theloniusfleabag

Dear Hugo. It was merely a response to your statement which I believe to be inaccurate.

Dear Hugo, I never claimed I wanted to control any consumer's choice, I merely pointed out how despicable (in my opinion) some adverising can be. I believe the point of this thread was 'video games', but more importantly, can external stimuli influence individual behaviour. It is not people like me that create gas chambers, it is those who lust after power, and seek the control and direction of the aforementioned 'external stimuli'.

Dear August1991, Welcome back! Indeed, as ad hominem attacks go, that was a doozy. too bad we don't see that kind effort going into factual posts that often. The public health care system sucks, at present, but private is often worse. It also often depends on whose reports you read.

Dear RB, Generally, employers have been very responsible with the collection and retention of information. An employer is one of the few people (or entities) that has your SIN #, age, D.O.B etc. I have heard of a few cases of this info being mishandled, but they are quite rare considering the enormous volume of people in the workforce. As to privacy in the workplace, that is an iffy one. Why does an employee warrant or need privacy (except in the non-work areas, such as washrooms and lunch-rooms, etcc) in someone else's place of business? A malady of the information age, I'm afraid. Why should an employer not monitor these things? If someone spent 50% of their time at work with personal phone calls, or with sending joke e-mails, I think the employer should have a right to try to get the employee to stop such activity, and get on with their work.

Dear Big Blue Machine, Welcome back. I think that the assumption is that he already has. He has failed to 'unite the right' thus far, even though the Conservatives are making headway. Harper can't really take credit for being any sort of catalyst, it is more like he is just taking his turn at the wheel. The conservatives need someone dynamic at the helm, to win over the East, bringing the Conservatives much needed credibility and 'Canadianism'. Just like the NDP, leadership is lacking. Layton looks like, and spells his name, too closely to Lenin to have a credible impact on the majority.(j/k)

Dear kimmy, I think you're right. Quebec will post big BQ numbers in place of any (but not all) Liberal ridings, and Alberta will go Conservative blue, big time. Funny thing, though, Canadians seem to vote for incumbent parties the closer they are to seats of power. Edmonton, for example, had big Liberal support in the last election (well, bigger than any other AB city). It is almost as though people say..."Things aren't so bad....please don't change it, we're just getting used to this devil..."

Dear Terrible Sweal, No. (Don't ask Hugo, though, for he will tell you 'morality, ethics and imperatives' don't really 'exist' lol)It is all about individual choice. Is there a universal 'ethic or morality'? I would say to this, "the meaning of life is TO BE". However, even Hamlet questioned this one. One can choose to not act, even in cases of self-preservation.

So far, I have to agree with Argus on this one. The big question mark for the tories is Ontario, and their leader, Steven Harper. He is as exciting as a dead fish. Martin isn't really any better, but the conservatives might do well to have someone with at least a little pizzazz.

Here are a few scenarios that we might see in the next election. I do not discount the fact that Canadians are apathetic when it comes to politics, and voting in the Liberals again wouldn't be a surprise. I have included only the BQ as holding the balance of power in the minority gov't selections because most parties would like to appease Quebec, and keep the separation issue off the table.

Dear Hugo, I agree, but the vast bulk of good and services purchased in North America aren't proffered by entrepreneurs, but by large, well established corporations or conglomerates. That is quite the stark contrast, either allow misleading and coercive advertising or gas everybody. Is the sky in your world black and white too? Not sure who you think I'd like to gas, the miscreant advertisers or the hapless 'sheeple' consumers. I'd go with the dishonest advertisers, every time.

Dear RB, I am in agreement in principle that personal information is sacrosanct. However, after looking at the gov't regs I sincerely hope it never affects my business. I don't think we have had much of a problem with the inappropriate dissemination of personal information in the private sector thus far, and the last thing my small business needs is even more federal paperwork.

Dear Argus, I am guessing that advertising is a service business, and not a goods business. The 'market' value of advertising is wide open for interpretation, whereas tangible goods such as vehicles, toilet seats, etc have a market value that is hard to stretch. Sure, they could have purchased a few $100,000 toilet seats, and asked for kick-backs out of the profits, but it is much easier to hide overpayment for a non-asset purchase.

Dear Argus, http://www.waterbank.com/Newsletters/nws37.html Here is a link to one of the many sites regarding this issue. I have also discovered, (quite by accident, so please please don't tell anyone) that water tends to run downhill. In Alberta, only the Milk River joins the US water system, and it is a hotly contested resource.

Dear Hugo, This is only partly true. Or, at least, it is more true for markets than it is for marketing.I don't watch television anymore, but years ago there was a tire manufacturer that used the slogan.."Because there is so much riding on your tires". The ad showed a happy, giggling baby in a diaper on a tire. Now, the underlying message was that 'your baby might die if you don't buy our brand'. It wasn't 'you might spill your coffee', or 'you might not be able to avoid that helpless gopher', they went right for the throat, 'your newborn infant, probably more valuable to you than your own life, is in jeopardy if you buy a competitor's product, and what kind of a parent would you be if you gambled your infant's life on a product that we're telling you is inferior to ours'? The notion of advertising is theoretically to make consumers aware that your product exists, sure, but what would be the point of stopping there?

Dear Greg, Does the partial lifting of the ban extend to what can be discussed on this forum? As I understand it, the only legal ban now is information regarding Brault's relationship with Guite.

Dear kimmy, Caesar has a point: charges, accusations and testimony (and sometimes evidence) mean nothing if you don't get a conviction. Just ask Brian Mulroney or OJ Simpson. Martin bears a lot of responsibility because of his tenure as Finance Minister. Martin is in a bit of a quandry on this one though, for if he says..."I have no knowledge whatsoever of how monies were spent when I was in charge of Finance", he will either look like an incompetent boob or a liar. If he says he knew about the sponsorship contracts, he will look like a crook.

Dear Terrible Sweal, Ever heard the term 'ambulance-chaser'? I have no doubt the Schindler's called a lawyer, but to suggest that lawyers are all 'morally impeccable' is silly. You should realize that settlements usually have a clause that 10-50% goes to the lawyer, plus hourly fees. Those fees range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per hour. I have many clients that are lawyers, from corporate litigation, commercial, and customs, and even they know all the lawyer jokes. While I realize that this case wasn't over money, I have no doubt that some sort of deal could have been made regarding royalties for television, book or movie rights to 'offset the legal fees' in a case such as this.

Dear caesar, Many of those 'on the right' claim to be 'devout christians', and adhere to the 'eye for an eye' philosphy of justice (akin to Islamic fundamentalists, I might add), while championing the 'everyman for himself' attitude of free enterprise. They seem to have a "Church on Sunday, but Business on Monday" mentality. One cannot serve both God and Mammon. What the conservatives need to do first and foremost is 'unite the right', and mend the damage to the old PC party. There is far too much vote-splitting going on amongst the right wing parties in the west for any one of them to gain ground. Secondly, they need to realize that the majority of Canadians ARE left of centre, and if they come out too far to the right, they will marginalize no one but themselves.

Dear RB, I believe caesar is right on the money with... I also believe the entire 'prison' system needs to be re-focused. It is where people with no respect for other people live... They don't make up the majority of repeat offenders...but it would be a lie to say that none of them have gone to prison... While I am somewhat in agreement, for the degredation of society can be attributed to 'moral decay', I am still able to choose my path, and it is not one of crime.

Dear Terrible Sweal, Free enterprise. More precisely, demographic 'target' marketing. Kind of like the old 'vicious circle' theory, where the want creates the market and the market creates the want.Then, there is the niche market, stores for the Big and Tall, for the petite, for the gothic and for the Fat and Ugly (actually, Wal-Mart has cornered that market). Then, somehow you must try to influence that person into becoming a 'loyal customer'.

dear kimmy, I echo Terrible Sweal's comment, great post. To be clear, the shoeboxes were requested by the teacher, not provided by her. Another customer, (a woman who was independently wealthy) owned the shoes.

Dear Black Dog, I am going to leave Bush's evident hypocrisy out of the mix here, and ask you "Whom should have the final say'? My first response would be 'Me' (the individual), but in the absence of a 'living will', the field is wide open. Should it be the spouse or the family? The doctor (and the science community) or the state? Or, to go really right-wing, should it be the choice of the one who is paying the bill?

Dear kimmy, I've heard that those new missiles also whistle like crazy in flight....But seriously, RB is right to a degree about culture dictating prices and position for the genders.One of my customers is a teacher, and she asked me if I had any shoeboxes for her kids to use for a project at school. One of my other customers overheard this, and she said "I'll bring in some shoeboxes tomorrow..." Well, I happened to notice that the price tags of the 3 shoeboxes totalled $1750! One of them was a pair of Chanel high heel 'sandals' (as there wasn't much to them in the picture) for $870. Was she being taken advantage of? Well, she bought the shoes, so she obviously was willing to pay the money. Was it because of 'society-induced female-targeted vanity'? Quite possibly, but ultimately she bought the shoes, and helped create a market for them. As for me, I gulped when I shelled out $130 for a pair of handmade Sika Clogs for work, but it turned out to be the best footwear buy I ever made. After a year and a half they are still comfortable and the leather is holding up fine.

Dear eureka, You are quite right that 'forced delays' add costs to projects. I am not sure why people are arguing so vehemently against this. However, I believe that an estimated 2 million dollar project with a 50% cost over-run would have been a 1 million dollar loss. Where is the other $997,000,000?

Dear kimmy (and Argus), Whoopsie, I should have been more clear...being in bed with the US was a large factor in the Bali bombing, and Australians were targeted.A quote from Gwynne Dyer's book "Future:Tense The Coming World Order" (2004)pg 189 This has obviously been Australia's stance for some time.Further, in the book "Imperial Hubris; Why The West Is Losing The War On Terror" (2004) by Anonymous (since revealed as Michael Scheuer, CIA officer)pg94 So, the Aussies were targeted for being a part of the Islamist's percieved 'Western attack against Islam', and for Australia's unwavering support of the US. This has more to do with 'the war on terror' than did the actual invasion of Iraq, which is unrelated to 'the war on terror'.