maldon_road
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Posts posted by maldon_road
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A set-up perhaps between Beijing and Washington? Bush makes his comments in Bangkok, China makes its "angry" response and then Bush goes on to the Olympics and everyone enjoys themselves?
It also helps with Bush back home to be seen to "be doing something" with the Chinese. Something, but not too much.
Bush chides Beijing over rightsGeorge Bush urges China to improve its human rights records
US President George W Bush has expressed "deep concerns" over China's human rights record in a speech on the eve of the Beijing Olympics.
"The US believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human beings," he said in the Thai capital, Bangkok.
He praised China's economy but said only respect for human rights would let it realise its full potential.
But China rejected the US president's comments.
"The Chinese government puts people first, and is dedicated to maintaining and promoting its citizens' basic rights and freedom," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.
"We firmly oppose any words or acts that interfere in other countries' internal affairs, using human rights and religion and other issues."
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It is an interesting turn.
You are right that he might be released soon. I don't think this the result the administration wanted. I expect they thought it would an actual life sentence.
Well, Bush won't be around when he gets out.
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This is number one on the lib-left's hate list. But it does have some following since it passed at 2nd reading. It is now before the Commons Justice and Human Rights Committee where I have no doubt it will get bogged down.
Pregnant women deserve protection for their fetusesKEN EPP, MP, Freelance
Bill C-484's supporters have no agenda to recriminalize abortion
Edmonton Conservative MP Ken Epp has sponsored C-484, a private member's bill which would make it a criminal offence to "directly or indirectly, (cause) the death of a child during birth or at any stage of development before birth while committing or attempting to commit an offence against the mother of the child, who the person knows or ought to know is pregnant." The bill is before the Commons committee on justice and human rights for study....
magine being a woman who is pregnant and wants to be, who wants to bring her developing child to term and raise it in her family. She has made a choice. She knows what is growing inside her is going to be a person in her family some day.
By all means reject the notion that it is a "person" now if that is your personal belief - Bill C-484 doesn't change that at all, in fact. But I hope you will acknowledge that to this woman it is a life that is growing inside her. If someone attacks her and takes that away from her, she has lost something very real. To her and her family, it matters deeply...
Despite what opponents have said, Bill C-484 is truly not about abortion. If a woman wants to have an abortion in Canada, we all understand that she has that recourse and this bill has explicit wording to respect that choice....
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We've been told that with an aging population it's time to gird the loins. Now it seems that there is one view that too many kids will be a drag on the economy.
Too many babies will hurt economy, says watchdogFORGET those plans to have a third child for the country because further increases in the birth rate could harm the economy, the nation's productivity watchdog has warned.
A major analysis of the nation's increasing fertility rate said it was at its highest level for 25 years - but the Productivity Commission yesterday warned further increases may aggravate rather than solve the problem of the ageing of the population.
This is because it will shift women out of the workforce while they care for babies, depressing labour supply and reducing the taxation base as our population ages.
The small number of extra babies born would make little difference to the rate of population ageing, the commission said.....
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He would have gotten life anyways.
And of course they would have kept him in prison even if he had been acquitted.
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Tasteless? No doubt. But it was clearly satirical in intent.
Satirical jab at Sarkozy's son sparks cries of anti-SemitismThe dismissal of a veteran French satirist over allegedly anti-Semitic remarks regarding French President Nicolas Sarkozy's son has stirred a polemic among European intellectual circles, according to recent reports in Le Monde and other European newspapers.
Sine, a 79-year-old sworn communist and secularist, has denied the charges against him and filed a complaint for defamation.
The controversy began on July 2, when the satirist wrote in the weekly Charlie Hebdo magazine that 21-year-old Jean Sarkozy, who recently became engaged to the Jewish heiress of an electronics company, was "an opportunist who would go far in life."
The comments were made following rumors that Sarkozy was planning to convert ahead of his marriage Jessica Sebaoun-Darty.
"Jean Sarkozy, worthy son of his father and already a UMP councillor, emerged almost to applause after his court case for not stopping after an accident on his scooter," Sine wrote as part of the cartoon's dialogue.
"The prosecutor even asked for him to be cleared. You have to remember that the plaintiff was an Arab. And that's not all. He has just said that he wants to convert to Judaism before marrying his fiancee, who is Jewish, and heiress of the founders of Darty. He will go far in life, this boy!" ...
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Burying the reports would mean that they didn't release them. They were made public. This is a non-issue.
I agree. Bernier is yesterday's issue. Do you think the Libs are going to raise it an election so the other parties can remind the public of the Sponsorship scandal - which occurred in a government of which Dion was a member?
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I use the hold the line practice too.
Our phone is continually in use. That is why the tele-marketers are such a pest. We'll stick with the hang-up route.
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Ahhh...but you will think about it, compared to an outright personal ban on travel because of this border search policy. I wonder if Ahmed Ressam felt the same way about US customs officials searching his rental car's spare tire well. Turns out that "Canadian agents" tracked him for at least two years. The nerve of them!
Lotsa talk down here about defending the borders......that includes laptops and cellphones. I mean c'mon, they could do a body cavity search before but now this is the last straw.....your laptop?
And I know what it's like. They once mistook me for a drug dealer they were looking for.
I've always assumed they could seize anything they wanted if they felt there was justification.
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No Tory witnesses?
Isn't that a bit much, even for a partisan committee?
Geez, some folks complain about too many Tory lawsuits against the Liberals yet they'll stack a committee witness list.
Politics, plus ca change, plus ca meme chose, plus la guerre...
Nobody knows if Dion will grow any balls or not during the summer and force an election this autumen. So, from now until the mandatory election in the fall of 2009 it will be all politics - just like happens in the US.
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A Commons committee probing the Conservatives' "in-and-out" scheme is sending an extraordinary 31 summonses to witnesses.
Liberal chair Paul Szabo says the move -- which compels witnesses to testify -- is necessary because officials have had difficulty reaching many Tories involved in the ad scheme.
The committee is looking into $1.3-million worth of Conservative advertising expenses from the 2006 election.
Let's not confuse this with democracy. These are all opposition witnesses. The opposition majority on the committee voted not to hear any Tory witnesses.
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What concerns me is that this is the third apology in less than two years and that could hurt the credibility of them. Harper first apologized to Native Canadians about residential schools in 2006, then he apologized two months ago to the Chinese about the head tax. I can appreciate that he's trying to make right some terrible blemishes in our history, but too many apologies too quickly may appear to be insincere.
Like the Pope's apologies for the pedophile priests. They seem to mean less each time they are repeated.
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But as soon as he left the stage, members of the Sikh community rushed to the podium immediately denouncing the apology. They said they wanted it delivered on the floor of the House of Commons.
"The apology was unacceptable," said Jaswinder Singh Toor, president of "The Descendents of Komagatamaru Society."
"We were expecting the prime minister of Canada to do the right thing. The right thing was ... like the Chinese Head Tax.," said Toor, referring to Harper's full apology to the Chinese-Canadian community in 2006 for the head tax imposed on Chinese immigrants who came to Canada between 1885 and 1923.
The PM might have set the standard with the apology for residential schools and other groups may expect no less.
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Second, I found the perfect way to end unsollicitated calls very quickly. They always mispronounce my name, so I just tell them there's nobody by that name in the house and I hang up. :lol:
My approach is always the same. Say I'm not interested. In 80% of the cases they hang up. If they continue to babble then I hang up.
I'm always polite - at first. After all, these are just working stiffs doing their job.
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Welcome to 21st century labor relations.
Nothing odd here. Workers vote on union contracts and if the majority want a Muslim holiday, so be it.
The plant also has a prayer room, not a common provision in labor contracts.
Tyson drops Labor Day holiday for Eid al-FitrWorkers at Tyson Foods' poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day, but will instead take the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr in the fall.
A recent press release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) stated that a new contract at the Shelbyville facility "implements a new holiday to accommodate the ... Muslim workers at the plant."
The RWDSU stated that "the five-year contract creates an additional paid holiday, Iidal Fitil, a Muslim holiday that occurs toward the end of Ramadan."
Eid al-Fitr falls on Oct. 1 this year....
(full story)
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I don't agree with that. McCain is one of the most honest, respected politicians right now (among the independents). If he goes negative he looks like Bush, and everyone is fed up with Bush. I think his best bet is to go with the town hall debates. Obama gives very good speaches, but I don't think its proven he can debate.
McCain is a very experienced candidate while Obama is a bit of a celebrity. It is hard to show this in a 30 second attack add, but it may be easier in a debate.
This is what is going to make the debates so interesting. Will it be the young hotshot vs the tired old man or will McCain make Obama look reckless and inexperienced? (Note: unlikely reckless since Obama is doing the things all candidates do after securing the nomination - moving to the center).
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Since when does Germany (of all places) represent what the "world" is urging? The Americans will do the right thing for America, and to hell with whatever the "world" thinks about it or wants (so wonderful have been all the "world's" choices after all).
Dick Cheney for president!
Spot on guy! Nothing beats the satisfaction of knowing that one is acting in one's enlightened self-interest.
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In regards to the topic, I think it is nice to see Obama cheered by Germans, but after the last few years I am not especially impressed by crowds in any nation. The same crowds that cheer for somone can quickly turn and change their minds. Americans have been told so often and so loudly by so many people that we are responsible for many of the world's evils that I no longer trust sudden changes.
It's over three months to the election. They have to go through the conventions, the campaign ramps up and there are debates.
By then, who knows? The Dow might be down another 25% and Fannie and Freddie may in far worse shape than now with the mortgage crisis for individuals worse, not better.
You can guarantee events (not good) in Iran/Iraq/Pakistan/Afghanistan/Palestinian territories.
Will anybody care about a speech in Berlin in July?
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You're right, and as far as I can see, Americans aren't salivating over the "excitement" of it when it does happen.
I noticed you're from Heybridge Basin. Are you British?
I have both British and Canadian citizenship. And I have worked and lived extensively in the US. In NY and MN. Yes, and I was working on the railroad.
Each year many Canadians go to the US for medical treatment not available in Canada or because of shortage of facilities. Without the US as a safety valve the shortcomings in the Canadian medical care system would be even more apparent.
And if the G8 were being reconstituted Canada and Italy would get the heave to be replaced by China and India.
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In the USA there are terrorists around every corner, buildings fall (miraculously in their own footprints at freefall speed!) of their own accord, people die because they have no healthcare, people lose their homes because they have no jobs -- e-x-c-i-t-i-n-g.
People in Canada also die while awaiting medical treatment. And I don't doubt some out of work auto workers will be losing their homes.
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Again, this is shaped by your perspective as the "mouse"...not elephant (according to PM Trudeau). I notice this sort of misplaced anthropomorphism from several members wrt nation states and national interests. If you count the number of people voting with their feet, America is still "loved" by quite a few people (and has been for quite some time), but it really has nothing to do with "love" at all.
Right. Millions want to live in the US (and will court death to get there) but few want to move out of the country.
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Is it good or bad for a US presidential candidate to be perceived well abroad?
If Obama is perceived as a "World Beat Candidate", if he is perceived as more European, if the French president refers to "common views", will that help Obama get votes in America?
He will be judged on his policies and not that he had 200,000 Germans cheering at him, many of whom didn't have the foggiest idea what he was saying.
If those policies are congruent with what Europeans want to hear, fine. But if he is just saying things to make Europeans feel nice that could all backfire.
But he didn't pull punches. He made it clear he wants the Euros to belly up to the bar in Afghanistan. I doubt that went down well in many governments.
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Change the word "Canadians" to "Liberal strategists". "Canadians" (Liberal Strategists) weren't hungry for an election just a month ago, when Dion could actually have challenged the government. Times have changed
Easy to be brave when the House is adjourned. Let's see if Steph's testes are quite as firm come September 15th.
Of course, if the Libs go down the toilet in Westmount nobody will be talking election.
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By all means get agreements but unilaterally imposing import tariffs based on Canada's arbitrary determination of a foreign company's carbon footprint would be the height of stupidity and invites retaliation.
If the WTO doesn't already have a clear determination on this issue, the legal stick could very well end up being used on Canada.
The Tories are going to have a field day with this. They will taunt Dion into revealing which countries he will erect tariff barriers against. He won't answer of course, making him look like a wuss.
Canada is very trade dependent. We would be nuts to start a trade war. If Dion had any sense he would talk about incentives for those countries with green footprints. Carrot, not stick.
Conservatives cancel $4.7M arts travel program
in Federal Politics in Canada
Posted
Holy F--k!
That's one of the groups that got a grant. If the program's recipients have included "a general radical," and "a left-wing and anti-globalization think-tank" why not just tighten up the criteria for a grant?