Wild Bill

Well, we can't know they were CIA for sure, GH. Of course they could be, but people DO go back to visit relatives or for business reasons! The biggest problem is we can't take Iran's word for who is a spy. They call anyone they feel like a spy! Especially right now, when they want things to throw back at the Americans as counter propaganda. That's the difference between a civilized society and that of Iran. We would only prosecute someone as an Iranian spy if we had evidence and would then charge him and try to prove it in a court of law. Iran would simply grab the first American they could find and stone him to death! Or lop off his head. Of course, they would beat him first, in order to make him confess! So again, we simply don't know for sure.

Then what a lame ass point! This is all ad hominem! Attacking the man because you hate his politics! He's a politician! They're ALL "petulant little shits"! Although I've personally had supper in a Kelsey's with Clement and found him nothing of the sort! They're politicians! Are you new, guyser? When you go on like this you imply that your own preferences aren't like that. I've got news for you. I could tell stories about NDP leaders that would not just curl your hair but disgust you! And also a Liberal cabinet minister. If you ran a business and spent all your time looking for saints instead of competent workers you'd never make that business work!

You know, I really don't give a damn about Clement's spelling! I care if he does his JOB well! This is just another one of those trivial things that those that already hate Clement for being a Tory will seize on and make into a crime against the universe. I can just imagine what they'd do if Clement were to be found in a massage parlor when the cops had busted it for vice. Jack Layton did it and it was brushed off as a perfectly innocent coincidence. If it had have been Clement they'd have called for hanging! It's just dumb-ass partisanship. Me, if Layton had been my electoral choice I wouldn't have cared about a massage parlor scandal either, again because it was irrelevant to his job performance. But that's just me.

No kidding! The sanctions are beginning to hurt! These new ones have effectively stopped the Iranian economy dead in its tracks. The government there soon will not be able to pay its civil servants, let alone its military! Iran seems to be "going for broke". They are racing to finish their nuclear bomb, hoping that it will mean the rest of the world will have to forgo their sanctions. Meanwhile, they have to worry that there may be internal dissension. Prices of food and fuel have apparently gone through the roof. When the average citizen starts to suffer he gets ideas about a change in the regime... This of course is the whole purpose of the sanctions but the problem is, we are dealing with people who have been raising snakes under their hats! A number of them, sadly powerful ones, are really rather loopy! They may over-react and trigger a war between Iran and America. For that matter, Obama may not have thought this all the way through. It's not clear if he has considered the possibility of an Iranian over-reaction. Diplomats have been getting countries to promise to negotiate oil contracts with other nations when their contracts with Iran expire. This means that eventually, not only will Iran have no customers but even if the sanctions are lifted it could be months or years before those contracts expire with those other countries, before Iran can try to win them back. So Iran could be hurt very deeply indeed! It could well trigger an internal revolution and there's no way those Ayatollahs want that to happen! So they might do almost any crazy thing, thinking it will keep their people's attention diverted. These are very scary times, indeed!

THAT makes perfect sense, Tim! I think part of the problem is that people without a technical background can be blinded by the "GeeWhiz!" factors and end up bamboozled.

Sorry, I'm not wasting 13 minutes of my time on a blind reference to some link. Tell me something that's in there that's good enough to interest me or just forget it! Next you'll be asking me to go to the library and read a half a dozen books - ALL TO PROVE YOUR POINT!

You happen to have hit my forte, MCC. Volts are my specialty! You're talking about planned obsolescence. Light bulbs were never made to deliberately blow early. 2000 hr or more lifetimes we're common up till about 20 years ago. Then, offshore bulbs came into the market. Domestic manufacturers immediately were at a price disadvantage offering quality product. They could not compete on price with the 200 hour foreign bulbs. Simply put, better quality was NOT a competitive advantage. Most of the market went for the cheaper bulbs and then later bitched about them burning out, never making the connection. A programmed lifetime for a printer is ridiculous. Why bother? They're made out of such cheap materials that the printhead burns out in a year or two of heavy use anyway. Actually, I bought a LexMark last spring and the printhead burned out in 3 weeks! The price determines the quality, which determines the life expectancy. However, it would be stupid to build a better quality printer, because of the rapid rate of technological improvement. In 2-3 years your printer is passe and most of the market will buy a newer, snazzier one. The market has been conditioned to change, upgrade and replace products from printers to refrigerators to televisions. As an older guy this is often hard for me to accept but if I were a manufacturer and followed YOUR philosophy I'd go bankrupt! The world is what it is. As for your car, if it's not a safety issue your manufacturer is simply too cheap to give a damn! Unless it affects sales nobody reacts. I would listen to you and avoid that model. If we scoured the continent we might find one other person to make me part of a pair. Consumers, like voters, deserve to get what they want!

Did my old eyes just miss it or does all this stuff fail to mention if this "green economic salvation" is self-sustaining or just pumped up by subsidies? I don't pretend to know all the economic factors but I am familiar with the actual equipment and how it is made, installed and marketed. Frankly, it all seems kinda "lame-ass" = smoke and mirrors to impress the rubes. In fact, from what I see I wouldn't be at all surprised if it eventually comes out to be another Bre-X trip. Is there sound evidence that all this hoopla is profitable on its own? I'm reminded of the out and out propaganda for us to switch to CFL's, FOR US TO SAVE MONEY! Any techie instantly knew that this was ridiculous. The amount of power in the average home consumed by lighting represents mice nuts of what you have to pay. The significant amount is consumed by motors and heaters, like furnace/AC blowers, stoves, refrigerators and whatnot. I doubt if using those curly CFLs in our lamps saved the price of 2 beers in a typical month. I'm not asking for you to spend a lot of time on it as I'm sure you have your own interests to pursue but if you have something near at hand to show this is not dependent on subsidies I'd appreciate it. We've all read about how some European countries have cancelled subsidies and subsequently wind farms have closed, taking any related jobs with them.

You forgot a few things,AW! First off, the entire rescue operation was actually filmed on a stage lot in Arizona. Also, the Somalis were actually aliens! There is an autopsy of one showing internal organs that set off a buzzer when removed that you can find on youtube if you google deep enough. The nose also lights up when the surgeon doing the cutting slips with his scalpel. What is even more of a secret is the fact that the dead Somali/alien in the youtube clip was killed by Steven Harper.

Sorry Dre but on this one you can count me out! You're talking about the government picking and choosing which businesses are worth saving. I wouldn't trust the government to run a two car funeral! Politicians and bureaucrats are simply not qualified to pick businesses to support. It requires totally different skill sets than politics. You would get more accuracy from a dart board. Why not just burn a few piles of tax money? It would save time!

Well, if I was under attack by Somali pirates I don't think Iran would be the first I would call...

However August, there was a time when Canada invented a lot of new stuff too! Just google "Canadian inventions". We still invent stuff. We just don't build it here. That means jobs for engineers, not manufacturing workers. I've always agreed with you that in the long run things work out but when the rate of change is so rapid a LOT of folks get screwed! Including myself, I might add. A lot of my choices didn't work out and now at my age there's nothing I can do to correct that. I'll get by but there are LARGE numbers of displaced workers who are unlikely to simply sit there and accept it. We might end up seeing some unpleasant social unrest soon. That's just simple reality.

Back in the psychedelic 60's a comedy group called Firesign Theater gave the best description of Marxist economics I've ever heard? "First, take off your shoes! Now, can't you see how increased spending opportunities makes more work for everyone? And more of it, too!" The workers paradise is where they control the shoe making machines, buying shoes from themselves. Need more production? Everyone throw their old shoes away! Need more shoes? Speed up those machines! Of course, this never works in the real world, as the USSR so tragically proved. Production and demand must be real, not wishful or political. Meanwhile, what I have never in my life heard a Lefty address is the notion of dreaming up better shoe making machines. Why should a smart person bother if there's no incentive? The usual response is to make some blanket statement that everyone should work for the betterment of society, even creative people like inventors. No, the Left seems to think that we will just run the same machines forever, wearing the same shoes! If those apes on the African plains eons ago were unionized, we'd still be in the trees! Name me ONE equivalent to Thomas Edison or Henry Ford from the Left!

The regime has a choice -they can lighten up! The Iranian people have a choice - they can overthrow their rulers! The world does not have to allow the rulers of Iran to become a nuclear power just to look after the Iranian people. It is the Iranian government's responsibility to look after the Iranian people!

Why do you absolutely assume it wasn't a mistake? You think they had some central command that went around and trained all the volunteers in every riding? Horsefeathers! I'm willing to bet nobody got any training other than "Just take the donations!" Every riding's workers are usually on their own. If you're lucky, you have some people who have been through a few campaigns and have picked up some experience. Frankly CC, if you got involved yourself you'd probably be shocked at how amateurish many ridings are with this sort of thing! When a worker is free you take what you can get. There is no volunteer riding worker school. There is no volunteer riding worker certificate. Think high school student council and you'll have the idea. Again, let's find out how much money. Nobody commits a crime for $10. Nobody steals a Lada. It just ain't worth the time!

Back in the fall a neigbour tried to tell me that it was going to be a cold winter 'cuz the fuzz on some caterpillars was thicker. I was back at my BBQ before it hit me - caterpillars aren't alive in the winter!

Yeah, they sure have a sense of humour! Of course their Arab country neighbours won't mind any inconvenience to their own oil shipments! They'll be glad to cooperate! I'm sure the Saudi ambassador will personally express his thanks to Iran, not to mention Kuwait, Bahrain and all the others. No doubt the new populist government being formed in Libya will be extremely friendly to Iran, or the people in Egypt, or Yemen. Just curious, does Iran have ANY other Arab country friends? Except for Syria of course but they have their own problems. I had to chuckle over Iran waiting till the US aircraft carrier had left on its own before mouthing off. They never made a peep while it was there! Whatever, if the balloon goes up I hope Harper makes Canadians proud and stands behind the Americans, unlike that opportunistic and wishy-washy Chretien.

Hey, I'm still waiting on an apology for my great-great-grandfather facing a Spanish Inquisition!

Minus the sarcasm, yes! Or have you worked in a riding association and know differently? It's easy for someone who has never done a job to think that it is easy or should always work perfectly. That being said, you might be wrong about the Liberals also doing it. Liberals traditionally had so much money they paid most of their campaign workers. I saw this first hand. Personally, I thought this was just a method of making workers kiss ass if they wanted to eventually secure a fulltime job with the party. Paid help is usually better trained and experienced. Given the financial position of today's Liberals this may no longer be the case. Meanwhile, as I said I want to wait until I see if the money is significant enough to suggest a conscious illegal act. If it is, I'd be glad to help all you blind anti-Tory partisans and hold the rope!

Perhaps, but it's a safe bet that the SeaKIng that carries the American President is nowhere near the 40-50 year old age of our airframes! And yes, I know that our airframes are inspected and some airframes have been patched. So has my neighbour's prize 1957 Chevy.

That depends. You are judging the players of several centuries ago by the values of our time. That is hardly reasonable or even logical. As for the Taliban doing the same, I think the comparison is absurd. Such a thing could never happen. The Taliban can only destroy, not create. Even their bullets and guns were invented by someone else. They are destructive parasites, nothing more. It's possible that they could try, but once Canadians were roused I don't believe the Taliban would have a chance! Outside of the religious schools, for which I share no guilt since I am not religious, wasn't alive when they were instituted, never had a chance to vote for them anyway and besides, they weren't run by the Church I was baptized in, the natives had the chance to join our culture. They have done so poorly because their culture on its own cannot survive in modern times without handouts. Reserves which have done well have adopted much of our culture. Those that haven't are not feasting on pemmican every night. Those natives that have left the reserves have done as well or as poorly in mainstream Canada as any of the rest of us. Some better! Graham Greene is a fine actor and I'd give my eyeteeth to play guitar like Robbie Robertson or Derek Miller, who plays a Stratocaster, not a tomtom.

CC, tone down the drama! We're not talking high treason here! I've been a riding worker. It's mostly volunteer help and with volunteers you don't always get expertise. In fact, you usually DON'T get expertise! Yes, someone should have checked over the shoulder of the "newbies". Unfortunately, usually they don't. Mistakes such as this are common with ALL parties! Except maybe with the Greens, since they probably get so few donations it's easy to keep track and follow the rules. As a percentage basis, the amounts involved are usually trivial. I'd be more concerned with exceeding the donation limits, by a lot! That can add up to some REAL money! A big union donation here, a big business donation there and some candidate has a very real and unfair advantage. I believe that if the monies in these Alberta ridings are added up it will probably add up to mice nuts. If it turns out to be REAL MONEY then I might share your outrage, for that would suggest a crooked decision and not simple mistakes. But until I see the figures, I'm inclined to believe this is just more partisan "mountain out of a molehill" mudslinging. And before some other idiot pops up and calls me a Conservative, I would believe this of a similar situation with ANY party! In fact, I would bet a bottle of Scotch that it happens every single election, with every single party.

There's perhaps the most important philosophical difference between us, CC. I would ask, how much is the ADVANCEMENT of your society worth?

It's worse, PrairieChicken! What sort of people expect to negotiate a settlement so huge that none of them will ever have to work again? What sort of people would one expect such a thing to produce? A people grow by striving! Look at the Saudis with all their money! Islam was once the leader in science and mathematics, by a quantum level. That has not been true for over a thousand years! Now they are rich. How many Nobel science prizes have come from Saudi Arabia? How many from the Arab world at all? Today, it seems Saudis don't actually build anything themselves. They hire foreign workers and experts to do it! Someday, Man is going to expand into Space. Lotus eaters will be left behind. I don't believe that being a lotus eater is a positive end for a people. I don't believe that in the long term Saudi society is sustainable. Sooner or later we will not need their oil and their whole system will crash like a house of cards. What's not used wastes away. I would agree that aboriginals need money to develop a better living standard but it is the old idea of a hand up versus a hand out. Some bands are way ahead of this principle and deserve a great deal of respect. Others, sadly, are not. Somehow, I don't think those who are ahead share many of CR's views. I never heard a word from CR as to what natives should and would do with the astronomical sums he proposes as a claims settlement. I guess he thinks natives would just lie around and have non-natives pop grapes in their mouth. Without scientists, businessmen, medical researchers and the like a people will eventually die. Of this I am convinced. What a terrible thing to wish upon a people. CR may be well intentioned but I truly believe his "solution" would be bad for aboriginals.

I won't argue, Waldo. You seem to have your facts right. However, I still miss the old one and always will! I believe we lost more than we gained from the change. I recognize I may represent a plurality of maybe a few hundred other Canadians. Doesn't matter. I'm entitled to my opinion and I'll likely go to my grave with it.