blueblood

And the winner of the tinfoil hat post of the year goes to? How are those protests going? Did 1 percent of the population actually protest? Yet they claim to rep. 99 percent. What a joke

Our healthcare is unsustainable and there are calls for reform before the crap hits the fan. Seems practical to me. The americans elected republicans in 2010 and in great numbers. The american elecorate gave them marching orders to put the brakes on the democrat spending spree, and the republicans are doing exactly what they campaigned on. Its refreshing to see politicians keep their promises. And what's even better some of those republicans don't care if they get re-elected, just as long as their mission gets done. The americans got exactly the govt they voted for and have only themselves to blame for electing a divided govt.

Blaming the fat cats on wall street is the ultimate scapegoat. Also it does nothing to solve the problems. I think its safe to say there were some management and banker mistakes, that was made obvious. However that's only half the story, there is a sense of "keeping up with the jones's" that is a part of the north american psyche. Its buying things on borrowed money that don't produce anything. If the average joe was smarter with his money and didn't have a sense of entitlement, there wouldn't be this mess. It takes two to tango,the idiots wanted houses they couldn't afford, bankers were stupid enough to lend to them, and to top it off we have politicians were stupid enough to use their power to not only enable, but encourage it. The big sucker is the protesters, they will vote for the next politician selling them the same old easy money/your entitled to your entitlements snake oil. The tea partiers and the occupy protestors need to quit blaming scapegoats and realize that everyone in the country is to blame. They vote for incompetant politicians, they vote for incompetant boards of directors in companies that fail, they buy things that they can't afford, and finally they lend to people who can't pay them back. The protesters shouldn't be protesting the fat cats, they should be protesting themselves.

I'm wondering about anti-air defenses. The usa has an expensive way to smash them, I don't know about the saudis.

The saudis would have a harder time of winning than the usa. In modern warfare, when the usa would smash their opponent, they would meticulously blind and confuse the enemy, then hit their logistics, and then the armed forces would be smashed. Its expensive, but saves lives. I don't know if the saudis have those capabilities and would have to attack the more "traditional" way, which puts saudi arabia and iran in an old fashioned US civil war mashup.

I'm not sure about the us, the usa is too well trained and would use its air superiority to full effect. The west point x factor is the usa's biggest advantage

Income disparity is a problem when there are no opportunities to improve ones financial situation. The financial crisis took opportunities away. If a working class person is making money, why should they care if a business person has a few more zeros in their bank account?

That's what I figured as well before the discussion turned to sunburn missile capabilities. Iraq under saddam pretty much did the same thing with crappier kit/tactics. I can see iran putting up a fight against the saudis because its a more even match. The usa didn't give all their secrets away.

Like derek said, the carriers have to be found first. Now in a wartime scenario, I'd imagine the us would have the area clear around the carriers, making them that much harder to find. As for the radar guiding the cruise missiles, I'm fairly certain the submarines in the area and other aircraft will fix their red wagon. Then there is the potential for other usa aircraft carriers not part of the persian gulf fleet to head over there to engage. Usually the usa likes to mobilize, then attack. The iraqis 20 years ago had a top 5 armed foces in the world based on personnel numbers and an air defence thought impregnable. How did that work out. Do you honestly believe the usa hasn't already come up with a plan to deal with a few cruise missiles?

And it had to be within range. I don't think the US will be putting their fleet 200 clicks from iran without knocking out their radar installations and achieving naval superiority. As for fighter jets armed with said missile have fun trying to avoid detection from the awacs aircraft.

with a range of approx 200 clicks the iranians better hope the us radar operators are sleeping. Especially with the combat range of an f18 at 700 clicks.

More advanced than the tomahawk, I am skeptical about that. I'd need a bc2004, army guy or smallc confirmation on that one. Its not like nato countries didn't learn their lesson from the brits adventure in the falklands. I don't see any carriers being lost. This is like the fears of iraqs army 20 yrs ago, with iraq having the best soviet kit money could buy. Estimates were about 25 percent US casualties, how did that turn out

Doesn't look good for those saying the iran army is "effective". If saddams conscripts did that to iran and got annhialated by the usa, iran vs the usa would almost be a turkey shoot.

I also don't think the usa would want an adventure in iran, the usa can't afford it unless it were to seize irans assets which is a big no no in the geneva convention or some other big treaty. I suggested the saudi army only. Not even the saudis can afford to spend money on the usa blitzing iran. I think the saudis can pay for themselves. When the usa had money china and russia could do sweet bugger all to stop the usa steamroll through afghanistan and iraq, I don't know if china and russia would risk war with the usa to bail out lowly syria. Also one must remember in gulf war 1 the usa was supposed to take massive casualties against the iraqis which was similar to the iranian army today.

It's only a matter of time before the conspiracy theorists get a hold of this. I'm in your camp on this, it's a wait and see. There is the risk of a "WMD" situation as was the case of the Iraq war. However as bc2004 always says " if America wants war, there shall be war" THe million dollar question is what will the Saudis do? They have the resources for a war in the region.

How does a person becoming wealthy make others poor? Does the wealthy person put his money in a mattress? What are unions and NGO s chopped liver? They get to influence politicians as well. What's the problem with an income gap if everybodys lives improve? Computers are cheaper than ever and computer companies are making a fortune. Nope your problem is jealousy, greed and entitlement. The only thing driving "us" into the ditch is ourselves. Cain has it right.

Oh curse those people for providing those offshore banks with stable liquidity for making loans to other people thus improving their lives! Those bastards!!!

Ha, if Ron Paul were to win and get congressional approval for his ideas, that would result in a short term stoppage of the economy and guess who would benefit from that? That would be corporations sitting on their savings. The issue here is jealousy, entitlement, and greed, which coincidentally put us in this mess in the first place.

Apparently SNN has comparable ratings to other canadian news networks which is what SNN is, and it isn't much. Its not supposed to compete with the main ctv and cbc because it doesn't carry actual "normal" shows or sports. All SNN is, is a giant ass discussion on conservatism in canada. If you seen one show you've seen them all. That's why I prefer ctvnn, all it is, is what goes on during the day in a loop.

Oh let's be real here, the sun news guys might be over the top, but insane, no. Ezra is a bit of a pompous ass, but his show is basically low taxes, small govt, and more personal freedom. The other guys on there have more extreme views than he does. Ezra comes off as a pompous ass. If anybody pisses me off on that channel its adler.

Uh, canola production is what I do for a living, and sorry to toot my own horn, but I am getting quite proficient at it. Without private research, canola would be just another specialty crop that a few guys produce. Take a look at yields when private research took over, they exploded. If it wasn't for GMO canola it would not be rivaling wheat for top spot on the amount of acres grown. Why? GM has allowed for higher yields and makes it far easier to grow and makes weed control simple yet very effective. As a result of that and with higher prices production exploded. Even though canola is gm, year end stocks are extremely tight which means somebody is buying it. A good producer can gross 650 dollars an acre easy these days, some even more. Canola would not be as big today without private dollars because the yields would be low and weed control would be a nightmare. As for the cwb, canola is a non board grain. Canola producers have flat out rejected the idea of canola being under the cwb. The fact that canola production is where it is shows a big shot at the cwb. The cwb has nothing to do with the canola industry and producers are fine with it. The only thing that dictates canola production is price. If there is one thing sketchier than the grain companies of the 1900s its the cwb and their supporters. The fact of the matter is that canola is the most capitalistic crop grown, it is the fastest gaining market share of crops grown, and is providing the best returns. Canola is a testament to what the private sector can do when it is given the chance. When you state that the cwb has control over canola, it looks like your pulling facts out of your butt.

I think the usa has seen enough socialist revolutions and how they worked out to put the kibosh on any revolution. This isn't egypt where close to 10 percent of the population was at tahrir square on a regular basis. When there are 30 million people protesting and rioting there may be a revolution. 20000 is what goes to a ny rangers or a knicks game.

For us canadians here watching the us pres. Race is like watching nhl hockey and we're just cheering for somebody. Personally I'm cheering for herman cain, and yes I know I can't vote for him, but I hope he wins just like I can hope the LA kings finally win the pacific division.

And what makes up a corporation? That would be shareholders and they come from all walks of life. If a corporation is making investments and getting a respectable return on those investments, that shows that the borrowing of money is being done in the right way. That's how its supposed to work and how growth is achieved. Its when people borrow money to buy homes and cars they can't afford to pay back is where the problem is with easy money policy. Oil and energy production has to be subsidized because its a matter of national security.

Many on the right do not like corporate bailouts either. That was one of the pillars of the tea party. Had those companies been allowed to fail there would have been massive short term pain (unemployment), but however other companies or people would be able to purchase the assets of the failed company at a discount and buy/things for lower prices. I understand the frustration of incompetant CEOs of bailed out companies still getting bonuses, and that is due to contract obligations. The govt figures its cheaper to pay the bonus than to get into legal problems. My opinion, if a corporation wants a bailout from the govt it should go into bankruptcy so it can start fresh and can renegotiate management salaries and possibly change management.