Bush pardons two more!

In a show of power or in a way of saying “I’m still President”, Bush has issued two more pardons, thus effectively freeing two more dirty, feather-brained creatures onto society!

That’s right! Pumpkin and Pecan have been pardoned under the auspice of the annual Thanksgiving presidential pardon. This is President Bush’s final turkey pardon.

The lucky ducks will soon fly first-class Disneyland, “where one of them will be grand marshal in Disneyland’s Thanksgiving parade today. The pair will then take up residence in a turkey house in the amusement park’s Frontierland.”

Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble Gobble!

A Canada we can believe in

On Friday Canadian PM Stephen Harper signed a tentative free-trade deal with Colombia that will be submitted to parliament for approval. Upon signing the agreement, PM Harper stated:

By expanding our trading relationship with Colombia, we are not only opening up new opportunities for Canadian businesses in a foreign market, we are also helping one of South America’s most historic democracies improve the human rights and security situation in their country.

The agreement will lift tariffs on many of Canada’s exports to Colombia and both Canada and Colombia will work to help professional bodies in both nations accept the certifications of one another – ‘especially in engineering.’

This comes just before Haper plans to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru, where he will be working to push increased free-trade and economic cooperation and interdependence as a means to pull out of the current global economic crisis. This is truly an amazing step towards regional free and interconnected trade in the Americas.

Canada’s economy and banking sectors are currently one the of the strongest in the world, weathering the global economic and financial crisis far better than the remainder of the world; Including the US and Europe.

With the shift away from international trade among US lawmakers, Canada has stepped up to take the lead on trade and economic cooperation in the Americas. With US lawmakers and groups arguing against trade and presenting misconceptions of the practice to the US populous, it is no surprise that Canada was happy to step-in and lead the region towards a positive economic future.

In recent months Canada also signed an amazing and historic free-trade agreement with both Peru and Singapore. The country currently holds agreements with Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile and others; they are also pursuing possibilities with other Central/South American and Caribbean nations. The Americas and Asia-Pacific regions need free-trade. Trade benefits us all and it is excellent to see Canada stepping forward to lead the way.

In another feat, Canada placed seventh in the recently released Economic Freedom of the World Report conducted jointly by the Cato Institute and the Frasier Institute. Canada has now statistically surpassed the US in economic freedom! The US sits – tied with Australia – in eighth place, yes.. eighth place. On top of the overall list is Hong Kong, followed by Singapore and New Zealand; Switzerland, the UK, and Chile also topped the US. Canada now sits among a group of amazing economic leaders and is a continually rising star in global economics.

As if that’s not enough, the World Economic Forum’s The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009 has ranked Canada number one in the category of soundness in banking. In another arena Canada is taking the lead and the title.

Now that’s a Canada we can believe in!

Tell Obama what you think, want, envision

Visit change.gov and tell Barack Obama and Joe Biden what you want, where you see this nation going and what you think is best; “share your vision for what America can be, where President-Elect Obama should lead this country.” 

Provide your input into the future of the United States Of America via the Office of the President-Elect web portal; change.gov. 

There’s no one as Irish as Barack Obama

This is just simply awesome!

Introducing U.S. Government v2.0

Obama preached change throughout his campaign, and change he will bring. Ready yourselves for the internet wave that is poised to bring the net and the US government together!

Let’s face it, the US government and the web have not exactly worked together very well. The government in nearly all capacities has severely underutilized or misused web resources. This is about to change. Barack Obama is more web savvy than any other leader the US government has yet to come into contact with. His web driven campaign and his newly launched government portal change.gov is evidence enough that the US will finally catch up with the technology is so desperately needs.

The net is an amazing tool that can make government more efficient, intelligent, transparent and accountable. It will enable communication and citizen involvement, open the lines of communication between the government and the people, will make information and government resources readily available to the people.

The Obama plan will overhaul White House communication operations, expanding it to included and focus on the net as a mainstream communications mechanism. A new era of government communication is dawning – blogs, email communication, web video and various forms of other new media elements. Imagine a web portal where government information is readily available, where you can see what the government is doing, not doing, and who is doing it. Picture a blog updating you on actions and project statuses and sites requesting your input in a simple and easy fashion. Envision a site where you can track spending, votes, and live changes in government laws, legislation, and regulations. It is all possible under an Obama presidency, where America meets the web.

Imagine… government communicating with you… not simply taking at you… is it possible? Oh yes, it most definitely is!

Prop 8 violates the 14th Amendment

The 14th amendment of the United States Constitution requires states to provide and guarantee equal protection under the law to ALL persons within their jurisdiction. Basically, this means that no state laws or constitutions can discriminate, equality must be fully guaranteed – period.

All Americans should believe in keeping and preserving the constitution. However this does not appear to be the case. California’s Proposition 8 directly violates and undermines the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. When Proposition 8 entered the books in California it violated the 14th amendment rights of an entire group of people and this is simply unacceptable.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with gay marriage is irrelevant. Proposition 8 is an illegal law. It must be overturned.

Who are you voting for?!