tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54728549551222352402024-03-13T14:02:14.531-04:00CANADIAN, EH?Canada's political scene, and the dynamics of our relationship with the USA.Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.comBlogger373125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-13804160142599170162018-03-03T20:53:00.000-05:002018-03-03T20:53:31.116-05:00CAUGHT LOOKING THE WRONG WAY ?As much as I hate to admit, the President of the United States and I are of the same generation. But after a week when most mainstream American media have described the mayhem in their nation's capital, and in particular the White House, as 'Pure Madness' - I am first to admit that sometimes at least, I keep my crazy to myself.<br />
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As best I can: I sympathize with how lonely it must seem being the most powerful man in the world when everyone has concluded you're an idiot. Perhaps just like the great icon of American manufacturing, Henry Ford who became increasingly dictatorial and ever more demented in the post World War II years, Mr. Trump has convinced himself and a handful of 'believers' that America will be great again when dinner is brought to your car window on roller-skated damsels or the 'cinemascope' movie speaker hangs from the driver side window.<br />
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How else to explain the delusional notion of plunging the world into a global war on trade over the manufacture of key components of the great muscle machines of the pre-Viet Nam era: Steel and Aluminium.<br />
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From beer cans, appliances, aircraft, auto making, and God forbid gun-making (Sigh !) more than 6 Million Americans depend directly on jobs which use manufactured steel and aluminium. Less that 100,000 Americans work in the country's ageing steel and aluminium rolling mills, mostly along the mid-Atlantic rust-belt which can't, won't and could not keep-up with domestic demand - Trade Wars are not good for America : They're wars in which.... OH WAIT !... I was going to say everyone loses.<br />
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On second thought, perhaps the one winner over yet another looming trade dispute with our bullying deranged neighbour to the south is our Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and his embattled Cabinet. Even with the many gifts and promises of more in an early Federal Budget Tuesday last; nothing deterred the country's (and much of the world's) attention away from "That India Trip !" Until "The Donald" ill advised and unplanned blurting. Until the next shoe drops, perhaps Mr. Trudeau should be thankful.<br />
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Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-87789424026642546402018-02-24T21:18:00.000-05:002018-02-24T21:18:54.217-05:00PAY ATTENTION AMERICA !We Canadians, in a manner of smugness with which we're really not accustomed, thought we'd cornered the charisma market in the post Obama years after your bizarro President, Donald Trump, was elected and our sophisticated, charming, debonair, young, image obsessed Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, rose to the world's media attention. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-uu7b1EWQqh1siw_533P9PSUtMBmzG6q-0bFGdQSh-lYJFs_Jmct14PyXlzfOzA6-odGOwGhu5H4GQh7bATDqZabYgErAUG69gdIMAcKeOLbYXoKkfuzngVxWrxhL-zjq6pqtV5C3bP4U/s1600/Bandwagon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1245" data-original-width="1600" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-uu7b1EWQqh1siw_533P9PSUtMBmzG6q-0bFGdQSh-lYJFs_Jmct14PyXlzfOzA6-odGOwGhu5H4GQh7bATDqZabYgErAUG69gdIMAcKeOLbYXoKkfuzngVxWrxhL-zjq6pqtV5C3bP4U/s320/Bandwagon.jpg" width="320" /></a>Alas ! When the history of our 23rd Prime Minister is writ...pretty much all that may need mention is "That India Trip" to challenge our preconceived perception and to pinpoint that week in 2018 when the wheels came off the charisma wagon. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiop5FZl3j8Huvu-d0QfwBUPJkF6rATIlJ5Yu4z1yOUyNS-Zp3jHn6tZMLe_Z27jMHOTl7R1UPRj1ql8TUGzVrjZP7cvMG1anLnLF-_J8P8pzZ5ql4ZgzhXHnVHg299c7ABjMgFcFUSyODQ/s1600/Trudeau.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="691" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiop5FZl3j8Huvu-d0QfwBUPJkF6rATIlJ5Yu4z1yOUyNS-Zp3jHn6tZMLe_Z27jMHOTl7R1UPRj1ql8TUGzVrjZP7cvMG1anLnLF-_J8P8pzZ5ql4ZgzhXHnVHg299c7ABjMgFcFUSyODQ/s320/Trudeau.jpg" width="320" /></a>We're about to legalize Marijuana in Canada. I am assuming perhaps that it was the celebratory Indian Ganja shared onboard the Prime Minister and his entourage's flight from Ottawa to India a few days back that kiboshed their official mission. And, somehow and in some unimaginable way (For no particular worthwhile reason) allowed our government's leader to parade and blunder his way, family and retinue in tow, in overly inappropriate Indian outfits across a chunk of southern Asia. All of which, to say the least in just about less than 72 hours, turned a really important international sortie into a bad joke and an international embarrassment. What could they possibly have been thinking ?<br />
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Pundits have suggested that there had been recent hints that bats were slippin' out of the belfry. One of which was a recent overzealous suggestion that the term 'mankind' should really be changed to 'peoplekind' to reflect gender neutrality - A comment Mr. Trudeau subsequently characterized as a silly joke - Be that as it may, the current India brouhaha has likely left the world's media to revise or downgrade some earlier glossy front page adorable fawning over our photogenic Prime-Minister. Even former advisors to other Liberal Prime Ministers have weighed-in with the opinion that there seemed to be little purpose, and clearly no proper planning to this get together of Canadian official misfits on Indian soil. In a blunt editorial even the 'Toronto Star', certainly not a newspaper unsympathetic to Canada's National Liberal Party, calls the India misadventure "(perhaps) the least successful foray into that country since the repelled Mongol invasions of the 13th century." - Yikes ! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfc5JGgkfN0oe_RREW0gPtAPqn0mGPh_nL7J95ihY0iXmDtGuUT0w66OjG3azLY3MxXxLFKtjEzRjk2LVzitNDqWBGW4IrzwDv6K68HTPrioX4ziCUYP2aoshKK2s_K1NmGqV074LU-0ft/s1600/Mr.+Dress+Up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="480" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfc5JGgkfN0oe_RREW0gPtAPqn0mGPh_nL7J95ihY0iXmDtGuUT0w66OjG3azLY3MxXxLFKtjEzRjk2LVzitNDqWBGW4IrzwDv6K68HTPrioX4ziCUYP2aoshKK2s_K1NmGqV074LU-0ft/s320/Mr.+Dress+Up.jpg" width="320" /></a>Canada's trade mission to India may be one for the books, the bad books. But there has also been little if any progress on the sputtering NAFTA talks with the United-States and Mexico, the Trans-Pacific deal (TPP) though still in talks, minus the USA, is progressing at a snails pace and though concluded, there's been little if any more mention of the European Free Trade accord. Later in the spring, Prime Minister Trudeau presides over the G-7 Summit of world leaders at La Malbaie, an idyllic resort on Quebec's lower St. Lawrence River. The conclave will involve Donald Trump's first foray into Canada as President of the United-States. The world has a fairly good take on what Mr. Trump is all about. But in the afterglow of this India imbroglio, we may have suddenly been jolted into a revised notion of Mr. Trudeau's competence playing at the world's leadership table. Let's hope it's not too late to reverse the damage suffered, and that the next time our PM comes to play, he shows up as who 'HE IS' and not as a Mr. Dressup - The clown shoes have already been claimed by someone else already.Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-87645833878873928282018-02-17T21:37:00.000-05:002018-02-17T22:04:52.506-05:00HAWKS AND DOVES<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheFQ2OD50fiFPzJEgMl9HB4NNCiQc5GwCB2hRiFvacG0TQIS5c2lGYlEVZn2oxan-n6oa776qocEZ-uxs97Swkyhx_t1khArqFIT8qRnOKvSL5DcyQgmqbz7fYObyzL7mw55_K2jKcn4gH/s1600/Trump.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheFQ2OD50fiFPzJEgMl9HB4NNCiQc5GwCB2hRiFvacG0TQIS5c2lGYlEVZn2oxan-n6oa776qocEZ-uxs97Swkyhx_t1khArqFIT8qRnOKvSL5DcyQgmqbz7fYObyzL7mw55_K2jKcn4gH/s320/Trump.jpg" width="320" /></a>It's inevitable, the President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, will set foot on Canadian soil when Justin Trudeau hosts the 2018 'G-7 Summit of World Leaders' in the spring, on June 8 and 9. <br />
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The somewhat unorthodox President will join other world leaders from the United-Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Japan as Canadians welcome the most powerful politicians on the planet to our land for the 6th time since the inception of the world body in 1976 when Trudeau 'pere' was added. An informal group of world leaders had been created a couple of years earlier for the most part under the tutelage of Treasury Secretary George Schultz a member of Richard Nixon's Cabinet. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtJg-pIa8xcJPOxB_2vxY7X0u7AH2TFzVbQPyWQIRp9Jcrxy10zRI14Qi4y9R7OgjkktNsSPHdzJ6q0T1c9wQ7TjHbh8H76AelX4gD_rTL9_0gYRuqlKTPRKG5EMN6GChjaNeg3zmHtYL6/s1600/Richelieu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtJg-pIa8xcJPOxB_2vxY7X0u7AH2TFzVbQPyWQIRp9Jcrxy10zRI14Qi4y9R7OgjkktNsSPHdzJ6q0T1c9wQ7TjHbh8H76AelX4gD_rTL9_0gYRuqlKTPRKG5EMN6GChjaNeg3zmHtYL6/s200/Richelieu.jpg" width="200" /></a>The setting for this year's 'tete a tete' is the sumptuous Fairmont Manoir Richelieu in La Malbaie, on the lower north shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec's Charlevoix Region. Mr. Trump should feel right at home: Built in 1899; for most of its first century, the manoir was a summer refuge of rich American patriarchs. Fact of the matter, it was the President of the United-States, William H. Taft (another Republican) who inaugurated the resort's 27 hole championship golf course in 1925. - Lest I digress about the setting, and to Prime Minister Trudeau's credit, at least no 'fake' Muskoka Lake setting will have to be built several miles away to accommodate the world's media as per the case of the 2010 event held (for the most part) secretly in Huntsville, Ontario.<br />
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As a sidebar it's none-the-less interesting to note the dynamics of a the 'Hawk / Dove' like relationships between previous Canadian P.M. and the U.S. President each previous time the G-7 has met on Canadian soil - In 1981 at Montebello, Quebec, Ronald Reagan and Pierre Trudeau met (I sense the excitement). Though it was surely an altogether different atmosphere with the Reagan, Brian Mulroney 'kiss fest' at Quebec City in 1988 - Remember 'Danny Boy' ? ... Clinton faced Chretien at Halifax in 1995, Bush and Harper at Kananaskis, Alberta in 2002, and as referenced already Obama and Harper in Ontario in 2010.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9lfIVdNpwo8m5HGf1S9ni3tPpqQiPnbWPhmX9Tb-EOKK3lf135kDxpzeVAA_yA8uzziiGvdHLqJD647JiuYy0mNw466JdoXQZyyP2rgsQ8en_RG82nihbKcw0O6D03lKj3M3p2DngDBH8/s1600/War+Museum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="281" data-original-width="500" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9lfIVdNpwo8m5HGf1S9ni3tPpqQiPnbWPhmX9Tb-EOKK3lf135kDxpzeVAA_yA8uzziiGvdHLqJD647JiuYy0mNw466JdoXQZyyP2rgsQ8en_RG82nihbKcw0O6D03lKj3M3p2DngDBH8/s200/War+Museum.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
To the degree that it may be possible, the Americans have launched their own charm offensive to pave the way for their unpredictable President's June visit to the G-7 in Canada. Flanked by the cannons, bombs and airplanes of Ottawa's War Museum, in just about her only public appearance since arriving in the nation's capital in October 2017, Mr.Trump's envoy to Canada, U.S. Ambassador, Kelly Craft, told the annual gala of the MacDonald-Laurier Institute last week that "Trump has more in common with (Justin) Trudeau than most people might think" - Her comments were echoed by Texas Republican Congressman Peter Sessions, also in attendance, who was quick to add that it's in America's best interest to "make Canada stronger" ... Oh Dear ! - Lest you ask : Formed in 2010, the MacDonald-Laurier Institute which hosted this bun fest describes itself as a 'Public Policy Think Tank' - ("High Muck a Mucks" my late mother would have called them.) - Last week's $200 a plate dinner to hear Ambassador Craft was a sell-out...Somehow my invite must have been lost in the mail.Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-45652472413684485592018-02-10T21:42:00.000-05:002018-02-10T21:42:02.649-05:00THE TRUMP SLUMPStatistics from 2017 released last week show the United-States has lost its second place to Spain as the world's most 'visited' country. (France is #1) - Experts blame President Trump's travel ban on some primarily Muslim countries as well as his harsh rhetoric about Hispanics and others for this decline. It's also in part due to the 'Make America Great Again' mantra which has been interpreted by some as code for make America white again...an era when and where the white family patriarch always knew best. <br />
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Like so many of us, I grew-up in the years of those popular American television sitcoms, 'Father Knows Best', 'I Love Lucy', 'Leave it to Beaver' and I'd defy anyone to recall when a person of colour, (A Negro as we called them), or an Asian, Hispanic or 'First Nation' American was ever featured, except perhaps as a caricature, though each, as is the case today, then also made-up a substantial percentage of the population of the United-States of America.<br />
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For reasons I really do not quite understand 49.6% of eligible voters in the United-States (about 50 million electors) chose to abstain from voting in the November 2016 Presidential election. Be that as it may, the nation that once prided itself as the world's greatest democracy chose a 'Brand' of some dubious background and character as its leader rather than a person of diplomacy and political know-how. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzCvTASo0TaEopajm2LFeUvkBCPrdJgVPz2KKLVUld1hj5Hhtd0fPqgrNXVoCzrP0Cc8P4eVF7wMBp4tdWs53BSxOSPS23-ObogMoT7fmtioVeWODQJVxbr8wKuu4Al48qi2WGoczyQrEf/s1600/Trump.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzCvTASo0TaEopajm2LFeUvkBCPrdJgVPz2KKLVUld1hj5Hhtd0fPqgrNXVoCzrP0Cc8P4eVF7wMBp4tdWs53BSxOSPS23-ObogMoT7fmtioVeWODQJVxbr8wKuu4Al48qi2WGoczyQrEf/s200/Trump.jpg" width="200" /></a>Most assuredly entrepreneur Donald Trump has set the world on its ear, if not a Twitter, with his silly pronouncements, gross accusations, and blatant untruths. In the process he's tarnished the country's reputation as the leader of the 'free world,' with little if any noteworthy accomplishments to his administration's credit.<br />
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I have no vote in the USA: If I did, I would hope that unlike so many Americans, I would have chosen to cast my democratic ballot in the fall 'Presidentials' of 2016. Though since that election and as those statistics bear out, I have chosen, along with many others, to vote with my wallet and remain on the Canadian side of the border with the United-States. It's a personal choice, easy to make considering that at the close of markets this weekend the Canadian dollar (The Loonie) was discounted just about 25% of the U.S. dollar....Let alone other expenses such as the cost of travel, lodging and most important medical insurance coverage while outside of Canada. Lest I digress: In December of 2015 my Canadian insurer was billed $21,060 US for the 4 1/2 hours I spent at a Florida hospital with a kidney stone.<br />
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I'm prepared to admit, given the frigid winter we endure in this 'Great White North' particularly this year, that my choice to stay-put hasn't been easy. However, In my mind at least it's a choice that defines who I am as a Canadian willing to sacrifice my smallish level of personal comfort rather than enable they who chip away the basic tenets of their democracy.<br />
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I acknowledge and accept that others, Canadians like me, see things differently. That for reasons of their own they shop 'cross-border', travel to, and visit frequently for extended periods of time, months really, as Snowbirds spending hard earned discounted Canadian dollars contributing to making America great again. Canadians who seek admission to the United States are for the most part welcomed as visitors, and they become the guests of a foreign country. It's incumbent upon them to behave as respectful visitors. What I do not accept, and I witness it frequently, almost daily, is that they complain and be critical on social media and elsewhere of the politics of their host while on it's soil - It's impolite, dangerous and akin to biting the hand that's feeding you with your discounted Canadian dollars : If I see and note it - Others too are watching !<br />
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Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-89276462865457892012018-02-05T14:19:00.000-05:002018-02-05T15:29:31.568-05:00ODE TO THE JOY OF FLIGHTJust about a month ago, Delta Airlines Flt 9721 from Newark, New Jersey was the last scheduled passenger flight of the "Queen Of The Sky," the Boeing 747 anywhere in North America. <br />
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Introduced into passenger service by Pan Am in 1970, of the more than one-thousand in world wide service by 1998, just a handful remain flying passengers mostly in the Middle-East, and a few more have been pressed into cargo service around the world.<br />
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I was reminded this week when Canada's second largest air carrier, West Jet, announced the launch of it's no frills airline (Swoop !) next summer, just how miserably challenging travelling by air has become in the first decades of the 21st Century. There was a time when getting to one's destination by air was as much fun, perhaps more some time, than the vacation, event, or activity that would be happening at destination. Air carriers are greedy, the competition cut-throat and passengers are constantly demanding cheaper air fares. Boing has just narrowed the seats on the 747's modern replacement, the 777, by one inch so airlines can fit-in more people.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipn0ba0bgMqEiebMkFLrPTqcgpi3I8YVgnV5XyjQ_UFunnF3MAhTZ4RjDvvQXBC5GncU9DKS7itzr2zT_0WcRLKu88mDcD1dUAIOf5SPd-OCoTehUvQ_y7Vocki7vUsUyi-NMt8prgBr-Z/s1600/Flying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="436" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipn0ba0bgMqEiebMkFLrPTqcgpi3I8YVgnV5XyjQ_UFunnF3MAhTZ4RjDvvQXBC5GncU9DKS7itzr2zT_0WcRLKu88mDcD1dUAIOf5SPd-OCoTehUvQ_y7Vocki7vUsUyi-NMt8prgBr-Z/s320/Flying.jpg" width="232" /></a> I sense passengers in Titanic's steerage class were better treated than tourist class ticket holders on today's air carriers. On Titanic they had meals, fresh air, and space to lie-down - Lest I digress, the voyage most certainly more pleasant than their ultimate destination at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in April of 1912 - In the case of West Jet's Swoop ! launching June 1, the lowest fare I've seen advertised is $9.00 (Hamilton - Winnipeg) "Seat Only", there's a charge for everything else...including carry-on and use of the over-seat bin.<br />
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Launching a 'no frills' discount airline in Canada is challenging - Others have tried, many have failed : Canada 3000, Can-Jet and New Leaf are three that come instantly to mind. - Problem is the small population (About 1/10th of the USA population) and the shear size of the geography, and all of the extra costs related to operating inside the 2nd largest land mass on the planet, next only to Russia.<br />
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In just a week or two, thousands of those same residents of 'The Great White North' will be heading south, family in tow, or if you're college age, with like minded young people, for the annual ritualistic 'Spring Break' pilgrimage to the south coasts of the United-States, or Mexico and/or other destinations in the Caribbean and central America. Guess what ? - Top of mind will be 'how cheap a flight' can they possibly book, boast about, and ultimately suffer through. <br />
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If you are considering being, or still think you want to be among those travellers, be prepared for the cattle-like herding experience of airport line-ups and security, and the somewhat like above described despicably miserable airline experience.<br />
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Consider yourself appropriately advised...Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-75435892719309448382018-02-03T15:23:00.000-05:002018-02-03T17:01:51.965-05:00BUILDING WALLS AND BRIDGES....MAYBE !Tensions along the North American borders, the 'de facto' stalled talks involving Mexico, Canada and the United States over the North American Free Trade Accord (NAFTA), and an increasingly, somewhat hostile, and surely dysfunctional American Administration; add these to a grid-locked Congress and Government, and none augur very favourably to support the construction of new international crossings and / or the infrastructures and facilities which they require and demand.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqOXEoNVdXJ0uy2fW8AnAwpXOYL7ytyBCxwfDHnyEbiy3Q5otK5CpFq7AakfSSje8_XkH1nlMzVOQmRk_35YZWXboVAUFWn0wLCJqlmuT8l4jKHT_5N_ZeXjF07rPhNgtcql7npHlJWHXL/s1600/Edmundston-Madawaska_Bridge.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="125" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqOXEoNVdXJ0uy2fW8AnAwpXOYL7ytyBCxwfDHnyEbiy3Q5otK5CpFq7AakfSSje8_XkH1nlMzVOQmRk_35YZWXboVAUFWn0wLCJqlmuT8l4jKHT_5N_ZeXjF07rPhNgtcql7npHlJWHXL/s1600/Edmundston-Madawaska_Bridge.JPG" /></a> Meantime, all of a sudden along the International Border between Northern Maine (USA) and the Province of New Brunswick (Canada) it seems that no one noticed, until recently that is, that the 100 year old 1,500 Ft steel-span bridge over the St. John River was falling apart. (Figures, eh ? - S'tie !) </div>
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Politicians are like High School students waiting until last minute to start cramming, in this case 'scrambling' for a quick fix - The Edmundston / Madawaska International Bridge is the life-link which joins the local economy. The American owned Twin Rivers Paper Company operates mills in both countries of the community and the busy bridge links the company's Pulp and Cardboard mills in Canada to its Paper and Packaging Labels manufacturing mills in the USA. Alas...the international bridge's deteriorating span has forced a 5 Tons weight restriction on vehicles crossing since last October, and the bridge is too old to fix. - Wait ! - There's more : Since 9/11 Canadian Federal authorities have spent multi-millions of dollars to build new and crucial border inspection facilities at the bridge and there is absolutely no appetite to relocate them - In fact that has been made crystal clear to all concerned. The opposite is true on the American side where the border post dates to near the end of World War 2 and needs to be replaced. Trouble is the current bridge approach on the USA side is way too small to accommodate the mandate from Homeland Security. </div>
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The "locals" have come-up with a 'made at home' proposal to build a new bridge on the Canadian side where the existing border infrastructure exists, and north up river about 1/2 mile where there would be room to build a new USA Border post. Accordingly the new bridge would be diagonal across the river, and about twice as long as the current 100 year old span...and somehow they expect to be granted authority to proceed and build between 2020 and 2022. Well, wait until the upper levels of governments and echelons of the bureaucracy on both sides of the 'divide' get hold of this nose stretcher ! - May I digress ? </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcypbdSLgPx1xyqogFFeTiydigaJXiFqK9MmfmjgTgUcwg812jPc64Ow_FmPrd8lFr2sPSvECExKrOYlpx_FTMqAHegj6MH7joE8yuz33apIEO5KInPBlkwDKlxVeJDnI7uLYZFVBgsuul/s1600/Gordie+Howe+B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="1000" height="92" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcypbdSLgPx1xyqogFFeTiydigaJXiFqK9MmfmjgTgUcwg812jPc64Ow_FmPrd8lFr2sPSvECExKrOYlpx_FTMqAHegj6MH7joE8yuz33apIEO5KInPBlkwDKlxVeJDnI7uLYZFVBgsuul/s320/Gordie+Howe+B.jpg" width="320" /></a>It's 14 years since the Government of Canada proposed building a new bridge across the Detroit River to link Ontario and Michigan and (essentially) replace the (now) 87 year old privately owned 'Ambassador Bridge' over which $2-Billion of trade (The most anywhere in the world) crosses the International Border every day. It's 6 years since, out of sheer frustration and no doubt hoping to score political capital, the Government of Stephen Harper created the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority to manage the (fiction of the) 'Gordie Howe International Bridge' - So far that corporation has spent close to $ 1/2 Billion (Canadian Dollars) and there ain't no bridge ! - President Obama said OK to the bridge if Canada pays for the USA Border Post in Detroit ($250-Million) - We Canadian have also offered an Interest Free loan of $250-Million to Michigan so they can pay their share...The State Legislature said: Umm... No Thanks !</div>
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Wait ! There's more : American Billionaire Matty Maroun owns the Ambassador Bridge and he's been offering for at least a dozen years to build a new bridge AT HIS OWN EXPENSE - Guess what ? - Very quietly late last summer, Mr. Maroun's company outmanoeuvred the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority and received a permit from the Trudeau Cabinet to plan and build a new bridge next to the 'Ambassador' as long as the Ambassador Bridge is torn-down within 5 years of the new one becoming operational . There's much speculation now on both sides of the border these days that 'Gordie Howe' will not see the light of day.</div>
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Perhaps the elected officials of my home town should give Mr. Moroun a call - He's in the Detroit Phone Book.</div>
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Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-47106570853171877332018-01-31T21:07:00.000-05:002018-01-31T21:07:04.970-05:00NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS IN OTTAWA AFTER 8 PMThe 'Me Too' movement triggered in the USA among Hollywood's 'star elite' really has little comparison in English Canada which does not have an American style Star system to speak of. (Alas ! They've all moved to the United States to become stars).<br />
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Lest I digress, French Canadians, primarily in the Province of Quebec, but in some segments elsewhere as well, DO have a star system of their own, and (sadly) in the past 6 or so months some of their idols have also 'fallen' in the face of accusations of sexual impropriety of one form or another.<br />
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But essentially with the English speaking majority of Canadians, it is our politicians whom we cherish and value as 'stars'. - Which may go some distance in explaining the 'selfie' photo phenomenon, here and abroad, of our current Prime Minister. - To be fair, he didn't start it...His father, then bachelor Prime-Minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was arguably responsible for the 1960's 'mania' which catapulted Canadian politicians to some unusual (almost un-Canadian) form of star struck 'stardom' -<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBLdO3gilAY5QJphx66KNezLZCwL-VcMFaHlLk5M-B6TKAPzO2p9nx5VBu9n5clUVrZu_gWGXDwX-Pw12MJoatOBtQQSBhqZUKSPNyLDzifT2UrS1qefUTr9xGc077xmik5DHnoZCRI2QF/s1600/70+Grey+Cup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="614" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBLdO3gilAY5QJphx66KNezLZCwL-VcMFaHlLk5M-B6TKAPzO2p9nx5VBu9n5clUVrZu_gWGXDwX-Pw12MJoatOBtQQSBhqZUKSPNyLDzifT2UrS1qefUTr9xGc077xmik5DHnoZCRI2QF/s320/70+Grey+Cup.jpg" width="204" /></a>Trudeau 'pere' in fact hung out with his fair share of Hollywood's elite, Barbara Streisand among those who come to top of mind, to advance the image. - He more than anyone else may be responsible for the notion that 'nothing good happens in Ottawa after 8:PM' - In reality, "Nothing" (at all) happened in the National Capital of Canada after 8:00 PM until Mr. Trudeau and his entourage arrived in the mid-1960's.<br />
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The concern and resulting upshot now of course is that Canada's Male, primarily English speaking, politicians are being accused, some perhaps tarred, with the same alleged sexual improprieties that America's Movie and Television icons have suffered since film mogul Harvey Weinstein couldn't keep his ... (whatever) ... zipped-up inside his pants.<br />
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As with everything else in life, politics, the movies and reality TV, the pendulum swings far and wide before it is to reach reasonable conclusions. Until then everyone may be vulnerable to allegations of one form or another which are far too frequently anonymous and some surely with little if any merit. Though Alas ! In the age of social media fuelled allegations and fake news as some may allege, instant judgement is frequently rendered whether the allegations are true or false. Many of those accused...perhaps too many, choose to abandon the noble notion of public service rather than mount a reasonable defence of their sullied reputation....One can only hope that somehow, someway, someday the pendulum does not swing too far not to return to sensibility.<br />
Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-3226033040929628562018-01-30T18:08:00.000-05:002018-01-30T18:19:08.965-05:00MR. TRUMP'S AMERICAWOW ! - Here we are and I am reminded, thank you Google, that it's been 7 years since I last posted here. Oh so many things have changed, far too many to acknowledge...but on the eve of America's 45th President's first address to the nation and to our world in Mr. Trump's first 'State of the Union' address -<br />
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The President's ' America First' and 'Make America Great Again' rhetoric of the last 12 months probably haven't helped to make any of us quite so sure anymore whether the 'world' sits by waiting breathless about what he will blurt-out next. Without acknowledging same, I suspect what we suspect, and what reality dictates, is that Mr. Trump has not been changed by his elected leadership of the United-States of America, but rather that over the past 12 months he has succeeded in changing America....and that, we all should regret. Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-30815423503591271622011-12-18T11:22:00.001-05:002011-12-18T13:04:45.176-05:00PEACEKEEPING? NOT ANYMORERegardless of ones political affiliations, the conclusion is: Ours is the country it is today because of the Liberal Party's dominance over both the political landscape and Canada's agenda for nearly 70 years of the last century.<br />
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The policies, the legislation, the vision advanced and practiced by the 'natural governing party' of the 20th Century defined Canadians as peace loving, tolerant, multicultural, bilingual, charitable, socially responsible people within a prosperous nation. <br />
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So why is the current government of Prime Minister Harper turning us away from our present and our future in what appears to be a truly transformative shift in character and value - A root-and-branch supplanting of one kind of country for another - as someone recently described the apparent transformation?<br />
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In a comment this weekend in 'The Globe And Mail,' political activist Gerald Caplan warns to be afraid of the "new" Canada being invented by Mr. Harper and his associates. Perhaps it's worth noting that Mr. Caplan in 1985 was appointed by another Conservative Prime-Minister, Brian Mulroney, to co-chair (with Florian Sauvageau) a Federal Task Force on Canadian Broadcasting Policy which ultimately led to the Broadcasting Act of 1988. (I digress!) - Of the current Conservative leader, Caplan concludes: "It's in the nature of true believers and ideologues to believe that any means to their sacred ends are justified...It's also typical of such people that they're often motivated by unfathomable resentment and anger, a compulsion not just to better but to destroy their adversaries."<br />
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From the session of Parliament just ended there's at least anecdotal evidence on several fronts of the government's efforts to create a Conservative mythology as opposed to a Liberal mythology - Instead of peacekeepers, we're now warriors; the "royal" prefix has been restored to the military; Canada's embassies must now feature portraits of The Queen; the list is long and growing but it seems to suggest a very deliberate and calculated attempt to re-shape Canadian symbolism, nationalism and values back to those cherished by the mid-war generation of which John Diefenbaker was a prominent member. And, more importantly to ignore Canada's evolution as an independent country with an identity of its own.<br />
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Some critics see the government's crime and justice initiatives, the changes at the Wheat Board and to the Long-Gun registry, our planned massive military spending and other recent legislated initiatives as borrowed elements of the "Tea Party" revolution from the United-States, and the hard right Republican "destroy the enemy politics" now so prevalent as the American Presidential campaign gets under way.<br />
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In the 2010 best seller "Harperland," author Lawrence Martin portrays a leader firmly in control of his political agenda, and a man..."who goes to extraordinary lengths to see it implemented." - In a new book due out next spring -"Warrior Nation: Rebranding Canada in a Fearful Age" co-authors Ian McKay and Jamie Swift of Queen's University take the notion several steps further arguing that: "The Harper government is operating very much like a regime mounting and ideological crusade to rebrand the country." A crusade that Mr. Swift has told the 'National Post' involves the "dismantling" of institutions which interfere with values such as the Puritan work ethic and respect for authority.<br />
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Maybe Gerald Caplan is right: "Be very afraid: Stephen Harper is inventing a new Canada" - I don't like it!<br />
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<br />Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-7689694672050639542011-12-12T20:35:00.001-05:002011-12-13T11:59:56.439-05:00....AND THE ROCKET'S RED GLAREAt this juncture it is still difficult to predict how our American friends and neighbours will ultimately react to plans by the Government of Canada to mark, note and celebrate every aspect of the bicentennial of the "War of 1812" which will be getting underway in earnest shortly after the clock strikes twelve on New Year's Day.<br />
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Despite the cutbacks and austerity measures which will kick-in in the immediate aftermath of the Federal Government's early spring budget, Mr. Harper's Government has earmarked millions of tax dollars for celebrations and commemoration of the war between the American States and British North American troops, French Canadian compatriots and First Nations' Aboriginals (who sided with the Empire) and fought-off and won against U.S. aggression between 1812 and 1814.<br />
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From the iconic Johnny Horton top 40 tune "The Battle of New Orleans" of the early 1960's all the way back to America's cherished national anthem "The Star Spangled Banner," written by poet Francis Scott Key as he witnessed the British/Canadian assault on Fort McHenry in 1814; the defeat of the Americans in the War of 1812 strikes at the very "being" of the United States.<br />
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Perhaps fortunately for us north of the border, the commemorations about to get underway may be overshadowed by the lead-up to, the debates, the conventions, the campaigns and the confrontations of the crucial November 2012 next election of the President of the United States.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not exactly as illustrated, but you get the idea!</td></tr>
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Regardless, unlike tensions rising elsewhere on the planet, the United-States has little to fear from the Harper Government's somewhat misguided efforts (American style) to encourage Canadian patriotism over the next 5 years leading to Canada's Sesquicentennial of 2017. On the other side of the world matters of far greater and immediate concern, including Vladimir Putin's campaign for the Russian Presidency; tensions with the rogue states of Iran and North Korea; ongoing irritants with Paskistan over the prosecution of the Afghan War; and the country's accumulating massive debt to China (a significant contributor to America's spiralling economic crisis) - and surely many other things in between, will end-up by default on the next President's agenda.<br />
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As with the case of the legendary Laura Secord, the Canadian milk maid of the aforementioned War of 1812, through Mata Hari, the Dutch exotic dancer of the Great War, and the U-2 spy-plane flown by Col. Francis Gary Powers which crashed 'intact' in Russia in 1960 - In matters of human conflict; access to unprocessed, wholesome and relevant strategic information about your enemy is as important as prosecuting an offensive. Thus, though publicly low-key, in official Washington there has been some consternation over the loss of the on-board secret technology of the pilot less drone spy-plane which crashed (apparently also intact) in Iran on December 4. - In the relentless campaign to unseat President Barack Obama from the White House next year, some Republican candidates are even advocating early military strikes against the Iranians...I digress!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQyUpH_Xf-T1ZejTGKkTLFqmh48iKQK1iN7LueiL3WWyawydfxYFnKyep5M_EpzWSsawUFG5JpoF84FSUzEDbJJMNeGRDhimE1FNTquISnqKPJji-I7KqUnBN0HMkJnrVr4fHqMUYEi72/s1600/5241401185_21641460c1_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQyUpH_Xf-T1ZejTGKkTLFqmh48iKQK1iN7LueiL3WWyawydfxYFnKyep5M_EpzWSsawUFG5JpoF84FSUzEDbJJMNeGRDhimE1FNTquISnqKPJji-I7KqUnBN0HMkJnrVr4fHqMUYEi72/s320/5241401185_21641460c1_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A prototype of the X-37B after an initial test flight in 2010.</td></tr>
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But whether it is in flights over its own borders with Canada and Mexico, or in spy-like missions flying over rogue states like Iran and North Korea; like its U-2 predecessor, America's reliance on the low-flying technology of pilot less drone aircraft is probably close to ending anyway. Behold the X-37B space drone...An ultra-secretive shuttle-like vehicle currently orbiting the planet at 17,000 miles per hour. The United-States Air Force confirmed just a few days ago that its initial 9-months "mission" is being extended. Of course the Air Force will not confirm the objective of the X-37B, but most skeptics think that the vehicle's mission is somehow defence and/or spy-related. In fact, amateur astronomers accidentally detected the orbital pattern of a prototype in May 2010. According to their data the X-37B's orbits included flyovers of, you guessed it: North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.<br />
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The manufacturer of the current variant of the X-37B, the Boeing Corporation, confirms that the space plane was launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida last March. Coincidentally just last month, NASA turned-over its "Orbiting Processing Facility No.3" to the Boeing Corporation. It's being described in the local press as a..."first-of-a-kind agreement allowing a private company to take over the government property." - Orbiting Processing Facility No.3 was previously used to ready the Space Shuttle for flight. A government austerity program ended the Space Shuttle program this past summer after more than 20 years.<br />
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In the spy business, staying just ahead of the competition is a daunting task. As pretty much everyone expected, but hoped against in the aftermath of the launch of "Sputnik" in October 1957, Space (the final frontier) has incrementally changed from an experimental planetary test laboratory to a giant "eye in our sky". We are no longer alone, indeed!<br />
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<br />Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-85588523930915630662011-12-08T12:16:00.001-05:002011-12-08T14:30:33.810-05:00RUMOURS OF ITS DEMISE GREATLY EXAGERATED?America's Presidential re-election campaign is getting underway. So in politics this is just about ancient history: But four years ago, it was the young voters of the United-States who engaged the movement of hope and aspiration that swept Barack Obama into office.<br />
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Conversely, last May back home in Canada's national election more than half of the population under the age of 45 did not bother to vote, in very large measure because they felt ignored and treated as a nuisance by the mainstream parties. The median Canadian age was 26 years old when the message of optimism and his charisma swept Pierre Trudeau to power in 1968. Today's typical Canadian voter is in his early 60's. <br />
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Facing as it seems currently a 'live-or-die' moment in history, pundits have been quick to flesh-out obituaries of the Liberal Party of Canada, for 69 years the country's natural governing party during the last century. The latest by way of author Peter C. Newman's who's Christmas bookstore offering is aptly titled: "When the Gods Changed. The Death of Liberal Canada." <br />
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There is a perfectly valid reason why young Canadian voters lost interest and disengaged from the last Federal election and the several previous others of the first decade of the 21st Century - Young voters have found little to interest them in the Harper Government's Conservative agenda of military boosterism, bigger prisons and border security, while it scales down social policy and trims government's engagement into the lives of Canadians. And at least as author Newman sees it, the Liberals: mired in internal leadership dissension, a lack of fresh ideas, arrogance and scandal could not (or would not) capitalize on welcoming and engaging "young" Canada into the national conversation.<br />
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The net result; for the first time since Confederation the Liberals are the third party in the House of Commons and right now they can't even be sure if they'll ever return. I am reminded of course that the Progressive-Conservatives in the Federal Election of 1993 were virtually wiped-out, electing just 2 members to the Commons, Elsie Wayne in southern New Brunswick and Jean Charest in eastern Quebec, and ending-up fifth in House standings. The P-C's subsequent overhaul led to the eventual morphing of the right-of-centre Harper "Conservatives" steeped in the doctrine (perhaps dogma) of Reverend Ernest Manning (Preston's father) the Evangelical Radio Pastor who ruled as Alberta's Premier from 1943 to 1968. <br />
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Alas! Lest I digress: Manning advocated the polarization of political viewpoints in Canada. He argued that the country would be better off with two political parties, One on the Left - One on the Right. Sound familiar? Well beware, because that is precisely the scenario Canadians have witnessed with growing angst and anxiety playing-out in the bitter, divisive, angry bi-partisan struggles which have paralyzed both the Congress of the United-States and the Obama Administration. And, which predictably will only worsen as the next Presidential election is further engaged.<br />
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Over the course of the 20th Century the Liberal Party made Canada the country that it is today. In about a month, for 3 days in Ottawa, Liberals will gather for a convention of the faithful which may very well be its most important since the Party was founded on July 1, 1867. Partisans will consider and adopt a "Road Map to Renewal" - They must get it right, the stakes are that high, and the country's future may depend on it. A key responsibility which must be exercised is to engage young Canadians into our national conversation. There now exists technology that was unimaginable just 10 years ago to do it, and an enormously savvy generation of its users just waiting to be asked.<br />
<br />Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-76537616976908931622011-12-03T19:46:00.001-05:002011-12-03T21:54:51.044-05:00CLASH OF TITANSPrime Minister Harper travels to Washington on Wednesday this week for a "Tete a Tete" with President Obama. It's expected the two will (finally) announce a conclusion to Canada's heralded and much anticipated "perimeter security initiative." Thrown-in for good measure, Obama will call on the IRS to "heal" its operatives who have been dogging Canadian / American (dual) citizens over paying-up penalties on alleged taxes they don't owe.<br />
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Harper will save face over the embarrassment of "Perimeter Security" which has now dragged-on for just short of a year, while Obama gets breathing room to launch his Presidential re-election campaign freed of the pesky, whinny Canadians from across his northern border.<br />
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Rather than resolving substantive bi-lateral matters, the "Perimeter Security" accord will be front-loaded with "Pilot" projects of every form and nature. For an additional good neighbourly gesture, the IRS will confirm that it's decided to cast its "net" beyond Canada over the recent strict enforcement of long ago forgotten but decades-old "Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts" tax provisions which have threatened to force most holders of dual citizenship living in Canada (and their dependants) into long legal battles and/or personal bankruptcy over penalties and debts they've likely never owed.<br />
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Our cross border irritants and tensions seemingly eased once more, despite the winter's holiday line-ups at checkpoints, Canadians will carry-on with our national spending and travel obsession south of the border. And fueled by our relatively strong currency, it seems we may be poised to set new records for travel to the United-States. 2011 third-quarter (July-August-September) numbers just released by Statistics Canada indicate that we took 12.3 Million trips to the United-States during the period. If the trend is maintained, the result could be as many as 50-Million Canadian visits to the USA in 2011, versus about 20-million by USA visitors to Canada.<br />
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The State of Florida is a major beneficiary as the main destination for longer-term visits by Canadians. As the "Sunshine State" struggles through a fourth consecutive year of moribund economic prospects, one of the few bright lights on its horizon has been the increase (up 14% in 2010) of visitors from Canada attracted primarily to the ever growing family themed parks and entertainment facilities clustered within 50 (or so) miles of Orlando. This Monday, Walt Disney would have turned 110 years old. In the mid-1960's through a series of dummy corporations Disney acquired and accumulated almost 28,000 acres of central Florida land. Though he died before its completion, the Disney Corporation is not only (by far) Florida's largest land-holder, but Disney World is the world's most popular vacation destination. The state Titans appear to be on a collision course.<br />
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A Tea-Party favourite, the state's Republican Governor Rick Scott has been courting the international casino-resort investment community to take a look at developing major Las Vegas type venues primarily in the Miami Beach and Tampa/St.Petersburg areas. A matter which isn't sitting very well with Disney's traditional squeaky-clean family-friendly vacation-postcard well lubricated and financed image of Florida. Proposed gambling destination resorts are on the drawing board by the Sands Corporation and by the Wynn Corporation of Las Vegas. But it's the acquisition of 30 acres of Biscayne Bay property in Miami for $240-Million by the Genting Corporation of Malaysia which has most upset the folks at Disney, as well as the Florida Chamber of Commerce whose Chairman is (guess who?) an Executive of Walt Disney World.<br />
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Come January, Florida faces a budget shortfall of more than $2.5 Billion and an ongoing unemployment rate which is close to 11%. The allure of casino gambling destination resorts, the thousands of low-level jobs they would create and the revenues generated have vast appeal for the government. The battle of Titans is engaged and the daunting opponent is Disney; (by far) Florida's most powerful corporation. It may be interesting to hear just how loud a Mouse can roar.<br />
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<br /></div>Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-23874428525745067032011-11-28T14:39:00.001-05:002011-11-28T19:27:39.650-05:00ONE IF BY LAND, TWO IF BY SEAEnd of another month; a good time to clear-up accumulated tidbits from under the corners of the desk blotter:<br />
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SOMEONE MAY GET IT RIGHT (EVENTUALLY): Investigators poring through the ruins of the lost Mayan civilization of Mexico claim they've uncovered a "second" reference to the Apocalypse predicted for the winter's Solstice next year, December 21, 2012. Experts had previously claimed the existence of just one reference, on a stone tablet uncovered from the ruins of Tortuguero on the Gulf coast. But over the weekend, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology confirmed the existence of another reference amongst stone carvings at the Mayan ruins of Comalcalco in southern Mexico. - It was just over a month ago that California based evangelical broadcaster Harold Camping scored "0 for 3" when once again the world refused to end as he'd three times before predicted. After his initial "miscalculation" in the 1990's, the Reverend Camping claimed (as God is my witness) that May 21, 2011 would be Judgement Day. - Then, when it did not, he said the actual day of reckoning would be October 21: That day too passed without incident. Someone is bound to score...<br />
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ENJOY THAT MIDDLE SEAT IN COACH: First-Class and Business-Class passengers make-up just about 8% of all airline traffic; but they account for almost one-third of revenues for an industry which is once again profitable after languishing for more than a decade. Ten years which claimed many of the carriers through bankruptcy. Though the airlines still manage to squeeze the very last penny from the vast majority who fly the cheap-seats; after the pilot, the "full-fare" business executive is nowadays the most important person on the plane. Airlines in the United-States have earmarked $2-Billion this year to upgrade amenities for their highest-paying regulars. The airlines are focusing on three specific areas: Giving long-haul passengers a full night's sleep - Stimulating their taste buds at mealtime - Providing "escapes" from the chaos of airport terminals. For the rest of us who's free meals, leg room and blankets were long ago stripped-away; it was always a special place on the other side of "the curtain". Now, it's getting even cushier.<br />
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THERE IS AN UPSIDE TO THE ILLEGALS: The Roman-Catholic Church of the United-States is being pulled back from dwindling attendance, closed houses of worship, and a shortage of worshippers, practitioners and pastors. The continued growth of America's Hispanic population is in the process of changing the U.S. Catholic Church more than any other institution in the country along our southern border. More than one-third of practicing Catholics in the United-States now claim Hispanic Heritage, that's more than tripple the 10% reported in a survey conducted in 1987. The majority have a Mexican ancestry and a large number are recent arrivals. The feast of "Santa Maria de Guadalupe," the Blessed Virgin who tradition claims appeared to Aztec peasant Juan Diego in 1531, now ranks with Christmas and Easter as the most popular events at most churches.<br />
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MAPLE SYRUP BARBECUE SAUCE: The Bouchard family of Frenchville, Maine along the Northern New Brunswick border has made a name for itself amongst Acadian / 'Cajun' descendants as purveyors of buckwheat flour. The flour is the essential element for the local delicacy known as "Ployes"- a flatbread-like pancake. Another St. John River valley transplant born in nearby Fort Kent, Maine, Pete Morin, is now marketing "Maple Leaf Red Dipping Sauces". Hand-written recipes from a long ago abandoned family restaurant are at the base of the "secret sauce". A new more powerful "Rocket Sauce" is now being developed. Morin told a local journalist recently that the "rocket" will put your (chicken) wings into orbit without shooting flames out your arse! Must be the maple syrup at work.Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-77966431628685015272011-11-24T10:41:00.001-05:002011-11-24T12:56:36.378-05:00TURN THE OTHER CHEEK...Granted our neighbours south may not have quite as much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Holiday long weekend as in the halcyon days of the American economic Juggernaut of decades past. One inalienable aphorism remains: Americans should be thankful for Canada.<br />
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The week's cover story in our national news magazine, "Maclean's" aims at the heart of the matter in a thought provoking review of recent concerns and political developments which should occasion reflection on both sides of our shared international border: "The U.S. and Canada: We used to be friends."<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Peace Arch:Children of a common mother</td></tr>
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However as Washington State "MarketWatch" contributor Bill Mann writes today..."we Americans should take the occasion of our own Thanksgiving here to be thankful for having such a friendly (and understanding) neighbor(sic) as Canada. We could, but we probably won't. That's because like the vast majority of Americans. I know all too well from personal experience, know very little - and care even less - about Canada. This could have negative repercussions in the future. Bad karma and all that."<br />
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Former Presidential candidate and U.S. Senator John McCain told a Canadian television audience last Sunday that he believes it's "legitimate" for Canada to feel snubbed by (recent) moves from south of the border. McCain was commenting specifically about the Obama Administration's decision to postpone approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline beyond next year's Presidential election. The Senator says: "there's a strong suspicion on my part and many others that this was a political decision rather than one based on facts." - Though his are hardly comforting words from a political "has-been" accused of similar political expediencies during his own failed 2008 Presidential bid; still there is a strong element of truth in his claim: "When we do things that seem to take our Canadian friends for granted and take your allegiance and friendship for granted, there's an understandable reaction in Canada."<br />
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On the pipeline, to a limited degree, there may be agreement that an extremely well organized environmental lobby of movie stars and personalities, perhaps financed (in part at least) by wealthy and powerful corporate land owners in Nebraska, backed Obama into a corner as he struggles to re-rail his political career. - There are several other irritants between us which speak of an America indifferent of a best friend, closest neighbour, powerful ally, and the biggest trading and economic relationship on the planet. - The "Buy American" provisions of the jobs bill before Congress; A $5.50 head tax (starting January first) on Canadians flying or sailing into the United-States; the post 9/11 "thickening" of the (once proudly) longest undefended border in the world, including not very neighbourly Predator Drones overflying the Canadian border.<br />
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Our neighbours either don't know, or collectively choose to ignore, that Canada (not the Saudis, nor Libya, or Iraq) is the largest supplier of oil to the United-States; that more North-American automobiles are assembled in Ontario than anywhere else in the world; that more trade flows in each direction over ONE SINGLE BRIDGE - The "Ambassador Bridge" between Detroit and Windsor - than between all of the United-States and Japan!<br />
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This weekend at border crossings into small communities along the 5000 miles from Calais, Maine to Point Roberts, Washington; Canadians will wait in line for hours at security/inspection check-points, fight through American shopping mall crowds, hopefully to score "black Friday" bargains - Dozens of cash strapped U.S. border towns and cities are banking on the strong Canadian dollar for their economic survival...and we'll oblige by being friendly, neighbourly and helpful.<br />
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United States "MarketWatch" contributor Bill Mann concludes: "I don't know if Canadians have long memories, but I know they've been long on patience with the U.S. And for that if nothing else Americans should be thankful this holiday. Let's just hope Canada stays as understanding as it always has about Americans' mistreatment of its good neighbors(sic)." - I'm Canadian - I'll give him the last word. - Happy Thanksgiving!Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-19401757589936805032011-11-18T10:12:00.001-05:002011-11-18T14:51:28.437-05:00THE BURST BUBBLING UNDER THE SURFACEUnrealistic mortgage rates and super-inflated home prices imploded the American economy in 2008, and despite what the politicians would want us to believe, it's an economic disaster from which the United-States (now saddled with a $15-Trillion national debt) may never recover. <br />
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Now, as the Euro-Zone's economic Titanic sinks below the water-line, a cynic from 'across the pond' remarked sarcastically this week that the only thing keeping the U.S. economy afloat these days is that it's owned by China: Alas! I digress.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Handyman fixer-upper - Not cheap!</td></tr>
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I note with a certain level of of dread and apprehension the monthly (October) report of the Canadian Real Estate Association which now pegs the average price of a Canadian home listed and subsequently sold on the MLS service at $362,899 - an increase of almost 6% since October of 2010 - Clearly we too north of the border are being lulled by unrealistically cheap credit which is bloating housing prices substantially beyond their "real" value. And as (inevitably) that wave of bad credit and worthless debt from overseas eventually crashes upon our shores; credit rates will rise, over leveraged mortgage holders will fold, housing prices will collapse - Well...just look south of the 49th parallel for the rest of the story.<br />
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The international Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has already singled-out Canada as a country facing significant challenges from our steady climb in consumer debt. Experts note that with the Canadian and U.S. economies so closely linked to one another, what happens in the United-States has a significant impact in Canada.<br />
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Recently, OECD's concerns motivated Pacifica Partners, a Capital Management business based in Surrey, B.C., to take another look at the "Misery Index", a tool which faded from the political discourse during the economic halcyon days of the 1980' and 90's. In the 1960's, an adviser to U.S. President Lyndon Johnson came up with the idea to measure the general economic hardships felt by the masses. The "Misery Index" is calculated by adding the unemployment rate to the inflation rate. Pacifica Partners believes that..."with rising inflationary rates and stubbornly high unemployment rates in both Canada and the the US, this index may be more relevant than ever." - The "index" calculated currently for ordinary Canadians isn't anywhere near the "gleeful experience" we have been told by bankers and (especially) politicians that we are experiencing.<br />
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Pacifica Partners concludes that the Canadian Misery Index..."has stealthily marched higher after hitting a low in the first quarter of 2008." Fueled by unemployment, inflation and cost of living, "misery" has risen sharply to levels above the psychological level of 10%. South of the border, Wall Street's recovery may have brought back the market for mansions in the Hamptons, on Long Island, and for luxury co-ops in New York City. The "real" reality Canadian homeowners could be about to face is pretty much that with which middle-class Americans have been dealing for almost 5 years.<br />
<br />
In the housing market inhabited by most Americans, prices have fallen 30% or more since 2007. That is a steeper decline than during the Great Depression. Some people have had their homes on the market for over a year without a single offer. Almost a quarter of American homeowners owe more on their house than it's worth. Another quarter have less that 20% equity and about half of all U.S. homeowners could not get a mortgage if they applied for one today.<br />
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Not very pretty, but a reality far too many over-leveraged and mortgaged Canadians may be about to encounter.<br />
<br />Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-84764924355536831622011-11-12T18:00:00.001-05:002011-11-12T19:15:33.069-05:00ADVENTURES FROM THE ROAD...Heck Y'All (I am in North Carolina), over the years I have posted too many of these road adventures to even recall what "Road Story" post number this is -<br />
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NOW, THEY TOO ARE LIKE AIRLINES: The times they are changing and apparently getting tougher: Friends who weekended at an Orlando, Florida hotel recently noted a $20 per day Resort and Amenity fee tacked-on to their bill at check-out. Industry experts claim that is just one significant part of the latest in North American hotel trends: Some have begun adding a $12 housekeeping surcharge, and a fee for storing your luggage in the lobby. And, Beware - The advent of pump dispensers in hotel bathrooms is bad news for guests obsessed with the tiny bottles and individually wrapped soaps that have been their beloved amenities.<br />
<br />
ONE SURE THING ABOUT AMERICA'S BAD ECONOMY: Have you seen one too many TV ads about ambulance chasing injury lawyers. Since most Canadian cable TV viewers access U.S. television networks via the Cancom system based in Windsor, Ontario; we get to watch Detroit television stations. The visually challenged Sam Bernstein Family Law Practice is just about as well known north of the U.S. border as any Canadian superstar. Well, it seems that advertising for "at fault injury lawyers" has been multiplying on U.S. television because the bad economy means bad drivers have been staying off the roads. As America's economy has sputtered motorists curbed their driving. In a published report, one Florida Lawyer was quoted recently: "There's been a little bit of a drop in activity...it's been slow for all lawyers."<br />
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RUN FOR THE BORDER: America's Thanksgiving Holiday is celebrated just about 6 weeks after Canadians mark our annual turkey day. Friends along the border with the State of Maine and the Province of New Brunswick claim they are dealing with an altogether new (and surely somewhat) unexpected "issue".<br />
The "right of way" which is being cleared through the boreal forest for a Maritimes and Northeast (electric and natural gas) energy corridor has become a conduit for a new type of U.S. illegal immigrants - The eastern wild turkey. It seems that the gobblers are just in time to avoid the zealous axing of modern day American Pilgrims and the annual food orgy they'll mark once again on November 24, 2011.<br />
<br />
11-22-63: Speaking of the State of Maine: Portland native and Bangor resident, icon of the macabre Stephen King, will publish next week the fictional adventure of Jake Epping who travels to Dallas in November of 1963 and somehow manages to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. King's book "11-22-63" explores how America might be different had JFK been elected a second term President. Perhaps not quite the fictional "macabre" for which Stephen King is known best. Nonetheless probably an interesting read for students of the "what if?" - King says he's had the scenario in the back of mind since the early 1970's.<br />
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LAST AND (THANK GOODNESS) LEAST: A story making the cocktail rounds in Washington D.C. purports that a black Congresswoman from a Houston area district has complained to the Miami based U.S. National Hurricane Center that the names of all tropical storms are too 'Caucasian" sounding. She also notes that during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, black people had difficulty understanding the seriousness of the situation, and is alleged to have scolded officials, for not broadcasting in a language that "street people" can understand. Waz-Up Wit Dat?Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-90967024806522995172011-11-07T15:22:00.004-05:002011-11-07T15:22:59.722-05:00....AND THIS IS NOW!Like most of my generation, I mourn our collective loss of innocence in the decade since the attacks on New York, Washington and Shankville, Pennsyslvania. I was born and raised along the border, and I've witness far too frequently just how much the security measures, now common place in the post 9/11 world, complicate and divide lives, friends, commercial enterprises, business relationships and even families.<br />
<br />Within weeks of the September 2001 events, the United-States launched a massive security build-up which is still growing pretty much unabated along our shared border where for centuries people had crossed back and forth to shop, work or visit relatives with only a nod from a friendly Customs Officer.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Windsor - Detroit's Ambassador Bridge<br />
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Canadians acknowledge and accept the need for enhanced security in the United-States and that "our" lives will never be quite the way they were. But the disruptions and changes remain a source of frequent frustrations on both sides for residents of the cities, towns, villages and communities which dot our shared 8891 kilometer / 5557 miles border; the longest (once friendliest) on the planet. There are nightmarish stories recounted by emergency responders (fire and ambulance) on mutual-aid calls held-up by overzealous border agents. Small towns struggling with soured economic conditions: Has anyone been to Van Buren, Caribou or Madawaska, Maine recently? Towns like Ogdensburg, Messina and Watertown, New York reduced to advertising their "economic opportunities" in far off large Canadian city newspapers.<br />
<br />
Mindful of our long standing and mutually beneficial economic trading relationships with the United-States; successive Canadian governments, provincial and state authorities, and business, manufacturing and trade organizations (often from both sides) have sought to ease cross-border passage if not frequent tensions. Mired by paranoid patriotic fervor the Bush Administration, First - (and) - Overwhelmed by economic and political turmoil the Obama Administration, Second - have neither expressed nor entertained any genuine interest in effecting change. Most recently plans for a new crossing over the Detroit River suffered a crippling setback in the Michigan State Senate, the American federal government re-introduced a $5.50 per person levy on Canadians entering the USA, and President Obama's multi-billion dollar pre-election jobs creation scheme hinges on "Buy America" provisions. The much touted, ballyhooed and delayed "Perimeter Security Framework" has turned into an irritant for Canadians, and an embarrassment for the Harper government.<br />
<br />
Whether it's a matter of how Canada gets routinely sideswiped when the U.S. is really targeting someone else (that has been suggested by some observers) or bad manners and discrimination; the cacophony from our noble friend and ally down south has grown somewhat tedious, irksome and alas, wearisome!<br />
<br />
The message may be starting to get through: Since North Americans and the world were turned upside down by terrorism a decade ago, instead of working together as neighbours on common strategies to reduce internal problems and re-build damaged economies we hop from crisis to crisis and Band-Aid solutions. Perhaps out of frustration but always with the political correctness required of his office, Canada's Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty, said recently that U.S. politics can sometimes be "dysfunctional." - Someone else remarked: "Once the presidential race fully takes off in January, "dysfunctional" may look like a compliment.<br />
<br />Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-33462244808700451652011-11-03T09:27:00.000-04:002011-11-03T09:31:08.408-04:00BE AFRAID, VERY AFRAIDIt is said that the Evening News is where they begin with - 'Good Evening;' and then proceed to tell you why it is not. As this is written the European Common Market, the "Euro Zone" is at the brink of financial and political collapse after Greece backed-off a pledge to fix its debt crisis, proposing instead to bring the matter before a national referendum. (Beware of Greeks bearing referendums!)<br />
<br />
The net result being that the long simmering worldwide deep-Recession, a troublesome Depression for many, which began when banks in the United-States over-extended their own credit in 2008 does not appear to be going anywhere north of the ledger for the foreseeable future. Investors and retirees who squirreled away their nest-eggs 15 years ago in so-called safe instruments saw the value rise until 2001 then flatten-out and stagnate. Check the major stock market indices: They are hovering over the same territory as ten years ago. Little wonder that desperate people have taken to the streets in shiftless and pointless "occupy" protests.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Weather extremes so severe that some regions <br />
may be only "marginally habitable".</td></tr>
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Just as the planet's population topped 7-Billion souls earlier in the week, scientists issued a warning that there are too many of us here..."global warming isn't the sole villain in future climate disasters. An even bigger problem will be the number of people who live in harm's way." - One of two conclusions reached in a yet unpublished report of a Nobel Prize winning panel of experts working for the United-Nations and the World Meteorological Organization. A draft summary of the report was leaked to the Associated Press in the United-States probably because its authors fear their conclusions will be "watered-down" by U.- N. officials, politicians and diplomats after a scheduled meeting to review its content in Uganda near the end of the month.<br />
<br />
To digress: Critics of The Bilderberg Group, the highly secretive club of influential business tycoons, financiers and politicians formed in 1954, have accused the "club" of fomenting a plan to reduce the planet's population to a sustainable 500-million to 1-billion people....<br />
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The leaked report obtained by the Associated Press says our future together is one of grim floods, more heat waves, more droughts, typhoons, stronger hurricanes and, if the world economy wasn't already bad enough, far greater costs to deal with weather catastrophes. It warns that extremes occasioned by climate change may eventually grow so severe that some locations become..."increasingly marginal as places to live." (!)<br />
<br />
AP says the report claims the world will have more extreme spells of 'heat' peaking as much as 5 degrees (C) hotter by 2050 and as much as 9 degrees by the end of the century. Weather reports being compiled in the United-States show already that 2,703 specific daily high temperature records were set this past summer (2011). According to Weather Underground Meteorology, that makes it the hottest summer in the U.S. since the height of the Great Depression Dust Bowl of 1936. - Maybe there's a noteworthy parallel here!<br />
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Perhaps there is a valid reason after all why the mysterious centuries' old "Mayan Calendar" expires in December 2012.<br />
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<br />Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-78747193979523235422011-10-30T13:15:00.001-04:002011-10-30T13:22:33.424-04:00HAWAII CALLSClearly the Prime Minister and his handlers have (somehow) managed to convince the President of the United-States to appear and appease Mr. Harper's long sought photo opportunity over the penning of "Perimeter Security" lite: Booyah! And so what, if that pesky Mexican guy must tag along.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three Amigos - Not exactly as shown.</td></tr>
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High-Fives at the PMO in Ottawa as the White House confirmed late on Friday that President Obama is convening the North American government leaders and NAFTA partners to a summit of the "Three Amigos" in Honolulu on Sunday, November 13. Really just a brief get together after Obama hosts the leaders of APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation, nations over that weekend in his hometown.<br />
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Frankly it's just we Canadians who may be sufficiently gullible to be sold a contrived photo-op which the handlers of "your Harper government" will tout as a sure sign of equality of purpose with the large economic power south of our border.<br />
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Amidst the mess back home, as Obama struggles to re-rail his failing presidency the last thing he wants is to appear to be facilitating business with foreigners (us!) - Even less in the same breath explain to Mexican Honcho Calderon that he's opening-up Canada's borders while building a massive fence along Mexico's. Fact is the "Three Amigos" last met when George Bush was President in 2009 at the Chateau Montebello Resort just south of Ottawa. In this case Obama and I suspect Calderone are happy to schedule the meeting as an afterthought to APEC, late on a Sunday afternoon in a time-zone 7 hours beyond the east-coast, and far enough away as possible from the prying-eyes of the American News networks.<br />
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Lest we be fooled: It's just the spin-doctors at Harperland Inc. who will doing their damned best to make sure this moment in history leads the following Monday's news headlines back here in the frozen north. The "Perimeter Security" pact announced with great fanfare the better part of a year ago was to have been finalized last summer. Instead, as Mr. Obama's popularity has tanked in the USA the negotiations have become an irritant and an embarrassment to the Harper Government: A "Buy America" provision has been tacked-on to Obama's jobs creation legislation. A new trade deal with Central America has re-introduced the $5.50 (per person) Customs user fee on Canadian travellers entering the United States, and legislators in Washington are agitating for U.S. ports to be given preferential treatment for goods entering North America from abroad.<br />
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Ay, Caramba! If this wasn't such a farce; I'd be expecting Don Ho to break-out into the Hawaiian Wedding Song.<br />
<br />Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-77105164495614666712011-10-26T11:17:00.002-04:002011-10-26T17:40:43.693-04:00STAND ON GUARD FOR THEEActor Johnny Depp who stars in an autobiographical film about Hunter S. Thompson, "The Rum Diary" which opens this weekend, says the journalist/author committed suicide in 2005 because of his growing disillusionment over the collapse of the America dream. Depp says Thompson's faith in, and disappointment with, America resulted in a..."bubbling oozing rage especially during the Bush era."<br />
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Perhaps a lesson not too late to grasp for moderates growing rageful at the people who attempt to run our lives. - Oh, Canada! A country with a proud history of accommodation, peacekeeping and inclusion, in the grips of the new hawks of the western world who, in the name of their "War on Big Government" justify policies which make no sense, decisions that can't be justified and initiatives only understood by the few who may be privy to a hidden agenda.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlMDOZiTpbd8T_np3HhsXa7faYHWSsYsuzwpy3IGZLcUf8H-l7gWh5tNP4mlNPOoL-dK5KC-7kGNdF6fO-t_HgsltL8n-WfCAryUFuvPZRSOpPj5YCQMedf2J3DItIAKyyP0U_8nGQh1hO/s1600/Canadian+Flag+pole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlMDOZiTpbd8T_np3HhsXa7faYHWSsYsuzwpy3IGZLcUf8H-l7gWh5tNP4mlNPOoL-dK5KC-7kGNdF6fO-t_HgsltL8n-WfCAryUFuvPZRSOpPj5YCQMedf2J3DItIAKyyP0U_8nGQh1hO/s320/Canadian+Flag+pole.jpg" width="320" /></a>Lest I digress: "War" is such a distasteful term that it should NEVER be utilized in the same sentence as government; and most certainly never to justify initiatives against the democratically constituted institutions of a peaceful society. I am disappointed at the orchestrated attacks against our cultural institutions primarily CBC/Radio-Canada, fronted by Sun Media and its parent company Quebecor and I fear, orchestrated within the deepest recesses of the corridors of elected power.<br />
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Canada has changed incrementally since the election of January 2006. So it is outrageous that on at least six separate occasions since the election last May of Mr. Harper's first majority Conservative government it's seen fit and appropriate to limit legitimate democratic debate in the House of Commons on important (some critical) matters such as the Omnibus Crime Bill and all of its ramifications, cutting subsidies to political parties, cutting the powers of the Wheat Board and the Gun Registry.<br />
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They claim, as the parliamentary weekly newspaper "The Hill Times" reports this week, to be simply cleaning-up the backlash from 5 years of minority stalemate in Parliament so that..."they have an opportunity to hit the reset button and some time in 2012 come with a new Throne Speech that sets (Mr. Harper's) longer-term agenda." May Heaven help us!<br />
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"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercise in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."<br />
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Canadian - American economist, John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006)<br />
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<br />Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-43765185954418808852011-10-21T15:42:00.000-04:002011-10-21T15:42:02.452-04:00NO TRICKS, NO TREATS!In a couple of weeks on November 5, Canada's Ambassador to the United-States, Gary Doer, will be inducted into the 'Academy of Distinguished Canadians and Americans' at a black-tie gala dinner being held in Boston. Mr. Doer's largely ceremonial induction is the focus of an event sponsored by the "Maple Leaf Foundation," a non-profit organization which is dedicated to the advancement of understanding between Canada and the United-States. <br />
<br />It's a good time for the Ambassador and members of the foundation to enjoy this largely symbolic Boston ceremony. Though the 2012 face-off is already well engaged, there is general acceptance in the U.S.A. that the post holiday season marks the official kick-off of the quadrennial Presidential election campaign. Most certainly in the case of next year's run for the Presidency that means essentially ignoring to another time (perhaps, another Administration) Canada's irritants about which (no doubt) both the Ambassador and the Foundation have been focused during the Obama years.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Always close to a deal, but not quite.</td></tr>
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In spite of this age of globalism (or perhaps because of it) one can't help but be reminded of the accuracy of the decades old axiom about sharing the bed with an elephant. Except now, it turns-out the pachyderm is suffering for the outbreak of a hell of a pneumonia: Woeful unprecedented economic conditions amidst a political environment so poisonous that it, without exaggeration, has been tearing at the very fabric of the union. Until the fog of this chaos lifts, there will not be any time nor appetite to deal with Canada's issues.<br />
Though from Canada's perspective our irritants may be monumental and frequently essential to the national well being, when viewed from the perspective of the morass which has befallen the nation with whom we share the continent, they are no bother. Much like the size of the iconic elephant, it just depends from which end of the telescope the examination takes place.<br />
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Because he virtually has no other choice on the jobs creation front back home, when President Obama okays construction of Trans-Canada's Keystone XL crude oil pipeline from the border south to Texas in a few days, a majority of Canadians will applaud the decision, and Mr. Harper's government will snatch credit for its economic impact in western Canada. But that's likely the last acknowledgment of anything positive coming from north of the border until well after Americans decide who may be able to lead them out of their economic and political afflictions a year from now in November 2012.<br />
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Canada and Canadians it seems are just so nice that for the United-States, we are not a problem. So at the best of times, with or without the prospects of the bitter divisiveness of a presidential electoral face-off, no matter how friendly the relations continue to be, Canadians must wage a permanent campaign to even stay on the agenda. Though it is a substantial cause of concern for much of the world, the spectre of "protectionism" in all of its manifestations will play a significant role as the U.S. presidential campaign unfolds. We may just have to bide our time and hope for the best.<br />
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<br />Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-64687007238391837822011-10-16T16:40:00.000-04:002011-10-16T16:40:31.035-04:00BORDER ACTION PLANIn this country the Government of Prime Minister Harper has been fixated on affixing the "Action Plan" label to just about everything it's attempted since launching the $50+Billion rescue of the economy in the wake of the 2008 world financial collapse. No surprise then that in the absence of Mr.Harper's grand-vision of an integrated Canada-U.S. "Perimeter Security" deal as announced with fanfare last winter, the government will now take to calling the recently negotiated perimeter security lite - "Canada's Beyond The Border Action Plan." <br />
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Doubtless despite intense efforts from Canada's perspective; just about all that's been accomplished since the two sides began meeting in February is the establishment of a "working group" which will attempt to peel away at international layers of bureaucratic red-tape, and re-double efforts to establish better communications on matters relating to Customs levies and procedures, and most important to the United-States: Security issues.<br />
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That's a very far cry it seems from the Harper "big-vision" which up until just very recently his Government had hope to implement. And that's also why the Prime Minister's office has failed to convince authorities in Washington to make the President available for any announcement, let alone a signing ceremony of any sort. Just slightly more than a year out of the next Presidential elections in the United States the last thing the Obama Administration wants is to focus his moribund jobs creation record over improving cross-border trading relations with the neighbour north of the 49th parallel.</div>
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Fortunately perhaps for Mr. Obama's re-election efforts he's now far more likely to focus his attention on the Mexican neighbour south of the U.S. border in the wake of last week's failed alleged Iranian backed terror plot which Homeland Security claims to have been coordinated down Mexico-way. On Tuesday last, President Obama himself announced that Iranian Forces had sought to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. by bombing a popular Washington restaurant with the help of Mexican desperadoes. Ay, Caramba! (As is frequently the case in such matters; details are sketchy).</div>
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Most Republican Presidential hopefuls in the United-States have seized on the matter to redouble demands that America must secure its southern border by sending more troops to the area, adding predator drone surveillance aircraft, and building more fencing to separate the U-S border from Mexico. On Saturday Republican candidate and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann signed a a formal pledge committing that as President she will build a double fence across the entire border with Mexico before the end of 2013.</div>
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A Raleigh, North-Carolina group called "Americans for Securing the Border"is behind the pledge initiative. It's current focus is on matters related to the problems along the border with Mexico including drug smuggling, illegal immigration, human trafficking and in light of these most recent developments, potential terrorists. But the group's Chair and co-founder, a Washington defense lobbyist named Van D. Hipp, Jr has claimed in the past that the Government of the United-States has been derelict in its duty in defending the "borders".</div>
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When the U.S. House of Representatives defeated President Bush's proposed "guest worker programme" for undocumented immigrants in December 2005, the bill the House adopted ordered the Department of Homeland Security to obtain "complete operational control" of borders within 18 months, including studying the feasibility of erecting barriers on the border with Canada. In follow-up reviews, (most recently in May 2011) the Government Accountability Office (G.A.O.), the U.S. Congressional watchdog, noted that in its opinion just 32 of the nearly 4000 northern border miles had reached an acceptable level of security.</div>
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Canada's focus remains on trade with our southern partner which is essential to our own economic security. The focus on border relations in the United-States seems to be from an altogether different perspective. I'm not quite sure we will ever see it with the same optic and intensity.</div>
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<br /></div>Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-31522810801966435422011-10-12T15:42:00.000-04:002011-10-12T15:44:24.326-04:00GREED BROKE THE SYSTEM.Our modern economic system is broken and there's mounting anecdotal evidence to suggest efforts to effect repairs are slowly tearing apart the fabric of our political system. The Arab spring has morphed into a fall of economic turmoil. Just last week Egyptian activist Mohammed Ezzeldin told protesters in New York's "Washington Square" park that he sees a connection between the spreading Occupy Wall Street movement and the spring protests against (former) Egypt President Hosni Mubarak.<br />
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"It's time for democracy, not corporatocracy, we're doomed without it" - That's the rallying cry the Canadian based magazine "Adbusters" issued to its subscribers in July in an article asking readers to protest corporate greed by staging an "Occupy Wall Street" demonstration in New York on Saturday, September 17th. They are still there, and they've been (and continue to be) joined by like-minded supporters in hundreds of cities around the developed world.<br />
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Welcome to middle-class poverty! Since that mid-September weekend in Manhattan the protest has unleashed a global outcry against the notion that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. In the United-States (primarily) as elsewhere, there is anger and frustration over gargantuan bailouts that lined the pockets of international corporations and which have done little to help individuals and families squeezed between rising expenses, historic job losses, stagnating wages and thinning benefits. <br />
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I wasn't around during the Great Depression but the images of protesters in Zuccotti Park across from New York's Wall Street, at the dozens of other tent cities in town squares, or most probably later this week on Toronto's Bay Street are hauntingly similar to those of the "dirty thirties". And, it's not just the issue of image: In the United-States inequality has reached just about the same level as at the end of the 1920's. The 7,000 American millionaires who paid no income taxes in 2011 excepted; - Everyone has been affected. Just as with the case of the Arab Spring, it's the social media savvy young people faced with bleak economic futures, political grievances and the perils of climate change who are now effecting this demand for change.<br />
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Though some politicians have expressed sympathy with the anger towards the role the international banking and investment community has played in this endless financial crisis paralyzing the world's economies, because there is no firm grasp on solutions; perceptions remain that governments indulge the financial elites. In the absence of tangible evidence of a dramatic shift in thinking, political institutions and economic assumptions; and in the face of (what seems to many) a "big black hole," the legion of protests grows unabated into a second month. <br />
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The onset of winter is not very far. Regardless of whether the movement has unleashed the politically creative and productive changes which are clearly needed, the "Occupy Wall Street" protests are a crystalline message that a significant number of people no longer feel they have meaningful representation from those they've elected to political office. Accordingly, they are increasingly prepared to do something about it.<br />
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<br />Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-71280866843634581042011-10-08T11:29:00.001-04:002011-10-08T15:57:45.095-04:00THE GEORGE BUSH DECADEMuted commemorations this weekend as the United-States marks the 10th anniversary of the start of hostilities in Afghanistan; a conflict which has cost thousands of lives and more than a trillion dollars. Sadly there is a growing list of experts who fear the country could be sliding back towards the kind of civil war which led to the radical Islamic regime of the Taliban after the Russian pull-out of a similar misadventure signalled the ultimate demise of the Soviet Union two decades ago. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVtVyGFoZ8RD9JA4HlaxW0msPCUvYnPzw527xX5hsrpjIkYR59wQt3VStiYRi3WIyxvzeoYxlHXyAvsLwJ9XpXMravrU_36fIzmBPuTJEL_w-dL7F7GYko5hkrn2HgSuPE-dLYZxD6P-PF/s1600/Searching_Afghan_war_ruins_in_Uruzgan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVtVyGFoZ8RD9JA4HlaxW0msPCUvYnPzw527xX5hsrpjIkYR59wQt3VStiYRi3WIyxvzeoYxlHXyAvsLwJ9XpXMravrU_36fIzmBPuTJEL_w-dL7F7GYko5hkrn2HgSuPE-dLYZxD6P-PF/s320/Searching_Afghan_war_ruins_in_Uruzgan.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>It was all so predictable: In "The Daily Telegraph" of London this weekend Britain's former ambassador to Kabul, Sherard Cowper-Coles, says it's a fantasy to think the war in Afghanistan is being won. He writes that military operations will not cure the underlying disease which has hobbled the region. It's pretty well clear that no one, least of all our American allies, have expectations of remaining for another decade, though that may be the stark reality they face. The 'Telegraph' quotes former United-States Commander in Afghanistan, Retired General Stanley McChrystal, who says that America and its allies are a "little better than" halfway towards their goals in the war. Even the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose despicably corrupt regime has been propped-up for years by the United-States and the NATO allies (including Canada), says the mission has done..."terribly badly in providing security to the Afghan people and this is the greatest shortcoming of our government and of our international partners." No wonder that in Afghanistan this weekend the morbid anniversary is passing without commemoration by neither the government nor NATO and saddest of all, nor by the 140,000 foreign ground troops who are still stationed on the front lines. In a published report, "Jane's" the internationally respected defence publisher notes clearly that the future of Afghanistan will still "hang in the balance" after the planned departure of allied combat forces by the end of 2014. That's in sharp contrast to President Obama who yesterday told a gathering at the Whitehouse that the United-States is "responsibly ending today's wars from a position of strength." He made the remarks while honouring the military who've made the ultimate sacrifice since President George W. Bush launched the war against the Taliban regime after the Al-Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001. <br />
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In Providence, Rhode-Island meantime, researchers at Brown University say at least 33,877 people - foreign and Afghan troops, civilians, insurgents and others have died as a result of the conflict. The American Pentagon puts the cost of its own operations at $323.2 billion exclusive of costs borne by its NATO partners including Canada. Our Department of National Defence claims the cost so far has been $11.3 billion. Others have claimed that it's (in fact) closer to $22 billion. Canada engaged in the Afghan conflict in February 2002. It took on battle operations in August of 2003 with Operation Athena. History will show that it was a simplistic effort by the Liberal Government of Jean Chretien to abate American anger at our decision to stay out of President Bush's "coalition of the willing" in Iraq. <br />
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Buoyed by the initial success of the American military in routing the Taliban extremists from government in Afghanistan, the Bush Administration lost interest and quickly changed its focus to Iraq; leaving the hapless NATO allies (including Canada) to "clean-up" the Taliban's mess in Afghanistan. The problem is (and it continues to be): That while America's virtual carpet bombing of Kabul, Kandahar and other strategic targets in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks crumbled the Taliban regime - It scattered its supporters and fighters into the hills bordering Pakistan where in the decade since they've transformed from a rag-tag group of guerrilla fighters into a well disciplined and very patient militia. The irony is: That the United-States surreptitiously financed the Taliban insurgency against the Soviets two decades ago, and it continues to support (to the tune of billions of dollars each year) the Pakistani overlords who now protect them.Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5472854955122235240.post-47388180254096501992011-10-04T11:25:00.001-04:002011-10-04T15:27:03.242-04:00CYBER MORONSThe Conference Board of Canada was plain and clear in a message just a few days ago. It warned that North Americans are exposing themselves to serious unnecessary risks because we don't know enough about the technology we use every day.<br />
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The Conference Board says too frequently for most of us, cyber-calamity is just a click away. In a country where one-in-three kids under the age of 10 has a cell phone, while one-in-ten, ten years and under, has a social networking profile and e-mail address; it's perilously obvious that most of the modern technology is relatively easy to learn and to use. In a single phrase: That's the danger! You don't need to have a comprehensive level of knowledge in order to work it. Consider though that the "smart-phone" puts more technology in the palm of its user than all of the computing knowledge used to carry Neil Armstrong and his fellow space travellers to the Moon in 1969 (and bring em' back) and the result, in and of itself, can allow a person to get into cyber areas that are "difficult to manage," to be polite.<br />
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I am never at a loss for amusement, amazement and astonishment at the naivety of otherwise experienced, savvy, intelligent and educated contemporaries (as well as members of younger generations) who are victimized by the relative blanket of security we foolishly wrap ourselves with once seated behind the computer screen and keyboard. For instance the virus-like, fortunately harmless, moronic cyber "chain-letter" spread across Facebook less than 10 days ago about the network's plan to start charging a fee to its account holders...."it was even on the news" (So it must be true?) - Or - The more harmful: "Wow! I can't believe who's been viewing my profile." - A hacker application spread over Facebook which hijacks (clickjacks!) your profile and those of your friends to subject everyone to unwanted advertising. <br />
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That's just the "fun" stuff, or as someone put it recently: "The problem that exists between the chair and the keyboard." The warning from the Conference Board says our "knowledge gap" needs to close in order to protect individuals, organizations and governments from far more serious ever lurking cybercrimes. They say people use e-mail, social media and other Internet-based applications without taking sufficient time to consider the dangers of on-line crime, personal espionage and sabotage.<br />
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As for governments, including Canada's Treasury Board and the Department of Finance, they have been subject to unprecedented cyber attacks from unknown sources in recent months. As part of its national response the Federal Government will begin shortly a television advertising campaign aimed at the problem. Under Public Safety Canada's rubric "getcybersafe.ca" the TV ads and the website will offer a range of tips on security, updated threats and computer viruses and scams. The cause may be honourable, the response lukewarm; because the Conference Board study also found that most people... "ignore cyber safety campaigns."<br />
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Ultimately a cheaper and more effective solution may be just to take a break from the Internet and social media from time to time. That's the recommendation last week from Chris Hughes an early developer of Facebook. Hughes, who was among the group of Harvard students who worked with Mark Zuckerberg to develope the medium in 2004, says: "I want to continue to live in a world where people can sit through a meal without looking at a phone. I want to have days when I only spend a little bit of time in front of a screen." - Amen!Bill Akerleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15050332686123633839noreply@blogger.com0