Higgly

According to the CBC, these numbers are being reported in the Lancet. Certainly adds some weight to the number.

I think it is by virtue of the fact that the rest of the country has it. You didn't have it growing up in rural Manitoba, but neither did anyone else. India is a competitive threat. If we have it universally and they don't, we have an advantage that might help counter their cheap labour. In any case, I don't think you want us to revert to Indian social and economic norms, do you? Yes they turn out good highly educated professionals, but by far the greatest majority are barely literate. And then there are those who are looking for a way up.... Good point, but the Feds still do kick in for education and libraries to some extent. An argument can also be made that the internet is much more. A mail service, a job hunting service, etc., etc.. Education is just part of it. I do apologize for the sarcastic tone though. Not at all. I am saying that people who live in Calgary have a much wider range of options than people in Labrador. I would have made the same argument no matter what city you cited.

You have a point regarding libraries. This is what is done in most large centres. The Toronto Public Library, for example, is funded 90% by the city, 6% by Fed/Prov grants and the rest by private donations.

You are missing the point. What kind of library do you think you might find in these places? O goody. Let's play federal/provincial tag. So is this in Labrador?

Annexation has been discussed extensively with Jordan (Hussein) who finally gave up. He was definitely interested. Neither the Arab League nor the Palestinians were interested and Israel (Shamir especially) refused to acknowledge that the West Bank was part of resolution 242 - in other words, Israel was not willing to give it up. The Israelis never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Would there be terrorism if the Palestinians were not being treated so abominably by the Israelis? Israel too has its own terrorist baggage.

August, you have dramatized from the sublime to the ridiculous. A canoe trip. That will certainly give anyone an idea of what the place is like. Next time you go out to one of these places on a fishing trip you might ask what it would be like if you didn't have a dock to tie up at, a general store to buy supplies at, or just a bewhiskered old fart to tell you where to catch the big ones. I don't see anyone demanding food and supplies, but of course in your paranoid little world everyone has got their hands in your little grocery cart. To what extent are we our brother's keeper? Ask the folks who keep pouring money into the highway systems and other massive infrastructure builds that these people never get to use. I think we all have a right to expect a certain amount of infrastructure support from our government, and that will vary from place to place. We are talking about a couple of thousand a year for crying out loud. Yes, it is very petty. As for the rest of you social engineers with your demands that everyone else move somewhere and 'work all year round' like the rest of us, take a pill.

All of the current problems will go away as soon as George Bush leaves office? By the way, there was no nuclear proliferation while Clinton was in the White House.

The reason they went to Iraq was strategic. The idea was to control the Middle East by putting a big ol' friendly demo-cratic state right in the middle of the whole shee-bang. Even the CIA wouldn't confirm Bush's ravings about weapons of mass destruction prior to the invasion. Rumsfeld was carrying on about invading Iraq before 9/11 occurred. They wanted to go in before the weapons inspectors were finished because if they had allowed them to finish and announce they had found nothing, the whole case for war would have been shot to hell. I saw an interview with an oil analyst from Morgan Stanley on the business channel a while back. The guy said there wasn't enough oil in Iraq to pay for the cost of the invasion and occupation.

How many of you who are playing up the triviality of this have actually ever been to one of these communities? For the most part, these people have few resources to call on. Considering the bags o' dough that get ploughed into major centres, highways, what have you, and which these people never see a penny of, I would say that a couple of thousand bucks per community per year for something like this is really very small potatoes. Begrudging something like this to them is pretty petty IMHO. As usual, some right wing hysteric has got to drag the CBC into the fray. I would rebutt his comment but I DON'T WANT TO HIJACK THE THREAD.

I doubt it. I think that the key lies with China and what actions they will take. They have signalled in their own characterisitcally veiled manner that they are not amused with Jong Il's little adventure. Most of North Korea's oil supply comes from China and I don't think the North Koreans will have much luck replacing it if it suddenly starts to dry up. I do agree with you about the security council though. I would be surprised to see any quick action there. The days are gone when Bush might have enough juice to push an agenda through.

I am wondering that myself. The seismographic data from the US says that their readings could have been produced by a big pile of TNT and may not be big enough to signal a nuclear explosion. I'm listening to the news now and they are reporting that one option being considered is to cut off luxury goods that the leaders love so much. No more Elvis movies for Jong Il!

Well judging by the pace and trajectory of paranoia, I'd say we're all gonna have ulcers by mid-century. At least you will. You're letting the press headlines get to you. Take a pill.

Only if you're about 5 foot 2 and have a small build. Otherwise you might want to put on a Sikh turban and big bushy fake beard. In any case, weren't we talking about taking off the veil when meeting with Jack Straw? I guess I missed how this has evolved into outlawing the Hijaab altogether.

I heard Bolton on the radio this afternoon saying he had just finished some "very good" talks with (Chinese ambassador to the UN) Wong. Looks like Jong Il's days may be numbered. China is probably not going to favour anything too rash - say a rapid and violent change in government. One of the things that Jong Il has been doing is keeping all those North Koreans from scrambling over the Chinese border; China does not want a massive refugee problem.

Well said Figleaf, and thanks to you too Pharoah. Rue, I am not going to respond to the rest of your posts. Whack-a-mole is only fun when the carnie's in town. You are welcome to continue on your own.

A security threat. Jeez. How many acts of violence have been committed in Britain by moslem women wearing veils? Say compared to British louts wearing football club jerseys? For the simple reason of IDENTIFICATION! Some criminal may just decide to get into drag....dressed like a Muslim woman (all covered and all) to get into a place to do a crime! So what do witnesses have to say when asked to describe the criminal? Just the color of the eyes? Try wearing a Jason mask and go inside a bank. Let us know what happened. Or try wearing sunglasses, a wig and fake beard. Or fake eyebrows, die your hair and wear a fake big nose. Or wear a really loud outfit that diverts attention from your facial features. Or all of the above. Or some of the above. This is a red herring.

OK. Here it is Sunday, October 8 and John Tory has announced that he will be running in Don Valley West against Kathleen Wynne, Liberal Minister of Education. I am watching channel 70 and I am seeing Tory standing up in the House and waxing eloquet about his grade one teacher. Come on John. Can you even remember what she looked like? Why do we keep getting politicians like this?

Mea culpa. Sorry.

Back to the Leafs. What the hell happened to Domi (plase don't give me the Belinda story). The guy's a goon but when the rules of engagement changed, he started to score some goals. Why did the Leafs get rid of him? I think I missed this.

Yeh, that is a tough one. I think there really needs to be a Synod on this. A fair Synod. And on the subject of married priests as well. I think that there is now a rare window of opportunity for the Church to bring itself into the twentieth century. I am not sure Ratzinger has the right stuff. Just the fact that we refer to him as Ratzinger tells a tale, doesn't it? He really screwed the pooch with his comments about the Islamic faith. There is no way he can reconcile papal infallibility with that. I think he is toast.

OK. What are Israel's objections? If they are religious and based on access to holy sites, that is one thing. If they are based on some idea that their claim is more important than any other, I think they have an uphill struggle. Israel and the Palestinians need to understand that they are not the only players. Jerusalem is bigger than either of them. I doubt you will find many Christians who will cede their right to Jerusalem to either the Israelis or to the Palestinians. Granted 10% of Palestinians are Christian, and I would trust them to operate the Christian holy sites. The via dolarosa. Gesthemane, what have you. But Jerusalem needs a practised and neutral hand. This is one of the great treasures of the world and it cannot be trusted to national government exigencies.

Maybe. And psychopaths become cops. But I digress. I was raised a Catholic. I still remember our parish priest showing up unannounced for dinner one Friday night (to see if we were eating fish) and lecturing my mother and father about their parental obligations. I still remember my parents being absolutely livid with rage after he left. These were good Catholics who had sacrificed every week when the basket came around and shephered their brood into the church on every Sunday and Holy Day. We were expected to go to confession every Friday. We almost always did and held our breaths all through Saturday so we could take communion on Sunday morning. I think that all priests should be allowed to marry. In fact I think that nobody should be accepted into the priesthood until they have been married. I think that the priesthood should be a commitment made by both marriage partners. I don't think that single people should be priests. It is simply too big a burden to carry alone. Once you become a priest and start taking confessions, you are on your own with the worries of the world. It is a very lonely place. As to whether gay priests should be accepted, that's a tough one and I am not qualified to make the call. I think though that there is too much demonization of gays who are neither pedophiles nor rapists, and too little recognition of the fact that Catholics are sometimes gay too. I think it is tragic. and a mistake, that the Catholic faith cannot find space for its gay brethern. These are valuable contributing members of the rainbow that is our society.

Alright. What are your arguments to say that it is not economically viable? It would have water to grow crops if it were not being comandeered by Israel would it not? Gaza has been indeed a traditionally Egyptian territory, but what can the Palestinians expect in exchange for giving up access to the sea? I don't think that the Palestinians are interested in being annexed by Jordan, although I agree that Jordan has been one of the few guys in this whole scenario from the Palestinian perspective. At least I think so.

This matter has taken the West's attention for far too long. Our real focus should be on dealing with major competitors like India and China and this is a red herring in the march of history that threatens to turn us all into chunks of charcoal. No hate-mongering please. Can we just have a reasoned discourse? I will start by saying that I think Jerusalem should be declared an international city administered by the UN. I think that the UN should contract out its administration and soldiering. My first choice for this would be Singapore. One of the few states in the world that has been able reconcile hotly contested cultures and has a true gut feeling for the problems of the city-state - one of the very few city-states that remains on the planet, in fact. I'd say put Lee Kuan Yew in charge, but he may not be up to it. Past that point, I feel that the whole thing should go back to the pre-1967 borders. At that point, the Palestinians had lost a lot and what came after involved the Israelis occupying the west bank which had a massive Arab majority. I feel that the Israelis whould give up their West Bank settlements, which contravene article 49 of the Fourth Geneva converntion as well as Resolution 242 of the UN. I also feel that the Palestinians should be prepared to house all of the Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and that Israel should be relieved of any obligation to provide compensation for the lands the Palestinians have lost. The Palestinians shouldbe prepared to give up the right of return. I feel that Gaza is a problem that needs to be dealt with and it won't be easy. To the Palestinians, this represents access to the sea. But, it is not contiguous with the west bank. Any other ideas?

So basically you acknowledge that what I have said is true. Still Rue I must ask. What does this have to do with my original post dealing with the 1948 war? You are trying to hijack this thread. Stop it.