Poverty in the United States of America: It rose drammatically under George W(ar) Bush.
The number of Americans living in severe poverty has expanded dramatically under the Bush administration, with nearly 16 million people now living on an individual income of less than $5,000 (£2,500) a year or a family income of less than $10,000, according to an analysis of 2005 official census data.
In Europe consumer protection is still king:
Hotels, restaurants and online shops that post glowing reviews about themselves under false identities could face criminal prosecution under new rules that come into force next year.Businesses which write fake blog entries or create whole wesbites purporting to be from customers will fall foul of a European directive banning them from “falsely representing oneself as a consumer”.
From December 31, when the change becomes law in the UK, they can be named and shamed by trading standards or taken to court.
Do you want to know the connections between the Conservatives and Big Oil? Too bad; meetings are behind closed doors.
A handful of industry chief executives met behind closed doors with Environment Minister John Baird, Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Jim Prentice and Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn to discuss the Conservative government’s new green agenda.
“As [Mr. Baird] reiterated, the Prime Minister wants to do this in a way that doesn’t harm the economy, and that recognizes that capital stock and technology take some time to bring into place,” said Pierre Alvarez, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
The two-hour meeting was part of the government’s consultations ahead of firming up policy to deal with Canada’s growing greenhouse gas emissions. The three ministers held a series of private meetings in Calgary, where there’s rising anxiety about how aggressive the government will get to boost its environmental credentials at the expense of oilpatch growth plans, particularly in the oilsands.
Mr. Baird described the meeting as “a good exchange of ideas. We learned more about some of the challenges, some of the opportunities.”Yeah, it's better not to confuse the people with "exchanges of good ideas". Transparency, Conservative style.
Ask people on the street who John Baird is, and probably, many still won't know. But things could be worse, and when it comes to the current Conservatives, they almost always are.
Ask John Baird what the difference is between carbon tax and carbon trading, and he won't have the answer.
(he could just look here and here)
Ask John Baird which countries have a carbon tax today, and he won't have the answer.
(he could just look here)
Ask John Baird how much his department has spend the past year, and he won't know.
Meet John Baird, the "all new" Conservative Minister of Environment for the New (so-called) Government. And be amazed:
John Baird on YouTube
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with a ton of explosives hidden beneath cooking oil, canned food and bags of flour obliterated a Baghdad food market on Saturday, killing at least 132 people in one of the most fearsome attacks in the capital since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Wondering where it was "hidden" yesterday? Well, when Harper was talking about how to curb greenhouse gas emissions, this is what he had to say:
"I don't think realistically we can tell Canadians stop driving your car, stop going to work, turn the heat off in the winter; these are not realistic solutions."Yes, less driving is, according to our prime minister Stephen Harper, not realistic. Given the booming economy, Canadians should probably be driving more, realistically speaking of course.
I'm in the Netherlands for two weeks and right now I'm in the middle of a severe storm:The traffic authorities issued a warning to motorists not to use the roads if at all possible, in the first such use of the "traffic alarm" since it was instituted in November 2005.
The weather bureau said the storm, with southwesterly winds gusting up to 130 kilometers an hour, was the worst since October 2002. The storm, which follows a southwesterly storm a week ago, was expected to peak in the late afternoon. (source)
And I have to say; weather is seriously bad; winds of up to 130 km/hour are blowing through the country. Dutch train stations are closed, many flights at Schiphol airport are canceled; it looks like it's going to be the worst storm since 1990.
In international news, scientist are warning us (for the first time) for the world's two biggest threats. And guess what, terrorism is not one of them:
"As scientists, we understand the dangers of nuclear weapons and their devastating effects, and we are learning how human activities and technologies are affecting climate systems in ways that may forever change life on earth," said Professor Hawking (source).Well, and then there's Gary Lunn. He uses the argument of global warming as a reason to expand nuclear activity on Canadian soil.
First of all, nuclear energy is not a clean energy source. Secondly, I don't think Canada is in a "catch 22" like the US (Iraq, "should I stay or should I go now"); there are good other options that are clean and less dangerous.
The CBC "doesn't get it";
(see picture)
Harper is trying really hard to look green.
(see picture)
But Chrysler is still in full denial.
Chrysler's chief economist Van Jolissaint has launched a fierce attack on "quasi-hysterical Europeans" and their "Chicken Little" attitudes to global warming.
(more)
Blair finally condemns the execution of Saddam Hussein:
British Prime Minister Tony Blair believes the manner of Saddam Hussein's execution was "completely wrong", his Downing Street office said Sunday.
Blair has been under fire for refusing to speak on the subject, and criticism of his silence mounted after both his deputy and his finance minister condemned the hanging of the deposed Iraqi dictator as "deplorable" and "completely unacceptable".
In his first engagement since returning from a New Year holiday in Miami, Blair said Friday he would speak about the execution next week.
"In terms of what he will say next week, we don't think there are going to be any surprises on where he stands," a spokeswoman said, while declining to say when and how Blair would make his comments on Saddam's hanging.
"He supports the inquiry by the Iraqi authorities. He does believe that the manner of execution was completely wrong, but this shouldn't lead us to forget the crimes that Saddam committed, including the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis."
The execution was carried out at the start of a key holiday while leaked mobile phone video footage showed Saddam being taunted as he stood on the gallows, prompting Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to order a probe.
Britain's finance minister Gordon Brown condemned the execution of the toppled president in an interview broadcast Sunday, becoming the highest-ranking government member to speak out so far.
Bush administration's love for regime change?
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Bush administration will provide $86 million to help security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, expanding U.S. involvement in his struggle with Hamas, according to documents seen on Friday.
[...]Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri accused Washington of helping to mount a "coup'' against the Hamas-led government. ``We demand that President Abbas reject this American policy, which feeds the culture of divisions among the Palestinian people,'' he said.
Abbas's office had no immediate comment.
Timing is everything:
"People are executed all over the world, but what happened in Baghdad on the first day of Eid al-Adha was unthinkable. I didn't believe it was happening," [Mubarak] said.WHOLE STORY: FRANCE24
"In the end, no one will ever forget the circumstances and the way in which Saddam was executed. They turned him into a martyr, and the problems in Iraq remained."
Saddam's hanging has sparked outrage among Sunni Muslims, for taking place on the first day of one of the most important Muslim holidays, and for the grainy video released afterward that showed he was taunted and mocked as he stood on the gallows.
It looks like NOW is the time to raise minimum wage:
The Canadian economy added more jobs than expected in December, helping push the national unemployment rate back down to a 30-year low of 6.1 per cent.
Last Tuesday was an interesting day in the blogosphere, and I learned a couple of things too:
- the left in Canada is alive and kicking
- self proclaimed progressive blogger Jason Cherniak doesn't know what progressive means
Ever since I landed in Canada (in 2002 I moved from the Netherlands to Canada) I have tried to get used to the complete different political landscape here. What struck me most (and still does) is the consent to corporate bias by the MSM and the public at large.
In the Netherlands I considered myself a moderate; I’ve voted for the Dutch Liberal Party (currently more right than ever), but also for D66 and PVDA (labour) en GroenLinks (green left), depending on their platforms and the reputation of their leader (lijsttrekker). But nothing extreme, at least not for Dutch standards. Trying to translate this to Canadian politics, I’m often way of the political radar…(on the left that is)
Tuesday made something very clear to me; it’s not the Canadian people that are different, but it’s those in government who represent us (or, in the case of Mr. Cherniak, those who have aspirations to do so in the future).
The Toronto Star’s article, suggesting targeted solutions for a failed promise by parliament to root out poverty, is indeed a sincere action plan. Implementing it, even partially, will benefit the poor and, perhaps, root out poverty in Canada all together.
But JC had non of it. Nothing else than a “Say No to $10 minimum wage”. According to his blog, proposing $10 minimum wage is “crazy” because a raise of 25% would, well read it yourself:
“To me, the likely result seems obvious - one in four minimum wage workers will be fired.”Of course Mr. Cherniak does not give references for his ridiculous statement. Apart from some conservative thinktank propaganda talking points (similar to those of the Fraser Institute), no serious data is given. The important reason being; there isn’t any.
But it’s also time we tell Mr. Cherniak that consenting to the current status quo by using flawed Fraser Institute rhetoric is called conservative. I don’t have problems with Conservatives; everybody their own voice, vote, religion, or blog – that what makes democracy great! But I do find it problematic when someone claims to be progressive, when in reality he’s a conservative in disguise. Such a person has passed the level of hypocrisy palatable to me, and given the fierce reaction to his blog (and a dozen other blog entries), many other progressive bloggers feel the same way.
The U.S. military in Iraq reached a grim milestone at year's end as the Pentagon announced a toll of at least 3,000 soldiers dead.
Specialist Dustin Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, who was killed Thursday by small arms fire in Baghdad, was the 3,000th soldier to die, the Defence Department said Sunday.
The Pakistan Times has a good article on the World reactions on the hanging of Saddam (scroll down for world reactions).
I've listened to Dutch radio, German TV (ZDF Heute Journal has a video podcast you can download for free with Democracy Player) and French media; All polical leaders have spoken on the subject, except Steve Harper.
What's wrong with our current government? Can't they take a position on what happened? Everyone is talking about Saddam, and you would think whatever shakes the people, it should be of importance to our democratically chosen leaders. Is the hanging of Saddam the "important milestone" of 2006?
December is (already) the deadliest month in 2006 for U.S. troops with the death toll reaching 106.
BAGHDAD, Dec. 29 -- Three more Marines were killed in battle in Iraq, the military said Friday, making December the year's deadliest month for U.S. troops, with the toll reaching 106.
Delegate fees are donations. That's how it works now, and how it has worked for decades before. But Conservatives don't "see" it that way. If it's so hard to see ones own currupt behaviour, one wonders about their honesty all together.
OTTAWA -- After months of heated denials, the federal Conservative Party has quietly admitted it failed to publicly disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of donations.
And the muddle over the disclosure meant that at least three party members -- including Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- donated more than the legal limit last year.
Last Thursday, the party filed a revised financial report for 2005 with Elections Canada, acknowledging that it did not report delegate fees collected for its national convention that year as donations, contrary to political financing laws.
The party's letter notes that Mr. Harper's minority government last month attempted to amend the Canada Elections Act to ensure that convention fees in future would not count as donations. But the proposed amendment was shot down by the three opposition parties.
When numbers tell it all:
NEW YORK (AP) - Nearly four years after the war in Iraq began, the number of Americans troops killed there now exceeds the grim toll of victims from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The U.S. military death toll in Iraq has reached 2,974, one more than the number of deaths in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, according to an Associated Press count on Tuesday.
The U.S. military announced the deaths of two soldiers in a bomb explosion southwest of Baghdad on Monday. The military was withholding the soldiers' names until relatives could be notified.
The 9/11 death toll includes the 2,749 killed at the World Trade Center, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 passengers aboard United Flight 93. While all were killed within a few hours that morning, the deaths in Iraq have stretched across 45 months - with no end yet in sight.
What numbers can tell us:
Some 12,000 police officers in Iraq have died in the line of duty since the US-led invasion in 2003, Interior Minister Jawad Bolani said.
The figure is from a total force of about 190,000 officers, he said.
The announcement follows a suicide bomb attack that killed seven policemen and wounded 20 others during a morning parade at a base north of Baghdad.
From Al Jazeera:
Iran has called for the UN Security Council to compel Israel to give up its nuclear weapons.
The request, made on Tuesday in a letter to the Security Council, comes after Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, appeared to admit in a TV interview that Israel had nuclear weapons.
This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.
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