na85

I think the key to getting more voters is to capture the admittedly low interest of young people, preferrably at or just before they hit the voting age. One idea I've been toying around with is a compulsory political science course to be taken during secondary school, grade eleven or twelve. I feel that at this age most students are adequately prepared both socially and developmentally to fathom the often complex issues that face society. Part of this course's grade could be derived from the student's performance in debates about current issues (requiring preparation, and thereby requiring the student to read the news and stay current), and a small portion of the student's mark should come from registering as a voter (perhaps a photocopy of the student's voter card or similar). Personally, I think that one develops an almost unwilling interest in something one is subjected to on a regular basis. This course wouldn't (or shouldn't, anyways ) bother people who think that being forced to vote infringes upon their freedoms. I also think that if the teacher selected interesting and controversial topics for debating, then we might see a spark of genuine interest in many students, which might carry on into later life. I personally do my best to make anyone who doesn't vote out of apathy feel like a jerk

Why must it always come to Liberal-bashing? Is it impossible to discuss this without partisan theatrics?

I don't get it? First: what difference would it make if I was? And if I was gay, why would I be insulted? Because on the internet, to a 14 year old white kid, being gay is a huge insult, thus he thought he was burning you really bad. Ever play multiplayer video games, BD?

Diesel, however, has higher sulphur ratings than conventional gasoline, especially North American Diesel. The new Ultra-low-sulphur Diesel complies to new EPA standards of 15 parts per million, however this does not come into play until september of this year. Furthermore, this will not do anything about the hordes of diesel vehicles in other countries that do not comply with EPA. Fuel economy is not the trump suit here, overall harmful emissions is.

Speaking as a car enthusiast, that the hybrid cars consume less gas is not a big incentive to buy them. Insurance companies have been gouging the public pocket for decades, car owners are accustomed to getting ripped off and paying a little over the top. The reason people don't buy hybrid cars is because they're stigmatized as cheap, flimsy, underpowered, and they're all designed with hippies in mind. In most cases, this reputation is deserved. No self-respecting twentysomething is going to buy and drive around in a Toyota Echo-lookalike, because they're under-tired, under-powered, and ugly. The day that Ferrari, Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, BMW, VW, Volvo, GM, Ford, and the other major players in the auto industry all release competitive, high-powered, attractive hybrid cars is the day that they replace conventional cars. Until then, they're going the way of the iMac and making themselves a niche market.

Wait... people still give the SUN any credit these days? It's a dishrag of inflammatory remarks, and its practices border on tabloid. I agree that the Liberal senators are being idiotic on this issue, but the article linked to was horrendously biased. Surprise surprise, coming from SUN Media.

It's also fairly obvious that the tories don't have peoples' best interests at heart before all else, otherwise their position on social security would be more liberal, among other things.

Agree, on all points

No bias whatsoever

Not necessarily. How else would you account for people who are math-oriented, or music-oriented, but came from the same neighbourhood? I come from a well-off neighbourhood in a major city, and my two strengths are writing and mathematics. My brother writes very poorly but at the same time is a piano genius. We both come from an identical socio-economic background, but our marks in an english course or a music course would differ greatly.

Basking in ignorance, because the media hadn't spotlighted it yet. It's hard to stay informed about so many things when the sensationalist elements of journalism keep switching topics to keep interest and thereby increase ratings.

Wow geoffrey, normally I find your arguments to be well-thought, succinct, and informed, but I'm sad to say you've dropped the ball on this one. Numerous international studies have shown that the duress caused by torture often causes such stress in the victim that he or she will give ANY information, not necessarily information that is correct, to get out of it. This is where many people's qualms with torture lie. Since it has been reliably shown that the victims are unreliable under torture conditions, we people opposed to torture see it as needless tormenting of others (be they innocent or guilty) with no concrete appreciable gain. Surely this isn't the ravings of those who are out to lunch.

I heartily agree with your point about seniority, however I take issue with the standardized testing and class performance forming the basis of pay. If teachers were paid according to their classes' performance on a standardized test, you'd eventually start seeing teachers that "teach to the test". I've experienced this on more than one occasion. Furthermore, with regards to your example about your social science class: It's possible that both teachers are of comparable skill and motivation, but that the teacher whose class received a lower average on the final had some students who did not try/study very hard. A handful of individuals in a class of 30 could easily drag an average down by 15 percent or so. Even if this was not the case in this particular example, should a teacher who happens to get "one of those classes" be paid less than a teacher who by chance receives a class of exceptionally gifted students?

I take it that Emerson won't be forced to run in a by-election?

wow, this thread is STILL going on?

The American woman's softball team was allowed to hammer their oponents mercilessly in three Olympics before softball was dumped from the summer games. http://www.sportsposterwarehouse.com/wareh...ynasty05uss.htm They cancelled softball because softball/baseball stink, they're boring sports that are on their way out.

From the soldier's article: He's talking about infringing on someone's freedoms of belief. That hasn't happened. As far as I know, the cartoons haven't tried to stop anyone from believing in Islam. Is it truly an offense against freedom of religion?

Don't be so quick to dismiss our ability to get hostages out. Canada's special-operations troops are the second-best trained unit in the world, bowing only to the UK's SAS.

I don't think that's what he's saying. First of all, the internet provides a certain measure anonymity. If I wanted to propagate hate literature, I could start an alias other than na85 and start a hate website. Secondly, it's not that muslims can't find the internet, I believe that his point was that many of them don't have access to it, living in a 3rd world country.

Congratulations to Canada's Women's Hockey Team. They played an excellent game against Sweden for a 4-1 victory and the Gold Medal.

Yeah cause Harper would 'accidentally' snipe Layton in the head with his rifle.

You'd be surprised at what the other side thinks will affect them. Either way, this thread has pretty much been beaten to death.

Here's a graphic representation of all the different UN categories, for anyone interested. http://www.na85.ca/forums/images/nspoliticalmap.jpg

If you really want to get a point across, don't act like an immature, acne-faced pubescent 14-year old AOL user. "Black Dork", nice, that's a good burn. If you want to say something intelligent, then by all means partake in debate, but otherwise stop wasting our time and our oxygen.

My national saying is the Quadratic Formula X = [-b +- sqrt(b^2 - 4ac)]/2a