Canada bans outspoken British MP

By Stephen Thorne, THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA – Immigration Minister Jason Kenney will not intervene in a decision to ban British anti-war MP George Galloway from Canada despite opposition claims of censorship.

Galloway termed the decision “idiotic” after Citizenship and Immigration Canada deemed the outspoken politician inadmissible on security grounds. He was exploring his legal options Friday, vowing to fight the ruling with “all means at my disposal.”

Kenney’s office noted Galloway has expressed sympathy for the Taliban cause in Afghanistan and provided financial support to the Palestinian group Hamas, listed in Canada as a terrorist organization…

…Galloway “last week publicly called for a coup d’etat in Egypt and the overthrow of the government there while at the same time delivering aid and resources to Hamas, which is a banned illegal terrorist organization,” Kenney said.

“In this case, I believe folks that are supporting and promoting and helping terrorist organizations are not needed to visit Canada.”…

…Galloway, banned from Britain’s Labour party in 2003 and now sitting as a left-wing Respect MP, issued a statement calling the decision “irrational, inexplicable and an affront to Canada’s good name.” …

…It’s not the first time the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been linked to a controversial decision to bar entry to high-profile activists.

In October 2007, officials banned two U.S. peace activists from speaking at a Toronto conference – Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CodePink, and retired U.S. army colonel Ann Wright, who has been arrested at various peace rallies.

And a day before U.S. President Barack Obama’s inauguration, authorities barred Prof. Bill Ayers from attending a conference hosted by the University of Toronto….

Full article here:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Po.....31-cp.html

You know, I could almost start to like that country.
Oh -wait a minute…

Obama gave Brown useless DVDs and the world was what?

The letter said the officials wanted to “ensure the investing public, as was promised, that money received by the company is being utilized to improve the financial welfare of the company, not to pad the pockets of the same individuals who led to the financial crisis in the first place.”

So are they investigating DC??? Dodd, Frank, o-blah-blah, Raines, etc, etc??? Yet another pandering smoke screen.

“The Congressional Budget Office figures, obtained by The Associated Press Friday, predict Obama’s budget will produce $9.3 trillion worth of red ink over 2010-2019. That’s $2.3 trillion worse than the White House predicted in its budget.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....ama_budget

But so what, right? Easy come, easy go.

2.3 Trillion is only 2.3 times what you pay currently pay annually in taxes. But maybe you will be lucky and lose your job. Then, this little “oversight” will be FREE.

And think of all the “benefits” you will get from this spending “oversight”.

The Moron, is his benevolence, tried to make it easier on your psyche by “fudging” the numbers a bit, but they are what they are. After all, it’s not his fault.

From the Wall Street Journal:

States Launch Joint AIG Probe

By Liam Pleven

A coalition of 19 state attorneys general is launching an investigation into controversial bonuses paid to employees at American International Group Inc.’s financial products unit, whose woes brought the insurer to its knees last year.

New Jersey’s attorney general, Anne Milgram, notified the company of the probe in a letter signed by her counterparts in 18 other states.

The letter said the officials wanted to “ensure the investing public, as was promised, that money received by the company is being utilized to improve the financial welfare of the company, not to pad the pockets of the same individuals who led to the financial crisis in the first place.”

It said the probe was looking into “potential fraud” under New Jersey law, as well as other potential violations of state law.

The letter, dated March 19, demanded that the company provide a list within five business days of all employees at the unit who got bonuses since September 2008, when the government stepped in with a bailout that rescued AIG from potential bankruptcy. The government has committed up to $173.3 billion to aid AIG.

The letter also asked for copies of all employment contracts with people who got bonuses, and a list of the people who were involved in negotiating the compensation contracts …

http://online.wsj.com/article/.....95697.html

Confidentiality? Contract law?

It all goes right out the window – who needs that anymore.

Not when there’s yet another “crisis” that cannot be allowed to go to waste.

It was bad enough when Congress and Cuomo were playing their game, but now more states are getting into the act, too.

Let’s face it, we’re screwed.

From The (U.K.) Daily Telegraph:

Gordon Brown is frustrated by ‘Psycho’ in No 10

By Tim Walker

While not exactly a film buff, Gordon Brown was touched when Barack Obama gave him a set of 25 classic American movies – including Psycho, starring Anthony Perkins on his recent visit to Washington.

Alas, when the PM settled down to begin watching them the other night, he found there was a problem.

The films only worked in DVD players made in North America and the words “wrong region” came up on his screen. Although he mournfully had to put the popcorn away, he is unlikely to jeopardise the special relationship – or “special partnership”, as we are now supposed to call it – by registering a complaint.

A Downing Street spokesman said he was “confident” that any gift Obama gave Brown would have been “well thought through,” but referred me to the White House for assistance on the “technical aspects”.

A White House spokesman sniggered when I put the story to him and he was still looking into the matter when my deadline came last night.

By the way, when Obama’s unlikely gift was disclosed, a reader emailed me to ask if Clueless was among the films. Funnily enough, it was not.

Brown, on the other hand, presented a rather more thoughtful gift to the American President in the form of a penholder carved from the timbers of an anti-slavery ship. The sister ship, in fact, of the one that was broken up and turned into the desk in the Oval Office.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....No-10.html

It seriously makes you wonder who suddenly thought “Oh damn, we need a gift!” and like a panicked boyfriend buying what’s left in the floral department at 6:00 PM on Valentine’s Day just swung by Best Buy and picked up a handful of DVDs.

From the [Associated Press]:

Salazar defends higher oil royalties, taxes

WASHINGTON (AP) – Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Monday he would consider tapping oil from Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if it can be done from outside the refuge’s boundaries, leaving animals and other wildlife undisturbed.

However, Salazar emphasized the Obama administration stands firm that the Alaska refuge, known as ANWR, “is a very special place” that must be protected and that he is not yet convinced directional drilling would meet that test.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) has introduced legislation that would allow oil companies access to oil beneath the Arctic refuge’s coastal plain through directional drilling from platforms outside the refuge itself.

Murkowski contends such drilling would leave the refuge surface land undisturbed, protecting wildlife.

“The question of whether or not you can do directional drilling without impairing the ecological values of ANWR is an open question. Most of what I’ve seen up to this point is it would not be possible to do that,” Salazar said in a conference call with reporters.

He said the directional drilling idea is “something that can be discussed” because of the advancements in the technologies in recent years.

But Salazar said protecting ANWR’s ecology and wildlife is “not something we’re going to change our position on” when considering future oil and gas production. “There are special places to be protected and ANWR is one of those,” Salazar said when asked about Murkowski’s proposal.

Meanwhile, Salazar said he will meet with major oil company executives on Thursday to reassure them that the Obama administration views oil as important to the country’s energy future.

“My message to the oil companies will be simple. They are and will remain an important part of our energy future,” said Salazar. “… We share much common ground. We need to have an open dialogue.”

At the same time, Salazar defended proposals to end a manufacturers’ tax break for the largest oil companies as well as higher royalties and new fees on oil pumped from federal waters.

“It’s simply a sense of fairness,” said Salazar. …

http://www.9news.com/money/art.....p;catid=75

The oil companies are of course important to the country only as a source of tax revenue.

Salazar is of course being true to form – he was majorly anti-oil as a Colorado Senator and he’s even more anti-oil as Secretary of the Interior.

Salazar (and the Obama administration) of course also have no clue that oil companies don’t pay these fees… the American consumer does.

Senate’s Conrad sees $1.6 trillion in extra deficit

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad said on Thursday he expects federal deficit spending will be about $1.6 trillion greater over the next ten years than President Barack Obama’s budget plan forecasts.

Obama submitted his budget outline to Congress last month which forecast almost $7 trillion in deficits through 2019, however a worsening economic picture is expected to make the budget outlook darker.

Conrad told reporters that the additional $1.6 trillion over the next decade was based on projections of the Democratic majority’s budget committee staff.

The Congressional Budget Office is due to issue its revised forecasts for the deficit and economic outlook on Friday, taking into account Obama’s budget proposal which included health care reform and other domestic programs such as curbing greenhouse gas emissions and expanding education.

The expectation of much higher deficit spending comes as much of Washington was already worried about exploding deficits and government borrowing to finance it. China last week raised concerns that massive deficit spending and near zero interest rates would erode the value of its huge U.S. bond holdings.

Conrad also said he did not plan to include any instructions in the budget plan he is crafting for health care or the greenhouse gas initiatives. Such instructions written into the budget would give it a privileged status and make it easier to become law, but likely spark a nasty fight with minority Republicans.

http://www.reuters.com/article.....liticsNews

Totally understandable, given The Moron’s busy busy schedule.

These little oversights will happen.

Let’s hope he isn’t too busy to keep his March Madness picks up-to-date.