bleeding heart

Yes, we've all heard this boilerplate many times. Leaving aside your explicit contradiction here--did you not notice it?--the theory is a pat reaction, and is monumentally ridiculous. The Soviet dissidents were suffering from "Russian guilt," or so they no doubt were frequently informed. People advocating for homosexual rights are laboring under "heterosexual guilt," evidently. This could be used as cheap, pop-psychoanalysis (and that is precisely what you're indulging in) for virtually every political stance. Pat's entire video here is predicated on the fact that those who disagree with him are racists. That's the entire point of the video. That's the thesis. Condell is not quite self-reflective enough to understand it....apparently, neither are his fans. And if it's a mere tit-for-tat thing ("They" do it, so I'm gonna give it right back to them)...then ok, the point isn't serious, and isn't meant to be. Which begs the question of why people agree with him. Good lord....at least with the late Hitchens, there was some real meat to his arguments along these lines. So why not go for the big boys, rather than the reactionary version of Alec Baldwin spouting off about the political Right? The very premise of your post here is that you are occupying some moral high ground over those who disagree with you. By definition. Ye gods.

I agree (as an outsider, uninvolved) that it sounds harsh...but it's pretty plain from the missive that the MP video is not exactly what got you suspended, as you claim. It sounds more like a last straw sort of situation. In fact, that point is emphasized.

If you don't admire Pat Condell...you're a liberal racist!

Geez. how many Ann Coulters and Pamela Gellers does one world need? Well, I guess you could argue that it's market forces. But in the manner of rubes vs. Ponzi schemes.

You're confusing the prettily partisan issue.

Not to mention we could have been discussing the Miley Cyrus "controversy," or argued over how much evidence can dance on the head of a faith-based pin...all about as important as "anti-Christian bigotry," essentially an irrelevant "issue."

No, plenty of things are not his fault...my sciatic nerve pain, now, obviously is his fault, but I"ve chosen to forgive him.....

According to news outlets, there have been eight charges laid, comprised of: Mischief. Breach of an undertaking to keep the peace. Unlawful confinement. Obstruction Other matters, presumably, must be pending.

Sure, why not? For what it's worth, I have no doubt whatsoever that the conflict, as we know it, will someday end. Here's hoping, however, that it ends well. Generally, and usually, I feel more or less optimistic, but obviously I could be wrong.

Good catch, Cyber...let's hear how King Kong symbolizes the death knell of serious cinema, RKO circa 1933 pandering to the whims of foreign teenaged boys.

If I can speak ill of the dead....I really liked Jack Layton, until it occurred to me that he was a horse's ass......

Right, carepov, I'd forgotten....whatever happened to that little chimera?

Just incidentally, I guess, I agree with a point Rue made about these women: their remarks seem to come from a very human, soul-searching space, deeply personal and obviously painful. Whatever politics are and are not involved, it's always good to be reminded that even the self-described "monsters" are rarely anything of the kind.

??? But you were just--here in this thread--congratulating Harper on this matter. Talk about wanting it both ways!

Hey, you're the only one here who is eagerly advocating for murder, so....well, it is what it is.

Because--as I already pointed out--the rates are low--relative to most provinces. However, they are high by industry standards, because the outpaid costs by the industry are extremely low here. Now, perhaps it will begin to change, as New Brunswickers gather the new information (which has been hidden from them by the industry--hence my "a-holes" remark.) And actual competition will arise. And industry supporters will, oddly enough, decry this latest development..."market forces" becoming something horrible the moment it moves in the "wrong" direction. .

If you understood how these sorts of protests gather momentum and play out in NB, you wouldn't even bother going there. The Rexton/Kent County area particularly spawns a lot of protest activity. And it has roughly nothing to do with "the Left." In fact, many of these people are Conservatives. So it's odd that you don't think "the right has no credibility."

I got to give you these points, Dre. Well said, and food for thought.

Exactly. I actually agree with you, if provisionally, about the use of spying apparatus...for any country. But, as you say, strict oversight is needed. The mere fact that the overseer cannot declare one way or another, because of the spy agency's "shoddy record-keeping," means by definition that they have already failed the "strict oversight" test. I have little doubt this was intentional.

Another interesting tidbit or two: The Guardian has reported that CSEC meets with Canadian energy companies. Now, the idea of advising them on matters like corporate espionage, potential terrorist threats and the like seems reasonable enough. But that's not the limit of the relationship. They also--according to insiders--are building a "trusting relationship" so that in future CSEC can advise these companies "off the record." ??? "Off the record"? Why? And what can CSEC tell these companies about "challenges from environmental groups" if the agency doesn't, as it claims (and by law) spy on Canadian citizens? Is it only foreign "environmental groups" on which they secretively gather information? http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/09/canadian-spies-met-energy-firms-documents

On that note, and keeping in mind that spying on Canadian citizens (anywhere, not just here) is flatly illegal: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/security-watchdog-says-agency-may-be-spying-on-canadians-1.1400394 So the watchdog in question has evidently come across some troubling information...but, coincidentally, the spy agency has kept "shoddy records," so he can't be sure.

And what sort of national security threat is potentially posed by the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy?

Sure...assuming that the spying is a benign effort to stop evildoers from doing harm to innocent Canadians, that it's genuinely in the interest of Canadian citizens for matters of safety, and that spying isn't used for any uglier, nefarious purposes, and that it's not in fact part of a sycophantic assistance to the American Empire. But since I don't have such religious devotion to the nobility of the Canadian National Security State--or its essential honesty and decency--I'll wait till more evidence is in.

Well, like I said, I'm not convinced you're wrong. hopefully we'll find out. I'm interested to see what the Canadian Government has to say about the matter; and of course I'm interested in the "many" further revelations about Canada's involvement with spying, particularly in concert with the US and UK spy agencies, which Greenwald says is forthcoming.

Yes, keep trying to "gather," and eventually you might come up with something. I wish you only the best of luck.