An absolute hit at Parliament Hill, soon coming to a theatre near you.
Reviews from some viewers:
Stéphane Dion: Thrilling.
Jack Layton: Tantalizing.
Gilles Duceppe: Home grown talent
Stephen Harper: The Best Horror movie of the year, full of suspense.
Peter Van Loan: Action oriented. Engaging.
Recommend this postIs Barack Obama going to be held responsible for anything anyone says in that church? This guilt by association thing has gone too far. Can any public figure meet that litmus test, to be held responsible for everything anyone even remotely acquainted with them said?
Furthermore, Obama repudiated the Father's statements and Father Pfleger himself apologized for what he said. Nonetheless, the media (especially the rightwing FOX News Network) are still trying to make a story out of it.
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NASA made a mistake and put him in the Phoenix Lander's capsule. Come to think of it, maybe that's where he belongs ;)
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Girlfriend is mad, very mad ;)
He 'destroyed my life,' girlfriend says
Couillard contacted the Star on May 15, offering to sit for an exclusive interview, and requested a $50,000 payment. The offer was declined. A spokesperson for TVA insisted that "no payment of any kind" was made to Couillard. Click here to read more.
Twist of fates, Bernier fell of the horse... or was it motorcycle.
Bernier told Karzai to dump Kandahar governor: CTV
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier directly told Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai that the governor of Kandahar province should be replaced because he is holding up Canadian development aid, CTV News has learned. Click here to read more.
Maxime Bernier resigns as foreign affairs minister
Maxime Bernier has resigned as foreign affairs minister, after he acknowledged leaving sensitive government documents out in the open -- apparently at his former girlfriend's home. Click here to read more.
I found this picture on the MSNBC website. To see similar interesting architecture, click here.
He will have to reckon with Bush and Cheney on that too. Being oil-men they are furious ;)
He has joined ZZ Top. All he needs now is to grow a long beard and he is set for life.
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Personally, I believe that Stephane Dion is a decent person. If elected Prime Minister, he has the potential to do great things for Canada. However, as leader he has shown many weaknesses and needs to be more assertive, but the carbon tax is not one of those issues to be assertive on during an election.
The public needs to be informed and educated on it and, given current oil and gas prices, this will be a hard sell. However, if it is made an election issue at the outset, then many working and middle class families will vote against the Liberals. It will be a disaster.
Global warming is a very serious issue and the carbon tax should be introduced only after a majority of the public is onside, and this will take a few years.
I've spent enough years around politics and politicians to have some idea of what I'm talking about with regards to this.
George W. Bush claims to be a good Christian, I believe he also claims to receive divine guidance. Bush is reported to have bragged to Senator Harry Reid that "we are killing them," referring to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I believe the Senator has explained some of Bush's blunders like this in his book, The Good Fight.
Bush-McCain:"McBush" "McSame" "running for a third Bush term," these labels have stuck to John McCain in the early stages of the 2008 general election campaign. George W. Bush has the highest disapproval ratings of any modern US President – even higher than that of Richard Nixon in the aftermath of Watergate.
As McCain sought to win over the Republican establishment, more and more he bought into the unpopular and failed policies of the Bush administration – for example, despite earlier opposition, McCain now wholeheartedly supports Bush's tax cut which mostly benefited the rich and drastically reduced government revenues, leading to ballooning budget deficits.
McCain also is a staunch supporter of Bush's unpopular, costly, and bloody war in Iraq, and of the "troop surge."
The "maverick" McCain of 2000, who wasn't afraid to challenge his party, is gone. Now we have a new McCain who is joined at the hip with a deeply unpopular President.
Polls have shown that McCain’s association of Bush is of greater concern than Obama's association with his controversial former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. Bush is an albatross that McCain has yet to "reject and denounce."
On the contrary, McCain has been more than happy to embrace Bush in recent days – most notably with George W. Bush's uncalled for attack on Obama while speaking before a foreign legislature. While not mentioning him by name, it was clear that Bush was referring to Obama, and his policy of seeking diplomatic solutions with friends and enemies of the United States, when he threw out the accusation of "appeaser" and raised analogies with Neville Chamberlain and Adolph Hitler.
So what did McCain "the maverick" do? He wholeheartedly agreed with the President's attacks giving both Barack Obama and Democratic Party further reasons to label McCain as "running for Bush's third term."
This has further fuelled Barack Obama's powerful message of "change." Americans are concerned about keeping their homes and their jobs in light of America's economic decline, brought on primarily by Bush's disastrous policies and the costly war in Iraq. Come election time, American will have a choice between "change" and "McSame." It's easy to guess which of these choices will be more appealing to frustrated Americans.
P.S. We should also add "McShame" to the list of McCain nicknames after revelations that, after railing against lobbyists and "special interests" in Washington, McCain's campaign is chalk full of lobbyists on staff – including lobbyists representing authoritarian regimes from Marcos' Philippines, to Mobutu's Zaire, to Saudi Arabia.
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Mitt Romney criticized Obama on CNN, saying that Obama wants to negotiate with America's enemies. This was after Bush raised the "appeaser" issue in the Israeli Knesset.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer reminded Romney that, two years ago, McCain said that the United States would have to deal with Hamas as they were the elected leaders in Gaza. Romney responded with an analogy about his father, saying that what McCain meant was what his father meant when he told his kids about "dealing with them" -- ie. likely spanking them or making them stand in the corner.
In other words, according to Romney's characterization (read spin) of the remarks, McCain meant giving a good thrashing to Hamas.
There are bigots, and then there are bigots, but Pat Buchanan gets the prize. On MSNBC he insisted that the only reason Barack Obama was winning was because he was black. Buchanan said that if Obama was white, he would have been out of the race a long time ago and that either John Edwards or Hillary Clinton would have won the Democratic nomination.
This is absurd. Obama won because he worked hard, had a great campaign team, and because he's very talented and charismatic. He was able to tap into the mood for change. If being black were the only criteria to be President, then why didn't Carol Moseley-Braun - a black woman and former Senator from Illinois - win the nomination in 2004?
However, he has not explained how. Though now some details are coming out, read this story...
Republican Slogan Borrowed From Antidepressant
Democrats heard something familiar today in that new theme emerging from House Republicans: “The Change You Deserve.”
Turns out that slogan is also used to market an antidepressant, which Democrats quickly lampooned as reflecting the Republican mood at the moment. Click here to read more.
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Besides McCain's stance on the Iraq War, which is unpopular, he is also weak on the economy (this by his own admission). These policies are very similar to those of George W. Bush which is why McCain is known as McSame.
Given the current dismal state of the US economy, it doesn't look that McSame can deal with the economic problems plaguing the United States.
Bush's remarks were not only a cheap political shot against Obama, they were also disrespectful towards Israel on its 60th anniversary by frivolously using Hitler and Nazi comparisons. Bush has further proven to be the dumbest President America has ever had - you can see Keith Olbermann's special comment in the post below for more on why Bush has been an utter disaster as President.
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The following story reveals how bad racism is in the United States, and what difficulties Obama's workers faced in Indiana: Click here to read the story.
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It is also reported that Baldwin said the following:
"Cheney is a terrorist. He terrorizes our enemies abroad and innocent citizens here at home indiscriminately. Who ever thought Harry Whittington would be the answer to America's prayers. Finally, someone who might get that lying, thieving Cheney into a courtroom to answer some direct questions.”
Is Putin going to be a modern day Czar? Are hopes for a democratic Russia quashed for good?
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I told you fellows to go easy on him. Now what would you do without the Minister of Affairs... err, I mean Minister of Foreign Affairs ;)
Hillary Clinton gets into the fray too. Imagine if these characters have to deal with each other.
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Clinton's dream all but over
HILLARY CLINTON'S bid for the US presidency is all but over. Having won only narrowly in Indiana and lost in North Carolina, her fragile strategy to secure the nomination is in tatters and her campaign coffers reportedly empty. Click here to read more.
Water woes raise stink on Parliament Hill
The disruption prompted some MPs to quip about "things piling up," and odours began circulating in the centre block. Click here for the original story.
Click here for a good commentary on the issue by PBS's Bill Moyers, who interviewed Reverend Wright.
Also, you can click here for a good commentary by CNN's Roland Martin.
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John McCain: Why He Should Not Be President:
As I've written earlier, I believe that Barack Obama is the best candidate for President of the United States and while I don't like the way Hillary Clinton has run her campaign and gone negative, if for some unforseen reason she snatches the Democratic nomination, I would still pick the Democratic ticket over John McCain. McCain may have a reputation as a "straight talker" and a "maverick," but these labels are exaggerations and McCain is a very flawed candidate.
The following are my reasons why John McCain should not be President of the United States of America.
1. Trigger Happy:
At one event, in response to a question from the audience, John McCain sang, to the tune of the Beach Boys song Barabara Ann, "Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran." This alone is cause for serious alarm about a potential McCain Presidency. Any Presidential candidate who thinks bombing a country is a joke and a trivial matter is a very dangerous person to have in the Whitehouse where his finger will be on the red button.
On top of that, McCain stubbornly clings to his support for the Iraq War, even though it's a virtually unwinnable quagmire on the scale of Vietnam. The War has cost both American and Iraqi lives as well as drained resources from America's treasury to the tune of half a trillion dollars. In both human and financial costs, this war is unsustainable, but McCain still wants to continue it.
A major factor that led to the downfall of the USSR was that country's involvement in an expensive and unwinnable war in Afghanistan. John McCain would take America down this same path in the Middle East with catastrophic consequences both for the Middle East and the United States.
George W. Bush's unilateralist foreign policy was a disaster, but John McCain's (with his trigger happiness) could potentially be much worse.
One thing I have to give McCain credit for though, at least he's honest about the reasons for American military involvement in the Middle East - Oil. He revealed this until now unspoken motive at a recent speech he gave in Denver.
2. Hypocrite:
John McCain is supposedly the "Straight-Talker" who stays true to his principles (this is an image that has been built up by a media which he has successfully courted over the years, click here for a good discussion on the media's pro-McCain bias).
However, despite this "straight-talker" and "man of principle" reputation, McCain has been more than happy to throw principle to the wind when it suited his political ends. For example, McCain recently condemned the North Carolina Republican Party for using an advertisement containing the controversial Reverend Wright, yet, a few days later, McCain himself was using the Reverend Wright line of attack against Obama (and furthermore said it was now okay for state Republican Parties to use Reverend Wright in their ads as well).
As well, on a campaign stop to hurricane ravaged New Orleans, McCain proclaimed that, unlike Bush during the Katrina disaster, he would have gotten off his plane and helped rather than just flying over. However, at the time, as a Senator when he could have done something to help, McCain voted against measures to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.
3. Flip-Flopper:
In 2000 McCain condemned Christian right leaders such as Pat Robertson as being agents of intolerance. Now, he's courting these very same Christian right leaders -- one of the leaders he actively courted (and was ultimately endorsed by) is Pastor Hagee who called the Catholic Church the "great hoar" and said that Hurricane Katrina was a punishment from God to the people of New Orleans. In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, McCain upheld his acceptance of Hagee's endorsement. This flip-flop on the Christian right is especially egregious as McCain has not hesitated to attack Obama over Reverend Wright even though Wright has no political relationship with the Obama campaign -- so, according to McCain, Reverend Wright bad, but Pastor Hagee okay?
On the Bush tax-cuts which contributed to America's soaring deficits, when they were initially introduced McCain opposed them saying they were fiscally irresponsible and primarily rewarded the rich who didn't need them. Now he supports making these tax cuts permanent indicating both a major flip-flop and an acceptance of the fiscally irresponsible policies of the Bush administration.
4. Clueless About Economic and Social Issues:
McCain himself has said he doesn't know much about the economy. This is hardly what's needed for a President whose likely to inherit a country in recession.
On the home foreclosures issue, McCain stumbled repeatedly - reluctant to give up his neo-conservative "leave it all to the market" ideology - until he finally came up with a somewhat coherent plan... on his third try. On healthcare, McCain refuses to acknowledge its a public good and wants to unleash it even more to market forces, so much for the 47 million Americans without health care or the health insurance companies who deny healthcare in order to rake in even greater profits.
McCain may say he's a moderate, but he still strongly subscribes to the neoconservative notions that refuse to acknowledge the positive role of government and prefers to leave people at the mercy of unregulated market forces.
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Washington DC: Dick Cheney was arrested for trying to cash in a $360 billion cheque at a local bank. When police interrogated him, he said Dubya gave him the cheque and that the money was meant for the Iraq War.
When the media contacted Dubya, he said he didn't understand "Why Dick would try to destroy the reptutation of my administration. I do not have $360 billion in my bank account. If I did, I would have invaded Iran, North Korea and Syria." Bush added that Dick Cheney had been behaving strangely since he shot his friend on a hunting trip. Whitehouse, media and police are perplexed and are not sure what to do next...
...Okay, okay, it's a joke as you can tell. But another moron actually tried to cash in a $360 billion cheque. Click here to read the bizarre story.
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Bush stood on the deck of a naval ship and, to great pomp and show, declared that Iraq was "Mission Accomplished." Now, five years later, over 4,000 US soldiers are dead, tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed, millions are wihout proper housing, food, electricity and sanitary conditions and millions of others have fled to neighbouring countries as refugees.
What happened to "Mission Accomplished?" Now all we hear is that "progress is being made." This is a tragedy for Americans, Iraqis and the rest of the World.
Obama did the right thing, The Reverend (maybe unknowingly) was derailing Obama's campaign through his rants. Reverend Wright does live in the 1960s and 1970s, Obama had no choice but to condemn Wright's rants and split from him.
A Strained Wright-Obama Bond Finally Snaps
As Mr. Obama told close friends after watching the replay, he felt dumbfounded, even betrayed, particularly by Mr. Wright’s implication that Mr. Obama was being hypocritical. He could not tolerate that.
The next afternoon, Mr. Obama held a news conference and denounced his former pastor’s views as “divisive and destructive,” giving “comfort to those who prey on hate.” And so, with those remarks, a tightly knit relationship finally came apart. Click here to read more.
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