Craig Read

KK, good points. Plus you remove a funding source of terror, remove instability, and can reform Palestine, plus withdraw troops from Saudi Arabia - which apparently is such a big issue with the Mullahs. In 2 years Iraq and Afghanistan will be settled down and next on the list should be Syria and Iran. The entire Middle East will be remade. Oh but I thought the Arab street would rise up ? millions of babies would die ? World War 3 would begin ? A million Bin Ladens would be recruited ? Hmmm more Liberal nonsense I suppose.

Arnold has finally announced his candidacy. I heard 2 weeks ago that he had a staff of 50 already assembled. No surprise to me that he announced his intention to run. Bye bye Moonbeam Davis, finally some adults can run the world's 5th largest economy.

The army is not the only solution. You need to export Western Liberalism - orthodox variety - political and legal reforms pllus get the local population to help in civil duties and in building up these institutions. This where there is a good argument that the IMF and World Bank should be demolished. They hinder not help developing countries and they create 'moral hazard'. Just before Argentina went teats up the IMF pumped $7 Billion into the economy - the money of course disappeared. We don't need 'World Bodies' rewarding corruption fraud and graft.

Ned, you hit the nail on the head. The separation of powers is under attack. If the politicos who want to buy votes and appear 'enlightened' want to redefine marriage they must follow their own vaunted due process: 1. Define in great detail the differences between a Civil and Church sanctioned marriage. 2. Define the rights associated with Civil vs. Religious marriages. 3. Ask Parliament to debate this issue and whether or not Marriage law should be rewritten. 4. Put any changes to a referendum. This would be healthy, legal and valid. Instead we have Judges and pious little Politicians flapping their lips about 'rights', 'humanity', 'equality'. The redefinition of what is a family is a massive societal change. As I said before I have not heard one argument that Homosexual behaviour is natural. It is a societal induced phenomenon and just one more example of the destruction of the Western Liberal tradition as people are blitzed by the media that deviant behaviour is not only lawful but should be rewarded. This is a nonsense and a dangerous one at that. As many others like Ronda and Neal point out - where does it end ???

Ronda, Hugo. I agree, we are going down a slippery slope with Gays. Soon they will want Gay Prostitution legalised under the 'Charter' as part of their 'Rights'. I was reading about ancient Greek homosexuality and how it developed. It was entirely a socially induced phenomeon. Ancient Greeks did not care for women too much. They were deemed if not evil at least worrisome. Hence the myth of the Amazons, which was the Ancient Greek Man's worst nightmare - chicks who could kill and be equal to men. The Greeks formed social clubs of men, in which an older man would teach a younger about civic life, war, the arts and so on. Over time this relationship grew into one of sexual favors for good teachings. Eventually such habits became accepted especially in Thebes and Sparta and the man had a dual sexual life - one at home with a wife he rarely saw, and one with his male mate. Such male bonding was also deemed essential in a world full of war and uncertainty. It created an ethos of dependability. I can't help but reflect if being Gay is still a societal issue or if in fact there is some evidence that 'tumours' or 'genes' cause it. I doubt it, but some say they do.

I would agree that 'Religion' cannot be blamed for war. This is just not true. Yes Religious wars occured, but mostly for issues of profit, booty, land and territorial expansion or resource/trade protection. Some wars such as the 30 years War and the Crusades were a mix of motives. While I would never defend the Church being an atheist I would make some observations: 1. Religion - Christianity in particular - provides a necessary bulward against State power. 2. Christ. makes the individual accountable for his/her actions. This is a large step forward in ethics and self determination. 3. Christ. is concerned with the salvation of all souls regardless of caste, income or success. By extension it teaches patience and peace as opposed to war and gaining of spoil. 4. Christ. teaches about freedom to choose, to live and to express inner spirituality without being victimised. This is another large step forward in building harmonious relationships in society. For these reasons and some others it is important to remember that Western society is a Judeao-Christian framework. Such a framework is diametrically opposed by Islam which is a thought system to unify society - both state and church. Christ taught that Caesar and God are separate. Religion then per se is not the problem. The rulers, the Church 'fathers' and tyrants posing as spiritual leaders are the problem. Religion merely gives these odious personalities a convenient philosophy to unify nations, tribes or peoples as a cover for their dictatorships.

Sir Raff, You truly are a clown. You do have a map one supposes ? Where is the population of Canada clustered ? What is the spread of population in the North vs. the South ? What is the industrial strength of the North vs. the South ? 90 % of Canadians live within 200 miles of the US border. Duh. Canada is covered mostly by ice, rock and areas that will never support large populations or industry. If you think Canada is empty travel in South Ont. the St. Lawrence Valley and Calgary-Edmonton and Vcr. where 80 % of the population lives. If you can't actually read a map Raff, go play in another sandbox. Your stupidity amazes. Clown.

the Dumbocruds really are good prime time comedy. Graham one of the nobody leadership hopefuls wants to repeal ALL of Bush's tax cuts and increase spending by $800 Billion over ten years on social programs. This stupidity is now being supported by 2 other candidates. Dean wants to repeal all three of the Bush tax cuts, right down to the last penny for every taxpayer. In addition, as he told NBC's Tim Russert, he'd raise the income threshold on the payroll tax, another huge tax increase on anyone making more than $87,000 a year. Kerry feeling lonely does not want to be outdone. He'd preserve the Bush tax credits for children and marriage penalty relief. But he'd still repeal the rest of the Bush tax cuts, including the rate cuts on income, dividends and capital gains. (Apparently the Massachusetts Senator thinks no one in the middle class owns stock.) All 3 Dumbocruds follow these silly ideas with bromides about 'Democratic values'. They miss 3 essential 'values' of the Dumbo party: 1. Trial Lawyers are man's best friend. 2. Policy should be set by vacuous Hollywood Sluts like Sarandon or clowns like Sean Penn. 3. Lying and Slander is good especially when you don't understand facts. I only hope Hilarious Tolkein Clinton runs against Bush. Would love to see how she looks as roadkill.

Well democracy means nothing ie. without law, liberal institutions and proper check/balance chaos will reign. I don't believe that democracy is a cureall. First you need the framework and most likely that comes with Lee Kuan Yew type control, not some soupy sappy pluralism and 'human rights' program. After the framework is built, then economic reform can proceed apace, followed slowly by democratic reform. Most countries do it backwards, which results in fraud, corruption, and more chaos.

Finally someone who pronounces the obvious - that homosexuality and sodomy and marriage are not the same. Socially, eocnomically and politically this is a smart move. Roll back the PC crowd and let's stop pandering to the gay community and elevating homosexuality to the same status as heterosexuality.

Mod, Pell, I love arguing with you guys, really. Islam is a failure - 2 simple questions illustrate this: 1. How many Westerners emigrate to Islamic countries each year out of choice ie subtract oil and finance workers in the Gulf vs. how many emmigrate to the West from Islamic countries ? 2. Why is the Islamic world last in internet usage, educational peformance, social infrastructure, illiteracy amongst adults and why is the total GDP of the Islamic world less than Spain's ? It has failed. Judeo-Christian/Western Liberal traditions have not. There is no comparison.

A great indictment of what is wrong with the CBC and BBC; "What led to it is the BBC's all-out campaign to validate its world view. Because the mass graves and accounts of torture by Mr. Saddam's regime were too real, the BBC has latched onto the fact that WMDs have not been found yet to justify its animosity toward the liberation of Iraq. And this animus sprang from the consensus that the West is always wrong. The most succinct description of what the BBC has become, that I've seen anyway, comes from Conrad Black, owner of the Telegraph newspapers. In a letter to last Saturday's Daily Telegraph, Lord Black wrote: "The BBC is pathologically hostile to the government and official opposition, most British institutions, American policy in almost every field, Israel, moderation in Ireland, all Western religions, and most manifestations of the free market economy. "It benefits from an iniquitous tax, abuses its position commercially, has shredded its formal obligation to separate comment from reporting in all political areas, to provide variety of comment, and is poisoning the well of public policy debate in the U.K. It is a virulent culture of bias. Though its best programming in nonpolitical areas is distinguished, sadly it has become the greatest menace facing the country it was founded to serve and inform." right on. CBC take notice.

Ned, good post. I would agree on all of it and add that even despite the 'artificiality' of most borders, these states have some choices that could make life easier: 1. If the nation is not 'natural' allow it to splinter. 2. The nation or its components should seek outside help to form a Liberal constitutional government FIRST, with checks, balances and a pluralistic system. {Russia did not do this which is why it is still a mess} 3. It should seek international help to help it transition to a 'democratic' plural structure first before enacting economic reform and most importantly setting up the Rule of Law. 4. Economic reform would include a solid currency backed or tied to in the short term the US$. 5. Currency controls, wage controls, price caps etc. must be lifted. 6. Regulations and spending reform initiated. Proper tax collection instituted and balanced budget amendments made law. Such steps would help greatly refocus Africa onto building instead of destroying. It would also provide international help - not handouts but help - that would aid its reformation.

I would agree that Islam is nuanced but the political reality is that the Mullahs have fastened fascism onto a religion. Bernard Lewis who is the expert on Mid East affairs calls Baathism and fundamentalist Islam a European import - ie. the fusing of Nazi ideology around a religious identity. This fusion of national socialism [which is abundant in Canada] with religion is a particularly obnoxious admixture. It ensures conflict. Not only is religion perverted to support the state and its leaders, but society is rigidified with all the economic and intellectual atrophy such a process suggests. To say Islam is a failure, and it is, is not to state that the people themselves are failures. When you are brought up in a climate of Islamo-Fascism, hate, poverty, obedience etc. is your culture. What I detest about Canada and left wing EU states is that they don't recognise 2 fundamental facts: 1. Islam because it is a failure needs to be reformed and the populations freed; 2. Islam if not freed and reformed and saved from itself will constitute an ever growing and serious security threat. In essence Islam in many countries has mutated to Fascism. Reading just a wee bit of history gives us some clue how to handle such regimes.

Yes a good idea - but is the populace of Canada energetic enough to care ? Can you manage to pry 1 million Cdns away from the CBC and the Beachcombers to actually sign a document on recall ? I doubt it. Canadians don't care, they are sissy's - nothing matters.

Islam fails due to a number of reasons: -No separation of powers -No respect for individualism -Imprisoning of the female population -Little respect for innovation -Little respect for the profit motive -No inclination at mass involvement in politics -No debate on the supernaturality of its religion -No regard for outside influences -Little interest in other opinions and concepts -Willful blindness to change The entire structure of Islam is totally different than Christianity. There is little comparison post Reformation between the 2 groups. Christianity is and was a necessary counterweight to despotic King centred rule. Islam has never had such a counterweight. Islam is not nearly as riven by sects, interpretations and debates as is or was Christianity. It is simply untrue to state that Islam is a diverse religion. As for the statement that Islam has 1 billion adherents and is therefore good - that is akin to stating that 95 % of Germans voted Nazi, that 180 million Russians supported Communism, or that 800 million Chinese profess to belong to the Communist Party. Ridiculous and indefensible logic.

Hear Hear. I will bring the ship and the tea casks. We can dump them in Toronto's harbour. A little revolution is sometimes healthy for the body politic. The problem with Canada is the ceaseless propaganda about its greatness. Sure it is a nice place, but christ i have heard the same nonsense in every country i have worked or lived in. Tangible, hard evidence is needed to declare greatness. This would include standards of living, per capita income, military, security, poverty levels, health habits and so on. Canada is average compared to its competitors. It has advantages but the ninnies running the place are too busy buying votes to enact reform. We need to devise something to stir this place up.... On the other hand i like the fact that in Cali you can recall and tear down bad politicos. This is healthy and necessary. In Canada - no referendums, no recalls, no direct processes - no input basically. It makes society poorer.

Asia, Africa, the Middle East [except for Israel], large swathes of Latin America, the FSU - whole regions of the world lie blanketed by failed regimes, religions and policies. Why is this ? Why is Africa such a basket case and why can't these regions become integrated into the world system and start to modernise and increase their wealth ? And how does the failure of most of the world's regions impact the UNO - its organisation, mandate and politics ? For instance; "Most African nations today are poorer than they were in 1980, sometimes by very wide margins. And of the continent's three-dozen countries, only two (Botswana and Uganda) have managed to grow at rates exceeding 3% per annum since 1980. More shocking, two-thirds of African countries have either stagnated or shrunk in real per capita terms since the onset of independence in the early 1960s."

Right on DNS. Thanks for saying that.

There is no Global Warming. Period. I love it when someone says 'of course there is' - okay show me some facts and the answer is 'the UNO said so.' Big deal, the UNO model is a farce and no serious scientist supports it, in fact 18.000 have signed a petition against it. [never reported in the Cdn media of course]. Scientists on the IPCC panel said in 1995 that global warming does not exist and that we don't know how climate change occurs. The UNO took the 'we don't know anything about climate change' report and turned it into a political document - to force a massive relocation of wealth from North to South. This is why 18.000 scientists came out against Kyoto - it was a rewrite of a scientific paper that bore no ressemblance to the original. Humans emit 5 % of CO2 and Methane gases. The rest is natural. You wipe out the human race and nothing changes. Satellite and other data do not support UN and Media hysteria over Global Warming. It simply does not exist except in the minds of those who want a World Government or the EU which wants to wipe out the energy cost advantage enjoyed by the US. [Oh really you mean the EU is NOT all about God and morality ???] Some other facts for the tree hugging/of course there is Global Warming even though i have not read a jot about it crowd. PS. Read some facts before you post. Some excerpts from a book i am engaged in to be published; =========== IPPC modeling is premised on ‘Mann et al.’s’ climate study. Mann’s data which analyzed temperature change over the past 1000 years is largely based on North American tree ring data. However tree ring data from North America is obviously not hemispheric. It is also limited to land data which means that 70 % of the earth’s surface temperature record is not covered. As well the growth of trees is dependent on many sources and not just on climate conditions. The only way to properly take the planet's temperature is to use sophisticated space-based sensors mounted aboard Earth-orbiting satellites. Dr. Tim Patterson, professor of earth sciences at Ottawa's Carleton University, Dr. Pat Michaels, professor of climatology at the University of Virginia, Dr. John Christy, Professor and Director, Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama, and many others explain that these far more accurate and comprehensive satellite temperature sensors reveal only a very small temperature rise since measurements began in 1979. Dr. Christy says the trend is about 0.07C per decade, right at the edge of statistical significance and certainly far too small to be noticeable. IPCC modeling does not reveal the fact that weather satellite data, the only truly global data we have, does not show the expected atmospheric warming trend. In fact the existence of satellites is not even mentioned in the IPCC reports. Furthermore the IPCC and UN have not bothered to prove that CO2 emissions are in fact dangerous and constitute a threat to the environment through field work. Ninety to ninety-five percent of CO2 emissions come from natural sources and the earth releases 210,000 mega tonnes each year of CO2 gas. Only about 5-10 % of this comes from industrial and human activity. The IPCC nor the UN has bothered to do empirical testing proving that CO2 increases destroy the environment. Nature Magazine in 2001 published a report citing that CO2 levels have often been as high as 5 times what they are today. In a North Carolina experiment 50 % more CO2 was pumped into in a forested area which resulted in faster growth, stronger trees and cones and no damage whatsoever to the ecosystem. In a 2002 survey of the Antarctic, mean temperatures were found to be 22-28 C colder than the Kyoto models had predicted. Kyoto supporters always portray the melting ice caps as proof of global warming but there is no evidence to support such assertions nor as the IPCC bothered to do field work to back up such claims. .............. And trust me I could go on and on and on and on ............... in fact I do for about 50 pages...... To construct a global treaty, sign it, tax and regulate and hire gov't monkeys to monitor sthg that does not exist, impairs your economy, takes 2 % of your GDP and puts you at a competitive disadvantage with the USA is just simply DUMB. ========== sources; Jones et al. 1998, Pollack et al. 2000. IPCC, 2001, 2.2.2.4 IPCC, 2001, 1.3.1, 7.2.1 J. Christy, “The Global Warming Fiasco”, in Global Warming and other Eco-Myths, edt. R. Bailey, 2002, p. 3 see J. Christy. CO2 does not cause smog – particulate pollution, and other non Kyoto gases and ozone. [Levant, p. 79]. Nature, 411, May 17th 2001 Science, vol. 292, April 6 2002, p. 36 C. Gardner, Geophysical Research Letters, August 28 2002, www.globalwarming.org The Alaskan Climate Research Centre states that there has been a mean temperature increase of 2.4 F or .4 C per decade in the 1970-2000 period which occurred in 1 jump during 1976-77, due to a Pacific Ocean current alignment. Since 1979 there has been a slight cooling. www.climate.gi.alaska.edu

I disagree. There are substantial differences between Christ. and Islam. See above one of my posts. The main difference lies in interpretation. Islam is strict, there is one Koran, one interpretation and one stricture. Sunnis and Shias disagree on very few points - mostly related to who was the bloodline of the prophet. Christ. is different. It is a confusing and contradictory mix of history, myth, parables and story telling. In this vein people can argue about interpretation and indulge in intellectual debates about the meaning of the word, of God, of being a Son of God and a God at the same time, about the Trinity and so on. Islam has no such debate. It is sterile. Worse if you are a non-believer you are beneath contempt. Christians at least have an interest in other sects and religions. Islam does not. That creates a very poor and dry intellectually bereft culture. Christianity was not worse nor better than Islam in many ways ie. in war, demagoguery and so on. Its main benefit was this: It created a power that opposed the State. Separation of State and Religion is fundamental to freedom. I don't support the Church but I am not blind to its importance. It is a fundamental part of liberal constitutionalism. Islam has no such construction and that is why it has failed, and failed I will add - MISERABLY.

Not reported in the Canadian media - and why would it be it is too rational - is news of a $100 million [uS] landmark study by the Bush admin. to understand the role of cloud cover in warming/cooling trends and in particulate pollution. The Kyoto/Tree hugger/Holier than thou Crowd would do well to follow the study. The UNO IPCC Kyoto report ignored the following; cloud cover, Solar Flares, Solar radiation, Ocean Currents, non Land based temperature data, Satellite data and upper atmospheric data. Preposterous. This is akin to creating a product for the market that ignores; consumer demands, ease of use, price points and distribution processes. Garbage in Garbage out. "The Bush administration, which opted out of the Kyoto Protocol aimed at curbing global warming, unveiled a $103 million plan to accelerate satellite deployments and other technology to study climate change -- especially the role of clouds. Clouds can cause warming and cooling effects and combine with soot and other man-made pollutants. The Bush administration contends scientists and policy makers need more information about them before they can make decisions to cope with man-made changes. "We're going to lead on this issue," Commerce Secretary Don Evans said. The Commerce Department heads the work of 13 federal agencies involved in climate-change research. The White House says the U.S. is the world leader in the field, contributing more than $20 billion to climate-change studies in the past 12 years." ========== But The Tree hugging Canadians tearfully ask, "does it send the right message?"

I should add this op/ed from the best Newspaper in the world: "California Governor Gray Davis will now officially face a recall vote, but he's still in denial about the reason. The Democrat is blaming a "hostile takeover by the right" and "partisan mischief." Introspection is not his strong suit. The world is supposed to believe that the 1.4 million voters -- 500,000 more than required -- who signed petitions were all manipulated by a few rowdy Republicans. And that his 26% approval rating has nothing to do with the energy crisis he helped create or the $12 billion surplus of five years ago that he's turned into today's $38 billion deficit. Voters also aren't supposed to care that in last year's campaign Mr. Davis misled them about both the magnitude of the state's fiscal problems and how he planned to raise taxes. This is the same sort of buck-passing that got the Governor here in the first place. Far from a "coup," the recall is entirely constitutional, put in place in 1911 to remove "dishonest, incapable or unsatisfactory" public servants. Mr. Davis has earned this honor. The election itself, slated for October 7, is bound to be messy. Voters will decide if Mr. Davis should go, and if so who should replace him. Potential candidates are still sorting themselves out, and the threshold for qualification is low. Which means a small number of voters could ultimately elect the next state governor. So be it. The fate of Gray Davis is a powerful lesson for unresponsive political elites in both parties."

Well the Dumbocruds have done a pretty good job screwing up the 7th largest economy in the world. 20 years ago Cali had the US' best education system. Now apparently it is last. Silicon Valley is still humming, though imany firms in high tech are leaving for Denver, Utah, and Austin. All great places btw to live and have fun. I worked in the Valley and the infrastructure, tax levels, housing costs and daily cost of living made NYC appear cheap. Add to this bad immigration, bad urban planning, and environmentalists who halt anything worth building and you have total gridlock, nay chaos. Plus the Cali's have built an apartheid system - 2 levels - American and Mexican. A huge Mexican population is not assimilated and they have their own rights to language, courts, etc. - a truly dismal situation. It is the same as saying 'America is not worthy, therefore we must create parallel systems'. Stupidity. If America is not worthy why do 1 million Mexicans flee to the States each year? Assimilate or go back to Mexico.

Yes but if he can fix California, that is more than enough of a legacy. Cali suffers from some hyper- democratic, inane budget laws and poor leadership issues. It is facing a $38 billion deficit - which looks unbridgeable. Its society is slightly to the left of the loonies in academia.