Tag Archives: Canada

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Canada to walk out of Ahmadinejad’s speech at UN conference today

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Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper

While Obama belittles his own country and our allies at the UN conference, Canada is doing something really heroic.

Story from the Ottawa Citizen. (H/T Andrew, ECM, Hot Air, Gateway Pundit)

Excerpt:

Canada will boycott Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech at the United Nations today, saying his outbursts about the Holocaust and Israel are “shameful.”

Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon will be at the world body to attend the opening of the UN General Assembly’s annual debate, but officials signal he and other members of the Canadian delegation will vacate when the Islamic republic’s president approaches the podium.

Walking out of the chamber is seen as a strong diplomatic show of disgust at the UN — and since the 192-member chamber is generally packed on the first day of the annual summit, Canada’s empty seats will not go unnoticed.

“President Ahmadinejad’s repeated denial of the Holocaust and his anti-Israel comments run counter to the values of the UN General Assembly, and they’re shameful,” said one Canadian official.

“He uses his public appearances to provoke the international community, and that is why Canada’s seats will be empty.”

Here are some media interviews with Stephen Harper if you would like to know more about him. A post about Harper visiting his troops in Afghanistan. A post about Harper signing free trade deals, and generally trying his best to lead the free world.

UPDATE: ECM sends this post from Ace. The other countries are following Stephen Harper’s lead.

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Muslim woman calls police to have Christians arrested after debate

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Story from the Daily Mail. (H/T Dana Loesch via ECM)

Excerpt:

A Christian couple have been charged with a criminal offence after taking part in what they regarded as a reasonable discussion about religion with guests at their hotel.

Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang were arrested after a Muslim woman complained to police that she had been offended by their comments.

They have been charged under public order laws with using ‘threatening, abusive or insulting words’ that were ‘religiously aggravated’.

[…]After the incident, the couple voluntarily attended St Anne’s Street police station in Liverpool, where they were interviewed under caution.

In July they were arrested and charged under Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 and Section 31 (1) (c) and (5) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

This kind of law reminds me of Section 13(1) up north in Canada. These hate speech laws are passed by the left to undermine the inalienable right of free speech. It is selectively applied by the left against their enemies (e.g. – Christians) for the benefit of special interest groups favored by the left (e.g. – Muslims).

Now may be a good time to link to my post on “Why I am not a Muslim“.

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Obama’s naive trade policy angers Canada, China, France, Mexico, etc.

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The economic effects of massive government waste and naive protectionism
The economic effects of massive government waste and naive protectionism

(Source: Wall Street Journal)

The Wall Street Journal explains the high costs of economic ignorance.

Excerpt:

The smell of trade war is suddenly in the air. Mr. Obama slapped a 35% tariff on Chinese tires Friday night, and China responded on the weekend by threatening to retaliate against U.S. chickens and auto parts. That followed French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s demand on Thursday that Europe impose a carbon tariff on imports from countries that don’t follow its cap-and-trade diktats. “We need to impose a carbon tax at [Europe’s] border. I will lead that battle,” he said.

Mr. Sarkozy was following U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who has endorsed a carbon tax on imports, and the U.S. House of Representatives, which passed a carbon tariff as part of its cap-and-tax bill. This in turn followed the “Buy American” provisions of the stimulus, which has incensed much of Canada; Congress’s bill to ban Mexican trucks from U.S. roads in direct violation of Nafta, prompting Mexico to retaliate against U.S. farm and kitchen goods; and the must-make-cars-in-America provisions of the auto bailouts. Meanwhile, U.S. trade pacts with Colombia, Panama and South Korea languish in Congress.

The article goes on to explain how the Smoot-Hawley tariff helped cause the Great Depression. This is exactly the path that President Teleprompter is treading. He is taking us head-first into the next Great Depression because he knows less about economic policy than my keyboard. He did legal work for ACORN, for God’s sake – have you seen who ACORN hires? I’m sure that woman can read a Teleprompter, too.

What do economists think of Obama’s economic policies?

I noticed this post on Greg Mankiw’s blog, where links to a survey of economists.

Click here to read the results of a new survey of AEA members. This updates previous survey results, summarized in Chapter 2 of my favorite textbook.

Note that 83 percent agree that “the United States should eliminate remaining tariffs and other barriers to trade.” I presume that would apply to tariffs on Chinese tires.

Greg Mankiw is a Harvard University professor of economics.

UPDATE: New Michele Bachmann video!

Wow, is she ever pretty when she’s explaining free trade! Sigh.