test
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Nibali fights off Scarponi to defend Giro lead
Italy's Vincenzo Nibali fended off several surprise attacks by his rivals to maintain his grip on the overall lead for a ninth straight day on Tuesday's hilly 16th stage of the Giro d'Italia, won by Spain's Benat Intxausti.
In a fast and frantic finale as the main pack tore down a twisting descent from the third category climb of Andrate, Nibali responded to attacks by 2011 Giro winner Michele Scarponi, fifth overall.
After closing down further challenges by Colombian Rigoberto Uran, third overall, and his compatriot Carlos Alberto Betancur, who leads the best young rider classification, Nibali crossed the finish line in Ivrea in 12th place in a group of 12 riders.
The 28-year-old Sicilian leads by one minute and 26 seconds from Australian Cadel Evans, with Uran in third at two minutes and 46 seconds, while Scarponi moves up to fourth at three minutes and 53 seconds.
"Scarponi went for it and I had to keep him under control," Nibali told reporters, "but this wasn't supposed to be a difficult stage and it turned out being tougher than anybody expected.
"He's clearly come out of (Monday's) rest day feeling ready to go on the warpath.
"It was a very dangerous descent, with rivulets of water in some places and dry in others, so I preferred to be in front anyway, but it was not easy."
CONFIDENCE RISING
With his confidence rising as he dealt with his rivals' attacks, Nibali allowed teammate Tanel Kangert to go for the stage win, but the Estonian was beaten by Spain's Intxausti, who took his Movistar squad's third stage victory in the 2013 Giro.
Poland's Przemyslaw Niemiec was third.
After making a late move with his two rivals, Intxausti said he had let the other two riders take the initiative in the final acceleration before surprising them from behind.
"I kept a cool head, let them do the work, and then with 300 metres to go I thought, 'It's now or never'," Intxausti, who led the Giro for a day earlier in the race, told reporters.
The Basque rider dedicated his first Grand Tour stage win to his friend and team-mate Xavi Tondo, who died in a domestic accident in 2011.
"It's just two days before the anniversary of his death," Intxausti said, "and for sure he would be celebrating it if he were around still."
After Wednesday's flat stage, the Giro tackles its three final mountain stages, with Thursday's uphill time trial followed by two summit finishes deep in the Dolomites.
"I'll be looking to win on all three stages, but if I can only take one, I'll be happy," Nibali said.
"My team (Astana) haven't had a stage win yet, and that's one objective I want to achieve before the finish."
The Giro ends in Brescia on May 26.
In a fast and frantic finale as the main pack tore down a twisting descent from the third category climb of Andrate, Nibali responded to attacks by 2011 Giro winner Michele Scarponi, fifth overall.
After closing down further challenges by Colombian Rigoberto Uran, third overall, and his compatriot Carlos Alberto Betancur, who leads the best young rider classification, Nibali crossed the finish line in Ivrea in 12th place in a group of 12 riders.
The 28-year-old Sicilian leads by one minute and 26 seconds from Australian Cadel Evans, with Uran in third at two minutes and 46 seconds, while Scarponi moves up to fourth at three minutes and 53 seconds.
"Scarponi went for it and I had to keep him under control," Nibali told reporters, "but this wasn't supposed to be a difficult stage and it turned out being tougher than anybody expected.
"He's clearly come out of (Monday's) rest day feeling ready to go on the warpath.
"It was a very dangerous descent, with rivulets of water in some places and dry in others, so I preferred to be in front anyway, but it was not easy."
CONFIDENCE RISING
With his confidence rising as he dealt with his rivals' attacks, Nibali allowed teammate Tanel Kangert to go for the stage win, but the Estonian was beaten by Spain's Intxausti, who took his Movistar squad's third stage victory in the 2013 Giro.
Poland's Przemyslaw Niemiec was third.
After making a late move with his two rivals, Intxausti said he had let the other two riders take the initiative in the final acceleration before surprising them from behind.
"I kept a cool head, let them do the work, and then with 300 metres to go I thought, 'It's now or never'," Intxausti, who led the Giro for a day earlier in the race, told reporters.
The Basque rider dedicated his first Grand Tour stage win to his friend and team-mate Xavi Tondo, who died in a domestic accident in 2011.
"It's just two days before the anniversary of his death," Intxausti said, "and for sure he would be celebrating it if he were around still."
After Wednesday's flat stage, the Giro tackles its three final mountain stages, with Thursday's uphill time trial followed by two summit finishes deep in the Dolomites.
"I'll be looking to win on all three stages, but if I can only take one, I'll be happy," Nibali said.
"My team (Astana) haven't had a stage win yet, and that's one objective I want to achieve before the finish."
The Giro ends in Brescia on May 26.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Deported wins Best Documentary and Human Rights award at Vues d'Afrique 2013
The documentary Deported, directed by Chantal Regnault and Rachel Magloire was awarded Best Documentary and the Human Rights award at the 29th International Film Festival Vues d'Afrique held in Montreal, Canada.
The film was screened twice to packed houses at the Excentris Cinema, with record attendances for the Vues D'Afrique.
Produced in collaboration with Velvet Films "Deported" follows the story of American and Canadian ex-convicts born in Haiti and forcibly returned to their country of origin that they know little or nothing about.
The film had its world premiere in Jacmel (Haiti) last December at the Close Friend Festival in front of thousands of festival-goers.
"Deported" then aired the world premiere a the FIPA International Festival of Audiovisual Programs, held in January in Biarritz, France.
The film was screened twice to packed houses at the Excentris Cinema, with record attendances for the Vues D'Afrique.
Produced in collaboration with Velvet Films "Deported" follows the story of American and Canadian ex-convicts born in Haiti and forcibly returned to their country of origin that they know little or nothing about.
The film had its world premiere in Jacmel (Haiti) last December at the Close Friend Festival in front of thousands of festival-goers.
"Deported" then aired the world premiere a the FIPA International Festival of Audiovisual Programs, held in January in Biarritz, France.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
UN must challenge Canada's complicity in mining's human rights abuses
Canada is scheduled for its universal periodic review (UPR) at the UN human rights council on 26 April. The UPR is an international mechanism established in 2006 to hold governments accountable for their human rights records. According to Ban Ki-moon, the review has the potential "to promote and protect human rights in the darkest corners of the world".
When Canada stands before the UN to have its "darkest corners" examined, the international community must not turn a blind eye to its complicity with a global mining industry whose corporations are among the worst human rights and environmental offenders in the world.
The abuses by Canadian mining companies are a systemic part of an economic development policy that disregards human rights and disdains the environment. It is no coincidence that Canada is now home to 75% of the world's mining companies, the majority operating overseas. The Canadian government has accelerated its pursuit of investment treaties in the global south to serve the interests of the extractive industry. These treaties allow companies to challenge environmental, public health or other resource-related policies that affect mining profits.
At the same time, Canada allows its corporations to benefit from a climate of impunity, offering no legal recourse for adversely impacted communities and demanding no accountability in exchange for generous public subsidies, as the EU and other jurisdictions do. These conditions have made Canada a haven for the global mining industry.
Canadian mining companies are operating at the heart of violent conflicts around the world. Although the industry often claims the violence is localised and specific, there is an unmistakable pattern of social conflict surrounding mining projects. Anti-mining activists are being brutally attacked and killed for voicing their opposition to mega-mining project in communities throughout the global south. Yet impacted communities have been unsuccessful in bringing their cases to Canadian courts.
Last year, a Québec court of appeal rejected a suit by citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo against Montreal-based Anvil Mining Limited for allegedly providing logistical support to the DRC army as it carried out a massacre, killing as many as 100 people in the town of Kilwa near the company's silver and copper mine. The supreme court of Canada later confirmed that Canadian courts had no jurisdiction over the company's actions in the DRC when it rejected the plaintiffs' request to appeal. Kairos Canada, a faith-based organisation, concluded that the supreme court's ruling would "have broader implications for other victims of human rights abuses committed by Canadian companies and their chances of bringing similar cases to our courts".
In an increasingly water-hungry world, much of the community resistance to Canadian mining has been in defence of local water supplies. Mining projects require tremendous amounts of water and employ methods that contaminate precious water resources. A recent report by Earthworks and MiningWatch Canada (pdf) found that 180 million tonnes of hazardous mine waste was being dumped every year into lakes, rivers and oceans worldwide.
In El Salvador, where more than 60% of the population relies on a single source of water, this means choosing between drinking water and mining. In 2009, after immense public pressure, the country chose water. It established a moratorium on metal mining permits. Polls show that a strong majority of Salvadorans would now like a permanent ban.
In Chile, after community resistance to a massive silver-gold project by Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold, an appeals court recently ordered a suspension of operations due to concerns that the project was polluting surface and groundwater in the Atacama desert, one of the driest regions in the world.
Yet, in a globalised world, these victories are precarious. Even when corporations are found in violation of domestic laws, or when communities reject destructive resource projects, mining companies are able to use bilateral investment treaties to plough ahead, or to demand compensation for "lost" profit.
Vancouver-based Pacific Rim – which describes itself on its website as "an environmentally and socially responsible exploration company whose business plans and management talent focus on high grade, environmentally clean gold deposits in the Americas" – is suing El Salvador through a World Bank trade tribunal for $315m (£207m) for refusing permits for a gold mine in the Department of Cabanas.
Canada is pursuing a trade agreement with El Salvador that would further entrench the rights of mining corporations and make a mining ban virtually impossible.
A similar battle is being played out in neighbouring Costa Rica where Calgary-based Infinito Gold is threatening to sue for $1bn if two supreme court rulings affirming the country's ban on opencast mining are not overturned. And in Chile, the battle continues as Barrick Gold evaluates its legal options.
Yet the UN Conference on Trade and Development just added insult to injury by declaring in a recent briefing note (pdf) that enforcement of human rights must not undermine investor rights.
It is time that international human rights bodies challenged this logic. The example of Canadian mining underscores the urgent need for the Human Rights Council to defend the primacy of human rights. If global human rights mechanisms do not confront the logic of international corporate rights championed by states like Canada, they risk becoming irrelevant.
When Canada stands before the UN to have its "darkest corners" examined, the international community must not turn a blind eye to its complicity with a global mining industry whose corporations are among the worst human rights and environmental offenders in the world.
The abuses by Canadian mining companies are a systemic part of an economic development policy that disregards human rights and disdains the environment. It is no coincidence that Canada is now home to 75% of the world's mining companies, the majority operating overseas. The Canadian government has accelerated its pursuit of investment treaties in the global south to serve the interests of the extractive industry. These treaties allow companies to challenge environmental, public health or other resource-related policies that affect mining profits.
At the same time, Canada allows its corporations to benefit from a climate of impunity, offering no legal recourse for adversely impacted communities and demanding no accountability in exchange for generous public subsidies, as the EU and other jurisdictions do. These conditions have made Canada a haven for the global mining industry.
Canadian mining companies are operating at the heart of violent conflicts around the world. Although the industry often claims the violence is localised and specific, there is an unmistakable pattern of social conflict surrounding mining projects. Anti-mining activists are being brutally attacked and killed for voicing their opposition to mega-mining project in communities throughout the global south. Yet impacted communities have been unsuccessful in bringing their cases to Canadian courts.
Last year, a Québec court of appeal rejected a suit by citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo against Montreal-based Anvil Mining Limited for allegedly providing logistical support to the DRC army as it carried out a massacre, killing as many as 100 people in the town of Kilwa near the company's silver and copper mine. The supreme court of Canada later confirmed that Canadian courts had no jurisdiction over the company's actions in the DRC when it rejected the plaintiffs' request to appeal. Kairos Canada, a faith-based organisation, concluded that the supreme court's ruling would "have broader implications for other victims of human rights abuses committed by Canadian companies and their chances of bringing similar cases to our courts".
In an increasingly water-hungry world, much of the community resistance to Canadian mining has been in defence of local water supplies. Mining projects require tremendous amounts of water and employ methods that contaminate precious water resources. A recent report by Earthworks and MiningWatch Canada (pdf) found that 180 million tonnes of hazardous mine waste was being dumped every year into lakes, rivers and oceans worldwide.
In El Salvador, where more than 60% of the population relies on a single source of water, this means choosing between drinking water and mining. In 2009, after immense public pressure, the country chose water. It established a moratorium on metal mining permits. Polls show that a strong majority of Salvadorans would now like a permanent ban.
In Chile, after community resistance to a massive silver-gold project by Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold, an appeals court recently ordered a suspension of operations due to concerns that the project was polluting surface and groundwater in the Atacama desert, one of the driest regions in the world.
Yet, in a globalised world, these victories are precarious. Even when corporations are found in violation of domestic laws, or when communities reject destructive resource projects, mining companies are able to use bilateral investment treaties to plough ahead, or to demand compensation for "lost" profit.
Vancouver-based Pacific Rim – which describes itself on its website as "an environmentally and socially responsible exploration company whose business plans and management talent focus on high grade, environmentally clean gold deposits in the Americas" – is suing El Salvador through a World Bank trade tribunal for $315m (£207m) for refusing permits for a gold mine in the Department of Cabanas.
Canada is pursuing a trade agreement with El Salvador that would further entrench the rights of mining corporations and make a mining ban virtually impossible.
A similar battle is being played out in neighbouring Costa Rica where Calgary-based Infinito Gold is threatening to sue for $1bn if two supreme court rulings affirming the country's ban on opencast mining are not overturned. And in Chile, the battle continues as Barrick Gold evaluates its legal options.
Yet the UN Conference on Trade and Development just added insult to injury by declaring in a recent briefing note (pdf) that enforcement of human rights must not undermine investor rights.
It is time that international human rights bodies challenged this logic. The example of Canadian mining underscores the urgent need for the Human Rights Council to defend the primacy of human rights. If global human rights mechanisms do not confront the logic of international corporate rights championed by states like Canada, they risk becoming irrelevant.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
10 Health Tips To Take From The French
While the rest of the world, especially America is dying of obesity, the French people are just as petite as ever. They must have got their diet really right. It is an universally accepted fact that French men and women are slim throughout their life. This is partly owing to the healthy French food and lifestyle.
That is why it is worth your salt to take health tips from the French. The French can give us a lot of health tips on reducing stress. According to the French culture, leisure is a basic right, not a bonus. They enjoy more holidays and less work hours than any Americans. Moreover, every meal is a social event in France. One of the best health tips that the French can give is to eat slowly and enjoy each bite.
Moreover, French food is really healthy. People there buy their bread and groceries from local bakeries and farm vendors. French food is healthy because it often has no preservatives. The French follow the Mediterranean diet. It has been found out that the Mediterranean diet is the most heart healthy diet in the world.
Here are some of the best health tips that we can take from the French. Eat and live like the French to have long healthy life.
Read more at: http://www.boldsky.com/health/wellness/2013/french-health-tips-032844.html
Read more at: http://www.boldsky.com/health/wellness/2013/french-health-tips-032844.html
Monday, March 18, 2013
Men's Health contributing editor offers tips on fitness
Lou Schuler is an award-winning journalist, certified strength and conditioning specialist, co-author of the book “The New Rules of Lifting Supercharged” (Avery, 2012) and contributing editor at Men's Health magazine.
I emailed Lou a few questions. His answers, with some minor edits, appear below. What better way to learn about fitness than from a passionate fitness fanatic who knows exactly what to say (and write, for that matter).
Diet Detective: Can you tell us how you became a fitness expert and writer?
Lou Schuler: Pure luck! In 1991, I was a grad student in creative writing at USC. I answered a blind ad in the L.A. Times for an editor at a fitness magazine. The magazine turned out to be Men's Fitness, but it didn't matter because I'd never heard of it. I was 34 at the time, and I'd been working out since I was 13, but I'd never picked up a fitness or bodybuilding magazine. I'd seen them on newsstands, but when I looked at the swollen, oily guys posing on the covers, I never thought they were for me.
Once I could make a living writing about fitness, which to that point had been my hobby but something I hardly ever got assigned to report on, I never looked back. I started full time at Men's Fitness in 1992, switched to Men's Health in 1998, and went out on my own in 2004.
DD: If you could do only one strength-training exercise, what would it be?
LS: Push-ups. But I'd do, like, 75 variations.
DD: What is the biggest secret that trainers typically don't tell their clients but should?
LS: What I wish they would tell clients is that movement competence has to precede any dramatic improvements in size, shape or performance. Most of us still think of mobility, stability and muscle-activation exercises as warm-ups or specialty movements. But they're really the key to your success in everything else. You get more out of training when your joints have their optimal range of motion and you can activate the right muscles while stabilizing the joints that aren't supposed to move on any particular exercise.
DD: In all your years of training, what do you consider the best non-weight-related exercise (e.g., lunge)?
LS: I think every exercise you do should be based on something your body does naturally. Squats, lunges, step-ups. Pushing, pulling, climbing. Jumping, throwing, running.
The flip side is that I wish people would avoid exercises that don't remotely resemble anything you'd do without a barbell or machine. When in life, do you do anything that looks like a concentration curl, or an overhead triceps extension, or a kickback, or hip adduction and abduction the way it's done on those machines?
I totally get why people do those things. And if someone is a bodybuilder, I'd agree she/he has to do whatever produces the best result for each individual muscle. But most of us are looking for systemic benefits: a leaner, more muscular, more athletic, healthier body. So, for most of us, the exercises I mentioned are a distraction from the ones that get us closer to our goals.
DD: What are some common workout mistakes?
LS: I think a lot of people do exercises simply because they're the only ones they know. The first thing a gym employee teaches a new member is how to use all the machines. And that's often the last thing the member learns.
There's also the social-anxiety issue. Someone walking into a gym for the first time in 20 years isn't going to ask strangers to explain what the hell's going on with all these exercises he's never seen before. He's going to grab a pair of dumbbells and do the ones he remembers. The last thing he wants to do is draw attention to himself or run the risk of someone correcting his form.
DD: What's the best way for a person to stick with a fitness program?
LS: For anything to work long-term, it has to be meaningful to the individual, and something the person enjoys and feels she or he is good at. Someone with crappy mobility probably isn't going to enjoy yoga enough to get serious about it and stick with it.
Take me as an example: I started working out because I was terrible at sports. I was skinny, weak and slow. So, naturally, I chose a type of training that would help me get bigger, stronger and faster.
But I also spent a lot of time running to improve my endurance, because I thought I was supposed to. I never enjoyed it and never improved beyond a certain point. My best run ever was 5 miles. I built up to that twice — once in college and once in my early 40s when I worked at Men's Health where almost all my colleagues were serious runners. Running didn't help me get leaner or make me feel better. It didn't even help me get along better with my co-workers. The best thing about running, for me, was how good I felt when I stopped doing it.
The exercise has to address an issue the individual has and wants to solve, and it has to be something that makes the individual feel both good and competent. No one sticks to something that makes her feel worse, or feel uncoordinated or out of place.
Here are a few common traits that Alwyn Cosgrove and I describe in our “New Rules of Lifting” books:
•Never lift anything heavy until thoroughly warmed up and prepared.
•Never do anything that isn't a challenge to my strength, muscle endurance, balance or coordination.
•Never do anything that hurts while doing it.
•Never push so hard that you feel worse instead of better.
I emailed Lou a few questions. His answers, with some minor edits, appear below. What better way to learn about fitness than from a passionate fitness fanatic who knows exactly what to say (and write, for that matter).
Diet Detective: Can you tell us how you became a fitness expert and writer?
Lou Schuler: Pure luck! In 1991, I was a grad student in creative writing at USC. I answered a blind ad in the L.A. Times for an editor at a fitness magazine. The magazine turned out to be Men's Fitness, but it didn't matter because I'd never heard of it. I was 34 at the time, and I'd been working out since I was 13, but I'd never picked up a fitness or bodybuilding magazine. I'd seen them on newsstands, but when I looked at the swollen, oily guys posing on the covers, I never thought they were for me.
Once I could make a living writing about fitness, which to that point had been my hobby but something I hardly ever got assigned to report on, I never looked back. I started full time at Men's Fitness in 1992, switched to Men's Health in 1998, and went out on my own in 2004.
DD: If you could do only one strength-training exercise, what would it be?
LS: Push-ups. But I'd do, like, 75 variations.
DD: What is the biggest secret that trainers typically don't tell their clients but should?
LS: What I wish they would tell clients is that movement competence has to precede any dramatic improvements in size, shape or performance. Most of us still think of mobility, stability and muscle-activation exercises as warm-ups or specialty movements. But they're really the key to your success in everything else. You get more out of training when your joints have their optimal range of motion and you can activate the right muscles while stabilizing the joints that aren't supposed to move on any particular exercise.
DD: In all your years of training, what do you consider the best non-weight-related exercise (e.g., lunge)?
LS: I think every exercise you do should be based on something your body does naturally. Squats, lunges, step-ups. Pushing, pulling, climbing. Jumping, throwing, running.
The flip side is that I wish people would avoid exercises that don't remotely resemble anything you'd do without a barbell or machine. When in life, do you do anything that looks like a concentration curl, or an overhead triceps extension, or a kickback, or hip adduction and abduction the way it's done on those machines?
I totally get why people do those things. And if someone is a bodybuilder, I'd agree she/he has to do whatever produces the best result for each individual muscle. But most of us are looking for systemic benefits: a leaner, more muscular, more athletic, healthier body. So, for most of us, the exercises I mentioned are a distraction from the ones that get us closer to our goals.
DD: What are some common workout mistakes?
LS: I think a lot of people do exercises simply because they're the only ones they know. The first thing a gym employee teaches a new member is how to use all the machines. And that's often the last thing the member learns.
There's also the social-anxiety issue. Someone walking into a gym for the first time in 20 years isn't going to ask strangers to explain what the hell's going on with all these exercises he's never seen before. He's going to grab a pair of dumbbells and do the ones he remembers. The last thing he wants to do is draw attention to himself or run the risk of someone correcting his form.
DD: What's the best way for a person to stick with a fitness program?
LS: For anything to work long-term, it has to be meaningful to the individual, and something the person enjoys and feels she or he is good at. Someone with crappy mobility probably isn't going to enjoy yoga enough to get serious about it and stick with it.
Take me as an example: I started working out because I was terrible at sports. I was skinny, weak and slow. So, naturally, I chose a type of training that would help me get bigger, stronger and faster.
But I also spent a lot of time running to improve my endurance, because I thought I was supposed to. I never enjoyed it and never improved beyond a certain point. My best run ever was 5 miles. I built up to that twice — once in college and once in my early 40s when I worked at Men's Health where almost all my colleagues were serious runners. Running didn't help me get leaner or make me feel better. It didn't even help me get along better with my co-workers. The best thing about running, for me, was how good I felt when I stopped doing it.
The exercise has to address an issue the individual has and wants to solve, and it has to be something that makes the individual feel both good and competent. No one sticks to something that makes her feel worse, or feel uncoordinated or out of place.
Here are a few common traits that Alwyn Cosgrove and I describe in our “New Rules of Lifting” books:
•Never lift anything heavy until thoroughly warmed up and prepared.
•Never do anything that isn't a challenge to my strength, muscle endurance, balance or coordination.
•Never do anything that hurts while doing it.
•Never push so hard that you feel worse instead of better.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Obama calls North Korea nuclear test 'highly provocative'
President Obama on Tuesday called North Korea's latest nuclear test a "highly provocative act" that threatens U.S. security and international peace.
"The danger posed by North Korea's threatening activities warrants further swift and credible action by the international community," Obama said in a statement issued early Tuesday. "The United States will also continue to take steps necessary to defend ourselves and our allies."
North Korea said it successfully detonated a miniaturized nuclear device at a northeastern test site Tuesday. South Korean, U.S. and Japanese seismic monitoring agencies said they detected an earthquake in North Korea with a magnitude between 4.9 and 5.2.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said the test was conducted safely but with "great explosive power." It said the test is aimed at coping with "ferocious" U.S. hostility that undermines the North's peaceful, sovereign right to launch satellites. Last month, North Korea's National Defense Commission said the United States was its prime target for a nuclear test and long-range rocket launches.
"These provocations do not make North Korea more secure," Obama said. "Far from achieving its stated goal of becoming a strong and prosperous nation, North Korea has instead increasingly isolated and impoverished its people through its ill-advised pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery."
The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, California Republican Ed Royce, released a statement Tuesday calling on the Obama administration to "replace its failed North Korea policy" and issue "stringent sanctions" against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's regime.
"Otherwise, the grave North Korean threat to the region and the United States will only grow," Royce said.
The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Tuesday morning on North Korea's nuclear test. South Korea's U.N. Mission informed reporters early Tuesday that the closed-door meeting will begin at 9 a.m. EST.
Senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett said she expects the international community "will have a very firm response."
She said in an appearance on NBC's "Today" show that North Korea's move presents a threat to the region and to the United States. "It actually is not in the best interests of North Korea," she said.
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussed North Korea's "continued provocative rhetoric" in a phone call with China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. That followed earlier conversations with Kerry's counterparts from Japan and South Korea, key U.S. allies in the region.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the three conversations "were remarkably similar" on the importance of implementing the commitments of a January U.N. resolution that toughened sanctions against Pyongyang and warned of "significant action" if it conducted a nuclear test. That resolution was supported by China, North Korea's only major ally.
On Tuesday, China expressed firm opposition to the test but called for a calm response by all sides.
Source http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/12/obama-calls-north-korea-nuclear-test-highly-provocative/
"The danger posed by North Korea's threatening activities warrants further swift and credible action by the international community," Obama said in a statement issued early Tuesday. "The United States will also continue to take steps necessary to defend ourselves and our allies."
North Korea said it successfully detonated a miniaturized nuclear device at a northeastern test site Tuesday. South Korean, U.S. and Japanese seismic monitoring agencies said they detected an earthquake in North Korea with a magnitude between 4.9 and 5.2.
North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said the test was conducted safely but with "great explosive power." It said the test is aimed at coping with "ferocious" U.S. hostility that undermines the North's peaceful, sovereign right to launch satellites. Last month, North Korea's National Defense Commission said the United States was its prime target for a nuclear test and long-range rocket launches.
"These provocations do not make North Korea more secure," Obama said. "Far from achieving its stated goal of becoming a strong and prosperous nation, North Korea has instead increasingly isolated and impoverished its people through its ill-advised pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery."
The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, California Republican Ed Royce, released a statement Tuesday calling on the Obama administration to "replace its failed North Korea policy" and issue "stringent sanctions" against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's regime.
"Otherwise, the grave North Korean threat to the region and the United States will only grow," Royce said.
The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Tuesday morning on North Korea's nuclear test. South Korea's U.N. Mission informed reporters early Tuesday that the closed-door meeting will begin at 9 a.m. EST.
Senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett said she expects the international community "will have a very firm response."
She said in an appearance on NBC's "Today" show that North Korea's move presents a threat to the region and to the United States. "It actually is not in the best interests of North Korea," she said.
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussed North Korea's "continued provocative rhetoric" in a phone call with China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. That followed earlier conversations with Kerry's counterparts from Japan and South Korea, key U.S. allies in the region.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the three conversations "were remarkably similar" on the importance of implementing the commitments of a January U.N. resolution that toughened sanctions against Pyongyang and warned of "significant action" if it conducted a nuclear test. That resolution was supported by China, North Korea's only major ally.
On Tuesday, China expressed firm opposition to the test but called for a calm response by all sides.
Source http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/12/obama-calls-north-korea-nuclear-test-highly-provocative/
Monday, February 4, 2013
Canadian diplomats defend oilsands at Maine municipal meetings
Canadian consular officials have intervened three times to defend Alberta's oilsands at municipal meetings in the U.S. state of Maine in the last eight days.
On Jan. 29, Aaron Annable, consul in charge of foreign policy and diplomatic services at the Canadian Consulate in Boston, addressed a meeting hosted by Windham Town Council. The meeting was called to hear from Environment Maine, a state environmental group, which is concerned that the Montreal-Portland pipeline will be reversed so it can carry oilsands bitumen from Alberta to the deep-sea port on the Maine coast.
"We've been doing a lot of organizing in towns along the pipeline route and just in the last week or so have started to see in our efforts the Canadian government and the oil industry really starting a full-court press," Emily Figdor, director of Environment Maine, told the CBC.
Annable also attended a debate on an anti-oilsands resolution at a special town meeting in Bethel, Maine on Jan. 30, according to Foreign Affairs.
On Jan. 23, New England Consul General Pat Binns appeared before Portland city council to speak to a resolution presented to council. The resolution would direct the city manager to no longer purchase oilsands-derived fuel for city vehicles. While Binns did not come out in opposition to the resolution, he did outline the benefits of oilsands oil and Maine's relationship with Canada.
"I truly hope the committee will look at this matter further. We are each other's best customers. We are your closest friends and strongest ally. And I would hope that we can continue to work together responsibly," said Binns, the former Conservative Premier of Prince Edward Island, at the council meeting. Council later voted to return the matter to committee.
Unusual guest, unusual subject
Portland officials agreed that it was strange to be addressed by a foreign diplomat on a municipal matter.
"You could say it was unusual but the topic was unusual as well," remarked Nicole Clegg, spokesperson for the city of Portland. She added that this was the first time council had ever discussed oilsands oil.
At both meetings, the consular officials appeared in conjunction with oil industry association and pipeline company officials. In particular, Larry Wilson, the president and CEO of Portland Montreal Pipe Line, made a presentation in Windham and Portland.
PMPL maintains good relations with residents and towns along the pipeline route, said Ted O'Meara, a PMPL spokesperson.
"It really isn't anything different than what they've been doing all along in all the years that they've been operating", O'Meara said. PMPL's dual pipeline opened for business in 1941.
The company said it currently has no plans to reverse the pipeline but is exploring all opportunities including, but not limited to, a reversal that might result in the shipping of Alberta bitumen.
As for the Canadian consular presence, O'Meara isn't surprised.
"Obviously, the Canadian government has an interest in this, as well. So, I think it just lends another voice to the discussion that's going on."
A Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said Canada's consul generals across the U.S. participate in events "to highlight the value of state-level trade with Canada."
"An important part of the role of the consul general is to promote and defend the interests of Canada abroad," Barbara Harvey said in an email to CBC News Friday afternoon. "The consul general's participation in these specific events is part of his and our ... wider mandate to promote Canada as a secure energy supplier to the U.S."
Harvey added that similar events are likely to be held in the New England states in the future and Canadian officials will continute to participate "where it is appropriate and feasible to do so."
On Jan. 12, the town of Casco, Maine, passed a non-binding resolution banning oilsands oil from passing through their town.
On Jan. 29, Aaron Annable, consul in charge of foreign policy and diplomatic services at the Canadian Consulate in Boston, addressed a meeting hosted by Windham Town Council. The meeting was called to hear from Environment Maine, a state environmental group, which is concerned that the Montreal-Portland pipeline will be reversed so it can carry oilsands bitumen from Alberta to the deep-sea port on the Maine coast.
"We've been doing a lot of organizing in towns along the pipeline route and just in the last week or so have started to see in our efforts the Canadian government and the oil industry really starting a full-court press," Emily Figdor, director of Environment Maine, told the CBC.
Annable also attended a debate on an anti-oilsands resolution at a special town meeting in Bethel, Maine on Jan. 30, according to Foreign Affairs.
On Jan. 23, New England Consul General Pat Binns appeared before Portland city council to speak to a resolution presented to council. The resolution would direct the city manager to no longer purchase oilsands-derived fuel for city vehicles. While Binns did not come out in opposition to the resolution, he did outline the benefits of oilsands oil and Maine's relationship with Canada.
"I truly hope the committee will look at this matter further. We are each other's best customers. We are your closest friends and strongest ally. And I would hope that we can continue to work together responsibly," said Binns, the former Conservative Premier of Prince Edward Island, at the council meeting. Council later voted to return the matter to committee.
Unusual guest, unusual subject
Portland officials agreed that it was strange to be addressed by a foreign diplomat on a municipal matter.
"You could say it was unusual but the topic was unusual as well," remarked Nicole Clegg, spokesperson for the city of Portland. She added that this was the first time council had ever discussed oilsands oil.
At both meetings, the consular officials appeared in conjunction with oil industry association and pipeline company officials. In particular, Larry Wilson, the president and CEO of Portland Montreal Pipe Line, made a presentation in Windham and Portland.
PMPL maintains good relations with residents and towns along the pipeline route, said Ted O'Meara, a PMPL spokesperson.
"It really isn't anything different than what they've been doing all along in all the years that they've been operating", O'Meara said. PMPL's dual pipeline opened for business in 1941.
The company said it currently has no plans to reverse the pipeline but is exploring all opportunities including, but not limited to, a reversal that might result in the shipping of Alberta bitumen.
As for the Canadian consular presence, O'Meara isn't surprised.
"Obviously, the Canadian government has an interest in this, as well. So, I think it just lends another voice to the discussion that's going on."
A Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said Canada's consul generals across the U.S. participate in events "to highlight the value of state-level trade with Canada."
"An important part of the role of the consul general is to promote and defend the interests of Canada abroad," Barbara Harvey said in an email to CBC News Friday afternoon. "The consul general's participation in these specific events is part of his and our ... wider mandate to promote Canada as a secure energy supplier to the U.S."
Harvey added that similar events are likely to be held in the New England states in the future and Canadian officials will continute to participate "where it is appropriate and feasible to do so."
On Jan. 12, the town of Casco, Maine, passed a non-binding resolution banning oilsands oil from passing through their town.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Obama aide: No desire to destroy Republicans
There's an unusual amount of talk in Washington these days about destroying the Republican Party.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, raised the issue in recent days, saying Obama's inaugural speech told him "he knows he can't do any of that as long as the House is controlled by Republicans. So we're expecting over the next 22 months to be the focus of this administration as they attempt to annihilate the Republican Party."
In his speech to the Ripon Society, Boehner added that he believes the Obama administration's goal is "to just shove us into the dustbin of history."
In a political analysis for Slate magazine, John Dickerson wrote that, given Obama's frustrations at getting bipartisanship through a Republican House, the president's "only remaining option is to pulverize" the Republicans by isolating them on a series of issues.
"By exploiting the weaknesses of today's Republican Party, Obama has an opportunity to hasten the demise of the old order by increasing the political cost of having the GOP coalition defined by Second Amendment absolutists, climate science deniers, supporters of 'self-deportation' and the pure no-tax wing," Dickerson wrote.
At the White House, officials said Obama wants to work with the Republicans, not destroy them.
The president wants to cooperate "with members of both parties to achieve progress on behalf of the American people," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
Obama "believes that the two-party system is part of the foundation of our democracy," Carney added, "and that it is a healthy aspect of our democracy even if it's contentious."
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, raised the issue in recent days, saying Obama's inaugural speech told him "he knows he can't do any of that as long as the House is controlled by Republicans. So we're expecting over the next 22 months to be the focus of this administration as they attempt to annihilate the Republican Party."
In his speech to the Ripon Society, Boehner added that he believes the Obama administration's goal is "to just shove us into the dustbin of history."
In a political analysis for Slate magazine, John Dickerson wrote that, given Obama's frustrations at getting bipartisanship through a Republican House, the president's "only remaining option is to pulverize" the Republicans by isolating them on a series of issues.
"By exploiting the weaknesses of today's Republican Party, Obama has an opportunity to hasten the demise of the old order by increasing the political cost of having the GOP coalition defined by Second Amendment absolutists, climate science deniers, supporters of 'self-deportation' and the pure no-tax wing," Dickerson wrote.
At the White House, officials said Obama wants to work with the Republicans, not destroy them.
The president wants to cooperate "with members of both parties to achieve progress on behalf of the American people," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
Obama "believes that the two-party system is part of the foundation of our democracy," Carney added, "and that it is a healthy aspect of our democracy even if it's contentious."
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Senate report on Benghazi lets Obama off hook
A Senate report has said the FBI, CIA and other intelligence agencies - but not the White House - made major changes in talking points that led to the Obama administration's explanations of the attack on US diplomatic facilities in Benghazi.
The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee report said on Monday the White House was only responsible for a minor change.
Some Republicans had questioned whether the presidential staff rewrote the talking points for political reasons.
The committee, headed by independent Sen Joe Lieberman and Republican Sen Susan Collins, also said the director of national intelligence has been stonewalling the panel, in holding back a promised timeline of the talking point changes.
US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the September 11 Libya attack.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said she had used the talking points to say in television interviews on September 16 that it may have been a protest that got out of hand.
Rice's incorrect explanation may have cost her a chance to be nominated as the next secretary of state, as Senate Republicans publicly said they would not vote to confirm her.
President Barack Obama instead nominated Democratic Sen John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who is expected to win easy confirmation.
Woefully unprepared
The State Department this month acknowledged major weaknesses in security, and errors in judgment exposed in a scathing independent report on the assault.
Two top State officials appealed to Congress to fully fund requests to ensure diplomats and embassies are safe.
Testifying before two congressional committees, senior State Department officials acknowledged that serious management and leadership failures left the diplomatic mission in Benghazi woefully unprepared for the terrorist attack.
The State Department review board's report led four department officials to resign.
The Senate report said that on September 19, eight days after the attack, National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen told the Homeland committee that the four Americans died "in the course of a terrorist attack".
The same day, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the department stood by the intelligence community's assessment.
The next day, September 20, presidential spokesman Jay Carney said, "It is, I think, self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack."
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also used the words "terrorist attack" on September 21.
Olsen's acknowledgement was important, the report said, because talking points prepared by intelligence officials the previous week had undergone major changes.
A line saying "we know" that individuals associated with al-Qaeda or its affiliates participated in the attacks was changed to say, "There are indications that extremists participated."
The talking points dropped the reference to al-Qaeda and its affiliates altogether. In addition, a reference to "attacks" was changed to "demonstrations".
The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee report said on Monday the White House was only responsible for a minor change.
Some Republicans had questioned whether the presidential staff rewrote the talking points for political reasons.
The committee, headed by independent Sen Joe Lieberman and Republican Sen Susan Collins, also said the director of national intelligence has been stonewalling the panel, in holding back a promised timeline of the talking point changes.
US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the September 11 Libya attack.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said she had used the talking points to say in television interviews on September 16 that it may have been a protest that got out of hand.
Rice's incorrect explanation may have cost her a chance to be nominated as the next secretary of state, as Senate Republicans publicly said they would not vote to confirm her.
President Barack Obama instead nominated Democratic Sen John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who is expected to win easy confirmation.
Woefully unprepared
The State Department this month acknowledged major weaknesses in security, and errors in judgment exposed in a scathing independent report on the assault.
Two top State officials appealed to Congress to fully fund requests to ensure diplomats and embassies are safe.
Testifying before two congressional committees, senior State Department officials acknowledged that serious management and leadership failures left the diplomatic mission in Benghazi woefully unprepared for the terrorist attack.
The State Department review board's report led four department officials to resign.
The Senate report said that on September 19, eight days after the attack, National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen told the Homeland committee that the four Americans died "in the course of a terrorist attack".
The same day, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the department stood by the intelligence community's assessment.
The next day, September 20, presidential spokesman Jay Carney said, "It is, I think, self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack."
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also used the words "terrorist attack" on September 21.
Olsen's acknowledgement was important, the report said, because talking points prepared by intelligence officials the previous week had undergone major changes.
A line saying "we know" that individuals associated with al-Qaeda or its affiliates participated in the attacks was changed to say, "There are indications that extremists participated."
The talking points dropped the reference to al-Qaeda and its affiliates altogether. In addition, a reference to "attacks" was changed to "demonstrations".
Monday, December 24, 2012
Obama: America’s Scrooge with pardon power
I was chatting with P.S. Ruckman, PardonPower
blogger and the capo di tutti commuti, last week. Ruckman noted that if
President Obama is going to issue Christmas pardons, he most likely
would do so Friday night,
or possibly on Christmas Eve. Or maybe there won’t be any Christmas
pardons this year. Barack Obama has the worst clemency record of any
modern president. And so far, there have been no post-election Christmas
pardons.
In prepping for a recent column on
the compelling reasons to commute the sentece of Clarence
Aaron, despite the president’s dismal record of barely using his
unfettered clemency power, I watched this Dec. 10 conference at the
Heritage Foundation on the subject.
It goes to competence. There’s clearly more applications that are deserving
and the fact that 40 percent haven’t even been decided in an adinistration that takes pride on
making agencies competent and responsive to their function is to me indefensible.
and the fact that 40 percent haven’t even been decided in an adinistration that takes pride on
making agencies competent and responsive to their function is to me indefensible.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Obama Expected to Name Kerry as Secretary of State
President Obama is leaning strongly toward naming John Kerry,
the Massachusetts senator and unsuccessful Democratic nominee for
president eight years ago, to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton as
secretary of state, according to administration officials and friends of
Mr. Kerry.
But the announcement will be delayed, at least until later this week and
maybe beyond, because of the Connecticut school shooting and what one
official called “some discomfort” with the idea of Mr. Obama’s
announcing a national security team in which the top posts are almost
exclusively held by white men.
The American ambassador to the United Nations, Susan E. Rice,
who is black and was considered Mr. Obama’s leading candidate for the
job, withdrew her name from consideration last week after opposition to
her nomination grew in the Senate.
For Mr. Kerry, 69, the appointment would fulfill an ambition that dates
back many years. He had hoped for the post when Mr. Obama was first
elected in 2008; since then, he has shepherded the passage of a critical
arms-control treaty and conducted a series of quiet missions on behalf
of the president, notably at moments of crisis with Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
But he would be entering an administration whose primary foreign policy
strategies are already set, even as it tries to use American leverage in
dealing with a Middle East that is veering toward hard-line Islamist
governments and an Iran that is getting perilously close to a nuclear
capability.
With Ms. Rice out of the running, Mr. Kerry’s appointment “is the
working presumption,” said a senior State Department official who has
been preparing for the transition to a new secretary. But White House
officials said the deal was not entirely done, because the lineup
currently envisioned — with former Senator Chuck Hagel to head the
Defense Department and the acting C.I.A.
director, Michael J. Morell, likely to be named to the post permanently
— looks a bit too much like national security teams of a previous era.
For Mr. Obama, a national security team led by Mr. Kerry and Mr. Hagel,
and their longtime colleague in the Senate, Vice President Joseph R.
Biden Jr., would be deeply experienced but also, in many ways, deeply
conventional. All three were in the Senate during the cold war, long
before Mr. Obama came on the political scene. All describe themselves as
pragmatists rather than ideologues, and all became skeptics, then
critics, of the American experiment in Iraq from the early days of the
war.
Still, administration officials said, for now there are no serious
candidates for the State Department job other than Mr. Kerry. He would
be the first white man to serve in the post since Warren Christopher
left the job in early 1997. His successors have been Madeleine K.
Albright, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Mrs. Clinton.
Mr. Kerry’s colleagues in the Senate have said that he would sail
through confirmation hearings. Senator John McCain, Republican of
Arizona, has already begun jokingly calling Mr. Kerry “Mr. Secretary.”
Both men are veterans of the Vietnam War and worked together to provide
President Bill Clinton with political cover to grant diplomatic
recognition to Vietnam. Mr. McCain said of Mr. Kerry recently that he
would most likely win a large number of Republican votes for
confirmation.
The issue of the composition of Mr. Obama’s team arose anew when Ms.
Rice withdrew. If she keeps her current post as ambassador to the United
Nations, she will remain in Mr. Obama’s cabinet and on his national
security team. She is also considered the likely successor to Thomas E.
Donilon as national security adviser. But Mr. Donilon does not intend to
leave that post for a year or two, his friends say, unless he is named
White House chief of staff.
Michèle A. Flournoy, a former under secretary of defense for policy,
remains a candidate to become the first female defense secretary. But in
internal discussions, White House officials have said that the
challenge of the next few years will be working with Congress to shrink
the defense budget and kill some major cold war-era weapons systems. For
that, Mr. Hagel, a Republican from Nebraska, is seen as better able to
win votes from his former colleagues.
Ms. Flournoy has also been mentioned as a possible C.I.A. director, but
Mr. Morell, who ran the analysis division of the agency, is the favorite
of C.I.A. officials. “Mike has been concerned about the
over-militarization of the C.I.A.,” a senior military officer who has
dealt with him said recently. “And so are many at the agency, who fear
they have wandered too far from the job of analyzing trends and
obtaining secrets.”
John Brennan, a close aide to Mr. Obama and a former agency station
chief in Saudi Arabia who has directed counterterrorism activity from
his basement White House office, is also a candidate for C.I.A.
director. But officials note that his current post already gives him
sway over all 18 intelligence agencies.
Mr. Kerry has worked hard to deepen his relationship with Mr. Obama. The
president has at times considered him long-winded and a throwback to a
previous generation of diplomats, aides said. But Mr. Kerry impressed
Mr. Obama and Mr. Donilon when he was sent to deal with Hamid Karzai,
the famously unpredictable president of Afghanistan, after Mr. Karzai’s
supporters rigged a presidential election in 2009 and refused a second
round of voting.
Mr. Kerry also visited Pakistan several times to try to ease recurrent
tensions, including a two-week visit after the raid that killed Osama
bin Laden. Pakistani officials tried to get Mr. Kerry to write what they
called a “blood oath” that the United States would never take action to
seize Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. Mr. Kerry found a diplomatic way out,
saying the United States had no “designs” on Pakistan’s weapons.
“It meant nothing,” a member of Mr. Obama’s national security team said
later. “And it solved the crisis. Quite artfully.”
Monday, December 3, 2012
Letter: Harper isn’t defending Quebec’s interests
It is interesting how the Conservatives are quick to denounce Justin
Trudeau’s comments and defend Alberta’s interests and honour, but
nowhere are Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his cronies anywhere to be
found to defend Quebec interests — ever. They’ve given in/up to the
nationalists.
Mr. Harper’s actions and those of his party show that they are
representative of the people who voted for them, and not all Canadians.
The PM should represent all Canadians, not just Albertans.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Weston beatboxer Scott Jackson crowned Canadian champ
Canada has a new beatbox champion.
After two years of coming in second, Weston resident Scott Jackson
was crowned the winner of the Freedom of Beats 2012 Canadian Beatbox
Championships.
Held Nov. 10 at The Mod Club downtown, 16 finalists made up of
Canada’s finest beatboxers battled it out, with Jackson beating two-time
defending champ Terry Im, who performs under moniker KRNFX.
Judged on originality, technical skill, creativity, battle tactics
and crowd response, Jackson clinched first place and was awarded $500
cash, a trophy and the chance to represent Canada at the World Beatbox
Championships to be held next year in Germany.
“It was a tough battle,” Jackson said. “I beat the guy in the semis
that won first for two years. It feels amazing to finally win. I can’t
put it into words. To beat (KRNFX) in the semis is almost bigger than
winning.”
The friendly rivalry between Jackson and KRNFX, who retired from
competition after the championships, has not only been played out at
beatbox events but in front of television cameras as both men were two
of 12 finalists on Canada’s Got Talent in the spring.
“Scott Jackson has taken his rightful spot as the 2012 Canadian
Beatbox Champion,” said Gary Goudini, host and director of Beatbox
Canada. “A well deserved win over the toughest top 16 beatboxers in
Canada to date. As an inspiration to us all, this hometown hero shares
his passion selflessly, making beatbox music for all to enjoy. A true
people’s champ.”
Jackson’s path to beatboxing a decade ago wasn’t planned. Bedridden
for months with a virus in high school, Jackson dabbled in beatboxing
after hearing small snippets from beatboxers Doug E. Fresh and Miz
Markie to help pass the time. But as time wore on, his skills evolved
and it soon became a passion that would lead to winning competitions and
turning his art into a full-time job.
“It’s funny how stuff works out,” he said. “I took a negative and made it into a positive.”
In 2008, Jackson won the very first competition he entered to become
the Scribble Jam Beatbox champion. He was then invited to participate in
the World Beatbox Championships, working as a busker downtown to hone
his skills and raise funds for the trip.
While he didn’t do as well has he had hoped, Jackson gained valuable experience, he said.
And that experienced showed, as Jackson continued to dominate in almost every beatbox competition he entered.
“Beatboxing really is like a family,” he said. “Right away that
person is my brother or sister. At the World Championships in Germany I
met people from all over the world and we had an instant connection.
Music is an international language.”
Having won the Canadian Beatbox Championships and a slew of other
competitions, Jackson, 25, is now wrestling with the idea of retiring
from battling.
“It’s a question that’s been circling in my mind,” he said. “I may
want to defend my title, I’m not sure. I don’t know if there is much
more I need to prove in Canada. I want to give opportunity to some of
the younger guys to make a name.”
While he decides, Jackson plans to keep busy with an upcoming battle
in Switzerland and many school appearances, having performed at some
1,000 schools across Canada in three years, where he speaks about
bullying, following your dreams and equality.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Obama celebrates win at rally
A cavernous hall at McCormick Place filled with deafening cheers late
Tuesday night as President Barack Obama was re-elected for a second
term, launching a wild celebration among thousands of his supporters.
The
nervous anticipation that marked much of the evening quickly melted as
Obama's victory became clear. People in the crowd danced, hugged and
high-fived as election results streamed in over huge television screens
flanking the stage where Obama would speak. "Twist and Shout" blared
over the loudspeakers, and Julie Lawrenz, 42, twisted nearly to the
ground.
"I'm just really happy," said Lawrenz, of Chicago. "And I'm happy it's over quickly."
The timing of the
announcement came as a surprise, with many in the crowd having been
prepared to wait all night without a declaration of victory. As the win
was announced, supporters screamed and hugged one another, waving
American flags and snapping cell photos of the jumbo TV screens.
Actress
Vivica A. Fox, walking away after finishing a television interview,
froze in her tracks and began to cry. Mayor Rahm Emanuel strode past
her, grinning, on his way backstage. Reporters jumped on tables to get a
better look at it all.
Just moments before the race was called,
two Chicago friends stood clutching each other's hands and anxiously
watching the screen. When it flashed the word "elected," both erupted in
jubilant yells, pulling nearby strangers into hugs. "That one time, I
went to sleep thinking one thing and woke up to learn that George Bush
had won," said Laverne Parker, a substitute teacher from Lisle. "I was
going to stay up all night to make sure. ... But this is better."
Though
the venue for Obama's Tuesday night election-results viewing party
lacked the spectacle of 2008's sprawling event in Grant Park, revelers
made the most of it. Many said they wanted to be part of history.
Personally invested in the campaign, Sylvia Williams, 80, and Mary
Austin, 82, missed their usual night with the Classy Divas bowling
league for an opportunity to hear the president speak at McCormick
Place.
"I'm on top of the world," said Williams, of Markham, who spent weeks working to get out the vote for Obama.
"This is history all over again," said Austin, who lives in Harvey.
Planners
never expected the rally to equal what took place in 2008, when an
estimated 240,000 people streamed into Grant Park to see a victorious
Obama speak. His campaign chose to remain indoors this year, where the
crowd was limited to a few thousand supporters. For Obama supporters who
got a ticket, the change in venue mattered only a little.
"I miss
the skyline and ambience of the city," said Craig Porter, a union
official who attended the Grant Park rally in 2008. "But here, I guess
it's OK. I like it because we are here all together."
Shortly before Obama's win was official, Emanuel said the results showed the breadth of Obama's support.
"Everybody
talks about the president's coalition, heavily in the sense of
minorities and women," Emanuel said. "Iowa, heavily white, heavily old,
and yet he's going to, it looks like, if trends continue, win Iowa. I
think everybody should step back with what they think about, what
they're saying, and take a look at really what's going on."
When
the doors opened around 7:30 p.m., people rushed into the hall, snapping
pictures of themselves and the Obama campaign signs that covered the
walls.
Janice Haywood, who was in Grant Park in 2008, arrived at
McCormick Place with her 5-year-old daughter more than six hours before
supporters were allowed to enter.
"My heart didn't start pumping
until all the people started coming in," said Haywood, clutching toys
and a laptop that she had used to entertain her daughter in the hours
before the doors opened.
Having a black president has been
important for both of her children, said Haywood, who also is
African-American and has an 8-year-old son.
"It is so important
for my kids to see the president," said Haywood, 43, of Bolingbrook.
"(They) look through the presidents at school and now (they) can see
someone who looks like them."
Bridget Turner, 41, of Homewood said
she and her children attended Obama's election night rally at Grant
Park in 2008, and they all volunteered for his 2012 campaign. She
donated money to the campaign, made phone calls and canvassed
neighborhoods on the president's behalf.
"I can say I had a hand in history," she said. "I'm very excited about that."
Illinois
Gov. Pat Quinn described Obama's re-election campaign as distinctly
different from the 2008 "movement campaign" four years ago: "The
president inspired, literally, hundreds of thousands of volunteers all
across America to take on the super PACS and show what grass-roots
democracy is all about."
Quinn added that another four years of
Obama — whom he described as a supporter of the middle class — would be
good for Illinois. "The president has been very good to Illinois from
day one," Quinn said. "The president rode to our rescue."
Genise
Smith-Watkins, of Matteson, said she began her day shortly after
sunrise, loading volunteers on a bus to canvass Iowa and arranging phone
calls in the president's south suburban campaign office. She left
around 1 p.m. to head to McCormick Place, confident she had done all she
could to help her candidate win.
"I feel good. I feel good about the president winning and I feel good about my contribution."
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Top retailer to take lead role at Billabong
BILLABONG International has appointed experienced retail executive
Ian Pollard as its chairman-elect as it attempts a turnaround amid
waning interest from private equity suitors.
But the surfwear retailer may still find itself short of
board members after its shareholder meeting this month, with investor
advocates recommending that at least two directors be dumped.
The Australian Shareholders Association has recommended
Billabong founder Gordon Merchant and former employee Colette Paull not
be re-elected to the board for their role in rejecting a $3.30-a-share
offer from private equity group TPG.
Billabong shares dived last week after the company confirmed TPG is reconsidering its current $1.45-a-share offer.
A second private equity firm, Bain Capital, made a matching
bid but withdrew its offer in late September while undergoing due
diligence.
''In his position as majority shareholder he [Mr Merchant]
effectively prevented the board of directors accepting an offer of $3.30
per share from TPG Capital in February 2012,'' said the ASA in a report
on its website. ''Not to sell or refusal to negotiate cost both him and
all shareholders very dearly. In his position as a director, he should
have known the perilous financial position the company was in and acted
accordingly. His failure to do so no longer gives him the right to
continue as a director.''
Mr Merchant was not available for comment.
The ASA said Ms Paull acted co-jointly with Mr Merchant and deserved similar treatment.
The ASA said it also seriously considered whether executive director Paul Naude also be dumped.
''This is a borderline decision as we considered it would
not be wise to sack him as a director along with the previous CEO, Derek
O'Neill, as this would leave too big a gap in the top management of the
company.''
Current Billabong chairman Ted Kunkel, who recently announced
plans to step down, presided over a rapid debt-fuelled expansion before
the global financial crisis hit. He was chairman when Billabong
rejected the higher takeover offer from TPG in February worth $850
million.
Mr Pollard is a past chairman of Just Group, the owner of
several youth-oriented fashion retail chains including Just Jeans, Dotti
and JayJays. Just has since been taken over by Solomon Lew's Premier
Investments.
''Ian will bring a strong mix of commercial and financial
expertise to assist with the ongoing transformation of the Billabong
business,'' Mr Kunkel said. Billabong has said it is pursuing a
four-year overhaul to combat sliding sales and profits.
Mr Pollard will join the board as chairman-elect after the annual shareholders' meeting on October 24.
Mr Kunkel will remain as chairman pending the due diligence
outcome and, in the event that Billabong remains a publicly listed
company, will stay until a smooth board transition is assured.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Wasaga Beach hosts Georgian Bay Reads
There's going to be a literary show down
in Wasaga Beach this fall. Wasaga Beach is gearing up to host the
fourth annual Georgian Bay Reads in celebration of Canadian Library
Month.
Georgian Bay Reads will be held in the RecPlex at the Oakview
Community Centre on Saturday, October 20. Georgian Bay Reads is a
cooperative event between neighboring communities in celebration of
Canadian literature. Libraries from Town of Blue Mountains, Clearview,
Collingwood, Meaford and Wasaga Beach send a representative to defend
the Canadian novel of their choice.
Moderator for the evening is Wasaga's own Monica Quinlan, who will
ensure the evening is lively as participants engage in a literary
duke-out to determine Canada's best novel for 2012.
This year Wasaga will be represented by Deputy Mayor David Foster,
who will use his best council debating skills to defend the novel The
Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis. The heat will rise as defenders battle, joke and do whatever is necessary to keep their book from being voted out. Audience
participation is a must as defenders debate the merits of their book.
Each book is voted out of the competition by members of the panel with
help from the audience. The winning defender brings home the GBR trophy
for their library. As the biggest book debate in the Georgian Bay region
the event promises to provide the audience with an evening of lively
discussion, big laughs and great Canadian books.
Participants in this year's event are:
Representing Blue Mountains is Araby Lockhart, library supporter, defending Barometer Rising by Hugh McLennan.
Representing Clearview Township is Edward Henley, director of finance, defending Neuromancer by William Gibson.
Representing Collingwood is Ashley Kulchycki, supervisor CPL, defending The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley.
Representing Meaford is Cor Boogerman, library supporter, defending The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott.
Representing Wasaga Beach is Dave Foster, deputy mayor, defending The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis.
Tickets are required for the evening event. Tickets are free but
limited. For more information or to put your name on the ticket list
contact Cathy at the library at 705 429-5481 ext. 2405.
Jackie Beaudin is chief librarian at Wasaga Beach Public Library.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Biden to make Obama's case to middle class
It’s time for Joe Biden to show why President Barack Obama is keeping him as his running mate.
The vice president is set to address the thousands of delegates at
the Democratic convention — and millions more watching at home — on
Thursday evening. Advisers say Biden will tell what he saw from his
front-row seat as Obama made some hard decisions. And he'll make the
case that Republican rival Mitt Romney isn’t suited to make the tough
calls.
Biden’s target audience is white, working-class voters. Look for him
to use words such as ‘‘conviction’’ and ‘‘character.’’ He also plans to
talk about the decisions that have defined Obama’s term in office, such
as sending Navy SEALs to get Osama bin Laden and helping bail out
Detroit’s automakers.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Obama — GOP Holding Middle-Class Tax Cuts ‘Hostage’
Just hours after the Senate voted to extend tax cuts for the middle
class, President Obama accused House Republicans of holding the tax cuts
“hostage” until the nation agrees to spend $1 trillion on tax breaks
for the wealthiest Americans.
Speaking to supporters at the House of Blues, the president praised
the Senate for moving forward with his plan to extend the Bush-era tax
rate for families earning less than $250,000 a year and to let the rate
expire for higher earners.
“This is something I deeply believe in, because the middle class is
still struggling, recovering from this recession. You don’t need your
taxes to go up and we could give you certainty right now,” he said.
When it comes to House Republicans, however, the president said their
desire to preserve the tax rate for all earners “makes no sense.”
“If Congress doesn’t act, the typical middle-class family is going to
see their tax bill go up about $2,200. Small businesses will also see
their taxes go up,” he said. “But so far, they don’t see it that way.
Gov. Romney doesn’t see it that way.”
The president cast the dueling tax plans as indicative of the broader economic visions at stake in the election.
”They believe in top-down economics,” he said of Republicans. “Their
plan is to cut more taxes for the wealthy, cut more regulations on
banks and corporations, cut more investments in things like education,
job training, science, research — all with the thought that somehow
that’s going to help us create jobs. That’s what Mitt Romney believes.
That’s what Washington Republicans believe.”
“That’s not what I believe. That’s not what you believe. That’s not
what most Americans believe. We believe not in top-down economics; we
believe in middle-class-out economics. We believe in bottom-up
economics. That’s what we’re fighting for,” he said.
The president spoke before about 400 supporters who’d paid at least
$250 each to attend the event, one of two fundraisers Obama attended in
the Big Easy tonight.
In shirt-sleeves and a loose tie, a relaxed Obama said it was good to be back in New Orleans.
“I’ve got to admit I was thinking about just blowing everything off
and going and getting something to eat,” he joked. “The next time I come
down, drinks are on me.”
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