statism watch

Is this the new spin – mass government intervention fine by the Cons, is ‘comprehensive’ in fact? When your elected representative starts talking like that, look out. For an economy to survive an insult like the one it’s weathered recently, there is nothing that can be done but to pull over and recapitalize. Pointing it down a hill just to keep it moving isn’t purposeful motion, and it sells out your children’s future in favour of the present moment’s panic. There’s only so much room on Canada’s credit card, and cheap money is what got us in this fix in the first place.  So Mr. Harper, here’s an economics question – should we be asking for a credit extension or paying off the card?

CBC News
January 9, 2009

The government may have to take “big comprehensive action” over the next three to five years to deal with the economic crisis, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday, adding that the next federal budget will be one of the biggest in a long time.

“We’re going to work on the assumption that this is going to be a tough time, that we should not underestimate the actions we need to take,” Harper said at a news conference in Montreal. “We’ll take big comprehensive actions.”

Without getting into specifics, Harper said the actions could last between three to five years.

(more…)

CBC News
January 9, 2009

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked Merck & Co., maker of the Gardasil vaccine against cervical cancer, to provide longer-term data on women aged 27 to 45, the company said Friday.

The request came as the FDA again withheld approval of Merck’s request to expand the use of the vaccine to include women in that age range.

(more…)

Meaning – Kenney doesn’t like the fact they’re fleeing their lying recruiters, their retroactive stoploss obligations, the knowledge of the horrors they’ve seen and the horrors to come. That gives you no right to refugee status under Canada’s New Government.

CBC News
January 9, 2009

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s comments that U.S. military deserters living in Canada are “bogus refugee claimants” reveal the government has a prejudiced outlook on their cases, advocacy groups say.

“Everyone, including war resisters, has a right to expect their applications will be dealt with in a fair and impartial manner,” Lee Zaslofsky, co-ordinator of the War Resisters Support Campaign, said in a release.

“Minister Kenney’s comments show the Harper government has a blanket policy of opposition to all war resisters, which makes it nearly impossible for them to be treated on a ‘case-by-case basis’ as our government has been leading Canadians to believe they would.”

(more…)

Rita Trichur, The Toronto Star
January 9, 2009

Rising credit losses coupled with slowing loan growth spell a challenging year for the country’s big banks.

More Canadians are hunkering down and saving money, which is sparking a swell in deposits at a time when demand for some consumer loans such as residential mortgages is fading.

Such trends are the reverse of recent years when Canadians racked up debt and spent freely on big-ticket items such as homes and cars.

Bank executives outlined the sea change at a conference in Toronto yesterday, while offering differing views on managing their loan books amid the ongoing credit turmoil.

Some are shifting focus to bread-and-butter retail banking. Bank of Montreal, for example, says it has gained market share in deposits and predicts consumers will be more inclined to save than borrow.

(more…)

Matti Friedman, Ibrahim Barzak, Associated Press
January 9, 2009

Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel

JERUSALEM–Israeli jets and helicopters bombarded Gaza today and Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets as Israel’s government said it will press forward with its offensive despite a UN resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

One Israeli airstrike killed two Hamas militants and another unidentified man, while another flattened a five-story building in northern Gaza, killing at least seven people, including an infant, Hamas security officials said.

By midday, 19 Palestinians had been killed.

In all, Israeli aircraft struck more than 30 targets before dawn, and constant explosions continued after first light.

(more…)

Lisa Bryant, Voice of America
January 9, 2009

The European Uninion efforts to resolve a bitter gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine foundered on Thursday when Russia reportedly refused to agree to a EU proposal to send independent monitors to check Russia’s gas flow through Ukraine. Moscow’s gas cuts have left some European countries facing shortfalls during a bitter winter.

Efforts to resolve Russia-Ukraine price dispute seemed to be making headway earlier in the day during European Union (EU) sponsored talks between Moscow and Kiev. The EU have proposed to send monitors to check the flow of Russian gas through Ukraine after Moscow accused Kiev of stealing gas bound for Europe.

Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Hryhoriy Nemryrya told reporters the two sides had reached a breakthrough.

(more…)

Hardened cynics might point out that the long term goals of the US are proceeding apace – sell arms to the warlord factions, destabilize and partition the country by inciting sectarian tension, divide and conquer. Tah-dah: no challenge to hegemony (or narcotics supply) in the area. For historical precedent, refer to Machiavelli’s The Prince; Chapters VII, VIII.

CBC News
January 9, 2009

The United States’ short-term approach in Afghanistan has made stability harder to achieve in the South Asian country, an independent study says.

When U.S. president-elect Barack Obama takes office in under two weeks, he should focus the mission on rebuilding the country and view it as a decade-long project, according to the report by the United States Institute of Peace.

“The refusal by the administration to properly anticipate and plan for the political ramifications of the Afghan and Iraq interventions has made the job that much harder still,” wrote J. Alexander Thier, an Afghan scholar at the institute.

(more…)

The Champix mechanism, to this reporter’s lay reading of the literature, binds to the receptors in your brain that trigger the release of dopamine and eventually suppresses its production. This is similar to the action of SSRIs, which are also receptor agonists, but for seratonin rather than nicotine. So it shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise if it had similar psychiatric side-effects to those of Prozac, Effexor, etc. These receptors have some natural function that’s being degraded, after all. Hostility? Suicidal thoughts? You pay your money and you take your chance.

Carly Weeks, The Globe and Mail
January 9, 2009

Health Canada has received more than 800 reports of side effects – including more than 500 reports of psychiatric problems – linked to the controversial smoking-cessation drug Champix in less than two years on the market.

But although evidence is growing that the medication is linked to aggression, depression and suicidal tendencies, some tobacco-control experts and non-profit groups in Canada still encourage its use, often without mention of the possibility of psychiatric problems.

In its online guide to quitting smoking, forexample, the Canadian Lung Association includes a section that lists Champix first as an effective option to “reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms.”

(more…)

In other words, You better keep your rabble in check. Or else.

Associated Press
January 9, 2009

Ford strikebreakers lay the beatdown on Depression-era organizer Frankensteen.

DETROIT — — A provision of General Motors’ [GM-N]$13.4-billion (U.S.) in federal loans automatically places them in default if GM’s union workers go on strike, and newspaper reports say Chrysler LLC’s $4-billion loan includes similar terms.

A General Motors Corp. filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission detailed the loan provision. The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News reported Friday, citing unnamed sources, that Chrysler’s loan deal has a similar provision.

Chrysler spokeswoman Lori McTavish declined to comment on the newspaper reports.

The United Auto Workers union isn’t a party to the deal and hasn’t threatened a strike, its most potent weapon against the Detroit automakers.

(more…)

Why do these trucks need to be heavily armoured for domestic use? Is the military planning on using them for something other than training and transportation? Lets hope not. And why are we buying from Illinois when we’ve an existing relationship with our own perfectly good arms dealer – someone call Schreiber, we can build them here.

CBC News
January 9, 2009

The Canadian Forces will be receiving 1,300 new heavily armoured trucks for domestic use, an acquisition Defence Minister Peter MacKay touted as a boon for the economy and a necessity for rebuilding the military’s aging fleet.

“This is an important acquisition for the Canadian Forces,” said MacKay. “I can tell you in speaking with members of the force, our leadership, down to the truck drivers, everyone is extremely excited to be receiving these all-purpose vehicles.”

(more…)