Wild Bill

No! I have been following the situation over there for decades now. I still remember when Arafat was offered 95% of their demands and he turned the deal down! I've come to believe that the Palestinian people are basically not civilized enough to have a state and practice peace. They are led by religious hate and can see nothing else. They think only about destroying Israel and have never given a thought to BUILDING anything constructive! If they do achieve a state through political means at the UN, I think we should have another poll guessing how long before they ONCE AGAIN use the proximity of newly gained land to mount rocket launchers closer to Israel in order to take more accurate potshots at that country! The best thing that could happen to all the Palestinian refugees would be to be offered citizenship in various countries around the world. There they could thrive without being under the control of religious fanatics. They are simply being used as dupes by other Arab fanatic countries. If Harper WERE to support this UN Palestinian initiative, would he gain your vote, Bud? I think you are offering him a no win scenario. He wouldn't have your vote anyway and he would lose those like mine!

we're doing it because McGoofy thinks he understands technology and business. Obviously, he's out to lunch! Some time ago he must have been at a dental appointment or something and picked up a magazine. He would have seen an article talking about how the computer chip revolution advanced by leaps and bounds. Moore's Law holds that the size of memory chips available on the market doubles every two years, while the price drops by more than half. This is driven by the sheer volume of demand for these devices. Other articles also drop in price as volume increases. Manufacturing machinery and techniques are often more efficient at higher volumes. The danger is that people who don't actually understand these factors take them as a given for ALL production! They have no idea of the details involved with different items and industries that might make them fall into different categories. Take sewer pipe, for example. We use miles and miles of it every year but there's not a lot of room left for increased price savings. It is a mature industry using mature technology. Aluminum and steel smelting are similar. McGuinty seems to think that if he subsidizes wind and solar this will AUTOMATICALLY bring about cheaper prices as more turbines and solar panels are made and sold! He also thinks that 85 cents per kilowatt hour for solar will eventually cause a price drop to be competitive with 5 cents per kwhr at today's prices with current generating technologies. He's like a teacher who has never done a task himself but thinks he knows all about it because he's read and perhaps taught from some books. People versed in the technologies see this as rather a risky deal, especially when if Dalton is wrong WE all pay!

Just heard this on Sun TV. Apparently, Saudi Arabia has had its lawyers threaten broadcasters to cease airing ads that mention "Ethical Oil" as coming from a country that believes in human rights as opposed to Arabian countries that kill gays, refuse to let woman testify in court or even drive a car and commit other, worse human rights violations to the point where their product is branded "blood" oil. Apparently, CTV simply caved on the spot and stopped the ads. Sun TV is making it a freedom of speech issue and branding the Saudis as being simple bullies, trying to get away with in Canada what they do in their home country. I expect we are going to be hearing much more about this. Has anyone else picked up on it yet? Me, my first thought was to tell the Saudis to get stuffed! It's obvious that while Saudis couldn't give a tinker's dam about human rights they love money! And the Canadian oil sands is a big threat to their money! Why, they might have to actually cut back on the allowance to their billionaire jetset, playboy princes! Life is hard! I thought business means the chance of competition. Where is it written that Saudi Arabia has a right to American oil business? OPEC never did us any favours! I'll weep for them every time I put gas in my vehicle! :angry:

And yet Army Guy, Uncle Sam never got the oil anyway! It went and still goes to Russia and China, who had existing contracts. So much for getting all the oil wealth. As for using US dollars, what has that got to do with anything? What does Uncle Sam get from that? You can't pay for all your soldiers wages and that exploded ordinance with pride. This just sounds like more goofy anti-Americanism than an actual dollars and cents argument.

Good point, Argus. Actually, it could be even worse! I can see it now. Iran launches a nuke at Tel Aviv. The whole world goes nuts and national leaders everywhere are frantically talking to each other, getting military communications and spy in the sky info at a furious rate. Meanwhile, Canada's PM is blissfully unaware and totally out of the loop. He's just left on a trip to some function in a Caribbean country. Since he hasn't had a day off in about 3 months he decided to take his family along. Sensitive to all the criticism from the Opposition benches, they take a commercial flight, which unfortunately doesn't offer wifi computer connections and their cell phone connection is on the blink. When he arrives in the Caribbean, several hours after the crisis has commenced, he has access to land-based communications services but none of them are diplomatically scrambled and secure. He has to humbly beg to use the facilities at an American or British embassy. Since he doesn't have Canada's own government plane that HAS such communication facilities he has to take a commercial flight and only allow a minimum of telephone discussion, so as not to breach security. Eventually he gets back to Ottawa and faces his first Question Period, where of course the Opposition parties immediately castigate him for being such a bonehead as not to take a government jet! Yammerheads, I tell ya. Yammerheads it is.

Non, M Canadien, it would never get that bad! Obviously you were just being sarcastic and understandably so. Still, employers must always compete for labour. I have a friend who is part of a family owned variety store. He is always complaining that he is at the bottom of the food chain as far as finding help. This means that usually he is hiring students, who are almost always woefully inept! If he wants better workers he has to pay a bit more, I keep telling him! He did take my advice, making a more mature woman his "second looey" and paying her a bit more. She's stayed with him for years now, making his work life much easier. The problem today is that we have high and prolonged unemployment, making it difficult for workers to bargain for higher wages. Variety stores may have a problem getting GOOD help but they have LOTS of applications, nonetheless! Many such employers as variety stores that traditionally pay minimum wage seem to have this irrational and naive idea that they HAVE to pay minimum wage and no more! Sometimes an extra dollar or two doesn't add up to a case of beer in a week but it can make a vast difference in a worker's pride! Like my friend's "second looey" it can be enough to get the employee to stick around. Then again, it's easier for me to say! Times are very tough these days. There are a LOT of competing variety stores. Maybe the price of a case or two of beer is all that keeps the doors open.

You seem to have swallowed some libertarian philosophy but all from a textbook, as if you are incapable of applying it to the real world. I'm NOT saying the philosophy is wrong! Just that you sound like a teacher who has never actually DONE it himself! We've taken centuries to screw up our society. You suggest implementing a quick fix over a weekend! I think I'll just put you on my 'ignore' list for a while, until you grow up. I share many of your ideas but you are just too immature in how you want to apply them. At this stage in my life, I'm impatient with listening to "hot air". As I like to say, I'm a "Utilitarian". I want to hear things that might actually WORK! Time is too precious to be wasted with academics.

You remind me of the great Napster debate of a decade ago. Piracy was defended by dismissing the concept of intellectual property rights. Of course, the end result was that the income of most musicians took a HUGE hit! It has taken nearly 20 years to have some small adjustment. Essentially, no one cares about selling the music anymore. The money is in appearances - concerts and such. Also, all the promotional scarf such as tshirts and the like. Many younger musicians thought that this was just fine! Of course, as they got a bit older they became less naive. No one can play for free forever! We all need to eat and have a roof over our heads. Many bailed out of music for regular jobs, so that they could afford to get married and raise a family. The big problem with the "ideas are free" argument is that anyone who creates something new can't help but be pissed off when someone steals it and makes more money, usually forcing the inventor out of business. After a while, creative people say "Screw it!" and stop coming up with new stuff, leaving the parasites to fend for themselves.

Well, I for one have been there, done that and got the Tshirt. So have MANY other people! You're wrong! Dead wrong! Try to get a flyer job here in Hamilton, with all the steelworkers locked out! THEY'RE taking those jobs! Just how many people in a city can work at McDonald's anyway? Use some basic math, for Pete's Sake!

You just ignored everything I said! I agreed that many folks on welfare are simply lazy but there are large numbers who simply CAN'T get a job! THERE AREN'T ALWAYS JOBS THERE FOR THEM TO FIND! What do you expect them to do? Lie down and starve to death? Watch their kids starve? And do it quietly, so as not to bother anyone? Man, are you naive! We're talking the real world here, not some political philosophy book! We'd see riots in the streets that would make the recent ones in London look like church picnics! We'd need tanks, nay we'd need air strikes in the streets to control them! Have you got any PRACTICAL ideas at all?

Zachary, by the time you reach my age you won't have to worry about senility. They likely will have found a cure! However, I would love to bet you that your opinions will have changed a lot but I doubt if I will be around by then to collect! You've probably already heard all the old sayings like " If you're not a socialist at 20 you have no heart but if you are still a socialist at 40 you have no head!" A generalization, of course, but one with a grain of truth to it. Haven't you ever wondered why older folks are not nearly as leftwing as younger folks? This is not a new phenomenon, you know! It has been true for thousands of years. You see, the mistake we all make is that when we are young we may be quite intelligent but we simply have not had enough time to accumulate the life experience to test all the info and data we have acquired! It's like a teacher who has never actually done a task but thinks he would have no problem because he has taught it from a book. There is no substitute for actual experience. Would you like to be a passenger flown by a pilot who has never piloted a real plane? Who has only flown at his computer with a Flight Simulator program? Sure, there are good programs but tell the truth, would you want to risk it? We don't get any stupider or any smarter as we age, unfortunately. Some folks do get set in their ways but I'll let you in on a little secret. 9 times out of 10 they were already set in their ways when they were teenagers! They NEVER were very good at assimilating new information! The first thing they learn had better be right because once it gets into their head it can never be changed or taken out. Having to pay a mortgage changes your outlook on finances drastically. Having to budget to save enough to give your kids Christmas presents does as well. Finding yourself having to choose between paying the gas company for your winter heating fuel or having enough meat in the family diet from the grocery store is another lesson in practicality. It's usually in your late 20's when you start to notice who brings beer to the party and who just shows up and drinks it! It may be even later before you have heard enough broken promises from politicians to learn that they may be just snowing you. Add on another 10 years before you learn it's also true of your favourite party and not just the others. Fortunately, the learning process is not always painful and sometimes can actually be humorous! Just don't try to tell yourself that you know it all now and will never change your mind. That's a sucker's bet and you'll only do yourself a disservice!

If you truly believe in what you say, you must not have studied what happened at Caledonia. Before you vote Liberal I suggest you do a bit of googling. McGuinty took the most basic function of government away from an entire town - the protection of Law! Instead, he applied it capriciously, according to his own political advantage. The electricity was 'blowed up' for a few days, to the entire region. What little law enforcement that happened was applied differently according to racist principles. An old man was beaten with a 2x4 and left with permanent brain damage. An old couple were assaulted in their car, sending the old man to the hospital with heart problems. Cars were pushed off from overpasses. TV cameramen were beaten up and robbed of their equipment, in full view of the OPP, who did NOTHING! They were rescued by private citizens. People living close but not over into the disputed lands would be terrorized by young native hoodlums and thugs. They would call the police, only to be told "We won't come out! You're on your own!" I'm rather classic liberal/libertarian myself, Zachary. Yet as I've said before, I would vote for a pedophile before I would ever vote for McGuinty and his government! I invite you to investigate for yourself.

You may well be right. I'm simply saying that we should fix the lack of opportunity FIRST, rather than taking the easy cheap shot of turning off the welfare tap and throwing the truly desperate to the wolves along with the simply lazy! Even during the Depression a hobo could always knock on some farmer's door and be fed for doing work, like chopping firewood or whatever. Now, someone unemployed doesn't have that option. When I was 20 Zachary I thought very much like you. Now I'm much older and I see that there are many more variables, most beyond my control. I truly hope you always have more viable options.

Some would. Some can't, either due to a lack of skills or some infirmity. Sometimes there are just no jobs to be had! Not everyone is simply lazy, although I would agree that the 'system' should be better at discriminating. I spent my career in the high tech sector, selling computer chips and the parts for the boards to big manufacturers. That industry collapsed in Canada. It left for China and Ireland. Now one job opens up and 2000 people apply. By that time I was in my 50's. I found out first hand that age discrimination is very real! NO ONE wants an older guy from a different industry! They want someone younger, thinking that they will get more years out of them. Finally I started my own business and I'm getting by. Not everyone can do that. So in theory your suggestion is a positive one, except in the real world what you're asking is for many people to simply lie down and die! There is very little casual work around anymore. I found out there's even competition to get a job as a greeter at WalMart! In 1950 your suggestion would have been more practical but times have changed. Before you can cut welfare off cold turkey you would have to change society to regain the lost job opportunities. Otherwise you would be putting people in the position of either starving (and perhaps worse, watching their children starve!) or causing A HUGE AMOUNT OF SOCIAL TROUBLE! I think you should consider some of the details before you make off-the-cuff suggestions, Zachary.

Few folks give a damn for the victim, Zachary. They never knew him! He's just a statistic. Few people have ever seen a murdered body, or a family grieving over such a crime. Most people lack the wit or the imagination to show empathy towards the victim. The perp however is still here! You can see him and if you're close enough you can reach out and touch him! Any idiot with hair in his ears can relate to him. What's no longer right in front of your nose is forgotten.

Starting lynch mobs? Yeah, right. That's what you were talking about! I re-read your post. I think you are stretching it a bit.

How much math did you take at school? Equally flawed still means an accurate result? Suppose twice as many conservative supporters hung up than NDP or Liberal ones. That would mean that the number of conservative votes cast could be as much as double what the polls foretold! I agree that the only poll that counts is the election itself but still, most professional polling companies usually are fairly accurate.

Many of us do, Army Guy. Perhaps most of us! We're not all "yammerheads".

They may, they may not! Shouldn't this be considered as a factor?

Here's the link: http://www.change.org/petitions/the-president-of-the-united-states-resolve-gibson-guitar-inquiry-protect-consumers-and-make-lacey-act-fair?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=own_wall "On Wednesday, August 24th, 2011, agents for the U.S. government executed four search warrants on Gibson Guitar’s facilities in Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee, and seized several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. The raids forced Gibson to cease manufacturing operations and send workers home for the day while armed agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service executed the search warrants for ebony and rosewood that was imported from India. The federal officials claim that Gibson violated the Lacey Act, which stipulates that a company cannot import wood in a manner that’s against the laws of the country the wood is coming from. However, Gibson has complied with Indian law and no concerns have been raised by the Indian government." So now another demographic has reason not to support Obama and it's a BIG one! Obviously, some treehuggers have found another target to crucify to try to prove some damn obtuse point! As usual, Obama's crew is right behind them! Obama and his advisors may not have thought this one all the way through. Traditionally, the music industry is almost solidly leftwing and Democrat. Traditionally, Gibson guitars have been icons, topped only perhaps by Martin for acoustics and Fender for electrics and even then they would be very close calls. This action can have more negative effects for Obama than might be first considered.

Does the average joe voter know or care, Jack? I think he cares more about all the promises McGuinty is making! Judging by the polls, they are working! We get what we deserve, I guess.

Collateral damage? His wife also took part in a quaint custom known as "necklacing" where a tire was soaked in gasoline, thrown over someone's head and set alight. Mandela may have also participated but there is no proof or record of him being involved. Perhaps this is where we differ. This is NOT the same as Israel launching an air strike at a clear target like a rocket launcher installation and killing a few civilians as collateral damage! Bombing trains and necklacing is a deliberate act where innocents ARE the target or someone is killed in a horrible manner out of all proportion to any possible crime! To me, such actions brand those involved as rabid animals. They are war crimes! To you, they are just run of the mill "revolutionaries".

SunTV had a spot about CATSA yesterday. Apparently, one of their security guards got charged after months if not years of stealing from passengers while they were being screened. Change and knicknacks from the tray as they went through the X-ray machines, a bill or two from their wallets. Worse yet, the offender claims that such theft is common and rampant amongst the screeners! Most times it was just loons and doubloons for coffee money but often it was more serious. Say it ain't so, Joe!

You scare me sometimes, CC! You're talking about trying to control how people think! This is a cure far worse than the disease! Doubleplusungood, indeed!

To drift back to the OP, perhaps the reason the Palestinians don't build water desalinization and recycling plants is because they only know how to launch rockets and destroy! They really haven't made a name for themselves by building anything!