Buckdog

Meet Governor Sarah Palin. She is a fundamentalist Christian who wants Creationism to be taught in Alaska schools as science. In the wake of her election to a first term as the governor of Alaska, a mean streak of truly remarkable proportions was displayed.

"Sen. John McCain has picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, a senior McCain campaign official told CNN on Friday. Palin, 44, who's in her first term as governor, is a pioneering figure in Alaska, the first woman and the youngest person to hold the state's top political job."
Jason Leopold - writing for consortiumnews.com

The good news here is that many Republicans are questioning the choice of Palin for VP ... sensing a hint of desperation in the McCain camp.

UPDATE:
Governor Palin was also a memeber of the Alaska Independence Party before she became a Republican!

She loves the USA so much ... she wanted her state to secede from the Union!

I think that McCain's choice for VP is already sending shock waves throughout the Republican Party .... oops!

"It would be beneath me to respond to their ridiculous contentions," said Clement, refusing to entertain the notion the two crises are connected."
Nugget.ca

He just doesn't get it! Tony Clement thinks it is unfair to connect the deregulation of health inspections for water standards and meat processing with outbreaks of harmful diseases that kill people!

Right wing ideology dictates that the free market does better when unfettered by bothersome processes like public safety inspections.

As a result of Conservative policy, Canadians die unnecessarily.

-The Globe & Mail

Stephen Harper is not just a 'free market radical', he is, in reality, a 'free market lunatic'!

Harper comes from a school of thought that originated with Preston Manning and the old Reform Party. It is an ideology which blindly believes that the unfettered free capitalist market holds the solution to all of mankind's problems. This same economic ideology is bolstered by its ties to fundamentalist christianism. It is practiced religiously by its adherents - who are so convinced of the righteousness of their cause, that they have no qualms about lying and breaking promises.

One of the first things that the new Harper government did in April, 2006 was to challenge the United States to water down food inspection regulations. The Conservatives thereby hoped that  Canadian companies (with much lower inspection standards)  would comply with revised US standards if their product was to be exported south of the border.

"OTTAWA — The Canadian government strongly opposed tougher U.S. rules to prevent listeria and lobbied the United States to accept Canada's more lenient standards, internal documents reveal. Briefing notes prepared by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for an April 7, 2006, meeting with the board of directors of the Canadian Meat Council outline how both industry and the Canadian government were frustrated with the increased precautions the United States was demanding. Specifically, Canada opposed daily inspection visits and the testing of finished products for Listeria monocytogenes."
The Globe & Mail

After being in office for almost a year, the new Saskatchewan Party Government's 'Amateur Hour' continues. At a news conference, the Minister of Public Safety and Corrections was caught making two statements (concerning a recent prison break in Regina) that required speedy 'flip-flops' to set the record straight.

Flip Flop # One:
"Senior jail officials learned that a possible escape was in the works 10 days prior to the weekend jailbreak of six inmates from the Regina Correctional Centre, the government confirmed Wednesday. The admission from Corrections, Public Safety and Policing Minister Darryl Hickie came less than one hour after a news conference in which Hickie denied that any such intelligence had been received."

Flip Flop # Two:
"Hickie, who is a former federal corrections worker, also said during the same news conference that gangs are not an issue in Saskatchewan jails. But he later phoned back reporters to say that he had misspoke. "We definitely have a gang problem in our institutions," said Hickie, calling it an "error in judgment" to have claimed otherwise.

The conflicting statements came as the government tried to update the media on details of the jailbreak -- with five inmates still on the loose -- and announce that an external team will investigate how it occurred.

But the minister found himself doing damage control after initially brushing aside reports that senior management had heard in advance that something was going to happen at the jail."
Regina Leader-Post

A report published in 2005 by the Criminal Intelligence Service - Saskatchewan, stated that about 25 per cent of the adult population in the federal and provincial corrections systems are gang members.

"Your country [the USA], and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world."
-Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

"A culture of defeat..."
- Stephen Harper, negatively describing Canada's Atlantic provinces! May 2001.

"Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it. Canadians make no connection between the fact that they are a Northern European welfare state and the fact that we have very low economic growth, a standard of living substantially lower than yours, a massive brain drain of young professionals to your country, and double the unemployment rate of the United States."
- Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.


Let's face it boys and girls - Stephen Harper HATES Canada the way it is! His political dream has always been to be ideologically more like the Bush's America! As Bush leaves the President's Office ... isn't it time that Stephen Harper left the Prime Minister's Office?

tag stephen harper

" .... it looks like Couillard is going to use the book to set the record straight and settle more than a few scores. "In this profoundly human autobiography, she responds to the multiple lies, half-truths and speculation that has been written about her over the course of the last few months"
Eliabeth Thompson

The speculation that Stephen Harper is about to pull the plug on his own administration has the hint of panic to it.

So what is it that Harper could be paniced about?
-The In & Out scheme?
-Loss of byelections looming?
-weakening Canadian econcomy?
-the 'dirt' on Bernier / Couillard?

Political pundits know that 'scandals' garner the most public attention when they have to do with love affairs, biker chicks, lost briefs, dinners with the Prime Minister, President Bush and flirty vamps.

If Canadians go to the polls on Tuesday, October 14th, I'm betting that it is an attempt to try and beat their trip to the local book store!

Harper wants the food processing industry to police itself. This is what happens when the Conservative (Reform) Party Government is left to implement their 'unfettered free market' ideology into Canadian law and policy!

-Taliban win over locals at the gates of Kabul
The Taliban are winning the hearts of the Afghan people back ... you have to wonder exactly who it is that Canadian soldiers are dying for?


-Thatcher dementia fight revealed
Margaret Thatcher's daughter has revealed that her mother is battling dementia ... (I think I will just bite my tongue on this one!)


-Meat Industry Calls Tory Labelling Plan 'Dangerous'
Conservative ideology could be dangerous to your families health! Harper inisist that he wants to help companies "take the lead in fulfilling their responsibility for consumer protection," ... meanwhile ... Canadians die!

After what transpired in Toronto as a result of the SARS outbreak, you would think that the Federal Government, the Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto had learned a thing or two about speedy resolution to possible public health threats:

-Health officials suspected a bacterial outbreak in Toronto in mid-July
-The federal health department notified the City of Toronto on Aug. 5 that the samples taken from the nursing home contained a strain of listeriosis
-August 6th, the city of Toronto told the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that listeriosis had been confirmed
-CFIA met with officials from Health Canada on Aug. 16 and recommended a recall
-One of the earliest victims who lived in a retirement home in St. Catharines, Ont., had died in early June

Health Zone

"I don't want to go and sit in the (Canadian Forces) camp in Kandahar and film the Tim Hortons."
Alexandre (Sacha) Trudeau



Leave Afghanistan now, Alexandre Trudeau says

"Inmate number 18330-424 at the Coleman Federal Detention Complex, aka Baron Black of Crossharbour (or "Lordy", as he is apparently known to fellow inmates), is wearing one trouser leg rolled up, gangster-style." [...}

If you roll the right one you're usually boasting membership of the notorious Folks/Crips alliance - the Folks being a gang that formed in 1978 within the Illinois prison system and aligned itself in the early-90s to the west coast's famous blue bandana-wearing Crips. The Folks and Crips are usually sworn enemies of the Peoples/Bloods grouping, more often seen wearing red. In prisons, where the sporting of coloured gang symbols is prohibited, the discreet rolling of left or right leg serves to show which side you're on."


The Guardian


Photo courtesy The Guardian

OTTAWA — "Former prime minister Jean Chrétien's criticism of Canada's current China policy reflects his personal financial interest in clients who do business there, not Canada's interest, Conservative cabinet minister Jason Kenney says."
Globe & Mail

I am not going to defend Jean Chretien, I'll leave that to some of the very competent Lib bloggers that I know. I do, however, want to say a few words about the THUG - Jason Kenney - that Harper has in his cabinet and uses like a pit bull terrier.

There is nothing warm and fuzzy about Jason Kenney. He is a bombastic bully and is used frequently to mouth things for Harper that a Prime Minster should not say in public.

Jason is another of the fomer REFORM Party MP's that surround Harper as one of his trusted inside confidants.

Jason Kenney is a goon. He is hated both inside and outside the Conservative Party. He desperately wants to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs but even Harper isn't insane enough to let this goon EVER be Canada's official spokesperson to the world.

I have one thing to say to Jason Kenney .... STFU!!

-Conservative 'Bully Boys' Go Too Far With Attacks On Romeo Dallaire


-Jason Kenney Wants Foreign Affairs Portfolio


-Jason Kenney Admits to Misleading House of Commons

"Canada’s total merchandise trade with China has soared in the last decade, reaching $42.1 billion in 2006 and accounting for 5.0% of Canada's world trade.1 In 1997, China was Canada’s fourth largest trading partner with total merchandise trade of $8.7 billion. By 2003, the country had emerged as Canada’s second largest trading partner surpassing the U.K. and Japan.2 Imports from China were five times higher in 2006 than in 1997 while exports to the country tripled."
Statistics Canada

-China aware of Stephen Harper's 'Snub'

"There is growing evidence that harm-reduction efforts can have a positive effect on the poor health outcomes associated with drug use."
Brian Day
President
Canadian Medical Assoc.

"This is a profound moral issue, and when Canadians are fully informed of it, I believe they will reject it on principle,"
Conservative Health Minister - Tony Clement

"Junkies and pushers don't belong near children and families. They should be in rehab or behind bars."
(Conservative flyer
distributed in Vancouver)

Look into the eyes of a political simpleton. There is a blank look and shallow perception of issues far too complex for the 'dim afflicted' to comprehend.

So it goes for Canada's Health Minister, who wants to reduce drug addiction and treatment to a basic 'black / white' or 'good / evil' level.

The simpletons in Harper's government believe earnestly that their ideology trumps the medical practice and ethics of Canada's medical profession - The CMA!

I have to acknowledge that the Conservative's intentions may be good, but when it comes to the practice of medicine, exactly what the hell does Tony Clement and Stephen Harper know?

They are playing with human lives, afflicted with a deadly disease, whose treatment should be left to the medical professsion - not the concepts Harper learned in economics classes at the University of Calgary.

-Globe & Mail
-Healthzone.ca

... but few believed me .....

-US to take over Afghan mission

-Taliban threaten more attacks on Canadians

It is not easy being a Saskatchewan Liberal. Out of provincial office since 1971, the party retains a shadow of an existence ... Saskatchewan's version of 'the Living Dead' ... not sure if they are rightwing or leftwing! But in an unusual situation, the Sask Grits are in the news today for 3 different stories!

First .. we have former Conservative Leadership contender .. David Orchard winning a federal Saskatchewan Liberal nomination ... this is going to be fun to watch! Orchard typifies the current ideological dilemma of the Saskatchewan Liberals in not knowing whether he is rightwing or leftwing. He also proves the old Saskatchewan axiom 'Liberal / Tory, Same old story'!

Second .. we have a NEW provincial Liberal Leader ... uncontested because, well, frankly who the hell would want the job? Welcome Mr. Liberal Leader Bater!!

Thirdly .. we now know why a nominated Saskatchewan Federal Liberal candidate, Garret Oledzki, has stepped down (and it has nothing to do with Dion's Green Shift theories .. it is because the Saskatchewan Law Society has stripped him of his ability to practice law due to ... ah ... some unsavoury accusations!

So there you have it - Saskatchewan Liberals! Whacky and Pesky all at the same time!

Imagine if the Prime Minister of Canada had risen to his feet to applaud Canada's elite athletes as they marched into the stadium in the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics! The athletes would have responded to the cheer that went up - knowing that they were the pride and joy of EVERY Canadian.

Now back to reality. Not EVERY Canadian was thrilled to see our athletes attend the games. In fact the number one Canuck, the Grand Poo Bah of the Great White North thought so little of them that he boycotted the games because he has ideological difficulties with the alternative economic system of China.

So why should our athletes be giving it their best in Beijing? Why should they burn that extra bit of energy needed to win bronz or silver or gold?

Harper is supposed to be our Leader. He has not been acting much like a leader on the international stage. His petty personal priorities trump his job description and his leadership and demonstration of pride in Canada's best was absent at the opening ceremonies.

No wonder Canadians are absent on the medal podium.

The new Saskatchewan Party government does very little to dispel the myth that the province is a backwater where 'hicks' and their issues rule the day. Case in point was the new (and clearly wet behind the ears) Premier of Saskatchewan convening a news conference to announce that his government is going to use the full weight of government to fix speeding tickets for volunteer firefighters in rural areas so that they can speed to the fire faster!

Just for the record, I personally believe that rural volunteer firefighters should be able to get to fires as soon as is safely possible. But you would think that issues such as this are best left to the Association of Rural Municipalities AND the Minister responsible for the Highway Traffic Board; NOT THE OFFICE OF THE PREMIER OF SASKATCHEWAN!

-CBC Saskatchewan

Who is Carmen McGregor* ... and is she telling summoned witnesses NOT to testify at the Ethics Committee hearing into the Conservative Party's 'In & Out' scheme?

"The official agent for a Conservative candidate in Toronto told The Canadian Press yesterday that he and other potential witnesses were told by an organizer for the federal party as late as Monday that they didn't have to testify at the inquiry if they didn't want to. Douglas Lowry said the organizer, whom he named as Carmen McGregor, gave the advice after he and others received summonses from the Commons ethics committee."
Globe & Mail


-Canadian Cynic has more ....

Mark David Chapman, the man who shot and killed John Lennon in December, 1980, has been denied parole again. Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono wrote the parole board and cautioned that Chapman's safety would be at risk if he were released - as fans of her husband may do him harm.

If that is not enough of a twist, here is another. At the current parole hearing, it also became public that Chapman had made a number of inquiries to rock memorabilia dealers trying to sell the record album that Lennon signed for Chapman prior to the shooting. (A photo of Lennon signing Chapman's album appears above)!

When Chapman shot Lennon in New York in 1980, he placed the signed album beside the security booth at the Dakota Apartments where Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono resided. After Chapman was taken into custody, the signed album was found by Philip Michael, from Hamburg, New Jersey. Michael turned it over to police as evidence. After Chapman was convicted of murder, New York police returned the album to Mr. Michael.

He kept the record for 19 years before offering it for sale. Here is where the story gets interesting. It has now been learned that Mark David Chapman tried to use legal measures to get the album back from Michael. At the same time, he made enquiries into what the album might be valued at.

The record sold in 1999 to an anonymous American and in 2004 it went up for sale again priced at £274,000 through a US memorabilia website, touted as 'the most important piece of historic rock memorabilia ever'.

-Chapman tried to sell record Lennon signed before the shooting!

"OTTAWA -- A special parliamentary committee hearing into the federal Conservative party's financing of the 2006 election took a dramatic turn Monday when the party's chief campaign strategist was escorted from the witness table by House of Commons security. National campaign director Doug Finley refused to leave his seat at the committee table when instructed to by ethics committee chair Paul Szabo. [...] Finley and his lawyer sat impassively for six minutes until two Commons constables arrived and asked him to leave."
-Security escorts Tory official from hearing - Regina Leader-Post


"Four former Conservative candidates described yesterday how their campaigns were approached by party officials and asked to agree to wire transfers that would move money in and out of their bank accounts during the 2006 election."
-Testimony puts Tories in hot seat - The Gazette


"OTTAWA — The Conservative party advised former candidates and their agents not to testify at a Commons committee inquiry into questionable election expenses in the so-called "in-and-out" scheme, MPs were told Monday."
-Tories allegedly told to snub committee - The Chronicle Herald


"Elections Canada alleges the Conservatives overshot their national campaign spending limit by transferring $1.3 million in expenses for radio and television advertising to local candidates."
-Tory witnesses no-shows at 'in-and-out' hearing - CTV


"Parliamentary committees are still a fundamental component of our democratic system. As such, you'd expect leading members of our governing party to have at least a modicum of respect for them - not to make boorish gestures aimed at undermining their credibility. But then, that would assume our governing party wasn't actively committed to undermining as many of our institutions as possible. Once again, you get the sense the Tories would be considerably happier in opposition. But they're certainly not going to let being in government stop them from ensuring that Parliament is as dysfunctional as possible."
-The natural opposition party - Adam Radwanski

On August 9th, 1974, nine Canadian Armed Forces Peacekeepers were killed when their plane was shot down by a Syrian missile as it prepared to land in Damascus. In honour of the many Canadian Peacekeepers who have died over the decades, August 9, 2008 was marked across the country as Canada's first National Peacekeepers' Day.

More than 200 Canadians have died on international peacekeeping duty for the United Nations since the 1950s.

Canada's peacekeeping legacy stands on its own merits. Since Canadian citizens come from every corner of the world and exemplify how people can live and work together regardless of race, religion or economic ideology, we symbolize that peace can be achieved globally.

Our current NATO mission in Afghanistan is a major departure from traditional Canadian military peacekeeping efforts, but declaring a National Peacekeepers Day is welcomed by those who have deep respect for our remarkable peacekeeping legacy.

Canadian Press

Pssssssssstttt .... is that the sound of air leaking from a tire or is it all of the hot air generated by the new Saskatchewan government slowly leaking away?

When Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Party were elected late last fall, ending 16 years of New Democratic administration, the hype was flying that the province would instantly see an unprecedented economic boom.

Well ... after nearly 10 months ... the myth of an 'economic boom' has fizzled and the only reason that the Saskatchewan economy is doing reasonably well is due to the highly inflated international price for a barrel of oil. Job numbers are declining by the thousands and real estate is not moving due to highly inflated prices for overvalued properties.

"The Merrill economists are most concerned about Saskatchewan, where the doubling of house prices in Regina and Saskatoon over the past two years means, they estimate, these markets are almost 50 per cent overvalued."
The Globe & Mail

"The monthly labour force report, released Friday by Statistics Canada, showed that their were 6,200 fewer people employed in Saskatchewan in July than in June."
Regina Leader-Post

The Saskatchewan Party is excellent at media spin and bold proclamations. However, they are yet to prove that they have any idea whatsoever about the economy.

So much for the much heralded 'boom'!

The Olympics are a time for the world community to come together. Individual grievances between nations need to be set aside for a few days in order that something larger can be acknowledged. We are all citizens of planet Earth ... like it or not, that one fact brings a common denominator to us all, regardless of economic ideology, religion or race.

The ties that bind us together are actually stronger than the ties that would tear us apart. We are all human beings ... most of us seek to live our lives in peace and security. We are stronger than those who would deny this.

Postscript:
However, as I post this ... it appears that:
-Russia is invading Georgia
-Stephen Harper boycotts the Games in a petty show of divisive ideology
-Iran continues to struggle under a repressive fundamentalist government
-Starvation continues in Darfur - Ethiopia , etc etc
-Palestinians sit in refugee camps now for the 60th year (without a country)
-Taliban continue to kill for medieval religious purposes
-Massive profiteering by the oil companies continues every minute/day/year
-Nato refuses to acknowledge the insanity of the situation in Afghanistan
-Fred Phelps continues to spread hatred ... probably to hide his own homosexuality

Oh well ... if we don't ever dream of achieving something better, we are doomed to merely allow the lowest aspect of our human condition to continue unabated.
(sigh)


HAVE A NICE DAY!! :)

The Conservative Prime Minister of Canada has decided to boycott the Olympic Games in China as a political statement. Since being elected in the spring of 2006, Harper has not traveled to China and has put a chill between the two trading nations.

Although Canada has a checkered human rights record concerning the living and economic conditions of its First Nations and aboriginal people ... Harper has decided to make 'human rights' his excuse for avoiding attendance at the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics.

The Olympic Games are intended to foster dialogue and interaction amongst ALL nations so that problems of human rights and democracy can be openly discussed and confronted. Harper's unilateral boycott does little to foster any dialogue and should be roundly criticised by Canadians.

If there is one segment of Canadian society that should be actively demanding that Harper attend the games, it is the business sector that relies on good relations with China to protect billions of dollars of trade annually. Harper is gambling with Canadian commerce in an attempt to woo the hardcore right wing of his party.

-CBC

-XXIX Olympic Games Officially Opened!

And you wonder why so many people have abandoned the MSM as a news source!

It is hard to imagine anyone more self righteous and self worshiping than Ezra Levant. His recent foray into the 'online martyr business' has been entertaining and has provided endless fodder for the rightwingosphere to rant for over a year. As a reason for fundraising, well let's just say that I would wager that the Paypal link to Ezra from the unwashed Right wing crowd has been humming steadily.

"Some 900 days after I became the only person in the Western world charged with the “offence” of republishing the Danish cartoons of Muhammad, the government has finally acquitted me of illegal “discrimination.” Taxpayers are out more than $500,000 for an investigation that involved fifteen bureaucrats at the Alberta Human Rights Commission. The legal cost to me and the now-defunct Western Standard magazine is $100,000."
Ezra the Persecuted
-A Canadian Martyr-


Photo: REUTERS/Patrick Price

Canada recognized the People's Republic of China in 1970 - a full two years before the US did likewise!

China's history in the 20th Century is stunning in its complexity and record of progress in spite of monumental challenges and obstacles.

From a nation under the control of an all powerful 'emperor system' until 1912, the nation cast off the feudal system that had ruled its society for centuries. Invasion and brutal occupation by the Empire of Japan began a devastating period that led to the rise of Mao Tse Tung and his People's Liberation Army.

In spite of war, famines, drought and the sheer weight of its population numbers, China has brought itself clearly into the 21st Century with its head held high - massive industrialization, technology, space travel - and its people fed and housed. It is a staggering accomplishment!

And what is Stephen Harper's mindset on China? Well, he reverts again to his University of Calgary right wing political ideology and idiotically mutters Reform Party schlock about 'unfettered free markets'.

No other nation on the planet has undergone the struggles and achievments that China has over the last 100 years.

Stephen Harper should be in his seat as a world leader at the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. Whatever his personal beliefs concerning the PRC are, he has a duty to represent Canada and to acknowledge that China is a citizen nation of the global community and to acknowledge the long journey that China has made over the last century.

Instead, Harper will continue to display his small minded, petty preference for extreme right wing values and views. Stephen Harper is NO world leader.

The Globe & Mail

"I just wish I had known I was under surveillance because I would've asked them for a ride home after the meetings because I had a long way to go."
Rita McNeil


"She's the one who composes and sings women's lib songs."
RCMP Surveillance Memo


-Rita MacNeil calls RCMP probe 'a little bit silly'

OTTAWA–RCMP spies infiltrated the women's movement in the early 1970s, monitoring marches and rallies to keep an eye on feminists including Rita MacNeil, who would become a much-admired Maritime songstress.

An undercover source reporting on a March 1972 gathering of women's liberation groups in Winnipeg compiled biographical sketches of several delegates, noting MacNeil was in attendance from the Toronto Women's Caucus.

"She's the one who composes and sings women's lib songs," says the RCMP memo, portions of which remain secret.
The Star

Let's see ... killing a Polish immigrant by Taser after 23 seconds of contact with him - pepper spraying an infant in his mother's arms .... is there much else that could come out about our beloved Royal Canadian Mounted Police that proves how stupid they can be? Why yes there is! Imagine RCMP officers tailing Maritime singer, Rita McNeil because they consider her a threat to national security!!

You would think that if Dion is going to continue to prop up Harper's Conservatives, he should have at least negotiated a coalition arrangement where he got a few of his Libs into Harper's cabinet.

Realistically, what is the point of propping up another political party to the status of government and getting absolutely nothing for it except abuse?

The August 4th editon of the Hill Times has an article that seems to be indicating that the Harper governenment will likely continue to govern the nation with the fearful knee-trembling support of Stephane Dion.

Hey Libs! Get some courage! Force an election!

The Hill Times

Oh how the once mighty have fallen. The man accused of genocide, mass murder and other war crimes is whining from his cell in the Hague - insisting that he had a deal with the United States that would ensure his immunity from prosecution.

Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader is arguing that he made a 'deal' with the United States in 1996 to help him evade justice. In a letter given to the War Crimes Tribunal, he offered bitter criticism of the former American envoy Richard C. Holbrooke. Karadzic claimed in court on Thursday that he had brokered a deal with Mr. Holbrooke that would enable him to avoid a trial.

I suppose that Karadzic thinks that he should simply be set free. Not only is he a murderer, on a massive scale, but he is a whining, sniveling brutal bully ... who got caught.

New York Times

Harper's Conservatives are completely driven by free market ideology when it comes to the Canadian Wheat Board. They have lied, rigged elections and fired senior CWB employees in their mission to kill the Board.

However, from time to time, the real situation gets a bit of media attention and the fact that Canadian farmers are better off WITH the Wheat Board becomes evident.

"Prairie farmers earned a record $7 billion from grain sold through the Canadian Wheat Board in 2007-08 — a 57 per cent increase over the previous year, the agency said Thursday in its annual report. [...] Western Canadian farmers got better prices than many U.S. farmers who sold their grain before prices spiked earlier this year."
CBC Saskatchewan

"Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Friday it has held meetings with United States store managers warning them of issues that could arise if Democrats win power and pass a law that would make it easier for workers to unionize, but stressed it was not telling workers how to vote."
Report on Business

A documentary film written and directed by French journalist, Marie-Monique Robin exposes huge agri-business company, Monsanto's list of 'accomplishments' including products such as Agent Orange, PCBs, recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone and genetically modified crops which undermine biodiversity.

Public education on the nature of these huge agricultural multi-nationals is badly needed. This new documentary is certainly welcome to enlighten people on the dangers that huge companies like Monsanto pose to agriculture.

-The Star

-Educate Yourself on Monsanto ...