I miss Reagan

Please post the "study after study" that show how unbiased the press is in Canada. And as for our distain for academic work on this please see study after academic study proving leftist media bias: Accuracy in media Media Research Fraser CBC watch

Totally agree.

Cartman, perhaps we need a different thread for this. Anecdotally of course there are right of center profs. And I believe you when you say you are able to separate your political beliefs from your teaching, but it hasn't been true in my experience in University.

How many times does it have to be said that repeating something over and over doesn't make it any more true than the first time you said it. And you are out of your mind if you think that we don't have a far higher standard of living than we had 30 years ago. But hey, when all else fails just raise taxes eh? We'll always have that endless pile of money in the tax pool.

Ya we aren't under complete state education yet, but that seems to be the direction we're heading. I'm not advocating home schooling, but I think parents should certainly play a larger role in raising children than the government. Besides the last thing I want is the government using day cares to spread it's socialist cancer. It's bad enough we have the socialist university profs, and the CBC indoctrinating people. Ya I'm with Chimera on this one. Fine adapt all you want, just use your own money to do it. Don't expect me to pay for your day care just because you want the government to subsidize your standard of living.

This honestly scares the hell out of me. This line of thinking that the state should educate children from the time they are born. What's next, the Young Pioneers? The whole reason society is screwed up is because of the tearing apart of the family.

No worrie, my mistake. Where have you been anyway? Ya, it gets complicated. We could also ask questions like does she need to live in Van. where the cost of living is twice that of most other places in Canada, and perhaps we take into account peoples decisions to have children in the first place. Should people have children if the taxpayers are going to have to pay for it? And you're right, how do we define "poverty". When I lived in the States I was troubled when I met some people on welfare yet they owned cell phones. Back then I didn't even have the money to own a cell phone. I saw quite a few abuses by people on welfare, during the course of the work I was doing. Not to say that public assistance is a bad thing, but I guess my point is that everyone has a sad story and if you give people an inch they'll take a mile.

Come on, that's not what I'm saying. There are obvious needs for government. Defence, certain infrastructure, justice system etc. My question is where do we define the line? I see no reason why a middle class family needs the tax payers to pay for their day care just so they can have the luxury of an extra income. IMO, the government should be providing incentives for mothers to raise their children.

True. Yet, that's not what we're seeing from our southern neighbours. That's what I'm talking about, retaliating in kind doesn't work well when you're the little guy in the relationship. Not to mention that it's just plain immature. Besides I thought we were supposed to be better than that. Anyway their reasons for ignorance are because they have many more serious issues to worry about then coddleing Canada. I thought the point of the post was clear. That Canadians have an obvious chip on their shoulder if they actually believe US policy is as dangerous as OBL. Isn't this what we're discussing?

There's no doubt it'll be another black hole. What I want to know is how people can expect the government to pay for their day care? I understand subsidizing the impoverished, but anything beyond that seems insane. I guess I just will never understand why people in this country feel the government needs to be involved in every facet of our existance. Are we just spoiled?

But you gain a receptive audience by showing empathy, building on common goals. Not by focusing on differences. This is what diplomacy, statesmanship, and tact are about. I don't think it will ever be viable for Canada to join the EU by virue of Geography not to mention our integrated infrastructure with the US. This is true. I totally agree, we need to build ties with other partners like China and India (keep in mind though, that you have to abandon the protectionist policies and be willing to retrain people). But we still need to remain connected with the US to be competetive in the world. I don't know if that's entirely true, but we could've played a role in Rwanda or Sudan had we had committed leadership. Don't we have enough constructive criticisim? We have American failures in front of our faces every day. I certainly hope we've learned from American lessons such as the proliferation of hand guns, gang problems, inner-city issues etc. But does that mean we ignore the successes to dwell on the problems and use it as a reason to prop ourselves up above them? And I think there are a few reasons why you see support for the US in Alberta. First there are a lot of Americans living in Alberta so people here are more familiar, and better informed that Americans aren't so bad. Second, we obviously have more in common with the US's conservative values. But I also think that it's somewhat of a counter-punch to the over-the-top anti-Americanism that comes from out east. It's not that Albertans "unflinchingly" support the US, but perhaps that they are opposing the villification of the US. That's my take.

Many of us get the message. I think we just need to keep hearing it so it sinks in. A Liberal majority in the next election would re-enforce the message. Another NEP would be good too. Anyway, I think it'd be great if we could get Duceppe as leader of the CPC. I'd like to see that play out.

Yep, I do suggest closer ties. Mulroney, love him or hate him, accomplished far more for Canadians than his anti-American predecessors just by being friendly. He was willing to contribute to defence and he fought for, and won, in the fight against acid rain. I suggest a course in technical sales BD. You'll be amazed how well being nice works in gaining listening ears. Given that we share the same giant island, this is impossible on both levels. Although we should diversify our economy to not be so dependent on the US, we still have to compete against newly emerging threats like the EU. Staying close to the US is very important if we want to remain economically competetive. As for being independent in defence, I'm all for more independence in defence, especially if we want to argue we are a sovereign country and want a say in what the US does with respect to our airspace, but like Kissinger basically says we have to live together so we better learn to get along. You really should log on to the CSIS website and have a look at the threats to Canada. It is in our interests to influence peace in the world. We live in an increasingly integrated world where the friction of space is becoming less and less of an issue. Isolationist policies will not serve us well in the long run, especially when Canada is really a microcosm of the world anyway with our cultural diversity. This is pretty dumb considering that you live in the most Americanized province of the most America-like country in the world.

There you are BD, I was wondering if you respond to the "rational opinion" comment . To be honest BD, as much as I can't stand your political opinions, I do think you are sincere for the most part. I actually think you want what's best for society. Actually a good question. Ya so what if Canadians are anti-American? I have no problem with the differences we have on issues like BMD, health care, decriminalizing MJ, etc. I don't even have a problem with Canadians being annoyed with Americans. What bothers me is when it crosses the line into hatred and utter intolerance, which it has. Even more troublesome are politicians and the government run TV station encouraging this with hate talk. Not only is it unfair, but it's hypocritical coming from a country that prides itself on being open and accepting of all peoples no matter where they come from. It's personally offensive to me. As ideolically right we may be, it doesn't help our cause to spit in their face just to make ourselves feel better. It doesn't help our farmers, our forestry workers, our auto workers, or our fishermen. I think you are right, they don't care what we think and don't give us much thought... except when we go out of our way to offend them. And I agree, that we aren't treated fairly by the US in terms of trade. They take advantage of our small size and generally ignore us. Does this mean we should act the same way or take it to an even lower level by bitterly spewing hate whenever we're given a platform? And in terms of defence, security and international relations I'm not sure how someone can argue that we should have any say when we do not make any significant contributions, and I'm not talking about going to war in Iraq. In fact in many cases we appear to hinder the US in defence rather than help them, but that should be save for another thread. I don't see it to this extent. I don't think the US is really saying Canadians are weak and stupid, as much as they are just oblivious to our existance. But when you think of it in a global context, why should Canada be given any more say than any other country of our size like Poland or Spain. For some reason Canada seems to feel entitled to major world decisions with making the necessary contributions. Nevertheless, the neighboring smaller country to the larger country with a similar culture often looks upon the larger as big, arrogant and uncaring towards its' needs. Ask an Austrian what he thinks of Germany, a New Zealander of Austrailia, a Nepali of India, etc. they'll all have some gripes. But like I said, Canada seems to be taking to the next level.

Hmm, I haven't heard that one, but that's a good point. She did hook up with the Deputy Leader of the Opposition until she realized it wasn't going to get her the leadership, then she dropped him in an instant.

Well, you've heard it on this forum, you've heard it in the news, now there is a poll that echoes the sentiments..(mind you, I have only seen you use the 'equals sign'). Have you a point or a rebuttal? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'm at a loss. I think the poll and the comments speak for themselves. How can I argue with irrational opinions except to respond with my own rational opinion. That opinion would be that those who would compare the US (Bush) with AlQueda (OBL) are either clueless and or willfully ignorant. But I don't want to degenerate this thread into the same old Bush bashing tantrums. The point of the poll was to support the premise that Canadians are fed, and eat up, anti-Americanism.

Interesting. Recent poll supports the theory of the Canadian "Garrison Mentality". Bush = BinLaden. Fits well with the rhetoric from the usual suspects eh? Bush = BinLaden

He's an NDP supporter, don't throw out terms like self-responsibility, you'll confuse the poor guy. <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

With PM's leadership, or I should say lack of leadership, we are headed for the worst of both systems. Because of the Liberals failure to act, we're going to have the doomsday scenario they're trying to scare everyone about. People dieing even more as lines get even longer, rich (politicians) jumping the lines because of contacts and money, ....er wait that's already happening.

Good. We need Duceppe in Ottawa for the time being to keep the pressure on. Any chance of him moving to the PQ closer to the provincial election? I think he could solidify separation if he were heading the PQ. I can't wait for the day Quebec goes, paving the way for Alberta.

That's what I love about you Sweal, your well thought out and well articulated arguments.

Yes, you certainly have to take any use of numbers and statistical analysis with a grain of salt. And yes what constitutes a negative or a positive comment could be subjective. However, I'm not sure if it was in the report or I heard Cooper discussing the methodology, but they used 2 "independent" researchers to decide what comment was negative, positive or neutral. When neither could agree on whether the comment was positive or negative is went in the neutral category.

"Liar" is such an emotionally charged accuasation. I hate to call him a liar for the reason that I wouldn't want to appear like the fools who call Bush a liar just because of their irrational rage. Martin does use private healthcare, such as MRI's, to "jump the que". So in that sense he's a total hypocrite. I would say PM definitely fits the category of spineless with his decision making history and lack of sticking to principles, if he has any. And I guess we could say he's dishonest from evidence coming out in the sponsorship scandle. I would say is biggest character flaw is his inability to make decisions and how he's so easily swayed to make what ever decision will keep him up in the polls. It's pretty disappointing. I figured the Trudeau/Chretien era of corruption ended when Martin took over. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I think you're right Newf. I don't think the CPC played the Grewal thing right. I think they don't play the game well most of the time. However, wouldn't you say the CPC is handicapped from the beginning by not having the decades of experience in government that the Libs have. Most of all the CPC is handicapped by an unfair press.

This is why I like you Quebecers, you have backbone. Good for you guys. Somebody needs to stand up to the "Dirty Ditherer" for the rest of us. It sure as hell isn't Klein. But I understand Quebec may use that spookey and taboo notwithstanding clause. Hope not.