Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself,
Then is it likely thou wilt undertake
A thing like death to chide away this shame,
That copest with death himself to scape from it:
And, if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy.
Sometimes I think it's a sin
When I feel like I'm winnin'
When I'm losin' again
--Gordon Lightfoot
I've been blogging since 2003, so blogger tells me, which means I've technically had a decade under my belt in terms of writing, posting, commenting, fighting, debating and, more accurately, ranting.
For the most part, I've been mostly silent for almost 5 years, and really closer to 7.
Basically, I started blogging generally because I was concerned with the political class in Canada, and more specifically the Chretien Liberals.
Times have changed. A governing party, long in the tooth, has begun to succumb to ethical lapses. (Sound familiar?) Warren Kinsella was kind enough to address my wedding via recorded video. And I generally have given up caring about political issues in Canada. In relation to where I sat on the political blog spectrum in Canada (which was/is pretty meaningless anyway) I'm not conservative in any way shape or form. I'm socially liberal and fairly middle of the road when it comes to fiscal issues, but that's not really relevant now.
My main concern is not political, but financial. Canada appears to be entering a very volatile period because of real estate valuations and personal debt levels. Things should have cratered in 2008-09, but they didn't and the party kept going.
This song has been sung by many, including the Economist, Robert Shiller and the OECD. Domestically, there are a number of commentators, many of which mull over the statistics and add in depth analysis. Some of it is extremely granular, even analyzing or tracking daily price/sales data.
It's not in the paper
It's on the wall
-Sublime
My own challenge is to add something of value to this conversation, which nationally has begun to break through to the mainstream. Rays of light filter through the comments section of news stories where Tsur Somerville and Cameron Muir are quoted at length extolling the virtues of the real estate market. The gap between public perception and the reality of Canadian real estate is closing and that means the beginning of the end of the speculative mania - a mania based on myths, as they always are.
Myth of the hot asian money (irrelevant, immaterial)
Myth of the better Canadian lending practices (overrated - think about Scotiabank's "You are richer than you think" ad campaign)
Myth of the immigrant inflows that support prices (again, not relevant)
Myth that real estate is "different" (from other places and asset classes) in the context of modern Canada somehow (nope).
What is relevant is that we have overlooked the fundamentals of our real estate markets.
Canadian real estate is overvalued in comparison to other countries.
Canadian real estate is overvalued in terms of its own market history.
Canadian real estate is overvalued in terms of income.
Canadian real estate is overvalued in terms of rent comparison.
Wages have stagnated. Prices have skyrocketed. Borrowing rates are rising, whether or not the central bank raises interest rates.
We are toast. We are simply sitting on death row and still coming up with reasons our appeal will come through. It's over, the only questions is when and how, not if. At dawn with a firing squad or at midnight via the chair.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
"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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
