Ladyjen

1. I am a Caucasian female. 2. I won’t go into what I think is culturally important, it would take 3 pages. 3. I have been in Canada for over 40 years and have Landed Immigrant status, not a Canadian Citizen. Why? Pure laziness (hanging head in shame). 4. Western ideologies are the main theme of my life. I am from England and there is not much of a cultural difference anymore so there is nothing to hang on to in this regard. But I do think that I appreciate the humour in Monte Pythons Flying Circus more than most Canadians (go ahead and bash me) 5. I wish that Religion played no part what-so-ever in providing moral order. I do not need other human beings telling me what is right or wrong in the name of some cult - except maybe the folks at the Justice Department. Didn’t even agree with them in my funny cigarette days. 6. I do not support extreme conservative views.

Everybody has a little detective in them and thank heavens we do. I couldn't just believe everything the government tells me without questioning some of it. When a cop goes to the scene of a death he/she doesn't just call the coroner to take the body away without doing some investigating. I take most conspiracy theories with a grain of salt but some have merit.

Thank you to everybody. This has clarified some things for me.

If the Dems take both the House and the Senate, will they have the power to impeach Bush and can they charge him with war crimes?

Was their failure the result of a long reign-- or was it the result of a corrupt ideology? I am no expert on capitalism or communism, just lifelong observations. IMO, it may have started out as somewhat altered from the true ideology and then became corrupt along the way. It is hard to judge just when that would have started as the Soviet Union was so secret, for so very long. My statement regarding enmasse human rights violations, was in reference to the fact that people were forbidden to leave the USSR and were executed if caught trying. They were denied basic freedom of speech and were harshly punished for even a whisper of desent. Who knows if true communism could ever make for a content and economicaly successful society? However, I do think that for this ideology to be fairly tested, it would have to involve the entire world as then there could be no sanctions imposed from countries that hold the resources, out of fear.

I listened to CBC Radio happily for years. Vicky Gabero, Peter Zwoski and in more recent times, Sad Goat. But I am now so tired of hearing endless obscure, boring folk singers and ordinary citizens singing to the CBC answering machine, I rarely listen anymore. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Thanks for asking this as I was just as nosey. I deliberately posted something directly after reading that someone had been banned just to see if it was me. As a newbie here, one never knows!

There will always be fraud in any election anywhere. As we all know, there is the margin of error for spoilt ballots and small percentages of fraud. The voting processes that were put into place by America's forefathers ensured, for many generations, those issues would be minimal and would never alter an election with any great significance. The western world has always taken great pride in its democratic voting practices. How sad that for the first time in history millions of people will go to the polls not knowing if their vote will count. Even if there is no out and out fraud or the voting machines have not been deliberately tampered with, just the fact that the machines themselves and other polling practices are not up to par, must be extremely disturbing to most Americans.

IMHO, this is a positive move in the right direction.

Fortunately, I have not had much to do with cops but I am damn glad they are there for us. By and large I believe that most are honest and are in it for the right reasons. I agree geoffrey, they are underpaid.

All this horse hockey about the Republicans stealing elections is just the result of bitter Dems who can't face the fact that their platform sucks. Lou Dobbs is singlehandedly trying to sway the election with his 'broken government' propaganda, and just like Dan Rather before him, it tends to tick off more people than it sways to the Dem's side. Oh you think? Polls tell us otherwise! http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politica...emains-low.html

I am concerned because I believe, as do many others, that the last 2 elections were rigged. Just think, if Gore had become President, there would have been no Iraq war, no Katrina, no nuke threats from North Korea, a stable American economy, no war on the middle class and a greater effort to save the environment. I am concerned because what happens in the USA affects the entire world doesn't it? Especially now with our current Prime Minister who is so anxious to jump into bed with Bush. The world is at risk with this regime.

I have just finished watching Lou Dobbs on another of the "Broken Government" series. This one focused on the insane voting process. The question I have is: Why have you waited so long Lou? I'll tell you why! Because up until the last six months, CNN was on board with every other media outlet in the U.S. in supporting the right wing. Lou and his staff raised some very disturbing issues with the "machines" used to record, or should I say not record, the votes. For instance, poll employees taking the machines home prior to the election and storing them outside in their garages because the State have no provisions in place to store them properly or safely. They said that these machines must be kept at a certain temperature to remain operational. They demonstrated how a hacker can program or virus the machine within seconds by intserting a memory card. AND they have no security in place to prevent this. No paper trail as well as the fact that one of the manufacturers of these machines is Venezuelan based. The other pumps money into the Republican campaign. It has been a well known fact, since the year 2000, that there has been huge problems with the voting system in America but the media pooed pooed it all as conspiracy theorists etc., etc. Now there is a collective move to oust Bush and they jump all over it, one week before the election. I don't blame Dobbs for this as its the big cats at the top of the media conglomerate who decide who is going to win. Fat lot of good it will do now. Too little too late.

I was harkening back to my prediction 3 pages back on this thread (Oct. 26th). The news report that I found on Oct 28th confirms my prediction and says it all.

This is oh so predictable _____________________________________________ Harper defends MacKay as Dog-gate remains open in Commons at 18:43 on October 24, 2006, EST. BRUCE CHEADLE OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper unswervingly defended his foreign minister as a man of dignity and competence Monday while ignoring opposition demands that Peter MacKay apologize for an alleged sexist slur. MacKay, who is travelling on government business in Hungary, stands accused of alluding to Liberal MP Belinda Stronach, his former paramour, as a dog during heated heckling last week in the House of Commons. "I think the minister of foreign affairs is conducting Canada's international relations with great effort, with dignity and with competence," Harper said during the daily question period. "Certainly we support him." The prime minister dismissed the slur allegations, citing a ruling by the Speaker that the comments were not clearly audible and not included in Hansard, the official transcript of House proceedings. ____________________________________________

When the first pictures appeared on TV of these little twins, I had to go do some housework as I was so, so, angry that anybody in their right mind would allow this to happen. My heart went out to those babies and I couldn't watch it. How could anybody in their right mind bring children into the world that are doomed to this kind of an existence? What were they thinking? The prognosis right from the beginning was not good. This has never happened in BC before. Was this mother just wrapped up in all the attention to the point that it clouded her judgement? I don't know about a forced pregancy termination or medical insurance refusing to pay for it as both of these scenarios seem like a slippery slope. I do know that I will not be following this sad story as this rips my heart out and causes me huge bewilderment and frustration.

I have forgotten the odd time too. Won't do that again. Hell, maybe we have won too.

No wonder she dumped him! My prediction is that Harper will back McKay to the hilt. Or he will ignore it like he seems to do with everything else. There's no such thing anymore as asking anybody to resign for innapropriate remarks or even shady behaviour. Those gallant days are gone. The key word here is arrogance and governments are full of this attitude that the tax payers can just 'suck it up baby'.

The way the OLG treated the elderly fellow who had his lotto ticket stolen by the store clerks was despicable. They did everything in their power to cover up evidence and spent over $400,000 of tax payers money on lawyers. Who could trust this outfit? They should all be fired. The OLG lady spokesperson was pathetic. I always sign my tickets the minute I buy them. But this eldery fellow is from a generation where life was a whole more simple and trusting. Like the rest of us, he was unaware that there was any such thing as lottery fraud. Shame on the OLG!

Veils are not just innapropriate, they are offensive. Not just to women and men in this country who believe in equality but to those who simply wish to have eye and expression contact with those to whom we are speaking.

And courageous in times when freedom of speech is in peril with the dismantling of the U.S. constitution.

AMEN

You shouldn't be distrubed at all. He's right to speak out against ILLEGAL immigration. Afterall, it's ILLEGAL. It hurts the country, especially by supressing wages for lower and middle-class workers. If your Dad came to Canada illegally, that's wrong as well, however, I'm guessing that he probably came here legally. Please don't mix illegal immigration with legal immigration. They're two seperate issues. I guess in the beginning, when this issue was first raised, I was feeling a bit sorry for folks who live in poverty, make the big move and then get arrested. You can't blame folks for trying to enhance their lives. But after watching Lou Dobbs explain the economic impacts of this, I feel it is very wrong and needs to be stopped. I am well aware of the difference between illegal and legal immigration. My Dad came here legally.

The veil to me, is a uniform that symbolizes the suppression of a whole lot of human beings. I am not comfortable when I see women's faces covered because somebody has brainwashed them from birth to believe that they are "less than". When I see veils of any sort, the images of women in Bhurkas being shot to death, in the back of a pick up truck, in a baseball field, is still fresh in my mind.