Category: Political

CBC News: Halifax prepares for George Bush visit I plan to protest. Creative suggestions welcomed. I can’t wait to tell my boss (a rabid, pro-Bush Republican) that I want the time off to go protest. Should be fun. Read more →

So, I read comics. Yes I am an adult, no I don’t read about super-heroes. We can have this tired argument later. The point is that as a reader of comics, I also read a number of online resources about comics. Consistently the best of these, to my taste, is comic writer Steve Grant‘s weekly column, Permanent Damage. Typically the… Read more →

Wow, I thought I was getting close to tinfoil hat territory on the whole currency/economy thing, and along comes Morgan Stanley’s chief economist who makes me look like Pollyanna. Here’s the first few paragraphs, but you’ll want to read the whole thing: Stephen Roach, the chief economist at investment banking giant Morgan Stanley, has a public reputation for being bearish.… Read more →

For a long time I’ve been saying that we need to diversify our trade more. The ease of access we have to the large American market makes it all too easy to put all our eggs in one basket. There are several problems with this, though. First and foremost is that it gives the American administration too much power over… Read more →

Report: A.G. Nominee Worked to Keep Info From Press Lots of interesting, and depressing information here about Gonzales’ role in the administration’s continuing policy of secrecy and back room dealings. At the White House, however, the report points out Gonzales’ interpretation of executive privilege, which he has sought to broaden under the Bush Administration, as potentially the most troubling of… Read more →

Continuing our look at the weak US dollar we have a couple of articles from this week. First up is US dollar weakness worries EU, which includes this tasty bit: While the US Treasury continues to insist the Bush administration favours a strong dollar, foreign exchange markets assume Washington is happy with a weak currency as a means to bolster… Read more →

I shouldn’t need to comment on Fallujah in general, the prisoner shootings in particular, or the unlikeliness that capturing the city really accomplished anything. The pointlessness is self-evident in the one case, and the other is the obvious result of giving guns to young men, scaring the piss out of them, and demonizing an entire culture. The bigger picture, on… Read more →

Well, I’m still trapped in a hotel, with no sign of power to return at home any time soon, so I might as well catch up on the news I’ve missed over the last couple of days. Let’s start with the nomination of Alberto Gonzales to the post of Attorney General. My initial reaction is still “Even Torture-is-OK Guy is… Read more →

So, as we covered earlier, the US dollar is hitting record lows against both the Canadian dollar and the Euro. There are lots of predictions out there that these are the early signs of a continuing decline, driven by the crazy deficits of the current administration. However, what if it’s not just deficits? Traditionally the US dollar has been strong… Read more →

Ashcroft Resigns (AP) Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don Evans resigned Tuesday, the first members of President Bush’s Cabinet to leave as he headed from re-election into his second term. Ashcroft, in a five-page, handwritten letter to Bush, said, “The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved.” So I know these… Read more →

Judge Halts War-Crime Trial at Guantanamo So there are hopeful bits in there like this: The judge also said that in asserting that the Guantánamo prisoners are unlawful combatants and outside the reach of the Geneva Conventions, “the government has asserted a position starkly different from the positions and behavior of the United States in previous conflicts, one that can… Read more →