Buckdog

"If you throw a rock at a wolf howling in the woods and you hear a 'YELP,' - you hit the wolf!"

John Gormley was a Conservative Member of Parliament from Saskatchewan in Brian Mulroney's first term government. With roots back to the Devine Conservative administration, Gormley has made his show on News Talk Radio an ongoing commercial for the right wing Saskatchewan Party.

Daily, Gormley runs an 'over the top right' wing show that is celebrated by Conservatives and their ilk, most especially, the crew at smalldeadanimals who podcast Gormley, Monday to Friday.

The Saskatchewan NDP launched a campaign this week to remind voters how the Saskies have flip flopped on major policy issues such as privatization and free market health care. The right wing is so upset about the ad campaign, they have had to send in their big guns ... enter, John Gormley!

Saskatoon Star Phoenix

In 2006 working people in Saskatchewan sent 12 Conservative MPs to Ottawa on a promise that the New Conservative Government would deliver fairness and a new system of equalization that would let the province keep 100% of its natural resource revenues.

A year and a half later, those dozen MPs took the money and ran – away from their word by voting against the fairness they promised Saskatchewan families.

Caution: Stephen Harper’s Dirty Dozen Saskatchewan MPs should be considered unaccountable and disrespectful to the people of Saskatchewan.

NDP.ca

WASHINGTON -- A record 47 million Americans did not have health insurance last year, while the percentage of children without insurance rose for a second consecutive year, according to US Census Bureau data released yesterday. [...]

The census data found that, compared with 2005, the number of uninsured Americans rose 5 percent last year to 47 million, due in large part to cutbacks in employer-sponsored health coverage. It also found that 11.7 percent of US children under 18 lacked health insurance, compared with 10.9 percent in 2005.

-Boston.com
-Bush Restricts Children's Health Plan

Canada's new foreign affairs minister, Maxime Bernier has chastised the South Korean government for negotiating with the Taliban to secure the freedom of 19 kidnapped missionaries.

"We do not negotiate with terrorists, for any reason," said a statement from Bernier's office.

At some point, the right wing politicians who form the government of Canada are going to realize that 'victory' in the field is not going to be possible in the Afghanistan guerrilla war. That being the case, what is Bernier's 'Plan B' if dialogue is not considered as a possibility in their strategy book?

Intransigent ideological positions (which is what the Harper government is all about) are not wise and can only result in more bloodshed.

-CBC Reports
-More CBC

The political right wing has gone off the deep end in the province of Saskatchewan over the last couple of days because of a pre-election ad campaign that the New Democrats are running on television.

Over the years, members of the Opposition Saskatchewan Party have advocated privatization of crown assets. The party was unsuccessful in the 1999 and 2003 provincial elections. As a direct result of their electoral failures, they claim that they have changed their official policy on privatization.

In the lead up to the next election, the NDP is running an advertisement that reminds voters what the Sask Party policy had been. In the video ad, there is a screen that says 'Sask Party Stood For Privatization Of Crowns.' The image fades out.

Spokespersons for the Sask Party claim that the ad has a subliminal message which leaves the impression that 'The Sask Party Stood For Porn'. (even though the letter 'T' remains in the image).

Talk about paranoid - talk about conspiracy theories.

By **howling** like they are, the Sask Party has ensured that the NDP ad gets much more exposure then it otherwise would.

What a bunch of whiners!

-CBC
-Regina Leader Post
-Swift Current Progressive News

**H/T to Giant political mouse for the full video ad**

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

NOTE: If anyone reading this has access to Murray Mandryk, columnist with the Leader Post - Star Phoenix, tell him to give his head a bloody good shake! Murray, do you ACTUALLY believe that there is a subliminal message in that ad?! GET REAL ... sheesh!

"The NDP TV ad contains the words "the Sask. Party stands for PRIVATIZATION OF CROWNS". Those capitalized letters quickly fade, and, for a split second on the screen, the message is "the Sask. Party stands for P-O-R-N". Of course, this was coincidental and not intended to be a subliminal message, the NDP says. Yeah. Right."
Murray Mandryk
Leader Post
August 29, 2007

Note that Mandryk alters the quote in his article from the screen which the SP claims to say: "Sask Party Stood For Porn" to the words "the Sask. Party Stands for P-O-R-N".

By the way - what does it mean that someone 'Stood' for porn? What the hell does it mean? There were no chairs during the dirty movie so they had to stand up?

The Sask Party, Murray Mandryk and others are outraged at WHAT????

The following excerpt comes from todays edition of the Edmonton Journal:

EDMONTON - Energy Alberta Corporation has chosen Peace River as the site of a proposed nuclear power plant.

The Calgary-based company Monday filed an application with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to build a pair of twin-unit Candu reactors on private land adjacent to Lac Cardinal, 30 kilometres west of the town. [...]

The corporation has partnered with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, the federal Crown corporation and maker of Candu reactors.

Initially, Energy Alberta plans to build one twin-unit ACR-1000 that will produce 2,200 megawatts of electricity with a targeted in-service date of early 2017.

Edmonton Journal

"PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Monday that it would be "catastrophic" to resort to military force in confronting Iran over its suspect nuclear program.

"For me, Iran having a nuclear weapon is unacceptable," Sarkozy said in his first major address on foreign policy, but he stressed that he opposed an attack on the Islamic regime and urged that the West rely on diplomacy."

Forbes

It is encouraging that George Bush's right wing friends see the insanity of a military attack on Iran. Whether the Americans themselves or the Israeli's conduct a preemptive military strike on Iran, the potential for a massive escalation of war in the Middle East becomes inevitable.

Nicolas Sarkozy's statement today should cause the White House to pause and examine the viability of any military attack on Iran, no matter how limited the plan may be.

Ari Fleischer's misleading message - "They Attacked Us!"

Freedom's Watch, the former press secretary's new pro-Iraq war group, has little to do with veterans and everything to do with politics.
By Joe Conason
From salon.com

If you happen to reside in the district of a Republican member of Congress whose support of the Iraq war is wavering, or in a state where a Republican senator is facing reelection next year, you may soon see a moving commercial. Featuring the voice and image of a veteran who lost both legs in Iraq, it delivers a familiar message: "They attacked us before" -- on 9/11 -- "and they will attack us again" if we don't fight on until "victory."

Nobody would want to argue with John Kriesel, the veteran who appears in this ad and whose sacrifices are all too obvious. When he gazes out from the screen to admonish us that "it's no time for politics," he is surely sincere. So are the other veterans and family members of deceased vets who are appearing in similar ads urging Congress to stay the course (although that phrase is no longer operative). They too tell us, no doubt believing every word, that we are winning the war, that we invaded Iraq to fight the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11, and that to withdraw now would dishonor those who have been killed and wounded there -- and they insist that anyone who disagrees is motivated by "politics." But the same degree of misguided sincerity should not necessarily be attributed to Freedom's Watch, the new right-wing organization financing those ads. [...]

But the manipulative style of the Freedom's Watch ads -- and the apparent decision to air them against wavering Republicans -- signals desperation, not strength. This campaign is aimed at the base, not the broader public that despises Bush and wants the troops brought home. Launching such an effort now may hold a few votes for the White House in the upcoming congressional struggles over the war, but it is cheapening the emotional currency that Republican strategists have relied on during the past three election cycles and will undoubtedly seek to exploit again next year.

Sun columnist, Earl Mcrae has provided us with a perfect demonstration on how the authoritarian mind works. Without even batting an eye, Mr. Mcrae's article , 'Undercover cops just doing their jobs' is a wholesale white wash of the Quebec Provincial Police's attempt to incite violence at the Montebello summit.

I have a hard time understanding the mechanics that make a right wing reactionary mind like Mcrae's work. In Mcrae's world, those who should be upholding the law become the law. This article is so typical of authoritarian thought process.

Unfortunately, Mr. Mcrae lives in a 'black and white' world. There is NO grey. 'This is good and that is bad.' To right wing extremists like Mcrae, the end justifies the means so what the hell - the laws be damned!

Very scary indeed!

During the 1920's & 30's the Ku Klux Klan had a large membership in the province of Saskatchewan. In fact, only the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool had a larger membership.

Well, 'they're back'!! The KKK is making inroads in Canada once again. Saskatchewan has roughly 250 members with approximately 3,500 in all of Canada.

The Regina Leader Post has an article featuring the 21st Century renewal of this hateful right wing organization. The Klan is NOT a group that Canadians should quietly let fester.

Regina Leader Post

Let's face it .... there are a lot of questions that come to mind about the actions of the Quebec Provincial Police at Montebello. In fact, there are so many questions that a public inquiry of some sort is absolutely required in this situation. Here are some very basic questions that need to be answered:

1) What are the names of the three QPP / SQ officers who infiltrated the protesters while in disguise?

2) What detachment (s) are they assigned to?

3) What is the name (s) of the superior (s) in the QPP / SQ who ordered / assigned the three to disguise themselves and join with the demonstrators?

4) Was the Office of the Ministèr de la Justice du Quebec aware of the undercover actions of the QPP / SQ at Montebello?

5) Why did the QPP / SP initially deny that their officers were disguised and mixing with protesters?

6) Have members of the QPP / SP conducted similar infiltrations of protesters in the past? If yes, what were the dates and circumstances?

7) Were the QPP / SQ asked by any other agency, federal, provincial or foreign, to infiltrate the protesters at Montebello?

Premier Charest MUST call a public inquiry. The people of Quebec and Canada need answers to these and many other questions.


(With thanks to: -Communications, Energy & Paper Workers Union - Larry Hubich - Dawg's Blog)

Quebec provincial police admitted Thursday that their officers disguised themselves at the Montebello protest!! So much for all of their denials yesterday and earlier today!!

-CBC

-Montebello : trois policiers de la SQ parmi les manifestants

After their final concert of the Bigger Bang Tour in London's New O2 Arena this Sunday, the popular Rolling Stones will no longer go on the road.

Since they were founded in 1962, the famous R&B - Rock group has released 55 albums and have had 37 top-10 singles. In total, they have sold over 300 million albums worldwide.

-Stones to end touring
-Stones Regina Gig Largest In Canadian History - Buckdog

President Bush will speak in Kansas City, Missouri, today to address members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "Then, as now, people argued that the real problem was America's presence and that if we would just withdraw, the killing would end," according to speech excerpts released Tuesday by the White House.

"Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left," Bush will say.

Huh? So the United States should not have pulled out of Vietnam! Oh ... What a bunch of nonsense.

Clearly Bush, his Republicans and the US Military Command still have not embraced the fact, that a regular army in the field, cannot deal with an armed insurgent civilian military force. That is the lesson that SHOULD have been learned from Vietnam. Bush does not get it.

How many will die before he DOES get it??

-CNN
-The New York Times

The Honourable Brad Wall, (affectionately known as 'Lambchop') Leader of the Official Opposition, Saskatchewan - Leader of the 'Saskatchewan Party' - (Claims to be the 'Premier in Waiting' of a province whose name he can't even spell correctly)!

On August 2nd, 2007, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted 225 to 204 to add $50 billion over five years to a $25 billion program, which provides health care for children living in low income familes. The increase approved by the House would allow enrollment to almost double to about 11 million children. The money necessary for the expansion would come from increasing tobacco taxes and cutting government payments to insurance companies that provide health coverage through the Medicare system for the elderly and disabled. President George Bush hinted that he may well veto the increased health spending. Ideologically, Bush and his Republicans consider health care to be a commodity and they would rather see private health insurance deal with children's health.

Today, the New York Times reports that rather then veto the measure, the Bush administration "has adopted new standards that would make it much more difficult for New York, California and others to extend coverage to children in middle-income families."

So much for any 'christian compassion' from fundamentalist George W. Bush, or conservatives in general.

-New York Times
-Background from Boston.com - August 2, 2007

"Lorne Calvert, the New Democratic Premier of Saskatchewan, is running a province that is flourishing largely because of its natural resources. After years of declining population and a struggling economy, Saskatchewan is attracting new residents and is on the verge of becoming a "have" province. The Financial Post's Carrie Tait sat down with Mr. Calvert -- ordained as a United Church minister and wearing a Saskatchewan Roughriders' golf shirt -- on the back deck of his Saskatoon home to ask him about his plans for the booming province."
Carrie Tait, Financial Post
Monday, August 20, 2007


Financial Post

"Minutemen United - A conservative Christian values group has been interrupting services at two central Ohio churches to protest their support for homosexuality."

The Columbus Dispatch

The Canadian Medical Association recently recommended that private sector competition be introduced into Canada's public Medicare system. Challenging the CMA is Arnold S. Rahlman, Professor Emeritus of Medicine and of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and former Editor of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Here is an excerpt from his op-ed titled: 'What Canadians should learn from the U.S. health care disaster.'

"Policy-makers need only look to the United States for the evidence such claims have no merit. The U.S. experience shows that private, for-profit medical insurance and investor-owned medical facilities are a bad deal for the public, and that a health-care system that encourages physicians to behave like private entrepreneurs leads to extravagant costs."

Globe and Mail

President George W. Bush will be in Canada on Monday and Tuesday with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon. They will hold their two day summit at the Quebec resort town of Montebello.

I realize that Canadians are expected to be polite hosts, civil and appropriate at all times. Somehow I don't feel that way when it comes to Bush.

He has proven himself to be contrary to those things that I hold as ideals. He is not honest. He is advancing his own 'big oil' agenda regardless of the outcome. He has no regard for human life (at least human life in Iraq and within his own armed forces). He is bankrupting his nation fighting wars that are illogical and dangerous to the peace of the planet. He is both incompetent and wickedly shrewd. He is a bad president. I don't like what he has done to date and I am nervous about what he yet may do before he vacates the Oval Office.

His soul mate, Stephen Harper can gush and fawn over him - but I don't feel any sense of hospitality towards him.


Canada.com

Have you wondered about the cost of the Iraqi war? A good war is NOT CHEAP for taxpayers, but it is sure good for some businesses:

"Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to a Texas base, U.S. officials said.

The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show."


Yahoo News

TO: Hon. Peter MacKay
Minister of National Defence

FROM: Leftdog
Citizen Journalist

RE: What's Up With Afghanistan?

On Monday, August 6, 2007, at a meeting in Washington D.C., the President of Afghanistan - Hamid Karzai, was being questioned about the Taliban by reporters. In response, President Karzai said, and this is a direct quote:
"They're not posing any threat to the government of Afghanistan,"

Minister MacKay, in view of the fact that the President of Afghanistan DOES NOT consider the Taliban insurgents to be 'any threat to the government of Afghanistan', exactly why is it that we have Canadian armed forces on a mission that we were told was critical to the survival of the government of Afghanistan?

Mr. Minister, there is a disconnect here between what Canadian government and military officials are telling Canadians and what the President of Afghanistan is telling us.

Would you, sir, please clarify this inconsistency?

Yours sincerely
Leftdog
A concerned Canadian citizen

c.c. Blogging Tories

-CBC
-Globe & Mail

"An online tool that claims to reveal the identity of organisations that edit Wikipedia pages has revealed that the CIA was involved in editing entries. Wikipedia Scanner allegedly shows that workers on the agency's computers made edits to the page of Iran's president. It also purportedly shows that the Vatican has edited entries about Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams."
BBC World

BBC

The political dementos at smalldeadanimals are sure trying to convince their readership that the 'surge' by the US Military in Iraq is 'working'! Yeah ... right!!

That is a pretty long stretch of the day to day reality in the Iraqi civil war.

One quick glance of reputable news stories shows how completely out to lunch the right wing crowd acutally is.



-Death toll expected to rise in Iraqi suicide bombings

-Iraq violence casts doubt on US 'surge'

-5 dead, a dozen missing in Iraq bridge bombing

QUEBEC CITY -- "Charles (Chuck) Guite says he was just following orders when he doled out millions of taxpayers' dollars to ad agencies in return for little or no work on the sponsorship program. [...]

Guite lays the blame for the scandal directly on his higher-ups -- former minister of public works Alfonso Gagliano and former prime minister Jean Chretien."

Sue Montgomery, CanWest News Service

National Post

On August 14, 1945, the Imperial Japanese Empire surrendered unconditionally (V-J Day) to Allied Forces.

Spontaneous celebration broke out around the world! Typical of the scene in the major Allied cities, a young sailor in Times Square - New York, stopped and kissed a young nurse in what has now become an iconic capture of the joy and the celebration of that moment in history.

Over the years, no one had ever definitely identified who the young nurse and sailor were. Since 1945, numerous individuals have stepped forward claiming to be one or the other. Officially, the identity of the nurse is unknown but claims on who the sailor is continue to come forward.

A statue that captured that famous moment entitled, "Unconditional Surrender" has been erected in Times Square

Since 2004, on the anniversary of the August 14th kiss, a group of people have gathered in Times Square for what is becoming a traditional 'Kiss-In For Peace'.

If you are in
Times Square this afternoon - why not drop by??




tag august 14 1945

"The holiday of Turkmen melon is traditionally marked on the second Sunday of August. On the occasion of the “sweet” holiday is marked in all Turkmen cities and towns, exhibitions, fairs, concerts and sport events are organized. All participants and guests are offered to taste pieces of sugar melons and water melons as well as dishes of the national cuisine." More ....
Turkmenistan.ru

Photo courtesy Turkmenistan Official Online Newspaper

Conservatives had spent too many years trying to believe too many blatant falsehoods:
-The war in Iraq is an overwhelming success!
-There is NO scientific consensus on global warming!
-Homosexuality CAN be cured!
-Democrats WANT the terrorists to win!

The cognitive dissonance was ultimately more than the human mind could bear ... and one by one, their brains began to simply malfunction ....
Tom Tomorrow

The Great Right Wing Brain Glitch Of 2007

After almost a week, six US miners are still missing underground. Considering that the technology and expertise exists to ensure that miners receive the maximum amount of protection possible through underground 'safe rooms', this story may well have a tragic ending that was NOT necessary. I hope these six workers come out safely!

So ... why do the American mine owners NOT utilize technology that is proven to save the lives of miners in Saskatchewan, Canada?

Do they doubt the technology? Why would the companies that insure the mine owners not insist that the new technologies be used to ensure increased safety for miners?

These are questions that are going to have to be addressed by the American mining industry in the days and weeks to come.

Mine safety in Canada VERSUS mine safety in the USA


tag miners

this is a test post

Saskatchewan labour regulations require the construction and use of ‘safe rooms’ underground where miners can find shelter in the event of fire, flood or collapse. These regulations saved the lives of over 70 Saskatchewan miners in 2006. Saskatchewan leads the nation in occupational health and safety regulations and the results of that are indisputable.

However; American miners work in an environment where the unfettered free market has tolerated conditions where worker safety is not in any way a priority.

“Well, yesterday we have 72 miners in Canada saved after a mine fire because Canadian laws require rescue chambers, where miners have 36 hours of breathable air. They have water, they have lights and they have supplies. And every one of those miners came out of a deep mine where there was a fire and every one came out alive." [...] "We kept hearing about how we couldn't do that.” [...] 'How can they do it in Canada and we can't do it here?'"
Senator Ted Kennedy
U.S. Senate

As long as measures that ensure the safety of underground miners is considered a drain on profit margins, American miners will continue to die on the job so that the mine owners can make more money.

At some point, the American people, armed with the knowledge that these deaths are totally unnecessary, should speak out and demand that their lawmakers protect the lives of working men and women.

More directly, when miners themselves organize into a union, they have further protections by acting in unison against unsafe work requests from owners and management.

Responsibility for the lives of those who work underground will be safer when governments implement adequate safety regulations that the mines must operate under and when workers themselves organize to protect their very lives.

No miner has to die! - The Militant

tag miners

The Canadian public is getting very mixed messages on our mission in Afghanistan.

Here is what the Canadian Military want us to believe:
"KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The deputy commander of Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan says the war with Taliban insurgents could be a long and arduous one. Col. Christian Juneau distanced himself from predictions made a few days ago by Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid that NATO forces would defeat the Taliban in the not too distant future. "Things are still explosive and will continue like that," Juneau said in an interview on Thursday. "When can we say it will be all over? Will it be in two years, three years or 10 years? It’s difficult to say."
Halifax Chronicle

But what are the Afghani's saying to Canadians?:
"Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Monday the Taliban was a defeated and frustrated force that poses no threat to the stability of his country's government. "They're not posing any threat to the government of Afghanistan," said Karzai, who spoke during a news conference with U.S. President George W. Bush after wrapping up two days of talks at Camp David, Md.
"
CBC

So - are Canadians being lied to by our own military? It seems to me that there is no reason for President Karzai to lie - so why is there such a huge disconnect between the messages we are getting?

Canadians deserve better from our Military Command. WTF is going on?

Photo by Martin Ouellet / CP

The Saskatchewan director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has resigned to take a job with a 'utility' in Edmonton, Alberta.

Mr. Maclean's extreme right wing world view has been the source of a lot of blog posts for the progressive Left.

Will we miss him? ..... will I miss him ....?

I am of the opinion that David brought a nasty, snarky tone to the debates on Public versus Private in Saskatchewan and Canada. There seemed to be a constant, steady knee jerk move to condemn and vilify anything 'public' because Mclean's ideology says that someone in the private sector should be profiting from it.

In David's world, the concept of a crown corporation is evil incarnate. His contempt for the civil service and our public health system is legendary.

He is clearly part of the extremist free market group that has sprang onto the Canadian political scene from Alberta. He stands ideologically with Manning, Harper, Kenney, Levant, Day, Anders et al in their belief that the unrestricted free market will solve ALL challenges for a society. It is a false ideology. David is one of its most devoted disciples.

Extremist capitalism is not something that the Canadian mainstream society wants. Thank gawd.

Maclean exits ... and the air seems to be a bit fresher!

POSTSCRIPT: I will let David have the very last word on this particular post. August 11th -

Proving once again that the American military are WAR MONGERS - with NO regard for human life, the British military is accusing them of careless and cavalier air strikes against civilians in Afghanistan:

"SANGIN, Afghanistan — A senior British commander in southern Afghanistan said in recent weeks that he had asked that American Special Forces leave his area of operations because the high level of civilian casualties they had caused was making it difficult to win over local people.

Other British officers here in Helmand Province, speaking on condition of anonymity, criticized American Special Forces for causing most of the civilian deaths and injuries in their area. They also expressed concerns that the Americans’ extensive use of air power was turning the people against the foreign presence as British forces were trying to solidify recent gains against the Taliban."
New York Times

It is time for those Canadians who support the Bush Administration (like Harper - the Conservative Party - Blogging Tory types - AND the MOST demented of them all, smalldeadanimal wingnuts) to explain to your fellow Canadians why it is that your brains are NOT functioning properly???

Canada's provincial and territorial Premiers are meeting as the annual 'Council of the Federation' in New Brunswick.

Expected to be high on the agenda for discussion is the topic of climate change and achievable measures that can be implemented to address the issue.

Let's face it, we have an ideological Prime Minister who is on record referring to 'so called' global warming! Harper and his Conservatives don't even believe that the earth is dealing with climate change! To cope with the concerns of Canadians, they are fooling around with a bit of political fluff and window dressing in an attempt to convince Canadians that they are taking action.

So while we haven't seen any realistic measures by our Federal government, is it unrealistic for Canadians to look to their Premiers for tangible options and action?

-CBC
-CTV

Saskatchewan's Premier Lorne Calvert is trying to sell the other Premiers on the idea that there should be a sequence of stations across the country where 85 per cent ethanol blended with gasoline is available to motorists.


-CBC has details .....
-driving.ca
-Even More CBC

"The Rhinoceros party is heading back into the political jungle by launching a $50-million lawsuit and making plans to run in its first Canadian election race in 17 years. The party's president, Brian (Godzilla) Salmi, said Tuesday he will run as a Rhino in the Sept. 17 federal byelection in Montreal's Outremont riding."
CBC

-CBC

"Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Monday the Taliban was a defeated and frustrated force that poses no threat to the stability of his country's government.

"They're not posing any threat to the government of Afghanistan," said Karzai, who spoke during a news conference with U.S. President George W. Bush after wrapping up two days of talks at Camp David, Md."
CBC

HUH!!!

So what the hell is going on?
-Stephen Harper claims it is imperative that we have Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan!
-General Hillier claims that Canada must definitely be in Afghanistan!
-Defence Minister O'Connor is adamant that Canada must be in Afghanistan!
-Foreign Affairs Minster Peter MacKay swears that Canada has to be in Afghanistan!
-Blogging Tory and smalldeadanimal drones INSIST that Canada must be in Afghanistan!
-"Taliban NO Threat To Afghan Government," Karzai says

Is it possible that our Conservative Government AND their mindless supporters are exaggerating the Afghan situation and are LYING TO CANADIANS???!!

-CBC
-Globe & Mail

Some of the roughest and most interesting politics practiced in Canada are Metis politics.

"Controversy is brewing in Métis political circles after executives on the Métis National Council voted to oust its Saskatchewan-based president last week.

Clément (Clem) Chartier told CBC News that he will fight the executive's motion to remove him from office, calling the move illegal. Presidents from four of the council's five provinces voted to remove Chartier, saying his term as president had expired.

Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia voted in favour, while Manitoba opposed the motion."
CBC has the full report ...

These problems come on the heels of electoral fraud in Saskatchewan, where several people have since been convicted of criminal offences related to ballot-box stuffing during the 2004 Saskatchewan Metis Nation election which was subsequently controverted.
Saskatchewan Metis Hold New Election After Convictions ....

Sixty-two years ago today, on August 6, 1945, the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, This was the first time that a nuclear weapon was used as an act of warfare.

The United States estimates that the death toll from the blast was roughly 70,000, with many thousands of additional deaths in the weeks, months and years after the explosion.

Everything changed on that day.

From that day on, mankind has had the weapons necessary to destroy civilization on this planet and kill literally billions of human beings. Everything changed on August 6th, 1945.

If the community of nations that inhabit this planet, cannot find ways to resolve our disputes and conflicts in a less primitive manner, then there is always the possiblity that nuclear conflict could occur again. We must never allow nuclear weapons to be used as a political or military solution ever again!
The human race has survived 62 years without using nuclear weapons as an act of war. It is worth commmemorating this as an accomplishment.

And yet, even here in Canada we have persons who are so politically deranged and morally depraved, that they demand the use of nuclear weapons! To call for the use of nuclear weapons is clearly insanity - it should be a crime!

tag hiroshima

CHICAGO (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton refused Saturday to forsake campaign donations from lobbyists, turning aside challenges from her two main rivals with a rare defense of the special interest industry.

“A lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans, they actually do,” Clinton said, drawing boos and hisses from liberal bloggers at the second Yearly Kos convention.
Political Ticker

CNN - Political Ticker

My friend, Tom Cat at Politics Plus has more ......

There are approximately 250,000 survivors of the Holocaust still alive in Israel. Unfortunately, their current plight is not very complimentary to the Government of Israel or the Israeli people.

"A government offer of a monthly stipend of $20 (£10) was rejected as too little by survivor groups, and they vowed to go ahead with the Jerusalem action. Many elderly survivors say they struggle to pay for medical treatment and, in some cases, food. The protesters are calling their protest a "March of the Living" - a name which echoes the annual march at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day - and some are expected to don prisoners' clothes and yellow stars.One Israeli cabinet minister, Yitzhak Herzog, said the use of such imagery on a march over a financial dispute with the government was 'an insult to the collective memory of the Holocaust'."
BBC World Service

-Haaretz
-CBC
-BBC

Hot on the heels of major scandals over the last decade, the Saskatoon City Police are once again receiving negative news coverage.

The Saskatoon force is well known for a case of malicious prosecution during a supposed 'satanist' cult investigation in the early 1990's.

Then an incident occurred on November 25, 1990 when Neil Stonechild, a First Nations person died of hypothermia after Officers left him outside in extremely cold weather. A finding of a Special Inquiry was that Stonechild had been in police custody on the evening of November 25. Two officers were dismissed from the Saskatoon Police Service for their alleged involvement in this matter.

Now the Saskatoon City Police have a situation that involves drunk driving, coverup and other unpleasant aspects.

"SASKATOON -- Two high-ranking Saskatoon police officers have been suspended from duty while the force investigates a drunk-driving allegation against one of them, and an accusation that the other tried to obstruct two lower-ranking officers who made the allegation."
Regina Leader Post

There are moments of absolute clarity in my life when I understand fully and clearly why I cannot EVER be a Liberal. Former Liberal leadership candidate, Michael Ignatieff, has now publically stated that he was WRONG in his support for the American invasion of and ongoing war in Iraq.

A man of his age and education clearly was NOT able to connect the dots that identify the similarity between the war in Iraq and the war in Vietnam of the 60's & 70's. I will acknowledge that it is better to be correct late in a debate rather then maintaining an incorrect position indefinitely.

"What was the Key military lesson that was learned during the Vietnam War? The lesson was simple; when you deploy conventional military ground forces against a civilian insurgent or guerrilla force, it is hard to determine who the actual enemy is. During the '60's and '70's , the US military threw everything they had at the Viet Cong and still lost the war. The smiling citizens who walked amongst the troops during the day were often the same guerrilla fighters who shot and bombed US troops after the sun went down.

Flash forward to today, 2006. Iraq & Afganistan. Was nothing learned from the disaster of Vietnam? Exactly who in the Canadian Armed Forces High Command believes that we are going to be effective in curtailing insurgent activities when we aren't even sure who it is that is planting roadside explosives ..."
Did We Not Learn Anything From the Vietnam Experience?
March, 2006


CTV


POSTSCRIPT: - August 5, 2007
Here is the article from the New York Times - August 5, 2007 by Michael Ignatieff.

The Government of Saskatchewan has announced that it will not sign onto The Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) between Alberta and British Columbia. That is a VERY good thing.

Only the most ideological right wing free market type defends Tilma. The so called 'trade agreement' is more a 'bill of corporate rights' which has numerous mechanisms for businesses and corporations to challenge provincial or municipal government decisions.

Here is an example. In the two provinces where Tilma exists, let's say a school board decided that it wanted to remove soft drink vending machines and replace them with machines that sell fruit juice. Well, Tilma allows that to occur provided the school board pays damages and reparations to the soft drink company that will now 'lose' business as result of the local government decision.

No thanks! The last thing we need in Saskatchewan - or Canada for that matter, is more and more 'rights' for corporations.

Tilma may have some benefits but they smokescreen the essence of the agreement which is the ability for corporate entities to gouge us even more then the already gouge us!

-CBC
-Government of Saskatchewan
-Saskatoon Star Phoenix
-canadaeast.com

My friend, Graeme Anfinson author of Left In East Dakota has a great post today, ,'Ending the occupation.'

"In Alexander Cockburn's piece from a couple weeks ago, Support Their Troops?, he comments on the anti-war movement, or perhaps more accurately, the lack of any substantial movement. The majority of Iraqis and Americans want us out of Iraq, so why is the occupation still going strong?"

Buckdog gives a big H/T to our guest blogger today.

A U.S. Federal Court Judge has ruled that Lord Conrad Black cannot travel back to Canada to await his sentencing in November.

CTV reports: "Judge Amy St. Eve said she is willing to reconsider her decision if Black could post more money for bail, but the former media baron's legal team said he does not have the funds.

The decision was made in a Chicago courtroom this afternoon where Black attended his second bail hearing."

-CTV
-CBC has more on the court proceeding ....