Moonlight Graham

But no state uses direct democracy on every issue. Most issues at every level of govt are decided my representives the people vote for. Ontario just had a referendum on election reform, but the majority of decisions are still made by representitives as i'm sure u know. I agree that i'd like to see more referendums in Canada like they have in the U.S. In terms of liberal democracy, looking around the rest of the world & throughout history i'm very happy living in Canada as we speak. While not perfect, the best countries to live in throughout the world use liberal democracy. I'd like to see something better, but as we've seen with Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism, Fascism etc. its not usually best be the first country to employ a new political ideology. Until we see another country find something better than liberal democracy, i'm happy tinkering with what we have.

What the heck are you talking about? I didn't blame the world's casualties on the U.S. This thread is about Iraq. The U.S. led the invasion of Iraq, therefore they are responsible for the majority of civilian casualties in Iraq.

No state or province in the U.S. or Canada even comes close to having total direct democracy. That would mean having a referendum or similar on every single issue, which is virtually impossible on that scale. While direct democary would be great & is ideal, we'd have to split Canada up into 800 little countries. Or go Anarchist or something. I think you're mixing 2 seperate issues here: a) liberal democracy sucks, and The Charter sucks.

Let the Iraqi's divide their own country. U.S. forces need to leave (whuile dumping food & bags of money on the way out), let the inevitable civil war occur, and let the chips fall where they may. It will be unfortunately bloody, but few countries have come to be without fighting as a catalyst. Canada is one of the lucky ones. For every day the U.S. stays in Iraq, another angry Iraqi who lost a loved-one to "civilian casualties" points his gun at U.S. soil.

So therefore we should just give up & do nothing? Obviously other major emmission countries who don't want anything to do with Kyoto or CO2 reduction are a massive problem, and i don't want to be paying for carbon credits to China & save their asses on my dollar while they do nothing. There needs to be some international pressure on these countries. If countries decided not to do as much business with China unless they lowered CO2 then we'd see some action. But most countries/businesses care more about money & cheap labour than the environment, so this probably won't happen. I'll be doing all i can to help the environment & CO2, but we really won't start seeing major changes by countries until the earth is starting to go to crap & there's no other option.

If we cant affect the climate then why is there a thick haze of smog smothering most major cities in North America & worldwide on hot days in the summer? (not to mention smaller surrounding cities affected as well?). This crap wasn't hanging around this way 100 years ago, & i dont remember smog warnings where i live when i was a kid. I suppose you'll say smog is a natural phenomenon right? And holes in the ozone?

The U.S. is walking with 40 giant sticks, with dozens more hidden under their bed. I think its gone overboard. And about that walking softly part, not going so good...

harper clearly wants to invade iraq

Jerry, your mind is so clouded with spite & hate towards lefties that it takes away all reason & logic from your brain. Thats a shame, because you seem like a fairly intelligent fellow. Stop putting lefties into these stereotypes. Its a shame for people like you who would shoot down even good ideas just because they are coming from a person you consider a "lefty". Your brain is poisoned & i don't think there's a cure.

Why do all the right-wingers think that global warming is some giant conspiracy theory? How in the heck do you get tens of thousands of scientists from tons of countries all over the world to participate in some massive left-wing conspiracy agenda? This is ridiculas.

Government debt is largely irrelevant. So too a government budget deficit or surplus.When politicians claim to be competent because they balance the budget, they are lying. Politicians have access to the extensive wealth of Canada and all Canadians. Given such power, talk of governmment borrowing, deficit, surplus is irrelevant. (This economic idea is unfortunately a source of serious confusion in Canada, both French and English.) The only thing that matters is government spending. What do politicians buy on our behalf? Their competence should be measured by what they buy. Politicians are our buying agents. IMV, Harper is spending money like a drunken sailor who has found a wallet. So you want Harper to spend less & spend more competently? I think thats what you're saying. If this is true, i can't imagine how you felt about the Liberals during their last 13 or so reign. Or Trudeau.

there's a difference between being mentally handicapped & mentally ill.

The Bush admin. couldn't get Iraq right, couldn't get Katrina right, couldn't get ANYTHING right (other than lying their country to war). So how in the heck could they possibly be competent enough to orchestrate such a grand epic plan. Also, the holocaust never happened and the moon landing took place in a hollywood studio.

This is much better than cutting the GST, IMO. This is assuming the Liberals will actually keep this promise. First they said they'd get rid of the GST, now they want to cut other taxes. Liberals aren't usually in the business of cutting taxes, so i'll believe when i see it. Talk is cheap, especially in politics.

So you thinking spending is out of control, yet you don't care much about the debt? So what do you want to happen to the money being spend? Are you saying you want taxes lowered?

Actually - it has. The earth has been fluctuating in temperature for eons - and it's cooler now than it has been in the past. Dude i checked out that link, i'm not disputing it or agreeing with it but at the bottom of the page it says "Last Modified Friday 28 March 1997". More recent data might help the debate better.

never watched the show yet, but i hope it does well & is written well. it has a great opportunity to help muslims & other canadians understand each other more. get rid of all these terrorist stereotypes. Saw an article in the newspaper about the controversy over the show & how some muslims didn't like the way the characters were portrayed on the show. I hope the writers help fix this & the show keeps on its success.

Jerry, First of all, you shouldn't despise the opposite side of the political spectrum so much. Left vs Right is ying & yang, meaning generally both can be right & wrong on certain issues & neither side is more correct or better than the other, it is just a difference of opinion & beliefs. Lefties actually do believe in fighting, since they are fighting all the time for different rights, causes etc. & often times with great passion & protest. Its a different kind of fighting. But I think you are referring though towards fighting as in war/violence. I'm not a pacifist, but u gotta admit that sometimes there is too much fighting in the world. Lefties believe in diplomacy over war, with violent action being the last resort. More than that, a lot of left-leaning thinkers aren't against war (sometimes its necessary) but are against how the war is carried out (disregard for civilian casualties etc.). Being against the Vietnam war or current Iraq war doesn't make you a chicken or against all war, just the bad ones. I think you do have a point here. You're right, a lot of lefties (especially younger ones) don't own their own business. Not sure on the stats on this though lol. Economically, lefties put social causes over personal wealth. They'd rather be taxed if it will help society than pocket that money or have others (corporations etc.) keep that money. Righties however are much the opposite, they don't like the gov't taking their money & they value independance from gov't. I am lucky in that i've seen both sides of the coin & believed both at one time. Actually its very conflicting for me personally. My dad owned his own small business for all my life, so i've heard him complain many times about much the gov't taxes small business owners. Over 50% of his income would go to the gov't, & knowing how the gov't wastes money at a crazy rate i totally understand why he'd be upset & i'd feel the same & i sympathize with small business owners. On the other hand, i have come to be active in a bunch of important social causes such as global poverty, human rights, AIDS, & the enviroment etc. so there i know the passion lefties feel for these issues & the frustration when gov't doesn't do enough & spend enough money to fix the problems in the world. There are more important things than money & material possessions. Like the health of the Earth. Like making sure those not as fortunate as us have very BASIC necessities for living. A lot of the hardcore right-wingers are Christians or religious (i'm also christian & a god-believer), but they don't live their lives like Jesus & their own religion preaches. Jesus teaches help your fellow man, help the poor, give up material possessions & help those less fortunate, and of course the "Golden Rule". How come there are still millions starving in Africa & most of us don't give a crap? Anyways, i think u do have a point, but its caught between piles of anti-lefty crap. Don't hate 'em, just debate 'em!