theloniusfleabag

Dear Hugo, In the minds of the 'nutbars' that do bomb parliment buildings (or anything else), that is the the belief that they have. They choose not to bestow 'the right to live' upon those they hate. Not exactly. There are laws made that all citizens, including politicians and police, must respect or face punishment. Stephen Harper cannot murder Paul Martin and become prime minister. He would go to jail. Laws and forcible punishment may not be right in your eyes, but it is the system I prefer.

Dear Hugo, We are discussing your theory of Anarchy, and 'voluntary policing', aren't we? Sweet. Chaotic, though.

Dear Argus, Hugo believes the 'rules' (and currency) can be privatized too, but I am old enough to know people better than that.

Dear Hugo, Government is supposed to work for the benefit of 'the people', not their own benefit. Just because some of those who hold elected office are self-serving, doesn't mean that that is the purpose of gov't. The Mafia members are supposed to get individually wealthy, the gov't members aren't supposed to. They should theoretically enjoy the same benefits and suffer the same privations as those they lawfully govern.

Dear Argus, Bin Laden did indeed resent US troops 'on the soil of the land of the two holy places', and had made an offer to expel Iraq from kuwait himself. The offer was rejected by the Saudis (whose royal family Bin Laden hates anyway) which led to Bin Laden having his Saudi citizenship revoked. However, in pure speculation, had Saudi Arabia accepted, Baghdad might have been targetted instead of New York on 9/11. Bin Laden would have been far too busy.

Dear Hugo, Please point out these 'daily murders', I can't seem to find anything of the sort in my paper. Kidnapping? We (the general populace) don't see it that way, for we grant the police the right to perform arrests.

IMR, Funny, Ralphie likes it for health care, but doesn't want people to get married who like 'the third way' in the bedroom. I am all in favour of a 'blended system' because the present one isn't working. I heard from my own doctor that people are now dying on waiting lists. Besides, we already have a 'multiple-tiered system'...those that can afford it already go to the US for treatment, professional athletes and politicians have their own teams of private doctors, etc. Dear eureka, I agree that when I heard of changes to health care I was worried that we Canadians were going to be 'thrown to the wolves' with having to rely on private insurance companies (who only work to make a profit for themselves) and the fact that the majority of private bankruptcies in the US are due to huge medical bills is scary. However, what is more scary is the present Canadian system. Change desperately needs to be made.

Dear August1991, I suppose better wording might be.."the media doea it's utmost to influence what we think". If the medium couldn't influence, it wouldn't be used by advertisers.

Dear BHS, Exposing a CIA operative is not an 'off the cuff leak', it is a serious criminal offense, and in my mind, treason. Further, it was done as revenge for Ambassador Joseph Wilson's exposure of the fraudulent WMD claims of the US/UK coalition that Saddam had sought uranium from Nigeria. I urge you to read "The Politics of Truth", by Ambassador Joseph Wilson, husband of Valerie Plame.

Dear Hugo, (correction mine)I would prefer that you admit this is true. I say it is logically undeniable. And the crux of my past arguments. It wasn't meant to. The thread is " What is land ownership anyways". The state in this case would be 'the holders and enforcers of the laws', and the more people that are aware of it and respect it universally means the more people will hold to your or my ideas. The opposite is voluntary. Better (nay, best), but impossible, for now.

Dear Big Blue Machine, That is no reason not to invite him, it's discrimination. Just buy him some Viagra.

Dear Hugo and Argus, Kooky. All us lefties want the same thing....

Dear Argus, Where do you get your 'understanding' from? I urge you to try reading it. I also urge you to try reading Arutz Sheva. They are both biased, for their own cause of course, but I find it helps to understand their viewpoint juxtaposed to ours a bit better. For example, I found out that many Israelis don't like much America either.

Dear Big Blue Machine. I can't say, I personally am not young, conservative, or within 2,000 km of the event. i think Hugo is from the Niagra Peninsula, though.

Dear Big Blue Machine, In my opinion, of course it would be OK. In fact, this might be the first post that actually fits here. Well done.

Dear crazymf, That is a toughie. They are all biased, to certain degree. One of the best I have found, surprisingly, (or not, to some) is Al-Jazeera. They are not 'rabidly pro-arabic' as many might think. However, I always try to get as much info as I have time for from many sources, and both sides, if I can, so I also have Arutz Sheva (Israel National News) in my favourites. This is mostly for middle eastern news, mind you, so it depends on what topics you are interested in. There is no single news service that can be depended on to 'tell it like it is', really. In Calgary, years ago, I had written a letter to the editor of the Calgary Sun, and in it, referred to Peter Stockland as 'Mr. Right-Wing Fascist Editor'. Wouldn't you know, within 1-2 years Stockland was moved over to the Herald because it was deemed that the Herald was 'too far left' and needed to be brought in line 'with how Calgarians truly think'. At the time, they were 'the only games in town' until the ultra-left National Post came into town. Now we have three right-wing 'news sources' to choose from.

Dear kimmy, indeed, they are in business to make money. However, sometimes the desire to make money can lead people (or businesses ) to do bad things. Talisman Energy, for example, chose to get out of Sudan when it became apparent that the funds they paid the 'gov't' for the land was used to oppress and displace the local population in order to make the money. They have since tried (and to a large degree succeeded) to be one of the most 'ethical companies' in the world. Employees there are urged to not accept any form of graft or kickbacks, such as concert or plane tickets, etc, which are commonplace elsewhere. I believe that they are currently #18 or so on the list of 'ethical multi-nationals'. Now, that being said, is it ok for Microsoft to help squash freedom and democracy elsewhere? The US gov't would have a fit of apoplexy if they did the same thing (or even tried to do business) in Cuba.

Dear August. That is a distortion, but is closer to the truth than your statement. The only way 'ethics can be good for business' is as a marketing ploy. (though some few adopt it out of pure compassion)

Dear cybercoma, Every 'statistic' can be misleading, it depends on how you present it. As kimmy states, and I have to agree.

Dear Argus, I have to agree with Black Dog, Much of the allied bombing (mostly on the part of the UK) was in accordance with the classic definition of terrorism. That is, the UK (and especially Arthur 'Bomber' Harris) decided that they would target civilians in a campaign known as 'terror bombing' to try to make the civilians take action against their own gov't to sue for peace, or capitulate. That is what terrorism is, attacking a supposedly innocent third party, hoping that they will in turn force a second party to capitulate to the party in the first part.At the time, the US didn't want to be part of it, and stated that they would only bomb war production and industrial facilities only. Arthur Travers Harris won the nickname 'bomber' for his single-mindedness in his approach, but was called 'Butch', short for 'Butcher', by his crews. Evidently his actions did carry some moral weight, for he was denied a peerage after the war, and many senior staff and politicians tried to distance themselves from him over his outspoken pride over what became a controversial issue.

Dear August1991, I believe I have asked you this before, August, but it was some time ago...If demnocracy is such a bad way of doing things, what do you advocate as the best way? I believe, in the past, you declined 'benevolent dictator', and 'dynastic monarchy', (which would both rule by the dictum) and the other side of the coin is Hobbesian 'Anarchy', with no laws whatsoever. I just don't seem to recall what you had put forth as 'the lesser evil', as it were.Most of the comments in this thread have been saying 'our system isn't good', but (with the exception of Hawk, who advocates, as do I but to a different degree, the US style system of passing bills to become law) without offering a better solution, it means that perhaps what we have is about as good as possible.

Dear BHS, An excellent post. One of the few things I disagreed with were Powell is a long-shot because he is 'not a team player' when it comes to advocating the military as foreign policy. and That is something I would never bet on. Nobody expected or could reasonably have forseen '9/11' either.

Dear all, Had my first experience with an'young labourer' today. My wife and I went to for fish&chips at a large Canadian chain (which shall remain nameless, but It isn't too hard to figure out...but the fact that it is a chain, albeit a franchised one, is quite relevant) that specializes in fish. We sat down, my wife ordered a glass of milk, and I ordered a pint of beer. The waitress said, a bit redfaced, "Um, I'm too young to serve you that, but I'll have the cook bring it out to you". (We found out, by overhearing a conversation with her and some friends she had there, that she was 13.) Not a big problem, but it got me thinking. Now, some may call me 'biased', but I would prefer the term 'old-fashioned', but I don't think she should have been a server at that age. Her make-up suggested older(My wife commented that all she saw was make-up and teeth), and to have her serve a table of, say, guys that just came from Hooters or the peelers, and stopped in for a snack and some beers, is just asking for trouble. I worked in the service industry, (and did all the jobs, from cook, waiter, bartender, to eventually being kitchen manager and then 'facility manager' when the owner was away) The service industry, especially when booze is involved, is no place for an impressionable pre-teen. Waitresses suffer sexual abuse (inappropriate touching, commments that are both sexually and intellectually derogatory, attempts to 'pick them up' etc, although often fairly mild stuff) all the time. Now, I was unhappy with the overall service (even though they were mostly minor things that annoyed us), but my wife and I thought "We can't really blame her, she can't possibly know some of the stuff and their ramifications that she did wrong". However, my wife and I only half-joked that we probably wouldn't go back to that particular location again. I realize that this is just my opinion, but I think pre-teens should not be in this particular job, and I don't think the majority of 12-14 yr olds have the maturity to face the same challenges as the same number of 30-50 yr olds. I also wonder, if others feel the same as me, that having one franchise choose a certain course of action, could bear negatively on another location with a different philosophy, or would they all be required to 'fill quotas', even though it may hurt business?

Dear Hugo, What's the difference between you 'owning your house and setting the rules' and Hitler dictating what went on within his borders? The morality which guides your respective actions.

Dear BHS, Democracy isn't the 'be all and end all', but there should be some mechanism in all societies for feedback to the 'lawmakers' of the land.That being said, a new 'UN style' organization could have an international law that could and should be upheld whether or not nations try to 'opt out' or not join.