jefferiah

Well Harper may not be a perfect man but I support him. I think he is right to say he stands by Israel. Israel has a right to defend itself. I am sure not everyone in Israel is a saint and not all Palestinians are evil, but nonetheless the nation of Israel has the moral high ground as far as I am concerned. I understand that people who don't support Israel do so not because they support terrorism, but because they believe in peace. However, I dont think they realize what Israel has to deal with on a day to day basis. Conservatives may sometimes be guilty of if you are not with us 100 percent you must be 100 percent for the other guy. I know a lot of people like that, granted. But still I think the Liberals are far far worse. They make ridiculous motions and they do a good job of selling the idea to the public that anyone who opposes liberal policies are narrow-minded bigots. Harper's cuts to the Advisory Council For the Status of Women and other things of this nature are perceived as bigoted. But what people don't realize is that he is not doing to stick it to women but because they use a great deal of Canadian money to create a job for themselves. Its an easy idea create a government job with a name that claims to support a minority and you have created good job security because whenever someone threatens to close you down you can make them look bad. People have to see through the "names" and "labels". The very people who attach the words "equality" and "liberty" to themselves often do so for no other reason than a good image. I think maybe BC Chick took offense to Mike David saying that she was uninformed. I dont think he meant she was stupid. I think he may have had a good point but did not put it well. Growing up I had a very Liberal-tainted view because I think they do have the better part of the media. Conservatives seemed to be the stiff-necked bible-thumping bigots. It's only in the last few years that I have begun to see things differently. Sometimes it involves looking at an issue a little deeper than the liberal headlines bashing conservatives as intolerant, actually pursuing the real reasons conservatives stand where they do. I think alot of people in Canada who vote Liberal dont have all the information they would like. I know many people in NB where I live are very conservative people and yet they vote liberal, and I think maybe it has to do with family or just a lack of interest. Back to Israel, I fully understand that when Lebanon was being bombed people were horrified by the death of innocent civilians. This is a harsh reality. But what you must also understand is that before this happened Hezbollah had already begun attacking Israel with Ketushah rockets. It is easy to sit here in Canada where we have lived in relative peace for a long time and judge Israel for fighting back. But when rockets are falling on north Israel, the Israeli government has a duty (not only the right) to protect its citizens. They responded by firing back at areas in Lebanon from where rocket fire was coming. Civilians died but Israel had to do this to protect their own. That is the reality. The Hezbollah cowards had been firing from civilian areas because they knew that Israel would have to respond, and that this response would make them look bad. Israel had to do something. They werent doing it for the joy of bombing Lebanon. Nobody likes it. But they have to protect themselves.

JBG is an awesome guy! And a Montreal Canadiens fan too. You can't top that.

Last time I checked, Canada IS STILL a democracy. We ELECT our leaders, they run our government and our security services. In a democracy, it is ultimately the voter (citizen) who is responsible for what the government does. The RCMP may be at fault (which is run by Canadians coincidentally) but we also have collective responsibility for allowing such abuse to happen. I don't "stereotype" people as racist because I well know that if Arar were white Prairie farmer Smith, who ended up being detained by the US and sent overseas for torture because the Americans were falsely told by the RCMP that Smith was planning to blow up something in the US as he was pissed off at them for screwing the Canadian cattle industry, you would be thoroughly outraged and it would have never occurred to you to complain about your dollar! PS. You should also send your bill to Mulroney for your portion of the $2 M he got for defamation even though 10 years later it still turned out that he took money from Schreiber. With interest, he should owe you 20 cents by now. And how about billions of tax dollars going to the tainted blood HIV, HEP C victims? You didn't give them tainted blood, did you? Or how about billions going to vets? I wasn't even born when they fought in WWII. Or the current soldiers and the families of those killed in Afghanistan. I didn't force them to join the army. Did you? Let's leave them without compensation because the Taliban is killing them, we aren't. They should get their compensation from the Taliban. You aren't complaining about the hundreds of dollars this kind of compensation is costing you but this is the 10th topic maniac MD has started about Arar this week and everyone is going on and on and on about their 1$ and Arar hasn't got a penny yet! Well it seems that all this happened when the Liberals were in Saturn. Not to mention the sponsorship scandal as well. So maybe Liberal voters should foot the bill. Saturn that is a huge assumption on your part that we would have a different attitude if the guy was white. You dont know that at all. And it is untrue. Personally I think alot of multi-million dollar suits are whacked. And I don't soften that position just because a guy happens to come from a minority. The RCMP were researching these guys and became suspicious of Arar because he had contact with people they knew were involved in Al Qaeda activity. So they told their cronies across the border we dont trust this guy. Why did they share information with the US. Well a big part of it is that this whole thing has to do with the US in the first place. You can argue that it was careless of the police or improper. O'Connor has found that it was. Well does improper procedure warrant 37 million dollars. People will say well it lead to him being tortured. But did they know it would lead to it. Was it reckless endangerment of Arar. I think not. All the police did was share information. Probably because they figured it was vital. And to all intents and purposes the American authorities still consider it vital it seems. They didnt know he was going to be arrested or deported or tortured. Their only crime is the fact that they shared information. They had no way of knowing what would result. Suppose if we found out that some neighbour of Arar's reported him to the police before he got on the watch list. I suppose he also owes Arar money, because it lead to his being deported.

Last time I checked, Canada IS STILL a democracy. We ELECT our leaders, they run our government and our security services. In a democracy, it is ultimately the voter (citizen) who is responsible for what the government does. The RCMP may be at fault (which is run by Canadians coincidentally) but we also have collective responsibility for allowing such abuse to happen. I don't "stereotype" people as racist because I well know that if Arar were white Prairie farmer Smith, who ended up being detained by the US and sent overseas for torture because the Americans were falsely told by the RCMP that Smith was planning to blow up something in the US as he was pissed off at them for screwing the Canadian cattle industry, you would be thoroughly outraged and it would have never occurred to you to complain about your dollar! PS. You should also send your bill to Mulroney for your portion of the $2 M he got for defamation even though 10 years later it still turned out that he took money from Schreiber. With interest, he should owe you 20 cents by now. And how about billions of tax dollars going to the tainted blood HIV, HEP C victims? You didn't give them tainted blood, did you? Or how about billions going to vets? I wasn't even born when they fought in WWII. Or the current soldiers and the families of those killed in Afghanistan. I didn't force them to join the army. Did you? Let's leave them without compensation because the Taliban is killing them, we aren't. They should get their compensation from the Taliban. You aren't complaining about the hundreds of dollars this kind of compensation is costing you but this is the 10th topic maniac MD has started about Arar this week and everyone is going on and on and on about their 1$ and Arar hasn't got a penny yet! Well it seems that all this happened when the Liberals were in Saturn. Not to mention the sponsorship scandal as well. So maybe Liberal voters should foot the bill.

Arar doesnt seem to be after getting the truth out or retribution. All these things have a huge price tag on them. 37 million here. He just wants cash. If the money is not retribution for actual physical damages then it is psychological. Psychological and emotional needs are not tangible like cash. 37 million doesnt heal emotional problems. It does help to satisfy greed. If a guy wants retribution why does he need 37 million.

Jesus Birthday does not fall on Christmas. Everyone knows this. All Christians know this. Nobody knew when he was born. But there was a holiday season in the formerly pagan countries where Christianity became big so instead of changing the dates of holidays they Christianized them. Alot of Christians will not celebrate Christmas either because of its connection to a formerly pagan holiday. In Roman Catholicism I would say that the power the priest supposedly holds over the Eucharist ceromony is a good example of tweaking the religion to use it to control people. Catholic doctrine says that the priest (and only the priest) has the power to convert the bread and wine into the body and blood, and that taking this sacrament is necessary for salvation. But there is nothing about this in the bible. All Jesus ever said was to "do this in memory of me." Upon examination of the New Testament the only thing in there that could be used to control people without adding complex doctrines in the way Roman Catholicism did, are the statements about giving to Caesar what is Caesar's and respecting authority. It never says that authority is infallible however. I would say that this means it is better to be a gullible sheep than to be a brilliant tyrant. People who try to revolutionize always end up being worse than what they deposed. I would rather have been buddies with Nicholas than Lenin.

Islam is more volatile than Christianity? Did you forget that God is the one who told Bush to invade Iraq and Afghanistan? I'm not going to get into a pissing match about which religion can claim more 'kills', the fact of the matter is that both have been horribly violent and continue to do so. You are taking an isolated example. A dog told David Berkowitz to do a few things too. Are dogs violent? Christianity as a religion has not actually promoted any wars. There is nothing in the New Testament that calls the believer to make war with infidels. Islam does. If you want to mention the Crusades it was not sanctioned by the Bible, and nonetheless there are many who would argue the Crusades were not the imperialism they are made out to be, but rather a response to a few hundred years of Muslim imperialism. The Muslims had been successful in imperializing North Africa, Turkey and even made their way into Spain before the Pope and Europe responded.

And then there is the 37 million. How do we arrive at this amount? Once again not to mention the 400 million he was suing for in the first place. Has he suffered 37 million dollars worth of medical damage? No one has seen any signs of this. Perhaps psychological. OK granted. So the man needs retribution. Hmm... Well who will pay the 37 million? The whole racist conspiracy people believe that existed within the RCMP on this matter? The torturers themselves? No. You all know who pays. And Arar knows this as well. He is just after as much money as he can get. That's it. The man wants money. It has nothing to do with what he suffered.

Or lets say....John didnt cheat on Sally, but I heard a rumour that he did and I did happen to mention that rumour to someone. Gossiping is not a good thing I know. But when the rumour gets back to Sally (one that I and many others helped spread about John) does it make all of us responsible for what Sally did. Do we owe John millions? If you say we are responsible, then you are daming yourselves because you make just as many glib posts about what the RCMP knows or knew and you spread stuff just as fluently and easily about Harper and others. I think the RCMP were really suspicious of Arar. I dont think they were being racist.

No. He was a 'computer technician' in Ottawa and lived in an arpatment building with his wife. His wife got a PHD yet never worked a real job until the NDP gave her a job in ottawa. Now she's teaching in Vancouver. Arar? lol.. he's not working. You piece of ..... I'm really fed up with your lying and your racist junk! You really think that there is no limit on how much you can abuse people's patience, do you? Well I dont know if Mike David is racist or not, but I dont see how you formulate that he is racist because he believes Arar is a phony. He never said all Syrians or all Muslims (not even a race, technically, mind you) were liars or greedy. He just thinks that Arar is not the big hero that people are making him out to be, and he doesnt deserve 37 million (not to mention the 400 million he was going after in the first place) from Canada, because some RCMP officers shared information with the states. Sharing information with an ally is not a 37 million dollar crime. I'm sorry. That's just the way it is. You can say it lead to him being tortured, but as we all know now, David Wilkins said they would have made the same decision with or without the RCMP (who apparently control torture cells in Syria now). Let's say it did lead to him being tortured thats a far cry from commiting the crime. Alot of innocent things can lead to big things nobody intended. Sharing information is not reckless endangerment. There has to be a reason to believe that they knew this would happen. I think you will have a very very hard time proving something like that to me. Suppose I caught a man cheating on his wife, and I tell someone I know. Pssst John Pickaboo was cheating on Sally with Candi. And this confidant reveals what he knows to Sally. Sally gets pissed and takes a gun and shoots John. John survives. Does he have a lawsuit against me?

I am not a big fan of Christian attempts to become more popular by using popular culture, video games, etc. I haven't read Left Behind, but I think Revelation in the Bible is pretty vague and I think there is a warning at the end about adding words to prophecy. If this was like a secualr movie using a Apocalyptic idea or something I wouldn't say anything about it. But I think Tim Lahaye is a Christian and this is sort of a Christian attempt at making a blockbuster fantasy flick and to teach people about the "rapture" (which is a word that is not used once in the Bible). And this video game sounds even more ridiculous. Incorporating violence into a Christian game to make it sell. This is selling out the ideals of the faith.

Still though, Mike David has made the point of all points. David Wilkins did say that the U.S. deported Arar on their own assessment. He says they had other sources. Some of you think he is making this up. So what? He acknowledges full responsibility for it. Lets say the other sources are a lie, just for the sake of argument. How does that change the fact that Wilkins says it was "our own assessment". I suppose this is another lie, conveniently. Jack Layton thinks Canada should tell the US who to allow across the border and who not. What a nut job. The great thing about guys like Layton is they can complain about everything that is happening and promise how much better things would be if they were in power, and never ever have to back up a single word of it. The NDP could promise World Peace if they wanted.

Well, I am not a video game enthusiast. But as for the original topic, yeah that sounds like a pretty whacked game. I don't think it will have much popularity though either.

As far as cosmetics goes, as long as general appearance is ok I dont need someone to be all made up and polished with war paint. I know a lot of guys who feel the same way. Actually I find a girl who takes care of herself within reason, but doesnt go beyond that is really more attractive.

http://www.hellogorgeousguide.com/ US MAGAZINE SPENDING ONLY I dont always buy this line of thinking M. Dancer. First off for these companies to have billions to spend on cosmetic adevrtising, they would have had to have made millions. And in order for that to have happened people had to have wanted to be beautiful before they saw an ad. I think perfumes and cosmetics were around long long long before TV.

Well some people question Arar's honesty. I really dont know. Torture is not a nice thing and it's horrible that it should happen to an innocent man. But still I dont see why this is Canada's fault to the tune of 37 million. From what I can see all that happened was the RCMP shared information about the guy. The Americans had him deported. The "Syrians"!!!!!! tortured him.

No problem Remiel. I didnt have to US in mind when I brought this up. I just had the meth problems I have been reading about. I didnt mean Canada as some external thing, but as our country, and that something should be done about this. So therefore "Canada must do some House Cleaning"

The original poster---That is Me. I am Canadian. So it makes no sense to point out to me the problems with America as you see them.

Has he sued Syrial, the ones that actually tortured him? Here here!!!

Yeah but I think he is pointing out that while we have a drug problem here, and lots of meth labs, people are playing the ridiculous game of trying to pass it off on gun manufacturers. Guns isnt the issue at all. Its drugs. And another person here says "blame it on American junkies". I hope this guy is never in charge of law enforcement. His solution would be rather than enforcing the law in his own nation and cleaning up this mess, to clean up the junkies in the USA and put the Canadian gangs out of business with no justice for the years of dealing. This is crazy. I can't believe people are serious about this. Vietnamese gangs import shiploads of materials from Vietnam for meth production and all this goes on under our noses. Surely something can be done.

I am still wondering. You still have not given an explanation. That is the fault of the adults. At this point, the parents should teach their children to refuse drugs or send their children to rehab. That does not remove the responsibility of the parents. The reason: poor parenting. Since they can not control their children or their own parenting skills, they attack the alleged drug dealer. Yes, they did. No, they were violent. They should have taught their children to say NO to drugs or send their children to rehab. Everybody knows everything but nobody knows their own children. See, here is the problem: What are these all-knowing parents and neighborhood vigilantes going to do when their kids go drinking in the woods? Whose house are they going to burn? Never thought of that, did you??? What kind of adults will these children become??? My word, Charles. That's not a serious question is it? Do you think they would burn down a house if a kid was drinking? You know the difference. They have a crack dealer in town and no one was getting rid of him. Sure Charles, I agree teach your kids not to do drugs. But does that excuse crack dealers. Cybercoma, you know that comparison to "knowing" (thinking) someone was a witch is unreasonable too. A witch is not a business woman. You can hide drug use, or being a witch (which is not a crime now anyway). But being a dealer is much much harder to hide. In a small community with 1000-5000 people if this guy has 20 customers, everyone either knows those guys or knows someone who knows them.

Oh cmon this isnt the witch trials and you know it. These people never raided anything before. Dealers in places like this are notorious. Charles Anthony was wondering how people could know the dealers without knowing their kids were using drugs. First of all we don't know how many kids were using drugs. Obviously they found out that some kids were using though, but before that there was somebody dealing it to them. Another thing he refuses to take into account is that the seller is more notorious than the buyer. The seller is involved in every transaction that takes place. Do you remember the names of every customer at Wal Mart and yet forget the name of the store? Anyways you are right that they did wrong and that the law has to punish them for this. But this is a case where I think you have to understand that they broke the law with reason. They didnt burn a suspected witch. They closed down shop for a known drug dealer. What they call "alleged" in the papers is "known" to the people who live there. If you live in the neighbourhood you know who the Godfather is.

I am not supporting what these people did. But I think is a symptom of this problem I am talking about. You hit the nail on the head with this statement " should've had no problem convicting these people". This is what I am referring to that is so ridiculous. I am not saying the cops are bad either. But if you remember my afore-mentioned examples you will see there is something wrong with the penal system when dealers get away with it.

That's the difference between us: I always assume people are stupid and go from there. Burning down a house and pelting the firefighters with rocks are not hallmarks of a Mensa meeting. We're not talking about street dealers, though: we're talking about a "crack house" in a very small community. Great. And how do your personal anecdotes transfer over to the incident in Grand Manan? The people in Grand Manan are not as dumb as you look.

I am only 26 now, but some older friends of mine found out their son was using marijuana. He is 15 or 16. He is not under constant supervision. Contrary to what you may believe you can't always see the signs, you can't always tell if someone is high. So you dont always find out right away. Anyways these parents began to be a little suspicious of their son shortly before catching him. A few days later their son made a phone call to one of his friends to talk about getting some stuff. The mother of the friend picked up the phone to make a call not realizing her son was on the phone. And she overheard enough to make her listen some more. And after that she called the parents of the first boy. Do you understand? I know these people. They are not perfect parents Charles, but they are pretty good parents. I am pretty young so its not so long ago that I was a kid and I have a pretty good idea about this. Alot of the kids with great parents do drugs. Alot of kids with terrible parents end up being very responsible because they dont want to be like them. Anyways, as for the son of my friends. He and his friends could have been using for a month or more. Who knows? But during this time someone was providing drugs to these kids. Like I said its not so long ago that I was one of those kids. And it never occured to me until recently how ridiculous it was that these dealers we knew were in and out all the time. I think I told the story of a fellow who's wife sold for him from the same house right after he was arrested. And he resumed dealing when he was released not long after. Business as usual. The law is not intimidating these people when they do this.