Daryl Hedding

A friend of mine was very kind to point out, following my blog about Obama bowing to the Saudi King , that it is not uncommon for the President to strike this posture when meeting other heads of state. To prove this, below is a picture of Obama from his recent trip to Mexico where he met the Mexican President and his family. See, he even bows to the family dog! So, what exactly have we proved here? Seems Obama treats the Saudi King just like a dog. And the English Queen? Well, she'll just have to settle for being pawed by Michelle.

Sometimes, actions really do speak louder than words. If Obama's body language during his recent trip to the UK is anything to go by then we should all be very worried as to where his loyalties really lie. Here he is meeting the Christian Queen of England: And here he is meeting the Muslim King of Saudi Arabia: Did you see him bow to the Queen? No. Think about it.

Everyone's outraged by $165 million in bonuses paid out by AIG to its executives after being bailed out by the government to the tune of $180 billion. Congress is moving quickly to slap on a tax to recoup the money. Obama even feigned some anger , telling Geithner to find a way to block the bonuses. Bunch of hypocrites. Just last week, Obama called for the earmark process to be reformed while rushing through a $410 billion spending bill that included $8 billion in earmarks. Apparently, there wasn't time to go line by line through that bill, given the urgency, so the American public just has to suck it up again. Funny how that works, because one might think that had proper thought been given to the AIG bailout, the company may have been forced to first renegotiate its contracts to exclude costly bonuses, before any money would be handed over. Should we really expect irresponsible companies to behave after being rewarded for almost ruining the entire financial system? No, I gue...

Four days ago, Dutch MP Geert Wilders was refused entry to the UK on the grounds that he would threaten public security. He was interviewed by the BBC after being detained immediately upon arrival. It should be noted that Wilders represents the 3rd largest political party in the Netherlands and that he has no criminal convictions against him in the EU. Charges of hate speech have been filed against him in the Netherlands, but he is still innocent until proven guilty. Wilders had actually been in the UK a few weeks before, without inciting any violence, or threatening any public security. The issue here comes down to the fact that he was invited to show his movie Fitna at the House of Lords. Wilders has had numerous death threats made on his life as a result of the critical views of Islam he expresses in the film. As if that is not ironic enough, it would seem that the British government is now willing to muzzle free speech for fear that its Islamic community may live up to the kind of...

Just a few random thoughts after Obama's big day. Gotta admit that our new President is inspiring, no matter what you may think about his policies, beliefs or associations. There's a certain discipline about him, a firm focus on achieving his personal objectives. In this case, those objectives will become a part of our corporate future. Heavy stuff. As many have said already, let's hope that he's the best President ever. Heaven knows we're going to need a rediculously good one. Talking of heaven, Pastor Rick Warren served his saviour well today. He gave Jesus honour before millions at the mall and around the world. When he lead the attendees in the Lord's Prayer, he made sure to note who the author was. Obama could not have made a better choice. Good signs. With all that is going on though, you won't be hearing much about Gaza. Israel very thoughtfully pulled its troops out in time for the new President's swearing in ceremony. Its mission for the most pa...

It's popular nowadays to bash Bush. Few will rally to his defence. But, today, that didn't stop the President from defending Israel, and laying the blame for the ongoing violence in Gaza squarely at Hamas' door. He said that Israel has the right to defend itself and that a truce must see Hamas unable to launch more rockets into Israel. Bush has set a standard for dealing with the Israel-Palestinian conflict; no moral equivalence. Try to find another world leader who's ready to call it like it is, who's willing to take a side and admit the obvious that Hamas and the Palestinians who voted them into power have brought this trouble upon their own heads. Obama has many challenges before him when he takes office this month. Meeting the Bush standard on this issue will certainly be one of them.

The world is shocked and outraged at the so-called "excessive" show of force by Israel as its airforce struck Gaza city inflicting close to 300 casualties. Hamas is saying that this will lead to all out war. But wait, let's back up a bit. Since 2005, over 7,000 Kassam rockets have been fired into Israel, all targeting civilians. This year has seen 3,000 rockets and mortars fired into Israel. Just a week ago, the truce between Hamas and Israel expired. Without provocation, Hamas launched another 200 attacks against the civilian population of Southern Israel. None of this produced any outrage or made front page news around the world. One might be forgiven for thinking that the lack of response to date by either Israel or the world has encouraged Hamas to continue its war against Israel as if it were within its given rights. Today that changed. Or, did it? Israel will certainly be villified again, called upon to restrain the use of its superior military force so peace tal...