theloniusfleabag

Dear FastNed, Please also note, that the term "in the interests of National Security..." has been used many times to supercede existing domestic and international laws. While the military cannot waive the provisions of the law, they can choose to ignore it, and keep it's decisions and actions secret, "in the interests of National Security".

Dear kimmy, Poor David Kilgour. If you'll recall, Kilgour and Alex Kindy were 'fired' from the PC part for voting against the implementation of the GST. (They both claimed they were merely acting according to the wishes of the overwhelming majority of their constituents). Looks like there is no place for an 'honest politician'!

Dear I miss Reagan, Thanks for the chuckle. Actually, that topic has come up several times. The UK, especially, was soundly condemned for it's terrorism in targeting civilians. It isn't a real hot topic, though, since it happened over 60 years ago.

Religion getting gov't funds? Bah. As if they don't collect enough from their congregation anyway. If they want to raise funds to proselytize, let them do it internally. the gov't should only fund secular aid groups, totally unconnected to any particular religion. At least it appears that Bush is keeping a campaign promise, though. It seems he promised the religious right lots of dough if they elected him, and he is backing it up with the cheques!

Dear Black Dog, I found the wording of the ad very interesting. 'Martin wants to impose same sex-marriage" This gives the illusion that my heterosexual marriage is somehow going to be attacked or changed somehow. It doesn't say 'Martin wants to include same-sex marriage'. then, it offers you 2 choices, "yes" to Steven Harper, or 'yes' to defeat the liberals. Dr. Goebbels would be proud.

Dear Hugo, Funny, that is what the 'Originals', or First Nations people felt when they 'sold their land' to the Europeans. They thought they were coming out ahead in the deal, because no one can 'own land' (you can't pick it up and take it with you!) Does this make the land, or 'ownership', metaphysical?

Dear Pateris, I do believe my response was "Actually, I like the CBC..." I am not sure where your personal persecution came from out of that, unless you're willing to call me Amalek for it.

Dear Black Dog, For shame, that you would suggest the US might consider resorting to something 'illegal', regarding foreign policy. To the best of my knowledge, the USA has never been caught, prosecuted and convicted of such a thing. Besides, even though the US trained, funded and logistically supported the El Salvador death squads, and taught them torture methods, that is no reason to assume the US actually had a hand in any of the killings. In Iraq, it could be just like old times. But should they pick North Korea or Iran to sell arms to, in order to fund these 'Iraqi death squads'? They can't get the money from Congress, 'cause that'd be just wrong.

Dear August1991, I have been on a real 'Death Watch' before, and I couldn't count on the Feds to step in, over and over, to stave off the inevitable.Air Canada is a mis-managed, dying, farce of a company. Milton and the unions (in that order) have doomed it to failure. If it goes away, something viable will take it's place. Why has the gov't tried to keep it afloat for so long? Is it so they don't have to re-negotiate new gov't contracts with a new company?

Dear August1991, Indeed, I am a long-term volunteer with an Animal Rescue Foundation, and received nary a penny. However, Hugo's formula would indicate that C was being fulfilled, an inherent value. I think, though, that Hugo's idea of working for no monetary reward would be like a free kick in the S+A+C.

Dear Hugo, Um, what decendants can't you identify? We gathered them up and put them on reserves, so they'd be easy to find if we ever decide to give their land back, or pay them it's value.

Dear kimmy, Immigration Canada already has 'greasy wheels' to fast-track immigrants. I am not positive of the numbers, but I believe if an immigrant has $500,000 CDN, and can invest 200,000 of it immediately, in a business or entrepreneurship, they get classified in the 'right this way please' category. A little less money and you're in the 'it might take a couple of days' category. The "S.O.L" category is for the poor, (who most likely will drain our welfare dollars away) unless they grease the palm of the person at the door. Kind of unfair, where the person at the top decides who does or does not get 'grafted'.

Dear Hugo, I am afraid I am going to have to agree with you on this post. "Fair", to many, implies the notion of 'equal'. Equal, sure, but equal what? To the 'capitalist', it means "everyman for himself", which is as basically 'equal' as one can get. To the Marxist, it means equal distribution or allotment. But what of the 'distributors'? They are usually the ones that ruin it for everyone, for, as you say, altruism is very rare indeed.

Dear Hugo, ...Bawdy House!You are right, I quoted too much of your sentence. It should have read... I should have replied "Sadly, it is still part of the market." To clarify, I did not say that wages tend to shrink. I was referring to the removal of an artificial barrier (minimum wage), which would open up 'the market' to the real barrier, zero. The wages that I suggested would fall, would be a one-time only event, caused by removing the minimum wage barrier, not overall market force. Since the tendency is to rise, (except for a few rare anomolies), it must have a starting point to rise from. At present, that starting point is minimum wage. The 'bottom dropping out' is a reference to the starting point dropping from 'minimum wage' to zero.

Dear Black Dog, I do believe the DOJ in the US put murder rates in the US at 5.4/100,000, while in Canada it is 1.73/100,000. I believe in both cases, 'gun' deaths accounted for just over 50% of these deaths. Yet Canada has more guns per capita than in the US, if I am not mistaken. As for the uselessness of a gun registry, something like 80% of those surveyed got their gun from:'a friend, family member, or an illegal source'. August1991, As to RPGs or WMDs, the law banning assault weapons in the US recently expired, and Pres. Bush chose not to renew it. So you can now, once again, buy an assault rifle with a grenade launcher 'accessory'. (Though grenades are still technically illegal). I have a book called "Shadow Warrior", by Felix Rodriguez, and ex-CIA operative, who was once caught in Florida with a 105mm recoiless rifle (basically a bazooka) in his station wagon, by a state trooper. When the trooper was going to arrest him, Felix pointed out that Florida State law allowed the posession of a single shot rifle of any calibre, and, upon verifying this, the state trooper had to let him go!

Dear Hugo, I do not recall saying that prices "always tend to move downward". If I did say so, I challenge you to quote it. I was simply arguing with August1991, I believe, that it was possible to have a price on labour as zero. This is why I referred to labour as a commodity rather than a market unto itself. Commodities, while having a 'market value', do not make that price up by themselves, rather, they are assigned a value. Indeed. But it still is, today, part of the market.

Dear Hugo, I thought you disliked the 'strawman argument, but here you are using it. Who in their right mind would sell a product at cost? Everytime a product is touched, moved or stored, value (and a profit margin) is added. Thus, while one might get to use slave labour for free, materials and marketing cost money, thus Lear Jets aren't free. While it may be argued that 'even slavery isn't free', (one needs to hire an overseer and buy the 'cat-o-nine tails') it can come pretty close. The Nazi regime often worked their slaves, some Jews but mostly Slavs, to death. No worries about feeding and housing them this way, and you production costs go down immensely. Does that mean that IG Farben sold their product at cost, or gave it away? Of course not.

Dear August1991, They do now, I believe they are called 'Keds' rather than 'Nike'. The other employer would be a fool if he went beyond $1.10. The other employer also has a 'market defined limit' as to how many people he/she could possibly employ. Further, to aquire investment and shareholder confidence, he/she must be working to maximize profit and return on investment, and this cannot be achieved by giving more to the workers, for it directly reduces profit margins. They might become better off if that $8 dollars came directly out of the 5,000%. Micheal Eisner might have to suffer a bit, perhaps only making $30,000/hr (24/7) instead of $60,000/hr, but the world might actually become a better place. We wouldn't have to see Suzanne Sommers in those stupid 'tear-jerking' UNICEF ads anymore.However, if such a minimum wage for Asia were proposed, I think Pres. Bush would quickly become friends with the nearest Pol Pot, and the 'new gov't' would squash such a plan.

Dear Pateris, If you'll recall, four large hurricanes in a row hit Eastern North America in 2004. I will not attribute this, for now, to climate change. However, it makes me think of a question for those that oppose the notion that mankind is damaging the planet. Since you seem to argue that no scientific evidence is valid,(save those few reports done by 'scientists' in the employ of oil companies) at what point, or, what events, would have to unfold for you to accept or acknowledge empirical evidence? 5-7 hurricanes Hitting florida for a period of 10 consecutive years? Or would the number have to be higher, say 20?Drought, that can be a real killer. How many consecutive years would it take to convince you? After two years, as history shows us, millions may start dying. (There is plenty of evidence that cyclical droughts occur, and their impact is devastating , though any one region would be less prone to mass starvation than in the past)

Dear Pateris, You seem to be claiming to know; that which you claim to be unknowable...Global warming poses it's greatest threat not from an overall miniscule climb in mean temperatures, but from the aberrant weather it causes. 9 feet of snow in California, or snow in the UAE for the first time in recorded history, for example. The Bow River in Calgary is facing record lows because the Bow Glacier has receded at least 25% in the last 100 years. It is possible it is a 'cyclical event', but it is more likely caused by ...melting. From heat. More heat than 'normal'. Not at the rate Humans extinct them. Perhaps you can write an 'open letter to God', telling him how he frittered his time away in a wasteful fashion, creating all those species that humans can evidently live without.

Dear Hugo, Sure there is a limit, and that limit is zero. Labour is not a 'market' as much as it is a raw material. It is only treated as 'marketable value' if you are in an industrialized First World country. Factories providing goods for consumption in those First World countries are still sometimes wont to use slavery, or, if they are generous, 10-15 cents an hour. Then, upon export, the goods created by slavery are 'marked up' (to attain profit margin) some 5,000%. The 'downward mobility' is only limited in N. America by minimum wage. There is no such thing in most Asian countries. Thus there is extreme poverty in many countries even when most labourers work full time. The proponents of the abolishment of minimum wage seem to want to import that kind of misery here. Not exactly sure why.

Dear August1991, Here is a quote from "The World At Arms, A Reader's Digest Illustrated History of WWII" (1989) pg. 105Regarding the invasion of the USSR by Germany;

Dear August1991, It seems that 'murder for murder' does not serve as an effective deterrent.I will, however, give my very own statistic on how capital punishment directly reduces crime: No person who has been executed has ever gone on to re-offend. Wrongful conviction is indeed a worry, even when only constituting less than 0.1% of capital cases. Perhaps in these instances, we could follow Ralph Klein's advice and; "Shoot, Shovel and Shut up". Seems fair. In our society, and in Hugo's 'anarchist utopia'. It would be wrong to take more.

Dear shackwacky, Not all, I said 'the majority'. Indeed, I cannot say too much of the introverted, bitter shut-ins, because I haven't met many. Perhaps these types are actually the majority. Indeed, yet the thread was begun because of the US Army will not leave 'gay' out of the equation, and has chosen to discriminate against them even though the desperately need the 'services rendered' by some gay people.

Dear eureka, Lol. This post, obviously cut&pasted from another semi-literate author, is just another chain-yanker. Don't spend too much time refuting it, you most likely won't see a response.