Bush Openly Engages In UnConstitutional Meetings While NAFTA Creates Jobless..

GEF @ 3:58 PM MST

Oil a big bargaining chip if NAFTA reopened: Harper

Norma Greenaway, Canwest News Service

Published: Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Larry Downing/Reuters

NEW ORLEANS — Stephen Harper issued a direct warning Tuesday in the debate over NAFTA’s future, reminding Americans who want to reopen the accord that U.S. dependence on Canadian oil gives Canada a big bargaining chip.

The Prime Minister staked out his position as he joined presidents George W. Bush of the United States and Felipe Calderon of Mexico at a joint news conference to end their three-way summit, which turned into a pep rally supporting NAFTA in the face of threats from the Democratic presidential contenders to kill or rewrite it.

Mr. Harper said the deal has been good for North America and that the Canadian government’s preference is not to renegotiate it. But he made clear he was ready to go that route if need be.

“We’ll be prepared for any eventuality,” he said of calls by Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to re-open the agreement to toughen environmental and labour standards.

Mr. Harper took the opportunity to play what many consider Canada’s trump card in any future negotiations — U.S. dependence on Canadian oil and gas.

“Canada is the United States’ No. 1 supplier of energy,” he said. “We are a secure and stable supplier that is of critical importance to the future of the United States.

“If we have to look at this kind of an option [a renegotiation], I say quite frankly, you know, we would be in an even stronger position now than we were 20 years ago. And we will be in a stronger position in the future.”

Mr. Bush made a similar point, stressing more than once that Mexico and Canada stand out as secure and stable suppliers of oil at a time when prices are closing in on US$120 a barrel and when other U.S. suppliers in the Middle East are unpredictable at best.

Under the free-trade agreement, Canada is committed to keeping up its energy supplies to the United States even in times of shortages at home. In effect, it says cuts to U.S. buyers can be no deeper than they would be to Canadians.

Mr. Harper said he expects the next president will come to see the importance of the pact to North America and continue to work with it.

All three leaders launched staunch defences of the pact and stressed the benefits it has delivered. Mr. Calderon said reopening it would “condemn the region to complete backwardness” while India, China and the European Union are increasing their competitiveness.

Mr. Bush argued those “who say get rid of NAFTA as a throwaway political line” are playing with fire because ditching the agreement would cost jobs and investment in all three countries.

The summit in hurricane-battered New Orleans was designed by Mr. Bush to showcase the city’s recovery. The leaders stayed close to the centre of town, which was largely spared Katrina’s wrath in 2005, and only ventured near some of the ruined neighbourhoods when they had breakfast at a well-known restaurant called Dooky Chase. It is located across the street from a flood-condemned housing project, known as Lafitt.

Before leaving New Orleans, Mr. Harper did do a quick tour of Ward Nine, the area hardest hit by Katrina. His guide was David Wilkins, U.S. ambassador to Canada.

The leaders spoke with reporters after meeting business leaders from all three countries who make up the North American Competitiveness Council. The council, which includes 10 leaders from each country, pressed the leaders to stick with NAFTA and also to press ahead with efforts to deepen the economic, social, environmental and security relations among the three countries.

Canadian critics were quick to jump on Mr. Harper’s stance, saying they were upset that he was talking about U.S. energy security without mentioning the need to secure Canada’s own energy supply.

“There was not one word about Canada’s energy security,” said Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union.

“Eastern Canada is still in a position where all of its oil must come through the United States even though it starts in Alberta and Saskatchewan.”

Canwest News Service

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Dems Debates Starting To Look Like Bush’s War… No End In Sight

By- Suzie-Q @ 12:45 PM MST

Long Primary Damaging Democrats

| April 23, 2008 11:50 AM

Even though Hillary Clinton won last night’s Pennsylvania primary by approximately ten points, the real victor is John McCain. Below is a round up from a variety of publications on why the fight between Obama and Clinton is only racking up points for GOP nominee. Read a compilation of HuffPost blogs on the state of the race after Pennsylvania.

Time: A Primary With No End by Amy Sullivan

A few months ago, the only people who talked about the possibility of a contested Democratic nomination fight extending all the way to the party’s convention in August were hopeful pundits, desperate Republicans, and Chicken Little Democrats.

Most of the rational world looked at the political landscape and foresaw a smooth ride to victory for Democrats…

…If there were any true believers in such a rosy scenario still to be found within the Democratic party, they were likely disabused of that notion by the results of Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary. After six weeks of an increasingly negative contest, Clinton’s solid, 10-point victory almost guarantees that the Democratic race will continue into June. The once-gleeful pundits now find themselves turning their rental cars toward Indiana while Republicans marvel at their luck and Democrats try to game out a resolution that doesn’t involve a convention-floor battle in Denver.

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Afternoon Jukebox… Living On A Prayer

By- Suzie-Q @ 12:40 PM MST

Bon Jovi – Living On A Prayer

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Breaking News: General Betrayus named as new head of CENTCOM

by Geezer Power…8:28 am

Ray Odierno to replace him as head of U.S.’s military operations in Iraq

BREAKING NEWS
updated 8 minutes ago

WASHINGTON – Gen. David Petraeus, the four-star general who has been leading troops in Iraq, has been tapped to become the next commander of U.S. Central Command, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

If confirmed by the Senate, he would replace Navy Adm. William Fallon, who stepped down in March.

Taking Petraeus’ position as the senior commander in Iraq would be Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, who had until recently been serving as Petraeus’ deputy.

MORE

I think that we’ve all seen this one coming…

**
Camp New Jersey, Kuwait (March 21, 2003)—Major General David H. Petraeus

***
In June 2004, less than six months after the 101st returned to the U.S., Petraeus was promoted to lieutenant general and became the first commander of the Multi-National Security Transition Command Iraq. This newly-created command had responsibility for training, equipping, and mentoring Iraq’s growing Army, Police, and other security forces as well as developing Iraq’s security institutions and building associated infrastructure, such as training bases, police stations, and border forts.

****
In January 2007, as part of his overhauled Iraq strategy, President George W. Bush announced that Petraeus would succeed Gen. George Casey as commanding general of MNF-I to lead all U.S. troops in Iraq. He recieved his fourth star compliments of George Duhhbya Bu$h…

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Robert Coughlin, Former DOJ Official, Pleads Guilty In Abramoff Related Charge

By- Suzie-Q @ 7:55 AM MST

Former DOJ Official Pleads Guilty to Abramoff-Related Charge

By Paul Kiel – April 22, 2008, 2:46PM

As expected, Robert Coughlin, formerly deputy chief of staff of the Justice Department’s criminal division, pleaded guilty today to taking all sorts of goodies from Jack Abramoff and his associate, Kevin Ring:

Robert Coughlin admitted in federal court Tuesday that he accepted meals, concert tickets and luxury seats at sporting events from a lobbyist. He pleaded guilty to a single conflict-of-interest charge and faces up to 10 months in prison under a plea deal with the government.

Coughlin’s next court date is September 18th.

Update: Coughlin has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as part of his guilty plea, the AP reports.

Update: The only comment from Coughlin’s lawyer, Joshua Berman, was that Coughlin “is deeply saddened by these events and looks forward to focusing his attention on his family and moving forward with his life.”

Update: So what did Ring and Abramoff hope they’d get for all those blandishments? The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Ring asked for Coughlin’s help “freeing up a $16 million jail-construction grant Congress earmarked for the Mississippi Choctaw Indian tribe.”

The jail was one of the main priorities for Abramoff’s team between 2001-2002, as they fought the Justice Department’s determination that the Choctaw, a very wealthy tribe, didn’t need the funds. The team ultimately approached Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman in an attempt to get the Choctaw their money (see much more on this, including the emails, here). Abramoff ultimately won, avoiding what would have been “SUCH a HUGE embarrassment.”

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What the Iraq War Is About

Sudhan @10:50 cet

Paul Craig Roberts | Antiwar, April 23, 2008

The Bush regime has quagmired America into a sixth year of war in Afghanistan and Iraq with no end in sight. The cost of these wars of aggression is horrendous. Official U.S. combat casualties stand at 4,538 dead. Officially, 29,780 U.S. troops have been wounded in Iraq.

On April 17, 2008, AP News reported that a new study released by the RAND Corporation concludes that “some 300,000 U.S. troops are suffering from major depression or post-traumatic stress from serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 320,000 received brain injuries.”

On April 21, 2008, OpEdNews.com reported that an internal e-mail from Gen. Michael J. Kussman, undersecretary for health at the Veterans Administration, to Ira Katz, head of mental health at the VA, confirms a McClatchy Newspaper report that 126 veterans per week commit suicide. To the extent that the suicides are attributable to the war, more than 500 deaths should be added to the reported combat fatalities each month.

Turning to Iraqi deaths, expert studies support as many as 1.2 million dead Iraqis, almost entirely civilians. Another 2 million Iraqis have fled their country, and there are 2 million displaced Iraqis within Iraq.

Afghan casualties are unknown.

Both Afghanistan and Iraq have suffered unconscionable civilian deaths and damage to housing, infrastructure, and environment. Iraq is afflicted with depleted uranium and open sewers.

Then there are the economic costs to the U.S. Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz estimates the full cost of the invasion and attempted occupation of Iraq to be between $3 trillion and $5 trillion. The dollar price of oil and gasoline have tripled, and the dollar has lost value against other currencies, declining dramatically even against the lowly Thai baht. Before Bush launched his wars of aggression, one U.S. dollar was worth 45 baht. Today the dollar is only worth 30 baht.

Continued . . .

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The fear factor that silences

Sudhan @10:15 CET

By Paul Findley | Gulfnews, April 16, 2008

Candidates for public office, high and low, are bewitched -frightened is the more accurate word – by an unwarranted but costly fear of the US lobby that functions on behalf of the State of Israel.

Comb through the millions of words expressed by the “final three” in the presidential sweepstakes – Barak Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain – and you will not find a word, not even a syllable, of criticism of the longstanding US policy bias that heavily favours Israel, a policy that imposes a staggering burden on US society and infuriates Muslims worldwide, including eight million who are US citizens.

A search of the millions of words of analysis of talking heads and other commentators who make a living examining day-by-day the impact of presidential candidate behaviour discloses the same empty-headed silence. They don’t even mention candidate silence on this topic that should be a fundamental and continuing focus of discussion.

A search of major media -print, radio and television – has virtually the same result: silence. The internet is one of the few places where one can find thoughtful and candid examinations of Israel’s dominance of US society.

Continued . . .

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