Rambler Man

Native americans are most closely related to asians. Why do they have higher crime rates then whites? If Rushton's conclusions are accurate, then indians should on average do better in school and commit less crime then whites. Since they don't, that leads one to believe that other factors besides genetics help determine how people make choices. While it seems certain that there are some genetic differences in race, I think that Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" explains the differences between the societies of Asians, Whites, and Blacks better then Rushton's work.

Protecting free trade is somehow a left-leaning policy? I always thought free, unrestricted economies and trade was more of a right leaning idea.

So what if people move to Alberta? We're faced with rampant employment here and we could use some help. I don't see how more people moving to Alberta weakens confederation. All these people will have family in the provinces they left and as a result Alberta will have greater ties to the rest of the country. Seperatism will become less likely won't it? There are such huge labour shortages in Fort McMurray that there is talk of bringing in foreign workers. Maybe we should instead create a program to encourage workers from the far eastern provinces with their 15% unemployment rates to come to Alberta. Isn't that more efficient then Albertans sending all their money east to maintain the status quo? Won't that help the poorer provinces free up money that they are currently spending on welfare? I just don't see how impeding the progress of provinces in the interest of equality benefits Canada as a whole. If Alberta is left unmolested, other provinces will be forced to become more competitive to attract immigrants, and that leads to progress for all.

Well in Klein's case I think the deal was that they designed the budget for $30 dollar oil or in that area. After the budget was already in place the price of oil went way, way up and the huge surplus is a result of that. The other governments in question are being accused of deliberately taxing more then they spend, keeping taxpayer's money unfairly as a result.

Huh?? How are we all the same now more so then we were in the fifties and sixties? Ever see pictures or movies of that era? Everyone is dressed exactly the same as everyone else. If you walked around with safety pins in your face and green and pink hair you would have gotten your ass beat every single day. People are always influenced by what is popular so you have an amount of sameness in every generation, but I think the diversity seen in today's culture is 10 fold that seen in days of yesteryear. When my dad went to high-school, they had nerds and jocks. Now there are preps, skaters, hip-hoppers, emos, goths, punks, etc. etc. I agree that many chain stores are unsightly and surely have less character then mom and pop businesses, but to say that this has caused some kind of regression in the diversity of people is most likely a fallacy.

The Cons and NDP in agreement on an issue? Thats insanity. The NDP and Con working together on that issue could work very well for a couple of reasons: a) It would impart on Canadians that the issue is one of such importance that it goes beyond where a party lies in the political spectrum. Maybe the Cons and NDP are closer to the center, then the "King of the center" Liberals make them out to be. Because the Liberals are the only center party and the rest are fringe elements and wacknuts doncha know?

Woohoo! We're a multi-cultural society! Aren't we special? Ohh wait a minute...we really aren't. There's a bunch of other countries in the world that are full of immigrants and people with ancestors from other countries. We aren't the first to become a mulit-cultural society either. Switzerland has been made up French, Italian, and German descended citizens for hundreds of years and they have got along fine while respecting each others differences. We are just the first country to brag about it. As far as I can tell from what I have seen in my travels is that immigrants in countries tend to band together naturally and form communities that preserve their respective cultures without government throwing bags of money away to promote it. For an example of a country with tremendous diversity which does nothing to promote multi-cuturalism just look at the the USA. You'll see orthodox jews and Rastafarian Jamicans in New York City. Their China towns are thriving. Mexican culture grows more prevalent by the day. What's the point of spending a bunch of government money on something that occurs naturally? Same thing with bilingualism. I spent a fair amount of time in California and its fair to say the place is bilingual. In response to a growing hispanic community, the businesses, and services there offer both english and spanish to accommodate. Much better then spending billions offering french and english across Canada, when only 2 provinces merit such a thing, and the rest have french populations under 5% of the population. Its time for Canadians to quit pretending that our multiculturalism is something special and unique to Canada. Its not. Lets move on.

I wonder what the feasibility of getting a referendum in the fall on that question is. The house would have to vote to allow the referendum? NDP is in favour. According to their website, the conservatives would consider it. Assuming those two would work together to push it, they would still need the Bloc to win a vote in the house if the liberals oppose it. What is the bloc opinion on PR?

Yea get rid of the penny! Then we can use all the leftovers in the mint to pay the federal MP's. That way they'll be too busy counting and rolling to have time left over to screw us. Thats my 2 nickels.

I don't really see wind and solar energy production as a major player in solving our reliance on fossil fuels. Something like two-thirds of our electrical energy production in Canada is already provided by hydro-power, another 15% by Nuclear which is also relatively clean. Only 25% or so is still provided by thermal(oil,gas,coal,wood). I think we would be better off trying to increase green energy in areas of locamotive energy and indoor heating. Wind and solar don't really pack the kind of energy efficiency to help us in this regard. Moving towards geo-thermal, gas over coal, and improving air scrubbing technologies could help us reduce emissions until we can make the leap to a hydrogen based economy. What about a law increasing the ethanol content of gasoline and diesel fuels? Vehicles would be less polluting and farmers would benefit from growing such a lucrative cash crop, therefore reducing the amount of government subsidies to the to agriculture. Two birds with one stone.

Global warming definately exists. Is it a such a dire threat that it will destroy mankind? I really doubt it. The earth is a wonderfully resiliant place I think. In my opinion, based on the scientific reasoning I have just made up and my experience in observing human behaviour, once a major coastal city or two have their streets turned into canals, everyone will smarten right up. They'lll say ....Man we really ARE breaking the world. Lets do something. At that point the effort to really solve the green house problem will be urgently dealt with and the world will over a few decades stop the warming in its tracks. Inevitably, the solution will cause some other unforseen problems that will have future generations all up in arms. In the meantime, Canada might just come out smelling like guest room soap as the temperature rises. The Northlands will become a little bit more habitable, and the Northwest passage opening up will score us a few points in the international importance field. Plus, people from all over the world will come for the beautiful warm skies, and sandy beaches of the great North West Territories beach resorts. I can dig that.