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PatM

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Everything posted by PatM

  1. Kilgour 2002 Kilgour 2003 Graham 2002 Pettigrew 2005 And thats just in the first page of the first search. Google is your friend.
  2. Lol, and the "liberal" media are backing them up - they should all be shot right? After all, they aren't good christians. All anyone has to do to debunk this crap about the conservatives being "for freedom" is to look south at the Reform party's bretheren, the Republicans. Look how "Free" the reactionary christians (a minority but they have lound hissy fits) have made America.
  3. Translation - Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain, pay attention to the people I point at.
  4. Now, a personal savings account would be a part of a Social Security retirement system. It would be a part of what you would have to retire when you reach retirement age. As you -- as I mentioned to you earlier, we're going to redesign the current system. If you've retired, you don't have anything to worry about -- third time I've said that. (Laughter.) I'll probably say it three more times. See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. (Applause.) White House Webpage
  5. Revisionist history? That chart is from STATISTICS CANADA and it shows the national debt. When Trudeau left the debt was about 50 billion. When Mulroney left, the debt was about 400 billion. That is historical fact - period. Both Trudeau and Mulroney had the ability to restore the bank act to its former state, both chose not to. Mulroney just kept borrowing money from his financial friends and even forced the GST on us to pay all the interest being paid to his buddies. When he leaves where does he go? Why, Power Financial Corporation of course - one of the richest financial institutions in Canada. I honestly don't know about Trudeau - benefit of the doubt means I have to assume he was crooked too 8) I can't see Martin or Chretien being oblivious to the problems the banking changes created yet neither wants to do anything about it. Then again, Chretien's daughter, France, is married to Power Financial Corp's owner's son. Martin was a President there and purchased his shipping line from them as well. Everything seems to revolve around Power Financial. Wonder why our media companies never mention the place.
  6. That would make them guerilla fighters, not terrorists. By your definition, the American revolutionaries weren't revolutionaries at all - they were terrorists. By your definition, Every resistance movement in WWII were terrorists. By your definition, Kamakazi pilots were terrorists By your definition, Every western nation involved in the bombing of German factories and cities is a terrorist state. You guys aren't even using a broad brush - you're using a chicken cannon.
  7. And the 5th lumbar in particular is my favorite!
  8. The Tamil tigers are one side of a civil war. How does that make them terrorists? Methinks we're back into the "We dont like them so they're terrorists" area.
  9. Yep, and that "shitbird" Conservative Mulroney balooned the debt outa the park. Stats Can Chart check the Net Federal Debt Chart at the top of the list. Trudeau was kicked out in 1979. To be fair to both people, the debt was the result of Pearson's (Liberal Party) gutting of the Bank Act in 1967 more than any other single factor.
  10. Here's an article by Joseph Stiglitz, former vice president and chief economist of the world bank, describing the difference between "good policy" and what the Reform party want to do. Of course he doesn't mention the Reform party by name, but the description of countries harmed by globalization show its the same platform. Globalism's discontents One real good thing about this article is that it points out how globalization CAN be good if done correctly. Edit: When he talks about capital inflows and outflows, he's talking about things like NAFTA - which was all about the free movement of money, not trade. 98% of NAFTA's trade regulation was formerly known as GATT, the remaining 2% were things like chapter 11 that give foreign corporations the right to sue governments for impeding trade e.g. gasoline additives that pollute water supplies cannot be banned under environmental legislation.
  11. Politics has always been, and always be, all about "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours". To insist that this is somehow dishonest is a dishonesty in itself. Go read the definitions of politics - this is what politics IS. People who voted for Cadman voted for him to push his agenda in government. We EXPECT him to do what he can to get that agenda advanced. If that means making a deal for a vote, which is a normal function of representative governments, go for it. Also, I live in Chuck's riding, I know he's telling the truth when he says his constituents wanted him to vote with the Liberals. So here he gets both his agenda advanced AND gets to do what the people he represents want. Can it get any better than that?
  12. My lord, if you don't hear any nation complaining come payday then you must have earplugs in. Check out South and Central America and many countries in the middle east. Many people there are compaining about the outright theft of resources and murder of civilians done by and in the name of the USA. The resolution that every member nation of the OAS has the right to resist occupation by a foreign invader was pointed right at the USA.
  13. I think you missed the point. It doesn't matter how well the child actually does, the lower half of the class is below average. Example, If the whole class got marks of 90-100%, the lower half is still below average. At least that's what I got out of the article.
  14. Not suprising - the press doesn't talk much about the James Bay and James Bay II projects - flooding huge tracts of land to supply power to the US. http://www.american.edu/TED/james.htm Nor do they mention the intention to use those projects to create a massive watershed designed to pipe water to the US. http://www.uwec.edu/grossmzc/GOSSEJP/ Canada has vast natural resources which the USA would love to have direct control over. Oil, water, power, wood, its all here.
  15. Cheney is pushing for several bases in the US to be closed. These bases are in both Democratic and Republican areas - a fact the Republicans point to as proof that it is a non-partisan decision. My prediction: In the lead up to the next election - perhaps as soon as the 2006 congressionals, the Republican area bases will be "saved" while the democratic ones close. Proving to the citizens that the Republicans are the only ones that care. Any thoughts?
  16. Read what? There was no link in your post. The real reason for the attack of Iraq was money. Not JUST oil (which translates to money in the end). The USA has had designs on mid-east oil for a long time but lacked the justification for simply walking in and taking it. They had to make do with manipulating governments to gain favourable treatment. Afghanistan was attractive due to its proximity to the Caspian sea - the very reason the Soviets invaded the country earlier. A Pipeline that connects the Caspian Sea reserves to the arabian sea through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. That is what Afghanistan means to the USA. Iraqi oil was a big reason for taking over the country, but not the only reason. Iraqi proximity to the pipeline would have been a threat, though a fairly minor one. As we know now (though some refuse to admit it), Iraq posed no real threat to anyone. So why the rush to war, breaking international law? The reason is the value of the American dollar. The US Buck is the defacto world trade currency as well as the defacto oil currency. This status was initiated by the Marshall Plan - where the USA lent Europe money to rebuild after WWII and Europe used the money to buy American goods. Due to its abundance in currency reserves and eurpoean control of middle east oil, US dollars were used for purchasing oil. Today, if you wanteto buy oil in this world, you have to buy American dollars first. Most countries have kept large reserves of American dollars because of this, making the American buck handy for trade as well. It is this status as the world trade dollar that allows America to create huge amounts of money without inflating their currency into oblivion. By "exporting the debt", America can keep an economic status that is worse than many South American countries that have already imploded. Saddam Hussain threatened that status. In 2000 he sought, and got, approval from the UN to dump his US Dollar holdings and accept Eurosunder the oil for food program. This move wasn't much of a threat on its own, the amount of money involved was trivial compared to the world oil market. What it did do was spark interest amongst OPEC. Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea started dumping US dollars, OPEC itself listened to a presentation from the European union on just that topic. Saudi Arabia was listening instead of rejecting it out of hand as the US wanted. If OPEC switched to the Euro, it would mean the end of the US dollar's dominance in world trade. The value of the US Greenback would tank and take the US economy with it. This would spell the end of the USA as a superpower. This is the achillies heel of the USA that nobody talks about. The world could basically destroy the USA simply by refusing to use its currency. The USA could NOT let that happen so it attacked Iraq to show the rest of the world it would not allow anyone to threaten US dominance of trade. Iran is in the hotseat at the moment, not only did it start dumping greenbacks - it had the nerve to annouce it would open its own energy exchange and accept Euro's as payment, not US dollars. It has already opened An Oil Embassy to the EU and is scheduled to open the exchange late this year or early in 2006. For the USA, this is almost the same as dropping a nuke on Washington. That is why Bush has been trying so hard to get other countries to "pitch in" concerning Afghanistan and Iraq - he's trying to free up the forces necessary to conquer Iraq. Its not working though - as the GoldMoney site warned last year, the world is already changing to the Euro. This is what is causing the slide in the greenback's value against other currencies. Some more details about the exchange EnergyBulletin.net
  17. Here's the link to the videos and story BBC: The Power of Nightmares You might also want to watch Iraq, Tony & The Truth
  18. If you want to know the policy behind this space initiative, read "Rebuilding America's Defenses, Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century" at the Project for a New American Century Website. Project for a New American Century is Cheney & gang's think tank and contains many of this Administration's policies. The "Rebuilding America's Defenses" document was adopted in its entirety as the defense policy for the Bush Administration. Some examples of what they intend for space (And the internet for that matter) "CONTROL THE NEW “INTERNATIONAL COMMONS” OF SPACE AND “CYBERSPACE,” and pave the way for the creation of a new military service – U.S. Space Forces – with the mission of space control." "Indeed, as will be discussed below, space dominance may become so essential to the preservation of American military preeminence that it may require a separate service. How well the Air Force rises to the many challenges it faces – even should it receive increased budgets – will go far toward determining whether U.S. military forces retain the combat edge they now enjoy." Note the total lack of any mention of cooperation with other countries. Domination is what they want and they specifically say so.
  19. Formal declaration of war is a paper tiger. All involved know its a war and knew that long before the first shots were fired. Terrorist - I'm still having trouble getting anyone to "pin down" what a terrorist is. The right winger's appear to mean "anyone that isn't with us". When told that, they deny it. Lets look at some of those held for terrorism, perhaps that will give a clue: If you have olive skin and you use a video camera while on vacation, you are a terrorist. Every tree, garbage can, building, or street you capture on tape is absolute evidence of your guilt - not evidence of being a tourist with no cinematography skills. If you are a 16 year old muslim living in the US and you write an essay about Islam and suicide, you are a terrorist. It doesn't matter that the essay concluded that Islam is against suicide and therefore you will go to hell. Also, if you happen to see another Islamic girl after you are arrested and give an Islamic greeting - that too is proof you are a terrorist. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/4/9/7440/37974 Oh the 600+ people arrested in the USA for terrorist plots, none have been convicted of terrorist acts. To my knowledge, only one has been convicted of anything at all - and that was an immigration violation. Only a few ever went to trial, most were simply released without comment. Lets look back at WWI & II. Before the USA joined these fights against the Germans, many US men went to Europe and joined the fight - despite their own country not being officially at war. One of the more famous groups were the Eagle Squadons, American's fighting the Germans even though America wasn't in the war. According to (what I can make of) US views, these people were terrorists or illegal combatants (can't see any differentiation in US views here). The Nazis, horrible as they were, treated them as prisoners of war. The Underground resistances in France, Holland, and many other countries, are viewed today as freedom fighters. Hitler called them terrorists and treated them much like the USA does today. Given the abundant evidence, I'd have to say that the USAs definition of a terrorist is "Anyone they don't like". Its also evident that the USA is even less honorable about the differentiation of prisoner types than Hitler was. Remember, in America, you are guilty until proven innocent. Since your guilt is based of what you MIGHT do sometime in the future, you cannot defend yourself. How do you prove that you wouldn't have done something two years from now?
  20. I hardly know where to begin on this one - there are just so many misconceptions out there. First thing to tackle is this smug, self-indulgent attitude that says "our way is better". Who are we to tell other countries how they should live? "Backwards" is a judgement made by people who think they are "forward". If you ask the backward people what they think they'll probably tell you that they are forward and its the other folks that are backward. Take the Amazon basin for example. There are indigenous people there that are well aware of modern society and have the opportunity to join it; many choose not to. They look at modern society and see nothing but corruption and destruction. Can you prove they are wrong? As for the middle east, many countries there have tried to modernize. After the recognized colonial period this was quite difficult - the people were brutalized by their European masters and, as a culture, they rejected those things their masters represented. Iran is about the best example, though not the only one. In 1941 Iran had kicked out its King, Reza Shah, and the government was somewhat democratic. Britain "fixed" elections to get the people they wanted into power. Over the next decade, Iranians did lots of manouvering and in 1951 they elected Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh as Prime Minister. Dr. Mossadegh was a nationalist as were most of Parliament by that time. They'd had enough of the colonial yoke and set out to free Iran from the British. Mossadegh had a vision for Iran. He wanted to create a mini-USA. He admired the US democratic system and its industial capabilities. He wanted to reform his country in the image of the USA. The Iranian people were not raving Islamic lunatics that hated the USA for its freedom and way of life. Quite the contrary, the population admired the USA and Mossadegh's vision for Iran was very popular. The big problem was resources. Iran actually has quite a lot of natural resources but they were all under the control of the British. As with many countries under US domination today (US World Bank, US IMF, and US Treasury), the Iranian's were only allowed to have a very small portion of the benefits from their own resources. Mossadegh enforced an existing law and took the oil back from the British. Not letting go of all that money lightly, the British took the case to the UN - who sided with the Iranians and ruled that Iran's oil was Iran's oil, not British. Mossadegh then started on a national campaign to industrialize the country. Instead of simply exporting crude oil, he wanted to do the refining. He wanted to make the new-fangled plastics and other products that you can make from oil. In short, he wanted to do all the value added stuff. This was a great opportunity for the USA. Here was a secular, USA admiring country sitting right in traditionally British territory begging the USA to be its best buddy. The USA took that opportunity to send Grover Roosevelt (Theodore's grandson) to Iran to mount a coup. Slamming Mossedegh as a communist, inciting the religeous right against the "godless" communist, masquerading as Moddadegh supporters and shooting people in Mosques. The general modus operandi still used today by the USA when it wants to destroy a democracy. In 1953 the USA was successful in bringing down Mossadegh and installed the Shah. The USA got what it wanted - crude oil. If Iran had been allowed to industrialize the USA wouldn't have been able to do all the value added work and make the big bucks - they couldn't have that! Although people in western countries were oblivious to what went on, the rest of the world was not. The hatred that this and many other western betrayals led to the Islamic revolution in Iran that installed the Theocratic government. Today's (percieved) hatred of all things western by Islamic people is mostly a backlash against the western powers that have repeatedly oppressed and betrayed them. We westerners stay largely ignorant of this fact because the history we are taught in school and told through the media is slanted to make us look good. After all, we're the "Good guys", pointing out the bad things we do doesn't go along with that self-delusional image.
  21. I get the feeling that August doesn't like it when the right wing "babe" is exposed for the raving lunatic that it is. I never claimed it was my work - kind of hard to do when it all someone else's words, isn't it? Mea cupla though - forgot the link. There's lots more out there and I regret depriving others of the endless hilarity they present.
  22. Disclaimer: I am agnostic, not athiest. Athiests are against the idea of a god or gods - I don't believe in god(s) but I'm not about to tell you YOU can't believe in them. On that political compass test I came close to Ghandi - a little right and a bit more libertarian. Religious schools are not an abuse at all. I have no problems with parents bringing their kids up in their own faith (or lack thereof). Its not for the reason you might think though. You see, if the parents aren't the ones that should choose how to raise thier child, who is? Should government walk in and say "Your child has to be taught by Buddists today, Taoists tomorrow, Shintoists next tuesday." Children DO get exposure to other faiths and cultures in everyday life. If the parents are extremely strict and isolationist - keeping their children away from anyone not of "the faith", I find that tragic. What can you do about it though? Stepping into that family's life and forcing them to teach or learn something that goes against their personal faith goes against all concepts of freedom. Children grow up though and they can choose to learn other things if they wish. I may not like families that indoctrinate their children into a faith, but the alternatives are all far worse.
  23. Yes actually, I have - though not by that name specifically. It was referred to as people's "scripts". People are used to doing, seeing, and thinking certain things. If something happens that is outside this "script", many people simply don't know how to deal with it. Usually it ends up in denial or some form of rationalizing that it has nothing to do with themselves. You know how every once in a while you hear about someone walking right past a person that is injured - not stopping to help? Its not that the person is heartless or stupid - its just that the event is too far outide their script and their concious mind simply doesn't know how to deal with it. I used to be in the Navy (Canadian of course). One thing that definately did is expand the bounds of my rationality! One of the biggest threats to my "scripts" was China. We went there in 1983 (or 84 - was soo long ago). This was just before China started opening up and we were the first western warships allowed in since... the revolution I guess. The chinese government did not trust us one bit. Our ships had to anchor in the middle of the Huangpu river and the only way ashore was on Chinese naval craft. We had to wear uniforms at all times or risk being arrested as spies. We were only allowed to travel in a very small area of downtown Shanghai - along the bund and a few blocks into the city. We weren't allowed to use Chinese money - only a script that could only be used in the Friendship stores, Friendship hotel, Peace Hotel, and the International seaman's club. Every street bounding our "allowed" area had 4-8 chinese military personnel. When we toured the industrial museum the entire area was ringed by about 6 platoons of soldiers. When we saw the acrobats (Damned good too!) all the highest and lowest rows were full of chinese military. A couple of times as we were walking around, we tried talking to some people. Asking about taxi's (none existed as far as I could tell), directions to the seaman's club, that sort of thing. The moment we stopped someone, we'd be surrounded by 20-30 civilians all trying to hear what we were saying. A couple of times men walked up to us and started asking questions like "You are from Canada, where is your ship going next?" - people scattered. A hole would open up in a 10ft radius around us - nobody looking in our direction at all. Didn't take too long to figure out these were the secret police, attempting to find "talkers". Having lived most of my life in Canada and traveling only in Canada and the states, nothing prepared me for this exposure to a totalitarian state. Sure, I "knew" it was communist and all that, but it wasn't actually real to me until I was there - thousands of miles from home, staring at someone I had no doubt was the chinese version of a KGB agent. Things like that change a person's entire world outlook. Added to things like getting a bit too close to guerillas fighting federal troops in the Philippines, seeing "Camp 07" outside Mazatlan, which is a female prison masquerading as a resort village and housing prisoners made to work as prostitutes, the A-Bomb dome in Hiroshima, and the dozens of WWII cemetaries I saw in southeast asia have expanded my script a lot...
  24. August - you confuse me for someone else. Saying the anti-globalization movement is dead is just wrong. The media has decided to stop covering anything that doesn't include protesters getting shot with rubber bullets is all. Its the North American right that is going the way of the dodo. With Bush and his cabbal of neo-cons killing tens of thousands of people around the world, people are getting wise to the corporatist agenda being pushed by the likes of Bush and Martin. Right winger's, being glued to Faux News, CNN, and Global TV are, of couse, unaware of the developments in the OAS. Oblivious to the doings in the UK and the rest of Europe, and ignorant about the groundswell of anger being caused by the exploitation of poor nations by the US and Canada. Yes, contrary to popular belief - Canada is starting to get lumped in with the cries of US corporate and military imperialism. The "left", meaning anyone with a brain and a heart, regardless of political leanings, has turned away from the main stream media. We've turned to the internet and the hoarde of non-neo-con news and discussion sites. We get newspaper, TV, and radio reports from around the world that never see the light of day in MSM outlets. We see things like the Blair Memo which still hasn't made it to primetime in North America despite being headline news around the rest of the world for weeks. We get to watch British MP George Galloway school US Senate Neocons while the right wingers are fed the latest Survivor results. We learn that the OAS is standing up to the Neo-con destruction of their countries. Electing a leader that the US didn't tell them to elect, giving Rice the cold shoulder and allying with several middle eastern countries for mutual support. Issuing the rather pointed resolution that all member states have the right to resist occupation by a foreign power. The anti-globalization crowd, unlike its characterization in the MSM, isn't against global trade. It IS against global exploitation. Free trade CAN be quite beneficial but the current corporate imperialism masquerading as Free Trade is not. "Anti-globalization" movements are working on changing the rules, not eliminating the trade. The political landscape in South and Central America is changing. After the failed US backed coup against the democratically elected President of Venezuela and the failed recall attempt carried out with international observers and Jimmy Carter looking on (Chavez won handily yet again). Ecuador's population has prompted its US backed president to flee and his replacement, Vice President Alfredo Palacio isn't caving in to Washington. This rather shocking event garnered the completely irrational call, by Condi Rice, to oust the "unconstitutional" leader . As if a Vice President taking over after a president abdicates is unconstitutional? South America, Central America, and some countries in the middle east are all rallying around Venezuela and Brazil - to stand up against the corporate global empire represented by the USA. But, sit back and absorb that propaganda and miss out on all the real news in the world- its your right as a Canadian to play ostrich if you like.
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