theloniusfleabag

Dear Argus, It is a shame that this is coming out so late. When I first heard about the gun registry numbers (inflated to 1 billion from 2 million) I thought "Someone should hang" for such obvious theft and/or mismanagement of the public's money. then came Adscam, and captured the headlines, even though the monies involved were far less. Now this. I am almost beginning to think Canadian voters might be complacent enough to accept a coup and a junta.

Dear kimmy, Hooray! [and they were forced to eat kimmy's minstrel's...and there was much rejoicing]...Hooray!

Dear Yodeler, Yes, because the statement is untrue, and your response is an example of Hume's 'ethical relativism'. No slips. Everyone's 'moral code' is different. There is no difference to me, but to you, it seems, it matters. What if it were the 'junkie' who dropped the five dollars?

Dear August1991, That is the oldest gag in the book. Some dude named Jesus was credited with the line "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me". Before that, (from... http://www.crystalinks.com/confucius.html )Before that, Cavemen practiced it. It is the foundation upon all society and, therefore, Mankind, rests. And it is 'leftist', for it places 'commonality' ahead of 'individuality'. But it still doesn't equate to "stealing from the rich to give to the poor". Like above, as Yodeler questions, it is exactly as unethical (or ethical) no matter whom you place in position A or B. That could well be. As I said, returning the money is pointing out the mistake (albeit with possibly less dramatic consequences). To go to the extreme, perhaps the laws of the country are such that the 'offending clerk' could be shot. A quote from my "World Human Rights Guide" (1986) by Charles Humana, (pg 60), in response to the question "are the people free from"...Capital Punishment? [in China]..A:

Dear Yodeler, That is a toughie. I Read a lot, but mostly about military history/politics. Gwynne Dyer is a smart man, but a pundit. I always enjoy reading his stuff, though, his analysis and acumen are sharp as a tack. Margaret Atwood is one of Canada's greatest writers. Edgar Bronfman Sr., an astute and philanthropic ( in his own way) business owner. Then again, I'd probably vote for me.

Dear August1991, Not true. We are born with the capacity to learn both, but unless that ability is nurtured at a given time in development, it will not happen. You confuse me here. Do you claim he stole from you or you from him? Which one was 'the poor', or did you both gain? Another confusing one. If you returned the money, then you pointed out the mistake. The cashier would have equal opportunity to learn from the mistake no matter who pointed it out (the manager at the end of the day, or you. In fact, if the error was discovered at the end of the day, there is less chance that the cashier would remember what mistake was made, and therefore less chance of 'learning from one's mistakes'.) Suppose you had gone back to the store, pointed out the mistake, and waved the money in the cashier's face. Then you said, "Ha, I am going to keep this money so that you lose your job tonight, because no one should get away with making mistakes". The bitter, unemployed cashier would learn a lesson alright. That cashier would leave that job convinced that all people are ignorant pricks. (Not meaning you, of course, this is purely conjecture)

Dear Toro, One factor I don't see here is what percentage of households went from one income to two (both parents working) in the same timeframe. I think that this number is vast, (mind you, I'm sure the divorce rate has gone up also) but it is hidden in the words 'household income'.

Dear Durgan, from... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda I am generally tentative of accepting info from Wikipedia, but I have heard this information eslewhere. Bunk. Certainly there are some, but all they need to accept is that the 'whitewashes serve American interests'. They were well organized enough to pull off 9/11...no simple feat. however, I agree that the threat is exaggerated, they need a 'boogerman' to justify their vast military after the end of the 'cold war'.. This is merely stating the obvious, the real problem is 'what can be done'? More precisely, what can be done without 'blanket policies' that discriminate against, or worse, seem to attack Islam as a whole?

Dear BHS, Gretzky has the best chance of the three. One of the stipulations is that the person must be living.

Dear Montgomery Burns, My point is that those numbers are misleading, and therefore is equally misleading. Neither country has 'clamped down'.

Dear Montgomery Burns, You seem to be forgetting (or avoiding) the qualification of that number provided by eureka. The number jumped drastically because the British police began listing all offences associated with one event as seperate crimes. If someone broke into a house, and commited theft, etc, these used to be reported as 'one incident', while now they list every offence, and one 'incident' can contain 2-10 'crimes', skewing the previous numbers.from... http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050721/d050721a.htm I grew up in Saskatoon, and can tell you it is a great city. However, I can also tell you that the population of 'poor, First Nations peoples' is also higher there, and the incarceration rate of the 'natives' is higher there than anywhere in the country. Mind you, Saskatoon's roberry rate has no correlation with having or not having guns. The laws are the same for every city in Canada.

Dear Canuck E Stan, This sentence made me cringe (and laugh at the same time). The article itself is a bit jaded, since St. John's NFLD might indeed be favourable for business strictly on paper, I don't think you'll see a lot of corporate migration there. I live in Calgary, and have seen first hand the dynamics of growth. The growth rate is phenomenal, and with it property values (almost exclusively residential) are skyrocketing. The neighbourhood I live in is zoned 'inner city', even though we are 5-10 min from the edge of the city, and I have heard (both from an appraiser and a realtor) that the property values in this particular neighbourhood are going up at rates of 1,000-10,000/month. (the appraiser told me 1, the realtor 10, I suspect it is somewhere between the two)

Dear FTA Lawyer, In another thread about 'Strange Weather', cybercoma states that 'economic growth' during this time was larger for Canada than the US, whose production numbers in certain fields were near stagnant. link... http://www.mapleleafweb.com/forums/index.p...=90entry72826 So, Pollution Watch and Mr. Burns seem to be spinning this like a top....sometimes omissions can be as misleading as falsehoods...

Dear Durgan, from... http://expat-village.com/article_1690.shtml Indeed, I have also see this 'study' done where one only needs to have the first and last letters in a word in their proper position, all the rest can be mixed up, and the sentence is still legible.

Dear kimmy, Actually, it was because their rhinoceros died.

Dear Montgomery Burns, I will join in that denial. Another 'false dichotomy' argument akin to saying that the 'left' loves Saddam and Osama because they disagree with the invasion of Iraq. The 'left' derides the hypocrisy of the 'religious', especially those outdated dogmas of intolerance and literal biblical interpretation. I should say that this derision extends to 'Islamo-fascism' as well.

from... http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/20...ke2_051015.html Did the Labour Leader lose his head and try to indimidate Tyson? Or did Tyson try to kill the Union Leader? There is no question that this altercation isn't pure coincidence...unless you like betting on long shots.... interesting, this one...is it just a case of 'road rage', or an attempt at international assassination to settle a labour dispute?

Dear cybercoma, No, it isn't the 'best' way. It is the way fearmongers without imagination or a sense of responsibility put it. In fact, the numbers you posted, and the reason for them, is an example of 'doing nothing'. Again, I agree Kyoto is flawed and should be scrapped. There are other ways to protect productivity and protect the environment.

Dear cybercoma, Sadly, that is what most of the debate about global warming is. It is attacks and counter attacks about the validity of the data, and how it gets interpreted. Many of 'naysayers' spout off about how it is a communist ploy to redistribute wealth, when that really isn't the intention. Kyoto may certainly be a flawed mechanism to address global warming, and due to it's wacky applications, should be scrapped. However, I don't think that the issue should be linked to Kyoto itself in such a way, and I truly believe that steps to eliminate pollution (read:lessening mankind's detrimental impact on the earth), in all it's forms, should be given much more importance.

Dear Shakeyhands, Well, to ask Montgomery Burns about it, he has stated that AP is just another purveyor of left-wing propaganda.Argus, I would fully expect that Clinton was 'advised' that Somalia was a lose-lose situation. Clinton found out pretty quick upon being elected that the president doesn't run the country with impunity (his promise to introduce universal health care, for example).Neither at the time was there the impetus for invasion (and as events proved, costly loss of life), for the purposes (ostensibly)of 'democratic nation building'.

Dear cybercoma, I think that it is a given that we can change things for the worse. It is the contention of many that we are doing so without even trying...just think of what we could do if we tried! The problem is, today's pollution leads to tomorrow's effects. Dumping dioxins and furans into steams, for example, (or even radioactive waste leaching into them) does not pose immediate threats nor symptoms. They are felt in the long term. Same goes for global warming. The only way to 'prove it' is to have tons of people die, and even then there will probably be debate as to exactly what the cause was. Take the coral reefs, for example. Should they all die off next year, you and eureka (and much of the scientific community) will probably be at odds over what the actual killer was. Was it Warming? Toxins and waste dumped untreated into the oceans? Basically, you seem to be saying that being 'proactive' is not needed, while the only proof you will accept is the final result, which means it will be too late.

Dear August1991, I don't see these as mirroring each other. Perhaps it is your wording, 'stealing from the rich to give to the poor' as an analogy for taxation. It makes you appear facetious, for I don't think you have, in the past, upheld this exact version as 'justifiable'. If you have, then my apologies. However, I do not believe that #1 is justifiable.

Dear August1991, Not exactly. The answer to #1 is, 'the addict killed himself', and to number two is, 'neither' (or, a tie). Garbage. You sound more like Hugo all the time. As for #2, Hugo, as a 'libertarian anarchist', felt children should not be forced to go to school, or forced to do anything, for that matter. If this were the case, the dropout rate would be about 100% in grade 2. As to #1, is that what you feel about roadways, water and sewage treatment, education and 'democracy'? (Democracy is almost as communist as you can get, it benefits all equally whether they like the results or not, and it makes no profit, nor is it intended to, it only costs)

Dear err, It seems that you have a problem discerning between 'the unfortunate' and freeloaders, addicts and 'lazy bums who know how to work the system'. I am definitely of a 'leftist persuasion', and even I do not think that welfare should be 'free' across the board. Even Karl Marx had his 'caveat', "From each according to his ability", yet you seem to think that even this is too much to ask.

Dear Argus, I hope you are right. Indeed. The Taleban was fast losing favour in Afghanistan for its rigid application of theocratic rule also, but events made change come from outside, rather than from within. I suppose that is what Black Dog (and many others, including myself) believes in. That change must come from desire, and it must come from within. Iran didn't need to get invaded to see this, and really, neither did Iraq. Supervised elections in Iraq probably would have accomplished the same thing as invasion, (as there was no 'imminent threat') at at far less cost.