Drea

Hey, you're the one in the "flock" not me Haaaaaave a nice daaaaaaay!

No I don’t have a link I drove up there. I grew up in the Cariboo and let me tell you there is a lot less small businesses now than there were 20 years ago. The two malls in Quesnel are all but boarded up. Boitanio Mall in W/Lake has hardly any stores left... You have linked to a propaganda site. Geez do you think the Cariboo Regional District is going to have anything negative to say about their crap-ass little towns? They are doing everything to keep the populace and encourage new people to move there. They are certainly going to use only the positives and downplay the negatives. Drive up north (I went last month) and lookit all the small boarded up businesses. There are many. WalMart may not be directly responsible for all the closures but they sure aren’t helping their neighbouring small businesses now are they?

and Scotty goes "baaaaa". "Muslims baaaaaaaad".

I didn't accuse any one with any thing. Religion divides people. No getting around it as it is the only real "truth" available when discussing religion. I do not care about 911. It is history and nothing will ever be done about it. The criminals will never pay for their crime as they are above the law (ie they are in government) Now before you go all crazy let's not turn this into a "911" thread as it has been done to death already.

WalMart killed Quesnel. There are NO small businesses that survive there at all. It's a ghost town. One either works in one of the pulp mills or WalMart. That being said, I still shop there but I think WalMart should not move into communities of less than 50,000 people.

Religion is all crap. Some of them kill people in the name of some "god", some don't. Simply put, religion divides people. Next week (or next year or next century) there will be a different "bad" religion to take the place of the current "bad" religion. PS. The "attacks" on September 11, 2001 were not perpetrated by Muslims, radical or otherwise. They may have cheered it but they didn't do it. 911 was (and still is) a good excuse for perpetual "war" and the perpetual "military industrial complex" depends on it.

No Scotty we just give 'em everything they need to be "sinners" like us atheists. They willingly jump ship for pleasure. Just like Iranians would if they were not chained by their religion, if they had the influence of us non-believers

What they don't understand is that it is the non-theist population is what keeps religion in check. Without us non-believers we would live in an entirely different society -- perhaps as theist as the middle east. I am not saying Christians are bombing people -- I am saying that they would use whatever force or coercian necessary IF they were NOT nipped in the bud by non-believers. Secular, humanist societies are the only ones with equality for all. Any society run by religion is going to be biased by the teachings of that religion. Therefore there would be those who are "more equal" or "more deserving" because of the notion that one religion is "better" or "more true" than another or that believing makes one a "better" person. I can imagine that the atheist in Iran does not have the same rights and priveledges as the believer. They really need to thank the non-theists for keeping theism out of gov't and out of our Charter of Rights.

It's not just immigrants who want to know the gender of their fetus. My neice knows she is having a girl, my tenant knew she was having a boy. They tell them nowadays. Both kept the babies but that didn't have any bearing on the fact that they were told the gender right off the bat, they could've used the information to abort if they had wanted to. Back when I was pregnant in the early 90's the ultrasound operator was not allowed to tell me the gender. She gave me a hint though -- she said "its got a masculine face" , like a baby can look masculine! LOL

Kimmy, we were at the beach last weekend and this family kept to themselves and swam in their clothes. Men and women. I think they were Hindu, not Muslims though. I floated by (airmattress) in my itsy bitsy bikini and waved at them. They waved and smiled back. Didn't seem they had any problem with me being half naked.

He advocates driving while high. Ridiculous and pathetic. This is the type of person that is shown on Tee Vee when they show pot smokers smoking a big, crappily rolled fatty - bigger than a cigar (those pictures you see on Teeeee Veeee are unrealistic btw, marijuana cigs are usually 50% the size of a regular cig let alone a cigar) I never drive after smoking pot. I never drive after drinking alcohol. Both impair your judgement/reflexes no matter what anyone says. I should be able to go down to the liquor store and pick up an eighth. I should not be treated like a criminal for something as innocuous as pot. The time has come (16% of us smoke it) to legalize it and get the criminal element out of it and educate the public like we've done with cigs.

Not me. One sip of booze and I can feel it. No way anyone should be smoking pot or drinking during working hours anyway. There is a time and place for most everything. Booze and pot do not belong at work. Ever.

I may have said I despise America (in its current state) but I never said it was irrelevant -- on the contrary, when the elephant farts, the whole world smells it. (and man, that country be stinkin' now! LOL) The USA (and citizens like yourself) are the ones who need to pull their heads out of the sanctimonious hole and clean up it's own problems at home instead of worrying about what everybody else does. And Scottsa -- nobody envies a bully. I live in Canada -- why on earth would I envy our big neighbour to the south? What does America have that Canada doesn't? Tropical storms?? (was the only thing I could think of LOL) What does America have that I could possibly envy? I feel pity for American citizens, not envy.

THIS...is exactly the "type" of American that is despised across the world. What you don't understand B-C, is that this arrogant military spending spree is coming at a great cost to America and by extension the whole world. The American economy accounts for 5% of the world's spending (I believe) so America's economic collapse will not go unnoticed. The world has a vested interest in what happens in America. That's why people are so pissed about how America has degenerated. And in your arrogance you pronounce "We'll do whatever we want even if it kills us!"

And what is the darkly lurking psychological stimulous that brings to your mind penises in a thread about the US? I've heard of penis envy before...but... Whoa! First Kuzadd spouting off about her husband....now Drea dreaming about a bigger penis? What's going on? I think these two are giving us a strong hint. They want the board to have a spot for sex and relationship. Betsy, the world is NOT about WHO has a bigger penis (meaning bigger war machinery, a bigger bat to hit folks with, a bigger stick, a bigger stink... get it?... I was not REALLY talking about ACTUAL penises...) I don't envy penises -- I have one at home that I can have anytime I want And you only slam us posters who don't agree with you because you KNOW full well that the USA is the biggest bully on the planet and is hated by a good percentage of the people on earth. You CANNOT dispute this so you resort to insults. That's ok, you are forgiven.

LOL Kuzadd. I think I know why they do this. They learned it from their heroes, Coulter, Limbah, etal. When they cannot debate the issue (and when can they??) they resort to insulting the messenger. Typical and expected from the shrill right wing.

C'mon whitedoors, Betsy, Scottsa, American Woman... instead of insulting the poster why not give us your take on the issue. Has America's reputation worldwide suffered in the past 7 years? Just answer the question.

jbg, low income people would not pay premiums or user fees. Or at least there could be a sliding scale with regard to income level. Sharkman, my mom stayed in her hometown. Town of >15,000 people. She recieved all her radiation treatments there.

Taxes, premiums and user fees.

Would you agree that fundraising is an inefficient, failure prone way to pay for medical treatment? Not all people are cute enough to garner the "aaahhh" from people so that they reach into their wallets. It would be just terrible if I would have had to fundraise to help my mom pay for her cancer treatments IMO.

The world does not want to attack and kill Americans silly! You are soo war war military might! OOooOoO Do you think for one second that the USA can just march into any country and take what it wants? Does trade and economics play no part whatsoever? Do you think if the big bad military USA were to nuke a country that they would be lauded? Do you think that when they attack Iran that the world will cheer wildly? It is not all about who has the bigger penis Scottsa.

American Woman -- Many folks around the world participate in charity events. It is not exclusively an "American thing". Let's compare... An example: A Canadian boy gets lukemia, gets treatment (paid for) and yet his family/community does something like bicycle across the country or swim the St. Lawrence to raise money for researching the disease so that others do not suffer the same fate. Another example: An American boy gets lukemia, his parents, friends and community members join together and raise enough money for his treatment. Does this entourage continue to raise money for a possible future cure? If in the first example the fundraising is not a success, the child still lives. If in second example the fundraising is not a success, the child dies. How can a nation so technologically and militarily advanced allow a child to die (even one) because his family's fundraising efforts were insufficient?

LOL do you ever have anything relevant to continue? LOL Why don't you put in your 2 cents Scottsa? Do you believe that America is doing just a-okay? Do you believe that all the "negative stuff" everyone around the world is saying is *not happening*? Just answer this one question -- Has America's reputation degraded or improved amongst the global community in the last seven years? Come on Scott instead or deriding me personally, join the debate.

Money is what keeps people from getting the care they need (in the US). If they don't have the money they do not recieve treatment. Ever. Bloated bureacracy is what keeps people from getting the care they need in Canada. People wait for non-lifethreatening surgeries. They eventually receive treatment. Always*. *ok so you can cite a case or two where the person died. Canada's system is far from perfect. (At least we can admit it).

The bigger they are the harder they fall. The issue is the USA's foreign policy which has alienated the rest of the earth's populace (as well as a good number of their own citizens). The issue is the fact that the future does not bode well for America on it's current course. If (big if) the Dems actually get in next election they a.) have their work cut out for them undoing everything Bush has done, or b.) will continue on the course set by the Republicans. Either way there is going to be tough times for America (and by default, little 'ol Canada will suffer too) Do I think this stinks? Hell yes! But we are tied to the US economically and physically so there is not much one can do about it from here. LOL It's like having a bully for a brother. You hate his actions and his attitude, but you have to want the best for him (for him to go back to being a good person) because he's your bro.