Hydraboss

I'll refute it. Your entire post is bullshit. Nuff said.

So did anyone even watch/care about last night's leaders debate? I thought it was far more interesting than I expected. Brian Mason was actually good. Pretty impressive for a bus driver. Apparently his wife "thinks he's charismatic". Oh, good. Kevin Taft kept trying to express himself in different ways. First, a quiet and collected guy. Then there was a question about charisma and suddenly he's all passionate about something or other. Then he tries to be insightful about something (couldn't figure out what his point was). Pierre Elliot Stelmach looked like the chess club champion at the spring dance. Every word rehearsed and couldn't answer a straight question unless it was written down for him. But apparently his "plan" is quite extensive (I could get more detail from watching the CBC). Sad really. Hinman looked at first like he was there to conduct a sound check. Speak, man, speak! Given that, when he did realize he possessed the power of speech, I thought he did well. I could see him splitting some votes from the Right Wing-like Liberals. Overall, this reminded me in a very big way of a federal debate. Mason and Taliban Jack could be brothers reading the same script. Kevin Taft comes off as being a fruitcake. He did make some good points, but kept getting sucked in by his desire to play "Legislative Assembly" and spend his time starting sentences with "this government has failed to ....(insert anything here)....for 37 years. It's time for real change." Stelmach will be remembered by such heart-wrenching words as "uhhmmm" and "ah...um" and the always popular "well..uuhhh". Hinman will be remembered...actually that was about the best he could have hoped for. So, do you think the debate swayed more than seven people out of the 20% undecided in the province?

Has there actually ever been a minority that complained to the Human Rights Circus and lost?

You don't have to wear a helmet. Unless you're white and English speaking and Canadian. Everyone else has some BS reason that they whine to the Human Rights Circus about and win. Laws in Canada only apply to certain people (certainly not muslims or sikhs). I find it amazing that these bronze-age cultures screw up their countries bad enough that they want to leave, and then come to Canada and try to start it all over again. Will this country never learn?

You forget that the major difference between Kwebek separation and Alberta separation is that Alberta would survive quite nicely. We don't rely on the federal government for anything except making sure our bank accounts get emptied regularly. If Kosovo separation was initiated by a referendum, then Canada should acknowledge it. It is not our place to decide whether or not they should have separated, only that they did.

So the question is "are you ready to pay for it?" Well then, let's look at some numbers and some more numbers. Some on this board say that "a great majority" of Canadians are concerned about the environment and want to do something. So what about their immediate environment? What about garbage? Global News last night and again this morning reported that the City of Edmonton has this Capital Clean Up program running again. Last year 8000 people volunteered to pick up trash and clean up the city. Only one problem: According to the 2006 census, there are 730,372 people in Edmonton proper. 8000 volunteers? That's 8.7% of people that are concerned enough to be willing to actually do something. Where is the "great majority" when it comes to putting their money where their mouths are? I think you'll see the same amazing commitment about the environment once prices start really climbing because of the Great Global Warming religion. It's fine and dandy to profess your outrage about GW, GHG and pollution, but when it's your turn to actually do something where does everyone go? What are people going to say when someone knocks at their door and says, "Sorry, but your five year old car can't be registered anymore because it doesn't meet the new standards. Please buy a new one."? There appears to be more and more Gore-like hypocrites out there every day.

Dion makes a cabbage and large rocks look amazing.

So by that line of logic, I should be able to let my wife (you know, the "biker bitch" nurse) take my bike out without a helmet. Since a very small percentage of riders are women, a similar probability equation should apply to the serious injury rate. Guyser, what do the insurance stats say about women riders? Are they more or less likely to be involved in a serious injury accident than men? I wear my helmet even when I ride "my hog" in states with no helmet laws. Personally, I don't care whether or not we have helmet laws. Wearing it just makes sense. I wonder if I would be able to get out of a ticket by saying that I'm Christian and a helmet interferes with my thoughts when I speak to God while riding? Everyone who rides speaks to God, especially when one of those high-speed "cagers" backs out of their driveway into your path. Muddy made the point earlier: How did this guy pass a road test if he didn't wear a helmet? Instant fail. Or maybe he got his license in one of the "accommodating, laws are only for some people" provinces?

For Christ's sake, STOP USING EVERY CLICHE YOU CAN THINK OF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where the hell have you been hanging out, cyclespot.com? "Biker bitches"?????? Are you for real? So let me get this straight: You've been t-boned by a cager, knocked off your bike by vehicles backing out of their driveways (?!?) more than once, and gone into the rhubarb because someone didn't signal? Makes me wonder who it is that can't drive/ride. As for the "beanie caps" (actually known as skull caps)...the guys using them are BREAKING the law, not skirting it. If I ride my...oh, no!!!...Harley without a helmet, I get written. A Sikh rides without a helmet, and he goes free. Yup, seems perfectly fair to me. Incidentally, those of us who wear...oh, no!!!...half or 3/4 helmets may not have the protection of those of you who go ATGATT (what squid came up with that?), we are certainly better protected than someone with their head wrapped in cloth. Don't believe me? Grab a bat and you and me'll have a little contest....... One more thing..."has an off"???? WTF is that? Do you mean "falls off" or "wipes out"? Then just say that and quit trying to convince everybody that you're in some kind of secret society. Did you learn the secret handshake yet, or is that just for us skull-cap-wearing HD trash and our hot, young biker bitches?

PET was perhaps the most popular PM in history in two provinces of Canada. He single-handedly ensured that another Liberal PM from Kwebek will never be sent to Ottawa by the west. The hatred out here even for that name does more than bring many to the boiling point; the name will make the elderly use swear words they never thought they would. Even on this board there have been posters that have debated whether PET or mass murderers are worse (I think that's pushing it, but I wouldn't have even considered hitting the brakes if the bastard had walked in front of my truck). He ruined this country with his Charter of No Rights and Exceptions, and the west will never forgive the Liberals for that. Why on god's green earth you would bring up that guy's name in a thread about Harper the Liberal and Dion the Liberal is beyond me. Your statement that Harper is the most unpopular PM in the last 40 years is proven wrong even by substantiated posts by Liberal shills like jdobbin. Check out his Political Polls thread. Dion will be defeated in the next election, and then demoted to water boy for the Natural Governing Party of Kwebek, Canada, and the World. I had hoped he would stay to ensure that Harper gets his majority, but apparently Dion wasn't even useful enough to do that properly.

Bayman, since you are so down on Alberta even though you didn't move here until 1986, why don't you move the hell back home? This is not the east coast and Albertans don't want the government to hand out everything they need on a silver spoon. YOU are the reason this province has become so damn liberal. Before you NDP people started moving here we had a nice thing going. Do you remember WHY you moved to Alberta? Why don't you tell us? Did you get the nomination to run for the NDP or did you get the cushy non-working union boss job in Ft. Mac? Or both? Albertans pay far too much in tax to support the rest of Canada (as always, Ontario excepted) and what we should be doing is adopting a Kwebek-like immigration policy. If we don't like you, you don't get in. If we only MOSTLY don't like you but we have a job for you, you get a temporary work visa. If you're our kind of person and you're a good fit in the province, you can stay. You said it yourself: How many of these Canadian immigrants are going to stay once retired? Then again, who cares? Work and then get out. Pierre Elliot Stelmach and his band of cronies need to get their asses handed to them on election day. We all know they will still be the government, I (and others) just wish it were a one or two seat majority that would allow the party to kick Eddie' ass out of the chair.

I agree wholeheartedly that there should only be one publicly funded school system. My kids attend the local Catholic school (yes, I'm Catholic) but the decision to send them there was based solely on the fact that the public school they had been attending had staff that was even worse than the usual non-working teachers. If I was intent on keeping them in their current school, then someone should be sending me a fairly large bill. "...just as easily if a bunch of parents decided to open the "Anglo-Saxon High School for Boys" or the "Irish Girls Elementary School" or the "Public School for White Children". After a Public school for Black children? What on earth could stop them?" What could stop them? How about every politician and activist ever born? Face facts...you can only be a racist if you're white. And Christian. And pay taxes. A school centered on white people wouldn't even have a chance to open before whomever tried to start it was dragged in front of a Human Rights Circus and had to pay everything he had to defend himself. The MSM would crucify him across the country. The papers would portray him as a white supremest and want him charged under the criminal code for attempting to incite violence. Politicians would do everything they could to score political points with minorities by publicly speaking out against "this horrible intolerance". If you doubt it, you're naive.

Like was said earlier, I couldn't vote for the Liberals and Dion if you paid me. He may in fact be saying some things that would sway me, but I can't understand him worth a damn. How can a french guy lead an English country? Amazing that it has happened so often. I hate the fact that I have to vote Conservative in order to keep the morons out of office, but that is all the choice there is. Except maybe the Western Block Party. A good Block Party can be great, as long as the beer's cold.

Wow, and to think I was just going to say, "Relax, Jer, I was just f**king with you." Nicely answered msj.

We are not discussing how you can cheat and get away with it. We are discussing how things work if you do it legally.

That's right...screw the rich and give it to the poor. What a bunch of bullshit. Thanks Jerry "Robin Hood" Fortin

And I would be quite happy if all they ever accomplish is to weaken the PC's. Just not too much or the Liberals may actually have a chance. NDP never did. Of course, the Reform started out much the same and look what happened there (other than the fact that they eventually became liberals in Ottawa). The most true statement I have heard in a long time came from Dave Rutherford on the Chorus radio network last week. He said that Alberta is in a complete leadership vacuum right now. Early Ralph Klein (not fat, boring Later Ralph Klein - sounds like I'm talking about Elvis) had vision and took the province places. Now we have the choice between Left, More Left and Waaayyy Left. I haven't been embarrassed to be an Albertan ever, until I listen to Pierre Elliot Stelmach start babbling to the press. To the rest of the world we must look like the Navy Seals being led by Gomer Pyle. I don't think I could see myself promoting the WRAP just yet. They're still pretty new and their only MLA is the leader Paul Hindman, and I can't seem to find out if they're running a candidate in my area. If they are, he/she will get two votes out of this household, even though it won't make that much difference. The moron PC candidate used to be our mayor, and although he is as useful as a bladeless knife without a handle, he'll get elected anyway.

Jerry, I don't disagree about the type of people we need running this province. However, if you want to dream of using our wealth to let Alberta go forward the first step is to get someone with balls running the show that will tell the ROC to shove their transfer payments up their collective asses. We already make more than enough cash to fix everything in the province from schools to roads, but we keep sending it to Kwebek et al. You may or may not agree with me on seperation; that is of no consequence. That being said, whether you want to term it quasi-seperation, firewall, or just keeping what is ours, as long as we mail our kids' future away to the feds we will have the same complaints in 100 years.

We're watching really carefully. The destination of choice is Pheonix, AZ, but that could change depending on Democrat policy. Even with their most left wing ideas though, they're not even close to socialist Canada. If we were really concerned, we could just move to Texas (ughh!) and pretty much ignore federal policies. God, I hope I don't have to move to Texas. Edit: McCain will probably be hiding his own Easter eggs by the time the election rolls around. Romney should have stayed. Damn.

That's what we're hoping. On the other hand, there are going to be a bunch of families wondering why their welfare cheque didn't clear. Oh well, no one's perfect.

Most of the guys I work with (including my boss's boss) were all cops. RCMP, city, K-division, etc. Our lead for investigations and security was drug squad. Were they corrupt? Don't think so. Were they weird? Absolutely. The "attitude adjustments" by the pink bunny prove that. (The boys on night shift used to give the odd asshole in the cells a thumping while wearing a pink bunny suit. What's the guy gonna say? "Yer honor, a huge pink bunny beat the **** out of me!") It didn't happen very often, but when it did, apparently it was funny as hell. Cops are big on protecting cops. They call it the "blue wall". You think you got a cop nailed to the wall, but mysteriously no one saw anything. Thirty officers in the room, and no one saw anything. Can you blame them? Police get the ultimate double standard held up to them. They can't so much as use foul language against some scumbag that tries to shoot them. Dirty cops are a fact of life. Just like dirty politicians. Just like doctors that accept $500.00 per patient from the WCB for looking at a worker and saying "you're fine". The system exists, and you can't do a damn thing about it so quit whining. Are most cops good at heart? Of course. Remember, dirty or not...some crack-head tries to break into your house at 3am and you call 911..you'll be glad that that "dirty cop" shot the son of a bitch in the head.

Well, Cap, thanks for that. You're the first (and only) to say it. My leaving will not leave a very big hole in society. It may take ten to fifteen years, but someone will be trained (eventually) to replace me. My wife, however, is a different story. She is a nurse specialist in pediatric cardiology, NICU (neonatal intensive care), PICU (pediatric intensive care), and is currently AHN for an emergency unit. Most of our (her) close nursing friends (most have similar credentials) have already gone to the States. Pheonix and Dallas/Ft. Worth. The hard part for us is explaining to our kids (10 and 11) why they will have to leave their friends and schools. So for those of you that think our tax system has no serious bearing on people's lives, and that we should just shut up and bear it, think about it the next time you take your kid into emerg and you get some new-grad nurse that couldn't find her ass with both hands. Ask your nurse how long she has had her license. When you start talking loudly in the waiting room about how the staff is useless and six hours is too long to wait "when I think about the amount of taxes I pay!", try to figure out why there are few qualified staff in that emergency room. It'll come to you eventually. Even though the government of the day keeps repeating the mantra "there is no brain-drain to the US", I find it hard to buy when we are in the group that is leaving. Most of the couples we hung out with are gone. Sorry to ramble on about our specific situation, as I know it has little to do with the topic. The fact is, the tax system in Canada is scaring off those of us that pay far more than our share so Pat can have kids. The point is this: If you want to have kids, they're your responsibility to pay for. I have no problem helping out as I see fit (and our donations to the Stollery Children's Hospital prove that), but I take offense at the mandatory theft of money we earned being given to those that have not earned it. Until the tax system is brought to some semblance of sense for those of us that earn our keep, Canada will continue to lose upper wage earners.

You've got that one right! My wife and I pay in excess of $70,000 in taxes each and every year, and if I had to write one cheque for that amount I'd be pissed. Wait a minute...I am pissed. This would probably explain why we are actively applying to the US for visa's. I'm tired of paying for Pat's kids and all the lowlife's that "can't afford food and shelter" but can buy brand name smokes and Canadian beer. The minute we're approved (and we will be), Canada will lose a professional manager and a pediatric intensive care nurse. Not that anyone will care. Anyone wonder why the best and the brightest (read: the most able to earn good livings) go to the States? Taxes. Plain and simple, taxes.

Not completely true, Sideshow. My wife is an RN, and if you choose to be a nurse you MUST be a member of the union. There are, no doubt, a ton of nurses that hate the union but have no choice. Until private health care arrives. That will be a good day.

If your only requirement was two tax brackets, I could see there being some hope of reconciliation between us. Say, for example, 40% of the first $100,000 (with a non-taxable exemption of $20,000) and 30% of the balance of your income (all income, including investments, etc). No deductions for anything. Not for non-working spouse, not for kids, not for being ugly, retired, retarded...nothing. Then, and only then, could I see it working to the satisfaction of all involved. Whatcha think, Pat?