Drea

Bears repeating... I personally buy the local product, whether or not it is more expensive. That is my choice. It's my opinion that we should protect our farmers from overly cheap competitors (read: mega-farms) who dump their product into our market. Imagine the Fraser Valley completely paved over beacuse -- well geez -- we can get all the food we need from the states and at a cheaper price, so we don't really need our own farms.

Money (ie; your pocket) is not the ONLY issue on earth. We don't "owe" anybody anything! What makes you think we "owe" our American neighbours? What is it exactly we "owe"? Money? Respect? An apology? A good spanking? We are a country, they are a country. They buy stuff from us, we buy stuff from them, we share a continent and a border, we share cousins and brothers and sisters, we share -- but we don't "owe". BTW, what does America "owe" us for the Iran hostage affair? After all our gov't went above and beyond by giving American citizens Canadian passports and getting them the hell outta Dodge (Iran) before the Iranian gov't discovered them! OOooh, they owe us big time for that one! (they don't really, we do it because we are humanitarians not because we want to put an IOU in the bank.)

We don't live in a desert. Aren't you glad? I live in the farming capital of Canada. I support my local farmers. Period. Regardless of whether or not some OTHER country cannot supply it's own food does not mean WE need to sell out our farmers 'cause the country next door (or wherever) has the ability to sell food to us at a discounted rate.

And Iran... http://www.countercurrents.org/iran-whitney260106.htm ...has nothing to do with nuclear weapons and everything to do with the US dollar.

Don't kid yourself -- Canada is still as liberal as we ever were. Our social net is still there, gays are still getting married, legalizing pot is still an option... As a people, we are all liberal leaning -- except for maybe 2 or 3 rednecks in check shirts, eating bacon, swilling beer while watching the hockey game in their ice fishing hut.

They should've let her speak her sermon. Then the principal could've gotten up and said "Ms. So and So will certainly make a great preacher one day" and left it at that. The non believing students would've had a laugh and the believing students would've gotten their beliefs validated. Just like a grad who stands up there and cracks jokes the principal could say "Ms. So and So is off to a great career as a comediene!' The principal could have easily "diffused" the situation IMO.

The entire problem with children is follow through. So many parents say no to their 2 year old and he whines and whines until they give in. Don't give in! A 2 year old who whines or throws a fit and gets his way will become a 10 year old who whines (or worse) and does it anyway.

No one knows the long-term health or reproductive consequences of stopping a woman's period for years on end. Could be she'll never be able to have children once she's been -- what are they calling it? -- temporarily sterilized? Could be uterine cancers (the period IS a "cleaning out" of the uterus) show up that we've never seen before? I wouldn't want to see my young nieces mess up their reproductive systems or worse, just to eliminate the "bitchies". At my age, I am certainly looking forward to no longer having periods -- only a few more years to go! A number of years ago I got that 3 month birth control "shot". Now, I'm naturally thin and holy cow -- big fat cow! LOL -- I gained 25 pounds in a span of one month when I first got the shot. It took over a year of being off the dang shot to lose the weight. BTW, the birth control shot stopped periods for the duration of the shot but you'd have to go back every 3 months.... I never went back LOL. The birth control pill, which I was on for 15 years before my son was born, never made me gain an ounce and my periods were light and only lasted 3 or 4 days. Good enough IMO.

Shouldn't a country have the ability to feed it's people? Should we not protect our food growth and production? Being entirely dependant on foreign food, unforseen world circumstances (world war, drought in other parts of the world, alien invasion LOL, whatever) could cause us to lose the ability to import food. Then what? All countries should be able to sustain their population's basic food supply. Yes, we should import from others but still maintain our own agriculture base. It would be a shame, not to mention sheer lunacy, for our farmers to be run out of business by foreign imports.

No we're not! Carol Taylor will be the next Liberal* leader and will win against Carole James of the NDP. *British Columbia Liberals are Conservatives, btw. The BC Libs are looking into offshore drilling and opening up the tar sands in the Peace River area. If the NDP get in (fat chance, but you never know) -- then we can kiss our collective Beautiful-BC-doing-economically-well-butts goodbye!

THIS IS A SOLDIER! Who signed up expressly knowing he could be kidnapped or killed. So Isreal blows up power plants and bridges! For pete sake -- over ONE soldier. Not the president, not a leader's child -- a soldier. Isreal is going nuts and will likely nuke somebody soon. Crazy SOB's the lot of them (everyone in the Middle East is nuts -- could it be something in the water? LOL.)

That question goes straight to the heart of the matter. The blanket generalization of "buy local" is noble (I do it too, even when the local produce is more expensive) but it is not a wise generalization. For a few reasons: - most of what we consume is FAR from local - many things that we consume CAN NOT be produced locally - for some people, the price difference between imports and local products is unaffordable Therefore, the decision to "buy local" is great so long as you are not forcing it or legislating it. However, forcing "buy local" policies is no longer noble. In fact, it would be more efficient to: - tell local producers to stop working - import the cheaper product - charge local consumers a higher price - give the non-working local producers the extra charge If you expand the principle beyond fruits and vegetable to include everything we trade, it becomes self-evident that "buy local" is not financially viable if we want to maintain our current life-style and consumption patterns. Of course we can't buy absolutely everything local. Not everything is produced locally (food, good, services). I've never thought that "shop local" should (or ever would) be legislated. That's taking away the consumer's choice and we don't want that. I do, however, make my purchases locally if possible. Why wouldn't I support the corn grower down the road instead of the guy in California? Excellent GostHacked! I get tired of "Our thingy is bigger/better/faster/stronger than your thingy!".

How local do you define "local"? Do you grow your own food? Do you buy from food from out of province? Local means... 1. The Fraser Valley 2. BC 3. Canada 4. wherever else I can get what I need. (last resort LOL)

Wrong. The more "stress" (ie; cold nights) a plant has to go through the better the plant. For example, corn grown in BC's interior is "crisper" than that grown in more southern climes. I live in the BC Fraser Valley's "Corn City" -- no the corn isn't quite as good as the northern variety but it's a far cry better than the mushy stuff from California. When I go to Save On Foods and see California corn I shake my head. I just ask the cashier for extra cash and stop in to a roadside stand and buy local. So what if it costs me $3 more? At least I can be assured that I'm supporting our local economy and I get a better cob of corn! IMO If a product is available locally, buy it.

OMG! the mom left the teenagers BY THEMSELVES for two days. I notice you bold the "mother (OMG!!) was spending time with a (gasp!) M-A-N!" And from Ontario no less!! - Shameless-single-mother-whore that she is should have been at home looking after her children! My parents (my TWO parents) left us teenagers at home while they went on a weeklong holdiay! We could have died! How irresponsible of my parents. Once a kid reaches a certain age you gotta give them things like "weekends by themselves". They are, after all, in training to become adults. If we hold their hands until they are 30 how will they ever know they can count on themselves? This is tragic that one teen died, but you can't blame the parents for this one... By the way, more kids die in car accidents than from drugs -- we shouldn't let them drive until they are 30 I guess.

But they ARE freedom fighters. If Russia had invaded North America during the cold war any one of us citizens would have been "freedom fighters". Iraq has been invaded by a foreign power therefore those who fight against the foreign power are "freedom fighters" not "terrorists". A terrorist is someone who terrorizes people, not invading armies. Ta Da! If ever second household on your block was bulldozed would you be pissed off? If a group of teenagers throws rocks do they deserve to be blown to bits by artillery? I don't believe we should protect deserters. They signed up after all to be a part of the American war machine, whatever that may entail. The draft, on the other hand, forces people into war (not volunteers) and I would accept any draft dodger with open arms.

Why the "puky face" in the headline? Is it really that distainful if a woman were to be leader of the Catholic Church?

Actually, they sort of are if my first year law course is to be lieved. You don't seem to understand the Sharia law initiative that was made - it was a programme to offer religious mediation if all parties consented only, and not for criminal cases obviously. Religion does not belong in the courts (family or criminal) nor does it belong in politics. Religion is a personal issue that belongs only at home.

If it ain't a rathole of a country -- why leave? If everything is peachy-keen and lovely why move away? If you love everything in your "home" country, why emmigrate? They leave because they are looking for BETTER LIVES for themselves in BETTER COUNTRIES (like ours) NOT! I do not want to be "judged" or anything else based on some "religion". The laws of THIS country are not based on the old testament (or men would not be allowed to shave off their beards and women would be isolated during menstration) so why would we want to institute laws based on the Koran or any other fictional work?

hear hear! Indeed, why do they leave their rathole countries if not for a better life in a better country?

We should do with the muslims what we did with the Japanese. In the interest of national (and international) security we should no longer allow muslims to enter the country as immigrants nor as refugees. The muslims that are already here should be monitored daily. It has now been proven that a person born and raised in Canada as a muslim is just as dangerous as a muslim immigrant -- both have been taught to hate. I'm actually much more sickened by the "Canadian" muslim who grew up with all the benefits of being in a western society and still he/she finds a reason to "hate". Ban them all I say. So call me a bigot. Pfffffft. Who cares as long as my family and my country are safe from crazies. No "moderate" muslim will ever be able to convince me that they are not radical and won't strap on a suicide bomb -- given the opportunity all of them are terrorists!

What level of "protection" are we willing to give our children? I know this woman who's son is extremely obese -- she doesn't smoke but has none-the-less endangered her son's health. Are you advocating that we monitor what parents feed their children too? PS. I smoke and daily lament to my son the awfulness of it. We don't sit there and blow smoke in his face, but yes, we do smoke in our house. As an aside: Why is it now that less than 25% of people smoke -- the incidences of childhood asthma is on the increase? Surely if parent's secondhand smoke was the cause we would be seeing less asthma?

I like it. It's a good idea. There are not enough people signed up as organ donors as it is. Those who don't want to donate (whatever the reason) would be more likely to opt out than those who want to donate (as the system is now) are likely to opt in. If you are really concerned about what happens to your body after you are done with it then go ahead and opt out. Me, I'll donate it all then have my remains cremated so I don't take up any "land" as in a burial. The body is dead and rotting, why try to "preserve" it whole in a casket in the ground?

My take on it... for one thing "it" is called global climate change -- not global warming or cooling. for another "it" is the natural cycle of the earth and there's nothing we can really do about it. If a volcano erupts and spews tons of carbon dioxide into the air, are we to lessen it by driving one less SUV? What is going to happen? Why is it called climate change not warming? Warming causes the polar ice cap to melt and release fresh water (lots of it) into the Atlantic Ocean which stops the Gulf Stream current that keeps Europe warm -- Europe then begins to experience an "ice age" even though the event was initially brought on by warming the end result is cooling. Check it out: Wikipedia Or this: Where have all the icebergs gone? Chilling facts The truth about ice loss and global warming By Adam Jacques 140 cubic miles - The amount of overall ice mass lost from the Greenland ice sheet in 2005, enough to fill Loch Ness 70 times over. 5 degrees - The average air temperature increase in the Arctic over the last 100 years. 60% - The increase in ice loss from the Greenland ice sheet since 1996. 22ft - The rise in sea levels if the Greenland ice sheet melted, which would deluge Florida, the Netherlands, Bangladesh and most of London. 14% - The drop in Arctic sea ice since the 1970s. 20% - The decrease in the polar bear population in Canada's western Hudson Bay in the last 17 years, due to loss of sea ice. 10 - The number of years since 1988 that have been the hottest on record. 30 - How many times faster greenhouse gases are being released compared to the last period of extreme global warming. $150bn - The cost to the world's economies of fully implementing the Kyoto agreement ­ the benefits of which would not begin to be felt for 100 years. 0 tonnes - The amount of Arctic ice that will be left during the summer months, within 80 years.

Ever heard of a sales rep looking like a complete idiot as she goes into the largest car dealer in the city with his soaking wet ad? LOL I need my car. Nothing is going to change that. My entire career revolves around going from client to client. Good for you. Obviously you do not conduct business meetings etc. Your errands must be much much different than my errands. I've driven a fuel efficient vehicle my entire driving career (25 years now). I like small cars -- I can zip around the city no problemo. Not everyone is able to give up their vehicles -- just because you can ride around on a bicycle does not mean everyone can (or wants to).