Canadian Blue

Required America to fail at what exactly?

It doesn't help that the report was authored by John Kerry. Attempting to put the entire blame on George W Bush for not capturing Osama Bin Laden is infantile. When an operation like that occurs the President doesn't have control over what every soldier in region is doing, attempting to do so would result in a clusterf*ck. Do I think Donald Rumsfeld in particular was incompetent, without a doubt. That was due more to John Kerry than anything George W Bush did in the previous four years. The Democrats had every advantage in 2004 and lost it all because of a shitty campaign.

I've actually heard some people call Gen. Rick Hillier a war criminal. Then again those people are usually confined to the usual quacks who have no clue where Afghanistan is on a map.

All I'm saying is that to put all the blame on Bush would be incorrect. When it comes to an operation like that the errors come from many areas. In this case it seems the biggest offenders were Rumsfeld and Tommy Franks.

Death panels have existed for a long time in the United States Shady. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2009685301_harrop19.html What I love is reading the "pro-life" politicians who are opposed to any additional funding for healthcare. Despite going on about how government intervention is required to ensure women don't have abortions, they want no public funding available for parents to help cover the costs of health insurance. Therefore a child can die later in life and the GOP is fine with it, but if an abortion occurs it's a tragedy that requires immediate action.

Really, was Bush the one who told those American troops not to move faster to catch Osama. I'm not fan of George W Bush, in fact I think his Presidency was a complete failure. But you can't blame all of the problems in the world on him.

Oleg, you should really get back on the lithium.

Actually the federal government gave most civil servants a raise. I doubt you bitched about that. That's how it works with most federal employees. As a private I would have a hard time moving my entire family, buying a home, and eating, etc. if it all came out of my own pay. Especially when you're given the order to do training with only two days notice. We don't stay in the best hotels either, whenever I was sent to another base I stayed in single quarters and would often find myself with three other members in a room. Military families are separated for 6 to 9 months while on deployment. A friend of mine didn't get to be at the side of his wife for the birth of his first child due to deployment. If some Green Party supporter [Topaz] has a problem with it, then go bitch to the veterans at your local legion about how easy they had it in life compared to yourself. This is what I hate about the left. It used to be about helping the working man, the farmer, and the small businessman, now it's just some suburban marxist [Topaz] bitching about how the government should be spending money on her bullshit.

Let me explain to you how this works... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QjOI7bj5ks

So far corporate hegemony is far better than Taliban hegemony.

Is there any possibility that the Manitoba Liberals could win more support by finding a middle ground between the NDP and Tories?

I disagree, the BC Liberals are not just the old Socreds, they are a coalition of both conservatives and liberals. That's why it's not shocking to find members their party run for either the CPC or the LPC. If the Liberals wanted to govern, they would need to find a way to appeal to those on the right who favour the free market, civil liberties, and a welfare state. Agreed, when I was a member of the NDP I couldn't help but look in awe as the federal NDP seemed to ignore everything it's successful provincial counterparts were doing. It seems like economic illiteracy is a point of pride in the federal party. Often the stigma around the Liberals is that they seem like the lobby for public unions. The Liberals could make a platform devoted to diversifying the economy through more funding towards education and the trades. That could be a huge benefit in both urban and rural areas. It would also show the Liberals are more forward thinking than the current crop of PC's. But the Liberals shouldn't just take up the stock policies. I'd argue that the Liberals should argue for reform of the HRC's for example to ensure protection of freedom of speech and press. They should also be more prominent in the battle for elected senators, which would resonate with a large number of former Reformers. But once again, I haven't seen any of these moves made by the party. I was hoping for Dave Taylor since he had the best plan for modernising the existing Liberal Party. Unfortunately I haven't seen any real movement to make the party more palatable to the rest of Alberta. If the Liberals don't improve I'd just vote for whichever party was the most likely to gain the seat, whether it be NDP, Liberal, or [assuming Danielle Smith wins] Wildrose Alliance.

Difference being that flag burners aren't considered the "base" of the party. Sarah Palin who thinks Obama will personally execute old people and mentally handicapped children is the leading candidate for the Presidential primaries. The nutters have obviously taken over.

Then let private insurance come in to fill the void. We had the same fight in Alberta over delisting sex change surgery. I doubt the reason for the delisting is because the Manitoba NDP are a bunch of gay bashers.

I disagree, what needs to happen is the Alberta Liberals should follow the same model as the BC Liberals. Moving a little bit farther left won't get them anything except a couple more seats in Edmonton. The Liberals had a chance to become a force in Alberta and blew it by selecting David Swann over Dave Taylor. Dave Taylor's New Liberal initiative was exactly what was needed to renew the ALP. Now we're stuck in the same situation we found ourselves in a year ago, the Liberals have not made any changes to their party that would appeal to more Albertans. It seems like they prefer being a rump party with no chance at power instead of learning from what Laurence Decore did in the early 90's.