Moonlight Graham

I doubt most of Al-Qaeda are in Afghanistan rather than Pakistan. What i am merely saying is that technically, under the U.S's own definiton, the Taliban are not a terrorist organization. The Taliban are not on the US gov'ts "current list of designated foreign terrorist organizations". http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/fs/37191.htm Of course that doesn't mean they aren't a giant group of radical monkeys who violate human rights & international law, & do aid and harbour terrorists. I'm just responding to the user who created this thread.

a. The terrorists Bush wants are mostly in Pakistan, not Afghanistan b. None of the terrorists who attacked the U.S. on 9/11 were members of the Taliban, nor were any of them Afghani's.

I give this gov't a C-, based on the fact that we could do so much worse, but also do so, so much better.

Unfortunately, that is how the Canadian gov't works. The PM is given extrordinary powers, especially amongst his fellow party members. These are the powers that the Canadian constitution and coventions give the PM. It is the system, and one that is fightening and in need of reform IMO. Do not think for one second that most of the other PM's didn't enforce their will on those they controlled like Harper does.

Prove it.

This was at the March 30th home opening game for the Washington Nationals. 35% approval rating? Ya i'd say so: http://youtube.com/watch?v=b-XRRredWNM

What went wrong for McCain is that he is a Republican, and the Republicans have clearly proven that they are not fit for executive office anymore. Time to try something new because this garbage ain't working.

The war in Iraq reveals everything that is wrong about U.S. foreign policy, and the U.S. in general. There is so much that is good about America, but with this war much of it hasn't revealed itself. The lies, crimes, and injustices by the Bush admin since 9/11 with regards to the Iraq War are well-known and documented. What dissappoints me is the failure of the American people to do anything about it. Why hasn't anyone in this administration been held legally accountable for what they did? Why are these people still in office (impeach the President about secret blowjobs, but not this??) ? Why haven't Americans flooded their Congressman's phone for calls of impeachment and accountability? And maybe most importantly, what has been done to make sure something like this can NEVER happen again? Obviously the 100,000+ dead civilians were worth killing so that we could remove Saddam before he could hurt us with those empty metal tubes he had stored.

Dear Pentagon, 5 years too late, morons!! Why was the tyrant of the Pentagon, Mr. Rumsfeld, saying the exact oppoiste things before the Iraq invasion. I really don't a crap about any of these reports. Until Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice etc. are put on the stand for the crimes they have commited it means nothing and changes nothing. Lucky for them the Democrats have yet to grow and stones. So frustrating...

This doesn't look good for Obama. He's trying to spin it, but he chose this pastor. This pastor married he & his wife. He obviously respects him a great deal, and faithfully attending his sermons on a weekly basis for many years doesn't rub off well on Obama. However, you still have to seperate the men. Obama isn't this pastor, they are 2 different people. Obama doesn't say what this pastor does, but he does listen to & respect him. So you have to wonder deep down how much of this type of stuff does Obama believe. And even if he doesn't believe it, having things like this preached to you over and over is going to seep in. That is just human nature. A shame. I like Obama. But I know he isn't 100% what he seems. He's a damn smooth politician with a great way with words. I just wonder how much of him is sincere and how much is political B.S.

LOL ya me too, put me down for Hillary.

Newton's Third Law of Motion: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I agree with a bit of what bubber is trying to say. The West has been invading, colonizing, occupying foreign lands for how long now? Hell, all 3 North American countries were founded because of this. It is extremely naive to think that the West can go about involving themselves violently inside foreign countries, whether it be covertly or through full military campaign, and never expect somebody somewhere to take exception to this. If any foreign country invaded Canada uninvited and got militarily involved with our political affairs, or staged a coup, or were operating covert actions etc. you bet it would piss me off. And if the violence caused by this foreign country led to the deaths of some of my family, you bet i would be 10x pissed off. And it wouldn't take much stretch of the imagination for me to think that maybe i would even want to take action against whomever killed the people i loved or yanked with my country (possibly against my better judgement). The West has dropped a lot of bombs on a lot of people, and mucked with other countries political affairs for their own selfish gain. Canada is certainly no exception to this. The West has failed miserably in calculating what affect our actions of the now will have on the future, and we are seeing some of the affects today. Pushing our might within countries much different from our own without fully examining the historical context of these countries, the region, their culture etc. is a path to disaster. Failing to learn from past history is the same. Have we learned anything from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980's and what has resulted in that country up until 9/11, much of it influenced by Western involvement? All western countries are individually accountable for what they do. America is the big boy, so its involved in most of the foreign involvement in the world & therefore also receives the most criticism. Spider-Man's uncle once said "With great power, comes great responsibility", and its true, therefore the actions of the US is not beyond extensive examination & criticism. Canada has its own accountability/criticisms, like how the Canadian military in Afghanistan turned over detainees to the Afghans, knowing they would likely be tortured. Canada is a terror target, as proven by the terror camp/plot broken up near Toronto a couple of years ago (reportably because of Canada's involvement in Afghanistan). In the documentary "The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara", the former U.S. Secretary of Defense's Lesson #1 was "Empathize with your enemy". That doesn't mean feel sorry for them, it means try to understand things from their perspective. I think bubber's point is that if you mess around with people, eventually its going to come back to you. And its a valid point. Does that mean those who lost their lives on 9/11 deserved it? As individuals, of course not. But looking at it unbiasedly & going tit-for-tat regarding innocent civilians killed, 9/11 was a speck of sand next to a mountain.

He's running a MINORITY government. He can't table any of the specific motions you mentioned because he knows darn well none of the other parties would support it.

Canadians are entitled to their opinion. Especially since your elections affect our country a great deal, and have a massive affect on the world.

Bingo.

And where did i say i supported my government for any of those occurences?

Anti-torture + pro-geneva conventions = supporting the terrorists? No, anti-torture & pro-geneva conventions = supporting international law & basic human rights.

The joke is that the system won't allow him, or anyone other than a donkey or elephant, to be taken seriously. Democracy means you need massive exclusive media coverage and a $50 million war-chest, right?

I think just about every Canadian whose ever picked up a newspaper for reasons other than the 'sports' & 'funny-pages' section understands that the US is more conservative than Canada. But there's a difference between voting for conservatism & voting for fraud & incompetence. Who is more the fool? The fool, or the fool who follows him?

I find the terrorizing of terrorists to be quite hypocritical. Its wonderful some people wish to act like those we are fighting to stop.

Why don't they just cut the income tax? Then working will be more profitable.

I'm with you. Why make this savings account? I'd rather have a tax cut. Why even have RRSP's? I'd rather have a cut on income tax or capital gains. I don't want the government "showing" me how to save. I know how to save, and i'm quite good with my money. Let us do with our money as we wish. If somebody has the $$$ to use this new savings account, but doesn't have the smarts to put a small % of their paycheck away for savings, then that is their own problem. I'm certainly no conservative, i don't mind being taxed if the money is going to go to those who TRULY need it. But i'm also logical, and this is over the top IMO. Too "nanny state-ish".

fairly straightforward poll.

I agree with most of what you said. However, many times its the politicians who are affording the accomidations to these immigrants from other cultures, not the immigrants themselves. Mots of them aren't even asking for these accomidations, we're just giving it to them for the sake of multiculturalism. I have no problem respecting other cultures. Let others practice their customs, religion, and so forth, but i ask that they come here & respect what Canada is. Come here and learn English or French & intergrate, don't just stick with your own communities (again, this is mostly the politicians fault, not the immigrants). If you want to become and RCMP officer, agree to wear the mountie hat without the turbin as is the uniform or simply do not become an RCMP officer. The lack of patriotism has a lot to do with the lack of Canadian history being taught in our schools. You go to the U.S. and their history is pounded into your brain from a young age & you are taught that America is the best country in the world. Here, history is definately in the 2nd-tier of school subjects, well behind English, Math, science etc.

I agree 100%.