jdobbin

So, as a measure of independence we should have our own nuclear arsenal?

I know the Tories keep calling it a voter tracking system but is sold as a constituent tracking system and senators, just the same as a MPs, have constituents.

I guess about the same time that Alberta refuses to take the $4 billion a year they get from federal government themselves in transfer payments.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/24392.html It has been fairly amazing the shots back and forth on this. The Vanity Fair article that started the fur flying again is here: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/feature...rah-palin200908

So they don't use Microsoft or Apple products?

Yes, Minnesota is corrupt. The Governor should not sign the papers for Franken. If he does, Republicans should punish him for giving the Democrats 60 seats in the Senate.

There were similar backing and forthing in Northern Ireland as well. Ultimately, we have the situation we have now. ... They didn't. The CJC and other Israeli lobby groups came down hard on the Liberals. ... I think when one nation allows or is responsible for attacks on another, it is where Canada should speak out. And I believe it does. ... My view is that the those aspects of intolerance are pushed to influence our foreign policy. ... I never said that. I said that our friendship is not an uncritical one with Israel. We advocate for a two nation policy at every turn and have found success thus far in Gaza. The focus is now on the West Bank. And I believe we do that now even if you don't. My view is that Harper should be more public in advocating for the solutions that are presently being talked about now. Like the Obama administration, Harper has to push for an end of the expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

For today's situation with another president in place? I guess we can assume then that if Layton was PM, we would have an immediate pull-out from Afghanistan and all our troops headed to fight in Sudan?

There have been minorities before. I can't recall such a problem on a consistent basis. As for their defeat being imminent, I think that isn't entirely clear. There is something else going on. I think it has more to do with interference in departments and not being allowed to lobby or work for the government afterwards that is the big turn off.

He wants to send troops from Canada right now to stop the building?

So what is your solution? You think Israel will respond to less friendly? How less friendly?

They stopped in one place and removed all settlement. The focus as you well know is on the West Bank. The Liberal response is the right to defend itself against violent attacks. Ignatieff caught hell on his disproportionate response on the issue of Qana. His mistake in my view was to say that a crime had been committed there when he did not have enough information on the subject. Nor did he have the authority to decide a crime had been committed there. However, Ignatieff has been fairly clear on the right to defend needs to measured by civilian casualties. And you believe that the Liberals have not spoken up on those things? Hypothetical hostility? I think we have seen enough full support against Israel to know that it isn't hypothetical. Thankfully, no political party in Canada questions Israel's right to exist as a state but that viewpoint is certainly expressed in a number of quarters in this country. We also see enough anti-Semitic behaviour to know that isn't hypothetical either. Ignatieff has said that criticism of Israel is legitimate. He is critical of the building going on on the West Bank now. You obviously want more done. It has been the illegitimate criticism and outright hatred that I sometimes hear. Some have sided completely with the Palestinians in this. You obviously have a solution to the problem of Canada's response to Israel. Let's hear it.

Which various governments, including Canada, are trying to get them to stop.

My personal favourite in terms of navigation and straight forward layout is CTV's website. It is clean, has a banner of the top for quick indexing, it concentrates on the latest news stories in Canada and updates frequently. It isn't overly graphic like some media outlets are around the world with a video firing up each time you hit the homepage. It has a good selection and indexing of world, business and entertainment stories and on the bottom of the page, it has clickable logos for the specialty media channels under its umbrella. Some of my only concerns are that they don't have what is currently on their main network on the main page. They only list a static primetime listing.

I'd say that was evident when Israel stopped building in Gaza and despite violent protests by some of their own, bulldozed the settlement housing. It was a sustained critical focus on Israel withdrawing from that territory that stopped settlements from being built and ended up with the removal of the existing ones. The Liberals have commented on the proportionality of military responses. I don't expect that to change. You say one sided but I don't see it that way. The hostility toward Israel by some people and I see it from some on both the left and the right is rather breathtaking. Their response appears to be pull out or pick the side of the Palestinian or Arab world over the Israelis. In short, Israel is the bad guy entirely. I have no problem saying that some of Israel's policy's are destined to cause them headaches. I suspect they know that as well. Outright hostility to Israel at every turn doesn't look a solution to me.

http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?...huffle/&c=2 It is obvious there are problems with staffing with so many open chief positions. I can't recall a sitting government having this many problems before finding people to fill positions as we are seeing now. It will be interesting to see if there is indeed blowback as some have hinted in the article.

Are any center right parties gaining a lot of strength? I haven't seen a large sample provincial poll from Alberta in a while.

How is that going to happen?

Well, I won't be running this election. heh My main concern is to see the reduction of hostilities in the Middle East. Canada, as a friend of Israel, can offer support and advice on the situation. It isn't an uncritical support. While Israel has a right to defend itself, it has to come to terms with settlements.

I have no problems with a clear policy. We should be looking to resolve conflict by offering whatever help we can. I think we do have something to offer. We were instrumental with the people we put to work on the issue of Northern Ireland. We could do the same with the Middle East in our own way. Canada is a friend of Israel. But commendably, we are offering the hand of friendship and trade to Jordan as well. Perhaps they will be next of a number of Arab countries to sign free trade agreements with Canada. I have no problem commending the Harper government for the signing of the agreement with Jordan. It will probably do more for Palestinians than anything else we have done in the last years.

When we've sold reactors, it hasn't been to let countries develop nuclear technology. I suppose we could have hoarded the technology but Canada's goal from the beginning is to discourage proliferation. We have had the knowledge since 1945 to make a bomb and never have. We've led by example.

Didn't say anything of the kind. I just said that Syria is not considered a democracy. I have no idea what your position is on all this other than to withdraw all involvement. I think we have seen that we will be drawn in one way or the other, especially when conflict escalates.

It isn't a democracy. It is a single party state which has been under emergency rule since 1963. So the NDP policy is to make sure everyone has them? I thought the goal was to reduce proliferation.

Syria and Iran are also in the pursuit of nuclear weapons. Given Iran's stable situation and their feelings about Israel, you think ignoring the situation is a something Canada should be doing? Once again, I didn't say that support is uncritical. It is just different than no support at all which is what some seem to advocate.

I thought some NDP were realistic. Almost every nation in the middle east is developing nuclear weapons and your party's solution is to leave Israel to it own ends?