Charles Anthony

I hope you are alone. This is no time for melodrama nor poetry. For reasons of proximity with Korea, Japan should have missiles and nuclear warheads NOW. Deterrence is a really powerful weapon itself. Would YOU pull out a hand-gun and take aim in a crowd if you knew that everybody around you also had a loaded hand-gun and the will to fight back?

I would add that if you have to drive OUT of your hometown to watch YOUR OWN hometown team playing as visitors, you deserve to go straight to Heaven.

It sounds quite the opposite to me. It sounds like the people in Labrador are the ones being smug. It sounds like they are saying: "Everybody else has it. Therefore, we should have it too." -- as if they are entitled.

No. I am in the nation's capital. However, I would probably respond the same way if I was in Toronto! I thought everybody in Toronto knows everything already. No need to ask any stupid questions. This reminds me of the final part of the survey. She asked if I wanted to take part in their online polling program. It sounded like they employ/recruit/volunteer people to do online surveys. I thought: yes! that sounds like fun! (I also wondered: what is she thinking?!?!? Me?!? yeah, I would be a great candidate!) I have not heard back yet -- maybe her supervisor looked closer at my answers.

In general for a poll on voting, I would also like to see the choice of "not voting" in the poll. Uh.... it sounds like you need to go back to church! I have no idea where else you will get all of your wishes! I would not even give them my vote! This past weekend I was called by a polling/research firm for my opinion on an upcoming municipal election. The lady asked a series of city issues questions that might be addressed by city council and yadda yadda yadda. The two of us had particular trouble with one question: For which candidate I would most likely vote? (Forget about the fact that the first question she asked was what my likelihood of voting at the election will be and I said categorically that I would not vote at all. I still had to answer the question of who?!?!?) They did not have a choice of not voting for any of the mayoral candidates. I insisted that I would not vote for any of them and she did not know what to do. She wrote it down and had to check with her supervisor. If anybody cares about the rest of the story, I was particularly peeved by the fact that they were only asking about the top three most popular candidates. There are a total of 9 people running for the position. I realize that the others have no chance of winning -- I actually do not think the others would do a good job. However, there is one candidate (far out in left field) for whom I would get up and vote, only for novelty's sake. She also asked my opinion on snow removal, garbage pick up, police and ambulance response, yadda yadda yadda throughout the city. I told her that I drive back and forth to work practically every day and that I HAD NO IDEA what all of these things are like THROUGHOUT THE REST OF THE CITY -- most particularly in the rural parts. Again, we were stuck -- that was not one of the choices. I could only tell her what it was like on my street -- we settled on that.

I do not. I just see an unexplainable rant.

Posting a news item with very little commentary does not upset me. You categorically refuse to explain the issue or to provide references to further reading. Myself, I do not know enough about global warming. Thank you for the advice. I will try to control my emotions. Should I learn from your example? Oh, by the way, congratulations on leading A THREAD OF YOUR OWN to degenerate until it got closed by the moderator.

Well, then go to the polls and use your almighty Power To Vote and make a difference. However, you will waste bandwidth with your rant. You will not explain the science but you will rant. With more than due respect, what the do you want?

Accept it. The vast majority of people living today on Earth devoutly either believe in God or some form of the supernatural. What I find strange is that a flock of sheep will cower away and run from a noisy barking dog when all of them could easily turn and over-power him if they so choose -- but they do not.

You are missing the point. Those people choose to live there. I have driven to Labrador (not all of it but enough of it) and I have seen that: 1) it is peaceful and beautiful 2) there is not much commercial activity there for me to earn a living. The point is: to what degree must OTHER people pay for what people in Labrador (or anywhere for that matter) want or need? You must answer that question. Now, I will stop playing the devil's advocate and go back to playing the devil... The same right that you have to insist that other Canadians pay for your law and order and garbage pickup and road maintenance and national security and national currency and all of the other things behind which statists hide. Are we (in the bigger cities) willing to give up our dependence on the state too???

I would still say: just look for an other cab because I do not feel I am entitled to taxi service. Therein lies the problem: we treat taxi service as if it were a public service. It should not be a public service any more than buying from a lemonade stand should be. Yes, that would be fine with me: it is their taxi, not mine. Actually, I am fine with that too: it is not my restaurant. No, they are not ENFORCING anything on anybody. It is their cab and they can run their business as they choose. If it is sooooo unreasonable, other non-Muslim cab-drivers can get up off their asses and work: the work that only Muslim cab-drivers are willing to do. They can also refuse it in their car because it is their business. Where do people get their say to demand how Muslims should do their business? They are the only ones willing to do that job. I agree. Can the taxi company fire all of these Muslim drivers for refusing to carry alcohol? Yes. Is the taxi company able to easily replace the drivers??? If not, too bad. The drivers get their way. Ah! -- but who will drive the taxis? Exactly! Eventually, everybody will be without taxi service long enough and they will ask the Muslim drivers to come back.

Before going to bed each night, I have one more thing for which to pray: improved global literacy. I now truly believe it can only come supernaturally.

From that article, I prefer to quote this: This is completely disgusting and a provocation by racists -- certainly an abuse of tax-payers' money. Sorry, B.Max, but somehow I find that the airing of disgusting racism on state television is out-of-order. Just as an observation, most modern science fiction (novels / drama) portray futuristic inter-galactic civilization as multicultural. They have humans and humanoids of all sorts living together. War between them is usually a conflict of wealth or controlling resources -- as opposed to petty and trivial things such as the sizes or shapes or creed of the various races.

Actually, I never did make that connection. It was Drea above who made that trivial connection by recountering a pride-bruising tale. Go back and review the thread. I suggest intervention when there is mortal child abuse. Drea's tale-of-woe trivialized child abuse.

Forgive me but that issue is now moot. That is what I suggested too. Wrong. He needs his own people more than anybody else. From where would his power and wealth come otherwise? The North Korean leader can not just up and set up business outside of North Korea. What are you saying? Either China controls him or not.

This nuclear test is analogous to firing a gun in the air (albeit, in the opposite direction) in a crowd of people to capture everybody's attention. Nobody is going to start a nuclear war but rather, they want something. It would be wise to figure out what they want. Not necessarily invasion. All of the neighboring countries could fire their rockets and war-heads simultaneously. Morbid, I know but we should ask: why has it not already happened??? I think the answer is because somebody outside of North Korea depends on North Korea's regime to stay the same. Who does trade with North Korea??? Can sanctions be placed on them? Indeed, they are useless. The only way sanctions can do harm is if trading partners exist. The fact that people do trade with North Korea demonstrates that we need them as well as they need us -- directly or indirectly. The North Korean ambassador to the United Nations said something to the effect that Bush should be congratulating the engineers of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for their success. In a sense, he is right. The rest of the world should accept the fact that if a country wants nuclear weapons capabilities enough, the market will see that it happens. Unless other countries are willing to go to war to stop it, they should just wake up and smell the coffee. If this is the continuation of an arms race and the North Koreans sell their technology to rogue states or non-state entities, I fear we are in for trouble. We would be wise to figure out what North Korea trully wants and to make them prosperous. The North Korean leadership can be bought. They are like every other country: they are in it for the money. The leadership in China will not make money by having a nuclear war next door -- unless they believe they can control North Korea and expand Chinese borders.

Why not? What would YOU do if you witnessed mortal child abuse? Private cells?!?! Forgive me but the stupidity is on the other end. Why would anybody imprison you "in their private cells" pray tell? kill you? If you think there is anything now stopping stupid people from assaulting, you are right: it is your freedom to defend yourself.

There is a thought! Give up AND send the police home! Why did I not think of it myself! We could save a lot more money! Would you still let us pray??? You do not get it. You socialists tie everybody's hands to the point where nothing gets done to prevent crime. You socialists reduce our "law and order" to nothing more than police chasing AFTER criminals AFTER crimes are committed. When some busy-body neighbor suspects child abuse, you get all enranged and offended. I repeat my congratulations on YOUR law and order. Your incident makes me shake my head.It makes me shake my head too because I ask: If only those dead kids in Barrie live next door to somebody who cared, where would they be now? Excellent! Nevermind those kids. To hell with them! We should only concern ourselves with the parents whose pride will be shattered. I think you are being naive. Our justice system is a gradual evolution and a product us. It is what WE want and what WE support. It is like any other sector of the economy. Demanding an overhaul of the justice system is as valid as demanding an overhaul of our dependence on technology. Blaming societies ills on the amount of time wasted in front of computers instead of typewriters or complaining about having to go to automated tellers instead of waiting forever in line at the bank behind an old fogie chatting it up all day while cashing a $40 cheque or damning driving to work instead of walking are all useless and will go nowhere. Better than what? Better than what happened to those two dead kids in Barrie? Where was YOUR socialism for them? You still can not look at any other family except your own, can you? I think it is too bad that your "crazy lady" did not live in Barrie. Maybe the neighbors in Barrie are not crazy enough. You make extra-ordinary assumptions. You strike your kid in public and say that I am volatile. You assume that I have guns. Yes, my attitude is holier than your attitude. You strike your kid in public and identify me as patriarchally old-fashioned. Just out of curiosity: how old was your kid when you struck him in public?

Yeah, I am sure that having "friends" in political office is completely incidental to one's commercial success.

It would require a lot more than a constitutional amendment. It would require a population who really did not want democracy. As little as I care about democracy, I can not imagine hoards of people wanting their "laws" imposed upon them by a supreme court over-ruling their elected officials -- any more than they may already be. Just out of curiosity: who should establish the rules by which the Supreme Court of Canada must follow??? Sorry. That will never change. That is the price you must pay to live in a great big country. Your observation demonstrates to me that Canada is NOT a true believer in freedom for all its citizens -- if Canada can believe in anything.

Argus is right. The socialists leave us no choice but to pray. Hell, they might even outlaw prayer! Our only choice might be to shut up, pay our taxes, bend over and submit to the state! Yeah, my heart bleeds for your sorry-pride story. The neighbors in Barrie should have intervened a little more forcefully than calling social services. It is people like YOU and your proud-parenting that make it difficult for neighbors to help out kids in troubled homes. Stop complaining. Do you want social programs or not? I believe people should by-pass the social workers entirely and stick their nose in other people's affairs. Maybe a probing question in the laundry room or on the front steps: "I hear you and your hubby yelling and screaming all of the time. What is going on? How are the kids taking your abuse???" You are not thinking. You are just responding emotionally. If there was no reason, why would your son be taken away from you?? If the visit from the social worker hurting your feelings is the price that must be paid to prevent kids from being abused or killed, tough ruddy luck. You make me sick. I am talking more of a write-off. Without socialist programs, only a selfish or evil person would think that charities would not pick up the slack. What example? What I see above is a confusing mess whereby the only thing that stands out is a parent whose pride was damaged. We have two dead kids and people who want us to call 911 while we turn our backs -- I mean, control responses. Congratu-****-ulations! I am not afraid of vigilante justice.

I am pessimistic. Like our failing health-care system, I believe that the only way things will change is if they hit rock bottom. Until our social programs (and ourselves) are bankrupt, we will still have people demanding more money for social programs. Even after that, I am sure the socialists will be in denial and put forth more pie-in-the-sky money-growing-on-trees policies. Simple: intervention from fellow citizens. The old fashioned way. Here is a question for you: what would be the best thing to do if you saw (or suspected) a parent murderously abusing their kid? A call 911 B call Dick Cheney and ask for advice C wait for a socialist program director to intervene D step in to defend the kid yourself ??? How we deal with it and how we dealt with similar events in the past have a major influence. I do not have an ideal society and neither does anybody else. Get one thing straight: child abuse and murder will always exist. The best thing you can do is feel free to intervene to help your fellow citizens. Next, make it easier for other people to help their fellow citizens. That is how true prevention starts. Tax incentives to encourage charity is a good start. We look to ghosts to solve our problems. We create "social programs" that we do not even understand let alone know exist. After they are created, we fund them and have complete blind trust that they will work without giving them a second thought.

If he wants to tell you, he will tell you. However, if you just follow the links of that poster, it should be plain to see. Get familiar with the board's Search function. In fact, there is a Member Name History pop-up function somewhere. My guess is that he got married and Sparhawk was his maiden name. All he did was change it. There is an option in the My Controls function that allows you to change you name however, if somebody quoted you in the past, the [quote name='OLD_NAME'] remains. That is why you will see Sparhawk (or who knows whoelse?) identified in previous threads. I noticed this aspect of the coding long ago and it poses a problem with changing one's name. I have often wondered why the INVISION Power Board software did not use a direct link to a member's registration in the database. The designers likely just overlooked this feature. If it is ever corrected in future upgrades of the software, the old quotations will likely still maintain the old names. The name='BubberMiley' is just plain text unlike the post='140646' switch in the quotation code which will always link to the same post even if the post is edited in the future. In hindsight, it would be better for the software to give each member a unique identifier number that could not change. That way, the quotation would refer to memberIDnumber='666' for example. That memberIDnumber would always refer to the same registration regardless of whether the memberIDname='Angel' for example. This is how the signatures are referenced. If you change your signature, your old posts will NOT contain your old signature anymore but would display your new one. It would have been wise to reference the member names in the same way. This makes me think of an other wishful feature. If the QUOTE function could also contain an external hyperlink instead of only internal links to other posts. For example: [quote url='http://www.EXAMPLE.com/'] That way, if an article is quoted in a post, a separate line would be un-necessary to include the link. Illustration: [quote name='NationalEnquirer' url='http://www.nationalenquirer.com/' date='Oct 7 2006, 07:00 AM']

In some Asian cultures, it can be rude to look a person in the eyes. It can also be considered menacing. Hence, the characteristic bowed-head Asian-store clerk mannerisms. They are not being shy or meek but rather polite. This Jack Straw is a public servant. As such, he should be serving the public and not the other way around -- but that is not how government works, is it?

I have no problem with it. That incentive would work but it does not guarantee that the province will be able to meet the demand. How high of "a portion of their healthcare costs" are you willing to impose?