Rue

What did the Americans do with German and Japanese prisoners during WWII? Were they allowed legal representation? A trial? Two wrongs do not make a right..and your point is precisely the reason why the Americans shouldn't have repeated this mistake. Many innocent Japanese people suffered as a result. Was it right, no. However to compare World War Two with what the Americans have done with suspected Muslim terrorists is an incomplete and inaccurate comparison. The United States has not rounded up the hundreds of thousands of Muslim Americans and shipped them off - or are you suggesting they do? I have no problem with arresting and detaining suspected terrorists> What I am saying is they should have been given trials. That is the issue-giving them trials and legal representation. And by the way Japanese during World War Two were allowed to present arguements for their release from camps. Many did and went on to fight in the US armed forces.

I am not big on conspiracy theories but here's some wierd stuff I read. The weekend before the 9-11 attacks, all the elevator systems were shut down in the twin towers for maintenance. Here's another wierd thing, George Bush's cousin was in charge of security for the towers. I also personally have read a lot of engineering reports that personally make me question whether the heat of the jets impacting into the buildings by themselves was capable of bringing down the buildings. The more I read, the more I believed the buildings were brought down by controlled detenations placed up and down elevator shafts at strategic positions and the bombs went off after the jet impacts. Do I think the CIA did it? Well I have read all kinds of conspiracy and illuminati theories. I personally have a hard time believing Bush would order the murder of 5,000 Americans. I may not agree with a lot of what he does and I may think he is a dummy but that I can not fathom. I am more inclined to believe that terrorists in addition to the jet impacts also infiltrated the buildings and planted well placed bombs and the US government has covered up this part of it for two reasons; i-it would show how vulnerable the US is to future similiar attacks; ii-Bush and the government quickly cleared up his family connection to the security firm that blew it. How many of you have read that George Bush's cousin and Uncle were owners of the Security company in charge of the Towers? The Press certainly didn't run with it. That said, I think there has been a cover-up but a cover-up to hide all the mistakes the US government made before and after the attacks and not for any other reasons. Then again will we ever know the real truth, I doubt it. Although I will let you in on this secret, Jackie Gleason did get to see UFO's retrieved and kept in US Air Foce hangars!

August most military journals and intelligence reports you can read over the web-site seem to indicate Iran's air-force cxonsists of fighter jets left over from the Shah's era given by the Americans or Russian MIGS but there have been no spare parts used to up-date this rusting equipment nor does Iran appear to have the technological ability to fix its planes or engage in an air war. If Israeli jets could over-fly into Iran they would have to do so by flying over Jordan and Iraq. Syria's air force also consists of aged MIGS whose parts have not ben up-dated so they have no real air foce. The Syrian Army is poorly fed and has no real logistics support. It is in fact a rag tag army. Its elite unit is its secret police and they have had a tendency to be the first to skip out and avoid war. Iran's ground army is full of manpower but has little in the way of logistics, i.e., fresh water, food and equipment. It has scud missiles which are unreliable, some missiles rumoured to have been obtained from China and North Korea, definitely toxic chemical war-fare capabilities, but in reality no delivery system to get its foot soldiers out of the country. The reality is if there was a war, it would be a quick air war and I strongly doubt Israel would send anything on the ground into Syria or Iran. Yes Israel would probably knock out some suspected nuclear sites but anyone who knows anything about air strikes knows they are at the best of times hit and miss. If Israel engages in a direct skirmish with Syria it would happen in Lebanon. Syria has a poor reputation fighting for more then a few days on the ground and do not under-estimate many Lebanese as much as they hate Israel equally hate the Syrians and still do not forgive them for killing their leader. I think the realistic scenario is a limited tactical strike or series of strikes by Israeli missiles from helicopters and perhaps their F-16 fleet and controlled artillery bombardments and possible commando strikes or spot assassinations but I do not see there being a conventional war. Also do not under-estimate the Russian influence on Israel behind the scenes these days. Russia and Turkey secretly have entered into a military alliance with Israel and are supplying Israel oil and Putin is no dummy, he will exert his influence. In a way these days, Russia has as much if not more influence over Israel then the US does. In fact contrary to popular opinion, the US foreign policy is at logger heads with Israel and would be completely against any conventional wars. The support Bush gives to Israel against terrorism should not be confused with the behind the scenes American concern that an all-out war would de-destablizie the region and increase oil prices which would have a detrimental effect on the US economy. Its a mess. The fact is Israel has very limited options and it will use them and do what it has been doing emphasizing strategic assassinations and as much as possible pin point precision attacks.

Let's clear up some more misconceptions from Blackdog. Firstly the partition plan he refers to back in 1947 proposed by the UN, did not propose handing the majority of land to the minority of people as he stated. That is pure 100% b.s. If you look at the partition plan, it provided for a tiny enclave of land for Jews already living in the area at that time referred to as Palestine. So how Blackdog can make the comment it was the majority of land is absolutely amazing. Anyone looking at the proposed enclaves can see that the Muslim population was actually offered much more land and the tiny enclave proposed to the Jews of Palestine was about the size of Etobicoke. Then again Blackdog's understanding of Middle East history is quite selective. Blackdog also made another false statement. He referred to an anti-Israel, revisionist called Benny Morris who is a self-hating Jew and denies he is Jewish as a valid reference point to contend the Arab League did not issue announcements to the Arab population of Palestine to vacate Israel. This is again absolute b.s. There are recordings, and countless documentation from Muslims and Arab Jews as to the calls by Mullahs from roof-tops and over loud-speakers telling Muslims to leave. This is a substantiated fact as much as Blackdog would like to deny it. Blackdog made a comment that its not like Palestinians are even human or have human rights. No one, in any post on this topic or related topics has attacked Palestinian civilians or questioned their human rights. What Blackdog is incapable of doing is seperating his hatred for Israel from the concept of defending its right to protect itself from terrorist attacks. That is the issue. The issue is as we all agree, BOTH Palestinians and Jews should be able to live side by side. This can't happen if Palestine is dominated by terrorists. So these comments about Palestinians not being human are odious and not helpful or germaine to the dialogue. To support Israel does not automatically suggest one does not feel Palestinians have the right to freedom and peace. As for Blackdog's comment about "Zionist talking points" that is about as justified and as appropriate as saying Blackdog gets all his ideas from reading selective anti-semetic diatribes he likes to reproduce. The fact is the posters in regards to this debate unlike Blackdog have done a good job presenting their views and if Blackdog wants my respect he should try make some salient points other then crudely dismissing anything that doesn't fit his narrow, stereotypes of what he thinks Zionism is. The fact is Blackdog's arguements are predicated on his closed mind and blind docile acceptance of the belief that it is politically wrong and unfair for Jews to have a Jewish state. It is no more unfair then it is for Muslims to have Muslim states. I myself because I support Israel's right to exist do not appreciate Blackdog's simplistic attempts to portray me as a Zionist or anyone who support's Israel's right to exist as Zionists. That is b.s. In fact, I do not want to live in any secular state. I prefer to live in Canada where religion and state (except when it comes to Catholic public schools) are kept seperate. I love being a Canadian. My support of Israel is not because as a Jew I want to live in a Jewish state. To me it is based on two reasons; i-fairness and natural justice, ii-a respect and spiritual connection to the land of Israel. I do not hesitate to say that the bast majority of Jews as is the case with most non Jewish Israeli supporters also want Palestinians to live in freedom and without war. For us its not a matter of a good guy and a bad guy, it is about two displaced, cursed people and the vast majority of us wanting this conflict put to a rest and fundamentalists of any religion shut up. Man wouldn't it be nice if we could all live without fundamentalist religions dictating how we govern ourselves.

thanks

Blackdog your repeated refusal to acknowledge Jewish history accurately is tiresome. To describe Israel as a "neo-colonial experiment" based on "ethno-religious nationalism" and "stolen land" reflects your complete lack of respect for Judaism and Jewish culture because as you have mentioned in the past in many of your posts "you don't care" about the history of Judaism, and so you repeat such rhetoric. The fact is most of us are aware that the Islam religion started in the 7th century. Before that time there were no "Muslims". That is a fact. However there were in fact Jews dating back to Moses delivering the Jewish slaves from Egypt to Mt. Sinai and the creation of the ten commandments and then subsequent religion flowing from Abraham. The origins of Judaism talks about a covenant or promise from God to deliver Jews to the kingdom of Israel and the historic reality is Jews settled in Canaan and engaged in battles with tribes living around them and those tribes were not Arabs or Muslims. I do not care then to repeat the history of what happened to Israel and its Jews and their expulsion except to say you selectively ignore it all when you make comments that Israel "stole" land. Jews and Israeli Jews for that matter, originate from the land of Israel and are aboriginals to that land. For you to try revise history and pretend Jews are not aboriginals from Israel is repulsive and odious and deliberate. That said, anyone with a fair and open mind understands that since the ancient days of Israel people have come and gone and Muslims came after the Jews and after the Christians in time sequence. Anyone who understands the origins of Islam also understands dhimmitude or the mulsim system of apartheid that segregated both Jews and Christians into ghettoes and treated them as second class citizens. That is a fact and so is it a fact that Jews suffered from persecution and apartheid after dhimmitude was invoked by the Muslim states who did not seperate religion from state and never will and to this day will not. Blackdog selectively forgets that while Jews were repeatedly expelled from Israel there has always been a contingent of Jews livining in Israel continuously since the days of Canaan, not withstanding all the expulsions and then the persecution and apartheid treatment of Jews in the subsequent Muslim Middle East. For the Jews who went to Europe, they were of course persecuted continuously for 3,000 years including forced extermination, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, forced conversion and systemic and institutionalized persecution. In 1791 when Jews were emancipated in France, it triggered off the true origins of modern Zionism but Blackdog probably does not care to remember that since the beginning of the religion, Jews have felt they are spiritually attached to the land of Israel and must return and die there. Neither Christianity or Islam has a comparable concept to being attached to the land by spiritual belief. That said the Zionism that evolved in Europe merely was a reflection of the state of constant persecution and extermination Jews faced. Of course they dreamed of returning where they came from and dreaming of a country where they would no longer be persecuted and prevented from practicing their religion. The cold hard reality is Jews would not have dreamed of returning to Israel had both Christians and Muslims treated them like equals. That is a fact. So to pretend Zionism is a neocolonial experiment is idiotic. Zionism is merely a modern version of romanticism and escapism by a persecuted people and is not to be confused with the religious belief that Jews spiritually are connected to Israel soil. Blackdog has repeated in other posts that he does not care about the religious connection and feels it appropriate to discuss the desire for Jews to live in Israel as simply something that magically started after the holocaust. While the holocaust certainly was the final catalyst, to anyone who bothers to read and understand Jewish history they would know Jews have never stopped believing they are connected and on their death return to Israel. That said we know that Lord Belfour suggested two enclaves, one Jewish and one Muslim to try resolve a dispute between Jews and Muslims as to where they should live in Muslim with their conflicting historical beliefs. The Belfour formula was classic imperialism. It wanted to perpetuate a divided, dysfunctional state doomed to continuous conflict so the British could rule through fermenting division. Divide and conquer, that is what the British did best. What Blackdog also likes to forget is that there have been conflicting disputes as to land rights since the days of Canaan and that the Muslim people deliberately destroyed the Jews most sacred temple and deliberately built a Mosque over it as an insult and to this day the wall of the ancient synagige and the Mosque of Oman conflict in Jerusalem. What Blackdog also likes to ignore is the fact that Muslims embraced anti-semitism fueled by the Orthodox Catholic Churches and Germans from the 1920's onward and to this day systemic anti-semitism including the preaching of the Protocols of Zion as truth and depicting Jews as drinking the blood of Arab children on Passover is a regular occurrence on t.v. as is t.v. shows, children's t.v. shows and wide spread press promoting the hatred of ALL Jews because in the Muslim world, Israeli Jews are not distinguished from other Jews and ALL Jews are portrayed as infidel. What Blckdog also selectively ignores is that to this day the majority of Muslims feel Israel should be wiped off the face of the map. The rhetoric about two states and living side by side does not exist in the real Muslim world. It is simply a concept repeated to the Western press while at the same time the same politicians say something else to their own Muslim constituents. That is documented fact. So is the hatred of Jews preached daily to Palestinian children by Hamas and the belief that Israel must be cleansed of all Jews and that it is acceptable to kill and terrorize Israeli civilians. That said and I will say it one last time, Blackdog likes to forget that the 1947 partition plan pronounced by the United Nations was rejected by the Arab world, not Israel. It was the Arab world that decided unanimously and collectively to declare war and refuse to acknowledge ANY right for Jews to exist in a Jewish state in the Middle East. This followed their thousands of years of belief that Jews follow a defective religion, are inferior people, and are not entitled to any rights. It was the Arab Council not Israel that told the Arabs living in Israel to leave. The Arab Council announced on every public speaker, on the radio and in announcements to all Arabs that they should leave Palestine and wait to return once the Arab armies wiped the Jews off the map. The speeches are there for anyone to read. The historic fact is Israel completely out-numbered won a war the Arab world did not possibly think they could win. The fact is the 1949 border of Israel at the time it declared its independence was unknown and only after a war with the Arab nations did the post 1949, pre 1967 border emerge. That border in international law is known as a de facto border- and under international law that border emerges as being legally recognized if after an indefinite time period no one challenges it. The fact is the West Bank was seized by Jordan and the Gaza was seized by Egypt. The fact is from 1949 to 1967 the Arab world deliberately placed displaced Arab refugees in camps to use them as a political pawn in an attempt to wage a war of attrition against the existence of Israel. The fact is the Arab kingdom has the wealth and the room to absorb and accommodate all Arab refugees but deliberately chose not to and to use them as a symbol to create a public back-lash against Israel. The fact is there was an uprising in Jordan where the vast majority of Palestinians lived and then King Hussein required his Beduin Arab army to protect him from assassination and the take over of this British created artificial country from Palestinian rule by the majority population of Palestinians. The fact is Palestinians were unwelcome in Egypt, Lebanaon, Syria, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and anywhere else in the Arab world they went. They were treated with suspicion and hatred and discriminated against by their fellow Arabs and Muslims. The fact is as much as Blackdog would like to depict Israel as a racist state, unlike ANY Arab country the Israel constitution guarantees Arab and Muslim Israelis the right to receive their government services in Arabic, to practice their religion in freedom, to vote and to own land. The fact is from 1949 to 1967 and even after that date, Arab and Jewish Israelis have co-existed and for that matter the majority of Palestinians in the Gaza and West Bank used to work in Israel. The fact is the current conflict has been fueled by fundamentalist extremism by Shiite Muslim terroist cells including the largest, Hezbollah financed by Iran. The fact is most of the extremist terrorist cells are notnecessarily Palestinians but Arabs with full citizenship dedicated to the destruction of Israel. The fact is Intifadah, Hamas, and countless terrorist cells such as Fatah, have nothing in common with each other except for their hatred of Jews. The fact is Jews in Israel have no where to go. The fact is they live in a tiny country surrounded on all sides by people who repeatedly state they want them wiped out. The fact is Jews in Israel have no where to go and are in a state o seige and basic struggle to exist. The fact is that innocent Jewisg Israelis, non Jewish Israelis and Palestinians now are caught in between a war of attrition fueled by Muslim fundamentalists. The fact is the fundamentalist Jewish movement has been contained and the current Israeli government, Kadima is a coalition of right and left wing political parties whose sole ideology at this point is trying to exist. The fact is that up until a month or so ago, the current and new Israeli Prime Minister returned back the Gaza and most of the West Bank and was on the verge of releasing hundreds of Palestinians when Hamas deliberately launched a counter terrorist offensive designed to humiliate and undermine the attempts of Mr. Abbas to create a Palestinian nation in the Gaza and West Bank and declare a peace treaty with Israel. The fact is Yasir Arafat was offered 95% of all the land and items he requested by Yitzhak Rabin and then at the last second failed to sign a peace treaty with Israel because what really happened was that if he signed this treaty his drug routes for his opium and cannabis would have been shut down and his Swiss bank accounts would have been opened up and the money released and used to fund Palestinian government operations. The fact is Hezbollah deliberately engaged in an invasion of Israel and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed 8 others to try put pressure on Israel to back down from fighting Hamas only now it has made it impossible for Hamas to return the Israeli prisoner and engage in a peace treaty because Hezbollah will ridicule Hamas. The fact is Hezbollah is in a pissing contest to try show Hamas it is tougher when it comes to fighting Israel. The fact is Hezbollah flourishes in Lebanon because of Syria and Hamas is funded by Iran and Saudi Arabia. The fact is Saudi Arabia and Iran choose to finance terrorist cells while ignoring providing any charity or aid to Palestinians. The fact is when Israel has attempted to provide medical and social services to Palestinians Hamas has threatened to kill any Palestinian that takes such help. So Blackdog and his selective memory contribute little to this tragic dialogue other then to reinforce the fact that sheltered cozy little know it alls like Blackdog wil never know what it is like to experience death and violence.

I am with you on this one JJ. But of course since it is so logical it will never happen!

They're taught to respect fear. Well in some cultures you are right, if you start up you get a whack. It is that simple. However I think in many non Western cultures as well, respect is ttaught not just with fear. Say with the Chinese, and please I do not mean to generalize, but if you see the way children are taught to respect their grand-parents, its not just a fear thing, its a respect for tradition that comes from elders. I don't think Chinese kids fear their grand-parents...as much as they love them if you know what I mean. I just used that as an example but you catch the gist of it. Maybe because we treat older people with such disrespect these days by warehousing them in old age homes and portraying aging as undesireable, that our youth pick up on this and feel we are all expendable and it fuels some of them into being disrespectful. Look we live in a society where everything is disposable so we discard it and buy more. Unfortunately this has run over into our relationships and now we treat each other like expandable pieces of junk as well. I think if we adults showed respect for our elders, youths would pick up on it. Don't you think?

Well of course you raise a serious issue and yes it is true we are seeing a lot more physical violence. My personal theories are as follows; i-I think the absence of parents at home, i.e., both working or single parent homes because of high divorce rates is related to this violence. I think a son without a strong constant male figure to raise him is bound to have problems with anger, limiting his behaviour and being violent, he's got no positive role model to teach him restraint; ii-I personally believe the young offenders act and the current legal system does not properly send a message about violence..and just look around.. how many murderers get off with 5 year sentences....rapes, assaults, a couple of months.... That said I would stress again that I think this violence you see is very disturbing but I do not think for a moment it reflects the majority of youth. I guess one could also speculate that movies and videos and video games today seem to feed-back an incredible amount of violence. I personally believe we need to find structured activities for youth to channel their frustration. Give me a violent kid and get him into competitive sports or put him in a physical labour work social project that can channel his or her injury and help them build self-esteem and you will soon contain the problem. It certainly helped for me and some other kids I knew when we were getting in trouble. That said, I appreciate its a complex problem and there are no easy fixes or answers and some days all of us of all ages are wondering what the f..is going on.

There seems to be a reoccuring theme by non natives when responding to natives that seems to suggest its unfair for natives to persist on bring up past history as a basis to argue their current legal rights. I am sure a lot of non natives would love to simply forget about the plethora of treaties that have been violated and start fresh. The fact is however, natives are not stupid and understand the law and their rights and they are trying to enforce those treaties that have been breached or continue to be violated and its unrealistic to think they will roll over. I also find it interesting when non natives lecture natives on conservation. It is just a tad bit hippocritical given what we have done to the planet. I do agree that native people must take care not to engage in violence or in depleting limited resources but if you take the time to read what they write or sit and listen and talk with them you would know they feel the same way. I think it has been proven that most of the stories about natives over-fishing or over-hunting have been proven to be malicious and untrue and unsubstantiated. I also think non natives need to stop lecturing and listen a lot more before they can understand why some natives feel pushed into doing what they do. In any event natives do not need me to defend them but I would say you would be suprised what will happen if instead of fearing natives you sit and talk with them and try understand the treaties they are simply trying to enforce.

The above comment makes little sense. You are assuming in your comment that it is unfair to recognize natives as having rights that non natives would not have. That is not necessarily racist or discriminatory. It is possible because of the contents of binding legal treaties, that natives have legal rights flowing from those treaties that would not apply to non natives. Is it racist to compensate say Chinese for the head tax? Is it racist to recognize that compensation may be entitled to certain groups of people because that group was singled out for unfair treatment? If natives had not had their treaties breached in the first place and were not subject to discriminatory and illegal behaviour, then your contention might hold a little more water. The fact is however you sound like a lot of non natives who immediately get up in arms over the concept of natives seeking legal compensation or seeking to enforce treaties.

Well in this case it looks like the main witness lacked any credibility and fabricated his testimony and that evidence was then a key element in what led to the conviction. But is the guy innocent? Its possible. I mean from an evidentiary point of view, he probably couldn't have gotten convicted without the tainted testimony but call me skeptical but you have to wonder about his alibi. It doesn't sound like he had anyone corroborate it. So maybe he isn't so innocent but yes he was wrongfully convicted. Its a tough system. Those of us who have worked in it have seen innocent people framed and wrongfully convicted and scrum of the earth walk on technicalities. The system has a lot of warts and it sure can't be perfect. The fact is police have fabricated evidence in situations where they are convinced someone is innocent and might walk on a technicality. It's also a fact that a street weary cop may be a tad cynical and be a little too quick to think someone is guilty. It happens. Police make mistakes. There are also defence lawyers who get off absolute scrum using technicalities. That is the system. But yes, it makes one wonder if you believe in capital punishment..is there such think as a 100% perfect case?

Guantanamo Bay makes a mockery of the United States judicial process and everything it stands for. It also clearly flaunts international laws. It's a disgrace. It is precisely the kind of behaviour the US berates other countries for. How can the US portray itself as the no. l exporter of democracy when it keeps people in indefinite incarceration with no trial, and no access to legal representation. That is the issue. Its facism at its worst. No one who believes in democracy can possibly think suspending people's right to a lawyer and a judicial process indefinitely, is an acceptable democractic practice.

Link LinkWelcome to Quebec politics, always a tiresome war of words. If it's not Harper avoiding the N-word, it's Charest speculating about sovereignty. In all the reports, I noticed a minor unrelated detail. Of Charest's three children, two are in France as interns. One is with TV5 and the other with the Elysee. Membership has its privileges. Your personal attack on Charest's family reeks of petty jealousy. More to the point you have taken Charest's comment completely out of context. Instead of pulling just a few of his words, go back and read the entire text of what he actuall said. It was far from seperatist or advocating sovereignty. Then again from the sounds of your personal attack against his family, you have issues with France as well. Would it make you feel better if they were working for the CBC? I doubt it.

Every generation feels the one after it is spoiled and soft. As people age they feel people younger then them are disrespectful, immature, insolent, etc. The fact is there is good and bad in every generation. Some people love to dwell on the negative. Are there more pedophiles now or are we simply more aware of it? Is there more violence now, or is the media simply reporting it now and never did before? These are some of the questions to ask. There is no doubt that during the baby boomer era, i.e., with the first generation born after World War Two in North America, we saw a generation grow up with very few limitations. Jobs were unlimited, resources appeared unlimited, and parents bought into Dr. Spock's theories of raising children as little equals. Dr. Spock encouraged children to be talked to and treated with respect and encouraged debates and discussions with children. There is no doubt this style of parenting caused its problems, and the baby boomer generation proved to be self-centered, narcissistic and quite two-faced becoming everything they protested against. So a good arguement could be made that the baby boomers who became everything they protested are in no position to criticize the next generation who are inheriting a world doomed to toxic pollution and global warming, dwindling resources, terrorism and war not to mention unprincipled and unethical baby boomer business people. So excuse me if I defend the next generation ( and I am 50) because they are inheriting a mess and not all of them are evil. I know of a lot of young people who despite all the odds are a hell of a lot maturer and sophisticated when it comes to sex, politics and getting along with people different then them. Guess it depends on where you look and what you want to see but I will be the first to tell baby boomers to shut up because they have no business pointing the finger at anyone and acting self-righteous. As for increasing crime, violence, rudeness, etc.,well if you live in the first world, and the suburbs are your perspective, yes youth seem rude and out of control. But if you live in the inner city with no home, rudeness is seen as survival. If you live in the third or fourth world, the behaviour of suburban children racing cars, engaging in gang violence or sex, etc, pales in comparison to their problems...their problems? Trying to stay alive and not be killed by Aids, war or famine. The vast majority of young adults across the world must contend with all three not to mention world wide sexual exploitation of youth by the same adults who criticize them. The next time you criticize today's youth look at the adults and their child porn web sites and tell me its all the fault of youth.

First of all the vote will be contested. Secondly if any of you think Mexico is better off with a "conservative" government as opposed to a "socialist" one understand Mexican politics is not that simple. Obrador is not a socialist, he's a populist. He has no economic theories or clearly delineated political philosophy. He is very typical of many Mexicans. They are alienated and feel powerless to stop the coruption the few elites who run the country. So I wouldn't simply label him as a socialist. He has not thought out his platform at all. He has never been able to clearly state what his economic policies are because he is not skilled enough to discuss the economy.You have to listen carefully to what he really is about-being suspicious of multi-nationals and the U.S. As for the alleged conservative who won, he is part of the legacy in Mexican politics of coruption. Mexico has always been and will always be corupt. A minority of its population, less then 2% has a strangle hold on its economy and the government. The government from head to toe operates on multiple layers of coruption. The police and military are its largest drug smugglers and people smugglers. So smile all you want but for the average Mexican, its business as usual- a corupt government, no social services, and the vast majority of the population living below the poverty line and dying from malnutrition and pollution.

No more funny then Iran chairing the Human Rights Council of Libya doing the same. The fact is the UN is full of a lot of hippocrates, why single out the Japanese? Take your pick of a host of countries. China, Russia, France, Britain, the U.S., are not exactly innocent clean children.

Where is this human face you talk about? The economic system of those countries you make think are humanistic, still depend on exploiting the economies of the third and foruth world and selling military weapons and toxic substances, etc. Its a phallacy to think Western European countries such as Belgium, France, Holland, Denmark, are innocent kind countries. They have their problems and their disenfranchised and alienated like everyone else.

Here's the answer. If I could I would hire you but I am struggling to find stable work for myself! That said to be very blunt, I would only hire you after I knew for sure you were agreeing to take medication to manage your bi-polar disorder. If I knew you were doing that I would want to hire you for a job where you could use your hands. There is no reason a guy like you can't work. I know many people with bi-polar disorder who have struggled and they work. Sure they may not be raking in millions but they work. The key though is, they can't work if they don't take their medication because as you know if you don't take your medication, your thoughts race ahead and you see things in a perspective no one else can or quite frankly wants to. As for your physical disabilities, I do not know what they are but I must agree with those posters who have compassion with anyone who has a disability. If you have a serious physical disability which is another issue then I am not in the position to say whether there is work where your physical limitations do not matter. There are organizations that offer sheltered work environments for persons with psychiatric illnesses just as there are sheltered work environments for persons with serious physical limitations. Whether you havetried to work with these organizations and swallow your pride and perhaps dignity and work with them is something only you can decide. What I will say is this...our country has a disgraceful record when it comes to accommodating the disabled and it will only get worse as the population ages at the same time. That said, as individuals I hope we can all find the strength to resist thinking of ourselves as hopeless victims and fight like hell to achieve something positive. What else can I say.

I think it needs to be said again. It does NOT matter what terrorists want or think. The moment they choose to engage in violence and murder they forfeit any consideration and simply become murderers who place themselves in the position of needing to be killed before they kill others. Do not misunderstand the concept that by listening to terrorists you can learn from them. You can't. They have nothing to teach. Who you want to learn from and listen to are people born and living in the same despair but who have not reverted to violence and have not given up hope and continue to try engage in peaceful dialogue. Those are the people you should be taking the time to consider not terrorists. That is precisely the problem. I you acknowledge terrorists you in fact fuel their fire. When you sit all safe and sheltered in Canada its fine to get into intellectual analysis of terrorism but that's a fool's game. Its one thing for an intelligence officer to do this, its another for a politician or civilian. You want to get your head blown off, try listen to a terrorist and open your arms to him. Me no thanks. As for all the analysis of the Middle East so? The fact is through-out history people have lived in poverty, misery, death and despair and have NOT given in to crime and violence and managed to make something positive out of their predicament. Those are the people thank you very much I will spend my energy on listening to and using as role models not terrorists. A terrorist is like any vermin. The one solution is exterminating them. And no I would not suggest you try make a pet out of a sewer rat. They bite.

When I was in Israel for a brief time I went to school At Hebew University of Jerusalem. I used to get five bucks an hour writing stories for journalists who never left the hotel bars. So I can tell you a lot of the stuff that went out over the wires particularly with Reuters or AP was sheer nonsense and fabricated. Then again I remember a film being shown on American t.v. of an apartment building in Beirut allegedly being blown apart in the civil war when in fact the film was much older and actually had nothing to do with the civil war but a controlled demolition blast! So me sorry, I do not think just because a story goes out on the wire services its genuine. In fact this missile in Alaska story smells of malicious disinformation. As for that fat little putz in North Korea he needs a new hair-do. What a pathetic little psycho.

Hamas is and has always been an umbrella organization made up of a loose knit of fundamenalist Muslims sponsored by Hezbollah in Syria (a proxy force for Iran and Shiite) and Syria (which although Sunni Muslim has aligned itself squarely with Iran). Hamas came about partly because of Israel's tacit approval of its activities, hoping it would serve as an alternative to Arafat and the corupt PLO apparatus. At one point Israel tacitly looked the other waya s Hamas fought with the PLO hoping it would cause a change in PLO leadership. This never happened. Now Hamas is pretty much like the Taliban. The Taliban at one point were useful to the Americans when they were referred to as mujahadeen and fighting the Russian Commies. Once the commies were out, they no longer had purpose. Such is the way in the Middle East. Today's puppet ally, i.e., Col. Nasser, Ghadafi, Hussein, Osama Ben Laden (when fighting commies) become tomorrow's enemy. Hamas unlike the PLO was not founded by drug runners. Keep in mind Arafat was until the day he died a drug smuggler. That was his primary business. Hash hish, opium and cocaine. The PLO and freedom fighting was a convenient cover to protect his interests. Drugs and Middle East politics are inter-connected as is the case today with the Americans paying countless opium drug lords in Afghanistan. Hamas is one of those unqiue fundamentalist religious forces that has nothing to do with drugs so whether they are capable of being corupted remains to be seen. Unlike most other Middle East leaders like Mubarak or Assad in Syria, they don't seem to be interested in money or personal power. So they are a wild card. Their constitution is clear. They believe in the absolute and unconditional destruction of the State of Israel and the sending of all Israeli Jews to Europe. They believe absolutely and unconditionally in violence against civilians as a method to express their political will. They have no problem setting up ammunition factories and missile launching systems and ammunition sites in peoples' homes. They have no problem using young children to transport explosives and engage in planting bombs. They have no problem using ambulances and hosptials as a cover for terrorist operations. To Hamas, Israel is the enemy. But Hamas has other enemies. It does not distinguish Jews world-wide from Israeli Jews. It sees Jews as a people not just Israeli Jews, as the enemy of Islam. It also believes Christians are enemies of all Muslims. It feels the same about Buddists and Hindus. This is not a movement based on tolerance. It presents a vision of a Muslim state following very rigid, dogmatic fundamentalist beliefs. Hamas is not some sort of populist democratic movement. To understand why it got the majority vote one must travel to Gaza and see the sheer poverty and lack of hope to understand why it is supported by the masses. They have no alternative. The only other alternative were corupt PLO officials spiriting out millions in aid to Swiss bank acounts and running the Gaza and West Bank like a two-bit street gang. Hamas was the only alternative, It provided schools and a basic social system. In its schools it has been teaching its children from the age of birth that to be a good Muslim means warring and trying to rid the Middle East of Jews and Christians and to view the world as basically being two realities-the Muslim reality which is the one of truth, and the non-Muslim reality which is a world frequented by devils. To think you can sit and negotiate with Hamas is utterly naive. They see Jews, Christians, women, Americans, Israelis, British, as sub-humans, people not worthy of respect let alone discussion or dialogue. They truly believe these non Muslims are flawed, inferior and defective. So there is no discussion. And if you dare talk in moderation in the Gaza and the West Bank you expose yourself to severe physical intimidation and even death. The Gaza is an open cess pool. It has no economy and it is teaming with millions jammed together in delapidated stone apartments. There is no sewage system, electricity and fresh water, things we take for granted. In the Gaza, it constantly smells of urine, feces and filth. To compoiund matters there is no work or hope so people sit all day. They smoke dope, and Turkish tobacco and drink strong coffee and do nothing. At night there are sonic booms from Israeli fighter craft. The Israelis do this deliberately as part of a psychological strategy. No its not to terrorize Palestinians as much as you think that is what its for. What it is really for is to cause disorientation and prevent young children being used as terrorists from venturing to far in the night. Its designed to try scare the very children Hamas needs in the night. Now why the fuss over one Israeli soldier? Its not just one soldier. That soldier symbolizes Israel's will to exist. If this soldier is given up without a fuss, Hamas is given a profound message that Israel is weak or will not fight back. So why the brinksmanship? Well how can you understand living in Canada that the size of Israel squished next to Gaza on one side or the West Bank on the other is the distance from downtown Toronto to the outskirts of Mississauga. Imagine if someone next door in Etobicoke was shooting missiles at Hurontario Street and indiscriminately blowing up square one. In Canada when the FLQ was an alleged threat, the entire nation was placed under a state of siege and everyone's civil rights and presumption of innocence were suspended. Thousands were arrested under the War Measures Act and kept in indefinite detention for no reason other then they were suspected of being separatist sympathizers. Since the kidnapping of James Cross and then the kidnapping and murder of Pierre Laporte, there have been no other so called terrorist acts in Canada but we do know from those two actions how Canada reacted. So when you try understand why Israel reacts the way you do try think of a tiny nation sitting within eye-blinking distance of an enemy sworn to wipe it off the map. How do you expect them to survive with an enemy that considers them vermin? To understand the seige mentality of Israelis is to sit in a cafe and have someone blow up in your face and have their blood and body parts sprayed on you. That is the reality of being an Israeli citizen. Every Israeli citizen has witnessed or knows someone to have suffered from such an incident. So on one side you have Israelis feeling they are in a constant state of seige and therefore in survival mode, and on the other, are millions of unemployed, desperate Palestinians. It makes for a war of attrition where civilians on both sides live in hell and are doomed to repeated violence and cycles of hatred that flow from terrorism. The solution? The two sides need to be clearly and distinctly seperated. Before any dialogue can occur, there needs to be a time to seperate and heal. A minimum of five years without violence. To achieve this, the Gaza and West Bank have to be completely demilitarized. Young Palestinians and Israelis then need to be sent to neutral countries where they can live together and learn together so that when they return, they have started the painful process of tolerance. What the Middle East does not need is a naive United Church of Toronto or Cupe lecturing Israel but staying silent about Hamas. What the Middle East does not need, are liberal Christians full of guilt trying to depict this as a one sided problem. What the Middle East needs are neutral mediators who have lived through conflict such as the Irish, or people from countries with no vested interests who can help both sides talk and try achieve a middle ground. Neither side is to blame. Both sides are victims. Hamas is a vile, violent terrorist force but there are many Palestinians who are fed up with violence and want peace and an alternative. Likewise Israel has a vast peace network. Ask yourselves what would happen tomorrow, if Palestinians adapted the passive resistance methods of Ghandi and Martin Luther King. I can tell you what would happen. They would capture the imagination of the Israeli Peace Network and in the absence of violence, dialogue would come about. Contrary to what people may think, Arabs and Israelis of the Middle East can and do co-exist and work together. Its just these days there are a lot of players who have vested interests in preventing Arabs and Jews from forming an alliance. Think what would happen in the Middle East of Jews and Muslims achieved peace. Suddenly over night the Europeans, Americans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, all of these countries and their weapons and behind the scenes wheeling and dealing of weapons for oil, becomes obsolete.

The Canadian court system has regularly declined to deport illegal aliens and rejected refugee applicants on the grounds that they would be murdered if sent back to their countries. I myself have direct knowledge of an Iranian who came to Canada and applied for refugee status and was turned down. He as known to Interpol and was part of a major heroin drug cartel and his job pure and simple was to kill people. Quite something seeing a refugee applicant in a Gucci suit, with a Rolex watch and realizing he was trained by SAVAK (The Shah's secret police) and had three black belts and could snap your neck like a twig in a second. He and many others like him live in Toronto. What they do for a living is anyone's guess. I also know of anothe heroin pusher from a drug cartel in Canton, China. He wouldn't think twice killing you if you got in his way. Also a rejected refugee applicant and still in the country. Here's my favourite story. A man from Nicaragua and part of the cocaine cartel floods the US with cocaine and in turn uses money to fund guns to support Gen. Samoza and his battle against then commie Ge. Noriega. The CIA made the drug cartel a success that it was while the Drug Enforcement Agency was unable to prevent this cartel from speading its poison. So it goes. Its o.k. to flood North America with heroin or cocaine as long as you are an ally against commies or in today's case the Taliban in Afghanistan. So this lovely individual of course was on the losing side and after the war the CIA arranges him a new identity and places him in Texas. Within a year he's arrested for h aving sex with a 4 year old boy. To spare the parents of the boy and the boy any further harm, he pleads no contest. He's out after 8 months. Somehow he ends up in Canada. He goes back and forth across the US and Canadian border with 5 different names and aliases. The bottom line he ends up in Toronto. He is arrested. He's hanging around an elementary school selling dope to 9 year olds and trying to talk boys into coming to his apartment to play. An undercover cop busts him in the act and this individual stabs the under-cover cop. Its a miracle the cop is not murdered. He gets a two year sentence. They move to deport him so his lawyer files for refugee application status. He shows up at his refugee hearing in shackles. His lawyer talks about how he should not be deported and be allowed to stay in Canada. The Refugee Convention definition excludes individuals from the protection of refugee status if they are found to commit serious non political crimes in the country they seek asylum in. In this individual case, this s.o.b. is still in Canada and has served his sentence. Oh no he was not deported. By the way when he was arrested he was found to be living with a 5 year old boy he claimed was his adopted son and his apartment was full of porno. One can only imagine what he is up to these days. So you want stories I have plenty of them. Do I think we should not deport people because we don't believe in the death penalty? Guess.

Let's be very clear. Both the Liberals and Tories have exploited the immigrant vote. Mulroney was as good as they came when it came time to recruiting the ethnic vote and there's nothing wrong with that. I think the current Tory regime is in an interesting predicament because its Reform wing is not exactly pro immigration but the more moderate wing knows to win the next election they can't alienate and need to attract the immigrant vote and so yah it did not suprise me for one to see Harper suddenly making nice to the Chinese although the shrewd sob made sure to give them very little money. That said, immigration has always been misunderstood in this country. The fact is the Canadian population has aged pretty much in a bubble and the bubble is basically with the baby boomer generation now in their late 50's and early 60's. Someone has to replace them otherwise no one will be paying into CPP and so many other government pension schemes. The fact is if you look at the demographic profile of the country, its population is not growing fast enough, so its naive to think there is no room or need for new Canadians. That said, people mistake the above demograophic need for more people to replace the aging baby boomers with another issue - the issue as to assimilation. The fact is the federal government and its municipal and provincial counterparts have failed to work in a uniform manner in regards to immigration policy causing two phenomena; i-the obvious phenomena of new Canadians clustering in large cities, i.e., Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal and not spreading out to more rural or less populated areas; ii-a clear failure to properly bring in needed professionals and get them to work in their trained professions in cities and towns where they are needed. In the case of i, this is what causes people to make generalizations and feel there are "too many immigrants" and lack of work. The fact is there is work its just that if you cluster your population opportunities to employ people and help the economy are missed and ghettoes of over-concentrated competition for the same jobs occurs. In the case of ii, we all know the problem here. I will give you an example. My neighbour is a Christian Israeli. She is an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist. She was trained in Israel. Israel's medical system and this is a fact is far superior to anything we have in Canada. And yet she can not make the transition to her specialty let alone just become a gp in Toronto. Yet there is a shortage of gp's in Toronto and we are told only l of 10 gp's in Toronto is accepting new patients. That said, lets look at rural Ontario. We have hundreds of communities in desperate need of doctors all over rural Canada. Surely this person, should be encouraged to move to a rural area and be a doctor. Why not give her tax free status for three years to encourage this move? The problem is of course, new Canadians cluster because they don't feel they will fit in if they go to rural areas. That of course is a vicious cycle to defeat. The Charter of Rights guarantees people the right to live where they want. On the other hand to get them to move to rural areas perhaps tax incentives are what is needed. As well, we could basically set up a government run agency to place doctors from other countries all over Canada and have them monitored by Canadian doctors and we could seriously up-date our regulations and get real and when we have doctors from other first world countries, we make it easier for them to make the transition. That said, yes there have been some people who took advantage of the refugee determination system to avoid the regular immigration route and jump the line and many of these people are uneducated and are not making the transition very well. However. statistics show, that the vast majority of these people not doing well, are still a minority of the refugees, the vast majority work. Its a misnomer and the statistics from Stats Can (if you believe them) show the majority of immigrants work. This idea that immigrants become dead-beats is a misnomer. All that said, to understand the history of immigration in Canada since 1867, one must remember immigrants came in waves and in direct reaction to two consequences; i-weather, i.e., famine, or ii-political violence. All immigrants have come for the same reason; the opportunity to make a living and live in peace. That hasn't changed. As the planet shrinks yes there is much more movement between borders but the reasons for movement still are the same. The fact is the demographiuc profile of Canada has changed. The fastest growing language is Spanish believe it or not and yes the Chinese and other Asian communities including those from the Indo-Pakistani region are coming in growing numbers but in fact in Canada, Latin Americans are the fastest growing population at least right now. Toronto leads the entire world in having over 130 distinct languages spoken and the largest number of ethnic populations for one metropolis region. Winnipeg believe it or not is a very interesting break down with almost even numbers of Jamaicans (yes you heard it), Jews, Ukrainians, Filipinos and white Europeans, other then of course its aboriginal. Some of our cities are a lot more cosmopolitan then we think they are.

I really enjoyed the discussion on this one. RB''s yours was very interesting. I am sort of where Kindred is at on this. I worked in the court system as a family mediator and so I did see my share of sexually abused teens and children so I obviously was concerned and thinkt he raising of the age of consent was needed. Look I am not sure if you really can regulate sex. We have to try protect children or young teens from power imbalances in relatinships but yah from a practical point of view there are limits. The fact is that by the time the legal system gets involved its usually too late. I personally have always felt there should be strict statutory rape laws with minimum first time offenses for adults having sex with children. Now here is the interesting thing. Yes kids at 16 can drive cars and have sex. So? The fact is that when a child reaches puberty, say from the age of about 12 or 13 to their mid 20's the frontal lobe explodes in size. While it suddenly bursts and grows the person boy or girl turning into man or woman lacks judgement and has major mood swings. Sure we call it the teenage years but there's a physiological reason for it. The brain grows and with that growth there are all kinds of hormonal changes and chemical changes to the brain and its neurotransmitters, So as much as teens think they know what they are doing when it comes to sex the fact is there judgement is distorted and they need our help and yes protection. Its not so much trying to control teens as protect them from adults trying to exploit them and protecting themselves from violence with each other or peer group pressure from one another. Yes the law itself is not the best way to do it - strong parenting, good sexual education, are two major tools. The problem is though you try being ateen today. The media uses sex to sell and pressure kids who are 6,7, 8. Its a dog's break-fast. This is a start at least. Do I want to put 2 15 year olds in jail for having sex? No. But I sure want to discourage them from having unprotected sex and for that matter having sex until they are more emotionally ready to handle it. They should feel like there are options other then sex. I got no problems with sex-I do have problems with kids feeling that they have to provide sex to gain acceptance and yah I have a major problem with adults who have to go to Thailand for vacation, etc.