Image by Exothermic via FlickrOde is a print and online publication about positive news, about the people and ideas that are changing our world for the better.In print and online, Ode's aim is to bring a new reality into view, to explore opportunities for positive change in our daily lives and our daily minds.
Tory cuts sting poor
Welfare rates rolled back for adult education
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Tory+cuts+sting+poor/2734091/story.html
- Alberta slashes low-income students' funding
- Tories may tighten harness on new auditor general
- Welfare spending reeled in
- Cutbacks to funding for mentally ill too deep: critics
- Calgary agencies for disabled brace for funding cuts
- Foster-care funding flap puzzles minister
The Land of Lock and Key
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/books/review/Bergner-t.html
Prisons are sacred places. There our society claims control over the lives of men and women; there we assume the roles of gods. And whether the prison sprawls over thousands of acres like the penitentiary farms of the Deep South, or compresses its convicts on tight tiers, the air within holds a particular density, a palpable weight created not only by the crimes the inmates have committed but also by the ownership we have taken of the convicts, whether we acknowledge it or not.
In “Texas Tough,” Robert Perkinson, a professor of American studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, delivers an important reckoning with this societal responsibility. Though his loud, machismo-laden title might better serve for a reality show about life behind bars, Perkinson offers a searching history of American incarceration, tracing the failures of our prisons to the approach that Texas and other Southern states have long taken toward their criminals and denouncing the fact that, with about 1.6 million people in our penitentiaries and an additional 800,000 in our jails, the United States locks up its citizens at a higher rate than any other country in the world.
Water-saving ideas flow
http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradvocate/opinion/advocate_view/Water-saving_ideas_flow_89292442.html
Bouquet...
To the City of Red Deer, for its novel approach this year in promoting the importance of water through a naturescaping contest.
Water has too long taken for granted. Protecting this life-giving resource is among the top concerns on today’s environmental agenda. Current use is flirting with supply limitations.
Lady Ashton secures key powers in Europe's new diplomatic service
Exclusive: A 13-page document, obtained by the Guardian, puts Ashton in charge of regional and country strategy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/24/lady-ashton-eu-diplomatic-service
Baroness Ashton of Upholland, the EU's new foreign policy chief, has secured key powers over the world's biggest development budget, according to a blueprint for Europe's first common diplomatic service.
Lady Ashton, the Labour peer, is to unveil her blueprint tomorrow for the ambitious diplomatic service which has been the object of a ferocious turf war in Brussels and EU capitals for weeks.
Britain expels Mossad agent over forged passport plot
Police investigation finds Israel forged documents used by Dubai hit squad in killing of Hamas leader
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/23/israel-mossad-agent-expelled
The low-down on Mexico and drugs
http://agonist.org/don/20100324/the_low_down_on_mexico_and_drugs
The Juarez murders by and large are government sanctioned acts of social cleansing. Small time Mexican drug dealers and addicts are being eliminated. Chapa and his cohorts probably promised not to sell drugs domestically. Once competitors are eliminated, (if this can be done), the violence will be quelled and security will be restored. Chapa, or someone like him, will get the green light to keep American appetites for drugs satiated and the flow of drugs will continue, unabated.
Behind the Hate: Long-Time Activist Runs New Anti-Gay Site
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/03/24/behind-the-hate-long-time-activist-runs-new-anti-gay-site
A leading anti-abortion webmaster who is widely known for his extremist tactics is behind a new Internet site taking aim at gay and abortion rights supporters with ties to Kenya.
Neal Horsley — best known for his “Nuremberg Files” website targeting physicians who provide abortions — now controls ProjectSEE.com. (“SEE” stands for Stop Exporting Evil!) Horsley’s latest website features “Not Wanted” posters with the photographs and, in some cases, contact information of purported gay rights activists and abortion providers working in Kenya. It lists the names of others, along with an appeal to “send us INFO!” The website encourages readers to print out the posters and distribute them in the United States and Kenya. (Abortion laws are highly restrictive in Kenya and homosexual activity is illegal. In recent weeks, Kenyan activists have reported a rash of anti-gay violence, including the Feb. 12 beating of a man outside a health center that provides HIV/AIDS services, according to Human Rights Watch.)
The World is Choking on Government Debt
http://agonist.org/numerian/20100324/the_world_is_choking_on_government_debt
Unprecedented relationships are beginning to form in the global bond markets. For as long as anyone can remember, the US government has enjoyed the lowest cost of borrowing whatever the maturity of the bond, because the US has been deemed the safest credit anywhere in the world. The prospect of default of the United States has been considered so low that academics describe the US Treasury bond as the risk-free bond., from which all other credit instruments are priced.
This relationship seems to be breaking down, for the first time in living history. This past week Berkshire Hathaway was able to raise funds at an interest rate lower than that of the US Treasury. Headlines in the financial press stated: “Obama Pays More Than Warren Buffett For Money.” The bonds of DuPont and other stalwart corporate names also yielded less than equivalent maturity Treasuries.
The Treasury Department is now coming routinely to market with bond issues that just two years ago would have been considered preposterously large. All of this is necessary to help the US fund its projected $1.9 trillion budget deficit, up from about $400 billion a few years ago (not counting the issues necessary to fund the Iraq War).
Watch for continuing hints that the US Aaa rating is in jeopardy (Moody’s has already suggested as much), and watch the stock market, which has been on a tear lately, convinced that government will always be able to rescue the economy and any big player who gets into trouble. It is this very assumption which is now under question, and which calls into doubt the whole Dow Jones rally of the past year.
Sustainability and self-generated capacity in Afghanistan
http://www.newshoggers.com/blog/2010/03/sustainability-and-selfgenerated-capacity-in-afghanistan.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Newshog+%28NewsHog%29
By Dave Anderson:
One of the frequent critiques that we at the Newshoggers have made of American COIN strategy is that it is not a sustainable strategy as it requires the host nation government into the horns of a dilemna; build massive security forces that it can not afford nor sustain without massive foreign financial support which undermines local legitimacy.
Canada.com has a piece on the Afghani national budget:
Afghanistan's state revenues rose by 45 per cent last year, but still only account for less than a third of the budget in a country that remains dependent on Western aid, the finance ministry said on Thursday.
A series of reforms and anti-corruption measures brought Afghanistan's domestic revenues to $600 million in the fiscal year that ended this week... Revenue remains barely $20 per person per year, hardly enough to provide services like schools, hospitals, courts, roads, an army and police. State revenue accounts for about 5 per cent of gross domestic product. The United Nations estimates Afghans spend more than four times as much on bribes
Local revenues are 5% of GDP, the national budget is overwhelmingly funded by foreigners with their own local strings attached as well as an expectation that Kabul will expand its military efforts for the next several years. Cutting down on corruption could both enhance the local government's authority and legitimacy as well as its easily obtained revenue sources, but to do that would require the Karzai government stepping on many toes that are in its supporting coalition.
NATO needs retooling: Canadian study
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/NATO+needs+retooling+Canadian+study/2722002/story.html
Two Canadian defence institutes recommend a major overhaul of NATO on the grounds the alliance is partly caught in "a Cold War time warp" and could be put to much better use.
NATO's involvement in the war in Afghanistan has exposed key problems that need fixing, said a report released Wednesday by the Conference of Defence Associations Institute and the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute.
They said NATO reforms are needed to halt ponderous decision-making processes, cumbersome bureaucracy, duplication of efforts, wasteful spending and unfair burden sharing.
Canada may have painted itself into corner in Afghanistan
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Canada+have+painted+itself+into+corner+Afghanistan/2676672/story.html
One of the principal reasons Canada ended up in a shooting war in Kandahar was the Martin government dithered for so long about what to do in Afghanistan that when it finally made up its mind about what to do in 2005, all the soft spots in the north and west of the country were grabbed by European allies such as France, Spain and Germany.
History looks set to repeat itself.
As Canada retreats from its biggest foreign commitment in more than half a century, European allies whose role in Afghanistan the Harper government has often strongly criticized, have quietly volunteered for nearly 600 relatively safe, non-combat positions as mentors to Afghanistan's burgeoning security forces.
Everyone of those jobs would seem to be a perfect fit for Canada's relatively small but highly professional army and for a country that has grown weary of combat.
There have been 130 Canadian soldiers killed in Kandahar since the Martin government sent troops to the heart of the war in 2006. Over the past four years, Canada has spent billions of dollars fighting the Taliban.
Notwithstanding this loss of blood and treasure, or arguably because of it, the Harper government has confirmed a decision Parliament made two years ago to stop combat operations in Kandahar in 2011.
But the Harper government has gone much further than Parliament did, loudly stating that other than a few embassy guards, no Canadian troops would remain anywhere in Afghanistan beyond the end of next year.
It is a position complicated by the fact the government has declared its intention to continue its massive diplomatic and aid effort in Kandahar, without providing any hint of how the Canadians who do this work are to be protected.
At the same time, Ottawa has rejected a military training mission the Europeans have been signing up for.
Former diplomat Fowler slams Harper’s foreign policy
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Former+diplomat+Fowler+slams+Harper+foreign+policy/2736842/story.html
Former Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler has slammed Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s foreign policy, accusing the Conservatives of pandering to Canadian Jewish voters with a “reckless” Middle East policy that blindly favours Israel.
He also said Canada does not deserve a seat on the United Nations Security Council; that the Afghanistan mission is doomed to failure; and that Canadian politicians nowadays pursue foreign policy goals only to “corner the ethnic vote” in Canada.
“The world does not need more of the kind of Canada they have been getting,” Fowler said in a speech in Montreal on Sunday morning. “Canadian governments have turned inward and adopted ‘me first’ stances across the international agenda; and Canada’s reputation and proud international traditions have been diminished as a result.”
Conservatives must “accept the reality and importance of the ironclad link between . . . continuing turmoil and volatility in the Middle East and the rise (and) growing strength of international terrorism.”
But, he said, doing that means confronting Israel, as it “builds ever more settlements in illegally occupied territories in contravention of a myriad of international judgments.”
Canadian politicians — and here he seemed to suggest both Liberal and Conservative politicians — refuse to acknowledge that reality for fear of being labelled anti-Semitic.
“It is there for all to see, but apparently politically incorrect to draw attention to it.”
The Afghanistan mission, Fowler said, is doomed because neither Canadians nor its allies are prepared to pay the price, “in blood or treasure” to essentially colonize that country.
“The bottom line is: We will not prevail in Afghanistan,” Fowler said. “We are simply not prepared to foot the massive price in blood and treasure, which it would take to effectively colonize Afghanistan — the least fortunate country in the world — and replace their culture with ours, for that seems to be what we seek, and with the Taliban share that view.”
Obama rallies troops on first Afghan trip
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Obama+rallies+troops+first+Afghan+trip/2736844/story.html
"I want to send a strong message that the partnership between the United States and Afghanistan is going to continue. We have already seen progress with respect to the military campaign against extremism in the region," Obama told Karzai in front of reporters inside the palace.
"We also want to continue to make progress on ... good governance, rule of law, anti-corruption efforts — all these things end up resulting in an Afghanistan that is more prosperous, more secure, independent," he added.
Karzai said he hoped "the partnership will continue in the future towards a stable, strong, peaceful Afghanistan that can sustain itself, that can move forward into the future."
U.S. officials said corruption and governance were among the issues that the president discussed directly with Karzai during talks that lasted barely half an hour.
Obama returned to Bagram, appearing in a bomber jacket, and delivering a speech to troops just before midnight, telling them he was confident they would have success in their mission.
"I want you to know ... whether you are working here on Bagram or patrolling a village down in Helmand ... your services are absolutely necessary, absolutely essential to America’s safety and security," he told the troops.
( Perhaps somebody could explain to some simple soul such as myself how this can be so...unless Pipeline-istan is the answer. Meanwhile, it is much more open in Mexico than in the land of the poppy that the Drug Trade is undergoing a shakedown to ensure the right crooks get their pound of flesh. )
No 'special relationship' between Britain and U.S.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/special+relationship+between+Britain/2736559/story.html
Talk of a "special relationship" between Britain and the United States should be dropped, a House of Commons committee said Sunday, adding the Iraq war carried important lessons for Anglo-U.S. ties.
The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee said Britain should be "more willing to say no" to the United States and warned that London will probably not be able to influence Washington as much in future.
"The U.K. must continue to position itself closely alongside the U.S. but there is a need to be less deferential and more willing to say no where our interests diverge," the committee chairman, Labour's Mike Gapes, said, summing up the report.
He added that the phrase "special relationship" — first coined by Winston Churchill in 1946, the year after World War II — was "potentially misleading, and we recommend that its use should be avoided".
"British and European politicians have been guilty of over-optimism about the extent of influence they have over the U.S.," he said.
"We must be realistic and accept that globalisation, structural changes and shifts in geopolitical power will inevitably affect the U.K.-U.S. relationship".
( NATO, being a projection of U.S. influence, one would think might be less affected. Of course, there's talking less about a topic...and understanding there is a lack of substantial change - a signal being sent that high-handedness carries no penalty except complaining. From Military
- Propaganda-Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy
- ABCA Armies
- Intelligence sharing between Great Britain and the United States dates back to First World War )
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