Wilber

I'm curious Wilber what crap would that be. have you even read the posts i've been printing or are you just jumping on someones band wagon. This Crap How many times do I have to post the link?

Exactly. I talked about the "foreseeable shitstorm." My arguments are purely based on what I see as my own self-interest. I can be swayed to any position if I can be convinced it serves me better, and if I have more to lose than to gain by something, I'm against it. Do you stand for anything that you do not see as being in your own self interest? Is avoiding a possible "shitstorm" more important to you than your own freedom? Will you run and hide whenever someone objects your own countrymen exercising their freedom. I'll ask you again. What about those cartoons shown in the Arab media? What is your opinion of them? Do you think the Arab media has a right to be so righteous when they print this kind of stuff? People who will not stand up for another's freedoms, have no right to expect any of their own. They don't have our value system there. They don't have the same rights. You're applying our value system to a society that doesn't afford their citizens the same rights. You're asking him to stand for freedoms they don't have. I'm talking about our freedoms, not theirs. The freedom of our press and our right to speak, not theirs. If you won't stick up for your own, who will you stick up for?

Exactly. I talked about the "foreseeable shitstorm." My arguments are purely based on what I see as my own self-interest. I can be swayed to any position if I can be convinced it serves me better, and if I have more to lose than to gain by something, I'm against it. Do you stand for anything that you do not see as being in your own self interest? Is avoiding a possible "shitstorm" more important to you than your own freedom? Will you run and hide whenever someone objects your own countrymen exercising their freedom. I'll ask you again. What about those cartoons shown in the Arab media? What is your opinion of them? Do you think the Arab media has a right to be so righteous when they print this kind of stuff? People who will not stand up for another's freedoms, have no right to expect any of their own.

Exactly. I talked about the "foreseeable shitstorm." My arguments are purely based on what I see as my own self-interest. I can be swayed to any position if I can be convinced it serves me better, and if I have more to lose than to gain by something, I'm against it. So you are an appeaser. The 100,000 Canadians who died in 20th century wars so you can be one would be proud of you. It's OK to throw filth at Jews because they are civilized enough that they won't kick your miserable ass. But then they know better. The last time they put their faith in people like you, six million of them got slaughtered. They won't make that mistake again.

You got me. It's nearly half: "Nearly half of Iraqis support attacks on U.S. troops, poll finds" http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews...aq/13750156.htm 80% of them want Americans gone. Do you have something to base this on or is it just your opinion? Oh, it's very easy to tell which is which. Insurgents attack coalition troops. Terrorists target civilians. I'm surprised you didn't know that. It's interesting how Bush likes to blur the line between them, don't you think? "According to the poll's findings, 47 percent of Iraqis approve of attacks on American forces, but there were large differences among ethnic and religious groups. Among Sunni Muslims, 88 percent said they approved of the attacks. That approval was found among 41 percent of Shiite Muslims and 16 percent of Kurds." Like I said, The Balkans all over again. It's also the Sunnis that are responsible for most of the attacks on other Iraqis.

Twice I've posted a link showing cartoons printed in the Arab media. No reaction. There is a definate double standard here when it comes to who it is OK to offend. Perhaps it depends on who's theater one is yelling "Fire" for folks like BubberMiley.

It is unlikely developers will pay the price the city is asking for the land because they know the city is desperate to sell so they can afford to low ball their offers. The casino revenue is not a sure thing - a recent court decision may hand a chunk of those profits over to the local indian band. You also have to take into account that the casino revenues were supposed to be used to reduce the tax burden - not fund white elephants. Richmond could have built two brand new community centers with ice rinks, pools and other facilities for $140 million. In other words, even with the contribution from VANOC, Richmond taxpayers end up with less than they could have gotten if the money was spent more intelligently. Ok Sparhawk, have it your way. I hope you're right.

Yup. Nothing directly in it for us folks up the valley but we are looking forward to it and hoping we can get to a few events in Richmond's oval. Richmond Oval Costs and Funding Sources Costs including parkade 178 M 2006 dollars. The City has identified a variety of funding sources that can support the project, which include the $60 million capital contribution from VANOC, $50 million from Casino funding, $12.6 million in Development Cost Charges, and a variety of other sources. A primary component of the funding will come from the development and sale or lease of the reminder of the 32-acre Oval site not occupied by the facility. A Request For Proposal on this property, which has been divided into seven parcels, will be issued early in 2006. True the Richmond taxpayer could be hit with overruns but when the Olympics are over they will own a facility that only cost them a fraction of what it took to build it.

He was probably over it 5 minutes after he made his announcement.

Get them to the people who earned them. They are the ones to decide whether to keep them. BD has a point though. The medals should have come from Kuwait directly. Perhaps our government could help make that happen by assisting their diplomats in finding these people and getting their medals to them.

Aside from Isreal, real democracies are hard to find in that region. It's not a concept that is well understood.

Only the residents of the municipality of Vancouver (~500,000 people out of 4 million in BC) had a chance to vote. True, but it was still a first and more than just Vancouver will benifit from it. I think we need to be vigilant when it comes to overseeing how VANOC and our governments go about their Olympic business but the Olympics are a fact and all the wingeing and whining in the world won't change that, so let's move on.

"Americans are the common enemy. It's not over there just fighting "terrorists", a MAJORITY OF IRAQIS feel attacks on Americans are justified." A majority? Do you have something to base this on or is it just your opinion? "America needs to leave. If civil war is going to break out, America can't prevent that. In fact, resentments caused by the American presence will only inflame sectarian violence. If Americans leave then insurgents that are focussing all energy fighting Americans will be able to turn thier attention to rooting out real terrorists in thier midst who's only goal is to kill Iraqi civilians to create unrest." They may not be able to prevent a civil war but without a despot like Saddam to keep a lid on things, one will be inevitable without US presence. The so called "insurgents" or "terrorists", if you can tell which is which, will just turn their attention to other Iraqis. Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, the place is another Balkans. The US leaving won't change that.

The Vancouver Olympics was the first ever to be voted on by its citizens in a referendum. It passed. The Province and the Federal Government gave it their support. It's happening, so let's quit bitching, get on with it and make sure it is done right. Part of the Olympic plan is a new rapid transit system from downtown to Richmond and the airport as well as replacing the most dangerous section highway in the province. It's not all just the games. JMH The reckess idiots have a habit of taking out the not so reckless with them. The fact is that highway kills far more than its share and it hasn't changed much since the sixties.

An amazing post. The thought that anyone in this country could be refused medical treatment for any reason in any Province on the basis of language just blows me away.

Like it or not we've got them now so we better do it right.

Duff Gibson. 39 and gold in the scariest sport in the Winter Olympics. Beauty! Salt Lake had the highest TV ratings of any recent winter games and that was only 4 years ago. Not surprised TV ratings were down considering the time change. Really not surprised they were down in the US. NBC hardly televised anything live including the closing ceremony. I kept switching from CBC live coverage to NBC trying to get an American take on certain things and the Olympics never seemed to be on. No wonder Americans didn't tune in to many events if they already knew the result before hand and when you consider how so many of their athletes didn't meet expectations. I think Vancouver will be a different animal when it comes to North American viewers.

Excellent.

Again If Jews were rioting, attacking embassies, foreign nationals and burning down businesses owned by middle eastern companies and individuals, would people be apologizing for their behavior because they had been offended by these? I wonder. I don't belong to either group but as an outside observer the cartoons printed by the Danes look really tame compared to what is printed in the Arab media. If you are going to heap this kind of crap on others, you shouldn't be surprised if a little comes back at you.

How? We need US air support because we can't get our own there and if we could we don't have the ability to support in on our own. Our top brass has said so. We need US helicopters to move our troops around when they get there because we don't have any. We have no heavy lift capability of our own. We hire private shipping and charter Antonov aircraft from Russia and Ukraine to move our equipment. The fact is Canada is not really capable of maintaining an effective combat force on the ground anywhere without the support of the US. No other nation has the capability to do what the US can with its B52's and B1B's. They were a major factor in destroying organized resistance from the Taliban. If that campaign had to be fought on the ground only with no strategic bombing, air support or heavy lift helicopters that only the US could provide, it would have been far more costly than it has been so far. The Taliban government may have been overthrown but they are still there and still fighting. Of course the reason we are there is September 11th. The US was attacked by a group that was based in Afghanistan and supported by its government. The NATO charter says an attack against one is an attack against all. If we can't support that premise we have no business belonging to NATO.

"Common sense is a collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen" Albert Einstein

Cornwall is in Ontario. And it was a receptionist who refused treatment. Even worse.

Refusing medical treatment on the basis of language. South Africa used to do stuff like that. They called it Aparthied. Don't Quebec doctors take the Hypocratic oath?

The Fins are undefeated and shut out the Russians 4-0. When was the last time Canada did that in the Olympics? Sweden clobbered the Czechs 7-3. The two best teams by far are in the final. I should be a great game.

"Virtuous motives, trammeled by inertia and timidity, are no match for armed and resolute wickedness" WSC