Moonlight Graham

Ah yes duh on me, you're right. It just forces people to buy a private plan. Therefore, it would still be constitutional for them to put in place universal public healthcare since you aren't being "forced" to do anything from "inactivity".

One of the least crazy things you've said in awhile. i agree.

BTW, i public healthcare is truly unconstitutional, that sucks for Americans. I guess they will continue to lag in OECD/UN health stats for a while more despite their great wealth. The whole US healthcare debate is why i hate ideology. Some people would rather keep to a rigid ideal than live longer and lower the child mortality rate.

Fair point, but look at the countries ranked above it. Do countries like Qatar, Luxembourg, Brunei, Liechtenstein, & Bermuda really count? I can fit their total populations in my car. Because of their incredibly small population, their GDP per capita is more of a statistical anomaly. At least Singapore and Norway have a few million people. How about this: among countries with more than 5 million people, the US is the richest.

What about ""Mad Money" with Jim Cramer? Cocka-doodle-doo!!!

bingo

Hilarious. Some people are so effed in the head it's scary.

Exactly.

To argue Palestinians kill Jews simply due to antisemitism holds little intellectual weight. The Israelis want their own state (which they now have) and kill in order to keep it that way. The Palestinians kill because they want their land back from the Israelis and want their own state. Add a whole bunch of vengeance, racism/bigotry/hate, and yes antisemitism to the mix as well and we have ourselves a nice little 130 year old conflict fed by the blind selfishness & intolerance of both sides. edit note: this is the last i'll say on the Israeli/Pal issue here, as i dont want to derail this thread.

note: I meant Gaza, not the West bank.

Why would you say that? Palestinians are fighting & dying to have their own state are they not? Just as the Israelis did/do?

To be fair, so do Palestinians.

Again, what you're asking is obvious. Needs no explanation.

I think it's fairly obvious. If there is a new regime in Egypt, how this regime views/deals with Egypt (positively or negatively) will have a huge impact on its security & on the Israeli/Palestinian peace process, and of course have an impact on the West Bank (edit: woops, i mean Gaza) and its people as well. What kind of regime is in Egypt certainly will impact what kind of goods, if any, are coming through those tunnels.

Ordinary Egyptians should thank themselves. They're the ones on the street demanding change.

His point is valid. Israel has more to win or lose with a regime change in Egypt than any other country (besides Egypt itself).

I think it's hard right now to say if/how the Bush admin's policies influenced what happened in Tunisia and the rest. It is certainly a possibility it did. On the other hand, the Bush admin didn't influence the Tienanmen Square protests. After some of this settles it will be interesting to see what the protesters of these countries say re: their motivations. Certainly it's something that has been simmering. Will they say "we say what was happening with the Iraq government and we thought our crappy leader was giving us a bum deal"? Or will they say "we were inspired by the man who set himself on fire and we're tired of having no jobs/money". We'll see.

I hope it does escalate. These protesters in Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Yemen etc. are demanding more democracy and wanting these authoritarian leaders who have reigned for decades to step down. I hope the people of these countries get what they want from their government. I just hope it occurs with as little violence as possible. Stability is important, but not at the sake of popular demands for change, democracy, and self-determination. There are certainly risks that come with change, such as any of these countries self-destructing like Somalia, or an Islamist regime such as the Muslim Brotherhood (or an Islamist militia group like the Taliban) taking over in Egypt or elsewhere. But sometimes risks and instability are worth it. The Glorious Revolution, American Revolution, and French Revolution etc. came at great risks and at the expense of stability. These events are historic, and if these movements continue/spread, could completely change the dynamics of the entire greater middle-east region (for better or worse).

now u got it

Length has nothing to do with it. Canada is the main supplier of foreign oil to the U.S. http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/canada/Oil.html and from the Canadian gov website: http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/washington/bilat_can/energy-energie.aspx?lang=eng I could provide you with like 150 more links.

What kind of accomplishments are you referring to re: human rights?

B Too much credit for our economy given to his gov, but he still deserves some credit, especially for not screwing it up. Cut the GST, which i liked at the time. Put in a clever childcare solution based on choice, and i'm completely against fully nationalized childcare. Afghanistan is a joke, but at least we're out soon. Loses points for being too manipulative of our Parliamentary system for selfish political gains (re: proroguing for BS). Overall has done a good job of straddling the center, as smallc said. *edit: changed my grade from a B+ to a B

Today marked five years that Harper has been PM (or at least won the first election). How would you grade the job he's done over this time? A+ ? F- ? My hope is most of us can keep our scholarly hats on for this analysis and have it not dive into some typical partisan rants. But who am i kidding?!?

One thing with Trump, there aren't many wealthy businessmen as overrated as Trump. He's worth 2 bil, that only makes him #488 on the Forbes 500 list, but is a huge celebrity...yet the just about anyone standing in a room with the top 10 on that list wouldn't even have a clue who most of them are. He's worth money, but got a lot from his father, and seems to fail as much as he succeeds. Having a guy as Prez with the debt/money problems he's had might not be the guy to help the US solve that problem. One thing this proves though, he sure knows how to brand and sell himself. He should have been a marketing mogul instead of real estate.