Lazarus

Wrong, the Muslim angle was predominately played in the media because Muslims are todays boogie-men. Before it was teh Chinese and other Asians. Actually, when a person of any ethnic minority commits a violent act, their race or religion is played up big time in the media. First nations, Asian (usually the media will so far as to identify what type of Asian the person is, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Malay), East Indian, doesn't matter to the media, as long as they can make a point of a visible minorities ethnic or religious background, they will do so with great relish, even if the person in question is umpteenth generation Canadian. However, if O'Hara killed his wife in a drunken rage, we would not be hearing the media scream, Irish Catholic man murders wife in drunken rage would we? There is nothing remotely politically correct to point this out, it is simple acknowledging that we have an inborn bias against others, it may not be outright racism or bigotry, but it is a bias none the less. As for women having less freedom in traditional Muslim families, well I have seen more then a few fundamental Christian families where women are still treated like property and have little actual freedom. All religions have this in common in some of their sects. I went to one domestic call where the husband was punishing his wife with a belt, seems she failed in her wifely duties somehow. Anyways, while arresting him, she pleaded with us not to take him, that she was at fault, all the while he was going on about how we were interfering with his God Given right to chastise his wife. Nice Christian family too judging by the crosses and other Christian icons adorning their walls. Turned out it was their son that dropped the dime on the bastard. The thing is, there is always some friction when people immigrate to a new land, with differing morals and standards. Most families adjust to those standards given time, some don't. Lately I have noticed a lot of intolerance towards not only Muslim immigrants here, but also towards Asians, East Indians and even towards Eastern Europeans to a lesser extend. I have to wonder how well most of us would do if we decided to settle in say China or even the Philippines. Bet we would be bringing a lot of cultural baggage along with us.

From what I can gather from the news radio at work, the father himself called the police stating he thought he had killed his daughter. Many years ago I was a cop and attended more then my fair share of violent domestic disturbance calls. Usually the violence doesn't just happen, a slowly escalating series of events leads towards a snapping point and in a fit of anger and rage, someone does something causing harm to another. Odds are this is what happened here. The issue was the daughter refusing to wear the traditional head scarf and going against her father's authority. Words were said, tempers flared, harsher words were said, neither side willing to back down, both believing they are in the right, then something snapped and violence occurred, leaving a young girl dead, her father now murder and a family shattered. I give him some grudging credit, he knew he had done wrong and he could of attempted to cover it up, hide the body or pull the old, my daughter has gone missing routine, he didn't do any of these things, he called the police and turned himself in. Judging from what little I have heard, I would say that this killing was done in the passion of the moment and was not premeditated, and hence he will be charged with second degree murder and when convicted will do prison time. Their religion has little to do with other then being the catalyst. He could well of been a good Christian man who got angry with his daughter for sleeping around, or doing drugs, or whatever and could of snapped during an argument over her lifestyle. The majority of these types of killings, be parent killing child, child killing parent or spouse killing spouse happen in the heat of the moment. How many here can honestly say that they have not been pushed close to the brink by a family member or loved one, where you have come close to or actually have snapped and lashed out, or have been on the receiving end of being lashed out at? Such violence is in-excusable, however it is understandable. The man will have his day in court and he will be punished by the laws of Canada. But what is almost as sickening as the act, is that there are those that would use this tragedy to push their own political agenda, namely the anti-immigration, anti-Islam, anti-nonwhite pro-Eurocentric Christian only agenda. Listening to these bottom dwelling mouth-breathers, I can hear the echo's of May 23, 1914 resounding as once again, the scared and insecure White men of Canada attempt to hold back the "Brown Invasion".

WTF???????

To be fair, Mercer zinged not just Bush, he also nailed Huckabee and a lot of Gore supporters as well. Here is a to You Tube showing the spots in question.

Ask anyone who rides a motorbike about this, and they will agree with damn near 110%.

Ditto, I also smoke, filthy nasty habit that it is. But I don't smoke indoors when I have non-smoking visitors nor do I smoke in the car if I have one of my nieces or nephews with me, or any other non-smoker. (one of the benefits of riding my motorbike to work is that it cuts down on my commute smoking) So the so-called Health Nazi's stopped us from smoking at our favorite restaurants or bars? Made sure we can't smoke inside our offices and now want to stop us from smoking in cars with kids in them. Great, to be honest I am all for these measures and then some. As far as I am concerned, my right to smoke stops at your right to breathe unpolluted and clean air. Personally I see these measures as a positive health and safety measures, along the lines of the laws that say you can't take a drop a load in the middle of your office floor. But I guess some people have a problem being told what they can or cannot do, even when its common sense.

Funny thing about Scientolgy and L. Ron Hubbard is, he basically started it as a joke and to prove a point. Back in the fifties, he was being interviewed by a magazine writer/reviewer who took exception at the then large advance Hubbard's publisher had paid him. This was at a time when most Sci-Fi writers and magazine scribes were getting paid per word published. Basically it was publish or starve and the size of your pay cheque depended on the whims of your editor. You could submit a 5000 word manuscript only to find it had been whittled down to a mere 1000 words when publish and you got paid on those 1000 words. Anyways, the writer in question basically accused Hubbard of being over-paid for his up coming work in advance, to which Hubbard answered, that if he really wanted to make a lot of money for little work, he would create a religion. It then became a case of "Oh yeah? Prove it." So Hubbard penned Scientology, never really expecting it to take off as it did. At best he figured some fringe loonies may latch on to it and was slightly bemused at its acceptance. However, he forgot one basic tenet of all religions, that while it is relatively easy to start one, it is damn near impossible to maintain control of them once they take off. Hubbard lost control of Scientology mainly to his son who ran with it and built it up to what it is today. Hubbard was basically relegated to Prophet status but had no say in the runnings of the church or how his name was used. It has been reported though unconfirmed that he had denounced the whole movement as a joke. That the church fleeces its members is nothing knew, the majority of churches and religions do that. The Roman Catholic church has made a pretty good living for itself for almost 2000 years demanding donations, offerings and tiths from its members, many who can ill afford them. The Church of Later Day Saints, the Mormons are another good example of that as are the Jerry Farwells. But is the Church of Sceintology dangerous? Probably, but no more so then any other church or religion. In closing here are a few words from a contemporary of L. Ron Hubbard, Robert A. Heinlien.

Putin has as much chance of facing the Haage bench as does Bush.....slim to absolutely none.

I was wondering what Carl Rove had been up to lately. Know I know, he has been teaching the Russians how fuck over a democratic election.

Multicult? Is that a new derogatory term coin by the anti-immigration, anti-ethnics talking head brigades? Let me ask you a question Scott, where did you descendant come from originally? When did they arrive? And why did they leave their homeland to come here in the first place? Fact is, Canada is a nation build on immigration. Immigrants came here and built a new life for themselves, now their descendants want to slam the door shut on anyone else, keeping them from coming here and doing the same, unless of course they are from the old country right? Or are at least the right skin tone and heritage. I have friend who sixth generation Chinese-Canadian, his immigrant forefather helped build the Trans-Canada Railway. I am a first generation Canadian, came over as a babe. But note, even though I was not born here, I am a Canadian, my bud who because of his Chinese Heritage is still considered to be a Chinese-Canadian. A co-worker of mine is Japanese-Canadian whose Great Grandfather, an immigrant fought with the Canadian Army in the trenches of WWI, is still asked "Where are you from originally?" Want to explain that to me? The guy is fourth generation Canadian, can't speak a work of Nihon-go, hell I speak more Japanese then he does, and yet he is still looked upon as a foreigner in his own land while I, an actual immigrant am considered to be pure Canadian, just because of my ethnic background. The fact of the matter is, it is not that easy to get into Canada and the majority of those that do come here to build a new life for themselves and their family and are ready and willing to contribute to our country, often more so then so-called native (native, not first nations) born. Not unlike your descendants did.

I've read through this thread in amazed disbelief. Since when did Canada and Canadians become such closed minded, closed hearted and ignorant gits? Seems a vast number of you here believe that all non-white non-western European immigrants are only here to suck off our social welfare teat. That it is a piece of cake immigrating here. That the majority of non-white non-western European immigrants are a net loss to Canada as a whole. One gets the feeling many of you would just love to slam the door shut on these "undesirable" non-white non-western European immigrants. First off, if you are not of First Nations stock, then you to come immigrant stock. Secondly, let me tell you a couple of stories about immigrating here. I am currently engaged to a lady from the Philippines, have been for a couple of years now (wedding is next year in Manila). She is a University educated woman who graduated with B.Comm and Finance Honours. I met her was here when she was a care-giver working with a temporary work permit/visa. She came here in order to support her family back in the Philippines. We dated for 18 months, until her permit expired and she dutifully went back home. We stayed in contact. She then went to Taiwan to work, I visited often and we got engaged. For the past year and a half we have being dancing to Immigration Canada's tune, jumping through the hoops and she still hasn't been granted her Landed Immigrant Visa and trying even to get a Temporary Resident visa (she needs one even to visit here for a couple of weeks) is a fucking nightmare. I on the other hand can just jump of a plane and go there. While going through the Immigration process, I meet dozen of other in the same boat telling the same story. Getting ones family here from overseas is not as easy as the press and talking heads would have you believe. Second story is about a family that immigrated here from China. He was a businessman and she was a trained electrical engineer who specialized in power transmission and generation and held a Master Degree in Engineering. She taught electrical engineering in Beijing and authored a number of text books that are still in use to this day. Canada needed people with her skill sets, training and experience, so they got fast-tracked. Once they landed here, they learned that her qualifications amounted to a pile of rancid dog crap as far governing body of Electrical Engineers of BC were concerned. If she wanted to practice her profession, she would have to start from scratch, go back to University and earn her degree's all over again, and go through the whole qualifying process with the governing body. This after she and her family were lead to believe they were needed here badly. In the end, she was forced to take a job in a factory doing manual labour and he went back to China. Last I heard she is still in that factory doing manual labour while trying to raise her son on her own. Her husband has since divorced her and remarried. We have hundred if not thousands of people like her in Canada. Skilled and dedicated professionals who came here to not only to start a new and better life for themselves and their family, but ready and willing to contribute their arts and skills in return. We have trained lawyers, doctors, engineers driving cabs and doing other low paying jobs. We have qualified and experienced nurses and teachers who can only secure work in hospitals and schools as cleaning women. And yet we cry out that we are short of doctors, nurses, engineers, machinist and other skilled trades and professions. Many of these immigrants would love nothing better then to be able to contribute to Canada with their arts and skills, but are barred from doing so because they happen to be foreign traded and educated. And if you think that barrier only applies to those coming from Asia, think again. Back in '65 my parents came here from the UK, mom was a qualified and skilled OR Nursing Sister, an RN here. Her experience and training was not recognized here and it wasn't until the mid 80's after we kids had grown up was she able to go back to school, gain her license and practice her art.

What? Them bloody Newfies annoying you again?

Okay, its official, yer a goof troll.....time to ignore ya....cya, wont want to be ya.

You maybe right about the lack of recognition of our claims. However, you have to have the ability and power to back up those claims, otherwise you are ignored. Personally I see the armed naval ice-breakers as just a stop gap measure. What is needed is a 24/7/365 presence in the north, including naval, air and land forces capable of defending our claims when and where needed. Wouldn't hurt to give the Territories Provincial status either.

Clearly you both have little idea about the mineral, oil and natural gas wealth hiding up there. This could be a good thing actually.

Ask any Sonar man or diesel electric boat crew and they will tell you up front that nuclear subs are bloody noisy, making them easier to track then an electric boats. The term I've heard used to describe them is "Steam Kettle" or "Steam Whistle". And the reason those American boats can come and go as they please is a: right now, you are not engaged in a naval war with anyone with the capacity of stopping them and b: sadly and disgustingly, Canada's far north naval presence is a shameful joke, at best we can field a couple of unarmed clapped out civilian Coast Guard ice-breakers there. Yes, your American boats can come and go as they please in Canada's arctic waters, but then so can the Russians, the Brits, the French, even the Chinese. So really, you've got nothing to brag about. Now if Canada had five or six hunter-killer class attack subs patrolling the area, you may find your easy entry a tad bit harder. Sadly, when it comes to Canada's defense and protecting our sovereignty, every political party says it will do something to improve it, spend the money required, get the needed equipment, but when they come to power, they all quickly forget those promises, and water down their actual actions or completely renege on them. Conservative or Liberal, when it comes to the Canadian Armed Force and its ability to do what is demanded of it, the general consensus is fuck 'em till the next election, then make even more empty promises.

This is what he is referring to: Tories plan to bolster Arctic defence The then opposition neo-Tories under Harper were taking the Liberal Government of Paul Martin to task over Northern Sovereignty, vowing that when they come to power, they would strengthen Canadians ability to patrol and protect its Northern territory. Once in power, they started to change their tune: Defence minister reconsiders icebreakers Those 3 heavy and armed naval icebreakers have been downgraded to 6 to 8 light patrol vessel capable of only operating in the far north during the summer months and only in light ice packs. Canada to guard North with smaller boats Not sure of the design yet, but odds are they will a somewhat beefed up version of the current Kingston class coastal defense vessels that are manned by the Naval Reserves. It should be noted that the Canadian Navy has not operated ice-breakers in 50 year, the last naval ice-breaker was the HMCS Labrador, who was actually turned over to the Coast Guard. However, the Canadian Navy did have one light ice-break capable ship, one of the old Porte Class Gate Vessels was for a short time operated by the Coast Guard and beefed up for ice-breaking duties on the Great Lakes. This ship was returned to the navy and was operated by the Naval Reserves well into the late 80's when she was replaced by the then new Kingston class patrol vessels. As much as many of us do not want to admit it, but Canada's hold on its northern territory and its potential vast wealth is on very shaky grounds. All ready nations such as Russia, the US, and Denmark have been staking out claims in what we see as our territory. For some strange reason the Americans seem to think that once their Alaskan border with the Yukon hits the coast, it veers off at a 45 degree angle east, even though it runs straight up and down on the map, go figure. I for once would love to see Canada exercise its sovereignty over its northern territories and have the ability to protect them. Not sure if ice-breakers are whats needed, personally I think we need a permanent military presence in the area, including a full fledge Naval base such as HMCS Equimalt and Halifax, along with regular North Army Brigade Group and Air Force bases. I wouldn't mind see a squadron of 5 to 6 attack class subs patrolling our northern waters. Diesel/electric boat would not be very useful during the months of heavy ice and nuclear powered boats are not only politically unacceptable in Canada, they also noisy as hell. Perhaps Canadian fuel cell technology such as Ballards is pioneering could be the answer? Anyways, Canada is facing a "use it or lose it" situation up north, and given the potential wealth up there, we better get off our asses, otherwise nations such as Russia, the US and even little Denmark will get all the spoils.

Which explains why you as a nation and a people keep repeating the same mistakes from the past.

and why do I get the feeling you would take immense joy if that happened?

I'm not angry in the least, in fact I find this whole thing rather laughable, watching Americans get in a tizzy over a perceived slight. Just goes to prove that it take very little to ruffle America's collective feathers and get them squawking in moral outrage. Protests against China being awarded the game? So what? There have been protest in damn near every nation and against every nation for being awarded the Olympic games. I live in Vancouver, host of the 2010 Winter Games and protest against us being awarded them have happened by a number of varying groups. Short of launching a nuclear strike on Taiwan or invading neighbouring nations, there is very little that will affect the Beijing Games and I doubt that this little tiff even crossed their minds Oylmpic's wise. They probably figured they had made their point and reversed their decision. As I said before, given that China is now America's banker, she can do pretty much anything she likes without fear of major repercussions.

Oh please. Doesn't bode well for China? How do you figure? This just a tempest in a the diplomatic teapot. It's not going to affect the Being Olympics at all. What? You think the US Olympic team is going to throw a hissy fit and boycott the games? You think US tourist who have been planning a once in a lifetime trip and who have already spent thousands of dollars, much of which is non-refundable in venue tickets, flight tickets and hotel reservations are going to cancel? Get real. Hell, the vast majority of people don't even know this has happened. So China spank the US a little bit, big deal, that's the nature of international relationship. Actually it not that surprising really. China with some justification sees Taiwan as a break away rebellious Province and of course gets a tad bit pissed when outsiders meddle in her affairs, especially went it comes to arming the rebels. Hell, could you imagine what the American reaction would if say either Alaska or Hawaii declared independence and broke away from the US and a nation such as Russia or China supplied them with military aid, modern armaments, and the like? China is also America's banker, and is basically financing the war in Iraq and keeping the US government afloat. If China calls in her loans, America is fucked three ways to Sunday and the US Government knows it. So, yeah the noise machine will crank out protest and howls of outrage, but that's all. Nothing has changed, nothing else will happen. It'll be business as usual and the Olympics will carry on as planned.

and your point being? If I recall correctly, Hong Kong is no longer part of the British Empire and is now part of China. China is a sovereign nation and has the right to decide who's warships and warplanes can enter into her territory. The US has the same right as to who can or cannot enter into theirs. Or are trying to say the both the US Navy and Air Force are special?

I tried reading that but gave up. Suggest you repost it and break up your paragraphs to make it reader friendly. As it is, it looks and reads like one long run on sentence.

Interesting, we both have come to the same basic conclusion of Harper and Conservatives, but for differing reason and different angles. That doesn't bode well for their chances come the next election if both our factions turn our collective backs on them does it? The problem with populist parties and leaders is that their base is too narrow to win enough support to form the Government. Peston Manning's Reform Party was a good example of that, their entire base was centred mainly in Alberta with a sprinkling of support from the other Prairie Provinces and BC. I remember watching the disastrous and I hate to say it, well deserved results of the '93 election while attending a media night school course. When Manning came up to speak to his supporters and the camera's panned across the crowd, I was struck by the homogeneity of his supporters. Basically, all white, middle to late aged, and male with a solid corp from the Blue Rinse set sprinkled in. I couldn't help but think to myself that with such a narrow base and a lack of appeal to younger people, ethnic minorities, first nations people and easterns, there was no way the Reformers would even form a Government and basically have handed Canada to the Liberals for at least 10 or more years. The Federal NDP suffers from the same problem, they have a too narrow base to form the next Government. I figure that the next election will result in a Liberal minority, especially since Harper has done a lot to annoy his base, what with his autocratic style ala Jean Chrétien, muzzling of his MP's, pandering to Quebec and the Bloc, and not to mention his taxing of income trusts. I figure Stephen Dion will get the nod, if only because he will be seen to be basically a safe and harmless caretaker for the short term.

Let me say the up front so there is no misunderstanding, I am an old school Conservative, in other words a Progressive. And neither like or trust Steven Harper and the majority of the current crop of MP's sitting in Ottawa under the Conservative banner. But then again I also believe that Lyin' Brian not only betrayed Canada for his own personal gain, but also betrayed the Progressive Conservative party causing its downfall and leaving the door open a neocon/socon alliance to take over. The so-called Conservative Party is Conservative in name only, much like the Liberal Party of BC is Liberal in name only. However, I digress. One thing I have noticed, is that there is a strange silence from Harpers Social Conservative base, i.e. Conservative Christians or the Religious Right. Harper adopted their agenda as his own and with their help was able to gain the reins of power, abet in minority position. Since then, he has done little to nothing to further their agenda politically. Abortions still hasn't been banned, homosexuality is still protected as is the right of gays and lesbians to marry, the so-called free vote not withstanding, Canada is still multi-cultural, Christianity has not been made the official State Religion. All prayers are banned from our schools, apart from the allowed prayers of the various religious clubs some public schools have. So why I have to ask myself are these Socon's keeping quiet? After all it seems on the face of things that Harper has reneged on his promises to them as well he has toned down his rhetoric supporting their POV. Why are they so quiet? Should they not in fact be more vocal in their dissatisfaction with Harper maintaining the Status Quo? Should they not be loudly voicing their anger at his apparent betrayal of their trust? Or could it be they know something that we don't know. The fact of the matter is that the Harper Government is in a minority position and thus is limited to the amount of social engineering it can pull off. Also, when it comes social engineering, be it Liberal or Conservative, the majority of the Canadian people will have no truck or trade with it. Any Party that openly advocates or pushes a radical social engineering policy is liable to not only thrown out of Government, but also they would be lose any chance to even form the Official Opposition and be relegated to the furthest back benches of Parliament. This is something that both Steven Harper and his Socon base learned the hard way during the '04 elections and actually toned down their rhetoric for the '06 elections. This is why I believe that the Socon's are being quiet. They are bidding their times, waiting for the day when their man Harper actually wins a majority. The rank and file of the Socon movement are kept in check by their leaders, told to maintain a low profile, don't rock the boat, stay under the political radar and bid their time. By not drawing attention to their agenda, they can allow the Canadian voter to focus on past wrongs and mistakes of the former Liberal Government and thus improve their odds of winning the needed majority in Parliament. As an old school Conservative, I can give grudging respect to Pierre Trudeau when he said that the state had no business in peoples bedrooms, that and his handling of the FLQ crisis. However, I cannot trust nor respect Harper and his people, there is something oily and slimy about them that gets my back up. And I sure as hell do not want even a watered down version of Cristian Conservative movement having access to our Parliament as they do to the US Oval Office. Come the next election, I will be happy to see another minority Government, either Liberal or Conservative. Actually from a tactical POV, I'd prefer to see a Liberal minority, for it may give us old school Conservatives a chance to clean house.