BC_chick

One that caught my eye was Burnaby Douglas. Just so you know, there is currently an NDP candidate serving in that riding, so the vote swinging Conservative seems far-fetched. I can't be bothered to spend as long as you researching, but my guess is that there may be other hasty insights in your post if one were to spend the time looking for them.

I guess you believe your tone isn't angry in this post either? A double-standard is a wonderful thing. Please point to a specific example of my personal tactics you are speaking out against. Not me as a "conservative", but my actual posts. Your personal tactic that did not sit well with me is the one where you quoted from - where you were telling me what I should and should not be concerned with. What kind of debating tactic is that? But the one that really set me off what they guy who said I'm not well-informed such because I don't think like him.

The big difference at the end of the day though is quite simple. Israel wants peace... it's a 'Western' nation in all typical senses of the word, they want to run their economy, go to work, retire. Hamas and their buddies have been very outspoken saying they will only be satisfied with the destruction of Israel. Hamas needs to go though. They cannot be recognized as a valid government. Hamas is solely in power to destroy Israel, and that's not acceptable. Between the three issues I brought up, gays, environment, and foreign policy, I can't believe it's Israel that is gaining momentum. Especially when there's another foreign policy which affects Canadians directly - Afghanistan. But since we're here, I might as well comment. I saw a demonstration on you tube with a map of Israel in 1948, 1967, and then compared to the part of WB and Gaza that was offered to Palestinians in 2000 and again in 2006. The area of Israel is getting bigger and bigger. "Almost" as big as the original vision of Greater Israel that the founders of Zionism requested from the British Majesty from the Mandate of Palestine. STudies have shown an Israeli-bias in American news-media compared to European media's handling of the ME conflict. Canada has its own news source, but we do get a lot of our information from the US. Ever wonder why 67% of the US supported Israel last summer, compared to 50% of Canadians, vs. 12% Spain, 17% in England and similar statistics in France and Germany? I'm not saying you're "wrong," our sources of information give us Israel's talking points with Israel being the good guy attacked for no reason, and your post proves it. But if you think logically about the situation, as someone else also pointed out, if they really wanted peace they would not continue expanding their territory. Lieberman is the only one that says out loud what many Israelis believe, that Palestinians have to leave all of Israel. That's ethnic cleansing and it is in direct conflict of the what the original Balfour Declaration said about the Jewish land giving equal respect to all religion and the inhabitants of the land. Hamas did not say they would never accept Israel, they said they would not recognize it as a prerequisite to negotiations. Who can blame them? Let's say they do and end up getting nowhere like Abbas (and even Arafat in the end). What then? Would you lose your only bargaining chip?

But.... and You have an issue with other people's tone? First of all, I'm not angry in either post which is what I was complaining about. Second, it's your tactic I'm speaking out against, not your IDEAS!

I think that you will find that some conservatives will accuse you of supporting terrorism if you don't support Israel. I don't know that it helps the situation but there you have it. I think there are a number of people like you who are withholding the vote that would give the Conservatives a majority based on social issues. I have no idea how some people are responding to your observations but I expect you'll be attacked for showing apprehension about voting Tory. Not exactly the welcoming committee, are they? I cannot believe the anger in the tone of the responses. Incredible. I heard an interesting quote tonight. If you are busy judging, you can't love. When I heard it, I reflected on it and responded by saying no wonder Islamists and Conservatives are so hostile, they're too busy judging everyone who doesn't look like them, talk like them, think like them.

"Intolerance of gays, I never knew Harper was intolerant of gays [during his Reform party days, Harper and Jan Brown fought against the party becoming socially conservative]. As for environmentalism, I think Harper is starting to take that file more seriously." Translation: if Harper had a majority the gay-marriage issue would be absolved and we would be stuck with the Clean Air Act. Or do you really believe that something other than his minority government prevented his views about gay-marriage going through, and something other than Dion's platform of the environment made him change his mind OVERNIGHT about the Clean Air Act? "Love in with Israel, I don't think any other nation would have reacted differently if attacked like Israel was, but Harper would have probably been better off saying he would be neutral, apparently Canadian's don't like PM's who show leadership." Israel and her enemies are both guilty of crimes. It's not leadership to turn a blind eye to crime in one side of a conflict and condemn the other. There is a lot of things that Israel does that are not right either.

"She's obviously a hardcore lib from Vancouver who is not educated on all the issues (no offence BC Chick, just being honest). Represents most voters, but she just can't really find anyhting THAT much to hate about him just as I predicted people would do. " I see, so if I don't think like you I MUST be uneducated on all the issues and a hardcore lib. Wow!

"I think they already have worked." I'm talking about the long-term plan, a little too early to talk isn't it? "Do you support Islamic terrorists?" This is exactly the black/white thinking I was talking about. "Its' too bad, becaue there are WAY, WAY more important things to worry about here in Canada than those 2 last things you listed." Environment is a HUGE thing, and gays isn't about gays, it's about equal rights for all. "Is the envionrment and gays THAT imporant to you over money directly in your pocket and help if you have children?" Hell yes, I'll gladly pay a little extra now to make sure there is an earth LEFT for my children. "You shouldn't concern yourself with the world, focus on home, focus on Canada. we have many problems here and I would consider a few crisis situations on our basic services." Read the subject line, foreign policy, social policy, and fiscal policy. You don't like my views fine. But please don't tell me what I should or shouldn't be concerned about. "Yes. Becaue you most likely live in a Liberal/NDP strong hold as I do." No actually, last two election it was lib, before conservative for a very long time. But then again, Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper are two very different people. "Listen, people who immigrate here to Canada care about immigration and getting more of their relatives over. The ethnic newpapers preach hate on Harper and thus that view gets circulated in those communities. Immigrants do NOT vote for the same reasons you do. " You Conservatives like to say that to give yourselves comfort why you can't convince the rest of us to join you in your beliefs. But no sorry, not true. "And how many of those people are immgirants/visible minorities? Answer honestly." Honestly, zero. But sounds like your mind's made up already. "So the most important things in these peoples lives are gays and anti-Isreal.. Pitty." No, it's about a neutral, honest, peaceful foreign policy and equal rights at home. There you go again with the black and white thinking. No wonder you love Harper. "I also don't think Canadians are very socially progressive. That is what the gov't wants you to beleive. I would put it at around 50/50 progressive. " Okay, that's why Harper's approval rating shot up the roof initially with his fiscal policies and started dropping to half of that when his social policies started coming out. "I also don't think it's the govt's role in any shap, way, or form to dictate to us what our social culture is about. " A Christian Evangelical DOESN'T tell us what our social culture should be about? LOL okay. "People in BC simply don't want to assimilate. They have no need or desire to want to be Canadian or speak English." Maybe the first-generations, but every second-generation Chinese, Indian, Middle-Eastern is as Canadian and "English-speaking" as anyone else. "Vancouver BC, Marc Emery. BC Marijuana party. Although I don't do drugs, I just love watching Marc Emery and his BC Marijuana party stuff on UTube." Hey, I love watching Harper talk about the "so-called green-house gases too." What's you point?

Okay, I gotta say I don't mind Harper's fiscal policies, and if Flaherty knows what he's doing, their plans just might work. But his love-in with Israel, intolerance of gays, and attack on environmentalists is a big turn-off for me. If he were to just scale it down even a little, I might vote for him based on his fiscal policies. But as it stands, I can't stand the such a black and white perspective of the world. On the internet I hear people praising him all the time, but I don't know where these people actually are. Friends aside (obviously cause birds of a feather flock together) I talk to people at work and knowing that politics is a touchy subject I always start by praising Harper's strengths before getting to the point I want to make. But I never even get to the point before someone interrupts me and say "oh no, I can't stand him, he's (insert personal reason here)." And no, I don't work for a union or some other stereotypical lefty establishment. I work for a very large corporation with over 200 people. Most people do agree though that his fiscal policies are good, but in the end nobody can stand his regressive views. I think it's a safe bet to say Canadians are by and large fiscal conservatives, yet socially progressive. Any comments?

And Green Party and NDP. Remember a lot of loyalist Liberals voted elsewhere because of the sponsorship. They'll be back too. It's widely reported that the NDP/Liberal split brought the Conservatives into a lot of ridings. Then there's Harper in Quebec. Don't fool yourself. They hate him.

I will never understand these allegations of left-wing media. It's the MEDIA people, they report what both sides do. They've been reporting Harper's antics for a year now. Nobody accuses them of being right-wing. They OVERKILLED the Belinda/Harper debates, and nobody said it's right-wing media. As soon as Liberals are in the news - that's it! BIAS!!!!