Wild Bill

Quite true, Manny! What amazes me is how many critics here in this forum can't seem to understand the difference between an atrocity as a fluke or as a deliberate policy.

Here we agree! This is indeed an excellent opportunity for the NDP to showcase itself and its talent! I've been saying all along that the future of the NDP lies in becoming a modern labour party rather than trying to stay an old-fashioned union party. Jack seemed to have understood this but Jack of course is gone. There are far fewer autoworkers than there were in 1965. There are still lots of CUPE workers but supporting them tends to limit support from any other areas. Most ordinary working Canadians could only dream of being as well off as a CUPE worker. That breeds resentment. The NDP can curry favour from one demographic or the other but not likely both. The future for the NDP is more Blair than Broadbent. I'm actually for the first time watching an NDP leadership fight closely. What they do now could launch them into power or condemn them for a few more generations as the smallest party. They will either knock out the Liberals or allow them to recover. So far I have seen little to show me that the NDP as a whole properly understands the situation. Politically, these are interesting times

Hey, I agree that politics is about perception. YOU implied that Reform as a whole was anti-Quebec! Now you've reduced that claim to "many folks that you personally have talked to..." There are still many people who believe the NDP are really commies in disguise but that doesn't make it true! I stand by my position based on having been a long time Reformer, serving a number of terms as a Director in my local riding, that most of what resentment was seen against Quebec was not against Quebec and its people per se but rather against the feds giving her special treatment not enjoyed by the rest of the provinces. In ANY family that sort of thing can't help but bring resentment! That special treatment was quite real and seen time and time again. It was the decision to award the F-18 maintenance contract to a Quebec firm over a cheaper bid from a Winnepeg outfit with more experience that precipitated the meteoric rise of the Reform Party in the first place! The biggest and most spectacular gift the PCs could ever have given to Preston Manning! It was like handling the Boston Tea Party by tripling the tax on tea! "In all that have you written here, does anything explain why 80%+ of the vote from Alberta is always for a party that has deep roots not from Quebec?" What a non sequitur! There are FAR stronger reasons why Alberta does not vote NDP or Liberal! Reasons that have nothing to do with Quebec! The Liberals have yet to live down the National Energy Policy. That cost too many Albertans their jobs and their homes! People don't soon forget things like that! There are still too many older Albertans who will have to grow older and die before they are no longer a major voting influence. Plus, the typical Albertan is not the type to favour a nanny state! The Liberals always cater to that demographic whenever they are in power. The NDP have made their career on being anti-business! Albertans see them as job-killers who would enthusiastically increase their taxes. You might want to argue that these perceptions are wrong but hey! many people I have talked to believe it! Just to coin a phrase...

I think you may have a wrong bias here. The idea that the Reform/Alliance was anti-gay was never based in fact. True, there was a small contingent of fundamentalist Christians against the idea but they were always a tiny group within the Party. The CBC and the Toronto Star would always highlight anything bigoted from such people as if it was carved in the Party's Constitution but it was all crap! There were even gays within Reform! I met a couple and found it interesting that they were quite bitter about being labeled with their political views. The visible minorities felt the same way, complaining that whenever a Liberal or especially an NDP supporter knocked on their door that when they saw their face would instantly assume they must support any party but Reform! If they told the door knocker they were Reformers they were always greeted by shock and then like a Black Republican. I can see how they resented such patronizing attitudes. Meanwhile, Reform actually had many more visible minority faces as MPs than any other party, a fact obvious in any camera shot for those watching Question Period. A fact which the MSM consistently ignored. So if Baird gets outed I truly think that few will care! If he failed to win the leadership it would be because of his abilities and nothing else.

Idiots? Sadly GH, WE are the idiots! We let them get away with such obvious lies! If we roared our disapproval loudly enough the politicians would finally be forced to act. Bribes from oil companies are always trumped by a politician's fear of losing his seat!

AW, I'm surprised you waste your breath! You simply can't win arguments against people who have long ago made up their minds. You see, Uncle Sam is expected to be perfect! I suspect this is because not only is he close enough to hear but there is also a chance, however small, that he will listen! Unlike the Taliban, or the Syrian regime, or Hamas or the PLO or whoever is on the opposite side of any conflict with America. So the USA is expected to have total control over its soldiers. Not only should a potential wacko never be allowed into a uniform in the first place but if the stress and strain of a conflict drives a soldier wacko his superiors should have had enough esp to see it coming and get him out of anywhere he could cause harm. It all boils down to the idea that America is always wrong and the "other guys" are always right! What's more, those "other guys" can cut the throats of journalists and throw acid into the eyes of school girls and it is totally understandable. Uncle Sam MADE them do it by oppressing them! America is totally responsible for its actions, even to the point of impossibility and ridiculousness. The enemy ALWAYS gets a free pass, because America has upset them somehow, even if they have to drag out some conflict from 150 years ago as a justification. You are trying to argue with facts and logic with people that can't grasp either! I suggest you use your time instead to emulate Opus the Penquin by going outside and kicking up some dandelion fluff! Much more satisfying!

Once again you spout propaganda against something non-leftwing that is totally bogus! Either you are too young to have lived in those times or you simply think in cartoons and caricatures. Reform was never anti-Quebec! True, the party and many members did disagree with any perceived special deals and treatment for Quebec but they had absolutely no problem with Quebec wanting more rights as a province, as long as all other provinces received the same. To a Reformer, Quebec's resentment of Ottawa was always perfectly understandable. Canada began as a confederation of provinces. Somewhere along the way, the federal government assumed more and more control. It couldn't go against the Constitution with things like education and medicare so it did an end run by using money! It could create a national education program in the name of "equality" that would hold out huge sums of money. A province would be unable to resist and like a fish on a line would be hooked. Once it took the federal funding it was caught like an addict to its supplier. So the federal government now intrudes into many areas that are really none of its business. Quebec had every right to complain. Reform always supported the original Constitutional arrangement of Canada and was very much in favour of provincial rights. Both Alberta and Quebec shared many of the same concerns. Reformers were always strongly against separatism but still championed the right of any province to choose to go its own way. The only real beef Reformers supposedly held against Quebec was actually against both the PCs and the Liberals for in effect trying to bribe Quebec with huge sums of federal money and special powers of language, education and immigration that were not also given to every other province. Hell, the Reformers and the BQ regularly had pancake breakfasts and hockey games together between their MPs in Ottawa! I hardly think they would have gotten along that well if your claim of anti-Quebec feeling from Reform was true!

If there is no real alternative aircraft that suits our needs I would rather we got nothing than take a poor choice just to keep up appearances. Maybe in ten years a viable alternative might come along.

Derek, at the risk of some thread drift perhaps you could answer a question for me. WWII and older warship technology, being of course much cruder, seemed to me to be more resistant to damage and more easily field repaired or "jury rigged". Witness the USS Hornet during the Battle of Midway. From my experience with today's technology, it would seem that today if a ship takes a significant strike it's toast! I can't see the same sort of field repairs being possible. Is this true? If a missile or bomb strikes a modern warship, assuming it still floats is it dead in the water and needs a tow to a repair dock?

Boges, I don't question that McGuinty and his team care about Ontario. I truly believe they have big hearts! Unfortunately, they have small brains! I think they just sit around the premier's office and blue sky various ideas, without a clue as to the current situation and without any sense of the need to investigate before making any decisions. They seem to think in politically correct and trendy thought icons, with anyone who has any hands on experience barred from the decision making process. I truly don't believe that McGuinty's team had any indepth knowledge of the Ontario racetrack industry at all! I think they got excited about being able to hold a photo op for 2400 new jobs while being completely ignorant of the 60,000 they are going to wipe out! No, they do have big hearts but with such small brains they tend to be very shallow thinkers! Whatever happened to all those jobs with the solar cell and wind turbine industry? Shouldn't people be leaving the oilsands and coming home to Ontario by now?

Quite right, Jack! I never fail to be amazed at how some folks believe in this approach. I call it the "Modern Liberal Neville Chamberlain Approach to Canadian Unity". It works about as well as it did for Neville Chamberlain! Another comparison would be the typical male approach to a separation from his wife. Many guys give them everything, hoping their woman will suddenly realize what nice guys they are and decide to stay. Of course, what always happens is the woman takes everything he gives her and then uses a lawyer to get half of whatever is left! In any dispute, people respect strength. A pushover loses, every time.

Isn't that a bit presumptuous? The NDP hardly has the confidence of the MAJORITY of Canadians on this issue! Or any other, last I checked. Otherwise, they would be the governing party of Canada.

Have you any technical education or experience at all? Have you build any electronics, turned something on a lathe or even made an ashtray out of PlayDoh? You sound like the typical Arts or poli-sci major, who takes technology for granted as some magic that can do anything if you throw some money at it. Or maybe you have a business background? Many engineers have kept a classic cartoon pinned over their desks. It shows a manager conducting a meeting, with a flipchart on an easel stand. There's a flow chart on the stand, with one box labelled "Engineering miracle occurs HERE!" Nothing is impossible for the man who has no clue how to do it himself!

Dr. Dre, my career was mostly selling electronic parts but I did spend a short time at a Westinghouse location as a buyer, in the late 80's/early 90's. So I had experience buying military parts, DND procedures and requirements and so on. If you had done the same you would never have asked your question! Coming from a modern and leading edge electronic manufacturing world into that military environment was like growing up working for RIM and then taking a job at General Motors - 1956! That world is almost incapable of change, because it doesn't have to! Worse yet, for the most part military specs for electronic resistors and such are so obsolete as to ensure quality far BELOW that of typical commercial builds! When I left, the military was trying to get around the quality issue by mil-spec-ing an entire unit rather than all the parts involved. However, the paperwork and procedure issues as far as I know are still the same. Things get done but always in the most expensive and time-intensive manner.

Boges, we all know the McGuinty Liberals simply aren't smart enough to do that! The slots are shared revenue. People go to the track and fill time on the slots. They don't go there for the slots and fill time on the horses! It's therefore shared revenue. The slots are getting a free location! Regardless, there are far more jobs associated with the horses than McGuinty will develop with his changes. He's bragging about creating less than 3,000 jobs while killing 60,000! He is obviously an idiot! This should trigger an election! Except that the average citizen isn't paying any attention, unless its his own job on the line. Better to wait until people get fleeced with new higher license fees...that's gonna touch EVERYBODY!

Perhaps the opposition should force an election?

Understandable! Quebec has never been a friend to Newfoundland. Remember Churchill Falls? Hows that new undersea power cable to Nova Scotia project coming, anyway? Seriously, I haven't heard anything in months. I cheered at the idea of giving Quebec some consequences for its actions in the past.

Not quite that bad yet, Boges, but I would agree that the McGuinty government seems to want to get us there!Certainly, they won't get many votes from the 60,000 racetrack industry workers that Dalton is throwing onto the EI rolls. As the old blues song goes: "Oh my green is lean and my coin is spent, I ain't busted but I'm badly bent!"

You're right, but even more ridiculous are their western supporters, who say that if we don't do as the Taliban wants we will be attacked! What are they going to do? Flick the detonator switch on an IED TWICE as hard?

Am I the only one noticing the hypocrisy of the Taliban and anti-US groups? An American soldier goes wacko and kills 16 civilians. Rightfully so, the Afghan people are outraged. Of course,the Taliban and its ilk are right in there stirring the pot. Meanwhile, in Syria THOUSANDS of innocents are being killed! Has anyone heard a word from the Taliban and all those Muslim people self-appointed champions? Have they done anything at all to help them? Hell, it doesn't seem like they care at all!

Do you really think it fair to blame Harper for lack of Senate reform these past 5 years, Max? While he was in a minority situation the idea was totally impossible. Or at least, highly unlikely. The duty of the Opposition is to oppose, after all. I stand corrected about the NDP talking about electoral reform for a while. They may not have represented the lion's share of people but you are right, they were talking about it. However, that only emphasizes my point that it is the "losers" who push this idea! The NDP has never and possibly will never be able to take power under the existing system, simply because they don't command enough support. Their only hope is to change the rules, since they don't seem to want to change themselves. Jack obviously was working on modernizing them but Jack is gone. Of course the Liberals now talk about the idea! They're now losers too! When they were the "natural governing party", how often did we hear such talk out of them? Like it or not, Harper won his majority because he convinced more voters than any other party to back him. Some might play math games and make assumptions about how those that didn't vote would have voted but it is all just noise. In any true democracy, you win power by having more supporters than any other party. Normally, if you can't do that you change your platform to be more attractive to more voters. Today, it seems the losers would rather change the rules of the game, making them so complicated that no one will notice that they just aren't as popular! To me, this is just a naked power game and frankly, I can't respect it! It is a way of limiting the power of the people in favour of the power of some politicians. People should not have to jump through hoops for politicians. Politicians should have to jump through hoops for US!

You're quite right. We have been hearing these calls for electoral reform every since Harper first won a minority. Nobody cared before! The Tory-haters want this because they think it will give them more power, plain and simple. They know they can't compete under the present system so they want to change the rules. Period and end of story. For the record, I would never want to see a coalition government where the losers took power! I could never consider that anything but a tyranny of the minority. The worst scheme I ever saw was the one put on the ballot for PR a couple of elections ago. They actually wanted to put MPPs in power from a list CHOSEN BY POLITICIANS! The most flagrant abuse of power one could imagine and yet they seriously proposed it!

Of course! It's like the different between red and pink!

What do you expect when you invent something as lowbrow as hiphop?

Well firstly, my approval is not that big a deal in the overall scheme of things. What's more, it wouldn't make me feel any better! You see, since I feel the other parties are a worse choice, by not voting for the Tories the other parties benefit! In effect, my not voting would be supporting either the Liberal or NDP, whoever is the stronger in my riding.