watching&waiting

I my day and it is not that long ago, a 21 year old dating a 15 year old, would have had not only the parents up in arms, but the community would have made his being able to be there impossible. The only way a 21 year old and 15 year old are equalls is if the 21 year old is retared by 6 years. If you were my daughter back then I would have grounded you and made sure that the 21 year old never would again come around.

Do we not have the JTF2 task force as a special ops of this type in Canada right now. Also I believe I read where part of this group was already over there, but I cna not be sure of that.

I am surprised by many of the answers to this, but there is one thing that I think I may be seeing in this, and that is polls should not be relied upon. Especially if they are about any issue that has controversey. Maybe this will hit the right balance of showing this. Because soon we are going to be bombarded will polls of all kinds from all levels of goverment, and it would be nice to see people look at them and pick apart what the real meaning is, without having everyone jump on it because it now shows your side etc. Yes I am sure gerry will be doing some scambling before he answers, but really the right answer is polls are snap shots of mements in time, and just as time changes so do the polls. We should weight them accordingly.

...and you are straignt becasue you want to be straight? Am I stright? Maybe I am into sheep. who would know, that is why we keep our sex lives secret. But No I do not like animals .....Why then are there so many who kill themselves becasue they can't cope with their membership in their gay club? So then you are saying that being gay is reason for some to be suicidal? Then I would have to say they are in need of mental help. But id being gay makes then feel so guilty, then maybe it would be time to seek transgender. This has already been shown a few times this week as being without merit. Much like the rest of the post. If we cuddle the gay movement, there will be more people who then will seek to find out more about gay lifestyle and then maybe more gays. But I will bet you there are way more suicide from people who sought the gay lifestyle in curiosity, and then were stricken with guilt and then suicide then there are of the ones mentioned above. So maybe to hyou it is without merit, but to others it just may fit their thinking. Which is what we do here now isn't it.

This has gotten way too much out of hand. I do not believe that we have to protect minorities at all. But we must stop persecution of them, and that is where it should end. This whole thing about protecting in law each minority, is stupid. Just a simple law where you can not use the minority as an excuse for behaviour, is all that should be granted and then leave it at that. When you have two minorities at opposite due to religion then each has the right to the belivefs of that religion. This whole thing about gays being a minority and need protedtion is stupid. They are gay because they want to be gay, and that is no different then jpoining a club. If left to their own devices the gay question will settle itslef in one generation, as gays do not get pregnant or reproduce. So if they were a majority the world would be hard pressed to go on now would n't they. I am more then sick and tired of the minority card being used and there should be some sort of retribition for those who use it fraudulently. But that is another topic for another time

I guess Gerryhatrick is not going to like this, but that is the problem will polls. They change like the weather. Basically in the Ottawa Citzen today they published these new numbers 57% support the mission and it is almost the exact reverse of the polls Gerry uesd here to spout his view. I do not like to use polls but I will this time just to show that it is not something you can bet your house on. Polls are very unreliable and change with the winds. At least this time the polls look to be more in keeping with what I had thought, but maybe they will change again. But for now they are encouraging. As expected the smallest support was in Quebec, but the Atlantic Provinces were over 60% support and 66% in Alberta, 56 in BC and 59% Ont. Now maybe people will realise that polls are something not to govern by or even run a leadership race with.

You quoted tyhe absolute lowest paid level there is and very few people ever stay at that level. I come from a very big military back ground family. We have had veternerns from all the wars and believe me it is not evn close to what you described. Even the disabled in our family were well taken care of, but the one thing that our miltary could not do was force many of those who needed psycoanalysis, to take this and be better off for it. There are so many things that are available to our veterns that many do nto know about. My aunt found out in her 70's that she qualifies for death benitits pension from her late husband from 25 years back. She was then paid all retroactive to the date of death and it was a very tidy some. She has since died but all the educational benefits were also given out to their kids etc. There may be many hard feeling that some have when it comes to Military pensions, but from the point of view from what our family has seen, there is nothing to complain about.

I am a person who I have to say tolerates homosexuality. I do not think it is of any consquence what these people do behind closed doors and I believe they should obey laws of common decency while in public. I am not for them marrying in the same way as the others, but they could and should seek other means to formalize their relationship. Now that being said, I also do not think that this should take up so much time in our government. Maybe have 1-2 days debate and then vote. It should not be given any more then that. If gay people want more then letb them seek it through the court system and see if it will fly. I am all for not making people perform ceremonies by force. If they do not feel comfoirtabel then that should be it. Iam tolerant of gays and Imust say that I do not like the gay lifestyle and I still think that Gay men and women should never be allowed to adpopt children other then from their own families. The fact that gay mand and women do not reproduce normally, this then should be a once per generation problem. Now does that mean I am going to push to have these gay marriages enulled? No. I just simply want this to stop and a totally free vote on it and then that is the end. If you do not want the vote to be by the government, then set a date for a referendum vote, and be dun with it once and for all. The gay issue has wasted too much of our time as it is.

That line was actually attributed to another responding to what I said above. I agree that this is not true.

The idea of danger pay is from the idea that you are facing death every day in a much greater fashin then most people. The injured are still getting their danger pay while in the hospitals ect. but when they are recouperating at home or out od the threater of the action they are no longer in danger and so yes the pay is cut. If and when they return to the threater of war they are again piad this benefit. I just do not see the need for outrage in this. But I can probably see the Liberals maybe having problems, as we all know they are big on "we are entitled to our entitlements", but they will not see the true sense of what this extra pay was for. We must remember that there are many different levels of payment that the forces get. Death benefits, for the family and their children, disability for those wounded and can not recover fully, and many others. As things change so will the benefits to more directly address the cause. It is not a hard thing to under stand.

"There have been proven climate changes in the past and they have been much larger in nature then we see today. But there were no industrial pollution back then, so why did this happen. We have seen eveidence of the cyclical nature of these events and that we ore over due for one now. So can anyone say with certainty that we are the main cause of what is happening today, or are we just a tiny portion of the cause." -I believe they point to the speed of the increases in temperature. Climate shifts are supposed to take thousands of years not a century. The increases in the speed of temperature hikes correlates with the increase of CO2 emissions due to our industrialization. Bradco I am very sorry to have to tell you that Iceages were very fast climate changes in terms if a year for the start and maybe decades to really cover the earth. If Ice ages took thousand of years, then all the dinansaurs would have migrated to the sountherm most areas and not be found still standing in their tracks frozen that way. For example a super volcano could cause the earth to become barren within one years growing cycle. The seas would become m0ore acidic and most of the species on the surface of the earth would die. That could happen as fast as tomorrow or take a much longer time. e could be hit by astroids, or any other of the many things that nature could throw at us and we would be helpless to react. We know that there are natural heating and cooling events. Also we are due for a heating event now as the cycle that these have taken is again saying this. Now yes many scientists will say we have made this one much more of an event because of our man made pollution. But I preferr to think that we are an enclosed little micro-environment in the vast universe. We do not have the ability to add or subtract much from our environment that would be considered from a new source. The greenhouse gases we put into our atmosphere had to be taken from some where and they will sooner and later again return to where they came. Think of it as the old " energy can not be created or destroyed" it can only be converted and used and then again it will return to its lowest form once again. Yes we can change things over time to make more and more thing suspended in our atmosphere, and many of thise things are harmful to man, and they will cause health and otehr problems, but they really have very little affect on the massive environment of earth. Yes they may heat up the world by a few degrees. But there then will cause other things to happen that will accellerate the rduction of these gases back to the soil, and await once again there release. Remember what we are now seeing science say is that if we keep going and expoentially keep increasing our contributing factors that in a century or so, we will regret doing this. But who is to say that in a century we will not have ways and methods to return all this back to the soil in an even better method? I will say that we need to have emission controls because of the health issues that our pollutants cause, but I am not going to buy into the world is doomed if we do not claims, which I beleive are false to begin with.

The otrains in Ottawa are not subways. Ottawa is built on solid bedrock and to run a subway throught the downtown would be very expense and would damage many building etc with all the blasting that it would require. The O-Trains will not be faster then buses or cars because they will have to run on the same streets through the downtown, and that means they have traffic jams. The only way that a subway might work is if there were a way to runn it under the center of the Queensway (417) But that would have some problems too but not as many. This then would be an east west route, which is where the most traffic is now. The proposed North South route now planned for, is a waste of time and money and will do nothing to shorten commute times. But that is not stopping the planners from spending a billion or more of our tax dollars, when there is no need or sense to the project.

The way to win over the the insurgents and Taliban in Afghanistan, is to have many more feet on the ground sealling the border with Pakistan and then doing a through house cleaning in the caves and crevices of the mountains. Take no prisoners and execute all collaborators with the terrorists. Either wipe out the poppies or have the crop bought for legal production. Make deals with the Chinees to have oil pipelines run through Aghanistan to China, in return for helping and making the borders safer for those in Afghistan. Maybe even some military training and other things supplied as payment for things. These are the ways to win the war. You do not need to try and negoiate with the terrorists, as that will only delay the inevitable. There is not much in Afghanistan by way of manufacturing, but they are stategically inline from the Middle east to China and that will be a good place to start building. There are many things that they will find as time goes on that will make for better relations with their neighbours. If and whn that happens then we will see the fruits of the labours now spent.

I see by the news today that Ellis was fired immediately and that now a police investigation into this is on going. That to me shows you a big difference between the old liberal and the CPC. If Liberals were in power this guy would still be working and possibly even get promoted to an area where he would not have contact. The CPC saw what was a wave of proof of his actions and took immediate action and fired the guy, and asked the RCMP to look into this for further prosecution. That is way more accountability in just one incident then the Libs did in 13 years.

In science it can only be called a theory, if there is not a reproducible cause and effect proof of just exactly what is being tested. That is why you find proofs by both sides in this debate. Even though we have seen that the eveidence for this is exptrapolated to 100 years in to the future, we seem to be more worried about the here and now. There have been proven climate changes in the past and they have been much larger in nature then we see today. But there were no industrial pollution back then, so why did this happen. We have seen eveidence of the cyclical nature of these events and that we ore over due for one now. So can anyone say with certainty that we are the main cause of what is happening today, or are we just a tiny portion of the cause. I can not and will not claim that we have not affected the lives and health of many people with our air pollution. That has been conclusively proven. Yes we do dump large greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and yes it will have some effect, but nobody can say for sure how much that affect really is, only that we would be better without it. Now that would seem true, and many will take it even farther. One solution would be to stop the population from congregating in the cities. Force employers to build their factories spread out over more areas. Make Governments setup the departments they have over the whole area of the provinces and the country. There would be an easy and viable solution, that could easily show us results, but it would never happen. But it would be the answer to the problem and it would definitely improve the air quality. It will not be done though because we do not want to be spread out. We want to have everything we want at our arms length for convenience. So we struggle and debate on the other issues and ways to reduce our emissions and it is just as with everything else, we can not agree and any one solution. Walking away from civilization like the Mayans did, is not going to be the answer. I would rather though have the CPC take a shot at this and see what results they can come up with abd be accounted for, then the Liberals who spend billions and 80% can not be shown where it went and it did nothing but increase our emissions by 27%. To me it is not a hard choice to make and I hope the CPC do a good job of this task. They have come thru in al the other task so far, so why would this be any different?

The RCMP are a federal police force and they are first and foremost supposed to enforce federal laws. They have rarely been doing that lately, and even when they do it has many screw ups because they are not used to doing all the jobs asked of them. I do not think that they should be involved in traffic duties at all and that would be better done by the provinces themselves. In the artic or remote territoies I think they can still be used, but even there, it would depend on the logistics of it being a viable challenge. The RCMP should not have any duties to do with National security as we have CSIS who should be taking care of that, and it needs to be doing that job outside of a public force anyways. All Police forces should never be investigated by their own forces or that of other police, but rather a civillian committee of outsiders, who would then look into any wrong doing. The public should be able to view all evidence in these investigations, without internal editing. If this was done the RCMP could do the job they were meant to do and still have it within their present budget.

Betsy I believe that the refugee board handle claims that are made from within the country, and the Immigration handles those that apply from outside of Canada. Many refugee claims happen when people arrive here and then claim political prosecution if they return back to their home land. Whether he had the staus of judge or not, and I believe he does. He still abused his position of power to the lowest form. He deserves to be punished hashly. I know that to me, his kind of crime is far more dangerous to our society then most other crimes, so in my own personal view I would punish as I said earlier. At least then people will see these guys getting more then a slap on the wrist, and it will deter anyone who has thoughts about doing the same. I am also aware that this was setup to get him to confess on tape by her boyfriend, but no one made this guy proposition her, and he did so of his own accord. If this person does not have any real deterents going against her refugee status, I would say that we should grant her that, as she has done our society a favour by showing us a bad apple. What I would not want to see is her deported so she can not testify, and then the charges are dropped. That would be a sign of much deeper problems.

You know I really wonder some times at just how sick people can be. The guy who shot the Amish girls in there one room school house all because of something that happened 20 years or more ago, is sad and sick. There is no other way to describe it, but it has happened. Then you get the mindless idiots who try to use the sick mind of the man for doing this as an excuse for gun control, because you little minded people want to enflict your will on the rights of others, because you disagree with those rights. There is not anyone out that that will say it was the guns that killed those girls, but rather the man himslf had to use the guns to do it. Would people feel any better if he rapered and slit each of their throats first. Would that make it any more wholesome for you. I am a canadian and yes I hunt and fish and yes all my rifles are semi-automatic, there are 2, 22caliber rifles, one 20 gauge shot gun and a 30.06 rifle. All with scopes but the shot gun, and both me and my wife hunt and shoot together. We live in rural Ontario and we will never agree to banning of any of our rifles period. They are all registered and stored in gun safes when not in use. What really burns my buns are the incessant individuals who think that they know better and rant and rave about how this is no good. Listen up people this is Canada and it was settled by people with guns and it still is a wilderness for about 80 % of its area. People will always need guns in these areas. You people in the city have made your own sicko and morons, and then when these act out in your cities you cry and whine about it is the guns fault. It is not the guns faults, it is you and the society of the cities fault. You seem to be the ones who make for these sick types, and the fact that many have children who dress like goths and want to encourage everything about death, then you wonder when one of these sickos kills. This latest shooting happened in the country and I and many others will say that is really not the way it normally is. You will notice that in the country where this guy drove a milk truck, it was noticed that he seemed preoccupied lately and that something was weighing on him. Normally that would have many people here trying to talk him into better moods, but sometime that can not be done. I will never see in my mind any justification for committing an act like this. But that does not mean I blame the weapons. The amish community would not have large gun owners around it and it was that fact that probably made him do this there. The government can make me register my rifles, but the day when they try to take them, that is the day I will be an outlaw. No I won't shoot it out with them but they can not take what they can not find, and after they search my home, and will leave with nothing. No way would I just feel amiable to giving the goverment $3000 -$4000 dollars worth of my gear, because of the actions of the sick people that do such things. Any government that tries that is not going to be in power very long.

It still is anybodies race, as when all is said and done any of the top 4 could throw their support behind any of the front runners and if all do as requested of them, it would chnge the optics very quickly. The only thing that would put this to a crowning would be if any of the front runners thru their support to Iggy. Then it would be all over but the crowning. Volpe would be smart to just release his supporters, as anyone he would throw his support to, would not want the optics of that pulling them down. Finlay will wait until the end to throw her support and that will make a difference with the female vote even though her numbers are small.

I saw that tape last night and yes it was more then disturbing. This guy needs to be prosecuted and jailed for what he has done, not to mention the damage he has done to the validity of the immigration court system. It is time to show that when people in the position of power abuse it, that they get the mandatory maximum sntence in the highest security prisons, as they are the ones who harm society the most.

Armyguy do not get the wrong idea of who and waht is to blame. The present government has done more for updating the forces in the last six months then the Liberals did in 13 years. Yes it is going toi take time, and that is not much good when you ride in vehicles that should have been amoured better. There are many needs that you guys over there have and yes if it were up to me you would have all you need asap. But both you and I know this is not going to happen any time soon. But if the money that was alloted so far gets some of the things needed, then it will be a small step in a long march. I am too old now to ever be over there, but I am not too old to stand up for a well equipeped standing army or for that matter all forces. Yes we still have to allow the likes of Gerryhatrick to spew their twisted views, and he is only here to stir things up. Best ignore him, and remember that the vast majority see the need to be there and yes we can see that it will be a fight but in the end we will win out. I hope and pray that you and yours can be returned back here and that the Afghani army will soon have suffient numbers and equipment to keep the land safe for the afghani people. Keep your head down and saty safe, you are more then a welcome member here anytime you can get on the net

RB. just let him go off on his dilusional rants and ignore all he says. Everyone on this site knows he does not have any sense in anythign he says, and the only thing that will stop him is completely ignoring him. You can teach the young and the willing, but teaching the insane, that is just best left to the professionals. Let it go and this will die eventually and if we are all lucky he will leave and not come back.

I do not know just how you think that the water will be controlled, but where I live the water table is very high and if the galiciers melt then it would be even higher. I drink water that comes from my well at the 100ft deep mark, and it is better then most bottled water on sale. It is just the way things work. Since I have a lawn that is 4 acres and during hot summer times I water it from a pond on my property and it never seems to fall by much even in dry times, I never fear water being in short supply. if Galciers melt the water table will rise and if those whpo are wise enough drill wells into the bedrock they will have the best filtering you cna get and the cleanest water. You only need to be careful not to drill thru the bedrock as water there while drinakable will have a high sulphur content. I would imagine this would be the same for most areas and with the exceptions of the Canadian sheild, there would be little to stop people from having wells. As far as quality cloth goes, there still are manufacturer's around Canada making top quality cloth, but you will not find these in the dicount depeartment stores. You get what you pay for, and yes now with machines doing the work, they can lower the thread counts in clothes to values that will not survive a harsh wash cycle. But you must remember that is the way they can afford to procuce these at the lowest prices. This has also been the reason for Jobs going away as well. Production cost are much lower in places like India and China.

Lets just correct something here before they go by un-noticed. Ara was not flying to the USA, but rthare was flying home to Canada. There was a flight transfer in the USA. As the habit now of the USA they check all people that feel interested in, regardless of the fact that they do not intend to left the secure area of the airport and leave on a connecting flight. It was the USA that kept him from contining, and the USA also knew Arar was Canadian. All they had to do is put him on the connecting flight and he would have been gone and all would have been well. Arar did nothing to bring this on himself other then be of mideastern descent. The USA broke International laws by sending him to Syria, and the courts will soon rule if they broke their own countries laws as well. It was the RCMP that let Arar down and gave information that was faulty. Arar is going to get a large amount of money from Canada for our part in this, but he will as well go after the rest. I believe Canada should make Syria pay for this, as they are the ones who held and captured Arar. As far as the ammounts go, I will assume that lawyers will take the largest portion, So Arar will get what to many is a lot of money, I do not how many of you would be willing to go thru the same for the same amount of money.

Wow Decima must have really screwed that poll up. I do not know about where you live, but here in and around Ottawa support for the troops and the mission is such that I would have to say that the vast majority(at least 70%) are in favour of both the troops and mission. You can hear them talking in cafes and the lunch room tables etc.. If you look at the ribbons worn to show their support, you start to wonder if this was a manadtory thing. But as you say that was last month, so it was before Parliament was sitting for this session. Since that time the people have been informed about the mission and why we are there and they have heard from the Elected PM of Afghanistan, ho greatful there are for all we are doing and hope we continuue to help them, until they can train and help themselves. Maybe that is why you poll is so out of step with what I see today.