I thought nothing about the US could surprise me anymore but I seriously had a “WTF?!?” moment when I read this poll. Man the US is certainly going backwards! Sigh the Republicans (like the Conservatives in Canada) have learnt that if you lie long enough, people will start to believe it.
* 67 percent of Republicans (and 40 percent of Americans overall) believe that Obama is a socialist.
* 57 percent of Republicans (32 percent overall) believe that Obama is a Muslim
* 45 percent of Republicans (25 percent overall) agree with the Birthers in their belief that Obama was “not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president”
* 38 percent of Republicans (20 percent overall) say that Obama is “doing many of the things that Hitler did”
* Scariest of all, 24 percent of Republicans (14 percent overall) say that Obama “may be the Antichrist.”
Source: The Daily Beast
This is what you get when you spread hate and fear…
As a Canadian I am appalled at Prime Minster Stephen Harper is proroguing the federal government yet again for its own political advantage. Just when the the committee on Afghan abuse can do some work they put a stop to everything. They wouldn’t want the truth of the matter to come out now, after all according to the Conservatives claim they knew nothing before 2007 even though a diplomat blew the whistle and Canada’s top general admitted it happened as well.
THE timing said everything. Stephen Harper, the prime minister, chose December 30th, the day five Canadians were killed in Afghanistan and when the public and the media were further distracted by the announcement of the country’s all-important Olympic ice-hockey team, to let his spokesman reveal that Parliament would remain closed until March 3rd, instead of returning as usual, after its Christmas break, in the last week of January.
Source: The Economist
Is it just me or does it feel like the PM is trying to sneak prorogation through? Sigh unfortunately Canadians have a very short political memory and we truly deserve the government that we have… If we paid a bit more attention we’d see that the so called Conservatives representing us are the same extreme Reform party of the 90s. Oh PM, btw how goes Senate reform? Yeah that’ll happen soon…
So things are starting to falling apart for the Conservatives when it comes to torture. Burning the messenger only works when you’re telling the truth and it’s obvious that “Canada’s new government” knew what was going on right from the beginning…
While details of the meeting are secret, enough was said about Afghanistan to generate a report from MacKay’s office a month later that flagged the Red Cross president’s concerns.
The contents of the report, one of thousands of documents filed in the Military Police Complaints Commission investigation of torture allegations, are censored.
The email was titled: “Re: meeting with ICRC president re detention issues.”
The Conservative government has insisted it never received direct warnings about possible Afghan torture of Canadian-transferred prisoners, although MacKay has conceded that general concerns were heard almost from the moment the government took office in early 2006.
Source: The Star
So they knew, that type of thing is bound to happen in that part of the world. Do your best to make sure it doesn’t happen and move on right. Instead according to the Conservative playbook, you deny and obstruct anything (like the inquiry which is looking into these claims) which may lead to the truth. Now there are rumors that the PM may prorogue the Government yet again in an effort to sweep this under the rug.
Sorry for being late to the game but is anyone really surprised that torture occurs in a third world country like Afghanistan? Obviously it’s not right but for me what sucks even more is when the government of Canada drag its own diplomats through the mud in an effort to discredit him. Of course this is standard policy for the Conservatives, anyone who does not toe the party line or believe what they believe gets character assassination. People like Mr. Colvin do not get plum assignments like being in the city of Washington DC because they’re stupid, he obviously was once valuable for the boys to reward him. Instead what Mr. Harper and his chronies should do is admit to it because hey shit happens and then chart a way to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
People are a lot more understanding if you admit to error and apologizes but denials (especially when the top Canadian military commander says torture has happened) only make things worse. Meh I don’t like the Conservatives anyway so I’m happy to see them in this predicament, too bad the other political parties are so inept that they can’t capitalize on this folly.
Sigh it’s difficult to watch, but man the interviewer is totally awesome at exposing these people as ignorant hicks… Yeah they don’t know what she stands for or any of her policies but she’s definitely the one they want running the country.
With an election possibly around the corner it looks like the Prime Minister is seeking a majority government. Or at least that’s what he’s saying to supporters in private… Make sure you check out the video, it’s about 10 minutes long.
“Let me be clear about this, we need to win a majority in the next election campaign,” Harper said. “I am not just saying that because we need to win a few more seats.”
He said that if the Conservatives don’t succeed in getting a majority he predicted the Liberals will govern in a coalition with the NDP and the Bloc Québécois.
“If they get together and force us to the polls, we have to teach them a lesson and get back there with a majority, and make sure their little coalition never happens,” said Harper.
Source: CBC
Err can someone tell Mr. Harper that when you have a minority government, you have to make alliances or coalitions for every confidence measure. Big words from a man who wanted to do the same when he was in the opposition… Anyway yeah as I’m sure you know I don’t like the current Conservative government, they remind me too much of the Republicans in the US. The Liberals aren’t much better but at least Mr. Ignatieff didn’t start Liberal campaign advertising with attack ads and mud slinging.
Whatever ends up happening in the US does not affect me but I post about it because I’m rather disturbed at how the political right continually lies and deceives the American people. Yeah universal health care is expensive but it’s sustainable, unlike the free market system that working so well for them down South… Anyway I thought this article from Reuters was rather good.
Let’s start with value. Most Americans are blissfully unaware that their healthcare system provides appallingly little value for their money. This is because when it comes to costs, they see only the tip of the iceberg. While companies typically pay about three-quarters of an employee’s family premium — on average $12,680 a year — individuals ultimately bear the burden. In a free market, companies do not hand over to their workers more than they absolutely have to. Money spent on healthcare is carved out of take-home pay or other benefits.
Just noticed this video, a pretty good watch for Americans. Our system isn’t perfect, far from it but it’s more fair and not about the money.
Anyone who reads my blog knows that my political views are rather liberal and one thing that’s always irked me is how Republicans in the US blame President Obama and the Democratic party for the country’s misfortunes. Considering what occurred during the Republican rule in the last decade, they have no right to lecture anyone on fiscal responsibility! It’s President Bush and the Republican party’s fault that the US (and the world) is in the mess that it’s in. Behold the result of the great neo con “small government, free market” experiment, a global economy in tatters.
This conservative knows who’s to blame but unfortunately the rest of them continue to lie through their teeth…
But the truth was always that the economy performed very, very badly under Bush, and the best efforts of his cheerleaders cannot change that fact because the data don’t lie.
Source: The Daily Beast
I never would have thought Bill O’Reilly would have wrote an article like this…
■ Lesson Four: Hard Work
A child does not go from taking English lessons in Indonesia to editing the Harvard Law Review without doing some tough work. The President earned his present job by performing in school and, later, in his various jobs. He was smart enough to lay a foundation for success. Early on as a kid, he understood the big picture.
“Barack Obama loves his work,” Saunders says. “And this is a great example for children. They must understand that work is very important and will ultimately define their lives.”
And from the ever classy Fox… Apparently Universal Health care promotes terrorism. Yeah you read that right.
Sigh I guess it wasn’t meant to be, Daniel didn’t get elected last night in the BC provincial election. Still it must have been a great learning process and I certainly hope that he gives it another shot again in 2013, politics is in is blood and he says and does what he believes is right. Wish you were in TO so I could help ya out. ;-)
Federal campaign?
Hmm I thought the PM said he didn’t want an election so why is the Conservative Party of Canada now running Michael Ignatieff attack ads?!? I wish Elections Canada would have the balls to stop this garbage, our neighbors to the South don’t fling mud like this anymore and our political parties shouldn’t either.
