Higgly

Has it not ever been so? What is your time line? What is the value now of land granted for free, or at most a pittance, to immigrants in the early years of the 20th century? Canada needs people. How long do you think we can grow our economy with a population less than many European countries (and some US states) and a collection of DINK (Double Income No Kids) families? I see posts here that complain because we pay more, even with the dollar at par. Well that is a factor of our much smaller and less efficient market. I say welcome! Enjoy! SEND YOUR KIDS TO SCHOOL!!! These people work hard. Right now a lot of them are out in Alberta. They can't believe how good they've got it and they are working their butts off. Do you think the economy of Alberta could survive without them? What's wrong with that? Did you want somebody to shut the door before your ancestors arrived?

Have you ever watched Fox News?

What's wrong with Eugenics? The gene pool is a hell of a lot deeper and more complicated than the brain of a politician. That's what's wrong with eugenics.

US intelligence was distorted by political pressure. The Wikipedia entry for George Tenet is revealing... What is remarkable about this discussion is that Bush no longer has a leg to stand on and yet keeps saying the same thing. Any intelligent observer would ask, "What is your evidence?" Here is a man with no evidence. His best investigative people have said so publicly. The BBC interview I quoted in a previous post seems to indicate that neither do the Israelis. And yet, there are people here - the mullahs of MapleLeafWeb, who continue to defend this indefensible position.

According tot he CBC Toronto News this evening, 45% of the people living in Toronto now were born outside of the country and only 54% consider English to be their mother tongue. Time for the feds to start ponying up more for the cities. McGuinty is doing his bit (at least in Ontario) and has already started uploading. Even Ottawa gets a break from McGuinty.

Thank you!

This evening on CNN ("The Situation Room - Cafferty File") it was reported that US intelligent services were dropping heavy hints last summer that things had changed with respect to Iran; there are now suspicions that Bush either knew or knew he should have been asking questions of his intelligence agencies. Cafferty credited the Cheney mentality at the White House for the constant war mongering. Bush gave a press conference today saying that nothing has changed. He looked like a fool. It is going to be a lot easier now for those who are advocating a rapid withdrawl from Iraq. I'd say the Annapolis conference is not looking too good either. The BBC interviewed the Israeli Ambassador to Britain this evening. The ambassador started in on the same old rant about Ahmedinijad's rhetoric and the BBC interviewer stopped him and asked if Israeli intelligene had anything different to say than American intelligence about Iranian nukes. The ambassador ran away from the question in a mumbling vaque sort of way and lapsed into another rant about North Korea and the Holocaust. The BBC cut him off. There was an interesting bit in the Economist a couple of weeks ago (Nov 24) indicating that the average Iranian is somewhat dismayed at Ahmedinijad's anti-Israel rhetoric and does not agree with it.

I it comes to a decision that pits what's good for Canada against what's good for the US, guess what will happen? The Euro worked because Europe is more or less a community of equals. That is not what we have in North America. The Canadian economy is about the same size of that of California. An AMERO would be a US controlled currency.

Just like Iraq. The WMD were just a story to get everybody riled up. Now that WMD have turned out to be BS, it's on to the next story. What is remarkable is the number of people who have bought into this simply on the strength of what Bush has been saying. The guy is proven a lying thug and yet no sooner are the words out of his mouth than the warmongers start shrieking hysterically.

Personally, I'd prefer that nobody has them.

Well at least it certainly appears to be for you, Dancer. You are, after all, the one who keeps dragging them into the discussion. Here's a link to a Wikipedia article listing Nazi collaborators at he time of the Second World War. You will note that the Stern Gang (Lehi) is listed. I thought you might be interested since you seem to sift absolutely everything for evidence that will support your pathological need to be viewed as a victim.

Anyways, back to Pakistan. The Pakistani Supreme Court - at least the new version of it that Musharraf has put in place to forgive him all his sins, has now blocked opposition leader Nawaz Sharif from participating in the upcoming elections.

A new US intelligence report says nuclear weapons in Iran are much less likely than previously thought and that Iran in fact stopped making advancements towards the production of nuclear weapons four years ago. The White House is apparently not very happy with the report. General consensus is that the US Intelligence Agencies have reconfigured themselves to be less vulnerable to the kind of political pressure that caused them to produce the distorted intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq. It looks as though it was almost deja WMD all over again... This is most likely a death knell for the Bush administration.

Not with a billion plus people we haven't. Try to take to few moments to see the world from their eyes. Imagine the challenges of bootstrapping a basically illiterate economy into the 21st century. China needs to hear from us on human rights, no question, but you cannot expect them to suddenly turn into middle America.

Superfool too. John Irving wrote in "Hotel New Hampshire" about passing open windows. You might want to read it.

You want the Chinese to completely adopt our culture and legal system carte blanche? Would you do that?

The US is playing both ends in this game. Come on.

Too easy, BC2K4. Too easy. I am not saying that history explains away everything the current government in Beijing might do, but it does help to explain their attitude towards the West. There is hope on China. Go to your local library and see if you can find the October 13-19, 2007 Issue of The Economist. The amount of detailed information about the Chinese economy and social issues in that issue is astonishing if you consider how closed the country was only 10 years ago. This is truly a great nation emerging, but very carefully. We should be engaged in a courtship with China, but baby steps every bit of the way....

Good one, Rue. Here's another... One day a man from Minsk arrived in the village with cow he wanted to sell. The cow looked healthy and young, so the village all chipped in and paid the man what he asked. After many frustating months, it became apparent that the cow would not give milk and would not breed with the village bull. The villagers did not know what to do, so they went to the Rabbi, whom they knew to be very wise. "Rabbi, what should we do?" they asked. "You must try to sell the cow to somebody else.", said the rabbi. "How do you know?", asked the villagers, still hopeful that their invetsment might work out. "My wife is from Minsk.", said the Rabbi.

Very nice, FTA. Now that we have your ear.... Is privacy actually defined anywhere? What information is private? What is not?

BC2K4, have you read the link I provided on the Opium Wars? Have you read up about the sacking of the Imperial Library? It is not about ruffling America's feathers as much as it is about the fundamentals of Chinese history. This is an ancient culture that has not been treated particularly well by the west. You might also want to read into the story of Marco Polo. You do not have to agree with me, but please take a few moments to at least read what I have posted. You can shout and wave yor arms all you like, but you are not going to change Chinese history. It is not about politics. It is about history.

Is your name Rosenberg?

And where did BSE come from? Are we really going to stoop so low as to politicize disease?

Border guards should be part of the country's federal security service. AKA the RCMP. Not to be confused with Customs Officers, who should be bureaucrats.