problem with the addicts.

The other big issue is the massive black market for gangsters, supplying widely used products without any product safety inspection, quality control or worker's safety. You think your workplace is unsafe? Well...Meanwhile, the government is ceding major revenues from taxes to people who kill each other for a living.

How did the model ever make sense? Why do we keep going down the same failed path for decades, when it appears obvious a shift in policy is required?

The Economist wonders the same thing:

There are two main reasons for arguing that prohibition should be scrapped all the same. The first is one of liberal principle. Although some illegal drugs are extremely dangerous to some people, most are not especially harmful. (Tobacco is more addictive than virtually all of them.) Most consumers of illegal drugs, including cocaine and even heroin, take them only occasionally. They do so because they derive enjoyment from them (as they do from whisky or a Marlboro Light). It is not the state’s job to stop them from doing so.

What about addiction? That is partly covered by this first argument, as the harm involved is primarily visited upon the user. But addiction can also inflict misery on the families and especially the children of any addict, and involves wider social costs. That is why discouraging and treating addiction should be the priority for drug policy. Hence the second argument: legalisation offers the opportunity to deal with addiction properly.
[...]
This newspaper first argued for legalisation 20 years ago (see article). Reviewing the evidence again (see article), prohibition seems even more harmful, especially for the poor and weak of the world. Legalisation would not drive gangsters completely out of drugs; as with alcohol and cigarettes, there would be taxes to avoid and rules to subvert. Nor would it automatically cure failed states like Afghanistan. Our solution is a messy one; but a century of manifest failure argues for trying it.

Yeah. It's broke. It needs fixing.

Tiring: WK's Return To His Bad Old Ways

2009-03-01T16:25:00.000-08:00

You know I've tried so hard to
keep myself from falling
Back into my bad old ways
And it chars my heart to always hear you calling
Calling for the good old days
Because there were no good old days
--The Libertines

There was a detente between the Harper Tories and the remnants of the Chretien regime that had (mostly) missed the blows of Gomery, the Martin purges, the RCMP investigations and far-off ambassador posts/exile. Most of the Chretienites may have felt shame for their part of Chretien-era shenanigans, and decided that belonging to a regime that had exchanged brown paper bags full of money for favours in Italian restaurants in Montreal was a sign that perhaps they needed to exit the public stage.

The only two real "survivors" of the regime were the two with the least amount of shame: Joe Volpe (yes, Mr. "I think those kids were impressed with my speeches" as an excuse for why 10 year olds were giving him $5,400 in campaign contributions) and WK.

WK, as you may recall, spent loads of time attacking the right wing of the blogosphere during and before the Gomery Inquiry, attempting to censor and rewrite the history of the Chretien days by actively silencing anyone with a blog who looked at him and the Liberal past cross-eyed (including myself). For anyone who forgot, this was his chief claim to fame in the Gomery Inquiry:

David Dingwall, the former minister of public works and current CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint, admits he crossed the line in 1995 when he insisted to his deputy minister, Ran Quail, that Chuck Guité be promoted to review all advertising and communications activities of the government.

Dingwall testifies that Guité came highly recommended. "He was universally acclaimed," he says.

Dingwall's chief-of-staff at the time, Warren Kinsella, wrote a letter at Dingwall's request to Quail asking that Guité head the review. In hindsight, Dingwall acknowledges that ministers shouldn't interfere in the hiring process of public servants.

Yes, that Chuck Guite. [insert your own conclusions here]

Anyway, in the ensuing dysfunction that characterized the post-Gomery Martin Prime Minister-ship and the schadenfreude period of the initial Harper win, WK appeared to make friends with those on the right that took no part in his character-bashing and those he didn't threaten to sue (and some he did, a la pax blogospherica with Norm Spector after repeatedly belittling Norm and threatening him with lawsuits). Canadian politics made strange bedfellows as WK linked to Pierre Bourque, advocated on behalf of Angry in the Great White North when (get this) Janke was sued for defamation and generally made a Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with the moderate right.

Well, like the ol' "let's have a hudna and divvy up Poland!" party of the late '30's, this ridiculous pairing of moderates and hyper extreme partisan had to end.

WK senses he is near the halls of power. His symbiotic host, Michael Ignatieff, a half decent politician and world class intellectual, has a decent chance of winning the PM office with a Conservative party (and most of the world) unfairly paying for the excesses of the overindulgent American elite. This unhappy convergence of a so-so opposition and a hapless and disappointing government means that the remnants of the last successful Liberal regime may be rehabilitated, and their glory returned...(Hey!! Remember the nineties???? Seriously?? Ok, besides the fawning press overlooking a barely comprehensible, sexist, decrepit, corrupt old man making a mockery of Canada and purposefully neglecting western Canada as a scorched earth strategy??? GOOD TIMES!!!). As a result of Ignatieff's rise to leader, the honeymoon between the Conservatives and WK has ended, and the Game is back.

Which brings us to the present situation.

At this point, the Conservatives rightly sense that Ignatieff's weakest point is WK. Just as Obama's surrogates took some aim at the Bushies surrounding McCain, the Conservatives realize that the stink of a formerly disgraced regime may cling to the new prince because of his choice of Richelieu as his attack dog.

Thinking of WK, a quote from the movie "300" comes to mind, when Dilios says of Xerxes:

The god-king has betrayed a fatal flaw: Hubris. Easy to taunt, easy to trick. Before wounds and weariness have taken their toll, the mad king throws the best he has at us. Xerxes has taken the bait.

WK made it easy, shooting himself in the foot with his statements regarding Chinese Canadians:

[W] had written that he would be spending a few weeks in Ottawa and decided to celebrate “with some barbecue cat and rice” at a Chinese restaurant that was a favourite when he was a student at Carleton University.

Not smooth. The right pounced easily on the self-mutilated WK.

WK hit back wildly, making a mission of taking on TVO's Steve Paikan because of Paikan's choice of arch-conservative Kathy Shaidle as a guest on his program, threatening Paikan with telling on him to the responsible provincial minister (yes, a provincial Liberal). At this point, WK may have taken a moment to consider the negative fallout from continuing down a path where he was making an enemy of Ignatieff's future debate moderator.

(Aside: The only real upside would be to make Paikan far too timid in a real debate for fear of appearing biased, with public knowledge that he has a beef with Ignatieff's team, a la Republican attacks on Gwen Ifill, before the VP debate. But this is a dangerous strategy where Paikan is a far more dynamic and aware individual. And I'm probably giving W too much credit...)

But instead he doubled down.

It now comes to light that WK is alleged to have possibly threatened the Canadian Israel Committee for having some right wingers be invited on a tour to Israel. Which...just happened to coincide with his "resignation" from the Canadian Jewish Congress.

...And then to pile on the negative press clippings, MP Lois Brown dog piled on WK in the House...

...Simultaneously, WK also decided to attack Ezra Levant with a frivolous lawsuit, with precious little logic other than to silence right wing (or apparently) any critics of WK.

And now he is filed a suit against MP Christian Paradis for using W's name in the same sentence as Chretien's?

"The Liberal Party is back doing business as usual and has clearly not learned its lesson from the Sponsorship Scandal," said Paradis. "First Michael Ignatieff brought back disgraced Chretien backroom organizer Warren Kinsella and now he has welcomed a key Sponsorship Scandal figure into his inner circle."

This is the offending passage. I kid thee not.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I guess the larger game is that the Conservatives want to bring out the worst in the hyper aggressiveness of WK and his penchant for over-zealous, "politics as fist-fighting" partisanship. He is far too easily led into a brawl, when it seems obvious to the casual observer that this type of politics is out of style, and reflects badly on Ignatieff's judgment.

There is no cause for hysteria, and no reason for hitting out in every direction, but WK is and will continue because that is the only way he knows how. One gets the sense he was just itching for a fight for the last 3 years, and now sees rightwing enemies everywhere and anywhere, and the only way ahead is to bulldoze.

He's got a reputation. He's got a style. And with his blindfold and imagined rightwinger boogeyman pinata, he may just randomly hit the wrong person. With more enemies accumulating by the minute, and fewer Conservative or Liberal moderates on his side (ie: Cherniak and co) he may find himself short of backup this time.

Canadians Confidently Buying Nothing

2009-02-24T04:07:00.000-08:00

Go to the dealership
But you never cop nothin'
-50 Cent

Canadians are confident...

Canadians' confidence rises despite downturn

By John Morrissy, Financial PostFebruary 23, 2009
OTTAWA — Canadians were feeling more optimistic about the economy in February despite a decline that has shown no signs of loosening its grip on the housing market, the jobs sector or their depleted retirement savings, new polls show.

But...

The shops are open but Canadians aren't spending and the finance minister is predicting more of the same in the months ahead.

Statistics Canada said retail sales plunged 5.4% in December compared to the previous month -- the largest decline in more than 15 years.

"Retailers knew it was going to be a tough holiday season, but today's results are somewhat softer than anticipated," said Mark Beazley of the Retail Council of Canada.

I'm not sure how you can reconcile these two data sets, but I'd love to see someone try.

Alan Keyes Exits The Stage As A Serious Thinker

2009-02-22T14:21:00.000-08:00

I've been ****ed over, left for dead, dissed and forgotten
Luck ran out, they hoped that I'd be gone, stiff and rotten
Y'all just piss on me, **** on me, spit on my grave (uh)
Talk about me, laugh behind my back but in my face
Y'all some "well wishers," friendly actin', envy hidin' snakes
With your hands out for my money, man, how much can I take?
--Nas

Obama's longtime rival and wannabe nemesis, Alan Keyes, decides to make a name for himself by playing the same game that Hillary did during the primaries:

Tempt the assassin:

"Obama is a radical communist and I think it is becoming clear. That is what I told people in Illinois and now everybody realizes it is coming true. He is going to destroy this country and we are either going to stop him or the United States of America is going to cease to exist"
[...]
"He is an abomination"

What he is describing is a fraudulent takeover of the US presidency by a foreigner. Some misguided "patriot" might take this the wrong way and decide that the only way to rectify this is by removing this threat to the US by any means necessary.

And that would be a tragedy. I hope that day never comes, but if it does we know who to blame.

Fuck Alan Keyes.

Shameless: Finance Profession Forgets Its Place.

2009-02-19T09:07:00.000-08:00

And i really cant come to grips
With how these fellas act just like chicks
But now i retaliate with clips
And now i retaliate with force
You should come to grips
With how you really should watch your lips
--Dizzee Rascal

Rick Santelli, moron du jour, and TV personality on CNBC (billed as the George Castanza Channel - if everything it says is wrong, the opposite must be correct) called for a Boston Tea Party in Chicago this summer to protest the bill signed by Obama this week, to hoots of approval by the traders on the Chicago floor, calling them a "good cross section" of the American public - let's pray he's wrong:

"We're thinking of having a Chicago Tea Party in July," Santelli told CNBC "Squawk Box" co-anchor Joe Kernan. "All you capitalists who want to show up at Lake Michigan, I'm going to start organizing."

If by capitalists, he means those able to properly manage risk, manage a company's operations profitably, and be a responsible member of the commmunity, then there are no American Capitalists left.

They left with the advent of mega bonuses to executives of companies in chapter 11 and begging for government money.

They left when all around them, calls for responsible management of high risk mortgages went unheeded when the writing was on the wall years ago, and became painfully obvious in 2007.
---------------------------------------------------------------

I guess this is like financial Groundhog day - The finance professionals and their enablers within the media still don't realize how responsible they are for the meltdown, and so it is bound to continue.

The first step to solving your problem, is realizing you have one.

Christian Bale's Hot Techno Remix: What Don't You &*#@ing Understand?

2009-02-06T16:06:00.000-08:00

When C. Bale explodes we all win:

Warning: NSFW.

Economic Apocalypse Now: Building Permits Drop Off

2009-02-05T15:55:00.000-08:00

Like boots or hearts
Oh when it starts
It really falls apart
--Tragically Hip

The end is nigh for Vancouver Real Estate:

OTTAWA — The value of Canadian building permits fell in December for a third straight month as a slowdown in the economy continued to temper construction activity in both residential and non-residential sectors.

Statistic Canada said Thursday that municipalities issued $4.6 billion worth of permits during the month, a decline of 3.9 per cent from November.

And the stats at the bottom are far more interesting, as Ontario and Quebec were hiding some ridiculous figures from out west:

Building permits values by province/territory (percentage change December from November):
Alberta -27

Residential -17.6

Non-residential -33.9

British Columbia -40.9

Residential -42.6

Non-residential -39

Yeah, that's right. 40% drop off. The correction is on the way... So much Vancouver being "immune". It was always a lie.

Weird: GM Won't Take The Cash

2009-01-25T20:02:00.000-08:00

Lifestyles so rich and famous
Robin Leach will get jealous
Half a million for the stones
Taking trips from here to Rome
So if you ain't got no money take your broke ass home
--Ludacris

GM isn't taking the Canadian Government's cash:

OTTAWA — General Motors of Canada has turned down an offer by the federal and Ontario governments of emergency short-term aid, a move that has stunned some analysts and left negotiations on a highly touted auto bailout in limbo.

"For reasons that are their own, General Motors has decided not to call upon our short-term aid," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday in an interview, to be broadcast Saturday on Global TV's Focus Ontario. "That's actually good news, but we're talking to them about longer-term restructuring."

Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced with much fanfare on Dec. 20 that their governments would extend a combined $4 billion in emergency loans to GM Canada and Chrysler Canada.

There are only a few possibilities:
A. They need the cash, but are too incompetent to actually get the paperwork done. This is a definite possibility given GM's history.
B. They don't need the cash because they are doing amazingly well despite the almost triple digit percentage drop in sales. Ahhh, yeah, not likely.
C. They need the cash, but don't want to use government money to be used as a leverage against the company in the event of a bankruptcy. Scary, but probably the most likely scenario.

This doesn't look good.

Inauguration: Video and Full Text

2009-01-22T19:15:00.000-08:00

When by my solitary hearth I sit,
And hateful thoughts enwrap my soul in gloom;
When no fair dreams before my "mind's eye" flit,
And the bare heath of life presents no bloom;
Sweet Hope, ethereal balm upon me shed,
And wave thy silver pinions o'er my head!
--To Hope, John Keats

Obama's Inauguration Speech:
Part I

Part II

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

He starts out painting the a bleak picture of the current state of the nation, and then goes on to state that the triumph of the country will define this generation.

Where have I heard this before?

Churchill's "Finest Hour" speech:

The disastrous military events which have happened during, the past fortnight have not come to me with any sense of surprise. Indeed, I indicated a fortnight ago as clearly as I could to the House that the worst possibilities were open; and I made it perfectly clear then that whatever happened in France would make no difference to the resolve of Britain and the British Empire to fight on, 'if necessary for years, if necessary alone.'
[..]
There remains, of course, the danger of bombing attacks, which will certainly be made very soon upon us by the bomber forces of the enemy. It is true that the German bomber force is superior in numbers to ours; but we have a very large bomber force also, which we shall use to strike at military targets in Germany without intermission. 1 do not at all underrate the severity of the ordeal which lies before us; but 1 believe our countrymen will show themselves capable of standing up to it, like the brave men of Barcelona, and will be able to stand up to it, and carry on in spite of it, at least as well as any other people in the world. Much will depend upon this; every man and every woman will have the chance to show the finest qualities of their race, and render the highest service to their cause.
[..]
What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'

Things are dark. We have suffered setbacks. But if we pull together and work as a team and work hard, we will know hope.

"The Victory"

2009-01-18T11:25:00.000-08:00

When I am king, you will be first against the wall
With your opinion which is of no consequence at all
--Radiohead

Israel believes it has achieved victory:

Hamas has announced a one-week ceasefire after Israel said it was pulling its forces back to the Gaza border and suspending the 22-day war.
[...]
The Israeli campaign reached a turning point last week after Mr Olmert's government secured international guarantees that the flow of arms to Hamas in Gaza would be stopped. Israel was promised American involvement in the effort to stop shipments from Iran, a development that triggered offers of patrols by the Royal Navy and its French and German counterparts.

Hamas is nothing if not fully BS - The Israelis announce a unilateral ceasefire, so Hamas comes out and claims the same thing.

I guess this is good news that Israel has stopped its campaign, but at what cost? International opinion has essentially turned against Israel. Again.

Britain promised an extra £20 million for humanitarian relief in Gaza as Mr Brown used unusually strong language to criticise the extent of Israel's bombing campaign and ground incursions.

"We are yet to discover the full scale of the appalling suffering," he said. "Israel must allow full access to humanitarian workers and to relief supplies. We must also end Gaza's economic isolation by reopening the crossings that link it to the outside world."

Also of note, is the question of how arms are actually getting in to the Gaza Strip. If Israel has a Naval blockade, and the checkpoints are closed, and the crossing left is the border with Egypt, where dozens of tunnels link Egypt to Gaza. Egypt is basically a nominal ally of Israel in this case. A very real side question is how and why these arms are getting into Egypt and then to Gaza. It is not in Egypt's interest that these arms reach Gaza, and it certainly is not in Israel's interest either.

If Iran is shipping arms to Egypt, there should be further tightening of naval security in the area, which is why:

Israel was promised American involvement in the effort to stop shipments from Iran, a development that triggered offers of patrols by the Royal Navy and its French and German counterparts.

I wonder how much of this will spillover into joint patrols in the Aden and the Horn of Africa to stop piracy.

Two birds, one stone. Let's see if NATO takes an interest as a group in this venture.

The Arctic Grail: The Quest for the North West Passage and the North Pole

2009-01-07T23:36:00.000-08:00

Here is my brief review of Pierre Berton's "The Arctic Grail: The Quest for the North West Passage and the North Pole" at Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits.

Iran So Far Away

2009-01-07T23:13:00.000-08:00

Make your enemies believe there's love there
Cause in war, belief is all fair
Rock them to sleep, shots in your jeep
And you ain't never know the plot was from me
It's from my Masterminds
--Nas

Iran's fingerprints are all over this:

At least three rockets have been fired into northern Israel from Lebanon raising fears that the current Israeli offensive in Gaza may spill over.

Israel's army responded with artillery. No-one has said they fired the rockets.

The exchange came as Israel reportedly launched 60 air strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight, targeting facilities used by the militant Hamas group.

But why would Hizbollah attack on behalf of Hamas? Why would a radical Lebanese shiite group show up for a Gonzo radical Palestinian Group?

This is war by proxy - the only real link is Iran, which has taken on funding Hamas as the more nervous Saudi sponsors have pulled away. With a cooperative Syria using a land link to southern Lebanon and Iran using the seas to export rockets to Lebanon, this could get a whole lot more dangerous for Israel.

Iran knows that if Israel actually does dismantle Hamas militarily, there is a chance that with a completely deteriorated infrastructure, Gaza may be eligible for being annexed by Egypt, while the PA administered West Bank could eventually become a Jordanian protectorate (long term). Getting back to the near to mid term, Gaza's fall would mean that Iran would lose a southern launching pad against Israel.

It is getting a little weird in the ME these days. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are lining up behind Israel (basically, but not in public) and Hamas, Hizbollah and Iran are lining up on the other side. They say politics makes strange bedfellows, but this is getting freaking nutty.

REM know how to celebrate times like these:

How Overvalued is Vancouver Real Estate?

2009-01-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

Well, I hate to be the guy who will write "I-Told-You-So.....Years-Ago!" but:

VANCOUVER — Metro Vancouver's home prices rose the highest in Canada's property boom and will fall the farthest in its correction, real estate firm Royal LePage has forecast.
Royal LePage Real Estate Services, in its 2009 market survey forecast released today, predicts that Metro's average home price will decline nine per cent in 2009 to $540,100 from a 2008 forecast of $593,500.
That will be almost three times deeper than the national average decline for 2009 of three per cent, which should bring the average home price down to $295,000 nationally.

Yes, something is wrong when Canada's 3rd largest city, which consists of huge number of "lower cost" condos in Canada and has no major financial sector to speak of has almost double the national home price.

This isn't over, by-the-way - Vancouver is 153% of the price of Toronto's houses.

Yes, the largest and wealthiest city in Canada is being outdone by Vancouver. Seriously. Think about this for a second. Toronto has more millionaires than anywhere in Canada, has a massive financial services sector (meaning: wages to sustain large housing costs) and also has the ocean bordering its most prized areas like Vancouver.

Further reading:
Metro Vancouver has a 35% slide in Real Estate sales in '08.
Metro Vancouver Homeowners take huge equity hit.

Here are the Hives playing..you guessed it...

New for the '09: Top Ten Predictions

2009-01-02T13:36:00.000-08:00

In the afterlife gladiators meet their maker
Float through the wheat fields and lakes of blue water
To the next life from the fortress
Away from the knives and slaughter
To their wives and daughters
Once more before the Lord judges over all of us
Cos in this place you'll see me
Brace yourself, cos this goes deep
I'll show you the secrets, the sky and the birds
Actions speak louder than words
Stand by me my apprentice
Be brave, clench fists.
--The Streets

Here are my predictions for 2009:

1. There will be all out war in Afghanistan. The most under-reported story of 2008 is the comingmassive surge planned for Afghanistan. With Gates at the helm, the US will attempt to learn from its painful Mesopotamian experience by applying counter-insurgency practices from Iraq, Vietnam, Algeria, and Chechnya. The US, Canada, Britain and France will suffer record losses, but will push the Taliban to the edges of Afghanistan, achieving a broader mandate for the central authority to exert control. This will result in....

2. ...A civil war in Pakistan. With the US shoring up the Afghan side of the border, and India and the central Pakistan government at odds with Lashka-e-Taiba, there will be full confrontation between the various factions of Pakistan as pushing the civil war outside its borders becomes less of an option. Expect more events like the Red Mosque Incident.

3. The Housing Bubble will not completely deflate in 2009, and probably will not deflate fully until 2011. As you will recall, the tech bubble deflated over the course of 2 years (2000 - 2002). These assets, the stocks in tech companies are some of the most liquid assets on earth. Perceived changes in value are immediately reflected in asset prices. Houses on the other hand, are the most illiquid assets of the general population, and price changes take years to be reflected because of that. The US' housing meltdown is well underway, and Canada's is about to get far worse.

4. The Recession will not end in 2009. The problems of the economy are structural, hard to fix and with paper and housing losses decimating personal perceived wealth, consumer confidence will wane even more. The Recession will not become a depression simply because the US and China have committed to major spending initiatives early, but overall negative GDP figures in the G8 will be standard.

5. Oil Prices will take the wind out of the sales of Iran, Venezuela and Russia. Expect less militancy out of these regimes as internal problems and budget emergencies make external belligerence less viable. I would say Putin, Ahmadinejad, and Chavez will be keeping a lower profile in 2009, and one of them may exit the stage.

6. FARC will be all but dead by year end. The loss of soldiers, the propaganda war, resources and Venezuela's backing mean FARC will reach its lowest ever levels of support, land and tactical strength. Turncoats, losses of hostages, and tactical successes by Colombia's government mean that FARC is on its last legs.

7. Obama will lift the Cuban Embargo. The winds of change are blowing and with the strategically important Florida Cuban population shifting towards reconciliation with Cuba now that Castro is out of the drivers' seat, there is an opportunity to strike a bold new bilateral agreement with Cuba and relieve the suffering on the island. Engagement will mean influence and possibly moving Cuba out of the enemy column of the US' shitlist. That is not only a political win, but a smart move when your enemy is a short boat ride from the Florida coast. This is a bold, smart, and strategically
important move for the US.

8. The Liberals will win a general election this summer. The Conservative leadership has failed the party and the country, playing politics with the budgets and generally being out of step with the electorate on cultural and moral issues. With new leadership for the Liberals under Ignatieff and some thoughtful new policies, 2009 may see the return of the Liberals to power. I personally hope they leave the corruption of the Chretien era behind and follow a new path.

9. The environment will cease to be a top issue as long as the economy is in the tank. This is a long term trend - whenever people worry about the rent, they don't have time or resources to take up the cause of polar bears and melting polar caps. This is not because I wish it to be so, but because it is the truth. Al Gore became VP to Clinton because in the early nineties, environmentalism was deemed important, but the election became a referendum on the economy ("It's the economy, stupid" was the mantra of the late '92 Clinton campaign.)

10. Not all of these gloomy predictions will be right.

Day 5 of the Gaza Siege - Long Term Strategy Considerations

2008-12-31T13:26:00.001-08:00

In December, the beginning of the end of Hamas seemed inevitable. In public opinion polling, Hamas had come to a dangerously low-water mark just 3 weeks ago:

74 percent of the respondents support the renewal of the ceasefire between Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and Israel. The cease-fire ends December 19.

Hamas would get 28 percent of the Palestinian votes if elections were held today while Fatah would get a comfortable 42 percent lead. The previous poll conducted three months ago gave Hamas 29 percent compared to 43 percent for Fatah.

What a difference 3 weeks makes.

In the interim, Hamas ended the truce in a dilemma: Either renew the truce, at which point it may have to genuinely make the transition from resistance movement to a more politically-oriented party, which is not easy (just ask the Sinn Fein/IRA), or resume the futile fight against Israel and regain standing when the inevitable reprisals result in civilian deaths.

The choice was apparently easy.

Hamas needs to be considered in terms of its overall operations, and not just the militant wing. Hamas is not just a terror organization with all the appropriately attired thugs and waste cases that populate such entities. Hamas is a party, a security apparatus, a charity, and a larger Islamic movement in Gaza and the West Bank. It's similar to the Lashkar-e-Taiba/Jamaat-ut-Dawa or Hizbollah model of combining charity and good works as a cover for the more nefarious activities.

For Israel to attempt to "root out terror" or Hamas in Gaza, it needs to destroy a massive portion of the Strip, which is exactly what Israel has done. From infrastructure, to police stations, to munitions dumps, and Egypt-linked tunnels, Israel has attacked a large number of disparate targets.

For Hamas, the end-game was simple - regain stature and popularity by attacking Israel, which results in an attack against the Strip, ending in the people rallying to Hamas again. Also, as an additional bonus, Israel's hyper-overreaction means that it has killed its own peace talks with Syria (which is housing big name Hamas leaders in Damascus), and embarrassed its Arab "allies" in Jordan and Egypt.

For Israel, this may result in a tactical "win" in terms of destroying some of Hamas' larger military capabilities, but what of the long term? Clearly, internal politics with an upcoming election and all candidates from Olmert on down wanting to appear "tough" means that Israel's political leaders had an incentive, so the short-term motives are obvious.

From a longer-term counter-insurgency point of view, it can only mean failure. A broad based attack on a civilian population (yes, not "purposefully") from the air or from a distance means that there is no chance of a propaganda war victory, no truly targeted attacks and no chance to win over the terrorized population of Gaza, weary from misrule.

There can be no winning over of the Palestinians from Tel Aviv.

So who wins this battle? Hamas, simply by starting the fight. Look at the end result:

1. Hamas has regained its popularity, and will see funds poor in to its coffers.

2. Israel has jettisoned all peace talks with Arab neighbours by its attack.

3. Israel is again marginalized in the Middle East.

4. Hamas' will win the propaganda war as Israel has attacked non-government buildings which appear to be more civilian related then terror-enabling (ie: why attack Mosques? You know that means trouble)

With Israel rejecting calls for truces and stopping aid and medical supplies at the borders, it shows once again its tin ear for world opinion and has acted against its own best interests.

This will be one more Pyrrhic victory that Israel will come to regret.

Israel blew it - Here's Jay-Z with "Lost Ones":

When you could look in the mirror like, "There I am"
And still not see, what you've become
I know I'm guilty of it too but, not like them
You lost one

Lose one, let go to get one
Left one, lose some to win some
You lost one

New Year's Day

2008-12-31T13:18:00.000-08:00

I doubt I'll be posting anything tomorrow, but....

Here's U2's quintessential "New Year's Day", from the days when they were at the top of their game - 1983.

All is quiet on New Year's Day
A world in white gets underway
And I want to be with you
Be with you night and day
Nothing changes on New Year's Day

I will be with you again
I will be with you again

Under a blood-red sky
A crowd has gathered in black and white
Arms entwined, the chosen few,
The newspapers say, say, say it's true
And we can break through,
Though torn in two, we can be one

I will begin again, I will begin again
Oh and maybe the time is right
Oh maybe tonight

I will be with you again
I will be with you again

And so we are told this is the golden age
And gold is the reason for the wars we wage
Though I want to be with you
Be with you night and day
Nothing changes on New Year's day

Yes, Bono could hit high notes, the drumming was tight, and Edge had hair.

The Arctic Front: Incoherence, Nominally in English

2008-12-27T14:16:00.000-08:00

Over at one of my other blogs, Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits, I talk about the new book "Arctic Front" by Coates, et al.

Kennedacity

2008-12-19T18:25:00.000-08:00

I like goin' to fights
I like earnin' my stripes
--Ice Cube

Caroline Kennedy is making a run at the NY state senate seat being vacated by HRC. The debate is whether or not she should even be considered, since her resume is thinner than Kate Moss.

The first line of argument is that because she is inexperienced she is somehow the Democratic version of Sarah Palin.

The problem with Palin wasn't just that she had taken the governorship with little experience - the real issue was that Palin didn't have a brain, and did not see any need to fill the space between her ears with anything other than quotes on LV handbags for her pre-teen children.

Caroline (by comparison) is not dumb. She is a lawyer and has written some books. She is also not running for VP, she is running for Senate. I'm sure that there are a few senators with far less brainpower than the Thrilla from Wasilla running around the Capitol. But, this does not exactly mean that Caroline should parachute in to the NY senate seat without something other than "Served on NPO board of directors" on the resume.

If her name was anything other than Kennedy, she would have stiff competition, and in all honesty would not be considered.

Review the experience of Patrick Kennedy in '88:

To understand [Caroline's] interest in this office, one must go back to a November day in 1988 when her brother John Jr. was standing at a polling place in Providence, Rhode Island having his picture taken with voters and signing the Polaroid prints. His twenty-year-old cousin Patrick was running for the Rhode Island legislature against incumbent Jack Skeffington, a man who had served his constituents long and well. But the Kennedys had descended on the district with their money and celebrity, and Skeffington was a marked man.

[...]

Patrick won overwhelmingly that day but the biggest loser was Patrick. He was a shy, insecure young man with no credentials except his name. If he first had had some semblance of a career outside politics, he might have made a different kind of public servant.

The reason that she is even being considered, and can have lunch in Harlem with Al Sharpton and anyone else she likes is because over 40 years ago her dad was a superstar President that has been lionized.

It's not because of her ability to discuss issues:

“I just hope everybody understands that it is not a campaign but that I have a lifelong devotion to public service,” Ms. Kennedy said as she left the office of the Monroe County Democratic Committee in Rochester. “I’ve written books on the Constitution and the importance of individual participation. And I’ve raised my family. I think I really could help bring change to Washington.”

And that's all she said in Rochester - she's written books on the "importance of individual participation" and "raised a family".

She is a smart underachiever with a name and the right DNA.

Those pushing for her to achieve office are either:

a) Cynical, as they realize that she is a political lightweight, but also that she could easily win and would be a huge fundraising draw for boomers enamored with Camelot, or they are

b) Boomers enamored with Camelot.

It reeks of entitlement. She has never held elected office, and doesn't give a rat's ass about voting:

City Board of Elections records show Kennedy has failed to vote in many elections since she registered in the city in 1988 - including votes for the Senate seat she hopes to fill and numerous Democratic faceoffs for mayor.

{...]

Records show Kennedy did not pull the lever for any of her fellow Democrats in city primary races for mayor in 1989, 1993 and 1997 and 2005, which Republicans went on to win three out of four times in the general election.

I guess the whole "importance of individual participation" thing is for the non-Kennedy types.

This is the result of dynasties that are self-perpetuating, like the "Legacy" system at the Ivy League schools, the hoarding of education dollars within rich neighbourhoods, and the use of a surname to simply carry an office.

"Name recognition" is just another coded political phrase for "nepotism".

NY state is filled with talented and accomplished women, and Caroline has not stood out in any way to merit this reward of a senate seat.

Outtakes from a Ridiculous Recount

2008-12-18T21:58:00.000-08:00

Why you all in my ear?
Talkin' a whole bunch a **** that I ain't tryin to hear.
--Luda

The Franken - Coleman Senate Race Recount takes a turn for the surreal:

One Bemidji voter blackened the oval for Franken, but also put an X through the oval and scribbled "Lizard People" on the write-in line.

" 'Lizard People' is not a genuine write-in" because there's no such person, Elias said.

"You don't know that there's not someone named 'Lizard People.' You don't," Magnuson said.

"You're right, you don't know," Trimble chimed in.

"Isn't 'People' plural? How can you have an individual named 'People?' " asked Ramsey County District Judge Edward Cleary, a board member.

Yes, that exchange actually happened.

How how much did it cost the people of Minnesota to have a small army of lawyers and judges argue over this last second moment of stupidity on the part of a voter?

It gets better:

Franken did better on a Sauk Rapids ballot that was marked for him but had "Flying Spaghetti Monster" and "FSM" written in other places. He also won a challenge on a Mankato ballot on which the voter had blackened his oval but extended his name to read "Al Frankenstin."

Trimble argued that the voter hadn't cast his vote for Franken, but for someone named Frankenstin. "The candidate is still identified as the candidate of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party," Elias countered. The board voted 3-2 to award the vote to Franken.

Flying Spaghetti Monsters and Frankenstin.

Yes, this is some sadistic circle of electoral college hell.

Top Ten Songs of 2008

2008-12-18T17:42:00.000-08:00

When I get mad
And I get pissed
I grab my pen
And I write out a list
--L7

I love music.

But I don't listen to the requisite number of albums that working out a "Top Ten Album List of 2008" entails, because I'm not a music critic. Anyone not working in rock/music journalism who creates one of those lists is probably only listing the 10 albums they bought during the year, meaning...approximately...Sweet FA.

If you want a good rundown of what the real critics love, check out metacritic.com's list of the top 30 albums of 2008....

Instead, I'll give you the songs that defined my year, whether or not they were released during 2008....Just as a quick review of what my Ipod had on its "most played"...these are in no particular order:

10. "Etched Headplate", Burial. Burial's late 2007 release "Untrue" was an urban music ground breaker, and Etched Headplate defines the album. The song is a sonically pleasing journey into late-night London. The percussion includes the sounds of a coin dropping on cement and a flicking lighter. Outstanding. Key lines:

I can’t take no more tears from my eyes
But it wasn’t good enough for you

9. "Party & Bull****", Rah-Diggah. This club banger is a classic from the Flipmode Squad. RD took a little known B.I.G. song and brought it from BK to NJ in a matter of 3 minutes. Besides the Just Blaze production which gives it a tight bounce, the song is assisted by some verbal trickery on RD's part, incorporating some repetition of key non-chorus cadences in the song as a mental recall to earlier phrases. Clever.

8. "Play Your Part (part 1)", Girl Talk. Girl Talk's mashup on crack album "Feed the Animals" features just about every ridiculous combination of music and artists juxtaposed for no particular reason - But it just works. "Play Your Part" starts the high octane album and just keeps plowing through samples like Mr. T. mowing down suckas on the A-Team.

7. "Let the beat build", Lil' Wayne. Weezy gets away from some of the insta-crap production on his The Carter III album and gets Kanye to make a perfect assist. Wayne stealthily leads attention away from the building percussion via his lyrics and then draws it back right before the beat drops. Very David Copperfield.

6. "Poison", BBD. This is a shameful admission - fortunately no one reads this blog. This song defined my summer studying for the Uniform Exam for my CA designation. It started as a joke every morning before classes, and devolved into a necessary start to the morning, acting as Pavlovian Bell to get my myself in the right frame of mind for learning. Still, can you deny what song is playing after the first 2 seconds of canned drums? Nope.

5. "Help is Coming", TI. TI's ode to keeping the record industry from going under takes on Atlas-holding-up-the-world proportions. Rappers have bragged about getting cash before, but this type of confidence is remarkable: He tells his record company that the 50M they gave him is the best investment they could have made. Nice.

4. "Morning", The Field. Ever tried to express what morning light from the depths of winter sounds like? The Field gives it a good shot. This song is the epitome of quiet energy that has defined so much of the content of what is known generally as "electronic" music. This song is perfect to listen to on the walk to work.

3. "O Superman", Laurie Anderson. The number one hit of England during 1980 struck a chord with me. It combines Taoism, startling imagery, apprehension of the modern age and vocal percussion (yes, Anderson probably incorporated beat-boxing into the mainstream as Blondie took rap mainstream with "Rapture"). Apparently, the song's lyrical content was meant to be directed at Iran's holding of Western hostages in the wake of the Islamic Revolution.

2. "Tell Me What to Swallow", Crystal Castles. This video game-sampling duo from Toronto took the gun blasts from CONTRA and made an album worth of music- except on this track. One gentle acoustic song where they took pains to show they could make something amazing. Mission Accomplished.

1. "Orange Crush", REM. The pulsing baseline and ambiguous lyrics keep this 80's song on constant repeat. The song revolves around the story of a football player from the US heartland, who goes to war in a far off jungle. The "orange" referred to is actually Agent Orange, which has debilitating effects on the human spine in warfare, thus the lyric regarding "I got my spine, I've got my Orange Crush". Like "Born in the USA" by Springsteen, this song appears to be superficial and jingoistic with lyrics like "We are Agents of the Free"(note the reference to Agent Orange again), while masking a deeper message of deep misgivings related to the US foreign policy and war's effects on veterans.

Honourable mentions include:
"House of Cards", Radiohead
"Flashing Lights", Kanye West
"So wat cha sayin'?", EPMD
"Gonna Get Ya", Daniel Papini
"Let me think about it", Ida Corr & Fedde Le Grand
"Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll", Vaughn Mason and Crew
"I don't like to...", Shad
"Raga Bhimpalasi", Ravi Shankar
"The Breaks", Kurtis Blow
"Tiger Mountain Peasant Song", Fleet Foxes
"Rational", King Cobb Steelie
"Mammoth (Erol Alkan Rework)", Interpol
"It Doesn't Matter", The Chemical Bros
"Genesis", Justice
"Teardrop", Massive Attack
"Elvis Presley and America", U2
"Homeless", Paul Simon
"Rocky Mountain High", John Denver (Don't ask...)
"2 Far", Dizzee Rascal
"Jackin' for beats", Ice Cube
"C-walk", Kurupt

Here's Ice Cube's Classic "Jackin' for Beats"...This song gave me energy on the Grouse Grind all summer long:

Kristol Clear

2008-11-09T17:24:00.000-08:00

Campbell Brown Goes All In against the original Palinites who are turning on her in droves:

You are the ones who supposedly vetted her, and then told the American people she was qualified for the job. You are the ones who after meeting her a couple of times, told us she was ready to be just one heartbeat away from the Presidency. If even half of what you say NOW is true, then boy, did you try to sell the American people a bill of goods. If Sarah Palin is the reason some voters chose Barack Obama, that is no one's fault but your own. John McCain, as he so graciously said himself the other night, lost this election. He lost it with your help, your advice, your guidance, and yes, your running mate recommendations. And that is crystal clear to everyone, no matter how hard you try to blame Sarah Palin or anyone else.

Is that a somewhat subtle reference to William Kristol?

BC Byelection Asterisks

2008-10-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

I'll give ya a dose
But it can never come close
--RATM

An item from the CBC:

New Democratic candidates won both seats in Wednesday's provincial byelections in Vancouver-Burrard and Vancouver-Fairview, according to initial counts by Elections B.C.

The NDP's Spencer Herbert, a former park board commissioner, beat Liberal Arthur Griffiths in the formerly Liberal riding of Vancouver-Burrard after all polls had reported.

Herbert received 6,516 votes while Griffiths received 4,841 votes after all 195 polls had reported. Drina Alicia Read of the Green Party of B.C. got 686 votes.

The Vancouver-Fairview riding will remain in NDP hands after NDP candidate Jenn McGinn trumped the Liberal party's Margaret MacDiarmid, as of the initial count in that riding.

Nevermind the government spin - Herbert ran a strong campaign based on a good ground game - remember, this guy went up against a business heavyweight in Griffiths. Campbell should stop with the "No government in 27 years" BS and realize he's sitting on some potential "election in May '09" time bombs:

1. The carbon tax. Everyone hates it, and there are plenty people pissed about this and the "dedicated" tax for infrastructure already on gas prices.

2. Education cuts. No explanation needed.

3. Homelessness. It's gone up 33% in Vancouver alone since 2005. Maybe the NDP started this fire in the 90's but the BC Liberals have done zip to hose it down.

4. Unaffordable housing in the lower mainland. We have a massive bubble in the lower mainland housing situation and renters are being displaced by condo developments - Herbert ran his whole campaign on this issue. Take note.

If Campbell is planning on the hinterlands coming through, he has done jack squat to help the forest industry in his 10 point plan to show it. Also, he's alienated the hell out of rural voters with the repeated taxes on gas. Hell, even urban voters who are/were initially for the tax now hate it because there is precious little in dependable/non-frustrating public transit in the Lower Mainland as an alternate to driving.

If Campbell wants to think that it's all good for the BC Liberals in BC he needs a wake up call. The NDP has made more blunders than McCain/Palin and Dion put together, but they're going to be right in the thick of things come May '09, and Campbell should get his head in the game if he wants his party to stay afloat.

You Can Feel The Enemy

2008-10-29T23:33:00.000-07:00

Don't believe what you hear
Don't believe what you see
If you just close your eyes
You can feel the enemy
--U2

The propaganda outfit known as Fox News trots out this:

John McCain slammed The Los Angeles Times Wednesday for refusing to release a videotape that the newspaper's editors say shows Barack Obama praising a Chicago professor who served as a spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization when it was a U.S.-designated terror group.

Speaking to two Florida radio stations, the Republican presidential candidate suggested a double standard in reporting by the newspaper and said if he were hanging out with neo-Nazis he'd bet the tape would be made public.

Now Obama "palls around with tyrants". Go. For it. Go for it.

Of course if listening to Khalidi is bad, then giving him $0.5M is probably a lot worse, right?

In regards to Khalidi, however, the guilt-by-association game burns John McCain as well.

During the 1990s, while he served as chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI), McCain distributed several grants to the Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi, including one worth half a million dollars.

A 1998 tax filing for the McCain-led group shows a $448,873 grant to Khalidi's Center for Palestine Research and Studies for work in the West Bank. (See grant number 5180, "West Bank: CPRS" on page 14 of this PDF.)

The relationship extends back as far as 1993, when John McCain joined IRI as chairman in January. Foreign Affairs noted in September of that year that IRI had helped fund several extensive studies in Palestine run by Khalidi's group, including over 30 public opinion polls and a study of "sociopolitical attitudes."

Speaking of throwing anything that is total BS at Obama, how's this , via JoGo @ the echo chamber of NRO...

Much has been made of Obama’s comment to “Joe the Plumber” that things are better when we “spread the wealth around.” The Obama campaign has rebuffed charges of “socialism” or “radicalism” with the usual eye-rolling.

Can you tell a "He says he's not not an axe murderer, but...." moment coming on?

But Obama’s words that day in Ohio were consistent with his past statements.

Right. I don't remember JoGo taking Bush to task for expanding government well beyond Bill Clinton's regime. Where have these fiscal hawks been? Weren't they concerned about how liberal and "big government" these guys are/were?

Michelle Malkin sinks lower, too, referring to Obama's "biases":

1. The Los Angeles Times and the suppressed Obama/Jew-bash videotape.

In April, L.A. Times reporter Peter Wallsten reported on a 2003 farewell party for Rashid Khalidi, a radical Palestinian Liberation Organization spokesman/adviser turned Ivy League professor. The anti-Israel Arab American Action Network sponsored the gala. In attendance: good neighbors Barack Obama and Weather Underground terrorist duo Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.

The title appears to make it seem that Obama is bashing Jews. This is not even close to the truth, and with the description she provides, it would appear that Jews were being bashed while Obama looks on if nothing else.

Dick Morris is just more funny. You know you've gone too far in your McCain cheerleading when you have to state midway through your piece...

But don't write Obama off.

Thanks. We won't.

Consider The Deal Closed: Help Is Coming

2008-10-29T22:27:00.000-07:00

They Say The Game In Trouble
Help On The Way
Don't Worry Bout Nothin
Help On The Way
They Say The Games In Trouble
Help On The Way
--T.I.

Campbell's 10 Steps To Recovery

2008-10-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

And there I go trapped in the kit kat again
Back through the system with the riff raff again
Fiends on the floor scratchin again
Paparazzi's with they cameras snappin them

I got 99 problems but ***** ain't one
--Jay Z

Dr. Campbell's recovery Syrum is in:

British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell has unveiled a 10-point plan that aims to ease the impact of the global financial crisis on the province and is residents.

The measures were announced in a supper-time broadcast on Wednesday evening.

Under the plan, the B.C. government will:

1. Introduce unlimited deposit insurance for deposits to credit unions.

2. Create a new private sector pension opportunity for British Columbians who currently have no access to a pension plan.

3. Impose an accelerated, retroactive personal income tax cut.

4. Introduce a school property tax rebate for industry.

5. Accelerate tax relief for small business.

6. Double the commission paid to business for PST and HRT collection.

7. Accelerate public infrastructure construction.

8. Introduce a 33 per cent reduction in ferry fares for December and January.

9. Rein in avoidable government spending.

10. Recall the Legislature on November 20 as a number of the measures require legislative approval.

The deposit insurance was a huge issue. I currently have a deposit at a credit union right now and was seriously thinking of changing banks because I know, and I think the government knows that the BC housing market is going to take a serious dive. Why? We have some of the highest, most unaffordable housing in Canada, and much of it has been through VanCity, one of the largest credit unions on the Westcoast.

The Pension Plan - awesome. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before? A stroke of genius. Good so far.

Tax cuts, PST commission hikes - ace. Ok.

But reigning in government spending? During a downturn? Really.....

I'm all about balanced budgets, but this is the time to prime the pump. If there is ever a time to allow some fiscal slack, it's when the economy is tanking. I'm thinking there may be too much ideology in this approach. I could go on and on about government waste and overspending because I've been in government before, but to keep the liquidity and business confidence high, the government needs to take the initiative to keep the dollars flowing, and that means a focus on getting people into jobs, and less obsessing over our perfect credit rating. Saying that we'll keep the infrastructure stuff going for a bit won't cut it.

Also, I hope he's going to put money into education to make up for the rebate for industry. Riiiight?

Daily Telegraph, You Just Brightened My Day

2008-10-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

Jon Bon Jovi being sued for $400b
Nobody sucks more than Jon Bon Jovi. Except maybe Gowan.

But Gowan is a Canuck, so he gets a pass. JBJ? Not so much.

Shamrocks Predicts Violence...Others Weigh In...

2008-10-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

Further to what I said earlier....

Renegades of Our Time And Age

2008-10-11T15:16:00.001-07:00

Here is my take on the financial crisis at my long lost blog, Renegades! Read. Reflect. React.

Money quote:

But what were we preparing for during the Liberal years when they created a
contingency fund? Why did we care if we had high credit ratings during the years
Canada was flush with cash if we couldn't utilize our relatively low debt levels
to take on marginally more debt during a downturn?

The rainy day is here.

We need to loosen the purse strings to keep things going, and yes, possibly
run the risk of going into the red. I don't like it, but that is the reality of
the current situation. That doesn't mean wasting money, and it doesn't mean
opening the flood gates, but prudent government spending in a downturn will
stave off some of the worst of the affects of a crisis, but the time to spend is
now.

That's riiiiight...Advocating a loosening of purse strings during a downturn. Not exactly revolutionary, but necessary.

Ideology can take a backseat to pragmatism during a crisis. Ideology is and will remain a luxury of the times of prosperity.

Dangerous

2008-10-08T21:07:00.000-07:00

Beef is when I see you
Guaranteed to be in ICU
--Notorious B.I.G.

If you have been watching the speeches and ads by McCain-Palin, you probably know they have gone massively negative. This is typical in a presidential campaign where the stakes are high and negative advertising has been a known and useful commodity. If anyone knows how effective negative advertising is, McCain would know as he was subjected to the notorious South Carolina Primary attack by W. in 2000:

The Arizona Republic would write that the McCain-Bush primary contest in South Carolina "has entered national political lore as a low-water mark in presidential campaigns", while The New York Times called it "a painful symbol of the brutality of American politics".[118][128][129] A variety of interest groups that McCain had challenged in the past ran negative ads.[118][130] Bush borrowed McCain's earlier language of reform,[131] and declined to dissociate himself from a veterans activist who accused McCain (in Bush's presence) of having "abandoned the veterans" on POW/MIA and Agent Orange issues.[118][132]

Incensed,[132] McCain ran ads accusing Bush of lying and comparing the governor to Bill Clinton, which Bush said was "about as low a blow as you can give in a Republican primary".[118] An anonymous smear campaign began against McCain, delivered by push polls, faxes, e-mails, flyers, and audience plants.[118][134] The smears claimed that McCain had fathered a black child out of wedlock (the McCains' dark-skinned daughter was adopted from Bangladesh), that his wife Cindy was a drug addict, that he was a homosexual, and that he was a "Manchurian Candidate" who was either a traitor or mentally unstable from his North Vietnam POW days.[118][128] The Bush campaign strongly denied any involvement with the attacks.[128]

This was about as hardball as politics gets, and Bush pulled out all the stops. But McCain didn't just suffer abuse, he took notes for the future. Today, Palin is whipping up the dark undertows of fear and hatred that only a desperate candidate can:

In case you missed it, the audience member yelled out "Treason!". Treason, of course, is the most unusual but also amongst the highest of crimes in the US. The most well-known traitors of the US, aside from Benedict Arnold et al, are the Rosenburgs:

Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg (September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American communists who were executed after having been found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage. The charges were in relation to the passing of information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Theirs was the first execution of civilians for espionage in United States history.[1]

You can see where I am headed with this: If treason is the charge, what is the punishment?

Just as alarming was this exchange during a McCain campaign stop:

That's right - One crowd member screams "Terrorist!", while others shout "Kill him!"

McCain seems surprised, but does not correct or scold the audience for these outrages. At this point it should be remembered that the US has a history of massive political violence: Assassinations are a matter of course, which Hillary raised to some alarm in the primaries.

McCain should now realize he is flirting with a national disaster by grooming his supporters to feel outright hatred for his black opponent. He is painting a picture of Obama as the feared "Other", the "terrorist", and wrapping him in the flag of "extremist" and "muslim", as they invoke his middle name to cheers at every turn:

I'm reminded of a long discussion by several hip hop artists of the group dynamics that surround big name stars' entourages. According to the theory, the foot soldiers of the hip hop artists are usually not skilled at much else other than fighting, so when there is an opportunity to prove their worth to the larger group and specifically the hip hop artist themselves, they go to bat as goons as often as possible. Eminem specifically discussed this in a few songs, stating also that their entourages and even distant acquaintances will take their queue to attack from the hip hop artists' monologues, dialogue, rhetoric and battles.

McCain, knowingly or otherwise, is tipping off his supporters to attack. They take their queues from the leader. The leader who won't shake hands with his enemy:

They take their queues from their leader who refers to his senator opponent as "that one".

I think if something were to happen to Obama at this point, McCain would be culpable for racketeering. The dark undertones of the McCain campaign have become that serious.

Thinking is Overrated, Idiot Edition

2008-10-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

Palin goes over the line:

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Saturday accused Democrat Barack Obama of "palling around with terrorists" because of his association with a former 1960s radical, stepping up the campaign's effort to portray Obama as unacceptable to American voters

This is the end of modern conservatism. There is going to be a long, long period in the wilderness for the American Right, as some soul searching is clearly in order.

Pathetic.

Slayed, Continued

2008-09-29T00:59:00.000-07:00

Holy crap. Awesome.

Vote Shopping In Canuckistan, part 5

2008-09-29T00:32:00.000-07:00

This is basically an update on some previous posts regarding the Canadian election:

1. The Green Party is ridiculous. Need a reason to avoid this party like the Plague? Search no further than their proposed budget here. That's right, they want to cut defense spending by 2.5B/year, and eliminate capital gains exceptions for personal and corporate returns. This party is not a serious contender.

2. The Liberal's do have some foreign policy documents on their site, finally. Unfortunately, it is about as well thought out as a Sarah Palin ad lib:

Canada’s ongoing commitment to the military mission in Afghanistan has depleted
our ability to deploy the Canadian Forces elsewhere in the world. When
combined with the commitments that will be necessary in order to provide the
needed security requirements when Canada welcomes the world to the Vancouver
Winter Olympics in 2010, we are severely limited in our ability to offer assistance
to other international efforts as they arise.

That's right - we're going to be deploying the CF for the 2010 Olympics. Right.

The Libs spend a good chunk of their discussion of Defense talking about soldiers care and a focus on "value for contracts" with the CF. These are great, but do not address what our focus in defense will be. What is the direction of our defense strategy? How are we going to meet the strategic goals of the military in the broader context of an overall foreign policy?

In the diplomacy section, the Libs make an excellent point:

We will place protection of the rights of Canadians abroad at the centre of our
foreign policy. Under the Conservatives, consular rights that Canadians are entitled
to have not been extended in all cases. A Liberal government will not pick
and choose which Canadian deserves to be treated with justice and fairness. All
Canadians deserve that respect regardless of which country it is that seeks to
deny a Canadian citizen their rights.

This has been a horrible error of the Conservatives, as they are picking and choosing which citizens abroad will be advocated for. However, the Liberals do not have much credibility in this area, as I believe they let several Canucks in the mid east rot in horrible medieval prisons during their long tenure, so this must be taken with a grain of salt.

3. The NDP shows us how serious they are on foreign policy by not addressing the topic at all on their website. How can you be a serious party by not addressing defense spending, a huge area of the budget? Here, they talk about National Sovereignty by stating:

[Stephen Harper] threw money at military gadgets for the Arctic instead of investing to strengthen northern communities and expand Coast Guard capacity to assert an authentic sovereign presence.

Uh, and their solution?

[The NDP] Published a plan to assert our Arctic sovereignty by investing in northern communities, building deep water ports, retrofitting airports, improving search/rescue and Coast Guard capacity, and tackling the global warming that’s already ravaging the north.

Great. So, no military patrols or spending? When Russia is resurgent and there are serious claims made by all artic countries to many of our northern lands? This is baloney as far as governance, and completely out of sync with the times.

They also go on about restoring our foreign aid back to 0.7% of GDP, which can be a powerful weapon in Canada's foreign policy, and should be reinstated. It's not a waste of money to use our resources wisely overseas to project our power and influence, even if by the use of foreign aid. This is a useful tool in our foreign policy that has been completely laid to waste by the Liberals and the Cons.

4. The Bloc? Who cares. Seriously.

5. The Conservatives? No real foreign policy formulated. Still waiting, and still ridiculous. Why is no one challenging them on this? They have some BS stuff about Sovereignty, but no real discussion of the road ahead.

Putin Rears His Head over Alaska

2008-09-29T00:15:00.000-07:00

"As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border."
--Sarah Palin, describing the threat of Putin's massive head over Alaska

Andrew Sullivan blogged it here.

Vancouver Centre: The Centre Cannot Hold

2008-09-26T01:56:00.000-07:00

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
--YB Yeats

Gary Mason talks about the epic battle in VanCity:

VANCOUVER -- This may be the election Hedy Fry finally falls.

The indomitable Vancouver Centre Liberal MP has vanquished every foe she's faced since her inaugural election in 1993, a debut in which she took down no less than the sitting prime minister. But these are different times for the Liberals, especially in British Columbia, where the party's popularity has hit a historic low. The Liberals won eight seats in B.C. in the last election. They could lose them all this time around.

That's right: Ms. "Crosses are burning as we speak" Fry is going to be in for a tight battle. This could get super interesting:

The Tories are running perhaps the strongest candidate they have there in 20 years. Lorne Mayencourt was a Liberal MLA until last year, representing much of the same riding in the provincial legislature. He will siphon off a lot of Ms. Fry's traditional support. The Greens are offering up Adriane Carr, the popular one-time head of the party in B.C.. All of which makes the conditions ripe for NDP candidate Michael Byers, a nationally known academic and commentator, to run up the middle and snatch the whole thing.

Lorne is big on crime prevention and drug addiction treatment. He also once spent a week homeless to get a personal idea of what it is like to be homeless in Vancouver, and in his riding (as MLA) in particular.

Honestly, I don't know how good a shot Byers has, and if human beings have any kind of group intelligence, they won't give Adriane Car the time of day. I think this will come down to Mayerncourt vs. Fry. The "C" beside Mayercourt's name is going to drag him down, I think, but who knows? Lorne is well known as a provincial liberal, and a social liberal, too. And in BC, Dion is an Albatross around the neck.

This riding, of course, is the backbone of the Liberal party's support in BC. If Vancouver centre is lost, I expect that Kitsilano, Kerisdale, South Vancouver and the Eastside (not downtown eastside) to be up for grabs. It's that serious.

By the way, Conservative support in South Vancouver appears extremely high in certain places, if row upon row of houses with Conservative signs outside them are any indication. It may be because of this:

In Greater Vancouver, meantime, the Conservatives' opposition to Insite, the controversial safe-injection site, has found support among the area's massive Chinese community.

As I said before, I would have a hard time voting for the Conservatives, and this is a major reason why - Ideology is determining their stance on Insite, not science nor harm reduction principles, and it is totally ridiculous that they would shut it down.

Thinking Is Overrated, Continued

2008-09-26T01:29:00.000-07:00

Here's Palin on the bailout:

This is pathetic:

COURIC: Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? Allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy? Instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

PALIN: That’s why I say, I like ever American I’m speaking with were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the tax payers looking to bailout.

But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up the economy– Helping the — Oh, it’s got to be about job creation too. Shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americas.

And trade we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive scary thing. But 1 in 5 jobs being created in the trade sector today. We’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. ALl those things under the umbrella of job creation.

This bailout is a part of that.

The bailout is about healthcare reform. Really? You're serious? That's your answer?

It is painful to watch, painful to read, and painful to think about the possibility she could be the leader of the free world.

She had to check her notes midway through an answer about the bailout to talk about job creation? What the crap is she talking about? Some question she imagined in her head?
---------------------------------
I get this feeling about her like I'm watching the movie "Seven" for the first time, and I realize right before the end what is in the box at Kevin Spacey's feet. It's like some warped, butterflies-type feeling that makes you feel like some imaginery line has been crossed and you're a character in a surreal Escher sketch, and you are suffering from vertigo.

Is this for real?

Thinking Is Overrated, Continued

2008-09-26T01:08:00.000-07:00

The more I hear Sarah Palin speak, the less funny this becomes, and the more fearful I am that this person may be the leader of the free world at some point:

Here is the transcript:

Couric: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

Sarah Palin: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and, on our other side, the land-boundary that we have with Canada. It's funny that a comment like that was kinda made to … I don't know, you know … reporters.

Couric: Mocked?

Palin: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah.

It's not understandable that people would take a statement like "I can see Russia from Alaska" and run with it?

"I don't know, you know...reporters."

Sorry, is there a statement in there?

Couric: Well, explain to me why that enhances your foreign-policy credentials.

Palin: Well, it certainly does, because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of. And there…

Couric: Have you ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

Palin: We have trade missions back and forth, we do. It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state.

I used to think that perhaps Palin was not knowledgeable, but at least half way intelligent.

I guess we can assume the whole "5 colleges over 6 years to get an undergrad degree" really does indicate something about her:

She's a complete moron.

Couric: You recently said three times that you would never, quote, "second guess" Israel if that country decided to attack Iran. Why not?

Palin: We shouldn't second guess Israel's security efforts because we cannot ever afford to send a message that we would allow a second Holocaust, for one. Israel has got to have the opportunity and the ability to protect itself. They are our closest ally in the Mideast. We need them. They need us. And we shouldn't second guess their efforts.

Couric: You don't think the United States is within its rights to express its position to Israel? And if that means second-guessing or discussing an option?

Palin: No, abso … we need to express our rights and our concerns and …

Couric: But you said never second guess them.

Palin: We don't have to second-guess what their efforts would be if they believe … that it is in their country and their allies, including us, all of our best interests to fight against a regime, especially Iran, who would seek to wipe them off the face of the earth. It is obvious to me who the good guys are in this one and who the bad guys are. The bad guys are the ones who say Israel is a stinking corpse and should be wiped off the face of the earth. That's not a good guy who is saying that. Now, one who would seek to protect the good guys in this, the leaders of Israel and her friends, her allies, including the United States, in my world, those are the good guys.

Oh good. A leader who divides the world into "good guys" and "bad guys". Dear Lord, she is about as naive as Miss Carolina is vapid and stupid.

"Those who would seek to protect the good guys, are the good guys?"

Even a 5th grader would tell you that you can't define a word with the very same word in the definition. I wish Couric would have gone more in depth on who constitutes a "Good guy" or a "Bad guy". Let's have her chop up the world into good guys and bad guys and discuss what the punishment is for countries deemed to be "bad guys". This could have been more fun.

Thinking Is Overrated, Continued

2008-09-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

"[Sarah Palin] is supremely and uniquely unqualified for the position for which she has been nominated"
--James Carville

Sarah Palin attempts to make words into sentences here. Try not to wince:

Here is the beginning salvo:

(CBS) When CBS News anchor Katie Couric sat down for an exclusive interview with vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin Wednesday, she focused on the economy - but also addressed reports that the lobbying firm of Sen. John McCain's campaign manager received payments from the controversial mortgage giant Freddie Mac until last month. Couric asked for her reaction to that.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sarah Palin: My understanding is that Rick Davis recused himself from the dealings of the firm. I don't know how long ago, a year or two ago that he's not benefiting from that. And you know, I was - I would hope that's not the case.

Katie Couric: But he still has a stake in the company so isn't that a conflict of interest?
Palin: Again, my understanding is that he recused himself from the dealings with Freddie and Fannie, any lobbying efforts on his part there. And I would hope that's the case because, as John McCain has been saying, and as I've on a much more local level been also rallying against is the undue influence of lobbyists in public policy decisions being made.

The transcript doesn't show the long, long pause between the second question and the response. It was ages as she racked her brain for the correct talking points. Her answer indicates a complete disconnect from the question being asked, as if any mention of Davis was supposed to trigger a Pavlovian response of: "My understanding is...."

Q: Doesn't Davis have a conflict of interest because of his ownership of a company being paid by Freddie Mac?
A: My understanding is that he "recused himself".

What does that mean? Davis requested payments from Freddie Mac of 150K/mo and was paid specifically because he was part of McCain's campaign. McCain can hardly rampage against lobbyists if his senior advisors are all paid lobbyists, being paid by Freddie Mac, can he?

Next, Couric asked about the $700 billion government bailout of bad debt - and whether she supports it.

Palin: I'm all about the position that America is in and that we have to look at a $700 billion bailout. And as Sen. McCain has said unless this nearly trillion dollar bailout is what it may end up to be, unless there are amendments in Paulson's proposal, really I don't believe that Americans are going to support this and we will not support this. The interesting thing in the last couple of days that I have seen is that Americans are waiting to see what John McCain will do on this proposal. They're not waiting to see what Barack Obama is going to do. Is he going to do this and see what way the political wind's blowing? They're waiting to see if John McCain will be able to see these amendments implemented in Paulson's proposal.

Couric: Why do you say that? Why are they waiting for John McCain and not Barack Obama?

Palin: He's got the track record of the leadership qualities and the pragmatism that's needed at a crisis time like this.

Yeah, no one's waiting for Barack's answer on this. I mean, who cares, really? He's only the frontrunner for President, so I'm sure no one could give a crap about whether or not he wants to blast Freddie and Fannie to the Moon.

Nope, for economic issues, they want someone who will state that the head of the "FEC" (should be SEC) should be fired, without cause.

Couric: Would you support a moratorium on foreclosures to help average Americans keep their homes?

Palin: That's something that John McCain and I have both been discussing - whether that ... is part of the solution or not. You know, it's going to be a multi-faceted solution that has to be found here.

Couric: So you haven't decided whether you'll support it or not?

Palin: I have not.

Couric: What are the pros and cons of it do you think?

Palin: Oh, well, some decisions that have been made poorly should not be rewarded, of course.

How general and uninformed is this answer?

Q: What are the pros and cons of supporting a bill with a moratorium on foreclosures?
A: Decisions that have been made poorly should not be rewarded.

I'm sorry, this is the person who may need to communicate to Iran that they cannot have nukes? I cannot wait:

Ahmadenijehad: Dirty infidel! Why can't I build nuclear reactors for peaceful purposes and for destroying Is..uh...engaging Israeli aggression?
Palin: Oh, well, I don't think you should be rewarded for your bad decisions. By the way, Mahmoud, I can see the Eurasian landmass from Alaska. I got my eye on you, fella.

Couric: You've said, quote, "John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business." Other than supporting stricter regulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us any more example of his leading the charge for more oversight?

Palin: I think that the example that you just cited, with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie - that, that's paramount. That's more than a heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.

Couric: But he's been in Congress for 26 years. He's been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

Palin: He's also known as the maverick though, taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he's been talking about - the need to reform government.

Whoever is pulling the strings on the puppet really could have prepped her a little better.

Q: How does John McCain have any credibility on the subject when he has pushed repeatedly for less regulation?
A: He's a maverick.

This is getting beyond farce.

Couric: But can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you've said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?

Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.

Couric: I'm just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

Palin: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.

Q: Ok, can you give me a basis for your characterization of John McCain as a leader in this area?
A: I sure can!
Q: Ok, go. What do you have?
A: I'll do some homework and get back to ya!

I give up.

Thinking Is Overrated, Continued

2008-09-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

Tell me what happened when you lost clout?
The route you took started collapsing
No fans. No fame. No respect. No change. No women and
Everybody ***** on your name.
--Cypress Hill

Reminder: Sarah Palin has a reasonably good shot at becoming the President of the United States. I'm not sure how far down the competency tables she is, but this is getting into farce territory:

Another valley activist, Philip Munger, says that Palin also helped push the evangelical drive to take over the Mat-Su Borough school board. "She wanted to get people who believed in creationism on the board," said Munger, a music composer and teacher. "I bumped into her once after my band played at a graduation ceremony at the Assembly of God. I said, 'Sarah, how can you believe in creationism -- your father's a science teacher.' And she said, 'We don't have to agree on everything.'

"I pushed her on the earth's creation, whether it was really less than 7,000 years old and whether dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time. And she said yes, she'd seen images somewhere of dinosaur fossils with human footprints in them."

Um, what the shit are you talking about?

....I think the American electorate is finally on to her.

Writing The Uniform Final Exam

2008-09-19T17:04:00.000-07:00

All they heard was that I was in an accident like GEICO
They thought I was burnt up like Pepsi did Michael
I must gotta angel
Cause look how death missed his ass
Unbreakable, what you thought they called me Mr. Glass?
Look back on my life like the ghost of Christmas past
Toys R Us where I used to spend that Christmas cash
And I still wont grow up, I'm a grown ass kid
Swear I should be locked up for stupid **** that I did
But I'm a champion, so I turned tragedy to triumph
Make music that's fire, spit my soul through the wire
--K. West

Shamrocks is not a personal blog.

I write mainly about world events from my small corner of the globe, and sometimes if Canada decides to do something interesting, I'll pay attention to it. I don't talk about what's going on in my life either, except if it's something pretty significant. And this doesn't exactly endear me to my anemic (er, that should read "non-existent") readership.

Anyways, this week I wrote the Uniform Final Exam (UFE, pronounced "You-Fee"), which is generally regarded as the last major step in obtaining the CA designation (Chartered Accountant). It was three days (13 hours) of fairly intense test writing.

Here's how the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountant's describes the UFE in relation to the 2007 test:

TORONTO, November 30, 2007 – 2,327 CA students have successfully completed what is one of the most challenging professional examinations in the world - the CA Profession’s 2007 Uniform Evaluation (UFE).

[...]

A national three-day evaluation, the UFE assesses CA candidate competencies including knowledge, professional judgment and ethics. The UFE is an important component of the CA qualification program, which includes a university degree requirement, a professional program of rigorous course work, practical work experience and other examination requirements. Only those who complete this entire program successfully are entitled to use the internationally recognized CA designation.

In western Canada, the program that leads up to the UFE is long. It is 6 modules of intense study while you work, articling at a public accounting firm.

I've been through 2 years of prerequisite classes, 3 articling firms over 33 months (but the same one for the last 2 years), 6 study modules, 5 residences, 3 busy seasons, 80 hour work/study weeks, 3 months of pure study (this summer), a serious car crash on my way to client's that I was lucky to walk away from, housemates that were alcoholics and/or hardcore bikers, one summer in a slum, audits on Canada's forgotten native reserves, computer problems galore and some other dirt I won't even get into.

I am not complaining, but it's the hardest thing I've ever done. So far.

I started doing my prerequisites for the program almost 5 years ago. I went from BCIT to UBC's accounting program, to studying accounting every day on the trains in Japan while I went to and from work as an English teacher.

There were endless days when I was working all day in Vancouver only to run out to UBC to spend a night in the lab or in class (or fight with some bloggers right around the time Warren Kinsella threatened to sue me), and countless days I fell asleep on the train on the way to Kyoto, Osaka, Takatsuki and Nara with my head in an accounting text. There were many more weeks spent working on the island and commuting home up and down the island highway, and countless more spent working and studying back in Vancouver again.

I'm glad its almost over - The marks for the UFE come out December 6, so I find out then if I passed.

Here's K. West's best song (and one I can relate to) where he discusses his own struggle and his car crash that almost took him out:

Good dude, Bad night, Right place, Wrong time
In the blink of an eye his whole life changed
If you could feel how my face felt you would know how Mase felt
Thank God I ain't to cool for the safe belt

Thinking Is Overrated, Continued

2008-09-14T09:08:00.001-07:00

Front Page - NY Times examines Palin

2008-09-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

The main attraction distraction
Got you number than number than numb.
--RATM

The NYT takes a hard look at Palin's record in Alaska:

WASILLA, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.
[...]

And four months ago, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor’s career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to hear an assistant to the governor on the line, she said.

“You should be ashamed!” Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. “Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!”
[...]
The mayor quickly fired the town’s museum director, John Cooper. Later, she sent an aide to the museum to talk to the three remaining employees. “He told us they only wanted two,” recalled Esther West, one of the three, “and we had to pick who was going to be laid off.” The three quit as one.

Ms. Palin cited budget difficulties for the museum cuts. Mr. Cooper thought differently, saying the museum had become a microcosm of class and cultural conflicts in town. “It represented that the town was becoming more progressive, and they didn’t want that,” he said.

Days later, Mr. Cooper recalled, a vocal conservative, Steve Stoll, sidled up to him. Mr. Stoll had supported Ms. Palin and had a long-running feud with Mr. Cooper. “He said: ‘Gotcha, Cooper,’ ” Mr. Cooper said.
[...]
In 1997, Ms. Palin fired the longtime city attorney, Richard Deuser, after he issued the stop-work order on a home being built by Don Showers, another of her campaign supporters.

Your attorney, Mr. Showers told Ms. Palin, is costing me lots of money.

“She told me she’d like to see him fired,” Mr. Showers recalled. “But she couldn’t do it herself because the City Council hires the city attorney.” Ms. Palin told him to write the council members to complain.
[...]
But in 1995, Ms. Palin, then a city councilwoman, told colleagues that she had noticed the book “Daddy’s Roommate” on the shelves and that it did not belong there, according to Ms. Chase and Mr. Stein. Ms. Chase read the book, which helps children understand homosexuality, and said it was inoffensive; she suggested that Ms. Palin read it.

“Sarah said she didn’t need to read that stuff,” Ms. Chase said. “It was disturbing that someone would be willing to remove a book from the library and she didn’t even read it.”
[...]
Ms. Palin chose Talis Colberg, a borough assemblyman from the Matanuska valley, as her attorney general, provoking a bewildered question from the legal community: “Who?” Mr. Colberg, who did not return calls, moved from a one-room building in the valley to one of the most powerful offices in the state, supervising some 500 people.

“I called him and asked, ‘Do you know how to supervise people?’ ” said a family friend, Kathy Wells. “He said, ‘No, but I think I’ll get some help.’ ”

The Wasilla High School yearbook archive now doubles as a veritable directory of state government.

Let's see -
- Palin attempted to silence critics through intimidation and coercion
- Fired city museum employees because they were a symbol of "progressiveness"
- Fired city attorney because he put policy ahead of Palin's supporters/ideology
- Attempted to ban a book she had never read
- Put unqualified high school friends at the top of large state bureaucracies.

This is a person who could be president. It's absurd.

Slayed

2008-09-14T08:44:00.001-07:00

Good work.

Vote Shopping In Canuckistan, part 4

2008-09-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

Today, for review: the Conservatives' foreign policy....a search of the site and....nothing. No foreign policy to review. The closest thing they have are talking points regarding National Sovereignty, in regards to northern Canada:

Economic development – unleashing the resource-based potential of the North;
National sovereignty – protecting our land, airspace and territorial waters;
Northern input and control – ending paternalistic federal policies of past governments;
Environmental protection – protecting the unique Northern environment;

With concrete results:

Construction of eight Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships;
Construction of an Arctic deep water port;
Increased northern surveillance by the Canadian Forces;
Invested $20.5 million into climate change research in the Arctic; and
Contributed $150 million for scientific research to coincide with the International Polar Year.

Ok, not much to argue or discuss here. I'm glad the Conservatives are addressing the north, as it will be the most important domestic national security issue over the next 20 years, but this isn't much to go on.

I have to ask again: Why are the Greens the only party with an articulated foreign policy on their website?

Thinking Is Overrated

2008-09-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

It ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
It don't matter, anyhow
An' it ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
If you don't know by now

Don't think twice, it's all right
--Bob Dylan

Sarah Palin's answers on a variety of questions from Charlie Gibson are frightening:

GIBSON: Governor, let me start by asking you a question that I asked John McCain about you, and it is really the central question. Can you look the country in the eye and say "I have the experience and I have the ability to be not just vice president, but perhaps president of the United States of America?"

PALIN: I do, Charlie, and on January 20, when John McCain and I are sworn in, if we are so privileged to be elected to serve this country, will be ready. I'm ready.

GIBSON: And you didn't say to yourself, "Am I experienced enough? Am I ready? Do I know enough about international affairs? Do I -- will I feel comfortable enough on the national stage to do this?"

PALIN: I didn't hesitate, no.

GIBSON: Didn't that take some hubris?

PALIN: I -- I answered him yes because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can't blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we're on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can't blink.

So I didn't blink then even when asked to run as his running mate.

She didn't think about her experience, competence, family, capabilities or obvious weaknesses. She immediately jumped at the chance because "You have to be wired in a way of being committed to the mission".

What the hell does that even mean?

It gets better:

GIBSON: Have you ever met a foreign head of state?

PALIN: There in the state of Alaska, our international trade activities bring in many leaders of other countries.

GIBSON: And all governors deal with trade delegations.

PALIN: Right.

GIBSON: Who act at the behest of their governments.

PALIN: Right, right.

GIBSON: I'm talking about somebody who's a head of state, who can negotiate for that country. Ever met one?

PALIN: I have not and I think if you go back in history and if you ask that question of many vice presidents, they may have the same answer that I just gave you. But, Charlie, again, we've got to remember what the desire is in this nation at this time. It is for no more politics as usual and somebody's big, fat resume maybe that shows decades and decades in that Washington establishment, where, yes, they've had opportunities to meet heads of state ... these last couple of weeks ... it has been overwhelming to me that confirmation of the message that Americans are getting sick and tired of that self-dealing and kind of that closed door, good old boy network that has been the Washington elite.

First off - no, over the last 32 years, every VP candidate has met a foreign head of state.

Then she starts spewing about the politics of change, stating her lack of experience means she is qualified. She doesn't even both to construct a sentence in regards to this obvious BS. Why doesn't she just grunt out talking points phrases, as opposed to straining herself by thinking?

*Grunt* *Grunt* Reform Washington!*Grunt* *Grunt* Me ready for office!*Grunt* *Grunt*

GIBSON: Let's start, because we are near Russia, let's start with Russia and Georgia.
The administration has said we've got to maintain the territorial integrity of Georgia. Do you believe the United States should try to restore Georgian sovereignty over South Ossetia and Abkhazia?

PALIN: First off, we're going to continue good relations with Saakashvili there. I was able to speak with him the other day and giving him my commitment, as John McCain's running mate, that we will be committed to Georgia. And we've got to keep an eye on Russia. For Russia to have exerted such pressure in terms of invading a smaller democratic country, unprovoked, is unacceptable and we have to keep...

GIBSON: You believe unprovoked.

PALIN: I do believe unprovoked and we have got to keep our eyes on Russia, under the leadership there. I think it was unfortunate. That manifestation that we saw with that invasion of Georgia shows us some steps backwards that Russia has recently taken away from the race toward a more democratic nation with democratic ideals.That's why we have to keep an eye on Russia.

This is not even close to being true. She states it as fact because she believes it, and therefore it is a fact. Facts are beliefs. Right?

GIBSON: What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?

PALIN: They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.

Ohhhh! I get it, you can see Russia, therefore, you have Russia "insight"! Genius.

GIBSON: Because Putin has said he would not tolerate NATO incursion into the Caucasus.

PALIN: Well, you know, the Rose Revolution, the Orange Revolution, those actions have showed us that those democratic nations, I believe, deserve to be in NATO.

Putin thinks otherwise. Obviously, he thinks otherwise, but...

Yes, democratic revolutions are the only precursor to Nato membership.

Please bring me the Nato application form for Nepal.

...And yes, Putin of course disagrees with whether or not these countries deserve to be in Nato. That's his concern: whether or not their democratic bona fides are good enough for membership.
Reminder: This is the possible future leader of the free world talking.

GIBSON: And under the NATO treaty, wouldn't we then have to go to war if Russia went into Georgia?

PALIN: Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help

Good thing the Russians won't be reading this interview...

GIBSON: What if Israel decided it felt threatened and needed to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities?

PALIN: Well, first, we are friends with Israel and I don't think that we should second guess the measures that Israel has to take to defend themselves and for their security.

Of course not! That would take time, consideration, and worst of all thinking.

GIBSON: So if we wouldn't second guess it and they decided they needed to do it because Iran was an existential threat, we would cooperative or agree with that.

PALIN: I don't think we can second guess what Israel has to do to secure its nation.

GIBSON: So if it felt necessary, if it felt the need to defend itself by taking out Iranian nuclear facilities, that would be all right.

PALIN: We cannot second guess the steps that Israel has to take to defend itself.

Giving glib auto responses to deep and complex questions must a VP job requirement.

GIBSON: Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?

PALIN: In what respect, Charlie?

GIBSON: The Bush -- well, what do you -- what do you interpret it to be?

PALIN: His world view?

Apart from being wrong, this is vacant and shallow. ABC didn't add the question mark at the end of "His world view", but I did.

She asked Charlie if it was correct.

GIBSON: But I, color me a cynic, but I hear a little bit of change in your policy there. When you say, yes, now you're beginning to say it is man-made. It sounds to me like you're adapting your position to Sen. McCain's.

PALIN: I think you are a cynic because show me where I have ever said that there's absolute proof that nothing that man has ever conducted or engaged in has had any affect, or no affect, on climate change.

Um, what?

GIBSON: Didn't George Bush come to Washington eight years ago talking about reforming Washington in the same kind of language? Ran as something of a maverick actually; came to Washington. Eight years, hasn't changed the ethos in Washington particularly. Why are you any different?

PALIN: Well, we're promising the reform. And we are mavericks. There's no doubt in anybody's mind now across America, who's paying attention to the presidential race here, that I am a Washington outsider. I mean, look at where you are. I'm a Washington outsider. I do not have those allegiances to the power brokers, to the lobbyists. We need someone like that in Washington, someone committed to the American people and implementing their will, not the power brokers' will.

Let's re-write this one for Sarah:

PALIN: Well, we're promising the reform. And we are branded as mavericks. There's no doubt in anybody's mind now across America, who's paying attention to the presidential race here, that I am a Washington lightweight and way out of my depth. I mean, look at where you are. I'm a Washington lightweight. And besides the entire senior staff of the McCain campaign, who I now travel with 24/7, I do not have those allegiances to the power brokers, to the lobbyists. We need someone like that in Washington, someone committed to the unthinking action and implementing the oil companies' will, not the thinking publics' will.

This is a great passage:

GIBSON: One of John McCain's central campaign arguments, tenets of his campaign, is eliminating earmarks, getting rid of them. Are you with John McCain on that?

PALIN: I certainly am. And of course the poster child for the earmarks was Alaska's, what people in the lower 48 refer to as the bridge to nowhere. First it was a bridge to community with an airport in southeast Alaska. But that was excessive. And an earmark -- an earmark like that, not even supported necessarily by the majority of Alaskans. We killed that earmark. We killed that project...

This is actually factually incorrect, and is a lie.

She defends her earlier work to actually build the Bridge to Nowhere:

PALIN: I was for infrastructure being built in the state. And it's not inappropriate for a mayor or for a governor to request and to work with their Congress and their congressmen, their congresswomen, to plug into the federal budget along with every other state a share of the federal budget for infrastructure.

This is the justification of every elected official for...wait for it ....Earmarks!

It just gets more bizarre:

GIBSON: Roe v. Wade, do you think it should be reversed?

PALIN: I think it should and I think that states should be able to decide that issue... I am pro-life. I do respect other people's opinion on this, also, and I think that a culture of life is best for America...

And then she says:

GIBSON: Guns, 70 percent of this country supports a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons. Do you?

PALIN: I do not and, you know, here again, life being an open book here, as a candidate, I'm a lifetime member of the NRA.

Is there no cognitive dissonance?

Summary
This is a shockingly unprepared and unknowledgeable individual, and it is beyond ridiculous that she is so close to the presidency.

For once, me and Matt Damon agree:

"I want to know if she thinks dinosaurs were around 4,000 years ago, because she is going to have the nuclear codes."

Nice.

A Letter To Elizabeth May

2008-09-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Ms. May:

I understand you said something recently to the effect that "Canadians are stupid" wihch was recorded on Youtube. This generally says more about the politician saying the remark than making any real insight into the cognitive abilities of Canadians collectively.

Futher to this error, your party is now attempting to silence free speech by threatening bloggers with legal suits if they attempt to show the Youtube audio of your voice making this statement.

Which is funny because only a few days ago you said, in response to being excluded from the debate, which you, myself, and many other Canadians were upset about:

“Here we are, day two of the Canadian election, and democracy is already taking a beating!”

What irony.

What irony that the party that depended on free speech and the good will of Canadians this last week has already trampled on both in a matter of a day.

First, you insulted Canadians.

Now you attempt to take away a basic freedom through intimidation and a ridiculous legal threat.

Have you no shame? Has your party no conscience, or sense of decency?

This is an outrage. Do the right thing and call off your legal action.

Sincerely,

Shamrocks
------------------------------------------
More of May's words of wisdom here.

Green Party Hits Bottom - Tries to Dig

2008-09-11T18:14:00.000-07:00

Buckdog, a Canadian Blogger goes to toe-to-toe with a communications moron at the Green Party HQ:

From: John Bennett
To: leftdog@hushmail.com
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:37:56 -0600

Please be informed that the if the video

Canadians Are Stupid!" - Elizabeth May

is not removed from your site with the hour the Green Party of Canada will seek means to prevent legal proceedings further slander.

John Bennett
Director of Communications
Green Party of Canada
(613) 562-4916 ext. 230
(Cell: 613) 291 6888
Fax: (613) 482-4632

What a tool. Anyways, cheers to Buckdog for telling him what time it was:

Dear Mr. Bennett
You are attempting to shoot the messenger here. I am merely
reporting ... as is my right as a citizen journalist ... an item
that is CURRENTLY POSTED ON YOUTUBE ... with the following URL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIxmfBPrptM

I did NOT post this item on youtube NOR did I produce it.
Therefore your threats to me as a citizen journalist have been
turned over to my solicitor.

Should I receive an apology from you within the hour, I will take
no further action against the Green Party of Canada which would
include:
1) A nationwide news release which includes the text of your
threatening email to me,
2) Details which show that I had NOTHING to do with the production
nor posting of the item in question on youtube,
3) That as a citizen journalist, the Green Party of Canada is
attempting to suppress my freedom of speech,
4) A blog posting itemizing what has occured here including your
threatening email to me.

Should your apology to me be received within the hour as I stated,
I will take no further action against the Green Party of Canada

Leftdog
Regina

Sweet. Put that in pipe and smoke it.

Elizabeth May - Canadians Are Stupid

2008-09-11T06:50:00.000-07:00

"Canadians are Stupid, and I fundamentally agree with that assessment".
--Elizabeth May

I think I have an idea who is stupid.

Hat Tip: Buckdog

Vote Shopping In Canuckistan, part 3

2008-09-10T22:40:00.000-07:00

Today, I was going to review the NDP's foreign policy.

I searched the NDP site for something substantive and...? ...Nothing. No results.

Pathetic.

So far, the greens are the only party with a real foreign policy on their website. What the hell is that?

Johnny Likes The Lipstick

2008-09-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

Someone Put Lipstick On John McCain

2008-09-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

"I think they put some lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig,"
-John McCain, 2007, referring to Hilary Clinton's Health Plan

"You can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish
in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight
years."
-Barack Obama, 2008, referring to McCain's plan for change in Washington.

What's the difference? When Obama says it, it's sexism according to McCain.

McCain's campaign immediately organized a telephone conference call in response and called on Obama to apologize for calling Palin a pig. Obama's campaign said he wasn't referring to Palin; he had been talking about McCain immediately before the lipstick comment.

Hmm, playing the sexism card, eh?

That's a little bit rich coming from a guy who offered his wife as a contestant in a lewd, topless, biker "beauty" pageant.

Or...who offered this steaming hot nugget of (un)funny, about a teenage girl:

"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
Because her father is Janet Reno."

That's just peachy. How about this one, when referring to his wife:

Three reporters from Arizona, on the condition of anonymity, also let me in on another incident involving McCain's intemperateness. In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Cindy, as well as campaign aide Doug Cole and consultant Wes Gullett. At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain's hair and said, "You're getting a little thin up there." McCain's face reddened, and he responded, "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt."

Sounds like a sexist dickhead to me..But why stop there? Johnny's on a roll:

"Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die?" McCain reportedly asked an audience during his 1986 Senate campaign, according to Arizona's Tucson Citizen. "When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, 'Where is that marvelous ape?'"

Charming.

To top it all off, here is the video of what Obama said:

It was not even close to referring to Palin. What a damn fool for even speaking about sexism and especially when it is not even close to being legit.

If McCain was someone's grandpa we'd say "Oh, that's Grandpa, he's a crazy war vet who has a temper", but it's a guy one step from the presidency, so what do we say? "Oh, that McCain - He's a maverick!". Whatever.

Let's hope the MSM keeps the cameras on him - he is bound to let the mask slip.

Vote Shopping In Canuckistan, part 2

2008-09-09T21:19:00.000-07:00

Use your brain not your back use your brain not a gat
It's a party not a jack(for real)
Don't be scared of them people
Walk up in there and show them that you equal
--Ice Cube

Today I am reviewing the Liberal Party's foreign policy at their website.

Not much to go by, if you review the site, so here are some basics from a policy paper regarding our responsibility within NATO in Afghanistan.

Regarding the mission:

DEPLOYMENT POST‐FEBRUARY 2009
The Liberal Party believes that Canada, together with other members of the United Nations,should remain committed to the people of Afghanistan beyond February 2009. We believe Canada and the rest of the world have an obligation to the people of Afghanistan, to assist them in their ongoing efforts to create a stable, secure and functioning democracy. But we also believe that it is the Afghan people and government that bear the fundamental responsibility for the achievement of this objective.

Fair enough. Canada has pulled its weight.

Nor has there been any candid assessment by the Canadian government of the fact that Afghanistan has now become a virtual “narco‐economy,” with most estimates putting the contribution of the poppy and heroin trade to the GDP at over 50 percent. This reality points to another enormous challenge to democracy in the country, and that is corruption. Again, our own government has chosen not to discuss this difficult reality in any assessment of the prospects for success of the current mission.

This lack of information, realism, and candour is a fundamental flaw in our current approach. Support for the current mission is painted in terms of patriotism, support for our troops, and the notion that nothing but military force will succeed in the so‐called war on terrorism. Canada has paid a price for this simplistic approach, and we hope that the panel will not persist in painting the choices in these ways. There has to be a change by Canada, and a change by NATO, if we are to be successful.

A large portion of this document is quite pessimistic on the chances of Afghanistan's chances on becoming a functioning state. It could be, but given what happened the last time this part of the world was left to its own devices, is it not worth the risk?

This battle is not confined simply to a local failed state, and this Liberal party document does not seem to acknowledge that there is a wider element in play here, beyond simply local Hindu Kush politics. Where do you think the Al-Qaeda and Taliban elements originate from? Where are their sources of money? We can discuss the inability of the Afghans to form a government, I suppose, but is this because of the Afghans? Are they the sole issue here? This policy document appears to suggest it is true.

"Apres Moi, le deluge" - King Louis, XVI

There is a further need for accountability, both to Parliament and to the Canadian people. There is little knowledge in Canada about the history and politics of Afghanistan, of the political tensions that currently exist, or of the choices that must be made by the Afghan political structure to improve the current situation.

Well, I think we have enough understanding to note what big picture is, but thank you for assuming our ignorance. Which Saguenay born minister edited this?

Here's something of positive to note in here:

Membership in NATO has been an important element in Canada’s foreign policy, which allows us to exert a greater influence on global affairs than our size might otherwise dictate. We cannot pretend that we can force success solely by “staying the course” in Afghanistan. Due to the extraordinary work of the men and women of the CF over the past decade, particularly in Afghanistan itself, Canada’s influence within NATO may never have been as high as it currently is. We must not squander the opportunity our troops have provided us – we must show the courage to push for the needed reforms in NATO itself.

Right off the bat, they recognize that our involvement in NATO is a vehicle for positive reform within the organization. This is the pragmatism of a governing party, and good on the Liberals for recognizing that.

Finally, the Government of Canada must immediately address the question of the transfer by the CF of detainees to Afghan authorities. The reality that these detainees face a credible risk of torture following transfer can no longer be brushed aside as Taliban propaganda. Continuing to turn a blind eye to this problem harms the international reputation of Canada. Canada must call for an immediate NATO‐wide solution that ensures detainees are not transferred into a situation where they could face torture. This may require the construction and maintenance of NATO holding facilities completely under the control and supervision of NATO personnel.
There must be constant monitoring and tracking of detainees to ensure that they are never subject to abuse.

Good. But asking that this be rectified only to save our reputation isn't good enough. It's wrong, period, not "It's wrong because someone might find out."

Ok, so the bottom line is:

The Canadian combat mission in Kandahar was never intended to be a life‐long effort, or even a ten year commitment. It was always intended to be part of a wider NATO and UN commitment to working with the Afghan government. Rotation and change should not be seen as “abandonment” but simply as an assertion of a standard operating practice of both NATO and the UN. To say that the combat mission should conclude in 2009 will send an important signal to the world that we are prepared to do our part, but insist on others sharing in these burdens, and that it is Canada’s view that greater emphasis has to be placed on improving the political and economic context in which the Afghan engagement is taking place. No one will listen to this view unless we make it clear that our words will be followed by action.

True. And I believe Harper actually listened to them on this front by declaring that Canadians would begin pulling out if other NATO members did not chip in, and lo and behold France got its act together and decided to put up one thousand more troops for the Kandhahar mission.

Essentially, the Liberals would be happy if we could rotate out of the battle lines of the southern front and give other nations a kick at the can. Politically, other NATO nations do not want that option but they should perhaps have a good talk with the electorate about international responsbilities.

[Side rant: Some European nations (we won't name names) have had a long holiday from international sacrifice and responsibilities after being a long term collective defense shell. Like Japan. This gives them a chance at moral respectability without actual responsibility, and this opportunity should have ended in 1989. Better late then never.]

Summary
Anyways, I'm a little off topic, but there it is. I am impressed with the paper written here. It is insightful, generally interesting, and pragmatic. I do not agree with everything here, but I respect the viewpoint expressed.

Mind you, this is the only real foreign policy document I could find (besides this speech by Dion regarding Afghanistan which reiterates the points above), so I really don't know what the Liberals have in mind once they get back in power.

I do not have enough information to make a recommendation as to what the Liberals are doing so I leave it open.

Liberal Party - Your Foreign Policy is _______(?)
You lose by defaulting on the playing field of information.

...What are they thinking? Next election, try putting policy on the web for people to read and evaluate.

WTF?

2008-09-08T21:57:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin's Church just moved up the scary cult ladder:

I want to look away.

Federalism = Separatism

2008-09-08T18:27:00.000-07:00

......Er, 2 + 2 = 5, War is Peace...etc, etc.

Vote Shopping In Canuckistan, part 1

2008-09-08T17:56:00.001-07:00

I'm gonna fight 'em all
A nation army couldn't hold me back
They're gonna rip it off
Taking their time right behind my back
--White Stripes

I've decided that I need to make an informed decision regarding the upcoming election, so I'm going to analyze the issues based on the party websites:

1. Green Party
2. Liberal Party
3. NDP
4. Conservatives
5. Bloc Quebecois

The first issue I want to address is foreign policy - What we are going to do to defend ourselves from a more aggressive Russia, the coming onslaught of international interference in the Northwest Passage, and defending our interests against our friends and neighbours alike. Yes, the US included.

Today, I'm reviewing the Green Party...

So...results?

1. Green Party The Greens have a policy document here, which states:

Green Party MPs will work to:
199. Declare Canada a military nuclear-free zone and abstain from participating in
the development or usage of space-based weapons.
200. Work to establish a standing international peacekeeping force under UN control.
201. Create an International Affairs and Comprehensive Security Agency to
coordinate activities between Foreign Affairs, National Defense and CIDA.
202. Create a Rapid Response Force with a mandate for peacekeeping and
environmental restoration in both international crisis situations and domestic
catastrophes like floods, earthquakes, storms and fires and ensure that this
Force has the training and the means to deliver its support.
203. Deliver humanitarian aid and assistance effectively and efficiently.
204. Provide security for international aid and development groups on the ground
as well as assist international aid agencies and local authorities in implem
enting environmental protection and restoration measures.
205. Propose a reform of the UN Security Council, eliminating vetoes and
expanding membership.
206. Support the provision of royalty-free and low-cost AIDS medicines for Africa,
Asia and South America.
207. Work with other nations to eliminate unsustainable fishing in international
waters and create a system of marine sanctuaries. Press for custodial
management of fish stocks on the Grand Banks.
208. Increase foreign aid spending to 0.5 per cent of GDP by 2010, and meet
Canada's commitment to spend at least 0.7 per cent by 2015.
209. Work to increase the influence of the International Court of Justice.
210. Advocate a viable and secure state for Palestine and a secure state for Israel.
211. Actively engage with the Chinese government to advance a federal model
"Middle Path" approach, to the Tibet issue.
212. Initiate a review of Canada's current international security alliances.
213. Promote and support the international missions of the United Nations.
214. Erase debts with emerging countries that have been in default for over ten
years.

I am interested in how the Greens might "eliminate vetoes" at the UN.

"Initiate a review of Canada's current international security alliances." is code for "let's get out of NATO" which a non-starter and doesn't merit debate/intelligent discussion.

I was looking for something more relevant and conclusive in terms of Afghanistan, Darfur, Russian aggression, perhaps a statement on Georgia or the geo-political realities that Canada needs to deal with.

...Ok, so here's their stance on trade:

215. Renegotiate our multilateral trade agreements, such as NAFTA and the
upcoming FTAA, to include fair trade tariffs that work to protect human rights
and our ecosystems, as well as terminate investor-state dispute mechanisms
that erode Canada's sovereignty and environmental laws.

216. Propose a reform of the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank, placing these
institutions under the authority of the UN general assembly, and shift the
direction of international trade away from "free trade" to "fair trade" focusing
on the global protection of human rights, labour standards, cultural diversity,
and ecosystems.

On #215, this is a fairly ridiculous point as far as terminating investor-state dispute mechanisms. I can understand that this might seem pertinent as the US was using this as a hammer at NAFTA during the log dispute, but this also protects us in other states as well. What if Bombardier's trains were seized by the Chinese government and their contracts cancelled? How would Montreal feel to have Bombardier be put out of business without recourse?

These dispute mechanisms exist for a reason, and pulling out doesn't always make sense.

The next point is about as equally bogus. I think that many people and nations think the WTO, IMF and World Bank are flawed, including myself, but can you imagine what would happen at the UN if finance/business decisions were made in by the most gridlocked political organ on earth?

I hope you don't need that emergency loan, Tanzania...How long will it take?....oh as long as that border dispute between Israel and Palestine...

Summary
This reads like the feel-good policy manual of a university student union.

I like stating that we will work to deliver humanitarian aid more efficiently, but I also like hearing about the tactics, not pie-in-sky strategic goals.

As I think I've pointed out, these policy points are unrealistic and irrelevant to the realities of governing.

Green Party - Your foreign policy sucks. Big Time.

Grade: D

Voting in the Great White North

2008-09-07T11:55:00.000-07:00

You're so warm
Oh, the ritual
When i lay down your crooked arm
Spin, spin
Spin the black circle
--Pearl Jam

The election is off and running and Dion makes a ridiculous statement right off the bat and right on queue:

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion called the election a "stark choice" between his party and "most Conservative government in our history"

Really? Does 5 minutes of research even need to be done here?

If he was using "conservative" as some pejorative attack, he could have easily looked to Robert Borden's administration, which interned Europeans, introduced the draft, instituted the War Measures Act, and used troops to put down a strike.

Anyways, this is going to be an incredibly boring election. On the left, there is a feeding frenzy for leftwing votes, which means the left wing parties will out green each other to the max, while the Conservatives will be sitting on a smaller but unchallenged patch of voters, namely from the White Hinterland. And Alberta.

And while the world changes, in this election not much will change.

The economy and the War, yes that means Afghanistan, are going to get worse before they get better.

Probably few would make the connection, but the power vacuum in Pakistan probably helped push Harper to make a move.

The resignation of Musharraf meant that Pakistan will not have a strong hand in the border regions and Benazir's husband Zadari was vying for votes in Waziristan. With a near clean sweep of that region, there was and will be deal to stay out of the tribal region for the time being, meaning the Taliban has free reign in the border area again. Couple that with a lame duck US president, with little authority to go traipsing around the Hindu Kush, and you have an increasingly dangerous situation in the Northwest Frontier Area.

That means that Canadians will be in harms way and there will be a surge in future military deaths.

Domestically, the economy is going to stay stagnant for the time being, and probably not look up until the end of 2009, which means the opposition would feast off the Conservatives economic record for the future, whether it is deserved or not.

Essentially, the Conservatives are not operating from a position of strength, but are in an effort to simply lock in their gains for the time being and batten down the hatches. Harper will probably come out as PM, and Dion will be axed as opposition leader to make way for Ignatieff.

The greens will make a strong showing, and will undercut NDP and Liberal support, clearing the way for Conservatives in certain suburban areas.

I would have a tough time voting for the conservatives in this election.

I voted for them in the last election because there needed to be a general clean up of Ottawa. They did that and cheers to them for doing it.

But their record in the aftermath has been driven by ideology as opposed to getting results.

Rona Ambrose's disasterous stint at Environment.

Tony Clement's demented rants and policies regarding Insite.

This is not acceptable. When they came in, they had a tight focus that ordinary Canadians could get behind.

Let me ask Conservatives: What policies are you proposing now? What are the substantive economic policies that you are enacting? What goals do you propose in the economic downturn?

I am not saying that I would vote for the Liberals, becauase I think Dion is part of the same talent pool we have been milking for ages, and his approach to counter Alberta separatism was ridiculous and condescending. He is piss poor leader and should have stuck to being a policy wonk, as opposed to Liberal leader.

I predict that the Conservatives will win, but without a majority.

Stephane Dion loses badly and is replaced as leader in the new year.

Greens take the eco-left, while the NDP is relegated to the labour/poverty votes.

The Bloc will keep its place in Quebec, but only outdated politics will keep them from moving up. They really should be trounced and reduced to a rump movement, but they won't because of the alternatives.

It's a shite state of affairs.

Religulous

2008-09-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

What if Derek Zoolander was a Christian rocker?

ZAP!

Random Thing

2008-09-03T18:28:00.001-07:00

I don't care about Sarah Palin's kid having a baby, really, and I don't think it's relevant to her being a VP. What I do find funny is that her daughter's boyfriend and baby daddy,Levi Johnston, who was wisked away to meet John McCain, is nothing less than a complete jackass:

On his MySpace page, Johnston proudly declares: "I'm a f---in' redneck." "I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing," he says on the site.
He also warns that if anyone messes with him, "I'll kick ass."
The Website, before it was removed, appeared not to have been accessed for a year.

On it, he admits to having a girlfriend.
On the part where it asks about children, he wrote, "I don't want kids."

Mark Okeson, the assistant principal at Wasilla High School, told the Chicago Tribune that Bristol started her junior year last fall, in the town where Sarah Palin grew up.
He said Bristol inexplicably transferred to an Anchorage high school
midyear, leaving Levi behind.

Funny, that.

..And Here She Is! 1984's Miss I Don't Know What The Hell I Am Doin'!

2008-09-03T18:08:00.000-07:00

The beauty pageant contestant was having her own brief moment in the sun today:

"Since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on
that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves," Palin said in
excerpts of her remarks, released in advance of her appearance. "I guess a
small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have
actual responsibilities."

Exactly. I mean who likes super talented altruists involved in public service, anyways?

After four years in New York City, Obama moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer for three years from June 1985 to May 1988 as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale) on Chicago's far South Side.[12][14] During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from 1 to 13 and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens

I'm sure her stint as mayor of Nobody-Gives-A-**** ville was just as inspiring.

To quote Bill Maher, regarding her "responsibilities" as mayor:

"When she got the phone call at 3am, it was because a moose got in the garbage
can."

I guess all that time Obama spent as a constitutional rights professor and as a state and federal senator aren't worth comparing to her stellar record of shootin' stuff and travelling outside of the Alaska that one time.

Bottom line: If the republicans and Ms. Palin want to make this election a showdown between Palin vs. Obama they are going on a long hike off a short pier.

The Trophy Veep goes on to say:

"Here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of the country,"

Which is great because a month ago she said....

Let's just assume she got that all figured out. It wouldn't be like she was totally unprepared for the job or anything.

....yeah...

Change Noonan Can('t) Believe In

2008-09-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

Peggy Noonan, the Republican's sweet ol' middle aged aunt, decided to piss all over their grande ole parade here.

To summarize - she says John McCain's campaign is over and tactic of using the unfit and unqualified VP nominee's "narrative" is cynical BS.

For the first time in a few years, I actually agree with Peggy and I come to think of it, I trust her judgment. Just for today.

Disaster

2008-09-02T23:47:00.000-07:00

And I ain't even want to be famous
****** is brainless to unnecessarily go through these changes
And I ain't even know how it came to this
Except that fame is
The worst drug known to man
It's stronger than
Heroin
When you could look in the mirror like, "There I am"
And still not see
What you've become
--Jay Z

Not much for me to say regarding Palin, so I'll leave to others who've already said it best:

This is the end...Beautiful friend

This is the end...My only friend, the end

..Of our elaborate plans, the end...

“The vetting process was completely thorough and I’m grateful for the results.”
--John McCain
-------------------------

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was not subjected to a lengthy in-person background interview with the head of Sen. John McCain's vice presidential vetting team until last Wednesday in Arizona, the day before McCain asked her to be his running mate, and she did not disclose the fact that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant until that meeting, two knowledgeable McCain officials acknowledged Tuesday. Washington Post

-----------------------------

....Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end...

Ill never look into your eyes...again

Desperately in need...of some...strangers hand

"Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It's very real. When [Brickner's son] was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment — you can't miss it."

Palin was in church that day, Kroon said....

--------------------------------------------------------

"McCain Pick is Paying Off Big Time"- Patrick Buchanan

Great Debates at the NRO

2008-08-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

Why you all in my ear
Talkin' all lotta **** I ain't tryna hear
--Luda

I am getting some super intense deja vu looking at the Corner at the NRO. Remember 9 years ago when George Bush first became a serious candidate for the white house?

I do.

It sounded a little like this:

[R]eal people don't define "experience" as appearing on unwatched Sunday-morning talk shows every week for 35 years and having been around long enough to have got both the War on Terror and the Cold War wrong.

Bush was supposed to be the anti-intellectual, the real man of vision who didn't need to make high fallutin' arguments or construct a sentence because he was from Texas, where real humans are handmade by God somewhere behind the ranch house.

I like Texas. I like Texans. I don't like arguments about how tough and real someone is because they are from Texas (or Alaska) by a guy who lives in New England. (Full disclosure: I like Steyn, and even won his letter of week at his website once upon a time).

Robert Downey Jr. plays a confused but talented actor in black face in Tropic Thunder. He is an Australian, playing a Vietnam War hero, disguised and "acting" as a black man, or as Downey says "I know exactly who I am: I'm a dude, playing a dude, disguised as another dude!"

Downey is essentially the GOP in other words. On the surface, they want to appeal to the angry, everyday man, worrying about food on the table and the whole BS archetypical American Rove wants to find in a focus group. Deep down, at their core, they are backed by a what Paul Simon would call "a loose affiliation of millionaires and billionaires". They made a decision under Rove (and after the oh-so-haughty Snr. Bush lost the 92 election partly because of his elitism) to dumb down the candidates to appeal to fear and anti-intellectualism, anti-elitism. It worked, but the wool can only be pulled over the eyes for so long.

How long were we going to allow Mr. I-can't-name-how-many-houses-I-have to pull the anti-elite card over Mr. Single-mom-raised-me-in-South-Chicago?

Anyways, it's not all bad at the NRO. David Frum has apparently come to his senses, slowly, after being a rabid Neocon for so long:

But question: If it were your decision, and you were putting your country first, would you put an untested small-town mayor a heartbeat away from the presidency?

Good question, right?

Here's Steyn, on the same topic of Palin:

I kinda like the whole naughty librarian vibe.

Uh-huh.

Lord Black, May I Offer Thee A Shank?

2008-08-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

I know exactly what a gangsta do
Ya love the gangsta ***
Ain't you a gangsta too?
--Slip Capone

Few headlines get better than this:

Has Baron Black become a Crip gangsta?

This pretty much says everything you need to know about Lord Black's current life in prison.

Oh, and this picture:

More awesome analysis here.
Here's a primer on Lord Black's new friends:

Musharraf: Tightrope Walker

2008-08-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

Don't believe what you hear
Don't believe what you see
If you just close your eyes
You can feel the enemy

And I must be an acrobat
To talk like this
And act like that
--U2

Musharraf has resigned, as you have probably heard. Background here:

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, facing impeachment on charges drawn up by the governing coalition, has announced that he is resigning.

He went on national TV to say that while he was confident the charges would not stand, this was not the time for more confrontation.

He is accused of violation of the constitution and gross misconduct.

Mr Musharraf has been a key ally of the US in its "war on terror" since he took power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

Reaction in Pakistan is overwhelmingly one of relief that a bruising and lengthy impeachment battle has been avoided, the BBC's Mark Dummett reports from Islamabad.

There are a few things regarding Musharraf that will always stick with me...

One of which is his role in the 1999 India - Pakistan LOC/Kargil skirmish:

The nature of the India-Pakistan conflict took a more sinister proportion when the U.S. received intelligence that Pakistani nuclear warheads were being moved towards the border. Bill Clinton tried to dissuade Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif from nuclear brinkmanship, even threatening Pakistan of dire consequences.

According to a White House official, Sharif seemed to be genuinely surprised by this supposed missile movement and responded that India was probably planning the same. This was later confirmed in an article in May 2000, which stated that India too had readied at least five nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles.[50] Sensing a deteriorating military scenario, diplomatic isolation, and the risks of a larger conventional and nuclear war, Sharif ordered the Pakistani army to vacate the Kargil heights. He later claimed in his official biography that General Pervez Musharraf had moved nuclear warheads without informing him.

According to the rumours at the time, Sharif had to pull Musharraff back from the brink of nuclear war. This freelancing reminds me of the military adventurism of Japan pre-WW2, when the generals would inform the Emperor as to what they were doing, as opposed to the other way around (ie: "Dear Emperor - We took over Manchuria! Next stop: Indonesia!).

Another striking moment was the Musharraf's post 9/11 speech, where Musharraf attempted to move his nation more firmly in the US' camp in an on-air address:

I would like to tell you now that they do not have any operational plan right now. Therefore we do not have any details on this count but we know that whatever are the United States' intentions they have the support of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly in the form of a resolution. This is a resolution for war against terrorism and this is a resolution for punishing those people who support terrorism. Islamic countries have supported this resolution. This is the situation as it prevailed in the outside world.

Now I would like to inform you about the internal situation. Pakistan is facing a very critical situation and I believe that after 1971, this is the most critical period. The decision we take today can have far-reaching and wide- ranging consequences. The crisis is formidable and unprecedented. If we take wrong decisions in this crisis, it can lead to worst consequences. On the other hand, if we take right decisions, its results will be good. The negative consequences can endanger Pakistan's integrity and solidarity. Our critical concerns, our important concerns can come under threat. When I say critical concerns, I mean our strategic assets and the cause of Kashmir.If these come under threat it would be a worse situation for us.

Another was the interaction of Musharraf and Bush in March 2006 when Bush put Musharraf on the spot with a repeated assault in a joint appearance in Pakistan..Skip to the 4:30 mark:

Musharraf basically walked a tightrope on this occassion and others. The challenge of the President of Pakistan was the balancing the interests between the military conservatism and aggressiveness, with the pro-Taliban/Islamist stance of the North West Frontier Province, the separatists of the Waziristan and Baluchistan, with the relatively liberal city centres and the nominally Pro-US foreign policy.

This is by no means an endorsement of Musharraf. He overthrew a democratically elected government. He let the Taliban operate from the NWFP with some impunity which led to Canadian and allied deaths. He has failed to annihilate the pro-Kashmiri terrorists from Pakistans border regions. And most importantly, while under the guise of promoting security and stability, he began dismantling his own country's judiciary, a valuable and well developed check on executive overreach (sound like anyone we know?).

How to be the smooth operator, dominator in the state of Georgia

2008-08-16T10:43:00.000-07:00

Matter of fact
Just shake when you get to Georgia, *****!
--Luda

The Russo-Georgia conflict has come and gone, and a few key things stand out:

1. The Georgians made a monstrous mistake. The shelling of S. Ossetians forces and the subsequent mini-invasion was an invitation for an ass whupping. Saakashvili is the little kid on the outskirts of a big gang who thought he had more backup. I don't know how he thought he had the guns to take on one of the world's greatest fighting forces - Yes, the Russians really do have good soldiers, believe it or not. Maybe he thought Russia would just fight by Proxy with S. Ossetian forces. Or maybe he really thought the US would step up.

My own feeling is that the 1000 advisors the US had in Georgia might have been what he considered a trip wire - that is, if one American or more was KIA, the US would be drawn in to the conflict. This is the theory of the S. Korean peninsula, where the 30K US soldiers will be the token force that gets anihilated when/if N. Korea attacks and the US is compelled to destroy NoKo.

Fortunately, that never happened.

The US advisors stayed the hell out of the way, and Russians have avoided Tblisi, where the US has probably stationed all of its forces in Georgia. Cheers to Russia for keeping this regional.

2. S. Ossetia is only a part of Georgia by the arbitrary border set up by an empire, and more accurately by Stalin, who divided Ossetia, north and south, in order to set up an adminstrative zone. This is not unlike Palestine - Israel, Pakistan - India - Bangladesh, or any other haphazard line drawn in the sand by a distracted empire. The result, as usual, is ethnic conflict and confused loyalties.

3. Nato needs to check itself before it wrecks itself. It has surrounded the Great Bear with Nato members like Estonia (Estonia?!) and other former soviet republics that are of little strategic importance, but could spell war if Russia decided to make a ruckus in the former Eastern Bloc.

Do we forget the lessons of WW1 so easily? An archduke killed in S. Europe means tens of millions of deaths between N. European nations, compelled to fight because of unwieldly alliances. Let's hope all the Archdukes stay out of Estonia for all our sakes. Just saying.

4. Kosovo matters. The Russians begged, pleaded and pulled out all the stops to keep Kosovo an autonomous region, as opposed to an independent state. Now, what was the result? The Treaty of Westphalia is in tatters, as the sovereignty of nations is out the window, and international mettling is situation normal.

So the unspoken deal to keep borders intact and static since WW2 is looking suspect. The precedent set by Kosovo was that the big powers could rearrange borders if it suited them politically.

The international diplomatic blinders that saw the only conflict of the 21st century was that of Islamic Fascism vs. the West, meant that Kosovo was a valuable PR move for the west as the example of how the west could go to bat for Muslims. Was it worth upsetting a far more threatening competitor? <-- We'll call Russia a competitor for now - it's not an ally and its certainly not an enemy again. Yet.

5. Russia is back. For now. After the Yeltsin years, the economic meltdown, the compulsion to sell Siberia for money as the Russian Federation was bankrupt, and the rapidly declining birthrates and population, Russia is Petro-king. For now.

They have their tentacles all over Europe, with the control of the gas and oil pipelines throughout. They have a re-energized and aggressive military stance with the cash to afford crazy air patrols of the Artic combined with deep sea exploration of the valuable artic oil and gas fields.

But this is temporary. As Venezuela, Iran and Russia are strong now because of petrol prices, this will change as the move to alternative fuels strengthens and the west moves away from oil as primary energy source. That day isn't close, but even incremental moves in the oil prices hurt these Petrol states. If Russia is going to ramp up its military spending during the current good times, is it going to be able to shut off the taps during the down periods? This was the lesson of the Cold War, that spending like the West without the economic dynamism of the West means disaster.

Key Links:
Stratfor goes through the geo-political ramifications here.
Coyne and Wells go toe to toe.
Sullivan gets his two cents in here.
Al-Jazeera gets down with the conflict here:

The latest from NY Times is here.

Outkast show you what GhettoMusick is here:

Yes, that looks like Lil' Wayne in the welfare line.

As my grandmama ettamay here and she show me
How to be the smooth operator, dominator in the state of Georgia
Hip hops there to destroy ya
Leave a mother fucker open like a foyer
He from the dirt now here come the paranoia
Although you couldn’t have jacked the disrespect
The technique, sweat meet, wipe off the sweat
Fight off the shit and flush the waste down
The pipes of my life flow deep into the ground
Why my purpose on the surface of this earth is
Plan it, standards, trust and the purpose
Campaign in vein for the same lame fame, people obtain, you ought to be detained
--Outkast

Turkey Gets Away With One

2008-08-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

Who shot me,
But your punks didn't finish
Now you 'bout to feel the wrath of a menace
--2pac

The Constitutional Court of Turkey narrowly voted against banning the ruling moderate Islamist party, the AKP:

ISTANBUL (AP) -- Turkey's top court on Wednesday narrowly decided against banning the ruling party over accusations that it was steering the country toward Islamic rule, preserving a government locked in a power struggle with the secular elite.

The Constitutional Court, however, delivered a strong -- though unspecified -- warning to the ruling Justice and Development Party and said it would be deprived of half of its funding from the state treasury.

“The decision that came out was a warning to this party. It is a serious warning,” said the court chairman Hasim Kilic. “I hope that this outcome will be assessed and that the necessary measures will be taken.”

He said six of the 11 judges wanted to ban the party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However, a total of seven votes were needed to ban it under court regulations.

The importance of this case was huge. If the court banned the AKP, the idea of a real muslim democracy would be in trouble. The Turkish army and its proxies in the political system have had a hate on for the AKP for a while because of its Islamist roots, and have no problem stepping in to overthrow an all too Islamic government, as in the past.

The key question going forward is what the heck happens next? Is the army going to standby as the court deals secularism a losing hand? I would suspect, given the recent history of this battle that the army may forgo the political system and move to direct action. Unfortunately. If they are intent on pissing away their chances at getting in to the EU they may just do it.

The irony is that the Kemalist undercurrents that originally brought about westernization may be the same that dismantle Turkey's official entry into the west.
------------------------------------------------------------

Ok you're a goon
But what's a goon to Goblin?
--Lil Wayne

Jazz Beef

2008-08-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

Wynton Marsalis vs. Wycliffe Gordon battling from their respective hotel room windows.

Nice.

My Sword and Shield

2008-07-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
--Coldplay

Obama's got more sweet quotes than ODB:

I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.

But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived - at great cost and great sacrifice - to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom - indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us - what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America's shores - is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.

These are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. These aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of these aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of these aspirations that all free people - everywhere - became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of these aspirations that a new generation - our generation - must make our mark on the world.

People of Berlin - and people of the world - the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. With an eye toward the future, with resolve in our hearts, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again.

He makes another call to action - this time addressing the greater world. Just read the words here...How bad is McCain going to lose? Again, when the debates come, this will be a blowout when voters are matching up these two side by side. McCain is prone to major blunders, and cannot give a speech to save his life.

Girl Talk: Bounce That

2008-07-20T15:49:00.001-07:00

If you haven't heard of Girl Talk, here he is:

I be on that Cryptonite!

McCain's Stock Dips Lower

2008-07-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

Rough. I can't believe a grown man would tell this joke at an event:

Last week, in response to a serious question about Iran, the Republican presumptive nominee joked about killing Iranians with weaponized cancer. This week, it's news about a joke involving gorillas and rape.

"Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, 'Where is that marvelous ape?'"

Get it? Women like to be beaten and raped. Hoo-hoo! In days past, it's been jokes about wife-beating, bombing Iran, Chelsea Clinton's looks, and Alzheimer's Disease. Based on these precedents, I can only imagine Senator McCain's forthcoming zingers about still-births, burn victims and Thalidomide.

Ok, this was at an event in 1986, but by this time he was already a senator and 14 years from his time in Vietnam. In other words, he was a mature veteran and in the public eye for a long time by this point.

Cesca makes a good point in this article - We've all told bad jokes, but what kind of judgment breakdown do you need to tell this horrible joke with the press and mixed company present? This is a contender for the position of new leader of free world?

If this was the only time McCain had told one ill-considered, off-colour joke, it would probably be passed over as an isoloated, one-time lapse of judgment, and not indicative of a flawed personality. At this point, he is coming up with violent, mysogynist and ignorant jokes on a weekly basis. It's not just his sense of humour in question, it's also the underlying violence of his words.

Keep watching - He's guaranteed to come up with some serious bombs by election day.

McCain's New Gag: Kill The Iranians

2008-07-08T23:08:00.000-07:00

The hillsides ring with free the people
Or can I hear the echo from the days of 39?
With trenches full of poets
The ragged army, fixin bayonets to fight the other line
--The Clash

What a tool this guy can be:

McCain's Latest Iran Joke
By Michael D. Shear
Sen. John McCain hasn't had good luck joking about Iran. But he tried it again Tuesday.

Responding to a question about a survey that shows increased exports to
Iran, mainly from cigarettes, McCain said, "Maybe thats a way of killing them."

He quickly caught himself, saying "I meant that as a joke" as his wife, Cindy, poked him in the back.

There's a bunch of things that are just awesome about McCain, but blatant disregard for human life is not one of them. This is base racism at its worst- he's talking (ok, joking - %$^ing hilarious) about killing (!) Iranians through cancer. Iranians. Yes, this is the attitude that is permissive of genocide.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time he's discussed this type of BS:

Last time, it was also Iran. His singing about bombing Iran to the theme of the Beach Boy' "Barbara Ann" drew derision from many quarters but a "lighten up" response from McCain.

Yeah, lighten up...it's not like he said he was going to kill you, right? Just those other people, you probably won't miss them anyways, right?

Yep. He's a sensitive soul:

John McCain's racist remark very troubling

Thursday, March 2, 2000

By KATIE HONG

On his campaign bus recently, Sen. John McCain told reporters, "I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live."
...
It is alarming because a major candidate for president publicly used a racial epithet, refused to apologize for doing so and remains a legitimate contender.

Disturbing. Yes. So is this little exchange:

And this:

And this:

And this:

Can anyone honestly say that McCain won't attempt to leverage Obama's skin colour in this campaign? By the end, we will be inundated by slurs left right and centre by the McCain campaign, and probably all in the crunch time after the US' labour day.

T. Boone Pickens Steps Up

2008-07-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

Fascinating. May need to address consumption as well, but this is the first supply side initiative I've seen in a while.

The cameras eyes on choice disguised
Was it cast for the mass who burn and toil?
Or for the vultures who thirst for blood and oil?
--RATM

Obama Vs. The Naderites? Naderists?

2008-07-07T01:12:00.000-07:00

I'm pay my dues u keep the difference
I can see the end and the beginnning
So I'm not racing I'm just sprintin
Cause I don't wanna finish
They diminish I replenish
--Lil Wayne

I was asked to review an article and offer an opinion on what I thought, so instead of giving a two sentence answer, I decided to fisk the article and see what happens...

It's a bit of a dog's breakfast in terms of its attacks on Obama but I guess if you're down with the Nader this may make sense in a way....

Here we go...the article is here..

Choice in November - Nader v. Twiddle Dee or Twiddle Dum

by Stephen Lendman

Each election cycle, hope springs eternal. Candidates promise change and voters buy it. Intelligent ones. People who know better or should. The current campaign highlights it. A surge is building for Obama, not for what he is. For what people think or hope he is - a populist, progressive, man of the people, a new course for America.

After the final June 3 primaries and "rush of superdelegates," according to The New York Times, they're stuck with him. The Times reports that he crossed "over the threshold (to) the 2118 delegates needed to be nominated...." Obama marked the occasion as his chance to "bring a new and better day to America (as) the 'Democratic' nominee for president of the United States of America."

It's not how John Pilger sees him. In a recent article, he calls him America's "great liberal hope." He compares his campaign to Bobby Kennedy's in 1968 and says: "Both offer a false hope that they can bring peace and racial harmony to all Americans." Kennedy spoke of "return(ing) government to the people" and giving "dignity and justice" to the oppressed. "Obama is his echo" with familiar promises of change, charting a new course, sweeping government reforms, addressing people needs, and "ensur(ing) that the hopes and concerns of average Americans speak louder in Washington than the hallway whispers of high-priced lobbyists."

Bobby Kennedy never had an opportunity to actually lead and neither has Obama, so it's a moot and irrelevant point on both counts. I will say this for Bobby Kennedy regarding racial harmony - On the night Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, Kennedy addressed a largely black crowd in Detroit. His words regarding the tragedy and need for reconciliation were credited in keeping the town relatively peaceful while the rest of the country was burning in the midst of widespread rioting.

He claims to be an up from the grassroots activist. In fact, he cashed in on opportunism all the way - to the Illinois Senate in 1996. Then after failing to win a US House seat, it was up a notch to the Senate in 2005 after his November 2004 election. He promised hope but delivered betrayal. He's beholden to power and doesn't relate well to ordinary constituents who backed him, including his black community base.

This appears to leave out the fact that Obama was from South Chicago, and was the editor of the Harvard Law Review. He gave up numerous Wall Street jobs to go back to his home community and become an organizer. I'm not sure how this adds up to being opportunistic. The fact that this wasn't addressed right off the bat is not a good sign.

If he's nominated and wins in November, Marc Crispin Miller's "Fooled Again" will apply but in this case to promises made, then broken. Miller's book refers to the stolen 2004 presidential election. Kerry won big, Bush remained president, Kerry admitted to the author he knew he'd been had, then disavowed he ever said it in reverse "profile of courage" fashion.

An Obama victory will go Lincoln one better. It'll prove that the electorate can be fooled "all of the time" - at least enough of them to matter. And that leaves out election fraud in an age when:

-- candidates are pre-selected;

-- big money owns them;

-- independents are shut out;

-- the media ignore them;

-- they keep people uninformed;

-- issues aren't addressed;

-- voter disenfranchisement is rife;

-- machines do our voting;

-- losers are declared winners; and

Where to start here? The 2004 election was stolen? Bush won by over 3M votes. I may not have agreed with that choice, but it was pretty clear. You could say the 2000 election was stolen, but every subsequent Florida recount showed Bush won, but it's legitimate to say so, I suppose.

I guess if the process is illegitimate (ie: machines do our voting?), then the author is suggesting...what? Revolution? Overthrow of the government? Not exactly legitimate "direct action". Of course, he's advocating Nader, but if the machines are voting (wtf?) then who cares?

It's democracy American-style, a long-standing tradition, and Chicagoans know it well. They remember an earlier mayor urging people to "vote early and often." They also recall the pol who "want(ed) to be buried in Chicago (when he died) so (he could) stay active in politics."

In an age of technological wonders, why not. The Democrat machine is so entrenched, it hasn't had real opposition since Republican mayor "Big Bill" Thompson lost to Democrat Anton Cermak in 1931. And the Daleys (father and son) practically own the office it's controlled for 40 of the last 53 years with no visible contender in sight and a new generation upcoming.

On the national level, it's just as bad - a one party state according to Gore Vidal: the Property or Monied Party with two wings. Ralph Nader calls them a "two-party (twiddle dee v. twiddle dum) dictatorship." So do others, yet most people buy the rhetoric and ignore the evidence. The criminal class in Washington is bipartisan. Democrats are interchangeable with Republicans. Differences between them are minor. Not a dime's worth to matter. Whoever wins in November, the outcome is certain. Voters again will lose. They'll get the best democracy money can buy but none of it earmarked for them.

So why vote? If voting doesn't matter, then who cares? If you think nothing will change, then why bother voting for Nader since the outcome is predetermined anyway?

The discussion of corrupt Chicago voting practices and Obama is more than a little disturbing, although I'm surprised he doesn't bring up the 1960 voting debacle. The implication that Obama's ascedency may be based on fraudulent voting practices simply because he hails from Chicago is ridiculous to say the least. It's guilt by geography and piss poor journalism.

Wars of aggression won't end. Repressive laws won't be repealed. Corruption will stay deeply embedded. Privatizing everything will be de rigueur. Monied interests will be hugely rewarded. Militarizing and annexing the continent will go forward. Voter interests will go largely unaddressed. And promises made will again prove empty. Here's a sampling from the Nader-Gonzales '08 web site. It mentions "Twelve Issues that Matter for 2008," where the candidates stand on them, and Nader, Obama/Clinton and McCain columns showing "on" or "off" the table:

Obama is campaigning on ending the war and ending the practices of taking PAC money. He doesn't take lobbyist money and has insisted that the DNC do similarly. This is massive, and this author does not address this key piece of electoral progress.

Does he realize that Obama is advocating massive reallignment of spending from military to domestic programs?

-- National health insurance: Nader on; the others off; Nader favors a single-payer, government-funded, "private delivery, free choice of hospital and doctor, public insurance system;" the need is critical at a time health care costs are soaring; many can't afford them; millions are uninsured; millions more underinsured; and Democrats and Republicans are dismissive and beholden to providers that fund them;

Off? On? Obama is advocating low cost premiums for universal healthcare. The idea is to make healthcare affordable. When some of my family moved to Texas for a while, the single biggest cost they had was health care premiums. Now reducing the premiums paid may not be the end all be all solution for Nader, but in the short to medium term it's a pragmatic step that could easily be taken with some initiative by the White House.

-- Wasteful military spending: Nader on; the others off; America spends more on defense and security than all other nations combined - a conservatively estimated annual $1.1 trillion with all military, homeland security, veterans, NASA, debt service and miscellaneous related allocations included at a time the country has no visible enemies; it threatens world security and the nation by heading it for fiscal insolvency or worse;

-- No to nuclear power and yes to solar: Nader on; the others off; Nader opposes Big Oil subsidies and ones for nuclear, electric, coal mining and biofuel interests; he advocates a sustainable energy policy that includes renewables like wind and solar;

-- Corporate crime and welfare: Nader on; the others off; the issue - hundreds of billions to corporate coffers; taxpayers fund them; hundreds of thousands "injured and sickened each year by preventable corporate-bred violence;" unsafe products; medical negligence; harmful pollution; public corruption and financial fraud; politicians ignore it; so will the three leading contenders; ordinary people are acutely affected;

You don't really need to exaggerate the 600B/year on military spending to make it a large sum, but this guy almost doubles it.

At this point, the article is becoming a bit tedious. The main problem with discussing a non-player like Nader and comparing him to Obama can be summarized briefly: Nader will never have to come up with a workable platform, whereas Obama will. It's like talking about libertarianism vs. a mixed economy state. The mixed economy is not perfect, and there a bunch of problems that we all work around and stumble upon, but basically its workable, whereas libertarianism, with no working model to discuss, exists in an academic sense as some far off utopia.

This is the Nader dream.

Without Nader being even close to power, it becomes a battle of working solutions on Obama's part with the utopian and perfect progressive positions espoused by Nader.

He preaches change but supports the status quo. He's beholden to power as a stealth DLC member that's essential for any Democrat aspirant. It makes him gallingly disingenuous, deceitful to voters, and "safe" for corporate supporters who back him. He says individual donors supply most of his funding, that he gets none of it from lobbyists, and that they won't crowd out working Americans if he's elected.

In fact, big money owns him. He raises over $1 million a day. Wall Street lords love him. So do corporate law firms; other finance, insurance and real estate interests; the health industry; communications and electronics firms; various other businesses; and the Center for Responsive Politics reports that his top five donors are corporate lobbyists - the same ones he claims to take no money from.

I couldn't find anything to substantiate this claim that his five biggest donors are lobbyists, especially since personal donations are capped at $2,300. The "big money" Obama receives is mostly small donors, which are 90% of his contributors, making donations of $200 or less. Yes, lawyers and finance professionals are a big chunk of this total, but his support is wide and deep in terms of donors, so he's hardly beholden to any one industry. The health industry professionals are not even on the radar.

He preaches opposition to NAFTA and wants it renegotiated. It's a "charade" says Nader. "There's no way he'll touch NAFTA or WTO." His health care plan puts insurance companies in charge and lets Big Pharma price-gouge consumers. He's beholden to corporate interests. "If he wins, his appointments will give "lobbies and PACs (what they) want." He knows how Washington works; was fully briefed to be sure; and he "made his peace with that." He's a political animal like the others. Big money is comforted, and why not. No one gets top Washington jobs unless they're "safe." For president, it's practically a blood oath, and Obama qualifies.

Most of this is paragraph is baseless speculation and smears. How does he say he's beholden? His donor base is not based in Big Pharma, and he doesn't take money from lobbyists for his campaigns (nevermind what the author says previously).

Yes, it's not just top jobs in Washington that require "safety". No one wants the top dog of any organization to be a lunatic, and the US president is no exception.

Most of the remainder of the article is filled with basic fact checking and other basic errors. The most glaring being that Obama....

-- acted so much like Republicans, he's one of them on most issues:

which is funny, because earlier the author said

He's party line all the way

Partly line towed being....Democrat. So which is it? He's a standard liberal Democrat or a Republican? The author doesn't know and doesn't make a good argument for either position, but both smears seem convenient at different points, so why not state both?

It reminds me of a line from the Simpsons, where Ranier Wolfcastle exclaims "Oh no! Communist Nazis! The worst kind!"

It gets worse. Obama apparently...

-- caved to Israeli Lobby pressure; receptive to attacking Iran, removing Hugo Chavez, but says he'll talk to them first; then maybe not; he's double standard on most issues - rhetoric to voters; assurances to backers

Gramatically, this is a horribly constructed little "paragraph", but I guess it will have to do.

Obama has been pro-Israel on many fronts, including his position to keep Jerusalem "undivided", but that comes from a long standing relationship with the Jewish community in Chicago and deep reflection of the issues. Personally, I think the Palestinians should have Jerusalem as their capital of the new Palestine state, but that's besides the point. Obama also supports engagement with Iran, which hardly in the "Zionist approved play book".

Is this "double standard", as the author phrases it? I think it's called "nuance". These positions are hardly mutually exclusive.

The article ends off with a flourish of positive points regarding Nader, while attacking Obama:

This is the same JFK/RFK incarnate, a fresh new face, the "great liberal hope," the smooth-talking campaigner who understands who butters his bread. The same goes for Clinton and McCain. Never for Nader, and it's why he's disdained. He's beholden to people, not entrenched interests; the rarest of political candidates - an anti-politician who says what he means and means what he says and has lifetime achievements to prove it.

This paragraph is barely English.

Clinton and McCain are also JFK/RFK incarnate? I know what he's trying to say but this is awful. He's trying to say they are also "smooth talking" and "understand who butters [their] bread", so I suppose this is the first time McCain has been called "smooth talking". So what does it mean for Nader? He doesn't undersand who butters his bread? This is why he's disdained?

Nader is disdained because he sapped votes from Gore in a tight election in 2000. He can argue away and use semantics and say all the BS he wants about how bad the political system is, and how he didn't take any votes was but there it is: He is a left-wing candidate who could not work within the Democratic tent because of ego and made a conscious effort to sabotage the Democrats chances in 2000 and 2004. He knew that he crowded the left wing end of the market for votes, and took votes away that would otherwise have gone to Gore.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bottom line: This is a very poorly written article and grounded in mostly smears and Nader talking points. There are some very good criticisms of Obama that have been written, and some that are in the pipe as he makes his run to the centre of the US political spectrum, but this isn't one of them.

John Bolton: Are You High Or Something?

2008-06-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

Angry Biker "What the hell, bro?"
Ron Burgundy: "Hello, neighbor."
Angry Biker: "Did you just throw a burrito out your window, huh?"
Ron Burgundy: "I believe I did."
Angry Biker: "What, are you high or something? Did you see what happened?"
--Anchorman

If the Green Zone of Baghdad, a heavily protected, bomb-proof area where the Americans can have a little slice of heaven in the middle of hell is a metaphor for the embattled White House, it would explain the delusion of those former staffers so close to the top.

Case in point- John Bolton discussing a possible attack by Israel on Iran:

The Arab world would be "pleased" by Israeli strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, he said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.

"It [the reaction] will be positive privately. I think there'll be public denunciations but no action," he said.

Yes, after not paying enough attention to Afghanistan to the point where the Taliban is still able to launch attacks, making an absolute shit show of Iraq and destabilizing the region and Iraq's borders, I mean, why would the arab world object to even more bombing by western forces?

Yes, it's true that Saudi Arabia does not get along with Iran, but guess what? If Iran is bombed, what do you think the Shias of Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates will think? What do you think they will do?

It gets better:

Mr Bolton, an unflinching hawk who proposes military action to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons, bemoaned what he sees as a lack of will by the Bush administration to itself contemplate military strikes.

Holy crap - John Bolton just made W. look good. How did he do that?

The Irish Problem

2008-06-14T02:32:00.000-07:00

Armalite rifle
Police duty, eh?
Armalite rifle
Irish jokes on the BBC
--Gang of Four

The Irish have rejected the toned down EU constitution, known as the Treaty of Lisbon:

The centre-right German daily Die Welt, which is sometimes critical of the European project, welcomed the vote. In an editorial it wrote: "The Irish have rejected the EU reform and that is a good thing. Why should they not vote against a constitution, the benefits of which no-one could explain to them properly? If the political elite of Europe are clever, they will not try to force Ireland to vote again and again until they are happy with the result. It would take legitimacy out of the very principle of a referendum, as well as the project of Europe as a whole. And this project is, despite what the elite is trying to say, in no way dependant on the Lisbon Treaty."

Actually, this reminds me of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords. The elite were for both, and especially the Meech Lake accord, but the people were against it.

Now, some in Europe are coming close to digging out their Irish jokes, blaming Ireland as holding up the European project, but so far the Irish are the only country to hold a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon. All the other ratifications have been through parliaments, but not referendums.

If the Irish elite had their way, no referendum would occur, but Irish law states referendums are needed where the constitution would be changed, so here we are.

Consensus style governing takes patience, I guess.

Some in Europe are taking this a chance to move on without Ireland in the ever closer union of states, but that would be a mistake. If European leaders take the union places the populus does not want to go, trouble will occur and ugly, populist and nationalist sentiment may rear its head. The mistake would be to treat the only referendum holding country as a pariah rather than the canary in the mineshaft.

Here's Vampire Weekend channeling Paul Simon.....

Here's the master himself...

...Zimbabwe looked a little different then, no?

What if.....

2008-06-04T21:46:00.001-07:00

......The US had debates like this...

George Galloway would never again destroy senators with one quick flick of his tongue:

You've Gotta Have A Hardback

2008-06-04T20:14:00.000-07:00

First up it's important that you keep your shit original
Try and keep that copycat shit to a minimal
People want something that they never heard before
If it's been done, leave it, they don't wanna hear no more
--Dizzee Rascal

Obama knows what is ahead of him:

NEW YORK - A day after he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama said Wednesday that he expected an organized Republican attack on his integrity and patriotism because “it’s very hard for them to talk about where they want to take the country.”

Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, touched on a variety of issues in a wide-ranging interview with Brian Williams, anchor of “NBC Nightly News.” Among them were what roles his defeated rival for the nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and her husband, the former president, might play in his campaign, as well as how soon he expected to debate his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain.

The important thing, Obama said, is to find the best way to build a united Democratic fall campaign to answer what he expects to be a Republican assault on his devotion to America — “the attempt to paint me as a very risky choice.”

We're already aware of the whisper campaign against him and the inuendo even from the Clinton camp regarding his religion (ie: He's not a muslim as far as I know).

But we know this tune.

They say that every army fights the last war (with the exception of the US army, which had perfected counter-insurgency warfare at the end of Vietnam, but under Rumsfeld's tutelage, completely forgot the counter-insurgency handbook), and the GOP is no different. If it worked for turning uber-patriot John Kerry into a joke, it can work for Obama, right?

Here's the deal: McCain has all the experience (long time senator) the personal history (war hero, tortured by viet cong) and independence (maverick, tends to piss off his party)for the candidacy. These are the big guns of the McCain brand, and they will attempt to pivot the discussion into who is the "biggest" American, a matchup no candidate can win against the SUPER AMERICAN, John McCain....So, Obama recognizes that McCain's strength is the one area McCain will attempt to turn the debate, similar to the one in '04 as Kerry had to explain his heroism to the nation after multiple attacks. The second they have you explaining, they know they have you. The key is recognizing your weakness, and recognizing your enemy's strategy.

Know Your Enemy -- Sun Tzu

As Obama's telegraphs his knowledge and abilities of their tactics, the GOP is powerless to try anything new. They will use coded language (We're not saying he's not a Christian, we just don't know that he is...) and an assortment of boomer era political strategies to fight the Dems.

And Obama is aware of it. Well before the real mud slinging is underway.

It actually reminded me of a 50 cent press conference, where he was commenting on conservative Americans dislike of his music, and particularly the images and language he uses...skip to the 4:55 mark...

I'm not a big 50 fan, but this gives you an idea of why he's on top. He's not stupid. In fact, he recognizes his opponents' viewpoint and knows their motives and reasoning. He's not the genius he claimed he was on "In da club", but he's something approaching it in hip hop circles.

Yeah, fine.... comparing 50 and Obama is ridiculous, but whatev.

Here's something raw from 1970...CCR in their prime:

"Walking along a river road at night
Barefoot girls
Dancing in the moonlight"
--CCR

FARC is FIN (Almost)

2008-05-19T17:11:00.000-07:00

This is crazy:

A leading commander of the Farc rebels in Colombia has surrendered to the authorities, officials say.

Nelly Avila Moreno, known as Karina, was blamed for a string of murders and abductions, and for extortion in the north-western Antioquia region.

Her surrender is a coup for President Alvaro Uribe who made her a priority target for the security forces in 2002, the BBC's Jeremy McDermott says.

Farc has been fighting to overthrow the government for more than 40 years.

With the killing of Reyes, and increased animosity to not only FARC but the tyrannical brand of socialism in Chavistaland (aka: Venezuela), the guerilla movements days look numbered. If Uribe can pull out a massive final assault on FARC to put them to bed, he may well be the most powerful leader in a newly energized South America.

GOP: Barack and Demographics together, you know you in trouble

2008-05-18T12:29:00.000-07:00

The jig is up and the GOP is coming to grips with what will be a banner year for the Democrats:

WASHINGTON -- The bad news has come from Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi -- a string of unexpected Republican defeats in congressional elections that have prompted GOP leaders to say, with candor unusual in politics, that the party is facing an outright catastrophe this November.

Increasingly, top Republicans are calling on their party to reinvent itself or risk driving away more voters and donors. The GOP image is so stale, said Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), in a memo to colleagues last week, that "if we were a dog food, they would take us off the shelf" because nobody is buying it.

A brief review....

1. Yes, Obama did lose to Hillary in the large states. However, the Dems will win those anyway. Are NY and Cali really going to the GOP? No, and with Illinois in the bag, those three states make up approximately 45% of the total electoral votes required to win.

2. Barack won more votes in several southern states than the entire GOP field in some primaries. Think about that.

3. Barack's core group of voters (black, educated, young) are heavily centred in large numbers in some of these states, particularly Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Georgia, of all places, looks like its in play as well.

4. The framing of McCain as Bush's 3rd term surrogate is well underway, and with his soundbites regarding bombing Iran, staying in Iraq for 100 years, and his shared view with Bush that never talking to enemies is the correct strategy for foreign policy appear to back this idea. Framing of the enemy is hard if there is little to go on. Whether deserved or not, McCain is slowly being turned into John McBush.

5. McCain is susceptible to Obama's religious credentials. Obama may have a nutty pastor (as does McCain), but Obama talks the talk, walks the walk, and makes sermons from churches a regular occurrence. McCain famously referred to the the far-right religious fringe leaders as "agents of intolerance".

With the typical Democrat states locked up, and the GOP's southern states in danger of losing to Obama, there can only be one outcome: a massive defeat for the Republicans.

I'm calling it right now - not a simple defeat. Not a few states swinging to the Democrats. This will be a rout.

Indiana Could Be An Obama Win

2008-05-06T21:23:00.000-07:00

.....So the official results so far are:
CLINTON 588,823 51%
OBAMA 568,156 49%

or approximately 20K difference.....these are the unreported results from remaining precincts:

Almost all of Gary and Merrillville and portion of Munster primarily make up these numbers, plus Lake Station, East Chicago:

Lake county
Democratic candidates
President of the
United States
Barack Obama 46,759
Hillary Clinton 25,100

Yes, the quick math shows he'd be ahead if this pans out....

Obama vs. The Hill, Nth Round

2008-05-06T18:54:00.000-07:00

We rise to the top, what you want?
Just in case you forgot
Rush the stage, grab my mic
Show me what you got

Is that all you got?
I'll take your best shot.
--POD

Obama's shrugged off multiple attacks in the last month and still pulls off a massive victory in NC, and is looking to pull out a draw in IN.

It looks like Obama is going to Win NC by a not so small 14%, translating into about 200K lead, while possibly going to a tie in IN with Clinton, leaving her right where she started in Pennsylvania in terms of overall popular vote.

Except not in the overall race.

Check out the new math here

To summarize, he needs about 180 of the remaining delegates, while she needs over 330. That's tough to do when there are only 200 pledged delegates to go, and about 250 super delegates to go.

To summarize, she needs 73% of the remaining delegates.

Obama needs 27%.

Good luck and good night.

This is over.

Just to put a cap on it, he's ahead in popular vote by a over 670,000. That's insurmountable.

Oh, and this thing in Indiana isn't over yet:

As the fate of a nailbiter Indiana primary -- and possibly the course of the Democratic race -- hung on his city, Gary Mayor Rudy Clay said just now that it might take a while yet to finish counting the vote in Lake County, which includes Gary, and said tonight his city had turned out so overwhelmingly for Barack Obama that it might just be enough to close the gap with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"Let me tell you, when all the votes are counted, when Gary comes in, I think you're looking at something for the world to see," Clay, an Obama supporter, said in a telephone interview from Obama's Gary headquarters. "I don't know what the numbers are yet, but Gary has absolutely produced in large numbers for Obama here."

Clay said the results were late coming in from Lake County because of the large numbers of absentee ballots that had to be counted -- about 11,000. Under local practice, all of the cartridges from voting machines in Gary and nearby East Chicago are first collected at the local airport before being driven to the county headquarters to be tallied with the results from the rest of the county, he said. He said there were no major technical problems holding up the count.

Yes, 92% of the precincts are in, but in the US some precincts are more equal than others.

Here's more MIA to keep it going:

M.I.A. comin' back with Power!