In short, the next time there is a national emergency of some sort the President of the United States has it in his power to seize control of every thing.
This directive establishes a comprehensive national policy on the continuity of Federal Government structures and operations and a single National Continuity Coordinator responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of Federal continuity policies. This policy establishes "National Essential Functions," prescribes continuity requirements for all executive departments and agencies, and provides guidance for State, local, territorial, and tribal governments, and private sector organizations in order to ensure a comprehensive and integrated national continuity program that will enhance the credibility of our national security posture and enable a more rapid and effective response to and recovery from a national emergency.
Read it all here: National Security and Homeland Security National Directive, hot off the White House site. It seems to have "come in under the radar" earlier this month. Do you remember hearing anything about it? I don't. I shudder to think that anything that might be considered as a "national emergency" might rear up its head before the Shrub is out of office. However, it remains to be seen whether or not the next incumbent of the Oval Office is goint to be any different. One thing I am pretty certain about is that if this directive is ever invoked, it is a one way trip.
This is disturbing, really disturbing; a MySpace page apparently belonging to Deryk Schlessinger, the son of Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who is serving in Afghanistan. The page featured attrocities, drug use, torture, child molestation, and rape.
Deryk Schlessinger's Web site indicated the 21-year-old soldier is stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where, the site's author writes, "godless crazy people like me," have become "a generation of apathetic killers." The site indicated Schlessinger's team has survived numerous mortar, rocket and roadside bomb attacks. It also included several graphic cartoons. In one of the stick drawings, a top-hatted man laughs as he rapes a bound and bleeding woman in front of her family. In another depiction, a man forces a boy to perform oral sex at knifepoint as the child's mother pleads for her son's life.
Over the last couple of years, what with shrinking oil supplies and the recent unpleasantness in the Middle East, anyone with half a brain (with the possible exception of Ralph Klein, but I digress) could see that the price of oil would skyrocket.Further, as soon as the price hit over $60.00 per barrel, the oil sands would become very, very viable. As a result, people are heading westward in droves for greener pastures in the land of black gold
People from the Atlantic Provinces have been “going down the road” for employment for decades.However, this wholesale migration of the people leaving for the west is unprecedented in the history of the Atlantic Provinces. The reason for this is twofold and simple:
Jobs
Money
This has been the cause of some concern in the respective legislatures as the workforce haemorrhages westward and we are now, apparently, in the grip of a labour shortage.The Premiers of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island has been making pilgrimages to Alberta to woo back their native sons and daughters.I am told that in Fort McMurray everywhere you look these days there are billboards urging Maritimers to “Come to Life.”
Now, given that the employment opportunities here in the Maritimes have not changed greatly in their absence, this does beg the question “Come home and do what?”In Fort McMurray these days you can make close to $18.00 per hour just pumping gas.If you can actually do something, your salary goes up exponentially, albeit with a much higher cost of living.Even with the astronomical cost of living, Fort McMurray and oil country is still the proverbial pot of gold.
In essence, our good premiers are asking people to leave jobs where they are making good money to come home to good jobs that don’t exist, low paying jobs that do, and Dickensian labour laws, where your employer can legally treat you like crap.
Yes, people are burning up the TransCanada to move back here. Not.
Yes, I’ve heard the promises that have been made about the future here.Forgive me for being cynical, but promises and $1.50 will get you a double-double at Timmy Horton’s.You won’t see anyone coming back until those jobs are actually here and not one moment before.
While we are at it, let’s take a look at this “labour shortage”.As I look around, there is a whole pool of workers, experienced, qualified and knowledgeable that can’t find jobs. Furthermore, these people are settled, not likely to “go down the road” and still they are unemployed.What is wrong with this picture?
They are over 50. Let’s face it, 50 is not the new 30 when you are looking for a job
They expect to be paid according to their knowledge and experience.The irony is that a lot of these people are the ones companies laid off when they found they could get younger people to do their jobs for less money.The same younger people, incidently, who have left for pastures anew.
In my opinion, as long as there is a huge pool of unemployed experienced workers, and Neanderthal employers can afford to drive away young people like Melissa Strong, there is no labour shortage.I strongly suspect that what is meant by “labour shortage” in this context is “we have a shortage of twenty-something’s who will work for peanuts and shut up.”
Now that the evangelist has finally met his maker, we pray for his sake that God is an amiable old white guy with a long grey beard, and is not, say, a big purple Teletubby with a triangle above his head and a magic bag dangling from his arm.
One potential employer dragged his knuckles over and told her straight out:
"He said: 'I'm not having a 20-something-year-old girl running around here getting the attention from all the guys and creating problems with their wives and problems with my wife. So I'm not hiring any women,'
Dude, if your marriage is that shaky, I recommend immediate intense counselling or divorce.
What I find to be most appalling is the fact that he said it in the first place, and second, that he saw nothing at all wrong with saying it.
Bear in mind, there is supposedly a labour shortage here in the maritimes because the labour force is hemorraging out of the Atlantic to the West in record numbers. This is apparently particularly so in the area of the trades. Believe me, attitudes like that of the git above aren't helping the situation.
Also, other women in the trades warned Melissa against speaking out or complaining because if she did she would never work in the province. Well, since she decided to leave, I guess she decided she had nothing to lose anyway.
Women in the trades have had a tough time of it, and Melissa expected some for sure, but not this blatant, as it is the 21st century after all. While she may not be free of sexism in the west, having a trade that is really, really in demand does grant one some FOAD leverage.
Now I am not a supporter of the War in Iraq: It was instigated under false pretences by a megalomanic chickenhawk who seems to think that he is John Wayne (who was a chickenhawk too) incarnate. Tony Blair and John Howard, poodles #1 and #2 jumped on the band wagon with great aplomb, Blair as he wanted to be a "war prime minister" wasn't hard to convince. Howard is clueless git who, on a visit to Canada, referred to the Shrub as "the greatest force for peace in the world". He then went south to Washington where he was rewarded with a kibble, though it is unknown whether they let him on the furniture.
The US tried to get Canada involved in Iraq, oh they really tried. The US Ambassador Paul "Don't Let the Door Hit You on The Ass" Cellucci was especially vocal and annoying about the whole thing. Our then Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, held firm and at least we were not drawn into that quagmire. I don't think our current Prime Minister, He With the Face Like a Refrigerator Door, would have displayed the intestinal fortitude to say "Give us Proof". As a matter of fact, Stevie Harper, who was in favour of joining the Americans, must be glad he dodged that particular bullet, given how popular (not) invading Iraq has become.
Granted, Canada is in Afghanistan, and I am uncertain how I feel about that. I didn't like the idea of going, but now I am afraid of what will happen there if we aren't. But then, the Taliban and Al Quaeda actually were in Afghanistan. However, it is with great regret I have to say that our reputation as "peacekeepers" is circling the drain, particularly with this latest fiasco concerning prisoners.
Now that my feelings about the whole thing in general are out of the way, I turn to one little microcosm of the war: Harry Windsor, third in line to the Throne. Harry went to Sandhurst for 4 years, and that is no small feat in and of itself. He trained hard along with his unit, and wanted to serve with them when his regiment, the Blues and the Royals were to be deployed in a few weeks time.
It will have a tremendous effect on morale right across the army," Heyman said. "Soldiers will say: 'If it's too dangerous for Prince Harry, then it's too dangerous for me. Is his life worth more than mine?' Well, from a political point of view, yes. But from a morale point of view, the answer is no."
It is not as if the Royals had a habit of being excused from front line duty: Uncle Andrew flew his helicopter in the Falklands war of 1982. His own grandmother, while not exactly on the front lines, drove an ambulance in the later days of World War II, which was not exactly risk free either - in the dark, no headlights, over bombed out roads during air raids. This was no small thing at a time when, contrary to the popular myth, women in serving in any branch of the military were viewed by many as "Little Better than Camp Followers". (I am happy to say that history has proven that particular viewpoint to be terribly, terribly wrong.) His grandfather, though not the prince consort at the time, served as well.
Does Harry deserve any less of a chance to serve his country?
Also, the article points out, Harry wants a career in the army. By the time this is all over, he will be the need front line experience if he is to have any credibility at all. If he doesn't have it, he might as well be the ceremonial head of a regiment like his aunt Princess Anne - looks good, but no real command.
The decision to exclude Harry from combat duty is not exactly popular with the troops. They h have, in their own way, have voiced not their disagreement with this decision, but announced their willingness to take the risk of serving along side him by the simple act of a T-shirt. These khaki tees, have the words "I'm Harry" emblazoned across the chest, complete with target.
It was mentioned on the Bill Moyers show as a commentary:
I also have to point out, as Bill Moyers has, that it has not gone unnoticed that the sons and daughters of the Bushes and members of congress aren't exactly lining up to join the military. It has always been a fact that the Royal Family has always done their duty in this regard, and now is not the time to be seen to brush it off. Yes, sending Harry would be dangerous, but I think it is even more dangerous to the credibility of the Monarchy as a whole if they do not.
Biologists were counting on an underwater recording of humpback whale songs Thursday to lure two injured whales back down the Sacramento River and into the Pacific Ocean.
Bear in mind, Folks, that under normal circumstances, I usually could not give a ragged rodent's rectum about the trials and tribulations of dumb ass celebrities. I avoid such chronicles such as "People" magazine because I find them tedious at best. However, this little gem was too good to pass up.
Paris Hilton is traumatized over her jail sentence. Apparently she thinks that her "celebrity status" is causing the legal system to have some sort of "vendetta" against her.
Paris, my dear, accept the fact that you were driving drunk. Driving under the influence of alcohol is a crime and you were lucky - you got off with probation. All you had to do was not drive for a given period of time, oh.. and stay sober. Given that you have a whole battery of lawyers and publicists, at least some of whom must have understood the situation and explained it to you in great detail. Still you violated your probation and further claim not to have understood the conditions involved. This chain of events leads me to believe that one of three things, or perhaps a combination thereof, has occurred:
Your lawyers and publicist are all incompetent and should be summarily disbarred/fired.
You are too stupid to breathe, in which case, thank you for reinforcing every stereotype there is about blondes.
You belong to that rarified group of people who seem to think that the laws that apply to the plebian population do not apply to them.
Welcome to what must be a wholly new concept for you: the consequences for your actions. I hope you like orange.
At age 73, having keeled over in his office of apparent heart problems. People have expressed great shock over the fact he actually had one.
Try as I might, I really can't summon up any sense of loss.
This is the man who thought TinkyWinky in the Teletubbies was a gay model role. (I think he had a burr on about SpongeBob Squarepants, too). He blamed 9/11 on pagans, homosexuals, lesbians, abortionists and unnamed "others" where trying to secularize America.
Once upon a time, a couple of American Defense contractors (whose names have never been disclosed) came to Canada. Upon their arrival, they found that they had been "tagged" by a suspicious looking coin; one of which had been found in the cup holder of a rental car. It was plainly obvious that these coins "were filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology". The worried contractors filed confidential espionage reports.
The confidential accounts led to a sensational warning from the Defense Security Service, an agency of the Defense Department, that mysterious coins with radio frequency transmitters were found planted on U.S. contractors with classified security clearances on at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and January 2006 as the contractors travelled through Canada.
It could have been worse, Sanders said. Idaho law requires an unfenced dog to be either on a leash or under supervision of its master. And landowners are allowed to shoot a trespassing dog if that dog is harassing livestock.
