Peter F

All part of Harpers plan? I think not. The opposition party's called the bluff, sending Harper running to the GG to avoid the confidence vote. Sometimes things are exactly as they seem.

Hmmm...makes me wonder why Harper put parliament in abeyance...seems he thinks putting a confidence vote to the house now would result in an election - an election he obviously doe's not want at this point. Doe's he fear a majority government? No, I think not. His actions seem to say he doe's not believe the polls are accurate

Well, as we used to say in the navy....Farewell and F*ck ya!

...and here I am all out of Raid...

Well if we did then your position would be justified...but as you say, we havn't, soooo....

The taking of the Sirius Star has the stink of an 'inside' job about it. The vessel could not be boarded, in normal circumstance, if it was underway at 12 or 13 or 14 knots. The vessel could, in normal circumstance, not be located 300 to 400 nm offshore by a small vessel with typical navigation radar - unless they knew where to look. With modern satellite comms there is no reason for a Distress to not be sent within seconds of the bridge becoming aware of the boarding attempt. Which is to say: They 'pirates' new wher the Sirius Star would be and when it would be there and the Sirius Star conveniently stopped for the 'pirates' It was an inside job, I think. Something along the lines of the Salem incident of 1980 where the tanker stops in Durban and discharges its cargo to the embargoed SA govt who then sells it to an embargoed Rhodesia. Think big or go home, as they say.

These "Somali Pirates" who siezed the VLCC Sirius Star were not your run of the mill local-yokels. The ship was taken 425 miles South-East of Mogadishu, wich puts the incident about halfway between Mogadishu and the northern tip of Mozambique. IE: hundreds of miles offshore. as ICC website "VLCC hijacked by pirates" reports The owners, Vela International Marine Ltd., have issued a statement on thier website : Vela IM ltd As far as the rest of this thread is concerned, I have no idea whose navy was going to save them, but I'm pretty sure the Philipine slave/sailors on board weren't about to sacrifice themselves for the owners, nor am I very sure the owners were all that eager to see their Philipino crew armed... edit to add: For more exciting tales of modern piracy see the ICC's weekly Piracy report here Weekly Piracy Report from ICC

Are you saying that the Quebec government, by refusing to sign the '82 amendments, was agreeing to the '82 amendments? Is there any point to a provincial Premier signing any constitutional amendment? Need the Federal government consult with a particular premier at all - as long as there is 7 other premiers willing to sign the amendment then such amendment is not being imposed upon the other three? Get real.

Yah. Thats what I mean. The constitutional amendments were imposed upon them against thier will.

and there is the contradiction; The constitution was imposed without Quebec's agreement. Yet you say such facts are 'sovereigntist mythology' It is not 'mythology' for sovereigtists to say the Constitution was imposed upon Quebec against their will.

The Canadian government has replied "We will be pulling out our military forces in 2011 and this is quite clear." tic-toc-tic-toc

Why seek signiatures of provincial Premiers if signiatures of provincial Premiers are unimportant?

Amero? Where doe's Canada fit in there? Camero is a better name.

Or the same way I am a Canadian. Exactly the same actually. In fact, both me and Khadr are Canadians for one reason and only one reason - by Birth. There are no other reasons to qualify either Khadr or myself or Gilles Duceppe as Canadian. So I have no idea why all this 'culture' clap-trap is being dragged out.

You find it offensive that they find your words offensive? I'm offended.

But the topic is "Why Doesn't the US Respect Canada More?" Which seems to me to be a question that can only be answered by Americans. So far we have a bunch of Canadians going on about wether Canada respects the USofA enough...

Do tell, Argus; What Law in Quebec outlaws English in the workplace?

Hogwash yourself Because Quebec isnt trying to eradicate the English language. Manitoba would not allow anyone an education in French. Quebec is not doing that. Never has. I lived in Quebec without being able to speak French and in noway was I oppressed. I can't even think of a single Quebec government policy that 'Oppresses' the pitiful Englishman. You can buy English language newspapers in Quebec, watch English language TV (they do have cable there, ynow), Listen to English language radio (and not just the CBC), you can even get a job there and not speak French (I did). You can vote on an English language ballot, get government services in English. You just gotta put French on your business sign - The Horror...the horror... Even if this is the 2000's, without the Quebec laws supporting the use of French, Quebecers would be treated as second class citizens. To say otherwise is to ignore history.

French is perfectly satisfactory in Alberta? Tell me, what wide range of employment would be open to me in Alberta if I could not speak English? Alberta needs no laws to enforce the use of English. The market place is doing it for them.

There's far more to it than signs. The Official language of business in Quebec is French. That means that all official documents/contracts of a business must be in French. That means that an employee cannot be refused advancement because he doesn't speak English. That means that all operating manuals, parts lists, instructions for machinery, consumer products - even Monopoly games etc, must be supplied in French. And all that is for a very good reason. Quebecers would be treated as second class citizens if the likes of Leafless ever got his way. Because the likes of Leafless, in fact, did have their way back before the Quiet Revolution. Thus the Quiet Revolution and the Charter of the French Language and, yes, even bill 101...and why Leafless laments the good ol days.

No they are not barred from Quebec and no, they are not forced to learn French. I know because I moved there from Saskatchewan - married and had two children there, lived and worked there. Any French I did learn I learned while there, mostly picked up from my children.

But its ok for them to have to know English to immigrate - if not French. And thats not putting a gun to the immigrants head?

Well, I never got the impression that Cimino hates America. I think he was making a point that the American Dream was just that - a dream. The characters were all just average joe's/jane's living in squalor in Steeltown. Yet each of them was a remarkably unique person (for good or ill) It was a superbly done picture of humanity. None of them had any power or influence over their position or the situations they found themselves in beyond what they could immediately affect. They were America's peasants - thus the Russian references. As an aside, It did not occur to me that they were of Russian heritage. I thought they were of some other Eastern European slavic heritage. The whole first half of the movie sets that up. There are only two characters that stand out amongst the others as somewhat more self-aware; The DeNiro character and the barkeep. The others are just drifting along...the females being particularly powerless. Then they are off to war, mostly just to get out of steeltown apparently. No great patriotic fervor involved, except from the barkeep. Then nastiness happens to them. DeNiro is the only one who makes any rational effort to change their fate. He succeeds initially, but in the long run doesn't much change things. It didn't strike me that Cimino was portraying the Vietnamese as terrible people. I certainly thought he portrayed the guards as terrible people. But I also got the impression that the guards were victims of circumstance just as much as the good guys were. At the end of the movie, everythings pretty much the same as when they left. The death, maiming, and personal heroics didn't change anything. HiHo HiHo its off to work they go. The real shocker was the singing of God Bless America. Now that is entirely out of place and entirely over my head. I still do not understand what the hell they put that in there for. After the third time I saw the movie I realized why: I'm not an American, silly. If I was it would probably make perfect sense. A great movie.

An immigrant to Alberta does not get to speak whatever language they want. They must speak either English or French. Pretty limited choice if you ask me.

There is no need for Alberta to pass such a law. The federal government has done that for them. All immigrants must speak one of either English or French...even if they are immigrating to Alberta.