Moonlight Graham

Always believe the gov't numbers! A nobel prize winning economist & others have another figure: Washington Post

The U.S. is a plutocracy, not a democracy. Yes, money does matter. You have to have access to ridiculous millions of money to run for President, and besides some billionaire independent candidates, those millions translate to lobby/interest groups controlling the country. Campaign finance reform is difficult in the U.S. because of rights guaranteed in the Constitution. Unfortunately, the U.S. Constitutions (while an amazing document) is not perfect. What about the right for citizens not to have their democracy eroded & their govt controlled by the wealthy elite? Oops forgot that in the Bill of Rights. "reasonable limits", brother!

you know who i can't stand? Bill O'Reilly. Glenn Beck is just a wacky ADHD loon. But Bill is a d**k. He's one of those people who treats anyone who disagrees with him like a piece of crap. Yells them down, tells them to "shut-up", threatens to boot them off the set, cuts off their mic etc.

I guess you don't like hockey fights then. I honestly don't think it's symbolic or a symptom of anything. It feeds into man's natural craving for violence that has been present in most visual entertainment mediums for a long time (movies, comic books, bugs bunny cartoons, videogames, wrestling, and sports like hockey & football). People (mostly men) in the west have enjoyed watching people getting kicked in the face since Bruce Lee films became popular in the early 70's. I think it's healthy to get these violent male fantasies out via relatively safe, controlled forms of entertainment. I suppose there is a point to draw there line though, and appropriate ages for different entertainment.

Good point. If i had a young kid i wouldn't let him/her watch it, as it can be a bit bloody and might encourage some mimicry in the school-yard etc. (like i used to do with wrestling lol). I'd maybe wait until my kid were a teenager at the very least before they could watch.

I like boxing, but MMA is infinitely more complex than boxing. I never heard anything about it being banned in Canada. In fact the UFC recently fought in Vancouver and is coming again soon to Montreal, and Ontario last week ruled that it will allow MMA. The sport isn't for the weak of heart, but there has never been a death in UFC history (est. 1993), and only 2 documented in all of MMA. Wikipedia says there were 68 deaths in boxing from 2000-2007, and 200 boxing deaths since 1980. Maybe it is safer than boxing? In boxing you are punching a guy's head in for 12 rounds. In UFC the fights are usually only 3 rounds, sometimes 5, and blows to the head are much less frequent since they also kick to the legs and body and spend much time grappling on the ground, and many MMA fights (about 1/3) end in submission which is much safer than KO's. But i agree they definitely need to keep on top of the health of athletes. Ontario says they will regulate it which is good.

What the heck is with you putting words in my mouth or insinuating false links in my posts. I simply meant that "hate speech" laws are an example of limits to freedom of speech in Canada. I never linked "hate speech" to Fox News or claimed Fox News promotes "hate speech", and i don't believe that anyways. wtf man.

I dont know about everyone else but i'm hot damn looking forward to King Charles on my coins and 20-dollar bills. Giddy up!!

Anyone see the Colture/Toney fight and the Penn/Edgar rematch last weekend? Toney, what a piece of crap. And Penn just gave up half way through the fight. People said his corner was horrible, and their right. They offered no advice, just pep-talk motivational poop. Penn didn't change his gameplan virtually at all from the last fight or during this fight. It's like he just wanted to land one good punch on Edgar...but couldn't. He should have brought the fight to ground for most of the match. But props to Edgar he just wooped him.

There are lots of conservatives in Canada (though in minority to left-leaners). Take a drive out west, or to a rural area most anywhere. The Conservative party in govt right now is just a watered down version of itself due to the constraints of a minority govt.

I never said anything about the CRTC so i have no idea what you're talking about. Depends on what you mean by "free". Freedom of speech and the press, yes. But limits on those too (ie: CRTC and "hate speech" laws. But whatever, i never said i'd want to ban a Fox News North, i just said that its big bro down south is propaganda truth-twisting pile of garbage. But if people want it here that's their right.

Having a conservative news channel in Canada would be fine, great in fact. It's healthy to get different viewpoints on issues. However, i wouldn't want something like FOX News. Too much B.S. and twisting truth. Have people on there like Lowell Green, a conservative who criticizes left-wing policies in Canada but is well informed & doesn't spread complete B.S. Canwest is conservative-leaning though (the newspapers more so than Global TV i find) so it's not like the right doesn't get a voice in Canada.

But they DO have power. They don't need to hold elected office to influence legislation & politics. They influence public opinion and which issues are talked about. Glenn Beck & Bill O'Reilly together rake in over 5 million viewers daily (which includes the repeat of O'Reilly's show at 11pm that has higher ratings than Olbermann's primetime show!). Beck and O'Reilly are arguably the 2 biggest political pundits in the US. As for MLK, he was a proponent of non-violent resistance & i know he certainly was much against the Vietnam War. But the truth doesn't matter much if people listen to Beck and then believe whatever he says rather than stick their noses in some history books. Anyone who thought Beck was an idiot wouldn't be listening to him or reading all his books. People like Beck (like any pundit) have the power to change/influence opinions, and make them believe "facts" even if they are not so.

re: a republic of Canada: In principle i support the idea of a republic, and in principle i support the idea of banishing the monarchy from our government. However, unfortunately in reality these things would likely cause more headaches than not if implemented. A republic could easily cause parliamentary gridlock if the PM and president were from different parties and the president was given any real power, among other problems (such as re-opening the Constitution, which has caused havoc in this country when this has historically been done) Having an elected Senate would also cause many problems, re-opening the Constitution and parliamentary gridlock among them. It would be nothing short of a mess, although at first glance it seems like a desirable idea. There's a reason why we haven't instituted an elected Senate yet. There's also tons of academic literature examining on the topic of Senate reform if anyone is curious about the possible risks/options. Here's any excellent recent overview by Jack Stilborn commissioned by the federal gov: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/content/LOP/ResearchPublications/prb0742-e.htm

The difference is that the above were elected to office, Duffy and Wallin not. But at least Duffy & Wallin were in the news/journalism business, so they probably 100% uninformed on issues. They are both dumb appointments, but i could think of far worse...like Wayne Gretzky or Polkaroo.

I don't know what to make of intent of the rally. Were Beck/Palin sincerely trying to feed and echo off the civil rights movement of MLK, or were they using that date to give the rally more controversy and media-attention (if so, it worked!)? I think it may be a combo of the 2. It doesn't matter the exact number of the crowd, the aerial shots show a big crapload & that's what matters. Glenn Beck is a hyper-active intellectual lightweight bordering on lunacy, but this doesn't frighten me. What is frightening is that such a mass of people show up to hear him speak at the rally & listen intently. What's frightening is that 2.5 million or so viewers tune in everyday to hear what this guy has to say. This man has a lot of power. It's disturbing when so many people tune in to watch a TV channel to get their "news" when it is essentially a propaganda machine where all information goes through a ideological spin-cycle before it reaches viewership. Left-wing propaganda like MSNBC isn't much better. It doesn't so much bother me that something like FOX News exists, rather that so many people embrace it & fill their minds with its garbage. Similarly disturbing is the large political support for another intellectual lightweight such as Sarah Palin. Like her a commentator? Fine. Support her for POTUS? I fear for this world. It's also a good thing signs were discouraged. Nothing like nutjobs waving racist hate to bring down a rally held in the shadow of "the speech".

Just too funny. Linky

Are your fingers broken or something? Search yourself for yourself.

Dunno about the Plame leak stuff, but i agree with Shady's general argument here. Mr. Wikileaks should not be posting these things without very careful consideration & investigation of the effects/impacts a given leak may have. He didn't do this in this case, he just plopped all this stuff on the internet and now the lives of an untold number of Afghan civilians who've helped us are at risk, and Afghans will be more reluctant of helping NATO in the future thanks to this bozo. Some good has come of the leak, but much more bad will come of it IMO.

Lictor, you see things as you want to see them, not as they really are. You make up crap or dig for other people's crap in order to legitimize your own anger and hatred. I can spot your posts a mile away because of the unique warpedness of your mind. Culture is social. It is rooted in your environment, in traditions, customs, geography, experiences etc. that you learn and/or live within. I think race can't be 100% discounted as a minor factor in some cases, but i agree with Bonam.

Where did this come from??? Why these cities? Have any stats or polls to back this up in any way whatsoever??? What an odd, sweepingly generalized statement.

There is no excuse for the attack. People have the right to protest what they feel is wrong. This "embolden" stuff is garbage.

I love classic rock. But man, i never could get much into Rush. Most of songs just don't do much for me, and the lead singer's voice doesn't help. They go off and do some weird jazzy stuff.

Don't authorities keep watch on radical websites/forums etc.? They may have followed up on them based on online activies. We'll find out eventually i'm sure in courtroom. There may be more people they are tracking and more arrests to come, so i don't they may not want to tip their hand right now. ie: They arrested a 3rd guy today in London.

How has our govt encouraging different cultural groups to maintain their culture in Canada contributed to you existing or not? As i believe someone else noted, there is a difference between immigration and multiculturalism.