BornAlbertan

ROFL...it was a joke!! But while you are on that tangent: 1. It is NOT their democratic right to blockade private property (Rail Lines) 2. It is NOT their democratic right to express militant will of force against the police 3. It is NOT their democratic right hinder the rights and freedom of movement of other citizens as they have done. You are completely laughable.

Oh...I am sorry for applying a steretype to you. I just really thought you were stoned for thinking that isn't tantamount to terrorism.

How is he a terrorist? Oh quit smoking your weed and pull your head out of your ass. I would love to see the military go in with the tanks. Unfortunately, thanks to the Liberals they're both over in Afghanistan right now (double edged dig at the decimation of the military and the fact the Libs sent them over there not the Cons)

Alex Jones is thought provoking...just like Michael Moore...but just like Michael Moore you have to look beyond the one sided extremist propaganda. Alex Jones comes off as a complete basketcase though...i mean, look at his website! Note: just cause i say thought provoking, does not mean I find them credible or accurate. It is just they get you thinking!

The government does not design the machines. It does not build them. Nor does it place them. Private companies design them. Private companies build them. Private companies apply to place them in their establishments. They have a set of guidelines which are to be met for placement and if the guidelines are met, they are allowed to place the amount that guidelines permit. Government establishes the guidelines, sure. Government does legislate the minimum payouts. But government does not do what you say by a long shot. A vast majority of people are able to play those machines without issue...as a means of entertainment. Not to make money. So long as there are programs like AADAC (which btw is directly funded by things like gambling revenues) out there to help people who won't help themselves, it is hard to find fault with anyone but the people who put themselves in those positions in the first place.

My main issue is with VLT's in particular, not gambling. The government designs machines that are intentionally addictive and puts them in places where people are most vunerable. That's unreasonable. If it was a private inititive, I wouldn't care. But since the government is actively attempting to get people addicted in order to fill their overflowing coffers... I oppose it. The government does no such thing.

Hey those are people simultaneously subsidizing the health care system by smoking...and then throwing even more money away in the VLTs. Despite my beliefs that a smoker should get all the care they need (preferably to QUIT smoking before they do get sick) if they get cancer...I feel no sympathy towards them. And it is just like that with gambling. All the help in the world is available to them while they work towards throwing their assets away....but so long as they don't do something about it by seeking help, I won't lose any sleep over it. And as so long as gambling and smoking are legal...who are we to say people shouldn't be doing it or at least when they shouldn't. Continue to throw your health away...you are paying for that right. Continue to throw your home away...I will sleep well in mine.

I would assume you are one of those electorates that are impossible to please.

Whatever. If I can smell it, if I breathe it in, it becomes my issue. Agreed. So why don't you take issue with everyone that drives past your home? You had no issue going to the bar and exposing yourself to smoke...for you CHOSE to. If you did....you wouldn't. I mean, either you stick to your principles or you don't. You don't just choose to throw them away because you want to have fun one night and then decide to get all self-righteous the next when the party is over. Right? To do otherwise makes you a hypocrite.

It just shows that the Harper government can't provide the gold standard level of service of the previous governments did. Singapore, that bastion of free enterprise that many in the right point to has passed Canada. God Liberals (and NDippers for that matter) are dense... "Canada is part of a group of countries where citizens have a sense that services have lagged in the past few years," said the report by international consulting firm Accenture. "We have praised all of these countries in the past ... yet somehow they have let service flag in the eyes of citizens." When did the Conservatives get in? How long have services lagged? Yep...there are some real morons here. Note to Liberals and NDP: Post shit with a spin and it flies back in your face!

Sure, and when I'm outdoors I'm going to spray benzene into the air wherever I wish. If you don't like it, you can stay indoors. Exactly gc. Drea, go smoke outside or anywhere you want to, but as soon as I smell it, it becomes my issue. Even on your own property, it can become an issue. Try lighting a big tire fire in your backyard and see how long your allowed to do whatever you friggin want to. Why we let smokers get away with it so long, I'm not sure. HAHA...a BIG tire fire versus a tiny little smoldering cigarette. There is a logical comparison!

The blueprint President Bush is following was laid out in a 2005 report entitled "Building a North American Community" published by the left-of-center Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). The CFR report connects the dots between the Bush administration's actual policy on illegal immigration and the drive to create the North American Union: At their meeting in Waco, Texas, at the end of March 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox, and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin committed their governments to a path of cooperation and joint action. We welcome this important development and offer this report to add urgency and specific recommendations to strengthen their efforts. What is the plan? Simple, erase the borders. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=14965 --------------------------------------------- Hmmm....why does Stephen Harper get singled out when Paul Martin is the one who went to the meeting? As for "the list" give it a rest. It has been in the works since 2002. The project just got completed and implemented on Harper's watch. Sometimes I think the Liberal gov't keeps things un-Liberal in the works so in case they ever get booted they can say "SEE...THEY'RE SCARY!!!" Cause the fools are obviously falling for some kind of stupid.

Not by enough. And what about obese non-smokers?

It was in reference to your comment about Southern Ontario air quality. What does Southern Ontario air quality have to do with a Calgary hospital? I made no such comment. But perhaps if every Ontarian blew as hard as they could at 7:00 every morning it might blow it back to Ohio

Few people live within the range of the pollution, maybe 20,000 tops. Small amount compared to the many millions that live within the toxic cancer cloud that hovers over southern Ontario most months of the year. I wouldn't be too worried about us. While we have a terrible GHG emissions record, we're pretty clean in all other ways. In case you are curious, multiple (and reputable) studies have found that somewhere between half and two-thirds of Toronto's summer smog is a gift from the Ohio Valley Generating Authority - where they burn coal for electricity. What does all this have to do with a Calgary hospital?

You're asking the wrong question. The right question is when will the capitalist pigs like Dion, Harper, Bush, Clinton, et. al. yield to People Power? When will people learn of the glories of the Cultural Revolution, Great Leap Forward, Stalin's Agrarian Reforms against the kulaks? Hugo Chavez Rocks and Rules!!! Since you are so extreme left...I am still waiting for you to make a mortgage payment for me in the name of sincerity. Don't be a hypocrite now. Pay up...if you are able I am needy BTW...why has every country who turned to communism/socialism had political problems? I mean, USSR broke up, Czechoslakia broke up, Yugoslavia broke up...human nature does not inherently support such ideologies. In its purist state, socialism and communism is very noble and amuch desired utopia. I dream of seeing Star Trek come to life But lets face reality, communism is often ruled with an iron fist...and it has to be because of human nature. From each according to their ability, to each according to their need...what if a person wants more out of life for themselves? I think a person should have that right without fear of redistribution, seizure or incarceration.

I can't say what the cause is...but ain't it grand to see our gun registry saving lives?! I feel so warm and fuzzy inside knowing that it is there to protect me from criminals and their legally registered weapons.

SOOOOOO....we are an accidental product of pure chance eh? Has science created self-reproducing life from scratch yet? NO! And to save you the trouble...and to show I am not "scared" here is a link...to something that is still bunk because it required existing cells. http://www.world-science.net/othernews/070607_mycoplasma.htm You seem pretty theologically ignorant...or should I say "uneducated"? Uhhh...yes. You might enjoy masterbation...I enjoy full out sex. To each their own. Nothing in the Bible says goes know everything BEFORE it will happen...but he does have plans. But humans also have free will. You have a wife? She has free will. How many times have your plans got f****ed up? You are the one with all the answers. You tell me. AHHHHH....now you are getting to what faith is all about. Before the big bang where was the universe and all the galaxies? You seem be comprehending the fact now that the origins of the universe, regardless of explanations, are beyond our comprehension and therefore exempt from valid ridicule and criticism. Touche. Seems you could use a touch of God in your life

Before this universe, what was there? Can you explain it? Can you fathom it? I can't. And so to can I not explain God. So until a person can explain that, I think people should merely respect each others beliefs. I don't accept what I believe blindly...but I don't disbelieve something either because I can't fathom it. I question my faith daily...and everyday, I come back to the same beliefs. A blind faith is a deadly faith. If one can profess the knowledge that there is no God, but yet without certainty explain the origins of the universe, where is the credibility? That said, this is probably the most respectful discussion on this topic I have seen in a long time online.

One of the most brilliant things that Alexander Hamilton did that made the United States truly united was assumption for state debt, primarily, at that time, Revolutionary War debt, by the Feds. The states that wanted to continue going their own way were furious, of course. Will you pay my mortgage for me? You can be my friend.

So what if someone lives near an industrial area? Should they pay more for health insurance than someone who lives in a rural area with nice fresh clean air? No matter what, you must discriminate...and in todays politically correct world, that's a bad thing

Good idea! I think I've argued several times on this forum for a carbon/environmental tax. BUT everyody in the free world benefits from vehicles that burn hydrocarbons so again...where do you stop descriminating? And besides...a tax like this would do nothing but drive up inflation. Companies will get hit the hardest because of volume. Costs get get passed to consumer via higher inflation. Then you get the socialists crying that people can't make a go at life...so increases in wages must ensue for staff retention. Viscious cycle. Jack Layton said on June 13th that the federal Conservatives are making Canadians choose sides in the "phoney war" between environment and the economy. But then he went on to say Canada's economic future is intrinsically linked with the future of the planet and that the Canadian government should ensure that the economic frameworks are in place to capitalize on this. So it is a "phoney war" but they are instrinsically linked...well...he got one right. They are instrinsically linked and the mesasure in which people like Layton propose place them directly at war with each other. You increase taxes too much in the name of the environment and the economy will go haywire. I think Obi Wan said it best: "You and the Naboo form a symbiotic circle. What happens to one of you will affect the other. You must understand this." Sooooo....taxing in the name of "health" is a complete complete farce IMO. It essentially gives you the opportunity to buy CONSTITUTIONAL assured freedoms. Just like Kyoto is a farce because all it does is shift the onus of environmental responsibilty across the globe for a price via carbon credits. Solves nothing.

Oh, thanks BC Girl. Glad you have that all figured out. If I'd started the thread, I would have just conducted a poll. But as it stands, I was given two choices and I picked one. I figured the people of this forum are intelligent enough to know the arguments for and against each one. Now given that thought, do you believe we are alone in the universe?

Perhaps anyone with a car should pay higher health car than those without? I mean, think of the health risks of inhaling particulate from combusted hydrocarbons!

Then take the taxes off smokes.Not quite. I'm against smoking, but don't want to reduce smokers to pariah status. This is exactly the point I was trying to see would come up. Over half of the price on smokes is taxes. Taxes that non-smokers do NOT pay. Taxes that go into general revenues which then directly affects health budgets. SO...jbg...don't smokers already pay more for their health care than non-smokers? I just feel governments are complete hypocrites on this issue. If a medication comes out with adverse side effects, they yank it immediately! But here there are taxes to be made and what do they do? They keep on talk out one side of their mouth while grinning and holding out their hands on the other side. Also, when does the discrimination stop then? Should a construction worker pay more than a secretary? Or a cop more than than a janitor? I mean, higher risk occupations also end up with more injuries.