Wild Bill

You're right! Bad choice of word, on my part! It started in the early 50's, likely in Chicago at 'house rent parties', or in Kansas City with Joe Turner. He wrote 'Shake, Rattle and Roll', after all. Bill Haley turned it into white man's rock. Or Roy Brown, who gave us 'Good Rockin' Tonight!' It was later covered by Elvis Presley, Sammy Hagar when he started out singing for Montrose, and a host of others. I guess I should have said that it was in the late 60's and early 70's when rock and roll hit it's adolescence. Those were the 'teenage years' when you have tons of energy and creativity. It was then that we had a veritable explosion of new forms of rock. Sometimes it was driven by the 'suits' and from them we got Kimmy's lists. In my world it was driven by the artists. The suits ran after them playing catchup! Sadly, by the end of the 70's it appeared that the 'suits' virtually controlled it all. As Austin Powers said about the 80's: "There was a flock of seagulls and that was about it!" We did have Pearl Jam and Van Halen in their prime, so it wasn't a total loss. Maybe I should have referred to a quote from the character 'Willy Brown' in the movie 'CrossRoads', who said: "It was Muddy Waters who discovered 'lectricity!"

I rather doubt that the NDP has any chance at all of winning Ontario, at least until a lot of people that remember Rae's government grow old and die. A dog would have a better chance of winning Ontario than the NDP. A DEAD dog, in fact!

So I would assume then that YOU are from Six Nations, since you seem to speak for them? Or are you the only one allowed to comment? Your words clearly implied that all those involved in forming a 'peacekeeper' group must be supremacists. As for resolving things by rule of law, I have two opinions about that. First of all, I would not accept YOUR opinion or that of posters like charter.rights as gospel about Canadian law! Perhaps when either or both of you sit on the Supreme Court I might change my mind. The other is that I believe that the SN protesters broke the law. In such a confrontation, games theory would suggest that those who play by the rules are at a serious disadvantage. Frankly, that shakes my confidence that governments could have a fair chance in such a situation. The question is moot anyway. When the government(s) refuse to enforce the laws, then how is your question relevant?

Agreed! I think that where Kimmy and I part company is that from my perspective, although there has always been a great deal of pop crap, in the late 60's and early 70's I truly believe there was also so much more! That was the genesis of rock and roll. There were all kinds of songs and all kinds of artists, from Jimi Hendrix to cosmic cowboys. Once you got away from AM radio over to FM there was a HUGE selection of great material! It just seems to me that it's the good stuff that's missing today. It would appear that the record labels took over and reduced everything to mindless pap with a quick turnover to ensure maximum profit. It's harder to find any pearls amongst the swine! It all seemed to come to an end by the early 90's. Nowadays, as I said before, if I can play it it must be crap! Lots of Jonas boys but no Pearl Jam.

Ah, Kimmy! Again, we seem to come from different worlds. Your list is irrelevant to me, because I literally never knew anyone who listened to it for the majority of their music! It wasn't just me and a few hip friends. The sales of the artists I listened to were HUGE! They just never had AM radio hits. Frankly, they would have been ashamed if they did! It seems that not only did those of us back then fall into two different camps of what music we enjoyed, the two groups did not associate much with each other, either! I have no problem agreeing with you that your 70's list is mostly crap. I just refuse to believe that the majority of my generation listened to it! Considering the numbers of us as the result of the Baby Boom, that still leaves huge markets on both sides. So you never listened to Traffic or SteelEye Spam. I never listened to Tommy James and the Shondells. You weren't a Frank Zappa fan. I never cared for Bobby Sherman. Chaque a son gout!

Sorry, it's not so digital! Just because I don't agree with white supremacists doesn't mean I must agree with YOU! Frankly, from your posts on the subject I don't see much difference between your side and as what you portray Gary McHale. You brand anyone who disagrees with your position as a bigot and/or a racist. Sorry! That's not just the ultimate in 'ad hominem'. It's the ultimate in intellectual arrogance! Me, I believe that actions talk and BS walks. I disagree with you on the SN protests because of their tactics and their protest targets. So far I haven't seen McHale and others do or try to do anything that the SN protesters haven't done already. I also have never seen a report of a McHale rally blowing up a hydro transformer, beating up an old man in a house under construction, beating up and robbing two TV cameramen, stealing a police vehicle and abandoning it later with a smelly 'turkey' inside! Those examples are just the tip of the iceberg of what I've been told by people in the town whose word I trust, including relatives and some cops. I disagree with anyone who does such things, whether native or non-native. You can call me names, you can rail about 'white guilt' and you can trumpet your own version of history and law as if it came down with Moses from Mount Sinai. I truly just don't care! Evil is as evil does! Race is irrelevant. I say again, I would respect the SN protesters a lot more if just ONCE they did something that inconvenienced McGuinty instead of the Caledonia townsfolk! Why not blockade HIS street! Why not knock out HIS electricity! Or do the same to Chuck Strahl or Harper! So far, all I've seen from SN is cheap shots at the innocents. And for that you expect me to consider myself a white supremacist for not siding with you? Frankly, such a position is just utterly unbelievable!

It's beginning to appear that the champions of native rights in this thread are not just asking for 'solutions'. They are demanding SOCIALIST solutions! In effect, they want big lump payments on land claims, total sovereignity AND Ottawa monies forever! Canada will keep them on 'welfare' forever, while they can operate independently. This is not only immoral, but illogical. It would be a system that could not be sustained indefinitely. Eventually money runs out if new wealth is not created. It reminds me of an editorial cartoon I saw years ago from a turn of the century British newspaper. Some well-dressed gentlemen in silk stockings, labeled as 'socialists' are riding a large pig which is labeled 'The Economy'. The gentlemen are bleeding the pig through a tube and drinking the blood from champagne glasses. In the last panel the pig is lying dead, and its riders are hopping off and running towards a new pig! A bit extreme perhaps but I always thought that it illustrated how socialism operates quite perfectly.

There's been more in the Hamilton Spectator and CHCH-TV, reporting how Palmer and Powless consider themselves good friends, highlighting a rant by Palmer against Fleming and those who are talking about forming a militia, or peacekeeper squad, or whatever name they intend to use. The more I hear about this the more confused I become. I can understand simple friendship but Palmer seems very blase about the possibility of losing his land! He has a large farm with supposedly clear title. Now he's asking for the government to clearly state if he owns his land or not. Suppose the answer is no? He would lose it! Would this not affect his friendship with Powless? Few of us could afford to keep smiling through such a financial hit. Yet he seems totally unworried and spends all his public talk attacking Fleming and those interested in a militia. Frankly, this seems more and more like theatrics than a serious position. If we take the situation at face value there seems only negatives for Palmer. Surely there must be incentives in there somewhere besides 'simple friendship' for Palmer to be going along with this smoke shop protest. Meanwhile, apparently the cops have tried to charge Palmer for allowing illegal smokes to be sold on his land! They have not taken a stand on whether or not it is his land. Certainly they have not tried to charge Powless for the smoke shop! Much less run him off what is supposedly private land. Seems to me that by trying to charge Palmer they are confirming the charges of racially-biased law enforcement! This is exactly what McHale and others have stated, that non-natives are charged for doing things that natives do with impunity! The inmates are running the asylum, it would seem.

Top 40 format? That's my point! Nobody I knew back then listened to Top40! That was AM radio. I stopped listening to that when I was 13. Everything was FM. We listened to album cuts and entire album sides. I don't think I ever actually heard an Archies song. We listened not just to Zepp and Queen but Poco, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Blind Faith, early Genesis before they let that drummer sing the disco crap, Fairport Convention, Traffic, Perth County Conspiracy and SO much more! Most of the drek was on AM radio. The only kids I knew that listened to it were from the 'Rod and Tod Flanders' church youth brigade. If you're buying CD's, you don't have as much company as you used to. We'll just have to agree to disagree. I'm just pointing out that there are still a lot of us old hippies that can't find much in new music that appeals to us, for a variety of reasons. We can't find much on the radio, either. Today's 'Classic Rock' stations are really 'Classic AM Rock'. Stations don't have 'numbers' for my demographic 'cuz with FM radio at the time nobody logged numbers! They were all too stoned! So today they use AM radio numbers to create their playlists and wonder why they don't attract the boomer demographic as well as they thought they would. The music of the 70's wasn't "erased from public consciousness by 1981". It was deliberately censored by Nancy Reagan and Ned Flanders! It was the music of the politically active generation, that was against the Viet Nam war, Nixon and eventually helped to bring down the Berlin Wall. It was tied in with marijuana, psychedelia and the concepts of personal awareness and freedom. My generation may have been clumsy about its totems from time to time but I'll stack it up anytime against what we see today, with the youth fixations on money and fashion, apathy towards politics and the example of 'Nickelback' as good rock and roll!

And you're off on a tangent again! You asked for specifics, I gave you specifics. Then you ignore them and start harping again about land claims. Virtually every link and word you've offered has to do with the validity of land claims. My post was about the future for the natives. Let's say, just for argument, that the natives are 100% correct in every single aspect about their claims. This should be easy for you, since that is essentially been your position all along. Now what? I have seen diddleysquat to indicate that SN would be able to use that new wealth to create anything self-sustaining. If you had bothered to read my post you would have seen that. How about some links as to what SN would do with that money? When will we see a university on the reserve, with a physics department that will invent a "Mr. Fusion" device that will green the entire planet?

Ah Kimmy, we may look ridiculous but have a heart. We're starved for what we like! To someone with the late 60's to the early 70's as their formative years, modern rock can really suck! It's not just the natural urge for 'the old folks' to not like 'youngster' music. Most modern pop is totally a formula product. The emphasis is on the appearance of the artist and not the music. Just drag out a new 16 year old pole dancer and dress her in some new fashions! Don't worry if she can sing. The studio has the technology to make a frog sound good! She's always gonna lip-synch, anyway. You won't get caught! After she's had a 2-3 year run you can dump her for a new one. That way the studio will always have a new contract with an unknown, so that they can command most of the profits. The so-called 'indy rock' scene is a little better but not much. The problem is that there is no real entry path into the industry anymore. When we were kids there was a strong 'cover band' scene. New artists could actually eke out a living. In the early 70's I worked for a band and we went on province wide tours for months at a time, doing 3 and 6 nighters in every small town around. Those days are long gone! For whatever reason, kids today are lucky to get even a Saturday night gig! Often they may only get one unpaid set, playing with other bands! We were a C level band and we got paid $2400 for a 6 night gig, back when gas was $0.25 per GALLON and a pack of cigarettes was maybe the same. Today that one Saturday night might pay $200, to be split amongst the band. Believe me, NO ONE makes a living at it! So that means that new artists never get the opportunity to play for long periods of time. Months on the road can make you a very good musician. The occasional basement or garage session just can't cut it. When I sample modern rock I have a very simple yardstick. If I can play it then it must be crap! So of necessity the musicianship level has gone done. This means a lack of great guitar playing and usually (but not always!) a lack of good song structure. If I want to hear what I like, there's precious little available in new music today. So I hole up with my vinyl, listening to Pat Travers and Frank Marino of Mahogany Rush. And yes, even Kiss, for want of anything better! Even with the softer stuff, nostalgia rules for we Boomers. Compare Carole King's Tapestry with Alannis Morrisette. Thank heavens for Great Big Sea! And the Rankins! The thing about being a Boomer is that as a marketing demographic if you don't like it you refuse to buy it! Record label companies haven't cared because they successfully manipulated the modern market, dumbing down the kids so they would accept their pablum. Until now, that is. The labels are in serious danger of dying out like dinosaurs, due to digital downloading and the like. Many new artists have embraced the new business paradigm of self-production. They sell their own CDs along with their tshirts from the side of the stage, making 90% of the profit. They would sell more numbers through a record label but they would only get pennies from the sale of each CD. In fact, who buys CDs anymore? There is an entire generation that buys only digital. They've never even touched a CD, let alone bought one! That's why the biggest music retailer in America, Tower Records, went bankrupt. Along with a lot of others. There are still HUGE numbers of old guys that play! They account for at least half of my customers. I make my living building and repairing guitar amplifiers. So I get a bit of a deeper perspective than some folks. They don't play out professionally anymore. They just get together with their friends for the fun of it. What warms my heart is when some 15 year old comes into my shop and I hear him play all the old classic rock riffs. When I ask him why he's into the music of geezers like me the answer is always the same. "There's nothing good today if you want to play great guitar!" To see that there's still some new blood out there makes me feel better. So cut us some slack, Kimmy! Maybe we do have beer guts and don't look as good as Roger Daltry in his prime. What would you have us do? Give up on music altogether? Or worse yet, start liking 'lounge lizards' that USED to rock, like Rod Stewart? I think I'd lie down and die, first!

I stated their tactics targeted innocents. Is it then your position that targeting innocents is justified? Does it boil down to "The white folks ripped us off so we will hurt any white folks that are handy!"? As for it being collection time, I said that they can get all the money they claim. What happens when it runs out? Will SN just demand more? If they don't set up the economic infrastructure to sustain and produce wealth they will repeatedly end up poor. Feast or famine, from bailout to bailout. They need education. They need business and industry. They need white folks to be a market to supply new wealth from trade. They have to essentially become more like mainstream Canada. Their isolation is obviously not self-sustaining. It is a parasitical relationship. Canada provides high tech medicine. SN provides 'spiritual ceremonies'. Do you really think that their road to self-sustaining prosperity is to demand more from Ottawa every year? Sooner or later, if SN wants to be sovereign they must make it possible to have a heart bypass operation without leaving the reserve. To consider oneself to be sovereign and independent when you are totally dependent on someone else for your money, your defense and your health is just fooling yourself.

While I've got your ear... I've always made it a point to try beer from various countries around the world. The usual problem is that what is marketed and exported to here is not necessarily what's most popular in the home country. The whole world thinks that Molsons Canadian is our most popular beer but in reality that's just not so. Back in the 80's there was a big push with Foster's beer being available in Canada. Is this a good representative of 'down under' draught? Could you be kind enough to suggest some others? I ask in the spirit of true scientific research, you understand!

Actually, in Canada it's 'colour' as well, except in newspapers. They seem to be rather thrifty, trying to save the cost of the extra 'u'. This has led to over a hundred years of 'Letters To the Editor', complaining about this practice as the defiling of the English language and proof of the subversive attempt to 'americanize' us. Yet nothing has changed, on either side of the argument!

No, I've never been a boss or a member of a union. I've had a few lower management positions but that's about it. My career was in the high tech electronics world, selling parts like IC's, computer chips and capacitors to manufacturers and industrial maintenance/repair/overhaul accounts. I rode the wave from the mid -70's to 2001. It was a very fast paced and 'casual atmosphere' world. Intel executives would show up to give us training sessions in tennis shoes and shorts. Everyone was called by their first name, even the president of a company like Motorola. Business approaches were very leading edge. We looked at industries like the auto makers as dinosaurs and couldn't understand how a business operating in such a primitive fashion could possibly stay profitable. They were so huge that it took a few decades but look at them now! They're ready to lie down and get compressed into petroleum. Your points about how "another door opening" doesn't necessarily help a particular individual is valid, I would agree. That's why I had no use for Dion and his concept of 'green jobs'. McGuinty has picked up that torch as well. They don't seem to understand how business operates at all. First off, they take it for granted that all these green jobs will miraculously appear, without any specifics as to what kind of jobs they will be and how the companies that provide them will pay high wages comparable to old-style manufacturing jobs. New jobs assembling solar cell panels or wind turbines will more likely pay relatively low wages, especially with a large pool of unemployed to draw on. Second, the baby boom has meant that the bulk of the workers losing their jobs in traditional jobs are older and not likely to be hired for a new industry. Just because the law says you can't discriminate on the basis of age means diddleysquat. You simply don't get past the first interview. There's no company so stupid as to actually tell you "we want a younger person for the job". It just happens. The popular conception is that hiring a younger worker means you will have him longer. No one thinks that usually he leaves in a few years for a better job or that you yourself will experience a downturn and have to lay him off! What's more, most modern industries don't want an ex-auto worker! Someone who spent their entire career in that union environment is likely to carry some baggage with them. I'll give you a "fer instance" that I know for a fact was absolutely true for Varity Corporation, the former Massey Ferguson in Brantford and is still practiced today at General Motors in St. Catherines. I've no doubt it's the norm in the manufacturing industry. The workers with the most seniority get laid off first! What's more, they want it that way! It's part of their deal! If a non-union, ordinary Canadian is laid off he applies for EI. If he makes a few dollars on the side he's expected to claim them on his report cards and he will be docked accordingly. Most make far less than their normal pay. At GM, the company pays a supplement to the EI payment that raises the total to about 90% of the takehome pay. So the workers with the most seniority take the layoff as a paid holiday. EI has no problem with them receiving the extra pay. I guess EI feels that union citizens are of higher class than non-union citizens. The guys with less seniority continue to work, accumulating 'time in' towards their own seniority. I doubt if the average Canadian feels that this is fair. Or that he's more inclined to support federal bailout packages to save the jobs of union workers that have had it much better than he has! Oh well, what else is new?

We didn't make quota but here's a biscuit anyway!(pat, pat) There's no need for a quota 'cuz we have a HUGE excess inventory! Nobody is buying our products 'cuz they can buy the Chinese ones cheaper! So we're shutting down the plant. Now you won't have to work so hard. Tango, it's not as if the issue is only between union and management. Sooner or later you need to sell the product or the service outside of the shop floor. There's not that many of us who pay attention as to the source of what we're buying, at least as yet. It's hard to give a generous union contract when you're facing bankruptcy. Unless your money comes from taxes, of course. Like with the Toronto civic union strike. The citizens have NO alternate choices for their services. In the public sector, the unions usually enjoy a monopoly.

First off, I just can't buy the premise that white supremacists are behind the whole thing. It's like blaming the Illuminati. Especially when you say you can't reveal the source. That leaves us with nothing but your own personal opinion. I wouldn't even accept that from God! As for the best possible outcome, that's complicated. Still, I can't see success and happiness at the end of the present situation. To me, it looks like Six Nations are trying to ensure their financial future by finding ways to extract more money from the mainstream culture. I have more respect for the Montour businessmen with their tobacco industry. At least they produce their own wealth. If Six Nations wanted to preserve their heritage why would they need money? They never needed to be plugged into the white man's economy before. So the idea of funding "traditional lifestyle" is a non-starter. I mentioned many posts ago how I had an aboriginal ward mate for my heart operation. Obviously he choose modern technology over traditional shamanistic techniques. I would suggest that Six Nations is in the same boat as every other Canadian. It's getting harder and harder to make a living! The difference is that Six Nations doesn't seem to have the economic infrastructure to produce wealth by themselves. They seem fixated on just getting more out of mainstream governments. Even if they succeed in getting everything that they're asking for it can only be a temporary solution. Eventually the money will run out. If there is no new revenue stream then they will be in the same position they are today. What's the point? They want to be considered sovereign while on the dole to Canada. To me, this makes no sense. It's like a teenager thinking they're independent while they live with their parents and have no job. Land claims are like thinking the way to prosper in life is to get a big bequest from your parents early in life. I'm well aware that aboriginals are no different from anyone else in mainstream Canadian society. They're doctors, lawyers, scientists, businessmen and just ordinary working men and women. Still, that's in mainstream society. What comes from a reserve? Any medical centres developing cures for cancer? Any inventions like compact fluorescent lamps to reduce electricity consumption? How about the heart bypass operation that saved me, my ward mate and so many others? I know that in your world view and that of CR I must be a racist because I disagree with you, even if it was just on one thing rather than so much. I don't believe that myself of course. I always find such charges to be just ways of dodging explaining poorly thought out debating positions. However, I will admit that I find some cultures to be more positive than others. I don't claim to know a lot about every reserve or band in Canada. I'm aware of a few that I find very positive, mostly in western Canada and the North. I never thought much about Six Nations until the latest protests. Before then I just thought they were good neighbours with hundreds of years of history together. The protests changed all that. Not for the land claims. This must be the hundredth time I've stated that I take no position on their validity. What offended me were the native protest TACTICS! They may not have even thought about it but their actions primarily affected the townspeople, who are not the ones that can resolve their claims. In effect, they are targeting innocents. To me, there's no difference between killing the electricity to the entire town and launching rockets from Gaza, except in degree. It was their tactics that made me lose respect for them, not their claims. Still, that's only a sidebar. It's obvious that the protesters are going to have to escalate their actions. McGuinty is just hoping that if he stalls long enough the protest will just fizzle out and die. Or it will be delayed until it's the next Premier's problem and no longer his. The Feds seem to have put the Caledonia issue far down their list of land claim priorities. Meanwhile, they can enjoy watching a Liberal government in Ontario twist in the wind. Just one final note. This is why I found Powless' position to be so strange: "Powless said he had been ready to pack up and leave when Fleming put out his call to form the militia. "I'm not going to turn tail and run.... If the militia is coming after me, then let's see them." This was a quote from the original Spectator article. Since it wasn't explained at the start that Powless and Palmer were actually friends and that the issue of a smoke shack on non-native land was actually a setup I made a natural assumption that Powless' was being unfair to Palmer. Now that I know that it never was a case of Powless squatting on some random property owner's soil with a smoke shop it does indeed make sense.

You're weaseling around my point, trying to make it something different and thus easier to defend, I guess. I already said that Palmer had a right to do whatever he wanted. If he didn't want to formally complain and felt he had an agreement with Powless then that was his business. That makes your entire 'rebuttal' post irrelevant. My issue was with Powless' statement that because FLEMING was talking about a militia then he would NOT leave PALMER'S land! In effect, he is punishing Palmer for something Fleming did. How many times to I have to state it? Are you deliberately dodging my point or are you just a bit down on your caffeine level? Would you like to comment on my actual point or would you rather launch an essay on the price of tea in China?

Your implied premise seems to be that the courts are politically independent. That would command a thread of its own. A LOOONG thread! You still didn't comment on how Powless is targeting an innocent. You claim that you are "simply pointing out the facts". Strange how you've never had a problem commenting when the shoe was on the other foot. I'm starting to get a clearer picture here.

Well, I guess a policy of appeasement is cheaper, at least in the short run. As to the courts doing their job, they don't appear to be doing it! Certainly, the welfare of the townsfolk doesn't seem to be the court's concern. The natives may get the courts to give them any favourable ruling they want, for political reasons. That doesn't mean the entire town of Caledonia will be happy about it. Me, I believe that there comes a time when you should do unto others as they have done unto you. Not as they have done unto your ancestors and not as others that happen to share your complexion have done. Do unto other individuals specifically as those other individuals have done unto you! The idea of taking revenge against someone of the same race as someone who has wronged you is racism by definition, and frankly EVIL! I'm not surprised you ignored my comment about Powless setting up a smoke shack on Fleming's property! Once again, protesters target the innocent. If Fleming has truly done everything you say he has then why on earth should Palmer be inconvenienced and aggravated? Always the cheap and easy shot, I guess.

I didn't know the entire history and frankly I don't see what difference it makes. I still don't understand why Powless is punishing Palmer for something Fleming talked about. I agree that Palmer made it quite clear that he wanted nothing to do with Fleming. Doesn't seem that Powless cares if Palmer is in with Fleming or not. Who is the racist here, I can't help but wonder. I find the tone of your response odd, to say the least. It seems to imply that Powless was justified in his protest action of setting up a smoke shop on what he calls "stolen land". You seem to be a cheerleader, when you are very quick to attack any non-native for any protest action. This is the very double standard that is offending non-natives! If that is truly what you believe and that is the mindset of the protesters then it is truly futile to try and find any common ground. It only confirms that the native protesters want it ALL and feel whatever they do is perfectly justified and whatever the townsfolk do is absolutely wrong. In effect, the white man is responsible for everything including earthquakes and tsunamis. No wonder nothing ever gets solved. Things are slowly heading for a bad end...

http://www.thespec.com/article/583933 "About a week ago, Ohsweken resident Stephen (Boots) Powless, 44, decided to set up a smoke shack on Palmer’s land on Highway 6 just outside Caledonia to call attention to ongoing land claim disputes. He called up Palmer and let him know he was coming. Powless was charged with mischief a week after a violent clash at the Stirling Woods subdivision in 2007 that left developer Sam Gualtieri with serious head injuries. Last year, the Crown dropped all charges against Powless and three other protesters." This is a complicated issue for me. Apparently, Powless decided to set up a smoke shack on Palmer's land, claiming he had the right since the land was 'stolen'. Palmer had some talks with Powless and other protesters and claims he had an agreement from them to leave after a few days, having made their point. Then Doug Fleming, a local resident began to talk about forming a citizen militia to protect the townsfolks and their property, since the OPP no longer performs that function in any native issue disputes. Powless immediately equated this to the "KKK" and says he'll NEVER leave! Now Palmer blames Fleming for escalating the situation! Now, we have to take Powless' words with a grain of salt. We have no way of knowing if he in fact intended to honour any agreement with Palmer to leave after a few days. Given what had happened to Sam Gualtieri it's possible Palmer felt intimidated. Or maybe Palmer is a Six Nations supporter and just wanted to help them set the scene for their protest. Who knows? Still, calling Fleming a Klansman is totally over the top! It seems like the usual knee-jerk reaction to any criticism of a native position, trying to make non-natives feel ashamed and guilty for daring to disagree with the Gospel according to Six Nations. Regardless, Powless is selling tobacco off the reserve, which is illegal. Of course, why not? Nobody is going to stop him! Do it long enough and the protesters will end up with a legal easement for having squatted on the land for a sufficient length of time! I perfectly understand the feelings of Caledonians as to forming their own militia. When the OPP tells a frightened woman not to bother calling when natives are milling around in her front yard, confronting her husband, since they will not help her, what else are the townsfolk supposed to do? Just keep suffering in silence so that they don't embarrass McGuinty and Fantino? Still, I don't approve. This is precisely the sort of escalation that has been obvious all along. It is NOT a good thing! It leads to disrespect for the law and its agents and vigilantism. It makes violence MORE likely, not less. That being said, again I say that the solution is not to have the townsfolk suffer in silence. However, if it's Palmer's land and he trusted Powless in an agreement then that's his right! He choose to talk out a solution and he felt he had one. If he later was proven wrong and then was sorry he would have only himself to blame. What I don't understand is how Powless can hold Palmer responsible for what SOMEONE ELSE said and break his agreement! Palmer never was involved in any talk of a militia. For Powless to punish Palmer seems senseless, unless it's simply a case of "lumping all white men together". I would have more respect for Powless if he kept his word to Palmer and then moved his smoke shack to FLEMING's property!

How much stress can a bucket of ore withstand compared to a human being? Why not just use some nickel-iron asteroid ore to smelt into steel, using solar power? You melt a blob of plastic or even silica glass with focused solar power and expand it into a large (maybe a few hundred feet) ball, using either a puff of gas or a small explosives charge. The gas puff can use mercury, silver or anything that leaves a reflective coating. You then cut the ball into two halves. The arc is far from an efficient parabola but still, you get two CHEAP reflective focusing mirrors. There's your heat source for smelting iron ore! You don't bother making complicated re-entry vehicles. You just make big "slugs" out of that steel! If they weigh more than a few tons and they are allowed to "fall" to earth on a low angle trajectory they will have no problem withstanding the heat of re-entry. You target them to hit close to the coast of your country, in shallow water. Targeting is simple ballistics that we've been doing for centuries. Battleships had no problem hitting targets over 20 miles away. This is just on a bigger scale of distance, that's all. That low angle trajectory not only reduces the heat of re-entry. It also reduces the velocity of the "slug", making a gentler splashdown with no need of parachutes, although if necessary that could be an easy further refinement. We're not talking giant slugs here that would trigger dinosaur-killing tsunamis. You would have some big splashes but nothing dangerous. You haul the slugs up on land and truck them to your refinery. The rare earths are refined and the slugs are good for steel, at a dirt cheap materials cost! Again, I'm not knocking the idea of a space elevator. Drastic reductions in the cost of moving people and materials into Low Earth Orbit would make space development much cheaper and easier. I'm just arguing that the same cost factors don't necessarily apply to bringing simple, rugged payloads like ore back to the earth's surface. Ball bearings, optical lenses, computer chip crystals, pharmaceutical drugs and the like are much more fragile and would benefit from a space elevator's cost reductions.

Why do we need an elevator to get started? I agree that it would drastically lower the price of getting payload into orbit but it would be irrelevant for getting ore and materials down to earth. Just let it fall! Well, maybe it's bit more complicated. We would want to AIM the stuff! Still, a little nudge in the right direction and the stuff will fall where we want. It's just ballistics. In the zero gravity of the asteroids or even the 1/6 gravity of the moon a mass driver is a relatively cheap way of sending payloads in any desired direction. If rare earths are that expensive and are going to be in such demand then maybe asteroid mining might PAY for the space elevator!

No argument there! What do you expect from the head of the (New Progressive)Conservative Party of Canada? Why did Manning ever bother?