Wild Bill

Hey, I'm still waiting to find out how much the feds paid to all those private oil companies to form PetroCan! Even all the Auditors General since then have been unable to do so. It makes a national defense secret look like Hollywood gossip.

So what do you REALLY think about free speech, Jack? And you wonder why some folks think it's the Left that is the first to want to censor those who hold contrary opinions...

Why should it go into anything? Why not cut our taxes by 27 million? Might not be a lot to each of us but it would be a nice start!

In your scenario you seem to be assuming that all the conservatives that have been voting PC are both few in number and likely to stay with the party as it swings left. Isn't that a bit of a stretch? First off, that would mean that the huge majorities enjoyed so far by the Alberta Tories have come from people who aren't Tories but just don't like Liberals. Second, these huge majorities will be over joyed with a Tory party that swings to the Left and will feel no attraction for the Wild Rose alternative. Now I'm an Ontarioan so I have no skin in this game. To me it's merely entertainment watched from a distance. Still, I just don't see how your argument holds together. It seems more of a wish than a considered opinion. Anything can happen, of course. I just won't put any money on your reasoning.

Walod, did you read that article yourself before you linked it here? I'm the techie kid, remember? I started to read the thing and when you boil it down into plain English it doesn't seem to debunk anything as simply state it in a more positive fashion! "Can grid operators deal with changing capacity of wind" is answered by saying essentially, "We've always done this to some extent so we'll learn how to do this too!" No mention of how much that might cost! "Does wind have capacity credit?" Meaning, what about other generation if the wind dies down? Again, in high faluting language it simply says "we can calculate how much we'll need and build extra, just like Denmark has done." Well whoop-de-do! Duh! That's obvious! How much will that cost? How cost-efficient will that be? The whole article seems like that to me. Definitions, not answers. It's a sermon to the choir, in techy talk that the authors expect will go over most of the audience's head and that most of the audience WANTS to agree with them anyhow! I really think that if YOU were so inclined you could tear that cite to pieces! This is not up to your usual standards. I think you should read it again or find a better one.

Yep! What TimG said! Topaz, any fool with hair in his ears can support the GOVERNMENT paying for something! It means only pennies from his own pocket because all his fellow citizens will be FORCED to shell out too! If you care about a party but can't fork out even a few bucks then you are basically just a bum who wants to give OTHER PEOPLE'S money! Even with charity, where is the virtue of giving if its not coming out of your own pocket? I'm sick of all these deadbeats who pride themselves for supporting parties that "give to the poor". The deadbeats aren't giving anything! Whoopee Crap! Aren't they nice and generous people! Watch them if they come to a party you're hosting. They're the ones who come to your party with a 6-pack and drink 12 themselves. No, if it is to mean something then you should reach into your OWN pocket and pony up! That's what Tory supporters do. Apparently, that's NOT what Liberal and NDP supporters do! One of my favourite sayings comes from P T Barnum, the great Circus owner. He said "Makers, takers and fakers. There are no other kinds!"

Xul, church-going people of any religion are rarely a problem to the rest of a community. There really is no valid reason to stop them from building their mosque. In this country we believe in the presumption of innocence. In other words, it would be wrong to curtail the freedom of the people of this mosque. If and only if afterwards there were some problems would you have a right to expect the 'system' to deal with them but this would likely be an exceedingly rare case. It seems odd to me that this incident has you worried. Most folks are afraid of crackheads, porn shops, strip clubs and massage parlours moving into their neighbourhood. This is the first time I've heard someone complain about a church!

Or, you can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think!

That's still no excuse for your insulting and uncivil behavior! Can't you make your point any other way? The best thing about this board is that it's NOT rubble.com! Why do people like you come here and try to make it as bad as that one?

I stand corrected. I was merely expressing an opinion. Sorry my doing so offended you. I also stand unnecessarily insulted! I will make a suggestion to you in return. Why don't you take your insulting manner and crankbag attitude and flee back to rubble.com where such attitudes are the norm? It's obviously the sort of environment where someone of your persuasion would feel more comfortable. Another uncivilized, discourteous lout for the 'ignore' list! Geez, it's getting long! What's the younger generation coming to, I wonder...

I agree! This is what happens when parties are run by politically correct spin doctors. You get a cardboard cutout of a figurehead for a leader, dressed in a beige suit with brown shoes and tie, a salesman's haircut and all the leadership charisma of a Ned Flanders from The Simpsons! Sadly, that has been the public image of Hudak during this campaign. The Tories chose the "play it safe" route, counting on having Hudak do nothing to offend even the smallest of demographic groups while expecting McGuinty to just fade out into the sunset. They either forgot or have never known the primary rule of salesmanship - it's never enough to get people dissatisfied with the incumbent product or service. You have to also show that YOUR product or service is a better alternative! There is a natural human urge to stick with the devil you know, even when its pissed you off! By not following this rule, Hudak has campaigned like a runner with one leg paralyzed, reducing his speed and power to less than half of a normal pace.

You twist my words. No wonder you defend unions! I said the vote was a show of hands and that meant that many people would have been too intimidated to vote they way they really wanted. That is the very reason for a secret ballot being standard practice in any civilized democracy or institution except apparently, many unions! Who the hell can tell if those 30 brave guys were the only ones who felt that way? Or is it your position that the steelworkers are not entitled to a secret ballot? Or maybe through some sort of ESP/psychic powers the union membership knows how all their workers feel and have no need for a fair vote? The union exec is walking a fine line. They are taking a negotiating position without truly polling the support of their voting membership. If the plant closes they will be responsible to the hungry children of all those members they shut out of the decision making process. Certainly, if we see a repeat of the Nanticoke example where after more than a year of suffering the local had no choice but to accept the company's original offer then next union leadership elections will be very interesting! EI ends for the workers this month! However, the union negotiating team is still paid by the union. No one in their family will go hungry. Don't try to paint this union as some kind of lily white saint, jaycee. I watched it through my dad all his working life! It was especially bad when they were part of the American International Union. The Yankee union bosses routinely would get a Canadian local to strike for something new as cannon fodder to test the water for the larger American division. If it didn't work no american union workers suffered. My dad and his buds threw a party when their union broke away to form the Canadian Steelworkers Union! The typical union boss is never a David Suzuki but more likely to be a Jimmy Hoffa!

The real problem seems to be that Greece seems intent on just accepting bailout money without getting serious about the source of its problems. Who would want to just keep floating them bailout money? That amounts to a tax on productive working people in countries like Germany so that workers in Greece can continue to get a free ride and a soft life! Politicians in those productive countries no doubt are well aware that if they continue to let Greece sponge off their people future elections will see those politicians turfed out of office! It sure looks like the people of Greece are going to have to learn the hard way! No doubt they will find it easier to just blame and get angry at the Germans and the others like them. When you have a sense of entitlement you think the universe is supposed to work in a way that gives you what you think you deserve.

Once again Capricorn we see the people who can't put a new plug on a lamp for themselves convincing each other that green power works! Meanwhile, the light bulb still won't glow...at least every time they need it!

Bravo for the Post! Still, it's sad that Caledonia was mostly ignored by the other media, except for that local in Hamilton with the Hamilton Spectator newspaper and CHCH-TV. I guess the native protesters beating up CHCH's cameramen and stealing their equipment was not a way to win favour! The rest of the country seemed to pretty well ignore the situation, especially Toronto. I guess that's how far values have slipped in Canada if the people no longer care about fellow citizens being denied the protection of the law. McGuinty may win this election and Julian Fantino is a federal cabinet minister. It's like Al Capone being elected Mayor of Chicago!

Why do you assume that only the ruling party could have rigged an election? We're not talking Owen Sound here! We're talking about Palestine - the wild, wild west! I notice you also ignored the point that there have been no elections since. It's possible that Hamas did win the election fairly. Perhaps the voters had less faith in Fatah. I wonder how the Palestinians like it now that they may never get another chance to vote for a long, long time?

To be fair about it Stegnosaur, there's not a chance in the world that the Palestine elections were not rigged! And there hasn't been another election since Hamas came to power and it doesn't look like there will ever be another one!

I think you must either be a younger guy or never had much close up experience with unions, CitizenX. Those of us who have know that many unions have rarely or never been open and transparent with such things. For instance, here in Hamilton the steelworkers have been locked out of the U S Steel plant for over a year. The main sticking point has been pensions. There are nearly 20,000 pensioners for a plant that has only 980 some odd workers! The union has never had a formal vote from the membership about accepting the company's offer, or even if they agree with their union making this the major issue! If you ask the union they will tell you they HAVE had votes! In fact, they had one just last week! What they won't tell you is that these were not 'secret ballot' votes. They were "show of hands at the union hall" votes. First off, the union hall has never been able to hold ALL the membership, even now that there are so few of them compared to the 'glory days'! So it is easy to 'stack' the hall with voters all of one persuasion, but that's not the big issue. The big issue is that it is NOT an easy thing to put your hand up against the flow at such a union meeting! These guys are not university professors. You can expect trouble when you get outside. At the very least, you will spend the rest of your working days at that place looking over your shoulder and eating lunch in the cafeteria by yourself, ostracized from the others. Even if many of your fellow workers agreed with you they would go along with the crowd, in the interests of keeping up the appearance of union solidarity. And before you start demanding I have a cite or two to prove this, I don't have to! My father, family and many of my friends worked for the steel company. They knew first hand and sadly, one or two even participated in the retaliation. To those of us of a non-union persuasion, we don't respect this sort of thing! Or a lot of others. Did you know that if you don't belong to a union you are a second class citizen for EI? At plants like General Motors and others, workers with the MOST seniority get the layoffs! Why? Because when laid off the company pays them a supplement to their EI cheque to bring their net pay up to 90% of their working takehome amount. A layoff is then a paid holiday, especially when layoffs in that industry tend to happen in the summer. The 'newbies' have to work but they get to accumulate time of service, towards their seniority levels. If you or I draw EI and make an extra few bucks cutting lawns we are required by law to declare it and it will be deducted off our cheque! Deals like these were set up years ago, when unionized industries were much larger than they are today. Politicians appealed to the large blocs of voters, especially the NDP. Today, politicians don't see the need to care as much but the deals are still in place. This is why some of us may be a bit hasty in crowing over some change to the special deals of the unions! The actual issue at the time may not be a big deal but its the overall picture that has stuck in many non-union people's craw.

Really? That statement is meaningless if we don't know the cost of their coal-based production. Who says it's cheap? Besides, what about all these reports we keep getting that some European countries are seeing wind farms shut down, due to host countries unable to afford to keep giving those subsidies? It would seem that wind power cannot be competitive on its own. Even more, how the hell is that relevant to US? Every country's economy is different. We have enjoyed much cheaper power sources than most of Europe all along. If our citizens suddenly had an increase of 10 times in their electricity bill (guesstimated by Dalton McGuinty's MicroFit program payouts) they would immediately revolt and storm Queen's Park or else, (more likely for Canadians)... simply starve!

This is one of those issues where you have to live here to understand, Capricorn. I suspect you're too used to Ottawa traffic densities. There are no communities solidly pro or con the idea of this highway. People have mixed feelings everywhere. The more rural towns tend to worry about a change to their lifestyle. More urban areas are just so damn sick of sitting on the 401 or 403, wasting their life away in gridlock, that they are much more in favour of a new highway. Especially when you consider that a new highway would be an extremely rare thing to witness - government being a little ahead of the game for once! Normally, by the time a government gets around to building a new highway it's only half as much as we needed and took twice as long to build, or even worse! The stretch from Hamilton to Toronto is getting so bad that the shipping costs of goods is driving up prices noticeably. Outside salespeople are becoming a rarity in this area, not because technology is replacing the need for personal contacts but because it is simply impossible to be able to see a profitable number of clients in any one day. 25 years ago a salesperson may have made calls to 7-8 locations daily. In the GTA, he or she would be lucky to achieve 3!

Hey, why shouldn't those of us outside of the GTA get something, for once?

Ah punked, jbg is an American!

Punked, if we refined it here wouldn't we need a pipeline to send the gasoline down south?

We can only hope!

I agree with you this time, punked! At least as far as your economic argument. I think perhaps you may not realize that Shady isn't disagreeing with your economic argument either. If anything he agrees with you! He's saying that some are protesting "both ends against the middle", being in favour of refineries at home for the jobs at this point in the process but that we'd see the same people protesting the actual BUILDING of any refinery for environmental reasons!