NATO SecGen Peter MacKay…maybe again?
March 24, 2009 · By Sean
[h/t to Right From Alberta]
It seems that the push for Peter MacKay to become the next Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) may have new wind in it’s sails, Turkey and Poland both really like him, although Turkey also really doesn’t like the Danes…
Right from Alberta says:
“So what,” you say, “it’s only Turkey.” Well it seems that Turkey has a veto in this matter and could go against the remaining 25 member states of NATO in their selection of the Danish PM.
In the Polish News, an un-named diplomat also has very nice things to say about our current Minister of Defense:
It is believed that the Polish government thinks that the Canadian Peter MacKay will be a better candidate to lead NATO because he is “young, super-intelligent, dynamic and resourceful,” a diplomat told Rzeczpospolita off the record.
And they said Condoleeza was eyeballing him…..
In any event, you can be certain that Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party is closely watching these events as they unfold. Should Peter MacKay choose to accept the position at the head of the NATO table if it’s offered, it might give her a slightly better chance at running in Central Nova again.
Repent Now! – Only Hours to Avert Global Warming Catastrophe
March 24, 2009 · By Greg Farries
Elizabeth May’s rhetoric grows with each hour: [via SDA]
Recently, Prince Charles has said we have only an estimated 100 months. Unless the world comes together and negotiates a meaningful agreement to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions nine months from now – at the Copenhagen meeting of the United Nations climate conference in December – another 90 months won’t help. We have hours to act to avert a slow-motion tsunami that could destroy civilization as we know it.
Ding-Dong the Witch is Dead – Petro-Canada to Merge with Suncor
March 24, 2009 · By Greg Farries
The government-created oil giant of 1975 was Liberal ideology at its most interventionist, vilified as the unfair advantage invading an Alberta oil patch where Petro-Canada stood for “Pierre Elliott Trudeau Rips Off Canada.” Its headquarters, which towered over a Calgary plaza, were derided as Red Square.
Bank of China hobbling away from US dollar
March 24, 2009 · By Charles Anthony
The governor of the People’s Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan, proposes that the SDR (Special Drawing Right) — the International Monetary Fund’s imaginary currency — becomes the new international reserve currency. He never says explicitly that he wants to move away from the US dollar but the implication is obvious:
A super-sovereign reserve currency not only eliminates the risks inherent in a credit-based currency such as the dollar — in contrast to one backed by gold — but also makes it possible to manage global liquidity, Zhou argued.
I find this laughable. First of all, he expects one political entity (the IMF) to print money more responsibly than an other political entity (the Fed) would. The intention is to avoid crises, so he says. Like most socialists, his reflex is to change the political control. Second, if this suggestion actually has any merit then, it can happen right away: the Chinese can start trading in the Special Drawing Right tomorrow.
Regardless, I do not believe the Chinese are interested in avoiding crises. They are just interested in preserving the value of their assets and to a degree, they are understanding that the printing money can destroy the value of assets. My suspicion is that they probably understand it better than most American politicians.
Prime Minister’s Office is Apparently Full of Misinformed…
March 23, 2009 · By Greg Farries
Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters’ annual meeting last night in Mississauga, where a prize package featuring two rifles was raffled off during dinner.
The speech came just days after Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz was dropped from a controversial speaking engagement at a gun lobby dinner featuring a Beretta handgun as a raffle prize.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office saw little in common between the two engagements.
“Hunters and fisherman are people who are law abiding citizens. They register their guns and … in large part act responsibly. A handgun is something that’s obviously not used for hunting. There’s a significant difference between the two,” said Dimitri Soudas.[Emphasis Mine]
Dimitri Soudas, in a pathetic attempt to differentiate between the fund raising event Garry Breitkreuz was going to attend – where they were giving away a legal handgun – and the event the Prime Minister was attending – where they were giving away a legal long-gun – has basically given credence to the ridiculous notion that handguns are somehow bad because they’re not used to hunt.
Lorrie Goldstein quotes an different PMO spokesman making the same mistake:
But it was alarming and disappointing to hear Harper spokesman Kory Teneycke prissily disassociating the Conservatives from the CSSA event, telling The Canadian Press “our government obviously doesn’t endorse the raffle.” He added Breitkreuz didn’t know about it when he agreed to be the featured speaker.
Right. Back in the real world, why the CSSA should have been clairvoyant enough to know that the fact it planned to legally raffle off a handgun to law-abiding people legally entitled to own one required pre-clearance from the prime minister’s office, let alone Breitkreuz, remains a mystery.
[...]
Indeed, the PMO’s politically correct, pap-spouting response on this particular non-issue was especially hypocritical given the Conservatives’ long-standing and sensible opposition to both the ineffective federal long-gun registry and various meaningless handgun bans proposed by the opposition.
With most of the Conservative MP’s taking their marching orders directly from the PMO, it’s no wonder we’ve seen ZERO action from the Conservative Party on shutting down the long-gun register, or removal of the draconian and ineffective restrictions on legal hand guns in Canada.
CTV Power Play: Monte Solberg vs Jane ‘Giggles’ Taber and Shiela Copps
March 19, 2009 · By Sean
Wow! Monte certainly held his own in the face of Shiela Copps’ frothing over the Garry Breitkreuz and Canadian Shooting Sports Association dinner issue. That is, when Sheila wasn’t stumbling over her own words and thoughts in order to come out with something even remotely resembling a coherent and informed sentance.
And Jane ‘Giggles’ Taber let her do it! And here I thought Tom Clark claimed that this kind of behaviour wouldn’t be tolerated on his show. I sincerely hope Monte says something.
And I don’t know how many people caught it, but just before they ‘faded to black’ for commercial, Jane and Shiela were giggling together. Over what, I certainly can’t say for sure, but it certainly looked unprofessional on the part of Jane Taber. I don’t know that I actually expected professionalism from her, but in either case, I was enormously disappointed!
When they did come back, I did notice Jane looking a little spooked, as though perhaps someone read her the riot act, and she had some attempted but ultimately weak ‘good’ things to say about the Conservatives. Even if that was the case, it’s too little, too late Jane.
Jack Layton dips his fingers where they don’t belong…..again.
March 19, 2009 · By Sean
On Wednesday, March 18th 2009 as reported in the Montreal Gazette, Jack Latyon, Leader of the NDP, dips his fingers into a jurisdiction not his own.
First, as if it weren’t enough that Quebec abhors federal intrusion into their affairs, Jack Layton goes on to petition the Prime Minister to drag himself and government spending into the mess as well.
NDP leader Jack Layton said he intends to immediately send a letter making the request to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Next week, he intends to raise the issue of advertising by government departments and crown corporations in the chain’s newspapers during question period in the House of Commons.
Now, for a man trying to make gains off of their first MP elected in a province notorious for demanding more federal money, he is making the enormously stupid demand that the Federal Governmnet do exactly the opposite. Add to that, he is actively tampering in provincial jurisdiction; behaviour which is anathema to Quebecers and only serves as evidence for the BLOC and the PQ to use against Federalism. [insert golf clap here] Well done Jack. Well done.
Last night, Isabelle Dessureault, vice-president public affairs for Quebecor Media, responded to Layton’s plan saying he does not have all the facts.
“What the NDP is asking the government to do is take sides in a context where one of the two parties (Quebecor) exercised its rights under the actual laws in Quebec and Canada,” Dessureault said in an interview.
Dessureault noted that an inspector from the Quebec’s labour standards board recently visited the newspaper concluding no violations of the Labour Code in the current dispute.
What I personally find amusing, is that Jack Layton (the man who refuses to co-operate with the Conservatives on anything now asking for a favor?) continues to believe he has any influence with the Conservatives anymore. I dare say he has little credibility with even the Liberals these days.
That only leaves….oh yeah….
Pompous Posturing Grandstanding Bloviating Herd of Swine – Ouch!
March 18, 2009 · By Greg Farries
I couldn’t agree more with what Kate says about Edward Libby, chairman and CEO of the American International Group, testimony today at a congressional hearing in Washington DC:
Across from him, a pompous posturing grandstanding bloviating herd of swine. And if I noticed, I suspect millions of Americans noticed, too.
Shep Smith, of Fox News, explains in more detail:
Update: Here is some context to the “Pompous Posturing Grandstanding Bloviating Herd of Swine” comment. Watch this video and particularly around the 4.10 mark, where Rep Barney Frank asks AIG CEO Liddy for the names of the people who received the bonuses. I presume he wants their names so he can call them before the congressional hearing and subject them to his “pompous posturing [and] grandstanding” questions, but we’ll have to wait and see…
The Teleprompt Strikes Again – Obama’s Crutch Malfunctions
March 18, 2009 · By Greg Farries
As I mentioned earlier this week, Obama’s – and possibly the Irish PM’s – crutch is getting embarrassing.
Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen was just a few paragraphs into an address in Washington when he realised it all sounded a bit too familiar.
It was. He was repeating the speech President Barack Obama had just read from the same teleprompter.
Mr Cowen stopped, turned to the president and said: “That’s your speech.”
A laughing Mr Obama returned to the podium to take over but it seems the script had finally been switched and the US president ended up thanking himself for inviting everyone to the party.
Mr Obama is an accomplished orator but is becoming known in America as the “teleprompt president” over his reliance on the machine when he gives a speech. [emphasis mine]
How likely would this had happened if the President spoke from those archaic things called notes?
Recession will Alter the Nature of Capitalism” – You’re kidding right?
March 18, 2009 · By Greg Farries
I hope Dodge was misquoted, because he should know better than anybody that the fundamentals of capitalist are not going to be altered because of a recession:
OTTAWA — Canada and the world are facing a long and deep recession that will fundamentally alter the nature of capitalism, former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge said in an exclusive interview a year after he left the bank.
Business practices and government policy may change to adapt to the realities of modern commerce, but lets not claim that capitalism is going to change to limit greed of consumers and corporations – that kind of sensationalism should be left to uneducated editorialists, not former Bank of Canada Governors.
Recent Comments