Drea

It's not that they didn't WANT to be involved in the political process -- they weren't ALLOWED to. Men would not allow women to participate. Again, because they were not allowed to. They were considered "property" themselves. Does your car pay taxes (it's your property)? Does your car own land? <heh> It is a right today, but it was not a right in the past. This goes to show that rights can, do and should change over time. Of course. Too bad it took ten thousand years for men to realize women were not objects to be owned. Every adult human being should have the same rights. Gay, straight, male, female, native or immigrant. The one thing we all have in common is that we are all human beings. That in itself should be enough.

When Harper won't "toe the Christian line" who else are they going to vote for besides the CHP? The NDP?

Crazy, although things worked out well in your situation, many marriages don't for many reasons. Young people sometimes make the wrong decision. Other times they may decide that it just wasn't the right thing for them. Take me for example. I met my husband at 16, married at 18. At 21 we decided to start a family. I cut and run right there! At 21 I had not experienced the world yet and wanted to. So I left him and went to college. Then I worked and had fun throughout my 20s. Then I settled down and had a family. I would have been totally miserable had I stayed with my first husband. Although he was a great guy -- I just wasn't ready for the committment. Of course, at 18 I thought I knew everything! Thankfully I was wise enough by 21 to make the right decision.

As Betsy pointed our earlier... why is Asthma on the rise when cigarette smoking has declined so much? Why are there so many sick children? Immune systems. Children today are so protected from everything that their little bodies don't build an immune system. What builds their immune systems? Exposure to "harmful" things like dirt. I say let 'em eat dirt! No, you cannot guilt me into thinking I am a bad parent because I smoke...

The "bra burning" in the 60s was a symbolism. Women symbolically threw away their "retraints". Some women in the 60s chose to keep their "bras" (restraints). No one banned them from wearing them!

That wasn't the point jbg and you know it. (Isreal -- goodness, goodness there was a typo in my earlier post; did that offend you? Pffffffffft -- and Palestine are not -- wow, no kidding! -- the topic here. You brought it/them up, the topic is trade with China and it's alleged human rights violations) I say human rights be damned -- we have a product to sell! I don't believe in telling other countries that they should "be like us" or we won't sell our product to them. I say take their money! Why else do business? Business is not charity. Business' only reason for being is m-o-n-e-y. All money is equal, imo.

Betsy rocks!

Then don't lecture Israel on the "rights" of Palestinians. What does trade with China have to do with the Isreal/Palestine confict? Hey if Palestine has a product I want (or one they want to buy from me) I'd buy it/sell it. Hey if Iseal has a product I want (or one they want to buy from me) I'd buy it/sell it. We Canadians have had it much too easy trading with our southern neighbour who's human rights are about the same as ours. Now we need to access new markets. Why do we let the human rights in any given country determine whether or not we need their money. Money is money IMO. And yes Argus, if Bernardo showed up I'd sell to him China = Paul Benardo = Palestine ----> oy yoy yoy

Yah and I'm going to sit in my office all day and wait for customers to come to me. I'll make tons of money! I'll sell all my products! All I have to do is wait for the customer to decide to buy. It is sales. We have resources, we need to SELL them. This is how we make money. We don't make money if we don't have buyers. Period. IMO who cares what the customer does in his own country? I am a selfish, capitalist I guess.

As I'm on dial up, I couldn't watch the clip. If I wasn't so cheap, I'd upgrade to highspeed There are nutbars out there that think we are living in the "end times". No need to take care of the earth 'cause Jesus is comin' to do a whole "planet makeover". And only the good Godfearin' Christian folk will inherit the earth! Teaching our children that they have no future (ie God is coming to destroy the earth) is terrible. I would never, never tell my son he doesn't have a future (even if I believed this endtimes claptrap).

Here you go... Christian Fascism Whoo hoo! Jesus is comin' back and the whole world will be destroyed! Whoo hoo! The Christian Death Cult is alive and well and scary as hell!

Our trade balance with the Chinese is lop-sided, to say the least. We export mostly raw materials(about $7b), and we import manufactured goods(about $25b) Chinese imports undermine our own manufacturers, and China routinely violates all international trade laws, from mislabelling to using slave labour to counterfeiting. China sells finished goods abroad, but they don't like to buy them. If Bomardier, say, gets a contract to supply trains in China it will be required to go over there, build a factory, teach local workers, and then build the trains there. They will then be heavily pressured to re-invest what profits there are in China. If they want further contracts they'll go along. This helps Bombardier's bottom line. But it does not much help Canada. How about we make a deal with China? They want to sell electronic goods, etc., here, they come here and build factories. Elsewise, get lost. Of course we have to beg!When one of my sales leads cancels an appointment I don't give up. The onus is on the salesperson (Canada) to sell the product. The onus is not on the customer (China) to take the first step. In the face of rejection, a salesperson makes follow up calls, sends free hockey tickets, whatever it takes to get "in the door" and promote the commodity. If I waited for the customer to make the buying decision without my input I woudn't be much of a sales rep! We have commodities to sell and need buyers to buy them Let's reserve begging for better customers. You're obviously not in sales. You'd be fired. Difficult customers make sales people better at their jobs (I love a challenging customer -- it hones my skills)

Let's say that all countries in the world were "bad" concerning human rights, except for Canada. Who would we sell our resources to? Would we just keep them to ourselves and have our own people starve? If your a-hole neighbour (the one who beats his wife and kids) comes over during your garage sale, do you refuse to sell him your old lawnmower?

Alcohol is definetly harmful but have you seen those sexy Bailey's ads? Blatantly showing people injesting booze and marshmallows (at the same time!) and enjoying it! The shame! I bet every 15 year old in Canada has run out to stand behind the liquor store and beg for someone to buy them a bottle of Baileys. Advertising is vewwy vewwy powewful!

I agree. No group should have special rights afforded to it. All Canadians, regardless of race, religion, gender or gender preference should be treated equally. Anything less is an "ism". Natives getting special priveleges is a form of racism. We are essentially saying to the natives "You can't do anything on your own so we will give you welfare for life -- you are useless, face it and take our handout." How much pride can a people have when they are forced to depend on handouts for life?

Of course we have to beg!When one of my sales leads cancels an appointment I don't give up. The onus is on the salesperson (Canada) to sell the product. The onus is not on the customer (China) to take the first step. In the face of rejection, a salesperson makes follow up calls, sends free hockey tickets, whatever it takes to get "in the door" and promote the commodity. If I waited for the customer to make the buying decision without my input I woudn't be much of a sales rep! We have commodities to sell and need buyers to buy them

IMO, regardless of the level of "human rights" ... we need to trade with China. Just like we need to trade with the USA. We need money -- we have resources to sell. It is not up to us to determine the human rights in any given country. It is up to us to make sure our country makes money (sells resources). Heck maybe they'll take our lumber and make it into wacking bats for punishing the population -- but that is not for us to determine. There are alot worse countries than China. And China and it's emerging middle class is going to buy from somewhere -- I'd like for us to be their supplier. I sell to people I don't like. I take their money because their money is just as good as the "nice" people's. Money is the bottom line.

I smoked while pregnant. My son didn't die from SIDS (I even put him on his tummy to sleep!) He was reading at age 3. He definetely doesn't have ADHD (or any other touchy feely "label" for children who weren't raised properly). He is not allergic to anything (one time he got a rash from eating too many strawberries -- outlaw strawberries!) He has awesome aerobic capacity! He can run and run and run and still not be tired out. I smoke in my house and have no plans, as of yet, to stop. Be damned if someone is going to tell me I can't. Legislation or not -- you can't "guilt" me into thinking I'm a bad parent because I smoke. Frig. The personal intrusion -- where will it end?

Wages must correspond with the cost of living. Can you live on $5 an hour? Can you pay rent? Hydro? Eat? I used to make $5 back in the day when rent was $250 per month. Today you would be hardpressed to find a one bedroom for under $600 (even in the smallest of towns). If an employee must work and the employer is offering $5 an hour, how can the employee refuse? He has to eat doesn't he? Or would you rather that wages were so low that welfare was considered "rich"?

It's a CONSPIRACY! Time to don your tinfoil hat -- that way the homo's can't read your mind Talk about "booga booga" scare tactics "OMG the Liberals are out to destroy civilization as we know it! We will have to clone people, 'cause no one will be procreating anymore! OMG the sky is falling"

Do you really think an individual would have any input at all? I don't. Company ABC pays $5 a day -- put up with it or be unemployed. That is slave labour IMO. No human being in their right mind would willingly work for poverty level wages. Those who currently work for wages at the poverty level do not do so out of choice. In order to maintain a decent society and not exploit workers, we need a minimum wage set for us. Especially when unemployment is high.

Whining little man who is searching, searching so hard for a woman to take care of him - maybe he should stop looking at career women (like Belinda) and go for the waitress at the corner cafe. She'd probably be more than happy to take care of him in a wifely role.

No one wants to work for the lowest wage. No one would ever ask their employer "Can you please lower my wages, I'm makin' too much money. $8 an hour is simply way more than I need." If there were no minimum wage there would be slave labour. Too bad buddy I'm gonna pay you $5 a day. Take it or leave it. While this may work in China or North Korea, it would never fly here.

I agree -- there should be no double standards. If you can't do the job you should not have "special" concessions made on your behalf. Female officers (small ones) should be in jobs suited to their size, whatever that may be. Excuse me? You gotta be able to stay right along side the combine no matter how bumpy the field. I was better at this than my brothers because I was more careful. And I didn't. I could not for the life of me toss a bale of hay at age 15. I'm just too small and there is nothing I can do about it. But I did warrant the same amount per hour as the boys. They could not have stooked without a driver! Who said anything about the arts? Not all education revolves around "touchy feely" subjects. What about computer engineers? Should they make more or less than a person who didn't complete school? I am a "farm girl". It didn't make me "man size" or strong as an ox. I can drive anything though! Once again, is the duty of a police officer only brute force or does it involve much more? Why not have a "force" partner and a "brain" partner? Perhaps the trouble is that the cops are not taught to defuse situations in any way except the physical.

Brute strength is not worth more than brain power -- regardless of job. Why do you think we pay for educations? Increasing brainpower increases the paycheque. If you've ever driven a silage truck along side a tractor, then you'd know that it takes alot more brain power (and coordination) than throwing bales or pitching forks of silage. And how strong should I be? I am 5'2" and weigh 100 lbs. How can I "grow" myself into a 6'2" hay-bale-chuckin' strongman? Face it -- you think women are weak because you base everything on brute strength. FYI, police work is more than brute strenght. Or do cops just manhandle everyone? "You were speeding, I shall throw you to the ground and cuff you!"