Led Boots

Apples to oranges. This can all be done by correspondence as well. You have a legitimate point here. The only thing I would argue is that some subsidies encourage economic prosperity and are therefore needed. In the case of oil and gas companies in Alberta I whole heartedly agree, they should not be receiving subsidies at all. Either way, two wrongs don’t make a right. I’m willing to bet that if you and I took a drive through the rural areas of Labrador that have been affected by the cancellation of this program we would see satellite dishes dotting the majority of roof tops. If I am right about this (I’ve admittedly never been to Labrador) then I guess I could assume that rural Labradorean’s see the amount of television channels they can access to be more important than internet access in terms of quality of life. I find your argument that this is a quality of life issue to be extremely weak and none of the examples you have brought forth stand up to critical review. As W&W pointed out the cost of internet services via satellite is not overly expensive, if folks in rural Labrador want internet then they can forgo some other luxury item to financially compensate for it. Well Geoffrey all I can say is that Newfoundlanders have as much entrepreneurial spirit as people in any other region of the country, the problem for Newfoundland is most of it is in Alberta. Just imagine if all of the contractors and business owners from Newfoundland packed up tomorrow and went home, we’d be screwed (in Alberta).

...and when a Calgarian or Edmontonian jump in a truck to head to Red Earth or Zama Lake they also leave their families behind for weeks or even months at a time. I spent around 2 years working overseas after 9/11 because the work in Alberta came to a stand still. My family stayed in Sydney Australia while I toiled in the outback eating red dirt and swatting at bugs the size of rats...why? because thats what it took to support my family. I also worked in shitholes like Abadan Iran, various parts of Libya and eastern europe the whole time separated from my loved ones. Higgly, I think the difference between us is that you find it acceptable for someone to wake up in the morning and sit on the couch wondering if the government will send them a cheque today, while I wake up in the morning, bypass the couch and wonder what I can do to EARN a cheque today.

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/m/misc...e_theme_tab.htm

I’m not sure what your point is here but television is definitely not a necessity. Indoor plumbing is nice. We didn’t have it when I lived in Manitoba. I gained a greater understanding of the phrase “blue balls” during that time. This isn’t a quality of life issue…my quality of life is no different now then it was before I got internet access. Having lived the rural life I know how people view “goin’ inta town”. It’s a planned for event. Pay the bills, shop, visit, run errands…etc. No need to waste gas, it’s all done in one trip or it doesn’t get done until the next trip inta town. Deny access? How do you equate the federal government not paying for internet a denial of this soon to be enshrined in the charter right? Well first off I’m not a right winger. I’m not a left winger either. I actually play defense (although I’ve been known to strap on the pads if our goalie doesn’t show up). Secondly, I don’t have Alberta’s money either and I work anywhere from 60 to 80hrs a week to pay for things like internet access. You want to take money from people like me to pay for internet access in rural Labrador so people can e-mail each other, pay their bills online and whatever else constitutes e-quality of life in your opinion. Meanwhile I struggle to survive under the crushing weight of Canadian taxes and wonder where the hell I’m going to get the money for my children’s education. That about sum it up? Thirdly, I love the maritime provinces and Labrador/Newfoundland. I love the scenery, the attitude, the people and so on… Federal transfer programs exist so that provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador can provide the same level of health care, education and social services as the other provinces. If these provincial governments deem internet access to be a necessity then they should budget for it out of moneys received via the federal transfer program.

The fact that the rest of the country has it still doesn’t make it a necessity. Growing up in rural Manitoba I couldn’t get kung pow chicken either, the rest of the country had it but I had no access to it and felt poorer for this fact (I just loves me kung pow chicken). Can you prove that universal access to the internet access would give us an advantage over countries like India? Unless Labradorean’s are willing to work for free (in trade for internet access) I don’t see how it could counteract cheap third world labor. And no, I wouldn’t want us to revert to the socio-economic norms of India…I don’t see how a lack of internet access in Labrador would push us over that edge. Canada Post delivers mail, job hunting in a community of a couple hundred would, most likely, not involve internet searches and no worries about the sarcastic tone. Big bubbles no troubles my friend. I would agree with you that us urban dweller’s have more options, but how much of this is provided by the federal government? If I lived in rural Labrador and saw a need for internet access I’d start an internet café and laugh all the way to the bank.

I would expect that these communities have access to all of the research material required to go from kindergarten to high school, how much more do they need? I lived in rural Manitoba and rural Alberta as a school aged youngster and had no internet (Al Gore hadn’t invented it yet) but never had any problems completing assignments using the research tools at my disposal. I think you miss the point that internet access is not a necessity. Look at a country like India. Very rural and very poor yet they turn out some of the best chemical engineers in the world. How many of these young Indian’s grew up with internet access? I think food is a necessity. With this in mind I will make an assumption that many or most of rural Labradorean’s hunt for sustenance. And given that we the taxpayers owe it to rural Labradorean’s to provide the necessities of life I propose that the federal government provide these poor people with high powered rifles and ammunition in order to meet the needs of these communities, with the money they save by not having to buy guns and ammo they can pay for internet access if they so choose. The thread starter is arguing from a point of education. Education is a provincial responsibility is it not? No Calgary, are you implying that people from rural Labrador are more important than people from urban Alberta? Surely you jest.

It's become a new age religion. All you need is faith, facts be damned.

Since when has the internet become an absolute necessity for doing research, ever hear of a library? If students do require internet access in order to research assignments then its up to the local school board to supply it. This is a provincial issue, not a federal one. If the provincial government wants people to stay in these rural communities then they should be providing things like internet access, not the feds. The program cancelled by the conservative government was just remnants of earlier pandering to a rural community in order to buy votes by the previous liberal government (I’m guessing). Nothing more, nothing less. There’s a family that lives on my block with 5 kids that can’t afford the internet, the eldest son earns extra money for the family by tutoring other students. Access to the internet is by no means a necessity for any Canadian families. To expand on that I would also say that there is no reason a person has to live in Ft. Mac or Calgary or Edmonton. Most jobs in the oilsands are camp jobs that require the worker to “live in” for a set period of time and “live out” for a set period of time. Where a person lives during the time they are not in camp is up to them. There are many rural areas that one could live in at a fraction of the cost of living in the city (or Ft. Mac).

The answer to this is really very simple. Most demos are not meant to free fall into their own footprint. (I do realize you were speaking tongue-in-cheek btw) A few minutes of googlizing and I learned that when demolishing a high rise experts time the explosions so that the bottom fires first, then a sequenced series of charges at various levels of the building are initiated to weaken the structure to ensure the building does what the engineers planned. There is not one shred of evidence that this is what occurred to the WTC towers on that fateful day. http://science.howstuffworks.com/building-implosion.htm The number of demo experts with the experience necessary to handle this kind of job is fairly limited so if I were to ascribe to the belief that it was an inside job I would be interviewing these experts to determine there whereabouts from around June of 2001 to Sept 12 2001. If all have alibi’s that check out then your demo theory is that much weaker. (How come these conspiracy sites haven’t clued into that yet?) The other thing that really bothers me about the “demo” theory is that hundreds (if not thousands?) of charges would have to be planted and wired. How could this not be noticed by the people who worked in the towers? Each charge would be wired in parallel, not in series so what about the miles and miles of wires running all over the place. Did nobody notice them? BTW, I do think there is a conspiracy at work here. The only difference is that I believe it’s been perpetrated by the good folks at Alcan.

No, there haven’t been many biker murders in Calgary of late but this does not mean that they aren’t a factor. The Hell’s Angels control most of the drug trade here in Canada, and after some major expansion in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s they now control most of the drug trade in the western world. I bring this up because we talk a lot about how to deal with organized crime. I believe we should go for the juggler, to me the bikers represent the juggler and taking them down would weaken the Asian crime organizations by cutting off their cash flow. I agree that a random Asian is more likely to be involved in an Asian gang than a random white person, but would also add that a random white person is more likely to be involved in bike gangs than a random Asian (bike gangs are not known to be racially inclusive although they are more than willing to deal with anyone if there is money to be made). As far as bouncers refusing entry goes I could get on board if the young men in question (Bradco’s Asian friends) were known gang members or had been recognized, by the bouncer in question, as being affiliated with known gang members. I can’t in good conscience say that prohibiting Asian’s from entering Calgary clubs is a good policy.

Before I responded to this thread I thought I should first talk to a close friend (Chinese) who has kids in their early 20’s that visit the local clubs. He was surprised at what I told him and claims that his children have not experienced any problems of this sort but have experienced general racism in the form of name calling and stereotyping.I then asked him how he feels about Calgary in general. Is it more racist than other Canadian cities (he and his family have lived in Toronto, Hamilton and St. John’s), less racist or about the same? His answer was that racism exists everywhere he has lived in Canada. Very sad. What should be pointed out is that there is a problem in Calgary with gang violence. It should also be pointed out that much of this is facilitated by bike gangs that are predominately white. Asian crime gangs in Alberta control the organization of grow operations and the bikers control the distribution. Cite While I find the experience of the threads author to be disturbing, I don’t see what it has to do with conservatism (did the threads author inquire as to how the bouncers voted in the last election?) and definitely don’t see it as being isolated to Calgary. If I were to make a likewise claim about a Canadian city based on personal experience it would be Winnipeg. I remember being in a convenience store when a group of Native Canadians came in. The store operator told them that only one Native was allowed in the store at a time (presumably so that he could watch the lone Native as the rest of us whites did our shopping). Should I assume that Winnipeg is inherently racist and this is somehow a reflection of the NDP. Of course not. And a little trivia for those who think that we are a bunch of racists here in Calgary I’ll ask this question. Who is Calgary’s favorite son? Answer

I don’t see why you couldn’t retro-fit a current home to geothermal. I can dig 3ft down for a fence post why not 200ft down for a geothermal piping system, current drilling technology allows us to drill through any types of geological formations. It’s totally possible but for the reason you cited above, futile.I didn’t even look into it converting my current home in the city because the difference to my wallet, and the environment, would have been minimal at best. What I originally planned to do was build my house into the side of a hill, but after telling my wife this she informed me of her disdain for living in a cave, cut her hair short and put my wood club up for sale.I just don’t get women sometimes. The 18C is a lowball figure, I will also have a passive solar heating system on the south facing walls of my house and shop which will provide additional heat as required.(I built a 1:10 scale model of the passive solar system I intend to use and it exceeded my expectations. Very easy and very cool.) This brings up another good point By my own off-the-cuff estimation the total amount of building materials I need to build this house is approximately 25-30% higher than building a conventional home of the same size. Most of this additional material is in the form of PVC plastics used in piping and solar panels. Canadians that believe in Kyoto should be working toward changing the attitudes of home builders and auto manufacturers in the areas of energy efficiency and new product development. If 25% of the people building new homes today insisted on incorporating some aspects of geothermal or solar heating/cooling/power generation systems I’m sure home builders would respond by coming up with innovative solutions to meet their customers needs. The poll that in the OP of this thread proves one thing to me. Canadians want government (arms length) intervention in order to solve environmental problems but are not willing to accept personal responsibility for these problems. As I stated above, it’s the consumers who ultimately control the market. I wonder what the 77% of Canadians polled that want to “meet or exceed” Kyoto targets are willing to do personally. Live in a cave? Wanna buy a wood club? I think it will work out well. I’m building most of it myself so it’s a long term project for sure. When I’m done I’ll have no natural gas bill and be generating around 500Kw hours per month by way of solar and wind generation power systems. My own reasons for becoming energy “self sufficient” have less to do with the environment than they do with removing myself from the volatility of the energy markets. Plus I want to watch my electric meter run backwards. I think I can sum my personal feelings on Kyoto up best with a song, “Nothin’ on the top but a bucket and a mop and an illustrated book about birds. Seen a lot up there but don’t be scared who needs action when you got words.” (The Meat Puppets “Plateau”)

This is the point that really needs addressing here. Why send the guy to Syria? Mr. Arar’s arrest and subsequent detention was somewhat understandable due to the fact that he admitted to having a casual relationship with Abdulla Almaki. Mr.Almaki had previously worked im Pakistan as a project director for a charitable organization called Human Concern International. His regional director was Ahmad Said Khadr. I think they should compensate Mr.Arar and agree with August1991 that we will see more of this as time goes on. The CIA and FBI learned from dealing with the Hells Angels that infiltration is the best way to gain accurate knowledge of a criminal organization. Pre 911 US didn’t have a great deal of first hand information about the inner goings on of terrorist organizations. Post 911 I’m willing to bet that there is a great deal of effort going into getting people on the inside. BTW, I watched the CBC coverage on this last night and they said that the information being withheld by the RCMP could possibly lead back to the Liberal brass, anyone know anything about this? If true it could be a Christmas with consequences for the next Liberal party leader. Yes? No?

Cybercoma, I’m currently in the planning stages of building an energy efficient home just south of the Calgary city limits and plan to utilize geothermal for heating/cooling. The first step in the process was to drill sample holes with the purpose of determining soil quality (ie. compaction and moisture content of the soil). These tests have determined that a field of 8 holes at a depth of about 175 ft will meet my needs. From what I have learned the depth of hole required can range from 150’ to 250’ (vertical layout). I’ve heard of bore holes as shallow as 80ft but have nothing to back it up. Link I have chosen to build the exterior walls of my new house using straw bale construction techniques which will result in an “R” rating of around 50. Thermal calculations have determined that I should experience an average temperature of about 18 deg Celsius based on an ambient outdoor temperature range of +35 to -35 deg Celsius without the use of an additional heating/cooling source. This is based on a 2000sq ft home and a 2500sq ft workshop/male hideout. Straw bale construction I’m hoping that I don’t experience the same disappointment as your acquaintances, but I guess time will tell. Another thing that many of us don’t take into consideration when contemplating the environmental aspects of geothermal is the heat transfer liquid required to make such a system work. Most use a combination of water and ethylene glycol. Ethylene glycol is derived from….you guessed it, crude oil. I wonder what the net environmental impact would really be if every Canadian home were to convert to geothermal heating and cooling?

*throws cap on the ground and puts hands in pockets* ...awww shucks Black Dog I was just about ta' suggest he marry a female rottweiler and treat her like the bitch she is. ...i never get ta' have any fun...

and she's alwayyys a womannn to meeee.

It’s hard to find a medium which represents both sides of the issue in a comprehensive and fair way…that’s why forums like this are important. Even the uninformed bring something to the table (I find it enjoyable to see some wild eyed duffer come at Blackdog or Argus like a pig and leave as sausage, is that bad?). Bias in our news has turned it into nothing more than political brain candy for the masses. Choose which side you’re on, plug in your 50 cents and get your fix. MLW does offer the viewer a more complete picture of current issues than the alternatives so it has value beyond what posters engaged in a heated debate may think. It’s kinda like coles notes for the issues of the day.

Nope, I'm not kidding at all. Things have improved somewhat but we still have a long way to go. Do a little research an the pink ghetto and get back to me.

40 or 50 years ago women were treated more like possesions than humans, not exactly what I want for my mother, wife and daughters. Sensitivity training is a necessary evil due to our male dominated past. I do have a suggestion for you though; instead of selling your time machine, just ride it back to the fifties. Marriage is what you make of it. I've been with the same woman for 15 years now and ours is very much a "spiritual relationship". She is my wife, best friend, mentor, confidant and at times designated driver. Not everyday is perfect, we have never seen our relationship as a business arrangment..but then again thats our choice.

Iv'e been reading this board (but am a newcomer myself) for a while now and can say that I like the fact that there are voices from all over the political spectrum. Many of the debates are enlightened and informed which has resulted in me gaining a better understanding of the issues being debated. I honestly feel that I could learn alot here. The "me too" mentality of forums like Babble and FD just don't have the diversity of opinion as this forum does. Maple Leaf Web is quickly becoming as important to me in forming an opinion on current issues as reading the daily paper. In fact when I read something in my morning paper or on a blog that intrigues me I often find myself right here looking for a debate which will make me re-think my opinion rather than accept it carte blanche. My faves so far (in no particular order): Riverwind, Blackdog, Argus, M.Dancer (you're a riot), August1991, M.Hardner, Kimmy..etc.

You gotta back this up with something me son. Sounds like a load of crap to me. I "vanillified" my wife one night when we were out of chocolate. It was absolutely delicious.

Do you have any cites to back up your claim?

By traditional do you mean my wife must be "barefoot and prego's"? Maybe my manly right to beat my wife when she piss's me off? As a non-religious hetero male I have yet to figure out how SSM has negatively affected my life.

This is somewhat puzzling isn't it? Maybe the officers on the scene thought that there was more than one shooter? Was Gill still alive after being shot and moved outside for his own protection? Just a guess.

How typically Canadian of us to think that a piece of paper will somehow stop (or slow) the senseless gun crimes that are becoming more and more prevalent in our society. While criminals are allowed to walk our streets due to the liberalization of our justice system we Canadians hold on to the illusion that playing the game of rock, paper, bullet will somehow make us safer. Paper does not stop bullets nor does it stop criminals from plying the tools of their illicit trade. Although nothing could have stopped Gill from ending his life the way he did (this has more to do with the human psyche than it does gun laws and legislation) I believe zero tolerance for those caught with illegal weapons would be a better alternative towards reducing gun violence in Canada. 3 year minimums for first offence (being caught with an illegal gun), 10 years for a second offence and life for a third...and you do the time!