Moonlight Graham

Seriously? Do you have a link? Whenever ones give any money to a charity they should check their books. Any reputable charity should have it's budget breakdowns freely available to the public. That is, if you believe what they report anyways.

the choices for this poll are not exhaustive. i cant respond.

Slippery slope. I would argue dogs are incapable of giving any real valid form of informed consent. But if you want to marry your cousin i don't really care, just don't have kids. I also don't have a huge problem with churches not marrying gays, that's their choice.

Well, maybe by the year 2552 the majority of countries will allow gay marriage lol. Also, she plans on having children.

I see your point somewhat, but my "rant" was maybe blunt & name-calling yes but certainly not ignorant. Sometimes you have to be blunt and call a spade a spade. Also, coming from you your comments seem quite hypocritical to say the least.

You are right that there already was a rising bubble prior to the dotcom crash and subsequent fed interest-rate drop. However, the interest-rate drop was one of the major reasons that made the housing bubble increase big-time in the 2000's. It made subprime mortgages almost double, helping cause the subsequent drastic increases in housing prices. The % of total US mortgages that were subprime went from 13% in 1999 to 20% in 2006. From wikipedia: These graphs show how US housing prices rose drastically right after the dotcom bust. That said, the federal reserve is certainly not the only ones to blame for the bubble & bust.

You mean that some dudes many years after Jesus died said that Jesus did those miracles and said what he did about them. Jesus didn't write the Bible. The Bible is not the word of God. Ordinary people say it is the word of God, yet ordinary people wrote and edited the Bible, chose what to include and what not to. Literally believing in the Bible certainly takes a tremendous amount of faith, because once you try to look at the Bible logically and through a lens of critical analysis it all falls apart.

I would just like to say to those like the sheltered & ignorant homophobe Rob Ford, and to those clinging to a few words in the Bible that were written/edited/re-edited/translated/re-translated by some unknown half-literate men...you may win a few battles along the way, but you will lose the war. In thirty or fifty or a hundred years, however long it takes, gay marriage with be legal in virtually all western liberal democratic countries, and in all 50 states of the American union. Because, just like in the struggle for equal rights for blacks and women, you can slow it down but you can't stop progress. The ignorant sheltered bigots will lose, and love will win the day. (This post goes out to my sister. She is gay, and thanks to living in the great country of Canada, is afforded the legal right marry the one she loves.)

Rob Ford is a homophobic piece of butt. I can guarantee the lazy and apathetic young people in that city will not sit on their bums next election and will vote that goofball out of office.

July 4th is a day i like to acknowledge all the wonderful things that makes America great. There are countless reasons, and Canada couldn't really have a better country to be it's #1 ally and share our long border with. I have many American friends, and they are wonderful people. Canadians, including me, tend to get caught up in the criticism we throw at the US and its government all the time (criticism it may often deserve), and tend to forget the many positive things it has brought to this world. So again, happy Independence Day to all my American friends!

I agree totally.

First, Canada is NOT a secular society. Our government is secular (in theory anyways), but our society is filled with millions of people openly practicing many different religions. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms constitutionally guarantees every Canadian the right to freedom of conscience and religion, freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, and freedom of association (among others). What this girl is pointing out is that she should have the freedom to wear her hijab and to practice Islam and to not be harassed for it by ignorant people who are unfairly stereotyping her. Stereotyping someone according to their religion based on what a minority of other people of that same (or similar) religion have done/said is wrong. It is no different than judging and stereotyping someone based on their skin colour, sex or gender, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic class etc. To think any of these ways is to be bigoted and logically fallacious.

A happy 4th of July to all my American friends!

What we need are robots. Boots on the ground are very controversial and low in public support. Robots are the future. Expendable. We need giant robots with super-lasers (maybe something like Voltron?) to replace our tanks and aircraft, and mass armies of smaller robots with light-sabers & laser pistols to replace the soldier. Building some X-Wings and Tie Fighters would also be very cool for our human soldiers to use and would boost troop morale. After success of our initial robot armies attains major public approval, a Death Star or Borg Cube should be our #1 priority for global and galactic domination.

What we need are robots. Boots on the ground are very controversial and low in public support. Robots are the future. Expendable. We need giant robots with super-lasers to replace our tanks and aircraft, and mass armies of smaller robots with light-sabers & laser pistols to replace the soldier. Building some X-Wings and Tie Fighters would also be very cool for our human soldiers to use and would boost troop morale. After success of our initial robot armies attains major public approval, a Death Star or Borg Cube should be our #1 priority for global and galactic domination.

I joke that he often borders the edges of sanity, but i think he just comes across as he does because he's an immigrant and his English and way of speaking is just different. At least i think lol. Oleg you are good people.

Pretty much. Though there was never such thing as a 'Tutsi' or 'Hutu' "tribe" before colonialism (or after, really). Tutsi and Hutu as distinct groups were based more on social class/caste than physical genetic features, that is until Europeans brought their racial pseudo-scientific theories to Rwanda, Burundi etc. and categorized the groups by genetic physical features, & favoured the 'more white' Tutsis over the Hutus, creating resentment between them. Prior to colonialism Tutsis were usually those who were more wealthy, owned cattle, and were pastoral. Tutsi and Hutu shared the same language, often inter-married, and had mostly peaceful relations between each other.

This is a supremely overly-simplistic and inaccurate description of the troubles of former colonies. What 'tribalism'? African 'tribes' are a mostly imagined categorization formed by the racial thinking of 18th-20th century Europeans, and these inaccurate categorizations exist to this day. Most African languages don't even have a word for the term 'tribe'. Add to this the 'divide and conquer' tactics that the British and other Europeans used to pit their often imaginatively constructed groups against each other, which has been a large component of the 'ethnic violence' that has occurred in different African countries. Here's a good article on the subject: http://www.africasia.com That's just the tip of the iceberg.

And i'm the ignorant one? What good has imposed 'British parliaments' had on the political landscape of most former colonies (ones not ruled but white former Brits/europeans that is)? A large amount those colonies have had military coups shortly after 'independence', and with more coups scattered throughout the decades since. The British destroyed the native traditional political institutions of the people they colonized, & the Brits & the West have tried to impose western liberal democratic political systems that are incompatible with the cultures and political traditions of the native groups, not to mention being unworkable with the economic conditions and weak governance systems left in place. European empires, including the British, ruled via dictatorship/authoritarianism within many former colonies in order to control them, enforced through military coercion. Is it any wonder that so many former colonies are now ruled via dictators and authoritarian regimes often run by the military? This is the type of political system that European empires taught their subjects, not 'democratic parliamentary' systems. It is what many former colonies lived under for a long time, about the only thing they knew/know. This is certainly not the entire reason for political failure in former colonies, as it is a highly complex issue, and they themselves share some blame of course. What exactly constitutes a 'reasonably good start' to you? Stealing their natural resources? Stealing their ancient artifacts? Destroying their pre-colonial cultures and traditional societies? Enslaving many millions of their strongest male workers? Pitting imagined 'ethnic groups' against each other through 'divide & rule' tactics? etc... You also realize that most of these "countries" didn't even exist in the first place until the Brits and other European empires carved them up into artificial borders without their input?

India is a very impoverished country. The vast majority of its people live in horrible conditions.

Yes...Sierra Leone, Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, India, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea etc. etc. all doing well! Wait, you probably meant the white ones?

Happy Canada Day everyone!!!! Here's to a truly great nation and it's wonderful citizens! Have a happy and safe long weekend everyone.

It's one small step for gays, one giant slap to literalist Bible-thumpers and sheltered people everywhere.

Thank the stars!

Depends on how you define 'personal success'. You're using it in the traditional sense which typically refers to economic/financial success, or some kind of notoriety in their career field. There are a great many people who are ruthless and financially/career successful, but whom i would consider dismal failures as human beings because their anti-social behaviour destroys lives for their own gain. People like Stalin, Heinrich Himmler, and Kim Jong Il were/are very ruthless and successful too, and also utter failures of the human race. I also don't like selfish people who try to cut in line at the grocery store. Same deal, all selfish jerks who poop on people to get ahead in life.