Canuckistani

That wasn't a guess but going by what was reported at the time. But fine, whatever, how does it improve this cop's actions if they really were giving away free tickets - that's even more stupid.

Nope. my initial guess was they were a couple of drunks. Do you really need a gun every time some drunk gets a bit too pushy or loud? I mean, with his stern rebuke and all, they apparently looked bewildered and didn't bother him further. Thing is, if he has a gun, why wouldn't they have guns too? IF they're up to no good, it's two against one, so he'd still come out the loser. Better arm his wife and kid as well, and be sure to get off those first couple of shots. Somehow people in Canada manage to live thru these highly dangerous encounters and nobody gets hurt. But then, apparently Kalamazoo has the same number of murders with 1/10th the population. Wonder if the fact they're all armed in Kalamazoo has anything to do with that?

So he just pulls it out with every stranger he meets? "You better not offer me free tickets, or see what you'll get." Weird way to go thru life. You'd think the Lawd Jaysus Chrast would protect him. No ocifer Bickle, I wasn't talking to you, honest.

Well what's the point of the gun except to blow them away? Threaten unarmed people? Because if they also had a gun, they would have presumably shot him before the could draw his. They'd be stupid not to.

Thank God for that. You really rather have this guy be able to blow away two people who were offering free tickets?

Paranoia strikes deep. Into your heart it will creep. It strikes when you're always afraid. Say "been to the Stamped yet?" the man come and blow you away....

There's plenty of blame to go around, including Democratic and Republican administrations. And the current resistance to bring in proper regulations can also be laid at both parties. Looks like everybody is addicted, nobody has hit bottom yet.

Well again, we have to take away their drug of choice.

Really? Those poor financiers, just can't help themselves.

Well as you say, I don't know enough about it. But I do know that mortgage lenders lent to anybody and everybody, because they could then sell those mortgages to the brokerages to be sliced and diced into an incomprehensible mess. That wasn't caused by regulations that required banks to lend to minorities, it was far bigger and mendacious than that. It was outright fraud. This wasn't just a few black people defaulting on the loans the poor banks were forced to give them. And with Glass-Steagal the retail banks would have been separated from the commercial ones. Here are some more quotes from your link - none point to the banks being forced to lend to minorities: Here he says Glass-Steagall wouldn't have prevented the crash, but it was lack of regulation (not over regulation) that caused it: I don't think the article you cited really backs up your contention.

We certainly don't shrug our shoulders, bail out the pizza parlours and just let the pizza stealers walk. And if you see the theft in the banking industry as equivalent to stealing a couple of pizzas, wow. It was called the Glass-Steagall act, and it worked fine.

First the genocide debacle, now this?

So we let the crooks go because not everybody is a crook? Or we don't regulate the banks properly because not all banks crossed the line? Just keep paying trillions when and as needed to bail them out? Privatize profits but socialize losses?

Please tell us your morality doesn't admire pedophiles. (Cheap shot I know, but it does arise from what you said here.) She was more than happy to take advantage of the US social systems at the end of her life, doubt she was railing against the common morality then.

I think he meant the govt is also an apparatus for corporations, or more accurately the people who control the corporations.

That would be racist. Generalizing about Americans is just good clean fun. I'm well aware of Sikh terrorism. I live in the town they hail from, I talk to Sikhs that make excuses for it or claim the Indian govt did it. I also speak with white Canadians to call Sikh's "Hindus" and can't seem to differentiate between them and Pakistanis. I bet it's the same in America. What is the quote? "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of Americans?" Same applies to politics. I admit I can't quite follow your meaning in this paragraph, but y'all do have a certain proportion of numbnuts in your population, you've got to admit that.

well said. But you've got to give them credit for their genius, or the gullibility of Joe the Plumber.

There'll still be killings, maybe a few less. We've had our share here, as has Europe. I'm for stricter gun control, just don't think it will be a panacea.

Totally agree.

I included the first one because the further information certainly indicates he was after Muslims. If you think these few excerpts indicate reality, you should rethink that. If Americans can think that Al Qaeda was active in Iraq before the invasion, and that invading Iraq would strike a blow against them (instead of making them stronger), then they're certainly capable of thinking anybody wearing a turban is Muslim or close enough.

And the elite were given a better life in the USSR, same as everywhere. The rich didn't go on strike in the US when top marginal tax rates were 70%, just kept on striving to earn that 30%. For the last two decades, the bulk of the increase in wealth has gone to the top 20%. It's only right then they pay the most in taxes. There is obviously an optimum zone where enough wealth is left to the wealthy to make it worth their while to strive, while not so little is taken from them that the state can't function properly. IMO we'e moving too close to the bottom of that zone, should raise taxes to bring us more in the middle of it. But this topic is about banking - which in the US has become a corrupt con game. It's one thing for Bill Gates to earn his billions, (and even there of course there's predatory behavior) but people who are just creating scams to get wealthy - that will collapse society real fast, as everybody tries to play the game in one fashion or another, instead of actually creating something to build their wealth.

Look at the further quotes I gave - Sikhs themselves report being mistaken for Muslims. We don't know if this shooter was shooting them because he thought they were Muslims, or just because they were non-white. But, there certainly seems to be some confusion in America between Sikhs and Muslims.

Many Americans don't understand the difference, especially in smaller centers. Look at the Sikh killings after 9/11 because people thought turban = Muslim. .

Forest management is a provincial responsibility. In BC it's certainly not time to get rid of the Forest Service, in fact it should have been beefed up to prevent the loss of merchantable wood we're experiencing now with the govt considering logging in forests. That's not all due to the mtn pine beetle, but due to allowing forest companies to mow down trees in an unsustainable way. And Fisheries and Oceans may be ineffectual, but it also needs to be beefed up to prevent us doing to the salmon what Nfld did to the cod. That would include enforcing fishing regulations against First Nations and stopping them from selling fish caught under the ceremonial and food fisheries agreement.

Not in anywhere near the size and volume that would be required by the gateway pipeline. I doubt Vancouverites would sit still for it Good luck with that. I would bet most truck traffic leaving BC is bound for Alberat, since longer distances would be more economical by train. BC can't refuse the pipeline. They can and should insist on very high safety measures both for the pile for the tanker traffic. That would quite likely make the project uneconomical. If Alberta wants to retaliate and insist on very high safety measures for truck traffic on its highways, well good on them. Save some lives that way.