President Obama Visits Canada!

Well, he came, he saw, and Canada fell in love with him!

Please take a look at this great photo gallery with images from President Obama's visit to Ottawa this past Wednesday!

Obama was a HUGE hit, getting a warm and enthusiastic welcome from people gathered on Parliament Hill and those who were lucky enough to be in town when he stopped on the way back to Air Force One to do a little shopping. He even made Stephen Harper look good, and he's pretty charmless. Great press conference, too!

Here's some neat video of his walk down a corridor and saying hello to some staffers waiting for him!



Here's another really nice video illustrated with stills from his visit, set to Springsteen music!



And here's another wonderful video of his arrival, set to Canadian hip hop!



Wow! As an American living in Canada, boy, does this make me proud and happy!

Abraham Lincoln -- His Bicentennial

Take this day to ponder the 200th anniversary of the birth of the amazing Abraham Lincoln. Now that we have another man from Illinois in the White House, the life of Lincoln resonates perhaps even more strongly for us today.

I love Lincoln and find everything about him incredibly fascinating. He is worth our continued respect, admiration, interest and thanks for setting an example that will never be equalled.

Sign the MoveOn.org Petition on Wal Street Salary Caps

Here's a cause we should all get behind -- click here to go to MoveOn.org's petition which will be sent to Congress, urging support of Obama's pay caps for Wall Street execs, and encouraging them to to apply the limits retroactively to those multi-billions of dollars in bonus payments that the initial recipients of bailout money already gave themselves.

Congress must be told that the American people will not stand for the boundless arrogance of Wall Street in accepting taxpayer money and then rewarding themselves through huge unearned bonus payments.

Please go to MoveOn.org now and sign this important petition, and let your friends know about this important opportunity we have to give Wall Street what it really deserves.

Complete and Utter Bastards on Wall Street

Pursuant to my previous post, here's an excellent follow-up article in today's Los Angeles Times surmising how the greedy scum on Wall Street will be scheming to get around President Obama's new rules concerning executive pay for bailed-out financial institutions.

As if anybody still harbored any illusions that these money folks worked for anybody's good but their own, their recent behaviour and outraged reaction to Obama's more-than-sensible edict certainly illuminates the character of those folks who inhabit the offices of Wall Street.

Is there any hope, really, to change things? The psychology of people who chose to work with the manipulation of money as a way to make a living has to be different from the rest of us. What else could it be but greed? And if it is more benign, complicated, or less obvious than that, you wouldn't know it from what's happening these past few days.

Finally, Execs at (Some) Financial Companies Will Have Pay Capped

Although it certainly doesn't go far enough in reining in the irresponsible, unethical and immoral money grabs perpetrated so far by many of the firms who received Bailout funds, the announcement that Obama will make this morning at least is a start. The execs will be capped at $500,000, plus they will be prohibited from receiving bonuses except for stock dividends.


After Pres. Obama rightfully deemed "shameful" the previous dispensing of multi-million dollar bonuses to execs in firms helped by the earlier taxpayer-funded Bailout, it's clear that these fellas are not capable of self-policing their greed or of simply even being able to read the nation's mood towards their misdeeds and their unconscionable insistence on rewards they are clearly not due.


Expect plenty of boo-hooing from these pampered pigs on Wall Street. (Update: It's already happening. Read this.) You'd think by now they'd have socked away enough to last them a lifetime or two or three, but when you're talking about greed, it's obvious that there is never enough for some people.


Thanks to AlterNet's coverage, let's also not overlook the similarly shameful blowing of bucks on Super Bowl parties, especially by mega-Bailout fund recipient Bank of America, plus major sports franchise sponsorships paid for in taxpayer money.


Good for President Obama for trying to stop some of this horrible looting of the American taxpayer! Go for it, don't stop, and why don't we start looking at nationalizing these bumbling banks? It's clearly called for and would certainly not be out of line. Let's hope it's in the discussion mix.