The US and Canada are going to hell

There are so many things I want to blog about today.

First off, why is Harper destroying Canada? (Note: in case you don't know, Stephen Harper is the Prime Minister of Canada.) He is going ahead with the SPP (check it out here http://www.youmespp.com ), he's trying to sell off all our water, and he's abandoning Canada's identity as a nation of peacekeepers to turn us into a nation of warriors. What is wrong with this guy, and more importantly, why are people supporting him? I know Canadians aren't good at getting pissed off about stuff, but seriously.

On a similar note, Canada's environmental responsibility is rapidly disappearing down the drain of Alberta's tar sands. Oil, always oil. Tar sands produce the dirtiest kind of oil in the world, which means it takes three barrels of water to produce one barrel of oil. Also, the drainage from this work goes into "tailing ponds" most of which are unlined, meaning that the pollution seeps into rivers and basically pollutes the entire country's network of water. (For more information on this and similar issues, check out the Council of Canadians website at http://www.canadians.org )

It seems that my elation over Obama's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was a little premature. Turns out he's going to play the numbers game, adding more troops in order to send a message to the world that the USA is strong and can do whatever it wants. WE ALREADY KNOW THAT, OBAMA, so just get the hell out. Nobody wants you there. At least Harper is taking a mild stand on this one and refusing to send more troops to complement the American military being deployed there. On the other hand, he's not exactly pulling out either.

The number strategy didn't work in Vietnam, it didn't work for the Russians in Afghanistan and it didn't work in the first Gulf War. It just doesn't work. Sending more people to die and kill is not going to solve anything. People have been invading Afghanistan forever and adding more troops has never accomplished anything. If the President were really to listen to his people, the ones that know what they're talking about and care about their nation, he would be pulling everyone out of that country - and Iraq - as quickly as possible. Oh well, at least he has set a time frame for complete withdrawal. It's still a step. Now we just have to see if he sticks to it.

So much for the Nobel Peace Prize. How can that have been given to a man who is engaged in TWO occupations, one of which is illegal under international law? Yeah, because that promotes peace in the world...