Moonlight Graham

Say wha?? Is Trump expected to run as an independent or a Republican?

I don't think it's completely irrelevant. She will be somewhat of a diplomatic figure if Iggy is PM, chumming with foreign leaders and so forth, most of whom will assume she's a Canadian.

What would Jesus do? Almost certainly not burn a Koran. Terry Jones is a not a very good pastor.

Justin needs another 10 yrs or so in the cooker before he'd be wise to run for leadership. He has a BA in English and B.Ed, and wiki says he's working on a geography masters degree. Nothing really related to politics there, except maybe environmental issues with geography and a bit of knowledge about the education system. If he were smart he'd wait to get more experience. Barring any big controversies he'd be a shoe-in for PM in a decade. I don't think he's his "own man" politically as some say, last time i heard him speak in the Commons he mentioned his dad, ie: something like "the proud Canadian tradition my father introduced" blah blah. He wouldn't even be an MP most likely if not for his pops.

For the current major parties we have, you'd have to shoot me in the face before i'd personally donate a penny. Even then, i think i could get used to the hole in my face. It would have to be some kind of amazing party for me to donate, or a supremely horrific incumbent party i wanted to oust.

Harper will start with removing the public subsidies. But i would predict he would likely also want to increase the limit of private non-corporate donations. This is in the interest of the Cons, as is the removal of subsidies, because the Cons receive significantly more private donations than the other parties. This is a move purely for political gains for Harper/CPC. I favour some public subsidies because it takes some of the influence of money lobbying out of federal politics.

Obviously the fault, in the end, lies in the killers. But the pastor is a moron for provoking them. If you swat a hornet's nest, people are going to get stung. So just leave the nest alone for cripes sake! Also, the papers are worthless to you, not to the 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. Your family photos are worthless to me, but i'm not going to burn them or throw them in the garbage because i know they're important to you.

Why are we only allowing humans to moderate these debates? Why are we discriminating against animals? And inanimate objects? I would like to see a bucket of cookie-dough ice-cream moderate this debate. Or possibly a sheet of drywall.

Bingo bango. Iggy has much more to gain, Harper much more to lose from such a debate.

My driver rating went up this year, but so did my insurance! It went up $150 from last year. BAH!

From the OP: I mostly agree with this assessment. One of the key differences is that neocons want to use military intervention to further their view of the US national interest and national/international security. It's about taking out dictators and spreading democracy in order to make the US & the world more "secure" (though some "do-gooderism is sprinkled in as well). It's also about maintaining US global dominance. Liberal interventionists are less concerned with maintaining power and national/international security as they are with humanitarianism. Using the military for purposes of humanitarian intervention, and in the process replacing "inhumane" regimes with "democracies". However, since liberal interventionism is less concerned with the national interest, this kind of intervention is rare indeed. Realism still dominates foreign policy of virtually every state. This is true of the Libya situation as well. I don't see much "liberal interventionism" within the intentions of the Obama admin and the rest of the West, i see it as a guise to secure optimal interests in the region, to secure oil interests for the state and make happy the oil companies in many different NATO states who fund the gov's political campaigns and lobby the govs, not to mention pleasing the massive military industrial sector in the US and elsewhere. Obama seems a decent man at heart, but he's also a massive sellout of his own values. You have to be if you run for office of the POTUS for the dems or repubs. He is largely the puppet of his campaign contributors/corporations and must wield to the power of lobby groups who control Washington. He must also deal with certain other realities of office. The name & party of the POTUS may change, but those who truly pull the strings do not. I also agree that both ideologies are imperialistic. The only key difference is their motivation.

To the OP, yes his voice was horrible, it hurt my ears. yuck! stick with the piano, man!

The last suggestion is a good one also. I was careful to mention "non-essential" items. However, i don't think it matters even if it's food to feed families, it is absolutely insane to use a credit card if you are not certain you can pay it back at the end of the month. You will have a meal now, but the interest will cost you 4 meals shortly down the line. It's a bad investment any way. But i feel bad genuinely for those that get stuck with unforeseen costs during the month and then can't afford to pay back Mastercard. On the other hand, I just know too many people who are moronic in their spending. They have more than enough for the essentials and even a bit left over, yet can't stop spending on their toys, and on vacations they think they "deserve" they should have. "C'mon, go to Hawaii! You deserve a good vacation!". Ya well, not if you can't afford it and/or haven't saved/budgeted for it. I never took a vacation via an airplane until i was 18 years old and i did just fine before that.

I have a great idea for people to reduce their credit card debt: Stop buying non-essential items when you don't already have the money in the bank to pay for them. SOLVED!

May is a horrible party leader, but she should be in the debate. If a party consistently has support in the polls a bit less than 10%, i think they should have a voice at the table. I don't know the use of the debates are anyways. It's just a bunch of liars spewing more of their bullcrap anyways. At least we can get that crap on record (even more!) i suppose.

I value research studies. But i'm pretty sure anyone could have guessed the outcome of this one. Not exactly news.

Well now that makes a little more sense. Heard of it/seen it yes, but I generally don't watch the CTV news channel.

How do you have a Question Period when Parliament is dissolved? And on a Sunday?

He was checked out, and wasn't having a stroke (i investigated this before i posted it). Therefore, it's funny (to me). The female reporter who had the similar problem was having a migraine. She was fine too.

No, it's about voting for who is least horrible.

No he didn't. I watched it all live. He said everything but "i will not form a coalition government". Why can't he say those words? Obviously because he doesn't want to rule out the possibility.

Oleg, I know i make light of your rantings sometimes. But you have a good heart, my friend. Keep up the good fight.

They've been getting f'ed royally since the early 1900's. Now they keep f'ing themselves with stupid behaviour, though i can understands their rage. Israeli withdraws from Gaza, then the Palestinians start launching rockets from the same place Israel just let you have. Given that, why the heck would Israel give them the West Bank when the Palestinians show that the violence from the West Bank likely wouldn't stop even if they gave in to some of their demands? There are so many babies & morons on both sides of the conflict its ridiculous. Thank God for the moderates.

Really? You want your politicians controlled by the interests of corporations and rich, powerful lobby/interest groups? You want our system to turn into the money-controlled crapfest that is the American political finance system?

So pride in one's country (assuming you were born there) is off the table then? zing!