Former Florida Gov Jeb Bush let a carefully choreographed media plum drop from his lips the other day; he "might" consider a White House run for 2016.
I'd say that's a full-on declaration of intent.
Good! There's been a certain amount of reticence in getting the 2016 fires burning, which leaves guys like me with a shortage of stuff to write about.
But we have a long way to go before we reach cruising speed.
We need some colourful characters, like the quintessential carpetbagger the Newtster, or his slightly brown doppelganger the Herminator, before this horse race becomes interesting.
Till that Bridgegate fiasco I truly thought The Christie Doughboy would be in the mix, but he's pretty much bake-pan scrapings now. The Mittster could still declare, but he's forever tainted by that "corporations are people too" gaffe, and even though it may be truer than ever, it's not something that you want to trot out as a truism at election time.
Scott Walker and Rand Paul are too wet behind the ears to be taken seriously.
So for now, that leaves Jeb way out front.
On the Dem side, there's not much happening. If Hillary is truly the best they can do for the nomination, they richly deserve the dustbin of history.
Bill Cosby's political aspirations have been snuffed...
Both sides could do a lot to liven up this race. How about a Jesse Ventura run up the left side? Maybe bring Colin Powell aboard as VP - that would tick a few boxes!
Whatreallyhappened boss Michael Rivero recently announced his mission to save humanity, but I fear he has become too cynical to be anything but a 3rd party candidate. Still, he's a guy who has a high media profile, and that'll matter going forward.
Alas, I'm getting ahead of myself, speculating on dark horses left, right, and in the margins...
Let the games begin!
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Monday, December 15, 2014
Judge disses Basic Instinct at Magnotta trial
This is an interesting story on multiple levels.
First of all, it brushes up against one of the oldest questions in the sociology of art. Does art mirror reality, or does reality mirror art? There will be trendy counter-culture types debating that a thousand years from now...
In the Globe and Mail story we are led to believe that the state was arguing that life imitates art. Magnotta saw Basic Instinct a couple of times (did he?) and presto, some guy is having his corpse sawed into easily disposable pieces.
Having the jury watch Basic Instinct would accomplish what exactly?
Anybody who is moved to kill and dismember somebody because they watched a movie is obviously a nutter, which would advance Magnotta's case, not the crowns.
Magnotta's defence is exactly that. I'm not guilty 'cause I'm a nutter, and that's what we do.
I thought the judge has some chops as a film critic. Maybe he can pursue a new vocation when he gives up the judgey chair. Frankly, "It bored me so much I fell asleep" is one of the most succinct reviews of Basic Instinct that I've ever read.
First of all, it brushes up against one of the oldest questions in the sociology of art. Does art mirror reality, or does reality mirror art? There will be trendy counter-culture types debating that a thousand years from now...
In the Globe and Mail story we are led to believe that the state was arguing that life imitates art. Magnotta saw Basic Instinct a couple of times (did he?) and presto, some guy is having his corpse sawed into easily disposable pieces.
Having the jury watch Basic Instinct would accomplish what exactly?
Anybody who is moved to kill and dismember somebody because they watched a movie is obviously a nutter, which would advance Magnotta's case, not the crowns.
Magnotta's defence is exactly that. I'm not guilty 'cause I'm a nutter, and that's what we do.
I thought the judge has some chops as a film critic. Maybe he can pursue a new vocation when he gives up the judgey chair. Frankly, "It bored me so much I fell asleep" is one of the most succinct reviews of Basic Instinct that I've ever read.
I'll ride with you...
It's a messed up world, but once in awhile there's a flicker...
People remembering we are all just people. A spotaneous eruption of compassion and decency. A spontaeous shaking off of the petty hatreds we are programmed to harbour.
It's a beautiful thing!
People remembering we are all just people. A spotaneous eruption of compassion and decency. A spontaeous shaking off of the petty hatreds we are programmed to harbour.
It's a beautiful thing!
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Wily Erdogan kicks the crap out of Gulenist rivals while he still can
There's a whole lot of hoo-ha in Turkey today after authorities came down hard on the Gulenist cult.
Fethullah Gulen is the dude who has been groomed for 25 years by the CIA to be the future Caliph of the Islamic world.
There's no question that Gulen has serious cred in the Islamic world. He talks a lovely lovey-dovey message of peace, and his school network reaches all around the world, and is especially influential in the charter school system in the US, where he's been cooling his heels for the last several decades.
While once a resolute ally of Erdogan, the Turkish PM come Pres now considers Gulen little more than a CIA stooge.
He's probably right.
Fethullah Gulen is the dude who has been groomed for 25 years by the CIA to be the future Caliph of the Islamic world.
There's no question that Gulen has serious cred in the Islamic world. He talks a lovely lovey-dovey message of peace, and his school network reaches all around the world, and is especially influential in the charter school system in the US, where he's been cooling his heels for the last several decades.
While once a resolute ally of Erdogan, the Turkish PM come Pres now considers Gulen little more than a CIA stooge.
He's probably right.
Some thoughts on the international refugee crisis
There's a minor flap afoot in Canada about our shameful response to the Syrian refugee crisis. At this point in time, Canada has admitted a grand total of 750 or thereabouts Syrian refugees.
For all of our grandiose talk of human rights, we pull up lame when it comes to delivering.
Right now well over a million Syrian refugees are holed up in both Turkey and Lebanon. Well over half a million in Jordan. There are almost a quarter million Syrian refugees in Iraq!
How desperate would you have to be to seek refuge in Iraq? Iraq is itself a major source of refugees in the global refugee equation.
The news that Canada is cherry-picking potential refugees based on their religious affiliation should give pause for thought too. A refugee is a refugee. A human being is a human being. Politicizing the refugee process makes Canadian government bureaucrats no different than the Nazi operatives who were charged with deciding who goes to a work camp and who goes to a death camp.
Here's another thing about the refugee crisis. All the top refugee source countries are countries in which the Nations of Virtue (EU, NATO) have been heavily meddling. Until we decided on regime change in Syria, the top source countries were Iraq and Afghanistan. Syria now tops the list. It's not hard to see what these nations have in common.
Here's a policy suggestion that I hope somebody in Ottawa will read; lets eliminate the Temporary Foreign Worker program entirely, and meet our labour needs by bringing in refugees! That's a win-win and win again.
Out with 400,000 TFWs, in with 400,000 refugees.
We have every reason to believe that a Syrian or Iraqi refugee, allowed into Canada, would be every bit as productive a worker as the TFWs from Mexico or Bangladesh. And this would ease the pressure on countries like Lebanon and Jordan, allies who are groaning under their refugee burden, and who are at considerable risk of becoming adjunct states to the Caliphate.
The only downside is this; if the Harper government actually instituted such a humane and sensible policy, those 400,000 new refugee-immigrants might be inclined to vote for him...
For all of our grandiose talk of human rights, we pull up lame when it comes to delivering.
Right now well over a million Syrian refugees are holed up in both Turkey and Lebanon. Well over half a million in Jordan. There are almost a quarter million Syrian refugees in Iraq!
How desperate would you have to be to seek refuge in Iraq? Iraq is itself a major source of refugees in the global refugee equation.
The news that Canada is cherry-picking potential refugees based on their religious affiliation should give pause for thought too. A refugee is a refugee. A human being is a human being. Politicizing the refugee process makes Canadian government bureaucrats no different than the Nazi operatives who were charged with deciding who goes to a work camp and who goes to a death camp.
Here's another thing about the refugee crisis. All the top refugee source countries are countries in which the Nations of Virtue (EU, NATO) have been heavily meddling. Until we decided on regime change in Syria, the top source countries were Iraq and Afghanistan. Syria now tops the list. It's not hard to see what these nations have in common.
Here's a policy suggestion that I hope somebody in Ottawa will read; lets eliminate the Temporary Foreign Worker program entirely, and meet our labour needs by bringing in refugees! That's a win-win and win again.
Out with 400,000 TFWs, in with 400,000 refugees.
We have every reason to believe that a Syrian or Iraqi refugee, allowed into Canada, would be every bit as productive a worker as the TFWs from Mexico or Bangladesh. And this would ease the pressure on countries like Lebanon and Jordan, allies who are groaning under their refugee burden, and who are at considerable risk of becoming adjunct states to the Caliphate.
The only downside is this; if the Harper government actually instituted such a humane and sensible policy, those 400,000 new refugee-immigrants might be inclined to vote for him...
Top US General wants to bring jobs, education, and health care to D̶e̶t̶r̶o̶i̶t̶ Syria and Iraq
US General Philip Breedlove, top banana on the military side of NATO, was on the CBC yesterday morning giving us Canucks the lowdown on the war on Islamic State/ISIS/ISIL.
He assured us that this war the Harperites have rushed us into will go on for a long, long time. Indefinitely even... unless we address the root causes.
And how do we do that?
Well, seems the comrades of the Caliphate are readily radicalised because they don't have jobs. They don't have education. They don't have health care or personal security.
So there will be an endless supply of fresh recruits for the Towelheads of Terror, and this war could go on forever and ever, unless we smarten up and get to work providing these impressionable but disaffected youngsters jobs, education, and health care.
This is actually some unexpectedly lucid reasoning from a top brass guy in the US Army. I was impressed!
But then I thought, Whoa!... hold the phone, Mr. General! The US and the NATO gang are gonna do this for the disaffected youth of Syria and Iraq?
I'm willing to bet that there's disaffected youth aplenty all across the USA who might buy into this... from Detroit to Ferguson to New Orleans to Cleveland there's millions of marginalized youth who would welcome a government initiative to create jobs, provide quality affordable education, and health care...
What do they have to do before you notice them?
Take up arms and declare a Caliphate?
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Racist terminology for folks from Portugal
The Falling Downs website had more hits from Portugal today than ever before. Last time I looked there were 25 or something.
While it is never widely acknowledged, that country had wildly sympatico goals vis a vis Canada when it came to fish processing and cement finishing.
We'll do your cement finishing.
You do our fish processing.
Back in the Budd days everybody used to call every Portuguese guy Magellan.
Hey Magellan, got anything on ya?
That's not entirely true; I remember the Vasco di Gamma shtick too...
Hey di Gamma ...
There was a Portugese guy at the shipyard who barely spoke English. Oddly enough, he was a welder rather than a cement guy. Used to go home to Portugal for a couple months every summer. Great guy!
It made a certain amount of sense. The Portugese fishing fleet has travelled across the Atlantic for centuries, probably pre-Columbus. They didn't land because there wasn't any fish on the land...
What are ya, stupid?
But I'm thrilled to see that more people from Portugal than ever before have found the Falling Downs blog.
While it is never widely acknowledged, that country had wildly sympatico goals vis a vis Canada when it came to fish processing and cement finishing.
We'll do your cement finishing.
You do our fish processing.
Back in the Budd days everybody used to call every Portuguese guy Magellan.
Hey Magellan, got anything on ya?
That's not entirely true; I remember the Vasco di Gamma shtick too...
Hey di Gamma ...
There was a Portugese guy at the shipyard who barely spoke English. Oddly enough, he was a welder rather than a cement guy. Used to go home to Portugal for a couple months every summer. Great guy!
It made a certain amount of sense. The Portugese fishing fleet has travelled across the Atlantic for centuries, probably pre-Columbus. They didn't land because there wasn't any fish on the land...
What are ya, stupid?
But I'm thrilled to see that more people from Portugal than ever before have found the Falling Downs blog.
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