BornAlbertan

That is an overly simplified way of looking at it as there are certain logistics involved too that you are ignoring.

Oh, I agree 100% ...just saying that just because she says "no"....doesn't make it so

I won't comment on Clark or the politics behind it all as even if none of this were going on, she is a lame duck on the road flapping her wings in panic. However, it is my belief that as this is an interprovincial pipeline it falls under federal juristiction via the National Energy Board and they will need to find other ways to shoot it down rather than just saying "we aren't signing on". http://www.neb-one.gc.ca/clf-nsi/rthnb/whwrndrgvrnnc/rrspnsblt-eng.html http://www.neb-one.gc.ca/clf-nsi/rthnb/whwrndrgvrnnc/pplnpwrlnndtknw-eng.html

You said murderers never videotape their crime...and within a couple days here later you have one right in your backyard. Admittedly it is merely a coincidence...and sure it is rare. But it is proof positive it does happen. In case like this...death penalty absolutely. There is no way the guy can be deemed innocent. There is video he did it. There is no way he can be deemed "mentally unfit" as he knew damn well what he was doing. For that....I suggest this advice: (of coure meant to add humour to an otherwise grisly topic).

Put this in your pipe and smoke it. http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/30/luka-rocco-magnotta-video-allegedly-shows-body-parts-suspect-dismembering-victim/

Tell that to the families of the victims of that sack of shit Clifford Olson.

double post....but I clicked cancel. Grrr

Bullshit. People like Paul Bernardo for example get off on videotaping their heinous crimes. Can you honesty tell me that sack of shit deserves to live? I don't care if he lives in a 5x10 concrete cell with no windows...it is more than the girls he killed have. Why should we pay a cent for him to live? For what it costs to buy that cocksucker a tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush I could buy the bullet to put in his head, the gas to burn his fucking body and a beer to sit back afterwards and reflect on a job well done.

Sad thing is a person shouldn't be "living" on welfare. Unless you have a physical or mental impairment, it should be used to better yourself or your situation and get off it. If they can't (or more particularly won't)....well....speaks volumes of their value as a citizen.

The only disappointment I have over last nights election is the PCs have not been taught the lesson that after 41 years of going unchecked severely needed. While I am not surprised the PCs won, I am surprised and disheartened that they were given another majority mandate like everything is AOK. I did not want a majority by anybody in this election....but I seriously wanted a minority to see how well the PCs can work with other parties rather than just thrusting whatever they want down the throats of all Albertans. I get it though. Albertans are still people. We are uneasy with change and are more comfortable with the devil we know and will even begrudgingly embrace them out of fear of change. I am a card carrying PC...but I voted Wildrose to send a message

So what, you consider $60k priveledged or rich or something? When I was a kid making $20k a year, I still voted conservative. Why? Because my needs were being met and I didn't particularly care that I was busting my ass off at $10/hour while some guy I knew sat at home in subsidized housing collective welfare and pogey smoking weed all day! Thus...I voted conservative because my VALUES were better reflected than my financial interests.

What are you tlaking about getting "bailed out". TransAlta never got bailed out.

Wow...never thought anyone would liken Stelmach to Christ in that in order to save the masses he had to sacrifice himself. Quite funny. Too bad the results of the staff statisfaction/engagement survey that is currently underway will never get released to the public. You would then have thousands of validations to Raj Sherman's position.

The moment she pulled out that sign she was a trespasser, not a page. She is lucky she wasn't arrested....only reason she wasn't is because of the whining fuckheads in this country who would cry that "her rights to disrupt parliament were violated". I respect her opinion (well...her right to have it anyway) I don't respect her methods. You were to pull this shit in a court of law you would be up on contempt charges so fast it wouldn't be funny.

It is threads like this that makes me think we are just a country of whiners, assholes and people who think everything is owed to them because "we helped you out a hundred years ago". A. when is a "debt" ever paid off B. when in a "family" does a real loving member of it HOLD IT OVER THE HEAD of others for the rest of their life C. when in a "family" is it fair for one set of rules apply to some members and not others

Sorry, that info was on the old long form census.

While I agree with you and understnad the point you are trying to make, I don't find your comparison really valid. To me it's like saying because both a Peterbilt and a Silverado are both trucks that they can both pull a tractor trailer. EI, Welfare etc...Are instituted to ensure a level of livable income. There are certainly many people who are on it and can't get off it. There are a great many people too who count their hours to eligibility so they can "go on pogey". I have known people like this in my life. Also known some people who attempted to work under the table so they could collect welfare and live in subsidized housing (I was treated like being the bad guy when I threatened to report them). So they are in fact out there...people who see social programs as nothing more than free $$. Car InsuranceProtects you from liabilities and property damage of other people! On Saturday an 88 year old woman ran a stop sign and ripped right into the throughfare in which I was driving...t-boned my 2010 Dodge Ram. That truck is my pride and joy, less than 20,000km on it and the day prior I personally power polished it (didn't have anyone else do it for me). I buy insurance to protect myself and my property. I do not buy it with the intent of ever using it or abusing it. If I use it because it is my fault, my rates go up because my risk level goes up. I expect others I meet on the road to also be carrying insurance because again, it protects me as well as them. I have maxxed out my EI contributions for years...if I ever use it, will I ever see a fraction of what I have paid in?! Well, it will be a small one. Many of the people who collect EI habitually also collect welfare. I remember in my early twenties a friend and I were hanging out in Edmonton when he said he wanted to visit his loser brother (my words not his....and I mean he was a LOSER!). Not to sound prejudiced but I shoulda seen it coming when he turned into one of the housing projects in Edmonton. The brother spoke of how the government OWED him "backpay" for while he was waiting on his EI claim because he worked for a couple months and now because of the government they were broke. Two minutes later he spoke of how they just got their welfare check and bought a stereo from a pawn shop and an ounce of weed so they were good for a bit. GOOD FOR A BIT?! Him and his whore wife (who btw also said they were contemplating having another kid because of the extra "government money" another kid would bring) were more concerned with a stereo and weed than they were caring for their 4 children (which might I add were being well groomed to be next generation of criminals!) When we left I told my friend "don't ever fucking do that to me again!" While I am not saying they need to scrap EI, welfare etc....it is ABSOLUTELY ABUSED. Reform is required and people need to be made accountable for their abuses of the system. They are there for a hand up not a hand out....and you are NOT "owed" it like the person I referenced above seemed to think. It is earned by being a contributing member to society.

Hmmmm...I work in IT myself and we are currently in the process of doing exactly that with millions EMR's from an assortment of databases and repositories, along with DI from various sources and vendors. If you have competent DBAs and coders it is completely doable. You think a database done in SQL can't ever be converted to Oracle or merged? It happens everyday! Sure, I agree, there will be holes in data....but there is ALWAYS holes in a database anyway. And databases are ALWAYS having tables and fields added to them as the desire for more data becomes relevent...and the data that isn't there for the new fields or tables doesn't just miraculously appear either. It is either filled in over time through extrapolation/referencing or it is left <null>. It is all dependent on the compentency of the DBAs to create the links and references. And even if it did cost as MUCH as a census, hmmm....I would say KUDOS! Cause then you would have a living breathing census that continually updates itself each time you run a report (I would say it would cost much more than a single census, but it would be much more valuable!) Tie in immigration records, birth records, death records, tax records....etc....would be a HUGE undertaking (I am not that delusional) but it is completely doable given the resources. And imagine the benefits that can result from that. At any given time they could say, here is a population at this snapshot in time, here are all the people died during this period of time, here are their causes....ok, we have a problem....is it environmental, financial etc.... Any kind of data you could ever want. To be honest, I can't believe there isn't something like this being initiated already.

You ever thought that there are reasons why some people are poor....some people are homeless....some people are unemployed? Of one thing I have learned through the years, everything happens for a reason. Not saying there is a devine reason, but there is a reason....a cause if you will. And it isn't the fault of the rich guy so why should he be guilted and goaded into giving a job to someone who in all likelihood could be serving up coffee at Tim Horton's if he wanted to work badly enough? Make Canada a better place? Yeah...look how the Soviet Union turned out... What a bunch of socialist bullshit.

So what is the big deal about the census anyway? Based on PREVIOUS census data, if StatsCan, Immigration, etc... were all doing their jobs, could they not extrapolate the data they needed anyway without having to count? I mean, if you can't tell me how many more people there are, of what ethnicity, from what country of origin.....based on the records you have right now, something tells me you ain't doing your job. We are a lot more technological since the first ship landed. The systems we have are very capable of providing all the data they need if it was cross-referenced properly.

Did I say that?

HAHAHAHA....it's funny you choose lawyers and mechanics for comparisons since they are the biggest fucking crooks out there!

We are sinking without the boomers being geriatrics...how the hell are we going to keep our heads above water when that entire generation is geriatric and living longer than any generation before them?

What balance? There are two queues. You don't have the money to get in the pay-for queue, you are in the one you are right exactly where you are now. I am glad your wife is ok now...cancer is a real bitch that I wish we could eradicate (genetics dictate I will probably die from it myself) But I fail to see why a two tier system would "sacrifice her on the alter". Imagine this: you have a publicly funded system. EXACTLY as it is now. No opting out of the provincial plans. No diversion of taxes. The funding stays EXACTLY the same way. Except with a second private yet of course heavily regulated tier where money talks....YOUR money. Not the governments, not the tax payers. This makes MORE money available in the public system and makes the queues shorter. Why is this so hard to comprehend for everyone? Wouldn't worry about it...they're already here! Why would their life be threatened? If there was a separate queue with two different intakes, nothing changes. No different than say....Danny Williams going to the US for his surgery. Did that hurt any Canadians other than their feelings? Not in the least. And if you are referring to the "diversion" of specialists, the crippled system we have is already doing that. Look at the brain drain to the US. Alberta is constantly bringing South African doctors over. Why? CAUSE THEY AREN'T HERE! With tuition the way it is why would a student take out $100,000+ in student loans and stay in Canada when they can go to the US and make enough to pay the loans off in a year and live high on the hog. Then again, the potential debt load is pretty daunting too. So I would say ultimately the enemy to sustainable health care in this country is the lack of educational opportunity, underfunding and mismanagement. It is amazing everyone acknowledges that the system is broken...and for years they have thrown more money at the problem and nothing changed yet nobody wants to look at the fact that there is a paradigm shift required. I think it is obvious something needs to change. Baby boomers are set to completely overwhelm the system and no amount of cash can fix that! Trust me, I don't want my wife or kids lives to be valued anymore than anyone else's...but I don't want them to have an equal opportunity death either!!

Because you get people terrified of common sense. People think it is queue jumping...but really, if there are two parallel systems you have two different queues: one that's free and one that costs. Obviously those who can and want to pay for treatment NOW will, so now your line is shorter because people moved themselves out of it, what's the problem? I think it's "misery loves company".