Of course.
Makes sense to me.
Is there any link between the institution of European and Canadian universal health care and eruptions in the U.S.? I'm not even going to waste my time checking that out.
Limbaugh loses his last marble
...[c]onservative icon Limbaugh said the surprising strength and timing of the eruption suggests a God displeased with the passage of health care reform.
"You know, a couple of days after the health care bill had been signed into law Obama ran around all over the country saying, 'Hey, you know, I’m looking around. The earth hadn’t opened up. There’s no Armageddon out there. The birds are still chirping.' I think the earth has opened up. God may have replied," he said on his radio show Friday.
Limbaugh is laughing all the way to the bank.
ReplyDeleteIf he'd doing it all for money then that just makes him a scuzzball, which is somehow easier to understand than if he actually believes this stuff.
ReplyDeleteBut his listeners? Oy.
It has shocked me from day 1 that Canada could be involved with the Nato debacle in Afghanistan. From my many visits to Ontario since the early 80s I have always thought Canadians only second to the Dutch in the peace and understanding league. At least they are getting out and (almost) admitting what a terrible mistake it has been. Canadians are supposed to be opposed to the US and all its pomps, I thought.
ReplyDeleteTONY: Nice to see you here.:-)
ReplyDeleteFILO: I do not know if you have seen this? Would love to hear your take on this.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/796101--chilling-afghan-claims
Hello, TONY.
ReplyDeleteI suppose Canada went into the Afghanistan War as a NATO ally. They were in the the nonvolatile areas at first, like the Dutch, but we had a gung-ho chief of defence staff, Rick Hillier, who just couldn't wait to shoot somebody.
I believe the original UN-approved mission had a completely different mandate to what is going on there now, whatever it is. Rick Hillier was just itching to send Canadians into the thick of it in the south. He'd done a chunk of training at Fort Hood in Texas and didn't want to do any of this wussy peace keeping stuff, ya know?
There were questions about improper treatment of transferred detainees by 2006. When questioned about it, Hillier blew a gasket and told concerned Canadians that the soldiers weren't there to babysit Afghans but to kill "scumbags". (He has such a way with words.)
Linda McQuaig wrote this piece about it in 2007. Our neocon Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, tried to cover the whole thing up then and is still at it in 2010.
RZ - oh yeah. We have two inquiries going on into Afghan detainee torture at the moment. One is a parliamentary one and the other is a civilian committee charged with military oversight. The prime minister is trying to stonewall both by delaying the turning over of documents or so heavily redacting them that there's practically nothing left.
ReplyDeleteAll of it was done for "national security" reasons, of course. Yeah, sure. I believe it.
I don't see any reason not to believe Malgarai, the Afghan interpreter. He's a Canadian citizen who went back to Afghanistan to work with the military. Having a working knowledge of the local languages, Pashto or Dari, didn't seem to be required for the invading forces. (I have heard that they are offered lessons in salsa dancing and Spanish, though. Very useful in the Middle East.)
The two diplomats, Colvin and Olexiuk, were sending warnings that were ignored for a long time. I'm sure Canadian Forces contain their fair share of psychos and misfits. In situations like this, they tend to find each other.
There is an interesting matter of timing in all this, though. When the torture allegations first surfaced, Stephen Harper was trying to find a reason to extend the mission in Afghanistan. It was supposed to be up in 2007. Suppression of all this, both from Canadians and from his specially convened panel - supposedly experts but actually composed of hawks and sycophants - would have ensured that the extension went off without a hitch.
The final vote in Parliament took place one evening during the Stanley Cup Playoffs - I'm sure it wasn't an accident - so that most people never heard about it or just didn't care.
I watched the vote on Radio Canada, the French-language service of the CBC. Quebec, the province of my birth, has always been more anti-war and more humanist than the rest of the country. They always broadcast the news, whatever else is happening.
I'm sure this will be like peeling an onion, layer upon layer of cover-ups.
I put a new quote at the top of my page today from the late lamented Kurt Vonnegut, another one of the good guys. I see these commissions as a step toward the formation of the "angel Mafia".
Yes, Filo - Ive been following the inquiry in Canada where I have a number of relatives. No Canadian government from 10-20 years ago would ever have got themselves in this mess. I can believe the outrage in Canada at their own government's actions would be stronger and more widespread than it is here in the UK or in America. It is a source of constant disappointment to me that the outrage is not wider and more vocal. With blogs like your own and Reality Zone it is reassuring that the outrage is at least articulate. Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteT
Thanks Tony:
ReplyDeleteI go here a lot. they have a great take on what is going on also.
http://hadalzone.blogspot.com/
Unfortunately Canada, Uk, Germany, Israel, U.S. governments are filled with Neocons. I do believe that this is changing on a global scale. The G20 wants to be heard. The old Anglo round table is out the door.
Filo: can you share with us a good Canadian site to go to.
THanks
Tony, I think a lot of Canadians are under the illusion that we are still the country we were 20 years ago. All this stuff is pretty horrific, but as long as they are distracted by bread and circuses, they don't pay much attention to what the government is doing. That's what the neo-Cons bank on, after all.
ReplyDeleteRZ - Here are a few Canadian sites that carry info on a range of topics.
Straight Goods
http://www.straightgoods.ca/Frontpage.cfm
Lots of good people
Rabble.ca
http://rabble.ca/
The founding editor is Judy Rebick, a professor and one of a group of Jewish women who occupied the Israeli embassy in Toronto in early 2009 to protest the bombing of Gaza. This was shortly after PM Stephen Harper said that any criticism of Israeli policies was "thinly veiled antisemitism".
The Toronto Star
A good general news site. You'll find out more about Toronto then you may wish to know, but the coverage of government shenanigans is usually pretty thorough.
http://www.thestar.com/
Filo thanks I put them on the INFO ZONE. lol.
ReplyDeleteGood and righteous sites,Filo. Will link them forthwith.
ReplyDelete