maplesyrup

Ottawa is the one city in Canada where I feel it is safe to ride a bicycle. In the Lower Mainland there are a couple of great recreational bicycle riding areas: 1 Along the dykes in Richmond 2 The Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve in North Vancouver (to get there take the road that goes past Cap College). On the weekends there is an 11 km paved road that is closed to vehicle traffic which goes right up to the fish hatchery next to the dam. The last 2 km is a beautiful ride through an old growth forest. I am not sure if there is a more wonderful place on the planet to live, yet that is still an urban area, as North and West Vancouver, and the mountains next to them.

It is often said local government is closest to the people. I hate to rain on this parade but quite frankly local governments are constantly elected by the lowest percentage of the electorate than in any other elections. In other words it is nonsense that local governments are closest to the people. The federal government should intervene here with some national environmental standards. No money for road building or repairing unless there are proper bicycle/rollarblading/scateboarding lanes included.

Tommy Suharto jailed for murder Tommy Suharto, former Indonesian President Suharto's son, is in jail for i5 years for murder. Tommy Suharto ran the helicoptor company, and operated the helicoptor, from where the Bre-X geologist was supposed to have jumped. The flight crew was changed to military officers, at the last minute, just prior to takeoff. Does anyone still really believe Michael de Gouzman committed suicide?

RCMP broke rules: Report Well now, how about that? The RCMP broke the rules. but because we are in a time of security crisis, we are supposed to condone this sort of behaviour, eh! :angry:

FIA Interim Report While I may agree with the geological findings in this report, there is no way I buy into the fact that Michael de Gouzman committed suicide. Either he was thrown from the helicoptor by Tommy Suharto's people, or his death was faked, and he is alive and well living in the Phillipines.

An interesting side bar issue is former Canadian Prime Minister Brain Mulroney's involvement with the mining industry. And you all thought the Canadian boycott of South African products was because Mulroney was against apartheid, eh. What a sick joke! :angry: The way it works is like this: If I am a gold mining company outside of South Africa, like say Peter Monk's Barrick Gold, and you wanted to crush your competition, what better way to do that that get a Canadian prime minister to lead a mission of boycotting South African products, all in the name of fighting apartheid. Not a bad strategy especially to get credibility for the campaign if you can get a Canadian prime minister to lead the charge. Good ol "Lyin Brian" to Barrick's rescue. As you can see things are often not what they appear to be.

If nothing else does, this should open your eyes; "Who are the Terrorists Here?" Ashcroft in Indonesia

U.S. Senate Continues Restrictions on Military Assistance for Indonesia And it is not as if the US government is not aware of Freeport's activities as the above article suggests.

Here's more. what are we to make of companies that conduct themselves in this manner?: The Mining Menace of Freeport McMoRan :angry:

And speaking of Freeport McMoRan, the company that was awarded the controlling interest to develop the Bre-X gold mine in Indonesia, by the ruling Suharto family, here's a little blurb on this outstanding US transnational: Freeport McMoRan: Mining New Guinea

Ivan victim: For 2 days `I cried a lot' This guy Felderhof has never returned to Canada since that fateful day was it 7 or 8 years ago, when Freeport McMoRan, or something like that, announced that there sample drilling test results showed no commerciallly viable gold deposit in Indonesia.

In their rush to jump abord the Bre-X bandwagon in its heyday, the Ontario Securies Commission put aside their common sense, and sound financial business practices, and wrongly included Bre-X in their top 30 Index of Stocks . When Bre-X came tumbling down, of course the OSE had egg all over their face, and had to quickly find a scapegoat. What better person to find as their scapegoat that the Bre-X CEO Calgarian David Walsh (now deceased) the guy that made it all happen, and to a lessor extent the company geologist, the guy who hung out in Indonesia, John Felderhof . The OSE are about to release a report on their internal probe of mutual fund dealings. Don't believe a word of it. With the greed factor alive and well, and showing no signs of soon abatting, another Bre-X could happen any time and probably will. The Suharto family played everyone for fools - the Bre-X entourage, Barrick Gold including Peter Monk, Brian Mulroney, and George Bush, Sr, both of whom were on Barrick's International Board of Directors, the SEC in the US, the OSE in Canada, the RCMP, Diane Frances journalist for the National/Financial Post, the authors of the many books on Bre-X, not one of whom BTW did any kind of quality investigative work, and had a clue as to what actually happened, and all the long investors. I am curious to know who the short investors were. Perhaps that will come out at the OSE VS Felderhof trail for insider trading shortly about to resume.

Shark fins spotted in Liberal waters This battle about whenther or not to follow Trudeau's approach will shake the Liberal party to its core. If too many members reject Trudeau's approach I can see the party heading towards self destruction, but we are still quite a ways away from that happening.

Hugo......baseball for me is the most enjoyable sport because it is a social event, almost like a party. I agree there has always been trash around but the amount of time that people spend watching TV has: 1 - skyrocketed 2 - substantially reduced our being involved with creative activities. It is a major crisis for our society - look at the obesity problems which can be directly related to TV through both their food ads, and sitting on couch for extended periods of time, getting little or no exercise. And not developing reading or language skills. Cartman....your Dad sounds like a smart fellow.

I wonder if they have shows like Jerry Springer on European TV. I hope not for their sake. I think it is the quantity as much as the quality which is causing the English problems. If one watches 6 hours of TV a day, one doesn't have time to do much reading, or writing.

Do people here think we are heading for parity with the US dollar , as it now approaching 80 cents? At one time the Canadian dollar was worth more than the US dollar. Ours really has been in the doldrums for years, but recently it seems to be rebounding.

Why shouldn't we blame capitalism for the bad TV. TV's raison d'etre is to sell ads, which is the capitalist's mantra. You know sell, sell, sell!

Being a "leftie" I would hesitiate before I commented on, or criticised, or complained about someone's use of English. Perhaps it is not his first language, maybe not even his second. It is wonderful to see a language used well, and I commend the people that do it, but I draw the line at critiquing others. I remember when I was learning French. If I had to stop and worry about the mistakes I was making I would never have learnt the language. So for those of you whose first language in not English, continuez, faute ou sans faute!

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/20...ary_040922.html I think that this is really irresponsible behavioiur on the part of this fed/prov. institution. Canadians have the right to know which restaurants have spread this bacteria. Not knowing leads people to question what they have eaten in the past week raising fears of infection. I suspect many will go to the hospital for minor stomach aches raising taxpayer costs. Why do you think they do not release the names of the restaurants? Another cover-up by the capitalists to protect their ill gotten gains. Imagine, they are so worried about profits that they put peoples' lives at risk. I think we would release the names and locations if it were in Vancouver. But then again that is the difference between a progresssive government and one that is just there to represent the business interests.

I just can't believe the scumbag of our planet is leading, although it is a small lead, in the polls. How friggin* stupid are you Yanks anyways?

pff....I think you have nailed the problem. It takes a major effort to be a top notch parent.

There are school sponsored T.V free days, but it involves the commitment of people to it. If you want M.S start one, go through your comunity and try and put together a first anual Vancouver T.V free day (You live vancouver or the vicinity right?). Try newspapers, or even the T.V guide , I am sure if you put the effort in you could play a big role in getting the ball roling, I mean why leave it to a bunch of crystal meth dealeuhmmm.... B.C politicians. It is interesting that in the church I attend very few parents let their young children have much TV. Some do not even have a TV in their homes!

But why are they raising our interest rates? If it is so important shouldn't that be debated in Parliament?

The best thing that could happen to Canada is to have minority governements for the next 100 years. When was the last time any party received more than 50% of the vote? Are you all tired of this democratic ripoff, or this sham of a democracy called Canada?

Watching too much TV means one is avoiding reading. We are now raising a nation of wimps who can't even read or write or spell!