Wild Bill

Really? I have a lot of rightwing friends who are atheists, or at most, devout agnostics! I'll have to show them your posts. The poor buggers have been blind all these years, not knowing they were Christians! They are very lucky you came along!

Good lord! Only 13 Jew? Only some hundreds of muslims and arabs? I didn't know you supported the death penalty, Dre! What's more, I'm sure that they all had a proper trial and were guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. Next you'll be telling us that only 11 of them were women who were executed by stoning! 'Course, it was alright 'cuz their husbands swore on their Koran that their wives had gone out and let their ankles show!

For you to claim that Mulroney is my hero proves that you couldn't have read a single post of mine for all these years! You are so wrong as for it to be unforgiveable! As for forgiving Bob Rae, I've never blamed him for causing a recession. I blame him for the boneheaded way he tried to cope with it! Brian Mulroney my hero, indeed! Why should I bother talking to you when you obviously never hear a word I say? Are you interested in hearing the words of others in debate, or just your own words as you preach from your pulpit?

There you have it, AW! CC would've wanted Katy to wear a burha! Maybe Elmo too, I dunno...

Duh! Why do you think use that trick, anyway? It's like trying to debate with a Jehovah Witness at your door. You just can't get past the "holiness". As far as the Witness is concerned, you're not supposed to!

Bob Rae is the perfect example of why even though Harper's CPC doesn't impress me much I just can't vote for the others 'cuz they seem worse! I lived through Bob Rae's loopy NDP government here in Ontario. It hurt! A lot! That pissed me off, big time! I was both angry and resentful! My head tells me that there have and are other NDP provincial governments that are more sensible but my gut is still so cheezed off from what happened to me with Rae that I just can't get past that. Hell, during those times I had to buy no-name KD for my kids! Anybody who thinks I should just "fuhgeddaboutit!" is likely someone who never felt the pain themselves!

Good thing the Liberals are not still in power, Bryan. They would be putting forth a Bill calling for all coyotes to be registered! Perhaps they could be fitted with GPS ankle bracelets.

I never said that the CPC has done nothing of consequence, jbg. I said that they have been doing little or nothing from the Reform platform! I will agree that Reform and the PCs may have shared a view on the approach to the armed services and the Liberal gun registry. 'May' is the operative word because at the time both parties existed the PCs were so small no one cared about their views on anything! I genuinely can't remember any PC views from that time. Still, while those two examples were on Reform's list they were a fair ways down. At the top were things like free votes, with an MP expected to vote as his constituents wanted and not just toe the party line. A right of recall, where if an MP ticked off a sufficiently high number of his constituents they could force a by-election. Or a Triple E Senate, "Elected, Equal and Effective". Or mandatory limits on government ability to run deficits. Reform did have some social conservative views in the beginning on abortion and gay rights but although they were perhaps the key targets of its critics they were never "deal breakers". Reform was a populist party through and through. All policy came from ground floor workshops and was voted on by the membership. This quickly diluted the hard core social conservative influence, especially when Manning and Harper both did not support them, stressing that mixing evangelical Christian views in politics would be suicide for the party. Then when the Party came into Ontario and eastern Canada the social conservatives were virtually swamped out by the huge influx of urban views from urban members. Anyway, just wanted to set the record straight, jbg. If Harper is indeed working from the old Reform Party's platform list he's started off not from the top but from WAY down the page!

Is it your position that rehabilitation ALWAYS works?What about a Clifford Olsen or Charles Ing? Or a Paul Bernardo?

Just curious, CC. Would you foster her in your home, with your family?

Uh, how else? Would it be called the same if the perpetrators were Ebonian?

And we know who you are! If you can define someone as a racist or a bigot because he disagrees with you, then you must be the Pope! Infallibility, don'tcha know!

I was active in Reform, as I've told you before, Star. So I had a close perspective. Up until after the Mulroney/Campbell government fell, both the Liberals and Conservatives were brokerage parties. That was the traditional style of Canadian politics! The problem was that by that time a significant portion of the electorate had become dissatisfied with that style. They had elected Mulroney expecting something different and then found, particularly after the CF-18 contract that was pork barreled to Quebec when Winnipeg had the clearly better bid, that he was the same as the old boss, only slicker! That was what fueled the spectacular growth of the Reform Party, a growth unprecedented in our history! Sadly, Harper's CPC HAS become somewhat of a brokerage party. The "powers that be" in the new party obviously felt that was the best way to win enough votes to achieve power. They put the old Reform support in the position of having no other choice and then appealed to the old PC support to get enough total votes to win. Did you not notice how as soon as Harper took power there seemed to be a campaign to restore Mulroney's image? Mulroney had been Satan Incarnate to all those millions of Reformers! Now he was some kind of elder statesman, who Harper supposedly consulted with on frequent occasions! Unfortunately for Mulroney and his old cronies, the Airbus scandal broke into the news and the idea of Mulroney being a hero died a flaming death. I note there STILL isn't one vote for Mulroney in this thread's poll! As for Clark, he ran the PCs at the end of their life, mostly because no one else wanted it! They were a tiny rump that was "walking wounded", slowly bleeding to death. They had no hope of ever again becoming a power, or perhaps even mustering enough seats to be a party! There was a very simple reason for this. Not enough Canadians liked them enough to give them their vote! The PC Party was as popular as Athlete's Foot and about as hard to totally eradicate. There is still a very strong desire for a new style of politics, even if there is no one championing it for which to vote. It was stifled during the Chretien era, since the Opposition was so badly splintered the Liberals at the time had no need to change. Then Harper came in but with only minority power, limiting any possibility of real change. Now Harper has his majority but he seems to have become comfortable with the status quo. Those of us of the old Reform persuasion were constantly told "Keep the faith and vote for us! We can't do anything until we get a majority!". Well, he has his majority but it doesn't look like anything much different is going to happen. I often have to laugh at the accusations and criticism from the Liberals and NDP supporters in this forum. They attack the CPC for its lack of "honesty" and "transparency". That was exactly what was wrong with the old politics! In effect, they've adopted those old Reform values,when they used to vilify Reform as some kind of fascist movement! This shows that there is a pent up demand for change still out there. In Mulroney's day he and his advisers were well aware that there was a growing segment of the electorate wanting change but just like today, they thought that as long as they could make sure there was no alternative they didn't have to worry. That proved a disaster for them back then when Reform came on the scene. People starving for an alternative tend to jump for it! It could do the same today, given the same circumstances. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

Well, then we must agree to disagree, Squid! To change my mind requires more than a "because I say so!".

Well Squid, I can see how it might look that way to you but to me, it looks like a rationalization for righteousness! Sort of like saying " I have an open mind! I simply choose not to listen to anyone or anything that disagrees with me!" Moreover, from what I have heard from that 'side of the fence' all these years is that they consider ALL who disagree with them in any way, shape or form, to be intellectually dishonest! It all depends upon how you define the words, I guess. Doubleplusungood, indeed.

I don't follow your reasoning, Squid. You open up by saying "If CBC hired Mark Steyn, they would lose a lot of their listeners.". Then you end with "I think CBC listeners are more intellectually honest than to buy in to this twisted mindset." IHO, the two don't go together! You can't refuse to hear the other side of an argument and then claim to be intellectually honest! By doing so, one would just paint himself an pig-headed stubborn old intellectual bigot! The CBC gets tax monies from people across the entire political spectrum, not just the left. Their mandate is to serve ALL the people, not just those who vote for leftist parties! Sadly, I must agree with your first statement. No doubt if the CBC aired Steyn they WOULD lose a lot of listeners. However, they would very likely GAIN some as well! Meanwhile though, the loss would not speak well of the character of those who would no longer listen.

You're quite right, eyeball! I have friends who are roofers and they do have had frustrating problems with cheaper Chinese shingling nails - misshapen heads or no heads at all!

Waldo, most of those were already on my list! Especially Levi Strauss! For an old hippy to lose his blue jeans supplier is a terrible thing! So you aren't shocking me with anything new! I don't buy much anyway anymore. I put my money into guitar maps for rock and roll! I also don't think I'll worry about Lush Cosmetics... Anyhow, as I've said, I'm not all anal about it! I can't know everything and if I find I've inadvertently bought something from a country on my chit list it's not the end of the world. It's all but impossible to totally avoid Chinese stuff in this day and age. I do love to try to find used stuff first, especially tools. I just bought a house and I found lots of old yard tools made of real metal. Likely at least 50 years old and still going strong! Much better value than that Chinese plastic WalMart crap that breaks after 2 seasons...

I couldn't care less if they are people or a collective entity, Waldo. Someone somewhere in that corporation made a marketing decision with which I disagree. They have that right. That's freedom! I also have the right to refuse to give any of my money to them, by purchasing their products. I'm not expecting to be omniscient and practice a perfect boycott. i don't expect their stock to crash because I bought someone else's bananas to put on my Cheerios. I don't expect to start a movement across the country that will bring them to their knees! I simply don't feel right about giving them my money, so I won't! It's a simple as that. Others can make their own decisions.

Won't they have to slow down and do some more "weightlessness experiments"?

No kidding! It's obvious that once again he's thrown something out without any idea of the factors involved. He really should do the occasional google before putting his foot in his mouth. It would seem he has no idea of the sheer SIZE of the NK military! Leaving aside any nukes, the sheer numbers of tanks, missiles and infantry with bullets dwarfs anything SK could put up against them. It has been plain as the nose on your face for decades that the real deterrent to NK has never been conventional army but rather the American presence with tactical nukes along the border. And then to dismiss people dead from one horizon to the other as simply "War is messy!" is possibly the most cold-hearted and callous statement I have heard in years! And posters on this board attack ME as some kind of cold-hearted 'conservative'! This sort of thinking makes Pol Pot look like Mother Theresa!

And how do we do that when it appears to us that all the other choices are much worse? Every salesman knows, it's never enough to knock your competitor down. You also have to give the customer a reason to think that your product or service is better! Haven't seen much of that from the "other guys" in a long time. Without it, people tend to stick with "the devil they know".

Of course I know, Bonam! I was referring to SpaceX as the company you work for, or as the enterprize you champion, or as in 'my county'. Ownership as in a collective idea, not (sadly!) as millions in your pocket!

Of course I am aware that there's a lot of opposition, Michael. That's freedom! Still, it's also freedom to do unto others as they have done unto you. I don't respect what Chiquita is doing. It appears to be a cheap shot to get some marketing brownie points. Then again, that was also a free choice. I am under no illusions that when I refuse to buy Chiquita bananas or raisins from Iran it will make any difference to the world. I also don't expect to have millions of fellow Canadians follow my example. Unlike some posters on this board, I don't assume my values are everyone's values! However,it makes a lot of difference to me! It bolsters my self respect! I just want to go to sleep at night without feeling like a hypocrite.

Here's the link: http://finance.sympatico.ca/home/fruit_giant_to_avoid_oilsands-derived_fuel/6086131c "A major American food company is promising to avoid using fuel from Alberta's oilsands." "We are committed to directing our transportation providers to avoid, where possible, fuels from tarsands refineries," says a letter from Chiquita vice-president Manuel Rodriguez to Aaron Sanger of the environmental group ForestEthics. "We will identify all fuel providers for these (Chiquita-)owned or dedicated trucking fleets and work with ForestEthics to identify any connection between Chiquita's fuel providers and tarsands refineries toward the goal of eliminating fuel from these providers that is connected with tarsands refineries." Of course, they will have no problem at all continuing to buy "blood oil" from Saudi Arabia, a country which recently executed some poor woman for witchcraft. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-12-13/news/chi-saudi-woman-beheaded_1_beheads-saudi-arabia-executions "A woman was beheaded in Saudi Arabia for practicing witchcraft and sorcery, the kingdom's Interior Ministry said, prompting Amnesty International to call for a halt in executions there." The executives running Chiquita are boneheads! I've added their name to my list of food source countries which I won't buy. No more Chiquita bananas for me! I urge all my fellow Canadians to do the same.