Craig Read

Or maybe Riff or Fleabag from this forum Pell would be a good deputy PM Now on the rumor mill in the US is that Bush will create tax exempt savings accounts with no tax penalties for withdrawals. If this goes through not only will US savings rise [and the current deficit go down], but it will create another massive pool of liquid capital - that will spur further investment and capital spending and ergo economic growth. Why is creating tax exempt savings accounts a GREAT idea ? Anytime something is taxed, less of it is produced. Just as taxing labor income (as is done through the income tax) results in less labor being offered, taxing savings results in less saving and investment. People who save must pay taxes on money in the year it is earned and then year after year on the returns generated by that money. A country that taxes savings will produce less savings and, no surprise, might find itself with a drooping savings rate. At some point, capital formation will suffer and growth will not be as robust as it might have been absent the tax on saving. On the other hand, if a country removes disincentives to save and invest, people will save and invest more; capital formation will be strong and growth faster. Bush's plan importantly has no income caps the tax free savings accounts. Since the rich have more money to save from disposable income, allowing them to shoot for the rafters would turbocharge the impact. Taxing savings also weakens the economy by creating distortions and inefficiencies. Under the current regime, people spend vast amounts of time scheming to convert unspent money into nontaxable income and putting billions of dollars into suboptimal tax shelters. In Canadance - the gov't taxes RSP withdrawals before age 65 [at least 30% if not more], and there is no vehicle in Canada to accumulate capital without having it taxed except for your primary residence [this might mean instead of investing in capital investments and such you just pay off your mortgage sooner, but after that then what ?]. Since the Bush plan is so logical and enticing don't expect the Dumbocruds or the Cdns to support it.

KK, Correct. I argued with some Euroweenies this week on this very fact. They forget that the COLD WAR raged for 50 years. They forget that rogue nations DO EXIST. They forget that national defence and military preparedness are the prime responsiblities of govt's. That is the basis after all of the hobbesian contract between citizens and national govts. You want my money fine - but make sure i have security. Something the tree hugging, naked, love to be relative Cdns should clue into. As for Iraq creating a western dependency in the middle of a bad neighbourhood is an act not only of charity but long term geopolitical genius. The Cdns and French have not quite figured out that fascism is a nasty concept and must be beaten, destroyed and eradicated whenever it raises it ugly face. Iraq is going well. Importantly its social services and infrastructure is being rapidly rebuilt. This bodes well looknig out 1-2 years from now. Liberal idiots just don't get it.

It is an outrage. Walsh is just another idiot but unfortunately with a wide audience. The CBC has always systematically targeted the CA with propaganda. It is indefensible that tax payer dollars fund such insouciance and flagrant political commentary. Nicholls is correct in calling for its privatisation. State owned propaganda died with the collapse of Soviet Russia.

Dean and Clarke are both morons. Dean taxed the hell out of Vermont to such an extent that Killington is threatening to secede. First time in US history a city has wanted to secede from a state. Clarke bombs serb civilians from 30.000 feet and claims he is a war genius. He was so smart he did not commit grand troops or heavy armour. Milosovic fell due to internal tumults and luckily for Clinton and Clarke he did. Neither one of these jackasses would have the common sense to wage a winnable war. They would be too busy apologising to the aggrieved Europeans. Bush will win 35 states and wipe the floor with Dean in the popular vote. The economy is booming, jobs will come on line starting March 04 and the US dollar will rebound once rates rise in spring 04. The democrats as a national party are finished until at least 2008.

Canada, which will be renamed soon to Canadance, in honour of its fast friendship with the wonderful, non corrupt, enlightened and intelligent government of France, suffers from the rot of adolescent penis envy vis a vis the USA. Consider the following: -Canada free rides off the US military, US technology and health sectors and its drug industry -The US has the 2nd highest living standards in the world - Canada falling to about 15th -Canada has the 2nd lowest military spend in NATO and if you normalise military spend Canada would be running 3.5 % deficits. -Cdn tax rates are 30 % above US rates. -Cdn standard of living is dropping [it has been dropping since 1970], to 30 % below US levels. -Cdn wage rates are in general for most professions quite a bit lower than US rates [see brain drain]. -Cdn social liberalism is creating a European styled culture of egotistical self actualisers devoid of responsibility, morality and full of pious post modern nonsense centred on the belief that 'nothing matters. Canada has no vision, no purpose, no philosophy. Unless it reforms itself, wakes up, grows up and joins the adult table internationally while enacting widespread constitutional, economic and political reform, Canada will end up like France. Irrelevant -- or for the post moderns - bien passe.

O'Neill was fired from his position and like a good little crybaby who can make some money from his experience, he publishes an immature little book on why he is great and others stupid. O'Neill was fired for incompetence. As well he never had the access he claims to have had on foreign affairs. No way, Bush never liked his ideas or his manner and would never have involved O'Neill in any important discussions. A man who was there and was in the inner circle supports this conclusion - O'Neill was incompetent and wrong on policy.

Not out of context. A guy who says he steals, lies and perverts cannot be taken out of context. Augstine repudiated the Church before he died, citing corruption and fraud as the main reasons. Let's face reality the Church is built on a number of MYTHS one of which is Christ himself. The Church is a social movement of organisation and ethical roadmaps. Referencing God, hell and creationism is used to bolster its claims on absolute truth and power. In an age of science and education i would expect that people have a more intelligent view of religion and a historically inaccurate though entertaining work such as the Bible. The church does itself no service, by clinging to medieval mythogology.

Well fleabag, you should cite your own posts and lies before criticising the complex reconstruction of a geopolitically valuable area of the world. Your litany of nonsense and the left liberal accusations pre and post war make comical reading. You have been wrong on every major point. Your philosophy is so pathetically weak and irrelevant - the Clintonian policy of avoidance and the Cdn philosophy of rhetoric as a replacement for reality. Sad. Talk to some Iraqi's that live in Canada. You will get the real news - that the dismantlement of fascism is a positive and that 90 % of the population wants to move forward. Talk to some Iranians the live in Canada. They will tell you they hope Iran is next. Maybe Canada can send a dogsled team and some musketeers to help out in the invasion of Iran, presaged by withering rhetoric of course on morality, human rights and Cdn greatness. As they ignore the mass graves, destruction of human potential and the brainwashing of an entire group of people....sanctioned by the UN of course.

Farcical that. The C$ will fall in the medium term starting this year. The US $ will rebound - the US is printing money on purpose to devalue their currency - they will stop this starting March 04. Interest rates will rise, together with strong economic growth, corporate profit growth and an expanding net income base, the U$ will rise from this bottom by some 20 % over the next 2 years. The C$ is only strong due to a 2 % delta in interest rates which has a punishing and limiting effect in Canada for investments, loans, and capital creation. The C$ is a minor insignificant commodity based currency whose economy is tied to the US and who's tax rates are far above those in the US. There is little reason to own C$'s unless you are arbitraging on rates and making currency trading profits. As for the Democrats - the party of the mindless - Vermont ie. Dean's former haunt - is one of the highest tax states in the US, with budget problems. Dean instituted a state wide property tax to fund more education - the result ? Some areas of Vermont like Killington are threatening to secede. Nice job Howie.

Clement ? Please. Do nothing Minister of Health in Ont. All he did was spend more money - 30 % more in fact for Health. No reforms, no efficiencies, no financial controls, no transparency. Clement ? No thanks. Just another Eves acolyte twisting in the wind with the latest polls. Joker. Harper deserves the leadership, his french contrary to the sniffling Post article is better than Clement's, he is consistent, has clear policies and does not run after every opinion poll like a little girl. Clement is a child of Eves. I should know - i worked on his campaign, and 'child of Eves' is a very apt description.

The Libs and their useful idiot Howard Dean, with their elite cohorts the BBC, CNN and CBC in full battle array will simply not admit that Bush and the American Congress were right to invade Iraq. Nary a comment as to the great victories that have been attained since 9-11. It is hard to believe that serious people can have so moronic and narrow a vision of American national security. Saddam was an obvious enemy, terrorist funder and destabiliser - and maniac - and he is gone. Libya was another, and it has just retired from the field, suing for peace and giving up its weapons of mass destruction. (Gadhafi went so far as to go on television to urge Syria, Iran and North Korea to do the same.) Iran has also gone softer, agreeing to spot inspections, something it never did before it faced 130,000 American troops about 100 miles from its border. These gains are all a direct result of the Iraq War. Howard Dean - the leader of the idiotic party - states that the US is not safer since the Iraq war - he quotes alerts, escorted planes and casualites. What a clown. Can someone tell CNN and Dean that a war has been going on since 1983. Hello. Of course we have terror alerts. We will continue to have them until al Qaeda is extinguished, and you do not eliminate in two years a menace that was granted eight years of unmolested growth and metastasis when Dean's party was in power. The Do nothing Clintons are very directly implicated in the current war. But hush don't tell CNN or the CBC, you might hurt their feelings. The map is being remade - about bloody time.

Good man - i posted some info on Quebec - and the failure of its dirigiste model. I will ask Greg where it disappeared to and repost it - it contained the economic failures of Quebec socialism - highest tax rates, lowest job creation rates and lowest economic growth in NORTH AMERICA. The more gov't, the more socialism, the more self satisfied pompous and manipulative are the media the politicians and citizens. Quebec suffers from the French disease - and virtual reality distortion. The fact that Canada MUST elect its PM and inner circle who are French or Francophiles is a terrible indictment on the broken nature of the country. The French don't believe in a military,have little respect for true hard power, pontificate their moral and cultural superiority and try hard to avoid reality. All the while collecting more taxes and engaging in more corruption. Quebec society is deeply rotten and its corrosive bacteria has caused Federal gangrene. Time to grow up and reform the country and put Quebec in its place.

Flea you amaze me with your illogic. The leftist media creates an unvirtuous circle. They preach, you listen, they tell, you respond, they command, you follow. Jingoistic nationalistic platitudes abound in Canada and europe - and reality is usually the victim. The media bias in Canada and the inflexible racism that exists here is nothing more than the mark of immaturity - an adolescent country that won't grow up. That indeed would like to be the same as France. Arrogant and empty.

Morgan, some good points but the media has it wrong and has distorted the 'guest worker' idea out of shape. This is not what Bush is pushing through ie. not a french-german guest worker program. [christ who the hell needs to copy the french]. Like it or not, the U.S. is part of an integrating regional and world economy in which the movement of people across borders is inevitable. Despite nearly 20 years of efforts to "crack down on the borders," the immigrants keep coming -- an estimated eight million without legal U.S. documents today. As long as the per-capita income differential between the U.S. (nearly $32,000) and Mexico ($3,679) continues to be so wide, the US can't stop immigrants. Note to Bush; Starting bashing Fox and change Mexico. Do we really expect to deputize all of American business to report and arrest illegals? This is impossible and uneconomic. It was tried in the 1986 reform that was promoted by restrictionists, and it proved both a nuisance and a failure. You can beef up the border guard, but this will move illegal crossings deeper into the shadows of organized crime and cause more illegals to stay for longer periods. The US could always next build a Berlin Wall along the 2,000 miles of U.S.-Mexican border, or deploy the 101st Airborne, but i doubt that would happen but it is an option. So we are left to deal with the reality of modern immigration, both legal and illegal. As Bush stated, "Reform must begin by confronting a basic fact of life and economics. Some of the jobs being generated in America's growing economy are jobs American citizens are not filling. Yet these jobs represent a tremendous opportunity for workers from abroad." Foreign-born workers represent 14% of the U.S. labor force, meaning that huge parts of the retail, restaurant and farm economies would shut down without them. Bush's 'guest-worker' proposal would create a legal means -- a renewable three-year work visa -- for new immigrants to enter the country and take jobs that Americans don't want. Illegal immigrants already living here would become eligible for guest-worker status after paying a fine. The plan also would allow for circular migration, which means that farm hands could return home to their families after the harvest without worrying about another life-risking trek back to the U.S. Immigrant workers would enjoy the protection of our labor laws and be able to quit or switch jobs without fear of deportation. The proposal also has the advantage of making it easier to track foreigners who enter the USA. Valuable homeland security resources are now being squandered chasing down Honduran gardeners and Mexican pool hands instead of more likely terrorist threats. Giving them legal status would let the law-abiding move out into the open and away from possible exploitation by cynical employers or landlords. One objection, especially from the political right, is that the Bush proposal rewards people who broke the law. But in fact illegals would be required to pay a fine, as well as to prove employment before they could receive temporary visas. The 1986 "amnesty" to which this is being compared made no such demands. A more relevant criticism is that the White House proposal lacks an "earned legalization" component. Participation in the guest worker program won't necessarily put someone on track for a green card (for permanent residency), which is the goal of many immigrants. For some illegal aliens already here, this may be reason enough to remain in the shadows, even though Bush also said he will ask Congress to increase the overall number of green cards issued each year. As for the politics, Bush is said to be playing for Hispanic votes, as if attracting voters wasn't part of getting elected. But the initial opposition also suggests that this is a controversy that Bush could easily have dodged. The pessimist conservative wing of his own party is opposed and will give him an especially hard time in the House. Meanwhile, some of the pro-immigration groups on the left (such as La Raza) resist any efforts to assimilate immigrants more easily into American cultural life. Democrats will also give him no credit for stealing one of their issues. So it is a political minefield - not a smart route to buy votes. But that's all the more reason to applaud Bush for returning to the generous pro-immigrant tone of his 2000 campaign and taking this on even after 9/11. As he said in one of his better campaign lines, "Family values don't stop at the Rio Grande." Remember: Bush does what he says he will do. He made immigration a theme in 2000. Now he is following up. Free trade and properly controlled human flows. This is the message and it is the right message. Borders will be tightened and existing laws upheld - but lets deal with reality and embrace it.

Canada ranks now 16th in the world in Economic Freedom as measured by the WSJ, Fraser and Heritage Institute's which use [unlike UNO surveys] a real and valid methodology. Canada is falling progressively lower each year. No surprise, with lawyers, tree huggers, gay activists, eco fascists and liberals running the country. 1. Hong Kong 2. Singapore 3. New Zealand 4. Luxembourg 5. Ireland 6. Estonia 10. USA 11. Australia 15. Finland 16. Canada Note to the Canadians - enshrine property rights in your moronic Charter. Property rights and private wealth accumulation is what separates the modern world from the stone age. Tree hugging has yet to produce a modern world society.

Obviously you did not read my posts on this. Within a year it will be in the mid 60s. I have posted many reasons for this. The C$ is appreciating due to interest rate differentials with the US and US over money supply - 3x GDP growth. They are debasing their currency on purpose. Rah rah rah.

I forgot to mention 2 points: 1. The illegal immigrant problem should not mean liberalised '2 systems' for education and society at large ie. re; Mexifornia. Creating a 2 tiered society is a nonsense. 2. Mexico itself needs to be reformed. I would hope that Bush dusts off Roosevelt's big stick and starts smacking around the Mexicans to get rid of their feudal slave system that is causing the problem. Tighten up the border and beat up Fox. I know Bush was going to do this pre 9-11 but now is the time. Security is too large a concern and illegal laws MUST be enforced going forward. Bush should be talking these up as well to quiet the Conservative revolt that is brewing.

RToR - you make some good points [as usual]. In general if you analyse the pros and cons one should come out in favor of Bush's 'amnesty' for illegal immigrants. I watched a debate last night on the issue - between a Democrat Repr. from Texas [against Bush's plan - does not go far enough - which is the Dem. party line] and a Repub. from Colorado [against - he is the Chair of the Immigration committee]. Basically this Rep Chair of the Immigration said the following: -It does not address the issue of border security -It will cost working Americans some jobs [dubious] -It will depress wages in certain jobs [dubious] -It is illegal and will encourage family plan reunifications The Democrat rebutted: -reality is that 8 million illegals are in the US -they are in the black economy and need to be moved into the real economy -they will pay more taxes and not take from social security -they will now be monitored and tracked Aguierre who is the Immigration Minister said much the same thing. On balance those opposing the plan have no solutions to the main points addressed by the plan; -we can now track illegals -they will add to the economy not detract from it -they are working and they exist - might as well recognise that reality What the plan does miss is border security improvements BUT that is the job of Tom Ridge and he and his massive group are already doing such. On balance: -Good Plan, needed and helps with security. Go for it.

1. Christ never lived 2. The early church was anything but pure and just. Various historians of the early Christian era stated that Christians ate bodies of the deceased, engaged in sacrifice and incest, and were well noted for their rousing orgies. I could go on ad nauseum about the early Church and its hypocritical construction. Prof Davidson summarises a lot of them in 'The Canon of the Bible'. He destroys the 3 early presbyters that formed the gospel doctrine namely; Irenaeus, Clement and Tertullian. "No analysis of their authenticity and genuineness was seriously attempted....The ends which they had in view, the polemic motives, their uncritical inconsistent assertions, their want of sure data, detract from their testimony.." The early Church fathers were vagrants - dirty old men - ie. presbyters [Greek word], who traveled from market to market preaching to the illiterate, and the more fantastic their story the larger the crowd. They enthusiastically combined all sorts of mythology, fables, religious ideals and pagan concepts into their stories. Less than 1 % of the population could read or write, and it is safe to say, the learned folk would not rush to the market to listen to dirty old men who smelled and could use a hair cut, spout nonsense. Sources: Celsus is the best early expert and writer on the Church calling the early frauds, ie. presbyters 'charlatans and vagrants, dangerous to the civil ideals of the Roman state.' Origen a church cleric and defender even admitted, 'You have altered three, four times and oftener, the texts of your manuscripts in order to deny objections made to you.' Origen also admitted that lying to further the Church's interest was good [see also St. Jerome an early Cardinal who wore red ladies underwear and gave us the red robes of the Cardinals]. St. Augustine himself - a saint no less - admitted that he 'lusted to thieve and did it.' [Confessions, 2:9] St. Aug. confessed later that the Church was ' a religion of threats and bribes unworthy of wise men.' [see JW Sergerus, 1685]. As for the peaceful fun loving early Christians - a good meal of human followed by an energetic incestuous orgy seemed part of the fun of celebrating god. St. Justin Martyr circa 160 AD wrote; 'they met in secret to eat human flesh and once the lamps had been upset, to participate in promiscuous incestuous intercourse.' [see Flavius Josephus, Jewish Historian of the 2 century AD]. Emperor Marcus Aurelius concurred calling the early Church 'new and wicked superstition.' Minucius Felix a Christian apologist even confirms that 'the names of brother and sister hallow fornification as incest. Their foolish superstition makes a boast of crime, a condemned criminal is the object of their veneration. Finally there is infant murder, cannibalism, and the banquet with incestuous intercourse.' [Luke 10:1 Sinai Bible] This cannibalism and wild sex is called 'love feasts' in the New Testament [Jude 12]. The early Cannibalism and ribald sex was the worship of the Eucharist. Jermome [347-420] and Augustine [395] both condemned these acts. Ambrose of Milan [333-397] tried to forbade these practices but was unsuccessful [Acta of Pilate it was called]. The early Church was peopled not by enlightened wise men with long flowing white hair and purple robes, but by a fanatical mob of pagan worshippers intent on amongst other objectives, challenging the Roman state. To ignore their ignominious beginnings is to miss a fascinating period of history.

Gee i wonder why the national - socialists are quiet on this issue ? Could it be that as usual they were wrong. We will just add it to the long list of lib statements and rah rah nationalism that has gone awry. Well done - at least the socialists are consistent!

In your dreams. Get serious. Bush will win 35-40 states and the popular vote. Dean will implode and so will the Dumbo party - which will set the stage for Hitlery in 2008. The Dems are not a national party but a plaything for Trial Lawyers, Do Gooders and Teachers Unions. They are irrelevant and the US is NOT as divided as the media makes it out to be. Only the thoughtless and cowardly could rally to Dean.

That is $50 per every citizen more than a $100 if you are a working taxpayer. It is unaccountable, non transparent and the CBC head is appointed by the PM. It has no debate and runs the station according to its own internal ethos and philosophy - both of which are extremely left wing. The BBC and the CBC both suffer from declining viewers, unbalanced narratives and special privileges - they act like private corps, [they need advertising revenues] but are funded by the public which mitigates the CBC from actually having to produce programs that are sustainable in the market place. The folly of this approach can be shown not only on their political newscasts which distort reality but on the lack of debate on any major topic. Informed minds will not watch the CBC unless they have a macabre interest in one sided phillipics that twist reality. So the CBC plays to the lowest common denominator in society - the supine burping nationalist.

The Cdn media has not reported anything on the most important and RELEVANT multi-lateral initiative on security in quite sometime - called the PSI - the Proliferation Security Initiative. PSI is mandatory in a world of terror and WMD. Canada just joined the PSI program btw. Though the media have reported 0 on this. The PSI allies have agreed to interdict shipments of WMD, delivery systems and related materials at sea, in the air and on land. More than 50 nations have signed on to PSI's principles and may be called on should their help be needed. The Proliferation Security Initiative's 11 original participants Australia Italy Portugal Britain Japan Spain France Netherlands U.S. Germany Poland [Canada, Norway and some others have now agreed to join the original 11] But to really annoy the socialists and libs there's no headquarters, no secretary-general, no talkfests -- and, perhaps most important of all, no French or Russian veto. "PSI is an activity, not an organization," a senior US official states It's an action-oriented group that "needs to be agile and move fast." Case Example Libya: The media dwell on helicopter crashes in Iraq and tell you that Afgh. and Iraq are disasters. Untrue - but easier to report on then say PSI and Libya. PSI is a worthy international operation and should receive more Cdn support - meaning de facto we need more military spend. As well the media should be reporting this not ignoring it.

The media loves reporting downed helicopters in Iraq - how about the positive outcome of Bush's Foreign policy - one less mindless tryant to deal with and other rogue regimes now in compliance mode. sce; WSJ Jan 8thThe theme is correct - the corrupt post modern and french dominated UN is a farce. Multi-lateral coalitions of the willing are necessary.

I agree. Waste of time, money and air. Canada should get over its colonial complex, cancel the GG office grow up and become an adult nation. The GG is a mockery and a tax payer funded relic and idiocy.