Moonbox

This is the dumbest thing you have said yet. You assume the Constitution is omnipotent and that Supreme Court judges are robots programmed by the Constitution. Both assumptions are incorrect. Canadians control the Constitution and can change it any time they please providing their is enough consensus. I'm pretty sure Canadians from east to west coast would have no problem doing that if the Supreme Court was going to sell them out to a bunch of whiney mooches for the sake of a scrap of paper. Of course it won't ever even come to that, because judges understand the law much better than you and would not feel compelled to follow along with the idiocy you proclaim. Cold hard logic and a reasonable brain would tell you that what you say is fantasy. Sadly, you appear to possess neither. I have no doubt there will be more settlements, but when they start to actually have a noticeable impact on the average Canadian and start hurting them, you can be damn sure Canadians will push back, and the international community will laugh at the balogna claims of the First Nations. To assume we will meekly roll over and give away everything we've built over the last several hundred years is "fantasy" (look up that word).

It's not symbolic. It means that wages won't increase and expenses won't increase. This means that we can be sure the deficit will decrease as the economy presumably improves. Some jobs have better overall wage and benefits, particularly public sector jobs in comparison to similarly qualified private sector jobs. When a public servant gets a raise, that's an extra tax burden for me. I realize that public servants are human beings and workers themselves, but it's DAMN unfair that they be getting wage increases with their safe jobs while the private sector crumbles around them and people are left out of work.

It's not a symbolic gesture. That will have a real effect on our pockets. It might be a drop in the bucket but anything that lowers expenses is welcome in my eyes. Our public servants, as far as I know, aren't exactly hurting compared to their private sector counterparts. I could not care less if they're angry. We're angry about the deficit. It really depends on the investment doesn't it? Foreign investment can often be a good long term thing. It can also be a short term fix with long term problems. Look at in case by case and then we judge.

I'm happy with the Throne Speech. Keep government expenses down where you can please. The foreign investment thing may be interesting providing we don't mortgage ourselves to the Chinese, so we'll have to see. As for O Canada...I didn't think it bothered anyone but whatever. I always interpreted it as a religious expression for old school Bible-thumpers so if anyone I thought it would be non-Christians who would stink about it. If you make it gender-neutral doesn't that remove the meaning? Ah I don't even care.

It will end, and it will end long before you hope it to. It may be the beginning but what you fail to understand is that the Supreme Court of Canada is not governed by robots nor is the provincial or federal legislatures. These settlements you speak of are given by Canadians to get the First Nations to shut up and stop crying. It's often just less of a bother. What do you think will happen when the First Nations push for something that DOES matter to Canadians? Do you think the Supreme Court or Canadian governments are going to bankrupt or pauper the average TAX PAYING Canadian for the benefit of the First Nations? In your dreams. There's not even a CHANCE of that happening.

A clumsy dodge huh? The principles of property ownership have clearly escaped you, so I tried to simplify it for you. If the law recognizes that I own my house and nobody can use my property other than me, it is reasonable to assume that I own it. If people can only take my land by 'paying' me fairly for it, this also reinforces the idea that I 'own' it. If the legal system in Canada and Ontario uphold these rights for me, that pretty much seals the deal. That is how things work here. The fact that I did not waste inordinate amounts of time searching the library or internet for information that was irrelevant to the truth stated above does not make me wrong. It means you are living in LALAland.

I don't think there's any secret agenda here. I just think we have a Bible-thumping tool for an immigration minister. This is part of what I hate about the CPC. All they do with this crap is marginalize themselves trying to prevent something they can't do anything about.

Mhmmm...then why is it that I live in Southern Ontario and don't pay taxes to Six nations? The native populations in North America were pretty plainly subjugated. You need only look and see who occupies the vast majority of territory to see that. You can sugar-coat that all you want, but the Six Nations had the choice to ally themselves with the Crown or deal with the USA. The fact that they have to pay suggests that the property is, for all extents and purposes, owned. You can call it whatever you want.

The French don't need a legal document to tell them they're in charge of France. Similarly Canadians don't need one to know they're in charge of Canada. The reality is that Canada is inhabited mostly with Canadians. We're the people who currently live here. The international community recognizes that we live here and we have jurisdiction within internationally recognized borders. THAT is what matters. The treaties scraps of paper that are spoken of here are irrelevant. The First Nations were conquered and subjugated in less civilized times -- hundreds of years ago. Such things would not be allowed these days, but no sane court in the world would rule that an ancient scrap of paper projects more right or authority over a piece of land than generations of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren born and raised there. To think otherwise is only fooling yourself. Feel free to if you must.

Pushing the woman out of the way just made him seem really small and desperate.

Low self-esteem is the causation of narcissism? First off, it's not that simple. Second, causation wasn't really the word you were looking for. I doubt very much from this post that you know anything about psychology. The problem with your truth is that it's not actually reality. North America was subjugated by Europeans hundreds of years ago in case you didn't know. That was the end of the First Nations as such. That's reality. The Treaties you often bleat about were written long before myself or my parents or even my grandparents were born. They were written long before millions of immigrants came to Canada. Eventually, sovereignty passes to the actual inhabitants of the land. The First Nations have no more claim to the land I live on than do the Greeks have on Turkey. Land is owned by the people who live on it. Even if it was taken in the past, the lines that make that distinction eventually blurr and disappear.

It's embarrassing to read your posts. It makes it really hard to argue with Shwa or CR when they can score such easy points on your stupidity.

Harper's the PM. He brings RCMP to keep him safe. That's what most country's leaders do. The criticism is that Layton's a publicity whore. It's apt criticism. Harper was too. He made sure he was seen at all sorts of Olympic events. The only one that wasn't was Ignatieff, but every time the camera is on him the polls go down so w/e. Layton looked like a desperate amateur. People are making fun of him. That's all. Harper got made fun of when he was doing his sweater by the fire election adds. This isn't unfair. This is Jack being Jack and people laughing at him.

Nice. Now we're into psychology.

It was obvious with Harper too. He doesn't give a crap about curling we all know that. It's much funnier with Layton though, because he's so desperate to show people he's an 'everyman' type of guy that he has to push women out of the way to get his face on camera.

There were no cameras at bars for women's hockey. That's why. I watched it...but the women only had a fraction of the viewer's the men's hockey had. No body contact. It's not real hockey...

Because you tried to tell us that since he wasn't at the Russia or women's game, then he couldn't be at the men's gold game for media attention. I was addressing YOUR bad logic. It's pretty obvious he was. It is silly and worth a good laugh at Jack's expense. He looked like a tool.

Interesting. I didn't know that. Narcissists, however, have high self esteem.

Nobody was watching the women's game. So no...that doesn't go against the theory. As for the Russian game, it was a quarter-final. Whoopy. There's still two games to go after that. Where'd we get that quote from again? Oh yeah. The NDP -- meaning it's worthless.

Gretzky's wasn't getting any special attention. They were showing bars across Canada. Layton 'just happened' to be front and centre.

They showed the same shot numerous times from the exact same angle throughout the game. It was a static camera. It was a packed bar in the middle of a Canada vs US Olympic gold game. How much room do you think that camera had to move??? Some of you seem inclined to pass this off as a really odd coincidence, but the fact that a politician would go to Gretzky's to watch the game is itself an indication that he was looking to be where the cameras were.

If it smells like a fish and looks like a fish it probably is a fish. He was at Wayne Gretzky's (where a news camera happened to be), sitting directly in front of the news camera (conveniently) and when someone blocked his face from the camera he shoved her arms away. I think the above make it fairly reasonable to assume he was dying for some media coverage.

I'm not defending Mr. Canada. It's embarrassing to read most of his posts. I'm just raising an eyebrow at the assertion that he posts to raise his self esteem, especially after criticizing him for playing the ad-hominem game etc. If he was posting for his self-esteem, I doubt he'd be around anymore. To get back on topic, I think your signature is hilarious and absolutely, totally, and completely rubbish.

No. He turned away from the actual game and faced directly towards the news camera. It's quite unlikely that the TV screen was behind the camera. It was painfully obvious what he was doing.

It wasn't crapola. There isn't a single nation out there with anything to match a Nimitz, much less the new carriers coming off the docks. And to BushCheney, I didn't say the carriers are irrelevant. I said I don't really care whose carriers they are as long as they keep commerce safe for Canadians. If the Americans want to foot the bill for this expense, I'm happy to let them, though I do feel you shoulder most of the cost while everyone reaps the benefits.