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cannuck

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Everything posted by cannuck

  1. My wife normally abhors bad language and violence - but is totally addicted to Yellowstone. They have managed to get their finger on the pulse of a significant chunk of the population, so I would conclude they are doing something right. I have a business in Wyoming and can tell you the "Dutton" cultural profile fits the majority of the rural and small town population to a "T". I put it right up there in a class of culturally significant television with Peaky Blinders.
  2. And you don't think what the Liberals have done and are doing to our former national defense ISN'T "political"???????? I wonder who outbribed Bombardier to get the training contracts?
  3. IIRC all that was contracted out was primary training. Might even have made sense to weed out the wannabees and incompetents flying toy airplanes instead of polluting the ranks with that process. What we are seeing now is continuation of the Big Turd's campaign to de-militarize the military and make them into a "peace keeping" entity with the sole task of delivering social engineering goals of Liberalism. I can so well remember a time (IIRC '69) when "people from Ottawa" came onto our base and interviewed every francophone NCO - offering them a guaranteed commission if they wanted to "get with the programme" (if you ever wondered why there seems to be a disproportionate number of officers from Quebec - that is where it started). The goal was to make the armed forces express Big Turd's "just society" - in other words effectively destroy pretty much everything in Canada, leaving us just with his society. The other thing civvies probably don't realize is that the armed forces and its procurement policies are little different from the rest of Canadian civil services - i.e. how the Feds tap the $$$$ of the rest of Canada to prop up Quebec. The Little Turd is just following in at least one of his Daddy's footsteps (which Daddy remains to be seen).
  4. We have 2 girls who raced karts and cars with me when growing up. Probably my most proud moment was when our eldest scored her first FTD (fastest time of the day) on a solo2 event driving a kart we designed and built from scratch. I am sure that is how Sgt P felt when his girls hit the range.
  5. In my early years raised on military bases, my Father made it clear that I did not get access to weapons until being properly trained. One of his closest friends happened an ex BEI expeditionary forces Sgt who was a multi-year Bisley competitor (and I believe winner). Said fellow also had 3 girls - two a bit older than myself and one my age (IIRC about 10 at the time). Each one of those girls could crack off 98-100 scores all day long and sure put the little boys (and more than a few men) in their place.
  6. While I don't particularly think we need to be armed for protection against government the way Americans are, I can not help but notice in our Wyoming business we have property scattered all over in remote places that would be impossible to "make secure" from theft and vandalism. Yet over the last 40 years I can only remember a couple incidents of minor theft ever occurring. One can not help but notice that EVERY pickup has a rifle or two in the back window, and a large portion of the population carries handguns. Would be thieves know this and realize that people seriously believe in protecting their families, homes, properties and neighbours. I am always amused that most people think incarceration is some kind of punishment for criminals. I have learned that there are 3 kinds of people in jail: those who didn't think that what they were doing was criminal; those who feel safer "inside" (not a big percentage, but a definite group); and those who consider their time inside part of their career. This is where they broaden the network of criminal associates and learn many of the skills of the trade. That is why there needs to be some kind of consequence in the unlikely event you are ever caught being a criminal in this country - not rewarded by career advancement. The risk of a bullet in the brain from your victims can be an effective deterrent.
  7. What stunned us was how a country 34 trillion in debt can tolerate some fool standing up in front of them and throwing trillions more of blatant vote buying out with no apparent consequences. Thought it ironic that Ukraine was his opening gambit - while I fully realize and agree that Putin MUST be stopped and Ukraine is the place and people that must make the sacrifice to do so, strange none of the babbling, nodding media heads remember the $10mm in his family bank accounts to buy that privilege from the Americans. Brandon bragging about NATO unity when the only person to bring them to start paying their way was "his predecessor" or whatever SloJoe was calling Trump. Yeah, he sure lied about the economy and the border - but knowing what I do about his political opponent
  8. Yup, have to agree with that. I have been privy to a number of investigations, and remember only too well when modern technology revealed that a fair number of convicted killers were NOT the killers made out to be. Not just the Little Turd and his ilk, but human nature within LEO community. Once a theory takes hold pretty much any evidence that doesn't support the generally accepted premise is conveniently ignored. That kind of confirmation bias is simply not acceptable but IS very much how people go to jail. Not suggesting the cops and crown are always wrong, but experience should have taught us they are wrong a fair bit of time and biased all to Hell on carrying out their mission. Now, should a criminal meet an untimely end in commission of his or her crimes - at the hands of victims, bystanders or LEOs I think those responsible should be given a slap on the wrist, no more. We need open season on criminals, not victims.
  9. I agree Harper's government (you might have noticed there was more than one person in cabinet) made a bit of an attempt, but since they didn't tube the CBC and play politics with any great skill they didn't get re-elected - leaving us with a fate far worse than death itself (although it certainly does look like the death of the Canada I once loved).
  10. Canadians don't mind when OTHER people get shot. If that wasn't the case, we would not tolerate criminality becoming one of the safest and most well rewarded careers for an ambitious person. Instead of disarming the criminals we disarm their victims. BTW: I have as yet to see ANY political party do diddly squat about addressing any real problems when in power.
  11. I have dealt with Mulroney on the campaign trail, and strongly disagreed with much of his politics. He was not what I consider a conservative, just another opportunistic, corrupt, Quebec Liberal lawyer - as his whole end game with Airbus revealed. Maybe a great Quebecer, but NOT a great Canadian.
  12. That's where you have it very wrong. I want to pay a fair market value as I value the resources and work that went into producing something. If I continue to reward better design, better quality, better management with a premium I will be doing my tiny little bit within a market economy to reward better things with full expectation for those better things to remain available. I am not going to throw my family into a single engine airplane and head off into an Arctic night counting on some volunteer's design, construction, oversight and maintenance of airframe, engine, prop and avionics. I want to have paid a premium to get premium product and performance in hopes of getting to the other end of the trip alive.
  13. Then you will be forever alone in your system
  14. I have a very simple take on this crap: if your life revolves around some religious belief LEAVE CANADA and to and live in your host Theorcracy. The last thing a country with trillions of dollars of debt needs is people wasting time and resources with their cult fascination. Any government (don't care what party) that is so stupid as to invite people from truly incompatible cultures into our country deserves to be out on their ass.
  15. Doesn't work compared with WHAT?????? What I showed you was that when you took tokens of exchange out of an economy and replaced it with "volunatary" values it immediately had to revert to having tokens of exchange to work. Believe me when I tell you that as I sit here doing my 2023 taxes I really wish there was no such thing as money - since the halfwits we have elected have spent a few trillion dollars that I seem to be volunteering to pay out. The tokens I chose to hold onto 4 years ago are now able to purchase less than 1/2 of what I could get 2019.
  16. I guess it is time to introduce to you something discovered many thousands of years ago: market economies. If you say to your volunteer furniture maker: " I want a table", since he volunteered to be a furniture maker he may - or may not - make you a table. Since we have placed no value on his table and no value on his work you will get whatever he wants or he can produce. When you get your table and it falls apart you are going to be pissed when you find out he never met anyone's standards as a qualified furniture maker - or the materials his volunteer material supplier gave him since they had no value are nothing but a crapshoot. The way market economies evolved is realizing what value consumers place on the work of suppliers - and that value is what is rewarded by how many tokens of exchange are offered. Market economies (that is PRODUCTIVE market economies for actual goods and services, not Casino Capitalist markets that are no more than a gamble on a false valuation of a token the already exists). Let me once again take you back to reality. I cite Communist economies because in many, things are just assigned to you based on what the ruling party volunteers to give to you. In '70s Moscow, my Uncle was given a B&W TV for the apartment given to him so his family could enjoy life in Russia. Made them most popular family on the block. When it stopped working, he called the TV shop (no money exchanged hands)and the repairman volunteered to come when it suited him, so my Aunt had to stay home from her job at US Embassy to let him in. Guy turned it on and off, plugged in and out, smacked it with palm of his hand for a few minutes and picture with sound returned. Aunt was happy and worker returned to his office. A few weeks later, it failed again so this time my Uncle stayed home from his job at Canadian Embassy to deal with the "free"service volunteered by the state. Repairman showed up, but my Uncle asked him where his tool bag and spare parts were? He replied that they were at the shop and repeated the plug, switch, slap and curse routine my Aunt witnessed. No go. Uncle asked him why he didn't bring tools to fix, so was he going to take it back to his shop. Guy answered "no, you have to put in a request for a new one". Unc asked him why do they not fix it? He says "Not possible, no spare parts". Then he asked how long and was told "maybe a year or two". THAT was a literal example of a genuinely cashless society. If you don't have a means of exchange and a marketplace ha can express the value - that means you need tokens of value - it simply doesn't work. Worth noting: that in time Russia did use tokens of exchange (there WAS a ruble economy, but not all items changed ownership or services granted with money) but all embassy people were expected when travelling to Western world to bring back blue jeans, ball point pens, Bic lighters, etc. and sell them to the black market. The tokens of exchange? US Greenbacks - since the Russian Ruble tokens represented a value that the state volunteered it to be thus no market determind but STATE determined value. The genuine test of that value was the underground economy that used the ultimate token of value placed by markets globally - the US Dollar.
  17. My turn to feed the troll? All of those things in OP's first ever post (yeah....right) are true - but the measure of a country is far greater than any of the transient conditions. To make this very simple: I measure a country by a few simple standards. One is how it has treated POWs and how it treats detainees. I have worked in many countries and experienced many "tests" of personal rights and freedoms, but one week in Hereford TX particularly sticks in my mind. We were staying at a small motel with an outside pool in a 110 degree F summer outdoor work situation. There was a very well dressed late middle aged woman at breakfast each day - clearly NOT from TX. After a few days of hearing her accent, I approached her to ask if she was from Switzerland. She chuckled and replied: "very close, I live on Lac Maggiore just West of Lugano." She was an English Prof over to research a book she was writing about her Father's experiences in WWII. He was a Fascist. When the Allied forces rolled in, most Italian soldiers just changed their rifles for Enfields and pointed them in the opposite direction, but the hard core fascist officers were arrested and sent of to POW camps - and her Father's was near Hereford. The prisoners were treated extremely well, and often taken out on holidays to local homes for parties, celebrations, etc. Many managed to claim sanctuary after the war and stayed in USA. She wanted to meet and understand the society that treated their "enemies" in that manner. My other related story is my own Father's. He was a munitions worker for most of WWII and not allowed to enlist. He wore the system down and managed to sign up late in '44 - and promptly came down with pneumonia in boot camp - so spent the rest of the war as a POW guard. When he served as artillery instructor in the '60s he had a ready made family of very good friends - his former prisoners. If you want to understand the US (and to some extent Canada) find some POWs who survived other countries and see if you can spot the differences. THEN you will understand why I live here and gladly do most of my business in USA - even with all of its (and our) problems.
  18. I can sympathize with your desire to see a much happier, safer, healthier egalitarian eutopia - and it would work just fine for everything in it - except for the people. If you eliminate "money" people will just as they have for millenia just choose another token to facilitate exchange. If money was not the core of the economy (as was the case in '90s Russia) violence simply replaces how those with greed as motivation chose to manage their surroundings.
  19. Thanks for the links. What they say (in summary) is people who volunteer formally are healthier and happier than those who do not. Now, if we elevate that to hard science (that IMHO excludes social science) we would have to know the causal chemistry and magnitude of happiness and wellness. You would need to read the references below the links to see how, how much and how well this was done. I have lived with someone trained in psych and she would tear your conclusions and probably much of the reference work to shreds. Mostly because you have concluded that people who volunteer as a tiny subset of what they do with their lives would all be happier and healthier if they had no way to pursue their individual goals because they could only volunteer - and HAD to do nothing but volunteer. Kind of misses the point about who would decide who volunteers for what, how they are rewarded and how you could actually make such a non-economy work (as I pointed out about Russia - fell apart big time and organized crime simply filled the vacuum.
  20. Please repeat the link you cited. I haven't got time today to go through whole thread. Sorry I hadn't read that before - bit crazy around here.
  21. So, what do YOU call your fantasy system if not communist (i.e. state owning the means of production)? Better yet, what does all of the "science" you claim defines this call this cashless social system? In the real world, we have been there. When USSR collapsed their version of communism reverted to anarchy. Then, their currency collapsed and became worthless - so what you want so badly actually existed. Did "the people" just volunteer to get everything done? Naaawwww, but the oligarchs were borne then since they were those who had means of communication, command structure, weapons and ammunition. You can bet your bottom dollar (if you had any cash in your cashless world, that is) the government under Gorbachev issued a new currency in a hurry - because nobody was able to do anything without tokens of exchange.
  22. I am still waiting for you to cite some of this "science" from credible sources. BTW: let me give you a good example of how even your beloved Communist systems RELY on currency to get the results needed. When I shared an office inside of a medical university in China some of the old profs shared a concept with me that in some places and some times was deployed with great success. Doctors were given a slate of names when they graduated, and they were paid for all who were healthy and alive. Instead of practicing just sick care, they were extremely aware of health care as it gave them income at an age when they were raising their family, tapering off as their patient block died off from age. It was nothing but MONEY that made this possible and effective. You see, when people were left to just do what THEY wanted in a state-owned (or Emperor owned) society, they went for the maximum benefit, not some altruistic ideal. Even when ordered to do something, it seldom worked, but when PAID to do it, it often worked quite well. BTW when it comes to "science" you must first realize I/you/we can find "science" that backs ANYTHING you wish to have supported. Why? Because scientist are generally whores who will kiss anyone and tell them how much the love them (or their ideas) as long as they are getting paid. Sex. Pride. Greed and Fear. Until you understand that, you won't know how anything is going to work (or not) Take away currency or "money" and the human animal will just find another token to use in its place - as we have done for thousands of years.
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