Friday, September 26, 2014

Under A Harper Conservative Government, When Canada Talks To The World ... No One Listens Anymore ...

Stephen Harper Mocked Over Empty UN General Assembly For His Speech

posted by leftdog at Friday, September 26, 2014 | Permalink |

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Andrew Scheer Is The WORST House Of Commons Speaker In The Entire History Of Canada's Parliament!!

Speaker Scheer and the death of Parliament

By Montreal Simon
For years Stephen Harper and his Cons have been slowly killing our Parliament.
They have have debased it, they have rendered it impotent.
They have reduced it to a scripted horror show, where every question is answered with an attack on the opposition.
But yesterday with their ghastly leader out of the country they practically finished it off.
For this is what happened when Tom Mulcair rose to ask this question about Canada’s mysterious mission in Iraq:
“Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has failed to answer clear questions about his ill-defined military deployment in Iraq,” Mr. Mulcair said by way of preamble. “Yesterday Conservatives refused, once again, to answer in this House, but the member for Selkirk—Interlake stated on CPAC that the mission will end on October 4. Will the Conservative government confirm that the 30-day Canadian commitment in Iraq will indeed end on October 4?”
Instead of any kind of answer, he got Paul Calandra, Stephen Harper’s Parliamentary Secretary.
You know the Con clown . . .

And this:
“Mr. Speaker,” the parliamentary secretary said in response, “there is a great deal of confusion with respect to the NDP position on Israel.”

Which as Aaron Wherry points out, was absurd enough.
For all the theoretical intents and purposes of this particular moment in the daily democratic life of our country, he might as well have stood and told the Speaker of his grocery list or read aloud from the collected works of Edgar Allan Poe. He might’ve stood and made farting noises with his left hand and his right armpit. Indeed, that might’ve at least entertained the kids watching at home.
But what happened next, when Mulcair continued his questioning, and appealed to the Speaker Andrew Scheer to ask Calandra to follow the rules of democratic decency, turned our Parliament into a cheap FARCE . . .
Yes, believe it or not, rather than ask the clown Calandra to answer the questions, or to stop turning Question Period into some kind of Con cabaret, Scheer punished Mulcair.
Removing his two remaining questions, and moving on to Justin Trudeau.
Even though Mulcair had every right to keep trying to get a serious answer about a very serious issue. He was merely asking Scheer to stop allowing Calandra to turn the House he looks down upon from his throne, into a bad joke or a fascist circus.
Or the death of our democracy. Wherry:
We might, for instance, insist on expecting that if the government of the day commits the men and women of our military to a conflict that that government should grace us with straightforward explanations for that commitment. That if our democratically elected representatives stand in the House of Commons and ask specific questions about that commitment, that those questions — questions ultimately asked on our behalf — deserve answers, not merely responses.
This is not quite rocket science. These are merely the hopey changey principles on which we aim to govern ourselves.
And who can blame Mulcair for questioning Sheer’s neutrality? When he has made so many dubious decisions.
And has from the moment he sat on his throne acted and sounded like a Con robot…

Or his master’s voice.
And all I can say is, before we have to hold a mirror up to the cold blue lips of our democracy, to see if it’s still alive.
When we fire his maniac master . . .

... However, the Right leaning political columnist with the Regina Leader-Post runs to Scheers defense

posted by leftdog at Wednesday, September 24, 2014 | Permalink |

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Harper Refuses To Answer ANY Questions On Iraq Mission - Partisan House Of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer Refuses To Follow Rules Of The House!!

Speaker Andrew Scheer is so completely in the pocket of the Prime Minister's Office, he will not follow the Rules of the House and require the Conservative Government to adhere to some sane relevancy when answering questions in Question Periond. SHAME ON SPEAKER SCHEER!!!

Tue, Sep 23: "NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair wanted to talk about Canada’s military mission in Iraq. Conservative MP Paul Calandra wanted to talk about a NDP fundraiser’s inflammatory comments about Israel. What followed was an utterly bizzare exchange which ended with Mulcair questioning the Speaker of the House’s integrity."
Global News

CTV News

posted by leftdog at Tuesday, September 23, 2014 | Permalink |

Monday, September 22, 2014

"Coming up next .. Are ISIS terrorists hiding under your bed waiting for you to fall asleep? Our experts say 'It's possible'! '

Tom Tomorrow ...

Harper condemns Isis threat on Canadians ..

posted by leftdog at Monday, September 22, 2014 | Permalink |

Friday, September 19, 2014

The New Democrats Get It Right On Iraq - Walkom

By backing Barack Obama’s ill-considered war, Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau have signed onto a fool’s errand.

America’s latest Middle East war is a fool’s errand.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria is hastily conceived, relies on uncertain allies and risks further inflaming an already volatile region.

In Canada, the only major political party with anything resembling a sensible position on this war is Tom Mulcair’s NDP.

After days of dithering, the New Democrats have decided to oppose Canadian involvement. Mulcair made that clear Tuesday night in a Commons debate.

Few noticed, so he announced it again Wednesday.

He said, correctly, that the Conservative government is committing Canadian commandos to the conflict without being clear as to what they can plausibly accomplish once they get there.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper initially said Canada would send “several dozen” special forces as “advisers” to Kurdish irregulars fighting the militants. On Tuesday, he said the number of Canadian soldiers in Iraq will be 69.

While the prime minister has said he will review the deployment in 30 days, his government’s commitment to Obama’s war is, to all intents and purposes, open-ended.

If Obama had a coherent strategy, this might not matter. But the U.S. president does not.

He promises to miraculously “destroy and degrade” the militants without sending U.S. troops into combat.

Yet even his top military chief, Gen. Martin Dempsey, has said that American ground forces may be needed.

The U.S. president has gathered what, on paper, appears to be an impressive coalition.

But when it comes to specifics, few members of that coalition — including Muslim states — are willing to commit themselves to much.

Their reluctance is understandable. The region in which the U.S. wants to operate is a quagmire characterized by shifting alliances among actors with dubious aims.

Turkey, for instance, has no love for the Islamic State. But it also opposes the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad (which the Islamic State is fighting).

As well, Turkey is deeply suspicious of Western efforts to arm and train Kurdish militias, some of which it views as terrorist.

The U.S. is pinning its hopes on the training and arming of so-called Syrian moderates. But it is not clear that there are any moderates left in the bloody, sectarian Syrian civil war.

Indeed, Washington’s approach to Syria is reminiscent of its strategy in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

American support of allegedly pro-Western militias there helped to tip the country into anarchy and, ultimately, paved the way for the Taliban to take power.

Meanwhile, Obama’s Western allies are careful to play to their home audiences.

French President François Hollande, deeply unpopular at home for his handling of the economy, is trying to burnish his image by authorizing air strikes against militants in Iraq. But he has ruled out taking this air war to Islamic State bases in Syria.

Australia, like Canada, is sending commandos to Iraq. Like Harper, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott claims that these 600 battle-tested soldiers will act as advisers only.

In Canada, the Afghan experience has made the politics of war particularly difficult.

Harper can gain advantage with some voters by portraying himself as a serious international player willing to wage war.

Yet it is best for him if the details and contradictions of this particular war — including any casualties — are obscured.

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals take pride in the fact that it was their party’s government that, officially at least, refused to take part in the last Iraq war.

But the Liberals are also reluctant to be seen as soft on jihadists who cut off heads.

From this comes Trudeau’s somewhat confused position. He says he will support the current mission “as designed,” as long as “we continue to have parliamentary oversight.”

Yet no one outside government knows the exact design of the current mission. And there is no parliamentary oversight.

Harper has made it clear that as far as this war is concerned, the government will do as it wishes, regardless of what MPs think. Parliament be damned.

Thomas Walkom The Star

posted by leftdog at Friday, September 19, 2014 | Permalink |

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Scotland Aye!!

Aye!!

posted by leftdog at Wednesday, September 17, 2014 | Permalink |

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Saskatchewan Taxpayers Cough Up Millions To Open Doors For Premier Brad Wall With American Republican Lawmakers

OTTAWA—When it comes to rubbing shoulders with movers and shakers in the halls of power in the United States, few governments are better represented than that of a place many Americans have never heard of — Saskatchewan.

Since 2009, Premier Brad Wall’s government and Saskatchewan agencies have paid more than $3 million to a U.S. law firm to fund an ambitious lobbying onslaught in Washington, D.C., on the long-stalled Keystone pipeline proposal and other energy and trade issues.

The law firm Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough has helped the premier work the halls of Congress, hobnob with the cream of U.S. policy-makers and introduce himself to the American media-government establishment. In some cases, members of the U.S. Congress who met with Wall received political contributions from Nelson Mullins before or after their contact with the premier, according to U.S. government documents.

Public records filed under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act sketch the lobbying campaign. In April 2009, the law firm reported: “Outreach to CNN producer Michelle Jaconi suggesting she keep on file the biography of Premier Brad Wall and consider him for guest booking for CNN shows” on climate change and trade issues.

A key member of the Nelson Mullins team is David Wilkins, the former U.S. ambassador to Canada.

In May 2009, staffers at Nelson Mullins were busy with “outreach to (U.S.) Western Governors’ Association to promote Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall for speaking opportunity at Western Governors’ Association meeting in Utah.”

A month later, the law firm reported it had contacted several major U.S. newspapers to disseminate an opinion piece co-written by Wall and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer on a joint carbon-capture-and-storage project.

Since then, Nelson Mullins’ efforts to advance Saskatchewan’s interests have covered a wide range of activities: Obtaining media coverage for Wall on his visits to China and India as well as the U.S., arranging speaking engagements in the U.S. for the premier and helping him pressure U.S. President Barack Obama to approve Keystone. The latter strategy included a letter signed by Wall and the governors of 10 U.S. states urging Obama to give Keystone the go-ahead.

While the Keystone pipeline would carry oilsands-derived crude to the U.S. from Alberta, Saskatchewan also stands to benefit if the project goes ahead. Petroleum producers in Saskatchewan are losing $2.5 billion annually because of depressed prices resulting from a North American oil surplus, Wall’s office says. This costs the provincial government $300 million a year in lost revenues. Opening a new export pipeline would push up prices for oil producers in Saskatchewan and other provinces.

Wall has always been open about his province’s lobbying contract with Nelson Mullins and believes Wilkins and others there have performed well on Saskatchewan’s behalf, a government spokesperson said.

In the past five years, the law firm has used its connections to throw open the doors of some of Washington’s most sought-after lawmakers and White House officials for Wall and other Saskatchewan cabinet ministers.

And U.S. Department of Justice documents show lawmakers who met with Wall were in some cases the beneficiaries of political contributions by Nelson Mullins.

There is no indication any of the money donated to members of Congress lobbied by Nelson Mullins came from the Saskatchewan government. The law firm was working for other clients while it worked for Wall. Nelson Mullins regularly makes political contributions to dozens of lawmakers in the U.S. and such political contributions are legal under U.S. election financing rules.

Wilkins declined repeated requests for interviews about his relationship with the premier and the Saskatchewan government. However, he has said in the past, in relation to political contributions to a member of Congress, that he has never expected any recipient of a political contribution to take any particular action in response. U.S. lawmakers contacted by the Star also did not return the Star’s requests for comments.

Nelson Mullins was particularly active on behalf of Wall when he visited Washington in the first week of March. At that time, there was a peak in the high-stakes struggle in Washington over Keystone. With Obama’s long-awaited yes-or-no decision on the $7-billion pipeline thought to be imminent, Wall made another of his regular visits to the U.S. capital and as usual turned to Wilkins to set up his lobbying contacts.

Nelson Mullins arranged for Wall to meet 10 members of Congress to discuss Keystone, according to records collected under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Among those with whom Wall met to talk about the controversial pipeline project was John Boehner, the powerful Republican speaker of the House of Representatives. A smiling Wall posed for a photograph with Boehner and Wilkins that subsequently ran in a Nelson Mullins newsletter. The following Monday after the Wall-Boehner meeting, Wilkins’ law firm provided Boehner with a $2,000 political donation, according to the U.S. records.

Boehner, a longtime supporter of Keystone, had presided over several House votes meant to pressure Obama to approve the pipeline’s construction. And in April when Obama again postponed a final yes-or-no ruling on Keystone, Boehner labelled the move “shameful” and vowed to keep pressing the administration to “move forward” on a decision.

...Star article continues ....

posted by leftdog at Tuesday, September 16, 2014 | Permalink |

Can We TRUST The RCMP's Warning On Threats To The Oil Industry?

Environmental extremism a rising threat to energy sector, RCMP warns!

September 14, 2014

RCMP bombed oil site in 'dirty tricks' campaign

Jan 30, 1999

#STUFFtheMSMwontASKtheRCMP

posted by leftdog at Tuesday, September 16, 2014 | Permalink |

Monday, September 15, 2014

I Agree With Willie On The Issue Of Scottish Independence !!

Free Scotland

posted by leftdog at Monday, September 15, 2014 | Permalink |

Sunday, September 14, 2014

World Shocked At ISIS Beheadings ... while our ally Saudi Arabia continues to whack heads off routinely as part of their justice system!

"In the space of two weeks last month, according to the rights group Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia executed as many as 22 people. At least eight of those executed were beheaded, U.N. observers say. It appears that the majority of those executed in August were guilty of nonlethal crimes, including drug trafficking, adultery, apostasy and "sorcery." Four members of one family, Amnesty reports, were beheaded for "receiving drugs." [...] last year, a reported shortage of trained swordsmen led to some hope that the practice could wane, but recent evidence suggests otherwise. It's an uncomfortable irony given that the United States' current military mobilization was triggered after the Islamic State beheaded two American journalists."Beheading as a form of execution is cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and prohibited under international law under all circumstances," said Juan Méndez, a U.N. special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, at a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday. "
Washington Post

Editorial note: This post in no way is intended to be defensive of ISIS and its abhorrent practices. It is intended to show that we traveled 'down the rabbit hole' a long time ago in our dealings with the oil rich Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as our 'ally'. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), at least 69 people were executed by beheading in 2012

posted by leftdog at Sunday, September 14, 2014 | Permalink |

Buckdog