truth-now

So, because native people were assaulted by uncivilized policies 500 years ago, you are therefore justified in perpetuating such destructionism in 2008, when we have presumably learned (Neo-Cons don't learn : they dogmatize) that such policies create waves of socio-economic problems ? Why not stop the cycle of violence, preemptive & imperialistic militarism after centuries of enlightenment and discovery ? Oh yeah, Neo-Cons can't stop smashing foreign lands and killing foreign civilians... too much historical momentum (and corporate profits). Neo-Cons are some of the most blind, dogmatic, ruthless, ignorant, extremist and destructive maniacs in the history of mankind : and they are oblivious to that fact. They refer to the tyrants of yesteryear, yester-decade and yester-century in order to (lamely) attempt a rationalization for their rampaging and destructive foreign policies.

Apparently, Neo-Cons treat civilian lives as game board fragments. I thought they were pro-life ? Oh yeah, you don't want to limit Blackwater and Halliburton profits... they are in the business of killing, pillaging and occupying.

All you are doing is using a much different war scenario (massive air assault & ground invasion by the Nazi's into Germany's regional neighbouring countries) during a different era (about 70 years ago) to justify using obsolete and inappropriate military approaches in dealing with the more precise demands of terrorist cell identification and elimination. By going gung-ho with a "kill all the baddies and occupy the Arab region" Bushian approach, you simply give impetus to terrorist recruiting forces everytime you create an orphan or an unjustified civilian casualty, which has happened several 1000's of times. You are simply blindly pursuing a dogmatically preemptive strategy which EXACERBATES and FACILITATES the problem of Islamic radicalization. But anyone who supports Bush-Cheney, is likely oblivious to empirical evidence, logic, humanitarianism, alternative approaches or common sense. Also : the Bush administration only has a 30% approval rating in the USA. Are the 70% of Americans who oppose Bushian Neo-Con policies Anti-American ? Are 70% of Americans Anti-American ? In Canada, Bush's approval rating is likely less, around 20%. In more left-leaning Europe ? Likely, 5-15%. That just shows you how outdated, irrational, destructive, elitist and internationally REJECTED Neo-Conservative policies actually are.

See, the ultra-right-wing Neo-Con policy isn't pro-life afterall, eh ? Mass civilian death is now funny... (because the Pentagon says so ?)

Well, the Libs & Cons are providing a 2-party monopoly via their recent informal merger, so it's really up to Canadians to vote NDP or Green in order to provide a progressive alternative to such seemingly untouchable mainstream domination.

Stifling media access, shortcutting debate, dismissing all criticisms, and stonewalling investigations are prime characteristics of authoritarianism and Fascism. Harper's antics are very much like those of Bush. Stephen Harper : Bush-Bot.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection http://www.politicalcompass.org/usprimaries2008 http://www.politicalcompass.org/canada2005 Totalitarian (AUTHORITARIAN) ? YES. But not socialist. If you have governments which consistently cut taxes on the rich and corporations, you are moving towards a more capitalist model. If you, as a millionaire, have to pay more than 50% income tax, and that is used to extensively benefit the poor with an adequate living wage, then sure, you've crossed the line into a system which is predominantly socialist, but still not pure socialist. But the wealthiest Canadians do NOT pay over 50% taxes, and welfare rates aren't enough to keep anyone alive (at 600$/mo.), and we have increased child poverty rates in Canada, increased homelessness and record profits for corporations. To look at Harper and Dion, and see a left-winger, one would have to be at the extreme right-wing laissez-faire capitalist fringe.

Canada would be better off if the NDP and Greens could provide a counterbalance to the 2-party monopoly of Neo-Lib/Neo-Con dinosaurs. US citizens don't really have an alternative to their 2-party monopoly, but Canadians DO, so we should excercise it. All Canadians have to do is vote NDP or Green. Flip a coin even, heads=NDP / tails=Green. A strong opposition is important, and to date, Harper & Dion have had a disproportionate share of power, which they use in order to move forth similar agendas. Dion never seems to be principally opposed to anything the Neo-Cons do. Here is more data to consider... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_polit...the_Netherlands http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_polit...ties_in_Finland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_polit...ties_in_Ireland Ireland looks interesting... they have quite a diverse set of politics happening over there, and it has turned their country around... http://www.politicalcompass.org/ireland

1) It has everything to do with the weed scenario. Unjustifiable banning of substances should ITSELF be banned. Sure, if there are impurities and toxic materials identified then certain penalties and notices could be ordered, in order to maintain purity, transparency and consumer protection. But they need to be measured and case-specific in application. Banning an entire classification of supplement across the board because ONE underregulated manufacturer included certain ingredients which they shouldn't have, is too extreme. Scientific studies could ascertain safer and more pure forms of the supplements/treatments/remedies in question. 2) Many MILLIONS of Canadians DO care about the weed issue, as they are (peaceful, responsible) users. In fact, the vast majority of Canadians, in every recent poll, either approve of cannabis decriminalization or outright legalization.

Rightfully so for those hard drugs. The risk of a lethal fatal overdose is very high with hard drugs, as is the risk of violently severe addiction. The number of fatal overdoses from pot annually is zero, and it's addictiveness is rated by doctors as low (much lower than caffeine). But most Canadian pot is grown domestically (if not, it easily could be, it's an adaptable weed), it's close to being BC's #1 industry. If you gave licensed and regulated small, medium and big businesses the exclusive right to produce & distribute it, it would wipe out nearly all of the underground organized crime operations which harvest and sell it. There certainly aren't too many organized crime versions of alcohol, coffee or even tobacco. 95-99% of people just go to the store, and provide money to the above-ground, inspected, licensed and regulated trustworthy companies. Would anyone in their right mind trust a crime kingpin or street dreg over Molson or Nabob ? Likely not. But you are basically empowering and entrusting the crime kingpin and the street dreg with the entire industry and market when you banish it underground. Cannabis use in the USA is actually higher than in the Netherlands (with their 100's of coffeeshops). All the US has done by harshly criminalizing cannabis is made itself the world's leading jailer. http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=us...ailer&meta= They have over 2.2 million incarcerated, many (close to half) for non-violent consentual drug use. Solution ? Hand the Cannabis industry over to the transparent and legitimate business world. Tax it at 20-40%. Use those funds to reduce income tax rates and corporate tax rates and combat homelessness. Education brought down tobacco use drastically , along with high taxes. Jailing tobacco users did not (good thing we never tried nicotine prohibition, it would have caused more damage than it would have prevented).

What many on the FAR right (I know many center-right conservatives who are moderate on such social issues and policies) don't understand, is that by banishing a relatively harmless soft drug, you drive it underground and singlehandedly GIVE the entire industry to the most RUTHLESS organized crime groups. Only those types of ruthless people would lace soft drugs with hard drugs. Licensed, regulated and inspected businesses would not. When do the producers and distributors of coffee or whiskey lace their product ? They don't, because they are legitimate operations..... in the transparent marketplace.

That's right. Mutually consenting adults involved in non-violent behaviour in private. Why can't the right simply see that the left would fight for their right to have a triple rye & coke after work, even if that were not the cannabis users particular behavioural preference. One could set up many other versions of drug laws which aren't so hypocritical, unscientific, harshly punitive and sweeping in scope.

If modern, moderate, social-democratic governments destroyed economies, then Norway, Finland, Denmark and Sweden would be impoverished cesspools. Instead, they rank very high in quality of life indexes, have the most healthy and educated workforces on earth, have the lowest poverty rates on earth and rank in the top 10 (often beating the US, as Finland did 2 years in a row) WRT economic competitiveness ratings. Believe it or not, all of the old school Marxists from the NDP were purged by Stephen Lewis, Ed Broadbent and now Layton. The guy who runs this site... http://paulitics.wordpress.com/ ...is one such disenfranchised extremist, who believes in total Communism. He rails against the new-era NDP, claiming that they are capitalist. Pure ideological socialism doesn't work at all, that's why the NDP, the Greens and the 100+ parties in Europe and Scandinavia don't advocate it. They all advocate some form of mixed economy, usually economically center-left or center.

The bill isn't law yet, and up to now the growing of 1-2 small plants for strictly personal use has not been harshly penalzied, at least in BC (Alberta is different). But the bill introduces harsh Republican style mandatory minimums : 1 small plant can validate the 6 month MANDATORY MINIMUM sentence. I'd trust nearly anyone on these boards to provide a more reasonable set of cannabis laws, including penalties for those who knowingly sell to minors, users who operate vehicles/machinery and those who employ violence of any kind. But imo, this bill goes to a rabid & disproportionate punitive extreme.

Then Harper & Co. will simply copy the Bushian private-public prison partnership - build the warehouses to jail those who use the drugs which the hypocritical elite say are not to be touched, and make it a profitable venture. There are many prison industry (pseudo-)CEOs in the states who have gotten rich from the imprisonment of adults involved in non-violent, consentual behaviour.