blueblood

Language is not an issue in English Canada.But can English Canada stand up and defend what it is? What is English Canada? Is English Canada a Trudeau-Liberal creation? As I say Blueblood, you strike me as naive - in your anti-Americanism. Please don't get me wrong. I'm not defending nationalism. Instead, I think all Canadians should think about what Canada is and defend its basic principles. Ever watch a Molson Canadian commercial a few yrs. ago? The guy listing off the stereotypes and the whole I am thing. Personally that's not my bag, I'm answering the question however. That is showing how we can stand up if need be. Also the whole Vimy ridge thing in defining Canada as a nation. Some would say we are under attack culturally from the Americans which is why we have that ridiculous CRTC. Yah it's safe to say English Canada has stood up and defended itself from a perceived "American cultural threat" The whole MTV, ABC, FOX, CBS, NBC thing. English Canada is pretty much the states culture with a maple leaf tacked onto it. However we don't need a draconian and ridiculous Bill 101 like Quebec thinks it needs. English Canada knows what it is, it accepts the fact that the Americans have such a strong culture and works with it instead of shutting it out. If English Canada wasted as much time and money as Quebec concerning language and culture, our economy would be in the toilet as well. Those guys who took the gov't of Quebec to court were defending Canada's basic principles, it's a shame the gov't of Quebec feels it has to violate them to protect it's culture from the so-called bogeyman.

Really?What is English Canada? What are the basic elements of Canada's civilized society? I sometimes think that English-Canadians, given their simplistic anti-Americanism, are simply naive. I don't think Alberta has a law like Bill 101 with regards to English instead of French, in fact I don't think any of the other provinces do. None of the other provinces in Canada were taken to a UN court regarding language laws. A basic element of Canada's civilized society is freedom of expression and speech, something that doesn't really fly in Quebec --> Bill 101 and reasonable accomodation anyone. The double standard is sickening.

Self-important politicians seeking to advance careers are part of modern civilized, democracies. I have no quibble. (What politician doesn't have a big ego?) Regional differences? Quebec separation? Canada has a federal system. Many people in Canada have legitimate reasons to defend the way they organize their affairs. IOW, maybe it's time to think about why Canada is a federal state. IME, and given this post-2001 world, Quebec "separatists" have a clear idea of who they are and why this deserves collective protection. Richard Gwyn and Mark Steyn, for example, should maybe take note. To people like Gwyn, I can say that the Trudeau-Liberal Canada is a 1960s, John Lennon fraud. Trudeau and Lennon suggested that there were no standards - we could all be perfectly bilingual, or celebrities. That's not true. Civilized society must rely on standards. Gwyn's description of the "success" of Canada is evidence of the fraud. To people like Steyn, I can say that the Quebec Bill 101 is a genuine effort to state what one is. There should be no doubt why Quebec has presented the term "accommodement raisonnable". Bill 101 is one of the most Stalinistic pieces of legislation in Canada if not the most. This coming from an area of Canada that claims to be civilized is flat out hypocrisy. If Quebec is truly civilized they will repeal this horrible bill and let the people do what they want. If Alberta pulled a stunt like this they'd be tarred and feathered by the canadian public, what gives Quebec the right to do this?

I think the proof in the pudding is that previous Liberal budgets were not as big as the ones the Tories have introduced. Is it going to take eight years as in the Mulroney era for Conservatives for today's Conservatives to realize Harper is outspending the worst of Liberal budgets? Uhh, Trudeau included who put us in the deficit position in the first place, at least Harper won't run a deficit.

Copyright is the most blatant form of a slap in the face of the true free market system. Let's see how far Hollywood would go if it didn't have copyright protection, the industry would be much more efficient and those artists might have to work a little harder to make it. People would be richer as we wouldn't be gouged for having to pay through the nose so somebody can make money out of thin air. Hiding behind gov't legislation in order to soak consumers is flat out robbery.

Ummm that means the Liberals spent 14% less than what the Conservatives are currently spending. So why are you implying that the Liberals spend more? What if the Liberals/NDP were in the PMO right now, what would the budget look like? I'd wager a guess in that there would be a lot of spending and sky high taxes.

You think the promise is kept then? I thought it was five areas, not one. I'll say it's a promise kept, he's working on it and getting some results. In a country with as many programs as ours it's hard to afford these things and not run a deficit.

Why do you continue to buy Monsanto grain? Are there no grains in the public domain that you can grow and do cross breeding with? I'm sorry, I still think this argument sounds like the guy who copies a DVD and says I MADE the movie. They didn't. They copied the movie and tried to make money off someone else's work. At some point, everything falls in the public domain. So to will Monsanto grain. Hollywood is only one large industry in copyright. You might be angry with them but copyright also protects the small town writer of mysteries in Steinbach, Manitoba and the small town singer/songwriter in Austin, Manitoba. They certainly aren't corporate types. I have to buy it because I have no choice. I buy Liberty Link now, at least they don't have that ridiculous "liscencing fee" of 20 bucks an acre, but I pay more for spray. The guy who copied the movie did work as well, shouldn't he get paid for his work? Monsanto seed logically falls into the public domain when I buy the seed. They get paid their one time end of story. Copyright only protects them if they publish their works from the big boys, if some guy rips them off beforehand they are SOL. THat's why i'm not in the entertainment industry. Those guys from small towns like you are mentioning are true artists and are doing it for reason other than money, and I'm sure they don't care if they make money off of it. Beethoven didn't make his music to make a buck. A person should entertain for the sake of entertaining, not to make a buck. As far as I'm concerned the gov't stuck it's nose into the free market by introducing it's plant breeders act to ensure corporate welfare, they can also stick their nose in on the farmer's side ensuring that we don't get gouged by them. I think a nice CAP on how much Monsanto can make out of thin air is in order. 5$ an acre for royalties is MORE than fair if I can keep my seed and not have to pay 50$ an acre EVERY YEAR. IMO that 5 bucks an acre is too much but it's a compromise. Implementing this measure is worth more than any farmer handout the gov't could ever dream of and costs the tax payers NOTHING!!!

So does this sound like a promise kept or batting one of five guarantees and the ball is still in their air? the tory webpage says they're making grounds on that promise, but I think they're moving very slowly on it, one area at a time. Hey it's better than nothing.

It's not. Copyright protects creators of original material. I compare you to a retailer. Hollywood provides you with a DVD, you sell it. You don't get the royalties, you get a commission. The royalties go to Hollywood and thereafter are subdivided to the artists and other creative people behind the film. If you derive seed yourself from grain that is unique to you, you are a creator. Your grain seed should have a royalty if you sell your seed to others. If you sell the grain, you are wearing a different hat. That of retailer. If you buy seed from someone else and it is a unique product, you can't sell the seed resulting from that crop to someone else or use it yourself the next year because the creation doesn't belong to you. To avoid all this, just make your own seed. Stop buying from others. Isn't that what farmer used to do? That's bullsh*t and you know it. In my view when I grow the plant I MADE the seed, the seed sold to me from Monsanto that I bought can sit in the bag and do nothing as well. By me planting it I MADE the new seeds. The Plant Breeders Act DOES NOT recognize this. The plant breeders act is corporate welfare, and the party that repeals this debacle of a piece of legislation will get my vote. 50 dollars an acre is complete garbage. Copyrights is nothing but market distortion, all industries should get them or none of them. Copyrights hurt the consumer and bring on inflation. The gov't should kill this dodo. China does and look at their economic growth. Consumers should not have to pay because a company knows that if it's product is subject to the free market the company might not get the price it wants. I've been told by various people that if the gov't supports industries so they won't go under, they shouldn't be in business; Hollywood and other copyrighters should take this advice.

I agree with you Geoffrey. Someone was going to be unhappy with the equalization no matter what. One thing is clear though, Harper made certain promises to the provinces about what he was going to do in the election. Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Saskatchewan aren't pulling this anger out of their butts. They were led to believe the promise. I don't think you will be able to convince paid Tory workers of that though. Past Tory voters like yourself, however, know what you heard and no what was promised. the thing is all gov'ts break their promises as they can't cater to everyone, the tories went for the majority (although pissing off Williams isn't too bright). I'm a big tory fan, but this wasn't that good of a budget.

How exactly is it out of thin air? I full expect if you invested something, you wouldn't want every copycat doing the same thing. Why create something otherwise? And while stealing your grain may be hard, stealing your seed might be less difficult and if you created a new strain of grain that was revolutionary, you'd want to have some sort of royalty on it. Well I don't know, hiding behind some law called the plant breeders act. I bought that seed fair and square it's mine, I should be able to do what I want with it, no I have to buy it year after year costing me 50 large every year when I could have bought it once and saved me a lot of money. If they come out with a better variety I'll buy it, but making me pay every year is ridiculous. I shouldn't have to pay for their defficiency in marketing a product. Yah they're making money out of thin air. Oh and 25% of that 50 large goes to paying for "liscensing" WTF???? Why was the wheel made? Were we cavemen before copyright came along? We create things to make our lives easier, no copyright needed. I'd like royalties on the grain I sell, but that's not going to happen. If you create a new strain of seed, I'll buy it and you'll make some money at it, but asking for royalties is proposterous and flat out greedy, nobody has the right to gouge people like that.

Ok, next we will set up metal detectors too.. I am not lecturing anyone, I am mearly stating the facts. How would you feel if someone came by and was ripping off your profits somehow? This is a bigger issue then trying to cheat hollywood, it is cheating the industry in Canada more importantly. This does not only affect movie theaters but DVD rental stores as well. As I stated earlier the profits from the Canadian industry is just a drop in the bucket to Hollywood, but to the Canadian industry it is much more. you probably should set up metal detectors and frisk people, they all should. That's a double standard you complain about being ripped off and won't take the measures to protect yourself. nfu read away, this is how we get ripped off.

Given that some farmers have said there is an increase of theft of livestock and most if not all the thieves have gotten away with it, I'd say a farm isn't much like Fort Knox. We haven't seen theft of grains but if the price goes up, why not? If people can steal copper from hydro lines and church roofs, why not from farmer fields? Copyright may have been abused by the huge extensions it has gotten in the U.S. and Canada but is fundamental to the creation of new and original products. It takes about 20 hrs. for a Class V combine to put down 160 acres with 2 3 tons supporting it. That's where the comparison to fort knox comes in, there's just too much to steal it all. A 3 ton truckload is what maybe a grand tops. It would be complete fallacy to attempt to steal grain straight off the field. Even stealing it out of the bin would be ridiculous, the amount of noise involved to steal it in the night would wake me up for sure and would involve me making a citizen's arrest. Copyright is an excuse for people to make money out of thin air. Monsanto does this and gouges us for it, it's garbage. Things have been invented and created before copyright, ever hear of Beethoven and the wheel to name some.

If I sneak into your fields and steal your product, is it because you haven't marketed properly? Go ahead and try, that would make as much sense as trying to steal ALL the gold from fort knox and getting away with it. It is my belief that artist sells I.P. to record company for distribution, "timmy" buys product from record company and redistributes it himself. As far as I'm concerned timmy paid the sale price and can do what he wants. The law and I don't agree on this one. So what if they're big budget, I could care less a bad investment is a bad investment. If they're worried about people taping movies etc. have the theatres search people on the way in, we get searched at bars and the airport. As far as marketing their videos on DVD, that's asking to get copied. No they're not, they have government protection therefore making it an inefficient industry. W/O government protection the consumer wouldn't be gouged and the industry would be more efficient. As far as I'm concerned if "timmy" paid the 8 bucks to go see the show, he bought and paid for it. If he brings a camera in there and tapes away and sells bootlegs outside that's your problem. Sounds like you guys are being taken by Hollywood, hire some competant staff to search people and no taping will happen. I'm in the ag industry, i do not need a lecture on being ripped off and hours worked. I play by free market rules, so should the film industry.

Oh come on, defending Hollywood's right to make money out of thin air makes me sick. If they can't market their product properly why should we pay the price? Hollywood and other copyrighters shouldn't be gouging the rest of us hard workers to subsidize their inefficient industry.

Just goes to show what many other countries have already learned: Conquering is the easy part; keeping it conquered is the hard, costly, time consuming, seemingly endless part. Alex the Great didn't have problems keeping conquered areas in line, he treated recently conquered areas rather well and if they get unloyal then he drops the hammer, the ancient city of Thebes in Greece staged a revolt that almost broke Greece apart, Alex went in there and razed the city and sold the survivors into slavery (there weren't many survivors). After that he had no problem maintaining control of Greece. My point is there are two ways to ensuring loyalty ---> treat them well, or eliminate the problem.

Pure fantasy. Canada's navy could beat the Iranian navy, probably. Man for man, rifle for rifle, I'd put reg force Canadians up against ANY other country's reg forces and count on Canada to win. But Iran has a much larger army. I the air, right now Canada and Iran's equipment are mostly of the same vintage. Iran has some newer equipment and Canada has yet to take delivery of its new aircraft. Tough call in the air. Are we doing some hodge podge invasion or is this a flat out war where they can come and invade Canada as well? I heard somewhere on the forum that we can't even field a wing of fighter aircraft. If we were to beat Iran in a fictional war it would be through superior generalling and fighting on an area of our choosing, or if we wanted to go the long route, a nice war of attrition involving besieging the entire country (no one gets in, no one gets out).

I don't agree with this tactic of Williams, but he figures he can net a lot of money. He knows he has a gold mine, all he has to do is wait. Is it dirty, hell yes. Will it end up pumping lots of money to NFLD, in time.

So an MA in Economics is a community college diploma? That's what you said. Easy, I said in my view Williams has better credentials than Harper, which is why I said look like a community college diploma. I like to use analogies. Sorry a rhodes scholarship and a degree from Oxford are a little more prestigious than attending the U of C. Plus he has other degrees along with that. So, yes Williams has more credentials than Harper.

A law degree and a Master of Health Admin make a Master of Arts in Economics look like a community college diploma? Really. I had no idea that an MHA is so widely regarded and strenuous in nature. From wikipedia I'll say a rhodes scholarship and a degree in arts in law from Oxford University trumps that one. Plus he has the other degrees.

This from the same site that figures the planes on 9/11 were remote controlled... All he said that the borders were "fake", chirped about his credentials providing no hard evidence at all. This sack could be lying for all I know.

If that's the case, why did they send repeated warnings to leave Iranian waters? Prove it. The Iranians probably don't use GPS, so unless there was marker buoys or their boats are on a 12 mile long rope, their warnings don't hold water.

Ahh, I see. What about the Constitution? Shouldn't what is written in that document matter? The part where natural resources are an area of provincial responsibility. Or is the constitution sacrosanct only sometimes? --------------------------- Just saw Danny Williams on QP. My goodness he is a blusterer. I'll say it again, Harper is definitely making a smart strategic choice in this one. Paul Martin bent over backwards to please Danny Williams and lost seats in NL. Harper is basically ignoring him. Maybe he will lose seats in NL, maybe not. Regardless Harper is relegating Williams to the place he deserves. A minor annoyance, nothing more. Williams is sooooo over the top it is ridiculous. He called on SK, NS natives, people fighting for social justice, people fighting for rights to have the Government pay for legal appeals all to join in his battle against Harper. The more Williams blusters the more people tune him out. Hah! I might not agree with his economic strategy concerning NFLD (buddy drop the corporate tax rate!!) He is no idiot, he knows what he's doing. His academic credentials make Harper's look like a community college diploma. He gets constant approval ratings that are among the highest of any politician. He'll win the NFLD premier again. Harper should not underestimate someone like this who makes being a pest a science. He made Paul McCartney look like a fool on Larry King Live.

I was thinking about hijacking a tractor trailer load of gasoline. Good thing I filled my tanks before these shenanigans