I miss Reagan

Well see, thing is I support efforts to do right by Canada's native population to make some kind of amends for the legacy of genocide and theft we continue to benefit from today. (Also: my predeccessors here didn't steal anything. That job was done by the time they arrived). As fot he claim that "the J Would you tolerate natives launching suicide attacks in your neighbourhood to speed up the process? Would you have understanding towards natives kidnapping soldiers? Would you support the assasination of Canadians by natives? Outside countries funding the natives to launch assaults? Of course you wouldn't so why such tolerance and understanding of a similar situation else where? Today's Jews might argue the same thing. You still live here on their land and benefit from someone else's dirty work. That's great moral justification by the way. You could have someone rob a bank for you or you could hire a hit man to kill for you and wouldn't have to feel any guilt. I don't need to, you're doing quite well on your own...

The Jewish claim on Isreal is as legimate as any Aboriginal claim on land in Canada. In both cases, the only thing that is relevant is the societies that exist today. Today, Isreal is a state and it has a right to exist - if the Palistianians want land they should be asking why their so-called allies in Jordan and Egypt don't return the land annexed when these states started a war with Isreal after the UN partition. Great question but even that doesn't seem to be necessary. Israel, though reluctant, is willing to make concessions for peace but it's never enough. They turned over Gaza only to have their Synagogs and flags burned and rockets launched from the territory as thanks for the gesture. Then they launch attacks inside Israeli territory but somehow Israel is the bad guy for responding. Israel is the bad guy for building a wall to protect themselves. Israel is showing the "disproportionate" amount of force, nevermind the unprovoked attacks by Hizbullah and Hamas. Serious double standards and hypocrisy going on here.

See, I know Israel's history. A radical neocolonial experiment in ethno-religious nationalism built on stolen land. The reason Israel has never known peace is because it's history and its ideological underpinings make peace impossible. Quite simply, Israel was founded on the belief that Jews have an inherent right to the land, thus there was no need to acquire the land through just means, nor was there need to consider those actualy living there. It's ironic that the country that was meant be a safe haven for Jews has made them even more of a target of hate and fear. That has nothing to do with the race or religion of the people who make up the nation, but everything to do with the actions and ideology of the state. What is truly amusing and ironic is someone who, he himself, is living on "stolen" land from the native inhabitants by genocide, is self-righteously lecturing a people who have far more of a right to inhabit literally a sliver of land than he has to live on his land stolen from natives who had it for 20,000 years. At least the Jews had been there before. Perhaps you practice what you preach Black Dog and give back everything you own to the people whom your predecessors stole from, mmm? What is even more amusing is your affirming the consequent comment about making the Jews more a target of hate and fear by merely existing. As if somehow they appeared out of no where and made a big land grab on their own. And ya nice dodge on the race and religion thing by claiming "ideology". It just so happens that about 95% of Israel is Jewish... Almost a direct quote from France and Russia's foreign ministries.

Or someone could just nuke Israel and solve the whole problem. Oh wait! That would make one an "anti-semite". But if you're talking about ethnic cleansing of any other race, that's totally cool. In all seriousness, I'm sure turning Israel into an armed camp would make it oh-so much more attractive to potential investors and immigrants. Not to mention the burden it would place on the economy. It would be cute, though, like a little North Korea in the Middle East. Only Jewish. In all seriousness Black Dog, perhaps you should look into the history of why Israel has to be an "armed camp". Perhaps being attacked on 4 fronts by all of its neighbouring countries on more than one occasion is a good reason to be armed to the teeth. Perhaps its the continous comments by countries like Iran that threaten to exterminate them with the nukes they are building. Or maybe because none of the surrounding countries think they even have a right to exist on their tiny 22,000 square kilometers, and want to push them into the sea. Maybe it's just all the Neville Chamberlains in the world, such as your self who won't allow Israel to defend themselves but would rather they lay down and die. What is it Black Dog, ignorance or hatred? I think its obviously the later given your absurd "ethnic cleansing" statement.

They get paid 150 grand on average...they get 24 grand in rental allowance...they get a stellar pension...they get a free lunches...flights...private healthcare...etc. How much is enough? The fact that a committee of MPs made a secret decision to allow themselves to use food money to buy personal property is just plain wrong. We do not have to buy our politicians houses in order to attract bright people to the public sector. Don't forget that they don't seem to work all that much either. I agree they get a ton of stuff but I think FTA explained well what I was trying to get at. Think about a well educated, well qualified guy/ woman (Liberal or Conservative) who is perhaps president of a successful company making 500K plus stock options. Now try to convince them to quit their job for less than half the pay and ask them to subject themselves and their families to media and partisan slander. I know a couple people who'd do a great job in politics but don't want the thankless job for similar reasons. I see what you are saying. I agree.

This is a difficult issue. The last thing people want is for politicians to be making more money and using their per diem to pay for other things. Being a conservative/ libertarian the last thing I want is poor use of taxpayer dollars. However, I think we have to poney up the big bucks for these guys if we want to get the best and smartest people running the country. Other wise we'll get either low calibre people like Dar Heatherington or fat cat millionaire lawyers like Paul Desmaris' posse who are in it for the power. We have to pay them well if we want to attract the best.

It seems to me that he is either just 'flame posting' based on his hatred of Harper (because he is conservative), or he is yet another incarnation of 'maplesyrup'. That being said, I would have kicked some serious ass had I been there. Even if I had came away bloodied and injured, I would have felt it to be the right thing to do. Those men gave everything to fight for us, so who is willing to stand up for them? Harper was right to condemn it publicly, and I hope everyone else does too. If people cannot show respect, they shouldn't expect to, nor receive it. After the "single mothers" comment I had some idea of what I was dealing with. I should have recognized it from the beginning... I'm not sure what I myself would've done in that situation. I think I would've been paralyzed by shock. Just thinking about it gives me the feeling of being kicked in the gut. Some things go beyond anger for me. I just hope the guys didn't realize what they were pissing on. But I can't see how you wouldn't know.

Yup, just like True Dope did for a half-dozen disoriented people who called themselves the FLQ. Good call. "Intollerant old farts"? Is that what people are who are offended by someone urinating on the memory of thousands of dead kids? How narrow minded of these prudes who are offended. We should be more open minded to this kind of stuff. Perhaps you and I should go streak next year's rememberance day ceremony. I'll give you a buck if you goose the Governer General on the way. How about we egg a legion next weekend? We'll knock some of those intollerant old farts on their butts as they walk to the curling rink. Perhaps you could grab one of their medals and pee on it for kicks. That'd be fun.

My concern isn't so much with punishment as with the gradual slide in our values. I'm just depressed by it and even more depressed by people like this Gerry guy defending them. I don't care if it's some drunk teenager or some fool with a junior high education. Anyone who lives in this country, old or young, should have respect for the people who died fighting. I think living under Liberal rule for so long, the barrage from our national news sources, and the abundance of left leaning educators in the system have taken their toll on how we feel about past and present sacrifices.

Ahem. I know of one....

I don't know what scares me more, these guys desecrating a war memorial or this kind of liberal indifference to it shown above.

Israel is the only state in the world that knows how to handle these people. Let's add a little context here. Israel turns over, as a gesture of good will and move towards peace, Gaza back to a people that openly teach hate and vow to push them into the sea. Immediately upon arriving in Gaza the Palestinians show their appreciation by burning down the synagogs left behind and shortly after start firing rockets into Israel. Then they attack an Israeli outpost and kidnap a soldier, a old man, and execute an 18 year old kid just because. I think Israel has shown extraordinary restraint towards the leaders of Hamas.

Hmmm makes sense now why you're so angry Black Dog. Perhaps you ought to try a little of the big V. But I guess you'd have to find a woman.... or a man.... or a.... nevermind.

Who are you talking to? You are the only one I see here comparing the Lewinsky situation to Bush. Classy.

Yes speaking of deflecting and twisting facts, lets not forget to mention that said president who was impeached for lying about oral sex, did so while under oath during questioning about sexual harrasing Paula Jones. Some how you guys alway forget to mention that important part. You wouldn't be trying to destroy the context of the situation at all would you? Unfortunately this is why we have to play the game of deflection, in order to battle a overly left biased press which is seriously compromising the war on terror by distorting the truth.

I don't think you should be getting your news from the GOP homepage. Only a small part of the overall insurgency is related to terrorist organizations. Not to say that the various factions aren't employing terror tactics -- they do, including the blowing up of mosques and killing innocent people to terrorize entire neighborhoods, etc. -- but these are not the same Islamofascists your talk radio brethren bleat about all day long. There are different factions at work in Iraq and it only makes you look naive when you lump all of them in under the "Islamofascist" label. I've seen some intelligence estimates that put the al Qaeda-in-Iraq headcount at just around 1000. The vast majority of the insurgency is made up of the two main warring factions: Baathist Sunnis and Shia Militias. Tell me junior, what are the specific head counts of Jaish Mohammed, Ansar al-Islam, or member groups of the Mujahideen Shura Council? How about the fact that 80% of the suicide bombings in Iraq are carried out by foreign fighters. I apologize for my naivety but I just can help being a little bit skeptical of terror apologist viewpoints. We all appreciate the Air America talking points but how about a little more backup and a little less of the "spoiled rich kids" comments.

First of all these "freedom fighters" are mostly Islamofacists from other countries, not Iraqis. Second do you not consider blowing up Mosques and lines of local police recruits terrorizing people. How about repeatedly attacking Shiites for the purpose of starting a civil war. Ya, real genuine freedom fighters, all they want is peace in Iraq

Nah, I'd say the Sherpa's did it for the moola, intentionally anyways. They never had climbed it until Hillary came along, it was local understanding that climbing mountains was stupid and a waste of time/energy/valuable food. They are sort of right. But now they all do it... And Biblio, my last name doesn't start with an I either. This has been my experience with the Sherpa as well. Their main motivation is the huge amounts of money they make. I still think they are proud and climbing Sherpas have a higher status. I was on the mountain when Babu Chiri died and I met some of his team. They were climbing for Nepal, not for clients.

Everest attracts the worst kind of egotistical people. I've met quite a few of these guys. I've spent some time at base camp and climbed part way up the Khumbu Ice Fall. A lot of these guys are very defensive about climbing Everest. They want to be seen as super heros for having paid someone to carry them to the top. They hate the fact that so many people climb the mountain as they feel it diminishes they're own accomplishment. It seems like they derive all their self worth from what others think rather than their own accomplishment. I remember listening to Dave Rodney incorrectly claim that more people have stood on the moon than stood on top of Everest. There is one character who is really full of himself. He sells his own "motivational" posters where he features pictures of himself with his own quotes. When I met him I asked if he climbed the normal route to which he responded, looking down his nose at me, "I prefer to call it the South Route". This guy has a whole bunch of other issues. He's pissed off the entire climbing community by illegally sneaking into Irian Jaya to climb Carstenz then posting the story on the net endangering the poor people he paid off and screwing the chances to climb it for people who were trying to climb it the legal and ethical way. Story But his Everest summit is in question as well: Story There are still some solid Everest people. Tim Rippel is a great guy, for one. Pat Morrow is big into help the porters through the IPPG. Goran Kropp was a great guy. He'd make fun of all these people trying to make themselves important by doing some crazy thing on Everest. None of them would walk past an injured climber just to get to the summit.

Hicksey, the current immigration law is written exactly as you suggest. Then why is it not being enforced? I hate to even post on such an offensive and idiotic thread but to add to Hicksey's comments, I say we ask all immigrants: 1) Do you hate Jews? Do you believe Israel has the right to exist? 2) Do you feel women are equal to men? Do you feel women should be treated equally? 3) Do you agree with Canadian foreign policy? 4) Do you hate Americans? 5) Do you hate homosexuals? 6) Do you believe in Jihad or violence to solve problems? It is possible to take this too far. We all know that part of our culture is having the right to have our own opinions no matter how good or bad they may be. If we start excluding people on things like race, religion and idealogy we'd be hypocrites for ignoring our own constitution's guarantee of those rights. I think a clean criminal record and no terror links is a very reasonable place to start our immigration reform. But I think that 3 summary offenses or 1 indictable offense in their first 7 years should result in immediate deportation, forfeiture of citizenship and lifetime banishment from Canada. Possible but I don't think this line of questioning is too far. We don't allow Nazi's in because of their ideology why should we allow fascists of any other stripe in?

Hicksey, the current immigration law is written exactly as you suggest. Then why is it not being enforced? I hate to even post on such an offensive and idiotic thread but to add to Hicksey's comments, I say we ask all immigrants: 1) Do you hate Jews? Do you believe Israel has the right to exist? 2) Do you feel women are equal to men? Do you feel women should be treated equally? 3) Do you agree with Canadian foreign policy? 4) Do you hate Americans? 5) Do you hate homosexuals? 6) Do you believe in Jihad or violence to solve problems?

I've seen interviews of some of this guy's inmates and many of them seem to be ok with the boot camp idea, aside from the pink underwear. I think having these guys feel the satisfaction of hard work goes a lot further to rehabilitate them than sitting around watching TV and reading porn. I like the soldiers in Iraq analogy. As for the claim that Canadian prisons aren't cush one need not look further than Carla Homolka and the pictures of her in sunbathing and on a swingset or all dressed up at Chrismas or at a birthday party. Ya real hard time for a serial killer Then there are the endless examples of day passes for pedophilles and killers. There was a TLC special on Canadian prisons. They profiled a prisoner living in what looked more like a club med than a prison. He had on a house coat and showed the interviewer all the knives they provided him in his kitchen. They also interviewed some Americans who had served in both the US and Canadian systems and showed them having a good ol' time taking it easy in Canada. One guy summed it up best when he said "if you have to do time, make sure you do it in Canada". But ya Ottawa I'm sure you're among those who feel that having a barking dog in your face is gross abuse.

Wrong about what? Zarqawi's connections with Al Qaeda prior to the Iraq war are tenous at best. Most accounts place his organization as a rival of bin Laden. Once he set up shop in Iraq, he re-named his group al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, but there's no evidence that there were any operational ties between the groups. If anything, Zarqawi appears to have simply co-opted the successful and well known Al Qaeda "brand". My bad. I forgot you are never wrong.

And you can't discount his involvement in S.P.E.C.T.R.E either. Do you have a point or are you just pleasuring yourself? Just having fun. Come on Black Dog, admit you were wrong and I'll admit Iraq was a mistake I love it!

Great so now we're going to have to put up with our college aged lefties walking around with red Zarqawi T-shirts.