Friday Ramblings

I've had a cold since Tuesday so I haven't been posting as much as usual but I have a few opinions on happenings this week that I wanted to get out there before the weekend comes.

First of all, I had to opt out of the blogger conference call with Liberal leadership candidate Stephane Dion because I was hacking up a storm (coughing, that is). It would have been rude of me to sputter my way through it. So, if any of you who did participate want to share your experience with Mr Dion, please do so. (Did you find out who Mondach Stephanos is?)

Secondly, and I say this in all seriousness: has Foreign Affairs minister Peter Mackay lost his flipping mind?

Liberal Senator Larry Campbell, a former Mountie and Vancouver coroner, asked Mr. MacKay a simple question, "Are we at war?"

Mr. MacKay did not respond directly, saying instead, "We are part of a global effort to confront and defeat terrorism."
link

And, it's not just Mackay who appears to be on some sort of happy hallucinogens:

OTTAWA (CP) - Canada is not at war in Afghanistan, says Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor.

Oh, I know there are some of you out there who will say that no one's really at war with Afghanistan and that you'll want to pretty it up with fancy descriptors but you forget one thing: Bush said after 9/11 that war had been declared by the US's enemies. Ergo, when he and his neocons went into Afghanistan, they believed they were at war. Then they created this faux war on terrorism (which will never be won) and Canada jumped right in to help. So, Canada isn't at war? Well, isn't that a convenient way to flush the Geneva Conventions right down the toilet.

Stick a fork in Liberal leadership candidate Joe Volpe. He's done. And, if you are a Liberal party member who still supports him, you need to ask yourself why you would back someone who's beholden to a drug firm. While we're at it, let's root out all corporate donors to the Liberal party.

Alberta pharmacists have been given the right to prescribe drugs in certain cases. That would be fine if they were actually doctors who could diagnose the real problem before handing out drugs. This is one very dangerous move.

This could be the beginning of the end of US troops in Iraq:

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 1 — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki lashed out at the American military on Thursday, denouncing what he characterized as habitual attacks by troops against Iraqi civilians.

If the Iraqi government is under enough pressure by its people, it may just demand a withdrawal of US troops far sooner than Bush had planned. It is, after all, their country.

PM Stephen Harper (aka Bush's new sock-puppet) has decided that a free vote will be held on same sex marriage this fall. The US congress is currently considering a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage. Coincidence? I think not. As for the free vote aspect, you can expect all Conservatives to vote in lock step with their Dear Father on this one. Why are Conservatives so afraid of gay people? I might write something later about why I don't like Conservatives in general. Stay tuned.

Presenteeism, a damaging growing trend.

Ummm...Reuters? What the heck are 'atom talks'?