Lucy Goosey
Lucy Goosey's JournalPolish Solidarity distances self from Romney visit
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCABRE86T0W820120730"Solidarity was not involved in organizing Romney's meeting with Walesa and did not invite him to visit Poland."
Not surprising, a union movement distancing itself from Rmoney. Does anyone know why Walesa seems so pro-Mitt?
Romney unveils foreign policy that gets tough on Gorbachev
His remarks on Russia have similarly elicited questions. Assessing Americas international challenges, Mr. Romney declared Russia is without question our number one geopolitical foe. The remark seemed to ignore Chinas overwhelming growth in influence and stature, and the ongoing crises of the Middle East, not least Irans nuclear ambitions. Though, having ceded decision-making authority on that front to Israel, perhaps Mr. Romney felt the file was closed.
The Financial Times Geoff Dyer noted that Mr. Romneys agenda tone harks back more to the era of George H.W. Bush than to any recent developments.
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/07/30/kelly-mcparland-romney-unveils-foreign-policy-that-gets-tough-on-gorbachev/
Prime Minister Harper’s former aide charged with fraud
There are also allegations that he improperly lobbied the Natural Resources department on behalf of the Canada School of Energy and the Environment for $25-million in federal funding. The school had been created with a $15-million federal grant.
A spokeswoman for the RCMP refused to clarify which allegations the charges relate to. But the Prime Ministers Office had referred the matter to the Mounties when confronted with the allegations regarding the water-purification system were made public.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/harpers-former-aide-charged-with-fraud/article4444231/
Obama to sign Israel security bill on eve of Romney visit
Obama will seek to stress his commitment to Israel's security for American Jewish voters at a White House ceremony that appeared timed to upstage Romney, who has accused the president of undermining U.S.-Israeli ties.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/27/us-usa-israel-obama-idUSBRE86Q02S20120727
Mitt Romney's controversial Olympic past draws scrutiny
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/07/27/romney-olympics-london-salt-lake.htmlRomney has made himself the very public face of the effort, claiming that he personally cut millions from the budget, wooed major companies and won sponsorships himself and pulled the whole endeavour back from the brink of failure. His record in Salt Lake was the cornerstone of his run for governor in Massachusetts, a campaign he announced in March 2002, just weeks after the Games concluded.
Romney, who promises to slash federal spending if elected president, rarely acknowledges the federal support for the 2002 Games on the campaign trail. His aides say much of it was for increased security costs after the 2001 terrorist attacks, which occurred about five months earlier.
But Romney doesn't mention the commitments the government had already made to cover costs associated with the Games or elaborate on his role in persuading congressional appropriators and critics to give the Games more money.
Whooping Cough Outbreak: Pertussis and the Death-rattle of Reason
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/07/25/whooping-cough-outbreak-pertussis-and-the-death-rattle-of-reason/And that, I fear, is some of the problem. Some people, of course, refuse to have their children vaccinated for deeply held religious, cultural, or ideological reasons. Others, though, just dont bother to take their kids for shots, because they figure these diseases are gone, and that they just neednt bother. Or they assume that even if their kids do get sick, we now have the antibiotics we need to cure them.
But whether our current low vaccination rates are being pushed down by ignorance or sloth or pride or wrath, we are sinning against our children, our community, and the cause of rationality, when we fail to have our children immunized.
Im not shill for big pharma or the medical establishment. As a professional skeptic, I keep an open mind about pushing drug companies to back their claims with double-bind studies, with peer reviewed results they can replicate. Over the centuries, the medical establishment has been proved wrong, and our ideas about treatment have evolved.
From the UK: If Mitt Romney doesn’t like us, we shouldn’t care
His derisory comments questioning Britains preparedness for the Olympics in an interview with NBC were a strange way to build bridges with a country that he says should be restored as the umbilical ally of the United States, and a strange way to demonstrate the persuasive qualities needed as leader of the free world.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/mitt-romney/9428764/Commentary-if-Mitt-Romney-doesnt-like-us-we-shouldnt-care.html
Way to impress your fellow Anglo-Saxons, Mitty!
Ghana president dies suddenly after taking ill
Source: The Globe and Mail
Ghanas President John Atta Mills has died unexpectedly, a presidential statement said, and an aide said his death occurred on Tuesday after he took ill on Monday night.
The death of the president of the worlds number two cacao grower comes months before Mr. Mills was due to stand for re-election at the helm of the West African country that posted double-digit growth in 2011 and has been praised for its strong democracy in a turbulent region.
Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/ghana-president-dies-suddenly-after-taking-ill/article4437582/
It seems to have been very sudden.
Sun News (Canada) really is Fox News North
(Background for non-Ontarians - the LCBO is the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, the government-run chain of liquor stores. It's a holdover from prohibition that is not particularly controversial here, because it brings in a profit for the provincial government, and because the stores are really great, generally. Fox News North disagrees with me on that, though.)
This is idiotic stunt "journalism" at its finest:
(snip)
The stunt was co-ordinated and video recorded by Sun News Network host David Menzies, who has made a career out of lambasting Canada's politically correct institutions.
(snip)
Menzies, long a critic of the LCBO's "monopoly" over liquor sales in the province, attempted to meet with liquor board officials early Monday morning to ask why they were not enforcing their own policy but was sent an e-mail from Layton stating that stores "comply with the requirements of the Liquor License Act," and that they were not interested in discussing the matter on camera.
The article goes on the say that Oregon and Alabama have legal penalties for selling alcohol to minors, therefore privatize the LCBO.
The problem with this "investigative report" is that it faked a scenario so rare that it would be fair to call it inconsequential. Actual Muslim women who are religious enough (or oppressed enough, that's a whole other story) to wear full burqas are really highly unlikely to buy alcohol, because Muslims aren't supposed to drink.
The other thing is that the LCBO is not really controversial, as I said, even for conservative Ontarians. It is actually the single biggest purchaser of alcohol in the world, and we get excellent variety because of that. Also, it brought in a 1.6 billion dollar profit to the province in 2011, and it employs thousands of people.
Still, Sun gets bonus points with their right-wingnut base for taking a swipe at Muslims while bashing their other favourite target, "Canada's politically correct institutions."
Also, I wonder if what he did was illegal - Menzies sent a 14-year-old to buy booze, after all, "journalism" notwithstanding. It would be awesome if he (the adult, not the child) could be charged with something.
I'm just angry at Sun Media for coarsening the political dialogue all around in Canada, and this story really shows a lot of the reasons for my anger. Okay, rant over now.
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2012/07/20120724-071541.html
Mayor Ford to discuss Toronto guns and gangs problem with PM Harper
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/mayor-ford-to-discuss-toronto-guns-and-gangs-problem-with-pm-harper-163513686.htmlPremier Dalton McGuinty emerged from a meeting with Ford on Monday to announce $12.5 million a year in permanent funding for anti-violence strategies, including $5 million for Toronto.
Ford says he'll make a similar request for stable federal funding when he meets Prime Minister Stephen Harper today in Toronto.
But McGuinty says in fairness, the city of Toronto also has to find money to help fight its gun problem.
Based on the Conservative track record, I predict that they will make it even easier to buy guns and ammo, blame brown people and crack down on immigration, cut anti-poverty programs, and build more prisons. Also fire a bunch of public servants and defund the CBC, just for kicks. What I'm saying is that I think Ford and Harper are absolutely not the people who should be trying to solve these problems - their ideology makes them incapable of actually addressing it effectively.
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