-TSS-

Federalism is an extremely artificial system of government but when we're dealing with huge and vast countries like Canada, the USA or Australia, there really isn't any alternative for federalism.

Does Canada have any laws about restricting the same people from serving both in the federal Parliament as well as in the provincial legislatures?

I thought Governor General is the correct title.

What I find unbelievable is that in this day and age sovereign countries such as Canada or Australia really give a toss about some "Crown" which resides thousands of miles away from those countries.

I apologize in advance if I have got you wrong but your post seems to imply that you don't know the difference between Niger and Nigeria.

There was news the other day how dozens of people died of thirst in the desert in their attempt to reach North-Africa and from there on further to Europe. Some of the survivors made it to Algeria. The next thing which happened was that Algeria turned all those people back to Niger. What I am asking where is all the international outrage and condemnation at the actions of the Algerian authorities? Perhaps those Algerian authorities saved dozens of lives by stopping the intruders to sail by their unseaworthy boats across the Mediterranean.

There was an interesting report on the BBC about the hurricane Mitch which occured 15 years ago. The societies of Honduras and Belize, the ones worst affected by the disaster, still haven't fully recovered.

I wonder is this wiki-article just too good to be true: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Azerbaijan Namely: Quote: " Azerbaijan is a secular state, in article 48 of its Constitution ensures the liberty of worship to everyone. Everyone has a right to choose any faith, to adopt any religion or to not practice any religion, to express one's view on the religion and to spread it. According to paragraphs 1-3 of Article 18 of the Constitution the religion acts separately from the government, each religion is equal before the law and the propaganda of religions, abating human personality and contradicting to the principles of humanism is prohibited. At the same time the state system of education is also secular. According to a recent Gallup Poll Azerbaijan is one of the most irreligious countries in the Muslim world, with about 53% of respondents indicating the importance of religion in their life as little or none.[6] The same poll indicates that only 20% of the respondents has attended on religious services." Restores my faith in that muslims also can be sensible human-beings who don't take some sky fairies too seriously.

Doctors in Quebec have been asked to stop virginity-tests demanded by a very guessable community http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/quebec-physicians-ordered-to-stop-performing-virginity-tests-1.1494821 From the link: Quebec’s physicians college has forbidden its members from performing virginity tests after learning of four cases in which doctors were asked to conduct the gynecological exams. The province’s College des Medicins said it recently provided guidelines outlining its stance on virginity testing, which examines whether a woman has engaged in sexual intercourse. The procedure goes against its code of ethics, the college said, as physicians are not to intervene in their patients’ private lives. The cases came to light when two University of Montreal ethicists researched virginity testing. The college said a physician also raised concerns about the gynecological exams. Dr. Charles Bernard, CEO of College Des Medecins, said physicians still have a responsibility to evaluate if there is “any problem” that prompted the request, and whether there is a possibility the patient is in danger of being harmed. “If you find there is something going wrong, you can recommend a patient to maybe visit a social worker, a psychologist,” Bernard told CTV Montreal. Bernard said if the physician is very concerned about possible violence, they can even go as far as referring the matter to Quebec’s child welfare system. And, if a physician does issue a “virginity certificate,” he or she could face disciplinary charges. Council for the Status of Women told CTV Montreal it’s important to note that while there were four reported cases, this is not a trend, and the demands are coming from religious fundamentalist groups. Shaheen Ashraf, from the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, said virginity tests are “archaic.” “We should be able to control our own bodies,” she said. “No one else should have the right to even think (along) those lines.” Virginity tests have been in the spotlight in other countries in recent months. Indonesian officials in August dismissed a proposal by an education official that would require female high school students to undergo the tests. The education official said the procedure stands to protect children from prostitution and premarital sex.

How much exactly does this shutdown affect the lives of average Americans? I have been under the impression that most of the day-to-day business in the USA is carried out by the states and the municipalities.

The best punishment for the terrorists who are captured alive would be to let them go. Yes, let them go into the crowd in Nairobi. But as Kenya is a civilized country that is just wishful thinking.

As we in Finland still have this outdated system of conscription, even though easily avoidable these days, I think that these people the media calls "new-Finns" should be automatically exempted from that duty or even barred altogether. I'm not at all comfortable with the idea that the Finnish government gives military-training to people whose loyalties might lie totally elsewhere.

Tongue in cheek, sure, but partly serious. If we keep on importing these people who are incompatible with living in the western world it is no use crying when the inevitable consequences become for everyone to be seen.

The details are still very ambiguous but some reports tell that one of the terrorists is from Finland. If that really turns out to be true I sincerely hope that the families of the victims sue the Finnish government and demand hefty compensations. After all, if he is from Finland he has probably been enjoying the Finnish social security system thus enabling him to send money to al-shabaab and what's worse, as we still have conscription he may have carried out military service. So the Finns have given him military training too. In other words the Finnish government has been sponsoring international terrorism. If the reports of one terrorist's "Finnishness" turn out to be true. If so, anyone travelling in the world on a Finnish passport should be treated with utmost suspicion, double-checked and searched and caused all possible delays. I mean anyone, not just those who don't look Finnish but anyone with a Finnish passport. Only consequences such as those could open the eyes of the people who keep on voting for these politicians who yearn for more multiculturalism.

Russia together with Belarus has had a military-exercise where they practise invading the Baltic countries and end the exercise ends in a simulated nuclear strike against Poland. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/6480227/Russia-simulates-nuclear-attack-on-Poland.html This is is all just flexing of muscles and happened 4 years ago but I must say that I don't believe it for a second that NATO would start WW III for the sake of the Baltic countries even though they are NATO-members.

You really are good at making strawman-arguments. What I have meant all along that in the international politics there are no good guys vs. bad guys. There are more likely bad guys vs. worse guys.

Believe me, I would have no problem with agreeing with you wholeheartedly if I were as convinced as you seem to be that Assad indeed has been using chemical weapons against his own people.

We don't know what happens behind the scenes; we only know what they want us to know but one thing can be said with certainty: Nothing happens for purely unselfish reasons. Hence why this whole episode stinks with its hypocrisy.

Next time the US wants war they have to organise a bit more plausible false flags than this chemical attack.

You're right on this one. Like the US used to deal with some ruthless Central-American dictators by describing them as that they are pigs but they are our pigs.

Perhaps it not totally incorrect to agree with some assessments that were there a Republican President in the white house Assad would be history by now.

Even Britain, the loyal poodle of the US, seems reluctant to go into another futile war as against all the odds their parliament voted against the military action in Syria. Funnily enough, the French are very eager to participate so the US must take back some of the derogatory words at the French 10 years ago when the French didn't want to get involved in Iraq. French fries will be French fries again, not some freedom fries.

Grow up! Can you think of a more obvious false flag than this chemical attack? The US government tells the Syrian government that if they gas their own people that's what the US won't tolerate and will attack Syria and the next thing which happens is that the Syrian government gasses its own people?

Until recently I have always thought that Kerry is a sensible guy and I was so disappointed that he lost the election to W in 2004. However, in this Syria-issue he has been ridiculous with the "undeniable evidence" of the chemical attack. However, as they say: You sing to the tunes whose bread you eat.

The chemical attack must be something of the world record of the most ridiculous false flags.