jdobbin

Then it is a good candidate for selling or closing, wouldn't you agree?

I don't know if that argument could be made about the Metis. Canada was a country and it signed the agreements with the Metis, at least according to what everyone has gathered. I can't speak for the Aboriginal treaties. Some were signed by Britain on behalf of Canada, others by Canada as it gew as a nation. As the Supreme Court has said time and time again, Canada is as bound by the British North American Act as it is bound to our repatiated constitution and Charter of Rights. It will be the law that decides this.

This is what the Colonel said "...how presumptuous of our prime minister to question why the UN would continue to staff the post. What does he think they would do? UN members were there to report violations of the Security Council Resolution 425. To abandon the post was not an option, at least for a soldier who has any sense of honour." And since the Israelis kept giving assurances, the U.N. command kept their forces out there to do the job that the Security Council authorized it to do. It was a political decision to be made if the soldiers were to stay or be moved out. The fault lies with the ambassadors and ultimately the leaders of the world for letting U.N. Forces hang out there in the wind. This is why Harper is disengenuous when he asks why were they out there. He should be asking why himself whey didn't he make a motion to have the U.N. pulled back for their own safety.

I think Iraq and the collapse of housing prices will be the ace in the hole for Democrats.

Here is one expert who used to be the Canadian commander of the U.N. forces in Lebanon. He ain't exactly happy with Harper. http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/ed...19-0149b23a9344 ''I am gobsmacked at the response of Stephen Harper, who is reported to have said that the bombing was not deliberate and that he wanted to know "why it remained manned during what is, more or less, a war." I submit that Mr. Harper's responsibility is to demand that the individuals involved in this deliberate and blatant act be brought to justice. I also hope that Mr. Harper does not attend the funeral of this officer and shed false tears to support a political position rapidly becoming perilous. I will be there to honour a fellow officer who clearly demonstrated that he shared ideals that were above partisan and convenient politics. Louise Arbour, the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, has stated that Israel might be in a position where its actions constituted crimes of war. I would be disappointed if she, in the absence of government action, did not find this incident worthy of her close attention. G.W. Kent Davis, Lieutenant-Colonel (ret'd)"

And subsequently, Reagan didn't know what was going on in his own Whitehouse basement. At least that's the story they stuck to on Iran-Contra.

Do you think that somehow Landis is going to be able to retain the title?

The U.N. continued to get assurances right up till the last hours that the outpost would not be targeted. The chain of command in Israel approved the target coordinates for the bombs. The U.N. provided those coordinates as "do not target" list to the Israeli Defence Forces and were in communication all day long with the Israelis about the proximity of the strikes. This is a failure if the Israelis, not the U.N. soldiers. According to Israeli military rules, it could be a prosecutable offence. The prime minister receives a Defence and CSIS briefing every day. It states where Canadian soldiers are based in all military engagements including U.N. ones. Hot spots around the world are highlighted. Lebanon would have been at the top of the list. Harper was disengenous when he expressed suprise that the U.N. Forces including a 7 Canadian soldiers were in the middle of things. That's where they have been for years. UNIFIL's mandate is directed by the Security Council. This is why the Chinese are majorly pissed. They would have moved their soldier were it not for the assurances from Israel. Canada also had the right to ask that the observers be pulled but were also assured that U.N. soldiers would be safe from Isreali bombing. And the argument you state is the fog of war argument. Sometimes it applies, sometime it does not. It is the target coordinates that are the issue, not the person who dropped the weapon on the U.N. outpost. It is those numbers that could have someone facing a military trial in Israel. They were deliberately targeted as it turns out so the Major was incorrect. His wife was correct that it was deliberate. The question that remains is whether it was incompetence or something else that allowed the coordinates to be approved for a precision bomb. In any event, those that provided those numbers and approved them should be suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. Do you disagree with that assessment? In the last several weeks some Canadian soldiers have been questioning whether near misses in Afganistan have been played down even though a dozen soldiers were almost killed. All of that is the Globe and Mail and National Post last week. This incident should not be played down and Canada was the only country out of the four that wasn't outraged that the post was hit despite Israeli assurances.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more...ex.html?cnn=yes Tour de France champion Floyd Landis has a few explanations why his testosterone is high. First explanation is that he was on approved medication. Second was that he has naturally high levels of testosterone. His count was 11 to 1 when 1 to 1 or 2 to 1 is the acceptable level. We've gone through this before in Canada. Usually it is the athlete lying through their teeth. In only a few cases that I know of has it been the result of medication taken incorrectly or supplements not having proper labels on their contents. However, in all cases the result was the same: a voiding of the results and suspension. What do people think of doping and athletic competitions?

It is still early. And it isn't Lebanon that Harper is likely worried about. It's Afghanistan where support keeps slipping.

I think you are right that it is probably easier for the big guys to avoid taxes on income. I think the Bronfman's moving a few billion out of the country in a shameful loophole comes to mind. I have no idea what the percentage is though but for the Bronfman's, it must have been a grand slam.

This was always the danger of simulcasting a U.S. network a program that could be cancelled by that U.S. network. CTV and Global routinely have this problem and often have to change their programming with no notice. They also have to change programming to correspond to U.S. holidays. It was an experiment they are not likely to repeat again. And once the Conservatives get their majority, they can sell the CBC to someone else and eliminate all Canadian content guidelines.

An investigation should be conducted. The fog of war argument didn't work for the American pilots. Their career was over following the deaths of the Canadian soldiers. And last month, nearly a dozen Canadian soldiers were once again the target of a U.S. aircraft. Canadian soldiers were under the impression that the whole incident was covered up. The U.N. is pulling out its soldiers from U.N. outposts. http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/200...oval-posts.html The wife of the Canadian soldier killed is still convinced that her husband's posiiton was targeted. Some in Harper's government reportedly have said they weren't aware that a Canadian soldier was doing his job in the area. This despite the fact that CTV carried reports of what was happening in the area from that very solder. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories I have not heard what sort of investigation is taking place but it should report what the latest Hezbollah position was and how it came to be that three bunker busting precision bombs took out a big white building with U.N. on it that is clearly visible to the naked eye from the Israeli positions on the Golan Heights.

Just finished reading yesterday's Globe and Mail. They report 7 other Canadaian soldiers in UNIFIL. So, if they are in danger, what is Harper doing about that?

I'd probably go with the lower level of 3% of the economy is underground. Not too many people in Canada do all their business as contracting work where both sides wink and don't declare. I know that some small time renos where you pay a handyman certainly falls into the underground part. However, who wants to pay a major contractor like that and have no paper record of it? You'll probably have to get Mike Holmes to fix it all afterward.

You could use an extra hospital in Calgary though. Letting pregnant women bleed out on the floor is pretty poor.

How could they not know? They get a Defence briefing every morning. Lewis MacKenzie, a Conservative was in touch with the Canadian every day.

There's still lots of soldiers there. Why isn't Harper immediately asking they be pulled out now?

They were unarmed U.N. observers who had been assured, reassured and reassured again and again that they would not be targeted by the Israelis. It's a large white building with U.N, on it. The Israelis have a 3D mapping of all buildings in Lebanon according to ABC News. Please don't tell me that the Canadian soldier who lost his life was complicit in his own own death.

But the U.N. is the sum of the membership. Our ambassador should have asked they be pulled out.

If U.N Forces are in danger even now, Harper should ask to have them pulled. Sounds like he is blaming the victims here. He said Canadian soldiers don't cut and run. Well, that's true. They need orders. And those orders had to be initiated by someone. The U.N. responds to motions from its ambassadors. Where was Canada's?

Harper asked why the U.N. observers remained in place throughout this. The simple answer is that they were soldiers and unarmed. It was their very job to record what was happening. If there were orders to have them removed, it should have come from a motion on the floor of the U.N. or the Security Council. This is something that Harper should have done given that former Conservative candidate Lewis MacKenzie was aware that the unit was under fire.

And who was to give those orders?

UNIFIL was assisting Hezbollah? I don't even think Lewis MacKenzie would agree with you there. UNIFIL's last report to the U.N. was quite clear that there was a Hezbollah problem and asked for assistance in helping to diffuse it. That report would have been on McKay's, O'Connor's and Harper's desk in the the daily Defence briefing. UNIFIL's mandate was up at the end of July. McKay would have known that because Canada was about to renew its committment as per usual.

Do we even know how much of the economy is underground? So many people don't really have that option. They work for private or public companies that follow the letter of the law.