Drea

Welfare (or Social Assistance as it's called here in BC) is a Provincial responisbility not a Federal one. In BC it's difficult for a single person to get it (good) and a single mom has to be in some type of training program once her last kid turns three. Our tenant, a single mom with 2 young children, went to school and took ECE (Early Childhood Education) and now she operates a profitable little day/night care in her place. And wasn't it just a few years ago that Mr. Klein lowered the welfare rolls and all the welfare folks migrated over here to BC. Then Ralph and Gordo got together and now BC is tougher on welfare users/abusers. Welfare is supposed to be a hand up not a hand out. I was on welfare when I first got to this town in '98. I walked everywhere, got a job, saved and bought an old tenspeed with a child seat. Rode that lipstick pink bike to work for a year, got an income tax refund and bought a $1000 beater. Worked for another year and got a loan for a brand new car. (My first on my own and a very proud accomplishment!). Last year I broke $50,000 mark. From welfare to 50 grand in 7 years. It can be done folks! But I remember the shame. My god the shame I felt when I had to go to welfare. I curled up in the corner of the worker's office and bawled my eyes out. I, a college grad, would of never thought that I would need welfare. But circumstances (an unexpected pregnancy, a layoff, a father-to-be running off) led me to that office. While I support welfare and think it is great that we have a "net" for when times are tough -- I do beleive one should get off it and on their own two feet asap.

Seems everyone is entitled to an opinion except the female. Of course. This is part and parcel of the patriachal society we live in. If a mother wants to drink battery acid who am I to stop her? It's her body and she (as a fully functional independent human being) can decide whether or not she should drink acid or whole milk. "Women MUST be owned or else all of the world's chillun would be drug addicted FAS kids and at the expense of the taxpayer to boot! -- Women are incapable of taking care of themselves and therefor we must regulate their bodily intake before pregnancy, during pregnancy and during lactation." I say sterilize all women and grow babies in tubes. Would solve the problem IMO. Sheesh! I smoked pot during my pregnancy and my son is an A student. You buggers would have thrown me in jail! Then my wonderful, smart, awesome son would be a drug addicted foster kid somewhere. Wonderful. Yes, this was a rant. Too darn bad. Until we bring back "women are chattel and are controlled" then women will continue to decide what to do while pregnant. Whether that be abort, drink booze, smoke pot, do heroin, whatever. I cannot believe anyone would advocate the "regulation" of pregnant (or soon to be) women.

typical youngin' -- WHY! Why are they entitled? Because they've lived longer than you. Period. No other justification required. How 'bout if all yungins like yerself stay home, get discounts and all the 80 year olds can work and support the young people -- after all young people DESERVE to be taken care of -- since they've done sooooo much for society and all. Would that please you? Pffft.

I cannot believe the attitude of folks! Seniors have worked and paid taxes their entire lives -- they are entitled to discounts etc. Cry me a river China. Boo-hoo that you have to pay for a camping spot and the senior doesn't. You young pups need to get it through your heads that the world does not "owe" you simply because you were born. WORK! EARN! Get off yer lazy butts and make sure that YOUR retirement is secure.

I was born and raised in the Cariboo and moved to Prince George as an adult. The North treated me well and I certainly have nothing against it. I moved to the coast 'cause yah gotta move away from the home town to experience life yah know

No. Educating teens about the responsibilites that come with having sex makes pregnancies less likely.

On Not Giving Up This is a heartwarming story... enjoy.

Usually (and of course I speak only for myself and those I know personally) atheism is the product of logical thought and the need for "theories" to be proven (like gravity) before they are "believed in". That being said, Darwin's theory of macro evolution has not been proven and therefore is suspect imo. Most of us were brought up with some kind of religion. Those of us who reject it do so out of logical thought and the acquiescence of knowledge.

Temperature of Buring Jet Fuel: JET A-1 Flash point: 38 °C Autoignition temperature: 210 °C Freezing point: -47 °C (-40 °C for JET A) Open air burning temperatures: 260-315 °C Maximum burning temperature: 980 °C http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_fuel Temperature required to melt steel: I do believe it is higher than 980 degrees C. Can you find this Poly? I have to work now and don't have time.... thanks!

Hear Hear! All we have is about 80 short years to live on this beautiful earth, we should all make the most of it and quit worrying about what may or may not happen after we die.

I have to agree with Argus. If I'm pregnant and go on a holiday to Greece will my baby still be Canadian or will he be Greek? IMO unless the parents are citizens, landed immigrants or refugees there should be no citizenship for the baby.

jbg the articles you quoted in the first post say nothing about dead westerners just like you posted. Yet you go on to say "Us or them". Again, who is "Us"? Is "Us" the Arabs being killed? If so, I find it very hard to believe that you would lump yourself in with Arabs... Or perhaps you feel bad for those Arabs being killed and therefore want them to be part of "us"... Which is it?

An extra large double double costs me $1.64 whether or not our dollar is at par or at 75 cents. Yes, it's more expensive for us to purchase foreign goods when our dollar is low. The US can buy one log for $1 or one log for 75 cents (not real prices, just an example). Me thinks they would buy more logs at 75 cents each than at $1 each. Hmmm I wonder why WalMart has LOW prices? I wonder why Super Store is always so busy? Why are those discount stores so full of shoppers? LOW PRICES. Sheesh. We are a resource based economy like it or not. I have goods to sell and want to sell them so IMO a low (not rock bottom though) dollar is good for us.

How would you do that, pray tell? and at whose expense? "Here dollar-dollar-dollar! Here dollar-dollar-dollar!" Excellent! Why would we want to DIScourage our buyers by ENcouraging a high dollar? As Riverwind said, when our dollar is low more people buy more of our stuff. This is a good thing.

This is good news! A low dollar is vital to our resource based economy. I'd like it to be never over the 75 cent mark.

Thankfully Polly, there are wide awake people out there digging for the truth. I figure it will eventually come out. This is an really good site: 911 We Know

"Economy" doesn't mean much without an "earth". Could be this is the third or fourth planet humankind has been on and ruined... well you never know! It is not outlandish to think that we are from Venus (eons ago) -- certainly not any more outlandish than thinking we were created and are being judged by some "master in the sky".

30 years ago a "white" woman was silent about her abusive husband and couldn't get out of a marriage either. Aren't you glad the secularists fixed that for us? Aren't you glad our culture "evolved"? Think about that for 5 minutes and try to envision your life without your clit.... it's barbaric and insane. How do we teach immigrant 8 year old girls that no one has the right to touch them there -- even when all the women in her family have been "done"? If I had to have my very important body parts (unlike say, tonsils) cut off I would rather die. How many men would want to live if they had to have their penises chopped off? And no, male circumcision is NOT the same as female genital mutiliation. The latter is done to prevent the enjoyment of sex. The former is done to prevent infection. 30 years ago a "white" woman couldn't get out of a marriage either. Aren't you glad the secularists fixed that for us? Aren't you glad our culture "evolved"? Would you say a muslim woman has more chance of freedom here in Canada or in Iran? I'd rather have her here so she and her daughters can be taught that they have rights simply because they are human beings.

You mad at Quebec? You made at the Chinese in Vancouver? Who you mad at? Chinese are the hardest working people you will ever meet. I would gladly have more of them. Maybe one day I will learn to speak Mandarin! BC is still mainly white outside of Chinatown and Surrey. Yer gettin' yer knickers in a knot about nuthin' BC isn't a "havenot" province. We haven't been since we booted the NDP! Sorry to say, but yes those Frenchies beat those Englishmen to this land we now call Canada. So yup, besides those who crossed the Bering Straight, they were the first. That being said, IMO all people, no matter colour, race, religion, country of origin, how long you been a citizen, gender preference or colour of hair, are equal and should be treated as such.

I don't want to be a Christian. I don't want to be a muslim. There is no "yer one or the other". I can be human without having religious dogma rule my life. Contrary to the current scare tactics -- no one is ever going to force another Canadian citizen into a religion. On the contrary - the more influence us secular folks have on society, the better of society will be. Also a muslim women coming to Canada: - can get help if some idiot is trying to cut off her clit. - can drive if she wants to. - can toss the burka if she wants to. - report her husband if he beats her. So, yes I think it's a good thing that these people come here. I bet there's a huge sigh of relief as soon as they disembark. I'd like to save (bring to Canada) all the women of the world from religious oppression (of all sorts), but alas! I am only one person.

How much do you want our culture to "take" from the growing Muslim population? Female circumcision, perhaps? Banning women from driving? Beating them when they show their hair outside their burkhas? Executing homosexuals? Do tell us. Hmmm... let's see. How many of us are followers of Confushious (sp) or Buddah? After all the Chinese have been here quite some time so their relgious beliefs should've overtaken any others by now, no? Have you seen those older chinese women? They wear funny flat shoes and even the adults wear cute little backpacks with "Hello Kitty" on 'em! How not-to-assimilate, eh. Not all muslims practice fgm. Not all muslim women wear burkas. Not all muslim women are banned from driving. I see them driving all the time -- or used to, when I lived where there were some (in a bigger city). Have you ever eaten Chinese food? Indian food? Greek food? If you eat anything other that boiled mashed potatoes, you're being sucked into (gasp) a different culture! Accck!

My entire life. I was born in BC. No sense getting all bent out of shape over something that cannot be changed (Quebec). Out here in BC there is little or no direct effect on individuals no matter what Quebec does. However, I would certainly not want to see Quebec separate. I still have a family tree to "dig up" and part of it is there in Quebec. Apparently my great grandmother was Metis -- I'm thinkin' of going to get a status card! I love this country warts and all. From Montreal "queens" to goofy Newfies to redneck Albertans, we are all part of this wonderful country.

Did I say I don't like Christmas Carols? Gramma got run over by a reindeer is one of my favorites. As is the one about the red shoes for mamma when she goes to meet Jesus. Even though I don't believe, its a heartwrenching song!

Stats? A link? Different parts of the country are experiencing different levels of employment. Where are you? Apparently the east isn't doing so well these days. So move to Alberta or BC. Is there a job shortage or not? I live on the fringes of the fraser valley. There are maybe three immigrant (read dark skinned -- we've got Dutch immigrant galore) families here. Our head office is in the city next door. ALL of the lowpaid grunt work is done by female immigrants (once again read: Dark skinned immigrants) . ALL of it. Female immigrants with no english and no education. Why is this? Because these jobs are too "low" for whitey. Whitey would rather collect welfare than do grunt work.

I don't think you understand what we are trying to discuss here since you are missing the whole point, Drea. Religion has very little to do with this discussion. To simplify it, this is like someone who does not want to live in her home anymore, but instead had asked if she can live in your own home with your family. And being very generous that you are, you not only opened your house to this individual...but had also undertaken to see to her well-being, and made sure she feels welcome and a part of your family. After a while, she starts doing things in your house that goes against the rules and the values of your home. She curses, and do drugs in front of your children...and when you questioned her about it, her reply was that that's how it was where she grew up, and sees nothing wrong with that. She challenged you by saying she's got her own right to practice what she think is okay...and that it is you who is being unfair and intolerant. Then she starts showing your children how to go against your own rules and values. Wouldn't you tell her to either shape up and embrace the rules of your house or ship out? But of course you can't say that to her...because you signed a document adopting her formally. Whether you like it or not, she's yours now. Anyway, you learned from that mistake. So here comes another person who wants to join your family. What's the logical thing to do? Explain the rules right away...and make it conditional that he will adhere to the values of your home. Isn't that only practical???? Betsy, you and I live in the same "house" yet our values are completely opposite. How can this be? Because it's not really a "house", it's a country with a mulitude of differing "values". From the get go, Canadian "values" have been constantly changing. The first immigrants changed the values of the first nations. Now the next wave of immigrants is changing it again (ie the acceptance of turbans). We take a bit from all immigrants and make it our own. We are a "stew" of different people. In a stew a carrot is still a carrot but it picks up the flavour of the beef.