Higgly

If they relied on our intelligence, for which our government has issued the appropriate mea culpas - including one from the PM in the House, then they should take Arar off the no-fly list. This is not the issue. They just do not want to admit in front of the world that what they are doing by shipping people off to be tortured by somebody else is wrong. After Wolfowitz, Bush and Cheney, Rice is my favourite idiot. John Walters is after Rice.

I'd like to see a cite for that, because I think it might be useful in the future. Turkey was not willing to allow bombing raids on Iraq from the US base inside it territory. I'd be surprised if they gave the big OK to Iran. Turkey has to live in the region, not like Bush and Cheney who feel free to come and shit all over everybody else's nest whenever it suits them.

Seems you're a little light on the issue. Maybe I misread you.

I'll believe that when Arar is off the no-fly list.

This is the point. Turkey is already lost. Congress voted on the Armenian issue. I have no doubt that Bush is trying to get past that, but it's too damned late. This is yet another tipping point that Bush just does not get.

The days of US hegemony are coming to a close. Putin (admittedly a undemocratic nasty bastard who is willig to drug his citizens with cheap vodka) is now finding leverage by sticking his crowbar into the fulcrums that Bush has so stupidly provided. China is now busy going step by step through "How To Become a Superpower For Dummies" manual : get nukes, bolster the economy, build up missle capability, launch a space program, host the Olympics. The US had a brief window of opportunity in which to show leadership, and it is not looking good.

I don't get how you can advocate driving a motor vehicle on a public road if you are impaired by anything at all. given your alleged injury. There are enough problems with people who have full control of their faculties.

More evidence that Bush has absolutely no understanding of the history of Iraq, a country that was slapped together by the British without any thought as to whether the ethnic groups therein would be able to get along. This Kurdistan thing has been going on for centuries and still morons like Bush just don't get it. Imagine if you will a foreign occupying force going into the UK in the 14th century and declaring that England, Ireland and Scotland would all be one nation. It just ain't gonna happen.

ScottSA, I have to acknowledge that I learned a few things about the modern framework for war from reading your posts in this thread. Boiling it down, it appears that declarations of war have become passé, particularly after the Vietnam War, and that what has been happening is that we have been seeing a preponderance of "creeping war". That is a war where a country first goes in as a "police action", "peace-keeping action", what have you, and then gets drawn into full scale war, bit by butt . This is what the idea of a declaration of war is supposed to short-circuit. Either you are at war, or you are not. If you are at war, then you need to say so and to define it specifically in legislation that can be debated in the democratic process. Otherwise you end up in the kind of mess that both the US and the USSR keep getting themselves into. ScottSA, I have been trying to assess where you are coming from, and I get more and more that you have a military background. The military will always chaffe at the constraints of its civilian oversight. In some cases, it gets away with it. Burma comes to mind. It was Dwight D. Eisenhower who first warned against the growing power of the industrial-military complex, and he was a decorated general.

LOL. Suppository. Hah ha. Good one. Imperfect? Not good enough, Condi. Get a grip.

I watched he documentary on the CBC last night and it makes a number of salient points... 1. The prohibition against marijuana has no basis in medical science. There have been 20 government studies worldwide and the only malady that can be reliably linked to marijuana use is bronchitis. There is some evidence that it increases the incidence of psychosis in some who are disposed to it, but it also reduces it in others. In other words, it shows the same statistical effect as a placebo (my conclusion). None of the studies conclude that it is addictive. The US policy towards marijuana is political, rather than medical. 2. The USDEA is dedicated to fighting the war on drugs by enforcing US law on foreign soil in order to cut off supply, and has done so in a number of incidences. The USDEA is not able to defend the US drug policy towards marijuana except to constantly state the same talking points. 3. There are many small businesses selling seeds, not only in Canada, but also in the US, but Emery was targeted because he has lead a campaign of political activism to have the plant legalized. Emery has been charged a number of times with various minor offences by the Vancouver police - each time after being highlighted in the American press (Wall Street Journal, CNN, Rolling Stone). Each time he was given a small fine and left to go about his business. The RCMP and the Vancouver police have never seen him as being worth chasing as they have bigger fish to fry. This is believable when you consider that the Association of Chiefs of Police and the RCMP both testified in favour of decriminalization at the committee hearings dealing with legislation on the subject. 4. Emery is willing to go to jail for life if he has to to be a martyr for the cause. He could probably get a reduced sentence (10 years) by pleading guilty, but he refuses to do so. US extradition requests to Canada are always successful and Emery has very little chance of succeeding in his fight against it unless there is an intervention from the federal justice minister - something that has never happened. 5. This is going to happen because the Canadian public, who have shown in repeated polls that they favour the decriminalization or legalization of marijuana by a wide majority (over 65% on average) is complacent on the issue 6. The Chretien government backed off on its decriminalization move because of heavy pressure from the US 7. The USDEA considers Marc Emery to be the biggest drug criminal in Canada - above the Hell's Angels. Emery and his friends have never been accused of killing anybody, or of selling addictive drugs. 8. The incidence of marijuana use in the US is twice that of Holland and there is a growing consensus in the US that after many years, the war on drugs is a very costly failure. I may have missed something, but that is it in a nutshell. Personally, I feel we'd be a lot better off if we put hard liquor in the same category as hard drugs and legalized marijuana.

Maybe because in our case, the trade flows both ways?

Hi ScottSA!

Well alright. Who gets to decide when a state of war exists? You? If it were left up to you we'd be in a holy war at the moment I wasn't aware that there had been no formal declaration with respect to Vietnam. But look what happened there!

They may, but the international money markets are showing what they think of all this. If I were an American, I would think healthcare would bring a bigger return on my tax dollar. The alternative (we're talking at the time Wolfowitz held sway here) was to leave Saddam in place, embargoed and powerless. Your alternative probably involves abandonning Iraq to the hothouse of terrorism that the US invasion has turned it into. Congress is without choice because of the mess that Wolfowitz, Cheney et al. has brought about. If they had it to do all over again, I very much doubt they would let themselves be lead into this trap. Can you cite any reference to the proportion of Canada's infrastructure build (and don't forget that this country has a healthy infrastructure to start with) that is being paid for by Alberta oil revenues? I am doubtful you can make this case. Well sure, but whose fault is that? I'd say it's the fault of guys like Wolfowitz, Cheney, and that guy Cheney has working for him. Infrastructure under Saddam may not have been great, but it was a damned site better than exists now. The whole idea that Bush still thinks he can direct this sort of thing inside of a foreign state is the problem in the first place.

The bigger issue with Emery is that the USDEA is trying to enforce US law on Canadian territory and using the RCMP to do it. As for whether Emery has helped or hindered the cause of marijuana legalisation, I'd say the jury is still out.

Tonight (Oct 23 @ 10:00 PM EST) the CBC is airing a documentary on the Marc Emery case (Price of Pot vs the United States).

Well now a thumb war. That's different.

Look at the numbers. How many are in Iraq as opposed to the rest of the world? Why is the US shoving forced re-enlistments down the throats of volunteers? I have no problem believing the US is spending $200 billion a year in Iraq. You are right about Dobbs. He is indeed a populist demagogue. But he is right about Wolfowitz.

You're right. My mistake.

I'd like to see all posts date and time stamped using the same time zone so we have an absolute we can use for comparison.

War requires resources from the nation's purse and needs a precise legal definition. If that does not suit your idea of war, then you are wrong. If you don't like that, talk to your MP. You don't have the power to declare war just because you have an internet connection.

Oh wow. The tinfoil hat argument. Yikes. So M.Dancer... How many of those studies show that alcohol was also a factor? As for those deabeats and losers, how many deadbeats and losers are alcoholics? How many beggars do you think are physically addicted to alcohol?

If you are referring to the Soviets, you are most cetianly right in your umbrage. Their behaviour was execrable. But then, look at Stalingrad. Forgive the vocabulary. I have been reading Conrad Black. =

Well here's a thought. Why associate the senate candidates with any region at all? Why can't the senate be an elevated body that represents the entire country? Let anybody from anywhere run for senate and make a stipulation that a senator and a senate candidate cannot have any party affiliation. Let senators be elected by national vote, like the US president. To remove the power of the party, restrict senate candidates to web sites and free time telecasts. Let all candidates have space on the senate web site and make media networks provide the time. Then give the senate some real power.